Summer Solace, Part II

3-5-06

Draco stirred wearily in the late morning light flooding his room. Crabbe and Goyle were already gone on this summer Saturday. His legs slid languidly among the sheets encasing him and the soft pillowcase beneath his head beckoned him to lay a while longer. Forcing himself to sit up and shake off the veil of sleep, Draco scratched his scalp idly and allowed his eyes to adjust to the harsh light.

Memories of the night before bombarded his brain relentlessly, urging Draco to remember the fluttering of lips on his own and stains of tears on his cheeks. A smile burst onto his face and he realized that for the first time he had slept soundly. An image of Harry seeped into his mind and he was at once caught up in a feeling of gentle love and reverance.

A surge of energy brought him to his feet beside his bed, pulling on clothes and robes and shoes so that he could search for the object of his affection. But how could he apprehend his new companion?

Confusion swarmed him as he slowly left the underground lair of the Slytherin. This was a new challenge to be met head-on; he'd never before seriously had to worry about getting Harry into private so that they could discuss things affectionate or otherwise. And how could he reconcile so many times he had held Harry as a target for hatred and embarrassment? He mulled all these thoughts over on the way to the Great Hall for lunch.

He ate slowly, allowing the few befuddled eyes around him to watch his slender frame sit silently as his eyes glazed over in thought. Finally, Harry's figure entered the Hall and his eyes fell momentarily on the Slytherins' table. He followed Ron and Hermione to the Gryffindor table and chatted as they ate. After a while he stood and excused himself and left the Hall. His friends' eyes followed his exiting figure and then glared for a moment in Draco's direction as if it were a reflex, but soon enough they were occupied with each other so that he could make his escape. He slipped silently from the dining room and into the hallway, and spotted Harry standing near an alcove halfway down the deserted corridor.

Draco strided toward him and met his gaze directly. With a final perimeter check over his shoulder, Draco pushed Harry into the alcove and kissed him with warm lips. Harry's hands settled gently on his lover's shoulders and gripped him with anxious fingers. The heat of their labored breath misted Harry's spectacles and when they finally withdrew from each other the fog receded. Grins spread wide across their crimson, pouted lips and they embraced.

"I don't know what to say," Draco confessed finally with sheepish demeanor.

"Neither do I," his friend replied with a chuckle. "How did you sleep?"

"Very well," he said heavily. "I've never been so--," he trailed off and stared deeply into Harry's eyes, searching for the words.

"Yeah." Harry's smile splayed wider, dismissing the need for explanation.

Draco's eyes dropped and his hands brushed through his wheat-colored hair. His voice became morose. "When can I see you again?"

Neither Harry nor Draco knew how to handle their newfound situation. Where and when would they be safe from others' presumptuous, judging eyes and ears? How long would it all last?

Who cares? This was all too beautiful and new to condemn early on to prevent heartache and disappointment and judgement. However, approaching footsteps set their nerves on end and Draco backed out of the alcove.

"Watch yourself, Potter," Draco said audibly in a slightly harsh tone. He felt regret for knowing that he would have to keep up a ruse so that they would not be discovered as an item, but he prayed silently that Harry would understand. Professor Snape then appeared down the hallway, approaching quickly at the sight of Malfoy. Upon his arrival he paused and arched an eyebrow, glanced at Harry's slouched figure and sneered as he disappeared to finish whatever business he was on.

"Meet me again tonight," Draco pleaded, stepping again into the shadowed nook to cradle Harry's jaw in his palm. The desperation was thick in his voice and eyes as he idly rubbed the boy's cheek with his thumb.

"Of course," Harry sighed as he reached up to cup the back of Draco's hand. "Same time, same place." A smile curved the corners of his rosy lips before he lay another gentle caress on his companion's mouth and left their hiding place to rejoin his friends.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Draco was restless as he lay in bed, curling his body around an extra pillow, expectant of what would come to be that second night. After an eternity of waiting, all was quiet in Slytherin. His lackeys lay snoring in their respective places and he jumped at the chance to rejoin his lover. Carefully, he withdrew from the encasement of his four-poster bed and dressed hurriedly so that he could escape out the high window.

The blond prince approached the deep shadows of his coveted tree without apprehension and searched the horizon of Hogwart's for evidence of his guest. A firm grip on his right hand sent his heart jumping and forced a yelp from his throat.

"Sorry," Harry apologized bashfully, appearing from behind the very tree that Draco stood beside. At once their hearts lept to a new rhythm as they clung tightly to each others' bodies and raked fingers through the other's hair. Lips parted to allow entrance to a tongue and robes fell open to leave only thin shirts between the rapid rise and fall of slender chests. Harry pressed Draco against the trunk of the tree and wrapped his arms around his boy's warm neck. Draco's hands feverishly tore his own shirt from being tucked into the waistband of his slacks to allow Harry's hands to explore the curves of his chiseled abdomen. His hands clutched firmly at the nape of his lover's neck, pressing their lips hungrily together. Harry threw off his robes and delved his hands within the other's shirt, following the curve around to his spine, tracing individual vertebrae. After a time, their heated kissing slowed and eventually came to a lull.

"So much for hello," Draco said with a devilish smirk.

"Sorry. I can't help it." Harry's face flushed and his eyes seeped with embarrassment. But Draco's eyes were placid and forgiving, although there was nothing to truly forgive. Draco unclasped his robes and tossed them aside, wanting no more than necessary to come between himself and Harry and the night air. He led Harry to sit with him on the ground and kept his hand gently encasing the other boy's. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and comfort.

"Do you think they suspect anything?" Draco's voice was almost startling in the muggy night air.

"It's too soon," Harry replied assuredly.

"What about your friends? Won't they know something's out of place?"

Harry thought that over for a while before finally deciding that no one had to know anything unless they allowed it. If they did not falter, then their secret could be kept.

"We'll be fine. I mean, we don't even know how long--." But the thought was too much to say aloud. Neither could, at that moment, bear the thought of leaving one another. All they could do was hope for forever, or at least as long as possible. "We'll be fine."

"Yeah," Draco half-heartedly agreed. The best thing would be to push the notion from their minds and concentrate on what was literally right in front of them---each other. It didn't matter how long this bliss lasted, but simply that it existed at all was a miracle in their eyes. The stars shone down in agreement and danced for the boys' eyes to watch peacefully.

"Listen, don't panic, Draco. It's too soon and we still have time to--." Harry left the rest to both of their imaginations. The shadows of a grin began to tug at Draco's lips as he basked in the feeling of such affection attached to his own name.

"Tell me something," Draco inquired, "Did you ever think this would ever happen? I mean, you and me?"

Harry's face twitched before he responded. "No actually, never." A chuckle followed in good humor.

"Me neither." He idly caressed the outside of his companion's hand, tracing little wisps of curls and invisible designs leading into Harry's palm as it turned over. "Harry," he sighed almost inaudibly as he leaned in for another kiss, for once adoring the sound of his name. Harry hummed momentarily as their mouths connected, savoring the soft graze of Draco's skin. His hand raised to the other's chest, feeling for the strong heartbeat he knew to reside within. The palpable night air enveloped them as their hands strayed across each other's bodies, feeling knots of muscle and the smooth sensation of silken skin. "Take off your glasses," Draco requested gently with a hint of amusement. "I never see you without those glasses."

Harry did as he was asked, folded the spectacles and lay them on the heap of his robes a short distance away. He looked at the fair boy in front of him, seeking approval and found it as he was knocked to the earth, onto his back in the sweating grass. Draco pinned him to the ground by the shoulders and bestowed kiss after kiss over Harry's face and neck, traveling down to the uppermost hem of his shirt. Harry moaned softly as his every nerve was set ablaze. Draco pried off Harry's thin shirt and let his hands trail down his ribs and settle just within the waistband of his pants, his thumbs massaging the little hollow just inside each hipbone. Harry squirmed involuntarily, aching to wrap himself around his lover's body and devour him in every intimate way imaginable. Draco's mouth clamped down on the side of his prey's neck, nibbling and using his tongue to stimulate the vein beneath paper-thin skin. His fingers curled around the long strands of dark hair on Harry's head, soft and inviting.

The notion that they were moving too fast never once crossed either of their minds. Neither could imagine slowing down or whether or not negative consequences would come of their passionate meetings. All that mattered was the traveling of fingers and hands, the writhing of young bodies, and the connection of mouths and tongues. There was love in every movement, every caress, and every meeting of eyes.

"I can't stand being without you, Harry," Draco breathed gruffly between kisses. "Why did we wait so long?"

The truth was, their prior meeting had been by mere chance, as far as they could tell, and if perhaps fate had not had such an encounter planned for them they would have never seen each other as suitable objects of affection. If time had not aligned so perfectly that restlessness acted as fuel to the flame that would come to be, Harry and Draco may have remained enemies for all time, ever searching for a true love, unaware of what the other truly was.

Draco groaned as Harry's hand slid down his thigh, squeezing tumultuously at the muscles beneath the binding confines of his ever-tightening pants, fitting perfectly beneath the curve of his buttocks. He yearned for a release, wanted Harry to attend to his sweet pain and suffering as quickly as possible.

"I don't want to wait," Harry lamented between soft keening noises unable to stay within his throat. He bit Draco's lower lip, gnawing suggestively at the pink flesh of his mouth and gliding the length of his tongue across the boy's teeth. Draco fumbled with the clasp to Harry's pants feverishly, forcing the material down his hips. Harry did the same with his companion's pants as sweat poured down both their bodies, forcing the night dew on the cool grass to practically turn to steam. The growing contents of their undergarments grazed each other suggestively, shooting desire through their systems like electricity.

"You're gorgeous," Harry said gently as he stared into Draco's moss green eyes.

"I love the way you say that," Draco sighed as he combed his hard fingernails down the boy's abdomen. There was a snag in his throat as he felt compelled to say more, to confess words he had no idea existed when directed toward Harry or anyone for that matter. All he could do was comply as his lover rolled over on top of him, rubbing himself vigorously against Draco's hips. The material of their undergarments was abrasive against moist, sensitive skin, but there they were, massaging each others bodies with their own. Harry's hands stayed Draco's body as his mouth traveled downward, trailing tender kisses to the elastic binding his prey's body more toward itself than it shold have been.

Draco's mouth went wide as he felt Harry free him and encase him with hot lips, his hands pressing into the dirt and nightshade, gripping desperately for something to hold him to the earth for fear of flying upward. His entire body shuddered as Harry continued, at last giving in to Draco's unspoken desire. What could he do but attempt to relax and enjoy the act he had so been looking forward to? Minutes that felt like hours passed, Harry varying his movements, settling into rhythms when they appeared most effective then receding, prolonging the torture.

"Oh, God," Draco choked, his breath rough and ragged. Soon enough his arousal came to a climax and the boy clamped between his legs obliged. Harry then returned to lying upon his lover's body, stroking his ribs and fluttering kisses on his clavicle, allowing Draco to gradually come down from the high he had just survived. As sweat cemented hair to Draco's temples, he rolled his head to the side to lay a kiss on the top of Harry's head. He lifted the boy's chin to look into his eyes and smiled tiredly.

Harry shifted upward so that he could plant his mouth on the other's, his pulsing body jabbing at Draco's stomach.

"Shall I return the favor?" Draco's voice was thick and sweet as honey, dripping with suggestion. It was impossible not to notice the need relfecting in Harry's face as well as the rest of his body. Harry again appeared sheepish, unable to ask for reciprocation. Draco understood and repositioned himself above the other's body. Settling onto his knees, he released Harry's beckoning form from the boundary set by his clothing. He followed suit and lowered himself, hunched over the boy's reclining figure, being certain to leave nothing unattended.

Harry groaned quietly, splaying his fingers through Draco's hair, taking care not to press too harshly. Draco's hands strayed to the boy's buttocks, holding him gently and occasionally dragging his fingernails across the sensitive skin. Harry's mind could not have wandered if it had wanted to, for it was further and further enveloped by the sensation of Draco's mouth and hands and the balminess of the breeze settling beneath their tree. In due time, Harry too was overcome with the blaze of his climax and jerked his hips forward, unable to control the clench and release of his own muscles.

Draco relished the sight of the sensation he was inciting in his companion's body and did not waver until the aim was accomplished and done. Harry lay breathless as Draco settled beside him, picking idly at the grass but staring intently for a response. The rise and fall of his lover's chest gradually slowed to an exhausted state, unable to further keep pace. Harry engulfed him in an embrace, nuzzling the crevice in his chest.

"Too much too fast for a first date?" Draco teased, satisfied with the evidence.

"I couldn't have asked for more," came the reply. "Or less." A smile teased at both their lips, Harry's breath cooling and comforting on Draco's relaxing skin.

Again the stars danced rejoicingly, urging the attention of the moon, their mother. All smiled in acknowledgment, as the night again proved to be solace for raging hearts.