Title: Kiss the Cook (2/4)
Rating: PG13
Length: 6799 words, part 2 of 4
Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama
Pairings: Harry/Draco and minor Ron/Hermione
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione take cooking classes over the summer after fifth year. Draco starts thinking for himself, which doesn't go over well. Cooking, fire, loos, kisses, betrayal, and secrets.
Disclaimer: Not my characters, quotes, or even idea. : ( But my words!
Note: Written for humoday101 using the prompt 'I think I forgot' (fluff), and hpchallenge with the word 'banana.' The idea of the trio taking cooking classes to get away from things is credited to Remus's Nymph.
Wednesday August 7, 1996
The next day, Draco arrived at the school early. Narcissa seemed to think it would make up for him being late last time. All it meant was that he had to sit with Oliver since he was the only other person that was there. The Professor, Dolly, wasn't even there.
During the car ride Draco didn't know what to expect from Narcissa. He expected her to say something about last night, let it be denial or anything, but instead, she hadn't said a thing. Draco wondered if she was more smashed than he'd thought and didn't remember their little chat.
"You eat a lot," Oliver said. That bit drifted into Draco's conscience. He snapped his body towards Oliver, intent on retorting back, when he realized that if he did the bananas he had been inhaling would spill out. Oliver seemed to get his message anyway because he held his hands up defensively and apologized, "I didn't mean you're fat, or anything." He reached out and clutched Draco's sleeve-clad arm. "You're quite skinny, actually. I just meant you've been eating a lot of bananas. Didn't have lunch?"
Draco was glaring daggers at Oliver's hand, which was still grabbing his arm. He pulled his arm away roughly, nearly tipping himself off the stool.
"What? Are you one of those people who don't like to be touched? My dad's like that…You look like a chipmunk." He smiled and pointed at Draco's cheeks. Draco was frantically trying to chew faster and swallow his overload of bananas, but he had bitten off more than he could chew apparently.
Draco breathed harshly out of his nose and swiveled around in his chair. Where was everyone else? He couldn't take another minute of Oliver and his happy talkativeness. Finally, Draco swallowed his food, his throat protesting against it, and he pushed the remaining bananas away, not wanting to eat another one ever again.
Draco pulled his sleeve back and looked at his watch. Luckily, the dragon was curled asleep at the bottom so Draco could read that it was fifteen minutes to one. Only fifteen minutes and the class would start. Two hours and fifteen minutes and he would be out of the class.
"Wow!" Oliver breathed in Draco's ear, leaning over his shoulder and peering at his watch. The dragon was uncurling and blowing fire at the hour hand.
Draco huffed in irritation. "Must you be so nosy?" He stood up and walked over to the window. Dolly was getting out of her car. "Thank Merlin," he sighed; he wouldn't be alone with Oliver anymore. Of course, the Professor was bubbly, which was almost as bad.
"'Thank Merlin?' That's an odd saying," Oliver spoke from behind him. Draco almost jumped. What was with the boy being so close to people and touching them when he talked? Now that Draco thought about it, he had been like that to the Carmen girl he was partnered with yesterday.
Before Draco could reply, Dolly walked in, drowning under bags, and Oliver dashed over to help. Shortly after that, everyone else started arriving. The three Gryffindors walked in a few minutes before one. Weasley glared at him, and Granger rolled her eyes at Draco's sneer. Potter didn't even look at him. Stupid Potter, Draco thought. He hoped he wouldn't have to work with Granger again.
Luckily for Draco, he became paired with Nashira, his cousin's friend and one of the people he had to thank for him being there, bent over the counter, measuring out three fourths of butter for a banana streusel coffeecake. He was still sour about having had to spend twenty minutes with the highly annoying Oliver.
"You know, you don't have to pack the butter in like that. It's just an approximation. Doesn't have to be exactly three fourths," Nashira said, yanking the cup out of Draco's hand and scraping the butter out into the bowl. "Here, measure the sugar. One and a half cups."
Draco grumbled and poured it, spilling a lot on the plastic counter. The kitchens were so cheep looking.
"So," Nashira said, "what do you know of them?" She pointed to the two kitchens at the far end of the room. Potter and Granger were working together while Weasley was paired with Keiko.
"How come you're not working with the Japanese girl?" Draco questioned, not wanting to talk about the Gryffindors.
Nashira rolled her eyes and shot a disdainful look at Keiko. "Her? Oh, she's so quiet. Doesn't speak a word. Besides, I only worked with her because she was the only other person not partnered. I want to work with you. David told me about you." She grinned mischievously.
"Spread it better," she said. Draco looked down at the pan he had been spreading the mixture of food into. It wasn't even at all. Draco hated cooking. He'd never cooked before. He never even handled food that wasn't cooked, except for cookie dough because he liked that uncooked. He had house elves for that kind of stuff.
"I never cooked before," he answered defensively.
Nashira grinned and spared him a humorous glance before going back to making the batter as smooth and even as possible. "That much is obvious."
Draco scowled. "I have hou- people to do that for me," he said, changing mid sentence. He didn't know if Nashira knew about magic and house elves, let alone if she was a muggle.
Nashira nodded absently and pushed the pan in the oven. She propped herself up on the counter and surveyed Draco. "You mean house elves?" she whispered, her eyes lighting up. "David's told me all about magic so you can say anything you want," she explained for Draco's eyes had widened.
"Then yes, house elves."
"What are they like?" she asked, patting the counter beside her. Draco hopped up and proceeded to tell her about them and how annoying they are with their squeaky voices. But Nashira wasn't satisfied with that. She soon had Draco telling about every house elf in the manor. Only, Draco couldn't tell them apart and was probably explaining the same one a couple times.
"And then there was this one we had a few years ago. I think his name was Dopey -"
"Like in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?" Nashira asked, her legs swinging up and back to hit the cupboard, making the door bang loudly.
"Um, sure. What's that?" He shook his head. Really, he didn't care. "Well, Potter freed that one. Tricked my father into giving it a sock." For a good measure he turned to glare at Potter, finding him already looking at him.
Nashira's eye lit up as she watched Draco scowl at Potter and him sneering before turning back to Granger. "David says you two go to school together."
"Unfortunately," he said bitterly.
"Don't get along, eh?" she laughed. She hopped off the counter and grabbed two potholders. As she pulled the pan out of the oven, she asked, "Why don't you like him?"
"He's insufferable, annoying, self-centered, and a git. He hangs out with the likes of that know-it-all Mudblood and dirt like the Weasleys. And he always gets everyone's attention. Perfect Potter. Do you know he became a seeker in first year? It's insane. And everyone just likes him because he's famous. I wonder if he knows that…" he trailed off and watched Potter talking to a distressed Granger.
"So you instantly hated him because he's famous?" She jumped back on the counter and handed him a paper plate with a slice of their warm coffeecake. Draco bit into it and moaned. He might have said he didn't want to eat another banana but this was scrumptious.
"No," he said after he swallowed. "I…it's stupid really," he mumbled, just realizing now that his reason for hating Potter at first was juvenile.
"What?" she encouraged, nudging him with her shoulder.
"He declined my offer of friendship." Draco look a big bit out of the cake to avoid replying to anything Nashira would say.
"Offer? That sounds…awkward." She laughed, her leg hitting the cupboard door again.
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing. So, you don't like him because he wouldn't be your friend. Hmm, here I thought it might have something to do with him defeating Voldemort way back when, what with your parents being Death Eaters." She almost fell off the counter at the sight of Draco's gobsmacked face.
"How much did David tell you?"
"Everything, I believe. He fancies me, you know. Thinks if he tells me stuff I'll like him back."
"So, you don't?"
"Nope. Just as a friend. Hey! Looks like 'know-it-all Mudblood's' not so much of a know-it-all after all." She pointed over to her and Potter. Potter was loyally trying to eat the coffeecake but not quite masking his disgusted face. Draco was happy to see something Granger did wrong. Even if it was probably Potter who screwed it up.
Nashira dropped down form the counter, grabbed a slice of their coffeecake, and walked to the edge of the kitchen. "Come on." She nodded at Potter and Granger.
Nashira walked into their kitchen and leaned against the sink, her eyes sweeping over the flat coffeecake critically. Draco confidently strolled after her and hovered at the entrance near Potter, who didn't notice they had walked over as he had his eyes closed as he tried to eat the coffeecake.
Draco reached around Potter and tore the cake off his fork. Potter's eyes blinked open when the fork entered his mouth bare. He looked relieved though. That is until he noticed Draco beside him. Draco smirked and popped the piece in his mouth. He sucked the crumbs off his fingers, feeling Potter's eyes on him.
"What? You didn't actually want to eat that, did you? It's nasty. Nice job at cooking," he added, glancing at Granger briefly. He rubbed his wet fingers on the napkin the coffeecake was on.
"It's not that bad," Potter said, shifting his eyes from Draco to Granger. She smiled wearily at him before shooting a warning look at Draco.
"Oh, I bet it is," Nashira chirped. Draco had forgotten she was there. He looked at her to find she was poking at a slice of Potter and Granger's cake. "Looks like you forgot the baking powder." She tapped the cake with her tongue. "And the sugar."
Granger looked tetchily at Nashira. She pursed her lips, but Draco saw her shoot another anxious look Draco's way. Remembering the talk they had yesterday made anger boil up inside him. No one should speak to a Malfoy like that.
"Try a piece of ours. It's perfect." Nashira handed Granger their slice of cake and grinned as Granger tried concealing her delight.
"I don't know if it's perfect. That's a big suggestion." But Granger's face betrayed what was coming out of her mouth.
Potter shifted in the stool he was sitting. Draco looked at him, then Granger, then the cake. People didn't just threaten Malfoy's and get away with it. Maybe he wasn't going to say anything about the Ministry affair, but he could make Granger sweat. That would be fun.
"Want a bite?" Draco asked Potter, who narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Draco almost laughed aloud. Definitely fun. He grabbed the fork out of Potter's hand and walked over to Granger. She was watching him like a hawk. Draco smiled at her and sunk the fork into the cake. He avoided Nashira's questioning gaze as he walked back to Potter, his hand held under the fork to catch the cake if it fell.
"Here." He held out the fork, but Potter's suspicious look never left his eyes, and he kept shooting it between Draco's face and the cake. Draco could figure out that Potter wasn't going to take the cake from him, and he could see the cake slipping off the fork.
He reached his left hand out and pulled Potter's mouth open with a thumb placed on his chin. Draco slipped the fork into Potter's mouth, the metal disappearing when Potter closed his lips. Draco opened his mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came to mind. It was when he slid the fork out slowly that his eyes locked with Potters, and suddenly Draco realized what he was doing. It sure wasn't going to make Granger sweat.
Draco dropped the fork onto the counter with a clink and backed up rapidly. Potter was still staring at him with wide eyes. "Erm, still got to clean up," Draco said before skittering out of the kitchen and dashing into his and Nashira's. He ignored Mary and April's questions from the kitchen beside his and started piling the measuring cups into the sink.
Footsteps stopped behind him and Draco turned to find Nashira watching him in confusion.
"So, what was that about?"
"Nothing," Draco said shortly, not sure himself. He turned the faucet on, letting it known he wasn't going to talk about it.
Thursday August 8, 1996
"Today we'll be making banana cake with cream cheese frosting. So," Dolly clapped her hands together, "everyone grab a partner. There will be one group of three since Mary's out sick. Let's go!"
Harry stood up from the stool to find Ron and Hermione already at a kitchen, beckoning him over. He was heading there when Malfoy cut out in front of him, almost running over him. He sneered at Harry, who glowered back. He didn't understand the Slytherin. One minute he was…Harry blushed...he was feeding him cake, and the next he was shoving past him like usual. It was…even weirder.
"I'll make the frosting and you two can make the cake," Ron said, glad that he would most likely have the easier, faster part.
"Sure, sure," Hermione said, pulling out a mixing bowl. "Or, maybe Harry should make the frosting and you help me."
Harry scowled. He knew without her saying anything that she blamed their flat, nasty coffeecake yesterday on him.
Ron pouted, then looked at Hermione and touched the small of her back. "I guess." Ron leaned in to kiss her, and Harry looked pointedly away. He was happy they were together again. Actually, their fight hadn't lasted that long. Right after class yesterday, Hermione's frostiness seemed to have melted, and once they arrived back at the Burrow she pulled Ron off. And that had been the extent of their argument.
"Oh, look. Keiko's stuck with April," Hermione said, pointing to the pair of them, three kitchens down. April was talking wildly, and apparently, trying to get something out of her. Keiko was blushing and mumbling every now and then. Hermione looked sympathetically at Keiko then looked at Harry and Ron. "I think I'm going to work with them. You two will be fine. Just…don't catch anything on fire."
Ron sulked, but Hermione didn't see it as she was already heading over. Harry watched her speak to them and Keiko look immensely relieved.
"Well! That's a fabulous idea, Hermione," Dolly exclaimed. "Let's switch things up. New partners!" Harry looked at Ron. Ron looked back, 'this blows' written clearly on his face. "You three can stay together. Nashira and…Ron. Draco with Carmen. Oliver with Harry." She clapped her hands encouragingly at the sight of their faces. "Come on! It'll be fun. Get to know everyone better."
"I thought that's what the game the first time was for," Ron grumbled.
Harry shrugged. "At least neither of us are stuck with Malfoy," he said optimistically.
"True."
Ron left their kitchen and made his way to where Nashira was waiting. Oliver bounded into Harry's kitchen and smiled widely.
"We hadn't had much time to talk before. This'll be great." He proceeded to pull out the rest of the ingredients Harry and Ron hadn't managed to. Harry smiled weakly. He had been looking forward to working with Ron, after he couldn't yesterday since Ron and Hermione were angry at each other, and Hermione grabbed Harry before Ron could.
Silently, Harry mixed the ingredients for the frosting while Oliver worked on the cake, humming quietly.
"Stop that annoying humming," Malfoy said. Harry looked up to find him right in front of him, the counters of their kitchens separating them.
"Sorry!" Oliver ceased humming and looked over. "Hey, Harry, did you see his awesome watch? It's animated! There's this little dragon and it moves around, blowing fire and everything. That must've been expensive." He dropped the bananas on the counter and walked over.
"Probably is," Harry said, glaring into Malfoy's eyes. "He's a spoiled brat."
Malfoy cocked his head and grinned. "At least I'm not a poverty stricken plebeian."
"I'm not. I have money."
"Fine, maybe you're not, but Weasley sure is."
Harry scoffed. "That's pitiful. You can't think of an insult for me so you hit on Ron, who's not even here."
Malfoy scowled. "I can think of plenty of insults for you."
"Let's here one then."
"What? You can't just hand out insults like that, on command. Of course, why should I expect anything else from someone who's dim enough to believe everything they see in their head, certainly, resulting in someone dying," Malfoy sneered. He snapped his mouth shut suddenly, but Harry's head was whirling. How dare Malfoy mention that!
Vaguely, he heard Oliver say something, but before Harry knew what he was doing, he climbed up on the table, his knee landing in the cream cheese, and launched himself at Malfoy.
They tussled on the floor, hands and legs flailing everywhere. Harry kicked someone who wasn't Malfoy and then he remembered that Carmen was working with him. He tried to say sorry as she was cursing at them and rushing away, but Malfoy's hand connected with the side of Harry's head and he gave up trying to talk.
Harry kneed Malfoy in the groin, the whimper that came from him very satisfying, and pinned Malfoy's arms above his head.
"Don't you dare say anything about that!" he growled before frenzied arms grabbed him around the waist and hauled him up. He turned to find Oliver there, holding him back by his arm.
Dolly bustled over and helped Malfoy to his feet, saying about getting ice for him. Malfoy shoved her away and glared at Harry before storming out of the class. April and Nashira rushed to the window to see if he was leaving, but he never went out.
Eventually everyone calmed down and, after Hermione had scolded him, Ron patting him on the back, the Professor shooed them back to work. Malfoy came in the room when there was only half an hour left. He strolled into the kitchen Carmen was in. He shot at glare at Harry before turning to talk to Carmen. Harry slammed the bowl he was cleaning into the drying rack a little too hard.
"So," Oliver said tentatively once they seated at the counter on the far side of where Malfoy was. Harry tried smiling at him. "I won't ask you what all that was about. Unless you want to answer me, but I doubt you will."
"I don't want to talk about it," Harry said shortly.
"That's fine." He chewed on the cake pensively. Harry didn't feel like eating at the moment. He was still upset about the insult Malfoy had said. It was uncalled for, and it hit deep. He scowled just thinking about it. "You know, you two remind me of Carmen and me."
"What?"
"You and Draco," he said in a quieter tone so no on else could hear them. Oliver looked over at the kitchen Malfoy and Carmen were in.
"How so?" Harry asked skeptically. He hadn't seen those two fighting or bickering. Sure, she'd said some mean things about him, but she did that to almost everyone.
"Well, in public you both are mean and insult each other." He swirled the spoon in the cake.
"What do you mean 'in public?' We are always like that." Harry took his first bite of the cake and managed to smile. It was pretty good. The frosting tasted funky, but Harry had made that so… The cake itself was great. "You'll make a good chef," Harry complimented.
Oliver beamed. "Thanks!" He bit his lip bashfully and ate more of the cake. "Wait, you're distracting me. I mean, is that how you two are when not around other people?"
"Yes."
Oliver frowned. "Really? But then what was with him feeding you the coffeecake yesterday?"
To Harry's immense displeasure he felt his face heating up. Had everyone seen that? "Your guess is as good as mine."
"Oh." He looked disappointed.
"Wait," Harry said slowly. "How did you think we acted?"
Oliver smiled sheepishly. "I thought you were dating, and that feeding thing just happened because you guys couldn't control yourselves."
Harry sputtered loudly. Oliver slapped him gently on the back.
"I guess I was wrong, eh?"
Friday August 9, 1996
Draco groaned for the umpteenth time in the past hour and a half. He didn't want to be playing these childish games that Dolly reckoned would make everyone more acquainted and prevent any further violence. She was really perturbed by Draco's run in with Potter yesterday. Truthfully, Draco was still perturbed by that. He hadn't thought Potter would react that strongly to his comment. Luckily, Granger had so far only glowered at him.
"Heads up, three up," Dolly said contentedly and watched as Potter, Carmen, and Mary stood from their stools. Potter guessed Oliver and was wrong. Draco was getting a kick out of this. He'd been up for five rounds in a row, and each time he picked Potter. And each time Potter guessed anyone but him.
Carmen then guessed Oliver and was correct. Mary guessed Granger, the only other person beside Draco, who everyone knew kept choosing Potter.
"Great! I think that's enough." Dolly smiled calmly at the class. "This is a cooking class, after all. So now we are going to make strawberry-banana smoothies. Everyone pair up and grab a kitchen. Instructions on the counters!"
Draco instantly went to Nashira, who smiled and picked the nearest kitchen.
"Get the blender out, would you? I'll get the ingredients," Nashira said before opening the small fridge and pulling out strawberries. Draco opened a few cupboards before he looked around at other groups to see where they were finding the blender. Weasley, in the kitchen beside him with Potter, got theirs out of the cupboard under the sink while April and Mary took theirs out of the one above the stove. Draco scowled and opened some more cupboards. The school was so unorganized.
"You sure that's all the ingredients?" he heard Potter ask, his finger paused over the button on the blender. Weasley nodded and walked to the sink with the knife.
"Find it yet?" Nashira called. "I got all the ingredients."
Draco grumbled and moved to the cupboards on the right side of the kitchen. He stopped to sneer at Potter before bending over and opening the doors. Ah-ha! The blender was there. He grabbed it and stood up, something splattering on his face.
Draco frowned into the amused face of Potter. Then a glob of smoothie hit the Gryffindor on the nose. Both of them looked at the blender in between them, the one that was on and had no lid.
"Potter!" Draco roared before springing onto the counter and pushing a button on the blender. Only, then it spun faster and smoothie flung everywhere. Potter yelled, and then it stopped.
Draco blinked, wiped pink smoothie away from his eyes, and saw Potter holding the plug sheepishly in his hand.
"Oops. I think I forgot to put the lid on?" he said in a small voice.
But before Draco could scream at him, Dolly ran over, a grin stretching her face. "I knew I should have been more thorough in the instructions. You're supposed to put the lid on!" She broke out in laughter. Draco distinctly heard Nashira and Weasley chortling with her.
"Off to the loo with you two. Go now, you're a right mess." She shushed Draco and Potter into the hall, the door snapping shut behind them. Draco glared at Potter until he walked away. Sighing, Draco followed. He didn't know where the loo was.
Potter opened a door and walked into a pitch-black room. Draco hovered in the doorway.
"Where's the light switch?" Potter asked. Draco could hear him plundering around. "You going to help me or just sit there letting smoothie harden on you?"
Draco jumped and started running his fingers along the wall. Who knew how long it would take him to get smoothie out of his hair. Damn Potter and his non-existent cooking skills! The fact that Draco had none too was beside the point. It was he who forgot to put the bloody lid on the blender.
With a small "Yes!" from Potter, light bathed the room, showing off just how much smoothie was on them. Draco looked into the mirror behind Potter to see he just had smoothie on his head. Potter was covered in it from the waist up. Draco snickered.
"Shut it," Potter grumbled. Then he smiled impishly.
Draco regarded him suspiciously. "What?"
Potter shook his head wildly like a wet dog, sending smoothie all over, a lot landing on Draco. In a fit of anger, Draco bent over and pulled his wand out of his pant-leg. He shoved it under Potter's nose threateningly.
Potter eyed it warily. "You're going to use magic in a muggle school? When you're underage?" He managed to smirk, although his eyes never left the wand.
Draco was no longer glaring at Potter, but at the pink line of smoothie running down his nose and dripping onto Draco's wand. He took good care of his wand. He couldn't let food get on it. But he couldn't very well pull it away, either. He still had to get Potter back for the whole smoothie incident.
The pink glob collecting on Draco's wand started sliding to the side. It dripped down when Potter's pink tongue suddenly flicked out and caught it. Draco distinctly saw Potter's tongue graze the underside of the wand, gathering the smoothie there before it could fall. Draco gasped.
His mind was blissfully blank as he leaned forward, his wand dropping away from Potter's face. The last thing he saw before his eyes snapped shut of their own accord was bright green eyes, opened wide in surprise. And then Draco was licking Potter's cheek.
The smoothie was surprisingly good. Maybe Potter could cook. A bit. He flicked his tongue to the side of Potter's nose, licking the smoothie pooling there.
Potter gurgled and moved his head, his mouth opened. He was starting to say something when Draco suddenly found his tongue was plundering Potter's mouth. The taste was sweeter than the smoothie on his skin. There was a hint of strawberry, as if Potter had been sneaking them into his mouth.
Draco pressed their lips together to reach deeper; it was a different taste in the back. A nice taste, though. But then Potter's immobile tongue stirred, pressing Draco's to the roof of Potter's mouth. Slightly chapped lips moved against his own. Draco pulled back and gasped for air before moving forward again.
His lips landed on Potter's chin. He felt Potter's hands on his chest, pushing him away. Draco blinked, the fog in his mind slowly disappearing. Neither of them said a word as they stared at each other.
Abruptly, Draco backed up and went to the furthest sink. He turned the faucet on and splashed water into his face. A minute of scrubbing smoothie out of his hair later he heard another faucet turn on at the far end of the room.
Draco finished cleaning up before Potter and left without a backward glance. He didn't allow himself to think of what had just happened. For the last fifteen minutes of class, Draco avoided Potter's gaze.
Saturday August 10, 1996
"Ron, Hermione," Harry said hesitatingly, seating himself on the edge of Ginny bed. Ron was sprawled out on Hermione's, and Hermione was standing by the door, looking in concern at Harry. "I think Imightlikeblokes."
Might. Harry wasn't sure. All he knew was he couldn't get that strange kiss with Malfoy out of his mind. It was nice. Were you supposed to call someone that licked smoothie off you by their last name? Harry supposed not.
Hermione gawked at him while Ron blinked in confusion.
"Could you speak a little slower?" he asked.
"Erm…I think I might, maybe, I'm not too sure, not sure at all, like blokes," Harry mumbled. Perhaps he shouldn't have brought it up.
"Yes, that was a lot more clearer," Ron said sarcastically.
"Harry said he might like guys." Hermione walked forward and sat on the bed beside Harry. She grabbed Harry's hand and squeezed it. Harry risked a glance at Ron. He was opening and closing his mouth like a fish, but he was now sitting straight up.
"Err," Ron started, but Hermione shot him a warning look, and he shut up.
"Harry, is this about Cho?" Hermione gazed sympathetically at him. Harry could only gape in confusion at her. That was far from what he thought she would say. She must have taken his inability to speak to mean she was right for she said, "Look, Cho wasn't emotionally stable. I know the thing with her didn't work, but that's not how all girls are. Trust me." She patted his knee.
Harry started to protest that she had it all wrong, but she replied, "So the kissing wasn't that good. But she was crying, Harry. What do you expect? Look, I know you may be confused, but just because you had one bad experience with a girl doesn't mean you should give them up and try boys. And it doesn't mean you're gay."
Harry smiled at her. Maybe she was right. Maybe the whole thing with Cho just made him like any attention. That would mean he didn't like Draco, per say, just the idea of someone. Just the idea of a tongue in his mouth and lips against his own. Just the idea of pink splattered white-blond hair before him. Harry shook his head.
"Thanks, Hermione. I…I think you're right." So it was a little fib. He wasn't sure if she was right. But right now, she didn't need to know that and who knows, maybe she was right.
She grinned and squeezed he hand once more before standing from the bed. "Anytime you need help Harry, don't be afraid to talk to us."
She ushered Ron out of the room, but he kept looking back at him. Before they reached the door, Ron blurted, "What made you think that anyways?"
Hermione gave him a glare but turned to Harry, interest displayed clearly across her face.
"Erm…" Harry didn't know what to say. He didn't want to bring Draco into it all. Ron would try to kill him, and Hermione would spew out some other explanation that would only confuse him more. What he needed was to talk to Ginny. She already knew about the kissing comment and hadn't told anyone.
"Was is that Oliver? I never liked him," Ron said, frowning.
"What? No! No, it was…I was just thinking is all." He smiled reassuringly at them. "Thanks again, Hermione."
She smiled. They both seemed placated by his answer and left. Harry groaned and rolled onto his stomach. The scene in the loo replayed over and over in his mind until a few minutes later the door opened, and someone bounced onto the bed, sending him sprawling in the air.
Harry sat up and found Ginny standing on the comforter, staring down at him.
"I'm going over to Luna's now. Just saying bye." She grinned and jumped off the bed. "By the way, why are you on my bed?"
"Oh, I was talking to Ron and Hermione." He watched her walk to the door. If he wanted to talk to her, he'd have to talk now. She wouldn't be back until Wednesday. "Erm, remember that weird comment Malfoy said before?"
Ginny froze and moved towards Harry. She crossed her legs at the foot of her bed. "Yeah," she prompted.
"Well, something else happened." He looked up from his hands to see Ginny staring attentively at him
"What?"
"Um…he fed me coffeecake." He watched Ginny's eyes go wide. "The other day, erm, Wednesday."
Ginny let out a forced laugh. "Well, that's what Ron and Hermione were talking about then. The other day I heard them and thought they were speaking about each other. Of course, I moved away. I didn't want visions dancing in my head of those two." She scrutinized Harry. "So, how come you sound so passive about the Malfoy thing. Wasn't it…"
"Weird," Harry said at the same time Ginny said, "Disturbing?"
"Oh." She rubbed her nose.
"But, you know, that too," Harry said too quickly. In a way, it had been disturbing. Disturbing in a way that Draco had done that out of the blue. Why hadn't he minded it too much then? Maybe Hermione was right; he just liked the attention.
"Yeah. Did anything else happen?" She scooted forward on the bed a bit.
Harry flushed. "No. We fought yesterday but that's it." There was no way he was going to mention what happened in the loo yesterday. He had been a willing participant in that, after all. He was the one that started the kissing. Or was Draco searching his mouth with his tongue kissing?
"That's good." She stood up and grabbed her bag from the door. "Seems like I was right. He was trying to convince himself he didn't want to kiss you."
"You think he likes me?"
Ginny frowned. "I wouldn't say he likes you, but I wouldn't know. He probably just lusts after you. But, hey," she smiled cheerfully at him, "at least he left you alone yesterday. Hopefully nothing else will happen. If something, Merlin forbid, does, you can owl me at Luna's, okay? And if push comes to shove, just punch him. Or curse his bits off. There's this nice little spell." Her smile widened at the scared look on Harry's face. "I keep it incase I'll ever have to use it. It's in my bedside table. Top drawer. Look at it, just in case."
"Thanks," he said weakly. He was more worried about the fact that there was a spell to make someone's bits fall off.
"Oh, it's not permanent!" she laughed. "Just gives them a real good fright. I'd never use it on you, don't worry."
"That's good." Harry reminded himself to notify Ron about the spell incase Ginny got any thoughts to use it on him.
"Well, I'll see you on Wednesday. Cheerio!" She waved with her free hand and walked down the hall, leaving the door open.
"Bye, Ginny!" Harry called after her.
"Bedside table," she said before he heard her yelling Luna's house into the fireplace. He went to the table and opened the drawer. You never know when something like that could come in handy.
XxXxX
"Draco," Lucius greeted, gesturing for him to take the seat in front of his desk. Lucius folded his arms and gazed scrutinizing at his only son. "How are the classes?"
Draco frowned. He didn't want to be in the classes, and he certainly didn't want to be talking to Lucius. He was sure to be bombarded with questions about his loyalty, which Draco still hadn't decided.
"Terrible. But that's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Well, Draco reasoned, it hadn't been all that bad. He liked Nashira, got to hit Potter upside the head, and ate some good food. But he didn't like cooking or the other people in the class. And then there was Potter…
"Did you do as told? Did you find out any information on Potter?" Lucius narrowed his eyes at Draco, as if expecting him to lie and wanted to catch it himself.
"I don't talk to him." It's wasn't that much of a lie. But what else could he say? It wasn't as if he had any information about him anyway.
Lucius pursed his lips and tried controlling himself. "Any little thing could help, even if you don't think it will."
Draco pretended to think then shook his head. All he could say was that Potter freaked about comments involving his godfather and liked being kissed when smoothie was all over him. Well, the former could come in handy, but not the latter, unless the Dark Lord decided to smother Potter and him in smoothie, snog him for distraction, and then cast the killing curse. Draco shuddered. He hoped he wasn't there if that ever happened.
"What!" Lucius cried, latching onto Draco's shiver in hope that it was a memory. But Draco was too busy berating himself for thinking about, what he referred to as, the smoothie incident. He wasn't supposed to think about it. It was a mistake. A strange, wrong, completely random mistake that made no sense at all. And that he had enjoyed. Which made it all the above. "What? Did you think of something?"
Draco blinked. "No…I just got a shiver."
Lucius sighed in a long-suffering way. "Fine. But I'll have you know, I was going to take you out of the class if you did your work and found information out. Since you didn't, you're staying." He smirked.
Draco clenched his hands into fists and seethed silently. His father wasn't going to let him out, even if he had found out information. He glowered at Lucius.
Lucius sat back in his chair and peered across the desk at Draco. "Have you done any thinking? Have you chosen the right side?"
"I haven't picked yet," he said shortly, his lips curving into a bitter sneer. "But I'm sure the Order wouldn't send me to cooking classes that I didn't want to go to."
Lucius bristled. "You're right. They probably wouldn't." Draco grinned smugly. "They just wouldn't trust you and would make you take veritaserum. Or they wouldn't let you in at all." He smiled at the sight of Draco's smug grin slipping off his face. "You may go now."
Draco buried his hands in the pockets of his robes and walked out of the room. Once the door clicked shut behind him, he leaned against it and took a large breath. Lucius was right. They wouldn't trust him. However, the more he thought about it, the more becoming a Death Eater was appearing less tempting. Maybe he could take no sides.
The door flung open and Lucius stood there, looking down at Draco. "And I want you to find information out on Potter or you'll be severely sorry." The door slammed shut before Draco could retort, though he wasn't sure what he would say.
Potter. Why did everything come down to him? He had to go to the cooking classes because of Potter. He has to find out information on him because it's Potter. He kissed him because he's Potter. Or perhaps he kissed him because of the smoothie. It was pretty good.
Draco sighed. Who was he kidding? At that moment, he had wanted to kiss Potter. He wanted Potter. Though now, in the hallway of the manor, far away from the Gryffindor, he couldn't understand why. All he knew was he couldn't let Potter talk. No one could find out about the smoothie incident, especially not Lucius.
Sunday August 11, 1996
Harry gently took the letter from the eagle owl perched on Ron's window. It had steadily refused to let anyone see it but Harry. Only when Ron left the room to use the loo did it hop onto the window ledge and hoot plainly at Harry, even though he had seen it flying past the window every now and then.
Curiously, Harry unfolded the letter. The owl flew off without a backward glance. Harry frowned. Usually they waited for a reply. He looked back at the letter. It read:
Potter,
Come half an hour early tomorrow. We need to talk.
DM
Harry's brow creased as he read it through again. They needed to talk? Harry had assumed they were just going to ignore it. But talking…that didn't sound too bad.
The toilet flushed and Harry quickly stuffed the letter under his bed. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about it. Was Draco going to blame it all on him? Harry sighed. Even if he wanted to show up early, he didn't think Hermione would allow him to leave without them. Much too dangerous, she'd say. What would she say if it was to meet up with a Death Eater's son? Harry laughed aloud.
