Fic: The Melody of Life, HP/Panik, Harry/Draco, Timo/David, R
Title: The Melody of Life
Author: Beren
Fandom: Harry Potter/Panik
Pairing: Harry/Draco (est. rel.), Timo/David (pre-slash)
Rating: R (for sexual situations and bad language)
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This work also contains real people and they are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: EWE
Summary: Harry and Draco have decided to take a holiday to Europe to get away from the UK press and their hectic lives. However, that doesn't mean Draco can understand why Harry has dragged him to what Harry has the audacity to call a concert, not until he hears a young man called David Bonk play.
Author's Notes: Written for lirren in the charity vgift meme thingy (go check it out). Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: 6,604
My Fanfic Listings (LJ) | My Fanfic Listings (DreamW)
Harry said he was sulking, but Draco was simply being discerning. Whatever had possessed his boyfriend to think he would be interested in tacky Muggle bands in a draughty warehouse needed exorcising. At least he understood the lyrics, which clearly Harry didn't, what with them being in German.
It was their first holiday together as a couple and Draco was definitely not enjoying himself. They couldn't have stayed in Britain thanks to their combined notoriety, so they were touring around Europe for a while. When Britain's number one Auror and number one magical defence council had come out and 'set up house together' (as the front page of the Prophet had put it) every gossip columnist in the UK had practically died of joy overload. They were known as the relationship made in hell by some, but they had some simple rules so their work did not affect their private life. Draco simply never represented any defendants Harry had had anything to do with arresting. It was pointless anyway; Harry always nailed the guilty ones.
Unfortunately, as he saw it now, Draco had agreed to let Harry plan the first half of the holiday while he did the second half. Not only had Harry checked them into a Muggle hotel of all things (Draco did not know what his lover had been thinking, it was five star, but still ...), but Harry had jumped at the chance to see one of the bands he had found on the strange box he insisted they have in the study. Harry called it the Interwebs or something like that. It always made Draco think of a million spiders doing insane things.
The band, whose name Draco refused to remember, were playing at some run down gig with a whole bunch of other bands he didn't want to listen to either. He had no idea why Harry was so interested in a German band. Draco spoke French, German and Italian to a high level, thanks to his father believing they were the languages of diplomacy, but Harry only spoke passable German. Actually, finding out Harry spoke any German had been a bit of a shock; Harry had never made out he was the academic type. In the end Draco had managed to weedle the truth out of his lover and found out that Harry had needed the language for a case he was on, so had decided to learn it. It had been one of those moments where Draco had realised he had been underestimating Harry again and had made a mental note to educate Harry some more when they had time.
"Can we leave yet?" Draco asked petulantly as the strains of the latest song died down.
What made it worse was they were mostly surrounded by screaming teenagers. He had never been a screaming teenager and he disliked them as much now as he had when he had at least been the right age.
"No," Harry said and grinned at him unrepentantly.
Sometimes Harry really was insufferable.
Draco folded his arms and glared at the stage, at which point he realised something was going on. The man with the mike had moved to the side of the stage and the one with the keyboard had taken centre stage. This seemed to be a good thing according to the crowd if the screaming was anything to go by.
"This is something I composed last year," the young man with the messy black hair said and gave the crowd a toothy, joyful smile.
A snort of derision was Draco's only reaction: 'composed' as if anyone in the place knew what that really meant. He had no doubt it was going to be some artificial drivel and he just hoped his eardrums would survive. When they were in Paris, Draco was going to take Harry to listen to some real music.
When the sound of a piano came out of the keyboard, rather than what had spewed forth from it before, he was surprised. He didn't bother to hide his shock when notes floated across the now silent arena; notes that were neither predictable, nor grating. Even the fact that his mouth was undoubtedly open in astonishment could not distract him as he looked up and watched the young man's hands dance over the keyboard. If there was one thing Draco had come to learn over the last few years it was when he was in the presence of genius.
Genius came in many forms and he had seen it in Harry in the way his lover applied himself to protecting those he cared about from the dark. He had seen it in a more usual form in Granger, now Weasley, and, heaven help him, he had even seen it in Weasley in the way Ron could form a strategy from nothing. Now he was in the presence of genius once more, this time of the musical kind.
The notes were not just played and heard, they were pulled from the keyboard with form and Draco could feel them as they filled the venue. He had heard many virtuosos play; his parents had taken him to see the best of the best, but he had never heard anything quite like what he was hearing at that moment. There was life in the music and it was captivating. He just stood there enrapt until the notes finally died away. As the music stopped there was complete silence with barely the sound of breathing and then the crowd exploded in a roar of approval. Draco didn't even feel shame as he joined in, yelling his approval and jumping up and down just like everyone else. Only when he realised Harry was watching him and looking smug did he remember himself.
"I knew you'd like him," Harry said in a way that suggested the pain of the entire experience had been leading to this moment. "His name's David, his friend is Timo and they'll be coming off stage in a few minutes; come on."
For once Draco didn't argue when Harry took his arm and steered him in the general direction of the door.
"Why does he spend his time making such a noise when he can make such beautiful music?" he asked when they stepped outside.
"Some of us like that noise," Harry said with a fond smile, "and so does he, so I suggest you don't put it quite like that when you meet him."
Draco was usually liberal with his opinion to others, but for once Harry had a point. Anyone who could make music like that deserved respect even if they were clearly insane about other things. Genius was always said to be close to madness after all; geniuses were supposed to be eccentric.
"Meet him?" Draco said as he focused on the important part of the conversation.
"We're having dinner," Harry said with a smile; "Timo's mum is a squib and although he and his sister have magic, they live mostly in the Muggle world, but not enough so Timo didn't recognise my name when I emailed him. We're pretending to be family friends, because David doesn't know about magic, but Timo was more than happy to let us take them to eat."
Maybe Harry wasn't quite so bad at planning the holiday as Draco had thought; this had promise. Of course Draco was not going to tell his lover that, not just yet, and he followed as Harry dragged him round the back of the building. There was a group of mostly girls hanging around the two young men they were after and Draco came to a halt next to Harry as they just watched. David was smiling brightly and chatting and signing things and Draco could see innocence in that smile, but it was tempered with something else in the young man's expressive eyes. He knew what he was looking at too, he had seen it too many times: it was betrayal.
"What happened to them?" he asked quietly, finding himself more interested than a few minutes of music really warranted.
"They used to be quite famous," Harry explained with a sad little smile, "and there were six of them then. Their management took the money and ran and then they tried for a while, but it was just too much for the band. David and Timo are all that's left."
Draco had seen enough betrayal in his life that he felt for the pair, even if it wasn't quite life and death. The way the pair handled their fan's however, was very telling; they clearly appreciated them. Draco still didn't like most of the band's music, but he was willing to overlook that.
"Timo," Harry greeted with a wave as the pair of musicians left the gaggle of girls.
For a moment Draco was pretty sure Timo had no idea who they were, but then recognition hit and Timo smiled and waved back.
"Harry, hello," Timo said, dragging David towards them. "David, this is Harry and Draco, remember I mentioned them?"
Clearly David did, because that beaming smile was now turned on them and Draco was immediately taken by it.
"We were at the back during the performance," Harry said, smiling back in a way that Draco knew was completely genuine; "brilliant, absolutely brilliant."
Draco didn't really agree, not about all of it, but he had learned to hold his tongue since being a child and he could be polite when he wanted to.
"Your playing was amazing," he added his own opinion; "I have never heard anything like it."
David's smile became even wider, if that was actually physically possible and, if Draco was any judge, Timo seemed to enjoy the praise of his friend as much as David did.
"Did I spot some Mozart influences in the middle there?" Draco continued, unable to help himself.
It appeared that surprised David, clearly the poor boy was not used to people who understood his art.
"David, we have to get our stuff stowed before you can talk shop," Timo said with a laugh and Draco was a little put out.
"I'll help," Harry said and Draco remembered why he loved the Gryffindor; "if we interrupt them now they might both pout." He also remembered why he didn't always love him.
"Potter," he said in an acid tone, "I do not pout."
Harry just grinned back. Sooner or later he was going to have to teach his lover a lesson in manners; he suspected orgasm denial would work best. Harry responded well to physical stimuli.
"I know that look," Timo said as David appeared to be about to protest the new arrangement, "don't worry we won't be long."
"Don't get lost," was all David said and then Draco found himself alone with his new favourite musician.
He had so many questions and David looked just as excited to be talking.
====
To say that he was happy would have been understating Harry's mood. He had known from the get go that Draco would not like Panik's music on principle, but he had been absolutely sure his boyfriend would love David's playing. It had been quite difficult to arrange everything so dates matched up, but it had been worth the effort. So far he had spent most of dinner watching Draco and David going into raptures about music and composers he had never heard of. He and Timo had swapped the odd resigned glance as they both failed to get a word in edgeways.
"Right," Harry finally broke in, "time to go."
Draco turned to him and blinked.
"But we're talking," the blond Slytherin said as if affronted.
"And it's half past midnight and the restaurant wants to close," Harry pointed out with a laugh. "We can take the talking back to the hotel if you two want to."
It was very sweet how David looked at Timo to find out if Harry was telling the truth. The fact was Harry had settled the bill about an hour previously, but David and Draco hadn't seemed to notice.
"Where are you staying?" Timo asked as they all finally stood up from the table.
Draco rattled off the name of their hotel before Harry had a chance and Harry saw Timo's eyes grow a little. It was a very expensive hotel.
"That's in the other direction to ours," David said a little mournfully.
It was quite clear David was having as much fun with someone to talk to as Draco was.
"We have a suite with two bedrooms," Harry said before the disappointment could set in with both the music lovers, "if you and Timo don't mind sharing one enormous bed you can borrow the spare room."
He still couldn't believe the pair weren't actually a couple; it was so obvious they adored each other.
Timo was clearly torn by the offer, but David turned the best puppy eyes Harry had ever seen on his friend and Harry knew the decision was made.
"We'll get you back to your hotel in time for check out," Harry promised, since he didn't want Timo to worry, "and the hotel left us these cute little kits with everything someone could want for a one night stay, which you are most welcome to have."
He wasn't about to mention that Draco wouldn't have touched Muggle toiletries with a barge poll. The way Timo sighed was very long suffering and made Harry smile as the young man nodded. David squealed and gave his friend a hug with a beaming smile that would have lit up the blackest heart.
It was only a ten minute walk to the hotel from the restaurant and it was a nice night, so they agreed to help save the environment and not take a taxi. Draco had not looked so happy with the idea, but it made Timo happy, which made David happy, which seemed to have swayed any objections Draco might have made. Harry was just happy for a bit of fresh air, even if David seemed to have possessed Draco and the pair were off and talking again.
They were walking through a short, wooded avenue when Harry felt his sense of danger spike. He never argued with his instincts; they had saved him too many times and he immediately pulled out his wand. The first curse shot out of the darkness just as he cast a shield.
"What the fuck?"
Harry was pretty sure that was David, but he was too busy cataloguing their attackers to be positive. There were four cloaked and masked people in the trees and that meant only one thing.
"Death Eaters," he said and pushed Timo towards David and Draco.
With a quick spell, he enlarged a pebble on the path to boulder size to give the three something to hide behind, and then he started sending hexes and curses at their attackers. He was so highly trained that he didn't even really think about what he was doing; he just did it and two of the Death Eaters went down before they had a chance to respond.
With the death of Voldemort most of his followers had given themselves up, but there were still a couple out there and they were never short of idiots who wanted to follow them. How the hell they had been found while holidaying in Germany, Harry had no idea, but he was going to make sure nothing happened to Draco, David or Timo.
Whoever the attackers were, they weren't veterans. Their spells were shoddy and their aims poor, so they were probably little more than hired thugs. Harry took down the third just as he heard rock exploding. The fourth Death Eater, the one who seemed to be the most competent had just destroyed the cover he had created for Draco and the others. Draco was lying on the ground looking dazed as a shield shimmered and died in front of the three.
"Get away!" Timo shouted, rounding with his own wand.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion then and Harry lifted his wand, knowing he didn't have time. The Death Eater was already casting and the familiar sound of the Killing Curse filled Harry's veins with ice. He was just too slow, too far away and all he could do was watch as David calmly stepped around Timo and into the path of the curse. The look on David's face told him that David knew exactly what he was doing and then Timo's scream of anguish filled the air as David crumpled to the floor. Harry took down the Death Eater without another thought.
There was little hope, David had been hit full on by the Killing Curse, but Harry ran to the fallen man's side. Timo had his friend cradled in his lap and David's eyes were open and empty.
"He's not breathing," Timo all but sobbed at him.
Harry knelt down and desperately tried to find some form of life in the young man.
"There's a pulse," he said, more surprised than anyone to find it.
It was thready and barely there, but David was not quite dead. Thoughts of self sacrifice and love danced through his head, but he had to concentrate on trying to bring David back rather than why all life had not been extinguished.
"Enervate," he said, pointing his wand straight at David.
The spell caused David's body to jerk, but there was still no sign of breathing. When the same spell failed again, Harry decided to try things the Muggle way. Pulling David from Timo's arms, Harry put the young man flat on the ground and then he started CPR. He had only taken the course because Ron had dared him to; a new optional course for all Aurors who were interested in Muggle techniques, but it was all he had left to try. Usually where magic failed, Muggles had no chance, but he breathed for David and counted and did everything he had been taught, just in case it would work.
Every time he checked the pulse was still there; what he was doing was keeping David alive, but David seemed incapable of breathing on his own.
"Please," Timo begged, sounding broken.
Harry didn't know what else to do.
"Call an ambulance," he said as he pumped David's chest.
Magic did not seem to be able to save David, but it was possible medicine could; it was all he had to hope for.
"Harry?" Draco said as his shoulder.
"They have machines," he said before puffing another breath into the unconscious young man; "they can keep him breathing. He might come back."
It was a faint hope and Harry was very afraid David was already gone, his body just not having quite caught up. As Timo struggled with his phone, Harry suddenly felt the magic around him shift. This time when his instincts fired it was not in fear and he looked up just in time to see flames burst into the air. The sound of bird song filled the avenue and a familiar, but long forgotten sensation settled onto Harry's heart.
"Fawkes," he said, as the large bird came into land.
The phoenix looked at him with wise old eyes and he felt as if his soul was on display.
"Can you help him?" he asked and prayed Fawkes had come to offer his assistance.
A few trill notes were his only answer and Harry felt as if they were a question. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he could do nothing except follow his sense of truth.
"Anything," he said, not really sure what question he was answering, but willing to do just what he said to save David.
Of all of them David was the most innocent in this; David did not even know what magic was. Harry's battles did not belong here and yet here they had claimed another victim.
Fawkes bobbed his head once and Harry gasped as it felt as if his heart was being ripped from his chest. He couldn't move as the phoenix's eyes bored into his own; he couldn't even breath. His magic was moving, churning and spiralling and he felt it touch something much more powerful. The something was endless and deep and totally mind blowing, but then it was over and Harry felt himself falling sideways as he gasped in air.
Even as he blinked away the spots in front of his eyes he saw Fawkes hop over to David. Then, before anyone could do anything Fawkes let out a mournful trill and began to cry. One, two and then three crystal tears dropped onto David's lips and, for a moment, it was as if the universe held its breath. No one moved, not even Fawkes, until suddenly David's back arched and David took one, huge gasp of breath.
After that things were a little bit of a blur for a while. About all Harry could follow was the fact that Timo had David in his arms and Draco had him in his and it was all very much about making sure everyone really was in one piece. Then the local Aurors turned up and all the explanations began, but luckily his name and the fact he now seemed to have a phoenix vouching for him meant it only took a couple of hours to sort out rather than longer. They finally made it to the hotel at coming up to three in the morning.
"I'm getting us all a drink," Draco decided as soon as they were inside the suite.
Harry definitely wasn't about to argue and neither, it seemed, were David and Timo. Letting Draco pour out very expensive whiskey from the mini-bar, Harry walked over to the window and opened it to let Fawkes fly in. The phoenix hadn't left his side since the whole bringing back David from the dead incident, but it wasn't as if he would have been able to walk through the lobby of a Muggle hotel with a bird, even at three in the morning. Fawkes gave a trill in greeting and then took up residence on the back of a chair.
"What happened?" David was the first to break the silence once they all had their drinks.
"Wizards, witches, magic," Timo said quietly; "it's all real."
David's eyes were filled with confusion as the young man looked at them all.
"I died."
There was no question in David's tone.
"The people who attacked us are called Death Eaters," Harry explained, for some reason finding it absurdly easy to speak German, because it was the least of his worries now; "they're the leftovers of an organisation Draco and I helped destroy a long time ago. They hit you with a Killing Curse; Fawkes brought you back."
Timo had made sure David was kept well away from the Aurors while Harry had given the official version of events, but Harry could tell David needed to know.
"You're all wizards?" This time is was a question and David was mostly looking at Timo.
"Mum was born to a magical family," Timo said quietly, "but she couldn't do magic, so she left. When her kids turned out to be able to do it she made sure we learned how, but we didn't mix with magical people. I don't really think about it much; I'm more Muggle than Wizard."
Timo was all but glued to David's side and it was more than obvious that that wasn't going to change any time soon. David took a very large gulp of his whisky and then coughed; it had to have burned.
"You're not really family friends are you?" was David's next observation.
"No," Harry admitted and decided to sit down.
When Draco sat next to him, he felt himself finally beginning to relax.
"I found your band on the internet," he said, since he thought David deserved the truth, "and I emailed Timo."
"Harry is famous amongst Wizards," Timo chimed in and Harry left him to it, since Timo seemed to need to explain; "he's a hero. I've kind of wanted to meet him since I was a kid, so I emailed back."
That made Harry blush a little; he hadn't realised that. David gave him a very penetrating look; it was almost as bad as Fawkes.
"A hero?" David asked quietly.
"He's normally the one jumping between people and Killing Curses," Draco said shortly and for once Harry was glad his lover chose to take over the conversation.
He wondered if he was the only one to have realised David had known what he was doing as clearly as if the curse had been a hail of bullets. How David could have known was not a question he wanted to try and answer, but he knew it for a fact; rather than think about everything too hard, he downed his whiskey in one go. The alcohol burned all the way down, but it wasn't the first time, so he knew it was coming.
"I think we all need sleep," he said, putting his glass down; "things will look saner in the morning."
For a change no one argued with him. In fact, not even Draco said anything as they all finished their drinks and did what needed to be done before they could all fall into bed.
"You have a phoenix as a familiar," Draco said when they finally climbed into bed.
Said phoenix was still in the main room of the suite, seemingly quite happy to perch on the back of the chair he had chosen and sleep there.
"I thought I might have," Harry replied and lay down on his back.
He had not had time to analyse what had actually happened.
"Do you know how incredibly dangerous that was?"
Draco was suddenly all angles and movement and Harry found himself pinned to the bed by his lover. His actions appeared to have made Draco irate.
"Um, no," he said, hoping that Draco was not going to yell at him all night.
He wasn't stupid, he was pretty sure this had something to do with the whole heart clawing out of his chest feeling, but he didn't know why. Draco looked down at him in complete disbelief. It was clear Draco just could not comprehend how that could be the truth.
"You really don't," was his lover's eventual conclusion and Draco kind of deflated a little.
"I'm sorry," he apologised immediately and reached up to run his fingers through Draco's hair.
This was supposed to have been a holiday away from all the intrigue and now he seemed to have pulled 'a Potter' again, as Draco liked to put it.
"God I love you," Draco said, much to his shock, because Draco did not do sentimental conversations.
"I'm very sorry," he said as he realised that Draco had to have been utterly terrified to come out with something like that. "I love you too."
Draco laughed, just a little and shook his head as if vaguely exasperated. "Do you even know what happened?"
It wasn't as if Harry was about to lie, so he shook his head.
"He tested your soul, Harry," Draco said, leaning over and looking him directly in the eye; "Fawkes tested your very soul. It could have killed you. If he had found," Draco paused as if the magnitude of what he was saying was too much, "if there had been even one, just one, trace of evil in you, you would be dead."
Harry hadn't known that. Of course he knew a phoenix could discern truth and that they only allied themselves with good wizards, but no one had ever told him that.
"That's why he asked," Harry said, finally realising the truth.
The little squawk of indignation and resignation from Draco was kind of adorable.
"Right," Draco said and sat up so he was straddling Harry's hips and glaring down at him, "that's it, you're never doing anything ever again without running it by me first."
Draco sounded perfectly serious, but Harry couldn't help smiling a bit; sometimes his lover was perfectly absurd.
"Well," he said, playing along because he did not want Draco sulking again, "what do you think I should do now?"
He really hoped he knew what Draco would say, because his lover was all pale skin and sculptured muscle and Harry found that near death experiences had a certain affect on his libido.
"I think," Draco said in a very haughty tone, "that you should screw me through this mattress until I have worked out enough tension to actually relax. Then, once I'm sure you're too tired to do anything else stupid, we should sleep. In the morning we're going to make sure our guests are recovered and if they haven't gotten over their ridiculous UST we're going to give them a friendly talking to over breakfast. After that ... well after that I will play it by ear."
Harry allowed his small smile to widen; he could live with that.
"You have a very sound plan," he replied and ran his hands up over Draco's hips.
Not one to keep his lover waiting, he flipped Draco onto his back and came to rest between Draco's knees.
"How would you like me to start?" he asked, and kissed carefully along the line of Draco's neck.
"Oh I think you should be able to decide that part for yourself," Draco replied in a magnanimous tone that made Harry grin into the little kisses, "but tomorrow we are also having a long talk about phoenixes and how to handle the press when we get home after the rest of the holiday."
"Yes, Draco," Harry replied and moved on to kissing Draco's chest.
"And you're not going to let them talk you into being something official, because phoenixes are supposed to belong to old, wise people," Draco added; "you'd be bored and when you're bored you find trouble."
"Yes, Draco," Harry said again and this time he kissed his lover to shut him up.
====
David was still looking a little grey the next morning when he appeared from the bedroom.
"Timo's just taking a shower," David said as Harry handed him a room service menu; "we'll be out of your hair after that."
"Nonsense," Draco said in a tone that Harry was well aware not even judges tried to argue with, "we'll have someone go to your hotel and deal with everything. You're not going anywhere until you at least no longer match the sheets."
"It's the least we can do to apologise for last night," Harry added when David looked like he might argue. "You've been through an incredible shock and I don't think Fawkes really wants to let you out of his sight until he's sure you're recovered."
Fawkes very helpfully started singing to back up the point, which was enough to distract David. There was nothing in the world more beautiful than phoenix song.
"Okay," David said quietly, seemingly enrapt by the bird's music.
Harry didn't bother interrupting to ask what David might want for breakfast, he just rang room service and ordered. At the last minute he remembered the pair were vegetarian, so he made sure there were lots of alternatives to meat. David only seemed to snap back to reality when Timo appeared as well.
"Morning," Timo greeted with what looked as if it was trying to be a warm smile.
Death Eaters had been part of Harry's life since he was eleven and he had forgotten what an devastating affect they could have on people. At least the pair had each other, even if the way they stopped about a foot apart was very telling. It seemed the UST had not been resolved and they were both more aware of it, even though they didn't seem to be aware that the other one was aware.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, kiss him already," Draco finally ran out of patience it seemed.
That caused David's eyes to go round and Timo to stare at the ground awkwardly and go a lovely shade of pink. It was adorable really, but Harry was a little surprised the pair hadn't got over this stage in adolescence. Clearly it had crossed both of their minds or they would not have been looking quite so awkward.
"Here, I'll show you," Draco said, "it's easy."
At which point Harry found himself with armfuls of Draco and a very passionate kiss going on before his brain caught up with his body. He was more than a little dazed when it ended as quickly as it had begun. Sometimes Draco had a similar effect as a natural disaster.
David and Timo were still kind of looking at each other sideways rather than full on, but Harry did scrap together enough brain power to realise that David appeared a little flushed as well. It didn't look like embarrassment either.
"He knew exactly what he was doing when he stepped in front of that curse." Harry added the only piece of information he thought would help.
Now Timo gazed directly at David and a whole lot of body language went on that Harry did not understand.
"About time," was Draco's considered opinion when the pair finally moved towards each other.
Harry was well aware he really should have looked away, but the kiss was one of the sweetest things he had ever seen. The way Timo cupped David's face so gently with his hand, and the way they started off so tentatively; it was teeth achingly sugar coated. Of course, once young male libido kicked in, the kiss didn't stay cute for long, but the bulb in the lamp behind the pair exploding brought a halt to proceedings before the pair could become too hot and heavy. It looked as if Timo had a little problem with magical leakage after finally getting what he had been pining after for years.
Draco clapped as the pair stared at the lamp. "Bravo."
Things were definitely looking much brighter, that was until Timo turned and looked at them.
"That wasn't me," Timo said, sounding just a little confused.
Harry found his eyes on David.
"Phoenix tears," he whispered as the possibility crossed his mind.
Phoenix tears were one of the most magical substances known to Wizarding kind. They had the power to almost raise the dead and Harry suddenly began to wonder what other power they had as well.
"David, are you okay?" he asked as he realised the young man was looking pale again.
"Something," David said, as if trying to explain what he honestly did not understand, "I ... what happened?"
Timo helped David into the nearest chair.
"Magical residue maybe?" Harry asked, crossing the room behind Draco.
The look Draco gave him told him exactly how unlikely that suggestion was. Magical residue was a studied phenomenon and it did not show up in small bursts of uncontrolled magic; it was more of a gradual background thing. Harry had had to study it as part of his Auror training. What they had just seen looked more like accidental magic, the only problem being that David was not a wizard.
There was a crack from outside in the hallway and then a knock on the door. Harry went to open it.
"Is everything alright, Mr Potter?" one of the Aurors he had met the previous night asked in heavily accented English. "Our monitoring spells reported unregistered magic on the premises."
Harry glanced at David, who was looking even paler.
"Everything's fine," he said with a smile, "I think it might have been me. Fawkes and I had a moment; we're not used to each other yet."
The Auror did not appear overly sure, but nodded anyway.
"Thanks," Harry added.
Monitoring spells were standard procedure when dealing with witnesses that might be in danger, so Harry was not overly surprised, but he was not letting the Aurors at David. Unregistered magic was definitely not magical residue; to be unregistered it had to come from a wizard or witch who was unknown to the authorities. That was virtually impossible unless a wizard was using some very complicated spells to mask their own magic or someone had a magical boost later in life.
He shut the door as quickly as he could in a polite way and then crossed back into the main room.
"David," Draco said in an unusually gentle tone, "take my hands."
David did as he was told, clearly nervous, and Harry stayed a few feet away and let Draco work. He wasn't quite sure what Draco was doing, but he trusted his lover. Draco stayed perfectly still with his eyes closed for what seemed like a very long time.
"Magical core," Draco finally said when he opened his and turned to Harry; "he has a magical core."
Harry honestly had no idea how Draco would know that, but he did not doubt it was true.
David was looking between them, eyes very large and shocked and then that gaze shifted to Timo. Almost instantly Timo was holding David close again and then kneeling down until the pair were face to face.
"I'm like you," David said in a tone that contained complete wonder.
At that Timo actually gave a small laugh and then the two were kissing again. Harry reached for his wand and was just in time to put up half a shield against accidental magic at the same time Draco did the same thing.
"Did you know phoenix tears could do that?" Harry asked as David and Timo seemed to completely forget they were there.
"No," Draco replied, for once not even trying to pretend he had superior knowledge.
This was just beyond strange.
Draco looked at him and sighed.
"Cancel the rest of the holiday," Draco said in a resigned tone, but there was a fond edge to it.
Harry had been thinking exactly the same thing; they definitely weren't going anywhere until they had this sorted out.
The shield sparked in two places as David and Timo wrapped their arms around each other.
"They have five minutes," Draco decided firmly, "then I'm bringing out the ice water."
The End
Author: Beren
Fandom: Harry Potter/Panik
Pairing: Harry/Draco (est. rel.), Timo/David (pre-slash)
Rating: R (for sexual situations and bad language)
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. This work also contains real people and they are used without their permission and I definitely don't own them or have any copyright to any part of any of them. I do not believe any of this happened, is likely to happen or should happen it is simply a story created around known facts about those involved.
Warnings: EWE
Summary: Harry and Draco have decided to take a holiday to Europe to get away from the UK press and their hectic lives. However, that doesn't mean Draco can understand why Harry has dragged him to what Harry has the audacity to call a concert, not until he hears a young man called David Bonk play.
Author's Notes: Written for lirren in the charity vgift meme thingy (go check it out). Thanks to Soph for the beta.
Word count: 6,604
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Harry said he was sulking, but Draco was simply being discerning. Whatever had possessed his boyfriend to think he would be interested in tacky Muggle bands in a draughty warehouse needed exorcising. At least he understood the lyrics, which clearly Harry didn't, what with them being in German.
It was their first holiday together as a couple and Draco was definitely not enjoying himself. They couldn't have stayed in Britain thanks to their combined notoriety, so they were touring around Europe for a while. When Britain's number one Auror and number one magical defence council had come out and 'set up house together' (as the front page of the Prophet had put it) every gossip columnist in the UK had practically died of joy overload. They were known as the relationship made in hell by some, but they had some simple rules so their work did not affect their private life. Draco simply never represented any defendants Harry had had anything to do with arresting. It was pointless anyway; Harry always nailed the guilty ones.
Unfortunately, as he saw it now, Draco had agreed to let Harry plan the first half of the holiday while he did the second half. Not only had Harry checked them into a Muggle hotel of all things (Draco did not know what his lover had been thinking, it was five star, but still ...), but Harry had jumped at the chance to see one of the bands he had found on the strange box he insisted they have in the study. Harry called it the Interwebs or something like that. It always made Draco think of a million spiders doing insane things.
The band, whose name Draco refused to remember, were playing at some run down gig with a whole bunch of other bands he didn't want to listen to either. He had no idea why Harry was so interested in a German band. Draco spoke French, German and Italian to a high level, thanks to his father believing they were the languages of diplomacy, but Harry only spoke passable German. Actually, finding out Harry spoke any German had been a bit of a shock; Harry had never made out he was the academic type. In the end Draco had managed to weedle the truth out of his lover and found out that Harry had needed the language for a case he was on, so had decided to learn it. It had been one of those moments where Draco had realised he had been underestimating Harry again and had made a mental note to educate Harry some more when they had time.
"Can we leave yet?" Draco asked petulantly as the strains of the latest song died down.
What made it worse was they were mostly surrounded by screaming teenagers. He had never been a screaming teenager and he disliked them as much now as he had when he had at least been the right age.
"No," Harry said and grinned at him unrepentantly.
Sometimes Harry really was insufferable.
Draco folded his arms and glared at the stage, at which point he realised something was going on. The man with the mike had moved to the side of the stage and the one with the keyboard had taken centre stage. This seemed to be a good thing according to the crowd if the screaming was anything to go by.
"This is something I composed last year," the young man with the messy black hair said and gave the crowd a toothy, joyful smile.
A snort of derision was Draco's only reaction: 'composed' as if anyone in the place knew what that really meant. He had no doubt it was going to be some artificial drivel and he just hoped his eardrums would survive. When they were in Paris, Draco was going to take Harry to listen to some real music.
When the sound of a piano came out of the keyboard, rather than what had spewed forth from it before, he was surprised. He didn't bother to hide his shock when notes floated across the now silent arena; notes that were neither predictable, nor grating. Even the fact that his mouth was undoubtedly open in astonishment could not distract him as he looked up and watched the young man's hands dance over the keyboard. If there was one thing Draco had come to learn over the last few years it was when he was in the presence of genius.
Genius came in many forms and he had seen it in Harry in the way his lover applied himself to protecting those he cared about from the dark. He had seen it in a more usual form in Granger, now Weasley, and, heaven help him, he had even seen it in Weasley in the way Ron could form a strategy from nothing. Now he was in the presence of genius once more, this time of the musical kind.
The notes were not just played and heard, they were pulled from the keyboard with form and Draco could feel them as they filled the venue. He had heard many virtuosos play; his parents had taken him to see the best of the best, but he had never heard anything quite like what he was hearing at that moment. There was life in the music and it was captivating. He just stood there enrapt until the notes finally died away. As the music stopped there was complete silence with barely the sound of breathing and then the crowd exploded in a roar of approval. Draco didn't even feel shame as he joined in, yelling his approval and jumping up and down just like everyone else. Only when he realised Harry was watching him and looking smug did he remember himself.
"I knew you'd like him," Harry said in a way that suggested the pain of the entire experience had been leading to this moment. "His name's David, his friend is Timo and they'll be coming off stage in a few minutes; come on."
For once Draco didn't argue when Harry took his arm and steered him in the general direction of the door.
"Why does he spend his time making such a noise when he can make such beautiful music?" he asked when they stepped outside.
"Some of us like that noise," Harry said with a fond smile, "and so does he, so I suggest you don't put it quite like that when you meet him."
Draco was usually liberal with his opinion to others, but for once Harry had a point. Anyone who could make music like that deserved respect even if they were clearly insane about other things. Genius was always said to be close to madness after all; geniuses were supposed to be eccentric.
"Meet him?" Draco said as he focused on the important part of the conversation.
"We're having dinner," Harry said with a smile; "Timo's mum is a squib and although he and his sister have magic, they live mostly in the Muggle world, but not enough so Timo didn't recognise my name when I emailed him. We're pretending to be family friends, because David doesn't know about magic, but Timo was more than happy to let us take them to eat."
Maybe Harry wasn't quite so bad at planning the holiday as Draco had thought; this had promise. Of course Draco was not going to tell his lover that, not just yet, and he followed as Harry dragged him round the back of the building. There was a group of mostly girls hanging around the two young men they were after and Draco came to a halt next to Harry as they just watched. David was smiling brightly and chatting and signing things and Draco could see innocence in that smile, but it was tempered with something else in the young man's expressive eyes. He knew what he was looking at too, he had seen it too many times: it was betrayal.
"What happened to them?" he asked quietly, finding himself more interested than a few minutes of music really warranted.
"They used to be quite famous," Harry explained with a sad little smile, "and there were six of them then. Their management took the money and ran and then they tried for a while, but it was just too much for the band. David and Timo are all that's left."
Draco had seen enough betrayal in his life that he felt for the pair, even if it wasn't quite life and death. The way the pair handled their fan's however, was very telling; they clearly appreciated them. Draco still didn't like most of the band's music, but he was willing to overlook that.
"Timo," Harry greeted with a wave as the pair of musicians left the gaggle of girls.
For a moment Draco was pretty sure Timo had no idea who they were, but then recognition hit and Timo smiled and waved back.
"Harry, hello," Timo said, dragging David towards them. "David, this is Harry and Draco, remember I mentioned them?"
Clearly David did, because that beaming smile was now turned on them and Draco was immediately taken by it.
"We were at the back during the performance," Harry said, smiling back in a way that Draco knew was completely genuine; "brilliant, absolutely brilliant."
Draco didn't really agree, not about all of it, but he had learned to hold his tongue since being a child and he could be polite when he wanted to.
"Your playing was amazing," he added his own opinion; "I have never heard anything like it."
David's smile became even wider, if that was actually physically possible and, if Draco was any judge, Timo seemed to enjoy the praise of his friend as much as David did.
"Did I spot some Mozart influences in the middle there?" Draco continued, unable to help himself.
It appeared that surprised David, clearly the poor boy was not used to people who understood his art.
"David, we have to get our stuff stowed before you can talk shop," Timo said with a laugh and Draco was a little put out.
"I'll help," Harry said and Draco remembered why he loved the Gryffindor; "if we interrupt them now they might both pout." He also remembered why he didn't always love him.
"Potter," he said in an acid tone, "I do not pout."
Harry just grinned back. Sooner or later he was going to have to teach his lover a lesson in manners; he suspected orgasm denial would work best. Harry responded well to physical stimuli.
"I know that look," Timo said as David appeared to be about to protest the new arrangement, "don't worry we won't be long."
"Don't get lost," was all David said and then Draco found himself alone with his new favourite musician.
He had so many questions and David looked just as excited to be talking.
====
To say that he was happy would have been understating Harry's mood. He had known from the get go that Draco would not like Panik's music on principle, but he had been absolutely sure his boyfriend would love David's playing. It had been quite difficult to arrange everything so dates matched up, but it had been worth the effort. So far he had spent most of dinner watching Draco and David going into raptures about music and composers he had never heard of. He and Timo had swapped the odd resigned glance as they both failed to get a word in edgeways.
"Right," Harry finally broke in, "time to go."
Draco turned to him and blinked.
"But we're talking," the blond Slytherin said as if affronted.
"And it's half past midnight and the restaurant wants to close," Harry pointed out with a laugh. "We can take the talking back to the hotel if you two want to."
It was very sweet how David looked at Timo to find out if Harry was telling the truth. The fact was Harry had settled the bill about an hour previously, but David and Draco hadn't seemed to notice.
"Where are you staying?" Timo asked as they all finally stood up from the table.
Draco rattled off the name of their hotel before Harry had a chance and Harry saw Timo's eyes grow a little. It was a very expensive hotel.
"That's in the other direction to ours," David said a little mournfully.
It was quite clear David was having as much fun with someone to talk to as Draco was.
"We have a suite with two bedrooms," Harry said before the disappointment could set in with both the music lovers, "if you and Timo don't mind sharing one enormous bed you can borrow the spare room."
He still couldn't believe the pair weren't actually a couple; it was so obvious they adored each other.
Timo was clearly torn by the offer, but David turned the best puppy eyes Harry had ever seen on his friend and Harry knew the decision was made.
"We'll get you back to your hotel in time for check out," Harry promised, since he didn't want Timo to worry, "and the hotel left us these cute little kits with everything someone could want for a one night stay, which you are most welcome to have."
He wasn't about to mention that Draco wouldn't have touched Muggle toiletries with a barge poll. The way Timo sighed was very long suffering and made Harry smile as the young man nodded. David squealed and gave his friend a hug with a beaming smile that would have lit up the blackest heart.
It was only a ten minute walk to the hotel from the restaurant and it was a nice night, so they agreed to help save the environment and not take a taxi. Draco had not looked so happy with the idea, but it made Timo happy, which made David happy, which seemed to have swayed any objections Draco might have made. Harry was just happy for a bit of fresh air, even if David seemed to have possessed Draco and the pair were off and talking again.
They were walking through a short, wooded avenue when Harry felt his sense of danger spike. He never argued with his instincts; they had saved him too many times and he immediately pulled out his wand. The first curse shot out of the darkness just as he cast a shield.
"What the fuck?"
Harry was pretty sure that was David, but he was too busy cataloguing their attackers to be positive. There were four cloaked and masked people in the trees and that meant only one thing.
"Death Eaters," he said and pushed Timo towards David and Draco.
With a quick spell, he enlarged a pebble on the path to boulder size to give the three something to hide behind, and then he started sending hexes and curses at their attackers. He was so highly trained that he didn't even really think about what he was doing; he just did it and two of the Death Eaters went down before they had a chance to respond.
With the death of Voldemort most of his followers had given themselves up, but there were still a couple out there and they were never short of idiots who wanted to follow them. How the hell they had been found while holidaying in Germany, Harry had no idea, but he was going to make sure nothing happened to Draco, David or Timo.
Whoever the attackers were, they weren't veterans. Their spells were shoddy and their aims poor, so they were probably little more than hired thugs. Harry took down the third just as he heard rock exploding. The fourth Death Eater, the one who seemed to be the most competent had just destroyed the cover he had created for Draco and the others. Draco was lying on the ground looking dazed as a shield shimmered and died in front of the three.
"Get away!" Timo shouted, rounding with his own wand.
Everything seemed to go in slow motion then and Harry lifted his wand, knowing he didn't have time. The Death Eater was already casting and the familiar sound of the Killing Curse filled Harry's veins with ice. He was just too slow, too far away and all he could do was watch as David calmly stepped around Timo and into the path of the curse. The look on David's face told him that David knew exactly what he was doing and then Timo's scream of anguish filled the air as David crumpled to the floor. Harry took down the Death Eater without another thought.
There was little hope, David had been hit full on by the Killing Curse, but Harry ran to the fallen man's side. Timo had his friend cradled in his lap and David's eyes were open and empty.
"He's not breathing," Timo all but sobbed at him.
Harry knelt down and desperately tried to find some form of life in the young man.
"There's a pulse," he said, more surprised than anyone to find it.
It was thready and barely there, but David was not quite dead. Thoughts of self sacrifice and love danced through his head, but he had to concentrate on trying to bring David back rather than why all life had not been extinguished.
"Enervate," he said, pointing his wand straight at David.
The spell caused David's body to jerk, but there was still no sign of breathing. When the same spell failed again, Harry decided to try things the Muggle way. Pulling David from Timo's arms, Harry put the young man flat on the ground and then he started CPR. He had only taken the course because Ron had dared him to; a new optional course for all Aurors who were interested in Muggle techniques, but it was all he had left to try. Usually where magic failed, Muggles had no chance, but he breathed for David and counted and did everything he had been taught, just in case it would work.
Every time he checked the pulse was still there; what he was doing was keeping David alive, but David seemed incapable of breathing on his own.
"Please," Timo begged, sounding broken.
Harry didn't know what else to do.
"Call an ambulance," he said as he pumped David's chest.
Magic did not seem to be able to save David, but it was possible medicine could; it was all he had to hope for.
"Harry?" Draco said as his shoulder.
"They have machines," he said before puffing another breath into the unconscious young man; "they can keep him breathing. He might come back."
It was a faint hope and Harry was very afraid David was already gone, his body just not having quite caught up. As Timo struggled with his phone, Harry suddenly felt the magic around him shift. This time when his instincts fired it was not in fear and he looked up just in time to see flames burst into the air. The sound of bird song filled the avenue and a familiar, but long forgotten sensation settled onto Harry's heart.
"Fawkes," he said, as the large bird came into land.
The phoenix looked at him with wise old eyes and he felt as if his soul was on display.
"Can you help him?" he asked and prayed Fawkes had come to offer his assistance.
A few trill notes were his only answer and Harry felt as if they were a question. He didn't really understand what was going on, but he could do nothing except follow his sense of truth.
"Anything," he said, not really sure what question he was answering, but willing to do just what he said to save David.
Of all of them David was the most innocent in this; David did not even know what magic was. Harry's battles did not belong here and yet here they had claimed another victim.
Fawkes bobbed his head once and Harry gasped as it felt as if his heart was being ripped from his chest. He couldn't move as the phoenix's eyes bored into his own; he couldn't even breath. His magic was moving, churning and spiralling and he felt it touch something much more powerful. The something was endless and deep and totally mind blowing, but then it was over and Harry felt himself falling sideways as he gasped in air.
Even as he blinked away the spots in front of his eyes he saw Fawkes hop over to David. Then, before anyone could do anything Fawkes let out a mournful trill and began to cry. One, two and then three crystal tears dropped onto David's lips and, for a moment, it was as if the universe held its breath. No one moved, not even Fawkes, until suddenly David's back arched and David took one, huge gasp of breath.
After that things were a little bit of a blur for a while. About all Harry could follow was the fact that Timo had David in his arms and Draco had him in his and it was all very much about making sure everyone really was in one piece. Then the local Aurors turned up and all the explanations began, but luckily his name and the fact he now seemed to have a phoenix vouching for him meant it only took a couple of hours to sort out rather than longer. They finally made it to the hotel at coming up to three in the morning.
"I'm getting us all a drink," Draco decided as soon as they were inside the suite.
Harry definitely wasn't about to argue and neither, it seemed, were David and Timo. Letting Draco pour out very expensive whiskey from the mini-bar, Harry walked over to the window and opened it to let Fawkes fly in. The phoenix hadn't left his side since the whole bringing back David from the dead incident, but it wasn't as if he would have been able to walk through the lobby of a Muggle hotel with a bird, even at three in the morning. Fawkes gave a trill in greeting and then took up residence on the back of a chair.
"What happened?" David was the first to break the silence once they all had their drinks.
"Wizards, witches, magic," Timo said quietly; "it's all real."
David's eyes were filled with confusion as the young man looked at them all.
"I died."
There was no question in David's tone.
"The people who attacked us are called Death Eaters," Harry explained, for some reason finding it absurdly easy to speak German, because it was the least of his worries now; "they're the leftovers of an organisation Draco and I helped destroy a long time ago. They hit you with a Killing Curse; Fawkes brought you back."
Timo had made sure David was kept well away from the Aurors while Harry had given the official version of events, but Harry could tell David needed to know.
"You're all wizards?" This time is was a question and David was mostly looking at Timo.
"Mum was born to a magical family," Timo said quietly, "but she couldn't do magic, so she left. When her kids turned out to be able to do it she made sure we learned how, but we didn't mix with magical people. I don't really think about it much; I'm more Muggle than Wizard."
Timo was all but glued to David's side and it was more than obvious that that wasn't going to change any time soon. David took a very large gulp of his whisky and then coughed; it had to have burned.
"You're not really family friends are you?" was David's next observation.
"No," Harry admitted and decided to sit down.
When Draco sat next to him, he felt himself finally beginning to relax.
"I found your band on the internet," he said, since he thought David deserved the truth, "and I emailed Timo."
"Harry is famous amongst Wizards," Timo chimed in and Harry left him to it, since Timo seemed to need to explain; "he's a hero. I've kind of wanted to meet him since I was a kid, so I emailed back."
That made Harry blush a little; he hadn't realised that. David gave him a very penetrating look; it was almost as bad as Fawkes.
"A hero?" David asked quietly.
"He's normally the one jumping between people and Killing Curses," Draco said shortly and for once Harry was glad his lover chose to take over the conversation.
He wondered if he was the only one to have realised David had known what he was doing as clearly as if the curse had been a hail of bullets. How David could have known was not a question he wanted to try and answer, but he knew it for a fact; rather than think about everything too hard, he downed his whiskey in one go. The alcohol burned all the way down, but it wasn't the first time, so he knew it was coming.
"I think we all need sleep," he said, putting his glass down; "things will look saner in the morning."
For a change no one argued with him. In fact, not even Draco said anything as they all finished their drinks and did what needed to be done before they could all fall into bed.
"You have a phoenix as a familiar," Draco said when they finally climbed into bed.
Said phoenix was still in the main room of the suite, seemingly quite happy to perch on the back of the chair he had chosen and sleep there.
"I thought I might have," Harry replied and lay down on his back.
He had not had time to analyse what had actually happened.
"Do you know how incredibly dangerous that was?"
Draco was suddenly all angles and movement and Harry found himself pinned to the bed by his lover. His actions appeared to have made Draco irate.
"Um, no," he said, hoping that Draco was not going to yell at him all night.
He wasn't stupid, he was pretty sure this had something to do with the whole heart clawing out of his chest feeling, but he didn't know why. Draco looked down at him in complete disbelief. It was clear Draco just could not comprehend how that could be the truth.
"You really don't," was his lover's eventual conclusion and Draco kind of deflated a little.
"I'm sorry," he apologised immediately and reached up to run his fingers through Draco's hair.
This was supposed to have been a holiday away from all the intrigue and now he seemed to have pulled 'a Potter' again, as Draco liked to put it.
"God I love you," Draco said, much to his shock, because Draco did not do sentimental conversations.
"I'm very sorry," he said as he realised that Draco had to have been utterly terrified to come out with something like that. "I love you too."
Draco laughed, just a little and shook his head as if vaguely exasperated. "Do you even know what happened?"
It wasn't as if Harry was about to lie, so he shook his head.
"He tested your soul, Harry," Draco said, leaning over and looking him directly in the eye; "Fawkes tested your very soul. It could have killed you. If he had found," Draco paused as if the magnitude of what he was saying was too much, "if there had been even one, just one, trace of evil in you, you would be dead."
Harry hadn't known that. Of course he knew a phoenix could discern truth and that they only allied themselves with good wizards, but no one had ever told him that.
"That's why he asked," Harry said, finally realising the truth.
The little squawk of indignation and resignation from Draco was kind of adorable.
"Right," Draco said and sat up so he was straddling Harry's hips and glaring down at him, "that's it, you're never doing anything ever again without running it by me first."
Draco sounded perfectly serious, but Harry couldn't help smiling a bit; sometimes his lover was perfectly absurd.
"Well," he said, playing along because he did not want Draco sulking again, "what do you think I should do now?"
He really hoped he knew what Draco would say, because his lover was all pale skin and sculptured muscle and Harry found that near death experiences had a certain affect on his libido.
"I think," Draco said in a very haughty tone, "that you should screw me through this mattress until I have worked out enough tension to actually relax. Then, once I'm sure you're too tired to do anything else stupid, we should sleep. In the morning we're going to make sure our guests are recovered and if they haven't gotten over their ridiculous UST we're going to give them a friendly talking to over breakfast. After that ... well after that I will play it by ear."
Harry allowed his small smile to widen; he could live with that.
"You have a very sound plan," he replied and ran his hands up over Draco's hips.
Not one to keep his lover waiting, he flipped Draco onto his back and came to rest between Draco's knees.
"How would you like me to start?" he asked, and kissed carefully along the line of Draco's neck.
"Oh I think you should be able to decide that part for yourself," Draco replied in a magnanimous tone that made Harry grin into the little kisses, "but tomorrow we are also having a long talk about phoenixes and how to handle the press when we get home after the rest of the holiday."
"Yes, Draco," Harry replied and moved on to kissing Draco's chest.
"And you're not going to let them talk you into being something official, because phoenixes are supposed to belong to old, wise people," Draco added; "you'd be bored and when you're bored you find trouble."
"Yes, Draco," Harry said again and this time he kissed his lover to shut him up.
====
David was still looking a little grey the next morning when he appeared from the bedroom.
"Timo's just taking a shower," David said as Harry handed him a room service menu; "we'll be out of your hair after that."
"Nonsense," Draco said in a tone that Harry was well aware not even judges tried to argue with, "we'll have someone go to your hotel and deal with everything. You're not going anywhere until you at least no longer match the sheets."
"It's the least we can do to apologise for last night," Harry added when David looked like he might argue. "You've been through an incredible shock and I don't think Fawkes really wants to let you out of his sight until he's sure you're recovered."
Fawkes very helpfully started singing to back up the point, which was enough to distract David. There was nothing in the world more beautiful than phoenix song.
"Okay," David said quietly, seemingly enrapt by the bird's music.
Harry didn't bother interrupting to ask what David might want for breakfast, he just rang room service and ordered. At the last minute he remembered the pair were vegetarian, so he made sure there were lots of alternatives to meat. David only seemed to snap back to reality when Timo appeared as well.
"Morning," Timo greeted with what looked as if it was trying to be a warm smile.
Death Eaters had been part of Harry's life since he was eleven and he had forgotten what an devastating affect they could have on people. At least the pair had each other, even if the way they stopped about a foot apart was very telling. It seemed the UST had not been resolved and they were both more aware of it, even though they didn't seem to be aware that the other one was aware.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, kiss him already," Draco finally ran out of patience it seemed.
That caused David's eyes to go round and Timo to stare at the ground awkwardly and go a lovely shade of pink. It was adorable really, but Harry was a little surprised the pair hadn't got over this stage in adolescence. Clearly it had crossed both of their minds or they would not have been looking quite so awkward.
"Here, I'll show you," Draco said, "it's easy."
At which point Harry found himself with armfuls of Draco and a very passionate kiss going on before his brain caught up with his body. He was more than a little dazed when it ended as quickly as it had begun. Sometimes Draco had a similar effect as a natural disaster.
David and Timo were still kind of looking at each other sideways rather than full on, but Harry did scrap together enough brain power to realise that David appeared a little flushed as well. It didn't look like embarrassment either.
"He knew exactly what he was doing when he stepped in front of that curse." Harry added the only piece of information he thought would help.
Now Timo gazed directly at David and a whole lot of body language went on that Harry did not understand.
"About time," was Draco's considered opinion when the pair finally moved towards each other.
Harry was well aware he really should have looked away, but the kiss was one of the sweetest things he had ever seen. The way Timo cupped David's face so gently with his hand, and the way they started off so tentatively; it was teeth achingly sugar coated. Of course, once young male libido kicked in, the kiss didn't stay cute for long, but the bulb in the lamp behind the pair exploding brought a halt to proceedings before the pair could become too hot and heavy. It looked as if Timo had a little problem with magical leakage after finally getting what he had been pining after for years.
Draco clapped as the pair stared at the lamp. "Bravo."
Things were definitely looking much brighter, that was until Timo turned and looked at them.
"That wasn't me," Timo said, sounding just a little confused.
Harry found his eyes on David.
"Phoenix tears," he whispered as the possibility crossed his mind.
Phoenix tears were one of the most magical substances known to Wizarding kind. They had the power to almost raise the dead and Harry suddenly began to wonder what other power they had as well.
"David, are you okay?" he asked as he realised the young man was looking pale again.
"Something," David said, as if trying to explain what he honestly did not understand, "I ... what happened?"
Timo helped David into the nearest chair.
"Magical residue maybe?" Harry asked, crossing the room behind Draco.
The look Draco gave him told him exactly how unlikely that suggestion was. Magical residue was a studied phenomenon and it did not show up in small bursts of uncontrolled magic; it was more of a gradual background thing. Harry had had to study it as part of his Auror training. What they had just seen looked more like accidental magic, the only problem being that David was not a wizard.
There was a crack from outside in the hallway and then a knock on the door. Harry went to open it.
"Is everything alright, Mr Potter?" one of the Aurors he had met the previous night asked in heavily accented English. "Our monitoring spells reported unregistered magic on the premises."
Harry glanced at David, who was looking even paler.
"Everything's fine," he said with a smile, "I think it might have been me. Fawkes and I had a moment; we're not used to each other yet."
The Auror did not appear overly sure, but nodded anyway.
"Thanks," Harry added.
Monitoring spells were standard procedure when dealing with witnesses that might be in danger, so Harry was not overly surprised, but he was not letting the Aurors at David. Unregistered magic was definitely not magical residue; to be unregistered it had to come from a wizard or witch who was unknown to the authorities. That was virtually impossible unless a wizard was using some very complicated spells to mask their own magic or someone had a magical boost later in life.
He shut the door as quickly as he could in a polite way and then crossed back into the main room.
"David," Draco said in an unusually gentle tone, "take my hands."
David did as he was told, clearly nervous, and Harry stayed a few feet away and let Draco work. He wasn't quite sure what Draco was doing, but he trusted his lover. Draco stayed perfectly still with his eyes closed for what seemed like a very long time.
"Magical core," Draco finally said when he opened his and turned to Harry; "he has a magical core."
Harry honestly had no idea how Draco would know that, but he did not doubt it was true.
David was looking between them, eyes very large and shocked and then that gaze shifted to Timo. Almost instantly Timo was holding David close again and then kneeling down until the pair were face to face.
"I'm like you," David said in a tone that contained complete wonder.
At that Timo actually gave a small laugh and then the two were kissing again. Harry reached for his wand and was just in time to put up half a shield against accidental magic at the same time Draco did the same thing.
"Did you know phoenix tears could do that?" Harry asked as David and Timo seemed to completely forget they were there.
"No," Draco replied, for once not even trying to pretend he had superior knowledge.
This was just beyond strange.
Draco looked at him and sighed.
"Cancel the rest of the holiday," Draco said in a resigned tone, but there was a fond edge to it.
Harry had been thinking exactly the same thing; they definitely weren't going anywhere until they had this sorted out.
The shield sparked in two places as David and Timo wrapped their arms around each other.
"They have five minutes," Draco decided firmly, "then I'm bringing out the ice water."
The End