Circles of Influence

Circles Of Influence Prologue

Sunday 12th October

Harry woke up feeling incredibly stiff and sore. Every muscle in his body seemed to ache from the tension and the torture he'd endured yesterday. After a minute he began fidgeting under the weight of Draco's body, which was draped half over him as usual, trying to find a more comfortable position to lie in.

Draco grunted and woke up. "Wha's matter?" he asked into Harry's neck.

"Nothing except that you're cutting off all the blood to my arm," Harry complained.

Draco responded by rolling off his arm and on top of the rest of him so that they were nose to nose. "Better?"

"I am suddenly very aware that you didn't brush your teeth last night," Harry noted.

Draco rolled his eyes and sat up, straddling Harry's waist. "Well, you're in a fine mood this morning."

"It's my normal morning-after-being-tortured mood, actually," sniped Harry. "My whole body hurts and my mouth tastes like ... something horrible that my head hurts too much to think up."

Draco looked down at him. "You are a bit of a mess."

It was true, what with the old marks from the previous night and the new bruises inflicted by Voldemort plus the general grime you picked up while being dragged around a dungeon... "I really need a bath," said Harry.

"Me too," said Draco. "And a toothbrush. Let's go find a bathroom."

They got up and threw on the dressing gowns Mrs Weasley had left for them next to the pyjamas that they hadn't bothered to put on last night. It was pretty early, the sun wasn't long up and everyone else was still asleep. Harry led Draco down the hall to the bathroom and they locked the door behind them. He poked through the toothbrushes then finally selected one at random.

"How do you know which one to use?" Draco asked. "Do you keep one here?"

"Nah," said Harry. "I just picked one."

Draco made a disgusted face.

"What?"

"You can't just use someone else's toothbrush."

"Why not? I need to brush my teeth."

"But it's... it's somebody else's toothbrush!"

Harry grinned and stuck it in his mouth. "Well now it's mine," he said. "You may as well use it too, I'll rub all the nasty other person germs off on my teeth and then you'll only have to deal with mine."

"No chance," said Draco. "It could be anyone's... for all you know that's the one they use to clean those hard to reach places behind the toilet."

Harry gave him a look of utter lack of concern and brushed his teeth.

Draco sighed and went off to start the bath running. When he turned back Harry handed him the toothbrush. "Fine," he said in defeat. "But only because I know where it was last."

Harry stripped off his dressing gown and studied his battered body in the mirror. "I'm surprised Ron's Mum let me go to bed looking like this," he sighed.

"I think she was a bit distracted," Draco said around the toothbrush. "Besides, most of those bruises weren't so obvious last night."

Harry picked up his wand and began to heal the worst of the marks, when Draco was done with his teeth he joined him and by the time the bath was run Harry was pretty much unmarked. He checked himself over in the mirror to see if he'd missed anything then made a face. "Well, we fixed the bruises... shame about the rest."

"What do you mean?" said Draco as he removed his own dressing gown to get in the bath.

"Well... look at you and look at me," Harry said cryptically.

Draco joined him in front of the full-length mirror, wrapping his arms around Harry's waist and looking at the two of them. "You look pretty good to me," he said with a smile, kissing Harry's shoulder. "A little grubby but that's why we're having a bath."

"I just mean... look at you." Harry moved around so that Draco stood in front. "You're taller than me and you're all tanned and blonde and ..."

"Scarred," said Draco flatly. "At least your bruises go away."

"Not all of them," said Harry, touching his forehead lightly.

Draco's expression softened and he nodded at Harry in the mirror then turned around to face him. "Anyway, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not that much taller than you and I don't see what being blonde has to do with anything."

"You're just so..." Harry shook his head and got to the point. "Beautiful. I don't know what you see in me."

Draco smiled. "I like that you don't think you're attractive," he said and kissed him before he could say something stupid like 'That's because I'm not'. "Now stop talking and get in the bath."

Harry climbed into the bath and lay down with a sigh. "Fine, but you are taller than me."

Draco joined him in the large tub. "You'll catch up," he said, settling himself over Harry's legs and picking up the shampoo. "Now stick your head in the water before I do it for you."

Harry stuck out his tongue at Draco then held his nose and ducked his entire head under the water. He opened his eyes and looked up through the swirling liquid, holding his breath. He could hear his heart beating. He ran his free hand through his hair, feeling bubbles of air tickle past his fingers. When his lungs started to ache he floated back up.

"Sit up," Draco ordered as soon as he surfaced.

Harry sat up and Draco immediately began shampooing his hair, which was made even more enjoyable by the way he had slid forward into Harry's lap to do so. Harry immediately started running his hands over Draco's warm, wet skin.

"Stop that," Draco muttered. "I'm trying to wash your hair."

"Stop what?" asked Harry innocently, tipping his head back to keep the soap out of his eyes and at the same time sliding his hands over Draco's hips to squeeze his arse.

Draco tried to pull forward out of Harry's grasp but that only pressed his front closer. "At least let me finish washing your hair first," he complained. "If I get soap in your eyes it'll be your own fault."

Harry pulled away from Draco's hands and in a swift movement splashed back into the water, holding his nose and with his eyes screwed shut. In a flurry of bubbles he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair and surfaced again. "My hair is washed," he declared before grabbing Draco and kissing him hungrily, his hands running down his back to return to their previous target.

--------------

They were woken by a knock on the bathroom door and the second they moved realised the water was not even lukewarm any more.

"Water's freezing," Draco murmured.

"Mmph," said Harry.

There was another knock at the door. "Harry?" called Mrs Weasley. "Harry are you in there? Are you alright?"

The two boys woke up fully and exchanged horrified glances. "I'm fine!" Harry replied. "I just... fell asleep in the bath. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, dear," said Mrs Weasley. "But please do hurry, Arthur needs to get ready for work."

"I'll be out in a few minutes."

"They only have one bathroom?" said Draco in shocked surprise.

Harry gave him a 'not now' look and scrambled out of the tepid water.

"I haven't even washed yet," exclaimed Draco and began frantically washing his hair.

"Draco, we don't have... oh no, the wall!" Harry had just noticed the drying come stuck to the tiles. He grabbed a washcloth and scrubbed the wall clean.

"Hey, I need the cloth," Draco complained.

Harry finished and threw it back to him. "Here."

Draco let it fall into the water. "That's okay, I'll pass," he said, stepping out the bath.

Harry pulled out the plug and scrubbed at the ring they had left behind them.

"Won't the house elves do that?"

"Will you shut up," Harry ground out in exasperation. "In about 60 seconds I'm going to open that door and chances are Ron's parents are both going to be standing right outside and it's going to take them no time at all to figure out what we were doing in here."

"Oh," said Draco succinctly and shut up.

They finished drying themselves and put on their dressing gowns then turned to face the door.

//I'm not going to blush,// Harry told himself but he could feel himself going crimson before he even touched the door handle.

//Just keep your mouth shut,// thought Draco to himself. //Let Harry do the talking. They know Harry, they like Harry...//

Harry opened the door. Waiting outside were Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Harry..." The moment Mrs Weasley's eyes swept past Harry and fell on Draco the normally unflappable boy went bright red. The four of them stared at one another... the adults with surprise and the boys with horror and intense embarassment.

"I..." began Harry. "We... um..." Then he bolted and ran for the twins room leaving Draco standing alone in the bathroom door.

"Uh..." he said and then ran after Harry leaving the two adults looking after them.

"Well," said Mr Weasley with bemusement. "That was odd."

"Yes," agreed his wife with a far less casual tone. "You better get ready for work or you'll be late. I think I need to go and have a word with Ron."

-----------

Draco slammed the door shut and locked it behind him. "You ran away!" he accused Harry.

"She knows," Harry gasped from where he was sprawled on his back on the floor. "I could tell. What are we going to do?"

Draco leant against the door and slid down to the ground. "I don't know, you know her better than I do. Should we lie?"

"What could we possibly say? We were in the bathroom together, with the door locked, and I already told her I was in the bath and both of us had wet hair..."

"We could say...." Draco thought for a moment. "Okay, I've got it. You asked me to fix up some bruises and stuff from last night cause you were too embarassed to undress in front of Mrs Weasley or Hermione and Ron doesn't do medical magic but you knew I had studied it at home. My hair was wet cause I had a bath before you. Completely innocent and fairly plausible."

"Really?"

"She likes you doesn't she? She'll believe you."

"You're a genius."

"I know," said Draco smugly and crawled over to lie on the floor next to Harry.

As their heart rates returned to normal Harry suddenly remembered just what they'd been doing that he had been so worried Mrs Weasley would know about. "Wow," he said softly.

"Hmm?"

"I mean... wow. We really... did it," said Harry.

Draco grinned and rolled onto his side, facing Harry. "I guess we did. Which means now you only have to win the Quidditch World Cup and watch Babylon 5."

"Huh?" said Harry.

"Before you die," Draco reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," said Harry, remembering their previous conversation.

Draco thought for a minute. "So, technically, did we both lose our virginity or just you?"

Harry rolled over to face him with a matching silly grin on his face. "I think both."

Draco reached out and stroked his cheek and jawline then pulled him into a kiss, their limbs twining together. Then he said wonderingly, "So, I deflowered the great Harry Potter."

"I'm definitely florally challenged," replied Harry with a smirk. "And I seem to recall you were pretty great too."

"The Boy Who Got Fucked?" Draco suggested.

"Which makes you The Boy Who Fucked The Boy Who Got Fucked," Harry replied.

"You know I really like that word," said Draco.

"What word?"

"Fuck," he said with relish. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking, fucked...." he trailed off and returned to kissing Harry.

-----------

Molly Weasley rapped loudly on her son's door and then marched straight in. "Ron!" she barked. "Wake up this instant."

Ron shot from deep sleep into a startled upright position. "It wasn't me!" he blurted.

"No, it wasn't," she assured him. "But you've still got some explaining to do."

"Huh?"

"Is Harry gay?"

Ron went red. "What makes you say that?" he hedged.

"Just answer the question, Ronald."

"Why don't you ask him?" he said hopefully.

"Ronald!"

"Yes, he's gay," Ron admitted.

"And what exactly is going on between Harry and Draco Malfoy?"

"Umm... nothing?" he hazarded.

"Are they or are they not a couple, Ron."

"I really don't think..."

"I want an answer."

"Maybe," Ron conceded.

"So you're telling me that you talked me into putting two boys who are dating into the same room for the night."

"Er... yes... but..."

"But nothing!" Mrs Weasley snapped. "Next you'll be asking me to let Hermione sleep in here with you. I will not have children fooling around under my roof! Six boys I've had," she ranted. "Six! And not one of them has..." Her tirade faded away as she left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Ron sighed, thought about trying to save Harry from his mother's sudden attack of prudishness, then decided to go back to sleep instead.

----------

Half way out of their dressing gowns on the bedroom floor, Harry and Draco were interupted by a loud knock on the door.

"Harry Potter! Unlock this door immediately or I'll do it myself," ordered Ron's Mum.

Harry and Draco sprang apart and scrambled to their feet. "Shit," swore Harry. "I totally forgot about her." He retied his robe. "I'll be right there Mrs Weasley," he called. "I'm just.... getting dressed."

"Oh great," said Draco. "Now she'll think we were naked."

"Well she wouldn't be wrong," Harry muttered. "Anyway, the story, she knows we were in our dressing gowns when we left the bathroom. Why shouldn't we be getting dressed?" Harry suddenly realised he didn't have anything to get dressed in, having arrived in his underclothes. "Shit," he said again holding up his very grubby vest.

Draco threw on his robes. "I have a very bad feeling about all this," he told Harry.

Harry straightened his dressing gown and unlocked the door. "Er..." he said to the very irate looking Mrs Weasley. "I don't seem to have any clothes? Could I borrow some of Ron's?"

Mrs Weasley swept the room with the practiced gaze of a mother. Two unused pairs of pyjamas and one untouched bed. She levelled an extremely disapproving look at Draco and then turned back to Harry with only a slight decrease in her glare. "Sleep well?" she asked pointedly.

"I... er..." stuttered Harry. "Yes?"

"I do not appreciate being made a fool of in my own home," she stated.

"Um... I don't...."

"There will be no more joint trips to the bathroom..."

"But we...."

"...and there will be no more sleeping in the same room and don't think I won't be warning Professor Dumbledore to keep an eye on you two at school! I would never have allowed you to share the room if I had realised..."

Suddenly Draco spoke up from where he stood behind Harry. "How dare you speak to us in that manner!" he said, in a voice Harry hadn't heard from him in a long time. His tone was cold, angry and imperious.

"Draco, no!" Harry hissed.

Draco didn't seem to hear him, his eyes were cold and hard and somewhere deep inside, if you looked carefully enough, they were frightened. "We are not your children, for which I am very grateful, and you have no right to tell us what to do or to speak to the school about us. So you can stay out of our business."

Harry's mouth dropped in complete shock and horror at what Draco had just said.

Mrs Weasley was beyond furious. "You think I don't have the right to say what will and will not happen in my house!" she shouted. "You think Harry isn't my business when I'm the closest thing to a mother he's got! You think that one good deed gives you the right to speak to me in that manner!" She looked as if she wanted to slap him. "You insolent, spoiled brat. You think you can walk all over us because you're a Malfoy! Get out of my house. I'll see you never get near Harry again..."

"Please, stop," Harry begged, not sure if he was asking Draco to stop this or Mrs Weasley to take back what she had just said.

"I wouldn't stay in this house another moment," said Draco. "I should never have come here in the first place, I don't know what I was thinking." Then he pushed past Mrs Weasley and stalked out of the room.

Harry raced after him. "Draco, wait," he called. "Where are you going?"

"I've been asked to leave," Draco said evenly, his face blank. "I'm leaving."

"I'll come with you."

"That won't be necessary and I very much doubt Mrs Weasley would allow it."

True to his words Mrs Weasley's hand fell on Harry's shoulder. "Harry," she said. "Leave him be. Arthur will arrange for him to get back to school."

At that moment Mr Weasley wandered out the bathroom. "What? Is Draco leaving already?"

"No!" said Harry.

"Yes," said Draco and Mrs Weasley in tandem.

Mr Weasley looked a little bewildered. "Well... er... right then. I'll just Floo him to Hogsmeade shall I?"

Harry turned to Mrs Weasley. "This is a mistake," he tried to explain. "A misunderstanding."

"Harry, dear," she said gently. "I know you're grateful to him for saving you all last night but I think this is for the best. You're too young for all this and he's clearly a bad influence on you." She shot Draco a murderous glare for daring to seduce her surrogate son.

Draco looked blankly back at her then turned away and disappeared down the stairs.

"You don't understand," said Harry. "He's not normally like that, I don't know why he said those things but I'm sure he didn't mean it. Just let me talk to him..."

"Come along to Ron's room and we'll find you some clothes," she said, ignoring him and steering him away from the stairs. "We'll have a nice breakfast and you can tell me how you're doing at school."

Downstairs, Draco walked straight out the house and stared blankly around the garden. He had no idea where he was going but he had to get away. Part of him was yearning to go home, that child deep within you that always turns to it's mother when it's in pain, but that was out of the question. He supposed he should go back to school, but the thought of going back to Slytherin House chilled him. He thought longingly of the nights he had spent with Harry and then ruthlessly cut off the thought. That was over, thanks to the Weasley's his one source of comfort was gone. The Weasley's and his own stupid carelessness. He had gotten lazy, if he had just thought things through a little bit more this might never have happened. If they had been more careful, less wrapped up in their own little world... but it was too late for that now.

Draco raised his wand and disapparated.

----------------

Harry sat numbly at the breakfast table dressed in robes that were several inches too long for him. Across from him Mrs Weasley poured tea and chattered about something inconsequential. Every now and then Harry would nod or mutter something to give the impression he was listening.

Inside he was slowly falling apart. Draco had gone and it was his fault. Just like Uncle Vernon had always said, it was all true. He'd ruined everything cause he couldn't stay out of Draco's pants and Mrs Weasley had blamed Draco when it had been him all along. He'd kissed Draco first, he'd always been the one to push for more, the one who took things too far, the one who begged Draco to fuck him like some sort of cheap slut... like those men in the street showing themselves off to whoever happened to be driving by.

Draco deserved better than him. After everything he had risked for him and his friends, he deserved better.

He probably wasn't even gay, it was Harry that was the pervert not Draco. He'd led him on, seduced him and then let him take the fall when they got found out. If he'd just stayed away from him Draco would be fine.

Instead he was who knew where, he hadn't waited for Mr Weasley but had left on his own.

Harry just hoped he'd gone back to Hogwarts where he'd be safe. Safe from Voldemort, safe from his father and most of all... safe from Harry.