Ghost Of Love

Harry stood outside an empty classroom, in the dungeons, near the Slytherin dorms. He was waiting for Draco who, he knew, would be passing by soon. 'Strange how I still know his routine after all this time,' thought Harry, but then Draco had barely changed his routine since first year; he always got up at the same time, showered at the same time, did his homework at the same time. In fact the only time his routine ever changed was when his class times changed between terms. Draco had told Harry that his routine was exactly the same at home; he liked things to be neat and ordered. Harry snorted. 'Well his routine's going to change today.'

Some younger Slytherins walked by, looking curiously at Harry who just ignored them. They weren't his target. Harry smiled to himself; he had always enjoyed disrupting Draco's routine. He would often lie in wait for him, just as he was doing now, before grabbing Draco, pulling him into an empty classroom and completely ravishing him. Not that Draco had ever minded much; the surprise of being manhandled seemed to get his adrenaline pumping straight to his nether regions.

Just then, the subject of Harry's lustful thoughts rounded the corner. Glancing quickly round to check there was no one else in the corridor, Harry shot a binding spell towards Draco and dragged him into the classroom. Quickly casting a locking charm followed by a silencing spell, Harry turned to face his captive.

Draco was looking at him with a disdainful expression, yet Harry could see the excitement in his eyes. "Well, Potter," drawled Draco, "anyone would think you were stalking me. You know, Crazy Obsessive really isn't a good look for you."

"Shut up, Draco," purred Harry seductively. He glided closer to the Slytherin. "I have you at my mercy now." He got even closer to Draco, who had begun to breathe rather heavily. "Whatever shall I do with you?" Harry ran his finger up Draco's chest, before cupping his hand behind the blond's neck and pulling him down till their lips met.

At first the kiss was soft and tender, but it soon got deeper and more forceful as Harry pushed his tongue between Draco's unresisting lips. Draco's hot tongue met his and they fought for possession of Draco's mouth. Harry wrapped his other arm around the Slytherin's waist and pulled him even closer, until Harry could feel just how much Draco was enjoying the kiss. But Draco had stopped returning Harry's kiss, and was currently doing his best in his current state to pull away from Harry.

Harry let him go. "What's wrong?" he breathed.

"This is wrong, I'm with someone else now, I don't want to do this with you," stated Draco, who was trying to steady his breathing as well.

Harry smiled and moved closer to Draco again, rubbing their hips together. "You say no, but your body says yes."

Draco actually laughed. "That's lame, even for you." He shook his head. "I'm not doing this with you. Now end this bloody spell."

With a wave of Harry's wand, the binding fell from Draco. However, the fact that the locking and silencing spells remained intact was not lost on him. Draco, having regained his composure, cocked an eyebrow at Harry. "Was there something else you wanted?" he asked coolly.

Harry sat on one of the desks. "Actually there was," he answered. "I want to know what we spoke about last night, and why it made you so angry."

"Christ, Potter! That's the reason you lay in wait for me? It's not as if it was that important; I just went to tell you that Blaise had said that he was interested in you." Draco smirked. "Although that's obviously no longer an issue for you."

Harry made a show of examining his nails. "Actually, I just got a little carried away with the situation." He looked pointedly at Draco. "As did you. The only reason I brought you in here was because I wanted to ask about last night. You still haven't told me why you were so angry this morning."

"Just now was a hiccup, a slip of the tongue if you will," stated Draco with a complete lack of innuendo. "This morning was something silly, I've got over it."

"But what was it about?" asked Harry, genuinely curious.

Draco sighed. "Fine. It was the fact that when we were together, you made me a promise that you wouldn't drink again. But during lunch today, I was reminded of the fact that we are no longer together and that therefore your drinking last night shouldn't bother me. Happy?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "I don't remember making you that promise."

Draco smiled coldly. "Of course you do. It was right after that time you got drunk and shagged Colin Creevey on my bed, you remember. Oh no, that's right, you were too drunk to remember. Unlock the door, Potter. I've got things to do."

Harry absently waved his wand, undoing the locking spell, and Draco stalked out of the classroom. 'This could present a slight problem,' mused Harry. He had forgotten about the Creevey incident. But then no problem was insurmountable; he could always fight fire with fire and remind Draco about his little indiscretions as well. Harry sighed. Neither of them had come out of their relationship smelling of roses but at least he had had the excuse of being drunk when it happened; Draco had been stone cold sober.

Harry took a calming breath. He was losing sight of the big picture; the aim was to get Draco back, not piss him off. 'So Blaise likes me?' he thought. Maybe it was time he paid Blaise a little visit.

"What the bloody hell is your friend doing to Draco Malfoy?"

Ron swivelled in his seat to look up at the rather irate looking Slytherin. "Shhhh, Sorcha. Sit down, people are staring." He reached for his fiancée's slender hand, pulling her down into the chair beside him. Ron and Hermione had come to the library after an excruciating lunch spent watching Harry watch the Slytherins. The library was the best place to compare notes and to decide what to do about the situation before it got out of hand; Hermione had been true to her word and colour coded plans were scattered across the table.

Keeping hold of Sorcha's soft hand, Ron asked gently, "What are you talking about, Sweetie?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, Ronald." Mindful of where she was, the slender girl kept her voice low. "You two always know when Harry Potter is up to something, and right now he's up to something major. I've just had to put up with my little brother moaning for the last half hour about Harry upsetting Draco."

Hermione leant across the table. "But, Sorcha, Harry's forever upsetting Draco. He's been doing it since first year."

Sorcha shook her head. "This is different. Draco was actually flustered when he came back to the Common Room last night. He's usually very vocal about who's pissed him off, but he's been really tight lipped about this. He won't even talk to Conall about it which is really upsetting him, and in turn upsetting me." She turned back to Ron. "You better tell me right now what's going on, Ron, or we'll be taking this conversation elsewhere."

Ron looked over at Hermione for some moral support, but she just sighed, resigned. "Ok, Sorcha," she began, "we'll tell you what's going on." Sorcha leaned forward, determined to catch every word.

"Wait," Ron interrupted. "Before we tell you, you have to promise not to go off the deep end."

Sorcha looked a bit concerned at this. "Why? Is it that bad?"

Ron opened his mouth to answer, but Hermione cut him off. "It's not as bad as Ron's making out, but it will probably upset you. The thing you have to remember is that we are dealing with it." Hermione took a deep breath, mindful of just how protective Sorcha was of her little brother. "Harry has decided, in his great wisdom, that he and Draco should never have split up, and he is currently putting into action a plan to win Draco back."

"He's what!" hissed Sorcha, sounding remarkably snakelike. "How dare he? Has he any idea what that would do to Conall?"

Ron winced. "Actually, Sweetie," he began gently, "Harry's sort of got this idea that Conall is... well to put it bluntly... a slut."

Sorcha reared up in her seat, brown eyes wide and nostrils flared. Ron and Hermione instinctively leaned away from her before they got caught in the inevitable blast. "I'll kill him," she said coldly, moving to stand up.

Ron caught Sorcha's other hand before she could leave to land herself in Azkaban. "No, Sorcha. Hermione and I are dealing with it. Look," he nodded towards the colourful sheets of paper on the table, "we've got colour coded plans and everything. You can't kill Harry; they don't allow weddings in Azkaban."

Sorcha smiled despite herself. Taking a couple of deep breaths the slender woman nodded. "Fine, I respect Hermione's organising skills enough to believe that you do in fact have a reasonable plan to deal with this." She reached for the coloured plans on the table. "However, as I am the one who Conall is going to come running to when your so called friend puts the next phase of his scheme into action, I am going to be involved in the counter action." Leaving them no real choice, Ron and Hermione nodded their agreement. "Good, now which one of you is going to explain these plans to me?"

Harry was already sitting at the Gryffindor table when Ron, Hermione and Sorcha arrived for dinner. Ron bid goodbye to his fiancée before she went to sit at the Slytherin table beside Blaise Zabini, and he joined Harry and Hermione. Unsurprisingly, Harry was ignoring his friends in favour of watching the Slytherins. What was surprising, however, was that Harry seemed to be watching Blaise rather than Draco.

Ron plonked himself down beside Harry and instantly began heaping food onto his plate, having finally recovered from his hangover. After eating in relative silence for a few minutes, Ron turned his attention to his best friend who was absently eating his chips while watching Blaise chatting with Sorcha. "Harry?" he began.

Harry glanced over at his friend and was surprised to see that despite the large amount of chips, sausages and beans still on Ron's plate, he had stopped eating. "Is something wrong, Ron?" he asked, concerned that maybe Ron was still feeling sick after last night.

"Erm, well sort of," Ron answered. "Thing is, I've got a favour to ask."

"Ron, you know I owe you tons of favours; as long as it isn't your Potions homework, consider it done."

"I know, it's just, it's sort of a really big favour." Ron was talking quite quietly by this point and Harry had to lean in to hear what he was saying. "I was wondering if you could help me tell my family about me and Sorcha. You know, about the wedding?"

Harry smiled. He could tell this was something that was really bothering Ron, and no wonder. The Weasleys, while being a really loving family, did have a tendency to go off the deep end when they thought one of their own was being taken advantage of. Harry had no doubt that Ron was scared that his family, his mum in particular, would indeed think that Sorcha and her family were taking advantage of him in some way, and were in fact plotting to kill him or something equally evil. Harry could still remember the reaction he had got when he had told them about his relationship with Draco; he didn't want Ron to face the same thing.

"Ron, I'll help you in any way I can," he said. "Just tell me what you want me to do."

Ron shot him a grateful smile, which quickly became rather sheepish. "Well, the thing is, neither Sorcha nor myself quite know how to go about telling our families, so we sort of came up with a little plan." He glanced over at Hermione who was sitting on the other side of Harry, and she nodded slightly. "I know it sounds a bit daft, but our plan was to ask you and Blaise Zabini to sort of get together and come up with a brilliant plan which will solve all our problems."

Harry looked at Ron incredulously. "You want me and Blaise to solve your problems? That's a bit much, Ron. It is your family and your marriage after all."

"I know. It's just that you and Blaise are so good at coming up with plans and ideas for coming out to friends and family. Remember how you came out to us? That was brilliant, the way you eased us into it; letting us suspect things and dropping hints but actually telling us before we confronted you. Apparently Blaise did something similar, and that's what Sorcha and I need; a way to ease everyone into it. But you know me, I haven't got a subtle bone in my body, and to be perfectly honest, Sorcha's not much better." Ron pleaded. "Please, Harry. We really need your help with this; if we get it wrong we could really mess things up."

Harry looked over to the Slytherin table thoughtfully and met Blaise's equally thoughtful eyes; Sorcha had obviously just asked him to help her and Ron. Harry realised that by helping the couple he could also help himself. If he had to work with Blaise, it would make seducing him much easier. Harry was sure that they would have to meet in the Slytherin Common Room, right under Draco's nose. Without breaking eye contact with Blaise, Harry answered Ron. "Ok, I'll do it. But you'll really owe me for this, Ron." As Ron let out a sigh of relief and began spouting his thanks, Harry slowly nodded to Blaise to let him know his answer. Blaise finally broke the eye contact by turning back to Sorcha, but Harry was sure that he would say yes.

Harry finished his meal and waited for his friends to finish theirs. It didn't take long; Ron had quickly regained his appetite after Harry had said yes, and Hermione never ate as much as they did anyway. The three friends headed out the Great Hall, but were met at the doors by Sorcha who looked at Ron anxiously.

"Blaise agreed," she said.

"So did Harry," said Ron with a smile.

Sorcha flashed Harry a grateful smile. "In that case, you should go and arrange a time to meet up. In the meantime, I'm sure you won't mind me stealing Ron for a few hours, we've got things to... discuss." Ron turned bright red as Sorcha pulled him off in the direction of the dungeons, leaving Harry and Hermione grinning at Ron's obvious embarrassment.

"He really has to get his blushing under control, or he's going to look like a lighthouse on his wedding night," said Hermione. "Well, I've got to get going, Harry; things to do, people to see."

"Why? Got a hot date?"

"Actually, surprisingly enough, I do," she answered, setting off down the corridor towards the library.

"With who?" called Harry.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she threw back over her shoulder with a grin, before rounding a corner and out of sight.

Smiling, Harry turned to go back to Gryffindor Tower only to find Blaise Zabini standing behind him.

"So, you said yes as well then, did you?" he asked Harry with what the Gryffindor thought was a rather cute smile.

He nodded. "I kind of felt I had to, they were both really supportive when I came out. It wouldn't be right if I didn't return the favour."

Blaise nodded in understanding. "Sorcha and Conall were supportive of me as well, even when others weren't. That's one of the reasons I agreed to help."

"One of the reasons? What were the others?"

Blaise moved a little closer to Harry. "Well one of the other reasons was you. I spoke to Draco the other day. He told me that you had asked if I was available."

Harry nodded, suddenly nervous; he was the one who was supposed to do the seducing, not Blaise. However, the dusky skinned young man was giving it a good shot. Harry felt himself beginning to react to the soft tone Blaise's voice had taken.

"I don't know if he's told you yet, but I am available." Blaise let his eyes run up and down Harry's body leaving a shiver in their wake. "And I'm certainly interested, Harry." Harry visibly gulped, and Blaise chuckled. "I'm coming on too strong aren't I?" he said, stepping back. "Sorry about that. I tend to get a little carried away sometimes."

Harry smiled, a little relieved despite himself. "No, it's okay. It's just been a while since someone looked at me like that. I'd forgotten what it felt like."

"I know the feeling. It's been a while for me as well." Blaise gazed at Harry for a few moments before continuing. "Anyway, I suppose we should meet up and figure out a way to help Sorcha and Ron."

Harry nodded. "How about we meet up tomorrow after dinner?"

"Ok, where do you want to meet?"

Harry almost said the library before he remembered he was meant to be making Draco jealous. "How about your Common Room or dorms? We're probably more likely to get some privacy there than in Gryffindor; Slytherins seem to respect hushed conversations a lot more than us."

"I think that's because there's a lot that they really don't want to hear, despite what people say about us."

Harry nodded in understanding; Draco had often spoken of his friends' reluctance to listen in on other people's conversations. The philosophy of Slytherin House was that the less you knew, the less you could be forced to tell. This lack of curiosity had surprised Harry, who had often found himself in trouble because of his own curiosity, but when he began to get to know some of the Slytherins a bit better he came to realise that many of them had grown up in a climate of fear. They had been born into families who were considered to be in league with the Dark Lord and, despite the fact that none of them had been alive for more than a year when Voldemort had tried to kill Harry, they found that they were assumed to be Death Eaters in training whether their sympathies lay that way or not.

"So we'll meet outside my common room tomorrow at about seven-thirty?" Blaise broke into Harry's thoughts.

"Sure, tomorrow night," he answered. As he walked away towards Gryffindor Tower, Harry was sure he could feel Blaise watching him, but when he glanced back the boy was gone.