The Alternative to Loneliness

Ch. 8

Proof and...Payback?

Colin was sitting on the floor, knees to his nose, shivering in a closet when Luna found him. "Oh, Colin, you aren't in your usual closet," she said, looking down at him and closing the door behind her. "I looked in all the closets and this is the very last one I knew of and I am very glad you are here or I should be sad."

"No, I'm here," Colin said glumly. Everything had gone wrong. He had tried his hardest to be careful and not get caught, but that obviously hadn't turned out as he'd hoped. Then Harry had pressured him to tell what was going on and Colin had panicked, resulting in his unfortunate declaration of love in front of the entire school. He hadn't thought before he'd done it, just knew that Malfoy had said that under no circumstances was Harry to know the truth. But that had been the one thing he shouldn't have done, he knew that now.

Luna settled down on the floor beside him and wrapped her warm arms around him. "Oh Colin, you are shivering but it isn't cold."

He nodded.

"Is it because you don't really love Harry?"

He nodded again.

"And what you said about taking pictures for Draco Malfoy?"

He nodded again.

She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed. "I am sad that you are upset, but I am also very glad, Colin, that you don't love Harry. I should not have liked to see you having sex with him. I want to be the only one you have sex with."

"You're the only one I want to...have sex with," he assured her, feeling his face grow hot. "But it's my fault you didn't know that."

"Why is it your fault?"

"Because I didn't tell you what was going on," Colin explained. "But Draco said that nobody was supposed to know, not even you! And that's why I told Harry what I did. I didn't want to do it, Luna, I really didn't, but he was offering a lot of money and a job recommendation and I was afraid he was going to hurt me really bad if I didn't do what he said."

"Well then it isn't your fault that I didn't know. If Draco Malfoy told you not to say something to anybody, even me, and you promised you wouldn't, then I know that you wouldn't! You did a very good job of keeping your secret. I would trust you with anything." As she said this, Luna put her hand on his knee and slid it down his thigh.

It felt so good when Luna touched him, he immediately stopped hugging his knees, letting his legs slide out in front of him so that Luna would have an easier time of it. He sighed and started to stroke her hair. "I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't be sorry, because now I can love you enough for two people." She kissed the tip of his nose and moved her hand a little closer. "And if you are worried about losing the job recommendation, I am sure Daddy will hire you for the Quibbler."

He untangled his hand from her hair and traced the collar of her shirt to her front. "I love you, Luna," he said as his fingers ran over her buttons.

And then her hand was there and she started to caress him. "I am glad," she whispered. "And I love you, too."

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall as Luna loosened his belt and slipped her hand underneath. If only life was just like this all the time, he could be happy. He wouldn't have to worry about fearing for his life or looking at naked boys.

~*~^~*~

"Can you believe him?" Ron fumed, his face matching the scarlet of the chair he was slouched in. "Telling you all that bullshite, and in front of everyone too. Good on you mate, for spotting it for what it really was and putting him right in his place. Though I would have hexed him into next week for pulling a stunt like that. What crap!"

Harry looked troubled and stared into the fire of the Common Room. Hermione pursed her lips at Ron but held her tongue, instead directing her attention to Harry. "Well, it certainly explains a lot," she said finally.

Both boys looked at her, confusion written on their faces. She sighed. "Well, Malfoy's always been obsessed with Harry. I thought it was just animosity and it probably did start that way. But it makes sense that Malfoy would fancy you, Harry. I mean, you are just the sort of person that I can see Malfoy falling for. I'm surprised I never noticed before. And he has been more pleasant lately, you must admit."

Ron goggled at her. "You don't think he's really serious, Mione?"

She nodded decisively. "Yes, I think he was being honest."

Harry looked irritated. "Two days ago, you were convinced that Colin loved me."

"Well, the evidence at the time certainly seemed that way," she said defensively.

Harry looked sick. "You don't think they both fancy me?"

She shook her head. "I really couldn't say, but I really do believe Draco is telling the truth. I wish you had been a little nicer to him, Harry. He must be feeling dreadful right now."

"Good," Ron said with glee. "Teach him a lesson after all the shite we've taken from him."

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't want to hurt him. I mean, do you think he's very upset?"

Hermione looked at Harry shrewdly. He shifted some more and she nodded to herself. "I don't know Harry. If it was me, I would be."

~*~^~*~

He'd been a fool. A complete fool. He should have been sorted into Hufflepuff, he was that thick. To think that Harry Potter would ever love him. To believe even for a second that he had a chance with him. Draco shook his head, taking a long drag from his hand fag. He was a fucking moron.

He exhaled slowly, watching the smoke curl up toward the crescent moon just visible over the Astronomy Tower. It was cold tonight. Good, Draco thought bitterly. Maybe he'd just stay out on this terrace and freeze slowly to death. Then they'd bring him in tomorrow morning, a perfect frozen statue. And maybe Harry would be sorry then. He'd see how beautiful Draco really was and feel the cold stab of regret.

Draco snorted, releasing more smoke. Merlin, but he sounded pathetic. Honestly, maybe he should have been in Hufflepuff.

He flicked his fag off the railing of the balcony and sighed heavily. He found the constellation that bore his name and connected the dots with his finger. He'd just have to get over this. It wouldn't be so hard, he'd gotten over worse. He'd managed when his mother died, when Harry refused his friendship, all those years of abuse at his father's hands. He would forge onward and get over this; he had to.

It would kill him if he didn't.

But God, if he wouldn't miss Harry every minute of it.

That poignant thought was broken, however, as the door to the balcony smashed open to reveal a distraught girl in Slytherin robes. "Drake!" she squealed. "Tell me it's not true! Tell me that vile display was a way to get at Potter! You couldn't have meant it."

"Pansy," Draco sneered. "First of all, if you ever call me Drake again, I will disembowel you. Second, if what you mean by 'vile display' was me pouring out my heart to Harry, then I am pleased to say that it was indeed true. And thirdly, if you do not exit the same way you entered in the next three seconds, I will make certain that no man ever wants you, if such a fool exists in the first place."

"But...but we're going to be married!" she shrieked.

Draco rubbed his temple. "Who agreed to that ridiculous notion? I certainly never did."

"But our families...been decided...years now!" Pansy sputtered.

"It was talked about but no contract was ever made, so I think you'll find I have no obligation to you whatsoever. Now, if you'll excuse me, my heart was just broken and I don't wish my eardrums to be the same, as I know they will be if you continue caterwauling in that disgusting manner."

Draco pushed past her and stalked toward the dungeons. Well, he reflected, if nothing else good came from this, at least he'd gotten rid of that cow.

~*~^~*~

Harry hung his head over his cauldron, deep in thought. He had avoided Malfoy all throughout the weekend and now that Monday was here, he had no choice but to suffer through an entire double potions class with him just one table away.

Malfoy's choice of close seating was no surprise. In fact, for as long as Harry could remember, Malfoy had always sat just one table away. It was the perfect distance away to lob an incorrect ingredient in, or put some sort of spell on the cauldron undetected. Not that he needed to hide what he was doing. Snape always let Malfoy get away with anything! Snape's little golden boy. Look at him over there, chopping up that newt's liver as if he was some sort of god.

Harry sighed and turned back to his potion, which had turned a peculiar sort of sea foam green, as opposed to the brilliant emerald it was supposed to be. He scowled down into the cauldron and prodded it with the end of a witch hazel root. The pool of sickly green muck twisted and sputtered its disapproval, then immediately turned the colour of vomit.

He groaned and tried to nudge Hermione's foot for help, but she was too busy tossing things into Ron's charred cauldron (it had managed to blow up ten minutes earlier, much to the delight of their professor). Resigned, he turned back just in time to see something land in his now-hissing potion.

Immediately he turned to look across the isle to find Malfoy peacefully stirring his own potion, a smug look on his face. Harry's blood began to simmer. To think, he'd even let the thought cross his mind that Malfoy would have the capacity in that icy, Slytherin heart to be sincere about his feelings, much less being even nice! No, he'd shown he hadn't changed at all.

Snape was passing nearby. Harry wasn't letting this chance get away from him. "Professor," he spoke up, as he'd seen Malfoy do on countless other occasions. "Malfoy's thrown something into my potion."

Snape looked over at him, then turned back to berating Neville on his ability to once again ruin a perfectly simple potion (even though they all knew it wasn't simple.)

"Aren't you going to do something about it?" Harry fumed, against his better judgment. Hermione and Ron both kicked his shin to try and shut him up, but instead he added, "Brilliant teacher you are."

Snape mumbled something that made all the Slytherins around him snicker, then strode over to Harry. "Well, what does the Wonder Boy wish to complain about today, I wonder."

"Malfoy's sabotaged my potion. Look!" he said, pointing into his cauldron.

Snape looked down with a bored face, then Harry watched as his features clouded and he fought with what he was going to say next. "I see absolutely nothing wrong. It's perfect."

"Perfect!" Harry sputtered. "But he..." His words trailed off as he finally looked down into his potion to find it brilliant, emerald green and glirping pleasantly as the book had said it should.

With disbelief, he looked over at Malfoy and was sure he was mistaken. Had Malfoy just winked at him?

~*~^~*~

Harry was only too glad when Potions ended and he could get away from Malfoy again. That Slytherin git had asked to have a small vial to save some of Harry's potion, then held it up, admiring the brilliant, gemlike colour of it...then holding it next to Harry's face and saying it was the perfect shade.

To make matters worse, Snape had grudgingly proclaimed Harry's 'sabotaged' potion the best of the class, perhaps of the term. Nobody could believe their ears. But when Harry turned to look at Malfoy, he saw the blond boy giving him a look. Just what was Malfoy playing at? Was he building Harry up, trying to make him believe that he cared and then crushing him? Well, if that was the plan, Malfoy would be sorely disappointed. Harry wasn't fool enough to play into his hands like that.

Harry stopped at the last thought, then shook his head and continued on to the Great Hall. Why had he suddenly pictured Draco's hands, long and slender and smooth, untainted by work? That just showed that he couldn't possibly be serious. A spoiled rich boy falling for the common orphan half-blood? And what did Hermione know? Just Draco's type indeed. Draco wanted somebody to pamper him and Harry was damned if he would ever pamper that spoiled git. Draco who must have a half-dozen house-elves at his beck and call. Draco who had bought his way onto the Quidditch team with Nimbus 2001s. Draco who...

Wait...Draco? When had he started thinking of him as Draco? He wasn't Draco! He was Malfoy, sodding MALFOY!

He was so absorbed in his problems, he failed to notice where he was going until he found himself staggering backwards after running into something soft, but very there. Dazed, he looked around, then spotted a Slytherin girl sprawled on the floor. She looked utterly distraught and Harry recognized who she was almost right away.

Pansy looked up at him, her vacant eyes staring from a mascara-streaked face (Harry had the distinct impression that she had worn mascara just so it would run and people would know how upset she was). When she saw who it was, her eyes suddenly came to life with hatred and she sprang up. "You bitch!" she snarled.

"Bitch?!" Harry protested. "But I'm--"

"You stole him from me! He was mine! We were going to be married and now he's--"

"Who? Wha?"

"DRACO!" she shrieked. "You stole my Drakey!" She sputtered for a few seconds and then started beating on his chest in an utterly ridiculous manner. Harry stared down at her, a little amused and a great deal annoyed.

He was just considering a well-aimed Stupefy when he heard footsteps behind him. "Parkinson," Draco's recognizable drawl cut through her shrieks. "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear the other night."

At the sound of his voice, Pansy immediately shrunk back. But only for a second. Then she flung herself past Harry and rushed toward Drac...Malfoy, Malfoy's chest, where she attached herself and sank to her knees. "Please, Drakey!" she begged. "Please, don't say you prefer that deformed freak over me! I'll do anything for you!"

Malfoy looked down at her with disgust. "I wouldn't even have you as a house-elf. Now stop soiling my robes with your filthy nails. I know where they've been!"

Instead of complying, she clung tighter and made to bury her face in his robes, but he yanked her back. "I told you to stay away from my robes! They're Versacci! Crabbe, Goyle, take care of this tiresome Flobberworm."

Harry watched, nonplussed, as Malfoy's cronies each took hold of one of Pansy's arms and hauled her away as she kicked and screamed and begged. He could hear her voice carry down the corridors long after she had disappeared around the corner.

Dra...Malfoy sighed, making Harry jump and turn back around. "Sorry about that, Harry," he said, brushing off the front of his robe with a pained look on his face. "I should have warned you about her. She seems to think she's in love with me, but I suppose I can't blame her, can I?"

Ugh. Was he serious? "What do you want Dr...Malfoy?"

The Slytherin's eyebrows rose a small fraction at the near-slip. Then he sighed again and ran his hand over his white-blond hair. "You want to know what I want?"

Harry nodded, then realized he didn't look at all annoyed to find himself caught talking with Malfoy in the corridor, so he crossed his arms.

The blond boy stepped toward him, a searing look in his pale gray eyes. "I already told you what I want, but you don't seem to believe me."

"Wha?" Harry took a step backward but found a wall in his way. "Malfoy, what are you playing at?"

"I'm not playing at anything, Harry," Draco said, taking another step forward. "I'm through with games." Another step. "They don't seem to work on you." Another step. "Nothing does." Another step. "I've tried to show you how much I've changed." Another step. "But you just don't seem to get it." Another step. "Perhaps a little action is in order."

The last step.

Harry watched Draco's face close in on his, the faintly flushed lips, the pale eyes, the sharp features, the flawless skin becoming clearer with every inch. And then he couldn't see his mouth. Draco's eyes closed. The features became a blur. And then suddenly, so did everything else.

Draco's lips found his and moved gently over them, almost like his hand might have brushed down his arm. Wait...his hand was brushing down his arm! Harry made to protest, but the words were caught by the other boy's mouth closing over his own in a surprisingly soft, but purposeful kiss.

He tried to move his head away, but he was caught between Draco and the wall, and for some frustrating reason, his arms didn't seem to want to work. He sucked in a breath as Malfoy took one more step and his body pressed flush against his. He could feel the Slytherin's firm muscles through his robes, some more-so than others. He started to feel very queer, as though somebody had cast the jelly-legs hex on him, and he would have collapsed if he hadn't been pressed up against the wall.

Harry finally closed his eyes and tilted his head a little, marveling at the sensations shooting through him and wondering why he had even thought to fight. His arms moved forward and found a pair of hips, where he laid them to rest. The body against him shuddered and his head was pressed back against the wall with a suddenly vigorous kiss.

At first, Harry responded with a kiss of his own. The reaction was instantaneous, the other boy's chest pressing against his and then something was poking Harry's shoulder. He was annoyed and tried to ignore it, but then realize that it was a prefect badge, and not just any prefect badge, a Slytherin badge. He pried his hands from Malfoy's waist and took hold of his shoulders, then shoved him away.

Draco staggered back, looking mussed and flushed and surprised. Then the surprise turned to disappointment. Harry didn't see any of this as he stalked down the corridors for the Gryffindor Tower, feeling like the biggest fool. Hadn't he told himself he wouldn't play into Malfoy's hands?

When he arrived, he headed straight for the Common Room, but instead of joining Ron and Hermione, he caught Colin Creevey by the collar and hauled him into a side room. After the door was shut and locked, he turned to the small boy, who had backed himself as far away as he could go. "I swear, I didn't mean it! I don't love you at all! Please believe me! I just said it to...don't kiss me, please!"

Harry bristled. "What makes you think I want to kiss you?" he snapped.

Colin squeaked in alarm and dropped into the chair he'd backed into. "I...I'm sorry! No, of course you wouldn't want to kiss me. I didn't mean it!"

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Colin," he said. "Malfoy's fucked you up pretty badly, hasn't he?"

"N...n...not esp...well...erm..."

"Making you take those pictures of me and all."

Colin shuddered, but he didn't say anything.

"How would you like to get back at him?"

"Not very much, thank you," the small boy answered.

Harry crossed his arms. "How would you like to do a little job for me, then?"

"Not especially," he responded in a small voice, sinking back against the chair.

The older boy took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. "Look, Colin, I'm feeling pretty violated right about now," he said. Maybe a little guilt would get Colin to cooperate. "I don't much like the idea of having had my picture taken while I was wanking off in the shower."

He couldn't see it, but he could tell that Colin had winced. He tried not to smile. "I just wonder how Malfoy would like it if he found himself in that sort of situation."

"I don't want him to find out!" Colin managed, his voice so high Harry could hardly make it out.

Harry sighed. "Look Colin. I could offer you as much as he did. More, if you wanted. My parents left me their vault and all."

"I don't care about money!"

He turned away. He had to get back at Malfoy. But what could convince Colin? He didn't want revenge. He didn't want money. He hadn't responded to guilt. Maybe he would respond to something else.

"I know lots of spells." Harry paused, letting the implications sink in.

"S...spells?"

He turned back around and nodded. "Tons."

"Tons?"

Harry crossed his arms again and looked Colin square in the eyes. "Those spells I taught the DA don't even scratch the surface of what I know."

Colin shrank back against the chair and hugged his camera tight to him.

"Just match his order. Whatever he had you do for him, you do for me. See how he likes it."

"But if he catches me..."

Harry could have handed Colin his invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map, but he was hard-pressed to part with them, especially if Malfoy did catch Colin. Instead, he said, "Then be more careful."

Colin looked terrified, almost as if he was about to implode from the pressure, but he nodded. Inside, Harry sighed in relief. "Good. Don't take longer than a week with the first batch."

Colin shook his head and opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a squeak. Then Harry left, leaving the small boy to wonder how he had just been bullied into playing the voyeur again...and by Harry Potter, no less. The boy he had once had great respect for.