It was full dark by the time they got to their hotel room, and Harry glanced around the tastefully decorated black and chestnut room appreciatively. "Wow. This place is classy. The last hotel I stayed at had roaches."

Draco shuddered. "You know, it's really not necessary to share details like that with me."

"Sorry," Harry laughed. "You know, I wouldn't have thought it would work, going flying during a date, but it was nice." He pulled Draco close and Draco mentally congratulated himself on the idea. It had been rather nice, and it was even nicer to feel how simultaneously energized and relaxed they both were.

"Unfortunately it got rid of a bit of the buzz from the wine at dinner," Draco observed. "I was rather enjoying that."

"I think rooms like this come with stocked fridges." Harry looked around. "Yeah, here we go." He opened the small fridge. "Oh, and they've got Scotch."

"I still can't believe I like Muggle Scotch more than Icegin. My father would probably eat his own spleen if he heard me say anything like that."

"Right, then." Harry accio'd the bottle and Draco accio'd glasses, and Harry motioned over to the small couch in the room.

"Mm, that's nice," Draco said as they took a sip of the Scotch.

Harry waved his wand with a concentrated look on his face.

"What are you doing?"

"Putting on music."

"You've finally learned a music spell? Be still my heart."

"Hermione taught it to me." The soft strains of something that sounded vaguely familiar trickled into the room.

"Is this the-"

"Yeah, it's the new thing from the Eldritches," Harry said, suppressing a proud beam only half-successfully.

"How did you know I liked them?"

"I don't know, several of your letters saying so might have tipped me off." Harry shifted closer on the couch and Draco took his mouth in a kiss. Mm, yes, very nice, the sharp taste and scent of Scotch blending with their kisses.

He sighed as their kiss broke off and they put down their glasses, and Harry drew him closer, the music lilting in the background as they kissed again. Harry's hands drew through his hair and Draco was hard-pressed not to purr from the feel of it.

"The colour spell's finally almost gone, isn't it?" Harry said, running a lock of Draco's hair through his fingers, utterly breaking the nascent mood.

Draco rolled his eyes and sat back, laying his head on Harry's shoulder as Harry continued to stroke his hair. "Finally. I'm never going to listen to my cousin again."

"That wasn't Tonk's fault, you know that. The spell usually only lasts one month. She'd done it before to other people being hidden by the Order."

"Yes, I know that, but when I agreed to go underground and have a concealment spell put on me, I honestly thought I'd get to choose what I looked like. And I honestly thought the person putting the spell on me wouldn't trip over her own feet during the casting and end up swishing a little too hard and making the spell twice as potent."

"She was in a hurry."

"She should've asked me. And I'm sorry, but you can't say it's a coincidence that the colour she chose for my hair was ginger."

Harry snickered. "Well, no."

"Bloody six months I had that awful colour. All I needed was freckles and my joy would've been complete. Weasley couldn't stop laughing every time he saw me."

"Neither could I." Harry chuckled, then kissed him. "It's almost gone now. And hopefully you won't ever have to do it again."

"Thank god." Draco let his head fall back against the couch as Harry rubbed the back of his neck, apparently trying to comfort him, and succeeding remarkably well.

"Feels good?"

"Mm, yeah."

"By the way, why are we here?" Harry aske, looking around curiously. "I mean, it's a nice place, but why not home?"

"Well, Granger said she would offer to clear out of our place for the night, but pointed out that we'd run into her and ourselves if we went back there tonight. Don't forget, right now you're going to bed alone and I'm staying up with my Pepper-Up potion. Or maybe I'm already talking to Granger."

There was a long silence as Harry rubbed his neck and Draco felt himself drift on the wave of warmth from the whiskey, the music, the dinner, and Harry's nearness.

"I love that you did this for me," Harry said shyly.

Draco decided to leave his eyes closed and gratefully remembered that the light was low so that Harry couldn't see his blush. "Mm. You're welcome."

"Let's... not do it only once a year," Harry suggested. "It's been... nice."

"We're not celebrating our anniversary every month," Draco laughed.

"That's not what I meant, you prat. I meant going out."

"Sure. That would be nice."

"And going out on our anniversary might be nice too."

"Yeah, all right."

Harry suddenly smiled. "Nicer than what you said you were going to do the first time we talked about it."

"Talked about what?"

"Our anniversary."

"We talked about it?"

"No, not really, it was just in passing. You promised to point and laugh at me every anniversary."

"Did I?" Draco chuckled.

"You were making fun of the fact that I'd forgotten the new Quidditch regulation that we were arguing about when we got hit by the first bond spell. You don't remember that?"

"Not at all. I don't think that has to be saved for special occasions, though; mocking you is more like a daily necessity, I'd say."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, and I love you too." He kissed Draco again and Draco kissed him back, a little startled, but letting the statement go in favour of deepening their kiss.

"I still can't believe you did this," Harry said as they broke apart.

"Why? It's not that out of character, is it?" He thought for a moment. "All right, maybe it is."

"No, it's not just that, it's that..."

"What?"

Harry took a deep breath. "I just... I could understand if you didn't want to celebrate this."

"Why not? You know I chose to be with you."

"Yeah, you did. But now you don't have much of a choice about staying with me."

"Why not?"

Harry cleared his throat and pulled away a bit. There was a long pause while he picked at the seam of his trousers and seemed to be debating what to say. "You don't have anywhere else to go, Draco," he finally said reluctantly. "You left your whole life behind to be with me."

Draco frowned. "Oh really? Why, what would you do if I left you? Throw me out with only my Black family resources, onto the mercy of the Death Eaters?"

"No, of course not."

"Then what would you do? If we split up?"

"Are we talking divorce on our anniversary?"

Draco chuckled. "Don't change the subject. What would you do?"

"I wouldn't throw you out like that."

"You'd give me some money to start with, wouldn't you? Even if I cheated on you, lied to you, and vowed to never call Granger anything but the M-word for the rest of my life?"

Harry rolled his eyes impatiently. "Yeah, of course."

"I'm serious. What would you do if I did all of that?"

"I would make sure you were taken care of. I don't need all the money I have."

"Would you make sure I had enough?"

"What's enough?"

"What do you think enough would be?" he countered.

"I don't know, Draco," Harry said impatiently. "Half my Gringott's vault?"

Draco realized his mouth had dropped open, and closed it. "Now is that to provide for me, or for me and the pool chap I left you for as well as assorted hangers-on and various females of varying breast size?"

"What?"

"It's clear why Arithmancy could never be one of your favourite courses, Harry. That's a ridiculously large sum."

"But it's - you were a Malfoy, you had a lot of-"

"Good god, I know my father bought the Slytherin Quidditch team Nimbus 2001s in second year, but that's ridiculous. We weren't that rich, you know."

"Really?"

"Really."

"I just thought you'd get half of what I own if we divorced."

"Well then it's a good thing you can't marry a pureblood witch, because that's not how it would work. That's insane."

"I didn't know, all right? Besides, why not half?"

"Think of the Malfoys for a moment. D'you think they'd have anything left if every time a Malfoy spouse got fed up, she took half the family fortune?"

"Maybe I assumed that it'd be balanced out by mercenary Malfoy daughters bringing half of their rich ex-husbands' estate with them when they came back to the family."

"Hm. Good point," Draco admitted. "Still, that's not how it works."

"Fine, fine. I can't believe we're arguing about me being overly generous with my idea of alimony. What did you think I would give you?"

"I don't know, enough for me to go on with my life. Without having to worry about having to work or paying to hide from your outraged fan club or Death Eaters."

"Right."

"So why do you think I'm still with you?"

"Well, you don't have-"

"We just established that I do have elsewhere to go. I could take your even more generous than I thought alimony, get myself a nice flat, and find a buxom beauty and start having children."

"I suppose so."

"So why am I still with you, Harry? I don't know if you'd noticed, but our flat doesn't have the nicest view. It's also woefully short on buxom beauties."

Harry smiled slightly. "And who would you spend time with?"

"Not Granger and Weasley, for one thing," Draco said sourly. "Nor would I have to deal with making Wolfsbane once a month, or Molly Weasley's incessant fussing, or the Terrible Twins making our home a swamp every time you invite them over for dinner..." Draco trailed off.

There was a short silence. "What are you thinking?"

"Wondering what the fuck I'm still doing with you, as a matter of fact. Missing the Twins' pranks alone sounds heavenly."

Harry laughed. "You're probably just in it for the shagging."

"Ah. Yeah, there is that."

"And the avoidance of annoying girly things."

Draco laughed. "That's also a plus. No obsession with hearts and flowers."

"Going to La Barbe instead of the Madame Puddifoot's," Harry said, smiling to himself.

"Ew."

"Especially on Valentine's Day. That's where Cho Chang wanted us to go, on the one date we had."

"Oh god. The Heart Sick-up, that's what Pansy called it. She could be unbelievably girly, but that place even surpassed her limit." Harry laughed. "It was almost as nauseating as Umbridge's kittens."

"I thought you liked Umbridge."

"Erm, well, I liked what she let us Slytherins get away with, but those kittens on her wall were horrifying. Almost made me piss myself the first time I saw them. And considering what I grew up with, that's saying a great deal."

Harry raised his glass. "To no kittens."

"No kittens. Ever. And no doilies."

"No cherubs."

"No Pygmy Puffs. Or tiny twittery hyperactive owls."

"Pidwidgeon belongs to Ron," Harry pointed out.

"You still can't tell me it's a manly familiar."

"Well, no."

"No pink, either. Chocolate is good, though. Even if it's in a heart shape."

"You can always twist it into a snake shape."

Draco's eyes gleamed. "And then you can hiss at it."

Harry groaned. "Oh, god, of course I would end up with somebody who actually gets off on Parseltongue."

"You'd prefer it if I ran screaming when you did it?"

"All right, no, but still..."

"Consider yourself lucky."

"I do." Harry gave him a quick kiss. "Even though I don't get kittens."

Draco hesitated a moment. "And it doesn't bother you that you won't get to... to know what it's like, with a girl?"

"No." Harry stood and held out his hand to Draco. "Come on, let's go to bed."

"Right." Draco let himself be pulled up to his feet and started to undo his shirt buttons as Harry headed for the washroom, then paused at the door.

"Erm. I'm... I'm sorry I didn't think to do anything for today," he said quietly. Draco glanced at him, startled, and gave a small chuckle.

"Don't worry about it. I wouldn't have expected you to."

Harry frowned. "Why not?"

Draco shook his head and looked away. "You're busy," he said dismissively.

"I still could have."

"Don't worry about it," Draco said, suddenly very uncomfortable.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You're busy."

"Don't go girl on me now," Harry said quietly after a pause.

Draco sighed and met Harry's eyes. Fine. Harry had been honest with him, and maybe Draco should return the favour even if that honesty left a slightly bitter taste in his mouth.

"Because I can choose to walk away from this. I could choose to walk away from you before I married you. You didn't get that choice back then, and you don't really have a choice now."

Harry stared at him. "What do you mean I don't have a choice?"

Draco smiled bitterly. "Come on. You said it yourself: you don't think I have anywhere to go. And you're too bloody noble to walk away, after I left everything to be with you." He finished unbuttoning his shirt, turning away from Harry, feeling a little hollow. Damn marital honesty anyway, he thought as he pulled the shirt off. Really, there was nothing better at killing any hint of a mood.

Suddenly Harry was right there behind him, arms going around Draco and pulling him back against Harry's chest, and he nuzzled his neck and worked his way up to Draco's ear, hesitating with his mouth next to Draco's ear for a moment before turning Draco around in his arms and latching on to his lips. Draco felt a moan escape him as their kiss became more heated, and spared a moment's wonder at how quickly a mood could come back when Harry put his mind to it.

Harry was pulling him back towards the bed, and fumbling with his belt buckle as Draco started on Harry's shirt buttons, and the heat between them was growing stronger. This was rather better than any conversation could have been, and Merlin but Harry was hot when he got this intense. It made everything else fade away - the unfamiliar setting, the Scotch, whatever the hell they'd been talking about, all of it. He gasped as Harry pulled his belt free and started working his way into Draco's trousers, and he redoubled his efforts at getting Harry's shirt off despite the dizzying things Harry's fingers were starting to do to him-

And suddenly Harry stopped. Draco groaned in frustration, ending in a gasp as he felt Harry's breath in his ear and a tongue dart out to lick his earlobe.

"I'm not that noble," Harry whispered breathlessly. Draco closed his eyes as a shiver ran through him and Harry threaded his hands through Draco's hair. "I'm here because I want to be too. And damn you for thinking any different."

And he pressed Draco back onto the bed and took away all his doubts.

- End.