I think I told some of you guys that I would try to update again this weekend to make up for missed time. ^^; Well, here it is.
"That-that was bloody brilliant, James!" Daniel follows me to the boy's dorms excitedly, recapping Quidditch tryouts enthusiastically.
I walk into the room tiredly, throwing my robes in a pile at the foot of my bed and flopping down on it limply.
"I'm exhausted," I groan to him. I'd forgotten how much the sport took out of me.
"It's worth it," Daniel says. His hair is a complete mess, curls falling everywhere without an appearance of order, but his eyes are gleaming. He sits a the foot of my bed, looking at me happily. "I mean, you're certain to have made the team!"
I nod. My hair is probably all over, too. "Aren't you tired?" I ask him breathlessly. "Do you ever run out of energy?"
He pauses for a second.
"I'll probably be tired in about fifteen minutes when the high runs off, but I'm pretty energized right now." He stands up, looking down at my robes and picking them up lightly. "I'm going to go change. Want me to put these up for you?"
I nod tiredly, sitting up and stretching. Daniel goes off to put the dirty robes away and I sit on the ground in front of a trunk Dumbledore gave me, pulling out a clean pair of jeans and a button-up t-shirt. I undress quickly, going down to my trousers before pulling up the clean pair of jeans.
A throat clears behind me, and I zip up my jeans before turning around and facing the sound to see Daniel standing in the doorway, a faint pink dusting over his cheekbones.
His eyes slowly lift to my face.
"Uhhhhh..." He gives me a blank look before blinking hard and snapping out of whatever it was with a quick shake of his head. "Uh. I was... I dunno, actually." He chuckles nervously.
I turn around, shrugging the shirt on over my shoulders and buttoning it up. Daniel's footsteps echo behind me and I hear his trunk open. I hear the rustling of clothes and finish buttoning my shirt up, turning to him. He's only in his trousers, so I keep my eyes on his hair determinedly, at least until he pulls up his jeans.
"What are you doing later tonight?" I ask him carefully. I don't really know what I'm saying.
I hear him zip his fly and he turns around, grey wife beater in hand.
His hair is wet now, with little indents and rises in it that make me think he must've tried to straighten it out with a damp comb. The ends are just starting to dry, curling up and poking out already.
He's got the build of a Beater, with defined muscles and wide shoulders. In a few years, when the lankiness leans out, he won't seem so thin, and I have the feeling he'll remind me of a wall of muscle in due time. His chest has a thin sprinkling of very curly dark hair and freckles. He's tan there, too, so I wonder if he practices Quidditch bare-chested.
'Maybe he swims...'
I determinedly snap my eyes back to his face and clear my throat. Daniel raises his eyebrow and chuckles at me, pulling his shirt over his head and walking over to me so that we're only a foot apart.
"I guess I'm free," he says, still chuckling with an odd look in his eyes. "Why?"
"Well," I say slowly, taking deep breaths because he's so close suddenly. "Tom Riddle tried to get me to meet him after Quidditch tryouts and I told him no, but he's probably up there waiting anyway... I just want to tell him to leave me alone, and I don't want to go up there alone." I don't know what makes me say it, but it's something spur-of-the moment in it that lets me know that this has to happen.
Something in Daniel's eyes hardens at the same time that something else softens. "Sure, I'll go with you," he breathes, eyes searching mine. "Of course."
His eyes are a very pretty blue.
I don't know which one of us leans in. Maybe it was both of us.
But suddenly our lips are pressed together and his hand is against my cheek and doesn't that feel nice...
He pulls away softly only a few minutes later, and I open my eyes slowly. I don't remember closing them.
Daniel's thumb strokes my cheekbone in a soft, repetitive motion.
"We should go," I say hoarsely. He nods, chuckling and leaning away before pulling on his cloak, and I realize the softer something in his eyes is directed at me.
"Where are you meeting him?" he asks me lightly.
"The Astronomy Tower."
He gives me a small smile, zipping up his trunk at the foot of his bed. "We'd better get going, then."
I nod, and he leads the way.
...
"Do you think he's dangerous?" Daniel asks me softly as we walk.
"...Not to me." I say. "I don't think he's dangerous to me."
"Than why am I here?"
"To make sure I don't say something I shouldn't," I tell him honestly. "I need someone to make sure I don't tell him what he wants to know."
"Is what he wants to know important?"
I consider it for a moment. "...very."
Daniel looks grave. "I won't ask you tell me, then. Is it dangerous?"
"Extremely. Especially in Riddle's hands."
Daniel's dark blue eyes look towards the ceiling above us. "You said he wasn't dangerous, James."
"Not to me, no."
"He could hurt you just as quickly as anyone else." Daniel says softly.
"It doesn't matter." I say solidly. "I've-I've got next to nothing left. I can't tell you why that is or even how I got here or what my name is, but you'll have to trust me on this, Daniel. It doesn't matter if he hurts me. No one will miss me."
"I'll miss you."
I say nothing.
"Your sister certainly will."
Again, I say nothing.
"The only person your life doesn't matter to is you, James."
...
Sure enough, Tom Riddle stands at the very top of the Astronomy tower, pacing restlessly. It's very windy.
I don't know how Daniel's hand gets in mine, but he squeezes tightly. I squeeze lightly back.
Maybe I shouldn't have brought him; he's more scared than I am.
"I didn't think you would show up," Riddle drawls softly, looking over the side of the balcony. "You seemed a bit... reluctant to accept my invitation."
"I just wanted to tell you to stop bothering me," I say, perhaps a bit louder than I was supposed to, but the wind around us makes it hard to hear.
Tom turns to me, a wry smile on his face and an eyebrow raised. The smile falters when he sees Daniel's hand in mine, but he keeps his façade up regardless.
Sometimes, it seems like everything around him is only a wall. It seems as if everything he does is fake.
For a split second, I wonder what he's like beneath the shields he puts on himself.
"I was merely trying to make sure you knew how much a bargain between us would be worth," he says quietly, and I have to strain to hear him. "It was not my intention to harass you."
Something real flashes in his eyes before he snuffs it, and I hear the words again;
'You cannot help.'
And, yet again today, I say something spur-of-the moment that lets me know that this has to happen. That I'm here, doing this, for a reason.
"Maybe we could meet in the library sometime?" I say, once again too loud. "Just to talk."
He raises an eyebrow and turns back to the edge of the building, leaning against the railing. Some part of it makes me nervous, and I don't know what it is until I realize he's standing right over the area Dumbledore fell.
"Perhaps," he says, and it sounds a lot like goodbye, so I turn around and leave, pulling Daniel with me.
The main pairing is still TomXHarry for this story, though I've considered a second spin-off that ends up HarryXDaniel. Would anyone read that? There would still be a large amount of drama to it , I assure you. ;P