Chapter four
Harry had a shot glass filled with electric blue liquid, which he downed instantly asking for another, Draco ordered the same and accepted the offer of a cigarette when offered. They were still under the disguise as Cameron and friend who Draco had decided looked like a Max.
After about only two drinks their evening was disrupted by Dumbledore walking into the three broomsticks, evidently looking for them, however Harry just turned back to his electric blue shot and downed it, Draco followed suit and Tom refilled their glasses.
Dumbledore glanced their way but a second of staring he looked away, sighing he approached Tom and asked: "Have you seen Harry Potter or Draco Malfoy?" There was no concern in his voice in the slightest and Harry had to stop himself from glaring at the old man.
"They came by a little while ago but left again after they dropped off a young girl." Tom said, "Would you like to stay for a drink?"
"No, no, it's okay Tom; do you have any idea where they were going?" He asked getting irritated by this point.
"Sorry, he didn't mention anything, just came in asked to see one of my guests and then left five minutes later." The headmaster sighed somewhat dramatically and then left.
Draco saw Harry's face light up with a triumphant smile, he was obviously pleased with himself and it appeared to Draco that this was going to be as turning point in their relationship as friends. He was already a little unsteady on his feet by this point and he knew that alcohol had a bad effect on him, it tended to work as well as any truth serum would.
"Now that that is over and done with I think that we need to go and have some fun, what do you say?" Harry asked, "Dumbledore knows that when I do my disappearing acts that I'll be back in the morning with one hell of a hangover. So are you up for it?"
"Up for what exactly?" Draco asked although he thought that he already knew the likely answer to this question, it worried him when Harry grinned at him.
"You'll see, come on." Harry left a large amount of money on the bar that would have paid for their tab twice over gave Tom a nod and then, swinging an arm around Draco's shoulders they strolled casually out of the Three Broomsticks.
"Where are we going?" Draco asked, he was immensely enjoying the feeling of Harry being so close to him and he certainly wasn't complaining about the opportunity to get close to the hero that he was obsessed with.
"Muggle London" Harry responded, "They have the best clubs by far, the wizarding world is kinda lacking in serious bars and clubs, I plan on opening one after the war is over." Harry admitted as they walked along the deserted streets of Hogsmead, the shops dark and uninhabited. "Hold still, I'll apperate us both." Harry told Draco before he could get a chance to reply.
Draco held his breath as Harry did as he said and disapparated them to a pat of London that previously he had never been too, that or his father had forbidden it because Draco was one hundred percent sure that if his father ever found out that he had stood on this street beneath all the pink neon lights with a man hanging on his shoulder he would be dead within the second.
It was all very clear to Draco that this was the clubbing capital but what he really didn't understand was why there were hardly any women, and the women that he could see looked far too masculine to really be classed as such. He was looking around in fascination when Harry surprised him by turning towards a club that was called Pink Flamingo.
The neon pink sign flickered, illuminating the large bouncer at the door in an odd fashion, however it made him look far more menacing than he actually was, Draco was positive he wouldn't want to meet him down a dark alley at night.
"Good evening Cameron" The bouncer said in a deep voice that terrified Draco though he tried desperately not to show this.
"Evening Joe, how's thing's going tonight?" Harry asked the bouncer that had just greeted him. Draco watched them interact with interest.
"The usual, are you looking to go in?" Joe asked them eying Draco over a couple of times as if he wasn't sure about the look of him.
"Yeah, I'm looking to show my friend here a good time, it's been a while." Harry said with a cheeky grin in place, Joe smirked and lifted the rope barrier to them, allowing them entrance into the club. Immediately they were heading up a flight of stairs, with each step they took the music getting louder and louder.
Draco had always wondered where Harry always disappeared off too when Dumbledore sent search parties around the school looking for him and now he knew, The Pink Flamingo, which to Draco looked like nothing more than a gay bar, this little realisation certainly lightened his mood.
They entered into the main room of the club to a room packed with young men having as much fun as possible, the sound of Nelly Furtado's maneater was booming over the stereo system and drinks orders were bring shouted across the bar that stretched from one side of the room to the other.
It took Draco a little while to adjust to the surrounds, the volume of the music alone was overwhelming, but combine that with the mirror ball and strobe lighting that occasionally went off and it was no wonder that Draco was overcome by it all.
Harry took him by the hand and dragged him into the thick of it, he stopped at the bar and they ordered another two rounds of shots before going off to find a spot on the dance floor.
Draco had never before been clubbing, not in the wizarding world and certainly not in the muggle world, it was an entirely new experience for him, so when a man that he neither knew or recognized in the slightest slapped his arse and winked at him he was shocked at such behaviour, however when he reported the muggle to Harry he simply laughed and said, "Forget about it, dance with me."
Now there was what Draco thought to be dancing and then there was what was going on in the Pink Flamingo that night, dancing to Draco had always been the poetic movement of the body with another, an art form that he had been taught from a young age, however what Harry was doing was by far the dancing that Lucius often referred to as dirty dancing, suitable only for low lives and prostitutes.
Draco had soon realized after stepping foot inside the club that the waltz and the tango and even the salsa were not the kinds of dancing that you did when you went clubbing, and as Harry would tell him in the future those dances were for rich, old, boring or all of the above people.
It was hard enough to find a rhythm, mostly it was found for you as you were jostled about by the many people trying to dance on the crowded dance floor, Harry, who was far more practiced at clubbing than Draco was amazed those surrounding them and turned Draco on immensely.
Neither teen was short of offers that night, in fact even with the concealment charms still firmly in place they managed to draw the most attention out of any of the men there that night, even the bar staff were hitting on them. Draco was astounded when a particularly forceful young man who continuously approached him requesting oral sex was forced to leave him alone when Harry wrapped his body around him and claimed that he was Harry's boyfriend.
At five that morning the bar closed and the last song was played, drunk and unable to walk in a straight line Harry and Draco made for the exit, Harry was laughing hysterically for a reason that Draco was oblivious to.
How they managed to find their way back to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry in Scotland all the way from muggle London without getting lost, splinched or attacked was beyond either of them when they woke up fully clothed and in the same bed the next morning with the song 'because your gorgeous' stuck in their heads.
It perplexed Draco why he had a new tattoo of a vampire bite on the small of his neck, he was also surprised that Harry seemed to have a tongue piercing. The cloud of confusion soon lifted and the amusement of the situation set in causing the two of them to burst into hysterical fits of laughter.
"I am glad that at least the two of you find the situation amusing, after myself, Severus and Minerva searched endlessly for you until Hagrid alerted us as you made your way up the path to the castle." Headmaster Dumbledore said from the entrance to their room.
Both teens immediately stopped laughing; however it was an effort not to continue, especially with flashes of memory working there way back. Draco's head was pounding but he couldn't help but laugh, it was even harder not to giggle as Dumbledore continued his boring rant about safety and responsibility, especially when Draco realised that Harry wasn't the only one who had been pierced.
Draco's left nipple was aching somewhat and when he looked down he saw what looked to be a simple nipple ring showing through his t-shirt.
"Headmaster, would it be possible if we could get some privacy so we could prepare for class, of course we would report to you after dinner if that was what you wanted." Harry said withholding a fresh bout of laughter.
"Very well, however promptly after dinner I expect you both in my office without fail and I also expect for the both of you to attend all of your classes today with no excuses." Dumbledore said and before either Harry or Draco could say anything more he swept from the room in an obvious huff.
"Lift up your shirt." Harry demanded as soon as the entrance had sealed itself, Draco did as Harry requested and they both admired the nipple ring and then the tattoo on his neck.
Harry's tongue piercing wasn't the only thing he'd had done either, on the small of his back was a beautifully done sun in yellows, reds and orange. "You can always tell that it was a good night when you wake with body art and a piercing that you didn't have the previous day." Harry told Draco as he rolled out of bed. "Wanna flip for the shower?" Draco nodded.
Harry called heads and won leaving Draco to wonder whether or not he had cheated and also to use one of the more effective spells that copied the effects of a shower but wasn't quite as refreshing.
It was rather worrying when Draco realised that his uniform was not about to hide the new tattoo and covering it with a plaster was bound to make more questions arise rather than stop them but he was rather relived when Harry was found to be having the same trouble with the tongue piercing.
In the end they rushed to their Defence Against the Dark Arts class without concealment charms or anything to cover the forgotten deeds of that night. The other Gryffindor's who all took DADA were horrified when they saw Harry enter with Draco and couldn't stop staring at the two of them. They had all been notified of Harry and Draco's disappearing act last night and no one was impressed.
Class commenced as usual but no one was really paying any attention, they were all far too busy eyeing Harry and Draco who had sat together at the back of the classroom, the betrayal too fresh in Harry's mind for him to even consider sitting with his so called friends.
In Harry's mind it was betrayal, nothing more and certainly nothing less, deep down he knew that they were worried about him but it was the fact that they cared more for their own lives that got to him. If they were so concerned then they would have come with him, backed him up when he needed them, not run straight to the headmaster and reported him.
Draco sat there overly aware that everyone was staring at them, glowering disapprovingly, it was fortunate that no one had spotted the tattooed bite marks on his neck yet but he knew it would come soon enough.
It was overly clear that no one approved of him or even believed that he was no longer a follower of the Dark Lord. What neither Harry nor Draco were expecting was to be cornered by them after class, Hermione and Ron were the ring leaders of the group and everyone fell in behind them.
Draco was overly intimidated by this large group of Gryffindor's but Harry just looked at them all with a look of pure annoyance on his face.
"Who are you Harry?" Hermione asked being the first to speak, it was an odd sort of question to be asked but it seemed to prove to Harry that his friends were not as close to him as they once were.
"I'm Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, the saviour of the wizarding world, the chosen one. I thought that you knew that already Hermione." Harry asked somewhat sarcastically, "I'm the one who is in the shit and you can't seem to handle that, I always knew this day would come and your loyalty to me would be tested, I knew that there was a limited amount of time before you realised that you didn't have to be in the same shit as me."
"You know full well that if you let us we will forever stand by your side, whatever stupid thing you decide is your battle to fight but we refuse to fight for him, he's branded by the Dark Lord or are you too blind to see that Harry?" Hermione pointed out in her annoying matter of fact tone of voice.
"Yes but so am I" Harry said shocking them all, "I may not carry the Dark Mark but I am still marked by him," Harry said referring to his scar, "Tom and I have so many things in common that if I wanted to be the next Dark Lord I could be but I'm not, I'm not evil and neither is Draco but by the way your behaving I wouldn't put it past you to be."
"How dare you accuse us of being allied with him," Ron added in outrage, Draco wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was going, he knew that it wasn't about to end well.
"Then don't accuse me." Harry said pointedly, Hermione and Ron were looking scarily angry but there was no way that he would step down from this fight and leave Harry alone to fight his friends, he may have been a Slytherin but he was no coward.
"We weren't, we were merely stating that we don't trust Draco and we don't understand why you do." Hermione pointed out trying desperately to remain calm, she was forever the level headed one in the situation but Ron, with his fiery temper wasn't about to let it lie, Draco could see it in his eyes.
"He's a Slytherin and he's branded!" Ron needlessly pointed out.
"Look I've already told you that I trust Draco and I know that it's difficult to accept him, especially after everything that has happened between us in the past but it isn't fair to judge him solely on that, we've all done wrong to each other and if you can't put it behind you then your useless to me."
"I'm sorry you feel that way Harry," Hermione said sadly, "If we are truly useless to you then we'll leave you alone, but when he betrays you, and he will, just remember that we warned you."
Harry rolled his eyes turned on his heel and walked out dragging Draco along behind him, Seamus, Dean, Parvati and Lavender watched them go and felt as if some part of them was leaving also, Ron and Hermione were far too annoyed at him to feel anything like that.
Draco remained silent all the way up to his room next to Gryffindor tower, Harry did also, it was lunch time but neither felt up to eating. The way Harry was feeling he wouldn't be eating dinner either. Draco's head was still throbbing and meals were not exactly high on his list of priorities either. They had only managed not to throw up due to the fact that they hadn't eaten.
Harry slumped onto the sofa face down and stayed there perfectly still, Draco was at a loss of what to do, he wasn't sure whether Harry wanted to be alone or have some company. Thinking fast he went over to his trunk and brought out a bottle of Ogden's Old Fire whiskey.
"I know it's a little early but let's forget about what Dumbledore said and skip classes for the day." Draco offered smiling; Harry looked up, spotted the bottle and grinned.
"You know me far too well, you're on." He said in response rolling off of the sofa and hitting the floor with a heavy thud. It was fortunate that the stone was covered with a fluffy white rug otherwise there certainly would have been bruises.
Harry withdrew the cigarettes from his pocket, sat up, lit one and then chucked them onto the table so that Draco could help himself, which he did. As the blonde removed his school robes Harry put up a ward at the door for extra security, now no one was going to bother them.
He shrugged off his uniform and threw it over the sofa leaving only his white shirt and black trousers in place, through the material of the shirt Harry could barely see the outline of the nipple ring, it made Harry think of Draco in an entirely new light.
Draco watched as Harry toyed with his tongue piercing as he sat down beside him so that they were both leaning back against the base of the sofa facing towards the fire taking it in turns to take swigs of the whiskey.
"I'm sorry about the way my so called friends acted; I thought that they would take it better than they did." Harry admitted before taking a drag from his cigarette and exhaling the smoke via his mouth and nose.
Draco swallowed his mouthful of whiskey, enjoying the sensation of the intoxicating liquid burning it's way down his throat. "You shouldn't have to apologise for them, you don't control their actions, I'm just glad you didn't turn against me, it's a great weight off my mind to know that my mum and sister are safe."
"You know if I had a choice I wouldn't be the boy-who-lived." Harry stated bluntly, the alcohol steadily working its way through his system, relaxing him and very slowly getting him drunk.
"Would any one?" Draco asked in response and Harry laughed.
"Probably not, I was dealt a shitty hand in life but I've never let that stop me and I never will, there is life outside of this war and I'm determined to find it." Harry told Draco as he gulped down Ogden's Old Fire Whiskey in extraordinarily large amounts.
"You have an amazing strength." Draco said before he even realised what he was saying, Harry looked at him with an amused expression, Draco felt a tingle of nerves in the pit of his stomach as the amused look turned into something else, it was almost lustful but Draco didn't dare to believe.
Draco's heart seemed to skip a beat as Harry leaned towards him a fraction, just as their lips were about to meet there was a mass of green flames in the fireplace and a very irritated Dumbledore stepped out of the fire place. The two boy's jumped apart at once but neither bothered to try and hide the obvious traces of alcohol and cigarettes.
"When I told you that I expected you to be in all of your classes today I meant it Harry and as a result I am going to have to take action." The headmaster said sternly, "And barricading the door closed is yet another rule broken, along with skipping class, drinking and smoking on school grounds, leaving the school after curfew, it will not do Harry."
"What are you going to do, expel me?" Harry said with a smile, "You know full well that you can't do that." He said mockingly.
"You may be an important factor in this war Harry but do not think you are above the rules of this school, you are an adult now and should act as such."
"Excuse me for asking" Harry said getting unsteadily to his feet, "But when have I ever been allowed to act as anything but, I've been fighting for life against pretty much everything, I have never once been allowed to just be a child." Harry snapped defensively.
"We have been lenient with you up until this point Harry but I am afraid that you have taken advantage of this fact, you may be important to the war effort but you are not essential." Albus went on to say, Draco listened intently to the headmaster speak, unable to believe that the words were coming from his mouth.
"Do you really think that you can fight this war without me?" Harry said with amusement in his voice, it was clear that he found the idea laughable, "Okay then, let's see how well you do without the chosen one to fight your battles, maybe you might do the fighting yourself, but let's not ask for miracles."
"Harry James Potter, if you walk out of this school don't even think about coming back." Dumbledore warned, Draco doubted that the headmaster was ever going to fulfil this threat but he was desperate, he couldn't force Harry to stay, after all he was now of age, he didn't have to remain in Hogwarts if he chose not to.
"I won't have to, you'll be begging me to come back once the wizarding world knows that I'm gone." Harry stated, "We'll see how many lives are on your head when I'm not there to save the day." Harry then turned to Draco, "What do you say, wanna have some real fun?"
Draco looked momentarily shocked but nodded all the same; Harry offered his hand to the blonde and pulled him up. They didn't bother with their robes, it was a nice day out, they wouldn't need them and anything they did need they could buy as they went.
Dumbledore was looking horrified at what he had done; Draco couldn't help but smirk at him as they left their room, leaving the headmaster too shocked to form words, let alone stop them. Harry was right; they wouldn't survive long without him around.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I've just finished work and I'm off to Uni tomorrow so I will hopefully have some more free time to write now considering the fact that I'm doing a creative writing course. I hope that you liked this chapter, don't forget to leave me a review as it really does make my day. Phoebe