Just For the Fun of It

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

"No boys, I want you to acknowledge each other as equals, not opponents in some silly war. Now shake hands and do it right!"

It was a crisp autumn day outside of the Arithmancy tower, the sky a perfect shade of cheery blue, but inside of the classroom, storm clouds were forming. Harry watched the boy standing toe to toe with him very closely, never letting his emerald eyes falter from the pale silver staring so intently back at him.

"Hello Potter. Good day, isn't it?" Draco Malfoy's voice was so thick with hatred and disgust over what he was being forced to do that Harry could almost taste it. His mouth twitched and his eyes narrowed as he waited for Harry's answer.

"Yes, Malfoy, it is a very fine day." Harry spat out forcefully. The words tasted like Skele-Gro in his mouth and he was very eager to get them out. They both turned to Professor Vector, waiting for him to send them back to their seats. He eyed them both again and sighed.

"Just go sit down. And no more fighting in class, no matter if it is work time or not."

Harry trudged back to his seat next to Lavender and sat down with a curse muttered under his breath. He had let himself be bested by Draco Malfoy by taking his verbal bait and getting into a fight. When Hermione and Ron heard about that, they would be disappointed.

The three of them, on the train at the beginning of the year, had taken an oath not to let the blond-haired Slytherin bastard get them riled. So far in the three weeks they had been there, Harry had managed to contain himself. But something had snapped. There went his perfect record.

"Don't let him get you down, Harry. He isn't worth it." Harry's worries about the pact must have showed on his face. Lavender's words didn't make him feel much better. "He's just a smarmy brat who is jealous of you. And also appears to be trying to get your attention."

Harry looked across the three rows of students separating him from Draco to see him holding up a piece of parchment at him. The words 'I need to talk to you' had been quickly scratched in a very light hand. Harry sucked on his bottom lip and wrote out his own message. His, however, wasn't quite as nice as Draco's had been. In fact, it might have blinded a sailor.

The rest of the class was spent in quiet study of the number charts in front of him and replying to Draco's signs periodically. Lavender would poke him in the side when a new one was held up, and then giggle fiercely when she read the response.

When the bells finally did ring, Harry gathered up his stuff as quickly as he could and made for the door. He was out it before most students had even left their seats. Draco had no way of catching him now!

"Potter, get back here! We have to talk!" Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and he whipped around. Draco Malfoy was touching his shoulder and not making some snide comment about catching 'hero-viruses' or something. It was a day for the record books. "Now that I got you to listen, I'm sorry."

If Harry had been at all shocked about the close contact, this was the last straw. His feet involuntarily gave out beneath him and he sank to the floor. Draco looked down at him, arm outstretched as if he wanted to pull him up.

Very nervously, Harry took it and got back to his feet. Knowing Draco, this was a very elaborate plot to either get him in trouble or humiliate his brains out. He dusted himself while Draco looked on, a tiny little smirk on his face.

"Now, if I did know better, I could swear that you just said I'm sorry."

Draco nodded, and Harry felt faint again. "But Malfoys don't say 'sorry'!" A few students brushed past them in the hall, having finally caught up with the two of them after class, most of them not even noticing them standing there. Lavender gave Harry a puzzled look and held up one of his reply parchments, as if to say she was keeping it for some ungodly reason.

"Yea, I know. Funny that we are doing things we don't normally do. Like have normal conversations in the hall." Draco's eyes flicked down to where Harry's satchel still lay from his fall. "Taking each other's hands for help."

Harry opened his mouth to speak, which proved to be a very bad idea. Draco stepped across the small space that separated them, put his arms on Harry's shoulders, and kissed him. His tongue flit in quickly, like a bird, then he pulled back. His eyes were a blazing warm silver as Harry stared into them.

"Kissing each other in the halls." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked away, following the students who were bless fully to far away to have seen anything. The story would have spread like wildfire to Ron and Hermione. If arguing with Malfoy was a breech of their agreement, he had no idea what kissing might be.

Harry stood there for a moment, completely oblivious to the world. He had no idea what just happened. No idea why it had happened. As he watched Draco's retreating back, he somehow managed to choke out three words.

"You kissed me!"

***

Classes were over and Harry spent the rest of the day brooding in the common room, a book on Manticores in his lap. They had to complete an essay on the monster for Care of Magical Creatures by Friday, but he wasn't getting anything done as it was.

"Hermione, don't you think you could switch back to Arithmancy One?" Harry asked in a quiet voice. Hermione, from her position behind a very pile of books on anything any one would ever want to know, and even not want to know about Manticores, laughed.

"And take all that work again? No, I'm happily content with Arithmancy Three, thank you very much." At her words, Harry turned to Ron. The red-haired boy was furiously dusting his chess pieces, because it was getting quite irritating during games when a rook or a knight would sneeze and knock half the others over.

"Ron, would you transfer up?" Ron's reaction was much the same.

"With the talk of how much work you do? I'll stick to Astronomy over that."

Harry sighed and flipped a page. He hadn't even looked at the one he had been on, but he didn't care. Now that he had asked them the question, his mind was already elsewhere. Like Malfoy.

At dinner, the blond-haired prat had kept his head down and had eaten quickly, just so he could get out of the Great Hall fast. Harry had wished that he choked on something. That was the last he had seen of him that night.

Which was a good thing, considering how Harry was feeling. Anger, at being taken advantage of. Hatred, for being made a fool of in class. But yet, one tiny portion of his mind had a tiny, ungodly notion that he had liked feeling Draco Malfoy's lips on his.

It was preposterous. It was insane. But that tongue, just lightly brushing his own before retreating, had been enough to make his hair stand on end. The softness of his lips had amazed Harry. His were always crackly and dry, while Malfoy's were like silk.

And all at once, Harry mentally kicked himself and went back to his book. Why the hell was he thinking about the prat and his lips? It was probably just some stupid dare or the first part of a way to get him expelled.

***

"Ten points from Gryffindor, Mr. Potter." Harry wondered if Snape ever felt he was a broken record, saying the same thing over and over again, day after day. "Now stop daydreaming and pay attention."

He hadn't been day dreaming. He had been daynightmaring. Horrible images of Draco Malfoy pressing his lips over Harry's skin. Images of Draco tugging at Harry's necktie, trying desperately to get it off. Images of things far more unspeakable than anything Harry had ever imagined.

Lavender, from the row in front of Harry, turned and smiled at him. He could see that one of his parchments was lying on top of all her other things, as if she were studying it. Lavender bothered Harry sometimes.

Harry looked over to the Slytherin side, where Draco was sleeping peacefully. His head was lying on his potions book, his blond hair splaying over its black cover beautifully. He was completely oblivious that Harry was watching him, and it gave Harry a sense of overpowerment.

"Harry, look at that prat sleeping. Snape doesn't take points from him." Ron was talking about Malfoy, surely, though he didn't know that Harry was already very intently staring at him.

Class dragged by slowly, with them taking notes and Harry watching the boy. It was almost like a twisted game. He had to pretend to write when he caught Snape watching him from the corner of his eye, and had to pretend to write if Draco stirred from his sleep. Every time he moved, however, it was just to get a better position.

When time was up and the bells made their melodic little chant to tell them hell was over, Draco was jolted quite abruptly awake. Harry stifled a laugh as he shoved all his books back into his bag and followed Ron and Hermione out the door.

But as he walked along, he felt like he was turning to stone. Every inch of him was slowing down, as if weighted, telling him to go back to the room. He had to ask Draco. He told Hermione and Ron that he had forgotten something and dashed off.

He met Draco just as he was coming out of the Potions dungeons. He had the faint imprints of the words 'Potions Made Easy' on the cheek he had been laying on the book and Harry sniggered.

"I have to talk to you." He somehow managed to stammer out. He grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him off into a side hallway that no one would be going down for at least another ten minutes. Not that this would take that long.

"You didn't have to pull me, you know. I would have come." Draco's words were soft and beautiful, and Harry longed for him to speak again. "Would you let go of my wrist, Potter?"

"Oh, sorry." His hand dropped to his side. Draco bit on his bottom lip and Harry's insides have a jump. He had to act.

In a very brave move, he leaned forward, much as Draco had done the day before, and kissed him. There was no tongue. No mouths were open in shock to let anything in. Only the faint brushing of lips and the painful pulling away. Harry was smiling, though Draco wasn't.

"What the hell Potter? Argh!" Draco whipped him mouth furiously with his sleeve as if he were afraid of getting ill. "What the hall was that for?"

Harry's mouth dropped open again, though this time he wasn't jumped upon. It hung there as he watched Draco lean against the wall, still rubbing his face, and only closed when he found the strength to speak. "You kissed me first."

"I kissed you on a dare." And then, he started to laugh. A light chuckle at first, then it turned into a cackle. Then a full out laugh. Harry couldn't help but join in. He should have known. "And don't tell me you were dared too?"

"Erm, not exactly." He shook his head and Draco put a hand on his shoulder. Harry wanted another kiss, even if the first wasn't real. But he only stood there for a moment, then turned and walked away. Harry watched him go, his stomach still fluttering. It had been fun while it lasted, though now he would have to go and get his signs back from Lavender to flash at Draco during Arithmancy. Just for the fun of it.

***