Rivaling Affections

Authors Note: Many thanks to my beta Alexandra for her work on this and other fics of mine

Chapter 6

Harry was in the back garden trimming back several flowering shrubs that had gotten a little out of control over the last few weeks, whistling a tune he couldn’t seem to get out of his head. He knew Draco had put up a fuss the previous night over all the muggle music Harry made him endure, but he suspected Draco liked it more than he had let on.

He shook his head and smiled to himself. Draco was surprising and predictable all at once. His manner and tone hadn’t changed much since they were children, he was still just as snide and sarcastic as ever, but there was a softer side of Draco that Harry hadn’t noticed before he began staying in Harry’s home.

Draco was obviously fond of Teddy, and respectful of Andromeda and at the same time, he was even pleasant to Harry. He should be, Harry supposed, since he was a guest in Harry’s home, but he had shown a wandering interest in Harry’s house, and his pastimes and even his hobbies that he didn’t need to just because he was living there temporarily. Instead, he seemed genuinely curious about Harry.

The house was large enough that Draco hardly ever needed to see Harry if he didn’t want to, yet he mysteriously showed up where Harry was quite often.

“Potter,” Draco called from the doorway and Harry chuckled to himself at the Slytherin’s timing.

“I was just thinking about you,” Harry called back. He had decided, upon Draco coming to stay with him, that he would need to treat Malfoy like anyone else. He would be honest with him, and treat him with kindness where warranted and ignore him if need be if Draco started being rude. He had promised Draco the night before that he would back off about anything romantic between them, and he had, but he wouldn’t do anything to stop Draco from seeking him out, nor would he lie about his feelings if the questions were asked.

“Were you? Do you often think about me, Potter?” Draco asked with a smug grin, coming to stand beside Harry and watching him curiously.

“I have been lately, yes,” Harry replied with a grin, though really the smile was only for himself, because he didn’t let himself look over in Draco’s direction. He enjoyed the irritation oozing from the Slytherin’s pores at Harry’s lack of physical attention. Even though his words were laced with sugar, it didn’t seem enough for the other man.

“Why are you doing all this without magic? You could have been done ages ago,” Draco asked incredulously, waving at the row of plants he was manicuring.

Harry chuckled and kept pruning the leaves of a royal purple hydrangea. “I enjoy working with my hands. It relieves stress,” he added.

“I know something else that relieves stress,” Draco noted, shooting him a brief wink and nudging him lightly in the ribs.

Smiling brightly, Harry turned to give Draco the full weight of his gaze and was happy to see a small gasp forming on the other man’s lips. “You mean, like cooking? I find that it also relieves stress,” Harry replied, feigning innocence.

Draco rolled his eyes. “No, that’s not what I meant at all.”

Harry pretended to look confused. “Whatever could you mean then?”

Draco gaped at him and crossed his arms over his chest. “Sex, Potter. I was talking about sex.”

“You want to have sex with uncle Harry?” came a slightly disgusted voice from the back door. Harry chuckled as Teddy came into view and looked at Draco like he had two heads. “Uncle Harry, did you know about this?” Teddy asked him.

“I had my suspicions. I’m very irresistible you know?” he replied to Teddy with a wink.

Teddy laughed and rolled his eyes. “I think you should hold out,” he said with a smug grin. “At least make him buy you dinner or something.”

Harry could barely contain his laughter. Teddy had been watching far too much television apparently and Harry was grateful that Andromeda wasn’t around to hear him say such things. “I think you’re right, Teddy,” he replied, ruffling the youngsters hair. “Maybe I should even hold out for a present, or a proposal,” he added waving the fingers of his left hand as if showing off an engagement ring, and Teddy nodded enthusiastically.

“It would be brilliant if you married Draco, then you would be family for real!” he shouted excitedly.

Harry sent an apologetic look over to Draco, but couldn’t manage to stifle his laugh at Draco’s sour face. “I’m glad you both think this is so amusing,” he pouted.

“Oh come on, have a sense of humor,” Harry chastised.

Teddy laughed and moved on quickly to the reason he came outside. “Harry, could we go flying today?”

“Sure champ, go get changed and we’ll got up for a bit before lunch,” Harry said with a smile.

Teddy beamed at him and rushed off to get ready. “Try harder, cousin,” he called back to Draco before he was out of earshot.

“I think you’re a bad influence on that boy,” Draco huffed.

“Me?” Harry replied with a laugh. “I wasn’t the one trying to get fresh in the back garden,” he replied, pretending to be offended.

“You’re insufferable,” Draco growled. “You knew he was there the whole time didn’t you?”

Harry laughed and nodded. “I heard him open the door.”

“You could have warned me,” He scoffed.

Harry frowned. “Where would have been the fun in that?”

Draco sighed dramatically and started to leave, but Harry caught his arm. “Did you actually come out here for something other than propositioning me?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I… I wasn’t propositioning you. I was just saying that you could be spending your time better,” he said, and it wasn’t lost on Harry that he hadn’t answered his question.

“It would be better spent sleeping with you?” Harry asked with a smile.

Draco shrugged. “Perhaps.”

Harry took off his gardening gloves and let them fall to the stone path. He gently cupped Draco’s cheek and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “I have no doubt that it would, but I’ve already told you why it simply won’t happen that way.”

“Because you want a relationship,” Draco breathed and Harry nodded, letting his hand fall back to his side.

“I don’t think I can do that,” Draco said, sounding upset about the fact, or at least Harry imagined he sounded upset about it.

Harry smiled weakly and nodded. “I know. But if you ever change your mind, you’ll know where to find me,” he added, pushing back a lock of the purest blonde hair and tucking it behind Draco’s ear.

He took a deep breath and walked back into the house to grab his gear for flying with Teddy. He didn’t know if Draco would ever come around, but it wasn’t as if Harry couldn’t wait a while. Harry had learned patience over the years and as he hadn’t met anyone who interested him as much as Draco in a long time, he could give the man some time and space to come to a final decision on his own.

It wouldn’t do any good to force him.

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“So tragic,” Andromeda sighed, peeking out the window of her cottage at the back of the house. She had been watching the scene between Harry and Draco play out like some daytime soap opera. “They’re obviously smitten, but refuse to act on it.”

“They really are hopeless aren’t they,” Narsissa mused from beside her.

“They? Clearly it’s mostly Draco causing the problems,” Minerva observed.

Andromeda laughed. “Harry’s being much more passive than usual though. Perhaps if he pursued Draco as aggressively as he had previous suitors then Draco would have come around by now,” she offered.

“It’s only been a day,” Narcissa balked. “Surely you didn’t think Draco could be won over so easily.”

Minerva narrowed her eyes. “They’ve been at this game of cat and mouse since they were schoolboys Cissy, surely you saw it?”

Narcissa sighed and looked out the window. “I did see it then, but he was so young and I didn’t want to influence his love life too early. He needed to learn on his own who he was and wasn’t attracted to.” She was watching Teddy flying low around the garden with Harry at his side and she smiled. “He’s so good with Teddy,” she noted with a wistful sigh. “I miss Draco at that age.”

Andromeda nodded. “Harry’s a little too lenient with the boy in my opinion, but Teddy’s a bright and sweet boy, so he must be doing something right. I’ve tried to stay out of the day to day parenting since I arrived here, Nymphadora and Remus did leave the boy to Harry, after all.” She watched the boy’s dip and dive, wincing as they hovered inches from the ground.

“Well, I think he’s doing a splendid job, and I can hardly wait to see how Draco does as potion master,” Minerva added.

“Yes, he was so excited about the position when I told him about it. Then when Harry came over in person to offer it,” she giggled. “It made it impossible for Draco to refuse. Such a clever touch, Minnie.”

The headmistress nodded her thanks and sipped at her cooling tea. They had been meeting this way for months, gossiping about all sorts of things, but it wasn’t until Narcissa mentioned Draco asking her to buy the copy of Witch Weekly that had Harry’s face on the cover that they had begun to scheme.

Andromeda had mentioned a few times how lonely Harry seemed and how she wished he’d find a good boy to settle in with, so that Teddy could have a stable family and Andromeda could take up traveling. She wanted desperately for Harry to be happy after all he had been through.

Then when Narcissa mentioned Draco’s not so minor obsession with the boy, everything seemed to fall into place. It sounded so simple. Draco and Harry were perfectly matched. They grew up together, both had had very difficult positions in the war, they both had hot tempers and fiery passions, it seemed just right.

Except for the other way that the boys were the same. They both hesitated.

After Narcissa reported what had occurred between the boys at the Manor, they knew it would be a harder thing than they had planned it to be to get the two together. They hoped proximity and constant contact would be enough, but apparently they were not as lucky as that.

The boys were hardheaded, for sure.

“If Harry would only sleep with him, Draco would give into any demand he made,” Narcissa mused. She knew her son’s infatuation would be sealed if he were to be so completely intimate with the other man. “He could avoid a relationship with Harry forever if Harry keeps being so coy,” she added.

“Yes, and of course Harry thinks he’s being noble by not sleeping with him,” Minerva observed.

“He’s protecting his heart,” Andromeda whispered and the other two looked at her with confusion. “Gabe, the last man Harry slept with, turned out to be using him for his fame. He was going to give a scathing interview to Rita Skeeter about the whole affair.”

The other women gasped. “What happened, I never read anything in the Profit? Everyone obviously still thinks the boy prefers women,” Narcissa said.

“I… silenced him,” Andromeda said with a wink. “Nothing too unseemly of course, but he'll forever rue the day he met Harry.”

“Good,” Minerva muttered. “I hope you gave him a good case of dragon pox while you were at it,” she huffed and the other two nodded with approval. Harry was far too sweet and gentle a boy to be taken advantage of that way.

“This will be trickier than we originally thought,” Narcissa mused. “Both of them are stubborn enough to stick to their guns unless we do something.”

“The question is, which will be easier, getting Harry to cave in and sleep with Draco, or getting Draco to admit he wants a relationship?” Minerva asked the group.

They looked around at each other and immediately burst out in a fit of giggles. “We have our work cut out for us ladies,” Andromeda said at last, raising her teacup for the other women to toast. “To love,” she said.

“To love,” they echoed, and set to work planning their next move.

Authors Note: I love my plotting ladies. Please review and I will send out Draco and Harry shaped sugar cookies

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