Golden Thread Of Trust

Golden Thread Of Trust

Chapter 13: Only You And Me

Christmas holidays were approaching fast. When Professor McGonagall passed round the list of who would spend the holidays at Hogwarts both Harry and Draco signed, since they had nowhere else to go. Ron and Hermione, on the other hand, were going to the Burrow to celebrate Christmas with Ron's family. Nearly no one was going to stay, since this was the first Christmas after the war ended, and everyone wanted to spend as much time with their families as possible. The only other Gryffindors staying were two second-year girls. Harry was secretly thrilled about the prospect of spending Christmas alone with Draco. Thoughts of what they could get up to kept popping up in his head, but he tried to restrain his excitement, it wouldn't do to jump Draco right there in front of the entire common room. He glanced at the gorgeous Slytherin beside him. He was talking to Hermione and didn't notice Harry's thoughtful gaze. Since they became a couple Draco had opened up; he seemed happier, more playful. Harry hadn't listened to their conversation, and he jumped when Hermione addressed him.
"So, Harry. When were you going to tell us?"
"About what?" he wondered tentatively.
"About you and Draco, of course."
"You know?" he wondered, startled.
"Why don't you tell us?" she said, and indicated Ron, who wore an interested expression on his face.
Harry squirmed, but since he had promised Draco to tell them he had to speak the truth. He looked at Draco, who gave him a small, encouraging nod.
"Well… I'm gay, and Draco and I are going out."
Short but informative. Harry waited anxiously for a reaction, but none came.
"Well?" said Hermione after a while.
"Well what?" asked a confused Harry.
"Let's see then," she said with a grin.
"What?" Harry asked, even more confused.
"Just bloody kiss him, of course!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harry just stared at her, speechless and unable to comprehend what he just heard her say. Draco, however, wasn't as dumbfounded, so he smiled, turned Harry's face by his chin and captured his lips in a tender kiss.

"Click."

Draco turned around swiftly with a growl. Somewhere among the goggling Gryffindors a startled squeak was heard, and a small figure darted towards the stairs. Draco glared at the spot where the boy had disappeared.
'If looks could kill…' thought Harry.
"If I ever get the one who did that…" said Draco menacingly.
"Leave it, Draco. We don't even know who it was," said Harry soothingly.
He had his suspicions, though. The youngest of the Creevey brothers, Simon, had taken over Colin's old camera, and he was taking pictures of people in all kinds of embarrassing situations. For example when Neville tried to sneak unnoticed through the common room after one of his Potions accidents, covered in yellow slime. Or when some poor fourth-year had been hit by the Furnunculus curse. Or whenever anyone was found in less than appropriate clothing. Harry thought that he'd better confiscate that photo, he didn't want it to circulate around the school.

The following week was frustrating for both Harry and Draco. The entire school was gossiping about them, since no one was quite sure of the nature of their relationship. Everyone was extremely curious, and wherever they went people kept staring at them. Neither of them was comfortable with a public display of affection just yet, and they had a distinct feeling that the teachers didn't approve of snogging in the halls, so they had to keep away from each other. At the same time the sexual tension between them grew to the point when a brief touch sent sparks of desire through both of them, making them even more frustrated. Harry woke up several times after wet dreams starring a certain Draco Malfoy, his body screaming for release. The dreams left him slightly shocked by the fantasies of his own subconscious. Now that he thought about it, he never actually considered the actualities of making love to a boy. He had no idea how to go about it. He did have some enticing ideas, though…
Draco found their situation extremely funny, and took great delight in teasing Harry both verbally and physically. He seemed to have some great suggestions too, Harry mused. He shivered at the memories and turned his attention towards his aching erection. He could barely wait for the holidays to begin.

Finally, a week later, Harry and Draco stood by a window, watching their friends leave together with the entire school. As the chain of carriages disappeared towards Hogsmeade station, Draco turned to Harry.
"So," he said softly, "it's only you and me now."
"Yeah," Harry replied and rested his head on Draco's shoulder. He felt incredibly happy, and it filled him with a familiar longing.
"Want to go flying?" he asked.
Draco's eyes brightened.
"Yes! Excellent idea!"
They hurried to get their brooms, and within minutes they were kicking off from the snow-covered ground. Harry felt the air whoosh past him when his broomstick rose towards the skies. Chilly winds were playing with his hair, tousling it even more, and Harry thought that this must be ultimate happiness; being able to fly like this, and having Draco by his side. They flew for a couple of hours until they were too tired to go on, touched back down on the ground and started to walk towards the castle.

Harry eyed Draco, thinking that he was very attractive when he was all sweaty and dishevelled. Suddenly an idea struck him.
"Draco," he said, "are you going to take a shower?"
Draco looked at him absently.
"Well… yes."
"Would you like to shower with me?"
Draco's eyes widened.
"Oh yes," he said, so softly that it was almost a whisper.
Harry bit his lip, trying to stop himself from trembling in anticipation.

*snip snip*

If you wish to read the uncut version (NC-17), see information in header.

A/N: Harry and Draco have now ended up in Harry's bed, in case you skipped the adult scene…

Afterwards they lay sated in each other's arms, Harry with his head on Draco's chest, listening to his heartbeat slowing down, Draco staring up at the canopy of Harry's bed.
"Draco…"
"Hmm?"
"You know I love you."
Draco's felt his heart leap. He hugged his lover tightly, and his eyes were stinging with unshed tears.
"I love you too," he said, and kissed Harry on top of his head.
Harry smiled and raised his head so he could see Draco's face.
"Draco, why are you crying?"
"It's just… no one has ever said that to me before."
"No one's ever said that to me either."
He kissed Draco on the lips.
"I love you."

Harry and Draco spent the next few days enjoying each other's company by day, and taking turns in sleeping in each other's bed at night. They discovered the joy of being held when you go to sleep, and the joy of being woken up by a kiss from the one you love. They found that they hardly could bear to be separated after being apart for so long.

One morning after breakfast they lay on Draco's bed, feeling a bit lazy now that they didn't have any classes. On the bedside table was a box of Christmas sweets brought up by the house elves. At least that was what the boys assumed, otherwise they would surely not have eaten it so unconcernedly. Neither of them thought of Blaise Zabini, or suspected that they were vulnerable to his plots even though he had gone home for the holidays.
"Draco, are you feeling a bit… strange?"
Draco yawned.
"I feel strangely tired… I wasn't tired at breakfast…"
Harry tried to get his eyes to focus, but it was impossible.
"Do you think…"
He never got any further, though, before the drowsiness took over. They fell asleep right where they were, Harry slumped against the backboard of Draco's bed, and Draco across his lap.

When Harry woke up, he was confused for a moment, then he tried to get up. He expected the weight of Draco's body to be a hindrance, but somehow he passed right through him, and stood up beside the bed. Bewildered, he looked back at the bed, and gasped when he saw both his own and Draco's bodies still lying there, asleep. He reached forward and tried to touch them, but his hand went right though them as if they were ghosts. Harry himself felt very substantial.
"Harry," a voice said, and Harry looked up and saw Draco standing on the other side of the bed. Harry reached out to touch him, and discovered that he was just as solid as Harry was. He breathed out in relief.
"Draco! What happened?"
Draco's brow was furrowed in thought.
"I think that we somehow have been transported to the spirit world."
"What?" said Harry, inspecting the room, which in his opinion looked exactly like it used to. "What's the spirit world, and how did we get here?"
"The spirit world is just another plane of reality, invisible to us most of the time. This is where the spirits that I use when I perform spirit magic come from. And I have no idea how we got here!"
"Oh," said Harry, confused. "How do we get out of here, then?"
"I don't know," said Draco, sounding a little afraid. "I've only been here once, and that time I brought a key."
"Brought? How do you bring something to this place?" asked Harry curiously, and waved his hand through Draco's bedside table.
"You just use your imagination. We control reality here."

"If you say so," said Harry and shrugged.
Draco sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. Harry tried to sit down next to him, but fell right through it and landed with a 'thump' on the floor.
"Ow!" he exclaimed and rubbed his sore behind. "Wait a minute! I fell right through the bed, how come I don't fall right through the floor?"
"The floor is solid," said Draco hurriedly, before Harry did fall right through the floor, or something worse. It would take some time to teach Harry to control his imagination… "Now, please don't think so much, and let me think about how to get out of here!"
He put his head in his hands again, and shut Harry and the rest of the world out completely.
Harry watched him for a while, and was startled when a small, ugly blue creature came floating through the air, bowing to Draco, and then floating out again through the wall.
'Is that thing one of the spirits?' he wondered.
Another one, this one red, came from another direction, and it floated close to the blond boy, watching him intently, before it bowed to him and drifted away. Harry watched it float through the wall, when something else caught his interest. There were two doors on the opposite wall that he'd never seen before. He walked up to them. One of them displayed a red crest with a lion on it. On the other one was a blue crest with a dragon.
'I wonder what's inside,' Harry thought, and opened the door with the dragon. It was too dark to see anything. Suddenly he felt himself being pulled inside.
"Draco!" he managed to call out, before he was sucked into the darkness.

Draco shot up from the bed.
"Dammit, Harry! I can't leave you alone for one second," he muttered, and walked up to the door. He studied the crest intently before stepping through the doorway. The door slammed shut behind them, and they were trapped in the impenetrable darkness.
Harry touched his arm nervously.
"What do we do now? I can't even see you!"
"It's all right," Draco assured him. "The torches light if you clap your hands."
He did so, and the torches lit, revealing a vast corridor stretching in both directions, with hundreds and hundreds of doors. Harry looked around with wide eyes.
"Where are we?"
"Inside my mind."