Title: The Art and Practice of Absolute Pitch
Author: Gold-Snitcher
Chapter Two: Here to There
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Draco hadn't meant to fall asleep. Unlike Harry, he had been able to sleep-in that morning, but still, he had been feeling a bit jetlagged and, after maneuvering Harry into bed, must have passed out himself because he found himself blinking his eyes open sometime later, the room considerably darker because the sun had set.
He closed his eyes once more and moaned and then his eyes flew open when he could have sworn he heard a flock of seagulls shrieking. Draco and Harry's loft was not located anywhere near a place where seagulls had any excuse to be.
Draco lay in bed and stayed absolutely still, wondering if he were hallucinating. A moment later, a woman's voice began speaking excitedly and Draco let out his breath in a relieved whoosh. With a grin, he whipped the covers of and rose, stretching languorously before, grin still in place; he stumbled to the bedroom door and slid it open.
Harry, who was naked except for a pair of boxers, was in the middle of stepping into a pair of black jeans. He had his back to Draco and so he jumped when Draco spoke. "You still listen to this ruddy tape?" he asked.
Harry pulled his pants up and buttoned them before turning around and pouting. "It's a prominent part of my childhood and I was in the mood to regress."
The tape in question was Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, and Draco had heard it often enough that he was fairly certain he could recite it from memory, including the pieces played at various dramatic points in the story. Every time Draco caught his lover listening to it, he teased him, but Harry bore it good-naturedly.
"What are you doing up, anyway?" Draco asked, frowning at Harry. "And dressing out here?"
"You were sleeping in there and I didn't want to wake you," Harry explained. "And in case you have forgotten, we're expected at the club. I'm not in the mood to have our drunken friends crash into our home. This is, after all, your welcome home party," Harry said.
"God," Draco said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'd forgotten." He yawned and shook his head. "Fine. I'll get dressed." He turned for the bedroom and Harry went to pick up his shirt, noticing an opportune moment, Draco smirked and smacked Harry's bottom lightly.
"Hey!" Harry cried. Draco winked and sauntered back into the bedroom. "Git!" Harry called at his retreating back. "Don't forget, we have to pick up the car from Ron's."
"I remember!" Draco called as he rifled through a drawer looking for clothes to wear. "But we're taking one vehicle to the club," Draco said, moving back out into the living room as he pulled on his shirt.
"No we're not. We're taking the underground," Harry said. "There's no way either of us can convince Blaise to let us be designated driver."
"True," Draco said and sighed dramatically. "I hate this."
"No you don't," Harry said with a grin. "You love it. And you've been looking forward to it since you left."
Draco sighed again. "You're right," he admitted. "If Sirius tries to come early, though, I reserve the right to kick his arse."
"Done and done," Harry said with a grin.
……………………..
The Red Room was a small club all things considered, but it was tasteful and had a good atmosphere: tall, plush booths for when you just wanted to talk with friends, and a large, lighted dance floor where the music was always good. As Draco carried his and Harry's drinks back to the table, he noted, 'Let's Get It Started' i was blaring.
Draco couldn't help but grin as he slid back into the booth, noting that Harry desperately wanted to be out dancing, but still, the dark-haired boy had not quite adjusted to dancing 'bump-and-grind' in public, unless at least a bit of alcohol was involved.
"Knock it back," Draco ordered, sliding a shot of tequila across the table to Harry, though it had originally been ordered on Seamus' request. "Then we're getting out there," he tilted his head towards the dance floor.
"'Kay," Harry agreed before he dutifully knocked the shot back.
"Wow! You've gotten good at that!" Dean pointed out. "You've become a little alcee-holic!" he said with a grin.
"Have not! He made me!" Harry retorted before flashing a grin at Draco. "Lets go! Let's get it started!" he said. He pulled Harry up and they proceeded to a section of the dance floor where Ron and Hermione, as well as Neville and Ginny were already dancing.
"I'm cutting in!" Hermione announced when the song changed to a relatively slow one. Draco quirked an eyebrow as she snatched at Harry's arm. She grinned back at him and Draco raised his hands in acquiescence.
"Care to dance, Weasley?" Draco said, turning to Ron.
"In your dreams, Malfoy," Ron retorted with a laugh.
"Only my most secret and disturbed fantasies," Draco admitted overdramatically, causing Ron to laugh as they made their way back to Dean, Seamus and Blaise who were seated at the table. "You obviously managed to smooth things over with Hermione after we left," Draco said as he sipped at the drink he had abandoned in order to dance. When he and Harry had returned to Ron and Hermione's home, she had just returned and they had been standing in the hallway staring at each other. Draco had thought it was in his and Harry's best interest to leave as quickly as possible and so, after briefly checking that they were still coming to the club, they had left Ron and Hermione to sort it out themselves.
"Ooh!" Seamus cried. "Lover's quarrel, Ronnie?"
"Sod off, and yes, we talked," Ron said, his complexion darkening.
"What the hell was it about, anyway?" Seamus asked.
"What isn't it about?" Dean supplied with a wry smirk. "They always argue." Ron's complexion merely darkened more and he sulked and sipped at his drink.
"Well, whatever works. Clearly Ron is partial to make-up sex," Blaise said, causing Ron to slide down in the booth. "Me, on the other hand, I prefer to avoid the messy business of spats and tiffs."
"Those are the same things," Dean pointed out. "Spats and tiffs, I mean. Aren't those the same things?" he asked when no one backed him up.
"I think someone hasn't had enough to drink, if you're still attempting to be technical at this point," Blaise suggested.
"Excuse me for being the designated driver!" Dean snorted. He'd had one drink when they had first gotten there, but had stopped at one, not wanting to risk having even the slightest impaired skills when they decided to leave.
Ron shuffled back up so he was sitting properly in the booth once more. "We got interrupted earlier, Draco," he said, suddenly fully recovered from his embarrassment and eyeing Draco with an evil look.
"Not here, Weasley," Draco said, hoping Ron would drop it.
"What's this, then? An affair?" Blaise asked. Draco rubbed at his temple, suddenly feeling a very strong headache coming on.
"You haven't told them?" Ron asked sounding genuinely surprised.
"I haven't told anyone, you prat, just you and clearly that was a mistake," Draco bit out. He hadn't intentionally told Ron, anyway. The redhead had sort of figured it out when they were at Pansy's going away party, and then, from there, Draco had thrown caution to the wind and asked Ron for his opinion because, as much as he knew his lover, there were some things that he simply was never sure of.
"Oh," Ron said, sounding flattered.
"Wait! Hold on, what the bloody hell are you two blokes talking about?" Seamus asked. "Spill!" he added. Seamus followed his own advice by spilling part of his Guinness down his front. He looked not the least bit embarrassed.
With a frustrated sigh, Draco sat back and rolled his eyes. "No," he said. "Not here, and not like this."
"Might as well confess and get it over with. They won't stop until you tell them, and at least they might forget in a drunken haze," Ron said.
Draco really didn't want to tell anyone, it was bad enough with Ron pestering him, it would only be worse if the others found out. "He might come back," Draco muttered as an excuse turning his head away.
"Draco's going to propose," Ron said. "He's already got the ring and everything." A sudden thought struck and Ron smirked at his friend. Draco, for a moment, really wished his friend hadn't picked-up that particular habit of his. "You've got it here, haven't you?" Draco tried not to blush and averted his eyes. "You must have it on you. I mean you did then," referring to when Draco had spoken to Ron. Well, it was true enough, Draco rarely went anywhere with Harry without having it with him, always searching for the 'right time'. Draco didn't want to do any of those typical proposals. Didn't want to propose at dinner, or alone on the couch, or before his friends at Christmas. He wasn't sure what it was exactly he was waiting for, but he knew it hadn't come yet.
"Whip it out!" Blaise said, patting Draco on the back with a manic grin on his face.
"Whip what out?" Hermione asked, and everyone looked up guiltily as she and Harry slid into their spots in the large booth. "Honestly, boys are so obscene!"
"We're not boys, we're men!" Seamus said, puffing up his chest. Hermione rolled her eyes. Draco was surprised how little had changed since their days in high school. It was so very hard to believe that these lasting friendships, and his love with Harry had been the result of one year of high school together. One year, and this was how much it had affected his life. Here he was, twenty-four, successful, happy, with close friends and a wonderful lover, all of which, despite Draco's expectations, had lasted.
The bantering continued until, finally, they decided to head home and Dean tried to usher everyone into the truck. The music was blaring and everyone was singing as they toured around dropping everyone where they should be.
When they reached their building, Draco and Harry were singing 'Swing Low Sweet Chariot' and shushing each other when they thought they had grown too loud.
They stumbled into their apartment after a dizzying ride up the lift, still whispering their song and shushing each other and laughing loudly. They made it to the bedroom before flopping onto the bed and promptly passing out, still in their clubbing clothes.
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Draco awoke at six o'clock in the morning and was relieved that, as per usual, his hang over was pleasantly manageable. It was one of the causes that led to their mock fights between he and Harry. Draco rarely had bad hangovers, though headaches were usual when he drank quite a bit, he was rarely reduced to vomiting and nausea. Harry on the other hand …
With a sigh, Draco scooted out of bed, having to unwrap himself from Harry's various sprawled limbs, and retrieved some ginger root and a glass of water, as well as some aspirin and a bucket, placing them each within easy access on Harry's side of the bed, before climbing back under the covers and falling back to sleep, Harry tucked close to his body.
When Draco woke again it was to the sound of the phone ringing. Beside him, Harry let out a long and pain-filled moan, and Draco smirked before reaching over to his nightstand and answering the phone.
"Draco?" a familiar woman's voice asked.
"Hm?" he answered.
"Are you adequately hung-over?"
"What the hell are you calling at this hour for Pansy?" Draco asked. He watched as Harry inched his way over to the side of the bed and downed both the aspirin and the water before sighing and settling back into bed. Draco was relieved to note that both the ginger root and the bucket went untouched.
"I wanted to welcome you back. And it's ten o'clock, quite a respectable time to be ringing. How's Harry's head?" she asked with an audible grin and smirk.
"Heh. You truly are evil. Fine. We're both fine."
"Is that Pansy?" Harry asked; his voice muffled by the pillow he had stuffed his head under.
"Yeah," Draco answered.
"Tell her that as soon as I'm confident that I can move without passing out, that I'm going to come and hurt her. Pain. Lots of pain."
Draco snickered and relayed Harry's message. "Aw, isn't he a sweetie," Pansy answered. "How are you, Draco? How was your trip? You have to fill me in because I couldn't be there and I miss everyone!" she said.
"The trip was fine, nothing interesting, and the performance was barely passable. But the welcoming home was quite pleasant," Draco said as he recalled coming into the kitchen and finding Harry.
"Which welcoming are you referring to, hon?" Pansy asked, noticing the tone in Draco's voice.
Draco laughed. "We missed you last night."
"Tell her that for her welcome home we're making her do karaoke," Harry said, still burrowing under his pillows.
"Ooh, revenge indeed!" Pansy said when Draco told her. "That's what I wanted to say, actually. I'm going to be back in two weeks, so make sure everyone keeps time open because I really want to catch-up on all that I missed so far."
"It's not much, really. Mostly we've just been wallowing in the darkness that your absence has left us in," Draco quipped.
"Oh good, I was worried for a bit," Pansy asked, laughing.
There was a knock at the door and Draco had to quickly say good-bye, promising that he would call her later, and then adding that they'd do a conference call when she complained that she hadn't heard from Harry in a while.
Draco tried to hurry out of bed and get to the door, because whoever was on the other side of it, though it seemed pretty clear that it was Sirius, was extremely impatient.
"Coming!" he called, trying to keep his voice relatively soft so as to take it easy on Harry. He slid the bedroom door shut because Sirius was notoriously loud, and finally made it to the front door, which he opened only to be glomped by the dark haired man.
"Draco! Fabulous to see you!" Sirius said as he stepped into the apartment and set his bags down. "I came straight here. Where's the little Guppy?" Sirius asked, already heading in the direction of the bedroom.
"A bit hung over," Draco said, just as Harry's voice from the bedroom cried: "I'm not a bloody Guppy anymore! I'm twenty-four years old!"
"Guppy!" Sirius cried as he passed into the bedroom, grinning and hauling Harry into a tight embrace before Harry had even managed to make it out of bed completely. "Partying hardy," Sirius said, gesturing to the clubbing outfits that both Draco and Harry were still wearing.
"You're early," Harry retorted as explanation.
"Well come on! Lets not wait for the grass to grow!" Sirius said, already shoving Harry in the direction of the shower. "I'll do breakfast, and then I want to be updated on everything that I've missed!"
Draco watched as Sirius, humming to himself, headed out of the bedroom and began puttering around the kitchen, undoubtedly beginning with breakfast. After a moment's hesitation, Draco turned and entered the bathroom.
"Taking a bit of a risk, aren't you?" Harry purred, grabbing Draco by the shoulders and stripping him even as he maneuvered him in the direction of the shower, which was already running.
"Yes," Draco admitted, "but apparently I was expected."
"Hm," Harry said as he joined Draco and grabbed the shampoo. "It just makes sense, after all," Harry said casually as he began to wash Draco's hair. "Breakfast will be ready soon, and we both needed to shower."
"Hm," Draco agreed. "Cuts down on the water bill, too," he said with a smirk.
"See? And you know we have to save whatever money we can. Both of us being starving artists and all," Harry said, though he could no longer keep a straight face.
"Yeah," Draco agreed. "Famished." And yanked Harry forward into a deep kiss.
"We shouldn't get carried away," Harry said when the parted, though his eyes were closed and his arms were still rapped around Draco's neck. "Breakfast will be done soon – and Sirius –" but he was cut-off as Draco kissed him again.
After a long and very heated kiss, Draco pushed Harry back a bit. "You're right."
"I am?" Harry asked, clearly dazed.
"Sirius isn't exactly patient," Draco said.
"Who?" Harry asked as he tugged Draco back into a kiss.
"Boys!" A voice called, and Harry and Draco's eyes flew open and they froze in their embrace as they heard the knock on the door. "Make it a quicky, would you? The eggs will get cold!" Sirius called.
"Oh. God," Harry said, turning a lovely shade of pink and looking completely mortified.
Draco laughed and turned Harry around, squeezing a dollop of shampoo on his hands and beginning to wash Harry's hair. "It's not like he doesn't know we have sex. I mean, we live together, we're dating. It's no big secret."
"He's my godfather!" Harry said, still sounding mortified.
"And you told me that he knew that you were going to corner me when I visited over Easter that first time, remember?" Draco had very fond memories of that holiday back in high school, and not just because it had been their first time together.
"That's different. He didn't actually say he knew. It was just implied. But this …" Harry didn't seem to know how to continue.
"You amaze me, sometimes, Harry," Draco said with a fond shake of his head as he began to rinse the shampoo from his lover's hair. "You are not the blushing virgin any longer, and yet you still are such an innocent sometimes."
"That's not true! How the hell would you feel if your mother said something like that?" Harry asked.
"She did," Draco said. "Remember last Christmas?" Draco was rewarded by seeing Harry once again regain that marvelous rose color. For a moment, Draco was reminded of a stuttering boy, with faint freckles backlit in this same way, offering a kiss.
"God," Harry said, "And that was just as bad!"
"No it wasn't. It's expected. It's just what couples do. They're teasing, Harry," Draco said.
They cleaned off quickly, and brushed their teeth before heading to their bedroom to get dressed. Harry very reluctantly entered the kitchen.
"There you are!" Sirius said, ruffling Harry's hair as he sat down at his place at the table, still blushing furiously. "Eat up quick because I have a surprise for you two!"
"It's not another one of your crazy road trips, is it?" Draco asked with a long-suffering sigh.
"Nope, better."
"It's not a flight to the States so you can visit Disney World, is it?" Harry asked.
"No, unfortunately," Sirius said, and looked a bit sad. "But it's still good."
"You should just tell us," Harry said with a half-smile, glancing in Draco's direction. "You've already got him reliving flashbacks on that road trip, he won't be able to calm down and enjoy the day until he knows you're not going to make us trek seven kilometers in search of gas in a rainstorm."
"I've got myself a showing, boy!" Sirius said. "You've got to come see the place! They've finished setting it up just this morning."
"Hang-on," Harry said, looking puzzled. "How long have you been in London?"
"For a while, but I wanted it to be a surprise!"
"You should have told me!" Harry cried. "But, this is amazing, Siri!" Harry said, jumping from his chair and giving his uncle a tight hug. Draco grinned as Sirius beamed, and then shook his hand firmly.
"You both have to come to opening night, I inisist!"
"Of course we'll be there! Oh my God, Sir!" Harry said, hugging his uncle again.
"Anyway, finish up because I want to show you the place. It's really quite something." With a grin, Harry and Draco reclaimed their seats and hurriedly finished breakfast.
"Oh my God!" Hermione cried and tried to stop herself from hurling the plate in her hands across the room at her husband's head. "We've just had this conversation, Ron! I'm not having it again!"
"Hermione, we've been married for six years already. Six!" Ron shouted. "I don't see what the fuss is about! The twins were already on the way after my parents were married for six years!"
"That's different!"
"Why?" Ron cried.
"Because that's what you mum wanted! She was happy with that! I'm not, Ron! I don't want kids now. I'm twenty-four! I'm working!"
"But –"
Hermione cut him off. "Will you take care of the baby, Ron?"
"Hermione, I have to work, but when I'm home, you know I'd help."
"So you expect me to stop working and raise the baby?" Hermione asked. "That's stupid and you know it!"
"You're here anyway!" Ron cried.
"That's because my work room is here. I work all day! How am I supposed to compose when I'm looking after a child?" Ron turned a dark red and looked flustered. "We're not ready for this. I'm not ready for this!"
"Yes we are! It's been six bloody years! We're more than ready! We'll figure something out."
"No, Ron," Hermione said, suddenly sounding very calm; she was reminding herself about what Harry had said to her and trying to remain calm. "I've already told you I'm not ready. We've talked about this more than enough times. You have to be ready for something like a baby, you have to be prepared for it, and it's just not time for us."
"Hermione, people have babies all the time without having their lives planned out."
"That's not what I'm saying, and if you insist on pushing this topic then I'm going to have to leave."
"Hermione, we'll work-out a schedule where it can work, but I really think –"
Fed-up with this particular issue, Hermione snapped. "Well you're not the one with the uterus! So it really doesn't matter, does it? Now, if you'll excuse me!" She huffed and stomped up to her room, tossing her clothes into a bag, not wanting to stay here any longer, feeling flustered and misunderstood and under-attack. Next, she went to her office and gathered up all her work, before she took her coat and returned to the kitchen where Ron was still standing. "I'm going now, Ron. I'm sorry, but we've talked about this and you just don't seem to understand. I love you, but you're just being an ass right now. If you want me, call Harry and he'll tell you where I've gone. But don't try to contact me if you're going to persist about this."
With that, Hermione turned on her heel, grabbed the keys to her car, and left her home and her husband, wanting to cry very hard for a very long time. She made it down the street before she pulled into a secluded parking lot for a small shop, and then proceeded to do just that.
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TBC
I would like to apologize for it taking so very long to update this fic. I've been very busy this term, and there have been technical difficulties. Luckily, everything has been sorted out. And, frankly, I had issues with this chapter, and even now a not happy with it. Next chapter will be better, promise! Special thanks to my beta Allohamora for the jumpdrive, hopefully this will mean no more random loss of data or destruction of discs! Thanks, as well, to everyone who has reviewed, and has been patiently waiting for an update. I really can' thank everyone enough for the encouragement I've received!!
This chapter dedicated to my beta Allohamora for her help and also the wonderful Christmas presi! And the encouragement!
i Let's Get It Started, by the Black-Eyed Peas, There's also a version called "Let's Get Retarded" but I didn't want to be offensive.
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TEASER:
Enter the Art Critic
Unfortunate Accidents
The Unwanted Proposal