Evermore

Chapter Six: I Close My Eyes, But He's Still There

Draco hesitated for a moment, using every last ounce of his concentration, before the chains snapped off and he and Neville tumbled to the ground. Immediately, he was on his feet, and dragged Neville by the collar towards him, and their lips met. He tasted the taller Gryffindor and, before he could stop himself, a moan had escaped his lips at the notion of how long it had been since they'd done this. "No," he whispered, and he could feel Neville's heartbeat against his own. "I don't think it's a curse for being who I am, or wanting who I want."

Neville blinked. "You... You actually...?"

"Don't make me repeat it...Neville," he whispered, and Neville felt himself tremble at the notion that his lover was whispering his first name. "You have to know that none of this, with Pansy... I won't have it. I can't marry her."

Neville blinked. "But your father..."

"I don't care what he dictates to me," Draco said, his tone firm, and he let out a small gasp as Neville wrapped his arm around him. "I may have entered into an engagement contract with Pansy, but it cannot be kept, for my heart was not in it."

Neville slowly smiled. "I knew you had one of those."

"Piss off," Draco said, but a massive smile played at his lips as he slammed Neville up against the opposite wall and dragged him back down to meet his lips.

. . .

Harry, Ron, and Hermione sipped their morning cups of tea, while Harry occasionally stared into the hearth, thinking of Severus. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he set down his half-finished cup and slipped out of the tent, wandering around the area they'd covered with protective enchantments, and breathed. The cool morning air seemed to calm him somewhat, although the familiar ache of missing his lover never seemed to leave him completely. The term had started at Hogwarts the day before and, had things been different, Harry would have joined the rest of his classmates in their education. However, had things been so different that Lord Voldemort would have never gone down the path he did, Harry believed that he and Severus wouldn't have found each other to begin with.

Taking his mind off from the slippery slope, Harry returned to the tent, seeing Ron and Hermione just finishing their own cups of tea, and talking softly about nothing in particular. It had been this way since they'd arrived in the forest nearly three weeks before; it was as if the pair were constantly walking on eggshells around him, and that they feared one false word would send him over the edge. Harry crossed the tent and sat in the vacant chair beside them, and his two best friends simultaneously turned to look at him, their eyes wide.

"I want to go see Lovegood today," Harry said softly.

Hermione nodded, while Ron spelled more tea into his mug. "I think that's an excellent idea, Harry," she replied, her tone still soft. "We need answers that only he can give."

"Maybe there will be some halfway-decent cooking there, too," Ron muttered, and he cried out as Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

"Honestly, Ronald, you need to figure out times and places for appropriate remarks," she muttered as she flitted around the tent, gathering everything they needed before spelling the entire tent into her bag, and the three of them were left standing on the forest floor. "Well, then, I suppose we should set off for Devon. Ron, I know it will be difficult since we're so close to the Burrow, but we mustn't call attention to ourselves."

Ron nodded, still rubbing the part of his ribs where Hermione had elbowed him. "Blimey, Hermione, was there a rock in your arm?"

Hermione smirked to herself for a moment as she turned to Harry. "Okay? Shall we set off for Ottery St. Catchpole now? You haven't forgotten anything?"