Ch. 12: Put On Some Damn Clothes!

Harry awoke slowly, for the first time in a while dreading the day. He first noticed that Draco was already up, and judging by the sound of rushing water and a hint of distant singing, the blonde Slytherin was in the shower.

Harry's stomach clenched painfully and he sat up, covering his mouth with his hand. He then decided to take a page out of Remus' book and muttered, "Shit."

He had stupidly admitted to Draco that he liked him. And what's worse, he wasn't totally sure whether or not Draco had heard him.

More music floated from the bathroom and Harry groaned. Harry heard a couple of words of a song that was vaguely familiar to him. The water switched off and the words became clearer.

"Your eyes can be so cruel, just as I can be so cruel. Though I do believe in you, yes I do. Live without the sunlight, love without your heartbeat."

Harry pulled the blankets over his head, scared of a confrontation. Draco's voice became louder as he seemingly came closer.

"I, I can live within you," he finished under his breath. "Potter? Hey, Potter?"

Harry slowly pulled the blanked off his head. Draco stood in the doorway of the bathroom, his towel wrapped loosely around his waist and his blonde hair dripping.

Harry let out a shaky breath but did not reply.

"Harry, I know you're awake. I can't get the clothes myself. I need your help."

Harry crawled out of bed and gathered the clothes as quickly as he could, not once looking at the nearly nude teen standing in plain sight.

"Here Draco," Harry said and stuffed the clothes in his arms.

Draco smiled and said, "Thank you very much. Good Morning, but the way."

Harry tried not to notice the fact that every time the blind teen moved the towel slipped a little lower down his waist.

Try as the Gryffindor may, he couldn't tear his eyes away from Draco.

The Slytherin made his way over to the bed, holding the towel up with one hand. He pulled on his pants under the towel then shed it. He gently ran his hands over his clothes, pulling on the t-shirt first, and then the trousers.

"You're staring, Potter. Why?"

"You do you know I'm staring?" Harry asked, almost angry at the fact that Draco was getting much better at sensing things.

Draco ran his hands through his hair and sighed as he poked his still aching cheek. "I can feel your eyes on me. Why are you staring?"

Harry grabbed the lotion he had put on Draco's face the night before. "You're just getting really good at seeing with your hands. It's beautiful to watch." Harry furrowed his brow as he noticed that Draco was poking his own face and wincing. "Is your face still sore? I can put more lotion on it if you want."

"It does still hurt," the blonde finally said and allowed Harry to smear a liberal amount on his cheeks and nose.

There was a knock on the door and Harry called, "Come in."

The door swung open and Hermione entered, a smile on her face. "Morning you two. I was thinking we could spend a day in the back garden today, just Remus and us. You could try out your walking stick and we'll have a picnic. It will be fun."

Draco flinched slightly as he felt Harry slide his cool wire-framed sunglasses onto his nose.

"Sounds like fun Hermione," Draco heard Harry say. "Draco, let's see if we can find you a hat so you don't burn anymore."

Draco nodded and rubbed his eyes slowly, relieving some of the pressure the darkness put on them. "I'm getting a headache, and my eyes hurt."

Harry pressed a worn cap on Draco's head and laid a cool phial of potion in his hand. "Take this; it will make you feel better. Why don't you go with Hermione down to the living room, while I get ready."

Draco drained the potion, stood up, and said, "Alright. Bring my cane down with you when you come."

The blonde walked through the door. "Come on, Hermione."

The girl raised her eyebrows and said, "Okay Draco. See you in a bit, Harry."

Draco walked confidently down the hallway. "I need to send an owl. Can you maybe..."

"Sure. Give me the letter and I'll take care of it."

Draco stopped and pulled the slightly crumpled piece of parchment out of his pocket, holding it out for Hermione to take.

It might have surprised anyone else that Draco's small, tidy script was perfectly straight, but not Hermione. He had probably taken his time in simply writing 'Severus' on the front of the folded piece of parchment.

Draco straightened his cap and said, "Thank you. I'll go into the living room and wait until either you or Harry come."

Hermione traced the crease of the parchment with her finger. "You can make it in there, I presume?"

"Of course," Draco said in an airy tone. "I've been here long enough to know how to get to the living room."

Hermione shook her head incredulously. "In case you haven't noticed, you're blind. I would think that not being able to see would make it harder to find your way around."

Draco waved a dismissive hand and said, "Posh. I can see perfectly, it's just that everything is the exact shade of black. And the lights are out."

Hermione began to laugh and added, "And let me guess, you can't tell where anything is until you run into it."

Draco nodded his head once. "Exactly. Now, if you don't mind, my legs are beginning to tire. I must rest."

He began to swagger off as elegantly as he could, leaving behind the brown-haired girl in a fit of giggles.

"What the bugger are you laughing at?" came an amused voice from the doorway of Harry and Draco's bedroom. Harry had emerged, wrapping a towel around his waist. His hair was still dripping and he was vigorously rubbing it with another, smaller towel.

"Draco."

At this, Harry simply nodded and continued drying his hair.

Hermione looked down at the letter then back to Harry. "Go and put on some bloody clothes. Draco is waiting for you in the living room. I think Remus is making the picnic basket. And quit drying your hair like that, you're training it to be wild."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "I think it's safe to say that it is already trained. See you in a bit."

Hermione nodded and waited until Harry shut the door, then scurried away to mail the letter.

"Draco? Could you maybe come in here and help me?"

The Slytherin jumped at the sound of Remus' voice from the kitchen. He stood still for a moment, deciding that the best way to find his way was to get Remus talking and follow his voice.

"How did you know I was in here?" he said softly, waiting for a response before moving.

"I can smell you. You were here on the full moon, unconscious, but here. My wolf sense picked up on you and registered you. You have officially become one of the few people I can recognize by scent."

Draco bumped into a side table, but not hard enough to make a loud noise or a bruise. "Really? How long ago was the full moon?"

Remus finally spotted the blonde, who had halted his movements and tilted his head. "It's been about... a week and a half, almost a fortnight. You were completely out for a week, before Hermione and Ron showed up. You seemed to sense Mudblood."

Draco finally entered the kitchen and reached out, taking hold of Remus' arm and smiling in spite of himself. "I was out for a week? I hadn't realized it had been that long."

"You never do," Remus said simply and slid a picnic basket over in front of Draco. "Now, I'll hand you things as I finish them, you toss them into the basket."

"That sounds like something you could do on your own," Draco grumbled, but the smile on his face didn't falter.

Remus rummaged around the kitchen, pulling things together for lunch. "I probably could, but I want you in here more for the conversation than anything."

Draco quirked an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Really," the werewolf echoed. He returned to Draco's side with all the ingredients and began preparing sandwiches.

"Severus sent me a letter," Remus said conversationally. "He said he would be coming tomorrow, that is if what you wrote him doesn't take too long. Whatever that means."

Draco smiled. "Good, it shouldn't take that long."

"Does this have anything to do with a certain teenager's birthday?" Remus asked and handed the first sandwich to the blonde.

Draco felt his ears burn, fairly sure that he was blushing furiously. "It does," he finally said softly, carefully laying the sandwich in the bottom of the basket. "Did Severus write anything else in the letter?"

It was Remus' turn to blush. "No, just that he was coming."

"So why do I get the feeling you are lying?" Draco said lightly, accepting another sandwich and stacking it on the other.

"I don't know," Remus said with feigned innocence. "It's not what he wrote, because he didn't write anything. It was the way the letter smelled. It was... I could smell him on the paper. I t was scary."

Draco nibbled on his bottom lip. "It's a werewolf thing, I guess. Does he smell different because you like him?"

Remus placed another sandwich in Draco's hand and sighed. "He smells heavenly because he is my mate."

Draco smirked. "That's great! He's always kind of fancied you. 'Course, he's never said anything, but..."

"Don't you dare tell him," Remus warned, staring at Draco crossly. "He would probably freak out. I want to break it to him slowly. That is, if I tell him at all. I'm scared to, I... I'm afraid he'll..."

Remus looked away, suddenly feeling like he was a teenager in some weird love paradox.

"Just don't tell him," the werewolf finished weakly and handed the remaining sandwiches over.

"Okay, I won't say anything," Draco said and tucked his left hand in his pocket. "I wrote him to ask him to pick me up something for Harry."

Remus tossed a package of biscuits in the basket. "That's nice of you. Is it safe to say you won't tell me what it is?"

"Of course I won't. Harry can tell you if he wants to," Draco said smugly and closed his eyes.

Remus rose his gaze and started to retort but stopped when he saw Draco. The blonde had raised a single finger and was gently running it over his own eyelid. The werewolf realized all at once that Draco was mapping out the scars over his eyes.

"They're crosses, aren't they?" Draco said almost reverently, letting his hands fall.

"Yeah."

There was quite a bit of commotion from the hallway. It seemed that Hermione and Harry had met in the corridor.

"For God's sake Harry, put on some bloody clothes!" Both Remus and Draco heard Hermione screech.

"For God's sake Hermione, calm down! I'm not bothering anyone but you!" was Harry's retort. "It's not like I'm walking around starkers for all the world to see."

The bickering had worked its way into the kitchen. Draco couldn't help himself.

"I can't even see him," the Slytherin piped in, and Remus nudged him lightly.

"And I really don't see Harry as a sexual being. I'm not even looking," Remus added, handing Draco four individual-sized bags of crisps to add to the basket.

"See Hermione, no one else cares," Harry said smugly, crossing his arms across his bare chest. He tried not to notice the towel slip slightly down his hips. "I think you secretly fancy me and you can't stand me taunting you with my incredibly sexy body."

Once again, Draco couldn't help himself. He laughed.

Harry rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, shove off, Malfoy. Shut your gob."

Draco didn't reply, only turned his head in the direction that Hermione's lightly floral perfume was coming from.

"Oh yes Harry," Hermione said sarcastically, "I suppose you're right. I am completely and totally enamored with you. If only you weren't a poncey fairy-boy I would throw you on this table and have my wicked way with you. Now go upstairs and put on some damn clothes."

By this time both Draco and Remus had collapsed into silent giggles. It took everything the blonde Slytherin had to remain upright and breathing.

Harry planted a light kiss on Hermione's forehead and left the kitchen, 'accidentally' dropping his towel on the way out.

Hermione made an exasperated noise and said, "Let's go have a lovely picnic, then."

The werewolf took a few steadying breaths and all Draco could do was nod.

If he didn't like Potter before, he sure as hell did now.

Thanks to brionyjae for the beta!