The Fourth Floor

Author's Notes: Credit for the original idea goes to D.J. Malfoy. Thanks for letting me use your plot bunny!

The Forth Floor

Alexa Black

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Chapter One

Harry was searching his dormitory, looking for something that would hold him over until dinner. He had just finished tearing apart his trunk when he thought he spied something under Ron's bed. Stooping, he pulled out a bright purple box; inside were large candies, colorfully wrapped in pink paper.

Ron won't mind if I help myself to a few, Harry thought as he stuck some in his pocket. After all, he's always taking my Chocolate Frogs.

***

Harry popped one of the pilfered candies into his mouth after changing into his Quidditch robes. The rest of the members of the team were ready and waiting for Katie Bell's instructions. As he sat down on the bench next to Ron, he savored the candy's sweetly unique taste.

At first, the candy had been too tart for Harry's liking. But then it softened up and a fruity flavor pervaded, tickling his taste buds. He let out a small smile as he swallowed, thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Alright everyone, we're gonna be working on our defense today. Ron, the other Chasers and I are going to take turns trying to score. While two of us pass the Quaffle, the other person will work with you to try and stop the oncoming players.

"The Beaters will join us later in the game, once we've got the basics down. They'll work with both the offense and the defense, one on either side. It'll make it trickier to defend and hopefully help us in our next game."

"What should I do?" Harry asked.

"Well, Seekers don't do much in the way of offense or defense. Why don't you work on catching the Snitch amidst all this? I know it's not much, but practice helps even the best of players."

Harry nodded, too happy to try and argue.

***

Ron and Harry talked animatedly while they changed. Ron had performed better than Katie had expected, saving about seventy percent of the attempted goals. They were in good shape for their game against Ravenclaw next weekend.

They were walking to the Great Hall for dinner when a sneering, blonde Slytherin approached them. Two bodyguard-like students flanked him, cracking their knuckles menacingly.

"Potter, I want a word with you," the blonde boy said.

"What do you want now, Malfoy?" he responded.

"I need to talk to you about that debacle that was Potions class yesterday."

Draco was referring to the incident that involved Harry accidentally dying Draco's hair bright green. He had then punched Harry, breaking his nose and earning them both a detention from Snape.

"It was an accident, I swear."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was."

"Fuck this," Ron said impatiently. "Let's go eat."

"Nah, you go ahead. I'll meet you there in a bit."

Ron looked curiously at Harry, reluctant to leave his best friend in the company of the thugs before him. Draco, however, jerked his head in the direction of the Great Hall, a silent order for Crabbe and Goyle to leave him alone with Harry.

They watched their friends head off to dinner.

"I'm not serving that detention. I don't care how you explain it to Snape but it was entirely your fault so I don't see why I have to go as well," Draco said.

"Oh right, I punched myself in the face," Harry said sarcastically.

"Look, Potter, Slytherins don't get detentions from Snape," he said, taking a step closer, "so someone obviously did something to him. I think it was you."

"I didn't do a goddamn thing to him. Maybe you pissed him off one too many times," he suggested angrily. "Now get out of my way, I'm hungry."

Draco didn't move. They were staring at one another, each willing the other to back down. Harry finally cracked and violently shoved Draco away. He fell backwards from the force of the push, taking Harry down in the process. They quickly untangled themselves, stood up and prepared for another attack of some kind.

After a few moments of tense silence, Harry cautiously looked around, keeping one eye on the Slytherin. He took in the empty desks, dusty surfaces and, most importantly, the closed door.

What the hell is going on here? he thought. Draco, it seemed, was thinking the same thing. He walked over to the door and tried to yank it open; it didn't move. He tried casting Alohomora at the lock but nothing happened.

"Great! Leave it to you to get us stuck in an abandoned classroom," he said, spinning around.

"Why is everything MY fault?!" Harry shouted back, not expecting an answer.

Draco was indeed too busy to answer. He was scoping out the room. There were only three windows in the outside wall and only one door. It couldn't even really be considered a classroom; it was hardly big enough for fifteen students, and classes at Hogwarts had a lot more than that.

Spying a bookshelf against one wall, he read the spines and pulled down a book, settled on the floor and pried open the tomb.

"Now is NOT the time to read! We should try to find a way out of here," said Harry angrily.

"I tried. It's your turn," he replied without looking up.

Frustrated, Harry rolled his eyes at the ceiling. He looked helplessly around the room, hoping for something that could help him out. It was then he saw the note on the teacher's desk. He ran over and grabbed it, quickly scanning it.

The flurry of robes and accompanying breeze distracted Draco from his reading. He watched as the other boy's face became as white as snow and as he dropped the note and backed up into the opposite wall.

Curious, he retrieved the note and read it himself:

To our unsuspecting Victim,

We realize there is no warning on our product but that's your problem now, not ours. We're assuming that at this moment you're locked in a dorm or abandoned classroom with another person. Stop trying to get out; there's only one way to do so.

You must snog the other person in the room for TEN minutes. If you haven't noticed yet, there is a timer in the room. Once you start snogging, the timer will start. But you must snog for ten minutes WITHOUT STOPPING. If you stop, the timer resets itself.

We hope you have a wonderful day!

The note was unsigned. Draco still didn't understand Harry's reaction; clearly the letter was a joke. The Boy Who Lived had sunk to the floor and was muttering under his breath. Fortunately, Draco Malfoy's aristocratic upbringing got the better of him.

"Only idiots would use pink ink with purple paper. Everyone knows you should use gold ink with purple paper," he said, tossing the note aside and returning to his book.

Something inside Harry's head lit up. Purple paper with pink ink... he thought, wondering why the color combination sounded familiar. He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out one of the candies he had taken from Ron; it was pink. Thinking back, he remembered the box had been purple. He inspected the wrapper, looking for anything that would help. On one of the corners was a small, purple symbol: W.W.W.

"Damn it!" he said out loud. "I'm gonna kill them!"

"Who now, Potter?" Draco asked halfheartedly.

"Fred and George Weasley. They're the ones behind this. They started a joke shop and I guess they make candies that land people in this...particular situation."

Harry could see the wheels turning in the Slytherin's head. Slowly, the boy flushed and anger boiled over the edge.

"You mean to tell me," he said in a dangerously quiet voice, "that we're actually stuck in here until...until......we..."

Harry nodded. Draco looked like he was going to be sick.

"If you think I'm going to kiss you, you're more of a dumbass than I gave you credit for," he managed to choke out.

"I don't want to kiss you either!" Harry exclaimed. "I'd much rather kiss a Blast-Ended Skrewt, thank you very much."

The two boys lapsed into silence, a silence that seemed unending...

***

A loud, rumbling growl broke the thick blanket of silence that had developed in what had to have been at least three hours. Draco looked over at Harry, who was clutching his stomach in an effort to keep it quiet. He merely shook his head and continued reading.

"Malfoy, we really need to think of some other way to get out of here. I'm starving."

"Just summon some food; you can do that, can't you?" he said derisively, a smirk setting up camp on his face.

Glaring, Harry grabbed his wand and said "Accio food!"

Nothing happened. The other boy laughed.

"Yeah, let's see you do better!" Harry shouted. He jumped at the challenge.

"Accio pizza!"

Again, nothing happened. They stared at each other worriedly. Harry let his head fall back against the wall, making a soft thump. Draco, on the other hand, was not taking this lack of food so well.

"What the hell are we supposed to do without FOOD?!" he exclaimed.

"Don't worry. After a while, you won't be hungry anymore," said Harry dully.

"How do you know that?!"

Immediately after he asked, Draco realized that it could be a rather personal question. That thought was closely followed by the fact that Malfoys don't trifle with issues like getting too personal. The Boy Who Lived considered him a moment before answering.

"Let's just say my aunt and uncle don't like me very much."

Draco was shocked and, more importantly, speechless. He knew the Famous Harry Potter had to live with Muggles every summer but he assumed they worshipped the ground he walked on like everyone else did. He felt a strange sense of pity for the Gryffindor.

"I know, surprise surprise. Not everyone likes me, you know," Harry said confidentially. "I'm actually not sure who hates me more: Snape or my uncle Vernon."

Silence. Harry got up and haphazardly chose a book from the shelf. He sat down again and pried open the covers.

"My...my father......." Draco began, uncertain whether he should be telling his arch enemy this or not, "doesn't exactly like me either. He always tells Mother he wishes they could have had a stronger, more determined heir."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I support my father and his.....political position, but I don't want to participate in it. He considers that an act of treason."

"Sometimes I wish I grew up in a normal, Wizarding family; you know, where I'd be a regular kid, not all this 'Chosen One' bullshit. It's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm always wondering whose name is going to be on the obituary page of the paper in the morning or when the next attack is going to come. A mere teenager should not have to deal with that every day."

From across the room, Draco stared at Harry as if seeing him for the first time. He's normal. He isn't some great big prat; he's just a kid, like me. He has so much more to deal with and I've spent six years doing all I could to make his life worse, he thought morosely. He wouldn't have been so mean to me if our positions were switched.

The pair lapsed into silence once more, but it was a softer silence, one where they could freely re-evaluate each other. They had no idea how much time had passed and Harry vaguely wondered when Ron and Hermione would notice his absence.

They're probably snogging in a broom closet somewhere, completely oblivious to everything else, he thought. Well, I guess that'd be good; it's about time they stopped dancing around each other. Or MAYBE that's why Ron got the candies! He probably found out what they do and could've hoped to bump into Hermione and be able to play it off as an acci --

"I'm sorry."

Harry snapped out of his thoughts. "What did you say?"

"I.......I apologized," Draco said softly.

"For what?" Harry asked, stunned.

"For the war, for the Hippogriff incident, for making Gryffindor lose so many points, for insulting Granger and Weasley -- all of them -- for insulting you, for making life harder for you, for EVERYTHING!" he ranted, looking everywhere but at Harry. "I really misjudged you."

Shame colored Draco's cheeks before he curled his knees to his chest, put his head down, and sobbed in a very undignified manner.

Before Harry could think twice, instinct took over. He got up and walked to the opposite wall, sat down beside Draco and tentatively wrapped his arms around him. Draco let himself lean into Harry's embrace, taking comfort in the soothing sounds he was now making.

After a few minutes, reality set in and the boys separated themselves rather awkwardly. Harry did not, however, move back to the other side of the room. He felt like he was really seeing Draco for the first time and he wanted to get to know him better, despite the voice in his head telling him it was a bad idea.

"So..." he said, searching for a way to start a conversation. Draco refused to look at him. It seemed he was rather embarrassed by his outburst and even more so that Harry had witnessed it.

"So..." he said, trying again, "you don't get along with your father?"

Draco visibly tensed. He was standing on the bridge but he was still unsure whether or not he should cross it. Fuck it, he thought, what more harm could it do?

"No not really. We used to be fine but then he put me through initiation and I got to see how horrible everything really was. There was so much death, so much needless death," he said softly, shaking his head.

And that's when it hit Harry. People either love or hate those they have a lot in common with. There is no middle ground. He and Draco have a lot in common, a lot more than they, or anyone else, ever realized. They just chose to hate each other with all their beings from the first day they met.

Here, sitting beside him, was someone who could understand what he has been through all his life. Draco probably understood better than even Ron or Hermione. Harry did not know what was going to happen to their relationship -- let's face it, even being enemies is a relationship -- once they got out of the room, but he knew he could not go back to hating Draco Malfoy.

Draco's stomach let out a loud rumble, so loud Harry felt it before he heard it. "Okay, we really need to get out of here."

"Well, I think there's only one way to do that," Harry said quietly.

Draco heaved a sigh and slowly stood up, rubbing his eyes. "I think you're right."

Harry followed suit, staring at the stranger in front of him. He took a few steps toward the blonde boy but couldn't bring himself to do anything else. Draco took it upon himself to do the rest. Eager to get it over with as fast as possible, he hurriedly tilted his head and pressed his lips to those of the raven-haired boy not six inches away from him.

Harry's lips were slightly chapped but Draco found he didn't mind. After the shock, Harry started kissing him back. Harry wasn't extremely experienced in the romance department but he had kissed enough people to know that Draco was not half bad. Actually, all things considered, he was pretty good.

He was trying to figure out what to do with his hands when he felt something prodding at his mouth. His brain suddenly kicked into full gear when he realized it was Draco's tongue and he broke the kiss, fleeing to the nearest wall.

Draco stared at him speechless, his lips slightly red. "Wha....what's wrong, Harry?" he finally asked.

Harry glanced over at the timer, which had reset itself. Draco hadn't appeared to notice it, but if he had, he wasn't upset by it. He seemed more concerned about how Harry was feeling.

"I just...you just...caught me by surprise, that's all," he muttered.

Draco nodded, understanding. "Well," he said, walking slowly toward Harry, "why don't we agree on what is acceptable and what isn't, and go from there?"

Harry thought about it and decided it sounded like the safest way to approach their situation. "Fine, hands remain in platonic places, meaning nothing below the hips."

"What about kissing? Am I allowed to use my tongue? Can I kiss you anywhere other than the lips?"

Harry felt a small tug in his stomach while Draco was talking. Screw this, he thought, and then he remembered the letter. You must snog for ten minutes without stopping...

"Draco, we can't stop...touching or the timer will restart."

Harry was almost positive Draco said something under his breath. "Okay never mind then. We should get on with this so we can go eat," the blonde said.

Harry had barely murmured his agreement before Draco's lips were attached to his once again. This time, Harry was prepared for the prodding of Draco's tongue and let it in with a soft moan. As Draco was exploring his mouth, Harry did some exploring of his own, running his fingers up and down the other boy's back. Wanting to get a response out of the taller boy, Harry carefully pushed the robes off Draco's shoulders.

Draco started to move his head back, presumably to object, but Harry grabbed hold and kissed him rather roughly while he maneuvered them back toward the wall. He leaned his back against it and continued to run his fingers over Draco's chest. He smiled as Draco shivered deliciously. Just when Harry thought he had finally gotten the hang of it all, a small chime went off and they both jumped. Looking over at the door, they saw that it was open a few inches and torch-light was pouring in from the hallway.

Silently, they separated themselves and Draco retrieved his robes. With one swift glance, Harry left the room and headed for Gryffindor Tower.

***

Three days had passed since 'the incident'. Draco looked worse for the wear. To the rest of the students, he seemed like himself, albeit a little quiet. Harry knew otherwise. Draco's hair wasn't as perfect as he usually kept it and it appeared he was trying to cover up the dark circles that had started to form under his eyes. He wasn't walking around with his usual swagger, hurling insults and hexes every chance he got either. Instead, he kept mostly to himself.

Harry appeared unaffected. He chatted and walked around with Ron and Hermione -- when they weren't off snogging -- like nothing had happened. He ate dinner and joked with Ginny as much as he usually did. And wherever he was, he refused to do more than merely glance at the Slytherins.

One morning at breakfast, however, Harry found himself staring. He caught and held Draco's gaze and swore he saw a flash of longing and pain before Draco got up and fled the Great Hall. Moments later, Harry excused himself and quickly hurried after Draco.

He searched the whole castle, checking the most obvious places first. He was beginning to lose hope when he stumbled upon an open door on the fourth floor that he hadn't looked in yet. He pushed the door and walked into an abandoned classroom. Sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, was none other than Draco Malfoy. And that was when Harry realized it wasn't just any room he had run to; it was the room.

He shut the door and started to walk toward Draco but he was stopped when Draco unexpectedly spoke.

"Whatever it is you want to say, don't. Just leave," he said sullenly.

"I came to find out what's wrong," Harry said, refusing to back down.

"Nothing's wrong," he said, getting up and turning his back to the raven-haired boy. "Now go away, Potter."

Harry, confused and hurt, wracked his brain as he tried to figure out what to do. "Was it something I did? Does it have to do with that day when we --"

"-- Alright, listen. That was an unfortunate situation; we did what we had to do and you forgot about it. I did the same," he spat, turning to face him.

"I didn't forget," Harry said softly. "I just didn't know how to.....deal with it."

"Well let me help you. There's nothing to deal with. That day didn't mean anything!" Draco said shrilly.

"Is that why you've looked so disheveled since it happened?" he asked, finally catching on. Draco said nothing so he continued. "It might not have meant anything to you, but it meant something to me. I've spent the last three days thinking about it."

"Then why didn't you say something? Or even look at me?" Draco asked, pain clearly etched in his expression.

"I couldn't. I knew if I did, I wouldn't be able to stay away from you," Harry said, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why would you have to stay away from me?"

"I thought that's what you wanted."

"No, that's not what I want. That's the last thing I want," Draco said, pulling Harry into his arms. He felt Harry release a sigh of relief and hug him back.

Harry pulled back enough to give Draco a soft kiss.

"So," Draco said, hands still firmly around Harry's waist, "any chance for a repeat performance?"

Harry smiled. "Maybe more than one," he said before kissing him again. Draco's mouth was warm and welcoming. Harry begged entrance into Draco's mouth with his tongue, eagerly teasing him.

Draco let him have his way for a while so he could covertly guide them toward the nearby desk. Harry must have felt the desk against his legs because he slid onto it without ceasing his work. Having been denied any real exploration last time, Draco moved his mouth along Harry's jaw, enjoying the noises he managed to elicit from him. He gently pushed Harry's robes off before returning to his mouth, content to do more exploring with his hands.

Harry, who was quick to catch on, pushed Draco's robes to the floor and, pulling his shirt aside, kissed his collarbone. Draco moaned happily. Harry moved up his pale neck, leaving feather-soft kisses the whole way. Draco lightly ran his fingers up and down Harry's thighs. Harry had just kissed that spot on Draco's left where his jaw meets his neck when he felt Draco's hand brush rather close to the bulge in his pants. He gently moved Draco's hands away and held them in his own, his forehead resting against the other boy's.

"Harry, what's --"

"-- Nothing's wrong. It's just a bit too fast, that's all," he said, before taking a deep, steadying breath. "This is new for me and I don't want to rush anything. It's too important to me to rush."

Draco let out a sigh. "Okay. Take your time; take as much time as you need. I can wait."

A small smile greeted that statement. "Would it be too much to ask to keep this between us for now?"

"Not at all. I think that would be best, for now," Draco agreed as he fetched their robes from the floor. He handed one set to Harry and they both got dressed. Before they left the room, however, Harry pulled Draco in for one more embrace. In the midst of their kiss, Harry snaked his hand around and grabbed Draco's arse. The blonde pulled back in shock, a quizzical look on his face.

"Thank you. And I promise, we will move forward," he added with a mischievous smile.

Author's Notes: I fully intended on making this a one-shot. But when I finished it, I thought it could be continued. I couldn't decide so I'm leaving it up to all of you. If you would like me to continue the story, leave me a review saying so. If not, that's cool too. Thanks for reading!