The Spider and the Fly

I

"Will you walk into my parlour?"
Said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour
That ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour
Is up a winding stair;
And I have many curious things
To show you when you're there."
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly;
"To ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair
Can ne'er come down again."

Harry brushed his hair out of his eyes and stared back at Draco, his gaze a mixture of confusion and lust.

"You what?" he asked, his voice belying his amazement.

"I want you," Draco repeated, his eyes firmly locked on Harry's. "I've wanted you for a long time."

Harry paused, taking in these words. "But we hate each other."

Draco smiled and shook his head, his silver hair falling around his face like gossamer curtains. "I don't hate you, Harry," he murmured, humour creasing the corners of his eyes. "I never did."

Draco took a step towards Harry, and put his hands on his shoulders. He leaned in, drinking in the skepticism on Harry's face. He smelled of grass and spring, and Draco closed his eyes, his lips falling open...

"Draco, wake up, we're going to be late!"

Draco reluctantly opened his eyes, blinking in the haze of early morning sun. His eyes alighted on the owner of the voice, and his stomach clenched painfully when he realised that he had been dreaming; that Harry Potter wasn't standing there in his room.

Blaise smiled down at his boyfriend, and briefly brushed his fingertips across his cheek. "Come on sleepy head, breakfast will be over if you don't get a move on."

Draco blinked back at him, then started to pull himself out of bed. Blaise's hand shot out and restrained him before he managed to get more than a couple of paces away.

"You had that dream about him again, didn't you?" he asked, his voice tinged with curiosity and more than a little jealousy.

Draco brushed his hand away, avoiding his eyes. "I don't know what you mean," he said tersely, heading towards the shower.

"You should just seduce him and get it over with," Blaise's voice came from behind him, cold and calculating. "He's not going to leave you alone until you do, and frankly I am fed up of sharing with someone else."

Draco didn't reply.

***********

After a quick breakfast, Draco wandered off down the corridor to Transfiguration, his mind still firmly attached to the dreams that had been haunting him for the last month. He didn't understand why every time he fell asleep Potter leapt into his brain, standing there looking coy, practically begging to be kissed. Draco didn't even like Potter. Did he?

"Oooof!"

Draco collided with a body, and dropped his books. Bending down to pick them up, he didn't pay any attention to the person he had just banged into. That was, until he spoke.

"Watch where you're going next time, Malfoy!"

Draco glanced up to see Harry rubbing his elbow, a scowl on his face.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" he spat back.

Harry's eyes narrowed, and for an instant he looked like he was going to retort. But the moment passed, and he straightened, brushing down his robes. Harry darted a look around, checking nobody was listening.

"Don't you think it's about time we stopped with these childish games?" he asked, his voice strained like the skin of a drum. "I have far more important things to think about than sparring with the likes of you."

Draco smirked cruelly. "We could stop," he offered. "But it would cost you."

Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation, his hands clenching into fists around the strap of his book-bag.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" he asked. "What could I possibly give you that you don't already have?"

Draco retrieved the last of his books, stood up, and moved a step closer to Harry.

"I think you know what I want, what only you can give me," he whispered, his breath leaving a ghost on Harry's cheek.

Harry shivered. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied, his eyes tracking Draco's every move like a wary antelope watching a lion.

"Oh, I think you do, Harry." Draco said. "And what's more, I think you want it too."

Harry swallowed, his Adam's Apple jumping in his throat. "I don't want anything from you," he said.

The lie hung between them like smoke, and Draco refused to do anything to make it dissipate.

"Come to my rooms, tonight," he said, reaching out his hand to straighten Harry's tie.

Harry's eyes darted down the corridor, back towards the Great Hall, in the direction of the Transfiguration classroom. Anywhere but on Draco.

"I...I don't think so," he muttered, hitching his bag higher onto his shoulder. "If I was stupid enough to want to go to your room, which I'm not, you would hand me straight over to Voldemort. I know your game, Malfoy."

Draco smiled slowly, his teeth gritted together. "I have better plans for you than Voldemort," he said, wincing slightly at the name.

Harry shook himself and pulled away from Draco, hurrying off down the corridor.

His parting words left a poisonous gift: "I wouldn't come out alive."

~*~

II

"I'm sure you must be weary, dear,
With soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?"
Said the spider to the fly.
"There are pretty curtains all around,
The sheets are fine and thin,
And if you want to rest awhile,
I'll snugly tuck you in!"
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly;
"For I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again
Who sleep upon your bed!"

Draco's hands moved in lazy circles across Harry's back, his fingers easing the tension from his muscles.

"You like that?" he asked, his breath tickling the whorl of Harry's ear.

"I guess I could get used to it," Harry replied with a smile, and arched upwards like a cat.

Draco's fingers began to trace small, endless circles over Harry's back; kneading, stroking, finding all of the tiny knots and massaging them until they loosened. His mouth moved languidly behind his ear, his tongue flicking out...

"Harry, watch out!"

Draco was pulled out of the tangled weave of his daydream by a shout. From his place on his broom, hovering high over the rest of the practicing players, he could make out a stray bludger heading in Harry's direction.

Before he even had time to think, Draco tugged his broom into a risky nose-dive, heading straight into the trajectory path of the ball. With a quick turn that almost knocked him off-balance, he reached out and accepted the bludger from the skies, his wind knocked out of him as it crashed into his chest.

Behind him, Harry let out a startled gasp, Draco's sudden blurry presence alerting him to the danger he had been in. Fumbling in the pockets of his robes, he pulled out his wand.

"Accio glasses!"

His crumpled spectacles flew off the ground and into his outstretched fingers, and he quickly smashed them back onto the bridge of his nose.

"Malfoy?" he asked in surprise, as his rescuer's form came into focus.

Draco, his chest heaving from the force of the bludger, swung his broom around to face Harry. "Potter?"

"You saved me?" Harry asked, unsure whether he should really be using those words.

Draco didn't try to deny it. He just sat there on his broom, his knuckles white as he tried to calm the fighting bludger, his sly eyes watching Harry.

"Why?" Harry asked, his face twisted into disbelief.

Draco shrugged. "You can't give me what I want if you're knocked out in the hospital wing."

Harry's face hardened. "You saved me because you wanted..." he trailed off, unwilling to complete his sentence.

"You, yes. I want you," Draco finished for him, already growing bored of the conversation. "Why don't you come to my rooms tonight and let me show you how to relax? You're practically exhausted."

It was true, Harry was tired to the point of collapse. What with the D.A, his personal training with Dumbledore, quidditch practice, and his school work, he was so tired he seemed to do nothing else but work and sleep.

"You're revolting, Malfoy!" Potter spat, with disgust. "I don't want anything to do with you!"

"You'll see, Potter," Draco replied, before heading his broom down towards the ground. "I'll make you see that you do."

~*~

III

"Said the cunning spider to the fly,-
"Dear friend, what can I do
To prove the warm affection
I've always felt for you?
I have within my pantry
Good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome-
Will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly,
"Kind sir, that cannot be;
I've heard what's in your pantry,
And I do not wish to see!"

"Do you like chocolate, Harry?" Draco asked, with a wicked grin, as he dribbled the liquid confection over his own chest.

"Yes!" came the hissed reply, as Harry bent over Draco's naked form, and began lapping the sticky trail from his collarbone.

Draco moaned quietly, a low, brewing storm in the back of his throat. Harry's lips circled his nipple, sucking it into the silken heat of his mouth. He began to move lower, tracing the outline of Draco's ribs, and lower still, swirling around his navel, licking his initials into his skin...

Draco quickly moved from his hiding place, his hand darting out to catch Harry's robes as he walked by obliviously. He yanked the startled boy into the nook where he stood, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"You never thanked me," Draco said, his voice crystallising in the cool air.

Harry looked genuinely curious. "For what?" he asked.

"For saving your life, you idiot!" Draco snarled, his fingers pressing into the flesh of Harry's forearm, leaving his own special brand of Dark Mark.

"I don't need to thank you, Malfoy," Harry explained patiently, as if he were speaking to a child. "You saved me because you want me. Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but it would have saved months, possibly years of frustration if you had let that bludger make contact with my head."

Draco tilted his face to one side and studied Harry. He didn't look much different from the boy he first met in Madam Maulkin's all those years ago. He still had that unforgiving tangle of black hair, and his eyes were still the biggest and brightest he had ever seen. What was it that had changed? Had Harry truly grown weary of the body he was in, the life he was leading? Did he detest his destiny to the point of courting death?

"Close your mouth, Malfoy," Harry said, with a smile. "You look like you're trying to catch flies."

"I'm what?" Draco asked, momentarily confused by the Muggle phrase.

"Never mind," answered Harry, with a shake of his head. "What do you want? I haven't got all day to stand here gossiping with you."

"Did you really mean it?" Draco asked, stepping a little closer to him, the hems of their robes swishing together.

Harry raised one eyebrow in question. "Did I mean what?"

"Do you want to die, Potter?" Draco asked, his voice sounding more strained than he had intended.

A smile lingered on the edge of Harry's mouth before being erased by a sweep of his tongue as he wetted his lips.

"I don't want to die," Harry began, choosing his words carefully. "But I don't want to live either. Does that make any sense?"

Draco shook his head. "None at all." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Look, Potter," he said. "This might not mean very much to you, if anything at all, but there are people that would care for you, if you'd let them. There are people who are not as bad as they may seem."

Harry studied him in silence for a moment, and then threw back his head and laughed; a harsh disbelieving sound that cracked against the walls.

"I take it you mean you?" he asked, once he had regained control.

Draco nodded slowly.

"Look, no offence Malfoy," Harry said, patting Draco's hand before removing it from his arm. "But when I said I didn't want to live, I didn't mean that I wanted you to kill me either."

"But I wasn't--" Draco began, but was cut off by Harry's laughter again.

"Enough of the games," he choked out. "This has been fun while it has lasted, but let's go back to how things were before. This really is too much hassle."

Tossing Draco a scrap of an amused smile from over his shoulder, Harry stepped out of the dark nook, and vanished.

"I never knew you had it in you, Draco," came a voice like molten lava, and Blaise stepped out from the shadows.

"You heard?" Draco asked, his eyes flitting over Blaise's face.

"I heard", he agreed, gliding closer to Draco, his dark hair curling across his forehead. "I heard every single word."

With a flurry of movement, Blaise had Draco pinned up against the stone wall, his wrists held high above his head. He leaned in and licked Draco's throat, causing him to shudder.

"Draco Malfoy could care for Harry Potter, could he?" Blaise mocked, his eyes burning Draco like blazing coals. "How sweet of him. Shame Potter doesn't share the sentiment."

Draco flinched as Blaise's teeth found his skin and bit down, leaving tiny indentations in his flesh.

"I don't know why you bother with Potter," Blaise continued. "You have me, and I care for you more than he ever could. I give you what you want."

Blaise's hand had found its way inside Draco's trousers, and it curled around his hardening cock as if drawn there by magnetic force.

"I always give you what you want, Draco," Blaise hissed against the corner of Draco's mouth before he sucked on his lower lip, hard enough to bruise.

Draco whimpered and struggled against Blaise's grip on his wrists, wanting more than anything to be free to shower his attentions on the boy in front of him who was so skillfully wringing an orgasm from him.

"Who watches you while you sleep, Draco?" Blaise asked, his fingers twisting as his hand pumped up and down.

Draco whimpered again, pushing himself deeper into Blaise's hand, desperate for release.

"Who attends to you when you are begging to be fucked? Who allows you to mount them in the middle of the night when you are so inebriated that you can hardly walk?"

Blaise continued with his questions as his hand flew faster up and down the length of Draco's cock, his movements aided by the slick of pre-come seeping from the head.

"Who, Draco, who is your everything?" Blaise growled against his ear, sending spasms of electricity through Draco's spine and down across his groin.

"You are, Blaise! Oh Merlin, you are!"

Draco would have promised Blaise the world at that moment if he had threatened to stop, and while Blaise knew this, he took pity on the blonde wizard currently writhing under his touch. He knew how painful unrequited love could be.

With a final twist, and a jerk of his wrist, Blaise pulled Draco's orgasm from him, releasing Draco's hands and wrapping one arm around him as Draco collapsed, boneless against his chest. Blaise lifted his wet hand to his face, and inhaled Draco's scent, before cleaning the semen from his fingers, one by one.

~*~

IV

"Sweet creature!" said the spider,
"You're witty and you're wise;
How handsome are your gauzy wings,
How brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass
Upon my parlour shelf;
If you'll step in one moment, dear,
You shall behold yourself."
"I thank you, gentle sir," she said,
"For what you're pleased to say,
And, bidding you good-morning now,
I'll call another day."

"Look at yourself, Harry. You're beautiful."

Draco tilted Harry's chin until he was facing the mirror. Harry's eyes widened as he saw the two of them entwined on the bed, their sweaty bodies so close that it was almost impossible to see where one ended and the other began.

Harry moaned as Draco ran his tongue up his thigh, lingering on the tender patch of skin where his leg joined his groin, and watched his mirror-self open his mouth and do the same.

"Are you watching us, Harry?" Draco asked, lust weighing down his voice, and he felt Harry nod.

With a smile, Draco lowered his head and took Harry's cock into his mouth, groaning as it stretched his lips, falling hot onto his tongue...

"Potter, wait up!" Draco called out to Harry across the lawn outside Hogwarts.

Harry paused for a moment, and then shook his head, moving quickly towards the lake. Draco scowled and rushed after him, his shoes squeaking against the dew of the grass. He skidded to a halt as Harry turned around, his eyes glowing in the sun.

"Just leave me alone, Malfoy!" Harry shouted at him, breaking the still of the grounds, and causing a couple of birds to fly from the nearest tree with a squawk.

"I'm not going to leave you alone," Draco replied, with a smirk. "I have never left you alone, and I'm not about to start now."

"Then at least go back to how it used to be!" Harry pleaded, desperation clouding his eyes, turning the vivid jade into the murky green of gillyweed. Draco fancied that Harry was the only thing to have ever truly allowed him to breathe.

"I don't want it to go back to how it used to be," Draco said, his voice calm and steady. "I like it like this."

"Of course you would!" Harry's voice juxtaposed Draco's, with anger. "You like to see me mad and know you are the cause of it!"

"Harry," Draco shook his head. "However stunning you look when you are livid, I would rather see you relaxed and happy."

Harry's jaw worked up and down for a few moments as he tried to process this, and then he let out an undignified growl, his nails digging into his palms as his hands balled into fists.

"You're fucking impossible, you know that?" Harry practically screamed at Draco, his face turning a rather startling shade of red.

Draco tucked his hands into his pockets, and began kicking at a stone on the floor. "I wouldn't be if you just admitted you liked me and got this over with," he said, looking up at Harry. "Because I don't hate you."

"Well, I hate you!" Harry threw back at him. "That's the bloody problem!"

Draco sighed and removed his hands from his pockets, cupping them together and blowing on them to keep them warm. "Whatever you say, Harry," he said, in that irritating, knowing way of his. "Do you know that you could have anyone you wanted? Practically the whole school wants to get into your pants."

"So what?" Harry replied, his anger vanishing with the morning mist. "I'm not interested in the whole school."

"No?" Draco asked, turning to head back up towards the school. "Well, let me tell you something, Harry. You may not be interested in them, but an awful lot of people are interested in you. However, I know something nobody else knows: I'm the only one who can satisfy you. I have studied you for the entire time I have known you. I probably know you better than you do."

With a raised eyebrow, driving his point home, Draco marched back up the hill towards the front entrance, leaving Harry staring at his back, arguing with the tiny flame inside of himself that told him that Draco was probably right; that he knew Harry better than he knew himself.

~*~

V

The spider turned him round about,
And went into his den,
For well he knew the silly fly
Would soon come back again.
So he wove a subtle web
In a little corner sly,
And set his table ready
To dine upon the fly.

"Draco, are you in there?"

Draco moved out of his private bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, drying his hair with another. He looked up in surprise as he saw Harry standing at the entrance to his rooms.

"What do you want, Potter?" he asked, moving towards the bed, still drying his hair.

"I've come to tell you that you're right," Harry said, his voice barely a whisper.

"About what?" Draco asked, more out of politeness than any real curiosity. He finished on his hair and dropped the towel onto the floor for a house elf to pick up later.

"You're right about me wanting you," Harry continued. "I do."

Draco had given up on Harry. He decided that he had done enough to try and entice him into his rooms, and that since nothing so far had worked, he would just stop and go back to ignoring him. He sat down on his bed with a sigh, and picking up his quill, attempted to make a dent in his Potions Assignment.

A few minutes later, his door opened and Blaise popped his head inside.

"Oh good, you're here. I was hoping you would be," Blaise said, and pushing the door, he walked inside.

Draco watched as his boyfriend moved into the room, throwing his book-bag onto a chair. In easy strides, he crossed the floor and dropped down onto the bed next to Draco.

"I missed you," Blaise whispered in his ear, before kissing him briefly on the mouth.

Draco licked his lips, tasting a faint trace of oranges. He forced a smile and looked back to his textbook.

"You had another dream about him last night," Blaise tossed out casually.

"No I didn't," Draco replied, without looking up.

Blaise reached across and shut Draco's textbook, placing his hand on top of it. Draco slowly raised his eyes to meet Blaise's.

"You called out his name," Blaise told him, matter of fact. "Twice."

Draco sighed and threw his books and scrolls onto the floor, before dropping onto his back on the bed. He tucked his hands behind his head.

"I don't mean to, you know?" he said, glancing at Blaise. "I wish I didn't. I would do anything not to have them."

"Anything?" Blaise asked, watching him carefully.

"Anything," Draco confirmed, nodding briefly.

Blaise smiled and lay down next to Draco, curling himself against his body. He wrapped one arm possessively across his waist.

"Potter will come to you," Blaise said, his voice low. "I know he will."

Draco looked down at him, his black head resting on his chest. "What are you, Trelawney's apprentice or something?" he laughed.

"Something like that," came the murmured reply.

~*~

VI

Then he came out to his door again,
And merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty fly,
With the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple,
There's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright,
But mine are dull as lead!"

Draco took a deep breath and stood up, pushing back his chair. He ignored the curious glances of his fellow Slytherins and walked with purpose to the Gryffindor table. The Weasley and the Mudblood were deeply engaged in conversation and failed to notice him when he came to a stop in front of Potter. The rest of the hall had fallen silent.

"Harry," he said. "I have something to tell you."

"Not here, Malfoy!" Harry hissed, slipping down into his seat in an effort not to be noticed.

"Yes here," Draco replied, and with a quick sonorous spell, he turned to face his peers.

"I, DRACO MALFOY," his voice boomed out. "AM IN LOVE WITH HARRY JAMES POTTER!"

The only sound in the hall was a scraping of a chair as Harry leapt to his feet and raced from the room...

Draco awoke with a start, his heart hammering in his chest. He pulled himself upright and sat back against the headboard, wiping his sweaty palm over his face.

"Draco?" came a sleepy voice from beside him.

Blaise pushed the covers back and sat up, facing his boyfriend. Draco groaned and closed his eyes, wishing more than anything that this wasn't happening again.

"What is it?" Blaise asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Another dream?"

Draco nodded, and looked back at Blaise, pillow creases lining his cheeks.

Blaise scooted towards Draco and took one of his hands, rubbing his thumb over his knuckles. "Talk to me about it?" he asked.

"I don't know what to do anymore," Draco said. "These dreams are taking over my life."

Blaise smiled sympathetically. "Then don't allow them to," he said. "Just try and forget about bloody Scarhead."

"I've tried," Draco answered. "I have tried everything. It's almost as if I have been cursed."

Blaise paused for a moment, then asked the question Draco had been dreading. "What do you see in him?"

Draco thought about this. What did he see in Harry Potter? He was just a boy, like Blaise, like Draco himself. His clothes never seemed to fit, no matter how much money he had, and he always looked just two steps away from starvation.

"I don't know," Draco answered honestly. "I don't know what I see in him. I just can't seem to get away from him. It's as if he is the missing part of the jigsaw. When I see him I feel compelled to jump on in there and assert myself, to make it known to him that I exist."

"It's always been like that," Blaise commented. Not a question.

Draco nodded. "Always. But I once thought it was hate."

"What is it now?" Blaise asked quietly, unsure whether he wanted to hear the answer.

"I'm not sure," Draco replied. "Something resembling respect."

Blaise frowned and buried his head against his boyfriend's neck. This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all.

~*~

VII

Alas! alas! how very soon
This silly little fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words,
Came slowly flitting by!
With buzzing wings she hung aloft,
Then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes,
And green and purple hue-

Harry reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Draco's ear. "I'm glad we worked things out," he murmured.

Draco smiled and caught Harry's hand, bringing the palm to his lips. He placed a kiss in the centre, then curled Harry's fingers in, capturing it.

"I'm glad too," Draco whispered. "I think I would have gone insane if we had continued to fight."

Harry laughed, a sound that Draco thought he could never tire of. "Things would have been so much easier if we had done this from the start."

"I don't think we ever would have, even if we hadn't been fighting." Draco replied. "We were too young. We would never have been able to handle something this intense."

"Perhaps," Harry said, trailing off as he rose on his knees, taking Draco's face in his hands and kissing him, painting his lips with a thousand 'I love you's'.

Harry looked up from his cereal as Draco walked into the Great Hall for breakfast. He hadn't spoken to the Slytherin for a couple of days, and although he was reluctant to admit it to himself, a small part of him missed that.

He watched as Draco took his place next to Blaise, and turned away when he saw them share a kiss.

"What's wrong Harry?" Hermione asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing, Hermione. Everything is fine." Harry offered her a weak smile, and then automatically looked back at Draco, who was now spreading marmalade onto his toast.

Hermione watched his gaze and frowned. "Malfoy can never bring you any happiness," she said knowingly, and without waiting for a response, picked up her copy of The Daily Prophet and began to read.

***********

Across the room, Blaise watched with interest as Harry tried to stop himself from looking at Draco. Each time he looked up to see green eyes stalking what was his, he leant in and gave Draco another kiss.

"Let him pine," Blaise thought with a tight smile. "He isn't going to have him. He's mine."

He turned back to Draco, pulling his face towards him, kissing him gently on the lips.

"I want you," Blaise whispered against his mouth. "I think we should go back to bed."

Blaise watched out of the corner of his eye as Harry pointedly turned his chair to face Ron, trying his best to block out the Slytherin table.

*************

Draco squirmed uncomfortably in his chair as Blaise showered him with more kisses. He hated nothing more than public displays of affection, and was particularly resentful that Blaise was choosing to act them out in full view of Harry. But he knew why, and he felt a tug of guilt grip his stomach as he thought back over the last week. He hadn't exactly been receptive to Blaise's feelings, spilling out his desires and compelling needs for Harry. Blaise had been nothing but patient, trying to understand where Draco was coming from, and most of all, Blaise was still there, still wanting him, still choosing to be with him.

"I want you," Blaise whispered against his mouth. "I think we should go back to bed."

Draco reached up and tangled his fingers in the soft silk of Blaise's hair, pulling him closer for another kiss. His other hand dropped down onto Blaise's lap, his fingers running defiantly over the bulge in his pants.

"I think I agree," he whispered back.

~*~

VIII

Thinking only of her crested head-
Poor foolish thing! At last
Up jumped the cunning spider,
And fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair,
Into his dismal den:
Within his little parlour,-
But she ne'er came out again!

Draco stared at Harry lying on the crisp, white sheets like an animal about to be dissected. His hands were bound above his head, and his legs splayed; each ankle tied to one of the bed posts. A green and silver tie was tied around his mouth, preventing him from shouting.

Draco slowly moved towards him, and reached out, touching his flesh. It was cold and pliant, giving easily under his fingers. Draco ran his hand up Harry's leg and over his abdomen.

"So pretty," he cooed, his voice sounding foreign to his ears. "So very pretty."

Harry's eyes were wide and watering as he strained against his bonds. His cries were muffled by the tie, and Draco laughed.

"I can't hear you, beautiful," he said, his voice carving an edge of insanity against Harry's skin as he bent down to lick one of his nipples.

The tiny bud stood to attention, forcing a whine of frustration from the back of Harry's throat as Draco pulled away.

From behind his back, Draco produced a knife. The long, thin blade shone like tears in the candlelight, and Draco watched as Harry's eyes grew even wider. He began throwing his weight against the ropes binding him, leaving purple bracelets in his flesh.

"I want to see it, Harry." Draco whispered, moving towards Harry in slow-motion. "I want to see that your heart beats only for me..."

Draco let out a piercing scream that punctured the silence of his rooms. He jumped out of bed, and turned to look at it, his head spinning as he took in the shape lying next to the space he had just vacated. The dark hair curled against the white of his pillow.

It couldn't be, could it?

Draco let out the breath he had been holding as Blaise stretched and rolled over, his eyes blinking up at Draco. "What is it?" he asked. "Who screamed?"

"Nobody,...I..." Draco couldn't even bring himself to say it.

Blaise shrugged and looked at the clock next to the bed. It was just after midnight. "They should be here soon," he said.

Draco placed a hand against his calming chest, and gingerly sat back on the edge of the bed. "Who?" he asked.

"You'll see, dear one," Blaise replied, and he got up, pulling on his trousers.

Less than a minute passed, when a knock came at the door. Shooting a knowing glance at Draco, Blaise moved to open it, standing aside to let the visitors inside.

Draco blinked in shock as he made out the hulking forms of Crabbe and Goyle lumbering into the room, carrying a limp form between them.

"Did he put up a struggle?" Blaise asked.

"Not too much," came the grunted reply from Crabbe, as the pair dropped the body gracelessly onto the bed. "We caught him unaware and tried to get him into a body bind. He fought back a bit, but Goyle hit him with his bat."

Blaise smiled and moved to pat Goyle on the back. "I knew making you a Beater would come in handy one day," he told him.

Searching in his pockets, Blaise withdrew a handful of Galleons, and dropped them into Crabbe's open hand. "Make sure you share now!" he chastised, as if he were their father.

The two goons nodded, grinning stupidly, and lurched out of the room, pulling the door shut behind them.

"Well, aren't you going to unwrap it then?" Blaise demanded, turning his attention to Draco.

Draco tore his eyes away from the inanimate form on his bed, and tried to focus on Blaise.

"What?" he asked, his voice faint. His head began to spin.

"Your present, Draco," Blaise said impatiently, gesturing to the bound boy. "I got him especially for you. Don't you like him?"

Draco looked back at the body splayed out unnaturally on his sheets, his hair falling around his face. On his forehead a lump had begun to form, a bulbous protrusion seeped in violet. His eyelids were shut, blocking out that brilliant green Draco had come to see even in his sleep.

"For me?" he echoed in disbelief.

Blaise sighed in annoyance, and moved towards Draco, kneeling on the floor in front of him. He took his hands in his, looking up into his face.

"You wanted him, Draco," he said. "You wanted him, so I made him yours. Now you can do anything with him."

Blaise pulled Draco's left arm out in front of him, and bent down and kissed the skull branded into the flesh. "You know what you are supposed to do," he said pointedly.

Draco frowned at the mark on his forearm, and looked up into Blaise's steely, determined eyes. He nodded briefly, and then turned towards the figure on his sheets.

Under Blaise's watchful gaze, he turned him over and tore open his shirt. Harry's bronzed skin shone in the dim light of the room, teasing him, and he bent his head to taste the sweat. Draco closed his eyes and allowed himself to become intoxicated as his mouth whispered lamentations against the flesh.

"Bind him," Blaise ordered, and tossed him some rope.

"Can't I just bind him magically?" Draco asked, struggling to keep the plea out of his voice.

Blaise shook his head. "No, it's best to do it like this," he replied. "Make sure you leave your mark."

Draco pushed Harry's arms above his head, and began to wind the ropes around his wrists. He lifted his head as Blaise came to stand at his side, his eyes like a hawk's as he drank in the scene unfolding before him.

"Tighter," Blaise growled, as he saw Draco's deliberate attempt at keeping the knots loose.

Draco caught his bottom lip between his teeth as he pulled on the ropes, watching them bite into the delicate skin of Harry's wrists.

Blaise nodded his approval and walked to the bottom of the bed to watch over Draco while he bound Harry's ankles, and then ordered him to blindfold him with his school tie.

The task completed, Draco sat back, studying his work. Harry lay spread out, his limbs stretched painfully, like in his dream.

Draco swallowed and looked back at Blaise.

"Don't you want to play with him?" Blaise asked, cruelness seeping into the tiny lines around his eyes as he smiled.

Draco wanted nothing more than to make Harry his, to be able to kiss him and touch him and taste the sunshine on his skin. But not like this. Never like this.

Draco shook his head, avoiding Blaise's face.

"Fine," came the reply, and Draco was pulled roughly from the bed, Blaise's fingernails scraping over the stinging mark on his arm. "I'll do it, and you can watch."

Draco curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed and tried not to look at what was happening to Harry, but he couldn't bring himself to pull his eyes away.

He watched in bewilderment as Blaise began undoing Harry's trousers, anger and frustration consuming him as he realised he couldn't remove them without untying Harry's ankles.

With a strangled growl, Blaise reached into the trunk that sat beside the bed, and rummaged around for a few seconds. With a delighted smirk, he withdrew a knife.

The knife in Draco's dreams.

With well-practiced, fluid gestures, Blaise cut Harry's trousers from him, and threw them aside. He reached out for Harry's cock lying soft against his thigh, and began fisting it in a desperate attempt to get it to harden.

Harry groaned slightly, his mouth dropping open; from pleasure or pain Draco couldn't tell.

Harry continued to regain consciousness, and as he began to make sense of what was happening to him, he started to thrash against the ropes.

Blaise's smile had become predatory, and he quickly moved off Harry to remove his own trousers, freeing his erection. With a quick spell, he disguised his voice, and returned his attentions to The-Boy-Who-Lived.

"Well, well Potter," he said, his fingers probing against Harry's entrance, trying to quickly stretch him. "You do get yourself into some awkward situations, don't you?"

"Please, no!" Harry gasped, in a lost, faraway voice. "I don't know who you are, or why you are doing this, but I promise I will give you anything if you just stop!"

"But I want you, Harry," Blaise said, in mock comfort. "I have always wanted you."

"D-Draco?" Harry asked, his voice dipped in ice.

At the end of the bed, Draco's blood froze in his veins, and he pushed his palms flat against his ears. "No, No! Oh Merlin, No!" he thought to himself, as he began to rock back and forth. "This isn't happening. He can't think it's me, he can't!"

Blaise laughed, a harsh guttural sound that slithered out of his throat and in between Draco's fingers, scratching against his eardrums like nails on a blackboard.

"Let's make this a little more fun, shall we?" Blaise told Harry, and he picked up the knife again. He positioned his cock against Harry's entrance, ready to force himself in.

Draco looked up, his face damp with his tears, and watched in horror as Blaise slid the knife down the centre of Harry's chest like it was made of butter. The howl that escaped Harry's throat was so anguished, so unlike any sound a human had ever made, that Draco thought that perhaps it would be forever burned into his memories.

As blood began to spill out from the wound, like the first beads of sweat on a summer day, and Harry passed out, Draco was jolted back to reality. He reached out and grasped onto the bedpost, heaving himself to his feet. He threw himself onto the bed and grabbed Blaise's shoulders, pulling him back.

Blaise's hand, dripping in blood, came up to cradle Draco's face, smearing crimson across his cheekbone as he stroked it.

"Have you changed your mind, my sweet?" he whispered, his gaze lingeringly lovingly on Draco's lips. "Did the sight of his blood excite you? Do you want to play in it too, Draco?"

Blaise's tongue slashed a mark across Draco's mouth, and in the back of his mind, Draco thought he could taste Harry's blood. He pulled away from Blaise, shaking his head.

"Get out!" he screamed, his voice cutting through Blaise like glass. "Get the fuck out!"

Blaise held his hands up in front of him like a shield, and backed away. "All right, Draco," he said, keeping his eyes on him as he rooted around for his trousers. "If you wanted some private time with him, you just had to say."

"You're sick, you know that?!" Draco shouted. "When I said I wanted him, I didn't mean like this! I wanted him to come on his own free will. I wanted him to have a choice!"

Blaise's eyes darkened, his pupils dilating. "You call yourself a Slytherin, Draco?" he asked, his voice quiet. "You disgust me."

With one last, longing look at Harry, Blaise threw open the door and strode out, refusing to spare a backward glance for Draco.

Draco turned back to Harry, his vision blurring as he began pulling on the ropes that bound his wrists. Harry was barely moving now, just slight twitches as Draco tried to free him. Tiny gurgling noises were escaping from his throat, each one stinging Draco and making him flinch.

Draco screamed in frustration as the knots refused to budge, when it suddenly occurred to him that there was an easier way. In a desperate rush he found his wand, and quickly charmed the ropes to fall away. Harry still wasn't moving.

"Harry, come on," Draco pleaded. "You can move now! Oh Merlin, please move!"

Harry whimpered, his fingers clenching uselessly at the sheets. Draco quickly removed his tie from over Harry's eyes, and recoiled in horror as Harry's eyelids fluttered like a pair of dying butterflies.

Draco quickly turned his attention to the wound in Harry's chest, the ripped skin hanging like torn curtains. He fought through the mess of his mind, grappling to remember any healing spells he had been taught. He ran a hand over his face, trying to calm himself, and his stomach flipped when his fingers came away red.

He tried to steady his shaking hand as he pointed his wand at Harry's chest and carefully spoke the words of all of the healing spells he knew. He watched in a detached fascination as the edges of the wound began to unfurl and started to knit back together again into a crude, course scar. Draco knew that it wouldn't hold for long, and that Harry would have to see a professional healer as soon as possible, but for now it was the best he could do.

Harry groaned, his hand flying up to clutch at the tightening in his chest as his flesh tried desperately to mesh.

"No, don't touch it!" Draco warned, grabbing onto Harry's hand to prevent him re-opening the wound.

Harry's eyes flew open and focused on Draco, the green Draco had grown to love drowning in a murky sea of black as he recognised him.

Harry, suddenly aware that his limbs had been freed, pulled his knees up to his chest and scrambled back up the bed, as far as he could away from Draco. He groaned in agony as his cuts protested the movement.

"Harry, don't, it's okay!" Draco pleaded, reaching out towards him. "I'm not going to hurt you!"

Keeping his eyes on Draco, Harry tried to pull his torn shirt about himself in an effort to hide his nudity. Draco found his own robes from beside the bed and held them out to Harry.

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Harry grabbed the robes from him, and quickly put them on, screwing his face up in pain. Finally dressed, he carefully got off the bed and inched his way to the door.

"Please, Harry!" Draco pleaded, stepping towards him. "You have to believe me! I didn't do this to you, I wouldn't!"

Feeling the doorknob finally biting into his back, Harry paused and tried to clear his throat.

"You told me once, Malfoy," he began, frowning at how young and vulnerable he sounded. "You told me once that you didn't hate me." Harry paused, clutching his side, his breathing sounding harsh in the still of the room. "I never hated you, either," he continued. "Not until now."

With that, Harry turned on his heels and left the room. Behind him, Draco slumped to the floor, curling his arms around himself as his eyes drilled a hole into the door left swinging in Harry's wake. His fingers began to trace the skull with the serpent that lay imbedded into his flesh. Draco knew what to do.

He picked up the knife.

******************

Outside in the damp darkness of the corridor, Blaise stepped out of his hiding place as he heard the click of Draco's door. He plastered a mask of surprise over his face, and gasped when he saw Harry.

"Harry?" he asked, his voice stumbling over itself. "What's wrong? Oh, Merlin..."

Blaise's voice trailed off as he saw the state Harry was in, desperately trying to keep his robes clutched about himself as he hobbled along the stone floor.

"Blaise! Oh Blaise! Draco, he...he tried to..." Harry fell against the wall, sobbing, and Blaise quickly rushed to his side. He gathered the distraught boy up in his arms, whispering soothing words into his ear.

"Shhh, it's all right, Harry," he crooned. "Everything will be fine. We'll take you to Dumbledore. Malfoy isn't going to get away with this, I guarantee you that."

Against his chest, Harry nodded. "I don't know what I would do without you, Blaise," he whispered. "Without you these last few weeks would have been torture, and now..."

Harry broke down in sobs again, clutching at Blaise for support.

"I'll always be here for you, Harry," Blaise whispered, and he placed a kiss on his neck.

And now, dear little children
Who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words,
I pray you ne'er give heed;
Unto an evil counsellor
Close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale
Of the Spider and the Fly.
~*~

Fin