It's Just 12 Inches of Wood

It's Just 12 Inches of Wood by The Coven

Author: Slytherine

Beta: DarQuing (aka vlad! Thank you, sexy!), Graballz

Chapter Title: Thought up from the amazing mind of Graballz

Note: I would just like to apologize and say that I was sick and I’m a perfectionist, and while I don’t love this chapter, I feel people are starting to get a little pissed with me, so here it is, chapter 3! It’s just a filler chapter pretty much [well I had writers block and pneumonia, sue me!] So thanks again for hanging in there with me. And now, onto the story! ~Slytherine


Recap-“I would say you snuck into my bed, since I am still on my side of the tent.” Harry said reasonably as he laid his head back down. He didn’t want to get up and show Draco the erection he had gotten from just running his hands over the blonde’s chest, however unknowing it had been. Draco looked around the tent and saw, to his horror, that Harry was right. Draco’s pile of blankets was still in its place. His face burning, he fled the tent.

Chapter 3

The Wide Awake Musings of Harry & Draco


Harry tried to get comfortable again as he lazily watched Draco storm out of the tent; maybe a few more minutes of sleep would be good while Malfoy got himself together. While his body was still groggy and in the early stages of awake-ness, his mind was wide awake and having none of that.

This wasn’t necessarily what he had in mind when he signed up for this job. Working with Malfoy after their rivalry at Hogwarts was definitely an issue. And it was definitely a rivalry; one always trying to up the other. Well, that was primarily true on Malfoy’s part. The stupid prat just didn’t (or wouldn’t) seem to notice how Harry had never jumped into the spotlight; he was thrown there unwilling and unprepared for the consequences and repercussions it would cause. It seemed people worshiped or hated him based off of something he had no control over, and didn’t really want in the first place, what with everyone demanding something from him. That was one of the main reasons he took some time away from life. And even though this job wasn’t necessarily what he wanted, it definitely beat lounging on the couch eating, sleeping, and hitting the occasional club of course.

He was nineteen years old, after all. Even though he definitely didn’t have much luck with the wizard clubs because of his status, that didn’t mean he couldn’t hit up the Muggle ones, where he was just a normal guy trying to let loose. What better way to alleviate boredom then by sweating and grinding up on some other hot sweaty body, right? The only problem with the Muggle bars was that certain establishments wouldn’t sell alcohol to patrons under twenty-one. Not that he was a heavy drinker by any means, but he, just like everyone else, liked to knock back a few to loosen up.

And it was so amusing whenever Hermione dragged Ron to a Muggle club. Even though Ron was his mate and all, it was still amusing to observe him in a Muggle atmosphere; he was so clueless. Like the one time, he got really wasted and got thrown out of Mood, a random club Hermione had found on her tour of the States in LA, because he started ranting about how blind Muggles were and how they were saved from an evil Dark Lord; everyone within ear shot thought he was crazy and some big guys “escorted” him out. Hermione went with them, trying to smooth things over with the bouncers while yelling at Ron for his drunken stupidity. Harry himself decided to hang back, and maybe go home with the very attractive and sophisticated male bartender that had been subtly hitting on him all night, offering him free drinks and conversation.

Harry had never really hidden his sexuality because, in all honesty, he didn’t really know what he was. Physically, he favored men; chiseled jaws, broad shoulders, tight toned bodies, and that certain maleness was just something he found incredibly sexy. Women on the other hand were usually kind, caring, sweet, maybe a little demanding, but really, he understood the reason. Women had to deal with a lot: their monthly problems, giving birth, caring for a child, taking crap at work and home, society pulling them one way while they fight for the other. Harry had heard that while men were physically stronger, women could handle a lot more a lot better than men; and he agreed wholeheartedly. He held a lot of respect for women, which was why he seemed to have a lot of female friends.

Now, in the aspects of relationships and potential life partners, he definitely preferred women. While some women could turn out to be vicious, gold-digging whores, they were, on the whole, pretty loving and giving, ready to move to a higher level than just the occasional fuck. Men, on the other hand, were all about the one night stands never-call-you-again-whatever-dude-leave; which got old after a while. Harry figured that, at some point, he would like to settle down, date someone exclusively, and maybe start a family. Women seemed to offer him that; men usually weren’t ready or willing for that sort of commitment, or really, any commitment. Not like he was looking or ready for that right now, but eventually it would be nice.

So Harry was bisexual. He hadn’t been in a lot of relationships, and for the most part, they ended pretty badly. His first relationship, with Ginny, started and stopped in his sixth year, then started again after he defeated the Dark Lord. He ended up breaking up with her because of her extreme jealousy and explosive anger; he just didn’t need that. No one needs to come home to a crazy bitch screaming about non-existent illicit affairs.

In spite of his best efforts at physical displays of affection, Ginny never seemed to trust him while he was out of her sight. Whenever he tried to bring anything up, important or not, she just never seemed to hear him. He could have a more responsive conversation with a fiery red wall then his fiery redheaded ex.

One of the major ‘red flags’ for Harry was the fact that Ginny took everything about their relationship personally. It started with simple things, like him wanting to cook his own dinners once in a while (which were usually punctuated by outbursts such as “Why? Am I a horrible cook?? Because let me tell you, mister, that I am an amazing cook! My mother taught me how to keep a man, damn it! Why do you always do this to me Harry, why?!”).

And it gradually escalated into more serious things, and then the incident that threw them both over the edge happened; (“What do you mean you’re not sure you want to have a family with me?! Harry, I love you! I’ve always loved you! What? I am most certainly not manic! We would make great parents! Oh Harry, I love you so much and I’ve loved you for so long! Please stop hurting me like this! Please Harry! Be that nice boy I loved again! You can’t just use me and leave, damn it! You have no fucking right!!!). Eventually, her obsessive nature was too much and he broke up with her…and was sent to Mungo’s for a week in order for his body to heal from her hexes.

Harry Potter could take on the vilest demon of a man to ever live, but he couldn’t take on a wild wicked Weasley. But then again, Voldemort wasn’t the little sister of his best friend (which, of course, gave Harry a new depth to his nightmares).

He decided to lay off girls for a while, dated here and there for little bouts of time before anything really came from it; nothing serious. And then he met Aiden, who was six foot three, twenty-three years old, crystal blue eyes, tan, built, shady dusty blonde hair, and gay. He had approached Harry at Club Demi in Hogsmeade and asked him to dance, then took Harry home and had his naughty little way with him. Overall amazing night, amazing attraction, really amazing sex, and crazy enough, he actually met Aiden 2 weeks later for drinks.

As they got to know each other, Harry decided that overall he was a pretty cool guy; he was very relaxed with things and took everything as it came. Very deep; a writer. Well, he was a store clerk by day, writer by night. The two of them had a ‘thing’ for a few months, and it seemed to be going pretty well. Aiden was cool with the fact the Harry hadn’t ever really dated a guy before, and Harry was fine with his leading. What he wasn’t fine with was finding Aiden getting sucked off by a random guy he brought home when Harry decided to drop by Aiden’s flat to surprise him one night after work. Apparently “exclusive” wasn’t really part of the dating plan.

Harry ended it pretty quickly after that. He was a very affectionate person after all, and he didn’t want to have to share with someone else. Ever. It was hard—harder than the break up with Ginny had been—probably because he had felt more of an emotional (if one-sided) connection with Aiden than he’d ever had with Ginny. He felt more betrayed by Aiden, if THAT was any indication. And even though it should have been relatively easy compared to ‘nearly dying once a year since age eleven’, ending things with Aiden had hurt really badly, but Harry eventually came to realize that it was for the best. He knew in his heart that he wanted more and deserved better than to be jilted like that, but that didn’t help with his loneliness or insomnia.

After his two real relationships ended awfully, Harry hadn’t really seen the point in dating seriously. He tried the casual approach—or one night stands if he was bored or lonely or horny—but eventually he would start to get attached. If there was anything that Aiden had taught him, aside from his prowess in the bedroom, it was that being emotionally attached to someone when they didn’t feel the same way was NOT worth the heartache. Therefore, if Harry felt himself heading in that direction, he usually ended the relationship quickly after in order to protect himself from further heartache.

Hermione always listened to his problems and tried to psychoanalyze him, even though it got pretty annoying after a while. She kept encouraging him to keep putting himself out there and that he would eventually find someone. Sometimes he seriously doubted that, especially with the way the men he seemed to find were clean-cut, higher-class types with less than Ron’s emotional depth (which was saying something!).

Sighing miserably and relatively annoyed at how his mind wasn’t allowing him the rest he deserved, Harry grudgingly opened his eyes and climbed out from under the covers. His erection was gone, but his body was stiff and his mind tired. Sometimes he didn’t really know what the point was. Maybe what he needed was a good fuck. It’d been what, weeks?

Maybe Malfoy and I can go out for drinks after we finish this assignment, Harry thought to himself as he got himself ready to face the day. Who knows, Malfoy would probably seem a lot better once I’ve knocked back a few. He smiled at the image of Malfoy piss drunk, wondering if he’d ever see THAT day…

**********

Draco squinted, using his hand as a visor to block out the particularly bright early morning sun. This had already started out as a pretty bad day. Feeling up on Potter? Honestly, what was wrong with him? Just because Potter was possibly gorgeous didn’t mean Draco had to drool over him like some sniveling sixth year Hufflepuff girl. (Not that Draco knew what a drooling Hufflepuff girl looked like…because of course, he had NOT tried on, in the privacy of his Prefect’s suite, one of Pansy’s mini skirts and skimpy tops one time…just out of curiosity…)

He might not necessarily like Potter or understand him, but there was no denying how amazing he looked. That amazing body with those green eyes and that unruly hair that seemed to almost contradict Draco. Unruly versus polished. Free versus confined. Well, Draco wasn’t really confined anymore. His father was still in Azkaban, and his mother was still at the Manor. And if he had stayed, he would have been married to Pansy by now.

He shuddered, disgusted by the prospect of even being around that whore. Honestly, a bloke could catch a disease just by touching her (Draco had tried on her outfit BEFORE she turned into Slytherin’s Slut, and after, he really didn’t want to have anything to do with her).

Since before he hit puberty, Draco knew he favored blokes. He just found them attractive. However, being a Malfoy, it was his responsibility to get married to a pureblood witch and have her birth his heir. And up until he was legal, he did just that. He used to be proud of who he was. He was Draco Malfoy, the son of Lucius Malfoy; rich, gorgeous, intelligent, and completely Slytherin. But with the second rise of the Dark Lord and his father’s allegiance to him, the Malfoy name came to ruin. It had been very hard for Draco to make the adjustment.

Somehow he managed, though, and came away from the experience very angry at first. Angry at his parents for how they acted and how they raised him, angry at the Dark Lord for even existing and ruining his future, angry at the school because of their bias, and angry at himself for the way he acted. He was no better then the Mudbloods now. His name wasn’t even on the level of a house-elf. So he did what any angry kid would do: he took his inheritance from Gringott’s and left his home and his old life.

His new life, however, was not at all what he had expected it to be. No one in the wizarding world would take him seriously as a defender of good or evil, because he didn’t have a side. He had been a loner, because his Slytherin nature convinced him the only person he could really trust was himself. Most of his friends had stopped talking to him after he left the Manor. However, he did get together with Blaise Zabini on occasion to talk and drink. Blaise was happily heterosexual, and so their time together was strictly socially friendly. Draco and Narcissa had had their big, blowout shouting match about a month after he moved out. They didn’t talk all that often, but they had come to a fragile, peaceful-enough understanding that as long as Narcissa didn’t try to dictate his life, Draco would politely ignore his ‘abnormality’, and any subject that possibly referred to it was steadfastly avoided. Overall it was a lonely life, but not a horrible one.

This job was just what he needed. What he didn’t need was to be having randy thoughts about Potter. He willfully chose not to acknowledge his sexual preference; but it wasn’t like Draco wanted anything to happen anyway. He didn’t even want to think about how awkward it would be if Draco ever came onto Harry, only to find him straight and disgusted. And then Ollivander would fire him for coming onto a co-worker. And that was what he and Potter were now: co-workers.

Draco was so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he tripped over a root, landing flat on his face on the forest floor. Quickly he got up and dusted his clothes off.

Shit, now I’m tripping for Potter… what the fuck is this world coming to? Draco asked himself while he regained his balance and continued on his way, paying more attention to where he was going. What if Potter had seen that…? He thought silently.

Well, at least it wouldn’t be as bad as accusing him of trying to molest you in your sleep; oh wait, you already did that, didn’t you, genius? The obnoxious side of his subconscious surfaced, but Draco got stuck on the sensations of lying next to Harry.

Draco continued plowing his way though the trees and shrubbery, making his way to the river. As he approached the bank, he thought about how Potter had dived in to save that Demiguise yesterday. He had such a savior complex, that guy.

And on a really weird level, Draco found it was pretty sexy. He sat on the bank of the river, watching the sun glaze over it while he thought of the Boy Wonder. His clothing choices had definitely improved once he started wearing clothes that actually fit him. He seemed mellower than when they were in school, but perhaps Draco just hadn’t pushed the right buttons yet. They both had definitely grown a lot.

Draco sighed and dragged himself up from his comfortable position. He had left Potter hanging long enough. Carefully this time, he made his way back to camp, silently praying that nothing too awkward would come out of this job—because if Ollivander fired them for not getting along and working as a team—Draco wasn’t really sure he would be able to get a job anywhere else. And that would be unfortunate.

Plus, Potter could be a welcome distraction.

**********