Finally, Ch.3! I've gotten so many wonderful comments! Thank you all :)
This chapter starts off fun, but gets a little serious at the end.
We get to take a peek at Draco's real feelings towands his life as a pureblood. Then Draco gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time and hears things he wasn't meant to. Then again, maybe it was the right place at the right time. I'll leave that up to you readers.
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"Get started?!" Draco squawked, trying to scoot away. Potter, however, was one step ahead of him. He bent his elbows swiftly and pinned Draco down with his body.
"Well if you'd rather stay like this then, by all means, keep squirming." Harry folded his arms across Draco's chest, closed his eyes, and sighed. Draco felt the sigh ripple through his body from his head to his toes. He shivered and his heartbeat started beating insufferably fast. He needed to get out from under Potter. Now. If he didn't… well he knew nothing good would come of it.
Draco wriggled furiously, trying to free himself, but Potter was planted firmly and wasn't about to give him an inch. Soon, Draco realized that thrashing about was futile. Finally, he gave up and lay there, panting in defeat.
"Oh, are you done?" Harry asked nonchalantly as he sat back on his knees, "Too bad. I was enjoying myself."
"Shut up, Potter," Draco snapped, feeling some of his Malfoy pride bubble up. "You should feel blessed to be so close to someone with superior breeding such as mine. Merlin knows there's none of it in your family." Malfoy folded his arms and smirked. He was quiet proud of himself. This was the first coherent insult he had managed to string together since the year began. The Malfoy glared up icily into his rival's eyes. Potter's expression was dark for a moment. His eyes were blazing and his lips turned downwards; the sun behind him surrounded him in a red halo and intensified his anger.
Then suddenly, the look disappeared. Potter stared down at Draco with a pleased sneer.
"Oh believe me, Malfoy, I feel so blessed." With that, Potter lifted up the leg he wasn't straddling and laid his whole body against it, keeping Draco's knee strait with a firmly planted hand.
"HAAAA!" Draco squealed trying to sit up and relieve the pain surging through his lifted leg. Potter slammed one of his palms flat on Draco's chest and pushed him to the ground, his eyes glowing.
"We could have played nice, Draco," Harry said in a dangerous voice, "but you had to have it your way like always." He pulled his hand back and placed it snugly on the ball of Draco's sneaker clad foot. Draco squeaked unintelligibly, writhing under Potter's furious gaze.
"Huuuh… it, i-it h-hurts! S-stop it right n-now, Potter!" Draco whined feeling his eyes tear up. He clutched the grass at his sides while shivers undulated down his leg to the rest of his body. He shook his head from side to side, breathing hard.
"I didn't hear a please," Potter said, pushing down harder. Draco yelped in response to the pressure.
"D-damn you, Potter!" he croaked in a high-pitched voice, his face flushed. Potter cupped a hand behind his ear and waited expectantly, not letting up on Draco's shaking leg. Draco gulped audibly, almost as if he was really swallowing his pride.
"P-please," Draco whispered, feeling faint.
"Please what?" Harry asked, applying slightly less pressure.
"Pretty please?!" Draco gasped, exasperated, not knowing what more he could possibly say. He had thought this would have been humiliating enough.
"You certainly aren't accustomed to begging are you?" Potter asked. Draco thought that was obvious, but he held his tongue. Anymore of this and his leg would turn to jelly.
"Why don't you tell me what you want me to say?" Draco hissed through gritted teeth. Draco watched Potter's grin slacken as surprise flitted across his face. Then, Draco saw a glimmer of what looked like excitement in his eyes. He was sure he had interpreted wrong through. Potter was probably just enjoying having him at his mercy.
"Alright then. You have to say, 'Pretty please with sugar on top, Master Harry, Light of my Day, King of all Wizards, oh pretty please release me from your mighty grasp.' And say it like you mean it. You have to beg for it." Draco gaped at him, outraged. He had been wrong. There were things more humiliating than saying please.
"I will not say- ahhh!" Draco cried as Harry pressed against his leg again.
"If that's how you want it," Harry sighed, looking off into the sunset without a care in the world. Draco bit his lip in agony. Yes, begging did go against everything he and his family stood for… but damn it this hurt like hell! Draco's struggle between his morals and his physical pain wasn't a long one. Draco sighed, screwed his eyes shut, and took a deep breath.
"Pretty please with sugar on top, Master Harry, Light of my Day, King of all Wizards, oh pretty please release me from your mighty grasp!" It came out in a rushed whisper, but he did say it. Draco Malfoy had begged for the first time in his life. He felt repulsed.
Potter dropped Draco's leg and stared at him in disbelief. Draco whimpered when his leg hit the ground but he preferred this position much better than the last.
"Wow, you actually said it," Harry said with a chuckle. "I guess I'll give your other leg a nice stretch as reward for your obedience." He put extra emphasis on the last word to rub it further into the Malfoy's face. Draco looked away and glared at the grass. Even underneath all the humiliation and fury, Draco was still amazed. He had no idea that Potter had such a nasty side to him. As much as Draco hated the way it had turned their rivalry upside down, he also admired it. Only a little bit, though. And he would never admit it out loud but… it was kind of impressive.
"Ready?" Potter asked, having switched legs. Draco nodded but didn't look at him. Suddenly, Draco felt a gentle hand around his ankle and his leg was lifted slowly in the air. Draco forgot his anger and he turned his head to watch. Potter had done a complete emotional one eighty. Potter held Draco's leg steady and his knee strait gently, a relaxed look gracing his features. Draco had to admit that when he wasn't having his knee shoved into his ribs, this stretch was actually enjoyable. He closed his eyes and felt his tight hamstring loosen. He sighed with relief, reviling in the warm feeling that spread through his body.
It was then that he noticed another warmth. On his other leg. Right about mid thigh. Draco stiffened as he realized just what he was feeling: Potter's manhood. Resting on his leg.
His eyes shot open. Draco coughed and cleared his throat, trying desperately to overlook it, to shrug off the understanding of just what and where it was, but it was no good. It was too late. Draco knew and could not forget.
"Am I going too far?" Potter asked, a hint of genuine concern in his tone.
"I-it's fine," Draco stuttered, trying to sound casual, "you could actually stretch farther." Potter nodded and leaned in closer, brushing up Draco's thigh.
Draco's breath caught in his throat. He bit his lip hard, trying to ignore it. He held very still and tried to get lost in his mind. But when he closed his eyes to the world, the warmth now on his hip only became more apparent. If he concentrated, he could even feel Harry's slow pulse.
Potter leaned against Draco, applying more pressure. This move brought their hips directly on top of each other. Draco arched his back and clawed the ground, his heart racing. His stretched leg shook from mild discomfort as well. Draco furrowed his brows and kept his eyes closed tight. He felt something stirring in his stomach. It was that same hot feeling, boiling in his abdomen. He couldn't take it anymore. He had to do something or else he would explode.
"It's okay, I wont go any farther," Harry soothed, misreading Draco's squirms for pain. Draco was about to tell him to just get off. To stop what he was doing to him. But he couldn't. Especially not now.
Potter removed a hand from the top of Draco's foot and began to rub his shivering leg in an effort to relieve the pain. Draco let out the ragged breath he didn't even know he was holding. All of Potter's fingers were like wands as they massaged down Draco's thigh because this felt like magic. He tried to hold his tongue, but noises were attempting to wriggle out of his throat by the dozens. Warm jolts traveled from Harry's fingertips strait to the pit of Draco's stomach.
Draco could feel Potter moving lower. He knew it was wrong. He knew he should be resisting. He should be fighting with him right now instead of this. But Draco also knew that this felt like something he had wanted all his life.
Right as Draco came to this conclusion, Harry's fingers, just barely grazed the sensitive skin under the hem of Draco's shorts.
"Ooooh!" Draco moaned in a husky voice he didn't recognize on his own lips. His hips bucked when he lost himself in the feeling. Then, the rubbing stopped and Potter was gone, leaving Draco's body cold. He sat up and looked around frantically, feeling stupid and ashamed and horny all at the same time.
"Hurry up, Malfoy!" Potter called over his shoulder as he jogged after the group of boys heading towards the Owlery.
"What about you? I didn't stretch you yet!" Draco called after him, immediately regretting it. He had practically asked to get close again.
"There's no time, just hurry up!" Potter shouted before turning around to sprint up to the rest of the group. Draco sat, his mind impossibly full of all the things it shouldn't be filled with. He stayed there in a daze, confused and disappointed as he watched Harry get smaller and smaller in the distance.
…
"You alright, Draco?" Blaise asked as he trotted to keep pace with his friend, "you hardly touched your dinner." Draco kept up his stride, pretending to be deaf. Blaise just didn't understand. How could Draco possibly have touched his dinner with Potter sitting in the great hall? The whole time Potter just sat there, as though nothing had happened. He was laughing and joking with his friends, having a grand old time while they ate their meal.
'He didn't glance over once! Not even after what happened!' Draco fumed as he turned down a few dark corners, hoping Blaise would take the hint. Draco wanted, no, needed to be alone. Blaise, however, wasn't catching on.
"Draco, stop already! Where are you going? Are you upset because we weren't partners? Or is it because you had such a slow time during the sprints?" Blaise continued to shoot off questions to Draco's back, "Look, there's time to improve on that sort of thing. Or, could it be, you're upset about the extra lap Dumbledore made you do? I'm telling you, Draco, it's stupid to be upset about any of that. It's no big deal." Draco stopped abruptly, Blaise bumping into his back. For a moment, Draco just stood there, in the shadowy hallway, not saying a word.
"Stupid, huh?" Draco whispered callously. Blaise stood still without making a sound, not sure of what to say. Then, Draco rounded on his fellow Slytherin. "No big deal, huh?!" Blaise flinched back, caught off guard. "What the hell do you know, Zabini?! Mr. Fastest Time in the School, Mr. Athletic, Mr. Amazing!!!" Draco's eyes shone bright gray even in the gloomy corridor, moonlight dancing off his silver bangs.
"Well let me tell you something, you have no idea what I'm going through! No idea at all! And don't you feel sorry for me! Don't you dare tell me it'll be okay! IT WON'T!!! And I don't want your pity!" Draco turned on his heel and continued walking, his black shoes clicking sharply against the stone floor.
"What are you even talking about, Draco?" Blaise called after a moment, still rooted to the spot. "What don't I understand? This isn't about P.E., is it?"
"Oh bravo, Blaise," Draco said sarcastically, clapping his hands. "Aren't you lucky, you have brain and brawn!"
"Come off it, Malfoy," Blaise retorted, "You act like you've got it so hard, but you don't! You have money and status. Your father is practically famous among us purebloods. What, in your perfect life, could possibly be wrong?"
"You stupid, arrogant, bastard!" Draco shouted, his gruff voice echoing off the walls. "You're one to talk about status! The only reason you even talk to me is because your precious mummy and daddy want you to! Well, I'm sick of it! I'm not my father! If you wanna get on his good side, do it on your own time. Don't waste mine!"
Blaise stood silently, in utter shock, gaping at the blonde. Draco glared venomously, his fists shaking. After a few long, awkward moments, Blaise turned and walked away, his head down. Draco folded his arms and leered at his back waiting for him to disappear down the hall. Being the proud pureblood he was, he refused to move, or even show a hint of regret, first. With one last glance back, Blaise slipped around the corner.
Draco turned and ran.
He sprinted up and down stairwells, past countless statues and portraits until he couldn't feel his legs. His chest was on fire and his already sore body was begging him to stop, but he wouldn't. It felt like he had been running for hours, like at any moment his feet would lift off the ground and he would soar out the window into the night sky. Hope bloomed in his heart. He thought, for a moment, that escaping his problems might really be that easy.
Then, Draco took a sharp turn and slipped on the shining marble tile. He skidded to a stop, his back on the floor. He lay there breathing heavily, his mind swimming. His body felt like it could actually melt and slither through the cracks in floor. Colors, thoughts, and images blurred across his vision. He felt like he had been really close to something, like a breakthrough. That light, airy feeling in his chest… he had thought, for an instant, that maybe… just maybe, he could forget about the pureblood hierarchy that loomed over his very existence.
He could only imagine what that would be like. If such things were possible than so was everything else. He could touch the stars and grab the moon. Draco could dance with the constellations if he wanted to. He could indulge in all the childhood fantasies that he had been forbade to entertain. He could do what he really wanted to do instead of follow the commands of his family. Even picturing a fate so pleasant made his heart ache with longing.
But how? For years, Draco had wondered, but never uncovered that secret. He was as far away from what he dreamed of as he had ever been. He had been foolish to think there was anything greater in his future than a life as a Death Eater.
The truth was that Draco feared that future. He knew he didn't have a heart that black. If he began a career as a Death Eater, it would be a short one. He would be a failure. A dead failure with nothing to show for it except a half lived life and his regrets.
'Will I ever know what freedom feels like?'
"Ron, slow down!"
Draco jumped at the voice and approaching footsteps. He rose to his feet and slipped behind a suit of armor. He held his breath as the noises came closer and closer. Suddenly, Weasley appeared from around the corner, walking briskly with furrowed brows and his bottom lip jutting out. Harry appeared immediately after him. Beams of moonlight shot into the corridor and bounced off his messy black hair and round spectacles. Potter reached forward and grasped Ron's arm, pulling him to a halt.
"Ron, why won't you talk to me?" Draco tried his best to shrink into the shadows, thankful that their attention was on each other rather than their surroundings.
"Why don't you just go find Malfoy or something if you want to talk!" Weasley spat, yanking his hand away.
"Malfoy? What are you talking about?" Harry asked, honestly confused.
"I saw you two during class. Seemed awfully chummy to me."
"What are you trying to say, Ron? I don't understand?"
"You're the one who always harps on us to watch out for Malfoy! Then you decide to be his partner in that horrid class. You deserted me, Harry! Didn't we promise to be partners? Huh?" Weasley blue eyes glared down into Potter's green ones. The sting of betrayal was written all over his face.
"'Decide?'" Harry said skeptically, "I hardly think I had any choice in the matter. As I recall, you were flying around the grounds with the same amount of control I had. Professor Dumbledore said random for a reason." Draco felt a pang of sadness in his chest, but ignored it for the time being. Of course Potter hadn't chosen him as his partner. They hadn't had any alternative.
"You could've tried a little harder, ya know. Now I'm the laughing stock of the whole school." Weasley crossed his arms and looked away angrily.
"You're not making any sense, Ron," Harry said, the frustration in his voice becoming more evident. "You're my best friend. Do you really think I 'deserted' you on purpose?" Ron became very quiet. He stared hard at the floor before he whispered his next comment in a deadly tone.
"Do you know how hard it is to be your friend sometimes?" Draco's eyes widened, as he looked between a shocked Harry and a furious Ron.
"What?" Potter asked dumbly.
'I said it's a pain in the ass to be your friend!" Weasley cried as he threw his hands in the air. "You have no idea what it's like to be 'Harry Potter's best friend'! That's all I'll ever be! Not to mention all that trouble you get us into. The dragons and giants and You-Know-Who! And the spiders! I hate it! All I ever wanted was to have a normal life, graduate from school, find a job, settle down and have a family, but now I can't! And it's all because of you! YOU RUINED IT!"
"I haven't ruined any of that for you! You've still got your whole life ahead of you to do all that!" Potter shouted back, rage rumbling in the air. "I didn't choose to be famous! Yeah, I took you on those adventures with me and yeah, they were dangerous, but I thought that's what you wanted! I thought that's what friends do for each other!"
"DID YOU EVER THINK I WANTED TO BE SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOUR FRIEND?!" Weasley bellowed, his cheeks flushed a bright red even in the dark. "Is that all I'm good enough to be?!" This comment perplexed Potter greatly. One eyebrow arched as he regarded Weasley with disbelief.
"Not good enough? You're my best friend, Ron! What more could you possibly want?!" Potter sighed, frustrated.
"Merlin, you're thick," Ron muttered as he walked away.
"Ron? Ron!" Harry called after him, continuing his pursuit until they were both out of sight. Draco stood up and walked to the middle of the hallway, staring at where they were. Draco was left feeling a little shaken. Even though they were they bane of his existence, Draco had always figured Weasley and Potter's friendship to be unsinkable. If that wasn't even true, what hope was there? Draco couldn't help but feel that this didn't bode well for the future.
Although, he did have to agree with Weasley: Harry was thick. Even though Draco had only observed this much of their fight, he could already guess at what the problem was.
In fact, Ron's problem with their friendship seemed a little obvious.
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Can you see Ron's problem too? If not, you'll just have to wait. ;)
Please read, review and enjoy!