The Courting Games
Chapter Three: Insomnia and Pretty Silver Nightmares
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Author's Note: First off, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and/or alerted, you guys rock, I'm glad you like it so far! Secondly as some of you may have noticed I've changed the rating to M, after writing this chapter I felt it was better to be safe than sorry, so to all of my readers WARNING: Suggestion of sexuality and sexual situations below that are not appropriate for younger viewers! Reader discretion is advised! I don't want to be held responsible for scarring some poor kid for life.
Harry sat up in bed sweating and panting as if he'd been actually running rather than in the grips of yet another dream about long corridors and rooms of doors. The snores of his dorm-mates were a soothing slice of normalcy after the urgency of the dream and Harry's breathing slowed to something more closely resembling normal. That dream again. Quite frankly Harry was willing to suffer through nightmares of bloody death and gore at this point just to get a change of scenery. His scar prickled slightly.
With a sigh Harry groped for his glasses and slid them up his nose with a casual motion and then reached down beside his bed for his book bag.
Drawing his bed curtains shut and throwing up a quick muffling ward Harry gave his wand a funny little swirl and a glowing ball of soft blue and silver light floated up to hang directly above his bed giving him plenty of light to see by. He fished around for his ink bottle and then dumped the remaining contents of his bag out on the bedspread.
Harry surveyed his options. He discarded Potions immediately as he wasn't in the mood for that at all. That left a herbology paper that he would ask for Neville's help with later and Flitwick's essay on the uses of Slickening Charms. Harry grabbed a piece of parchment and, using his potions text as a desk, carefully wrote the title of the essay and his name. He turned to his textbook, flipping through the reading he had to do for homework, and was surprised to see a paper crane tucked between the pages as if it had every right to be there.
"How did Malfoy manage that?" he muttered.
He bit his lip and unfolded the crane slowly and carefully while his stomach tied itself up in knots and then began to flutter with nerves. At least, he reflected, Malfoy had responded secretively rather than dragging this whole business into the open air. He took a deep breath, looked down and began to read.
If the Game is Questions, I certainly have a few for you.
Since when do you like blokes?
Have you gone completely mental?
Why do you want to play this game with me?
Is there some kind of limit on the kind of questions or the amount of them?
Is this a proper game or are you just toying?
I find myself endlessly curious as to just what has possessed you and agree that discretion is very necessary. Make no mistake, if this finds the light of day I can and will bury you. Also do not expect anything from me. I don't like you and I really don't like your friends and nothing has changed between us.
Harry shook his head smiling slightly. Very typical Malfoy, insults and demands.
He grabbed a fresh sheet of parchment and carefully composed his responses trying to give as much detail as possible. Hopefully Malfoy would be courteous enough to do the same. The point of the Question Game was after all to get to know each other and Harry still held out the faint hope that the Malfoy heir was more than a pretty silver viper.
What he really had to do was hold Malfoy's interest. The blond appreciated skill in magic and sneakiness as well as elegance and wealth. A mischievous smirk twitched at the corner of Harry's lips. Charms homework forgotten Harry flipped to the section of the text he'd been reading the other night on simple conjuring, transfiguration would, of course, be easier but not nearly so impressive.
Holding his wand delicately Harry gave it a light swirl followed by the swish and flick motion that had been the bane of Ron's existence back in first year, holding the image he wanted in his mind before muttering the spell. Then, holding the unfinished conjuration with his wand, he pulled the advanced Charms text he'd been using to research how to better teach the Patronus Charm to the DA, when the time came, out from under his bed one-handed with a grunt. There had been some interesting little tricks he'd skimmed over in there. Flipping to the index he looked for the proper section. He bit his lip as he read the instructions and theory behind the charm he wanted. He had some natural talent at Charms, his mother's if the stories were to be believed, but he'd never attempted anything this complicated without instruction before.
"Better test it," he muttered letting the first conjuration dissipate.
He read the passage again more carefully, muttering the spell under his breath and practicing the accompanying wand movements. He shook his head. He much preferred offensive and defensive magic to Charms where intent meant more than the shaping of the spell. True masters of the Charms craft trained for years to see the complex webs the comparatively simple spells with their pernickety wand movements created.
With the same fussy motion of his wrist and wand Harry conjured a familiar little golden ball and with a sharp commanding stutter of his wand and another swirling flick the conjuration solidified and the second spell was set.
Holding his breath in anticipation, Harry tested his work, grinning when the snitch dissolved. He even giggled a bit at his accomplishment. All this studying was working to improve his skills, who would have thought. Carefully re-imagining the real conjuration he wanted Harry repeated the motions with exacting delicacy. He glanced around and with some difficulty pulled one of his pillow cases off its pillow one handed. Then he lowered his wand and let the finished product land on the bedspread without touching him. Then he wrapped it up in a tight little package with his pilfered pillow case.
Excitement welled in Harry's chest erasing the last of the lingering fatigue from his nightmare. With a curling motion of his hand he extinguished his witchlight, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and shoving his velvety scarlet hangings aside. Letting his eyes adjust to the dark Harry grabbed the Marauder's Map and his invisibility cloak from their new hiding place in the hollowed out history text he had in his trunk.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered, checking the password and the location of Malfoy in the Slytherin dorm.
He'd never tried sneaking into the Slytherin dorms after that incident with the polyjuice. This would be fun.
He scanned the map for potential difficulties. Filch was scouring the Astronomy Tower, Mrs. Norris was haunting the second floor Charms corridor, and Peeves was skulking around the Entrance Hall. Snape and Umbridge had both finished their rounds and were ensconced in their rooms most likely asleep since their dot labels were still.
Harry pulled on his thickest pair of woolen socks and a worn grey t-shirt and tied the little package he'd made out of the conjuration and the pillow case to his wrist tightly where it would be out of the way.
He padded out of the tower, avoiding waking the other boys and the Fat Lady with the ease of long practice. He quickly consulted the Map again by moonlight and satisfied that the way was clear he took the stairs two at a time and set off through the castle at a light jog.
He padded noiselessly through the castle not needing to conjure a light to find his way. Harry had haunted these halls many a night for the past five years and he knew his routes throughout the castle by heart even without the map and the light of the moon to guide him.
Harry tossed the Invisibility Cloak over his head and made sure the package was secure held against his wrist and his wand was ready. Getting in and out of the dorms would be the easy bit. Slytherin had no guardian choosing instead to rely on the anonymity of a wall in a castle full of walls just like it, the secrecy of their passwords their only other protection. They changed them twice as often as the other houses. Mistrustful bastards. Not that they weren't right to do it with the amount of bad feeling they stirred up amongst the members of the other houses. If they were anything less than vigilant and the lot of them would find themselves with dyed hair and shredded hangings and other nastier surprises.
He checked to make sure all the Slytherins were either asleep or at least in their dorms exercising their right to extracurricular activities. The way was still clear, not that he'd really been expecting any company, only the Ravenclaws and Hermione would be up studying at this hour and as far as Harry knew he was the only chronic wandering insomniac.
"Silver Chalice," he whispered nearly pressed up against the wall.
The wall slid aside and when the gap was wide enough Harry slid inside and moved nimbly from shadow to shadow inching along the wall of the gloomy if elegant common room towards the fifth year boys' dormitory. Harry reflected that it really was lucky he was trying to get into the boys' rooms and not the girls' because all the male detecting booby traps made that about ten times more difficult. He pitied any man who wanted to attract the attention of a Slytherin girl for the sheer difficulty of the tasks ahead of them.
The Slytherin dorms, unlike the Gryffindor ones, were not large rooms filled with multiple beds and connected to a communal bathroom but a corridor with four smaller rooms every two connected to an ensuite and there was plenty of room for more rooms. According to the plaques on the doors Crabbe and Goyle shared the room on the right but Nott, Zabini, and Malfoy each had their own room, another aspect of Slytherin living that made clandestine visits that much easier.
The lock on the door was easily taken care of by a simple alohomora, but Harry didn't make the mistake of believing his work was done. A quick flick of his wrist and the same mild sleeping charm used on the errant portraits of Grimmauld Place ensured that Malfoy wouldn't spoil the fun by waking up at the wrong moment. Cautiously, moving his cloak to one side to allow himself to see clearly, he cast a revealing spell. He'd learned it at the end of second year when he'd had that perfectly rational paranoia thing about diaries, and squinted as the faint glow of curses on the threshold around the bed and many of Malfoy's personal items.
With a sigh Harry realized that he had no idea what most of the curses Malfoy used did let alone how to undo them. There was no help for it, he was going to have to physically avoid the curses. Checking the map again Harry carefully drew off the cloak and folded it up tucking it into his pocket where it bulged annoyingly but at least was out of the way.
He studied the glow of the curses carefully looking for a way to trip the actual curse part that could be physically avoided rather than the alert ward which would wake Malfoy and make him a target. Too bad Malfoy didn't copy Madam Pomfrey's alert wards. He'd had more practice getting out of the hospital wing undetected then was really healthy. The alert ward was only present from the ground up to the knee and tripping it gave a punishment that was loud and probably humiliating but not painful, that was for people stupid enough to try for no good reason. The ward right behind it was for the people with good reason and its payload would undoubtedly be less pleasant. The aura was red so Harry was thinking knives or slashing curses something like that. Hopefully it was quiet or this whole trip would be for nothing.
Harry studied the room. If something went wrong and he woke Malfoy or someone else in the dorm he would need to hunker down where he wouldn't be easily discovered. Harry picked a likely spot under Malfoy's too large desk.
Harry took a deep breath, he hadn't done this in awhile but he did still remember how. Gathering his Gryffindor courage Harry took a few running steps and dived over the alert ward into the more dangerous threshold ward, and rolled neatly away. Then, with only the soft whoosh of forcefully expelled breath to betray him, he lay flat as the veritable wall of cutting curses whizzed by about six inches above his nose. They dissolved when they hit the wall and were quiet and there were only two volleys before the ward reset. Small favors.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief when no alarms blared and he didn't trigger any better hidden booby traps and relaxed onto the stone floor of Malfoy's room for half a second. His back would be one big bruise in the morning no doubt.
After a moment he got to his feet. He hadn't come this far for some sleepless Slytherin to see Malfoy's door open and come investigate after all.
The wards on the bed were easier to circumvent but it would be a simple thing to wake Malfoy while he was doing the circumventing. Luckily the Slytherin dorms were furnished with the same sturdy walnut four posters and velvet hangings as Gryffindor. He'd done this before successfully as well, and certainly more recently than he'd done the dive-roll, it was just a matter of doing it gently this time. Harry shot another sleeping spell at Malfoy without compunction and then tucked his wand back into the top of his sock.
Harry took another few running steps, jumped up to grab the top of the frame that held the hangings and, straining his muscles, tried to swing gently onto the mattress. He flopped rather gracelessly onto the green bedspread beside Malfoy trying not to jostle the blond awake. He froze fear making his heart pound as the blond shifted in his sleep, and then let out a soft little snore.
Harry quickly clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, whether mockingly, in hysterical relief at not being discovered, or because that little noise out of pretty much anyone else would have been absolutely adorable he didn't know or care to examine.
Malfoy was sleeping soundly, two sleeping spells would do that to you, sprawled out on his back with one arm tossed above his rumpled silver blond head and the other straight out to one side. His mouth was slightly open and he was breathing deeply and evenly. Harry propped himself up on his elbow and took a good long look at the other boy. With his features relaxed in sleep instead of pulled tight in his usual ugly sneer and the moonlight turning his pale hair and skin ethereal silver, Harry could easily see how Draco Malfoy might be considered attractive.
Carefully Harry untied the package he'd made with his pillow case to carry the conjuration this far. Moving very slowly he held the box he'd conjured from the bottom with the white and scarlet square of fabric and ran the top of it over Malfoy's hand. Sure now that the box wouldn't dissolve until next Malfoy touched it Harry opened the little box and tucked the folded up parchment with his answer to Malfoy's note inside. He reached over Malfoy and set it on the bedside table next to the other wizard's wand where it would be noticed in the morning.
Malfoy shifted again and Harry froze hovering over him like the ghost of frickin' Christmas Past. A bead of sweat formed on his forehead, his arms began to quiver with the strain of holding himself still and he became aware of a slow curling of heat under his belly button.
Harry bit his lip. His face was only a few inches away from Malfoy's.
"I have to know if this is all gonna be worth it," he whispered semi-apologetically not that Malfoy could hear him.
Carefully he leaned down and trying to control his racing heart and heavy breathing just brushed Malfoy's lips with his own. Maybe it was the excitement of being discovered at any moment or the lure of the forbidden or the adrenaline pumping through his system on overdrive, maybe Harry really just didn't know when he was attracted to someone. Either way when his lips touched Malfoy's for that brief half-second the slow curl of heat pooling in his lower abdomen became a jolt of unmistakable lust and Harry jerked away from Malfoy as if burned.
The Slytherin for his part just let out another soft not-quite-a-snore.
Thoroughly disquieted and with his mission accomplished Harry moved to the foot of the bed and took a firm hold of the walnut post above him.
He swung back out of the bed, thanking whoever cared to listen that the wards on the threshold were only one way, tossed his invisibility cloak over his head and hurried out of the room taking care to close and lock the door behind him.
Harry froze as the echo of another door unlocking sounded, very loud in the silence of the fifth year dorm. He pressed himself tightly against Malfoy's door and waited, not daring to even breathe too loudly. If he was discovered here there was no telling what kind of damage the Slytherins loyal to Voldemort might inflict before turning him over to Snape and Dumbledore, or if they would even bother with the school rules and not just kill him, or capture him and take him to their master for killing.
The door across the hall and on a diagonal from Malfoy's swung open and a slim little blonde who had to be younger than Ginny and Luna wearing a short pink and white nightie slipped out grinning like a fool.
"Thanks for this Zabini," she muttered breathily.
Blaise Zabini appeared in the doorway wearing a sly smile and nothing else without even a hint of embarrassment. Not that Zabini had anything to be embarrassed about. The dark skinned Slytherin was toned, sculpted, and quite frankly beautiful. Harry forcibly kept his wandering eyes above the waist.
"Any time, Tor," he said in a low voice, bending to kiss the blonde.
"Ah, ah, ah...no more of that," she said as she broke away, "I've got Vector first thing,"
"Pity,"
"I'll see you later," she said saucily, padding down the hall.
Zabini gave her a parting smack on the ass and then watched her disappear down the stairs. He stood there for a good three minutes after that as well. While Harry began to sweat and chew his bottom lip nervously and resisted the urge to let his eyes drop, just once, purely for the academics of the thing.
"Alright, you can come out now," he said to the hall.
Harry's frantically pounding heart leapt up into his throat and he prepared to make a run for it when a little ways down the hall a low voice let out a quiet rumbling chuckle and a masterful disillusionment charm dissolved and, with a slight shake of his shaggy blond hair, sixth year Quidditch Captain Charles Warrington moved closer to Zabini.
Warrington had the girl's milky skin and golden hair but that was where the similarities ended as Warrington was what some might call towering and every inch of him was covered in thick muscle and a good bit of that muscle was sprinkled generously with dusty gold hair. A fact Harry was privy to as Warrington was wearing even less than the girl, though thankfully more than Zabini. If he'd had any doubts about his sexuality they had pretty much fled in the wake of his experiences tonight.
Then a thought penetrated his lust fogged brain. Just how long had Warrington been there, and what had he seen?
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about our little arrangement," he said giving Zabini a long slow once over with leering eyes.
Harry really couldn't help it, his eyes flicked down and then quickly back up. He was so very glad he was invisible right now because judging by the blood rushing to his face and other places if he wasn't he'd have died of embarrassment. Maybe it was time to read Hermione's book.
"Now, now, Charles, no need for jealously. Astoria is merely a friend in need of comfort,"
Warrington snorted.
"Comfort my ass."
"I would love to."
"If that little witch bitch wanted comfort she would have been the one slipping out of Malfoy's room tonight. As it is she needs someone to take her in hand. She's already ruined a potential alliance with the wealthiest most influential family in Britain and most of France on a whim."
Zabini raised an eyebrow.
"Draco was entertaining tonight? Who?"
"Didn't see, not Parkinson, whoever it was they were discreet I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't seen the door close coming up the stairs. They went out the front way towards the common room."
"Hmm, interesting."
"Enough gossip, I want to get some sleep tonight," Warrington said shortly taking Zabini by the shoulders and jerking him closer.
"What? You have Vector first thing tomorrow too?" mocked Zabini.
"Sure you're up to a real go at it after nailing the little tart to your mattress?"
"Feel for yourself," purred, that was the only way Harry could think to describe it, Zabini as he circled his hips against Warrington's.
Harry shut his eyes held his breath and thanked Merlin when Zabini's door slammed shut. He let out a shuddering breath and slumped against Malfoy's door trying to picture Umbridge naked until he was able to move.
He took more care whilst escaping the Snake Pit itself after that and then, to appease his frayed nerves, sprinted from the dungeons back up to Gryffindor Tower and, huffing and puffing, woke the Fat Lady to let him back in.
He shucked off the cloak, flush with success, embarrassment, arousal, and the exertion of his run threw himself back into bed.
He lay there panting for a good five minutes.
"I am in terrible shape, Dudley's gang would have caught me for sure if I'd been running from them," he muttered to the red velvet canopy above him.
It was better than the litany of 'I am such a bloody perv,' that was actually running through his mind.
He lay there for hours trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach and then trying to block out the memory of the feel of Malfoy's lips long enough for him to fall asleep but every time he closed his eyes his mind brought him back to the dungeons and the other incident he was trying not to remember.
Around five-thirty he gave up on sleep and took one of the pepper-up potions he'd stolen from the Hospital Wing for just such a sleepless night. Thoroughly wired he got the brilliant idea that a nice long run, one that left him too exhausted to move, might clear his mind enough to let him focus on the day's lessons.
Plan in hand Harry gathered up a clean uniform and shoved it in his book bag with his books, thought of about ten inappropriate uses for Slickening Charms as he packed his unfinished Charms work before he could stop himself, and dressed in a pair of loose tracksuit bottoms and his grey t-shirt. Harry snuck back out of Gryffindor Tower without the map, cloak or any trouble and stowing his gear in his locker in the Gryffindor change room went for a few laps around the lake.
Panting and sweating as he pushed his body to the limit Harry's uncomfortable thoughts fell away until there was only the steady pounding of his heart and his feet hitting the ground.
AN: And there you have it folks...
Now we have a better idea of why Astoria doesn't want to marry Draco, and just how different Slytherin living is from the Gryffindor kind. Let me know what you guys think, too racy? Unrealistic?
Reviews are awesome in so many ways, and now they just got better! Do you have a question you'd like Harry to ask Draco or vice versa? Now's your chance to discover your favorite boy's deepest darkest secrets, because for a limited time if you send me a question you want answered I will include it in the Q and As for the Question Game (provided the question is of course semi-relevant and appropriate for the story, in this I will use my own discretion). Some restrictions apply see store for details...