Warnings: NC-17, panda shenanigans, ghosts

Draco cast Tempus and glared at the space below the numbers. "I'm late for the Wizengamot session."

Harry's tanned hands looped around his waist, pulling him back from the potions bench. Draco sighed and reclined his head on his boyfriend's broad shoulder.

"Let them start without you," whispered Harry, his breath a caress against Draco's cheek which made the blond shiver.

"Can't." He shook his head. "There's a measure I have to vote on that deals with vampires. Besides, the ornery Chief Warlock already told me I missed too many votes back when…"

"I was a panda." Harry leaned forward to lick a stripe of Draco's ear shell which made the blond shudder violently. "I reckon your willowy body feels like a treat because it reminds me of fine bamboo stalks."

Draco growled and struggled free of Harry's embrace. "Bamboo! How utterly plebeian and panda of you, Potter!" Draco stomped away, smoothing the sleeves of his plum-coloured robes. He cast a fleeting glance at the thick liquid swirling inside the cauldron.

"And your potion?"

"It'll have to wait, Harry." Draco swished his wand and Accio'd the garishly coloured hat from his bedroom.

Having caught it deftly using his Seeker's reflexes, Draco scowled at the unseemly thing. He drawled, "The potion's experimental anyway. Wanted to fine tune the brew I've prepared to enhance my connection to portrait magic; I want to see Severus."

Draco rushed out of his potions lab, mumbling about being late yet again.

Harry lifted the rim of his glasses with his finger before dashing out of the room as he called out, "Oi, wait for me!" He turned his face to the room when he heard a noise. It sounded eerie, like the moans he sometimes pulled out of Draco. Not seeing anything extraordinary, Harry shrugged and went to join his boyfriend in the parlour.

oOoOo

A flask which held a purple liquid hung in midair.

"Severus, put that vial down."

"Shut your mouth, mutt!" Severus growled. In the ethereal plane he resided in, Snape didn't need to turn to know who was addressing him.

"The last one you picked up…" Sirius trailed off and lifted one ghostly finger to point at the neatly ordered row of vials on the shelf above the table. "It fell off, and your ferret godson blamed the poor house-elves."

Severus tried to rub his forehead; it was a futile gesture because his hand passed through his brow. "Fine, mutt. Why aren't you bothering the other mutt?"

The flask slowly descended, wobbling a bit on the shelf.

"Remus went to visit his son." Sirius pouted whilst he looked longingly towards the window. Hopefully, Remus would return after making sure that Andromeda was taking good care of Teddy.

Severus crossed his arms, scowling at the flask. "Why can't I raise the bloody, useless thing? I'm quite able to do that at Hogwarts!"

"Because you died there and your presence is strongest?" Sirius chided him. "And you know that our scant powers don't work that well anyway."

Sirius glided towards his erstwhile nemesis, suppressing a sigh at the enticing way Severus' ectoplasm seemingly fused with the shadows. "Why do you want to tamper with young Malfoy's potion?"

Severus glared at the space formerly occupied by the Seekers. "So that Draco and Potter will finally consummate their relationship…"

"You want them to shag?" Sirius bit back a smile at Snape's scowl; there was nothing he enjoyed more on the terrestrial and spiritual planes than riling up Severus.

Snape took a long, unneeded breath. "Indeed… Lily and I hope once they do, we will be released and finally leave this dreary and dismal place."

Severus sighed and looked sharply at Sirius. "I'm weary of dealing with mutts."

"Oh, I see; and yet you have Lily, and James, and…"

"Enough, Black," Severus said sharply whilst gliding towards the former Animagus. "I despair when I think of all the time I'll be forced to endure your canine company."

He passed through Sirius and vanished through the wall; noticing the dirty stone slabs, Severus muttered darkly, "Malfoy house-elves are not up to the old standards."

Alone in the room, Sirius squinted at the vial Severus had struggled with. Imagining it was Snape's quill during his Hogwarts years, Sirius exerted all his telekinetic powers and made it levitate, finally upending the contents into the smouldering cauldron where Draco had been brewing his potion.

Sirius rubbed his translucent hands and smirked gleefully. "That should help old Snivellus, and I get to pull a prank on Malfoy; it can't get better than this!"

oOoOo

At the end of the day, Harry and Draco returned from the Wizengamot.

"Mrs Halding really slowed things down," Draco said, "That witch is quite long-winded."

"Well, she raised valid points in her defence of vampires." Harry yawned and stretched his arms; attending those Wizengamot sessions was boring, luckily he had the sight of Draco's lean body to distract him.

"She didn't need to belabour them for hours, though." Draco wiggled his eyebrows at Harry as the Auror sighed at the way the bright hat complimented Draco's pale looks.

"Make yourself at home, Harry," Draco said, fingering the lapels of his robes. "I have to get rid of this costume." He sauntered towards the corridor and took off his hat, calling over his shoulder, "Just don't eat Mother's flowers again."

Harry spluttered in indignation. "I… I'm not a panda anymore!"

The Auror scowled and sat down on the richly brocaded couch, fingering his wand as he thought about the exhausting time they all spent discussing legislation. Before he joined Draco in the Wizengamot he had visited Arthur Weasley, and that reminded him of his best friend. He decided to cast a Patronus and tell Ron all about his affair with Draco. He was swishing his wand when he heard the Slytherin's outraged scream.

Harry ran towards the noise; it seemed to come from his left so he took the corridor that led to Draco's potions lab. When he got there, he burst through the door and looked around wildly. "Are you all right, Dra…"

He didn't finish because the surreal scene that met him was something out of a dream. Harry pinched his arm, hard. The copper cauldron was on the table, its neck covered in a thick liquid which, Harry realised, was also splattered all over the marble floor. Next to the table stood a slim panda; Harry rubbed his eyes wearily. It had to be Draco because the bear was mostly white; the dark patches around his round ears and his black nose lent him a rakish look and made his muzzle appear rather pointed.

The aristocratic-looking panda glared at Harry with beady eyes whilst the brunet shook his head. Because he was well acquainted with potions accidents, Harry's imagination supplied him the details: the potion had exploded and splattered his boyfriend.

"Reckon you're not the potions expert I thought you were." Harry barely hid his smirk.

The panda barked angrily.

"You must be hungry, I know." Harry remembered the constant hunger he felt during his panda days, and hastily conjured a bamboo stalk which he gave to Draco.

The white panda huffed menacingly and his claws grasped the bamboo; then he bit savagely into the smooth bark. He looked up at Harry with eyes sparkling in outrage whilst his round ears twitched.

"What should I say if the committee send you a letter?" Harry said, enjoying the way the panda's white fur stood up on end as Draco stopped devouring the bamboo to gaze up at him. "Perhaps I should say you're out in the woods, walking around covered in your finest furs."

His shoulders hunched, the panda snapped his jaws shut and bit through the stalk. Harry gulped when he noted the bear's indignant stance and hastily beat a retreat. Meanwhile, Draco grasped the bamboo with his left forepaw, before twisting his body to throw the sharp point at Harry. The Auror managed to avoid the projectile due to his fast reflexes.

oOoOo

Harry opened the door to his office with trembling fingers. Dealing with Draco in panda form was proving to be quite onerous because the bear got irritated at the slightest things and was constantly hungry. Pandadom really did nothing to improve Draco's disposition, Harry thought as he approached his cluttered desk.

"Oi, mate!" Ron eyed his best friend. "You have dark rings around your eyes; makes you look like a panda."

Harry groaned.

"Sorry, mate," Ron muttered whilst he busied himself writing his report on the yellowed parchment upon his desk. "Forgot your awful experience when the Dark wizard transfigured you into a panda," he said, and snickered softly.

"I've had a rough few days." Harry sat on the edge of the desk, wondering if this was the right time to come clean to Ron regarding his boyfriend. He was afraid Ron would blow his top when he found out about his relationship with Draco, but now the redhead appeared to be in a good mood. Taking a deep breath, Harry framed his thoughts whilst he fiddled nervously with his wand. He opened his mouth but then he noticed a flying thing darting through the threshold towards him. He ducked hastily to avoid the wayward memorandum; luckily, Harry's reflexes were honed to perfection because he constantly had to avoid the stalks thrown by his pointy panda.

"What is it, mate?" said Ron.

Having read the parchment, Harry sighed because his day was not looking up at all. After dealing with his bear of a boyfriend, he now had to meet Shacklebolt. "The Minister wants to see me."

oOoOo

"Auror Potter; I understand the stress under which you labour, believe me." Kingsley eyed shrewdly the up-and-coming young man. "The difficulties of coming to terms with being human after being transfigured into an animal must be enormous."

Harry nodded warily, his arms crossed. He noticed the Minister constantly glanced down at the parchment which laid on his desk. Shacklebolt steepled his fingers whilst he muttered low under his breath, "We must bear in mind that Aberforth Dumbledore is an outstanding wizard, despite his unseemly fixation with goats."

Harry scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion. What did Dumbledore have to do with the situation? He didn't know Aberforth had been turned into a goat.

"Despite the sordid rumours of his past, we must acknowledge that Aberforth proved invaluable in the Final Battle," Shacklebolt said, fixing his keen eyes upon Harry. "We mustn't ever forget that; therefore, we must allow for… certain peccadilloes." The Minister touched the parchment which, Harry realised with a start, bore the Malfoy coat of arms.

It seemed the Minister was in a pensive mood; Kingsley would often share anecdotes about the War and his days with the Order, but today the Minister was intent on Aberforth and goats. Harry sighed tiredly.

"Sir, I have to finish the reports." After all, Harry had to cover Draco's absence with the increasingly shrill Wizengamot committee for the Prevention of Cruelty against Trolls. It seemed Mrs Halding had found her calling which consisted in defending dark creatures.

"I'm rambling, aren't I?" Shacklebolt said, and nodded at Harry in dismissal.

The Minister eyed the parchment and shuddered minutely. "By the way, Potter, they need you at Malfoy Manor."

Harry stood up and wandlessly cast the spell Sirius had taught him to unobtrusively duplicate letters. Once he was on his way to the lifts, he fished the parchment out of his pocket and read:

Dear Minister Shacklebolt:

I ask you most kindly if you would please tell Harry Potter that we urgently need him at the Manor. His panda boyfriend is insatiable today.

Narcissa Malfoy

Harry crumpled up the parchment in his fist, glaring at the doors of the lift. So that was why Shacklebolt mentioned Aberforth!

Shacklebolt thinks that because I was a panda, I'm now attracted to them! He's dead wrong! Draco is even pointier as panda than as human, though I would never tell him that. Harry shivered, remembering the wicked gleam in the white panda's eyes when he was angry. After all, I value my life.

oOoOo

"Harry, why are you so sad?" Narcissa said softly whilst she glared at the panda who behaved so uncouthly it broke her heart.

Draco continued eating his stalk, munching on the leaves whilst he squirmed on the ornate chair.

"It's Samhain," Harry said dolefully and then gulped down the white wine. Gazing at Narcissa, who arched her eyebrow delicately, Harry went on. "Hermione told me the Wizarding traditions, and I hoped to celebrate with Draco."

He glanced at the panda, who had burped and hastily covered his snout with his left paw.

"I wonder why you haven't found the cure yet." Narcissa sighed, and called the house-elves to take away the dishes.

"It's Draco's fault!" Harry said, ruffling his hair in exasperation. "I have all the ingredients ready, and he always eats the herbs!"

The panda glared at the house-elf who was about to take away his bamboo dish. The elf hastily popped out of the dining room, scared out of his wits by Draco's behaviour.

"I understand," Narcissa drawled, "he was the same as a child, though I must say he was far cuddlier."

Hearing that, the panda sat on his chair with downcast eyes, his round ears twitching sadly.

Narcissa stood up from the table. "I'm afraid I have to leave you. Merlin knows Lucius is in a bad temper because he thought he was finally free of the bear. Now that his only son is a panda, he spends most of the day riding his winged horse."

As she went out the door, she turned to look at Draco. "The potion might be temporal, you know."

Draco barked sharply.

"Son, you told me yourself your potion… the one you were brewing so you could speak with Severus? You said it only acted for a few days." Narcissa said gently, "Perhaps the new concoction behaves the same way."

Draco barked, his beady eyes squinting as he contemplated the possibilities. He lifted his paw and picked up the remaining stalk, sniffing the succulent leaves; finally, the panda nodded regally to Narcissa.

"On that note I shall leave you two." Narcissa smirked at the young man and the panda.

oOoOo

Harry sauntered towards Draco's bedroom; the panda walked by his side with a rambling gait, the claws on his paws gleaming by the light of the sconces.

"I can't wait till you become human," Harry said sadly, "I miss your barbs because it's not the same when you bark them at me."

He opened the door and motioned for the panda to go inside. Draco smiled at Harry, but the Auror shrank back because the panda's sharp teeth looked very frightening.

Noting his reaction, the panda huffed indignantly and walked towards the bed. In midstride, the white fur vanished and was replaced by pale, sleek muscles; the muzzle shrank and became Draco's handsome face. The blond glanced down at his bare legs and sighed.

"It's about time," Draco said, turning to look at Harry. "I was tired of eating leaves all day long."

Harry gasped.

"What's the matter, Potter? Panda got your tongue?" Draco padded towards his startled boyfriend.

"Merlin! You're back… and naked!" Harry blurted out; he blushed whilst Draco gently took off his glasses. Draco snaked his hand beneath the thick Auror robes to stick them in the pocket of Harry's shirt.

Feeling his libido rise after his stint as an herbivore, Draco leaned towards Harry, his nostrils flaring as he breathed deeply. "You smell of woods and grass, Harry; just like the Quidditch pitch after a heavy rain."

"You think so?"

"Always have. When the Death Eaters were quartered here, I'd close my eyes and recall those days just to imagine the scent of you and leather, just to picture you in your Quidditch robes." Draco looped his right arm around Harry's waist; with his left hand, he fished out the wand. It obeyed its former master when he made a stabbing motion to take off the Auror's clothes; afterwards, Draco threw the wand on the bed.

"I did the same." Harry blushed and hid his face in Draco's neck, his arousal twitching against the Slytherin's thigh. "The wildflowers in the forest we camped in? Some of them were almost as pretty as you." Harry brushed his fingers against Draco's hair. "As soft as your hair."

Draco manoeuvred them towards the bed and gently brushed his fingers against Harry's happy trail. Harry sat on the edge, his mouth watering at the sight of the thick arousal which glistened by the light of the sconces.

Draco hooked his arm under Harry's knees and lifted up his legs, scooting forward to spread his thighs with his own. When his boyfriend was spread like a banquet before his eyes, Draco bent down, groping for the wand. It wasn't needed, though, because Harry cast a spell wandlessly to prepare himself.

Harry squirmed as the cool, thick liquid coated his insides; his dark cock twitched, anticipating their lovemaking, the physical manifestation of the love he felt for the blond. At the moment, though, it was lust that prevailed. Harry felt a craving that only Draco could satisfy.

It was in Samhain that Harry felt the past come alive. The wind passing through the half-opened windows appeared to carry the whispers of the spirits, but Harry was gloriously alive as he watched the blurry silhouette of his boyfriend above him. Most of all, Harry felt desired and cherished.

Harry wiggled his arse, his cock twitching and wet as he growled at Draco, "Come on, shag me!"

Draco swiped his thumb across the furled entrance, eliciting a moan out of his lover. "You want me, don't you? You look hot and wanton, spread out like this for me."

Draco grabbed his cock between his thumb and index as his other hand held open Harry's buttocks. He gazed down at Harry, whose face was twisted in passion as Draco prodded his entrance and finally breached him; he groaned as the tight heat enveloped his shaft.

"Are you fine?"

"Wait." Harry lifted his arm to touch Draco's shoulder, wincing at the burning, stretching sensation. He had never had anything inside him but he hadn't told Draco. He didn't want to seem like a novice to the sarcastic Slytherin.

"I'm good now," Harry said and then he moaned when the pain began to fade away.

Draco pushed slowly inside Harry, sighing when he bottomed out. Caressing Harry's tanned brow with his fingertips, Draco slowly pushed out, grunting when he felt Harry squeezing around him, until the flange of his cockhead stretched Harry's rim. They groaned at this moment, the sound masking soft whispers coming from the door.

Draco jerked his hips forward and sheathed himself in his lover whilst his fingertips glided across the toned chest beneath him. He frowned in concentration as he thrust forward, tilting up his hips as he searched for the place that would make Harry come. He squinted, studying intently the beloved face beneath him which glistened with sweat by the soft light. After Harry shimmied his hips and moaned, his hand rubbing his neglected cock, Draco smirked and pushed out of Harry. Then he sank his shaft into the pliant body below him, jerking his hips forward.

Harry arched his arse off the bed, his hand playing with Draco's nipples as he whimpered. "There! Bloody hell, harder, deeper!"

Enveloped in the wild lust that consumed them, the Seekers didn't hear the ghostly whispers coming from the other side of the room.

In Samhain, when the veil between the different realms was thin, the passion that had guided the lives of the two men pulled them towards each other with the relentlessness of a magical force. It would not be denied, and in that maelstrom of magic and love, enmity transmuted into passion, the barriers between the realms began to weaken.

Their enmity had ineluctably changed, purified into attraction, lust turned into love. The frontiers between hate and love, life and death, vanished for the ineffable instant in which the worlds held between the Seekers simply melted away.

And their beloved ghosts witnessed the event.

"Finally, it was time!" Severus grumbled from his position near the door.

"Admit it, Severus; you're quite enjoying the show." Remus' gaze was fixed upon Harry, lovingly recalling the gentle boy who showed such eagerness to learn.

"Snape, you voyeuristic ghost!" Sirius smirked at his former enemy and nudged his elbow. The gesture, however, just made their two ectoplasms fuse.

"Mutts!" huffed Severus, not without hiding the tiny smile that was about to curl up his lips. "If you weren't so distracted by the lusty show of the young dunderheads, you would notice something."

"What?" Remus lifted his eyebrow.

"We're still here, Remus," said Snape softly, his gaze straying to the opposite side of the room and the shelf next to which Lily and James Potter stood.

"Oh!"

"I appreciate your laconic style, bereft of any wit as always, Black," Snape said, "we should have gone to our next adventure, as Dumbledore so quaintly put it, but we're still here."

"Well, it's not my fault!" Sirius said, indignation tingeing his voice. "I helped turn Draco into a panda, like you and Lily wanted."

"Maybe it is." Severus crossed his arms.

"Why, you Snivellus...!"

As the three ghosts got into a heated dispute, James sighed and whispered to Lily. "Snape is right, you know, we should have gone on."

Lily smiled up at him, her eyes gleaming with mischief.

"Those three." Lily pointed at the other ghosts. "Don't realise the simple truth."

"Which is?"

"We won't go on until they resolve their tension. Those men have been dancing around the subject for too long; they have to acknowledge their passion to go on."

"Oh, dear!" James knew his friends and former nemesis quite well; he was aware how thick-headed they were. "We'll be here for centuries then."

"That might not be necessary." Lily tossed her head elegantly and walked towards the wall. "At least Harry is happy; I trust you don't begrudge him that…?"

James smiled at the lovers on the bed. "Course I don't; Merlin knows my son has suffered enough, I just want him to enjoy life." He cocked his head at the bickering spirits. "But what will we do about these three?"

Lily smiled mysteriously. "Do not worry, dear. I'll just have to contact Narcissa; after all, she was the one who invited us here. We'll just have to think up something devious, completely Slytherin."

oOoOo

Harry came with a shout, his walls fluttering around Draco. The blond wiped his sweaty brow and groaned at the exquisite heat gripping him. He thrust erratically inside his lover's body and grunted as he came a few seconds later.

After they uncoupled, Draco shook his head warily. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"Someone moaned."

"It was you, Draco."

"Or you." Draco spooned Harry from behind. "No, it sounded eerily familiar. I'm quite sure it was an angry sound."

Harry turned on the bed and carded his fingers through the blond hair which felt as soft as his Cloak. "It could be a ghost, you know, it is Samhain after all."

"You mean, the Death Eaters?"

"No, silly." Harry smiled when Draco glared at him. He looked like his panda self, only cuter because he didn't throw sticks at him. "I mean friendly spirits of our past."

Draco sighed sadly as he thought of Vincent, the friend who lost his life pursuing ideals that were completely wrong. He leaned forward to kiss Harry's brow. "I hope we gave them a good show."

"Or you could always brew the potion and turn into a panda; that'd be a good show." Harry gazed at those grey eyes.

"Potter, don't remind me!" Draco groaned. "I ate Mother's prized geraniums."