Dark Mark

“Oh, Gods, Harry!” Draco gasped. Harry was biting lightly on that spot just at the base of his neck. He was working his way down across his collar bone as he fumbled with the buttons down the front of Draco’s shirt. He pulled back for a moment, and Draco eagerly helped as Harry pull off his own sweater, before returning to nuzzle into his boyfriends chest and finishing the last of the buttons with his teeth, his hands still steady on Draco’s shoulders. He dragged his lips happily over Draco’s silky, flawless abs.

Draco moaned and buried his hands in Harry’s hair as the boy hovered desperately at his naval. He could feel his breath, hot on his bare skin. Anxiously, he glanced down at Harry, who grinned up at him, and then placed a tickling kiss right above his belt. And he slowly began to pull the shirt from Draco’s shoulders...

Suddenly Draco tensed. “Har- Harry, no!”

Harry stopped and looked up, confused. “Draco, I thought you said you wanted this,” he breathed, as steadily as he could manage.

“I- Harry, I do, you know I do, but I can’t, Harry…,” he made a sound somewhere between a gasp and a sigh. It almost sounded like a sob. Harry pulled back, rubbing his eyes wearily. This had to be the umpteenth time Draco had done this.

Draco closed his eyes patiently and leaned back breathing slowly to steady himself for what he was about to say. What he had to say. “Harry, I need to tell you something. I need to tell you now.”

Harry eyed his boyfriend cautiously, slowly catching his breath. “What is it, Draco?”

Draco stood up from the bed and took a slow, steadying breath, gathering his courage. This was it. He had put this off for far too long. “Harry,” he began, “we’ve been, erm, involved for a while now.”

“Yeah…” Harry said carefully.

“And we haven’t, urm, y-y’know, yet…”

“Yeah,” Harry paused, avoiding Draco’s eyes. Then he spoke with an apologetic tone, and Draco could tell that he was beating himself up on the inside. “Look, Draco, if you don’t want to, I’m not going to make you.” Of course he would blame himself first. He always thought stuff like this was his own fault, but of course it wasn’t. Damn hero. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to force you. I just- I thought that you wanted to-”

“I already told you Harry, I do want to, but- but…” Draco was pacing, looking wildly around the room, looking for a way to make this easier, but finding none.

“Then what is it, Draco?” Harry was growing very frustrated with the blonde. “You keep saying that you want this, but every time, when it’s about to happen, you make me stop. If you want to wait, or something, just tell me. I just want to know what’s going on.”

“Harry, it’s not about the sex! Do I look like a fucking virgin to you? Believe me, I want it just as much as you do. But first, you have to know…” He just didn’t know how to say it. He’d been thinking about it for weeks, but just couldn’t get it right in his head, and all the different approaches that he had considered seemed ridiculous now that he was here.

Harry rose from the bed, carefully studying Draco’s face for some sort of hint as to what was troubling him. “Draco,” he finally said, “You can tell me anything, I want you to believe that.”

“I know Harry, but-”

“Draco.”

Draco finally looked up at Harry. There was nothing else for it. “Just- just look.” He said quietly, defeatedly. “See for yourself.” With that, he ripped off his left sleeve.

And there, standing out against the pale white skin of his left forearm, was the Dark Mark.

Harry couldn’t help himself from letting out gasp of surprise. Draco’s silver eyes were dark and he tried to hide them from Harry by looking away.

Harry couldn’t look away. “Draco, h- how long-?”

“It was over the summer. Months befo- before we were… involved.” He looked deeply, desperately at the other boy. “Harry, please, you’ve got to believe me, I didn’t have a choice. I- you know- he’s cruel. The Dark Lord. He- he doesn’t give you a choice. It’s join him or die.”

“I can think of plenty of people who haven’t joined him who aren’t having any trouble breathing,” growled Harry, without really thinking.

“Yeah, and you also might recall a few who aren’t so lucky! Like your parents! Or maybe that Diggory bloke, or your Godfather!” He knew that he was being cruel, bringing up these deaths, but it was a rather cruel subject.

Harry reretted his own harsh words immediately. “No, Draco, I’m sorry,” he blurted, trying to repair the damage. “I realize you didn’t have any choice, really, I’m sorry!”

“It’s not like I’m any safer with this damn thing on me, anyway.” Draco muttered. He looked up at Harry. “He killed MacNair. As soon as he put this on me, he turned around and finished him. Said he only needs so many Death Eaters, and MacNair had done something wrong. And Nott, he must’ve killed him, too. We heard him screaming, and when we came in, he wasn’t there, but there he was, holding Nott’s wand!”

“Draco… I… God!” Harry didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what to do.

Draco nodded, glancing away once again, obviously holding back tears. After a moments pause, he took another shuddering breath, trying to muster up enough strength for this last part before he absolutely collapsed.

“Harry.” He gritted out. “I absolutely swear to you,” he forced himself to stare straight into Harry’s eyes, even as his own began to spill over. Harry would leave him, he knew it. How could he not? Or worse, he might turn him in, or something. “I did NOT enter this relationship with any intension at all of hurting you. I- God! I didn’t even think of it, until- until I really started to care about you. But- but if you think- if you think it’s too dangerous or something… I- I’ll understand, I s-swear!”

His voice shattered at the end of his speech, and he began to sob helplessly. Harry instantly rushed to Draco, pulling him into a tight embrace.

“Shh, shh, shh, Draco, don’t worry, babe, shh, come on, it’ll be okay…” he mumbled soothingly as he pulled Draco down onto the bed, leaning down with him against the pillows. Draco was sobbing helplessly against Harry’s chest. Harry stroked his back softly and continued to mumble meaningless comforts in an effort to calm Draco. “Come on, we’re fine, we’re okay, don’t worry.” He seemed to have relaxed a little bit, now that he and Harry were so close. Harry was warm and soft and smooth. They were both now bare-chested, and, God!, how long Draco had wanted to feel so much of Harry’s skin against his.

“You know I don’t need your pity.” he said in a lame attempt at bitterness. The effect was slightly marred by his affectionate tone and the fact that he snuggled even more tightly against him as he spoke.

Harry let out a breathless laugh. “Draco, you prat! This isn’t pity.”

“Then what- why haven’t you dumped me on my ass yet? You can, okay? It doesn’t matter, I d- don’t care!”

“Yes, you do, Draco.” Harry said fiercly. “Look, it’s not as bad as you think. You can come with us and be part of the Order. We can protect you, don’t worry.”

“You didn’t answer me! Why are you doing this? And don’t give me any shit about- about- damned if I know!” He was sitting up, now, getting himself riled up again. “When, for all you know, I might be setting you up to be captured, or something!”

“Oh, and are you?”

“Of course not, Harry!” Draco was yelling, getting up from the bed once more.

“And why not?” Harry was yelling, too, daring him to say it.

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, YOU FUCKING PRAT!!!” Draco clapped his hands over his mouth, but it was too late. He had already said it. A horrified look came over his face. They hadn’t said “I love you” before, either of them.

Harry’s expression was unreadable as he, too, rose from the bed. He walked slowly over to where Draco stood, still mortified. Standing with only a few inches between them, Harry gently pulled Draco’s hands away from his face. He had never seen Draco this scared, this vulnerable. For a moment, they both just stood there. Then Harry spoke in thrilling whisper:

“I love you, too.”

Draco gasped, before Harry pulled him into a passionate kiss, which he returned with all the energy he could muster. When the kiss ended, they stood there staring at each other. It was like they were in a dream. Neither was doing anything, and yet it meant everything to both of them.

The moment slowly ended, and Draco found that he suddenly had plenty of energy. A devilish smirk spread across Draco’s face. Harry had just enough time to look confused before the blonde pushed him back onto the bed. His green eyes were very wide as Draco prowled over to the bed. He kneeled over Harry, straddling him as he leaned forward to kiss him hungrily. He grabbed Harry’s arms, pinning him to the bed, and bit at Harry’s neck. It was a gentle bite, but fierce nonetheless, and it made Harry make a small noise somewhere between a gasp and a moan.

“Draco!” He managed to say, “Are you sure…?”

“Of course I’m sure,” Draco muttered as he licked his way down Harry’s collarbone. “I said I wanted this, I wasn’t kidding.” He had made it to Harry’s chest and placed another bite on a nipple. Harry arched under him, groaning with pleasure. Draco pulled away for a minute, already needing to catch his breath a little. “The thing is Harry, are you sure? Sure you can handle me?”

“OhGodyesDraco!” He said all in one short breath. His eyes shut tight and his brow was knotted desperately as Draco held back. He couldn’t take this frustration any longer. “What the hell are you waiting for?!”

Draco smiled down at him, leaning back. He would end his suffering soon enough. He had been so patient, so perfect. Draco couldn’t have asked for anything better. But he couldn’t resist toying with him a little. “Oooh, Harry, you know, I think I’ve changed my mind.”

He grinned as Harry opened his eyes and glared up at him. Then, in one swift movement, he released Harry’s arms and plunged a hand down the front of his trousers. Harry gasped loudly, and was panting as Draco’s other hand worked on undoing the buttons and zippers. “Just kidding, love.”

Harry tried to say “prat”, but couldn’t quite find the breath. Besides, as Draco was doing unspeakable naughty things to him, and he couldn’t quite help but be distracted to the point where he couldn’t think. He didn't mind really; what's thinking when you've got love? For a long while, neither said anything very intelligible as they found bliss in each other.
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Author's Note: I originally posted this on dA. In fact, this was the first fic I ever posted online! ^^; I hope you liked it.
btw, I didn't really give too much thought into the cannon-ness of this particular fic. I usually try to make things fairly accurate, but ah, well. Basically, for this, they've gotten together early in their 6th year.