It took another day for the furor of the launched and then retracted investigation to die down. First the Ministry Healer gave a public statement clearing Draco of all charges, and then the next evening the Daily Prophet released its own retraction. Harry found it amazing the way accusations were printed with haste, but retractions were measured and slow.
He popped over to Hogsmeade throughout the day and evening, looking for a chance to approach Draco's door without being seen. Even though the retraction had pointed out that their association was purely personal, he still didn't like the idea of being spied upon and further details confirmed.
Finally around eight o'clock on the night before Christmas Eve Harry popped into Hogsmeade and found the street in front of Draco's house quiet. He clutched the invisibility cloak around his chin and alighted the steps, then rapped a precise three times with the knocker.
The handle jiggled, the locks rattled, and warm golden light spilled through Harry's invisible body and set the snow behind him aglow.
"Potter," Draco sighed. "What do you want?"
"Can I come in?"
"Do you really think that's for the best?"
"I do."
"I noticed that you were considerate enough to clear me of professional accusations, but not to clarify our relationship." Draco leaned casually in the doorway.
"If you were so worried about the rumor, you wouldn't be standing there in front of the whole neighborhood clearly talking to a disguised visitor." Harry pointed out. "Let me in, Malfoy. Draco. Draco Malfoy."
"You don't even know what name to call me," Draco snorted.
"Draco Lucius Malfoy, age twenty-five, born June fifth, pure-blood," Harry crept slowly up the steps. "Single," he reached the top step and leaned up against Draco, just the sheer fabric of the invisibility cloak between them. "Homosexual." He slipped one hand around Draco's waist. "Most recent sexual encounter? Maybe tonight?"
"You are a complete nutter," Draco fought to keep his posture reserved, to stay cool and detached under Harry's touch.
"Let me in," Harry dipped his head to graze his lips along Draco's jaw through the cloak.
"Fine, but only because I don't want a madman on my stoop," Draco stepped aside and allowed Harry to enter.
Harry brushed by and waited as Draco secured the locks. "I'll need your help getting this off," he said. "I've got a lot going on under here."
"If that's a euphemism," Draco said warningly.
"Just help me."
Draco swept his arm out in search of fabric, then gently lifted and tugged the cloak down from Harry's antlers. When it dropped to Harry's shoulders he turned around and busied himself at a bookcase, head bowed as he scratched his nose.
"This doesn't fall under the Healer's Code," Harry said. "You can laugh at me."
"Potter."
"You can also call me Harry," he swept the cloak completely off and folded it. He shook his head and grinned.
His antlers were decked in Christmas ornaments and holly, beaded garland and bows. Bright glass bulbs dangled from each point and an angel topped the highest spire on each side.
"It's a bit much, I know," he said apologetically. "But Ginny Weasley helped and she doesn't do anything halfway."
"Indeed," Draco stared in stunned wonder at the riot of decorations that hung from Harry's antlers.
"One more thing I'm supposed to do," Harry cleared his throat and flung his arms out wide, "Deck the horns with boughs of holly, fa la la la la, la la la la."
"Antlers."
"Whatever."
"Don't ever do that again."
"Have a look at this," Harry tilted his head to the left and wobbled. A small green bundle swung from the forward-most point. "Mistletoe."
"Potter."
"Harry." He stepped up close to the other man with his head still angled. "We're under the mistletoe, Draco."
"Complete nutter." But Draco didn't back away or fight Harry's approach. And when Harry pressed forward to kiss him he pressed back with equal desire.
His tongue unfurled in Harry's mouth and swirled sensually. Harry groaned with eight months of pent-up need. He tentatively stepped back towards the stairs and, praise Merlin, Draco willingly followed. He dragged the other man up the stairs by the hand, this time not caring if he knocked down the picture frames along the way.
He paused in the lounge to press Draco up against the wall and kiss his neck, until Draco grasped his antlers and pushed him back.
"You're going to put my eye out," he said. Then, tipping Harry's head with a tug of his rack, he dropped his mouth to do a bit of his own neck exploration.
"That works, too," Harry moaned as Draco traced the line of his collarbone with his tongue.
It was Draco's turn to lead Harry now, dragging him up to the top floor and pulling him into the master bedroom. They collapsed on the bed, shedding ornaments and holly as they fell.
"Harry," Draco managed around Harry's lips. "The angels on your antlers. They're staring at me."
"Let them watch," Harry pushed Draco's Healer jacket off of his shoulders and yanked it out from under him. Next came his tie and shirt. He was excited, Draco had seen him undressed more than once, and now it was his turn.
"Sweet Merlin," Harry breathed. That glimpse of milky white skin so many days ago was finally bearing fruit. He dragged the pads of his thumbs across Draco's pale collar bones, then dipped down to taste the flesh where his neck met his shoulder.
"Potter," Draco flailed his arms and seized his antlers again. "You're going to kill me!"
"Sorry," Harry returned to his mouth where it was safe, then sat back on his heels to unbutton his own shirt. Draco chased the fabric with his fingers, running the palms of his hands down Harry's pecs to his ridged abdominals. His cock was hard beneath Harry's tailbone, pushing up against him with rising interest.
"Every examination was agony," he murmured. "To touch you, but not be allowed to feel you, it was torture."
"Did I mention that you're fired?" Harry asked. "This is nothing but a personal relationship."
"You no longer want a cure?"
"Hermione is on it," Harry traced his fingers down to the crisp blond hairs that ran from Draco's navel down to the waistband of his trousers. "Besides, there's no reason we can't discuss my problem as friends. And if you happen to come up with an idea there's no reason we couldn't discuss it between friends."
"That's tissue thin, Potter."
"Harry."
"Harry. No one is going to believe that I'm not providing care just because you say I'm not," Draco said.
"If you come up with something you could tell me and I could have Hermione actually do the work. Or I could mention it innocently around the Ministry Healer."
"Maybe."
"Why are we talking?" Harry demanded. "There are other things that we should be doing." He hooked his fingers through Draco's belt loops.
Draco blushed a deep red. "Right. So. How do you, you know, like it?"
Harry leaned in and spoke with their lips ghosting together. "Bottom," he murmured. "If you please."
"Merlin."
The hard bulge beneath Harry's arse grew, sending an enormous smile across his face. He cast his glasses onto the bedside table and slid to the side, in a misguided attempt to lie on his back with Draco on top. When the antlers made that too uncomfortable, he tried sitting partially propped up on pillows. But then his antlers clacked against the headboard in a terribly unsexy way. So then he flipped Draco back onto his back and raised an eyebrow.
"What might be easier," Draco said hesitantly, "would be if I was behind you."
"Hmm," Harry cocked his head. "I'd prefer to face you."
Draco drew him down for a kiss. "Me too, but for a first time you bottoming on top might be difficult."
"Convince me," Harry whispered.
A grin broke out on Draco's face, the most unguarded, open smile Harry had seen on his face yet. He plunged his hand down the front of Harry's trousers and grasped his cock, squeezing confidently and gazing up at him with half-lidded desire. Harry groaned in appreciation and fluttered his eyes closed, so unbelievably hard-up for physical affection. Eight months of flying solo was about to come to an end.
"Oh, you can do anything you want to me," he breathed.
Draco quickly unbuckled his belt, unbuttoned his trousers, and shoved everything to the floor in one push. Then he stripped himself and guided Harry by the hips until their cocks were pressed together, hot skin trapped between them. Draco reached up and seized Harry's antlers, then wrapped his ankles around his waist and thrust his hips again and again. Harry's jaw was slack, his mind a collision of every thought, whipped into a froth of desire.
"Turn over," Draco said low in his throat.
Harry obeyed, nearly whacking Draco across the chin in his eager scramble. He knelt on hands and knees and offered himself to the other man, who drew gentle, reverent hands down his back to his arse. Then he leaned in close and exhaled a hot breath across Harry's opening before kissing the puckered skin there.
Harry clutched the sheets and cried at the sensation of Draco Malfoy's mouth. When he felt the first lick he thought he might go mad. When the point of Draco's tongue parted his entrance he thought he might die. But he couldn't die, because that would mean missing out on the- oh fuck that was good.
Draco rimmed like an expert, teasing and alternating between pressing in with his tongue and sucking around his entrance with finely honed instinct. Finally he withdrew and muttered a lubricating protection charm, then positioned himself to enter.
"Draco," Harry whimpered in need.
"Harry," Draco murmured back, kissing a line down his back before pressing forward.
Harry sucked in a breath as the familiar fullness filled him with heart-racing exhilaration. There was just something about the first thrust, the uncomfortable stretching that soon melted into pleasure that made bottoming his favorite thing in the world.
Draco canted his hips and struck gold, eliciting a grateful cry from Harry's throat as his a-spot signaled its approval. Confident in his technique, Draco began to thrust, small movements at first and then more as Harry loosened up.
Harry dropped to his elbows and grasped his own antlers, gasping into the mattress as Draco drove home again and again. And when Draco reached around and grasped his cock, he was certain he would finally find the strength to snap the horns off.
They were moving fast now, skin slick with the sheen of sweat, thighs slapping together rhythmically, Draco's hand moving in sync with his hips. Harry's blood boiled and his breath hitched as the coiling snake in his belly rose up to strike.
Draco's breath was coming hard and fast now as he pounded again and again, pulling Harry every time he slammed in deep. Harry couldn't hold it back any longer. He let go of his antlers and shoved himself up on his hands, tossing his head back and shouting at the ceiling as he came like a cobra strike, his hips flexing and and his cock pulsating beneath Draco's grip.
Draco's breath caught in his throat as he climaxed, his hips freezing for one long second, and then pumping furiously as he rose the crest of orgasm down the other side. Finally he stopped spasming and collapsed on top of Harry, out of breath and completely sated.
Harry dropped to his elbows again and reveled in his second favorite sensation, the post-climax semi-hard cock still inside of him, in that moment of exhalation before pulling out.
Draco carefully withdrew and slid down to lie next to him on the mattress, chest still heaving from the exertion. Harry laid on his stomach, chin propped up on his hands, unable to lean his head to the side or lay his head on Draco's chest like he really wanted to. The antlers robbed him of the intimacy he craved.
"Hey," he said. Draco's eyelids opened heavily. "It's snowing."
"How do you know? The blinds are closed."
"Because it's always snowing here," Harry said. "Let's go for a walk. You and me, lights and wreaths and carolers and magical Christmas."
"You're hopeless, you know that," Draco's voice was sleepy. His eyes slid closed again.
"Come on," Harry tilted his head and poked Draco in the side with one of his points.
"Fuck, Harry, that hurt!" Draco's eyes flew open.
"Get dressed," Harry didn't apologize. He feinted as though he would poke him again, which worked beautifully to motivate Draco out of the bed. He grumbled as he dressed but followed Harry down two flights of stairs to the parlor.
They paused just long enough to fix a woolen cap around Harry's antlers and settle the Santa cap around Draco's ears. Then they were outside in the snow, bundled up in their winter coats and scarves.
"Christmas, Draco!" Harry flung his arms wide and spun around beneath the evergreen-strung eaves of the neighboring houses. Tiny lights twinkled on the porch railings and iron fences in front of each lot. Harry waved his arms in a futile gesture to describe the indescribable welling up of love and warmth and peacefulness and joy that overtook him.
"You're such a romantic," Draco said as he watched Harry run back and forth beneath the twinkle-bulb strewn streetlamps.
"I love Christmas," Harry shouted. He turned on his heel and ran back through the snow to throw his arms around Draco and spin him once, not quite the elegant maneuver he'd intended but compensated for in enthusiasm.
He planted a kiss on Draco's mouth and reveled in the pure ecstasy of kissing in the snow. It was everything he wanted. He scooped up Draco's hand in his and they strolled together towards the town square, a big, goofy smile plastered across Harry's face.
"What are you going to do when Christmas is over?" Draco asked. "Maybe these feelings you have are seasonal."
"Not bloody likely," Harry snorted. "There's always New Year's. Parties and countdowns and kissing at midnight. I want to be with you on New Year's."
"And after that?"
"Valentine's Day," Harry tugged Draco in for an embrace at the foot of the big decorated tree at the center of the square. "Romantic dinners and sweets and presents. I'm definitely going to want you to be there for Valentines Day."
"And after that?"
"Saint Patrick's day," Harry grinned. "Give it up, the year is full of holidays and I love them all."
"You're mad," Draco said. "How about we just get through Christmas and see how we get on with each other,"
"Fine by me," Harry dragged him along by the hand, refusing to let go.