The Only Thing to Give

"Hello!" An overly pleased looking Harry greeted Draco as he walked into the bedroom.

"Well, you seem to be in a happy mood. I guess everything is ok, then!" Draco said as he crossed the room in quick strides, seating himself next to Harry on the bed.

"Everything is just great!" Harry said with a large lopsided smile before he placed a wet kiss on Draco's lips.

"Happy to hear it Harry, happy to hear it," Draco said as he started to pull of his shirt.

"Here let me help you with that," Harry said with a wicked grin, as he pulled the shirt over the blond's head. Once he got the shirt off, he started sucking on the soft skin of Draco's neck right below his pulse point.

"Harry stop... you're... going to... mmm... leave.... m-marks... I don't feel like... explaining where... mm... they came fro-wow that feels great... where did you learn to... mmm." Draco had given up hope on coherent sentences once Harry moved to licking down his muscular chest.

Harry stopped and looked up at Draco. "Do you really want me to stop?" Harry said with a seductive smile. Draco responded by pulling the raven-haired boy into a long, hungry kiss.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Draco?" Harry whispered as he snuggled into the blond man lying next to him. When he didn't get an answer, he spoke again "Draco, are you asleep?"

"I was," Draco said in a sleepy voice and opened one eye to look at his lover.

"Oh... sorry," Harry whispered and turned onto his side so his back was facing Draco.

"It's two in the morning. What's wrong love, did you have another nightmare?" Draco said in a sweet, soft voice. He kissed Harry's temple as Harry snuggled into him so that his head rested on Draco's chest.

"No, I... I just wanted to see if you were still awake. I didn't mean to wake you," Harry said in an apologetically soft voice. Draco put his arm around Harry and pulled him closer.

"Well now that you have woken me up, I want to know what Weasley said when he came to apologize to you. Did he get on his hands and knees and beg for your forgiveness?" Draco said in a disgustingly intrigued voice.

"Draco, I really wish you would start calling him Ron," Harry said with a disapproving tone.

"Fine, did Ron grovel?" Draco said, emphasizing the redhead's name.

"Well... sort of, but all I needed was to know that he's still there for me," Harry said. Draco could feel Harry smiling.

"You're too easy. If it were me I would have made him get on his hands and knees and kiss my feet while apologizing repeatedly for being wrong." Harry raised his head to look up at Draco and gave him a revolted look. Draco just laughed, and leaned in, kissing Harry sweetly on his supple lips.

After Harry settled back down on Draco's torso, Draco spoke. "You know... Gra-Hermione isn't the annoying know-it-all I thought she'd be. She's actually kind of... nice."

"I knew you'd like her once you got to know her. When did this happen?" Harry snuggled further into the warm body beside him and pulled the covers tight around himself and his lover.

"I had quite a nice chat with her while you and Ron were working out your... issues. I even gave her some advice," Draco said with a soft smirk.

Harry's head snapped up from Draco's chest and stared at the blond with a horror-stricken expression.

"Advice? W-What kind of advice?" Harry said in an anxious stutter. Draco just looked at Harry with an undeniable smirk threatening to intrude on his non-expressant face.

"Draco, what did you do?" Harry said in a worried voice.

"She, in her own special way, asked me for help in securing a certain... object of her desires, and when push came to shove I... shoved her in the right direction," literally, Draco added silently letting his evil smirk penetrate his calm face.

"I swear to Merlin, Draco, if Ron and Hermione aren't speaking to me tomorrow because you did something..." Harry's angry rant was cut off by a smile from Draco.

"Oh ye of little faith... if tomorrow they aren't all starry-eyed and blushing when someone asks why they're acting so cheery, then I will give you full authority to punish me any way you see fit," Draco finished with an overly seductive smirk. Harry just smiled, shook his head and lay back down on the blond's chest. Eventually falling asleep to the soft, rhythmic sounds his lover's breathing.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Good morning, all!" Ron said in a very cheerful manner as he sat down next to Ginny and dug into a plate of eggs and bacon Mrs. Weasley placed in front of him.

"Well, you seem to be in a very kipper mood today, Ron. You must have had one hell of a night," Draco said as he smiled and winked at Hermione. She blushed miserably and looked down into her bowl of porridge. Harry looked at Ron noticing that he had turned incredibly red as well. Harry shook his head and smiled at Draco's look of utter superiority.

"I guess you were right," Harry whispered to Draco while handing him the jam.

"Of course I was... how could you ever doubt me?" he said with a wicked smile and looked at his watch. "Shit!" he mumbled under his breath.

"What is it?" Harry looked at Draco in a concerned manner.

"I have to leave... he's expecting me." Harry frowned.

"I'll walk you to the door," Harry said glumly. Draco got up and bid goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron before grabbing Harry's hand and leading him to the door.

Once they arrived, Draco turned around to face Harry. He noticed that Harry was looking quite depressed. "Harry, it's ok. I'll see you in a couple of days... I promise," he finished as he pulled the thin raven-haired boy into his arms.

"You promise?" Harry mumbled into Draco's neck.

"I promise, and you know a Malfoy never breaks a promise," he said with an uplifting smile before Harry grabbed his face and pulled him into a long, soft kiss. After what felt like a second but was in fact several minutes, Draco pulled away, caressing Harry's cheek with his hand. "I love you," the blond said with a sincere smile.

"I love you too." And with that, Harry kissed Draco one last time before turning and walking calmly up the stairs, a little too calmly for Draco's comfort. Draco followed the Gryffindor's retreating figure with his eyes until he vanished into the darkness of the hall above. Just as Draco turned to walk out the door, he heard a voice calling his name.

"Draco!" the voice said in a loud whisper, trying not to wake Mrs. Black, who had finally shut up after an hour and a half of wailing when Remus had left earlier that morning.

"Hermione," Draco said with a sweet smile, "what can I help you with?"

"Uh... I just wanted to thank you. You know, for telling me that story last night... and... and for the little push in the right direction," she finished with a small smile.

"No problem... just doing my part to help the less fortunate." He smirked.

Hermione just laughed and pulled him into a hug. "Be careful Draco, I don't know what Harry would do if something bad happened." She pulled away and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before retreating down the hall back to the kitchen.

Draco just smiled, "Hmm... I guess I've made a friend," he said to himself before walking out the door and closing it slowly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Harry calm down and stop pacing... you're going to wear a hole in the floor. Not to mention you're making everyone nervous," Hermione said with a concerned look as she followed Harry's roaming figure with her eyes.

"But he said he'd be back in a few days... it's been three weeks!" Harry said in a nervous rant. "What if something has happened to him what if... if..." Harry couldn't finish his sentence out of pure dread.

Hermione noticed the horror on his face and decided to reassure him. "Nothing has happened Harry... if it had I'm sure Snape would have told us by now. Draco's probably busy on some kind of mission or something. He'll be back soon... I'm sure of it!" Hermione added trying to sound sincerely confident.

"Yeah Harry, cheer up. How about a game of Wizard's chess?" Ron asked trying to divert Harry's thoughts and preoccupy him long enough to stop worrying.

"All right, I guess there is no use in worrying... you're probably right, 'Mione, he'll be back soon," Harry said, trying to convince himself that Draco wouldn't turn up dead in a dumpster somewhere like he always read about in the Muggle newspapers. He sat down on the bench across from Ron who was setting up the pieces on the chessboard at the kitchen table.

After an hour or so Harry's mood had lightened somewhat. He had beaten Ron the first game, although he suspected that Ron let him win, and Ron had won the second. They were right in the middle of the tiebreaker game when the kitchen door opened squeakily and closed again; Harry was too engrossed in the game to notice. He heard Hermione sigh and Ron gasp. He looked up at Ron who was blindly staring at something behind Harry.

Harry eyed his best friend suspiciously "Ron what-" was all Harry could get out before he felt a pair of arms loosely circling his neck and soft lips brushing against his cheek.

He jumped out of his chair and spun around immediately knowing who it was. "Draco!" he whispered to the blond as he was pulled into a warm hug. As soon as Harry was released from the embrace, he punched Draco, hard on the shoulder.

"Oww... what was that for? I never thought you'd be one for spousal abuse, Harry!" Draco said as he rubbed his already bruising shoulder.

"You said a couple of days... I've been worried out of my mind. I thought you were lying dead somewhere in a..." Harry trailed off as he noticed a large gash on Draco's face that started at his cheekbone and ran down through his chin. "What happened?" Harry brought up his index finger and lightly touched the crimson wound.

Draco moved his head, shying his abrasion from Harry's gentle caress. "It's nothing Harry... can we talk about it later?" he said in a low cold tone. Harry recoiled at Draco's lack of affection before nodding. Noticing the hurt expression on his Harry's face Draco pulled his raven-haired lover into a soft kiss. Forgetting Draco's injury, for now, Harry put his arms around the blond's neck, embracing his lover's sweet kiss. Draco circled his arms around Harry's waist pulling the warm body closer to his own.

Ron stared contently at the floor as a crimson blush crept its way onto his face, while Hermione stared at the couple with a dazed look of adoration in her eyes.

After a couple of seconds, Harry felt Hermione's eyes on him and reluctantly broke the kiss. Draco stared at Harry in uncertainty as to why he so hastily broke the kiss before looking over to Ron and Hermione and nodding in understanding.

He gave Harry one more quick kiss before breaking away from Harry's embrace and looking over to Hermione. "Do you know where Ginny is? I need to talk to her... as well as you and Ron," he added noticing a puzzled look cross Hermione's face. She nodded and left the kitchen in search of the youngest Weasley.

In less than a minute Hermione returned accompanied by Ginny, he gestured for them to sit down before starting, "As you are all well aware we're going back to Hogwarts in a couple of weeks, so I just thought I'd make some things clear. First off, everything goes back to normal, I hate you... you hate me. It's as if this summer didn't happen. We go back to trading insults in the halls and plotting ways to get each other into detention," Draco finished with a serious tone and a somewhat looming glint in his eyes.

"That shouldn't be too hard," Ron scoffed, folding his arms across his chest.

"And secondly," Draco said narrowing his eyes at Ron, before softening his expression and looking at the girls, "I want to apologize for anything I might do or say over the school term. I trust you won't take anything personally; I'm just trying to cover my ass... Voldemort-" Ron, Hermione and, Ginny all winced at the mention of You-Know-Who's name. Draco just smirked at their reactions and continued, "has eyes and ears everywhere and if anyone," he stressed the word anyone, "suspects anything... It's all over for me." Harry just wrapped his arms around Draco's waist from behind and rested his chin on the blond's shoulder in gesture of comfort.

"I understand completely," Hermione said with a warm smile.

"Me too," Ginny said looking at Harry and giggling in a schoolgirl manner, blushing when Harry smiled back.

"I understand," Ron said reluctantly, after an elbow to the side from Hermione.

"Great, now that that's all settled"--he turned around to look at Harry--"I think that you and I have some... catching up to do." He entwined fingers with Harry and led him out of the room. Ron shot a look of disgust at the two men as they left.

*~*~*~*~*

When they finally got to Harry's bedroom, he closed the door and locked it with a charm. Harry had hardly finished muttering the silencing charm before a pair of soft lips crushed themselves onto his.

"Mmm... I missed you so much," Draco muttered onto Harry's lips.

"I missed you too... but Draco--" Harry was cut off by Draco's lips once again. Harry rested his hands flat on the blond's chest trying to break the kiss. "Draco... stop... I want to..." Harry finally pushed Draco away and put a couple of inches distance between himself and his lover. "I need to talk to you."

"Alright Harry, what about?" Harry looked livid.

"What about? Draco, you show up after three weeks with a gash on your face and not so much as an explanation as to why... and, and now you just want me to act like everything's ok?" Harry shook his head in anger and took a step closer to Draco; lowering his voice to a threatening whisper. "Well... you know what Draco, I can't do that. I can't act like everything's fine when I know you're in trouble and you won't talk to me about it... I just can't do it." By the time Harry finished, angry tears were freely flowing down his tanned and slightly pinkened cheeks. Draco pulled him into a comforting hug.

"Shh... Harry... it's alright," Draco said as he stroked Harry's soft raven hair. When Harry had finally calmed down Draco pulled away to look into the raven-haired man's glistening green eyes. "Harry... you know I love you," Harry nodded slightly, "and you know I would tell you if I something serious was going on... Harry, it's just a scratch, nothing more." Harry nodded again, even weaker this time. Draco took Harry's face in his hands and kissed his forehead. "I haven't seen you in three weeks... look, the term is starting soon. I just want to enjoy the time we have left together before we have go back to pretending to hate each other." Draco had a pleading look in his eyes. Harry closed his eyes and sighed, he planned to make the best of his and Draco's last two weeks together.