𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆

The Fifth Day

Friday morning found Harry full of apprehension. He and Ron hadn’t spoken at all since yesterday’s little…incident….and while Harry knew that there was no turning back now, he still found a day filled with redheaded scorn an unpleasant way to start his weekend.

On the other hand, Draco had cuddled himself warmly against Harry’s side in the night, so he awoke to the familiar scent of his own shampoo in Draco’s hair and the full benefit of having over six feet of blond wrapped around him at various points.

Draco had swung a leg over Harry’s, and he had one arm over Harry’s chest so that his hand rested directly over Harry’s heart. It was an unconscious placing, but for some reason Harry found it deeply charming.

Harry lifted his shoulder, which was now acting as Draco’s pillow, and nudged the sleeping Slytherin awake.

“Hey.” He murmured quietly, “Hey, I think we should…get going.”

Draco’s eyes opened, blinking against the sunlight and the morning in general, and he muttered and unintelligible response into Harry’s shoulder.

“Huh?” Harry said, bending his neck down to get a better look at Draco’s sleepy expression.

Draco lifted his head marginally off his resting place, “I said ‘no’. It was in English; don’t know why you have such a bloody hard time….” He drifted off, clearly with an objective of falling back asleep.

“Hey,” Harry said again, louder and with more authority, “we need to go pretty soon. It’s light out, and we might be late…” And then Ron would be really pissed.

“Oh all right, Potter.” Draco said, rolling smoothly away from Harry and off the bed. “No need for the verbal heaving; just tell me you want me out of your bed when you want me gone. I had no idea you were so callous towards your sexual partners.”

Harry looked up with some surprise, only to find Draco winking playfully at him from the doorway to the bathroom. He was going to need to work on his gullibility if he was ever going to survive this relationship.

Relationship?

“Potter, I am using your toothbrush,” dictated a haughty voice from the bathroom, “and also your toothpaste, floss, soap and hairbrush…if you even have one, which would totally floor me, because you clearly never use it.”

Relationship.

He and Draco walked into the gym holding hands. Which Harry thought was adorable at first, even though it put him in a state of perpetual blush, but he realized was unbelievably foolish later when he saw the look of barely contained frenzy it inspired from Ron.

Ron’s face was bright red, jaw set, shoulders bunched, and hands looking as if they would like nothing better than to get a firm grip on Malfoy’s throat. Harry released Draco’s hand quickly, shooting a look at the blond that would hopefully communicate that now was not the time to get sensitive over public displays of affection.

“Ron, look, I…”

“I don’t want to hear it, Harry. I just want to have a little chat with Malfoy, and by chat I mean pummeling and by Malfoy I mean ferret-faced asshole.”

Feeling Malfoy tense beside him, Harry placed himself between them, still trying to pry Ron’s gaze from Malfoy’s defensive glare.

“There’s no need for that, Ron. You know that I—”

“No, Harry, actually, I don’t.” And now Ron was looking at him properly, even though the harsh combination of anger and betrayal on his face made Harry wish, just a little bit, that Malfoy was still the primary target. “I don’t know a bloody thing because my best friend decided that he’s rather chase a bit of Death Eating tail rather than take a moment to explain the situation. Which is just great, you know, considering all of the life threatening scenarios I’ve thrown in with just help you out. Really, stellar way to repay it. Can I just remind you of one thing?” He paused, breathing hard, and Harry didn’t think he wanted to be reminded.