Rating: M to be on the safe side, will be bad language and knowing me a lot of slashy goodness
Warning: this will most definitely be slash, but will hopefully also contain humour, or at least my version of humour. Anyway, if you don't like serious lovin' between two guys then this is not for you. May also contain het, not sure exactly where this is going yet :-/
Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me, I just use them to do stuff my original characters won't let me do. Neither do I own the X Factor, thank god as it's really starting to suck now, not that it was that fab to begin with…I also don't own the song used. The song and artist are listed in the A/N at the end.
Harry followed his group through the winding corridors, keeping up as they traversed an unfamiliar staircase, and finally came to a stop before a portrait of a dozen Pixies frolicking in a woodland scene. It was not missed by Harry that many of them were making rude and obscene hand gestures to the group, despite seeming perfectly innocent at first glance.
The portrait opened to reveal a fairly decent sized common room, complete with a piano standing in one corner with a pile of sheet music piled on top. While the others were taking in the room and testing how comfy the chairs were, Ginny raced to the sheet music, desperate to know what song they would be singing. As she reached out to take them, a hand quickly snatched them from her grasp and Ginny turned to do battle, rolling her eyes when she realised it was Lavender.
"I was just about to read those", she pointed out.
Lavender didn't even raise her head, merely muttering a quiet "Whatever", before turning a page. Harry noticed the exchange and rushed to Ginny's side, hoping to stop any potential fighting. A hand on his wrist however pulled him slightly away and he looked at the person who had stopped him in confusion before glaring, "Draco, why have you stopped me?" he snapped.
Draco released his wrist with a smirk, "Let them fight, it'll be bloody amusing if you ask me."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Well, no one is asking you, so bugger off. Or do you want to lose the competition just so you can see two girls fight?"
Draco frowned, "You have a point."
Spinning round he grabbed Ginny by the wrist and pulled her alongside Harry, "Listen here Red, don't start beating up the diva over something like this, grin and bear it, I don't want to lose just because you have a volatile temper."
Harry cringed as he watched Ginny's face slowly turn bright red, "Who do you think you are Draco? I'll do what I damn well want, and I do NOT have a volatile temper!" she screamed in his face before stomping up to Lavender and snatching the music out of her hands.
Draco stood open mouthed, face even paler than usual, blinking as Ginny's words echoed in his ears. Taking pity on him, Harry led him over to the sofa by the fire, smiling gratefully at a Ravenclaw called Kevin who handed him a glass of water. Draco was eventually persuaded to drink it, and slowly some colour came back to his face. Blinking suddenly he turned to Harry in horror, "I thought she was going to eat me!"
Harry stared for a moment before bursting into laughter, rolling around on the floor clutching his stomach. Draco glared, "When you're quite done rolling around on the floor like a rabid mongrel Potter, we should probably rejoin the group."
Harry sighed heavily as he brushed away a tear, chuckles sporadically bursting from his mouth as he raised a hand toward Draco.
"Help a guy up?" he asked hopefully.
Draco grinned, "Of course", he replied grasping the proffered hand and pulling him up slightly before letting him fall back onto the floor with a sneer, "Not."
He stalked away muttering about imbecile Gryffindors and their foolish ways. Harry sulked for a moment before climbing to his feet and settling down with the rest of the group.
Ginny was talking to the circle, ignoring the glares Lavender was sending her way and the nervous glances the rest of the group were sending between the two girls.
"So, I think we should go round the circle introducing ourselves, you know, name, year, house, hobbies that sort of thing. It will help us mesh as a group", she grinned. Everyone nodded in agreement, some looking quite shy, "So who would like to go first?" she asked pleasantly.
Of course Lavender at this point burst in before anybody else could speak, "Ooh, I'll go first, I'm sure some of you are just dying to know about me. I am probably the most talented one here after all."
The group, as one, rolled their eyes at her and let her carry on, knowing once she had finished they could go back to ignoring her again.
She stood up and smoothed down her clothes and flicking her hair over her shoulder before speaking, "Well, as you probably know, my name is Lavender and I'm a seventh year Gryffindor. And obviously, I'm the one who will be leading our group to victory this weekend. You're welcome", she finished with a big smarmy grin plastered across her face.
The group stared in stony faced silence until Ginny cleared her throat, "Anyway, I'm Ginny, I'm a sixth year Gryffindor, I love to sing and I also play guitar", she smiled looking at the girl next to her to continue.
The small brunette smiled shyly at the rest of them, and Harry remembered being impressed that such a strong, soulful voice had come out of someone so small. "Hi, my name is Laura Madley, I'm a 4th year Hufflepuff and other than singing I enjoy fishing with my Grandpa in the Summer".
Next was a Ravenclaw Harry had spoken to once or twice, "My names Kevin, seventh year Ravenclaw, I have a fondness for muggle motorbikes", he finished with a crooked grin.
Then there was Draco, who of course introduced himself in his usual sneering tone, "Draco Malfoy, Pureblood, seventh year Slytherin, I also play the guitar but I also enjoy painting."
Harry glanced at him and smirked, "Bloody puff", he muttered. Draco appeared to ignore him, however Harry was delighted to see a slight pink tinge to his cheeks. He was interrupted quite rudely from his musings by Ginny. "Oy, Harry, stop ogling Draco and get on with it."
Harry flushed and glared at her as the rest of the group giggled and Draco preened beside him. "Harry Potter, as I'm sure you all bloody know", he started grumpily, "seventh year Gryffindor, erm, I enjoy Quidditch and beating Malfoy at everything" he finished smugly.
A hand came from Draco's direction and shoved him off his seat viciously, thus ending the small getting to know you group.
Ginny held up the music sheets to the rest of the group and waved them, "This is the song they have chosen for us to do tomorrow night", she said as she passed them round.
Harry eagerly grabbed his copy and scanned the title, groaning when he realised he didn't know the song that well. As Ginny continued to distribute the sheets, purposefully avoiding Lavender and leaving her till last, Draco wandered up to him. "I take it you're not familiar with this particular song then", he murmured as he continued looking at the sheet.
Harry shook his head, "Not really", he muttered, "God help me if I drag the group down, what with Ginny and Lav and, well, you I suppose, I doubt I'd make it out of the castle alive."
Draco sniggered, "You're more afraid of Red than me and the Harpy anyway."
Harry grinned at Lavenders nickname, watching as she stalked Ginny across the room fuming that she hadn't had her sheet yet.
"Hmm, well I know your bark is worse than your bite Draco", he murmured, not paying much attention to what he was saying until a soft voice purred into his ear. "Mmm, there you go again thinking of me biting you." Harry shivered at the warm air ghosting over his ear, "Piss off Malfoy, you know what I meant."
Draco stood back a step and pouted, "It was Draco a minute ago. Anyway, I know this song quite well, I'll help you out."
Harry spun and stared in disbelief, "Really?" he asked, "You're not going to make me do it all wrong just to embarrass me?"
Draco stared back at him, "Yeah, of course I am", he replied rolling his eyes, "I just told you I don't want to get kicked off, if I make you screw up it'll only reflect badly on us as a group."
He laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and looked him in the eye, "I'm honestly trying to help you for once Harry, will you let me?"
Harry felt his face slowly turn pink and cursed himself for having an inner Hufflepuff, he didn't even want to contemplate the warm fuzziness in his stomach or the sneaky, downright dirty thoughts flitting through his mind at the feel of the warm hand on his shoulder.
"Sure, Draco", was the only response he could bring to mind. Draco didn't seem to mind however, he smiled at him and then headed off towards the boys bedroom. Harry, after giving both his body and mind a stern telling off, followed him. After all, Ginny would probably wake the whole group at some ungodly hour to start rehearsals. Slipping into the room he was just in time to watch Draco pull on a t-shirt and climb into bed. Harry undressed before also pulling on a t shirt and climbing into bed. As he closed his eyes, he tried to forget the smooth pale skin he had glimpsed, and the curious feeling it had given him.
The next morning, if you could call it that as it was still quite dark outside, was started by a small ginger blur bouncing on his bed and screeching in his ear. A pillow hit him in the face as he sat up and he groaned while collapsing back on his bed again.
"Sorry Potter, I was aiming for the screeching harpy", Draco called across the room, "Where in the name of Merlin's underpants is the snooze button on that thing?" Harry attempted sitting up again and was pleased when the ginger blur moved and he was able to put his glasses on.
"Morning Ginny", he mumbled, "Thanks for the wake up call, now kindly bugger off before you make Malfoy cry."
Ginny smirked at the outraged protest that came behind her, "Just get yourself and the others up and meet us in the common room in 30 minutes", she said as she opened the door, turning back she grinned widely, "Any later and I'll come in here and drag you out, dressed or not."
As the door closed the boys leapt out of bed and made a dash for the bathroom. In the ensuing battle to get though the small door, Harry found himself pressed up against Draco in a not altogether bad way, and once again found himself wishing he didn't have such a Hufflepuff inside him. In fact he wouldn't mind so much if he had a Slytherin inside him. At that point in his train of thought he froze and decided maybe he should just get dressed instead.
Rushing back to his bed he dressed and left the room in record time, impressing Ginny greatly as he burst through the door.
The sight of a table full of coffee and muffins made his morning and he ignored everyone in favour of inhaling some caffeine and sugar. He had a feeling he would need it. He sensed someone approach the table and stand next to him, and he wasn't surprised to find Draco smirking at him.
"You seemed to sprint out of there this morning like a dragon was on your tail, anything wrong Harry?"
Said boy growled quietly, pleased to notice Draco stiffen beside him.
"Nothing is wrong apart from having to get up at this ungodly hour to practice for something I never wanted to do in the first place."
Draco grimaced, "Come off it Potter, this is right up your alley. A chance to be fawned over and gain more admirers, it's a Golden Boy dream surely."
Harry glared at him, "You know Malfoy, after all the time we'd been spending together I thought maybe you had gotten to know me, but you obviously still have no idea of the kind of person I am. I don't know why I bother sometimes, you arrogant, ignorant little shit."
Harry stormed away, leaving a shell shocked Malfoy in his wake. The morning continued with a general sing-a-long in order to get used to the song, before splitting the song up between them and attempting to put a unique twist on it to make it theirs. At lunch time they took a break, Harry making sure to avoid Draco completely, ignoring the sorrowful looks the boy continued sending him. Eventually however, he knew he would need to speak to him, he had no idea what he was doing with this song and he only hoped he would still help him. Taking a deep breath and setting his shoulders, he made his way to where he was sitting.
"Draco, I'm sorry about my outburst earlier, I shouldn't have taken my frustrations out on you", he said quietly, refusing to meet the others gaze.
Draco smiled sadly, "No Harry, I should be the one to say sorry. I know you hate the fame and stuff, I just can't help riling you up, or trying to. I went too far though." Harry nodded and sat down next to him.
"Sooooo", began Draco after a short silence, "Do you still want my help with the song?" Harry smiled gratefully at him, "I would love help, I haven't got a clue, seriously."
The two made their way up to the dorm room where they would have a bit more privacy, and Draco proceeded to help Harry with his verse and the chorus. The song in question was kind of a duet with both male and female vocals. They had split it up fairly between them, however Ginny and Lavender had nearly come to blows over which parts were done by who and which duet partners they'd get. The song included a lot of strings, and seeing as though Draco was also skilled at classical and modern violin, it was decided he would play with the music to add a bit more variety and talent to the mix. He would still be able to do his part with the vocals due to the background music, it would simply add an extra layer to their song.
Harry tried his hardest to concentrate and instil emotion into what he was singing, but under Draco's intense gaze it was proving difficult.
"Okay, how about I sing the female parts and you sing the male parts, we'll go through the whole song, and maybe after that you'll have a better feel for it and we can focus on your individual piece and the harmonies."
Harry did as he said, and if anything, singing to Draco and Draco singing back to him merely made his stomach flutter and his face flush slightly. Thankfully Draco either didn't notice or merely thought it was the effort of singing turning him a nice shade of pink. As Harry watched the emotion flit over Draco's normally shielded face he wondered how he could possibly have thought him emotionless and cold. It was obvious he had a great deal of emotion and passion buried underneath the stoic exterior. As the song ended a silence hovered over the pair until Draco coughed and looked away, shuffling the music sheets in his hands, and Harry refused to acknowledge the bit of hope that blossomed in his heart at the sight of a blush on Draco's cheeks.
He's probably just over exerted himself, he thought, and then immediately stamped down on thoughts of how he'd over exert him if he had the chance. He groaned and realised that he had to talk to Ginny or he was going to go mad. Ginny would know what to do, she had to.
"Erm, I need, erm, a drink, yeah, a drink. I'll just go and…erm, do you want one? Yeah I'll go get us some drinks", he stuttered to a confused looking Draco before literally sprinting out of the door.
Scanning the room quickly he found Ginny in a corner practising the song, a bubble of isolation around her. Harry disabled it without a problem and tapped her on the shoulder.
"We need to talk", he said as she took in his flustered demeanour.
Ginny nodded, "Lets go down to the kitchens and get everyone a snack, we'll have privacy down there."
Even though they weren't supposed to leave the tower, Harry knew if he didn't talk to someone soon he would have a nervous breakdown, so he accio'd his cloak and they left in secret. After a couple of narrow escapes with other students, luckily it being a weekend there weren't too many roaming the halls, they made it to the kitchens and sat down as they waited for the elves to put together a snack basket.
"So what's up? I haven't seen you this flustered since you accidentally burst in on Ron and Hermione that time."
Harry shuddered, "Yeah, thanks Gin, that totally cheered me up. No, I need to talk to you about, erm…Draco."
Ginny squealed, "Ooooh, you like him don't you? In a I wanna rock your body kind of way not a lets be friends kind of way?"
Harry stared at her in amazement, "Ginny, I have only just come to terms with thinking I may like him a tiny bit in the romantic kind of way, how the hell did you guess it was about that?"
Ginny looked smug, "I'm a woman Harry, we know these things. Anyway, what are you going to do about it?" she asked.
Harry squirmed uncomfortably, "I don't know, I don't even know if I do really like him like that or if it's just this song that's getting to me, you must admit it's quite apt."
Ginny nodded and grabbed a biscuit from a tray a passing elf was carrying, "It does seem to have your level of angst", she smirked.
Harry shrugged, "I keep looking at him and seeing him in a different light if you know what I mean. Sometimes he just seems to be bursting with passion, and I feel like all I want to do is see how far that passion extends. He looks so damned perfect all the time, and when his shirts crumpled and his sleeves are rolled up, and his hair is all over the place from running his hands through it he still looks damned perfect to me. When he smiles at me without sneering or glaring or anything, it makes my heart ache and I just want to touch him. Every time I see him now I feel like there's a flobberworm in my belly, what the hell is that about?"
Ginny stared open-mouthed, crumbs clinging to her lip, "Harry, how the hell can you not know if you like him? From the sounds of it you bloody love the guy!"
She wiped the crumbs from her lip, "Now when you jump him, make sure you have a camera on you, I think I deserve some smutty photo's in return for my help."
Harry stared, "You haven't given me any help Gin."
Ginny smiled and winked, "Yet, my dear Harry. Just you wait my love, you'll be thanking me profusely soon enough."
Harry groaned and grabbed his cloak standing up, "I feel like I'm going to regret saying anything to you. Come on, before they think we've run off."
Back in the common room they were confronted by an angry Lavender. Ginny just snorted and walked away leaving Harry to bear the brunt of it.
"You two have cost us rehearsal time, I hope you're happy. You'd better be damn good if you think you can swanny off like that!"
Harry rolled his eyes and stared round the room as she continued nagging, he noticed everyone was pretending to ignore them while giggling quietly, Draco was sat by the fire looking unamused. Harry grinned at him and felt his heart ache when he looked away.
Turning to Lavender he snapped, "Shut the fuck up Lav, I'm doing my best, we just thought we'd get some snacks for everyone, it's hard bloody work doing this all day. Just shut up, we'll get the group together and start full rehearsal. Happy?" he asked before slamming the food basket down and walking to the dorm to calm down for a minute.
As he leant on the window sill and stared at the grounds, he heard someone come in behind him. "It's ok Gin, I was just…annoyed. I'll be out in a minute."
He heard someone approach and felt a hand on his shoulder, a hand that felt bigger than Ginny's petite hands. He turned to stare into stormy grey eyes.
"Draco", he murmured, before snapping himself out of it, "I'm sorry we disappeared. We didn't mean to be gone so long", he muttered turning back to the window and leaning his forehead on the cool glass.
Draco squeezed his shoulder, "Ignore the Queen Harpy, she's just a bitch, I'm sorry if I was a bit cold with you out there, I, I just have a lot on my mind right now."
Harry turned back to him, "Don't worry about it Draco, you know if you need to you can talk to me right? Or Gin, she considers you a friend too now you know?"
Draco laughed, "Who'd have thought it, a Malfoy friends with a Potter and a Weasley."
Harry laughed along with him, "Yeah, I'm glad though." They stood in silence for a moment, looking into each others eyes, and for once Harry didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable.
"Come on, before we get dragged out of here."
The rest of the day was spent rehearsing and doing homework, until during their early dinner, a group of witches came through the portrait armed with several shrunken packages.
"Hi, we're wardrobe and make-up", one young woman chirped, "I'm Rosie, this is Mel, and this is Sam", she gestured to the others before looking down at the clipboard she was holding. "Aah, I see you've got the dramatic song, we have costumes to suit the mood to a tee", she grinned.
Harry, Draco and the other boys exchanged nervous glances at the word costumes. They needn't have worried however, it turned out to be a simple fitted white shirt, sleeves rolled up and left un-tucked, and well fitting black trousers with black dragon hide boots. A skinny black tie hung loosely from their necks, and Draco wore a grey waistcoat, Harry a black fedora, and Kevin Entwhistle, a seventh year Ravenclaw, wore a black sweater vest. They each wore black leather cuffs and on the insistence on every girl in the room, they wearily submitted to black eyeliner.
Ginny wore a long black delicate dress with a corseted body and flowing black skirts. Lavender wore a similar dress cut shorter showing off black boots that laced all the way up, and Laura wore the same dress as Ginny but with a gypsy style body with off the shoulder sleeves. They each left their hair loose and slightly tussled, and were coking the smoky eye look complete with a tiny diamante on the edge of each eye. Silver jewellery completed the look.
In all they looked slightly gothic but in a romantic tragedy kind of way. Harry barely noticed the girls however, his eyes were drawn to Draco as he checked his violin, black to match the ensembles, and made sure it was in tune. Harry didn't think he had ever seen anything so beautiful in his life, and only took his eyes away when Ginny viciously nudged him in the ribs.
"Do you want everyone to know how you feel?" she hissed.
Harry blushed, "I didn't mean to, but Merlin Ginny, look at the guy, he's bloody gorgeous!"
Ginny patted him on the arm, "I know Harry, but you have to concentrate, we have to go down to the Great hall now before everyone else arrives, so get your mind out of the clouds, or the gutter, and pull yourself together."
Harry shook himself both physically and mentally and followed the rest of the group out of the common room and to the Great Hall.
Like last time, the room had been kitted out with audience seats and a huge stage. Reporters were already milling about to try and get some behind the scenes pictures and some quotes from participants. Harry avoided them as much as he could, hiding behind Ginny at one point, much to the amusement of a certain blond Slytherin. "Come on Harry, the sooner we get backstage the sooner you stop hiding behind girls", he smirked.
Harry glared at him before half running, half crouching to the backstage area where it was limited to contestants, judges and crew. Remus was stood talking to the other judges in one corner, obviously having been told they couldn't talk to the contestants, and Snape was glowering in a corner, clearly unamused at the antics of several of the contestants. Harry noticed Draco slip away to speak with his fellow housemate Blaise, and he felt a coil of jealousy unwind in his stomach.
Ginny noticed him tense up and followed his gaze, "Oh Harry, stop being such a girl. He's going to talk to other blokes, we haven't even discovered if he's gay yet so calm yourself."
Harry huffed and continued to watch them, his hands tightening into fists as he noticed the pair glance over at him before Blaise wrapped Draco up in a hug. Ginny sighed heavily next to him, "Stop it Harry, you hug Ron all the bloody time, it doesn't mean you're shagging him."
Harry shuddered, "Didn't need that imagery thanks Ginny", he said before wandering off in search of refreshment.
After talking to other classmates, he wandered back to find Ginny, stomach clenching once more as he found her in deep conversation with Draco, their heads close together, seemingly discussing something important. Harry tried to stop the feeling of betrayal as he saw this closeness, and even as he watched the pair hug for what he seemed to think was a long time, he tried to remain calm. Looking away he distracted himself with running through the lyrics in his head, and was startled when Ginny appeared at his side once more.
"You ok Harry?" she asked, noticing his stiff posture.
"Of course Ginny", why wouldn't I be?" he muttered.
Ginny sighed and decided to humour him for the moment, but Harry knew she'd be asking questions later. Before they knew it the Great Hall had filled and the theme music was playing. After the host had finished his introductions, the first group went on stage. Harry's group prepared in the wings as they were due to perform second, and watched nervously as the crowd cheered the group at the end of their song. Once the group had come off stage and the host introduced Harry's group, the lights dimmed.
Harry took his place to the left of Draco and watched Draco play the intro out the corner of his eye while he bowed his head. To his right he heard Ginny start to sing.
"Would you mind if I hurt you?
Understand that I need to
Wish that I had other choices
Than to hurt the one I love"
"What have you done now?" he sang along with Ginny as she stepped back slightly to make way for his solo part.
"I know I'd better stop trying
You know that there's no denying
I won't show mercy on you now"
He carried on singing, his voice joined by Lavender's,
"I know I should stop believing
I know that there's no retrieving
It's over now What have you done?"
As a group they sang the chorus,
"What have you done now?"
"I, I've been waiting for someone like you
But now you are slipping away... oh
What have you done now?
Why? Why does Fate make us suffer?
There's a curse between us
Between me and you"
Harry and Draco both sang the bridge, staring at each other as they sang,
"What have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done
What have you done now
What have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done
What have you done now"
They stepped back slightly to allow Laura and Kevin to continue,
"Would you mind if I killed you?
Would you mind if I tried to cause you have
Turned into my worst enemy
You carry hate that I don't feel
It's over now"
"What have you done?" Laura finished on her own before the whole group sang once more together.
"What have you done now?
I, I've been waiting for someone like you
But now you are slipping away... Oh
What have you done now?
Why? Why does Fate make us suffer?"
Ginny sang the next two lines solo
"There's a curse between us
Between me and you"
Harry and Draco sang their part once more,
"What have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done
What have you done now
What have you done, what have you done, what have you done, what have you done
What have you done now"
An instrumental started up as the girls took turns harmonising along with the strings, and Harry, his body overtaking his mind, stood behind Draco as he played, hands on the blonds hips as they swayed to the music. As the instrumental ended they joined together in singing the next lines.
"I will not fall
Won't let it go
We will be free
When it ends"
They sang the final verse as a group,
"I, I've been waiting for someone like you
But now you are slipping away... oh
What have you done now?
Why? Why does Fate make us suffer?
There's a curse between us
Between me and you"
As the music died down and the audience erupted in applause Harry couldn't help but grin at Draco, he loved the look of excitement and pleasure on his face. He jogged over and hugged him tightly before waving at the audience and dragging both him and Ginny off the stage along with the rest of the group. As they came down off their performance high, they watched the other groups perform, clapping and cheering backstage.
"You know I think we deserve a celebration tonight", Ginny said thoughtfully, "We've worked hard all day and we have to do it all again tomorrow."
Harry grinned, "Well it's probably lucky I have a stash hidden away courtesy of Fred and George isn't it?" Ginny whooped and Draco high fived Harry, "We have to be careful with Laura though, she's only a fourth year."
Draco put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "It's ok Red, me and Harry will go grab his stash and pick up some butter beer and party food too, right Harry?" Harry felt his stomach flutter and ignored Ginny's smirk, "Yeah course Draco, come on, the sooner we get it the sooner we can celebrate."
A/N - Hey guys, sorry it's been so late. My son has been keeping me extra busy, and along with work I've been in a creative dry period. It's 3am right now and I should really be in bed but I was on a roll so I figured I should probably just get this done. Longer than my other chapters, I hope you enjoyed it. Will update asap. Let me know of any mistakes you may find, and please review, even if its just to say hi or tell me my story sucks, i dont mind, i dont get out much these days, lol. xx
Oh, the song is by Within Temptation feat. Keith Caputo and it's called What Have You Done. It's an awesome song and I would love to see a fan video done of Harry/Draco slash to this song. I think it's perfect for them so I couldn't resist using it.