How to Save a Life

The final weeks of term flew by so quickly that Harry barely found time to be nervous about his impending visit to Malfoy manor. Before he knew where he was, lessons had ended, the Christmas feast had been eaten, and he found himself stowed away in a carriage on the Hogwarts Express.

Pansy was sprawled across the remaining seats to Harry’s side, contentedly using his lap as her pillow. Draco was sat opposite; an ignored book spread open on his lap. His eyes flickered between the fast moving scenery and watching his boyfriend with barely suppressed jealousy, as he ran his fingers through Pansy’s hair.

Catching his gaze, Harry smiled. “You ok?” he said quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping girl in his lap. Spotting how Draco’s eyes narrowed at his friend, Harry’s own eyes widened.

“You don’t mind, do you? It’s quite soothing really. Kind of like petting a cat.”

Now what Draco really wanted to say was, that yes he did mind, very much so. Then he wanted to drag Pansy off his boyfriend by her hair and throw himself into Harry’s lap instead. He wanted to feel those strong fingers raking through his hair.

It was a secret known only to a privileged few, that Draco’s scalp was one of his most erogenous zones and he couldn’t be touched there without becoming almost instantly hard. There was even one memorable occasion when, after having bribed Blaise into a scalp massage, he had actually come in his pants without any other form of stimulation.

“No, of course I don’t mind.” As Draco answered, he got up to adjust his robes and ‘accidentally’ dropped his book onto Pansy’s sleeping head.

“Ow,” Pansy wailed, rubbing at her sore head.

“Draco,” Harry chastised, something like amusement dancing in his eyes.

“What?” Draco asked in his best ‘innocent’ voice. Only Neville saw the victorious smirk that crossed the blonde’s face as he turned to settle himself back on his seat.

Harry only shook his head and Pansy shot daggers at her best friend.

“Git,” she accused. “You did that on purpose.”

“Don’t be so silly, Pansy,” Draco replied briskly. “It was a complete accident. You ask Longbottom.”

Neville looked up, startled at being brought into the conversation. “What? Oh, yes, I’m sure it was just an accident,” he said, anxious to appease Draco, who was currently staring at him most meaningfully.

At his words, the blonde’s face lit into a bright smile. “See,” he said smugly.

“Coward,” Pansy directed at Neville, as she settled back down onto Harry’s lap.

“Wise choice, Nev.”

Neville looked at Harry with a wary smile before burying his head back in the thick Herbology book that he had brought for the journey.

Neville never felt fully at ease around the other Slytherins without Blaise there to act as a buffer. He just wasn’t as comfortable with their ‘friendly’ bickering as Harry was. But, Neville supposed, years of being friends with Ron had more than prepared Harry for dealing with volatile temperaments.

Spying Pansy glaring at him, Draco poked his tongue out at her and smirked, before returning to his book as if nothing had happened. Harry smiled indulgently at his boyfriends antics. Truth be told, he rather liked that Draco was a bit jealous and possessive of him. And the childlike aspect of his character could be very appealing.

As silence reigned once again, Harry turned his attention back to the window, staring unseeingly at the passing scenery as he lost himself in his thoughts.

Harry had been pleasantly surprised at how well Ron had taken the news that he wouldn’t be spending Christmas at The Burrow. There had been no explosion or outraged rant. He had listened to Harry quietly, albeit with an expression on his face that clearly said he thought his friend was crazy, and had raised no real objections.

Of course, that could have been due to the fact that every time he opened his mouth to speak, Hermione had given him a sharp dig to the ribs and then glared pointedly at him until he shut it again.

Although it wasn’t a warm acceptance of his decision, Harry realised that, coming from Ron, this reaction was practically a ringing endorsement, and he appreciated how much effort it had cost the redhead to remain calm.

The friends were finally dragged from the individual pursuits by the return of Blaise, who, having finished with his prefect duties, came bounding into the compartment and kept up a ceaseless stream of excited chatter, right up until they reached Kings Cross.

By the time they had spilled out onto the platform, Pansy seemed to have been infected with Blaise’s enthusiasm. The two of them seemed to be in competition as to who could come up with the best idea for their forthcoming night out. Neville stood by, silently, listening with amusement to their increasingly outrageous attempts at one-upmanship.

Draco was fussing with everyone’s trunks, shrinking them ready for transit to the Leaky Cauldron. He caught sight of Harry grinning at his efforts and bristled.

“I’m glad I amuse you, Potter,” he snarked. “One of us has to be organised. Tell me,” he continued, warming to his topic. “Have you given any though at all as to how we are all going to get across London?”

“Apparate?” Harry guessed.

“Honestly,” the blonde huffed. “Are you sure the Sorting Hat didn’t want to put you into Hufflepuff? You cannot Apparate on, or off, this platform. Don’t you think everyone would do it, if it was possible?”

“I guess. I never really thought about it.”

“That’s your problem, you never do. I suggest in future, that you...”

Draco stopped dead here and Harry was alarmed to see his already pale face, whiten further.

“Draco,” he began. “Are you-“

“Harry!” The voice was tentative but warm, and Harry knew without looking exactly who it was. Steeling his nerves, he turned slowly and found himself greeted by the sight of a nervous looking Molly Weasley.

The nervousness in her eyes vanished rapidly and Harry found himself swept up in an overwhelming hug.

“Oh, Harry, it’s so good to see you. It just won’t feel like a proper Christmas without you this year.”

Released from the embrace, Harry chewed on his bottom lip, searching for a way to explain.

“Don’t you worry dear. I understand your reasons. It’s just...well, you’ll be missed.”

“Thanks, Mrs Weasley,” Harry finally said, somewhat awkwardly.

“It’s Molly, Harry. I think you’ve earned that right at least. Now don’t you go feeling guilty about it. You deserve to have fun, I’m only sorry that certain things...” She paused here and glared over her shoulder to where Ginny stood, silently fuming. “Have made you feel less than welcome.”

A hand pressed his shoulder and Harry found Arthur Weasley smiling at him benignly.

“Our home is your home, Harry. Don’t you ever forget that. You’re welcome anytime, you and your friends.” He finished up with a speculative look over Harry’s shoulder. “Speaking of which, aren’t you going to introduce us.”

That puzzled Harry slightly; as he was sure that Mr Weasley knew only too well who his companions were. However, deciding it was probably one of those weird pureblood manners things that Draco was always going on about, he smiled at the man and then turned to his boyfriend.

Draco was no longer standing at his side. Taking advantage of the diversion, that was Harry being smothered by Mrs Weasley, he had melted into the background and was now stood several feet away with an equally uncomfortable looking Pansy. Blaise and Neville seemed to have disappeared completely.

Whatever else he had learned at his father’s feet, Draco had been raised to know the importance of good manners and, hearing Arthur Weasley’s words, this training kicked in. He stepped forward, bringing a reluctant Pansy with him.

“This is Draco,” Harry said, just as the blonde pulled level with him. He thought it completely unnecessary to add the word ‘Malfoy’ to that sentence, for two reasons. The first was that no one could possibly look at Draco and be left in any doubt as to his parentage. The second was a desire on his part, not to remind the two elder Weasley’s of what several of their children had suffered at the hands of Draco’s family.

Ever since he had seen Harry’s surrogate family approach, Draco had been struggling to maintain his mask of control. He looked up, expecting to see nothing less than abject hatred or disgust in their eyes and was stunned when he found neither.
“Mr Weasley,” he acknowledged with a slight incline of his head. “Mrs Weasley.” Draco held out his hand in greeting and Harry noticed that it trembled slightly.

As Arthur Weasley warmly clasped the outstretched hand, Harry let out a breath that he hadn’t realised he was holding. Although he loved and trusted the Weasley’s, he hadn’t, in his wildest dreams, expected this. He would have found it hard to blame them for reacting badly to Draco’s presence. The daily sight of Bill’s scars would be enough to harden any heart. But coupled with Ron’s brush with poisoned mead, and Ginny’s trip into the Chamber of Secrets, well, Harry had honestly dreaded them finding out about his relationship with the blonde.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Draco.” And Harry could tell from the expression in the older man’s eyes that he meant it.

“Thank you, Sir.” Draco looked as thrown as he felt by this reception. Allowing his mask to slip, he appeared to the Weasleys as he truly was; shocked, nervous and guilt ridden.

That was all it took for Molly Weasley to forget that she was faced with Lucius’ Malfoy’s heir, and she startled Draco further with a brief hug. Completely thrown by this, all of Draco’s previous training deserted him, as did the ability to form coherent thoughts.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out, before a horrified expression covered his face. He mentally kicked himself for this outburst, for being so naive as to think an apology could every make up for his actions. But he knew how much these people meant to Harry and he felt he owed it to his boyfriend to at least try.

Hanging his head, he muttered a quick, “Excuse me,” and turned away, as if to leave. A hand took hold of his arm and he turned round expecting to see Harry’s concerned face. What he saw, was Arthur Weasley gazing at him, his face looking quite serious.

Draco couldn’t help but wonder idly, just what his father would say if he could see his son now, apologising to Weasleys. But then, he reasoned, that worrying about what his father wanted him to do was largely responsible for him having a need to apologise in the first place.

As the older man opened his mouth, Draco winced, expecting to be shouted at, cursed or sworn at. Anything, in fact, other than the quiet, “Thank you,” that he received. The blonde looked at Harry in confusion before turning at last to face Molly Weasley, reasoning that ‘the Weasel’ must have inherited his temper from one parent.

“I-I didn’t-” he began before he was cut off.

“Hush. What’s done is done. Best not to dwell on it. You’re sorry and that’s what counts.”

“But Bill-”

“Bears you no ill feeling for what happened, and nor do we. You were put in a terrible situation, one that no child should ever have to face. Now, we’ll say no more about it.”

Stunned didn’t even come close to describing how Draco felt at that moment. That this couple, whom he had been raised to despise, could so blithely dismiss what had nearly killed their eldest child, took his breath away.

“T-Thank you,” he stammered, trying desperately to swallow the lump that had appeared in his throat.

Mr Weasley nodded in recognition, but, noticing that Draco was struggling to hold his emotions in check, he said no more and wisely changed the subject.

“Aren’t you going to introduce this young lady, Harry?”

Pansy had stood, shyly, to one side during the previous conversation, silently relieved that Draco had been called on to go first. Now she had witnessed his reception, she felt decidedly more comfortable about the whole situation.

As Harry introduced her, he didn’t miss the brief flash of recognition that crossed Arthur’s face. He couldn’t help but wonder just how much the older man, as a Ministry employee and ex-Order member, knew of the Slytherin girl’s story.

Pansy smiled and made polite small talk, only displaying discomfort when Molly began to apologise profusely for her daughter’s recent behaviour.

They parted company shortly after, but only once Mrs Weasley had extracted a promise from Harry to spend at least part of his summer holidays at the Burrow.

As Harry turned around, he became acutely aware of just how much attention their strange group had garnered. Despite the rush of irritation he felt at the onlooker’s curiosity, he had to own that it was hardly surprising. It wasn’t everyday that Harry Potter was spotted consorting with the children of Death Eaters.

The hostility towards the Slytherin’s was by no means as overt as it had been back in September. This came as a big relief to Draco, who still felt very uncomfortable in the public domain. Not that he was naive enough to believe that it had anything to do with a softening of attitude towards either him or his friends. The blonde was fully aware that it was only the presence of ‘the Boy Who Lived’ that kept peoples enmity at bay.

As they made their way to the Floo point, in search of Blaise and Neville, Draco remained silent. His mind was still busy trying to process just what had happened between himself and the older Weasleys. Harry cast a concerned glance at his boyfriend and was relieved to see only a thoughtful expression on his face.

He then turned his gaze back in the direction of his surrogate family, and had to bite back a laugh at what he saw. If Draco was confused by what had just passed, it was nothing to the shock that Ron was apparently suffering from. The stunned expression on his face was priceless and Hermione was forced to take his hand and drag him away from the spot where he stood, eyes wide, mouth gaping.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As he stepped out of the Floo in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry was grateful that, for once, he had managed to retain both his dignity and his balance.

They checked in and quickly followed the barman’s directions to their respective rooms. The plan was to stop in, only to drop their luggage off, before making their way out into Diagon Alley; it was already mid afternoon and they all hoped to get some shopping done before everywhere closed.

However, as the door to Harry and Draco’s room slammed behind them, it swiftly became apparent that the blonde had other ideas. Harry found himself backed up against the door, as Draco’s hands trailed down his body.

“Draco.” Harry noticed that his voice came out a fraction higher than usual. “We can’t. The others will be waiting for us.”

“Please,” Draco scoffed. “Do you really think that Blaise isn’t currently molesting Longbottom in a similar fashion?”

“But what about Pansy?” Harry felt his resolve weaken as Draco kissed along his jaw line. “You know she’ll just come and fetch us if we’re not out there in a minute.”

“Hmm, you may have a point,” Draco mused, stepping back. Harry wanted to say that, No, he didn’t have a point and could Draco just go right back to what he had been doing please. There was an all too familiar tightness in his trousers, and no imminent prospect of release.

Draco removed their shrunken trunks from his pocket and swiftly resized them. Harry waited patiently while his boyfriend changed his cloak and couldn’t help smiling when the blonde wrapped himself in a warm scarf.

“What?” Draco asked defensively. “Its winter out there and I catch cold easily.”

Harry stepped closer to his boyfriend, unable to keep the silly grin off his face at the sight of Draco winding a Gryffindor scarf round his slender neck. He reached out and knotted it securely. “Am I ever getting this back?”

“It’s unlikely,” Draco admitted. “I’ve grown quite attached.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when Draco Malfoy would voluntarily wear Gryffindor colours.”

“True. But I don’t imagine you ever thought you’d see the day when you’d have my cock in your mouth either.”

This image, on top of their earlier activities, banished the remainder of Harry’s self control. He grabbed the front of Draco’s cloak so fast that the blonde stumbled into his arms.

“Falling for me, Malfoy?” he teased.

Before Draco could retort, he found himself being kissed rather thoroughly by a horny Gryffindor.

“Merlin! Don’t you two ever come up for air?”

They both turned their heads at this, and found Pansy stood in the doorway, smirking.

“Call me a stickler for tradition, if you will, Pansy. But whatever happened to knocking before entering a room?” The ‘Malfoy glare’ was firmly in place now.

“You should lock your door,” was all Pansy said in reply, shrugging. “I hope you two don’t plan to do this all holidays.”

“I could say the same to you, Pansy,” was Draco’s arch reply.

“Don’t start sulking, Drakie. It’s time for shopping, c’mon.”

And with those magic words, Draco’s scowl vanished and his eyes brightened perceptibly.

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

After a quick trip to Gringotts, the five friends hit the shops, although the Gryffindor’s were noticeably less enthusiastic than their Slytherin counterparts.

A couple of ‘panic buying’ filled hours later and Harry dragged a reluctant Draco in the direction of Weasley’s Wizarding Wheeze’s.

“But I don’t need anything from in there,” he had whined. But it was to no avail, and Draco resigned himself to more ‘redheaded encounters of the Weasley kind’.

George was busy serving as they entered. At the sound of the door, he looked up and grinned in acknowledgement. It was then that Harry noticed that Charlie Weasley was present too.

Harry browsed the shelves for a few minutes while he waited for George to finish with his customer. Draco practically glued himself to his boyfriend’s side the whole time. When he felt a sharp tug on his sleeve and turned to see worried grey eyes fixed on him.

“What’s wrong?”

Draco nodded his head in the direction of the two approaching Weasley’s.

“You don’t think they’ll want to hug me as well, do you?”

“I shouldn’t think so,” Harry laughed. “But don’t eat or drink anything that George offers you,” he added as an afterthought.

By the time the two boys left the shop a short while later, they had pockets fully of WWW’s finest products, and had agreed to George and Charlie joining them on their night out. In fact, George seemed especially keen on the idea and offered to take them to a club he frequented.

Harry and Draco headed back to the Leaky Cauldron where they found the other three waiting impatiently for them to arrive, before eating dinner. Once their food arrived, Draco outlined the plan for the evening. Blaise was particularly intrigued by news of George’s club, especially when informed that the dress code was ‘anything goes.’ Harry and Neville, on the other hand, both wore looks of horror at this, especially when they caught the gleams in their respective boyfriend’s eyes.

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

A loud wolf whistle sounded as Harry and Draco entered Pansy’s room. Draco preened at the compliment, while Harry just looked vaguely uncomfortable.

“Don’t you two look nice?”

“Nice, Pansy? Don’t you mean hot?”

Harry blushed as Blaise ran an appraising eye over his body. Suddenly his outfit felt much more of a bad idea than it did when Draco had persuaded him to wear it.

“See, Harry. I told you, you looked good. Now stop fidgeting, those jeans aren’t too tight, they’re meant to be that way.” There was a tone to Draco’s voice that told anyone listening that this wasn’t the first time he had had cause to say this. Harry made a disbelieving sort of noise, but stopped tugging at his trousers nonetheless.

Glancing at his friends, Harry noticed that Blaise had taken the dress code literally. He was sporting a pair of black 'wet look' jeans, that clung sinfully to his muscly legs. And on his top half, he was wearing a black short sleeved shirt made out of, what Harry believed to be, fishnet. And as the Italian boy moved, Harry caught the glint of his nipple piercing.

Before leaving the room, Pansy cast a quick disillusionment charm on both Harry and Draco. The two boys had attracted quite a bit of attention when in Diagon Alley earlier. The last thing either of them wanted was for their night out to end up splashed all over the front pages of the Prophet. And knowing the wizarding world’s current thirst for anything related to their ‘Saviour’, they both knew this was a real possibility.

George and Charlie were waiting for them on the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron. The redheads eyed their group in puzzlement.

“Where are Harry and Malfoy?” George asked.

“Right here, George,” said the thin air to the left of them. “Pansy, take the charm off would you?”

As the two boys appeared, a wide grin spread over George’s face. “Look at ickle Harry, all grown up. If Ron could see you now.”

“Shut up,” Harry muttered darkly, his cheeks flushing.

“Ignore him, Harry. You look great.” Harry smiled gratefully at Charlie

When they arrived at the club, their group was waved on through by a friendly doorman, who seemed to know George particularly well, judging from the way his tongue slid into the redhead’s mouth eagerly.

“Friend of yours?” Charlie enquired.

“One of many,” George answered, a devilish smirk on his face.

Inside the club was already busy. The loud music pulsing through the air over a dance floor already filled with sweaty bodies. No sooner had he spotted this, than Blaise grabbed hold of Neville’s hand and pulled his protesting boyfriend into the heaving throng
Charlie sent Harry and Draco off in search of a table for them, while he, Pansy and George made their way to the bar.

“Have you noticed anything unusual about this place?” Harry wanted to know.

“Well, it’s muggle, so that’s unusual for starters,” Draco owned.

“Yeah, but look at the other people. Like those two over there, for instance.” Harry pointed discreetly in the direction of two men, who were currently petting very heavily.

Draco seemed confused by this. “What’s unusual about that? We do it all the time.”

“Yes, but it’s different in the muggle world,” Harry insisted. “There’s lots of prejudice against gay people.”

Draco really looked puzzled now. “Really? I always knew muggles were stupid.”

The others arrived back with drinks at this point. “Figured it out yet?” George wanted to know, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Realisation dawned in Harry’s eyes. “It’s a gay club.”

“Sure is. I thought you guys might appreciate it.”

“George,” Harry said urgently, a pointed look in Charlie’s direction.

“It’s ok, I told him. Don’t worry, he won’t say anything.”

Harry didn’t quite know what he could say to that, so he looked to Draco to see how he was taking the news. The blond seemed to be handling it with his usual aplomb and took advantage of this development to move his seat closer to his boyfriend and place a territorial hand on his thigh.


“Just in case anyone gets any ideas,” he explained when Harry looked at him in surprise. Again, that warm fuzzy feeling spread through Harry’s chest at the sound of possessive note in Draco’s voice and he relaxed into the touch.

Sipping at the pint that Charlie had got for him, Harry took the opportunity to have a good look round. It was the first time that he had been in a club of any kind, straight or gay. From the outside, it had looked almost like a warehouse, but the inside was completely different. It was bigger than he had expected, and warmer too.

After only a few moments inside, Harry realised just how superfluous his coat was, and quickly stripped it off to reveal the tight fitting, black, chiffon shirt that he was wearing. At Draco’s insistence, only the middle three buttons were fastened, showing a large portion of Harry’s torso to anyone who cared to look.

The tight black jeans rode dangerously low on his hips, so much so, that he daren’t lean forward in his seat for fear of revealing too much. Though, as his eyes scanned over the crowd, he began to realise that the bit of flesh he had on show wasn’t even going to raise an eyebrow.

Harry tried his hardest not to stare, but it was immensely difficult. Having been raised in a world where homosexuality was something to be ashamed of, he struggled to accept seeing it flaunted so blatantly.

The sight of so many barely dressed men, pressed close together, dancing, kissing, and in a lot of cases, groping furiously, was a revelation to him. His Uncle Vernon and Dudley had been unashamedly homophobic. Their attitude had left Harry with the impression that it was something to be hidden away, something dirty. To see it celebrated so openly, Harry felt a weight lift off his shoulders that he hadn’t realised he was still carrying.

“Harry? Harry, are you listening?”

Dragged from his musings, Harry turned to face his boyfriend. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“Pansy and I are going to dance. Are you coming?” There was a look on his face that said he already knew the answer to the question and that he was just asking to be polite.

“I think I’ll just stay here and keep Charlie company. We don’t want the only straight man in the group getting hit on! You don’t mind do you?”

Harry didn’t even catch Draco’s answer; he practically dragged Pansy into the throng of sweaty bodies and soon disappeared from sight.

“So...”

Harry held his breath, nervous about what Charlie was going to say now that he knew his secret.

“You and Malfoy, eh? Now that’s something I never thought I’d see.”

Harry couldn’t help but chuckle at this. “You and me both.”

The older redhead leaned in closer, so as to be heard over the pumping music. “Don’t look so nervous, Harry. I’m not about to judge you. If he makes you happy, then I’m happy for you. I’m just glad to see you smiling again.”


“He does,” Harry admitted softly, a shy smile on his face.

“Just do me one favour?”

“What’s that?”

“When you eventually tell Ron, break it to him gently. Otherwise that vein in his head might just finally pop.”

Any tension that had lingered between the two was dispelled with the laughter that followed this remark. Charlie fetched them another couple of drinks and they settled down to some people watching, which in this particular club, turned out to be rather an eye opening experience.

After a while, a flustered looking Neville returned with a pouting Blaise in tow.

“Just let me get my breath back, Blaise. I’m knackered.” Neville pleaded with his boyfriend, who appeared to now be sulking.

As Harry raised his drink to his lips, a hand shot out and removed it from his grasp. Looking up, he found his own boyfriend pouting down at him, in much the same fashion that Blaise had just used.

“Hey, I was drinking that.”

“And now you’re not,” Draco retorted smugly. “Come and dance with me Harrryyy,” he whined.

“Just one dance, Harry, or you’ll never hear the end of it,” Pansy advised.

“Ok, but no laughing at me. You know I can’t dance.”

“I promise,” the blonde answered honestly, amazed that the brunette had acquiesced so quickly.

“I guess I’ll just sit this one out.” Pansy muttered as she watched her friends disappear off, hand in hand.

Seeing her disappointed expression, Charlie stood up and offered her his hand.

“How about we become the token ‘hetro’ couple of the night?”

Pansy’s natural instinct was to shy away from contact with this man that she barely knew. But a quick look at his smiling face, with its warm blue eyes, and all resolve faded.

“Sure, I’d love to,” she answered. The words out of her mouth before she even realised she was going to accept.

Draco’s eyes widened at the sight of his best friend wrapped in the arms of Charlie Weasley. Harry followed his gaze and was also suitably surprised. Pansy was understandably skittish around strange men, and with the exception of a few very close friends, she almost always ran a mile from any form of contact. To see her now, looking so relaxed, was amazing.

“Relax, Dray,” he soothed. “Charlie’s a good man and they’re just dancing.”

“I know. But she’s like a sister to me, and after all that happened to her, it’s hard not to worry.”

However, all thoughts of Pansy and her dancing partner swiftly left the blonde’s head as Harry wrapped his arms tight round his waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other. The song was a slow one and they were barely moving, other than their hands trailing over each other’s bodies.

As he felt his boyfriend’s erection pressing against his thigh, Draco leaned closer still and captured his lips in a searing kiss. He tightened his hand on the back of Harry’s head, crashing their mouths together, and probed the depths of Harry’s mouth with his slick tongue.


They were both completely unaware of the picture they presented to the club's other occupants. Harry's dark hair and olive skin, combined with his black outfit, juxtaposed Draco's pale skin, golden hair and the white version of Harry's outfit that he had chosen to wear.

Many a lustful glance was cast in their direction as they lost themselves in the kiss, oblivious to anything except for the feel of each other.

“Mmmm, that was nice,” Harry murmured dazedly, when Draco broke the kiss. He lay his head down on the blonde’s shoulder, as they swayed softly to the music.

“Don’t fall asleep on me,” Draco warned, as he felt his boyfriend nuzzle closer into the side of his neck.

As the DJ stuck to playing slower songs, one dance turned into four, before Harry had realised. When they made their way back to the table, they found all the others sat round chatting. Even Blaise seemed to have come out of his funk.

Draco pulled Harry down into his lap and tightened his arms round the smaller boy’s waist.

Charlie couldn’t help but smile at this. “You two are adorable, you do realise that?”

Pansy gave him a playful swat on the arm. “Don’t call them adorable for Merlin’s sake. Someone gets very uptight about that.” There was a pointed look in Draco’s direction and then the pair of them were laughing.

“You two seem to be getting on well.” Harry spoke quickly, not allowing his boyfriend the chance to make the biting remark that was on the tip of his tongue.

“Yes, well it turns out we have a bit in common.”

“Really?” Draco did not sound at all believing of this statement. “What’s that then?”

“Well,” Pansy began, a mischievous twinkle in her eye that made Harry just the tiniest bit nervous. “It turns out that we both spend a lot of time dealing with temperamental Dragons.”

It took Harry a moment to understand what she was saying, before he too was chuckling along with the rest of his friends – with the exception of one very disgruntled blonde.

Harry laid his head back on Draco’s shoulder and pressed a tiny kiss just below his ear. The blonde’s annoyance faded instantly at this touch and he even managed a smile at his best friend.

At that moment, George reappeared, his arms draped round the same doorman that he had snogged earlier.

“I’m off, Charlie. I’ll see you in the morning. Night, you guys.”

And then he was gone.

“I guess we had better start making tracks too,” Charlie suggested.

Blaise looked longingly at the dance floor and was about to protest, but Draco spoke first.

“That’s probably a good idea. We’ve got to be up early in the morning, if we’re going to have time to go into muggle London.”

“Not more shopping,” Harry groaned, from where his face was now buried in the crook of Draco’s neck.

“Come on, sleepyhead, up you get.”

Harry stood up, grumbling at having to move. “I was comfy, Dray,” he whined.

Draco only grinned and began manipulating the dark haired boy’s body into his jacket.

“Yes, Harry,” he soothed. “I know it’s hot in here, but it’s December outside and you’ll freeze without it.”

The others drained the remainder of their drinks and gathered up their belongings before Charlie led the way out of the club. Once outside, they located a dark alleyway, which they promptly disappeared into and Apparated back to Diagon Alley. Charlie heading off to George’s flat, the others seeking their beds in the Leaky Cauldron.

Whatever plans Draco had made for his first real night alone with Harry, were swiftly ruined, when the Gryffindor climbed into bed, fully clothed, and promptly fell straight to sleep.

Quashing his disappointment, Draco settled instead for undressing his boyfriend and tucking him in gently, before pressing a chaste kiss to his sleeping lips and curling himself around the dark-haired boy's body.

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