After Draco and Narcissa had come back from Grimmauld Place, Harry hurriedly made his excuses and left. Draco looked crestfallen as he departed, but understood that being under his mother's constant scrutiny was a little unnerving.
"I'll come by later," he promised, leaning in close to Harry before seeing him off at the fireplace.
Harry smiled and touched Draco's elbow. "I'd like that. I'll see you tonight."
The rest of the evening was rather sedate, with Draco and his mother going through the final arrangements for the funeral that was scheduled to take place the next morning. Come ten o'clock in the evening, however, he couldn't help but keep glancing at his watch every few minutes. Sensing how distracted he was, Narcissa sighed and lowered her papers.
"Just go, Draco," she implored.
Draco hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, everything is in order for tomorrow. Just be back in plenty of time to leave."
Draco kissed her goodbye on the cheek and bounced towards the fireplace and out of sight. She watched her son go with mixed feelings. Andromeda opened one of the kitchen cupboards and pulled out an unopened bottle of wine.
"Another drink?" she asked.
"No," she replied. "I need a proper drink."
Andromeda smirked, put the wine back in the cupboard and pulled out a large bottle of Firewhisky. She placed two glass tumblers on the kitchen table, poured out a drink for herself and passed one along to her sister.
"Thank you," Narcissa took a large gulp of the amber liquid without wincing. "Of all the possible outcomes of my life, I never thought this would be it."
"What, sitting in my kitchen having a drink and a friendly chat?" asked Andromeda lightly.
"Widowed and penniless sitting in my disinherited sister's hokey little kitchen having a drink and a friendly chat," she replied silkily. "No, this was the furthest thing I had in mind."
"Well, life has a funny way of pulling the rug out from under you when you least expect it," Andromeda was used to her sister's barbed comments— expected them even. In a strange way she had missed their sparring sessions. "Things could be a lot worse."
Narcissa drew Andromeda a withering look. "How?"
"You could be in Azkaban," she pointed out. "You could be dead. Or worse."
"Not much worse then."
Andromeda rolled her eyes. "I know you well enough to know that's not what's bothering you."
"You don't know anything about me," she muttered.
"So I'd be wrong in thinking that your foulness has nothing to do with Draco and Harry?" asked Andromeda. Narcissa pursed her lips and said nothing. Andromeda sneered into her drink, "Thought as much."
"This isn't a joke."
"No, it's not," said Andromeda flatly. "And your behaviour towards Harry this evening was shameful. He's a guest in my house and you treated him like one of your house elves."
"That boy," hissed Narcissa. "Is dangerous. Trouble follows him wherever he goes. And you allow him to sit here, with my son and your grandson, blind to the danger he poses to everyone around him. Haven't you lost enough already because of him?"
"Don't you dare," snarled Andromeda. "That boy saved us all from a fate worse than death. You only have yourself and You-Know-Who to blame for your current state of misery."
"I accept that I bear some responsibility for my family's current hardships," she admitted. "I still don't want Draco getting dragged into the circus performance that is that boy's life."
"Well that's not up to you, is it? Draco is a grown man. He's free to be with and love whomever he chooses, regardless of what you think."
"Love," scoffed Narcissa. "This is little more than a passing infatuation for them both. One of them will end up getting hurt, no second guesses who."
Andromeda laughed. "You're one to talk!"
"What do you mean?" blanched Narcissa.
"You were the one who married a Death Eater at the height of the war. You talk about trouble following Harry? You marched right into a world of trouble head first."
"You have no right to speak about my husband—" began Narcissa, but Andromeda raised her voice.
"I have every right! We fought on opposite sides in both wars and what good did it do? We're both widowed, my grandson's an orphan, Bella's dead, and you lost everything. And for what? What was the point of it all?" Narcissa lowered her eyes and said nothing. When Andromeda spoke again it was more softly. "Tell me, why did you marry Lucius? Despite the politics and the danger and all the other nonsense, why did you still marry him?"
"Because I loved him," she replied simply.
"Exactly," said Andromeda. "Despite everything, you loved each other. So why should it be any different with Draco and Harry?"
"Because he's my son!" cried Narcissa, her voice strained. " My son. I don't care what anyone else does, he's my boy. I can't bear the thought of losing him."
Narcissa's eyes brimmed with tears. She quickly got to her feet and turned away from Andromeda, shielding her face and her moment of weakness from her sister. "I've already lost Lucius. If I lost Draco, too..."
"I had the same argument with Dora the night she died," Andromeda confided quietly. "I'd already lost Ted, I told her that if I lost her too, I wouldn't be able to go on. But she insisted that she go and fight to be alongside Remus. There's a part of myself that I will never forgive for being unable to convince her to stay away, but I knew there was no changing her mind when it was already set. When you're in love, you do brave and often stupid things. I know you're frightened, Cissy, but there is nothing to be done. Even if you're right and this all ends in tears, Draco needs to make these choices on his own."
"He'll always have my support," said Narcissa. "I just wish he knew when to avoid trouble."
"Unfortunately, he seems to have taken after his mother, in that respect."
Narcissa paced the room and her eyes fell on a book sitting on top of the counter. She picked up the book, opened it to the front page, and found an inscription inside:
To D, Saw this and thought of you. H xx
Narcissa felt her stomach twist as she read the message again, the scrawled handwriting which Harry had taken extra effort to make legible, Saw this and thought of you . She snapped the book shut.
"They really think they love each other," she said shaking her head in disbelief. "They're too young to know what they want."
"You were already married by their age, Cissy," Andromeda pointed out. "So was I. Maybe they think they love each other because they really do."
Narcissa's eyes widened like she was hearing these words and only really understanding their meaning for the first time. "They do?"
"They do," nodded Andromeda with a small smile. She sighed and topped up her sister's tumbler with more firewhisky. "Yes, I know. It's hard to hear— your child is in love. It's rather frightening, isn't it?"
"Quite," said Narcissa weakly, slumping into her seat. Love. It was much worse than she had feared.
***
"So Andromeda already knew?" asked Harry.
"Apparently so," said Draco. "She said it was pretty obvious that I hadn't slept in my own bed for a while."
Draco lay sprawled on Harry's bed absentmindedly playing with Harry's hair, who had his head resting on Draco's chest.
"Well at least I don't have to sneak out of the house at the dead of night to come and see you anymore," he continued. "And I point blank refuse to spend another night sleeping on that ghastly fold-out couch in the living room while Mother's visiting. It kills my back."
"I didn't think we were that obvious," Harry mumbled. "Well, I trust your mum and Andy not to say anything. At least no one else knows yet."
Draco's hand paused in Harry's hair. Harry rested his chin on Draco's chest and looked at him, eyes narrowed. "No one else knows, do they?"
"Well...Granger might know something's up," Draco hedged.
Harry's eyes widened. "What? Since when?"
"Since the day she saw me prancing nude about your house," Draco retorted smoothly. "She asked me about it, but I played dumb and said I didn't know what she was talking about. I don't think she believed me, though."
Harry groaned and flopped his face onto Draco's chest. "If she knows, then so does Ron."
"Well, I haven't seen anything in the paper about it, so I'm going to assume they've kept their mouths shut."
"I wasn't worried about that. I know they wouldn't say anything to anyone. It's just...I don't keep many secrets from them. If they know I've been lying to them about this..."
"You haven't been lying," Draco assured him. "You've just not told them yet. We both agreed that we wanted some time to ourselves to figure out what this was. You're entitled to some bloody privacy."
Harry sighed. "I know."
"So...have we thought about what this is?" asked Draco carefully. He was trying to sound casual, but Harry could feel Draco's heart racing in his chest.
"Well," said Harry glancing up at Draco. "I've met your mother now."
"You already knew my mother," he pointed out.
"Yes, but that was the first I'd met her since we..."
Draco laughed at the devilish grin that spread across Harry's face. "When you look at me like that it's difficult to concentrate on having a serious conversation."
"Sorry," Harry covered Draco's eyes with his palm. "There. Does that help?"
"No," he smiled. "This just makes me think that you're up to something."
"Maybe I am," Harry shifted a little and tentatively sucked on Draco's right nipple.
Draco shivered and moaned. "You're a tease."
"You love it," Harry grabbed his wand from the bedside table and performed a wordless summoning charm. The top drawer of his dresser slid open and Harry's old school tie flew through the air and landed on Draco's chest.
"What's that?" he asked curiously.
"Nothing to worry about," Harry assured him. "When I move my hand away keep your eyes closed."
"Okay," Draco consented slowly, intrigued. Harry sat his wand back on the bedside table and carefully fastened the tie over Draco's eyes. Draco's grin was so broad he looked giddy with excitement. "I like where this is going."
Harry laughed. "I haven't even done anything yet."
Draco couldn't help himself. There was something about lying there entirely at Harry's disposal that caused little tremors of anticipation to run down his spine. Harry seemed to sense his nervous, excited tension and gently kissed his lips, softly stroking his hair to settle his nerves.
"I promise I won't hurt you. Do you trust me?"
"Yes," breathed Drac, his voice barely above a whisper. "I trust you."
Harry's fingers ran over Draco's lips, drifting down across his chest, teasing at one nipple, tightening a thumb and forefinger in a slight pinch and twist, tugging it out until Draco arched his back and keened with pleasure, then softly traced his lips over the erect nub. Each movement was a slow and tantalizing nipping of taut skin followed by feather-soft kisses. Harry's mouth traced the edge of Draco's stomach, his velvet tongue and sharp-edged tooth gently biting at the skin just below the hip bone, just enough to make Draco gasp and thrust at the air but not enough to cause any discomfort. Harry didn't want to hurt Draco, he wanted to worship every inch of this man. Harry teased Draco relentlessly with soft strokes and licks and kisses, paying special attention to everywhere but Draco's throbbing cock. Draco hung there quivering, his hips making tiny useless thrusts begging for Harry's attention but receiving none. He was achingly hard now, arched and trembling, begging, "please, please, please" for the first stroke.
Suddenly, Harry broke all contact and Draco felt the bed shift. What was this?
"Get on your knees," commanded Harry, his voice low and husky.
An involuntary groan escaped Draco's lips as he obeyed Harry, his thighs shaking so badly with arousal he was struggling to stay upright.
"Spread your knees further apart."
Harry's voice was closer now that Draco could feel his breath tickling his ear. Again, Draco obeyed, edging his knees further apart and opening himself up even more. The thrill of being in such an exposed position while blindfolded was incredibly arousing. Harry took a moment to marvel at the sight before him— Draco's spread thighs shivering, his mouth slack and panting. Harry felt a hot rush of power and he thought, I did that . Harry could make calm, collected Draco moan and writhe with pleasure with the slightest touch.
Draco shivered involuntarily in surprise as he felt Harry touch him from behind, pressing the full length of his body against Draco's back. Draco felt Harry's erection slip between his legs, grazing his arse cheeks and balls. Harry brushed sweat-damped strands of hair away from Draco's face before resting his chin on Draco's shoulder.
"You look fucking gorgeous like this," Harry crooned.
Draco's breaths quickened and Harry snaked one hand around his waist, the other up his chest and gently cradled Draco's long neck in his hand. Draco was panting hard as he felt the heat of Harry's body radiating against his own bare skin.
Harry leaned closer and whispered, "Touch yourself."
Draco groaned, took a firm grip of his aching erection and began pumping feverishly.
"Slower," commanded Harry. "That's it. Fuck yourself with your hand while I watch. You like it when I watch, don't you?"
"Yes," hissed Draco, jerking his hips forward into his tight fist.
Draco was totally lost in the sensation of it all— Harry's cock rutting against his arse to the same rhythm that he was thrusting his hips forward, their rasping breaths filling the spaces between the sounds of flesh against flesh. Draco wasn't going to last much longer if they kept this up. He placed his hand on top of Harry's, the one gripping his hip, and Harry laced their fingers together. Harry nudged Draco's chin up and kissed him hard on the mouth. Draco groaned into the kiss as his orgasm tore through him, writhing and shaking back against Harry. Draco was falling apart under Harry's grasp, sounding mindless and euphoric as he thrust and moaned and panted until he fell back on the hinds of his legs, pressing hard against Harry's throbbing erection. Moments later Draco felt Harry follow suit, the pulse of his release slicking his arse cheeks with cum. Draco collapsed forward onto his hands and knees panting hard, Harry leaning over him hugging his midriff and resting his head on Draco's back.
"Wow," Draco gasped breathlessly.
"Uhuh..." Harry slurred, still unable to form coherent words.
Draco pulled off the blindfold and stared at the tie before tossing it over his shoulder. "I should have known. Bloody Gryffindor colours."
Harry laughed and collapsed back onto the bed/ "Next time you can do it to me with a Slytherin tie if you like."
Draco chuckled. "You're on."
Draco sat back on his legs and brushed his damp hair out of his face. Harry's chest gave a pleasant ache at the sight before him. Draco's smooth, pale skin was glistening with sweat, his head thrown back with that post-orgasmic smile— a regal beauty, his debauched angel —he really was fucking gorgeous. Draco jumped off of the bed and strutted across the bedroom towards the door wiggling his arse at Harry as he walked.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"For a shower," Draco called over his shoulder. "Aren't you coming?"
Harry grinned broadly and quickly climbed out of bed, following close behind Draco.