Close Enough

Ch 29 I’m glad you’re here.

The next week went by quickly. Cord accompanied Harry to his classes for most of the week seeing as the other boys were spending the week getting everything ready for the show that weekend. Draco was very pleased with himself as far as the potions project was progressing, he knew that Severus would enjoy their project if for no other reason than the irony of the whole thing. Harry and Draco spent most of the week discussing which particular blood replenishing potion they were going to brew, after four sessions of arguing over the benefits of each one, they finally came to their conclusion ten minutes before Potions on that Friday.
“So we can make any of these three, right? That’s what we agreed on?” Harry asked Draco as they made their way to the dungeon classroom. Draco nodded.
“Yes, any of those three. Professor Snape will have all of the needed ingredients for those in the cupboard, and none of them take longer than the class period to brew and stew.” Draco replied with a smile. This project was possibly the best scheme that he had ever come up with, and that was saying something. It worked out completely to his advantage, and gave him a reason to spend time alone with Harry. All of the alone time with Harry, that was a thought that now saddened Draco. After today the excuse for it was completed and there would be no more common ground to spur conversations.
As the class made their way to their seats, Harry and Draco took the seats that had become ‘theirs’ over the past week; directly in the center, in front of Severus’ desk. It took the first two classes that week to discover all of the secret nuances of Harry and Draco’s relationship. Back in the first day of potions for the term Draco remembered the desk taps, these seemed to be a code of acknowledgment that was unnoticed by the rest of the class. Thinking back further, he could remember witnessing this on occasion in the year prior as well, Draco began to wonder how he didn’t notice the change in the relationship before.
Harry and Severus did not speak during class, they hardly even looked at each other. Draco could remember how Harry would just keep his eyes down and work on brewing the potion for the class, never once looking up at the desk in front of him. And likewise Severus would not comment verbally on Harry’s potion, nor would he tear into him as he would have in years previous. However, Draco soon noticed that the pair did look at each other, he had just never noticed. Harry was very skilled at the art of the sideways glance, and Severus was very good at making it look as though he was surveying the class, when really he was looking directly at Harry keeping an eye on his progress.
Draco also noticed, that when Severus would slide behind Harry’s seat to look at the potions in the row behind, he would touch Harry gently every time. It seemed to Draco that this was done as a reassurance of sorts, as though Harry needed the encouragement for doing the potion correctly. This brought Draco to wonder if Harry had taken private study with his godfather at some point; his abilities had vastly improved, plus Harry never even needed to look at the book when brewing a potion, he was on autopilot. Sadly, his reverie was cut at this point, when Severus swept into the room.
“You are to begin brewing your project potion today, to be completed before the next class.” When the class didn’t immediately jump to begin, Severus raised an eyebrow, “Well, what are you waiting for? BEGIN!” With this he sent Harry one of the small looks and turned to his desk. Harry smiled at Severus’ antics, thinking, ‘he’s not as scary as he would like to think.’ His small smile still in place, Harry turned to Draco.
“So which potion do you want to do?” Draco tilted his head slightly, pointing to the first one on the list, the most complex.
“I want to do this one.” Draco said, slightly arrogantly.
“I’ll get the ingredients then.” Harry said taking the paper and moving to the store cupboard to retrieve the supplies. When he returned Draco had their cauldron set up ready for brewing. Without so much as a single word to each other, the pair began their work. Each taking a portion of the ingredients and slicing, chopping, powdering, or skinning them to prepare for brewing.
Once all of the ingredients were ready, Draco watched in awe as Harry lined up each cup of prepared ingredients and slowly began adding them one by one. After each one Harry would nod slowly, stir a couple of times, then add the next. Once the last ingredient was added Harry turned to Draco and smiled.
“You want to sit while it boils? My arm is kind of tired.” Harry asked with a cute, honest little smile.
“Sure, how many times is it?” Draco asked as he took the ladle from Harry, jumping slightly when their fingers touched briefly.
“Umm…” Harry blushed faintly, now flustered. “You need to stir it forty five times a minute for ten minutes while it boils.” Harry answered looking down at the parchment the instructions were on, praying that his hair was properly covering his flushed face. Harry felt so embarrassed. The simplest, stupid little touch would make his body go haywire. Their hands had accidentally touched many times over the course of working on the project, and each time a jolt would rush through Harry’s body causing his heart to race and his cheeks to become rosy. It was bloody humiliating really. At that moment watching Draco stir their potion, Harry came to a decision, he needed to talk to Severus about strengthening the potion again. It wouldn’t do for Harry’s body to take over again because the bond was getting stronger, he wouldn’t just stand by and let that happen.
Carefully stirring the potion the exact amount of times a minute, Draco would steal quick glances over at Harry, most of the time only to find that Harry was watching him. Draco would smile softly at his mate, and laugh at the blush that would creep onto his cheeks as he looked away. Draco could feel the bond growing between them. Even though they had only been back at school for a little over a week, and Harry only found out about the bond on Sunday, Draco could feel the bond growing more intense. Draco noticed however, that this came at a price; it seemed that the stronger the bond became, the stronger Draco’s instincts became, thus Draco was having to take an extra potion to keep from attacking Harry every time that they were close together.
The bloodlust was becoming very hard for Draco to ignore. The more time that the two spent together working on the project, the more difficult the problem became. Not knowing what to do, not wanting to scare Harry by asking him for his blood, Draco went to talk to Severus just a few days ago. Cord was visiting him at the time, and the three of discussed the problem at hand.

“I don’t know what to do.” Draco said with a sigh.
“Why don’t you just tell him what’s going on, he is your mate Draco, he will understand.” Cord offered.
“Cordalina, you know that would merely scare him.” Severus stated flatly. “Harry wouldn’t take kindly to Draco just asking for what he needed. You know how Harry feels about ‘being used’ and that is how he would see it.”
“I’m doomed.” Draco cried, burying his face in his hands.
“It will be fine Draco. Just take an extra draft of potion before you spend time alone with him. It will help with the urges.” Severus instructed. He turned back to Cord, “When will Cloe be arriving?”
“She’ll get here Friday, after classes are finished.” Cord paused, a deep grin coming across her face. “Draco I have an idea on how to help you.” Her eyes turned from her father to lock on the blond, “Cloe can talk to him!”
“What? why would Cloe talking to him make any difference in my situation?” Draco asked.
“Because, my new friend, she is my bonded. Being such, she knows the position that Harry is in right now. She would be able to talk to him and explain in a comforting way that you need to have his blood to survive. She knows Harry even better than I, and knows the position that he is in right now, I think this could work.” Cord said with a laugh.

Draco knew he merely had to make it out of this class, and Cloe would be at the school. He didn’t know when she would talk to Harry, but from what he had heard about their friendship, it would probably be soon. Cord said that she had already sent an owl to her asking her to talk to Harry when she got here. Draco smiled to himself, he would get to have what he wanted soon enough.
The potion now completed and turned in, Harry and Draco left the dungeons for the great hall. That was the plan anyway, however there was one thing that wasn’t counted on. Harry reached the top of the stairs first, half a flight ahead of Draco, and immediately broke into a run across the entrance hall.
“CLOE!!!” Draco heard Harry’s excited voice call as he reached the top of the stairs just in time to see Harry enveloped in the arms of a violently purple haired girls arms.
“Painboy! How the hell are ya? You look like you are well.” Cloe responded, holding Harry at arms length, much the way Cord had done before.
“I’m fine, Cloe! How are you? You’re here early!?” Harry hugged himself close to the other girl again. Whispering softly, “I’m glad you’re here.”