Mistletoe

* * * * * * *

Harry trudged wearily down the corridor, towards the Great Hall. He could hear the sounds of people laughing, talking and eating coming from inside. Stomach rumbling, Harry picked up his pace. Snape had forced him to stay behind after lesson to scrape up the twisted remains of his melted cauldron from the floor and desk. Who would have thought that such a little thing as putting a pinch too much of Arrowroot into a Binding Potion could cause such a big explosion?, he thought absently, ducking a stray flying piece of mistletoe.

Fred and George Weasley, having left Hogwarts the year before, had started inventing things for their joke shop. To test them, they often sent packages to Ron and Ginny, containing anything from exploding shoes (designed to propel the wearer several feet into the air) to pillowcases that drew black moustaches and glasses on the unfortunate sleeper in ink that could only be removed using a powerful Scouring Charm. Most of these packages had not been wrapped properly or in such a way that the contents tended to explode outwards; Ron and Ginny had grown extremely wary of brown packages covered with the twins scrawling handwriting.

The latest in Fred and George’s inventions was Enchanted Mistletoe. Once they had been released from their packaging, several tiny bunches of the plant went flying all over Hogwarts. Nobody was especially perturbed by this, until it Seamus Finnegan and Lavender Brown had been caught under some. A very pretty golden circle had surrounded them, making Lavender squeal with delight. Her joy faded somewhat when she realised that the circle was as strong as it was pretty. No matter how many spells or curses they threw at the force field, it just wouldn’t break, flinging the spells back at them. Instead, it actually became smaller, forcing the two together, closer and closer. By then, quite a crowd had gathered, and someone had suggested that they kiss. Seamus (never one to look a gift horse in the mouth) grabbed Lavender and gave her a not entirely platonic kiss. Sure enough, the force field dissolved away colourfully, with a small pop "?

Not that Seamus or Lavender noticed

, thought Harry, laughing slightly at the memory. He glanced behind his shoulder and, to his dismay, saw the mistletoe slow to a halt and then change direction, bobbing gently towards him. However funny it was to see other people caught underneath it, it was quite another matter to be below it yourself: Fred had written to Ginny explaining that the only way to get out of the mistletoe’s spell was by kissing the other person. Harry had seen Ernie MacMillan underneath some with Eloise Midgeon… He shuddered - that was not something he wanted to experience.

He hurried around a corner, trying to get rid of the pursuing mistletoe, when he smacked into something and was knocked to the ground. He blinked and saw a pair of shiny black shoes and sleek new robes. He didn’t really need to look at the face to know who he had knocked into.

"Malfoy," he said crossly.

Draco glared at him. "Watch where you’re going, Potter!" he snapped, his pale face illuminated by a soft, golden glow –

"Oh no," gasped Harry, scrambling to his feet. He stared despairingly at the innocent glittering force field surrounding him and the other boy.

"You have got to be kidding me…" whispered Draco, looking about as horrified as Harry felt. He fumbled in his robes and pulled out a wand.

"No," began Harry, "That doesn’t – "

"Reducto!" cried Draco. Both boys ducked as the spell rebounded, bouncing from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Harry wasn’t too sure what the Reductor Spell would do to a human, but he had a nasty suspicion that it would leave behind the type of mess that would have Filch screeching in horror.

"Spells don’t affect it," moaned Harry, laying his hands on the force fields surface. It felt warm and hard, like marble laid out in the sun.

"Well, what does?" hissed Draco, kicking the wall of their prison and wincing slightly. Harry looked at him. Draco looked back. "Please," he said slowly, "tell me that there is another way to get out of here, other than…" He paused looking almost hopefully at Harry’s face. "Damn," he said after a moment. He turned his back on Harry.

"Bollocks," added Harry helpfully. Draco then proceeded to swear so extravagantly that Harry took a step back – and was promptly pushed by the wall, closing the distance between him and Draco. He stumbled but just managed to keep himself upright. They stared at each other again, now less than a foot away from each other.

"Does it keep doing that?" asked Draco, desperately feeling their cage, apparently looking for any cracks that might let them out.

"Yeah," said Harry, "The only way to get out is…" He paused and looked at the other boy.

"No way, Potter. I am not kissing you."

"Well, I’m not kissing you," Harry retorted.

"Fine."

"Fine!"

They glared at each other. Harry felt a gentle, warm pressure on the back of his knees, and he was pushed practically right up to Draco’s chest.

"Oh no," said Draco, closing his eyes and tilting his head up at the innocent looking mistletoe. Harry was struck by a terrible thought.

"Malfoy," he began, "you do realise that everyone’s in the Great Hall…"

"Your powers of observation astound me, Potter."

Harry ignored him. "…Everyone’s going to be finishing dinner now. And leaving the Hall…" He trailed off as the full meaning of his words sank in. Draco looked horrified.

"They’d see us," he said blankly.

"And they’d watch," added Harry meaningfully. There was a silence.

"There’s got to be another way out of here," said Draco, turning from Harry and feeling the walls again.

"I told you, no spells work against – "

"Help!" shouted Draco suddenly, banging his palm on the force field. "Let me out!"

"Are you mad?" hissed Harry, grabbing hold of Draco’s wrist to prevent him from making any more noise. "D’you want anyone to see?" Draco lowered his hand slowly.

"What else can we do?" he asked through gritted teeth. Harry opened his mouth to say that he didn’t know, when he heard the sound of chairs scraping against a stone floor, coming from the Great Hall. Desperation made Harry lose his head for a moment and taking matters into his own hands, and mouth, he grabbed hold of Draco’s head and kissed him.

Almost instantly, the glowing force field disappeared, twinkling into the dark corridor. But Harry didn’t notice. Draco’s hair was much softer than he would have thought, his skin rougher. Draco had raised his hands to grip Harry’s elbows, holding him tightly. Draco’s mouth was warm against his. There was a dull roar in Harry’s ears and for one, half-crazed moment, he thought it was the entire school watching them. And then he realised. If they had been watching, he wouldn’t have cared. The thought was so shocking that he flushed and practically jumped away from Draco, ripping their lips asunder.

They stared at each other for a moment, cheeks flushed and eyes bright. Then Harry thought, I just kissed Malfoy. The realisation seemed to hit Draco at the same time, because the rather dazed expression on his face changed to that of surprise and then disgust. He made a gagging noise and Harry turned away, sticking his tongue out of his mouth and rubbing it frantically with his hand. Draco seemed to be doing something similar. Their gazes meet, and Draco gave a huge shudder and hid his burning face in his hands.

"You kissed me, Potter," he said accusingly, peeking out at Harry behind his fingers.

"Me? You used tongue! There’s no need for that!"

Draco dropped his hands indignantly. "I did not!"

At that moment, the doors to the Great Hall opened, and the first students came trickling out of them, pausing when they saw Harry and Draco, thinking perhaps the two boys would offer some kind of after-dinner entertainment. Draco glanced at them, then turned to Harry and pointed at him.

"If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you." He raised an eyebrow and then stalked dramatically past Harry, who glared at his retreating back. He turned back and jumped. Ron and Hermione were standing right in front of him.

"Are you alright Harry?" asked Hermione, cocking her head to one side. "You look a bit red."

"Of course he does," said Ron dismissively. Harry froze. "He’s just been fighting with Malfoy, haven’t you, mate?" Harry breathed an inner sigh of relief. For an instant, he’d thought that Ron may have seen something...

"Yeah," he breathed. "Fighting." Almost unconsciously, he glanced back in the direction Malfoy had gone. He followed Ron and Hermione back to Gryffindor Tower, explaining why he hadn’t gone to dinner. He watched them play chess next to the fire in the common room and listened to them squabble over one of Ron’s moves. Harry wasn’t really paying that much attention though; his mind kept drifting back down to the corridor, and sometimes even further, right down into the bowels of the school, in the Slytherin Dungeons…

"Mistletoe… compatible, you know."

"What was that?" asked Harry, suddenly snapping back to attention. Other people had joined them by the fire, and they all gave him exasperated looks.

"The mistletoe Fred and George sent," explained Ginny. "It doesn’t choose who to stop randomly."

"It doesn’t?" asked Harry, feeling his stomach began to tie itself in knots.

"No," said Hermione. "I read up on the spell they used in the library –"

"- Besides, Fred wrote today, saying…" Ron trailed off when he saw Hermione glaring at him for interrupting. "Er, sorry. Carry on."

"Basically," continued Hermione, shooting Ron a look, "the mistletoe is impregnated with a Character Reading Charm, and goodness knows what else knowing Fred and George, so that it can recognise the personality or aura of each person and pair them up accordingly."

"You’re kidding," said Harry weakly.

"No," said Ginny earnestly. "It pairs you up with someone you could have a good relationship with."

Seamus nodded, his arm slung over Lavender’s shoulders. "It’s Matchmaking Mistletoe."

Matchmaking Mistletoe

, thought Harry. That means that…

"Harry, are you alright?" asked Hermione. "You’ve gone awfully white."

"No-no, I-I’m fine," he stammered

Ron looked at him closely and then grinned slowly. "It matched you up with someone didn’t it?"

"No!" protested Harry, perhaps a little too loudly.

"It did, as well," laughed Seamus. He leaned forward, eagerly. "So… who’s the lucky girl?"

"Or boy," laughed Dean. This was so horribly the truth that Harry choked. Luckily nobody noticed; they were too busy laughing.

"Come on, Harry," said Ron encouragingly. "You can tell us…"

"It was no one," said Harry desperately, leaping to his feet. "I’ve got to go to bed… Quidditch practice first thing…" He turned and bounded up the stairs to the dormitory, face now burning.

Ron, Seamus and Dean sniggered. Hermione shook her head.

"If he says there was no one, we should believe him," she said practically.

"Oh, come on, Hermione," said Seamus in an exasperated voice. "You don’t honestly believe that, do you?"

"Well…" began Hermione.

Ginny laughed. "I think I’m going to follow Harry’s example," she said getting up. "Night."

"Me too," said Lavender and she kissed Seamus on the cheek. "Coming up, Hermione?"

"No, I’m going to win this game if it kills me," said Hermione frowning down at the chessboard. Lavender laughed and followed Ginny up to the girl’s dormitories. Seamus jumped to his feet.

"Think I’m going to see how Harry’s getting on…" Seamus said winking at them. Dean laughed wickedly and rubbed his hands together.

"I’m coming too," he said. They started off for the boys staircase, and Hermione shouted after them, "Be nice!"

Ron chuckled. Hermione smiled at him.

"Do you think we should tell Harry why we know that the mistletoe works?"

"You did," said Ron, looking at the chessboard, a slight frown on his face. "You said you read it in a book…"

"Nooo…" said Hermione taking Ron’s hand. "I mean, how we know it from experience." Ron smiled, looking up at her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Nah. Not tonight anyway. Maybe if he tells us who he got caught under the mistletoe with…"

Hermione bit back a laugh. "We shouldn’t bully him like this, it’s not fair."

"Oh, come on!" laughed Ron. "Like he’s gonna give us a moments rest about… well, us." He suddenly smiled even wider. He moved a piece on the chessboard. "Checkmate."

"Oh…" sighed Hermione, searching for a word terrible enough to describe her defeat. "…Bum." She looked so put out that Ron laughed shortly, and as he leaned forward to kiss her, he decided that on the next visit to Hogsmeade, he would buy Fred and George a very large box of Honeydukes’ Best Chocolate.

* * * * * * *

This is completely pointless

, decided Harry, as he pulled his Invisibility Cloak on after waiting for his roommates to fall asleep.

It’s not like he’s very likely to be there

, he thought, climbing out of the portrait time.

What are the chances that he would turn up at exactly the same place and the same time that I arrived,

he wondered, hurrying towards the Great Hall. Sprigs of Matchmaking Mistletoe hovered past him, and he held his breath, hoping that they couldn’t sense him through an Invisibility Cloak. If they could, they showed no interest in pursuing Harry. Which is probably fortunate, considering who I’m wanting to bump into, he thought gloomily.

He turned the corner into the corridor he had been standing in, not eight hours before, with Draco. Harry’s stomach dropped. An empty corridor. He sighed and considered loitering for a while, to see if maybe, by some twist of fate, Draco would turn up, when a movement in the shadows caught his eye. He peered closely at the shadows and made out a sliver of blond hair. Taking a deep breath, Harry pulled off the cloak.

"Malfoy." The dark and silver shape jumped slightly and then, after a moment’s pause, stepped into the light.

"Potter," he said, nodding in a greeting. He cocked his head to one side. "Why are you here?" he asked quietly.

"Uh… I was taking a walk," said Harry lamely.

Draco nodded and half-smiled. "Me too," he said, equally lamely. There was a moment’s silence and then Draco coughed.

"I, uh, suppose you know about the… mistletoe’s… talents."

Harry nodded numbly. There was another pause. "You know," he began, feeling the silence of the night pressing in on him, "Fred and George could’ve made a mistake."

Draco nodded. "Of course. It’s a complicated spell."

"Not said the right thing… it’s entirely possible."

"I mean," laughed Draco shortly, "the two of us…compatible." They both laughed hollowly. "And of course," continued Draco, an odd expression covering his face, "it’s entirely possible that we’re just lying to ourselves."

Harry’s breath caught in his throat. He stared at Draco, the other boy’s hair reflecting the moonlight drifting through a window, his pale alabaster skin flushing slowly. Harry closed his eyes and heard his voice say, "It would never work."

He opened his eyes and saw Draco shake his head, tight-lipped. "Not here."

"Not now."

"Not ever," said Draco and Harry realised what the odd expression was; sadness. After knowing and loathing Draco for almost six years, Harry had never seen him look sad before. "House politics extend beyond Hogwarts. A Gryffindor and a Slytherin? A relationship… It just wouldn’t work."

"I’ve never looked at you in… that way. Relationship-wise," said Harry, not entirely sure why he said it.

Draco raised his eyebrows. "And a piece of mistletoe made you realise? Pretty flimsy excuse, Harry."

Harry said nothing and Draco turned away, beginning to pace the corridor. "This is stupid," he said finally. "I think that you’re a speccy twerp-"

"And I think you’re an arrogant bastard."

"We hate each other," continued Draco, quitting his pacing and spreading his hands out to Harry. "I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a piece of mistletoe tell me who I do or do not have feelings for…"

"Maybe that’s it then," said Harry dully. "It’s the mistletoe playing with our minds."

Draco sighed heavily and leaned against the wall. Harry stuck his hands in his dressing gowns pockets. "We’re not getting anywhere like this," he said quietly.

"No," said Draco. "And perhaps we never will." He looked up at Harry, grey eyes piercing through green.

"What if I don’t want to believe that?" asked Harry, tilting his chin defiantly.

Draco shook his head. "You’re a romantic. How sickening."

"You’re a defeatist, Draco," replied Harry, the other boy’s given name foreign and odd on his tongue.

"Perhaps," he shrugged. "But which one of us is going to be the one to get hurt?"

"That would depend," said Harry carefully, "on what we decide to do."

Draco sighed. "We already said that we hate each other…"

"Fine, then" snapped Harry, losing his temper completely, tired of feeling confused and just sick of the whole situation. "Let’s forget the whole thing." He turned and started off back to Gryffindor Tower. He half-hoped that Draco would stop him, grab his arm, just do something. But he didn’t.

Harry was nearly at the corner when Draco spoke up.

"Maybe after Hogwarts."

Harry turned back to him. "What?"

Draco looked back stoically. "After Hogwarts… After we leave. Perhaps…" He trailed off, smiling uncertainly. "We could see how it goes."

Harry felt as if a full Body-Bind had been put on him. He couldn’t have moved if he had wanted to. He cracked a smile.

"Sure. See how we go."

Draco held out a hand, stepping towards him. Harry stared at it and then nodded to himself. He took the other boy’s hand and smiled.

"We’re still going to whip your arse at Quidditch, Draco."

"In your dreams, Harry," said Draco, but with none of his usual malice. They dropped their hands, Harry shoving his back into his pockets; he didn’t want to let Draco see how much they were shaking. Draco half-turned. "Good night, Potter."

"Night, Malfoy."

Draco turned fully and headed back towards the dungeons. Harry watched his figure get smaller and smaller, until it was only a flick of silver hair. He disappeared around a corner, and Harry shook himself, remembering where he was. He pulled the Invisibility Cloak back on and headed back to his own dormitory.

After Hogwarts…. A lot can change in a year, he reflected. A lot can change in five minutes. He smiled as he ran silently through the corridors, wanting to be safe in the common room. He thought about what Draco had said, and almost more importantly, the way he had said it. Bare and naked, no malice, no sly comments. Perhaps that’s what he’s really like, thought Harry. Maybe I just bring out the worst in him.

And then he thought, Bugger. This is going to make Quidditch really awkward…

* * * * * * *

Yes, I know, I finished this in the *worst* possible place but I really have no clue as to what happens after Hogwarts. So if anyone out there has an idea, e-mail me or write it yourself :P

Reviews would be lovely… *hint hint* :D

This chapter had now ended