Some Things Never Change...Others Do

The next few days passed fairly uneventfully for Harry Potter. Until his next Potions class, that is. He just couldn’t seem to keep himself out of trouble when he was in a classroom with his least favourite teacher, and the Slytherins. Still, Harry was determined to keep himself out of trouble this time. He followed every instruction precisely, and his potion actually looked how it was supposed to, halfway through! Even Professor Snape had nothing bad to say about it as he walked around the room, peering into cauldrons. He simply sneered at the contents Harry was stirring as he walked by.

Harry was watching his potion smoothly change from a murky lilac colour to a crystal clear bluish shade when Draco Malfoy walked by, purposely spilling the inky black contents of a vial into his perfect potion causing it to turn a violent shade of orange, become goopy, and begin to bubble over the edge of the cauldron. Harry glared down at what had become of his perfect potion before his eyes snapped towards Draco, who was walking away sniggering over his shoulder. Harry scooped a handful of the ruined potion out of the cauldron and hurled it at Draco’s back. It made a terrible squishy sound when it hit, splattering all over Draco’s robes, and the floor, and immediately changing to a clear, almost invisible substance. Draco gasped, spun around and hit Harry in the face just as Professor Snape began to take notice of what was going on in his classroom.

“Mister Malfoy, did I just see you hit Mister Potter in my classroom?” Snape inquired. “Detention for both of you, and ten points from Gryffindor. I’m sure whatever happened was Potter’s fault.”

Draco sneered at Harry and returned to his seat as Harry glared after him, fuming that he was going to have to spend his evening with his two least favourite people in the world. At least it was only one night of detention instead of a whole week like the last time he got in trouble during Potions class. Although, Harry had to admit to himself, that entire week was more bearable than this one night would be, because this time Draco would be in detention with him.

Hermione gave Harry a sympathetic glance before returning to her previous task of brewing yet another perfect potion. Ron, on the other hand, immediately began a whispered attack at Harry’s punishment. “That’s not fair, Malfoy started it! He’s such a prat, why’d he have to go and ruin your potion, he was just trying to get you riled up so you’d get into trouble! Some things never change. I have half a mind to jinx him right now! He’d deserve it! Now you have to waste your entire evening locked in detention with him. An entire evening! We could play so many games of Exploding Snap –“

“Or,” Hermione interjected, “You could use the time to write that essay for Flitwick.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now he’s got detention, does it?” replied Ron.

“No, I suppose not…but you could still use the time to write your essay, you know.”

Ron grumbled one last protest, but dropped the subject, turning back to Harry. “So, what do you think Snape’ll have the two of you doing tonight?”

“Dunno,” Harry replied. “Hopefully not organizing the stupid supply closet. I did that for an entire week last time I had detention with him, and I really don’t want to do it again.”


~*~*~*~*~*~

Harry Potter trudged through the halls of Hogwarts castle on his way to the dungeons for his detention with Professor Snape. He was dreading it so much more than his usual Snape detentions, because Draco would be there. He just knew Draco was going to do something to provoke him. Then, some kind of fight would going to break out between the two of them, and it would probably result in more detentions, and more lost points for Gryffindor. The last thing Harry wanted was more unpleasant detentions with Snape and Draco.

Harry paused just outside the door to Snape’s dungeon classroom and took a deep breath, knowing he was in for a dreadful few hours. He reached out and took hold of the doorhandle, wishing to postpone the torture that would start as soon as he stepped through that door. With a sigh, he turned the knob and opened the door to find Draco already inside. ”Damn,” he thought, ”Now Snape’s going to say I’m late, just because I didn’t get here before Malfoy…”

“Nice of you to finally join us, Potter,” Snape said with a sneer. “Now the two of you can begin your punishment. I want you both to scrub all the cauldrons. Without magic.”

“But professor,” Draco protested with a look of disgust on his face, “that’s house-elf work! Couldn’t you just make Potter scrub cauldrons and have me write lines or something? After all, what happened this afternoon was all his fault…”

Snape smirked as he considered the idea. “Alright, Mister Malfoy, you write lines. Potter, you’re to scrub the cauldrons. I’ll still be taking both of your wands so I’ll be sure you won’t be using magic.”

Harry’s jaw dropped at the injustice of it all, but he didn’t dare protest because he knew that would for sure earn him more detentions. He angrily dropped his gaze from his professor’s face to the table in front of him and handed over his wand, as Draco did the same. Snape took the wands and conjured a bucket of soapy water and an old worn-out sponge beside the stack of cauldrons in the corner, as well as parchment, quills, and ink for Draco. “Get to work,” he said, and made his way towards the door. Harry sulked over to the pile of cauldrons and sat down next to the bucket with a sigh. Snape gave them one last look and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Harry stared after him at the closed door for several minutes before turning back to his enormous pile of cauldrons. He began scrubbing them by hand, one by one. He was almost glad Draco wasn’t helping him scrub cauldrons, because that meant they wouldn’t have to talk. He had been diligently scrubbing for over two hours when Draco’s voice cut through the blissful silence.

“See, Potter,” Draco sniggered, “detention’s not so bad, is it?”

Harry twisted around to face Draco. “Shut your mouth, Malfoy, you should be over here helping me scrub these stupid cauldrons instead of sitting on your arse writing lines.”

Draco snorted. “It’s not my fault Professor Snape wanted me to write lines instead of help you do servant work.” He got a smug arrogant look on his face, “Maybe you shouldn’t have gotten us both thrown into detention, then, if you didn’t want to do the work.”

“ME?” Harry yelled as he rose to his feet. “I shouldn’t have gotten us thrown into detention? What about YOU?? You’re the one who ruined my potion to begin with! This is all your fault, you arrogant bastard!!”

Draco rose to his feet as well. “You still had no reason to throw that orange shit at me!”

“I had every reason to throw it at you, it was your fault it turned into orange shit!! And that was still no reason for you to hit me!” Harry took a couple steps forward and balled his hands into fists, wishing nothing more than to have his wand back so he could jinx Draco.

“Are you kidding? That was every reason for me to hit you!” Draco moved towards Harry as well, with a half glare/half smirk on his face. “In fact,” he continued, “I should do it again, for that name you just called me.” He took a few more steps forward.

Harry narrowed his eyes, set his jaw and took another step so he was only inches away from the other boy. “I’d like to see you try, Malfoy.”

Draco’s silver-grey eyes flashed as he grabbed Harry’s head in his hands, leaned forward, and crushed their lips together, snaking his arms around Harry’s neck. Harry’s eyes flew open and his entire body stiffened at the shock of what was happening. His first instinct was to shove Draco away from him, but the other boy’s arms were keeping him from doing so. When Harry felt Draco’s tongue slide over his lips, his entire body begin to relax and his lips parted to allow the blonde boy access. Draco slipped his tongue into Harry’s mouth, exploring as if it were the only thing he’d ever wanted to do. Harry, having recovered from the initial shock of having Draco kiss him, refused to be submissive to the boy who had been his enemy for so long. He roughly grabbed Draco’s face in his hands and took control of the kiss, forcing his tongue into the other boy’s mouth. Draco eagerly accepted it, and Harry’s hands left his face and traveled down his body and around his waist, pulling him closer. Draco melted into Harry’s embrace, and moaned into the raven-haired boy’s mouth as he felt his hands slide down and cup his bum.

They both felt like they could go on like this forever, until they heard footsteps in the hallway outside the classroom. They froze, listening as the footsteps approached the door. “Oh, shit…Snape!” Harry exclaimed, and they pulled apart and ran back to their separate areas of the classroom, desperately trying to make it appear as though they had been working the entire time. Harry had no sooner picked up the still-soapy sponge and started frantically scrubbing the nearest cauldron than Snape casually walked through the door.

Both Harry and Draco kept their heads down, working at their tasks, as Snape made his way to the front of the classroom and took his seat at his desk. Harry sneaked a glance at his professor, who was already engrossed in leafing through a stack of parchments on his desk. Harry took this opportunity to attempt to make sense of what had just happened. ”Ok,” Harry thought, ”What the fuck was that? Malfoy just kissed me. More importantly, I kissed him back! GAH!! Since when do fights turn into snogging sessions?? Especially fights with Malfoy!! What in Merlin’s name could have possibly possessed him to do something like that? Oh shit, and why did I kiss him back?? What’s wrong with me? I must have gone completely mad! What’s even worse, I think I actually enjoyed it! I think I actually even want to do it again!! But why would I possibly –“ Harry’s face drained of all its colour as realization dawned on him. ”Maybe Ron was right. Maybe I do have a crush on someone in our Potions class: Malfoy. The person in my daydream during class the other day must’ve been him…and in that dream, too! Oh, fuck!!”

“Mister Potter,” Snape’s icy voice cut through Harry’s thoughts. “Do you intend to finish scrubbing those cauldrons, or will I have to give you something even worse to do for your last half-hour here?”

Harry’s eyes widened when he realized he had been so lost in his thoughts that he had completely stopped scrubbing. “Sorry, Professor,” he mumbled, keeping his face turned away so Snape wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong. “My arm was tired from scrubbing…”

Snape sneered at Harry, then looked at the clock on the wall. “It’s been three hours, you can leave now,” he said as he removed the two wands from his robes.

Relieved, Harry jumped up from his spot on the floor and rushed to Snape’s desk to retrieve his wand. Draco did the same thing, and their shoulders bumped while they were standing side-by-side, causing Harry to blush deeply. Turning his head away to hide the redness of his cheeks, Harry grabbed his wand and ran out of the classroom.

Draco snatched his wand from Snape’s hand and race after Harry. “POTTER!” he yelled as he exited the classroom, pausing to glance both directions down the hall, looking for Harry. As he looked to the left, he saw Harry rounding a corner not far from where Draco stood. He began to chase after Harry. As he turned the same corner Harry had and could now see the other boy, Draco began to yell, “Potter! Potter, wait for me!” Harry continued running, and Draco was becoming desperate. “Potter, stop!” he yelled. “…HARRY!”

Harry stopped in his tracks when he heard the blonde boy say his first name. Draco quickly caught up, and stopped just behind him. Harry turned around slowly and raised his gaze to meet Draco’s. “You called me Harry,” he said.

“Yeah,” Draco replied. “I did.”

Harry turned a bit and leaned his back against the wall they were both beside. Draco did the same. They stood in silence for a moment, Harry trying to find words to say, and Draco waiting to hear those words.

After a long moment, Harry broke the silence. “Why’d you do it?” he asked, still staring straight forward instead of looking at Draco.

“I really wanted you to stop running,” Draco answered.

“Not that, I meant why’d you kiss me?”

“Oh, right, that. Well…I dunno, really. I mean, you had such passion in your eyes when you were yelling at me, yes, I know it was angry passion, but still…And you were right there, inches from my face…And, well…I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

Harry’s eyes widened at Draco’s confession, but he said nothing and let the other boy continue.

“And besides, I’d rather kiss your face than hit it again.”

Harry chuckled and nodded his head. “Yeah, kissing is quite a bit more pleasant than hitting.”

It was Draco’s turn to chuckle. “I’ve just got one question for you Harry,” he said.

Harry turned his head to look at him. “Yeah?”

“Why’d you kiss me back?”

Harry paused to think for a moment. He didn’t really know why he’d kissed Draco back. He knew it was a good kiss, and something he wouldn’t mind doing again, but he didn’t know why he’d done it.

“I dunno,” Harry replied as he turned his head to look straight forward again, “Maybe deep down, I knew I had a crush on you, even if I didn’t realize it…” Harry glanced at Draco, who had a slightly optimistic look on his face, “Or maybe I just got caught up in the moment.”

Draco lowered his gaze to the floor as the optimism on his face was replaced by disappointment, and Harry felt his heart break a little. It was then that he realized that he didn’t maybe have a crush on Draco, he for sure had one. He took Draco’s face in his hands and lifted his head so he was looking right into his eyes. “It was the first one.” Harry said, before he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips to Draco’s. Harry felt Draco shudder in his embrace, and felt his hands moved to the small of Harry’s back, pulling him close as he returned the kiss, eagerly sliding his tongue into Harry’s mouth. Harry sucked on the soft muscle invading his mouth, which elicited a muffled moan from Draco. Encouraged by this, Harry sucked harder as he turned himself and Draco so he was pinning the blonde against the wall, never breaking the kiss. Harry began to let his hands travel over Draco’s chest, onto his stomach, then drift down farther until he felt Draco’s erection pressing against his trousers. He began to rub it through the cloth, and Draco broke the kiss, threw his head back in pleasure, and moaned loudly. Harry took advantage of this and began sucking on Draco’s neck just above his collarbone, still rubbing the bulge in Draco’s trousers. Draco threaded his fingers through Harry’s hair and began to grind into his hand. Harry stroked and sucked harder, until he heard footsteps echoing through the stone hallway.

Both boys froze and tried to pull their attention from each other and focus it on listening. The footsteps grew louder, and a brief panic ran through Harry. He pulled away from Draco just before Snape rounded the corner on them.

“What are you still doing here?” Snape asked as he looked back and forth between the two.

“Nothing,” Draco responded quickly. “We were just….nothing.”

“Yeah, nothing,” Harry echoed.

Snape looked at them, obvious doubt written all over his face. “Well, get to your commonrooms then, both of you,” He said.

Harry and Draco shared a quick glance filled with lingering lust, then headed in opposite directions toward their separate houses, both thinking of what might have happened had they not been interrupted.