Disclaimer: Not mine, JKRs.

Chapter 15

Draco smirked wickedly as the rest of the Slytherins struggled to keep their cool – many of the first and second years failing miserably as they broke into barely concealed fits of laughter. As the older Hufflepuffs turned to glare at their table searching each face for signs of guilt, Draco's smirk disappeared and he concentrated on slicing off another piece of his egg and spooning it into his mouth. Several minutes passed and breakfast settled back into normal pace so Draco decided to stir it up again; he ripped off a small piece of his napkin and placed it in his mouth chewing it into a nice tight but sloppy ball. The Slytherins had watched him do this at least four times already this morning and knew immediately that it was about to happen again, there was silent nudging going on throughout the table and all eyes fell to the exposed neck of a second year Hufflepuff boy. Draco picked up his straw and blew the sloppy spitball forcefully through it so it landed with a wet slap on the back of the boy's neck. The small boy yelped and slapped a hand to the back of his neck but by the time anyone looked around Draco was back concentrating on his eggs along with every other Slytherin.

Draco had been slowly slipping into a depressed state over the last three weeks, but if he was honest with himself it was something that had been happening all year and the only thing that kept his dark mood at bay was the green-eyed angel sitting across the room at the Gryffindor table. He didn't even find the same adrenalin rush he experienced when flying and he hadn't been able to lose himself in a good book for weeks, not even his favourites.

It had been three weeks since he had almost forced Harry into bottoming for him, three weeks since Draco had been nothing but the perfect, uncomplaining boyfriend Harry wanted him to be. In an attempt to prove to Harry that he intended to keep his promise to always bottom for him, they had had sex at least three or four times a week since it happened and Draco always bent over for his boyfriend. Draco had not mentioned Alice or Harry's increasing public affection towards her once; he never showed how much it killed him to watch his lover spoon feed her breakfast, or kiss her, or fondle the ends of her smooth brown locks.

His compliance had really been tested last weekend when some of the Gryffindors had decided to have a snowball fight after lunch and Harry had flung Alice over one of his shoulders and carried her from the Great Hall to join the fight; the girl had squealed loudly for Harry to put her down and laughed hysterically while pounding on Harry's bottom with both her fists. After this particular show Draco had retreated to the boys' bathroom pacing while he tried to control his breathing; the poor Slytherin had nearly fainted while hyperventilating.

Harry seemed blissfully unaware of all of this; either he genuinely didn't notice or he pretended he didn't notice. Either way things were getting worse and worse for Draco and he could see no way out of his downwards spiral; Harry was his only happiness even though he was a major contributor to his current state of depression.

Harry was also blissfully unaware of Draco's recent behaviour as he slipped back into his old habits of cruel bullying and disregard of others; this Draco was relieved about particularly as his efforts were focused on one second year Hufflepuff in particular – Joseph Hopperfield, Alice's younger brother. It was the only revenge Draco was able to get on her without Harry finding out as the boy seemed too proud to go to his sister or her 'boyfriend' for help.

This last spitball forced young Joseph out of his seat and quietly out of the Great Hall with the older Hufflepuff staring helplessly after him and shooting angry glares towards the Slytherins; Harry and Alice were too wrapped up in each other to notice. Upon noticing this Draco retreated as well, he had taken to leaving breakfast early most days now – once or twice he skipped it entirely but Harry had reprimanded him for it and so he dutifully went each day.

It seemed Harry had noticed Draco leave early again and that morning had decided to follow him out. He had walked from the Hall at a normal pace and began to jog towards the dungeons as soon as he was clear of the other students; he caught Draco halfway to his dorm and pulled him into an empty classroom.

"Hey Sexy," Harry cooed to Draco as he wrapped himself around the blonde.

"Hey," Draco replied smiling broadly. Harry always made him feel better, when Harry was around it felt like Draco had suddenly stepped into a warm ray of sunlight on a cold, grey day. "I missed you."

Harry laughed at this. "I saw you last night," he reminded him playfully. "Or did you forget?"

"How could I forget?" Draco purred. "I actually had to use a Glamour this morning to hide a massive bruise on my neck where you bit me."

Harry cringed. "Really? Oh, I'm sorry Babe," he said worriedly. "Let me see."

"No," Draco laughed. "Its fine, it doesn't hurt. I asked you to bite me remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think I did it so hard," Harry admitted with a blush.

"Its Valentine's Day this weekend," Draco reminded Harry, changing the subject; he knew Harry would feel bad about the bruise whatever he said. "Do you want to do something?"

"Yeah, actually that's why I followed you out," Harry explained. "I've managed to convince Alice that I have to get an early night for the game so lunch will be better for us which leaves me wide open for a romantic evening with you."

Draco suppressed his sneer at having to share Valentine's Day with Harry's girlfriend and changed the subject. "Ah the game," he teased. "You ready for it?"

This Sunday was the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw Quidditch match, Draco knew Harry had been training hard, taking Draco's advice to shake his style up a bit straight to heart. He also knew Harry was pushing himself to learn to be as unpredictable as possible so he could serve his arse to him on a platter when they competed in the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin match in April.

"Absolutely," Harry affirmed. "And I'll be more than ready for you when the time comes."

"Yeah?" Draco teased. "We'll see about that."

"Yes we will. Now, Valentine's Day?" Harry asked again, refocusing the conversation on its original purpose.

"Leave it to me," Draco instructed Harry. "Can you get the whole night? You can bring all your Quidditch stuff and go straight to warm-up from our room."

Harry smiled into Draco's mouth as he kissed him. "I wouldn't have it any other way," he assured him.

The next few days went quickly as Draco lost himself in a romantic fog while he arranged his Valentine's Day evening with Harry; in fact things were so foggy in Draco's mind he forgot to avoid the students mulling around waiting to head off to Hogsmeade on that Valentine's Day Saturday morning. This was normally something he would not forget about as he had taken to expertly avoiding Harry and Alice moments to preserve his sanity. He had rounded the corner, thinking he would drop into the Three Broomsticks for some firewhiskey and maybe pick up those gold cufflinks he'd seen in the jewelers for Harry, when he saw them; Harry and Alice.

Harry was sitting on the end of a stone bench just outside the Entrance Hall doors with Alice straddling his lap; her knees sat comfortably either side of his hips as her legs dangled lazily with her feet just grazing the gravel underneath them. Harry was smiling that smile again, his genuine smile, the one he used when he meant it; Draco's smile. They were chatting casually but intimately and Harry was absent-mindedly bouncing Alice with his knees so her long dark hair swished along her back and her breasts jiggled seductively.

"Stop it, Harry!" Alice declared loud enough for Draco and many others to hear. She grasped his shoulders with both her hands as if that action would force him to stop bouncing her.

"Why?" he asked her tauntingly without stopping his movements.

"Because it's seriously annoying!" she complained.

Harry just laughed. "Well, in that case," he said with a mischievous smile before jiggling his girlfriend more violently on his knees.

"Harry!" Alice cried in protest.

Draco smiled, he found immeasurable joy in watching Harry torment Alice this way, even though he knew Harry was only playing with her; he liked to think it was more malicious than that. Draco smirked as he watched them.

"Stop it," Alice cried out. "Please! I'll make it worth you while."

"You will, will you? How is that?" Harry asked, finally stopping his jumping knees.

"Well, I can start with a kiss now," Alice said softly, but Draco's straining ears still heard her, "and then later tonight maybe we'll skip dinner and see if there's something tastier in my room instead."

"In your room huh?" Harry asked seductively smirking slightly; he hadn't yet noticed Draco standing so close by. "We'll have to see about that, but I'll definitely take that kiss now."

Harry leaned in and caught Alice's lips with his own, his hands rested on her hips and pulled her in closer. Harry's tongue skimmed along her lips but didn't enter her mouth and despite feeling Alice's tongue begging to touch his he pulled away. She ground her pelvis into his in protest trying to subtly tease him into kissing her again while indicating what he might be in store for later in her room when the rest of the school ate their dinner.

No one but Draco saw this promiscuous movement from Alice and he might have been able to forcefully pull himself away had Harry not responded the way he did. Normally Draco would have imagined Harry shoving her off his lap and seeing her land unceremoniously on her arse in the dirt, unfortunately he knew from experience the most he could hope for was a tense and uncomfortable look from Harry and maybe his slow removal of Alice from his person. This time, however, Harry gasped as if breathless before leaning back on the bench as if to expose more of his groin to Alice's wriggling crotch. Draco felt his body temperature rise, red-hot with anger and jealousy, and he lost complete control of himself as he stepped towards the couple to announce his presence.

"Aw, how sweeeeet," Draco cooed sarcastically, his eyes flashing with the rage he felt in his heart and he saw Harry tense and flush with guilt. "Its Hogwarts' favourite couple!"

Harry's eyes refused to meet Draco's and Draco knew the Gryffindor knew he'd gone too far with the girl and his boyfriend had seen it all. Alice made no moves to get off him so Harry grabbed her bottom with both his hands and lifted her with him as he stood up to face Draco. She slid languidly down his body until her feet touched the ground and then she stood defiantly beside him gripping his hand tightly.

"Jeez, Potter, she's a cutie," Draco continued when he received no response from Harry. "Too bad she's got such a fat arse! You wouldn't know it but I saw it jiggling around there before and whoa! Chunky monkey! I'm surprised she can fit through the Entrance Hall doors with that thing, let alone move around the castle!"

None of this was at all true of Alice, she was in fact one of the most athletic girls in Gryffindor and her figure was enviable. Draco was just saying these things to irritate them and he was annoyingly successful.

"Piss off, Malfoy!" Harry barked at him, shocked at how callous he was being. After all these months of sweetness and loving affection Harry had forgotten the cold Slytherin that lay underneath Draco's warm flesh.

"I guess you don't mind too much then?" Draco shrugged, not yet satisfied that he had hurt the happy couple as much as they had hurt him. "Gives you something a little extra to hold on to while you're driving it home, eh?" As if his words weren't enough Draco leaned down to grab Alice's rear, but having seen it coming she jumped away behind her Hero boyfriend.

Harry acted instinctively and shoved Draco back with both his hands making the blonde stumble backwards into another student who promptly got out of the way. Bystanders watched in anticipation, sure they were going to see another famous Potter-Malfoy brawl.

Draco laughed at Harry, but didn't push him back preferring to use his words which he knew would cut much deeper than his fists would. "Hope you practice safe sex, Scarhead," he teased. "You don't know where else she's been do you?"

"Fuck off, Malfoy!" Harry snapped, shoving Draco again as he stepped towards them.

Draco, who had had enough of this, pushed Harry back into Alice knocking her to the ground. Alice yelped as she fell and landed awkwardly on the gravel scraping the back of her legs and tearing her stockings.

Harry turned immediately to help her up, ignoring Draco completely in favour of attending Alice who Draco could see was desperately trying to hold back her tears. Harry's obvious preference for the girl angered Draco more and he acted out, shoving Harry in the back as he leaned over to help Alice.

Harry stumbled forward nearly stepping on Alice but managed to stay upright for the most part. He turned violently to face his attacker.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" he snapped at Draco.

"Just looking for a little entertainment, Potty. No harm done," Draco quipped, raising both his hands in surrender.

Draco glanced over to Alice who had let her emotions get the better of her as tears back to stain her cheeks. Draco smiled at his victory. "Aw, shit, don't cry!" he said meanly. "You brought this on yourself really; maybe you shouldn't have eaten so many chocolate frogs!"

For Harry this was the last straw, he had had enough of Draco's childish bullying and his temper got the better of him before he allowed himself to think it through and he punched his boyfriend hard right in the nose. As soon as he heard the crack Harry knew it was broken and he felt his blood turn cold as he realized what he'd done.

Blood flowed freely from Draco's nose turning his favourite blue shirt a mangled red-ish purple colour not much different from the colour blooming around the centre of his face. But his nose didn't hurt nearly as much as his heart when he realized Harry had just punched him and broken his nose.

Determined to have the last laugh he left his lover with some cutting parting words and an unobstructed view of the mess the Gryffindor had made to Draco's beautiful face.

"Ouch, Potter," Draco said. "Now you've gone and ruined my Valentine's Day, happy?"

Harry was silent as he watched Draco walk away from him.

In the hours following their Valentine's Day fight, neither Harry nor Draco could focus on anything else and both reached similar yet different conclusions about who should be sorry about it. They both concluded that Draco should be sorry, but only Draco thought that maybe Harry had something to be sorry for as well.

As I said, Harry allowed himself to brood over the fight for the rest of the day and the longer he did the more he realized just how out of line Draco had been. At first he had felt consumed with guilt about letting go too much with Alice and then for punching Draco the way he did, but the more he thought about it the more he was able to convince himself that Draco had pushed him into lashing out like that leaving him no choice. And as for letting Alice affect him sexually… well, he was only human right? Besides he hadn't done anything with Alice besides kiss and what man wouldn't find pleasure in someone grinding on their dick? It wasn't as though he'd said 'Allie, please grind on my cock!' Besides, they were in public as Draco had requested. What did he do wrong? Absolutely nothing that's what!

Similar to Harry, Draco had spent his Valentine's Day thinking about the fight and who was to blame, himself obviously, he had goaded Harry into attacking him. He knew which buttons to press and press them he did; repeatedly. But he was sure Harry could also see where he was ultimately responsible for what happened as well and he knew in his heart the Gryffindor would come to him to apologise, lick at his wounds and love him tenderly all night long.

Draco continued with his plans for Valentine's Day evening, setting up their secret room beautifully with softly glowing candles and red velvet coloured rose petals lovingly scattered over the bedspread. The table was adorned with a crisp white table cloth and five long dinner candles standing in an elegant silver candelabrum with a few scattered petals and an assortment of desserts to indulge in together. Harry was to arrive at nine o'clock.

Draco waited up until midnight and then he curled up on the rose covered bedspread alone, letting the candles burn until they reached the end of their wicks and secretly hoping that Harry would still come to him.

The next day was Harry's Quidditch game against Ravenclaw and the Gryffindor Seeker lay awake far earlier than necessary staring at the curtains around his bed willing himself to sleep for another hour. He'd barely gotten three hours sleep that night and had to practically tie himself to the bed to keep himself from going to Draco in the middle of the night. He told himself over and over that his boyfriend would have given up on him hours ago and gone back to his dorm, that is if he'd even gone at all; but deep down Harry knew Draco was there still waiting for him and he would be there waiting until morning.

Finally giving up Harry went down to the Quidditch field to warm up and practice for his game in five hours. He half hoped to see Draco there waiting for him to arrive but once he arrived the find the pitch empty he knew it had been too much to hope for. He had to be strong and ignore Draco for at least a whole day to make his point; that Draco had asked him to be with Alice and he couldn't behave this way towards her.

He never saw Draco in the stands that day even though he let his eye wander to Draco's usual seat several times during the game. He was distracted the whole time and barely caught the snitch before Cho did; he looked like a clumsy fool tripping all over himself and Cho, only catching the snitch with his fingertips and barely holding on to it when he did.

Harry's eyes searched the stands again as he left the pitch surrounded by cheering Gryffindors and the cautious glances of his teammates who knew he'd been off his game that morning. Draco was nowhere to be seen.

It felt like another blow to Harry, as though Draco wasn't sorry for what happened the day before. He probably wasn't even there to meet Harry last night.

Bastard.

Harry was walking to dinner with Hermione and Ron when he finally bumped into Draco. He glanced around them to find only a few students nearby but none close enough to hear any exchanged words.

"You missed my game," Harry accused menacingly.

"You missed my surprise," Draco shot back.

"I didn't need you there anyway," Harry retorted painfully. "I won anyway."

"Yeah, barely is what I heard!"

"I'm surprised you cared enough to check!?" Harry snapped but he couldn't hide it when his emotions cracked his voice.

"Check? Hardly," Draco replied. "You're the laughing stock of the whole school!"

Harry's face crumpled in unconcealed hurt and he stalked off to the Great Hall without another word, carefully followed by Hermione and Ron.

Draco watched Harry retreat and it was then he realised his relationship with the beautiful Gryffindor was over. His heart shattered as felt the tears sting his eyes and he watched his one reason to hold on, his one hope for a bright future, his one light in the darkness of his life, walk away from him.

Okay I'm usually very nice but I'm very upset with most of you and so this is your punishment! Considering how many of you have this story on alert and on your favourites list, I am sadly lacking in reviews!! So I'm putting you all in time out with this nasty cliffhanger and I'm not sorry!

Make it up to me and I might make it up to you...

Review please.