The Thunder in My Heart

The Mask

Although he'd encouraged it to wind the Weasel up, Draco couldn't help wondering if the kiss was serious or not. Not that the Weasel didn't deserve it, and it made Draco smile gleefully to think of his final bluster of revulsion at their public display of affection before he fled from the pub. But these were his heartstrings that were being pulled and what stung afterwards was Harry walking away from him. He'd gone to the bar and brought another round of drinks but when he returned, he only sat next to Draco bodily: he barely spoke and his face was blank, no emotions showed. Harry toyed with his drink, barely drinking it, leaving it half-drunk when they eventually left the pub, then he'd walked ahead with Knowles and Wilson, his head bent as they battled through the thickly falling snow, seemingly chatting amiably to the two Aurors. As doubt hurtled towards him like an errant Bludger, he was beginning to wonder if it was all just a game for Harry after all.

The problem was what to do now. No further indication was given by either of them as to what they wanted to do going forward and Draco felt surprisingly uncomfortable at assuming it would be okay just to creep into Harry's bed as usual once everyone else had made their way to their own beds. Especially as Harry seemed to have shut down in front of him.

The past two weeks since they'd first started sharing a bed had been rather odd. The sexual tension between them had changed drastically. It was still highly charged but there was a new element of intimacy and calmness as they both waited for something to change.

Admittedly, the bed sharing was somewhat odd but it seemed to work. Draco knew that Harry was sleeping well now, he could see it now in the other man's face, in his eyes. Yes, Harry had hidden it well, but Draco was getting better at picking up the little details. There was a change too in Harry's demeanour. The traces of eyeliner were gone, he'd stolen one of Draco's jumpers which was slightly looser than the figure hugging t-shirts and, although he still trained, he wasn't showing it off. He just seemed more relaxed. He was more relaxed with Draco too, that was apparent on the mornings when they woke up spooning. It wasn't every day, sometimes they just slept peacefully side-by-side. But the spooning was happening more frequently, especially as the temperature had dropped considerably with the first winter snow. In fact, the past two nights, they'd fallen asleep with their cold feet tangled together as they tried to warm each other up. And Draco smiled that neither of them seemed to want to cast a simple warming charm.

Unsurprisingly, the spooning created a new problem for Draco and it was those mornings when he had to surreptitiously inch away from Harry without revealing a rather obvious reaction in the pyjama-bottom region, then he'd have to think of anything he could to get rid of his morning erection before he got out of bed, normally Umbridge in a frilly pink bikini and matching swimming cap worked. But the whole situation didn't help to the building ambiguity. But now 'the kiss' had seemed to change the dynamic again.

Back in the dorm, he went and got ready for bed as normal, albeit taking longer than usual, lingering over brushing his teeth and choosing which pyjamas to wear. He even allowed a small squirt of aftershave, just in case.

Draco hovered by the door in his room, deliberating whether or not to go to Harry's room. He had his hand on his door handle, wondering what to do and uncertain whether going to Harry's room was a good idea, whether he was even wanted or whether he was building his hopes up. Should he carry on as normal or had their relationship shifted into an unknown territory?

He looked down at Hermione's monstrous cat which had somehow made its way into his room again and was sitting next to him at the door as if waiting for him to open it. It looked up at Draco with those disconcerting orange eyes. He was sure it was raising its eyebrow again, it was something about the way its whiskers moved.

'What?' he hissed at the cat but it just stared at him unblinkingly and then went back to looking at the door balefully and occasionally whipping its long fluffy tail from side to side.