Captivation

Chapter 21: A Trap

Le Diamantwas indeed very small, just as Rita Skeeter had said, and it had been easy to apparate there from the school (being since it was in Scotland, just far north in the Orkney Islands). It wasn't very crowded either, which Harry was grateful for. He and Draco made their way inside the café and saw a familiar brown-haired woman with oval glasses. Swiftly, the two of them headed over to the table and Rita glanced up at them, adjusting her glasses as they sat down.

"So, am I going to be threatened again?" Rita's eyes narrowed, staring only at Harry.

He shrugged in response. "No, but if you don't publish our exact words we will be telling the Ministry."

Rita pursed her lips grimly, knowingly exactly what he was referring to. Inhaling deeply as she straightened her shoulders, Rita pulled out her notebook and magical quill, but this time she was forced to place it in eye-view of the two of them.

"Alright, so if I understand your predicament, the papers caught you two kissing," she said, as her lips curled in amusement, "and so you both are going to come out about your relationship and explain it in the way you want to."

"Yeah," Harry said, nodding.

The magical quill began scribbling and Harry glanced over at it to see heading: The True Confession of Harry Potter's love-life.Draco caught sight of it too and rolled his eyes a bit. Harry just nodded toward the woman to show it was okay. Rita folded her hands casually and began.

"Well, first and foremost I'm going to have to put both of your names into the paper."

"I don't think you know his name," Harry said, gesturing toward Draco who stared at Rita coolly.

The woman's eyebrows rose. "I'm sure I do. I wrote an article on you both earlier."

Harry shook his head. "You got his name wrong. It's Draco Merlin. You put Malfoy, but the Malfoys don't have a son any longer. Er, he went missing during the war," Harry added as an afterthought.

"Oh really?" Rita blinked, squinting toward Draco. "I could've sworn I looked him up…hold on."

She pulled out an older-looking notebook and began searching through it. Then when she got to a page she blinked, bending down toward it.

"That's strange…it only says Draco, but I could've sworn I had found out his last name."

"You can look me up if you want to," Draco drawled.

"There's no need. I'll just put your name down then. Merlin," she said as the magical quill scribbled. "Now, when did you two first start going out and what do you want the public to know about your relationship?"

"Er, about a month after coming to the school," Harry answered, glancing at Draco who just stared ahead.

"Uh huh, and is it true that Draco is a Slytherin? And if he's not related to the Malfoys was he in any way connected to You-Know-Who during the war?"

Draco's eyes narrowed, but Harry spoke up. "Er, he is a Slytherin, but he wasn't connected to Voldemort or those in league with him."

Rita winced and then nodded. "Okay."

She asked them each a few more questions. Harry answered most of them since Draco was content to just listen and sip some coffee. It was over in about a half-hour and Rita folded her notebook back up.

"It'll take a few days to write and publish but by the end of the week it should be up. Friday at the latest," she said, staring at the two of them. "And I would appreciate it if we could make a deal right now. If you never reveal my Animagus form—"

"Or the fact that you snuck into my private quarters," Harry added.

"You know, a reporter has to be sneaky, otherwise no stories come about," Rita said.

Draco snorted. "I doubt the Ministry would care about your 'stories', they'd just be concerned that you could spy on them as well. Plus the number of complaints from other people."

"Fine, or that," Rita agreed. "Then I'll never post another article about either of you two, unless of course you want me to."

"Deal," Harry nodded, holding out his hand.

She shook it and then grabbed her purse. "Good. Now I shall finally have my job back and that hag Layola can get the hell out of my place."

With that, she marched confidently out of the café and Harry leaned back, sighing with relief.

"I'm glad that's over."

Draco just gulped the rest of his coffee down and stood up. "Yeah. Let's go."

Harry followed him out of the café. "Hey Draco, what about that piercing?"

The blond turned his head and gave him a sarcastic look. "You're still going on about that, Potter."

"Yes. There might be a shop around here somewhere. Let's look," Harry said, giving him a smile.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I told you I'd see."

"Come on, please? You can always take it out if you really don't like it." Harry said, tugging on his arm urgently.

"Potter, they're completely useless."

"Maybe, but I'm going to be the one paying for it, since you only have the loan for school, right? So you're not wasting any of your money. And I think it's worth it," Harry smiled.

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I told you it'd be sexy," Harry said as Draco just snorted in response.

"Fine, Potter but if it annoys me too much I'm taking it out."

"Deal," Harry extended his hand.

Draco shook it firmly and while their hands were still clasped, Harry tugged on Draco's hand which allowed him to easily bend toward him to plant a brief kiss on his lips.

"That's to seal it," Harry grinned, earning a rare perplexed smile from the other boy.

The two of them explored the island by apparating to various areas (although they had to be careful of muggles). Harry became excited when he saw a rather fancy jewelry store. He gestured to it and Draco reluctantly followed him inside. The whole place was filled with exotic jewelry and the few customers were looking around at various sections. Draco suddenly grabbed his arm and leaned toward his ear.

"Potter, this is a muggle store!"

"How can you tell?" Harry asked quietly.

"Because nobody is carrying wands," Draco exclaimed quietly, turning around to leave.

"Hold on," Harry said, holding onto him. "Hermione told me a lot of places outside of Diagon Alley sell things to both muggles and wizards. So some places must know when wizards enter or when muggles enter. So that means if the owners of this place are magical they could be hiding it when muggles come into the store. Here," Harry said as he spotted a woman with a name tag.

She spotted them and smiled. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"

"Er, do you happen to know about Quidditch?" Harry asked quietly.

The woman's eyes brightened and she smiled widely. "Ah yes. Follow me, please."

Harry glanced at Draco who just crossed his arms casually. The two of them followed her behind the counter to a back room. To both Harry and Draco's further surprise, she took out her wand and tapped on the wall. It opened before them and inside was another part of the store, identical to the area where they had entered, only they were certain wizards and witches were shopping in this section. There were charms that glistened and caused items to float or changed the item's color. It was much more interesting to say the least.

"The jewelry over there is half-off," she pointed, "including the charmed-bracelets, which have a mild protection charm on them."

"Do you have ear piercing?" Harry asked.

The woman smiled. "Why yes, we do. As a matter of fact, we have some wonderful new earrings made from dragon scales that just came in. They're gorgeous!"

"Can we see those?" Harry's interest perked up.

"Right this way," she gestured with a smile, leading them to an aisle further down.

Draco seemed content with just browsing with his eyes. He didn't voice any protest as Harry looked at some options. The woman showed them to the section and Harry immediately fell in love with the collection.

"You two see if there's anything you might like and I'll be back in a minute after I check on the muggles," she winked.

As she walked away, Harry tugged on Draco's arm to bring him closer. "What do you think about these?"

Draco glanced at the collection of earrings. Some were simple—just plain silver or gold but they could shimmer or change colors (if a person wanted to pay a little extra to get it charmed to do so). There were a few in particular that Harry admired, which were the ones made from dragon scales and glimmered with deep emerald, ruby and ocean colors, among others. Some of them were even mixed with colors and the appearance of the earring itself was smooth and glossy, like mica. Even some had onyx lines running through them.

Studying them carefully, Draco tilted his head and then finally pointed to one in particular.

"If anything, I suppose that one's alright."

Harry smiled at the blond's consistent stubborn-nature (to not admit when he was really interested in something or having fun). He picked up the single silver-pearly colored earring that glimmered because of the dragon scales. It was smooth and flexible—a perfect small hoop that wouldn't dangle but curl right underneath the earlobe.

"I like it," Harry said, gazing at him with a soft smile as the blond glanced at him as well.

"Did you two find something?" the woman approached them again.

"Yes, this one," Harry offered it to her. "Actually, could you pierce his ear with it?"

The woman smiled as he gestured to Draco who stared at her passively and she nodded.

"Of course. I can place any kind of color-changing charm or anything that you'd like as well."

Harry turned to Draco who just shrugged. "It's fine how it is."

Gesturing for them to follow her, she brought them over to an empty area and summoned a chair. Draco took a seat in it and Harry stood beside him.

"Okay, all I'm going to do is use a basic spell to aim in the exact spot of the lobe you'd like the earring. And also which ear you'd like it," she smiled.

"I don't care," Draco drawled casually, leaning back in the chair.

"Alright, well just choose one then," the woman said getting her wand out.

"Left," he shrugged.

The woman nodded and aimed her wand toward him. A dull yellow light came out of the wand and aimed at the lobe. Harry watched as it got to the exact center and she summoned a mirror to show Draco where the earring would go. The blond nodded in approval and with a jerk of her wand the earring suddenly magically appeared in his ear. Draco didn't even wince and Harry wondered if he even felt anything in the first place. It was definitely a much easier way than the muggles.

"There you go," the woman smiled.

She summoned a mirror for him and Draco studied it, bringing his fingers up to touch the shimmering hoop. Harry was fascinated by it since it clearly brought out his eyes and its slight shimmer highlighted his blond hair as well. He definitely knew it was worth it. Draco nodded as if he was satisfied with it and stood up. Harry went to the counter to pay, watching as the blond admired himself in the reflection of the glass cabinet.

Once they exited the store, Harry smiled at the blond who raked his fingers through his hair a couple times as they walked. Although Draco was very attractive on his own, the earring gave him an extra bit of class that he couldn't show by just dressing in rich clothing. It added to his naturally alluring appearance. The two of them got back in time for a late lunch (thankfully it was Sunday) and they sat down by Tavis, Lucas and Nicholas.

"Hey boys, there's going to be another party tonight," Tavis grinned widely. "I was just telling Lucas about it but he and his new girlfriend are going out to dinner."

"Really?" Harry's eyes brightened.

Lucas smiled and nodded. "Yes, we are."

"I'm happy for you both," Harry smiled. "We should all double-date again sometime."

"Since our last one was ruined, you mean?" Draco drawled as he leaned forward causing his bangs to cascade around his face.

"Sounds great," Lucas smiled. "Actually, Hermione said her birthday's coming up soon."

"That's right!" Harry mentally slapped himself. "Next month. That's right after our next Quidditch match."

"Yeah, well she wanted to go someplace special and she was talking about going on a trip somewhere and getting a hotel."

"They have wizard hotels?" Harry asked, as all eyes strayed to him.

Draco snorted sarcastically. "Don't mind him. He grew up in the muggle world."

"Of course they have wizard hotels! They're bloody awesome! The ones that are hidden away from muggles are the best! That way magic is allowed to be used and you don't have to worry about someone seeing you," Tavis grinned.

"That's what I've heard as well," Lucas said. "I'm sure Hermione was planning on inviting you all to come since it's for her birthday, but she said she hasn't gotten around to making invitations."

"It sounds like a great idea," Harry said, glancing at Draco.

"Not if she's going to invite the Weasel," Draco drawled, gazing back at him.

Harry nodded. "I'll Owl Hermione and talk to her about that. Only if Ron is going to give us an apology would I want to go there when he's there."

"What did he do?" Lucas asked curiously as Tavis leaned closer.

"Draco can tell you," Harry said, nudging the blond gently.

Glancing at him with a raised eyebrow, Draco proceeded to tell them everything that happened. By the time he was done Tavis was looking enraged and Lucas was looking confused.

"That is definitely not something a real friend would do! It's bloody outrageous! Not to mention illegal!" Tavis exclaimed.

"Is that girl still concerned about you being hers?" Lucas asked.

"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "I've ignored her so far and she seems serious with Darian so…I think she asked that personal question just out of her own nosey curiosity."

"Just be glad she didn't ask what positions you two did," Tavis pointed out.

Draco snorted and took a sip from his drink. "Too bad. I'm sure that would've traumatized Weasley."

Harry just smiled and shook his head. "Ginny hasn't really been bugging me. It was probably her last attempt, since she was most likely angry that I had lied about Lucas being my boyfriend. Now that she knows it's Draco, she still realizes I have a boyfriend and that I'm not interested in her so I don't think she'll be a problem."

"Good," Lucas tilted his head, reaching over to pat Harry's arm.

"Oy Draco," Tavis said, leaning sideways. "I love the earring. Have you had that before?"

Harry grinned and turned to the blond who took to the compliment by giving a sexy half-smirk.

"I just got it today," he answered, moving his bangs so they could get a better look.

"It's hot," Tavis commented, giving him a wink.

"I think so too," Harry grinned coyly.

Draco's eyebrow rose in amusement. "Well, you would, Potter," he drawled. "It was your idea in the first place."

"Was it really? Hot stuff!" Tavis exclaimed, giving Harry a thumbs-up. "So, Draco, you should show that off at the party tonight."

"Sure," Draco smirked, glancing at Harry to show that he wanted to attend the party.

Harry just smiled in response. They hadn't been to a party in a while, because of the piling up of homework and such. It would be good to get some stress out, especially after the Ron incident.

Later that night, after eating dinner, both he and Draco set out to their own rooms to get dressed. Once Harry was done he met up in Draco's common room and waited for him to come out. The blond opened the door moments later dressed in real black, leather pants and his silky, silver shirt. Harry saw him and couldn't help but trail his eyes over the blond's body. The earring did wonders with the silver shirt and Harry smiled up at him. He wore his dark jeans and a tight, silky black long-sleeved shirt.

"You're all dressed up tonight," Harry said, approaching him.

Draco shrugged, crossing his arms which exposed part of his collar bone. "Most of my clothes are dressy."

"You look very nice. Are those new?" Harry gestured to his pants.

"No. I just never felt like wearing them," Draco's said, shaking his head so his hair fell back from his face.

Harry smiled, knowing that Draco was feeling confident in his look because of the earring. The two of them made their way to the Lilac Common Room to see that it hadn't begun to get crowded yet. However, the silencing charms had already been placed around the room for when more people showed up. As they entered, they were greeted by Ambreen, Dahlia, Angelica (a girl whom Harry had seen around but hadn't really talked to) and of course Nicholas, Danny and Tavis.

"You two ready to party?" Nicholas swung his arms around them.

Clearly he had already started drinking. Draco gave him an irritated look as he tried to pry the boy's arm from around him.

"Come join us in a drinking game," Tavis said, urging them.

"Do you want to?" Harry asked Draco.

The blond crossed his arms casually. "Sure, why not?"

"Alright! And you Harry?"

"Sure," Harry smiled.

"Excellent! Come on then!" Nicholas exclaimed, gesturing for them to follow him.

They all sat in a circle and a few others began joining. Ambreen and Angelica decided to join as well and soon it was a group of ten.

"Okay, does everyone know how to play Sorcery or Sentence?" Nicholas announced.

"No," Harry answered immediately.

A couple others shook their heads and Nicholas began to explain: "Okay, we have a deck of famous wizard and witch cards. The deck goes in the center of the circle and we each are given numbers. We can magically pull them from a hat or just assign them, but then the oldest person in the group draws a card from the center and summons a random number from their wand. The person with that number then is asked about this particular wizard or witch and if they don't answer correctly they have to drink.

"And the more important or rare the wizards or witches, the more you have to drink. And then it goes down the line and each person pulls a card and chooses a random victim. But you can spin it around a little. You can, for instance, say three false things about the card you chose and one truth and choose several victims. Then whoever guesses the truth doesn't have to drink but the others do. Sometimes we just start making up new rules as we go, so it sort of flows on its own, but you get the picture."

Harry was seated next to Draco and as the game began he was assigned the number three while Draco was assigned six. Harry knew quite a few of them, but many he had never heard of. So he was quickly becoming drunk. Draco, who had grown up in the wizard world, like several of the others, knew a lot more. He still had gone through a couple bottles of Black Dragon so he was becoming mildly drunk. However, by the end of round three, Harry could definitely tell that if he had any more he wouldn't be able to walk. So he chose not to enter into round four and Draco joined him.

The two of them walked toward the couch and Harry slumped down on it. Draco sat down as well and rested up against the armrest. Harry gazed at the blond who had propped his legs up and smiling he crawled toward Draco. He then slid quickly up to the blond and lay down on him, resting his head by Draco's.

"Potter what are you doing?" Draco asked, gazing down at him.

"Lying on top of you," Harry answered honestly, tilting his head up to stare at him.

Draco snorted. "You're completely smashed."

"Not completely. I understand our conversation," Harry joked, earning an amused smirk from the blond.

"Right, well there is the rest of the couch you could lie on, you know."

"I know," Harry said, raising his head a bit.

He leaned down toward Draco's pierced ear and kissed the side of his face. Then he trailed his lips down to the earring and sucked on the entire lobe.

"Potter," Draco said, turning his head. "Do you have any shame?"

"Fine," Harry rolled his eyes a bit. "Just one kiss then."

Draco's eyes narrowed suspiciously as Harry sloppily pressed his lips to the blond's. Very shortly, Harry slipped his tongue into Draco's mouth as he trailed a hand down the other boy's chest. Their kiss broke and Harry smiled, caressing the blond's chest.

"Do you want to leave?"

Draco's eyes glimmered softly with the dim light of the room and Harry kissed him again as the blond began to rise. Smirking as Harry nearly stumbled off the couch, Draco grasped his arm to steady him. The two of them slipped away from the party and headed toward Harry's common room (since it was closer). Even before they got inside his room, Harry wrapped his arms around him and began kissing him passionately. Their tongues touched and caressed and once Harry got the door open he nearly fell inside, but thankfully he grabbed onto Draco's arm.

The door closed and Harry began kissing him fervently, raking his fingers along Draco's back. He was trying to reach for his wand as well to take off his clothes. Groaning softly as their bodies pressed together, Harry grabbed his wand. When he opened his eyes, he saw something lying on the bed and suddenly broke the kiss. Draco stared at him, having been entranced by their make-out session. His lips were red from kissing and his eyes had begun to glaze over.

"What's that?" Harry wondered aloud.

Draco turned as Harry slipped out of their embrace and went to pick up the letter. It was a regular white envelope only it had a strange cursive Min the corner and when Harry flipped it over there was a seal placed on the back to keep it closed.

"It's from the Ministry," Draco said.

"What? But why would they send me a letter?" Harry asked, sitting down on the bed anxiously.

Slowly, Draco sat down next to him and Harry opened it:

To: Harry Potter

It is my obligation to inform you that you are needed at the Ministry this coming Friday at nine in the morning. Some serious allegations against you have been brought up. Lucius Malfoy and his wife Narcissa Malfoy claim that their son, Draco, has been wrongfully and illegally forced into intimacy with you and is possibly under either a love potion or a serious controlling spell. You must appear before Ministry members for the trial and Draco is required as well. You are allowed to pay for a representative if you wish, but if you do not show up on Friday it will be assumed you are guilty of these charges and will be sentenced accordingly.

Signed,

Minister Scimageour

"I can't…they can't…!" Harry struggled with words as he stared down at it with his mouth open.

"What? What is it?" Draco asked, reaching out his hand toward it.

Harry handed it to him, still speechless and as Draco read it his eyebrows furrowed angrily but his face also paled slightly.

"Can they seriously do that?" Harry asked.

"Of course," Draco drawled darkly. "Anyone can be allowed to make charges against anyone else to the Ministry."

"I can't believe this!" Harry hissed angrily, standing up. "It doesn't even really give me enough time for an attorney and I don't have you under some sort of spell! Why can't they get that through their heads?"

"They're not going to so easily roll over, Potter. You have understand who they are," Draco said coldly.

Harry sighed angrily. "Okay, well obviously we have to show up."

Draco glared at the floor and Harry sat down next to him. "Draco? Are you alright with going up against them, or…?"

"If you're insinuating that I'm going to go running back to them, that's not an option even if I wanted it," Draco drawled coolly as he glanced at him. "I've come this far and I've already changed my name."

"I know, but…actually admitting to your parents' faces that you're willingly with me is a really, really big step. And I know we don't have much choice in the matter, but I wanted to make sure that you're alright with this," Harry said quietly.

"My parents are most likely going to make it as painful as possible," Draco drawled, still staring at the floor. "But there's an easy way to get past confronting them."

"How?" Harry asked.

"We go to the Minister ourselves with the claim that these charges are false and we get questioned under Veritaserum. My parents won't think that we'd do this—they expect a full drawn-out case in which they can try and bribe me back to them and ruin your reputation. They expect that I'm being forced whether by black-mail or a spell or something so when we do that it'll settle the whole case and it probably won't even go in the papers."

"Great! That's what we should do then. This way we won't have to face them ourselves, right?"

"Well, we can request that we don't see them. I mean, they will be there Friday so there's a chance we'll run into them, but this is the safest way to get this over with and prove your innocence at least," Draco explained.

Harry's lips curled into a soft smile and he wrapped an arm around Draco's shoulders. "I know how hard it'll be to finally get this big step out of the way. This is the real confrontation that will show them for sure you're not going back. I want you to know I'll be here for you, if you want to talk about it afterward or anything."

Draco was silent for a few seconds then he turned to him and shrugged. "I'll be fine. You should probably respond to the Minister and request to meet him privately on Friday."

"Okay," Harry said softly. "Would you like to sleep in my room tonight?"

Draco was again silent but he finally nodded. Harry watched as he waved his wand and got into bed and then he proceeded to write the Minister a letter, which he would send in the morning. What had started out as a wonderful evening had abruptly been shattered. But if Draco was right, they could get it over with easily.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm pressed for time to get this up so that's why there aren't any individual comments this time! Thanks again!