Disclaimer: Not Mine.

Notes: Originally written for aoifene's cancelled Seven Deadly Sins Angst collection. The prompt I chose was Envy. Thanks to aoifene, weasleywench and nocturnali for their unwavering support and encouragement. The title is a line from Dante's The Divine Comedy: Purgatory, Canto XIII. Translated by The Rev. H. F. Cary, M.A.

Have fun with this one. Man, I hate writing sex. lol.

It took several minutes before Draco could escape from the dinner, waylaid as he was by people wanting to speak with him. Any other time he would have been revelling in the attention, but now he wanted to hex them all back so he could go and comfort Potter… confront Potter. And settle this thing between them once and for all.

His earlier epiphany about not hating Potter any longer still played with his emotions, making him even more irritated with the situation he found himself in. And he'd discovered the first stirrings of a conscience. Knowing that didn't surprise him; the fact that he was feeling guilty about hurting Potter did. If he smoothed things over, he'd get what he wanted, though. And that was Potter in his bed, giving him the shagging of a lifetime.

Annoyed, he realised he was torn about what he wanted after that. The paramount reason for seducing Potter had been to break him. 'On his knees,' as Pansy had reminded him several times. Finding himself attracted to Potter on anything other than a physical level had not been part of the plan.

But Potter's infuriating ability to effectively evade Draco's manipulations frustrated him to the point where it prohibited any future for them as a couple. They'd always managed to bring out the worst in each other, and although the thought of the duel was enticing, the thought of never winning against Potter, never having the man bend to Draco's will, was too large an obstacle to overcome. Draco would never have any peace if he were to be with Potter.

Better, safer for his sanity, to stick with the initial plan and work out some way to beat his newly acknowledged conscience into submission.

When he finally arrived home, leaving a very disgruntled Ron at the front doors, he called Pippy.

'Pippy, is Master Harry home?'

'Yes, Master Draco. Master Harry Potter is in his bedroom, sir,' Pippy replied, offering a deep bow.

'Good. Thank you.' Draco removed his travelling cloak. 'Please ensure that we are not disturbed.'

'Yes, Master.' The elf stood there, his face scrunched up and hopping from one foot to the other, looking like he couldn't decide if he should say something or not. Draco had no time for the elf's indecision.

'What is it, Pippy? Out with it!'

The elf jumped.

Draco sighed. His elves were not used to being spoken to so harshly, but he was in a hurry.

'Master Draco, Master Potter is packing his bags, sir. Pippy is seeing Master Potter and telling him he should not be going, sir, but Master Potter says he must.' The elf looked at Draco with huge, pleading eyes. 'Master Potter must not go. The Mistress and Master will not be safe.' The elf wrung his hands.

'I will make sure Harry doesn't leave, all right?'

'Yes, Master.' Pippy stopped wringing his hands and bowed again, obviously relieved.

'What makes you think that Mother and I won't be safe if Harry leaves?'

The elf looked from side to side as if checking that no one could hear him. Draco almost laughed because there was no one in the house apart from himself and Potter.

'Pippy is just having a feeling, sir,' the elf said mysteriously. 'All the house-elves is feeling it.'

'Far be it for me to disabuse you of your feelings,' Draco said, smiling slightly, placating the elf, 'but I don't think you need worry. We're quite safe here.'

'But Master Draco will make sure that Harry Potter stays?'

'I will, Pippy. Now, as I said please ensure we aren't disturbed.'

'Thank you, Master.' The elf bowed and left.

Draco headed for the stairs, climbing them quickly, not sure exactly what he was going to say when he saw Potter. He really hoped the man wasn't crying or something equally emotional.

When Draco rounded the corner into the hallway, he saw Potter exiting his room, bags in hand, shutting the door behind him. He'd changed into Muggle denims and a shirt, which, Draco had to admit looked bloody amazing on him.

'Harry?'

Potter looked up and frowned, then he shook his head and turned his attention back to pulling the door closed. Draco had time to see a flash of sadness in his expression before it hardened. Draco's conscience flickered to life once more.

'It's time for me to go, Draco; I should never have agreed to stay here.'

'Why not?'

Potter shook his head again and made to move past Draco and down the stairs, but Draco moved into his path.

'Get out of my way.' Potter still didn't look at Draco, but Draco could see his jaw was clenched. Whether in anger or distress, he couldn't tell.

'We need to talk about this, Harry.' Draco put out his hand to touch Potter's arm, but Potter wrenched his arm away.

'What do we need to talk about?' Potter suddenly looked up and sneered. 'Do we need to talk about how you haven't really changed at all?'

Draco's immediate reaction was to scowl and tell Potter that of course he hadn't changed. But his uneasy conscience demanded he challenge Potter's statement.

'Harry–'

Potter advanced on him; his bearing menacing. 'Don't you dare Harry me! I thought you'd changed. Over the months I've been here, I believed you actually felt something for me. But it was all just a game, wasn't it?'

'No! I do want you, Harry, I didn't lie about that!' Somehow he had to make Potter see that wanting him wasn't a lie.

Potter turned away from him. Draco thought Potter was going to walk away but all he did was pace across the hall and back, clearly agitated.

'I couldn't understand just why you wanted me, why you said you liked me. I mean, you hated me last time I checked, so I couldn't work out why the bloody hell it'd changed. At first I thought it was just the same as all the other fans out there – something to do with me being the Chosen One. You have no idea how many people tell me they're in love with me.' Potter stopped. 'Or used to.' He shrugged and started pacing again.

'You're rambling, Harry.' Draco sighed and leaned against the wall, prepared to be standing there for quite some time.

'Shut up!' Potter stormed over to stand in front of Draco, poking him in the chest with his finger. 'You want to know why I'm leaving, you can fucking well stand there and listen.'

Oh, this was better, Draco thought in wonder, as Potter got angrier. Draco could already feel the tingling in his toes from where the blood refused to travel that far away from his cock.

'Fine.' Draco smirked. 'You know what seeing you angry does to me.' Unconsciously, Draco arched slightly and sighed.

'Do you do this with every fucking man you see? Is this something that all gay men do?'

Draco frowned. 'Is what something all gay men do?'

'Flirt and want sex with any bloke as long as he has two good legs and a dick?'

Scowling, Draco pushed himself away from the wall and shoved Potter in the chest. 'How long have you been living in my house?' he shouted. 'How fucking long have you been living in my house, Potter?' He didn't give Potter a chance to answer, but shoved him again so hard he crashed into the wall. Potter grimaced, looking shocked at the violence. 'Months. In all that time have you ever seen me have anyone in my bed? Have I had one unaccounted for night where I might have disappeared to fuck some anonymous lover?'

Potter had the grace to acknowledge there had been none by blushing, but he still looked mutinous even with Draco's hand pinning him to the wall. 'Then what was tonight? Why lead me on for all these months and then throw it all away acting like that with Theo Nott?'

'I've thrown it all away?' Draco asked, pressing himself to Potter's chest, sliding one leg between Potter's thighs, not prepared to let Potter get away from him now, not when the ache between his legs was demanding attention.

Potter's eyes darkened and he shoved Draco away. 'Not everything is about sex, you know,' he thundered.

'Why not?' Draco countered, regaining his balance. 'Why can't it be about satisfying some primal physical urges, occasionally?'

Potter growled. 'Go and satisfy your physical urges with Nott. You seemed to like the taste of his tonsils when I saw you earlier. Getting him into bed will probably be as easy as taking a piss.'

'What a filthy mouth you have, Potter.' Draco sneered. 'Who'd have thought their boy wonder would have such a potty mouth? I don't want Theo; I never have, never will.'

'That's not what it looked like to me. '

'If you'll take your head out of your arse long enough, I can explain.'

'I don't want you to explain,' Potter replied, assertive. He moved away from the wall and headed for the stairs.

Draco grabbed Potter's arm and wrenched him around, not prepared to relinquish the sexual tension between them again. 'I don't care what you want right now. You are going to listen to me.'

'Why? So you can fill me full of lies about how much you want me?'

'You're repeating yourself, Potter,' Draco said, gripping Potter's arm tighter and pulling closer. 'I told you I wanted you and after that little display at dinner where you made me hard enough to drill through rock; I would think you'd know just how truthful I was being.'

Potter sneered. 'So? So, you want me? So does half the wizarding world.' Potter shook his head, disgusted. He broke free of Draco's grip. 'Now you have me descending to your level of arrogance. I thought you were different, Draco. I thought you actually cared about me. I know you know how hurt I was by Ginny dumping me–'

'She didn't deserve you!' Draco snarled, surprising himself by how true that statement felt on his tongue.

'And I thought you'd give me time; understand that I've never been attracted to a man before, never even thought about it.' Potter's face flushed at his statement. 'And now I can't get you out of my head.' He dropped his bags and faced Draco, gripping his forearms tightly.

'Good.' Draco's tone was provocative. 'I want to be in your head. I want you so filled with me that nothing else has room. I want you to be obsessed by the thought of me and what you want to do to me.' Draco's breathing had accelerated, and his cock throbbed hotly in his trousers. He hadn't quite realised how much he wanted that to be true until the words were out of his mouth.

Potter's eyes widened and his nostrils flared slightly with, what Draco hoped, was the inhalation of pheromones that were heavy in the air between them. Draco knew he was practically drowning in them and he hoped they were alluring enough to drag Potter so deeply under he'd never come up for air.

'I've been honest with you, Harry, about what I want. I know you want it, too, so why the fuck do you keep backing away from me? I know you're not a shy virgin.' Draco deliberately dropped his voice to a throaty level and he saw Potter shiver slightly. Good, it was about time Potter started reacting to Draco, rather than shoving his poor hurt feelings under Draco's nose to feel guilty about.

'Maybe I want some time to come to terms with this,' he said, fingers still digging into his arms so deeply that Draco wondered if Potter was using the grip to keep himself from surrendering. Potter's eyes searched Draco's for a moment, then he stepped back. 'I can't do this. I can't be here with you and want you and then watch you throw yourself at someone else.'

'I don't want anyone else, you imbecile! Haven't I been saying that for months?'

Potter was a damned moron, Draco thought angrily, too stupid to see what was right in front of his face.

'And then what, Draco? We shag and then you move on to the next bloke lucky enough to catch your eye?'

'So it's all or nothing with you, then? You'll not take a chance to see where this goes unless you have some guarantee that it'll be a permanent relationship?'

'I don't know, all right?' Potter yelled, getting red in the face. 'None of this makes any sense. By all rights, we should still hate each other. No one has ever been able to get under my skin and annoy the shit out of me quite like you.'

'I told you I'd never make things easy for you,' Draco said. He folded his arms in an effort to stop himself from punching Potter in the face before he jumped him and humped against his leg until he came.

Potter gave a short laugh. 'You did at that. None of this is normal. Normal is dating each other first before anything else.'

'Since when have you ever been normal?'

'I would have thought you'd have noticed by now, living with me for this long. I am normal, nothing special about me at all.'

'Merlin, ginger bits did a good job on you, didn't she?'

Potter frowned. 'What are you talking about? And don't call her that!'

Draco sneered. 'I'll call her what I like. She's managed to bring you down to her level. In ten years she'll be as wide as she is tall, you'll have several red-headed brats running around and you'll be wondering what you ever saw in her.'

'You know nothing about her, so I suggest that you shut that mouth of yours,' Potter warned, moving closer. Draco took a step back, weak-kneed with desire, as much to keep Potter moving as it was to find the wall to hold himself up with.

'Make me,' Draco taunted. 'You'll forget what it was that made you hard; wonder why you dream of other people at night when you're asleep.' Draco took another step back, seeing the anger rising in Potter once more. 'You mistake her youth for excitement. All she knows is too many children in a house that looks like it will fall apart if you blow on it.' Draco slowed his speech to clearly enunciate each word. 'She will grow up to be an exact replica of her mother.'

Potter raised his hand. Draco thought he was going to be struck; his eyes never left Potter's as he prepared for the blow. Instead, Potter grabbed Draco's throat and pushed him back the few inches to the wall.

Draco almost moaned as Potter's body followed and pressed against him. Potter's heat seeped through Draco's clothes and he could feel a hardness that matched his own. He did moan then.

'She's a damned sight nicer than you'll ever be,' Potter said, keeping his eyes on Draco's.

Draco rolled his hips as well as he was able, shivering as their clothed cocks rubbed together. 'But I bet she never made you feel like this, did she? You want to hurt me as much as you want to fuck me.' Draco strained to speak with Potter's hand around his throat controlling how much voice he had. Over the thumping of his heart, he heard himself dragging in a breath. Being held against the wall like this was heaven; Potter's answering groan and reflexive grinding of his hips made Draco exultant.

And desperate to move, to rid himself of his robes, and Potter's denims, and know the glorious heat of their erections rubbing together.

As he lifted his hands to grab at Potter's arse, he saw the wariness creep back into Potter's eyes and the grip around his throat ease.

'Oh, no you don't,' Draco snarled. 'I won't break, Harry. I don't mind if you hurt me. I want that ferocity, I demand nothing less than everything you have.' Draco reached up, grabbed a handful of Potter's hair and yanked on it to demonstrate.

Potter groaned and lunged for Draco's lips, crushing their mouths together in fury. Draco almost broke at the violence and cried out to acknowledge Potter's surrender, but any noise was lost in the frantic need to taste and bite and maul Potter's mouth. It wasn't a kiss as much as it was a duel and Draco's arousal was heightened because no matter how controlled Potter had been, he was still willing to fight Draco every step of the way. Draco tasted blood, but wasn't sure if it was his or Potter's; he couldn't have cared less. Tongues, teeth and lips were bitten, sucked and chewed on until Draco saw spots in front of his eyes with the need to breathe.

His head was already crushed against the wall so he had no room to move. Potter pulled away as Draco struggled weakly under him, releasing Draco's throat. A look at Potter showed the damage; Potter had blood on his lips and Draco moaned breathlessly as he saw a thin red dribble escape the corner of Potter's mouth.

Draco rocked his hips, shaking with the need to find Potter's erection again and feel the rough abrasion against his own. 'Don't you dare stop now.'

Potter didn't hold back, pressing himself even harder against Draco, making Draco feel so very claimed. 'You're such a prick,' Potter said.

Draco's eyelids fluttered closed for a moment revelling in the sensation of being pinned helplessly to the wall, before he opened them and stared directly into Potter's eyes, seeing a myriad of emotions. Lust, need, doubt and fear. Potter was damned beautiful like this, Draco thought. Easily read and vulnerable, but damned beautiful.

'I have a prick, yes, one that needs to come so very badly.' Draco pulled on Potter's hips. 'You've been a tease and had me aching all damned night for this. Now be a chivalrous Gryffindor and help a man in need.'

Potter shook his head as he looked deep into Draco's eyes. 'Damn me for a fool but I do want you.'

'Fuck, yes,' Draco hissed as Potter bent to claim his lips again. This time it was better, more a joining of lips than a mashing of mouths. Draco could taste Potter's blood still and he pressed forward searching for more, ignoring the slight sting as teeth scraped over already-raw skin. But it was not enough.

'Lift my robes,' Draco gasped, pulling away. 'I want to feel your hands on my skin.'

Potter moaned and did as he was bid, grabbing Draco's robes and hitching them up enough to slide his hands underneath. They unerringly found Draco's arse and slipped under his underwear, gripping Draco's bare skin tightly and pulling his cheeks apart.

Draco felt like he was being branded; the rasp of firm fingers and the heat of Potter's hands made him shiver. He yanked Potter back to him and rubbed forcefully against him, knowing the building tension of the last few hours was going to culminate in him coming embarrassingly quickly.

Potter continued to kiss him and Draco loved all his senses being invaded by the skill of Potter's lips and the hardness of the body in his arms. Potter's whole body was shaking and Draco felt a further thrill knowing that he had reduced the great Harry Potter to mush, full of need and want.

'Yes, Harry,' he muttered as they thrust against each other, Draco's knees threatening to give out and his toes numb. 'Harder.'

Potter moaned and buried his face in Draco's neck. Hot breath in his ear made Draco squirm in pleasure.

'Fuck.' Potter gasped and Draco felt Potter's arse clenching, tense under his fingers. Moments later Potter's whole body shook in spasms and Draco couldn't help the loud grunt that echoed around the hall as he clasped Potter to him, hanging on tightly as his own orgasm shot through him, almost blinding him with the explosion. Never had coming felt so brilliant; he didn't want to stop. Draco let his body dictate what it wanted and he continued to cling to Potter, keeping him right where he wanted him while he slowly recovered.

Eventually, he pulled back to look at Potter, seeing the flushed face and questioning eyes. Knowing Potter, he'd want some deep and meaningful discussion about where they went from here. That was the last thing Draco wanted. He'd just had a brilliant orgasm and he wasn't about to spoil it with talk of the future.

'Why did we wait so long to do that?' he said as a distraction.

'Because you're such an arse,' Potter replied, not moving from Draco's arms.

'Merlin, Harry, you don't have to be in love with me to do something as brilliant as that.'

Potter's face shut down and Draco kicked himself for saying the wrong thing. He tried to hold Potter right where he was, but he disentangled himself from Draco, leaving Draco's arse feeling the loss of the hard hands and his body oddly naked without Potter's pressed against it.

'So it's just a physical thing, after all? Should have known.'

'No, Harry,' Draco protested. 'I want to do this again and more. Don't you believe me, yet?'

'Oh, I believe you. I know you want more. I just don't know if I am ready to give you more without–'

'A committed relationship?' Fuck, but the man was stubborn, Draco thought.

'I don't know, all right? This was…this was incredible, but…'

Draco scowled; he wanted to smack Potter in the face and tell him to wake up. 'When you make your mind up, you let me know,' Draco said, straightening his robes. He looked back at Potter, seeing the flushed face he'd thought beautiful only minutes ago and wondering if he'd ever not be able to think him beautiful from now on. He reached out and ran a thumb over Potter's swollen, bruised and bleeding lips, making Potter grimace. 'Let those be a reminder to you of how utterly amazing and exciting we could be together.'

He set off down the hall to his own room, but stopped and turned. 'Just don't leave. The house-elves have a feeling we won't be safe if you do.'

At Potter's nod, Draco nodded in return. At least if Potter was still living at the Manor, Draco could remind him at every opportunity what he was missing. Stupid bastard. What was wrong with a fling? Some good, healthy sex now and then? Why did it always have to come back to something else?

Logically, a relationship with Potter made sense for his plan. But logic had never been a part of anything between Potter and himself. Whatever they had defied all logic, Draco knew that, so the reason his conscience was preventing him from giving Potter what he wanted escaped him.

Confused, Draco entered his room and headed straight for the shower to wash away the sticky remnants of that mind-blowing orgasm. Regretfully.