The Thunder in My Heart

Secret Santa

Harry sat at the end of the table with Hermione on one side and Draco on the other. Blaise was sitting next to her, his hand constantly finding hers at the table. The table was actually one of their sofas which Terry had transfigured and Hannah and Neville had decorated beautifully with swathes of mistletoe, ivy, and holly, interwoven with purple Shrivelfigs. Blaise and Draco provided several bottles of vintage red wine which they'd brought back from Hogsmeade the previous weekend and Motsy had delivered the ingredients for their menu that afternoon. Harry had been quite insistent that he wanted to cook steak for them all, that he'd been positively craving it for the past two weeks. They sat down together to devour Susan and Hannah's stuffed mushrooms with fennel and Stilton cheese for a first course.

'So, Harry, what's with the trousers?' Terry teased and Hermione saw Draco's jaw clench. It almost sounded as if Terry was trying to flirt and she could see Draco fighting back a scowl. She would have smirked at the scenario if she wasn't so worried about what had happened between them. To be frank, she wanted to slap Harry around the back of the head, but she supposed that wasn't done. She only hoped he'd got (and read) her note that she left for him earlier.

Harry shrugged at Terry's comment, non-committal, 'they're just a perfectly good pair of trousers and I fancied wearing them again.'

Hermione was watching him closely, concern etched across her face and she felt Blaise rest a comforting hand against the small of her back. She sank back against him, grateful that he always seemed to pick up those moments when she felt anxious about her bestfriend.

'And the bare feet?' Terry continued.

'I wasn't quite in the mood for my heeled boots,' he quipped.

She glanced at the eyeliner, slightly smudged beneath Harry's eyes and wondered what, exactly, he was in the mood for, he looked ready to go clubbing. Maybe that was his intention, that after this he was going to skip out of school and go partying. She saw Draco swallow deeply, like he was battling with a dry mouth. Jesus, he had it bad! But honestly, could Harry be any more oblivious at times? Did he want to play with Draco's heartstrings by crushing him with feigned indifference? He certainly looked like he'd intended to dress up to play tonight. The result was, she hated to admit, delicious. She didn't understand what he was hoping to achieve, she'd caught on pretty quickly that Draco had a bit of a thing for those boots, it was obvious from the way he kept staring at them during the ball. Was Harry hoping to tease him or be nonchalant about the whole situation between them? In which case, she was going to be having serious words with him. She sighed. Really, she knew the signs well enough to know he'd given up halfway through getting ready, he'd probably started to get dressed, planning to go out in a fit of pique and had rejected the idea before he'd got as far as putting his boots on. That was a far more likely reason why he wasn't wearing anything on his feet.

'I'll start on the steaks,' Harry muttered as Neville began to collect the plates up.

'There's a muggle saying about women in red shoes wearing no knickers,' Susan giggled as Harry got up. 'Is it the same for men with bare feet?'

Harry raised an eyebrow, 'you mean no shoes – no briefs?' His eyes twinkled briefly before the fire went out of them again. 'That's for me to know...'

Hermione watched Draco shift uncomfortably in his chair. She knew he was forsaken at that point, no matter what he'd said at lunchtime. For Draco, Harry was like an itch that needed scratching and she knew there was no way that he could walk away from him to save his vulnerable emotions.

As if proving her very thoughts, Draco arose quickly from his chair, saying, 'I'll help. What needs doing?'

She watched Harry study him, holding his gaze questioningly for slightly too long. At last she saw it, Harry was scared, he was scared he'd gone too far, too quickly. He was trying to hid it behind this image, the one she recognised from the summer before they had come back but it was clear the effort was half-hearted. Harry was in much torment as Draco.