Tag! You\'re it!

Author(s) notes: Sorry it\'s taking so long bet pos posts. My co-author and I are both getting swamped with work, seeing as we only have 23 days (not including weekends) left in our High School careers. We each only have 2 major classes and are together in 1 of them, that\'s where we write the fic (besides through e-mail). I hope to get another post up this next Sunday, seeing as you all have been so patient with us. That\'s all for now. Till next time...


Viva La Slashy!!!!!

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**********Draco\'s POV**********

He punched me. He actually punched me. I can’t believe he punched me! I was literally hit out of my shock as the fifth or sixth blow landed on my face. I pushed him off me, he was disoriented enough that he rolled back onto his and stared at me in shock. Shock that I had pushed him off and shock that he’d broken my nose, split my lip and busted me open above my left eye. I would venture to guess that Professor Snape has more attractive things floating in jars than my face right now.

“Well…” I said as I stood up. “Seems like I know where you stand. My stand hasn’t changed. On any subject.” I continued after spitting out a mouthful of blood, “now, if you’ll excuse me. I have to go see Pomfrey. Was there anything else you wanted to add?”

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I was still on the ground and staring up at him. His hair was mussed and sticking out at odd angles. His face and neck were flushed a slight pink. My eyes traveled over the wounds I had created. Lastly, I looked at his split lip. His mouth was swollen and red. I was finally able to wretch my gaze up to his eyes and saw that he was staring at me with a quirked eyebrow.

“I, er, no. I mean, uh,” was my reply to his inquiry.

I looked back to his lips and experienced a momentary lapse of sanity. My body moved of its own accord and I found myself movingard ard those bruised lips. Suddenly, or so it seemed, I was standing with my mouth centimeters from his. Then my body chose that moment to freeze. I moved neither forward nor backward. I just stood there gazing into orbs of astonished silver-blue. I was poised on the brink of complete lunacy or absolute bliss… I wasn’t sure which.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

Not wanting to do anything that would get myself hit again, I didn\'t move forward to kiss him. Trying desperately to ignore the hot puffs of breath against my face I swallowed before attempting to speak.

\"You mean what?\" I swiped my tongue across my lips to collect the blood that was still dripping out of my nose and collecting on my lips.

**********Harry\'s POV**********

He said something, I knew he had. However, my senses seemed to be going haywire and I couldn’t repeat his words if my life depended on it. My hearing and eyesight weren’t working quite properly. And my sense of smell and touch seemed magnified. I could smell the lake and the damp ground. But overpowering every other scent was Malfoy. He smelled of vanilla and vaguely like coconut. I could feel his robes brush my hand, feel his breath, his lips...

Oh, shit. It was happening again. However, it was different this time... I, Harry Potter, had instigated a kiss with Draco Malfoy. Dammit.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

He’s kissing me...

And I’m wincing. Ow! Damn split lip. Just had to go and ruin the fucking moment didn’t it? Does God hate me or something?!?

“Sorry,” I said when I regretfully pulled back. “Guess I got to go see Madam Pomfrey before we can continue this.”

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I felt an irrational jolt of pleasure knowing that I’d hurt him. I guess it was just my way of coping with my appalling actions. The satisfaction I received from causing him pain told me that I hadn’t completely lost my mind. The hate still burned strong, and for that I was thankful.

After Malfoy left for the hospital wing, I stayed in the gazebo to examine the last 24 hours. I went over the facts: 1. Malfoy organizes a surprise ‘date’ 2. He’d turned against Voldemort 3. He claims to love me 4. He’d kissed me twice 5. I kissed him once 6. I still hate him

Those where the cold, hard facts. I could accept these things. I may not like them all, but acceptance was possible. However, I still had questions. The biggest question being: Did he really defect? Well, that was easy enough to find out; I could just ask Dumbledore. Then there was the mystery of why I had kissed him. I could blame it osanisanity, but that wasn’t it.

I then proceeded to break down fact number 5. a) I like boys b) Malfoy certainly wasn’t ugly c) I have a thing for blondes d) I like vanilla and coconuts

Dammit, I thought. This analysis wasn’t getting me anywhere! I was starting to sound like Hermione. Next, I’d be making lists of pros and cons and color-coding them.

No, what I needed was to go into Action-Mode. I’ve always been something of an amateur detective, it was time to put those skills to use. Now that I had a plan of action, I felt much better. I left the lakeside and headed for the kitchens intending to interrogate Dobby and extract very bit of information about Malfoy the house-elf possessed. And that would only be step one...

**********Draco\'s POV**********

After spending three hours trying to convince Comadaunt Broomhilda to stop asking who hit me and just fix my damn face, I went to the one place where I could think. The room behind the tapestry of Zeter the Goblin Leader. I told him that he\'d know where to find me. Let\'s wait and see what happens. The ball is in his court now. I just hope he doesn\'t pop it....

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I stood in the dim corridor outside the kitchens and reached up to tickle the portrait pear. It give a giggle and swung open. I stepped inside and was greeted by a sudden silence. As soon as the house-elves paused, they rushed into motion again. A group of tea towel wearing elves sped over to me and offered food and refreshments.

“Eh, no thanks.” Even after years of visiting the kitchens, I still wasn’t used to their eagerness to serve.

“Harry Potter had come to see Dobby!” A brightly colored blur collided with my legs and hugged them.

I extracted Dobby from my legs and got a good look at him. He wore Ron’s old maroon Weasley sweater, a livid green tea cozy atop his head and a pair of light blue soccer shorts. I also recognized Uncle Vernon’s dreadful old sock.

“I did come to see you. I have some questions to ask you.” The elf looked thrilled. “Now Dobby, what can you tell me about Draco Malfoy?”

A horrified expression spread across Dobby’s face. His tennis ball shaped eyes flitted around the room and fell on an expensive looking platter. He grabbed it and began beating himself with it. “Dobby doesn\'t,” whack! “like to think,” whack! “about his old,” whack! “Masters!”

There was a brief scuffle as I wrestled the platter away from him. “Come on Dobby, you don’t work for them any more. You can say anything you like about them.”

“Dobby knows that, Harry Potter. He does. But they is not pleasant memories I have of my service.” The house-elf looked tearful.

“I know they were awful to you, but will you please tell me? This is important.” Dobby gave a small nod. “Good. Now, did Malfoy tell you where to get Gillyweed during the Triwizard Tournament?”

Dobby frantically reached for the platter I was holding. “Master Draco said never to tell.”

Ah, so Malfoy had helped his former servant. “It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me about that.” Dobby heaved a huge sigh of relief. “How did he treat you when you worked for the Malfoys?”

“Master Draco liked to use us house-elves for practice,” he whispered.

Malfoy is an evil bastard, I knew it! “You mean he used to practice curses on you?”

The elf gave me an incredulous look. “Students isn’t supposed to do magic away from school. Dobby thought Harry Potter knew this.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess I did know that. Well, then what did he practice?”

Dobby beckoned me closer and whispered, “baking.”

“Baking?!”

“Master Draco likes to cook. It is gravely insulting to cook for a house-elf, it is like saying we isn’t capable. But he made Dobby and the others test the things he prepared.” The house-elves who had overheard the exchange gave Dobby disgusted looks.

“Okay... But did he do anything else to you?”

Dobby shook his head and said, “Dobby was Master Malfoy’s personal house-elf. Dobby wasn’t much around Master Draco.”

I didn’t think I’d get much more out of him, so I said, “Thank you Dobby. You’ve been a big help. I think I’ll buy you another pair of socks.” He tried to hide his pleasure from the other house-elves who where giving him dirty looks.

“Come see Dobby again soon, Harry Potter!”

With that I turned and left the kitchens.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

As the day crawled on, I thought about how different my life was going to become after it became known that I had defected. How many of my friends would still stand by me when all the dust had settled? Well, for starters, I should probably figure out who my real friends are... I retrieved some parchment and a quill, sat at the desk in the room and wrote down the names of everyone in Slytherin House.

I circled those few (I always thought there would be more of them if I ever actually did this, well that’s disappointing...) who I considered my friends. Starting at the youngest and working my way up to the oldest, crossing out the names of those whose families had no connection to the Death Eaters (That weren’t circled, because crossing them out would be stupid.). I went back through the list, placing a mark by those who were already lined up to receive the Dark Mark, or were heavy Voldemort supporters. Of them, I trimmed down the list by crossing out those that weren’t any real threat. I put a mark (A different one than the supporters were marked with, we’ve already covered the fact that I’m not stupid.) next to the few on the list that did not support Voldemort, it doesn’t really matter if it’s public knowledge or not.

I looked back over my list and read the names that weren’t marked as supporters. There were only five circled names remaining. Already in order of importance.

1. Blaise ‘Lass’ Zabini. My cousin on my father’s side, we’re more like brothers than cousins.

2. Pansy ‘Butter-Cup’ Parkinson. She secretly loves the nickname she outwardly claims to hate. I was betrothed to her, but not any more. She’s with Gregory now.

3. Gregory ‘Greg-O’ Goyle. A lot smarter than he acts. He’s a wiz at History of Magic, he re-teaches the classes for us (the five and me) so we actually learn it, instead of just catching some Z’s in Professor Binn’s class.

4. Vincent ‘Vinny-Mak’ Crabbe. Like Gregory, he’s really smart. He’s good at Transfiguration too. Helps us with the wand movements McGonagall always does too fast to see.

5. Millicent ‘Millie’ Bulstrode. Really good at Care of Magical Creatures. Teaches us more than “Professor” Hagrid doesat’sat’s for sure. Asked Vincent out at the end of last year and have been together since.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Prince of Slytherin is reduced to only having five people I can depend on and trust. If the other Slytherins decide to start something I’ll have a small chance of getting out alive, but I’d still be fucked.

I laid the paper on my lap as I sat in one of the chairs facing the fireplace. The same one I crawled into last night. I started a fire in the hearth and stared into it lost in my own thoughts. I fell asleep in the chair, and that was how I was found by Harry later that afternoon

**********Harry\'s POV**********

Dobby had provided a few bits of information, but nothing conclusive. I needed to know more and my best bet for enlightenment was Dumbledore. After leaving the kitchens, I headed to the Headmaster’s office. I stood in front of that fucking gargoyle statue listing off every sweet I’d ever heard of for fifteen minutes. Before I was able to discover the correct password, McGonagall found me and demanded to know what I wanted with the Headmaster. I had no choice but to give up and leave. I mean, what could I have said? “Oh, I was just going to ask Dumbledore if Malfoy had really defected and if he actually loves me.” Yeah, that would go over really well.

I wandered the castle for a time trying to decide my next move. I was nearing the Charms corridor when I realized I had just passed the tapestry of Zeter the Goblin Leader. What the hell, I thought, might as well check out the scene of the crime. I retraced my steps and slipped passed the tapestry.

I was surprised to see a fire blazing in the hearth. I was even more surprised to hear a soft snore. I walked further into the room and discovered Malfoy curled up in an armchair before the fire. It seemed odd that he would snore, however softly. It was just so... normal.

I stood there examining him. His cuts and bruises had been expertly healed and no sign of the beating I had given him could be seen. He looked years younger. Sleep had taken away his calculated expressions and arrogant stance. He looked... frail, innocent even. Some hair had fallen across his eyes and I leaned forward to brush it back. As my finger tips touched his forehead, he shifted slightly. He curled up more tightly and wrapped his arms around himself.

I backed away and pulled another chair in front of his. I sat down and studied him further. I tried to imagine him wearing an apron and having a dusting of flour on his nose. The image just wouldn’t come. I just couldn’t picture Malfoy baking. I sat there for a long while just thinking and starring at him. I should go find Ron and Hermione, I realized, I should ask them what they think of this whole mess. But I didn’t move, I stayed where I was lost in thought and watching Draco.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

I woke up, but kept my eyes closed. I got the felling that I was being watched. I listened closely and could hear whoever it was muttering to themselves. Something about socks and baking... Strange. I recognized the voice though. Harry...

I slowly opened my eyes to see him watching me, but it didn\'t seem like he realized I was awake. I watched him for a few moments, before his eyes seemed to refocus and register the fact that I was awake.

Harry let out a high pitched, almost girlish shriek as he tumbled out of the chair. I bit the inside of my cheek as to prevent myself from laughing at both the shriek and the look on his face as he sat there sprawled on the floor.

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I sat there mentally going over what I knew of the sleeping boy. After a string of unpleasantly adjectives came to mind (arrogant, vain, condescending, etc.), I tried to think of some of his better quantities. My first thought was, Well, he has a nice ass.

As soon as this thought passed through my head, I realized he was staring back at me. I let out manly yell (which wasn’t anything like a girlish shriek) and fell out of my chair. He looked like he was trying not to laugh and I frantically wondered if he knew what I had been thinking.

I stared at him and waited for him to mock me for having such thoughts about his posterior. When no such comment came and he just stared at me, I shifted and winced
at the twinge of pain I felt. My ass was really hurting from the hard fall.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

“Are you alright?” I asked. He gaped at me instead of answering, he finally gave up and just nodded. I uncurled and stood up to stretch (almost like a cat), my t-shirt rode up my torso as I did so.

I walked over to him and offered him a hand up. All he did was stare at it. I didn’t even notice that the paper that had been on my lap had fallen to the floor.

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I was just beginning to regain my senses as he stood up. And then I promptly lost them again as I glimpsed a small expanse of exposed skin as he stretched. His torso was even paler than the rest of him. It didn’t appear to have ever seen the sun. In my slightly dazed state, I wondered if it might glow in the dark.

He offered me his hand and I just stared at it. I was afraid to touch him, as if his touch might affect me in some intangible way. So I just sat there looking at his manicured nails and wishing my ass didn’t hurt so much.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

I folded my hand back and lowered my arm. Obviously the only time he wants to touch me is to throttle me. Fist + face = ow, pain. The thought of him taking pleasure from pain hurt me down to my soul. I tried to keep it out of my eyes, but I’m not sure I succeeded. I went back to the chair and sat down facing him.

**********Harry\'s POV**********

I composed myself as best as I could and slowly stood up. Have I mentioned that my ass hurt really bad? Yes well, it did. When I was finally on my feet, I looked up to see the Slytherin watching me. His eyes held a peculiar shine of some hidden emotion and I felt them drilling into me.

The silence stretched and I searched for something to say, something, anything, to explain why I had been watching him sleep. When I came up with nothing, I chose a different course of conversation.

“So, um, I spoke with Dobby.” He arched an eyebrow at me and I hastened to continue. “He didn’t tell me much, but...eh...” I trailed off, not knowing where I was going with this. What should I say next? ‘Know any good soufflé recipes?’

Once again, silence filled the room.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

“And what did he tell you?” I replied. He didn’t believe me. Not like I really expected him to, but still...

**********Harry\'s POV**********

This wasn’t going well. I had no idea what to say and I desperately wanted to escape from the suddenly overpowering aroma of vanilla. I decided to answer his question and make my escape.

“He told me you helped him with the gillyweed. Well, he didn’t really say it straight out, but I know you helped him.” I said this all very quickly and took a deep breath. “I’m, uh... I’m gunna go.” With that, I strode toward the exit.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

\"So that\'s it? I\'m that bad to be around? Granted, I was an arse in the past but... That\'s exactly what it is. The past. Can\'t you give me a second chance? And I know Dobby said more than that, he always said more than he means to.\" I don\'t care what anyone else says... I was not begging and/or pleading... Just asking a few questions... And if you actually believe that, then I\'m the Muggle Queen of England...

**********Harry\'s POV**********

The pleading tone in his voice made me freeze in mid stride. I frowned at the tapestry for a moment before turning around to face him again. He was peering over the back of his chair and, for only an instant, wore a pained expression. The Malfoy Mask was back in place before I could make out what that look might mean.

“Look, Malfoy, I don’t know what you want. You’ve always been an arse and now you suddenly just... just...” Just what? Just have to come near me and I turn into a jabbering fool? “just change? You\'ll have to forgive me if I have a hard time accepting it,” I added dryly.

**********Draco\'s POV**********

I stood up and faced him, \"But won\'t you even give me a chance? Am I that bad, that you can only fathom kissing me after you\'ve beaten my face in?\" I could feel myself running out of steam, I sat back down and faced the fire once more, when I spoke again it was only just above a whisper, \"Do you hate me that much?\"

**********Harry\'s POV**********

In my head I screamed Yes! I hate you with every fiber of my being! I hate your family, I hate your arrogance, I hate you for making me so angry, so confused. I hate you! And yet hearing the defeat in his voice made my stomach clench and my face contort with empathy. At the same time I wanted to declare my hatred and tell him that he really wasn’t that bad.

I didn’t know what to say, so I turned to leave. I surprised myself by muttering a heartfelt “I’m sorry.”

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That\'s it so far! Enjoy, and review.

Viva La Slashy!!!!!