Wicked

Thank you SilverLion for the one lonely review; I felt a little abandoned, but you made up for it! ;D

Warnings for this chapter: a little lemony snippet! Read for yourself.

Enjoy!


The brief episode with Finn had given Harry enough heart to at least drink a cup of tea and eat some dry toast for breakfast, even though he was still upset.

During History of Magic, their first subject of the day, Harry´s thoughts however soon drifted off to Draco again, causing his heart to beat rapidly and the wild joy he had felt earlier to reignite.

He had never before felt like this, as he had never been... well, in love, as he realized while he was sitting there, unaware that he was touching his lips in wonderment as he recalled kissing the blond.

He had admittedly had a crush on Cho Chang, but that had been nothing in comparison to this... he couldn´t wait until tonight, he yearned for Draco, to be close to him again, for a minute worrying if the attraction was merely physical, but then he shook his head no, he knew it was not... he had seen parts of Draco´s soul during the time in Privet Drive, had been introduced to a side of the blond boy he never had expected to exist, had shared more than just a room with him... and now their bond had grown even more, had been named and acknowledged by both of them.

Harry thought of his love´s beautiful grey eyes, eyes that had confirmed what Draco had told him, eyes that had spoken of love... Harry grinned blissfully again, too lost in fond memories at first to notice that Ron was tugging at his sleeve: “Harry,” he whispered, “Harry!”

Jerking back to reality, Harry jumped: “What?”

Ron motioned towards the window, and only now did Harry notice that Hedwig was perching outside. Wondering why she hadn´t brought him his mail during breakfast, Harry went to the window to let her in, completely unnoticed by Professor Binns, who was droning on about giant wars.

Instead of holding out her leg for Harry to untie the letter, Hedwig stepped onto his arm with an awkward swaying movement, and gave a low, miserable hoot. Harry´s stomach lurched when he saw that her left wing seemed to be injured and that she looked a little battered altogether. She flinched when Harry made to touch her, and seemed to be trembling. “It´s all right, Hedwig,” he murmured anxiously, “you´ll be okay.”

Under the pretense of feeling unwell he quickly left the classroom, hiding his owl behind his back, and went straight to the staff-room; as Hagrid wasn´t around, who certainly would´ve been glad to help, Harry decided to find his substitute, Professor Grubbly-Plank.

Cautiously cradling the injured bird close, Harry knocked on the door, his heart thumping. To his relief, it was Professor McGonagall who opened. “Tell me you haven´t had another tete-a-tete with Professor Umbridge,” she said faintly.

Shaking his head, Harry explained about his owl and how she had arrived. After Professor Grubbly-Plank had taken Hedwig from Harry (who would never forget the look of disbelieving reproach the snowy owl gave him when she was being carried away), McGonagall held Harry back for a moment: “I assume Hedwig has come from London?” she asked in a hushed voice. Harry nodded. The old witch imitated this gesture while looking down on her hands: “The communication to and from Hogwarts might be watched,” she said, still in an undertone but meaningful nevertheless. “Just so you know.”

“Oh,” Harry said, calling himself an idiot for not having thought about that earlier. “I see.”

While Professor McGonagall retreated into the staff-room, Harry remained where he was for a moment, a shudder running down his spine as he realized that he very probably was lucky that Hedwig was still alive.

After having read the letter Harry felt a great deal more reassured, even though it was only a short notice from Sirius, but it confirmed a meeting with him of sorts, and Harry suddenly was glad for his godfather´s care.

Harry had written to him about Umbridge and Hagrid´s mysterious absence, and craved for some answers. The scroll of parchment appeared untouched and the seal intact; it seemed that Hedwig had put up enough of a fight not to let anyone get to it. Harry felt a pang of worry for her and decided to go visit her later.

Hermione voiced her concerns that someone might know about the letter nevertheless, claiming that a seal could be easily renewed, and thus might know about the meeting. But Harry decided that he already had gotten enough new things to worry about that early in the day, and was determined not to heed her words.

This resolve got him through the rest of the day; he hastily shoved down a bit of steak-and - kidney pie for lunch as he wanted to go look after Hedwig. When he left the Great Hall, he ran straight into Finn. Both of them blushed furiously.

“Where are you going?” Finn´s voice quietly asked with Draco´s evident affection in it: Harry looked positively cute, flushed as he was.

Harry quickly explained about Hedwig: “That´s why I left Binns´ lesson so suddenly,” he added.

“Would you mind if I came with you?” Finn tried to sound casual, but Harry heard the nervous quaver in his voice and found it adorable.

“Yeah, sure,” he said, “why not.”

Together, they hurried off to find Professor Grubbly-Plank, who luckily was in her office. “Come on in,” she said jovially, chewing on her pipe. “Your owl will be fine in a few days, but she shouldn´t fly long distances for a while. Magnificient bird, by the way.”

Harry was relieved to see Hedwig. She was sitting on the table on a sort of flat pillow, resting comfortably on her stomach like a chicken. Her wing had been splinted and she looked less ruffled; it seemed that Professor Grubbly-Plank knew what she was doing.

Harry knelt down next to the low table: “Hey baby,” he said softly and gently stroked the owl, who had raised her head excitedly at the sight of him. She blinked at him and clicked her beak a few times before nibbling at his fingers affectionately.

Harry, feeling profundly relieved to know that she would recover, was so preoccupied with his pet that he flinched when Finn knelt down next to them. “May I?” he asked. Harry nodded and pulled his hand back.

Finn cautiously stroked Hedwig´s back, careful not to get near the injured wing. “Good girl,” he murmured. Harry watched them; during the time at the Dursleys Hedwig had gotten used to Draco being around, yet she couldn´t know that this was him, right? Nevertheless she held perfectly still as this stranger touched her.

“We have to go, but you´re obviously in good hands here,” Harry told her when it was time to leave. “Get well quickly, okay?”

Hedwig only blinked her large eyes at him.

“You´re very attached to her,” Finn stated after they had thanked Professor Grubbly-Plank and left.

Harry shrugged and nodded: “She was the first good friend and companion I ever had in Privet Drive,” he said, “and I got her on the day I was told that I was a wizard. She´s very special.”

“You called her baby,” Finn murmured, his voice very soft. “I liked how caring that sounded.”

Harry looked at him, for a moment unsure wether the other boy actually meant it or was pulling his leg, but then broke into a sheepish smile: “Yeah, well... I sometimes can´t repress it.”

Laughing, they made their way to their next classes.

That day´s blows however weren´t over yet; after dinner that night, Angelina announced that Umbridge hadn´t approved the Gryffindor Quidditch team yet, which meant that they weren´t allowed to practice either.

The mood was rather subdued that evening, thus everyone went to bed quite early.

Using his Invisibility Cloak, Harry climbed into Draco´s bed and explained that he had to go down into the Gryffindor common room once more, as he would be meeting his godfather, who would use the fire to talk to him.

Draco knew about Sirius, as Harry had told him about him, and looked at Harry in awe, his eyes widening: “Tell him to be careful,” he said. Harry´s heart leapt at this, and he leaned forward to steal a kiss from Draco´s lips: “You´re wonderful,” he said. “I´ll be back soon.”

It turned out that Sirius knew about the plan to form a self-help group, as Mundungus Fletcher had been in the Hog´s Head in disguise and had overheard them. They were still discussing the topic, Harry noticing that Sirius was actually approving of the idea to help themselves, much to the boy´s surprise, when they suddenly were interrupted.

Sirius vanished within seconds, and a moment later a hand appeared in the fire, a stubby, fat little hand that undoubtably belonged to Dolores Umbridge.

Furiously, Harry paced up and down the common room for a while, yet Sirius did not appear again. When it was clear that he wouldn´t show up anymore, Harry tiredly climbed up the stairs to the dormitory. He didn´t stop by his own bed, but went straight to Draco´s.

The blond had dozed off already, not entirely waking up when Harry joined him; he simply turned around and slung his arms around Harry´s neck, allowing himself to be pulled half on top of the other boy. Harry tightly held on to him, grateful that he was not alone.

Umbridge might try to destroy everything that was good in Harry´s life, but he still had Draco. He deeply inhaled the blond´s unique scent and closed his eyes, glad to finally be able to end this long, long day.

When he woke up early the following morning however, Harry couldn´t but think about the events of the previous day. Umbridge had known that someone would contact Harry, which meant that the attack on Hedwig had indeed been the purpose for intercepting Harry´s mail and that the toad had read his letter.

He remembered how Filch had accused him of ordering dungbombs and only now understood that that had been another attempt of finding an excuse to read Harry´s mail. Harry grit his teeth to keep the furious growl which was threatened to escape him from doing so. He meanwhile hated Umbridge with a passion; everything she did only increased his animosity.

He was startled out of his dark mood however when Draco stirred in his arms, yawning widely with his eyes still closed, showing all his throat like a lion. Harry´s anger evaporated immediately and he couldn´t but laugh. Draco opened one eye in confusion: “´s so funny?” he slurred drowsily, rubbing his eyes.

“Thanks for not eating me,” Harry replied, still grinning. Draco frowned at him before he understood and blushed most charmingly.

He delicately hid another yawn behind his hand: “Idiot,” he then murmured affectionately.

-

Much to everybody´s relief, the Gryffindor Quidditch Team got the approval to play soon afterwards; Angelina had turned to McGonagall, who, being an avid fan herself, had talked to Umbridge.

Despite the first training session taking place during torrential rain, Harry found himself taking a deep breath once he had kicked off from the ground; flying provided such an overwhelming freedom that it temporarily minimized all his other worries.

Soaking wet but happy, Harry trudged into the changing rooms after practice.

He was listening to the Weasley twins´ discussion of their newest products of Wizarding Wheezes when suddenly a jolt of pain erupted through his scar. He hissed and nearly doubled over, clutching his towel tightly.

Ron immediately was by his side: “All right, Harry?” he asked in an undertone. Harry pressed a hand against his scar while he was riding out the pain: “Yes, I´m... I´m fine...” the last words came out as a hiss, since the pain intensified once more before finally receding.

Taking deep breaths, he straigthened up again and met Ron´s worried gaze: “Did you see... you-know-who?” the red-head whispered. Harry shook his had and sat down, his knees suddenly feeling like jelly: “It´s more like... blurred images and... emotions. He´s angry.”

Ron sat down next to him, listening raptly with wide eyes. “How do you know?” he asked.

Harry shrugged: “I can´t say... it´s.. it´s just there. I can feel it. Your guess is as good as mine.” He fell silent; there was nothing more to say.

Ron however sought Harry´s gaze once more: “Are you... all right otherwise?” he asked almost timidly. “I´ve noticed that you´re sleeping with your hangings shut all the time. Still having nightmares?”

“Occasionally,” Harry said, feeling a rush of fondness at Ron´s concern, “but I find I sleep better when it´s a little darker around me.” He was ashamed of lying to his best friend, but there was no other way right then.

“Oh, “Ron said, apparently relieved. “Okay. You know you can wake me anytime if something´s wrong, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded and gave the red-head a smile. “I will.”


That evening, Harry felt far too agitated to go to bed early. He was tired from Quidditch practice and knew that Draco was probably wondering what kept him, yet he couldn´t bring himself to go lie down, not when so many questions were reeling in his mind.

Why did he experience Voldemort´s feelings? Why now? And why had Voldemort been so furious?

He sat down frustratedly, half-heartedly leafing through his Charms textbook when a loud Crack had him flinch; it was Dobby, who was bringing back Hedwig. Harry was happy to see her; he was even happier when it turned out that the house-elf knew a place where the 27 pupils who had so far signed up for the Defense Against the Dark Arts self-help group and himself could meet.

It was called the “Room of Requirement” and seemed to be perfect for their endeavour, since it only opened if one knew exactly what to ask for; the respective person had to had a real need for it.

Harry´s spirits had lifted considerably after Dobby had left again, thus he let Hedwig out of the window so she could retire in the owlery, then went upstairs and to bed.

It was past midnight already, and Harry´s bones felt like lead now that the adrenaline had worn off a little. He changed into his pyjamas and snuck over to Draco´s four-poster, quickly crawling through the hangings; his love was fast asleep already, and Harry´s tiredness made him follow suit.

Harry awoke to a tender, light touch as Draco was caressing his face. He blinked and looked into the now so familiar grey eyes which were beholding him. The blond´s fingertips moved over Harry´s cheekbone and halted at his temple: “Good morning,” Draco whispered and crawled nearer towards Harry, who smiled at him: “Early bird,” he murmured, gently pulling Draco close until their faces were only millimetres apart: “I like waking up like this...” They gently and unhurriedly kissed.

Harry told Draco about Hedwig´s recovery and the Room of Requirement, which the blond considered brilliant: “Not even Umbridge will find us in there,” he said excitedly. Harry was happy about this still unusual and heartfelt determination, though inwardly he couldn´t but worry a little; he knew about the risks he was putting himself and the others through, yet with Draco it was even worse.

If anyone found out about his disguise, his very life would be in danger. Harry kept these thoughts to himself, though; Draco had only just begun to take heart again, and the dark-haired boy didn´t want him to lose his newly found spiritedness. He had lost too much already.


The Room of Requirement proved to be exactly what Harry had hoped for. It was large enough that 28 people could practice duelling comfortably; there were cushions on the floor which would come in handy for practicing charms which might send people flying, shelves with books about Self-Defense and a range of Dark detectors like those Harry had seen in Professor Moody´s office.

The assembled Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs looked around in awe. There was only one boy which seemed slightly suspicious of the meeting´s outcome, by the name of Zacharias Smith. He pointed to a rather large Sneakoscope which was spinning madly; of course, Harry thought and caught Liam Bailey´s eyes, it knew that something was not quite right, that two people were using a bodily disguise.

Harry shortly explained about the Sneakoscope: “Dark detectors are easily fooled, though,” he then added as if waving it off, “don´t worry about that...”

Smith didn´t seem particularly reassured by it, but remained silent.

Hermione insisted that the group should find a name: “It makes it more official,” she said with gleaming eyes, “and I think we also should elect a leader!”

“Harry´s leader,” Finn said at once and then blushed furiously when everyone else looked at him.

Hermione smiled: “Yes, but let´s vote on it properly nevertheless,” she replied. “To make it formal and give him authority.” “Right,” Finn murmured, still very red in the face. He fortunately didn´t notice that Fred and George Weasley were elbowing each other grinningly.

It was thus agreed that their group was going to be called the “DA”- short for Defense Association, or, much more popular, Dumbledore´s Army.

They teamed up in pairs and started with the most basic disarming charm, Expelliarmus; some people frowned at this at first, but it turned out that only few of the group managed to successfully disarm their partners, since they had learned it some time ago and had hardly practiced it in between.

Harry watched the progress the others were making, and felt oddly proud when he saw that Finn managed to disarm his twin- as an Auror, Malcolm was bound to have the upper hand, yet Draco managed to catch him unawares a few times.

Finn blushed when he met Harry´s gaze and saw the approving nod the dark-haired wizard gave him, and was promptly disarmed himself due to the moment of inattention.

Cho Chang was there as well; while Harry watched her practice with her friend Marietta, he wondered what ever had attracted him to her; she was admittedly very pretty, but so very different from Draco, apart from the whole gender issue...


When they were lying in bed later, Draco was still so exhilarated that he couldn´t lie still; Harry grinned because of the other´s elation about something so simple, but he knew that for Draco it meant much more than just having managed a spell: it meant he was taking his life back into his own hands, and that he could do it.

He stroked Draco´s hair, tangling his fingers in the soft strands: “Who knew the first meeting´d be such a success?” he murmured. Draco smiled: “I knew. You are a leader, Harry. You polarise people.” “I do?”

Draco nodded, placing a gentle kiss on Harry´s cheek: “Yes, you do. People-“ another kiss, this time on the chin, “are,” Harry´s neck, “drawn,” the hollow of Harry´s neck, “to you.” Harry´s chest.

Harry sucked in his breath, mainly because of Draco´s actions rather than his words: his belly fluttered, and Draco´s lips on Harry´s skin had sent pleasant shivers down his spine; he could still feel the tingle.

The blond now looked up at Harry again: “So much, in fact, that they want to pounce on to you.” He grinned so boldly that Harry hardly recognized him: “What´s gotten into you, I wonder?” he whispered.

“You have,” Draco whispered, his eyes suddenly serious. “Your... gryffindorness.”

Harry chuckled: “You´re nuts.” “Am not.” Are, too!” “Not!” “Are!” “Okay, maybe a little...” “Oh, shut up...”

Harry pulled Draco up to him once more until the blond was lying on top of him, and they lost themselves in a passionate kiss.

Draco felt at home; Harry´s arms, his warmth and his scent were around him, protecting him, loving him. He lost count of time as they explored each other´s mouths with their lips and tongues, gently and tenderly; Harry´s hands were stroking his back and a little lower.

Somewhere in the back of his mind Draco registered that Harry was touching his arse, but to his own surprise he didn´t mind; it belonged to this, and Harry´s touch was tender and a little hesitantly, not brutal and demanding.

When they finally pulled apart a little, both boys recognized what was going on between their bellies, and blushed simultaneously, as both of them were hard. Harry only now realized that his left hand was actually lying on Draco´s bum; he looked at Draco and found that the blond was smiling at him.

“You don´t mind?” Harry asked very quietly.

Draco shook his head slowly: “I´ve never been touched like... like this,” he whispered, and Harry understood.

“I´ll never hurt you,” he replied equally soft. “I love you so much, Draco.”

They kissed again, stroking each other´s body with gentle hands, and soon both of them were gingerly moving their hips, rubbing against each other.

Even through the barriers of their pyjama bottoms it felt heavenly and exciting, and after a while they had long passed the point to stop; their breathing became as erratic as their movements until first Harry, then Draco released with a pleasant shudder.

Panting, their faces together, they waited for their hearts to calm down and their flush to abate. When their gazes met again, both of them were almost timid, yet it had felt so great that they both couldn´t but grin, if a little embarassed at first.

Harry used his wand to clean the both of them up, then put it away and wrapped his arms tightly around Draco: “You´re so precious,” he murmured into the blond´s hair as they snuggled up.

Draco tenderly stroked Harry´s shoulder with his thumb: “You, too,” he mumbled sleepily. Now that the adrenaline had worn off he felt tired and very content.

He had expected, or rather dreaded this to happen at one point, yet he was surprised by how unpretentious and easy Harry´s and his first... well... sex had been.

If one could call it thus, given that they hadn´t even taken their clothes off. It had been mind-blowing to do something so intimate together, yet somehow it had been nothing out of the ordinary if in a positive way, because there had been nothing to be ashamed of.

It had just been the next logical step after the snogging, in his opinion, therefore Draco felt only slightly embarassed for even wanting it himself; he had not thought that that would even be possible after the past summer´s events.

Yet he wanted to have all of Harry, share everything he had with him; he had never felt so sure about something in his entire life.

He snuggled deeper into Harry´s embrace and closed his eyes. He finally could go to sleep.



To Be Continued