Rivaling Affections

Chapter 9

After greeting the other staff members, Harry was assigned to show Draco around the school. It had been rebuilt after the war, and even though it was almost identical in every way, Minerva insisted Draco be given the grand tour.

Harry pretended to mind, but in all honestly he thoroughly enjoyed every minute he got to spend with Draco. He was sarcastic and rude and had a very dry sense of humor, but Harry found him vastly more entertaining than any of his other friends.

Hermione and Ron rarely visited, and when they did all their talk centered on their children, which was fine in small doses, but not consistently for hours. He didn't know what about having a baby made it suddenly okay to talk openly and descriptively about bodily functions, but he was glad to have skipped over all of that with Teddy.

"And this is your office," he said with a flourish, effectively ending the tour with the room that was once Slughorn's and Snape's before that.

"Thanks for showing me around a place that I grew up in and know like the back of my hand," Draco replied sarcastically.

Harry smiled and shrugged. "You could have told me to sod off at any moment," he offered.

"And you would have?" Draco asked, his face coated in doubt.

"Sure. I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin your first day," Harry replied with a shrug. "Do you want me to leave now?"

"So, did you guys even change this place at all?" Draco asked instead of answering Harry's question. Harry smiled to himself at the very Slytherin approach, getting what you want without giving anything up. He would have called Draco on it, but he was content just to know that Draco didn't want him to go.

"We expanded the pitch," Harry responded.

"The Quidditch pitch wasn't affected by the war," Draco scoffed.

"No, but it was a perfect excuse to make it larger while we rebuilt everything else," Harry replied with a grin.

Draco shook his head in mock disgust, but smiled in spite of it. "Do you ever go out there?"

Harry nodded with enthusiasm. He often spent his free periods flying around the pitch; it was a great stress reliever when he was stuck at the school and a bad day. "Quite a bit."

"Care for a duel over the snitch?" Draco asked, leaning smugly against the doorframe.

"Care for a kiss?" Harry countered.

Draco blinked at the sudden change of subject, but leaned in and nodded.

"Well, both will have to wait," Harry said with a chuckle, "because the students are arriving."

Draco narrowed his eyes and growled, but Harry just smiled and started walking briskly toward the front of the school. It didn't take long for Draco to catch up with him. "You're an evil tease. If I didn't know any better I would have pegged you for a Slytherin."

Harry laughed. "I almost was."

"What?" Draco asked, staring at him with confused silver eyes.

"Long story. Suffice it to say, I may be Gryffindor, but I have a few Slytherin tendencies," Harry replied with a chuckle.

"I have no idea what any of that meant, are you channeling Dumbledore?" Draco asked, rolling his eyes.

Harry chuckled and kept walking. "Anyhow, you know it's against the rules to snog in the corridors, right?" he asked, picking up their previous conversation. It was his goal to keep Draco thinking about him, and maybe one day he might actually want Harry for more than just a quick shag and a goodbye kiss.