TBGC

Call It Love
Chapter Five

“Hey, Potter, care to help me peel my shrivel fig?” Harry jumped slightly at the familiar lighthearted drawl in his left ear, but forced himself not to reach for the wand next to him. In the past year and a half everyone in the castle seemed to have figured out that sneaking up on him wasn’t a good idea, he had a tendency to hex before looking, but Draco Malfoy, after having been blasted across the library a few months back, had made it very clear he enjoyed playing with fire and that it was actually a sort of turn on.

As a result Harry had become very good at listening to his surroundings no matter what he was doing. Despite the fact he had been rocking Evan, studying, and eating a quick dinner he had still heard Draco trying to sneak up on him. He rolled his eyes at the suggestive tone behind the comment and lulled his head back, careful not to shift the little one year old in his arms. “Sod off, Malfoy, that has got to be the most horrid line you’ve tried yet.”

Draco feigned indignity as he took the seat next to Harry and held his arms out for the baby, which was hastily handed over, “What, worse then ‘my snake has something it’d like to say to you?’”

Harry groaned as he remembered, but it was choked off by laughter. “No. No, I don’t think anything could ever beat the snake bit.”

Draco leaned back, holding the bundle securely in his arms as it shifted. “Just wait till you hear the next one.”

“You got a list, or something?”

“Not for you, Potter, but I did buy a chat up book and it’s brilliant.”

Harry chuckled somewhat, but eyed the baby nervously as it made ominous signs of waking. “The great Draco Malfoy is resorting to chat up books. Are you that hard up?”

Draco’s smirk faltered, but only for a moment, then he looked down at the opening grey eyes in his lap, “Well, hello, Evan, what are you doing up?” The baby made a soft cooing noise and reached out for Harry, falling asleep nearly the moment he was in his fathers’ arms. “He really is like a little leech, now isn’t he?”

Harry raised one eyebrow, “He’s driving me absolutely mad. Bad enough studying for both NEWTS and final exams, but he refuses to let me put him down.”

There was a long silence. Harry often complained to Draco about Evan’s clinginess. It was no secret, however, that he would be far more upset had it gone the other way. After nearly five minutes, Draco finally cleared his throat, “Harry?”

Harry looked up, shocked, Draco only ever used his given name when it was serious. “You all right? You sou... anxious.”

After a moment, the blonde frowned, “Well, I just. I wanted to tell you that I...” he blushed a slight pink, “really liked the party last night.”

Raising a quizzical eyebrow, Harry tried not to laugh, “You liked Evan’s birthday party? I thought you spent the entire thing complaining about your fear of clowns?”

“Yeah, but I...” Draco looked to the side, nervously and Harry shrugged. Whoever knew what went through a Malfoy’s head, “I really enjoyed talking to you...”

He trailed off again as Harry started laughing, “You talk with me all the time.” His smile dropped. “Malfoy, what’s wrong? You’re turning all shades of red.”

Draco stood up and took a deep breath, “I liked talking with you because I...” he took another deep steadying breath, “fancy you.”

For a moment the silence was absolutely deafening. Harry sat, seemingly glued to his seat, staring up at Draco who looked like a very ripe tomato. “You fancy me?” Draco nodded. “As in... fancy me? Like dating and... well, other things that go along with?”

Staring back, Harry could see Draco getting annoyed, but he wasn’t sure how he should react. The son of the man who had raped him was confessing he ‘fancied him.’ He wasn’t sure if he should be upset or flattered. Draco looked so much like his father and, at times, acted like him, too, but Harry was quite clear in that Draco was not Lucius, no matter the similarities. Still.

Shifting on his feet, Draco nodded, “Yes, dating and ‘other thing that go along with.’” Harry stood up, suddenly uncomfortable with the way Draco was towering over him, but he felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over him and gripped Evan tighter, trying to keep from falling over. The blonde reached forward, both steadying Harry and keeping a hand under the one year old, just in case.

Harry jerked back, but allowed Draco to take Evan. His head felt very light. He stared back, openly, at the boy in front of him. Evan had woken up from being jostled and although he did not seem pleased with the pass off he had cuddled deeper into his brother’s arms. It was so wrong, but Harry couldn’t exactly point out why.

Draco’s annoyance melted, and he smiled softly, almost too softly for his Malfoy features, “Harry, I’m not saying I want to start sleeping with you now, or anything, or even that we have to date. You don’t even have to like me. I just wanted you to know. Sometimes it seems like you purposefully stay away from other people, like you don’t think they could like you after what happened.”

Harry blanched further and decided sitting down was a good idea. Draco knelt down as well, in front of the chair, smirking, “It’s not true, you know, a lot of people still like you. I like you. I just happen to find you incredibly attractive, as well.”

Looking down into the familiar grey eyes of the other teen, Harry tried to put words together. “You... I... this isn’t... it’s not that I don’t find you attractive, too, but...”

“You find me attractive?”

There was a mischievous glint in his eye that reminded Harry of when they played Quiddittch and the soft smile turned into a devious smirk. “Yes, dammit, I’d be hard pressed not to, but I don’t think I’m exactly ready to... to fancy you back.”

Draco’s smirk broadened, “Oh, that’s fine. You don’t have to. Not just yet anyway.” He stood, looking down at the soundly sleeping baby in his arms. “You look knackered, why don’t I take him down to the dungeons and let Snape have a go for the night?”

Harry nodded slowly, waiting until the doors had closed behind Draco to start breathing again. Draco Malfoy fancied him and for some strange reason he couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off his face.

____________________

Consciousness was slowly returning to Harry, though he couldn’t yet recall having lost it in the first place. His cheek was pressed against something cold and hard, it felt like some sort of tile, or maybe marble. Suddenly remembering where he was, or, more particular, whose house he was in, he groaned softly. Marble, then.

He opened his eyes with difficulty, forcing them to focus. His glasses were in front of him, stems open as though they’d fallen off. That was right, they had. He’d heard them and vaguely recalled being momentarily worried before falling asleep. Or perhaps ‘passing out’ was a better term for it. Shifting slightly on the floor, in an effort to stop his hip digging further into the over hard surface, he gave a muffled cry of pain and held himself completely still.

The little sound seemed to echo through the room, as he breathed deeply, evenly, hoping the will away the burning, stabbing sensation running from his ass up his spine and down both legs. It had never hurt like that before. Not that he had much experience, but neither of the two times had left him so hard pressed to even move. After several minutes of breathing, he steeled himself from making sound and surged to his feet, only to have the blood rush to his head. The sudden dizziness mixed with excruciating pain caused him to fall to his knees, and he leaned over them, pressing his forehead against the marble. Great, his head hurt, too.

As he sat kneeling on the floor, the memory of his dream came back to him. Draco smiling that impish little smile and smirking and those stupid chat up lines he hadn’t stopped using, although he’d found himself repeating a few after so many years. Draco was dead. How could Harry have forgotten that? No, forgotten wasn’t the right word, it was just that Evan had come first. Evan always came first.

Now, though, it was fairly obvious that Lucius had no intentions of hurting Evan, which was good, as it gave Harry the time he needed to asses his situation, and bad, because the assessment inevitably led to thinking about Draco. He opened his eyes to stare at the floor blankly.

He’d spent the whole day planning how he would tell the young blonde that he wanted to try dating; he’d spent longer imagining his reaction. He would wait quietly in the library, as he often did, for Draco to find him. It wouldn’t take long. When he tried one of his lines, no matter which one, Harry would say something agreeable and watch the confusion play across the features. Then he’d get up and walk out, turning just long enough at the library door to say ‘Oh, and Draco? I think I just may fancy you, after all.’

Draco would give the half stunned, half hopeful look he always did when Harry so much as breathed praise in his direction. It was a fairly new development, over the last year, when he started pointing out things he liked.

‘Hey, you didn’t grease your hair back! I think I like it.’

‘Malfoy, watch yourself or you’ll get sunburnt.’ Malfoys don’t burn, Potter. ‘Good, cause I wouldn’t want you to ruin that perfect porcelain skin of yours.’ ...What’s that supposed to mean? Potter. Potter, get back here and answer me!

‘Not wearing your usual black robes of foreboding today?’ Stupid house elf didn’t get around to them. ‘It’s nice. The color brings out your eyes.’

Harry pressed his head harder into the cold surface. Gods, what was he going to tell his son? Draco was his big brother, possibly the only one Evan obeyed, because Merlin knew he didn’t obey his father. He looked up to his father, he emulated his father, he wanted to make his father happy, but all that was on the condition that he didn’t have to actually follow any of the rules Harry had set for him.

Of course, in retrospect, he now knew exactly how Snape felt; it was enough to make him want to wring the little boy’s neck sometimes. Not that he would. His famous short temper did not extend to Evan. He had been known to blow death eaters into tinier pieces than they could find for breathing loudly, but he didn’t have it in himself to so much as lecture his son properly. Draco had always found it amusing, he’d stand on the side lines with one of those perfectly shaped blonde eyebrows raised. Damn, he couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Finally forcing himself to stand, Harry gripped the table for support. He focused on the thought of taking a long, steaming hot bath. Not that the idea of getting naked in Lucius Malfoy’s bathroom did anything for him, but that healing soap did. Hobbling slowly down the hall, Harry concentrated on what Lucius had said earlier. If he was good, he’d at least get to see Evan again that day.

-tbc-

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