A Love So Belated
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,676
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,676
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 25: Explain Yourself
Chapter Number/Total: 25/44
Chapter Title: Explain Yourself
Words: 2430 Words
Dinner - after Mrs Longbottom's bluntness - had been full of simply ignoring Draco for the most part, leaving him available to talk to Harry. Opening presents, thus far, had been going much the same. Everyone laughed and talked with each other, but no one seemed to know how to handle Draco, though Luna did keep giving him dreamy smiles and had even brought him a gift - a house-elf charm to put on a necklace or bracelet.
Harry gave Draco an amused look as he leaned over to examine the charm.
"I made it," Luna announced happily. Harry looked at the corks around her neck, which she'd also made. Well, Luna was Luna.
"Thank you," Draco said politely, bemused and unsure of how to handle either the gift or Luna.
Luna smiled again and Harry held in a laugh.
There was quite suddenly a very loud high-pitched screech. Several people jumped and Harry looked round to see Teddy, screaming like he was dying, and holding up a tiny bleeding finger.
Andromeda frowned and lifted Teddy into her arms.
"Oh, damn, I'll get something," Harry said, quickly getting to his feet and rushing out of the room to get a cold washcloth. He made his way to the bathroom down the hall, reaching for the washcloth and hurriedly twisting the tap for water. He wrung out the cloth and turned to hurry back, but Ginny was standing in the doorway, shaking her head with what looked like amusement.
"You forget you're a wizard a lot, don't you?" she smirked.
Harry blinked a few times, but then sighed, shaking his head, too, as he dropped the cloth on the bathroom counter. Of course. He laughed at himself a bit. "Well, Teddy was screaming," he said fairly. "I didn't think."
"You rarely do," Ginny teased with a smile, coming closer. "Malfoy healed him up. He's fine."
Harry smiled then, too, happy that Draco had been the one to heal Teddy. "Back to it then," he said, making to walk past Ginny.
She grabbed him with her small hand. "So quick to get away?" she asked slyly, pressing closer. "Everyone's distracted. Let's go up to your room. It's been ages and I think I have a craving for some strawberry ice cream." She waggled her brows.
Harry's eyes widened slightly. "Ginny," he hesitated, looking toward the door as if someone would be standing there. "We can't."
"Why not?"
"Anyone could see," Harry insisted.
"I just said they're all distracted," Ginny repeated, tugging his arm playfully - in a way that might have had Harry drooling before. But her movements seemed nothing to Draco's slow seductiveness, or even his desperate quickness. Harry shivered just thinking of it and Ginny took it the wrong way.
"See," she said, her eyes going slightly darker. "Come on."
Harry shook his head. "Anyone could see," he said again.
"Oh, please, Harry," she said, still trying to get him out of the room. "What ever happened to Gryffindor recklessness?" She grinned at him. "Besides, I'm going back to school after holiday. We won't be able to do it at all then."
Harry tried to think of a way he could protest, a way he could convince Ginny that it was a bad idea, but he was drawing a blank. What the hell was he supposed to do?
She leaned forward and stood on tip-toe to press her lips to his, kissing him slowly, and it took everything he had not to grimace. Draco was in the next bloody room.
"Come on," she whispered against his lips, her hands moving to press against his chest. "No one's going to come looking for us."
Harry swallowed, his heart beating quickly from nervousness, guilt, and an unwillingness that he couldn't show.
She tugged his arms gently, and he moved at her urging, still trying to think of some way to get out of this. She pulled him down the hall, kissing him as they went.
"Ginny," Harry tried again. "Ginny, we -"
"Shh," she hushed him, warm breath against his lips, and she kept pushing him along.
Merlin, what was he supposed to do? He was seriously considering simply telling her no and walking away, but what would she think then? He would hurt her feelings and arouse suspicion. "Ginny," he said quietly when they had finally made it all the way up the stairs to his room. "We really, really shouldn't."
She made a sound of impatience. "Don't worry about it," she said, opening the door and gently pushing Harry inside. "I'll take the blame if we're caught." She smiled sexily at him, moving forward for another kiss.
Harry almost groaned, but not from pleasure.
"Why are you so tense?" she murmured, kissing his neck. "It's not like we haven't done it with other people in the house before."
He didn't know what to say to that. He only stood there.
Her hands moved down to the front of his trousers. "Need something to help you relax?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and sliding slowly to her knees.
"Oh, God," Harry let out, and she took it the wrong way again, beginning to unbutton him.
"Ginny," Harry interrupted insistently, knowing he couldn't do this. Not with Draco downstairs, not at all. He couldn't.
"Harry," she mocked, pushing his shirt up to kiss and lick his stomach as she let his trousers fall to the floor.
Draco had expected Harry to return quickly and was surprised to find himself abandoned with Harry's guests. Teddy was currently being held by Andromeda, who was rocking the boy. Draco nodded reassuringly at the child and then got to his feet to go in search of his lover.
He wasn't in the downstairs bathroom or the kitchen. Still confused, he made his way up the stairs. "Harry?" he called out.
Harry's eyes widened and he backed away from Ginny so quickly that she nearly fell. "See?" he said. "We can't." He bent to get his trousers up as fast as he could, hoping that Draco wouldn't walk in.
"Merlin, Harry," Ginny huffed. "You could be a bit gentler." She got to her feet, looking very disappointed and possibly a little hurt.
Harry didn't respond, heart thumping as he fastened his trousers. As soon as he was presentable, he hurried out of the bedroom.
Draco was startled when a flushed Harry met his eyes. "Everything okay?" he asked.
Harry swallowed again, and Ginny walked out of the bedroom after him. He knew what it looked like and he wanted to scream.
Draco frowned before he could catch himself and turned away quickly, heading back down the stairs.
Harry immediately moved to follow him, but then stopped, hesitating. Ginny was still there. "Er, back to the presents?" he asked, voice a bit higher.
She looked at him strangely. "I suppose so."
He nodded, waiting for her to go ahead of him.
She gave him another strange look before she headed down, and he followed, heart thumping even harder now. He hoped his plans for the night weren't completely shot. He went into the sitting room with Ginny, and nearly panicked when he didn't see Draco. Oh, God, he hadn't left, had he? He looked over his shoulder as if he would be standing there.
Ginny walked across the room, taking Harry along with her, and sat back down on the sofa.
Harry swallowed, trying to think of a way to get out of the room. "Um, I'm thirsty," he lied. He hadn't sat down, so he turned before she could reply, heading back out the door. He probably looked completely insane, but didn't really care as he began checking in rooms. Relief spread through him when he finally spotted Draco in the library.
Draco had picked up a book at random and was pretending to read, because he thought it looked better than sulking.
Harry bit his lip, wincing. He didn't really know how to begin. "Um," he said quietly, which really wasn't a word at all.
Draco glanced up, frowning again.
"I - I know what it, well, what it looked like," Harry continued, moving a bit further into the room. "And that wasn't it. Nothing happened."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Draco said stiffly. His heart clenched painfully, but he tried not to show it.
Harry winced again, moving closer. "No, Draco, really. I didn't even want - she just jumped me. I wouldn't have done anything though - I didn't. We didn't."
Draco arched an eyebrow, shrugging. "She is your girlfriend," he said cautiously, the words seemed to taste bad.
Harry knew he'd said it before - that he was going to break up with her. He didn't blame Draco for probably thinking he wasn't. "You're my boyfriend," he said. And I'm in love with you, he thought.
Draco shrugged again, though he was encouraged enough to put the book aside and get to his feet. "People will be looking for you," he said.
Harry sighed, looking down. "Probably," he agreed.
Draco managed to smile a bit. "You go on back in. I'll be right behind you."
Harry nodded, wanting nothing more than to kiss Draco and stay alone with him in the library, but he knew he couldn't. He walked down the hall and entered back into the sitting room.
Draco followed him and then stood in the doorway, watching Harry, his eyes caressing what he couldn't touch in front of others.
"Looks good, hm?" said a low voice in Draco's ear.
Draco startled, looking back over his shoulder.
George stood there, staring at Draco with a hard expression, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. "I want to talk to you," he said, indicating the hallway with a nod of his head.
Draco hardly wanted to go anywhere with the angry-looking man, but thought it better to leave with him than let the room full of people hear whatever he had to say. He took a few steps back from the doorway.
George reached forward and pulled the door closed so that the chatter and laughs died out considerably. He stood close to Draco in the fairly narrow space, certainly closer than he needed to be. "So, you're Harry's friend?" he began, slight emphasis on the word 'friend', and Draco wondered if it were intended to be more of an accusation than a question.
Draco schooled his face to neutral. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I'm not an idiot," George went on. "I've been watching both of you all day. You and Harry."
Draco shrugged, his heart beating faster, but his face still neutral.
George snorted humourlessly. "You're shagging him, aren't you? Or him you. Whatever."
Draco was unsure of what to say. He usually avoided direct lies when at all possible. They had a tendency to come back to hurt. "Who I do or do not associate with is none of your business," he said as coolly as he could.
"It is my business when it's my little sister's boyfriend you're involved with," George replied. "I can tell you one thing: she doesn't know about this."
"If your concern is about Harry and his behaviour, then it is he with whom you should speak," the blond answered casually.
"Perhaps I will," George said. "Perhaps I'll go and get him right now and we can all have a nice chat."
There was no need to get him, though, because Harry showed up at the door right then. He frowned at the scene before him. "What's going on?" he asked.
Draco's mask slipped, showing his concern when he looked at Harry.
Harry stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind him. "What's going on?" he asked again.
"Let me just say," said George, looking at Harry now, "if you hurt Ginny, you're going to have one pissed off family on your hands, Harry."
Harry's face drained of colour. "What?" he asked.
"You heard me," said George.
Draco looked at Harry, shaking his head slightly, trying to let him know he hadn't said anything.
"All I know is you had better tell her," George continued. "And you had better do it soon. I won't say anything, because I think it would hurt her more, and you're damn lucky that I care enough about you to not tell the whole damn family."
Harry whitened further.
Draco stood still as a statue, not wanting to make things worse and knowing anything he was likely to say might.
George suddenly turned back to Draco and sniffed his shirt of all things. Then he looked at him with hard eyes. "'Kreacher' my arse, Harry," he said, backing up. "You better tell her." He opened the door and slipped back into the sitting room.
Draco frowned. "What was that about?" he asked in confusion.
Harry covered his face with his hands and mumbled a response.
Draco clenched his fists wanting to step closer and wrap his arms about Harry. "What?" he asked.
Harry parted his hands but still covered his eyes. "I told Ginny that Kreacher had some vanilla cleaning stuff because I kept smelling like vanilla and it was really from you," he said, voice pained.
Draco arched an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth quirking up in spite of the situation. "Vanilla? Me?" he whispered.
"Yeah," Harry whispered back with a sigh, dropping his hands to stare at Draco.
"We need to talk about this," Draco whispered, "after the party."
Harry nodded. "I know," he said quietly, wanting to pull Draco against himself, but they both entered back into the room and took their seats again.
Time seemed to inch by after that, as if it were moving in slow motion. George threw Harry and Draco looks throughout the rest of the night, especially whenever Ginny kissed Harry or moved close to him. Hermione shot them looks as well, of course, and Harry felt like somehow everyone knew he was secretly with Draco.
Two more hours passed, but it felt like fifty. "Soon," George whispered as he was getting his cloak.
Harry swallowed.
Luna had already gone, as had Neville and his grandmother, and Teddy and Andromeda. Harry was bidding the Weasleys and Hermione goodbye.
"Happy Christmas, dear," said Mrs Weasley, pecking him on the cheek.
They filed out, one by one, and Ginny kissed him again at the door. "Happy Christmas, Harry," she said. "And you better come over soon," she added, smiling.
"Happy Christmas," Harry said quietly, watching her make her way down the front steps and out into the snow.
Chapter Title: Explain Yourself
Words: 2430 Words
Dinner - after Mrs Longbottom's bluntness - had been full of simply ignoring Draco for the most part, leaving him available to talk to Harry. Opening presents, thus far, had been going much the same. Everyone laughed and talked with each other, but no one seemed to know how to handle Draco, though Luna did keep giving him dreamy smiles and had even brought him a gift - a house-elf charm to put on a necklace or bracelet.
Harry gave Draco an amused look as he leaned over to examine the charm.
"I made it," Luna announced happily. Harry looked at the corks around her neck, which she'd also made. Well, Luna was Luna.
"Thank you," Draco said politely, bemused and unsure of how to handle either the gift or Luna.
Luna smiled again and Harry held in a laugh.
There was quite suddenly a very loud high-pitched screech. Several people jumped and Harry looked round to see Teddy, screaming like he was dying, and holding up a tiny bleeding finger.
Andromeda frowned and lifted Teddy into her arms.
"Oh, damn, I'll get something," Harry said, quickly getting to his feet and rushing out of the room to get a cold washcloth. He made his way to the bathroom down the hall, reaching for the washcloth and hurriedly twisting the tap for water. He wrung out the cloth and turned to hurry back, but Ginny was standing in the doorway, shaking her head with what looked like amusement.
"You forget you're a wizard a lot, don't you?" she smirked.
Harry blinked a few times, but then sighed, shaking his head, too, as he dropped the cloth on the bathroom counter. Of course. He laughed at himself a bit. "Well, Teddy was screaming," he said fairly. "I didn't think."
"You rarely do," Ginny teased with a smile, coming closer. "Malfoy healed him up. He's fine."
Harry smiled then, too, happy that Draco had been the one to heal Teddy. "Back to it then," he said, making to walk past Ginny.
She grabbed him with her small hand. "So quick to get away?" she asked slyly, pressing closer. "Everyone's distracted. Let's go up to your room. It's been ages and I think I have a craving for some strawberry ice cream." She waggled her brows.
Harry's eyes widened slightly. "Ginny," he hesitated, looking toward the door as if someone would be standing there. "We can't."
"Why not?"
"Anyone could see," Harry insisted.
"I just said they're all distracted," Ginny repeated, tugging his arm playfully - in a way that might have had Harry drooling before. But her movements seemed nothing to Draco's slow seductiveness, or even his desperate quickness. Harry shivered just thinking of it and Ginny took it the wrong way.
"See," she said, her eyes going slightly darker. "Come on."
Harry shook his head. "Anyone could see," he said again.
"Oh, please, Harry," she said, still trying to get him out of the room. "What ever happened to Gryffindor recklessness?" She grinned at him. "Besides, I'm going back to school after holiday. We won't be able to do it at all then."
Harry tried to think of a way he could protest, a way he could convince Ginny that it was a bad idea, but he was drawing a blank. What the hell was he supposed to do?
She leaned forward and stood on tip-toe to press her lips to his, kissing him slowly, and it took everything he had not to grimace. Draco was in the next bloody room.
"Come on," she whispered against his lips, her hands moving to press against his chest. "No one's going to come looking for us."
Harry swallowed, his heart beating quickly from nervousness, guilt, and an unwillingness that he couldn't show.
She tugged his arms gently, and he moved at her urging, still trying to think of some way to get out of this. She pulled him down the hall, kissing him as they went.
"Ginny," Harry tried again. "Ginny, we -"
"Shh," she hushed him, warm breath against his lips, and she kept pushing him along.
Merlin, what was he supposed to do? He was seriously considering simply telling her no and walking away, but what would she think then? He would hurt her feelings and arouse suspicion. "Ginny," he said quietly when they had finally made it all the way up the stairs to his room. "We really, really shouldn't."
She made a sound of impatience. "Don't worry about it," she said, opening the door and gently pushing Harry inside. "I'll take the blame if we're caught." She smiled sexily at him, moving forward for another kiss.
Harry almost groaned, but not from pleasure.
"Why are you so tense?" she murmured, kissing his neck. "It's not like we haven't done it with other people in the house before."
He didn't know what to say to that. He only stood there.
Her hands moved down to the front of his trousers. "Need something to help you relax?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and sliding slowly to her knees.
"Oh, God," Harry let out, and she took it the wrong way again, beginning to unbutton him.
"Ginny," Harry interrupted insistently, knowing he couldn't do this. Not with Draco downstairs, not at all. He couldn't.
"Harry," she mocked, pushing his shirt up to kiss and lick his stomach as she let his trousers fall to the floor.
Draco had expected Harry to return quickly and was surprised to find himself abandoned with Harry's guests. Teddy was currently being held by Andromeda, who was rocking the boy. Draco nodded reassuringly at the child and then got to his feet to go in search of his lover.
He wasn't in the downstairs bathroom or the kitchen. Still confused, he made his way up the stairs. "Harry?" he called out.
Harry's eyes widened and he backed away from Ginny so quickly that she nearly fell. "See?" he said. "We can't." He bent to get his trousers up as fast as he could, hoping that Draco wouldn't walk in.
"Merlin, Harry," Ginny huffed. "You could be a bit gentler." She got to her feet, looking very disappointed and possibly a little hurt.
Harry didn't respond, heart thumping as he fastened his trousers. As soon as he was presentable, he hurried out of the bedroom.
Draco was startled when a flushed Harry met his eyes. "Everything okay?" he asked.
Harry swallowed again, and Ginny walked out of the bedroom after him. He knew what it looked like and he wanted to scream.
Draco frowned before he could catch himself and turned away quickly, heading back down the stairs.
Harry immediately moved to follow him, but then stopped, hesitating. Ginny was still there. "Er, back to the presents?" he asked, voice a bit higher.
She looked at him strangely. "I suppose so."
He nodded, waiting for her to go ahead of him.
She gave him another strange look before she headed down, and he followed, heart thumping even harder now. He hoped his plans for the night weren't completely shot. He went into the sitting room with Ginny, and nearly panicked when he didn't see Draco. Oh, God, he hadn't left, had he? He looked over his shoulder as if he would be standing there.
Ginny walked across the room, taking Harry along with her, and sat back down on the sofa.
Harry swallowed, trying to think of a way to get out of the room. "Um, I'm thirsty," he lied. He hadn't sat down, so he turned before she could reply, heading back out the door. He probably looked completely insane, but didn't really care as he began checking in rooms. Relief spread through him when he finally spotted Draco in the library.
Draco had picked up a book at random and was pretending to read, because he thought it looked better than sulking.
Harry bit his lip, wincing. He didn't really know how to begin. "Um," he said quietly, which really wasn't a word at all.
Draco glanced up, frowning again.
"I - I know what it, well, what it looked like," Harry continued, moving a bit further into the room. "And that wasn't it. Nothing happened."
"You don't have to explain yourself to me," Draco said stiffly. His heart clenched painfully, but he tried not to show it.
Harry winced again, moving closer. "No, Draco, really. I didn't even want - she just jumped me. I wouldn't have done anything though - I didn't. We didn't."
Draco arched an eyebrow, shrugging. "She is your girlfriend," he said cautiously, the words seemed to taste bad.
Harry knew he'd said it before - that he was going to break up with her. He didn't blame Draco for probably thinking he wasn't. "You're my boyfriend," he said. And I'm in love with you, he thought.
Draco shrugged again, though he was encouraged enough to put the book aside and get to his feet. "People will be looking for you," he said.
Harry sighed, looking down. "Probably," he agreed.
Draco managed to smile a bit. "You go on back in. I'll be right behind you."
Harry nodded, wanting nothing more than to kiss Draco and stay alone with him in the library, but he knew he couldn't. He walked down the hall and entered back into the sitting room.
Draco followed him and then stood in the doorway, watching Harry, his eyes caressing what he couldn't touch in front of others.
"Looks good, hm?" said a low voice in Draco's ear.
Draco startled, looking back over his shoulder.
George stood there, staring at Draco with a hard expression, his arms crossed loosely over his chest. "I want to talk to you," he said, indicating the hallway with a nod of his head.
Draco hardly wanted to go anywhere with the angry-looking man, but thought it better to leave with him than let the room full of people hear whatever he had to say. He took a few steps back from the doorway.
George reached forward and pulled the door closed so that the chatter and laughs died out considerably. He stood close to Draco in the fairly narrow space, certainly closer than he needed to be. "So, you're Harry's friend?" he began, slight emphasis on the word 'friend', and Draco wondered if it were intended to be more of an accusation than a question.
Draco schooled his face to neutral. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I'm not an idiot," George went on. "I've been watching both of you all day. You and Harry."
Draco shrugged, his heart beating faster, but his face still neutral.
George snorted humourlessly. "You're shagging him, aren't you? Or him you. Whatever."
Draco was unsure of what to say. He usually avoided direct lies when at all possible. They had a tendency to come back to hurt. "Who I do or do not associate with is none of your business," he said as coolly as he could.
"It is my business when it's my little sister's boyfriend you're involved with," George replied. "I can tell you one thing: she doesn't know about this."
"If your concern is about Harry and his behaviour, then it is he with whom you should speak," the blond answered casually.
"Perhaps I will," George said. "Perhaps I'll go and get him right now and we can all have a nice chat."
There was no need to get him, though, because Harry showed up at the door right then. He frowned at the scene before him. "What's going on?" he asked.
Draco's mask slipped, showing his concern when he looked at Harry.
Harry stepped into the hall, shutting the door behind him. "What's going on?" he asked again.
"Let me just say," said George, looking at Harry now, "if you hurt Ginny, you're going to have one pissed off family on your hands, Harry."
Harry's face drained of colour. "What?" he asked.
"You heard me," said George.
Draco looked at Harry, shaking his head slightly, trying to let him know he hadn't said anything.
"All I know is you had better tell her," George continued. "And you had better do it soon. I won't say anything, because I think it would hurt her more, and you're damn lucky that I care enough about you to not tell the whole damn family."
Harry whitened further.
Draco stood still as a statue, not wanting to make things worse and knowing anything he was likely to say might.
George suddenly turned back to Draco and sniffed his shirt of all things. Then he looked at him with hard eyes. "'Kreacher' my arse, Harry," he said, backing up. "You better tell her." He opened the door and slipped back into the sitting room.
Draco frowned. "What was that about?" he asked in confusion.
Harry covered his face with his hands and mumbled a response.
Draco clenched his fists wanting to step closer and wrap his arms about Harry. "What?" he asked.
Harry parted his hands but still covered his eyes. "I told Ginny that Kreacher had some vanilla cleaning stuff because I kept smelling like vanilla and it was really from you," he said, voice pained.
Draco arched an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth quirking up in spite of the situation. "Vanilla? Me?" he whispered.
"Yeah," Harry whispered back with a sigh, dropping his hands to stare at Draco.
"We need to talk about this," Draco whispered, "after the party."
Harry nodded. "I know," he said quietly, wanting to pull Draco against himself, but they both entered back into the room and took their seats again.
Time seemed to inch by after that, as if it were moving in slow motion. George threw Harry and Draco looks throughout the rest of the night, especially whenever Ginny kissed Harry or moved close to him. Hermione shot them looks as well, of course, and Harry felt like somehow everyone knew he was secretly with Draco.
Two more hours passed, but it felt like fifty. "Soon," George whispered as he was getting his cloak.
Harry swallowed.
Luna had already gone, as had Neville and his grandmother, and Teddy and Andromeda. Harry was bidding the Weasleys and Hermione goodbye.
"Happy Christmas, dear," said Mrs Weasley, pecking him on the cheek.
They filed out, one by one, and Ginny kissed him again at the door. "Happy Christmas, Harry," she said. "And you better come over soon," she added, smiling.
"Happy Christmas," Harry said quietly, watching her make her way down the front steps and out into the snow.