An Accidental Alliance

chapter 12

Dray?" he asked. There was that nickname again. Plus he was asking something, something he didn't know, and that was not a good plan even a little bit.

"Mm?" Draco replied.

"If you want to take my virginity, I will need that dinner." Bloody hell. That was terrible. He was asking Draco to ask him out. That was really not okay.

Draco sighed. What was a sigh? What did that mean? Was that a good sigh or a bad sigh? Harry managed all of that, and more, in the split second between the sigh and Draco speaking. "If you insist."

Harry froze completely. And then he pushed it. "Not just any dinner," he said. "But a nice dinner. A fancy dinner."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Draco muttered. Was he just saying this because he was mostly asleep? Would he rescind in the morning? Would he even remember in the morning? "Hogsmeade's this weekend, we'll go to Intrépide."

Harry's stomach flipped in the most delicious, terrifying way. "This weekend?" he squeaked.

Draco looked up at him and though his eyes were heavy lidded, he looked remarkably awake and lucid. "We can wait, if you want," he said. "I thought since you brought it up you were eager."

"Candles, too," Harry said, because that was the important part. "Maybe roses."

Draco rolled his eyes. "I know how to take someone on a proper date, Harry."

Harry may have been technically dead for a moment or two. His heart stopped and his breathing stopped and everything except Draco stopped. "Er-"

Draco raised his eyebrows. "Unless you don't want a date? I was under the impression that was what it took to get into your Gryffindor boxers."

"Um, no, a date's fine," Harry stammered. "Good, I mean."

Draco kept his eyes on Harry's, and it was all he could do to not look away. "I am curious as to how much of a date this is," he said eventually. "A one time affair to placate your noble integrity? A series of expensive meals to take advantage of my wealth? It's been done before, I could live with that. I enjoy a nice dinner as much as anyone. Or are we redefining our relationship already, after only three days of working together?"

That made it sound exceedingly foolish and impossible to say yes. Which was obvious, because Harry had already run through all the reasons why he couldn't ask Draco out and why they couldn't date and why this needed to stop and no, going out on a date and then having sex, losing his virginity, in fact, was not stopping, but not betraying his feelings was some sort of stopping, sort of.

"What sort of redefining did you have in mind?" Goddammit. He needed to stop talking. Right now. Actually, several "right now"s ago. Did he know any charms for that? There must be one. But his wand was somewhere on the floor and, oh, right, Draco was still holding his hand, and maybe that meant this was okay, maybe.

Draco still had his eyes on Harry's. "Well, I suppose it wouldn't be much of a change, really. You've already established we're exclusive. We're fooling around and sharing a bed. You asked yourself on a proper date via my lips, to which you agreed. Perhaps more accurately I agreed, I couldn't exactly tell, you were a bit muddled." A bit muddled. That was one way of saying it. Especially since it seemed an awful lot like Draco might not mind going out with him. "You call me Dray, which no one other than my mother is allowed to do, and I have yet to physically harm you for it. So tell me, Harry, what about that would you change?"