An Accidental Alliance

chapter 9

Waking up with Draco was not nearly as difficult as yesterday. For one thing, he was in bed. For another he was woken with kisses rather than a prod to the ribs. Harry sighed happily, returning the attention, running his hands through Draco's silky hair. That was another thing he'd learned last night, that touching Draco's hair was one of his favorite things.

"Mm, what time's it?" Harry asked, eventually pulling away.

Draco made a face. "Time to get up, I suppose. I'd much rather a reprise of last night than Potions, though."

"Potions with Malfoy or sex with Draco," Harry mused. "Sort of a tough decision."

With that sentence, Harry officially learned how to manipulate Draco. At least sort of. True, he'd already wanted it, but still. Harry had managed to get him to agree without having to outright ask for another blowjob, and that felt like an accomplishment.

After, though, there was no cuddling, only frantic attempts to get ready for class. Harry redressed in yesterday's clothes, really wishing he had robes instead of a frayed sweater and jeans, especially when Draco was the image of perfection. He gave Harry quite a look as they walked to class.

"I can't believe we're walking in late with you looking like that," he sneered. "Really, Potter, you're an embarrassment to wizardkind."

That twist in his stomach again. "Sod off, Malfoy."

There were a lot of looks when they walked into Potions together, late, with Harry in Muggle clothes and no shoes. He'd debated, but quickly decided just socks was better than bunny slippers, even if they were from the Weasley's joke shop.

Harry didn't know why he expected anything to change when Malfoy had explicitly stated it wouldn't, but there was still something dreadfully depressing about being completely ignored as he readied potion ingredients, Malfoy only speaking up to reprimand him for doing it wrong. He shoved the ingredients over to Malfoy with only a little more force than usual and sat still for a moment, sulking. Then he remembered he needed to practice the giggling girl. He even had a reference now, though thinking about it tightened his stomach again.

Still, Harry was quite pleased with his results. It seemed that he had just needed a reference and, however unfortunate, the image of Malfoy pinned beneath him laughing hysterically was burned into his mind. He drew a few small sketches, then took up the rest of the parchment with a single, larger drawing. It wasn't half bad, and he slid it over to Malfoy.

"What do you think?" he asked quietly.

"It's fine, Potter, now get it out of my face, I need to focus."

Harry pulled the parchment back over. This sudden need for Malfoy's approval was stupid and ridiculous and dangerous and he had to stop it this very second.

They split without a word as Gryffindors went up to Charms and Slytherins went-well, Harry didn't know, and it wasn't any of his business, seeing as how he didn't have a single friend in the house.

"What was that about?" Ron asked. "Staying out two nights in a row, coming to class late in my mum's sweater with Malfoy at your side?"

"It's nothing," Harry said sharply, and it wasn't.

"You two aren't having some secret affair, are you?" Ron asked jokingly.

"No!" Harry snapped. Ron and Hermione both stared at him. That may have been a little excessive. "No, of course not, don't be daft," he said more calmly. "We're working on a project together and I fell asleep on his floor. That's all."

"Right," Ron said. "Two nights in a row?"

"Yup."

And that was the end of that conversation.

I won't be posting lots like I said, but this was already written. I'm going to try to remember to post on Thursdays and Tuesdays. I may skip them sometimes because I forget or writers block.
-Isabella