How to Save a Life

Harry woke up the next morning feeling warm and relaxed. He let out a yawn and stretched lazily before snuggling back down into the warmth of Draco’s embrace. He gazed adoringly at his sleeping boyfriend. Cheeks flushed with sleep, dark lashes like smudges against his pale skin and usually perfect golden hair, splayed out in a messy fashion on the pillow beneath.

Harry always felt privileged to see Draco this way, so relaxed and carefree, his guard completely down. There was a childlike innocence to his sleeping face that sadly receded all too quickly upon waking.

As he nestled further into Draco’s body, Harry trailed his hand up and down the blonde’s naked torso, marvelling at how smooth his skin was. Harry was still amazed at how far he and Draco had come. That they could have gone from being loathed enemies to practically lovers in such a short space of time, was nothing short of miraculous. And Harry couldn’t help but wonder if, on some level, he had always had feelings for Draco. There was, after all, a thin line between love and hate.

Not too long ago, Harry had hated Draco. After everything that happened 6th year, especially Dumbledore’s death, Harry had wanted to do the blonde some serious physical harm. To have gone from that to where they were now, to what they had done last night, was amazing.

At the thought of the events of the previous night, Harry couldn’t help the furious blush that crept up his neck and spread over his cheeks. At the time, when he was caught up in the moment, it had seemed all perfectly natural and right. But now, in the cold light of day, it was all Harry could do not to cringe in embarrassment at his behaviour. Draco hadn’t seemed to mind at the time, but what would he think of Harry when he woke up and remembered.

Harry became painfully aware then, of how his naked body was wrapped around his boyfriend, his morning arousal already nudging against Draco’s thigh. He started to slowly edge away from the blonde, hoping he could be up and dressed before Draco awoke.

Harry had barely moved more than a couple of inches across the bed when the arm around his waist tightened considerably and an unmistakeable growl came from the direction of his boyfriend.

“Stop it.”

Harry looked up and found narrowed grey eyes fixed on him with a piercing gaze.

“Stop what?” he tried sounding innocent.

“Stop inching away from me like that. I know what you’re doing and you can just stop it.”

Draco’s voice was rough and scratchy from sleep and Harry couldn’t help but think how sexy he sounded.

“I was just getting up.”

“Harry, this is me you’re talking to, not one of your idiot Gryffindor friends.”

Harry protested at this comment initially but relented when it occurred to him that Draco may have a point. Over the years, no matter what was wrong with him, Harry would always answer any enquiry about his wellbeing with the standard answer ‘I’m fine’ and, with the possible exception of Hermione, everyone had just taken him at his word.

“Ok then, smart arse. Why don’t you tell me what I was doing, if you’re so insightful?”

Draco chuckled at this and placed a quick kiss on Harry’s pouting lips.

“Don’t sulk,” he admonished affectionately. “I don’t need to be particularly insightful to know what’s going on with you. You’re like an open book, your emotions are written all over your face for the world to see.”

Harry scowled and then quickly tried to rearrange his features into a neutral expression. Draco kissed him again.

“It’s not a bad thing, I rather like it. It’s part of your Gryffindor charm. You’d never have made a Slytherin though.”

Harry stuck out his chin defiantly at this. “I could have been a Slytherin if I wanted to.”

“Of course you could, Harry.”

Draco’s tone was slightly patronising and it spurred Harry into making a confession that he had never made to anyone other than Dumbledore before.

“I could. I would have been too, if I had just let the sorting hat put me where it wanted.”

Grey eyes widened in surprise and Draco’s mouth gaped slightly for a moment before he snapped it shut and smiled slightly.

“Only you would get away with telling the sorting hat what house to put you in.”

Harry just shrugged. “I didn’t exactly tell it where to put me, just where not to. All I could think was ‘not Slytherin’ over and over.”

“I suppose I should ask why, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I already know the answer. Or rather, that I am the answer.”

Harry kissed the tip of Draco’s nose, never tiring of the adorable way he scrunched it up in protest. “Well, you were an awful brat back then. You said horrible things about Hagrid, and then you made fun of Ron. Plus everything I had heard about Slytherin at that point was bad. I do wonder sometimes though, what it would have been like.”

Draco looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think we would have corrupted you. I much prefer your Gryffindor innocence.”

Harry flushed again at this. He had hardly behaved innocent the night before. If that was what Draco liked about him, what would he think now?
“And we’re back to that again,” Draco sighed. He wrapped his arms tightly around Harry and pulled him in close.

“To what?” Harry questioned, his body slightly tense as it pressed against Draco’s naked form.

“Back to you freaking out about last night.” Draco rolled Harry onto his back and raised himself on his elbows above him, so that he was looking down into his boyfriends face.

“Harry,” he began earnestly. “Last night was amazing. You were amazing. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about anything we did. I know this is all new to you, but it’s all perfectly normal, I promise.”

Harry wondered if his face could get any redder and he tried to turn his head away from Draco’s piercing gaze. Draco however, was having none of it. He took hold of Harry’s chin with one hand and quickly pulled his head back round, before capturing his boyfriend’s lips in a brief, sweet kiss.

“Last night, you were...well I’ve never been so turned on in all my life. And it wasn’t just the sex, although Merlin knows that was hot. It was that you trusted me enough to be that open and relaxed around me.”

Draco paused here and Harry noticed a slight pink tinge to his boyfriend’s cheeks before he continued speaking.

“I’ve never felt that connected to someone before. Please don’t turn it into something sordid, something to be ashamed of.”

Harry felt indescribable warmth spread through his chest at Draco’s words. Any feelings of shame he may have felt fled and they were replaced by an incredible feeling of love directed towards the blonde.

Harry wrapped one arm round Draco’s neck, toying with the wisps of hair at the nape. He tugged the blonde down until their lips met in a fierce kiss. Harry pressed his lips firmly against Draco’s, his tongue immediately seeking entrance to the velvety warmth of his boyfriend’s mouth. As Harry arched his body upwards, his erection pressing against Draco’s hip, the blonde moaned deep in his throat and then reluctantly pulled back from the embrace.

“If you keep that up, Harry, you’re going to get more than you bargained for.”

Harry grinned and rested his forehead against Draco’s for a moment, before pulling back, biting his lips nervously

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t mean to. It’s just that this is all new to me. Not just being gay, but the whole sex thing. Maybe that Gryffindor innocence thing isn’t so great after all.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the innocence, Harry. It’s part of your charm. You just need to relax and trust that I would...well, just trust me. Sex is perfectly natural, especially between two healthy, horny, teenage boys.” Draco gave a teasing roll of his hips, his body pressing against Harry’s growing erection. Harry let out a quiet whimper and thrust back eagerly. Draco only grinned and rolled off his boyfriend.

“We haven’t got time for that now, Harry. I have to get up and shower and you need to go back up to Gryffindor tower and give Blaise that cloak of yours so he can get out of there unseen.”

The pout that had crossed Harry’s face at the loss of contact with his boyfriend disappeared at this.

“Blaise is in the tower?”

Draco only nodded.

“Bloody hell, he’s brave. Ron will have a baby if he catches him.”

“Exactly, which is why you need to get back there and give him your cloak. As much fun as it would be to see the Weasel give birth, we aren’t supposed to be antagonising him at the moment.”

Draco slid out of bed and quickly tugged on a pair of pyjama pants. He looked down at Harry, spread naked on the bed, his arousal jutting forth. “You might want to take a cold shower while you’re at it. And don’t take too long, I want to get to Hogsmeade early. We’ve got a long day of shopping ahead of us.”

With that, Draco turned and headed towards the bathroom, grinning to himself at the sound of Harry’s groan of protest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry had hurried back up to Gryffindor tower and was greeted by a much relieved Neville and Blaise. He had handed over his invisibility cloak, along with several threats of bodily harm if anything befell his family heirloom. Blaise only gave him a grateful smile and then disappeared from view.

Harry took Draco’s advice and had a cold shower. Unfortunately it did very little to dampen the enthusiasm that his boyfriend had started. Now that he was feeling much more relaxed about the previous nights activities, Harry had no problem with replaying the events in his mind as he leisurely gave himself release.

Realising that he had made himself serious late for breakfast, Harry quickly towelled himself down and made his way over to the wardrobe. He thought, with a brief flash of longing, of the old days, when he would have been able to pull any old thing on. It was different now. Firstly, he had such a wide selection of clothes to choose from, and secondly, he now had a boyfriend who would, in all probability, send him back up to change. That, or refuse to be seen in public with him.

Running a hand through his still damp hair, Harry cast a quick look out of the window to check on the weather. There was a definite frost and the grey skies were full of the promise of further snow. Pulling on a pair of black, boot cut jeans; he then selected a long sleeved white t-shirt (which Draco had approved of only because of the large black Dragon print on it,) and red zip up hoodie. As he went to cram his feet into his trusty trainers, Harry thought of the weather and opted instead for the sturdy black leather boots that Draco had insisted he buy.

A quick glance at his watch told him that he would be lucky if Draco was still waiting for him, never mind eat breakfast. Grabbing his bag, scarf and winter cloak, he hurried out of the dormitory and down to the Entrance Hall.

Fortunately, Draco was still waiting for him. Unfortunately, he was tapping his foot impatiently and had a scowl firmly in place.

“You’re late!” he accused. “I could have sworn I told you earlier not to be. You’ve missed breakfast now.” Draco glared and thrust out his hand which held several slices of toast wrapped in a napkin.

“Here, take this. Pansy’s got some fruit for after, if you’re still hungry.”

Pansy grinned and stepped forward, linking her arm through Harry’s.

“You really should know better than to come between a Malfoy and his love of shopping, Harry. Shame on you.”

Harry chuckled softly and leaned forward to take the proffered toast off Draco.

“Thanks. I’m sorry I was late.”

“Have a good wank, did you?” Draco whispered, an amused smirk on his face. Harry flushed a little before returning the smirk with interest.

“Yes, thanks, it was amazing.”

Draco looked momentarily shocked at Harry’s confession before his features slid into a slight leer.

“You’ll have to give me an action replay later.”

Harry looked like he was considering this for a moment before replying. “Maybe, but I was thinking that maybe this time you could show me.”

Draco raised an eyebrow at this before a broad grin broke over his face, and Harry couldn’t help but feel like the sun had come out.

“Let’s see if you can be a good boy today. Maybe then you’ll get a reward.”

Harry elbowed him for this. “Git,” he muttered, unable to hide the affection in his tone.

“Your git,” Draco amended, “And you know you love it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the group of friends had travelled the short distance to Hogsmeade, their day had already been planned out for them by Draco in a manner reminiscent of a military style operation.

Although Harry was initially disappointed that he wasn’t going to get to spend the whole day with his boyfriend, after seeing the almost fanatical gleam that lit up the blondes eyes, that emotion was swiftly replaced with relief. Both Neville and Harry chuckled unsympathetically at the pleading look Blaise shot at them over his shoulder as Draco marched him off in the direction of the shops.

“I don’t know what you two are standing round laughing like idiots for. You only have two hours, so I suggest you get moving.”

The two Gryffindors shifted guiltily at having been caught out and nodded their compliance to Draco. Neville later confided to Harry that he had felt an overwhelming urge to salute at the time.

Pansy had disappeared off with the rest of the Slytherin girls from their year, stating firmly that she was in no way crazy enough to attempt shopping with Draco at this time of year.

“C’mon, we’d better get a move on.” Harry tugged on Neville’s sleeve.

“Yeah, we’ve only got two hours. Unless you’re feeling brave enough to run late?”

Harry gave a mock shudder at this. “Hardly. You’ve seen how he is. I ‘d rather face Voldemort again first.”

“He is rather scary, isn’t he? I’m all for being organised, but this is just...You realise he probably has you scheduled in for sex later!”

“Neville!” Harry looked shocked for a brief moment before joining his friend in his giggles.

The conversation died off then as they found themselves at the door to Scrivenshaft’s. After some minutes spent browsing, Harry settled on a Phoenix feather quill and silver filigree inkwell for Hermione, and Neville purchased one similar for his Gran.

Next on the list was Honeydukes, where Harry purchased an obscene amount of chocolate, confident in the knowledge that Draco would love at least one of his gifts.

“Trying to sweeten him up?” Neville enquired in amusement when Harry emerged laden with boxes.

“He’s sweet enough already,” Harry returned smugly.

Neville looked at him thoughtfully for a moment. “I never thought I’d say this about Malfoy, but I think you’re right. Seeing him with you, he’s like a whole other person. Plus, I don’t suppose the fact that he is hopelessly smitten with you hurts.”

“Neville,” Harry protested, blushing furiously.

“What? Oh, Harry, come on. Anyone who’s seen the two of you together knows it.”

“It’s that obvious?” Harry asked in a panicked whisper.

“Not all the time,” Neville reassured. “But anyone who’s seen the pair of you snuggled up together would have to be blind not to notice.” Neville stopped then, realising that Harry was no longer at his side. He turned and found that the other boy was a standing a few paces behind with a slightly dazed expression on his face.

Neville closed the distance between them and grabbed Harry’s arm.

“C’mon mate, get with it. We’ve only got just over an hour left and I still have all of Blaise’s presents to get.”

Harry allowed his friend to lead him in the direction of Gladrags without further protest.

“Do you really think he loves me?” For the life of him, Harry couldn’t keep the hopeful tone out of his voice.

Neville rolled his eyes. “Yes, I do. C’mon, Harry, short of him wearing a t-shirt that says ‘I love Harry Potter’ he couldn’t make it more obvious.”

“Well, he’s never said it.”

“Have you?”

“No,” Harry admitted reluctantly.

“Well, there you are then. One of you is going to have to go first.”

“So why does it have to be me?” Harry muttered, mutinously.

“It doesn’t have to be,” Neville admitted slowly. “But you’re the Gryffindor of the relationship. Rushing in headfirst, heedless of consequences, that’s what we do best, isn’t it?”

Getting no reply from Harry, he continued. “Slytherins are more cautious by nature. Plus there’s that whole ‘Malfoy upbringing’ that he has to overcome. He was raised to believe emotions are weakness and you don’t just get over that overnight.”

“How do you know that?” Harry was curious now.

“Blaise told me.” Neville admitted with a shrug. “Just tell him how you feel, Harry. I guarantee you he feels the same.”

The ringing of the bell as they opened the door to Gladrags heralded the end of that conversation, but Harry found he couldn’t get it out of his head for the remainder of the day.

He quickly purchased the next part of Draco’s Christmas gift and then waited patiently while Neville browsed the racks in search of something for his boyfriend. Eventually, Neville settled on a pair of black Dragon hide boots and Harry waited outside for him as he went to pay.

“Do you think he’ll like them?” Neville asked upon exiting the shop.

“Course he will. They’ll go with those leather trousers he’s so fond of wearing.”

“Yeah, I guess. He does rather like leather, doesn’t he?” Neville had a slightly apprehensive look on his face as he made this statement.

“You’re not a fan then?” Harry asked, confused by his friends expression.

“Oh, it’s not that,” Neville answered quickly. “I think they look great on him. It’s just I have an awful feeling that he’s planning to get me a pair for Christmas and I don’t think I’ll be able to carry them off quite as well.”

Harry ran an appraising eye over his friend’s body. “Oh I don’t know, Neville. I think they’ll look good on you. You’ve got quite a nice arse.”

“Harry, you can’t say things like that,” Neville spluttered in surprise. Harry just grinned, pleased that for once it wasn’t his face that was red with embarrassment.

“No, Harry, you can’t say things like that. There’s only one arse you should be admiring, and that’s mine.”

Harry span round at these words and found a pair of narrowed grey eyes glaring at him. He stepped forward, ignoring the sniggers that came from both Blaise and Neville.

“You know I didn’t mean anything by it, don’t you?” His tone was almost pleading and Draco took pity on him.

“Of course I do, you idiot. But that still doesn’t mean I want you looking at Longbottom’s arse. All you have to do is ask nicely and I’ll show you mine.” Draco tried for a lascivious look, but it was ruined by the shiver that ran through him.

“You’re cold,” Harry accused. “You shouldn’t be standing around outside like this, you’ll catch your death.” Harry was vaguely aware that he sounded like his Aunt Petunia did when she was fussing over Dudley, but Draco shivered again and the thought vanished.

“Here, put this on.” Harry unhooked his scarf and tying it securely round Draco’s neck.

“Harry, that’s a Gryffindor scarf you’re putting on me.”

“Huh? So?” Harry looked up from his hands which were currently settling the ends of said scarf against Draco’s robes.

“No reason,” Draco answered, a smile on his face. Then his eyes widened as he caught sight of the bags that Harry was clutching.

“Are those for me?” he asked, trying to peer into the Gladrags bag. Harry swatted him on the arm.

“Never you mind. Now get inside where it’s warm.”

“Fine,” Draco huffed, one hand opening the shop door. “You’ve got half an hour left. Don’t be late again.” With that, he turned and disappeared into the store, his cloak billowing impressively behind him.

“Is it just me,” Neville began uncertainly. “Or did that remind you of...”

“Snape,” Harry finished for him. “Yeah, I’ve noticed it a couple of times. I’m not really sure if it’s a Slytherin thing or if Draco just got private lessons.”

Neville began chuckling quietly and Harry looked at him questioningly.

“Sorry,” he said, between chuckles. “I was just imagining what Snape’s reaction would be to you and Draco being together.”

The thought of his old Professor’s reaction was enough to have Harry join Neville in a fit of laughter which lasted several minutes and had tears running down his face.

There followed a quick visit to Quality Quidditch Supplies, where Harry purchased a new pair of keeper’s gloves for Ron and, as an afterthought, added a pair of seeker gloves for Draco. They then made a brief stop off at Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, where both boys invested in a selection of products for their roommate’s amusement.

As they bid farewell to George, Harry cast an apprehensive glance at his watch, which revealed they had precisely two minutes to make it to the Three Broomsticks without being hexed, Slytherin style!

“We’re going to have to make a run for it.” Harry informed Neville, as he ensured he had a secure grip on all his packages.

The door to the pub had barely slammed shut behind them before a clock could be heard chiming noon. Harry looked up and saw Draco stood at the bar, smirking at him.

“See,” he drawled. “I knew you could tell the time if you really tried. Longbottom, make yourself useful and help me carry these drinks over to our table.”

Neville complied without complaint and Harry followed behind, lugging his shopping. He sank gratefully into a seat alongside Pansy, relieved that the shopping was over for now at least.

“You’ve been busy,” Pansy said, indicting his bags.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed with a rueful smile. He looked round the table and noticed a distinct lack of other bags.

“Where’s all your stuff, Dray? There’s no way you’ve just spent two hours shopping and bought nothing.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Harry. And you call yourself a wizard.” A quick flick of his wand shrunk Harry’s purchases so that they all fit snugly inside the smallest of his bags.

Harry felt himself colour as Draco drawled. “You can take the boy from the muggles, but you can’t take the muggle from the boy.” The others grinned at this and Harry tried to decide whether to be offended or not. Before he could make his mind up, his attention was drawn elsewhere.

“Who are those drinks for?” he asked.

“What drinks?” Draco answered, an innocent tone to his voice that always spelled guilt to Harry.

“Those two there. There are five of us at this table and you bought seven Butterbeers.”

This grabbed the attention of the others and indicated to Harry that, whatever was going on, they knew as much about it as he did.

“Oh, those drinks,” Draco replied, infuriating Harry by calmly admitted what he had just tried to deny. “We’re expecting guests.”

Before Harry could enquire any further, two figures paused at the edge of their table and a stilted voice spoke.

“Malfoy.”

“Weasley, Granger, take a seat, please.”

As Harry’s mouth hung open, Ron and Hermione slid into the seats opposite and began making small talk. Ron mainly stuck to Neville, although Harry noticed him shoot the occasional wary glance at Draco, who seemed to be chatting quite pleasantly to Hermione.

Wondering if he had somehow stumbled into a parallel universe, Harry looked up and found Pansy grinning at him. She reached over, placed her fingers on his chin and tipped his mouth shut. This action drew the others attention to him.

“Are you ok, Harry?” Hermione asked, all concern. “Only you seem very quiet.”

“Uh...um...yes, it’s...I’m fine. What are you doing here?” He blurted out. Amused looks appeared on the faces of the others at his obvious confusion.

“Now, Harry,” Draco chastised, as if speaking to a small child. “As eloquent as that was, that’s no way to welcome our guests. Granger and the Weas...Weasley are here because I invited them to join us.”

Harry sat still with a slightly stunned expression on his face. Not sure what surprised him most. That Draco would voluntarily spend time with Ron and Hermione, or that Ron hadn’t responded to Draco’s ‘Weasel’ slip. Of course, he reflected, that could have something to do with the vice like grip that Hermione currently had on his hand.

Several plates of sandwiches were ordered, which Draco insisted on paying for. Ron protested this initially, but relented when he realised that the Slytherin was simply being polite, rather than attempting a slur on the Weasleys financial situation.

As they munched their way through lunch, Harry leant back in his seat and watched his friends interact, something he had doubted he would ever see. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the shocked look on Hermione’s face when Blaise offered her the use of his muggle hair straighteners. Instead of taking offence at what could have been an implied insult to her hair, she eagerly accepted the offer and then grilled Pansy intensely on the charm she had used to get muggle appliances to work in the magical atmosphere of Hogwarts.

What amazed him most was the conversation that was currently going on between Ron and Draco. The two boys had managed to find common ground somewhere between Quidditch and chess, and as long as they stuck to those safe topics, they seemed to be getting on fine.

Draco slid his hand over onto Harry’s knee and took hold of the hand that was resting there. Lacing their fingers together, he gave a squeeze and leaned over to whisper to his boyfriend.

“You ok?” Truth be told, Draco was a little concerned by how quiet Harry had been.

Harry nodded and managed a brief reply. “I’m fine. Thanks for this.” He gave Draco’s hand a tight squeeze and wished more than anything that he could throw his arms round the blonde and show him just how grateful he was.

Harry made up his mind that come the New Year, he was going to tell Ron and Hermione about him and Draco. They had all managed to act like civilised adults today, so maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he feared.

Lunch was soon over and the friends went their separate ways. Harry and Draco left the others and went off to do the rest of their shopping. After some discussion, they had decided that they would buy certain presents between them, a fact which had pleased Harry no end, making him feel like part of a real couple.

They firstly headed back to Gladrags where, after much deliberation on Draco’s part (and very little input on Harry’s) they finally selected a new pair of dress robes for Pansy. When it was all wrapped and paid for, Draco turned to Harry, only to find that he had wandered off. He eventually tracked him down at the back of the store, admiring a leather jacket.

“Very nice, Harry. Are you thinking of getting that?”

“I was thinking of buying it for George. I want to get him something nice.”

Draco reached out and turned over the price tag. “It’s rather a lot to be spending on a Weasley.”

Harry shot him a warning look. “You should be a bit more grateful to him, Draco. If it wasn’t for George, I wouldn’t have figured out I liked boys, and then where would you be.”

“Miserable,” Draco answered honestly. “I’ll tell you what; we’ll get it between us. It seems I have as much reason to be grateful to him as you do.”

Harry smiled warmly at his boyfriend and wished for the hundredth time that day that he could be more open in his affection to him. The jacket was paid for and Draco promptly dragged Harry out of the shop and in the direction of Jouet’s Toy store.

Harry took much more interest in the shopping process in this store, much to Draco’s amusement. They purchased a toy broom for Teddy Lupin, along with a wide array of cuddly toys that Draco had insisted all children needed.

There was a quick stop at the apothecary where Draco picked up a number of lotions and potions that he claimed were for his mother, though Harry had a sneaking suspicion that a lot of them were for his own beauty purposes.

Their final stop of the day was in a small jewellery store that was just off the main street. Again, Harry was of little use when it came to selecting an appropriate gift for Andromeda. Draco eventually settled on a pair of simple diamond studs, explaining to Harry that you couldn’t go far wrong with diamonds when it came to women. As an afterthought he also purchased a similar stud for Blaise, though Harry hadn’t even noticed that the Italian boy had his ear pierced.

Their shopping done for the day, Harry heaved a sigh of relief. Shopping with Draco hadn’t actually been as bad as he had been led to believe. Although, having seen his boyfriend’s extravagance when it came to gift buying, Harry was now seriously reconsidering his choice of presents for the blonde. The only problem was that the holidays started in less than two weeks and he wouldn’t have an opportunity to return to Hogsmeade before then.

He mentioned his concerns to Draco who assured him that they would make time to visit Diagon Alley before Christmas, and Harry had to be satisfied with that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening, in the Slytherin common room, Draco was sat in his usual seat, with Pansy and Blaise draped on the sofa next to him.

“You’re looking very thoughtful, Draco. Something on your mind?”

Draco looked over at Blaise and nodded slowly. “I was just thinking. Harry wants to go into Diagon Alley to do some more shopping before Christmas.”

“You mean an afternoon shopping with you hasn’t scarred him for life,” Pansy interjected.

Draco fixed her with a baleful glare and she subsided quickly.

“So what’s the plan then?” asked Blaise, returning Draco to the conversation.

“Well, I was planning on floo’ing up there for the day. But the more I think about it, I think we should go there straight off the Hogwarts Express. We could book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron and stay overnight.”

He had caught both his friend’s attention with this suggestion and they were nodding enthusiastically.

“You could take us to one of these muggle clubs that you are always raving about, Blaise.”

The Italian boy grinned, “Sure. But you won’t know what’s hit you.”

Draco dismissed this with a wave of his hand. “You can invite Longbottom along too,” he added generously.

“Are you going to invite Granger and the Weasel?” Pansy wanted to know, still a little shocked at his earlier largesse.

“No,” Draco answered. “They don’t know about me and Harry and I refuse to keep my hands to myself just so I don’t offend their delicate sensibilities.”

“So that’s what this is all about,” Blaise grinned. “A last chance to jump Harry before your mother puts you in separate beds.”

“Must you be so vulgar, Blaise.” Draco snapped. “This is not about me jumping Harry; we haven’t even had sex yet.”

It was hard to tell who was most shocked by this confession. Blaise and Pansy, that Draco had managed to curb his well renowned libido so well, or Draco, who had had no intention of making such a statement and was currently horrified at the slip.

“Wow, that’s a shocker!” Blaise looked, frankly, stunned by his friends revelation. “I didn’t even get a date out of you before you had me in bed.”

“That’s different,” Pansy sniffed. “Draco’s in love with Harry. I think it’s romantic.”

“Pansy...” Draco began warningly, trying to ignore the sniggers coming from Blaise’s direction.

“What? Oh come on Draco. It’s not like the whole of Slytherin doesn’t know that you’re smitten with him. There’s practically birds’ singing over your heads when you’re together. I don’t know why you’re so embarrassed. I think it’s adorable.”

“That’s exactly why I don’t want it becoming common knowledge. It would ruin my reputation. Need I remind you that Malfoy’s are not adorable? By right’s, I should have shagged him senseless by now.”

“But you haven’t and that’s why it’s so sweet. I never thought I would see the day when Draco Malfoy waited patiently for someone to be ready.”

“Pansy, I would be grateful if I don’t hear the words, sweet, adorable or, Merlin forbid, cute, come out of your mouth for the rest of the evening. Now can we change the subject please and forget all about what I just said. Or do I need to start obliviating?”

Noticing the warning glint in their friend’s eyes, both Blaise and Pansy nodded their agreement to his request and quickly fell into planning their overnight trip to Diagon Alley, careful to avoid all reference to Draco and Harry, and anything to do with their sex life.


~~o0o~~