In One's Shoes

The whisper of his name woke Harry up. “Yes?” he mumbled sleepily and turned around so that he was facing Draco who had his eyes closed. Then he heard it again.

“Harry….” It was more or less a moan.

Oh, he thought, his cock twitching and he considered the many ways he could wake Draco up but stopped himself. There was something adorable and erotic at once about a sleeping, sex dreaming Draco Malfoy.

“Mm, Potter, yes…”

“Oh for fuck’s sake” came Zabini’s voice from somewhere outside. The silencing charm must have worn off during the night. “If you’re going to wank over Potter, at least have the decency to put up a muffliato.”

“Mmm” Draco let out again and before Harry had time to react, the bed curtains were pulled apart and Zabini was staring down at them, annoyance turning to surprise as he noticed Harry.

“Potter?” he asked faintly. Surprise was probably the wrong word, Harry mused, shock would be a closer description to what was written on Zabini’s face.

He had been right, sleeping with Draco had pretty much erased every memory of Zabini’s hands on his body and he only felt a mild annoyance for the boy in front of him.

“Are you imperiused?”

“That is literally the most stupid thing I’ve ever heard” Harry replied, trying to keep his face straight. Draco stirred next to him and he put a protective arm around him. “Let Draco sleep, he’s had a busy night” he added, grinning.

Zabini turned on his heel and pulled the curtains shut in a motion that Harry assumed was the equivalent of door slamming.

“Did you say something, Harry?” Draco mumbled, his eyes blinking against the daylight.

“Nothing important” Harry said. “But since you are awake…” He shifted down the bed.

“What are you….Oh” he finished as Harry’s mouth found what it was searching for.

Somewhere on the other side of the curtains there was a furiously muttered spell that Harry recognized as a soundblocking one.  

*****

“Potter, are you sure about this?” He couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Yes, and don’t call me Potter.”

Draco sighed. “Fine, Harry. I don’t get it, the other day you were anxious about anyone finding out you were gay and now you want to walk around the castle holding hands with me? You do remember who I am right? Male, ex death eater attempting to murder Dumbledore and all that.”

“Mm, that’s the one I want” Harry said nuzzling his neck. “I suppose it’s different when I have someone to be gay with. When the attention is about something good.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “People are not going to think of this as something good.”

“Ron and Hermione might” Harry said. “And Pansy.”

“Pansy will be thrilled” Draco muttered. “And really fucking annoying.”

Harry shrugged. “I like Pansy. Besides, Zabini has probably told everyone he saw us naked in bed by now anyway.”

Draco stopped in his movements. “Blaise saw us?”

Harry eyed him, a shadow dawning over his face. “Yeah, I should have said…do you still want…?”

 “No, absolutely not.” Draco put his arms around him. He was done with Blaise Zabini for all eternity.

He released Harry a moment later, checking that his tie was properly done. “I suppose I’m ready, or at least as ready as I’ll ever be.” He scrutinized Harry. “Your hair is a mess, as always.”

Harry smiled. “Yours looks good.”

“Of course it does.” He placed his hand on the door handle, the other one clasping Harry’s tightly and took a deep breath, steeling himself for what awaited on the other side.

As they stepped into the common room, every pair of eyes turned in their direction and judging by the astonished looks they received, Harry had been wrong, Blaise hadn’t told anyone.

Pansy actually clasped her hand over her mouth and looked very much like she was biting back on a scream, either of delight or surprise. Goyle appeared confused beyond his general expression, he did however give Draco a tentative smile that he returned. The only one not paying attention to them was Blaise who took great care to keep his eyes on his book.

After a few moments of silence where he couldn’t decide if the tingling feeling in his stomach was one of triumph, shame or something else, he pulled Harry by the hand. “Come on, let’s go to breakfast” he said, trying to sound casual.

“Sure, babe” Harry said, grinning.

Draco elbowed him in the ribs. “Do not call me babe, Malfoys are not called babes” he hissed, amused and mortified at once.

“That wasn’t too bad” Harry said as the door shut behind them and they were alone in the corridor.

“It was totally bad” Draco disagreed.

“At least no one hexed us.”

“You wait for it. It was only Slytherins, we don’t hex each other. And no one is going to hex you.”

There weren’t many students in this part of the castle at this hour, but the few they passed turned their heads, staring at them openmouthed and then began whispering among themselves. Word was going to travel fast on this one.

As they walked on, they ran into more people and the whispers turned into a buzz. No one was trying to curse him but there were some loud speculations about Harry being imperiused. “Sod off” Harry said unbothered, giving his hand a light squeeze.

“What?” he asked as Draco raised his eyebrows at him.

Entering the great hall was about as unbearable as he’d expected. Apart from a few daily hexes, most people had gone from calling him a death eater to treating him like he was invisible as the term progressed but holding hands with Harry had put him right in the spotlight again.

“Just ignore it” Harry whispered into his ear and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Draco remained standing, staring at him.

“I’m not sitting here” he said through gritted teeth.

“Trust me, it’s the best option. If I sit at Slytherin, everyone will keep thinking I’m imperiused.”

“I thought we were ignoring that” Draco muttered but did slide down in the chair next to Harry’s, barely able to resist casting a disillusionment charm over himself to escape the stares of the Gryffindors who were either looking at him with open contempt or disbelief. The exception was Ginny Weasley who stared at him with her mouth hanging slightly open for three seconds and then went into a fit of giggles which he didn’t know how to interpret.

A minute later Granger and Weasley joined them, making things possibly more awkward.

“Hello Draco” Granger said, giving him a tentative smile.

“Er..hi” he said, wanting to sink through the floor.

“Malfoy” Ron muttered, not sounding thrilled to see him but neither surprised.

They did at least block him from view a bit.

“Have you finish the arithmancy essay?” Hermione asked him and he grasped onto the subject like a lifeline.

“I’m still working on the conclusion. I wouldn’t mind hearing your thoughts on Wenlock’s algorithm.”

It turned out to be the right thing to say. Granger leaped at the subject with the same enthusiasm that Weasley attacked his plate of eggs and sausages. He assumed the company she usually kept didn’t offer much intellectual stimulation. Having stared at her notes a few days ago gave him an advantage too and soon they were deep in conversation. It fascinated him to the level that he was almost able to block out the calls of death eater scum and some Ravenclaw loudly speculating on whether Draco had forced a love potion down Harry’s throat.

“I’ll tell you what he put down my throat this morning if you don’t shut up” Harry muttered under his breath.

“Did not need to know that one, mate” Weasley said, looking slightly sick, pushing the plate of sausages away.

*****

Harry was used to being stared at and being stared at for being together with Draco Malfoy wasn’t all that different yet getting out of the castle made for a welcome break.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea” Draco said and stopped as the Hog’s Head came into view. “Last time we were here didn’t exactly end well, if you remember.”

Harry smiled and pulled him by the hand. “We’re just getting a pint. And aren’t you curious to find out what all this has been about?”

“Haven’t you ever heard the expression don’t poke a sleeping dragon?” Draco muttered, but he did trail along with Harry. “It means you should let the dragon sleep and carefully back out of the room, not climb onto its back and have it charge through the roof and fly all over London. You know that made it into the muggle news, right?”

“Really?” Harry asked mildly interested, listening to Draco trying to chat away his nervousness.

“Yes, normally the ministry would have sent out aurors to cover up, but everyone was sort of busy fighting a war at the time, as you might recall. I heard there was a blurry picture of it in their paper, though it was explained to be an edited photograph and the people claiming to have seen it were depicted as lunatics so they pretty much covered it up themselves. Lucky you right? Not that anyone would have charged the boy who lived for breaking the statue of secrecy the day after he finished off the dark lord, but still..”

Draco’s rant lasted until they found themselves in front of the pub. Harry felt a trickle of nerves as he pushed the door open and scanned the area. It was nearly empty as always and he didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed that the hag was nowhere to be seen.

“So you two are getting on then?” Aberforth placed two bottles of butterbeer in front of them.

Harry nodded, squeezing Draco’s knee under the table, knowing he wouldn’t be comfortable around Aberforth any time soon.

“Guess I owe Lucille a few galleons then” he muttered, shaking his head.

“What?” Harry asked, nearly choking on his drink and even Draco had abandoned fiddling with his nails and eyed Aberforth with interest.

He peered down at them, something close to a smile playing on his lips, except Aberforth never really smiled. “I’ve seen you lads coming in here since the start of term, looking equally miserable and I told dear Lucille that those two should get it together. She said she knew just the spell, although I told her you can’t spell people into being friends. I bet you, Abe, she said and here we are. All this week’s profit lost.”

“Told you it was about galleons” Draco muttered under his breath.

Harry elbowed him in the ribs. “You knew she was going to put that spell on us?” he asked faintly.

Aberforth shrugged. “Didn’t know what she was planning, but she filled me in the other day. Did explain why you two were behaving oddly the last time you were here.” He shook his head and the almost-smile was there again. “Apparently nothing gets people together as having them walk in one another’s shoes for a week.”

“She said we would get stuck like that forever if we told anyone” Harry said exasperated and it was Draco’s turn to elbow him.

“It’s not telling if he already knows” Harry hissed, though he held his breath for a few seconds. Nothing happened, the hand clutching his pint was still his own.

Aberforth snorted. “A downright lie, I’d say. Lucille can be dramatic but she wouldn’t do that. Probably could if she’d wanted to though.” He turned and waved his hand to have two plates of cake soaring towards them, landing on the table in front of them. “On the house, for your troubles.” Then he turned and headed back to the bar, leaving him and Draco to themselves.

Draco stared at his cake with suspicion, it didn’t look any more appetizing than last time, but Harry dug into his and found out it tasted as good as he remembered. After watching him, Draco took a careful bite.

“See, you can get cake on the house too” Harry told him.

“If it means I have to wear your hair for a week, I think I’ll pass next time” he muttered, but cleared his plate without further complaint.

“This means we could tell people what happened if we wanted to” Harry said when they were on their second butterbeers.

Draco nodded slowly, appearing to mull it over. “I kind of like Granger thinking I’ve apologized to her though” he said after a while. “This way I don’t have to do it again myself. And I’m happy with Greg believing it was us having that talk.” He grinned at Harry. “Pansy would probably have a fit if she knew she’d been kissed by you, not to mention how smug Blaise would be if he knew he had…”

“Yeah, I would be really happy if he never found out” Harry interrupted him loudly. “Or if we never talked about that again.”

Draco chuckled and bumped his knee into Harry’s under the table, “deal”.

“You and Ron kind of get along now” Harry mused.

“That’s a bit of a stretch” Draco muttered, possibly thinking of Ron calling him ferret-face this morning after a long debate on quidditch.

“Yeah, well if you didn’t keep insulting his favorite team” Harry suggested.

“I wasn’t insulting anyone, I was merely speaking the truth. The cannons suck and you know it, Potter. Now he on the other hand…”

“Point is, I don’t think he’d be happy if he knew you’d been pretending to be me for a week” Harry interrupted him, thinking of all the things Draco had said to him and his friends over the years and that he should probably be happy Ron hadn’t chosen to call him anything worse than a rather cute pet name. Perhaps Draco knew it too because he didn’t object but kept scolding in silence.

“Not to mention how Ginny would react, she would probably hex all of our eyes black” Harry went on.

Draco shuddered at the idea. “Yeah, and she’d make it last a month this time.” He clinked his bottle against Harry’s. “Agreed, we don’t tell anyone.”

Harry clinked his back and feeling brave, he smiled at Draco. “At least not within the next year or so. It’s quite a good anecdote for our wedding reception though.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Merlin, Potter, don’t get ahead of yourself, we’ve been together three days. You’re suffocating me.” But when he stared down his butterbeer, Harry could tell there was a hint of a smile playing on his lips, probably not noticeable to anyone who didn’t know Draco Malfoy’s facial expressions very well.