The Jealousy Gambit

The Jealousy Gambit

by Slumber

Harry left the Room of Requirement a good thirty minutes later than usual, dead tired. Zacharias Smith had demanded extra lessons, telling him he was far too advanced for the simple Impedimenta Jinxes he had been teaching the--as the Hufflepuff termed it--slower students. Harry had almost rolled his eyes at the display of cockiness, but caught himself in time. It *was* true, after all. Some students had trouble learning the basics, so the class couldn't move at the pace Harry wanted.

They stayed in the room after everyone had gone, and dueled. Harry reasoned that if the other boy really wanted to learn, then he had to learn it the hard way, as he had, with first hand experience. So they dueled, shooting out curses and blocking them, jumping out of the way or leaping to attack. During the first round, Zacharias didn't last for more than three minutes, but he was determined, and the last fifteen minutes of their time were spent in a continuous parry of spells, leaving both of them tired and exhausted.

They agreed to stop at a draw then, both panting heavily and wiping the sweat from their brows.

"Good fight," Zacharias admitted, flashing Harry a smile.

"Not too bad yourself," Harry countered. He smiled back, and, remembering there was still something he had to do, stood up straighter, "I've got to go, though."

It had been a really exhausting match, thought Harry, and as soon as he reached his dormitory to change clothes, he couldn't help flopping down to sleep like a log instead.

~*~

Harry awoke to find dark circles under his eyes. He trudged to his classes like a zombie, and when he shuffled into his Potions class with a yawn, Professor Snape looked at him with narrowed eyes, but said nothing. However, when he almost fell asleep on his cauldron, Snape turned into his usual nasty self.

"Mr. Potter, if you believe drowning yourself in a cauldronful of whatever that is you're concocting will help you scrape by your OWLs, then you are sadly mistaken. Get up! What is your excuse this time?"

"I, uh, didn't sleep till late last night, Professor," Harry stammered, avoiding the dark, beetle-like eyes that seemed to bore into him.

"And why, Mr. Potter, did you not go to sleep earlier?"

"Finishing up my, er, homework, Professor," he said, silently banging his head with an imaginary club for his stupid reasoning.

"Tut tut, Mr. Potter. Cramming again? Ten points from Gryffindor!" Snape announced. Though the Gryffindors no longer minded as much since they were as used to deducted points in Potions as they were to Trelawney's predictions of horrible death, for the next hour of their class Harry begged Ron to pinch his arm every minute to keep him awake.

After Potions, Harry made his way to the Great Hall, still yawning uncontrollably. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open, his arm was sore from having been pinched one too many times, and as the crowd of hungry students surged forth from the classrooms, he found himself being separated from Ron and Hermione.

"I'll catch up," he shouted over the noise of chattering students. Hermione nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

Before he could even try to fight against the current, a hand shot out from nowhere, grabbing his arm and dragging him into an unfamiliar classroom. Harry blinked. Draco stood before him, arms crossed and with a decidedly unfriendly scowl gracing his face.

"You didn't come last night," the Slytherin started, gray eyes accusing.

"I--," Harry tried to explain, but Draco interrupted him.

"You told Snape you did your homework. You *never* do your homework unless you have nothing better to do, and I refuse to believe that I would be stood up for homework! I was waiting forever! Where were you?"

"I, uh... had to teach Zacharias," Harry began.

"Zacharias? Zacharias *Smith*?" Draco glared at Harry, furrowing his brows and curling his lip in disgust.

"Er, yeah... The Hufflepuff Seeker, remember? He wanted to learn more about jinxes so he asked me, and I taught him," Harry explained. He hadn't told Draco about Dumbledore's Army, because that would be too risky; Draco was still a Slytherin, after all.

"I *know* he's the Hufflepuff Seeker! He asked you for *lessons*?" Draco started looking enraged. "What--couldn't use his 'wand' properly? Has he asked you to call him Zacky yet?" [1]

"Honestly, Draco! You sound just like Ron!" said Harry, who was suddenly feeling less tired and more exasperated.

"Just like Ron?" Draco raised an eyebrow. "You mean you've been arranging secret rendezvous with Weasley in the Astronomy Tower and canceling them in favor of 'wand lessons' with that Hufflepuff as well? Just how many students are you shagging, *Potter*?"

"I didn't mean it like that! I mean Ron said something like that last year to--oh... Draco, you aren't... jealous, are you?" he asked, hesitating a little.

"Me? Jealous? Surely you must be deluding yourself. I thoroughly enjoy waiting in a freezing tower in the middle of the night while you spend your time 'tutoring' incompetent Hufflepuffs. In fact, why don't we arrange another little date now so I can wait for you again and you can get thrown onto your back by Zacky's 'curses'? Bet you'd like that, won't you, Potter? Perhaps you'd rather go back to sniveling for Chang or would you prefer to get some sleep and dream of Cedric some more? Tell me, Harry, is there a Hogwarts Seekers Shag Festival you want to start? No, wait, maybe a Quidditch Players Shag Fest, then? Moving on to Keepers, are we

"Draco, I--"

"Let me make something clear, Harry James Potter," Draco said, seething. For some reason, Harry felt quite nervous at the determined look that was on his boyfriend's face, if boyfriend was even the right term for what Draco was to him. The pale face looked murderous with rage, and Harry wasn't sure he wanted the Slytherin to make things "clear".

Without warning, Draco grabbed both Harry's arms, slammed his back against the wall with a force so bruising it would hurt for at least two days after, and crushed Harry's lips with his own.

Harry was stunned. He couldn't react. He couldn't think. All he was aware of was Draco--his lips on his, his warm tongue, tasting of mint and dark honey, exploring, tracing the contours of his mouth, his teeth nibbling insistently on his lower lip, tugging none-too-gently. They had kissed before, of course, but never like this. This kiss ignited a fire deep within Harry's soul, sending white-hot electricity coursing through every fiber of his being as it never had before. Harry became aware of the heat which radiated from Draco's body, pressed closely to his own, and of the hands that dug into his shoulders. He marveled at how perfectly their bodies melded into each other, and slowly began to respond to the insistent, almost feverish kisses. He moaned helplessly as Draco sucked on his lip, then yelled in indignation when the bastard bit on it, drawing a few trickles of blood.

"You belong to *me*," Draco whispered in his right ear, and Harry shivered at the breath that tickled the skin on his neck.

Harry felt his knees weaken, and when Draco drew back he had to hold on to him to keep himself from falling. He had wanted to say something, but before he had a chance to do so, Draco turned and swiftly left the room.

~*~

The unofficial DADA lessons came again that night, as everybody seemed to be free from homework or Quidditch practice. Harry began teaching them a few offensive attacks, just in case they were cornered and had to create a distraction. He commended Luna for her efforts and told Neville to be a bit more aggressive. He explained how Michael's stance would leave an opening for an attack and showed Ginny how to find it. He made Dean practice his wrist movement again and again until he was able to produce a perfect Flipendo, and gave Padma some advice in keeping calm in the face of an enemy. The class ran smoothly, and soon it was nine o'clock and they had to return to their dormitories.

The students filed out in small, random groups to avoid suspicion, and a few minutes later Hermione and Ron's turn came.

"Go on ahead; I'll stay here and fix a few things up," Harry nodded to both his friends. They disappeared behind the door and Harry turned to the boy left in the room with him.

"Ready?"

Zacharias Smith gave him a surprised look.

"What? Oh... Well, can't we do this next time? I'm still tired from last night, and this meeting--"

"You will be staying for extra lessons tonight, Zacharias Smith," Harry interrupted, voice suddenly harsh and commanding. The Hufflepuff looked at Harry in confusion, but the threatening look in the other's green eyes was enough to stop him from protesting. He didn't know why Harry wanted to teach him so badly, but he could have sworn he heard the Gryffindor mutter something that sounded like "My sex life depends on it."

FIN