"We need to stop meeting like this," Draco said as soon as Harry's eyes blinked open. Harry sighed and closed his eyes again, having confirmed that it was indeed his lover's fingers in his hair, and Draco was just fine.

"What happened?" Harry asked after a moment, reluctantly blinking his eyes open again.

Draco looked around the room, spotted the light switch and dimmed the lights before knotting his fingers back into black locks, and smiling into confused green eyes. "As far as anyone can tell, you collapsed from exhaustion. But since you were in the middle of a recording, no one was around to catch you and you knocked your head fairly hard on the floor."

"Is –" Harry said.

"Yes, Little Mischief is just fine," Draco confirmed. "But you, on the other hand, may or may not have a concussion."

"I feel fine," Harry offered helpfully.

"That's because they gave you aspirin. In a few hours, you'll be cursing the light, bemoaning your pretty little bruised head and I'll be hovering around your uselessly, fretting piteously and staring into your eyes to make sure your bloody pupils haven't gone wonky. Not to mention prodding you every few hours."

"But they are sending me home," Harry hedged.

"On the strict condition that you get some rest, and that you're watched like a hawk. Like I say, you might have a concussion."

"So long as I'm not here," Harry said, "I hate the damn hospital."

"I know," Draco said, and rested his head beside Harry's on the pillow, hand still entangled in the dark hair.

…………………..

Draco was kicked out of Harry's room while the Doctor did some tests to make sure Harry was fine to return home, and so Draco took the opportunity to once again reassure the crowd that had congregated outside of Harry's room.

"He'll need lots of rest, is all," Draco once again reassured Sirius, who was fretting horribly. "And Pansy's in the guest room, otherwise you know I'd let you stay," Draco said. As much as he loved Sirius, he fussed too much. Still, Draco knew how the man felt as he himself had every intention of fussing ridiculously over his lover. Still, the idea of having Sirius in the house was a scary one. Draco knew all too well that Harry would be frustrated enough with the amount of fussing he intended to do. To add Sirius to the mix would be catastrophic. At least, as things stood, Pansy would be able to keep both Draco and Harry calm. She was very good at being rational when she needed to be.

Draco wondered how 'rational' she could be after a phone call informing her that her lover was enroot to hospital!

"The rest of you, thanks for coming," he tried a smile but was feeling quite tired himself suddenly.

"Okay, people. We have the results! Harry's going to be just fine!" Pansy said. "It'll be too much for him to have everyone around all at once, so might as well head-out and phone in later to check on things." It took a while, but by the time the doctor informed Draco that Harry only needed to get changed and he was free to go, the only people who were in the waiting room besides himself were Sirius and Pansy. He didn't think he'd be getting rid of Sirius any time soon, either.

…………………

"Should you be walking?" Sirius asked Harry. "Should he really be walking?" this he directed to Draco.

"I didn't break my bloody legs! I'm just tired!" Harry huffed.

"He's fine," Draco assured, but even still, he was arm-in-arm with his lover, and fully prepared to catch him should he stumble or fall.

"Please don't fuss," Harry requested futilely.

"It's all the things you've been trying to do," Pansy lectured. "Between re-recording, helping everyone out, planning my stupid welcome back party, you've just exhausted yourself."

"Thank-you, mother," Harry replied.

"We'll get you to the car," Sirius said.

"You're coming with us?" Harry asked with trepidation.

"I'm taking over your couch," Sirius replied with certainty.

"God, when will our home be ours again?" Harry asked Draco as the blond helped him into the front seat of the car. "I can bloody well sit down on my own!" Harry sniped.

"Relax, Harry," Pansy said. "There's no point fighting it, and there's no stopping it."

"Save me?" Harry requested helplessly, but Pansy only laughed heartily.

…………………..

One week after Pansy's returning to London, and two days after Harry's collapse, Draco and Harry's apartment was filled with their friends as they celebrated Pansy's return. Harry confined to the bedroom where he surveyed the party from his place on the bed, wrapped in a thick duvet, though he was not cold, and guarded by his uncle, who had not stopped fussing since he'd left the hospital, despite the fact that there was absolutely nothing wrong with him outside a need for sleep.

"Can you believe they're at it again?" Draco huffed as he set his champagne glass on the nightstand and tumbled onto the bed beside his lover. From the bed, Harry could see Pansy and Blaise arguing in a corner.

"He's being a berk," Harry diagnosed the situation. "Who's the redhead on his arm?"

"Wendy," Draco scoffed. "And that's got Seamus and Dean up in arms, because she's not part of the group and shouldn't be here."

"He's doing it to get to Pansy," Harry said and sighed.

"You're stressing him!" Sirius huffed and Draco. "Stop stressing him. I'll close the doors!" Sirius directed the last bit to Harry.

"I'm twenty-four years old!" Harry huffed. "I'm perfectly fine, and I'm a grown man! I really shouldn't have to put up with this!"

"Listen to your uncle, Guppy," Draco said, and kissed Harry's cheek, before he stood up. "I'm going over there to put a stop to Blaise and Pansy's bickering."

"Send someone in here to amuse me?" Harry requested.

"Nobody that will stress him," Sirius added.

"Right, be back in a moment," Draco said.

……………………

"I'm leaving," Pansy informed Draco as he arrived at her side, having been just a moment too late to actually put a stop to the fight – Blaise had already walked off.

"This party is for you, you're not leaving it. Come to the bedroom and save Harry from his uncle," Draco suggested.

"No, I mean London," Pansy said. "This was a bad idea. I don't know what I was thinking. I had a few weeks, and I wanted a break and I wanted to see everyone."

"Everyone here knows that he's the problem," Draco said.

"I don't want them thinking that," Pansy huffed. "I don't want there to be a problem to think about. This is my holiday, I shouldn't have to put up with this," she sighed.

"If that's what will make you happy," Draco offered.

"I'll be back in a moment," Pansy said as she turned towards the bathroom.

"I'll be in the bedroom with the sentinel and my poor lover," Draco said. When he turned around he noticed that Harry was watching him closely. He returned to the bedroom to update his lover on what was going on.

"He's a jealous arse," Harry said. "You should go with her," he added after a pause. "It's no good for her just to go by herself. It was her holiday and she came here," Harry said.

"I'm not leaving you when you're exhausted and on your sickbed," Draco huffed.

"I'll watch him!" Sirius promised at the same time Harry said, "I'm not on my bloody sickbed!"

"I'll go with her," Draco agreed after a moment. Harry interlocked their fingers together and smiled. "But I'll be back within a week, and I don't want to hear about you collapsing or stressing or doing anything strenuous."

"I'm confined to a bloody bed for practically the entire day," Harry huffed. "How could I possibly be stressed?

……………………..

He spotted her standing by the fireplace and tried to appear casual as he moved beside her. They'd talked, of course. Once Harry had dropped him off in front of the hotel after his monologue, Ron was unable to ignore the situation any longer. Of course, though they had reached a sort of truce after their discussion that day, Hermione hadn't come back to the house, and Ron wasn't sure what else he could do to convince her.

"You might have pursued a career on the stage," Hermione suggested. "You're very good," she added.

Ron flushed bright red at the comment. He knew she was teasing, and he cursed Draco for opening the damn party by showing the video of the night he'd spent, drunk out of his wits at the apartment. "I considered it for a while, but no one was writing scripts up to my caliber," he shot off.

"I'll bet," she quipped, and they grinned at each other. "It was a very pretty thing to say," she added, this time in complete seriousness. Ron knew she meant the part of his drunken litany when he expounded on Hermione's lovely traits and how he missed her and said he was an ass. "Not very eloquent, and you sort of lisped," she acknowledged, "but still quite pretty."

"I meant it," he said, this time turning to look at her. "That and everything else. If you come back, I'll be stronger."

"I don't want promises, Ron," Hermione said with a sigh. "Words are easy. What happened hurt, and it took away some of the trust we had between us. I want it back, I really do, but – I'm not sure what I can say," she admitted.

"What are you doing tomorrow night?" he asked, feeling suddenly reckless and exhilarated.

"Ron, no," she said, misinterpreting everything.

"Are you busy?" he questioned.

"Nothing planned," she admitted, but before she could open her mouth and try to clarify what she'd meant since she was certain he hadn't understood, he'd already grabbed her wrist and pulled her outside of the apartment. He flicked open his cell and dialed the number, all before she could even get a word out. "Hi, mum!" Ron said into the phone. He didn't stop to breathe, so clearly he'd gotten the machine – or so Hermione hoped, because Mrs. Weasley was likely boggled if Ron was actually addressing her directly. "Hermione and I wanted to invite you to dinner at our house tomorrow. You and dad, of course. But mum? Just between you and me, could you pass on to dad that Hermione and I have talked a lot about it, and we've decided to hold off on children for the time being. I'm just mentioning it because I know how much you were looking forward to more grandkids, but we both think it's best. Please don't make a big production about it. It's really nothing huge. Anyway, we'll be looking forward to the visit. Love you, mum." And Ron clicked off the phone.

Hermione was smiling at him, and at the same time, they rolled their eyes at each other. Ron proffered his arm and Hermione linked hers with his, and they headed out of the apartment. "I've finished that piece you harping about," Hermione said as they headed out towards the parking lot.

"That cello solo?" Ron asked.

"They one you've been dying to get your hands on.

"Brilliant, I'll have to try it out." And Ron carried on about the piece and his cello, and how he'd waited so patiently, and Hermione thought to herself about all the reasons she'd ended-up marrying her high-school sweetheart.

……………….

The night before Draco and Pansy were about to fly out, Draco took Harry out for a nice dinner. It was the first time that Harry had been out of the loft since he'd collapsed, and he was savoring every moment. Draco had spoken with Sirius about being perhaps a bit too paranoid, and though Sirius refused to leave Harry on his own in the loft while Draco was away, he agreed that so long as Harry rested, he wouldn't fuss.

"I was beginning to think I'd forgotten what the outside world looked like," Harry joked as he twirled the pasta noodles onto his fork. "Mm," he groaned in satisfaction at the mouthful. "I needed this," he said. "I feel human again."

"Glad to hear it," Draco said with a fond grin. It was so easy to make Harry happy. He looked around the dimly lit restaurant and nervously sipped at his wine. He'd finished his dinner already, hadn't been able to eat much of it. His hand was in his pocket beneath the tablecloth, toying with the cool metal he'd once again stashed in his pocket, and he watched Harry finish dinner with a gleam in his eye. "You realize that, of the entire group of us, you and I are the only pair who have not had a major row recently?"

"Knock on wood," Harry added, and Draco raised his eyes from where they had been surveying the tabletop, to meet Harry's eyes. "Wouldn't that be all we'd need? I mean, everyone else is spinning out of control, we'd have no safety net if we suddenly started to row," Harry said.

Draco sighed resignedly and took his hand from his pocket – knocking it twice on the wooden tabletop.

-------------------------

End Chapter Five:

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TEASERS:

Something in the drinks

Draco on the rampage

An accidental, in the heat of the moment, somewhat expected if a little cliché kind of ending (that isn't actually the ending of the fic, mind)