Draco watched from the comfort of his poolside cabana as multiple swimmers made to exit the water at the same time. Despite the lifeguard's warning of the approaching storm and the increased speed of the wind whipping through his hair, he was choosing to enjoy the last few sips of his raspberry margarita in the afternoon's fading sunshine before he dragged himself upstairs to his suite for the evening.
He had left Potter in Cairo with a note that had specifically said he wanted three days alone before resuming their journey to find Gryffindor's tomb. That time was almost up, and to Potter's credit, he hadn't shown up yet and hadn't tried to contact Draco at all. The tattoo on Draco's inner forearm had, however, briefly changed to show one very pissed off lion turning its back to the serpent. This hadn't concerned Draco too much, even though the burning in his elbow had hurt like hell; he had figured Potter would awake from the Sleeping Draught in a foul mood. By the end of their first afternoon apart, however, the lion had resumed its former position where it was seemingly waiting for the serpent to turn back to face it as well.
Seeing the pool attendants now making their way around the perimeter of the pool to tie the flaps of each cabana closed, Draco rose from his chair, gathered his things, and made to follow the other stragglers as they exited the fenced-in pool area. He fell into pace behind the small group and followed them into the hotel lobby.
Even after two full days of staying at the hotel and having to traipse through the lobby every time he wanted to go for a swim or enjoy the sunshine, Draco still wasn't used to the vibrant colors that assaulted his eyes. Everywhere he looked, his gaze was met with brightly colored posters, flyers, or neon signs advertising anything from sunrise yoga on the beach to snorkeling to couples massages.
Cancun was certainly different from the dust-covered aesthetic of Cairo.
When Draco had shown up in the middle of the night at the Sphinx requesting to talk to Susan Bones, he had expected her to ask a lot of questions. Fortunately, she hadn't asked for too hefty of an explanation. At least, Draco's excuse that he just needed some time to himself before attempting the second leg of the prophecy had satisfied her enough. And, after explaining where the prophecy was leading them next, she had agreed to Apparate him to Cancun, Mexico, as he requested so he could avoid another excruciating, and much longer, plane ride.
While the time apart from Potter had done him good in the sense that his cheeks had had time to recover from all the blushing he had done around the man, it hadn't helped much in other areas. The primary problem was that everything reminded him of Potter or made him wish Potter was there to make parts of staying at a Muggle establishment easier. For one, Draco wasn't confident in handling Muggle money or conversing about unfamiliar Muggle items. And two, Susan had chosen an adults-only resort when she had Apparated him to the lobby door. While this had seemed like a blessing to Draco at first because he didn't think he could stand Muggle children any more than their Muggle parents, it was actually something he had found himself cursing the woman for shortly after arriving.
Apparently, "adults-only" really just meant that the hotel was a hotspot for honeymooning and vacationing couples.
Everywhere he went within the hotel seemed set up for two people to enjoy. Couples massages, salsa dancing lessons, candlelit dinner tables for two in the hotel restaurant, buy-one-get-one deals on practically every amenity available. He couldn't take two steps without seeing yet another couple giggling and clinging to each other, staring into each other's eyes while feeding each other spaghetti at dinner, or doing something else equally sickening like having an impromptu makeout session in the elevator. The latter had resulted in a very uncomfortable thirty seconds for Draco as he had impatiently waited for the couple to either notice him or for the lift to reach the ground floor and mercifully expel him into the retina-burning lobby. Since then, he had resolved to always take the stairs to and from his room.
Reaching the door of his room, Draco used the key card he had received upon check-in to let himself inside. Muggle technology certainly was interesting. He had stared at the clerk when she had handed him the device, and luckily, Susan had pulled him away before he had asked any eyebrow-raising questions.
"Took you long enough."
Draco froze, one hand still on the door handle. Then he sighed and shut the door with an audible click. He walked the few feet to where the room opened up to his right and saw Potter sitting at the small breakfast table the room offered. "You're early," Draco grumbled.
Potter glanced up from the stack of papers he had in front of him, quill in one hand and an ink bottle a few inches to his right. "I figured I was, but I've been through several time zones today, so I wasn't entirely sure. I had Susan take me by Grimmauld Place and Hogwarts before coming here."
Draco raised an eyebrow and moved to the nightstand that divided the two queen beds. He set down his key card, sunglasses, and towel. "Got bored in Egypt?" he asked. Potter disappeared from view for a few seconds as Draco pulled on his t-shirt over his head. He winced when the fabric touched the back of his neck. Apparently, he had not used enough of that "sunscreen", or whatever it was called, that one of the pool attendants had offered him that morning.
"No, Ron doesn't like grading papers for me, and I wanted to pick up Sirius's bike," Potter replied. He dipped his quill back into the ink bottle and marked the topmost paper in the stack with a letter Draco couldn't see from his position across the room. He set the paper aside on a smaller pile.
Draco frowned. "Planning to go for a joy ride later?"
"I just figured since you seem to not like public transportation, it was a good alternative," Potter replied. His gaze flicked up to Draco's face and then back down to the parchment in front of him. The corner of his mouth turned up slightly. "Mr. Weasley repaired the bike but not the sidecar, so I hope you don't mind hanging onto me."
Draco's face flushed, and he pressed his lips together into a thin line. "Potter, I…" He stopped himself and forced a single slow breath in through his nose. Clearly, Potter had said that to get a rise out of him, and he wasn't about to be baited into another conversation where he felt he was constantly on the defensive. For once, he wanted to discuss the elephant in the room. So, his heart behaving much like a caged hummingbird, he said slowly, "I shouldn't have left like I did. I'm…I'm sorry."
Potter immediately stopped reading the next essay and put his quill aside. He looked up at Draco, finally focusing on him for more than a few seconds. For those several seconds, Draco thought his heart might crawl up his throat to attempt some ill-advised escape. Finally, Potter said, "Thank you. I appreciate the apology."
Draco blinked at him. "What? That's it? You aren't going to yell at me or anything?"
Potter raised an eyebrow. "Are you wanting me to?"
"No, but you…you're…" Draco mentally cursed himself as tears pricked the corners of his eyes. Why was he getting emotional when Potter was perfectly calm? This was probably the best outcome he could have hoped for from someone he had last left drugged in a foreign country. So, what was the problem?
The problem was that Potter was too calm. It was like he didn't care at all, which was making the thoughts in Draco's head spiral viciously. Had Potter had a change of heart over the past few days? Maybe the man didn't have feelings for him any longer due to the Sleeping Draught incident. Maybe the anger Potter had apparently felt upon waking up from potion only went away because he had decided Draco wasn't worth the trouble and that fulfilling the rest of the prophecy would strictly be business.
Evidently, Draco's emotions were showing a bit too clearly on his face because Potter was at his side in an instant.
"Whoa, hey," Potter said, reaching out and gripping Draco's upper arms. "What is it?"
Draco shook his head. He suddenly felt like a rock had replaced his Adam's apple. "You…I…I drugged you, and now you're acting like, I don't know, like everything's just magically fine. It's just odd. It's like everything's cold," he whispered. "Like you don't care. I've been sitting around thinking about you non-stop, and - stop grinning!" He poked Potter hard in the chest.
Potter was indeed grinning, and at Draco's sharp prod, he laughed. His hands slid from Draco's arms down to his hands where he immediately laced their fingers. "Draco. If you think I'm behaving oddly, ok, that's fair. I am. But it's not because I don't care or whatever's going through your head right now." He gave his hands a squeeze. "I woke up from the Sleeping Draught to a note that simply said to leave you alone for three days and meet you in Mexico. You clearly didn't want to talk, and I wasn't sure that would have changed by now. I was waiting to see how you wanted to move forward."
Draco swallowed back the stone in his throat, his gaze dropping to their entwined hands. "I…don't know. I know that I…I missed you." He watched Potter's thumbs rub over the back of his hands, and, emboldened by the fact Potter wasn't cutting in to say something cheeky, continued, "I don't know that anything's really changed for me over these past few days except the realization that I like being with you more than I like being without you, but…" He trailed off and blew out a heavy breath.
"That's all I need right now," Potter said softly. He lifted one of his hands to Draco's chin and tilted the blond's face up so their eyes met.
Draco's stomach clenched around some invisible butterflies that had taken up roost in his abdomen. "You're ok with me being unsure and, possibly, indecisive right now?" His eyes searched Potter's green eyes, waiting for them to darken in doubt or anger. But they didn't.
Potter's expression remained soft as he held his gaze and stroked his thumb over Draco's chin. "Right now, yes. I will need an answer eventually, but I can wait for the time being. And, you know, I know you're scared about this whole attachment thing, but we can always take things slow. As slow as you need."
Draco nodded, the rock in his throat seeming to lessen its weight there. At the same time, he felt the warmth of the prophecy's mark on his arm changing to what he assumed was a more positive position for the animals. "Slow would be good."
Harry marked the last essay and set it atop the stack of its fellows. Sighing, he stood, stretched, and picked up his coffee that he had brewed in the room's tiny complimentary coffee maker. Opening the door to the balcony as quietly as he could so as not to wake Malfoy, he stepped outside into the cool morning air.
The storm had blown itself out overnight, and the puddles on the balcony and streets below would soon be evaporating as the sun and temperature rose. As it were, the sun had barely been fully above the horizon for more than a half hour now.
Though a handful of Cancun vacationers had gotten up early on purpose to enjoy the sunrise, Harry was not one of them. He had been awake for hours, unable to sleep after waking from the same dream he had been having for three nights now, ever since they had returned from Slytherin's tomb.
Compared to other dreams Harry had had in his school years, this one was extremely tame. In the dream, a lion paced at the edge of the jungle. A large slab of stone towered over the beast, its face carved to resemble what was unmistakably the Gryffindor lion. Everytime the dream Harry approached this stone relief, the lion would stop and stare at him. As if the lion were speaking directly into his mind, he would hear the words, "Come find me where the wild reigns." Then, the lion would roar so fiercely that it jarred him awake.
Harry sipped at his coffee for a long time as he stared inland. Somewhere, out beyond all of the lights, traffic, and tourist attractions, out beyond where paved roads turned to dirt paths and then into where there was no path, Godric Gryffindor was waiting to be freed from his tomb.
I apologize for letting this story sit in hiatus for so long. I hope there is still some interest in this story after all this time.