At breakfast the next morning, Draco, feeling bored, decided to play his favourite game: make Harry embarrassed.
"So, Harry," he began, taking a pause to sip his coffee, "just how long have you had that little decoration you showed me yesterday?"
Harry blushed; he hadn't told Ron or Hermione about his tattoo. They picked up on it straight away.
"What 'little decoration'?" Hermione asked, frowning thoughtfully.
"You showed him something you haven't shown us?" Ron said, a little hurt but mostly intrigued.
"It's just a tattoo guys, don't get too worked up about it," Harry said embarrassedly.
"Well, show us then," Ron said, eyeing Harry as if he might be able to see it through Harry's clothes.
Glaring at Draco, who merely smirked in return, Harry stood up with an exaggerated sigh and lifted the back of his shirt.
"Cool," Ron said.
"Harry – didn't it hurt?"
"Actually, no, I… cast a little 'no pain' charm on the area first," Harry said, feeling stupid for some reason. He shouldn't have bothered.
"A 'no pain' charm?" Draco asked, impressed. "Where did you pick that up? I haven't heard of them."
"You invented it," Hermione said in a stern tone.
"Um. I sort of adapted it from something else. It's not really very effective, it only works on small areas and it only works for an hour or so."
"Huh," Draco said.
"So when did you get it done?" Ron asked, revoicing Draco's earlier question.
"Just over the summer. That day that we went to Diagon Alley and I disappeared for a couple of hours," Harry said, then, checking his watch, added "sorry guys it's time to get to work. Well, see you at lunch!"
"I wish you'd told us about it," Ron grumbled as Harry left the room without replying.
In their study, Draco sat at his desk and looked at Harry. "I'm sorry I brought it up, I didn't realise it would cause you so much embarrassment. I just figured you told them everything," he said, noticing Harry was quieter than usual.
"That's ok. I don't tell them everything… just the main things. But sometimes I don't even tell them the most important things," Harry responded, giving Draco a smile.
"Like what?"
"Nothing," Harry said quickly, looking away.
"Yes, there is something. That's it again, isn't it? This thing that you don't want to talk about."
"No, it's really… I do tell them most things, but to give you an example, I didn't tell them about the prophecy until Dumbledore told me to. The same with the Horcruxes."
"Hmph. Yeah, ok. But I know you're still hiding something."
Harry laughed uneasily. "You're a little too perceptive sometimes, Draco. It's unnerving."
"Oh really? Do I make you uncomfortable, Harry?" Draco said, eyes sparkling.
"Sometimes," Harry admitted, "in more ways than one," he added in an undertone.
Draco heard, but he wasn't sure if he'd heard what he thought he did, so he ignored it. But he still couldn't help the blush that crept onto his cheeks or the small self-satisfied smile that formed.
Harry didn't notice; he was already immersed in his papers. Scanning some notes of Dumbledore's that Harry had managed to borrow from what was now McGonagall's office, Harry found something that caught his interest.
"Draco, listen: Dumbledore's written notes on the location of Voldemort's mother's grave. It's not too near the Gaunt house – he wouldn't want to make it too easy – so it's possible that Voldemort hid one of the Horcruxes there. We know at least that we should be looking in places that hold some sentimental value for him."
"Yeah. I was wondering if there might actually be something in or near Hogwarts. He loved the school, I think more than anywhere else." Draco said.
"I don't know, it's a possibility, I suppose, but I think it would have been to dangerous for him to hide it in the school, surrounded by wizards – and right under Dumbledore's nose," Harry said, feeling immediately guilty for bursting Draco's confidence as he noticed the crestfallen look on the other boy.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. I'll keep thinking."
"You better, because you come up with lots of brilliant ideas."
"Huh," Draco said, turning back to his papers, embarrassed.
"We should check it out sometime soon – the grave I mean, it's not too far to fly."
"Will we all go?" Draco wondered.
Harry thought about this, for a moment, remembering how difficult and dangerous it had been to obtain the locket – and he had been with Dumbledore then. He opened his mouth to say no, that he would go alone, but then remembered what Ron and Hermione had said to him at the end of sixth year. 'We're with you whatever, Harry'. And Harry realised that Ron and Hermione, even Draco, would be with him: they were in this together, and he was not going to deny them if they wanted to come with him. They would be safer together anyway.
"Yes," he said firmly, feeling he had made the right decision when Draco looked at him proudly.
"I'm glad, Harry. I could tell you were going to say no, but I'm glad you changed your mind. We all need to be a part of this." Draco said, smiling at Harry. "Not to mention I'm happy to be able to come and help protect you," he added, grinning cheekily when Harry scowled at him.
Harry didn't retort, he just turned back to his papers and began to plot a course for the grave. It was quite near the orphanage Tom Riddle had grown up in. Harry supposed this made sense: she had died at the orphanage, after all.
Somehow, two hours passed while Harry was still planning the trip to the grave, and brainstorming possible obstacles they might be faced with. Harry doubted Inferi or poison would be involved; Voldemort wouldn't use the same defences twice – if someone got through the defences of one Horcrux, he wouldn't want them to be able to easily get through those of another. Then again, Voldemort would have thought his defences impossible to pass.
"Harry," Draco whined from across the room, "we've been at this for hours. Can we take a break?"
Harry checked his watch; Draco was right, they'd been working for three hours straight, since eight thirty.
"Ok, a half hour break, then we get back into it for an hour before lunch," he agreed, sitting back from the papers and giving them a glare.
Draco laughed. "What?" Harry asked, annoyed.
"You sure do hate those papers," Draco said, causing Harry to blush.
"Shut up! I'm just tired."
"Heh heh. You're cute when you're embarrassed."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm not the only one!" Harry said, looking proud at his comeback for a grand total of about one second, before looking completely mortified.
"Uh… forget I said that." Harry mumbled, looking away.
Suddenly Draco got up from his desk and walked over to Harry's.
"What if I don't want to?" he asked seriously.
"What?" Harry said, confused. Draco sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. Harry watched, mesmerised by his beauty.
Draco saw the look in Harry's eyes as he watched Draco's hand run through his hair and watched Harry's face as his gaze travelled slowly across to meet Draco's eyes. Harry sighed and looked away, mentally berating himself for almost revealing himself to Draco.
Draco sighed heavily. "Stop shutting me out," he said in a pained voice, "haven't I earned your trust yet?"
"Of course you have, it's just…" Harry trailed off, still refusing to look at Draco.
"No, Harry." Draco said firmly. He was sick of it. He needed to know, once and for all, what Harry was hiding. He needed to know whether or not he… "Not anymore. Just… let go. Look me in the eyes, and let go."
Harry sighed, realising that if he did not comply with Draco's request now, he might never have a chance of gaining the other boy's affection. Slowly he closed his eyes, mentally preparing himself – removing the mental shield that he kept in his mind to mask the things he did not want others to be able to read on his face. When he opened his eyes, he looked straight at Draco, and hid nothing.
Draco gasped. In Harry's eyes, he saw raw pain, much suffering, despair and anguish, but also a fierce hope, determination and passion. But the one that made Draco's breath hitch was the emotion that became clear to him only after he had filtered out all the others. It was desire.
Harry noticed Draco's eyes widen slightly, and realised he must have seen it; seen what Harry had been trying to hide for so long. But just as Harry was about to look away and put up his shields again, Draco said, "Don't."
And slowly, as Harry watched, Draco let his own emotions show through, and Harry thought the mixture of fear, anger, passion, pride and desire was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Neither boy had to ask; they both leaned in at the same time, closing their eyes as their lips met in a soft kiss. When they parted, Draco tenderly brushed some hair from Harry's face.
That simple act almost had Harry undone. He leaned into the touch, closing his eyes blissfully.
"Draco…" he breathed, leaning towards Draco's face.
Draco's eyelids fluttered closed as he kissed Harry again. This time the kiss was passionate and filled with need; they had both waited for so long and now they didn't want to let go.
By the third kiss, Harry and Draco were shedding their shirts, their hands roaming over and delighting in the smooth skin and taut muscle of the other's body. By the fourth, Draco was lowering Harry to the ground, gripping Harry's forearms tightly.
Neither Harry nor Draco noticed the two soft pops and sudden appearance of Ron and Hermione in the room.
"What's wro-" Hermione began, looking around wildly. On catching sight of the pair on the ground, quickly fell silent. Surprisingly, her face formed a smirk. More surprisingly, so did Ron's.
"Ahem," Hermione said loudly, glancing at Ron amusedly when the two boys on the ground paid no attention.
"Allow me," Ron mouthed, smirking at Hermione. She nodded, wondering what he'd do.
"Death Eater!" Ron shouted, feigning horror and grinning when Draco ripped his lips from Harry's and turned his head sharply to look at Ron.
"Ah… you called?" Hermione asked, barely concealing her amusement.
Harry and Draco both blushed; Draco sat up on Harry and glared at Ron and Hermione.
"No," he said, attempting a cold tone.
Hermione laughed. "Shove off, Draco, you're not Malfoy anymore!"
Draco grinned; Hermione was right.
"No, we didn't," Harry said confusedly, cutting in. He attempted to push Draco off him, but Draco refused to move. Harry sighed exasperatedly when Draco merely settled himself more comfortably on Harry.
"But… we felt it. Both of us," Hermione said, also looking confused.
"Do you think it set itself off or something? I mean, we haven't used them before," Ron said, looking thoughtful.
"Wait, Draco, press Harry's tattoo," Hermione said, looking as if a sudden insight hit her.
Draco complied, and when he felt his own tattoo grow warm, he looked at it in surprise. The circle was dark red for a few moments before returning to it's normal black colour.
"Huh. Weird." Draco commented, looking at Hermione expectantly.
"Why is everyone looking at me?" Hermione said exasperatedly.
"We're waiting for an explanation, Hermione," Ron said, amused.
"Oh… right. Obviously it works if any one of us presses on someone's tattoo. I suppose it doesn't make much of a difference except we're going to have to be careful not to have a repeat of something like this. Particularly if we're not all in the same place." Hermione said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Ron snorted. Harry blushed. Draco pouted.
"Aww, but Hermione, it's so fun!" Draco whined, scowling at Harry when he hit Draco on the back of the head.
"Don't put on that baby voice, it's annoying. And get off me," Harry said, suddenly becoming very aware of the fact that Draco was sitting on his hips and feeling his face heating up.
"Do I make you uncomfortable, Harry?" Draco asked coyly, wriggling around, grinning as he felt Harry's body responding. Ron looked horrified; Hermione looked slightly annoyed.
"Right, well… we'll just leave now," Ron said, hurrying to try and drag Hermione from the room.
"Yes, but we'll talk later about this business, Hermione said, sounding almost reproaching.
In spite of his embarrassment, Draco giggled in a very un-Malfoyish sort of way as soon as the door had clicked shut behind Ron and Hermione.
"What's got into you today?" Harry asked, laughing as Draco tried to suppress his giggles.
"Nothing, I just… they were so funny – Ron so horrified, and Hermione so disapproving. And neither of them knew what to do! Merlin, that was funny."
"Yeah? Well, do you know what I don't find funny?" Harry growled. Draco immediately stopped laughing and looked at Harry, slightly nervously.
"Wh-what?" he asked, not daring to break eye contact with Harry.
"You. Teasing me unbearably, in front of my friends, might I add, getting me all worked up – and then not following through," Harry said pointedly, rolling his hips under Draco for added emphasis.
"Oh. Oh!" Draco laughed again, stretching out on top of Harry. "You had me worried there for a moment, Potter, I thought it was something serious," he whispered, leaning in to touch his lips to Harry's. To his surprise, Harry turned his face away. Draco pulled back, frowning. "What is it now?" he asked almost irritably.
"You called me 'Potter'," Harry said, clearly hurt.
"Harry, I wasn't trying to distance myself from you or anything," Draco explained, correctly interpreting Harry's discomfort with the nickname, "I was just teasing you."
"Yeah, well, I still don't like it," Harry grumbled, "it reminds me of our old rivalry."
"Yeah, but you can't deny it was fun at the time. Face it, Harry, you loved tormenting no one more than me."
Harry looked guilty. Draco smiled. "I'm not angry, I'm just stating a fact. And trying to point out that – well, we have always seemed to have a bit of a thing for each other, don't you think?"
"If you're implying-" Harry began, but Draco cut him off.
"All I'm implying," he said, imitating Harry's tone of voice, "is that we've always sought each other out to express particularly strong emotions. First, anger… and now…" Draco trailed off, unsure of the appropriate word to fill the gap; unsure of the level of seriousness Harry sought.
"Desire," Harry supplied helpfully.
"Yes," Draco said, relieved that there was not, at this stage at least, any pressure for anything more. "And now, if you don't mind, I believe we were in the middle of something."
"Mmmm," Harry mumbled, allowing Draco to kiss him passionately for a few minutes, hands roaming, before pulling away abruptly. "As much as I'd like to continue," he began, quailing under Draco's glare, "I think – I think perhaps we should move to a more comfortable and perhaps private location." He said, sighing with relief when Draco nodded, no longer annoyed at the interruption.
"For a moment I thought you were going to say 'it's lunch time', or something equally as idiotic and Gryffindorkish." Draco said, as they lowered themselves onto Harry's bed and cuddled together. Harry didn't reply; blushing slightly, he attempted to distract Draco by placing kisses on his neck. Draco moaned, seemingly forgetting about it before-
"You were going to say that, weren't you?" Draco gave a loud, dramatic sigh. "What am I going to do with you, Harry Potter?" He asked theatrically as Harry raised his head to look intently at Draco.
"Keep me, hopefully," Harry said, breaking the seriousness with a cheeky smile.
Draco smiled back, wrapping his arms around Harry's neck and pulling him down so that Harry's face was buried in the crook of his neck.
"That I will," he said, running a hand through Harry's hair and sighing contentedly as Harry smiled into his neck.