Play The Game

Harry had hardly slept the previous night, tortured by dreams of Draco and the almost near-kiss in the Entrance Hall last night. Ron, Dean, Seamus, they all wanted details as to where he'd be gone, why he'd been so long, and why he was looking so happy and confused. Harry had avoided the questions he didn't want to answer, and answered the rest vaguely. Hermione, Ginny, Lavender, Parvati, they had seen right through him, he could tell that they knew he had been somewhere with someone else, and they knew he knew they new.

He hurriedly stopped that train of thought, knowing that it would only confuse him further in this little mess that Draco had created, or, was the solution to. Harry scowled, he didn't like feeling so detached, and wanted to do something just what, he hadn't figured out yet.

The fresh crisp grass crackled under his feet, still partially frozen but no longer covered in snow, only early-morning dew and rainwater. There was bird song somewhere in the distance, robins singing their little hearts out while the giant squid propelled itself across the Lake, savoring the peace before the rest of the school came out to talk and relax, enjoying the last week of their Christmas Holiday.

Harry looked across from the Lake at Hagrid's cabin and the smoke coming out of the top in a steady stream. He smiled slightly, and vowed to visit Hagrid later on and thank him for the fudge. As he walked past the hut he caught sight of the Unicorn Paddock and by placing one hand on the face, jumped over and landed inside with a squelch on the wet mud. Grubbly-Plank was no where in sight yet.

Draco walked uncomfortably, the cuffs of his trousers scraping against each other where he had tucked them into his scruffiest pair of boots to keep them out of the mud. He wore faded black jeans and a thick woolen jersey to keep out the biting chill. He was painfully aware of not looking all that glamorous, but an irrepressible voice inside him said that if Potter really wanted him, he wouldn't care about the sloppy clothes. Without knowing it, Draco did exactly as Harry had done and vaulted the fence, his footprint landing within the Gryffindor's.

"Nice morning for some shit-scooping," he called cheerily to the other boy when he saw him.

Harry pulled a face, looking over his shoulder at Draco as he moved to sit on the fence. "If she's not here in ten minutes I'm leaving."

"Upon your head be it," Draco said amiably, jumping up and resting his feet on the next bar down.

"In other words, you won't be coming?" Harry asked.

"Nope," Draco beamed. "I plan to prove that I, Draco Malfoy, can scoop shit along with the best of them."

"Well done," Harry replied bitterly. He hated, absolutely hated Grubbly-Plank, Unicorns and Unicorn waste.

Draco grinned at Harry and shoved him affectionately. "You're more of an aristocrat than you make out, Potty."

Harry dug his nails into the fence to keep from falling off the rickety wood. "I am not!" he protested.

"Now don't worry. We true snobs pride ourselves on being rather down-to-earth," Draco laughed. He knew he was babbling, but he had to do something to cover the noise his heart must be making as it thumped away in his arid throat.

"Mhmm," Harry replied vaguely, mustering the courage. Finally, he looked at Draco sternly. "Draco, about last ni..." he trailed off as he saw someone approach them.

"Later," Draco muttered irritably.

"Nice to see you're here, gentlemen," Grubbly-Plank said, snapping her heels together. "There are the scoops. There's the manure. There's the bin to put it in. Get mucking." She marched away again as quickly as she had appeared.

Draco slipped down from the fence.

"About last night?" he prompted, picking up a shovel.

"Wha... Wh? Hm. I-- Dammit this is harder than I thought." Harry frowned; if he had been any younger he probably would have thrown a tantrum. "Why?"

"Because you were asking... Oh." Draco loaded his shovel. "Why which bit?"

Harry idly threw his shovel from one hand to another and stared at it as if it held all the secrets of the universe. "Why me I guess. Why then? Why now? Why didn't you finish what you started? Why am I confused?" he asked finally.

"You owe me five answers," Draco smiled. "You, because I like you. Then, because I couldn't hold it any longer. Now because it's about the only time we can guarantee privacy. I didn't finish it because I wanted to see what you'd do. You're confused because you're sexually frustrated." As if the matter was finished, Draco began shoveling shit into the bin at the side of the paddock.

"Argh!" Harry yelled, even more frustrated now as he began shoveling to take his mind of things. "I hate you so much sometimes," he growled.

Draco looked hurt. "That's not fair!" he protested.

Harry flicked some hair back. "What you did was not fair!" he replied angrily. "You didn't even finish, dammit!" he yelled, then slapped a hand over his mouth, took a deep breath, turned, and went back to shoveling as if nothing had happened.

Draco's eyebrows raised and an openmouthed grin split his face. He stood up straight and leaned on his shovel, planting the other hand on his hip.

"Oho ho, Potty really is frustrated," he gloated with a grin.

Harry scowled, and whipped out his wand. He casually flicked it and the paddock was suddenly clean. "She never said we couldn't use magic," he said darkly as he strode over to Draco and glared at him. "Stop being so... frustrating!" he demanded, at a loss.

Draco looked despairingly at the clean paddock. "I was hoping to spend quality time with you..." He glanced up. "Am I really bothering you?"

"I don't know what's bothering me," Harry replied, exasperated.

"Do you want to finish what we started?" Draco asked, shrugging,

"I don't know!" Harry exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air and turning away from Draco.

Draco had the horrific sense of his stomach dropping out. 'I fucked up. I really fucked up.'

"Okay, well, I'll be going then," he said hesitantly.

Harry sighed and his outer shell seemed to crumble, crack and fade as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped. He barely stopped his knees from buckling.

"I hate being confused and upset and not knowing what to do without hurting someone," he muttered quietly, unaware that Draco could still hear him.

Draco stopped, walking quietly back to where Harry stood. He wrapped his arms around the Gryffindor and laid his cheek against his shoulder.

"You haven't hurt me in a while," he lied.

Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's slim waist and rested his head on the silky smooth silver head of hair. "I've hurt myself," he said quietly, "By telling myself things that aren't real."

"What's not real?" Draco asked, breath catching.

"Any moment now," Harry murmured, "I'm going to wake up and this will all be another dream."

"If it's a dream, I'm dreaming it too, then I'll come and find you and we can make it reality," Draco assured him solemnly.

Carefully, Harry released a hand from Draco's waist and moved it to the back of Draco's neck, playing with the soft hair absently as he closed his eyes slightly.

A tremor ran through the blond Slytherin as he stood in this circle of the ultimate perfect moment. Taking a breath, he raised his hand to lift Harry's chin gently with a finger, closing his own eyes after sweeping them over Harry's face like searchlights. A faint smile played about Harry's lips, so Draco took that as an okay. His brows knitted together as he gave in finally. As his lips met the Gryffindor's, a wave of relief swept over him and he wrapped his arm around Harry's back, determined not to let this end.

Harry paused, suddenly drawn out of the peaceful calmness he had been in by Draco's lips landing perfectly on his. His eyes fluttered open and he thought about pushing Draco away and running. This wasn't what he wanted was it? He wanted to get away, but kissing Draco was like coming home. Finally, after being so tense for so many weeks he relaxed, into Draco, into peace of mind and into the kiss. Suddenly, nothing mattered anymore.

***

"I'm just worried about him," Ron sighed, sitting back in his armchair and looking broodingly out of the dark, frost-laced windows.

Hermione looked up from her Runes, running her quill along her bottom lip in thought. "He's just never here any more," she added.

"I thought at first that he had a girlfriend, but I think he'd tell me that," Ron said sullenly.

Hermione didn't look so sure. "He'd tell me, and he hasn't. You don't think... He might have a boyfriend, you know," she said wisely.

Ron's expression was of shock. "He's not a ... one of them, is he?"

Hermione sighed heavily. "Harry leans in either direction." Before Ron could protest, she raised a silencing hand. "It does not change who he is, so I want you to be behind him completely."

Ron looked shocked, then sniggered. "Behind him?"

"Shut up Ron!" Hermione said heatedly, flushing. She crumpled a sheet of parchment and threw it at him with all her might. It bounced off Ron and rolled away harmlessly.

"I promise to keep my mouth shut," Ron giggled. "But if it's not that he has a boyfriend, then I refuse to shut up."

Parvati's ears pricked up as she lay on her back on the sofa across from Ron and Hermione. Carefully, she turned onto her front and leaned her chin on the armchair. "Lavender!" she hissed. "Psst, Lavender!"

"Yeah?" Lavender asked, looking up from her freshly painted nails.

"You-know-who," she said with a look so Lavender would know who she was talking about, "has got a boyfriend!"

"You're kidding!" Lavender breathed. "Get out of here..." Her eyes took on a vacant shine as she stared into space in open-mouthed wonder.

"I know!" Parvati squealed, eyes drifting off out of focus to imagine Harry with the various boys of Hogwarts, chin rested on the arm of the sofa.

Seamus poked Dean hard in the side with his elbow, and continued to read his D.A.D.A book. "Did you hear that?" he asked, sounding scandalized. "You-know-who's got a boyfriend!" He shuddered. "That's just sick."

"Who'd kiss HIM?" Dean demanded. "I mean... No, I can't even imagine that." His nose wrinkled as he looked utterly disgusted and confused.

"Is it possible for You-know-who to be gay?" Seamus asked as he turned a page in his book normally, as if he was reading. "That's just... urgh."

"Does he have a thing?" Dean asked. "No, don't even try to answer that."

Dennis Creevey gave a squeaky gasp as he walked past the two older boys and broke into a scrawny jog to Colin, his elder brother, on the other side of the room.

"Colin!" he squeaked. "You-Know-Who's homosexual!"

"Ah," Colin said sagely. Being a close personal friend of Harry Potter, he rather prided himself on his knowledge of the 'You-Know-Who Situation', as he liked to refer to it. "I suspected as much."

Ginny blinked, looked at Colin and Dennis and quickly moved as far away from them as she could, walking over to Hermione and Ron who were sat on the other side of the room.

"Dennis Creevey's a homosexual," she said to them in a quiet voice. "He just told Colin like it was some big thing and Colin was 'ok, that's nice'."

"Bloody hell," Ron said, raising his eyebrows. "I just found out someone else is too." He leaned closer to Ginny. "Harry's bi."

Hermione could be seen to roll her eyes.

"He is?!" Ginny demanded in a high voice. She prided herself on being able to know almost everything about Harry; after all, she had watched him for five years. "Dennis... Harry... Bad combination."

"Not with DENNIS!" Ron yelped then he froze, looking to Hermione out of stricken eyes for reassurance.

"I don't know," she snapped. "He might be dating Dennis for all I know."

"Ah!" Ron said triumphantly. "But Dennis is here and Harry is not."

Neville jumped as Trevor bounced out of his hands and he stumbled to his feet, knocking a book off the table. "Trevor!" he yelled, picking up the frog and sitting down next to Dean and Seamus. "Ron's first kiss was with a boy," he said breathlessly as he clutched Trevor close to his chest. "But it wasn't Dennis," he said with a meaningful look.

"You mean it was with Colin?" Dean said, leaping on this juicy bit of blackmail. "Wow, I didn't think Ron was the type." He half-raised from his seat to peer across at Ron. "Well, well, well," he said, rubbing his hands together.

Seamus finally gave up pretending to look at his book. "You're kidding?!" he asked, amazed.

Neville shook his head. "He just told Ginny and I overheard. Don't tell anyone," he pleaded.

"Oh, we won't," Dean said, but his tone was gleeful and disconcerting. "Not a word to anyone."

Parvati's mouth would have dropped open had her chin not been resting on the arm of the sofa. "Lavender!" she called in a sing-song voice. "Guess who Neville just found out likes him?"

"Who?" Lavender demanded. She was almost exploding with all the fresh rumors.

"Ron," Parvati replied as she climbed off the sofa and hugged Lavender eagerly. "This year is going to be so much fun! Think of all the people we can help get together!"

"Ron likes NEVILLE?" Lavender squealed. "I don't believe this!"

Parvati clapped her hands excitedly. "It seems the lads have all discovered each other and their feelings!" she said, bursting with plans and happiness. "We have to talk to Dean and Seamus to see if they know anymore..."

"Oooooh!" Lavender squealed, hopping out of her seat and running over to Dean and Seamus. She leaned over breathlessly, giving them a clear view down the front of her low-cut school jersey.

"Boys," she began in a seductive tone. "We heard that Ron's fallen for Neville. Do you know anything else?"

Parvati hooked a finger in one of the belt loops in Neville's trousers and pulled him away from Dean and Seamus. "We know all about it!" she exclaimed. "Rest assured, we'll sort Ron out." She winked, and with that flounced over to promptly sit on Dean's lap. "Yes boys, do tell us."

"Ron's fallen for NEVILLE?!" Seamus demanded, and then sat back in his chair. "Wow. Did you know Vol...You-know-who's gay?" he asked conspiratorially.

"Wow, not yet!" Lavender exclaimed, sitting on his lap. "Give us all the goss."

"The only other thing I know is that Ron's first kiss was with Colin Creevey." He nodded knowingly and flashed a grin in Dean's direction before wrapping his arms around Lavender's waist.

Dean smirked, hooking an arm around Parvati's waist. "Have you two got any personal secrets? Truth or dare."

Parvati laughed. "Maybe." She stuck her tongue out at Dean. "Find some more stuff out for us and we might just let you in on what we know."

Seamus suddenly brightened. "What about that note?" he asked. "The one off Malfoy."

"The note?" Dean asked. "Don't know anything about it. Hey girls, you know that flash watch Harry's got? Malfoy sent it to him."

"No, way."

"Yes way," Dean laughed. "Malfoy and Harry... What do you reckon?"

"Ooooh," Lavender groaned, on the verge of drooling.

"Never gonna happen." Seamus replied. "Not possible if you think about it. They hate each other."

***

Draco was initially deeply surprised that Harry actually kissed back. He had expected to be shoved away from pursed lips and never be spoken to again. Many, many scenes flashed before his eyes, and it took him a while to see that they were all times that he had imagined this moment. Though perhaps without the shit and the detention.

The thought made him laugh and he couldn't stop. He had to pull away from Harry's lips and lean his forehead against the other boy's, gripping his shoulders to stop himself collapsing with laughter.

Harry blinked as reality came crashing down and opened his eyes properly to see Draco laughing. Casting quick glances around, Harry caught onto what he was laughing about, their first kiss being in the middle of the Unicorn Paddock in detention.

Draco leant his forehead on Harry's and he relaxed at the gesture and smiled, letting his eyes close again while Draco carried on laughing.

Draco felt a curious lifting as he laughed - something he hadn't done in a long, long while. He subsided finally, gazing into Harry's face and smiling.

"I could have picked a better venue, but nooo," he teased. "You had to get us in detention."

"I'm not regretting it," Harry replied as he continued to play with the soft hair on the back of Draco's neck.

Draco lifted Harry's glasses from his eyes, slipping them into his own pocket and shutting the other boy's eyes gently with a finger, which he then ran along the soft ends of Harry's pitch black eyelashes.

"I'll keep these," he said, patting his pocket.

"Mhmm," Harry murmured, unable to make a coherent sentance. His smile grew slightly as he continued to lean on Draco. "I love you," he whispered quietly.

Draco's heart skipped a beat then simply stopped. He started leaning backwards and caught onto Harry desperately.

"Say that again," he said hoarsely, staring at him.

Harry opened his eyes and leaned closer to Draco, their lips brushing. "I love you," he repeated, more confidently before he kissed Draco again and moved his other hand up to tilt Draco's chin up slightly.

"I love you too," Draco murmured, before deepening their kiss.

Harry pulled back reluctantly and looked up at the school. "Everyone'll be coming out soon," he said quietly, checking his watch. "We've been out her nearly an hour."

"Bollocks," Draco murmured, he gripped Harry's wrist and peered at his watch. "QUIDDITCH PRACTICE!" He ran and vaulted the fence, sprinting to the pitch without a backward glance, Harry's glasses still in his pocket.

Harry froze at the sudden lack of warmth Draco's body had previously provided and wrapped his arms around himself, frowning slightly. Quidditch. He'd have to play Draco. Once Draco was out of sight he turned and decided to go and finally visit Hagrid.

***

"Blaise," Draco called, catching his friend's sleeve at the end of the practice. "Can I talk to you?"

Blaise looked over his shoulder at Draco, noting the difference in his friend's appearance and aura almost immediately. "Sure."

He sat down on the bench in the stands he had only just got up from and motioned for Draco to join him.

"I need to tell you something..." Draco began nervously, then proceeded to tell Blaise pretty much everything, his pale face flushed.

Blaise's jaw dropped, and he closed it with a snap after Draco finished talking. "Well... well..."

"I'm sorry," Draco mumbled. "You probably don't want to know this."

"Strangely enough, I do," Blaise replied as he ran a hand through his dark hair, silver-thumb ring glinting. "I just, have no idea what to say."

"No," Draco agreed. "I guess you wouldn't."

He sighed and dropped his head back, staring up at the white sky.

"So... are, you and Potter, you know, an item?" he asked finally, leaning back on his forearms and looking at the sky also.

"I think so," Draco replied uncertainly.

"You shouldn't have run away. I mean," Blaise gestured around them at the pitch, "it's only Quidditch."

"Treat 'em mean," Draco said with a wry smile.

"What would you do if word got out?" Blaise asked curiously. "The Malfoy heir dating Potter."

"Word will inevitably get around," Draco said distantly. "When it does, I'll cross the bridge."