Sorry for the longer than normal pause between chapters; the last full week of school has meant many extras that interfered with my 'stress release' time. I know it's still a bit of a tease, so I hope you enjoy this installment.

Merick

Chapter Twenty-Six

I made the Quidditch team, and in another surprise, Ron was made Captain. Minerva's decision to have the Professors judge the tryouts turned out to be quite reasonable, because I cannot imagine Ron having to choose between me and his sister. The lists were posted Friday morning, which meant that breakfast became an animated affair as each house discussed their supposed chances for victory in the upcoming matches, and captains sorted out their practice times according to their players' schedules. Ginny sat far away from the rest of us, surrounded by her friends who were no doubt reinforcing her assertions that the professors had made a mistake not choosing her. Hermione had taught her last potions tutorial the night before; I think she was going to miss standing up at the front of the room. And we had our last DADA class that night. All assumptions were that the new Professors would be arriving anytime soon, and the appearance of some trunks in the front entranceway that afternoon sort of bore that out. Hagrid was helping Filch to load them onto trolleys as we came out of the Hall from lunch. He waved a big beefy hand at us, the billows from his sleeve nearly knocking over Mr. Filch, who was still as thin and drawn as ever; but at least recovered from the explosion in Snape's old quarters.

Part of me hoped that this meant that we were now going to settle into a proper routine at school, finally. And I knew I could avoid Ginny, just as I had managed to avoid others over the last seven years. Eventually I knew her anger would wear off and she would find something else to fixate on which would draw her away from any concerns about me. I didn't realize how fast that fixation would arrive, and in a lovely midnight blue cloak as well, but I'm jumping ahead.

Besides, I know you want to hear more about Draco and I. It was fun, in a shy, adolescent sort of way. My whole life I'd just kind of fallen into situations one way or another, or let others push me into them. But I didn't feel quite the same about Draco. For a week, we shared concealed smiles, and 'just' lingering touches; hands brushing hands under a desk, legs brushing legs as we crossed over to our seats. The squeeze on shoulders that lasted just a bit too long, and the tracing of fingertips down the back of necks were all part of the play. And Draco knew nearly as many darkened recesses in scarcely used hallways around Hogwarts as I did. And we were able to share stolen kisses there, and tantalizing embraces, which left us both hungry for more, and energized by the anticipation. It was a game, and it was delicious.

Draco came to the last DADA class, blowing off Pansy's last Potions lesson. He didn't seem to think that she would care one way or the other. She had the younger Slytherins quite captivated with her ability to brew up love potions, and sleeping draughts, and the like, all quite useful things for espionage, and finding a rich mate.

It was a good class. People wanted to duel, so the eighth years kind of supervised to make sure no one got hurt, and we let them at it. We had to throw in a few shield charms here and there, but it was all good. I hoped that once the new DADA professor arrived that he would be impressed with what we had done. For one year I wanted to start off Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts on a positive note, without a professor hating me, or expecting too much of me because of my name. I think it worked out okay, looking back. And Draco got a chance to show some of the younger students that he wasn't such a scary guy despite what their housemates kept telling them. It was a start for him too, even though he was still incredibly shy around everyone but Hermione and I. At least his circle had expanded by one.

Draco hung back after the class, waiting till most everyone had cleared out before speaking openly to me, and calling me Harry again; I had noticed that he still called me Potter when we were in large groups. Not that it bothered me, I just make note of it.

"The tower is open tonight, did you want to go up and work on our charts?" He referred to our first Astronomy assignment, charting the fall skies. It seemed like an excellent idea to me, and maybe not completely because I wanted to do homework.

"Let me go and get my scrolls and a warmer cloak and I'll meet you up there? You should get something warmer on too." As always he had his pressed cotton shirt on, though I had noticed that the usual white had been replaced with black this week. I didn't know that the choice fell strictly under the dress code, but as his Head of House didn't seem worried, I had no reason to be either. Truth was, he looked good in the black.

"I'll see you up there in fifteen minutes or so?"

"Yes."

And once again I found myself headed for the tower, my heart pounding, and my mind racing. It was exciting, and it felt good. Certainly better than the last time I'd been up there, sort of. Adrenalin and testosterone always gave you a high.

I pushed open the door and found him, lying back on a blanket on the center benches, poking at a scroll with the thin end of his wand. As he heard me enter, he sat, and then stood, crossing the room to me in such a purposeful manner I was quite mesmerized by his movements. In a second he had my face clasped carefully between his two hands, and then had his mouth on mine, and for the following few seconds I simply enjoyed the feeling of him, and the excitement of his tongue, thrust into my mouth, and the heaving of his chest against mine.

"Draco, anyone could come up at any moment."

"I don't think so. I stopped to see Professor Sinistra on my way up, to ask permission for us to be up after curfew. She told me we were the only ones who had asked tonight, so I don't expect anyone else now, being as close to ten as it is."

Ten o'clock was our official curfew, at least to be back in our common rooms, mostly. There were always ways around it, but Minerva was still gun shy; can you say that about a witch? I don't know. And she liked to make sure that all her students were accounted for in the evening. It cut down on the nefarious doings of a number of students, and certainly would have prevented some 'issues' of years past. No one really minded, because a quick word to most professors got you a pass. And some of us still had invisibility cloaks.

I allowed Draco to pull me into another kiss, and wrapped my arms loosely around his back, just hanging at his waist, where I could trace the small of his back with my thumbs.

"You don't think Professor Sinistra will suspect anything?"

"Not if we get our charts done." Draco told me with a grin on his face, as he pulled me down to the bench. "See, I've already started."

"You are a terrible tease, you know that?" He had rolled back over to look up at the sky; I joined him, hip to hip.

"And you like it a great deal."

"And how would you know that?"

He placed a hand on my abdomen and began to run it down towards my waistband. I put one of mine over top to stop him.

"Not fair." I whispered in the most seductive voice I could manage between hesitant breaths.

"You're probably right." And he went back to his charts with a laugh.

"I will get even with you some day Draco."

"I count on it Harry," then another laugh. I pulled out my own scroll and we got to work.

Aries, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia fell into place alongside Pisces and Taurus. Draco showed me the spell to use to chart their orbits in sparkling ascensions and declinations. After about an hour both scrolls looked sufficiently amazing to my eyes, and we decided to pack them up. But before dropping them off in the classroom on our way back down we did take a few selfish moments. Well, Draco took them, and I enjoyed them.

In a languidly slow moment he rolled his body on top of mine, and let most of his weight press against me; at first taking my breath, not for the obvious reason of his weight, but for the delicious contact, and the overtly sexual nature of it.

I let my fingers just delve beneath the waistband of his trousers, pushing against the skin there as I pulled his shirt free. The scars didn't bother me, and the way he arched himself against my touch, I could tell there was no pain in it for him. We shared many deep breaths, and I knew I was becoming aroused, and I knew he could feel it. But unlike earlier, when I had pulled his hand away, out of, fear? Confusion? Shame? I felt so intoxicated by his presence that I wanted him to know what he was doing to me. And I wanted to feel the same response in him.

"We have to get away from here soon Dragon." I was panting as I tried to whisper to him.

"Oh Merlin yes." And then he hesitated, "What did you call me?"

"I know it's not Spring yet and your constellation won't be out for a few months but," I shrugged and smiled at him.

"Dragon?" He seemed to roll it around in his mind a bit as he continued to grind himself against me slowly. "Thank you." A pause, "where should we go?"

"My house." I had thought about it, at night, a few times, to help me sleep. "We can go to Hogsmeade, and from there we can apparate to 12G easily. We have our free passes. We should go soon." It was becoming difficult to form the words as I felt his arousal pressing against me. He was so distracting.

"You really want that?"

"I really want you Dragon." I could feel the heave of his chest against mine.

"I want you too Harry."

I'd have had him right there in that tower, I was so desperate for him; not that I was entirely certain what having him fully meant at that point. The Hogwarts library was a great resource for our classes, but its section on Human sexuality was somewhat lacking; okay, completely lacking. There were certainly no books on how to make love to your boyfriend, or your girlfriend for that matter, and while I wasn't a complete idiot about sex, I probably talked a better game back then than I played.

Fortunately, Draco didn't mind my lack of experience; but again, I'm getting ahead of myself.