Poses

\"You and Ron seem pretty chummy,\" observed Harry as he pulled one of his freshly acquired robes from his weekend trip to Diagon Alley over his head. The past few nights at dinner he\'d noticed Draco and Ron having some manner of wordless conversation that he couldn\'t quite suss out. It caused Harry to relive Richard\'s admonition that perhaps Malfoy wasn\'t as loyal as he hoped.

Draco shrugged in deference to the observance. \"You said you wanted me to try and be nice to your friends.\" He slipped out of his robe and tossed it carelessly to the end of the bed and pulled Harry closer to him, sliding his hands down his back to grab at his ass.

Harry knew what Draco was after; he\'d kept putting it off, but he knew he was running low on excuses to not let Draco top. \"Sure, I want you to be nice, but Hermione said you two lock yourselves away midmorning for an hour or so,\" he said, lowering to his knees in front of his lover.

Telling Harry the nature of their discussions wasn\'t an option per his promise to Ron. Although, of late they\'d diverged from their original topic and fallen into patter that only on occasion threatened to end in a dramatic fight. \"We do.\"

\"Why so mysterious?\" he asked as he glided his hands over Draco\'s abdomen. He still wasn\'t very confident in giving blowjobs and he wished Draco would drop this push to being on top. Harry liked their sex life as it was. It wasn\'t that Draco had hurt him when they\'d done it before; he just wasn\'t of a mood to give up control perhaps. Or maybe his cousin\'s goading about buggery was still nagging at him. He didn\'t know. He wanted to enjoy his boyfriend and then get some rest. Was that really too much to ask?

\"It\'s not mysterious, we just don\'t necessarily want everyone just wandering in to hear everything we\'re talking about,\" Draco started. His voice ended in a gurgle as Harry\'s breath and then warm face nudged against him. He closed his eyes and rested his hands on Harry\'s shoulders. A blowjob wasn\'t what he wanted, but he was loath to turn it down. Even if he realized that Harry was just placating him. Again. He sighed and let his head fall back and muttered, \"It wouldn\'t be necessary if she\'d just put out.\"

Draco didn\'t realize what he\'d just implied, nor that he\'d said anything at all, as his blood wasn\'t all in his brain. He also didn\'t see the look of alarm on Harry\'s face just before he mouthed Draco\'s cock. The Gryffindor decided to close his eyes and try not to think too hard on what that was supposed to mean. Instead, he focused on how to deal with this large object in his mouth. He tightened his lips around it and started to wildly bob his head.

It was a bit too rushed for Draco, so he slowed Harry down gently by cupping his face with his hands. Draco tried to push forward to get deeper inside of Harry\'s mouth, but it triggered his lover\'s gag reflex. Draco sat up on his elbows and watched Harry with concern as he drew back and sputtered. \"Sorry,\" Draco mouthed.

Harry gave him a nod and a wry grin to let Draco know it was all right before he lowered his face to the purpled prick and he sucked it in as far as he could fit. Draco closed his eyes and fell back. He just let Harry do what he wanted and tried to keep his hips still. He slid his own hand down to the base of his prick and massaged what didn\'t fit into Harry\'s mouth.

Hearing Draco\'s moaning, Harry figured this was as good a time as any to get Draco prepared. He opened his eyes and reached out for the lubricant. Squeezing out a thick dollop, he greased his fingers and began to probe into his lover. He was so intent on opening Draco that he missed the wailing and the warning squeeze on his shoulder and was surprised when he found his mouth filling with ejaculate.

Draco gazed tenderly at Harry, only to see the shocked look on Harry\'s face as he struggled to swallow. He found a sudden need to mutter a confused apology. As far as Draco was concerned, he\'d given Harry plenty of warning, but evidently not. After licking away the leavings and wiping at his mouth, Harry shrugged to let Draco know the apology wasn\'t necessary. He pushed his concerned lover back down onto the bed.

Spreading his legs to make room for Harry, Draco reached behind him to cushion his neck with a pillow. Harry quickly jabbed his fingers inside of him and gave a few cursory strokes before he plunged himself in. Feeling his face flush with the coarse invasion, Draco tilted his head up to watch his hands wind into the headboard. Forcing himself to relax after a few of the hard thrusts, he pushed back and whispered, \"I love you.\"

\"What? Oh... I love you too,\" Harry answered as he leaned down to sloppily kiss Draco. \"You feel so good,\" he added as Draco shut his eyes and bore how rough Harry was taking him. Wrapping his arms around Draco, he whispered to into his neck and chest how beautiful he was and how much he missed him, although his mind was elsewhere. Why was Draco locking himself up with Ron? Why was he being so evasive about it? And what in the world did it mean that Hermione should be putting out?

Harry wasn\'t sure he even wanted the answers to these questions. The thought of his best friend and his lover... together... was really more than he could deal with, so he set it out of his mind and concentrated on the hard press of their bodies together. He ground into Draco, feeling the uncomfortable way their hip bones mashed together and the thrusts that caused meaty slapping sounds that echoed in the uncarpeted room. Just over that noise were Draco\'s gasps that were bordering on pleas for Harry to stop. Harry didn\'t quite come to until he felt the hard seizure of his orgasm flowing out of him, which made his thrusts squishy and slick.

Finally he collapsed onto his lover and Draco\'s arms wrapped around him. \"I love you, Draco. I really do. I don\'t... ever want you to leave me,\" Harry blurted out. He didn\'t realize how rough he was being, and it wasn\'t meant to be punishing; at least not on a conscious level.

Draco had no idea where that came from and his brows furrowed as he scanned the ceiling, trying to make sense of what had just happened and to reconcile it with what Harry was saying. Deciding it was an apology of sorts, he responded, \"I\'m not going anywhere, Harry.\" He kissed the top of Harry\'s head as he slid his legs down, hissing at how tender he was. \"I love you, too.\"

--

Snape was fighting a losing battle with trying to distract himself from his feelings for Draco. He dove into his potions work and attended the few meetings with the other Death Eaters he was summoned to. Now that things were intensifying, only the truly loyal were kept close to Voldemort and Snape\'s proximity to Dumbledore made him suspect. Still, the man\'s skills in Legilimency provided him with some nice tidbits.

Many of his recollections of Draco, and the emotions attached to them were being set into the Pensieve, at least as much as he could. When he was away from Draco, he was fine. He could go hours without really thinking about him, but then something would pop up; a color Draco favored, a comment he made on a potion ingredient, the sense memory of his lemon and rosemary smell. These things triggered his longing and he\'d remember, yet again, that Harry Potter, son of James Potter, stole Draco away.

It hurt. Thinking about it made him ache in an inexplicable way. He didn\'t want these feelings and yet, there they were. What he truly wanted was to go back to being Draco\'s father figure, to mentor the boy and to be the one that Draco looked up to and ultimately clung to when danger was near. But Draco was clinging to Potter of all people. To make matters worse, the arrogant Gryffindor grinned at him. The boy grinned in that same way James would grin at Snape when he knew he had something over on him. It was maddening. Worse yet, Potter was exactly who Draco should be running away from.

Voldemort wanted Harry dead and he didn\'t much care who he had to shoot through to get to him. Draco would just be another casualty to the Potter egotism and would lay forgotten as soon as he hit the ground dead. Snape wanted to spare Draco that. Spare him and treat him the way that he deserved, not like a second-class citizen. Or Potter\'s pet project, which was how Snape believed the other members of the Order saw him.

After passing Ron in the hallway and giving him no acknowledgement, Snape entered the drawing room. He held a sack of books, and observed Draco curled casually on the couch. The blond boy smirked up at him and appeared ready to say something smart, but on realizing it was Snape and not Ron who had entered, his face fell and he slammed the book shut.

Draco thought Ron had forgotten something or had another quick question for him before he faced Hermione. The last person he expected to see in the doorway was Snape. In fact, seeing Snape there was even more vexing as it pointed out to Draco that he rather enjoyed talking to Ron Weasley, a concept he wasn\'t terribly fond of recognizing. \"What do you want?\" he drawled.

\"I brought you some books from your father\'s study. I thought you might like to see what material the Dark Lord requested. I made copies of them for you and for Dumbledore. I also added some from your room that appeared to be... lighter reading.\" Snape gestured towards the tome in Draco\'s lap, now a copy of \"As You Like it.\"

Draco considered Snape for a moment and then pointed towards the writing desk. He didn\'t want to deal with Snape. Not now, not ever again. The man had betrayed him, tried to touch him, and put him in a position to have to kill his own father. \"Leave them there. Good day.\"

Snape made his way across the room and set the books down on the table. He took a moment to balance the bag\'s contents as he contemplated his next words. \"Draco, I\'d also like to speak to you about your future... you have a real gift for potions...\"

\"What I have is an inheritance. A rather large one. One that is so expansive that if I don\'t wish to share my gifts with greasy Potions teachers, I don\'t have to.\"

Snape turned around and folded his arms as he glared down at Draco. \"So that is what you\'re going to do? Retire? You\'ll get bored.\"

\"I\'m sure my boyfriend will keep me entertained,\" the boy answered, flourishing his hand.

\"I see. So you\'re banking on your estate not being seized and that Potter will survive this. I never knew you to be such a gambler, Malfoy. Did you know that there\'s a prophecy?\" he asked. Taking Draco\'s silence as an answer, he carried on. \"His prophecy states that either he or the Dark Lord will die. That\'s how this will end. The prophecy gives even odds, and yet when you really look at it, there\'s a learned wise wizard versus a student. Are you certain your boyfriend will even be around to keep you entertained?\"

Draco paled and gripped his book tightly against his chest. \"Aren\'t you banking on Harry winning this?\"

\"Perhaps. But if he does not, I am covered, aren\'t I?\" Snape asked as he crossed his arms.

Draco\'s eyes narrowed and then dropped. Those odds really didn\'t sound much in Harry\'s favor. He slumped and then muttered, \"Well, it\'s not as if Vol-- Vold-- the Dark Lord was able to kill him as a baby. Nor has he been able to since. Perhaps he\'s not all he\'s rumored to be. Harry\'s that much bigger now and he can hold a wand.\"

In spite of Draco\'s words, Snape was triumphant in striking a blow to Draco\'s belief in Harry\'s likelihood to survive. He took the moment of doubt to slide in next to Draco. \"That may well be, but you must look at this from all sides, Draco. A great many things could happen that could change your future. Not only would continuing your potions studies benefit you, but also any association with me could cover you both at school and after.\"

\"Association?\" questioned Draco, appearing repulsed.

\"Not like that, Mr. Malfoy. I realize that what happened reflected poorly upon me and gave credence to Potter\'s conspiracy theories regarding my intentions towards you, but I am only looking out for your future. Not trying to seduce you. I have always looked out for you, Draco. You know that. I was the only one at school who looked upon you as better than Potter. You\'ve said yourself that you once thought of me like a father, I certainly felt that. We can get back to that if you\'d just...\"

Draco narrowed his eyes and started to scoot away. \"You tried to touch me. I didn\'t imagine that.\"

\"I was not trying to touch you,\" Snape insisted. \"Not like that.\"

\"I know what I saw and I know what I felt you moving towards. You were going to touch me.\"

Snape shook his head at Draco and closed the distance again. \"It is unfortunate that you believe that, but ultimately irrelevant.\"

Draco bristled. \"It\'s very relevant. You almost got me killed. You put me in a position where I had to kill my own father and now you\'re worried about my taking a Potions class?\"

\"Potter put you in those... positions.\" Snape tried to disguise his distaste for Draco\'s perked brow and smirk at his choice of words. \"I was trying to make the best of a situation that had gone awry to protect you both as well as myself. As you may or may not know, your father could not have killed Harry.\"

\"What?\" asked Draco.

Snape tilted his head as a sly smile crept onto his lips. \"You didn\'t know, did you? According to the prophecy, one will die by the other\'s hand. One will kill the other, which means your father couldn\'t have killed Potter no matter what he did.\"

\"So... I did that... for nothing?\" Draco could feel the blood draining from his face and he clutched the book tighter for security. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he caught a shadow moving and found himself staring at the tapestry. He winced as if it were his father\'s ghost pointing an accusing finger at him and then snapped his head back to Snape.

Catching the look to the tapestry, Snape leaned in even closer and whispered, \"Your father still would have killed you. You still did what you had to.\"

\"I thought I was protecting Harry.\"

\"I suppose he has his reasons for letting you believe that,\" said Snape as he watched Draco\'s distress with a calculating stare.

Draco\'s eyes lowered. \"I told him not to tell me too much. I didn\'t think I could be trusted.\"

\"Certainly after... all of what happened... he could have trusted you.\"

Bringing one hand up to place over his eyes, Draco shook his head. \"I didn\'t want to know. He didn\'t tell me because I didn\'t want to know this. I did what I did because I thought I was protecting him. It was the one noble thing I\'ve ever done. The one fucking selfless thing I\'ve ever done in my life and it... was for no reason at all. There was no point to it. It ended up being a selfish act in spite of... my intentions.\"

\"Intent and outcome are rarely coincident, Draco. People like us... we do what we have to, but people like Potter and his little friends, they do not understand,\" cooed Snape as he shifted closer to Draco and slid his arm around the upset boy. \"Everything is so black and white to them. They don\'t understand reality as we do. They leave us to do their dirty work, the messy spying, making the difficult decisions; this is all up to us, Draco. He\'ll never appreciate who you are; he\'ll never see your strengths as I do.\"

Draco stiffened as Snape touched him and he started to recoil from the embrace, feeling ill with each damning word Snape spoke. \"That\'s not it at all. He\'s never...\"

\"Made you feel evil? Oh, it\'s not so easy as that is it? It\'s the hints and suggestions from him and his ilk, chipping away at you, making you feel unworthy.\" Snape slid another arm around Draco and pulled the confused boy closer to him, bypassing the weak objections.

Unworthy? Was he unworthy? Is that why Harry wouldn\'t let him top? Draco felt a sickening wave of insecurity washing over him. \"I\'m not unworthy,\" he weakly protested.

\"No, Draco. You\'re not. You\'re better than he is. Stronger. You have to be, don\'t you? You don\'t have the cadre of sycophants to support you, do you?\" asked Snape as he leaned in to press his face into the silky platinum hair and kissed his temple.

The rake of dry lips against his temple was enough to shock Draco into reality and again his body tensed and he looked frantically around the room trying to spot where he\'d left his wand. \"Let go of me. Now.\" The nightstand. He left his wand on the nightstand again. In his own defense he rationalized that he didn\'t think he\'d need to be running about the house with his wand on him.

\"I\'m just comforting you,\" defended Snape.

\"It\'s not comforting. Let go of me,\" he growled as he began pushing the man away.

\"Professor, I do believe that Malfoy asked you to let go of him,\" sounded a familiar feminine voice behind them. Both Slytherins looked up in the direction of the voice to see Hermione standing with her arms crossed, glaring at Snape. Draco couldn\'t remember ever being pleased to see Granger, but at the moment he couldn\'t deny his extreme relief.

\"Miss Granger, this is none of your affair,\" stated Snape.

\"Affair. That\'s a rich choice of words, Professor.\" Hermione moved around to the side of the couch and stared expectantly at Snape.

\"I see that Potter has been filling your head with his obnoxious paranoia as well,\" hissed Snape who had little choice but to loosen his grip against Draco\'s squirming.

\"Given what I just walked in on, it would seem that maybe Harry isn\'t paranoid enough,\" stated Hermione who finally looked at Draco, who had extracted himself from Snape and was brushing off his robes as if he were worried that Snape might have rubbed off on him. She\'d heard the last of the poison that Snape was tipping into Draco\'s ear and wondered how much of it Draco believed to be true. It would seem that on some level Draco felt it or Snape couldn\'t have gotten that close.

Snape stood and glared indignantly at the teens. \"I will not be accused by you!\"

\"Then go,\" snapped Draco. His eyes narrowed at Snape and then averted in favor of the writing desk with the books on it.

Following Draco\'s line of sight Snape said, \"I\'ll leave these books for you. Perhaps you can study them while you\'re here. Do give consideration to what I said about Potions class. It would be a shame for... circumstances... to keep you from where your talent lies.\" With that, Snape turned and left the room in his usual theatrical manner.

Hermione eyed Draco, the boy\'s mouth was open and he was panting as he stared at the door through which Snape had left. His face pinched tight and his eyes closed as he mastered himself back into his usual sneer which he directed nowhere in particular. \"Malfoy... what he-- what Snape said-- that\'s not how we all feel. He was just goading you.\"

Draco\'s expression turned to annoyed skepticism, and he rolled his eyes and snorted.

\"What I mean is, we do see you\'re strong. I think all of us recognize the choice you had to make to get here. We respect and understand the sacrifices you\'ve made. Just... day-to-day you\'re rather a...\"

\"Malfoy.\"

\"Yes, rather a Malfoy,\" she said as she smiled at Draco, who scowled back at her. \"The point is, no matter how we may feel about each other personally, like today, we\'ll be there to back you up when you need it. That\'s what we do.\"

\"I didn\'t need you to back me up,\" huffed Draco. \"I can handle Snape.\"

\"Seems he was handling you.\"

Draco shivered, but he tried to cover his discomfort with a mild shrug and he turned his attention to the books again. It was one thing to be \"comforted\" by a once-trusted teacher, quite another knowing what he knew about Snape and his intentions. The idea that the man might toss off thinking about their interaction made Draco grimace.

\"I\'m sorry, that was insensitive,\" Hermione recanted.

Draco pulled his book back up to his chest and clung to it.

Reading the gilded letters of the book, Hermione spoke, \"As You Like It? Shakespeare? I love Shakespeare!\"

Sometimes Draco forgot that not only was Shakespeare was well known to Muggles, but that Hermione was an avid reader. \"Yes. It\'s not really my favorite, though,\" he mumbled.

\"No, you seem more of a Hamlet sort.\"

\"I\'m not so keen on avenging my father\'s killer,\" was his caustic reply. Most wouldn\'t have made such a flippant joke so soon after reopening the wound over murdering their own father, but it was Draco\'s way of coping. \"Besides, it\'s too dramatic for my tastes. I leave the vengeful bloodlust to Harry,\" said Draco with the barest of smirks.

Hermione grinned. \"You prefer Romeo and Juliet, then?\"

\"Pfft. Overrated by Muggles. Too much like life for my tastes,\" was his ironic reply.

\"Oh, I see,\" said Hermione. Her grin increased as she saw Draco\'s mood and face lightening a bit at their conversation. \"Don\'t tell me you\'re a comedy lover.\"

\"I enjoy good banter.\"

\"That makes sense, actually. Well, my favorite is a comedy as well. The Taming of the Shrew,\" said Hermione.

Draco\'s eyes widened for a moment and then he glared down at his book. It was immature, but he hated that he shared the love of that play with the Mudblood. \"Figures. That\'s the worst of the lot. Wholly unbelievable. I\'m surprised at you, Granger. It shows women as quite repressed even for the times. A strong intellectual woman repressed by a noisome man? Honestly.\"

Hermione\'s face fell and she sighed quietly. \"Oh. Well. I just thought it was charming it its own way, and he did respect Katherine. I see what you\'re saying, I suppose we just see it differently,\" she said evenly. Deciding to change the subject, she asked, \"Do you want me to send Ron in for a bit? You two seem to be getting on all right.\"

\"No,\" he answered. What would he say to Ron about this? He didn\'t want to say anything to anyone about what happened with Snape. What he really wanted was to flay every part of skin that had touched the older man. He felt befouled.

\"I assume it\'s you who has been advising him on our relationship.\"

\"Why would I do something that would benefit you?\" questioned Draco.

\"I...\" Hermione didn\'t have an answer for that. \"Maybe you just wanted to see Ron happy?\"

\"Why would I care about Weasley? Or any of you for that matter?\"

\"You care about Harry. A great deal, maybe you just want his friends to like you?\"

Draco shrugged; he didn\'t really know what to reply. Sure, he found they weren\'t evil horrid people, and maybe that was it. Maybe he was just bored. But right now he didn\'t want to discuss it. He felt ill and tired, and if she didn\'t leave soon he was going to end up telling her off just to vent his frustration. \"I don\'t give a toss if you like me or not.\"

Hermione stood there feeling hurt and insulted that Draco had shot her down at every attempt of kindness she threw to him. She was running out of things to say. \"Well, I\'m pretty sure that it is your influence that has Ron telling me that I\'m pretty, and opening doors for me, and even the flowers he bought for me at Diagon Alley last weekend. I\'ve known him for years and I know he wouldn\'t think to do these things on his own.\"

Draco sat still, eyes averted from the girl.

\"Well, for whatever reason you\'re doing it, thank you.\"

\"He wants to do it. I don\'t tell him much. He knows what he should be doing deep down, I just let him know his instincts were correct. We don\'t talk much about you anymore. I didn\'t know about the flowers.\"

Hermione spotted the flicker of a smirk on Draco\'s face and the way he looked to the left, crafting his lie. Draco knew about the flowers, of that she was certain. He likely paid for them, too. \"Well, no matter how little it was, I do appreciate it. I was starting to think he was hopeless.\"

The cocksure grin spread over Draco\'s face and he answered, \"He is hopeless. You\'re both rather pathetic, really. A matched set.\"

\"Yes, well, I suppose it\'s good to have someone to be hopeless with, isn\'t it, Malfoy?\" she asked.

\"I wouldn\'t know a thing about being hopeless. I\'m strong and mighty and evidently you all see that and know it to the roots of your noble Gryffindor beings,\" teased Draco.

\"Oh, we do, Malfoy. We really do,\" said Hermione with a light mocking tone.

Draco snorted and flashed her a quick grin.

\"Harry\'s right. You are rather handsome when you smile.\"

\"Harry told you that?\" asked Draco in surprise. His grin widened at the prospect of Harry finding him attractive and confiding it in his friends. Perhaps Harry didn\'t find him quite as unworthy as Snape would have him believe.

\"Yes. Back at Hogwarts. We were interrogating him as to why he would be with...someone like you,\" admitted Hermione

\"Someone like me... you mean wealthy and stupendously attractive?\"

It was Hermione\'s turn to snort. \"Yes, we were all very worried that Harry was falling for wealthy and attractive boys.\"

\"Sarcasm doesn\'t work for you. Nor does that shade of purple,\" Draco pointed out, noting her Muggle t-shirt.

\"Right. Well, it was good talking to you, Malfoy.\"

Draco smirked and perked a brow at her. She shook her head as she started towards the door. Calling after her, he said, \"Granger... I\'d appreciate it if you didn\'t mention this to Harry. The Snape thing. He has so much else going on and he gets 12 shades of arsed off about the man and really, nothing happened.\"

Stopping in her tracks, she turned to look at Draco. \"Are you sure? You didn\'t do anything you should be ashamed of, and I\'m sure he\'d want to make you feel better.\" Nothing had happened? Draco looked awfully shaken for someone who didn\'t think anything happened. But she\'d respect his wishes if that\'s what he wanted.

\"No, he\'s just so tired when he gets home and there\'s nothing he can do about it anyway. Just... leave it. It wouldn\'t do to have him mucking up his training worried about my being left here alone for Snape to prey on.\"

\"You\'re not alone, Malfoy,\" Hermione reminded him.

Draco\'s hand gestured dismissively. \"I suppose not.\"

\"Not that you need help.\"

\"Of course I don\'t.\"

\"But if you did...\" said Hermione.

Draco rolled his eyes and threw his book open and pretended to read.

After a few moments of watching Draco\'s rather lame attempt at looking busy, Hermione said, \"You\'re welcome, Malfoy.\"

\"What? I thought you left,\" said Draco a little too quickly.

Shaking her head, Hermione left the room.

--

Harry arrived home late again and quickly tripped up the stairs to fetch Draco for dinner. It was clear that everyone in the kitchen expected them to take longer by the conversation that the boys walked in on.

Ginny, ladling food onto her plate, said, \"Well at least now we know why Harry was so bad with girls, he was gay!\"

Harry glared at Ginny for a moment, his mouth dropped in shock. His head tilted down and he glowered at the chair before sitting in it. He was so hurt by the notion that his lack of talent for wooing girls meant automatically that he was gay; he couldn\'t form the words to protest.

Draco noticed Harry\'s reaction and leapt to his defense, \"Maybe he wanted to be with someone who hadn\'t already shagged half the school.\"

\"As if you were a virgin,\" snapped Ginny.

\"And yet I still got the boy. That must hurt.\" Draco took his place next to Harry and started to pile food on his plate.

\"It hurts no more than your tiny inbred prick hurt me!\" Ginny spat back.

Harry\'s eyes widened and he looked between Ginny and Draco several times, his mouth agape.

\"I have no idea what you\'re on about, Weaslette,\" replied Draco flatly before sipping his pumpkin juice.

\"It doesn\'t surprise me you\'ve lost track, there were so many,\" Ginny grumbled.

\"I was a shark, no one\'s denying that,\" responded Malfoy.

Harry looked between them and then narrowed his at his empty plate as if he were angry that it didn\'t fill itself. All he could think was that Draco Malfoy had shagged someone else in this house. Someone he was left alone with all day. His stomach twisted. Hermione and Ron watched in astonishment. Ron\'s fists tightened into balls as he restrained himself.

Ginny sighed impatiently. All eyes were fixed on her; most uncomfortable amongst them was her mother. \"In the broom closet?\"

Draco stared blankly back at her.

\"On the third floor?\" she tried.

Draco appeared to be giving this some thought and shrugged to indicate he had no recollection of that event.

\"Last year! After the Halloween feast!\" she finally revealed, causing many gasps in the room.

Only one person didn\'t gasp, and that was Draco, who was snickering. \"Nott.\"

\"You did too!\" exclaimed Ginny.

\"Theodore Nott, you lack-wit. You shagged Theodore Nott, not me.\"

Recognizing the scam from Draco\'s story telling in the drawing room, Ron was flabbergasted that his sister had fallen prey. He met Draco\'s eyes and shook his head. Draco threw his hands up. There wasn\'t much he could do about that now. He\'d had no idea.

\"But... he... you weren\'t... it was YOU!\" shrieked Ginny.

\"It was not me. I was shagging Chang that night in the Astronomy Tower,\" Draco tossed out.

At this proclamation Harry reddened and stood up. His chair made a loud screech on the stone floor and drew everyone\'s attention back to him. \"I don\'t want to hear any more of this!\" Harry announced, settling his incensed stare on Draco. \"I\'m going to bed.\" There were countless things Harry didn\'t want to know about Draco\'s past. Past conquests were chief amongst them. Principally because of this now awkward situation of finding out that Malfoy had shagged a girl he\'d once fancied. A girl that he had been incapable of wooing, which it would appear made him gay by default. Unlike Draco who evidently could have anyone of either gender he wanted. Weasleys included.

\"Good, let\'s leave these heathen to their Shepherd\'s Pie,\" said Draco in disgust as he rose.

\"No, you stay here. Have your little tart-off with Ginny. I\'m sure it\'s fascinating that there\'s any virgins left in school at all,\" spat Harry.

\"I can think of at least two,\" Draco pointed out.

Hermione and Ron, who had stayed out of it up until this point, turned crimson.

Harry looked at the rest of the trio and then faced Draco again. For a moment he thought to have a go at Draco for outting his friends\' virginity. Then it occurred to him that they\'d never bothered to share that information with him either, and that he was likewise angry with them. Finally he settled on, \"I DON\'T WANT TO KNOW ANY OF THIS!\" and stormed out.

Draco dropped into his seat and shoved his pie away and slumped in his chair with his arms crossed. He couldn\'t even spare a trademark sneer of amusement when Mrs. Weasley dragged Ginny out to have \"a talk\" with her about the evening\'s revelations.

Ron eyed Draco and almost felt sorry enough for him to offer a \"he\'ll come around\" to help him feel better. He opened his mouth to say it, but stopped as he recalled that he was rather put out with Malfoy for revealing that he and his girlfriend were virgins.

Hermione seethed. \"Malfoy...\"

\"Shut up and bang your boyfriend, Granger. I\'m in no mood for your lectures.\"

\"At times like this, I have no idea what Harry sees in you. That was horrid,\" she growled as she grabbed her plate and nudged Ron. \"Come on, Ron. Let\'s eat in my room.\"

\"You may as well, nothing else is going to happen in there!\" Malfoy after them as he flopped back in his chair, finding himself alone at an empty dinner table. He thought about what Hermione said. I have no idea what Harry sees in you. \"Sometimes, neither do I...\"

After eating his Shepherd\'s pie in silence, Draco crept up to the bedroom where Harry was pretending to sleep. He slid into his own bed, noting that Ron was still with Hermione. \"Harry?\"

There was no sound from the other side of the room. No movement, just the back of Harry\'s body facing him.

\"I\'m sorry, Harry. I love you. I...\"

\"I know, Draco. Just... get some rest,\" Harry grumbled to him. He knew it wasn\'t Draco\'s fault that things with Cho hadn\'t worked out, but at the moment he was just irritated and didn\'t want to talk about it.

\"I love you, Harry.\" Draco tightened the blankets securely around him. After the day he\'d had and this stupid fight, he just wanted to be held.

\"I\'ll talk to you in the morning, Draco. Good night.\"