Ready, Steady, Play!

Sardines

"Sardines."

"What?" Harry asked her sceptically, "As in the canned fish?"

"Exactly." Now the whole room was staring at her as if she had grown three heads and a tail.

"I always knew you were off your rocker, Granger, but this new tangent of yours makes me wonder whether I should have labelled you insane." The blond-haired Slytherin raised an elegant eyebrow as he continued sarcastically, "Please enlighten us mere mortals, who obviously don't have your mental capacity, how it is that a can of deceased fish packed together can help us alleviate our boredom."

Hermione rolled her eyes, as the occupants of the Great Hall, the whole of her year, turned confused eyes in her general direction.

"Not literally sardines, Malfoy - the game!" She sighed in defeat as they stared at her blankly, looking for all the world like a bunch of first years coming into the Great Hall for the first time.

She heaved a long suffering sigh. "Fine, I'll explain it," she said, sounding scarily like Professor McGonagall when she was exasperated.

Sardines was a bit like a twisted game of 'Hide and Seek'. Twisted in that only one person hid, and everyone else had to find them. Each person who found them had to hide with them, until everyone was hiding. The last person who finds them is the loser. The name, Sardines, came from the fact that, in the end, everyone would be so tightly squished together; they would resemble a can of sardines.

After three explanations, it seemed that the rest of the year had finally got the gist of it.

"Well, who gets to hide?" Dean piped up.

After another half an hour or so of arguing, it was decided that two people should hide: two people from different houses to stop people saying it was unfair.

"I'm hiding."

"I want to hide."

Two voices simultaneously cried out, then eyes widened in absolute horror as they realised who the other person was. Before they had time to protest, Hermione beamed and clapped.

"It's settled then. Harry and Draco, you have ten minutes to hide!" She grinned evilly, making Harry shiver slightly knowing she was up to something, but he knew without a doubt that he wouldn't be able to get out of it.

Looking to Ron for sympathy, if nothing else, he was even more terrified by the calculating look Ron was sending the rivals - it did nothing to put to rest Harry's fear at all...Ron and Hermione working together...He shivered again.

"I've started timing," Hermione sing-songed, smiling sweetly at him. He scowled back, before storming out of the Great Hall with Draco behind him, to find somewhere to hide.

"Hope you know some good hiding places, Potter," Draco drawled from behind him. "I'd hate to be found easily. It'd ruin my reputation."

"Whatever," he replied simply. He gritted his teeth. Hermione was evil. Ron was evil. They were both damn evil! They knew he had some not-so-platonic feelings for his blond nemesis and -

His inner rant was cut off by Draco.

"Potter, time's up. Where're we hiding?"

He looked around slightly and realised he had no idea. Scanning his mental map, he recognised some of the portraits and remembered a small alcove of sorts a little way away.

"This way," he ground out, before hurrying off, expecting Draco to follow.

The blond rolled his eyes before hurrying to catch up before the Gryffindor could go too far. He grinned a little to himself...Potter was so damn adorable when all grouchy. Of course, he would deny that he had even thought that Potter was anything positive at all; he mentally threatened his inner voice...This kind of information was classified and his inner voice shouldn't have ever...Dammit, he was getting confused with himself.

Just as he was preparing to smack himself on the head, Harry turned to face him, those impossibly green eyes boring into his own. Draco melted.

"I hope here's ok. It's the only place I can think of around here," he said, but then looked at the small niche rather sceptically. "I'm not sure we can all fit though...It'll be a tight squeeze even if we could."

Draco shrugged and gestured for Harry to precede him. As Harry crawled in, Draco smirked and stared at his arse - and what a fine arse it was too - before following him, in case Harry got suspicious.

They sat in silence until - "I'm bored."

"Me too," answered Draco honestly. "I wish they'd hurry up and find us..."

They ended up playing 'Rocks, Paper, Scissors' for a long time before Ron showed up.

"Hermione, they're here," he sort of whispered to, presumably, Hermione. A second later, her bushy head popped into the opening.

"Crawl in then Ron," she said with a perfectly straight face. "If you go in first, I can sit on your lap."

Harry and Draco goggled for a bit, but not long, because Hermione descended upon them like an avenging angel. "Why are you two sitting so far apart? I mean, you picked a small enough place, didn't you? At least have the decency to try and pack it in a little, I mean..."

"Okay, Hermione!" Harry half shouted putting his hand up in defence.

"Yeah, Granger, do you want to be found?"

Hermione just glared. Harry sighed, knowing that they wouldn't get any peace until they had fulfilled her command. That didn't stop him sending a death glare that would have made Snape proud towards his friends.

"Fine," he said simply, still glaring at them. Hermione beamed.

"Move, Draco." He scooted closer and she tapped her foot impatiently. "Onto his lap - now," she growled.

"Jeez, woman, calm down," the blond mumbled moving into Harry's lap. He was secretly rejoicing at the chance to be close to the object of his desires. Outwardly, he shot Ron a look. "I don't know how you put up with it, mate. I don't envy you at all."

Ron shrugged, pulling Hermione into his lap and kissing her deeply.

Draco closed his eyes and tried to memorise the feeling of being safe and warm as Harry put his arm around him, no doubt to have it in a more comfortable position, but Draco could pretend...

Harry, on the other hand, was having a hard time thinking straight. He could feel the heat coming off the smaller blond and the delicious weight of the slight boy in his arms. He was trying to get his raging hormones into some semblance of control. He was fighting a losing battle, especially when more and more people began to crowd together, and Draco was being pushed more and more tightly against him.

Draco, on the other hand, was in a state of euphoria. If he died now, he would die happy. He shifted a little, to change his position, and thought he heard a small moan from the brunette behind him. He shifted more deliberately this time, adjusting his position just so. Oh yes, he heard a definite moan this time - as well as feeling a slight physical action.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Ron and Hermione observing them closely...maybe there was hope after all. He grinned cheekily.

Slowly, he moved a hand, the one next to the wall (so that the others couldn't see) to rest teasingly on Harry's thigh. He heard a sharp intake of breath. Gently, he began rubbing small circles with his thumb. He smirked as he felt and heard Harry's breathing become faster. He made his motions more deliberate, rubbing seductively as well as shifting every once in a while, enjoying the Gryffindor's reaction.

Suddenly, the body beneath him moved. One of Harry's hands pinned his and the other tightened its hold around his waist, stilling him. He felt a warm breath by his ear as Harry breathlessly whispered, "Don't tease me, Draco. Not unless you intend to some through on those promises..."

As if proving a point, Harry bit down hard on his earlobe, almost causing the blond to yelp. The sound didn't alert anyone else though - in fact, the sound never came out. Harry had firmly clamped his lips on the Slytherin's.

Draco felt warm lips on his, followed by an equally warm tongue sweeping over his bottom lip. He obediently let the other boy in, tasting the tangy yet salty taste that was all Harry. Oh yeah, he corrected himself, if he died now he'd die happy! Screw it, he'd die ecstatic!

A shout of "Finally!" broke the couple's euphoric bliss as Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones stumbled upon their hiding place. Both boys groaned at the untimely interruption.

"God hates me," mumbled Harry, and Draco wholeheartedly agreed with him.

They sat still as the others moved out of the small niche they had decided to hide themselves. They reluctantly joined the others when moving became inevitable.

"Our turn to hide and you guys find us!" Hermione shouted as she and Ron ran off in the other direction.

The others began to find something to do while they waited for the ten minutes to run out. Draco and Harry were throwing longing glances at each other, shifting uncomfortably. They ended up side by side despite the fact that they had made an effort to be on the other side of the room to the other, glancing nervously around.

Finally, it seemed as if Harry had managed to dig out the Gryffindor courage from the nook where it had decided to reside in until this moment, and leaned down to kiss the blond. Draco licked his lips in anticipation, closing his eyes as he felt Harry's breath against his own. Harry's lips brushed gently over his before -

"Time's up! Let go find them," squealed Lavender.

Draco and Harry groaned in frustration, both fighting the urge to hit their heads on the stone wall next to them, thinking 'God really hates me..."

The gaggle of people disappeared in different directions, trying to figure out where the two Gryffindors had decided to hide.

Harry and Draco stared after them. Then looked back at each other. Then back in the direction some of their friends had gone. Then back at each other. Then -

"Do you think they'll miss us?"

"Not at all."

"Great. I have a room," Draco suggested, smiling cheekily at the green-eyed boy.

"Lead the way!" Harry grinned back, slipping his arm, almost naturally, around the blonde's waist.

*~*~*~*~*~* Approximately five hours later *~*~*~*~*~*

"Harry?" A small, sleepy blond whispered, grey eyes fluttering open to meet emerald.

"Yeah, Draco?" He asked as he tucked a wayward piece of baby soft hair behind his lover's ear, gazing down at him affectionately.

"Do you think they're still waiting for us?"

Harry just laughed: a smooth, carefree sound out unadulterated happiness.

*~*~*~*~*~* Elsewhere in the castle *~*~*~*~*~*

"Where the hell are they?"

"I don't know..."

"What's taking so long...Hogwarts is big but not that big!"

"Ron...if Harry couldn't find us, wouldn't he just use the Marauder's Map?"

"Maybe it'd interfere with his Gryffindor ideals of fair play, 'Mione."

"Oh, yeah, possibly...we'll just have to keep on waiting then, I guess."

"Yeah."

Hours later, they were still there. Neither Draco nor Harry could be seen for the rest of the weekend. The year had ended up sleeping in their hiding place before deciding to return to their dorms at four o'clock in the morning.

Harry's bed remained suspiciously empty, whereas Draco's room remained suspiciously locked.

Finite Incantatum