Hi everyone :)
First ever Harry Potter story! Big whoop!
This idea popped into my head very suddenly, for no apparant reason at all and it won't leave me alone so I decided to write it and posting it here gets me one step closer to achieving my self-set goal, (more about that on my profile if anyone cares).
I've only recently got into Harry Potter so I'm not a complete expert, (yet :D) so forgive me if there are any mistakes in here and if everyone seems seriously OOC. Although, it is a complete AU so I guess if I do get something wrong it's not too bad. Anyways, this is set in the 6th year and totally ignores HBP.
Warning time: In case you missed the warning in the summary, this has the basic themes of SLASH. Yes, that's right, two boys who love each other. There's nothing too graphic or extreme, just some kissing, hugging and general pledges of undying love :D
Disclaimer: Anyone who thinks I own Harry Potter in any shape or form, please raise your hand...No hands? No one? Good, you're all correct, I own nothing.
Enough rambling from me, on with the sugar coated fluff :)
It was early afternoon...Or was it mid-afternoon? He wasn't sure, he'd lost track of time. He sat in an over-stuffed arm chair in the Slytherin common room staring down at the piece of parchment which was resting on the table in front of him. The index finger of his left hand slowly rubbed across his bottom lip and his right leg was held up on the knee of his right.
Draco Malfoy was surprised. Not just mildly surprised, he was down right gob-smacked and it was all because of what was written on the piece of parchment on the table.
It had been received that morning in Potions. It had been near the end of the lesson and everyone was packing up their stuff and getting ready to leave. As he had been going to wash up his cauldron, Hermione Granger had brushed against him. That, in itself, wasn't strange. What had been strange was the fact she had slipped something into his hand as she had done so. He had turn to watch her continue on and she had glanced over her shoulder, merely raising her eyebrows at him before turning away. Draco had turned away shortly after that and looked at the piece of parchment the girl had given to him. After glancing around himself to make sure no one was close enough to see, he unfolded the stiff, golden paper.
Once the words written on the parchment in green ink had been read, Draco had been useless in his next lesson. He hadn't been able to focus on anything which was being said and every ten seconds he had been feeling the pocket of his robe to make sure the scrap of parchment was still there. And, when he wasn't checking on the parchment, his eyes were fixed to the profile of a certain messy haired Gryffindor sitting next to Granger who was sitting next to Weasley.
It had been about six months since Draco had realised that the Boy-Who-Lived was the Boy-He-Loved. It wasn't a sudden realisation but a gradual one. The admittance had been surprisingly easy to take. Yes, it had stunned him slightly but he soon adjusted and if anyone had known about his change of heart, they would've gaped at him openly because of the ease of his acceptance. He put it down to several factors, the main one being that he didn't feel held back by his future of being a Death Eater; because he didn't want to be a Death Eater.
Draco wasn't dumb/blind/nuts like his father and he wasn't as cowardly as everyone thought he was. He could see Voldemort's insanity as it really was and he had the guts to refuse to pledge his life to such madness. It was expected of him to take the Mark on his next birthday obviously, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to change his mind. If his father threatened him, he'd ignore him. If his father disowned him, he wouldn't care. If his father tried to kill him, he'd kill his father first. He refused to bow to Voldemort and he refused to go against Harry Potter in any way.
Draco hadn't pursued his feelings for Harry because Harry obviously wasn't interested and who could blame him? Harry knew nothing real about him, only what Draco wanted him to know or wanted him to think he knew. He was trying to change the situation though. He'd long ago stopped hassling him and Granger, though still bugged Weasley every once in a while in order to keep up appearances. He'd stopped shamelessly flirting with girls and boys alike. And, most importantly he thought, he had willingly gone to Dumbledore and disclosed some valuable information about his father and the Death Eaters. Draco was sure that if he kept this up, he could probably get on speaking terms with Harry shortly after his birthday when words would most likely spread about him turning down the Dark Mark.
However, with the parchment which rested innocently on the table, everything changed. His carefully thought out plan about how to get Harry to except him and his feelings meant nothing now. He didn't have to wait until after his birthday. Harry was no longer unreachable. After months and months of dreams, fantasies and unfulfiled desires, he could act when ever he wanted to.
On the parchment was a list. A very long list written in the handwriting which Draco instantly recognised as belonging to the object of his desire. The list was entitled; "Reasons why nothing could ever happen between me and Malfoy". It was only the fact that it was handed to him by Granger herself that he didn't doubt it's authenticity; she wouldn't forge something like that and she wouldn't have given it to him if she didn't think it was real.
There had to be at least fifty reasons noted down on the parchment but the majority of them had been erased. Some had been completely scribbled out so that they were no longer readable while some of them had a simple line struck through them so they could still be read. Near the top was "He's a jerk" and it had a neat line through it. A little further down was "Sirius would kill me" which also had a line through it though that was looked slightly jerky as if it had been done in a rush by an unsteady hand. In fact, on the list, there were only three reasons left which hadn't been ruled out:
He's loyal to Voldemort.
We'd have to hide the relationship from everyone in the school and that's impossible.
There's no way he'd ever feel the same about me.
At first, Draco had just been stunned to find out that Harry felt something other than intense dislike for him. Then, he was a little awed by the fact that he'd thought about it enough to make a list of reasons not to pursue anything. That had then morphed into happiness that so many of the reasons had already been crossed out. Finally, plans to finally make Harry his had begun to form in his mind.
Draco had made an excuse of being ill half way through lunch so that he could skip class and have some time to think and plan properly. And that brought him to where he sat now, staring at the parchment as though it held every answer to every problem in the universe. The heavy ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner was the only sound in the room and it was surprisingly easy to ignore. Despite that, he still didn't know how to handle this.
He needed to do something which would mean that the last three reasons could be crossed off all at once. He'd waited long enough and now that he knew he didn't have to wait, he didn't want to. He was tired of waiting, he'd been very patient and now he wanted his reward for his patience and his reward was Harry. How was he going to do it though? At that moment, he honestly had no idea.
Dinner time. Outside the Great Hall, Draco stood about ten feet away from the closed doors. He knew what he was going to do, it was all planned out. The engenius idea had struck him exactly one hour and twenty-three minutes ago and had been perfected four minutes ago. Now he stood, ready to change his life, nothing was going to stop him. If Voldemort decided to attack right at this moment, Draco would personally tell him to to shut up and go away for another five minutes while he did what needed to be done.
With a sigh, Draco decided he'd waited the necessary length of time; dinner would have started by now and everyone in the school would be seated. That's exactly what he wanted. He adjusted his robes, smoothed back his hair, straightened his back and fixed a hard glare on his face before walking forward with large, confident steps. He held his arms out in front of himself in preperation to open the doors. This was it; the most important moment in his life so far was about to take place.
Within five seconds, the doors had flown open in front of Draco with a bang as they hit the walls behind and his eyes instantly fell onto where Harry sat at the Gryffindor table. Several people who were up at the end of the tables near the doors noticed him with the bang, the rest remained oblivious until he spoke:
"Potter!"
All sound in the Great Hall stopped with Draco's call. Everyone had now turned to stare at him with expressions of surprise or alarm. All except Granger that is; she only looked intrigued. Harry looked surprised more than alarmed and he was probably wondering what he could have done to make Draco angry with him.
A few seconds passed. Nothing more happened and the silence continued. Then, Draco saw Granger jab Harry in the side with her elbow. Harry turned to look at her and she said something to him. She paused. She spoke again. Harry turned back to look at Draco. Then, much to Draco's relief and everyone elses horror, he got to his feet and stepped over the bench he had previously sat on. Still everyone remained in their stunned silence even though Weasley made a move to stop Harry only to be stopped himself by Granger. Harry himself stopped in the middle of the aisle, facing Draco, obviously waiting for the blonde to make the next move.
And Draco did. He began forward again, his pace quick, his school robes billowing around him in a similar way to his Head of House. All eyes were on him as the gap between the two boys grew smaller, the teachers visibly tense, ready and waiting for the fight everyone assumed was coming. Draco's eyes were fixed on Harry's the whole time and, unsurprisingly, Harry made no sign that he was about to break the stare.
When Draco came to a stop, he was closer to Harry than he had ever been before. Their faces were inches apart and Harry had to tilt his head back ever so slightly in order to keep the eye contact going. Neither made any move to do anything then and, once again, for several seconds nothing happened. The atmosphere was thick with the anticipation of their audience and every member of every house was ready to spring into action at a moments notice.
As the silence stretched on and the anticipation was increased, Draco took the oppotunity to admire the boy he loved. He was perfect in so many ways. If given the oppotunity to change anything about the shorter boy, Draco would turn the offer down in an instant. Nothing needed to be changed. His glasses gave him character and didn't hide his eyes in the least, his messy hair provided him with a mischievous charm, his scar was a constant reminder of his power and bravery. Everything about him which could be critisised, Draco had a reason to justify and love it's existence.
Finally, enough time had passed for Draco's ogling and the time to act had once again arrived. He adjusted his position slightly, so slightly that the shift wasn't even noticed by anyone. Then, he leant in a little closer to Harry and spoke clearly, for although he was speaking to Harry and Harry alone, he wanted every single person, alive and dead, in Hogwarts to hear what he had to say and to know where his loyalties and his heart rested:
"If I am to bow to anyone..."
He slowly sank onto one knee in front of the boy he loved, keeping his eyes fixed on Harry's.
"...Then I shall bow to you."
With that, the stare was finally broken as Draco lowered his head. His fingers lightly grasped the hem of Harry's school robe and he placed a chaste kiss on it in an exact copy of what he knew the Death Eaters did for their Dark Lord. He ignored the gasps which instantly followed and raised his head slightly. He lowered the hem of Harry's rob back to it's original place and then used that hand to take Harry's left hand. He dropped a soft kiss on his knuckles. That's when the shouting started. They were ignored as well though and Draco carefully replaced Harry's hand as he had with them hem of the robe. Then, the final stage.
Draco rose to his feet and he and Harry were once again face to face. Harry's eyes were wide with shock, his lips were parted slightly in a silent gasp and a vivid red tinge decorated his cheeks. He looked perfect, so very perfect. Before Harry could do or say anything, Draco dipped his head and captured his lips. That shocked everyone into silence once again.
Draco's head swam in ever increasing pleasure. He was kissing Harry Potter and it was as sweet and soft and perfect as he had imagined. It wasn't an intense kiss; no, those would come later, but it was still a kiss. It was physical contact and it was what Draco had dreamt of for months now. He noted through the haze of joy which was muddling his mind, that Harry's lips tasted rather sweet even though dessert had not yet been reached. He must have been snacking on something before dinner. All this information registered in Draco's mind in the few seconds the kiss lasted. Although he so badly wanted the kiss to linger on, now was not the time or the place. So, reluctantly, Draco pulled away from the lips of the one who meant more to him than anyone and returned to reality.
Harry's eyes were still wide with indescribable surprise and Draco distractedly wondered if he had even blinked yet. To the side he noticed that Weasley was now having to be physically held back by Granger and his sister. Ahead of him, over Harry's shoulder, he saw that most of the teachers were on their feet now, all looking suitably stunned, even Dumbledore. Draco didn't bother to look at the reaction of the Slytherin table; he had a pretty good idea of what the expressions on their faces would be without looking and he didn't really care what they thought. He did, however, care about the reaction of a certain Ravenclaw girl but he couldn't immediately spot her and decided he had more important things to do right at that moment than gloat.
Draco turned his eyes back to Harry to find he was still gaping at him, eyes wide. He offered the boy a smile; a true, genuine smile, and leaned forward again. He heard Harry's small intake of breath; he probably thought Draco was going to kiss him again. However, Draco turned his head slightly instead so that their cheeks were pressed together lightly and his lips were millimeters away from his ear. He fished the parchment out of the pocket of his robes and pressed it into Harry's hand as he whispered the words he had felt for so long:
"I love you."
Harry gasped loudly but didn't move. Draco backed an inch or so away in order to see Harry's face once again. The moment he was far enough away, Harry brought the parchment up and unfolded it. He looked at it for all of a second before his head whipped to the side to look at Granger, Draco also looking at her though only because he was curious to what her reaction would be. She merely shrugged and gave them both a sly grin. Draco returned the grin with one of his own and moved his eyes back to Harry. Harry turned back to him, all signs of complete shock still visiable.
More silence, more stillness. After a while, Harry's eyes wandered back to the parchment in his hand. Draco smiled to himself as he guessed what he was most likely looking at. He'd taken the liberty of crossing out the final three reason as they were no longer an issue.
When Harry's eyes met his again, Draco knew it was for the last time. His expression had changed ever so slightly. He was no longer shocked and stupified. His mind had obviously, finally, caught up with everything and he realised fully what was going on. Slowly, a wide, ecstatic smile spread across his face and his brilliant green eyes lit up with joy and realisation. Draco smiled back at him, almost like he was silently answering the question which Harry was begging to ask; is this true?
With that smile from Draco, Harry seemed to snap and with a happy laugh, he launched himself into the blonde boy's arms, his own arms wrapping around his chest. That once again caused the Great Hall to fill with angry and surprised noise. It didn't matter though; it went totally un-noticed by either of the boys who were the cause of it.
So, what did we all think? Was it wonderful? Was it good? Was it okay? Was it terribly OOC? Was it completely unbelievable? Do you wish to hunt me down with a rusty chainsaw and hack me to bits in punishment for the butchery of such amazing characters? My inquiring mind wants to know :D
Hugs
Dream