Fractions

Ch. 3 - When Darkness Falls

*

After he stepped out of the shower, he immediately cast a warming charm to keep him from becoming ill. Wrapping a thick towel around his waist and a small one around his neck, he leaned against the door, attempting to figure out what the dream meant.

He knew, of course, that it was not Malfoy who had kissed him yesterday after the match. They hated each other too much for anything of the sort to go on between them. So his dream had no basis in fact.

Was it a fantasy, though? Harry thought not; if his fantasies included Draco Malfoy then he might as well hop on out of the metaphorical closet and shout at the top of his lungs, "I am a raging homosexual and I want to have mad boy sex with Draco Malfoy!"

Yep. Not happening.

Then why, crooned a nasty voice in his head, did you have to take a cold shower once you woke up?

Harry scowled, and irritably replied, You have a dream where someone's going down on you while blindfolded and see how aroused you are when you wake up.

Oh, great, he thought. Not only am I having dreams about Malfoy, but I'm also talking to myself. I can't tell anyone, that's for sure.

He sighed and stepped into his knickers, then exited the bathroom to get dressed for the day.

*

It just happened to be one of the most beautiful Sundays Harry had ever seen. The snow that fell yesterday and last night dumped a foot and a half of snow on the grounds, and screamed to be played in.

Although they were seventeen and quite old to be playing in the snow, all of the seventh year Gryffindors trudged down towards the lake. The ice on top of it was so thick that even Hagrid could walk around on it without so much as causing a threatening sound.

So they all conjured up ice skates to wear and skated around merrily, Parvati showing off some moves she had learned in skating lessons when she was younger. Neville continuously fell - he had never been ice skating before, shockingly, so Parvati helped him get around.

Harry and Lavender zoomed around the lake, grabbing up snow and hurling it at each other at random intervals. Hermione and Ron joined; after a useful, easy to concoct Hangover potion conjured up by Hermione, he was as good as new. For the most part, anyway.

However, something - or rather, someone - shattered the fun they were having.

"Well, well, isn't this romantic," drawled Malfoy, sneering at all of the Gryffindors. Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, and Zabini all stood beside or behind him. They were all staring at the Gryffindors with a disgusted look upon their faces. "If you wouldn't mind, we would like to have our turn on the ice."

"Why don't you just shove off, Malfoy?" snapped Ron, glaring at the Slytherins.

"Yeah, don't you have anything better to do, such as... I dunno, rape, pillage, and plunder?" Seamus raised his eyebrows at Malfoy. He looked on the verge of jumping the smug, blonde Slytherin.

"Very clever, Finnigan. I suppose you got that from some nursery rhyme?" said Malfoy coolly, surveying the Irish boy. "I would be very impressed if you did; the last thing I heard was that you were learning the alphabet."

All of the Slytherins laughed at this, an evil glint to their eyes.

"Enough," said Harry, who in turn glared at the Malfoy. "There are other places for you to skate, Malfoy. Surely you're not so stupid to think that this is the only spot?"

"Of course not," replied the Slytherin, continuing, "We want to skate here though. Now if you and your other stupid friends would leave, we'd be most grateful, Potter."

"Whose friends are you calling stupid, Malfoy? Look who you've got as friends," piped up Neville. Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles and glared menacingly at Neville.

"At least they can concoct a potion to save their lives; you, on the other hand, Longbottom, couldn't make a simple painkilling potion if your life depended on it." He smirked. "Though your parents weren't too good at keeping off pain either, were they, Longbottom?"

Wands were out before Malfoy could blink an eye. He whipped his own wand out, throwing up a shield charm just as a jet of purple light hit the shield. However, his shield was thrown away by a powerful reducing charm thrown by Parvati, and he found himself at the receiving end of yet another Bat-Bogey Hex, followed by all sorts of spells that changed his hair color, confused him, bound him - what have you. The other Slytherins found themselves in the same predicament.

Harry walked by Draco, who was laying in a full body bind with bubbles spewing from his ears. He spat next to the boy's head, not daring to spit on him.

"Always distasteful, Malfoy," snarled Harry. "You forgot that you were dealing with some of the best duelers in school." He glared down at the boy, continuing, "One day you'll meet someone who won't take as kindly to you as we did, and you'll meet your downfall. And," Harry paused, giving the blonde a mirthless smile. "I'll be there watching the whole time."

He walked off, the other Gryffindors following him - Hermione had a hard time keeping Ron from kicking the boy in the crotch. He could not help, though, the images of seeing Draco Malfoy in a less-than-hated position from the visions of last night.

*

The fire in the Gryffindor common room crackled merrily; Harry and Ron sat by it, playing wizard's chess. After losing spectacularly twice, Harry decided he was going to win the next game. It did not seem to be working.

"You stupid twit, don't move me, can't you see his knight is right there? Move him, he's only a pawn."

Harry was tired of his chess pieces talking to him as if he were a five-year-old.

"Look, shut up, I know how to play the bloody game," he snapped at his chess pieces, who sighed haughtily towards him.

"Not well enough, if you've already lost twice."

He was ready to behead the bishop. He really was.

"One more word out of you and you'll find yourself in two pieces, you stupid bishop," snarled Harry. He was not in a good mood, especially after what had happened earlier. The fact that Neville had holed himself up in their dormitory and charmed his curtains to keep people out did not please him one bit. The next time he saw Malfoy would not be a happy time for the Slytherin.

"Wonder if anyone's found Malfoy and the other pricks yet." Ron's tone clearly stated that he would be very happy, indeed, if no one had; he would not mind if Malfoy and the others had frozen to death.

Neither did Harry, really.

The two boys continued playing chess, Harry barely managing to win; the only reason he was able to beat Ron was that one of his pawns had crossed the board, giving him two queens. He still only had four pieces left on the board by the end - his king, both queens, and a rook. They had just finished packing up their chess pieces when Hedwig appeared at the window, holding another small scroll.

Harry eyed it warily, crossing to the window and taking it from Hedwig. "I don't have anything for you, girl," he told her, stroking her feathers - she snapped at him and flew back off to the Owlery. Unfurling the scroll, he saw the same elegant handwriting from the day before.

Astronomy Tower at midnight.

He did not want to go, that was for sure. Harry did not appreciate this anonymous person forcing himself upon him. He really did not like that it was a male, also.

Are you so sure about that? chirped up the same nasty voice from earlier, and he squashed it down.

"What's that, mate?" called Ron across the common room, raising a brow at Harry curiously.

"Oh," he said, searching for an excuse. "Nothing too important. Don't worry about it."

Ron surveyed him strangely, but let it drop. He shook his head. "Alright."

"Well, I'm going to go to the dorm for a bit, got some thinking to do, I'll be back down in a bit." Harry said, noticing Neville taking a seat near the fire.

"Okay," said Ron, who was more interested in the girls, who had just shown up - mainly Hermione, really.

Harry slid upstairs, opening the room to his dorm and finding Lavender already up there. He smiled at her and locked the door.

*

When she left his dorm room an hour later, he could not help but think about the note that beckoned him to the Astronomy Tower. Being with someone kept his mind off it for at least the time being. He looked at his watch - it read 11:15 PM. Sighing, he got up from his bed and got dressed, rifling through his trunk for his Invisibility Cloak. He hoped that tonight he could find out whom it was that was bothering to take time out of their life to snog Harry Potter.

*

The Invisibility Cloak was a lovely thing that was invented, he thought thirty minutes later when he reached the Astronomy Tower. He had had to take a few detours, considering Filch and Mrs. Norris were slinking around. Harry had actually had to jump into a storage room off the corridor leading to the Astronomy Tower, startling a snogging fifth year couple into falling into a huge pile of old brooms and mops. He laughed to himself once he reached the Astronomy Tower, wondering how they felt - the door randomly creaked open and a broom by the door fell over with no one in sight. They probably thought that Peeves was wandering around, though Harry could not see why Peeves would not have alarmed everyone in the castle that the two Hufflepuffs had been snogging.

He leaned against one of the walls in the tower, crossing his arms over his chest and waiting for the cloaked person to show up again. He kept an eye on his watch. 11:50 PM, it read.

He nearly died when he heard a voice waft up from the stairs that led to the tower.

"Sniff around, my sweet, I know someone is up here," said Filch, a smirk evident in his voice. "Yes, my pet, we will catch them and they will have detention for the rest of their year..." A wistful tone drenched his voice as his next statement entered Harry's ears. "If only Dumbledore would let me use the shackles..."

Harry pushed himself up onto a windowsill, making sure the cloak was securely wrapped around him while managing to stay balanced. The ratty old cat made its way into the antechamber, barely a few feet away from Harry, sniffed around a bit, staring straight up at Harry for a minute. He had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach that the cat could see through Invisibility cloaks. After a few minutes, though, Filch and Mrs. Norris left, Filch looking thoroughly disappointed that he did not catch anyone. Sliding off the windowsill, he looked at his watch again. 12:10 AM.

Maybe he won't show up, Harry thought, a smile decorating his face, though it disappeared once he saw the boy come into the antechamber. He stood still, waiting for the boy to pass him, and when his back was turned, he slid the Invisibility Cloak off himself.

"So, mind telling me who you are?" he asked softly, leaning against the wall. He heard the quick intake of breath that showed Harry that he had startled the boy. "I really don't fancy snogging right now; it's a bit chilly up here."

"Not really," the boy replied - Harry could not register his voice. He reckoned that they had cast a glamour over their voice to make them sound different, but it was definitely a male.

"Thought you were a boy," said Harry. "I also don't fancy snogging anyone that's ma--"

Too late, Harry thought, as the familiar blindfold wrapped itself around his head. The mystery boy did not seem so vehement about his desires that night. Harry felt him hesitate as the somewhat taller boy stepped up to him and placed a warm kiss upon his lips, his fingers just barely touching Harry's face.

Harry found himself leaning into the kiss, his lips responding to the other's. The kiss deepened, and Harry nearly gasped when he felt the boy's tongue slide across his bottom lip - it was nice. He was shocked at how responsive he could be to the boy, knowing full and well that he was straight. Or was he? Well, if he was, then this kiss was certainly better than those he had shared with Lavender.

And the world shattered when he remembered Lavender. His eyes snapped open and he pushed the boy away, glaring at him.

"I can't do this!" he snapped, hands balling up into fists. "I have a bloody girlfriend! Merlin! I thought everyone knew that!"

"I know," the other replied, almost conversationally.

"Then why are you doing this?!"

"I don't know."

"Look, if you come around me anymore, so help me God, I'll make it sure that you'll never be able to have children." Harry took a deep breath, frowning at him. "Just leave me alone."

"Whatever you wish, Potter." The boy stalked off.

Harry followed a few minutes later, heading back to the Gryffindor Tower. He was angry. Angry that the boy could make him forget about Lavender. Angry that he had responded.