Friday morning, potions first. Harry was tired; a night on a couch is never good for a day of school. Especially a night interrupted by crazed post owls and foreboding notes.
Hermione had returned to the girls' dormitory after the owl departed, but Harry couldn't fall asleep. He wandered the halls and finally just went back to the dorm, showered and changed, and headed to class before his roommates even awoke.
He had to have potions first this morning, class with the Slytherins. He sat alone in the dungeon classroom, not even Snape was there. In fact, Snape wasn't even the next person into the room. It was Draco.
The blonde wandered blearily into the room. His eyes fell on Harry and he stopped. His face flushed and he dropped his eyes to the ground. Harry looked away too. Malfoy took a seat across the dungeon.
When Snape did show up, he, too, paused a moment. The two boys were studiously avoiding each others' eyes. Harry wondered if Snape felt as awkward as he did. Maybe.
After some really heavy silence, the rest of the class finally started filing in. Harry was soon surrounded by the Gryffindor seventh year boys, so he didn't see everyone else's reactions. The boys were eager to give him a pat on the back.
Seamus got there first. "Hey, mate!" he clapped Harry's shoulder. "Brilliant there, yesterday."
Dean chimed in, "Yeah, bloody amazing!"
Harry smiled sadly. Yeah, great job screwing up life. Those two headed off to seats nearby, leaving him mercifully alone. Well, not exactly. Ron slid into the seat beside him and Neville in front of him.
The pudgy boy turned around again to address Harry. "It was great, Harry. I don't think I ever could have done…that. And I don't know what I'd do if Malfoy…" he cringed a little. "Well, good job anyway." He turned back around.
Harry saw Ron out of the corner of his eye, looking like he swallowed a live hinky-punk. He could ask, but did he want the answer? He decided he didn't and pretended he hadn't noticed.
Hermione rushed in at the last moment, her hair rather more disarrayed than usual, and slid into the seat on Harry's other side, patting him on the arm. "I overslept, sorry."
Snape stood to begin the class. That was when Harry noticed the other students. Something was wrong. Draco sat across the room, a couple of kids whose names Harry didn't even know to his sides. Nearby, Pansy sat between Crabbe and Goyle, Blaise in front of them. All of the Slytherins seemed to be arrayed around this group, rather than their usual Draco-centered seating plan. Maybe he was imagining things; most of them were in their normal seats.
They worked in pairs again. Harry with Hermione, Ron with Neville, Blaise and Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle, Draco with one of the nameless Slytherin faces. He looked rather disgusted about it. As the class rearranged to allow for pairs work, Harry and Hermione ended up behind Blaise and Pansy. This was going to be interesting. Actually, it probably wouldn't be too bad, Draco didn't look so upset.
That was the wrong way to judge it. Harry's class was peaceful, not a single hitch. Hermione's was a nightmare. Blaise ensured her failure at every aspect of the lesson plan. Harry was powerless to stop him, Crabbe and Goyle somehow managed to stand between him and Blaise.
Hermione, however, was resilient and bright. She worked around the pranks and still managed to salvage their work. However, it seemed she wasn't the only one Blaise targeted. Ron and Neville had a meltdown halfway through class. Dean and Seamus' potion was exactly the wrong color, and consistency. Lavender and Parvati's disappeared suddenly while they were working on it. Snape failed them all.
Harry began watching Blaise about halfway through class, glancing as carefully as he could around the Slytherin beaters. He was definitely doing it. But Harry noticed something else. Pansy was, not very surreptitiously, pointing out his targets and whispering in his ear. She was even correcting his spell casting a bit. When her hands weren't directing his malice, hey had a habit of finding their way to his leg, rubbing soothingly. Damn that gold-digging bitch, aligning herself for power.
Fuck! Power! That's Draco! As Harry was watching, Pansy, through Blaise, was toppling Draco right out of the Slytherin princehood. All because of what he, Harry, had done displaying Malfoy's weakness. He looked at Draco to find him calm and collected, but looking distinctly beaten.
Class ended and Draco departed, still aloof. Harry admired his ability to take that, but felt that the blonde had been wronged. His head started to hurt, right behind his eyes. Great, that was all he needed, a headache. He started out into the hall and saw Pansy and Blaise going the other direction. His mouth beat his brain.
"Parkinson!" She turned to him. They were surrounded by Slytherins and Gryffindors alike. She stepped in front of Blaise, spitting Harry's name by means of acknowledgement. His anger rose. One heartbeat. He had to act. There was no choice. "Don't ever do that again." He slapped her. Hard. Pansy recoiled in shock. Crabbe, Goyle, and Blaise all stepped in front of her, glaring menacingly at Harry. After a few moments, however, Pansy pushed back to the front.
"What the fuck was that for, Potter?"
Harry wasn't sure what he was going to say, he just said it. "I don't care if you fuck your way to the top, Parkinson. And I don't care what impotent rejects you take with you, or blow, or step all over, or whatever you do to them. But there are some people you shouldn't mess with."
Pansy seemed only phased. She quickly spat back, "Like who?"
"Like anyone who isn't thinking with his dick!"
Her voice dropped almost to the point of confidence, but still projected around the hall. "Or anyone who's dick isn't thinking, or perhaps can't think, about me?"
Harry laughed, harshly. "I apologize if some people prefer sex from someone who won't fuck anything that moves."
Pansy merely laughed back. "Ha, that's a treasure, coming from you!"
Harry had no clue what that was supposed to mean, but it was definitely a comment on his sexual habits. And not a good one. He was having his sexual prowess insulted in the hall in front of everyone. He had run out of answers. And his head hurt, a sharp pain, behind his eyes. Anger welled up inside of him. And then it released.
There was a large thud and a collective gasp. Every Slytherin in the area had fallen down. Pansy had been thrown against the wall. Damn it. Again. He was going to get in so much trouble.
Pansy took a moment, but she finally did get up. She addressed the other Slytherins, though loudly enough for the general group to hear. "And Draco called Blaise a lapdog." Blaise gave her a sharp look. She walked off down the hall, done with the Gryffindors. They Slytherins followed.
Harry was confused, but the argument was over. His anger was gone and his headache was fading. He turned to Ron and Hermione. "I'm going to go talk to Dumbledore; you don't have to send me." He started off down the hall. He hated these stupid surges. It's not like he could have Draco's control over his emotions, he wished he could.
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After a long meeting with Dumbledore ("Try to maintain control, Mr. Potter."), an exhausted night's sleep (stupid energy bursts always wore him out), and an energetic quidditch practice (note to self: never let the Creeveys have coffee), it was time for Harry to head for the Room of Requirement. He almost grabbed his cloak, then remembered that Eric had told him not to bring it.
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Draco arrived early, as usual. He opened the door to the Room of Requirement and stepped in, only to find that Eric had arrived earlier. "Eric?"
He was sitting on the bed, but now he stood and stepped in front of Draco. The blonde made to kiss him, and Eric didn't stop him. Rather, he seemed to be trying to get all of the worth out of this one kiss. It confused Draco, but he made to remove Eric's robes anyway. Now he was halted. Then he knew. This was a break up. Eric had brought him here to tell him off for his scene in the Great Hall and abandon him to his fate. Only two words of this whole thought crossed his lips, "…the surprise…"
Eric shushed him. "He's coming."
Draco's heart stopped. No. Eric hadn't just said that. He's coming? That could only be, only be Harry. "You didn't."
Eric looked directly into his eyes; Draco could see the conviction there. "Oh, but I did."
He shoved the dark haired boy back from him. "What business is that of yours? Why would you do that?" He was spitting questions at the stumbling Ravenclaw.
But Eric's face wasn't shamed when he recovered. It was defiant. "I have my reasons for what I do." He looked Draco over, head to toe. "Do you think you'll fail in his eyes? Don't you have the balls to be in the same room with him?"
Draco was angry, but Eric had a point. He had just given Draco the best opportunity he was going to get. And that scared him. It scared him how well Eric knew his deepest desires. "Of course I have the balls! How can you say that? You hardly know me!"
"A bet then, to see which of us is right." Eric pushed the blond boy against the wall. "I think I know Draco a little better than you think." The Slytherin replied with a kiss, forceful and challenging. "A bet then, or better yet, a dare." He smiled, how fitting.
"A dare?"
"Yes, I dare you to take him. You and I both know you want to. And I have a pretty good idea he wants you to." Eric smirked. "And so does Parkinson. So do it. Take him; you'll be the first." Eric had done his research. Indeed, Harry was an admitted virgin, to some people. He released the blonde and stepped back. "Have fun."
With that, he left.
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Eric managed to round the corner at the end of the hall just as he finished his incantation. Suddenly, his view shifted some hundred meters away and he saw the hem of his own cloak whip around the corner. He sat down; not a good idea to move when you're using someone else's eyes.
It took him a moment, but he got used to the bounce of Harry's gait and the image evened out. There was the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Harry stopped outside of it and put his hands to his eyes. Eric knew that the spell was probably causing him a minor headache, but it really shouldn't bother him much. The Gryffindor uncovered his eyes and his hand opened the door.
The view moved inside, then stopped, focused on Draco, sitting on the bed. Come on, Drake, that's no way to take him, sitting there all meek. Get up!
Draco did get up. He was talking to Harry, but Eric couldn't hear, he only had the use of Harry's eyes. He actually didn't like using this spell for this, but he needed to know what the Ravenclaws were watching. After his Great Hall performance, this was the least her could do to save face in his house. An experiment. Could Gryffindor A be paired with seemingly incompatible Slytherin B? He already knew the result. Scratch one fuckbuddy for Eric. Oh, well.
That wasn't the only experiment, however. Eric had tapped into Harry's sight before and found a perfect memory to try a different spell on. Through Harry's eyes, he could see that both boys were sitting on the bed now. He had a clear view of Draco's face; the blonde was speaking. As he watched the image slipped down a few inches and focused on the Slytherin's lips, then his throat. Hey, Vampire-Who-Lived, eyes off my Drake! My Drake? Apparently, he cared a little more for his "business acquaintance" than he thought.
He began the spell to distract himself. Legilimency is not easy magic, and he had to be careful, it was rumored that the Gryffindor was trained in Occlumency. He carefully crept into Harry's mind, flipping through the memories for the day before when he had tapped in and seen the fight with Parkinson. No, no, no…there. He quickly listened to it, yes, even better than he had thought; Potter had practically proclaimed love for Draco.
Now for the second part. He tapped into Draco's mind, resisting the temptation to poke around. He was here for a reason, and he knew the Malfoys were trained in Occlumency. He lifted the memory from Harry and fed it to Draco, sensing the Slytherin's mind seize as he realized what was happening. Quickly, he checked Harry's eyes. Draco looked a bit surprised, but nothing to be concerned about. The view tipped as Harry looked quizzically at the startled blonde. Draco shook his head dismissively and then stopped. His eyes went wide as saucers.
Fuck! He hadn't stopped the memory. Something else must have passed through to Draco! He shut down the connections abruptly. The view through Harry's eyes swung around the room wildly as Draco's hands went to his head. Then the Gryffindor blinked and Eric found himself staring at a tapestry in the hall. So he was trained.
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"Someone was in my head." Draco heard Harry's voice, though he still had his hands on his head. Someone had been in his, too. And they had left something behind.
More than one something, memories. They were definitely Harry's, but he didn't think the Gryffindor knew they had moved. In fact, he was fairly sure that the same person had been in both of their heads, moving memories.
First, Harry's actions after Potions class. He hadn't imagined that Potter would take that kind of initiative on his part. He also hadn't imagined that Parkinson would suggest such things about Harry, from inferring his sexuality to hinting that Draco was screwing him. Draco, of course, knew that was false. He only wished she was right. He felt Harry's confusion and rising anger.
The memory ended with a huge flash of power. Draco didn't know what that was, but the memory jumped. It jumped back to the Great Hall. He didn't get the whole memory, just Eric standing. "You've been shagging her?" Inexplicably, Harry had thought, Not right after that! "Deal's off Drake! And here I've been, faithful to you, despite anything else I've wanted to do!" Again, Harry's thought, Here it comes. Had he actually known something?
Then Eric dragged Harry to his feet and pulled him face to face. Harry definitely seemed to know what was coming, even anticipated it. Eric leaned forward to catch the Gryffindor's lips and Draco felt the pleasure. Harry had enjoyed that. Draco couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then, suddenly, he wasn't. The person in his head had pulled out, hard.
As the two boys recovered from the painful exit of their mutual intruder, they stared at each other. Draco wondered what Harry was thinking, but only vaguely, he was really thinking about Harry's reaction to Eric. He had enjoyed that, and it preyed on the Slytherin's mind. Finally, his own jealousy got the better of him. Without reservation, Draco acted.
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Harry blinked in surprise. Oh, Merlin, Harry thought, he kissed me. It felt good. He shut his eyes and kissed back, he would figure out what the hell he was doing later.
He felt a hand wrap around behind his neck and pull his head toward Draco as the blonde kissed him harder. Then a tongue ran along his lips. The only thought that crossed his mind was "how do I get more of that?" He opened his lips and admitted Draco, who was shifting closer to him and pushing him back on the bed.
A hand found its way under his shirt, sliding up along his ribcage. He slid his tongue into Draco's mouth, breathing in the blonde's scent, clean and fresh. And he hadn't even showered yet for the night. He wrapped his arms around Draco's waist as the Slytherin rolled on top of him.
Harry felt himself definitely reacting to this whole range of new sensations. Without thought, he pulled Draco in as close as he could, even though the teenager was already on top of him. The hand under his shirt slid down to his waist and the fingers curled over the hem of his trousers, slipping around to the clasp.
All at once, Harry's head caught up with all of this. He broke the kiss, pushed Draco off, and sat up. "Hold on!"