Don't own…
Harry watched as Draco moved to the front of the room to drop their paper off. The day had been going by rather pleasantly. Harry felt more relaxed, especially since Draco didn't seem to stare at him anymore during class. And Harry felt sort of happy about what happened last night. He wasn't expecting to be so… liked by the other boy. It was nice to be wanted.
"Now that all of the papers are turned in," Snape began, circling his desk at the front of the room. "You will be expected to inform your classmates of their properties in a class presentation."
Harry rolled his eyes while the rest of the class groaned. How long would this assignment be! It was like the Never-Ending Story!
"Both of the partners must talk in equal turns," Snape continued, a smile gracing his lips. "Each should talk about a potion that they did not write about for their personal essay, and should cover all important properties. There will be a test at the end of the presentations, so everyone should take notes."
'He really is a sadist,' Harry thought to himself as he watched the Potions master grin at yet another round of groans.
"Please talk to your partner now to decide times to practice or anything else you need to talk about." Snape commanded, sitting down in his chair.
There was a rustle of cloaks as everyone moved to their partners, slipping around desks and people. Harry noticed that Draco wasn't moving and decided he probably had to initiate the contact. He strolled over to Draco's table, which was on the other side of the room, and seemed to be surrounded by Slytherins, who were talking to each other about the upcoming speeches.
Harry moved in front of Draco's desk, suppressing a smile, as the blonde gave him a look that seemed to say 'I am bored to death.'
"So, any preference?" Harry asked, casually.
"How about you do the Tarry poison, I'll talk about the Durgeous and we split the third," Draco offered.
Harry shrugged at the thought. He really didn't care about it. Either way they would probably be receiving a good grade.
"We'll practice once in the library tomorrow night," Draco commented, to which Harry once again nodded.
Part of his brain noticed how weird the remark was. It was cold and precise, not allowing any discussion. But once again, Harry really didn't care too much about the project; it would be easy.
Draco looked down at his book he was writing into, seeming to ignore Harry's presence entirely.
Left standing there, Harry's eyes wandered to the left of his partner. They landed on a Slytherin boy a row behind Draco's seat. He had dark brown hair, nearing black, which accented his blue eyes. The boy gave him a slow once over before meeting his eyes.
Harry blinked, quickly looking down at Draco's desk. He was used to be glared at by Slytherins(everyone was) but that wasn't really a glare. Not malicious or angry, but something different, more like a calculation. It gave Harry the chills.
Harry glanced off to the right instead, trying to find a different place to look, but caught the look of another Slytherin. This one was a dirty blonde haired girl who was looking at the boy who had given Harry the once over. Her eyes slowly traced over to Harry. They held eye contact for about a second before she turned back to her partner, like she had never been looking.
Harry copied the action, focusing on Draco who was still focused on his book and quill. Harry tried to keep his heart from leaping.
He backed up from Draco's desk. "I'll… just sit down then." He turned away from his boyfriend and headed back to his seat.
He couldn't help himself though. He glanced over his shoulder at that dirty blonde haired girl. She and her partner, a brown haired brown eyed boy, turned their eyes away from Harry when they noticed him looking at them.
'That's creepy,' Harry thought, hurrying over to his desk. He sat down, staring at the table.
Again, he just couldn't help his morbid curiosity. He glanced back at the pair who he had caught staring. They were in a discussion with a pair of Slytherin one row down from them. They all seemed to be agreeing on something or other.
Harry felt a prickle of paranoia between his shoulder blades, but tried to shake it off. Slytherins talking about him was not unusual.
But usually they didn't hold discussions.
As the day progressed, things got worse. That unsettled feeling grew, as it seemed more and more Slytherins learned about a secret that only Harry could spark. When he walked down the hallways, Slytherin eyes seemed to follow him, only to jump back to their secluded groups, if Harry attempted to catch them. Almost every Slytherin he saw would be whispering behind their hands to one another.
The phenomenon even followed him into other classrooms. In Defense Against the Dark Arts training, a group of girls to his left kept on glancing over at him as they talked.
It was driving Harry crazy! He tried to ignore it, but the more he tuned them out, the more Slytherins he noticed whispering to each other. He felt his stomach try to bottom out, carrying this uneasy bile that made him nervous.
"What the hell happened?" Ron hissed across the dining table at dinner. "It's like Malfoy infected them with his staring thing."
Harry's lips tugged up at the idea of a "staring-at-Harry-Potter" virus, but it slipped away as he realized his problem from this morning was bad enough that other people were noticing.
"Harry, do you have any idea what's happening?" Hermoine asked, glancing over at the opposing table. Her usual smirk that she wore these days had disappeared at the appearance of a possibility that Harry could be in trouble.
Harry pursed his lips before shaking his head. "It's probably nothing. Just some people wanting something to talk about."
Ron and Hermoine gave him a uncertain stare before turning the conversation to something lighter. The dinner was slower than usual due to the tension in the air, but the rest of the night was spent enjoyably in the Gryffindor common room with the Weasley group. Fred and George recounted stories from their last years while Ron was the butt of one of their many pranks. However, all good nights end, and with them come the mornings of yet another day.
The next day was like a mirror of the last; still the whispers, still the attention, and the same boring classes slowly eating away the daylight.
But the night brought with it the library. With Draco. And now Harry was trying to desperately explain that making out could, in fact, come after working on homework.
"Look, I'm serious! Let's just, mmph… how about one… run through?" Harry asked around a couple of kisses.
Draco pulled back from where he had pinned the Gryffindor to a windowsill. He looked thoughtful for about two seconds before replying simply, "No."
The abrupt answer paired with the lips going back to Harry's neck made the Chosen One snicker. But even that sound was captured by a slow kiss.
Harry's heart fluttered at the contact, his breath flittering in counterpart. It always felt like this with Draco, excitement in his stomach that boiled to his skin as soon as he was touched.
Draco pulled back for air, allowing Harry to pant for some oxygen.
"What, to much for you Potter?" Draco teased.
Harry shot him a mock glare, before carefully and slowly pulling the blonde's head down for a kiss. Harry was always cautious about these things. He felt that at any moment the Slytherin would pull back leaving him frozen and embarrassed. Plus, Draco was also usually the instigator of most interactions, so sometimes Harry felt like he was being too needy when he reacted like this.
The kiss ended with Harry pulling back. Now they were both breathless.
"We really should practice," Harry remarked, catching his breath first.
Draco rolled his eyes, leaning all of his weight on his arms on the windowsill and looking off to the right. "Always the goody two shoes…"
Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Look if we don't even look like we practice Snape is going to fail me. Then he'll try to get me expelled for it." Harry finished with a small smile to show he didn't actually mean it.
Draco's lip twitched at that. "The funny part is I can't come up with any argument."
Harry grinned before uncrossing his arms and stepping forward, with a small push against Draco's waist Harry stepped into open air. He motioned with his head to the desks, keeping eye contact with Draco as he did so.
Draco let out a sigh as he turned, slipping his hands into his pockets. "I hate this kind of work." He complained aloud.
Harry smiled and rolled his eyes at the other before sitting down and grabbing the paper he had been working on before he had been… distracted. He read through his speech in his head a couple of times before deciding it would be good enough.
Draco broke the silence with a small sound. On anyone other than Draco it would be called a snort.
Harry glanced up, allowing the curiosity to fill his face.
Draco smirked. "I heard that this Hufflepuff girl is passing Defense Against the Dark Arts by sleeping with Prof. Lockhart."
Harry widened his eyes in surprise, "Draco, you didn't know?!"
Draco looked taken aback, "Know what?"
"That she is!" Harry replied still looking shocked.
Draco sat there stunned, until he saw the small smile tugging the corners of Harry's mouth up. "Wow, I can't believe it. I'm corrupting you."
Harry snickered. "Corrupting?"
"Well look," Draco motioned to him. "Saintly Potter is making fun of a poor Hufflepuff."
Harry grinned. "Well corruption is a two way street. Look here, Draco Malfoy, actually sitting and talking to a Gryffindor."
Draco chuckled. "Is it even worse that I'm dating one?"
Harry returned his eyes to the paper in his hands, hoping to hide his blush. "…So I guess we're done with the speech?"
Draco's smile grew wider as he saw what Harry was doing. "I guess."
Hm… too much fluff? More fluff? Farther than fluff?