Starts With a Spin - Epilogue
Haha, surprise! You don't have to wait until Wednesday. Goldie and Miints are frickin amazing, and they've both already gotten it back to me!
So here's the final part! I’ll let you all get right to it. Thanks for reading!
Beta’d, like I said, by the ever-fabulous miints and __goldie. Love you, ladies!
Title: Starts With a Spin
Category: Harry Potter
Genre: Humor/Romance/Smut/Slash
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: H/D
Final Word Count: 119,607
Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain’t mine…if it were…well…Draco certainly wouldn’t be Harry’s enemy forever. ^.~
Summary: It started with the spin of a bottle, and now Harry and Draco have gotten themselves so far into their own game there's almost no way out again. Except to keep playing. (finished)
--> All chapters can be found here. <--
previous
~~Epilogue~~
“You know what? Voldemort is a right pain in the arse.”
“Is he? I hadn’t realized…”
“Ha, right,” Harry snorted. He’d been standing in front of a mirror in the Gryffindor dormitory in nothing but his boxers and a white undershirt, absently trying to decide what he wanted to wear for the night. Now he glanced up into the glassy surface, catching sight of Draco sitting on a bed behind him, dressed much the same way. “It’s just…this stupid war,” Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Why did he ever have to start it if he was just going to up and disappear again?”
Draco snorted lightly, giving Harry an amused look. “Five months later, and now you’re wishing it had never started? And he didn’t actually disappear, seeing as how we never knew where he was to begin with. He just…stopped. For a bit.” He stood and crossed to stand behind Harry, still looking at him in the mirror. Harry sighed again.
“Yeah, that’s true. I suppose I’m just feeling antsy, because usually I get into all sorts of trouble at the end of the year, but this time? Nothing. Not even a clue as to what he’s planning.” He dropped his eyes for a second, and then looked up again, chewing slightly on his bottom lip. “Draco, have you decided where you’re going to stay this summer yet?”
Draco blinked at the abrupt change of topic. “I…hmmm.” He looked away, rubbing his arm absently. “No,” he replied. “I suppose I should go back to the manor and make sure everything’s in order, but… It still doesn’t seem real, you know?” Harry didn’t answer and Draco looked back at him, continuing quickly, “I mean, it did…for about a minute. At the…at the funeral. But after that, being back here… I can still pretend that I’m going to see her over the summer. It feels like I am. But going back…when she won’t be there…”
“…I know what you mean,” Harry murmured, thinking of Sirius, and how sometimes it still felt like he would write back if Harry sent him a letter.
Narcissa’s funeral had been an experience that Harry didn’t ever care to repeat. There obviously hadn’t been a funeral for Sirius, so, in a way, Harry had been able to treat Narcissa’s as if it was his as well. That had made it difficult, though, because he’d been saying goodbye to Sirius all over again, which only reopened old wounds that Harry had thought had long since healed.
The Aurors that had been stationed throughout the attendees hadn’t been needed, it turned out. No one had seen nor heard from Lucius since the breakout, and even months later, there still hadn’t been any movement from him. In fact, Voldemort’s attacks had stopped since Draco’s mother had been murdered, and no one had any idea what he might be planning to do next.
Which, of course, left everyone in a state of agitated panic. It wasn’t uncommon to be snapped at out of the blue, nowadays.
“Stay with me,” Harry blurted out suddenly, spinning around to face Draco. “I’ve got my own place- I mean, well, Sirius left it to me. You could stay there over the summer.” It came out in a jumbled rush, and Harry felt his cheeks warm slightly. He’d wanted to ask Draco for a few weeks now, but he hadn’t known what the others boy’s plans were, since Draco never gave him direct answer whenever he asked. But the days left until summer were dwindling, and if he didn’t ask now…
“Stay with you…?” Draco repeated faintly, staring at Harry wide-eyed.
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean… You’d have your own room, obviously. So you’d have some privacy. And a place to put your things. Not that I don’t want you sleeping in my room, but, you know, that way if anyone asks or gives you a hard time about it-”
“Harry,” Draco interrupted, smirking, “do you really think I care what anyone thinks about us anymore?” He gestured at the wall beside Seamus’ bed, where the Irish boy had taped up various newspaper clippings from a series of articles that had been released directly after the funeral. Everyday for nearly two weeks, the Daily Prophet had been showered with various pictures of Harry and Draco holding hands or leaning against each other, and there were even a few where Harry had his arm around Draco’s waist. All of them had been taken at the funeral, and they were accompanied by asinine headlines that started out somewhat innocently enough as:
Harry Potter’s New Angle - Befriending Death Eater Children?
Which had graduated into slightly more vulgar headings like:
The-Boy-Who-Lived…to be Queer?
And when they started running out of ideas, had ended up as:
The Only Girl for Potter? Not a Girl at All!
At first Harry had been mortified, then annoyed, then downright angry. Honestly, there had to be more important things that could be front page news, but with Voldemort’s attacks stopping so suddenly, the new scandal about everyone’s favorite teen hero was instant gold for the papers. Seamus insisted that the articles were funny, and he’d kept every single one. Then, after nearly a week of the Prophet’s speculation about Harry’s sexual orientation, Witch Weekly came out with headline shouting:
The Chosen One and the Death Eater’s Son - Hogwarts Hottest Hunks, and They’re Dating Each Other!
Written, of course, by everyone’s favorite nosy journalist, Rita Skeeter, and even complete with several interviews from students at Hogwarts. Harry had nearly snorted his juice through his nose when he saw it, while Draco had lamented about what a God-awful picture it was of him. From then on, Harry had just been amused with each new printing.
Then the mail had started pouring in, much like it had after he’d published his interview in The Quibbler during fifth year. Hate mail, support mail, random fan mail - and amidst all that, thank-you letters from boys and men of all ages. It was after the first thank-you letter that Seamus began taping up the articles beside his bed.
Of course there had also been letters from various members of the Order. Harry had been expecting that after he recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt as one of the Aurors stationed at the funeral, and soon enough he’d received several letters from Remus, the Weasleys, Tonks, and even Mad-Eye Moody, politely but very firmly asking him, “What the bloody hell are you thinking?!”
He’d waited until he got word about an Order meeting before he sent the entire group a Howler telling them that, yes, he was dating Draco Malfoy, and would they all please shut the hell up and mind their own business, thank-you-very-much, as he was sixteen years old and had the right to date whomever he bloody well wanted to. Even if ‘whomever he bloody well wanted to’ happened to be another boy.
That had been the first time Draco had really looked happy since his mother had been buried.
Smiling slightly, Harry shook his head. “No, I guess not,” he said. “There’s really not much more the public can find out about us, is there? Unless, you know, someone catches us on video or something.”
“Video?” Draco asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Harry laughed. “Nothing. Muggle stuff.”
“Ah.”
“So, what do you think?” Harry asked again. “The house is plenty big, I promise.”
“Oh…” Draco frowned, scratching his ear absently. “I don’t know, Harry. I-”
“Come on, Draco! Look, we can even go for our Apparating license together,” Harry suggested.
“But- I don’t want to wait that long!” Draco said, rather petulantly. Then he grinned. “You’re just a baby, Harry,” he teased, flicking the boy’s nose. “Still only sixteen. Us older, more mature people can go for their licenses now.” Harry scowled and rubbed his nose.
“Draco, you just turned seventeen two days ago,” he said flatly. Draco beamed at him.
“And that makes me nearly two whole months older than you!” he said, lifting his chin a bit. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Well?” he asked pointedly.
“I’ll think about it,” Draco replied, stepping closer to Harry and draping his arms over his shoulders. “I think I’ll definitely be there for at least part of the summer…but there really is a lot that needs to get sorted out, still,” he continued in a softer tone, resting his forehead against Harry’s. Harry sighed.
“How are you holding up, really?” he said, finally asking the question that had been on his mind all night. Draco tensed slightly, and Harry plowed on, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed. The closer we get to summer, the more distant you become. I’m…I’m worried about you…”
Draco pulled away and turned to the side. He crossed his arms in a way that made it look like his was hugging himself, and shrugged.
“Draco…”
“I’m nervous,” he finally replied, staring hard at the carpet. “I don’t really know what to expect. It…last summer, I thought I’d be able to handle it. My fa-… Lucius was away enough that I was used to him not being there for short periods of time, but it was still a shock, to…to not have him there at all. But…with my mother… I don’t know, I think I still have to wrap my mind around the fact that she’s not going to be there waiting for me this year. And that she’s…not coming back. Ever.”
He rubbed a hand tiredly across his eyes, Harry watching him silently. “But I’m fine, really,” Draco insisted, turning back to Harry. “Just don’t know what to expect, is all.”
“Maybe…maybe I should go back to the manor with you?” Harry said slowly, watching to see how Draco reacted to that. “Just so you’re not alone. Or…Professor Snape? Possibly?”
Draco snorted. “Yeah, right,” he muttered, but then reconsidered. “Well, maybe. We’ll see. Harry, I’ll let you know, I promise.” Harry grinned sheepishly, and Draco chuckled, before abruptly changing topics. “Right. Aren’t we supposed to be getting ready for my surprise party?”
Harry groaned, turning back to the mirror. “I never said it was a surprise party!” he insisted. “It’s just the last Saturday party of the year, so it’s a bit more spruced up than usual.”
“Right, yeah, mhmm. But there’ll be presents,” Draco grinned.
“Nope, no presents,” Harry said, shaking his head resolutely. “And you already got mine, anyhow.”
“There’ll also be cake, you said.”
“No I did not.”
“Yes you did. A great big chocolate cake, that’s what you told me.”
“I did not!”
“Harry. Don’t be an idiot. You and I both know that I know it’s a surprise party. And that there’ll be presents. And cake. You let it slip, admit it!”
“It’s not. And I didn’t let anything slip. And there’s no cake.”
“Yeah, alright. Only there is.”
“…No… I mean… It’s not…well…” Harry let out an exasperated breath. “Yeah, well, you know that if Pansy knows that you know, then she’s going to kill me!”
“She wouldn’t,” Draco said, smirking, “because that would be an absolutely terrible present.”
“Maybe she’ll just throw the cake at me instead.”
“I think that would be even worse,” Draco quipped. Harry rolled his eyes, and Draco continued, “But anyway, I digress. We need clothes. And I don’t feel like venturing all the way back down to Slytherin for a new set of trousers, so I’m borrowing some of yours.”
Harry blinked, and then chuckled. “Right, then. Hmm, mine don’t fit you too well, though,” he murmured, kneeling in front of his trunk and rummaging through it. “I think you’re probably closer to Seamus’ size. He won’t mind if you borrow some of his stuff.”
Draco shrugged and wandered over towards Seamus’ bed. “Alright. Hey, Harry…do you think I could try something with your hair?”
“Haha. No.”
“Fine. Prat,” Draco muttered.
“Wanker,” Harry shot back in kind.
But they were smiling as they went about getting ready for the evening.
* * *
“Oy, Potter. I want a word with you.”
Harry cringed and froze, his glass still at his mouth, and looked warily over his shoulder. Pansy was standing there, arms crossed and looking annoyed. Harry could hear her foot tapping agitatedly against the ground. Swallowing slowly, he lowered his cup and turned around, beaming.
“Pansy!” he greeted, feigning cheerfulness. “What can I do for you?”
“Tell me, Potter. Why wasn’t Draco surprised about his party?” she asked frostily, eyes narrowing.
Harry laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Why, whatever do you mean? He looked perfectly surprised to me.” Which was true, if perhaps you were looking for someone with acting skills decent enough to play a secondary character in a B-quality soap opera…
In fact, the statement was so outrageous that Pansy’s stony façade broke, and she snorted, before promptly burst into giggles.
“Right,” she choked out through her laughter, “because the hands-on-cheeks, wide-eyed, ‘Oh my goodness, a surprise party? For me?’ thing was oh-so-authentic.” She mimicked Draco as she said it, and Harry started chuckling as well, dragging a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he said, grinning guiltily. “I really didn’t mean to tell him, but he got it out of me on Thursday…”
“Tortured you, did he?” Pansy quipped.
“Erm…” Harry blushed, “Well, there’s a slight possibility that I might not have realized exactly what I was saying at the time, because he might have had me in a kind of…desperate and quite incoherent state of mind. Possibly. You know.”
Pansy cocked an eyebrow, smirking. “Riiiiight,” she said, snickering. “Possibly. Where is the birthday boy, anyway? You’ve been hogging him since Thursday; I haven’t even gotten to see him!”
Harry glanced over his shoulder to see if Draco was still where he’d left him, and then he looked back at Pansy and jutted his thumb in that direction. “He’s arguing with Hermione about the something-or-other theory about…something-or-other. Arithmancy, apparently. I left when they actually started waffling on in Greek.”
“Draco doesn’t speak Greek.”
“Well, it sounded Greek to me. I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.”
“Let me guess,” Blaise, who had just strolled over towards the end of their conversation, said. “Arithmancy, right?” Pansy rolled her eyes, nodding.
“Draco loves Arithmancy,” she put in. “Almost more than Potions, I think.”
“Don’t I know it,” Harry replied. “He’s been trying to make me help him review for his exams.” Pansy and Blaise grinned, not looking nearly as sympathetic as Harry thought they should.
“Better you than me, mate!” Blaise exclaimed cheerfully, clapping Harry on the shoulder. Harry glowered at him, but the other boy simply stuck out his tongue. Harry opened his mouth to make a retort, but suddenly arms were wrapping around his waist and a very familiar voice sounded by his ear.
“I’d put that away, Blaise, unless of course you’re planning on using it anytime soon,” Draco said, smirking. Harry smiled, leaning back in Draco’s embrace so that he was resting gently against the boy’s chest.
“Ha!” Blaise scoffed. “You’d only be so lucky!”
“I’ve got my own, actually, thanks,” Draco replied loftily as he pressed a quick kiss to Harry’s cheek Harry turned his head and met his next kiss with one of his own, which they quickly became caught up in until Pansy shoved her way in between them.
“Enough, enough!” she exclaimed, pushing the two of them apart. “Merlin, you’re like leeches, I swear!”
“But- Pansy!” Draco protested. “It’s my birthday!”
“Actually, Draco, your birthday was two days ago,” Blaise pointed out helpfully. Draco shot him a quick glare, which Blaise only grinned at.
“Birthday or not, I feel like I haven’t talked to you in ages. Come on!” Pansy insisted, pouting. Then she continued in a sing-song voice, “There’s a present waiting for you!” Draco’s eyebrows went up.
“Is there really? Well then!” He shrugged at Harry and then allowed Pansy to pull him to a fairly empty corner of the room, grinning the entire time. Harry rolled his eyes, before glancing at Blaise.
“Do you know what else Pansy has planned for tonight?” he asked. Blaise’s face scrunched up in thought.
“The usual, I think. She’s been too busy studying like mad to do much planning.”
“Right. Studying. Yeah, we’ve been studying a lot as well.”
Blaise gave Harry a flat look. “Is that what you call it, then?”
Harry felt his cheeks warm, and he rolled his eyes. “Yes, that is usually how one refers to reviewing all of one’s notes and reading over various chapters from the books in order to prepare for an exam, after all.” He paused briefly, and then continued with an impish grin, “It’s the study breaks you have you worry about, though I suppose we certainly took a fair amount of those…”
“Well color me shocked,” Blaise said dryly, turning to leave. Harry snorted and shared a final grin with Blaise before they both headed off to other parts of the room.
* * *
The night grew on, and as usual people began dropping out and heading back to their common rooms long before the party actually ended. Because it was the week before exams, more students left than normal, claiming they had a lot of studying to do the next day. So when Pansy finally called everyone together late in the evening, they were left with only a few students from each house.
“I couldn’t resist,” Pansy said, once everyone had gathered together. “It’s tradition, after all.” And she presented an empty firewhiskey bottle to the group with a catlike grin. “It’s how these parties even started, remember?”
And so the game began.
**
“Ew, no.”
“What- Draco!”
“No! I’m not kissing him.”
“Oh, thank Merlin.”
“Ron, shut up. Draco, you can’t just break the rules like that.”
A raised eyebrow. “Do you want to watch me kiss your best friend?”
“Well, no… You have before, though.”
“Ok, that was then and this is now and times are different! It’s my birthday anyway, so I’ll do what I want.”
“It’s not your birthday.”
“Shut up, Blaise.” Pause. Glance around the circle. “I’ll just kiss Granger instead.”
“Hey-”
In unison. “Shut up, Ron!” “-Weasley!”
**
“Oh no, that’s not on either.”
Exasperated sigh. “Draco.”
“I’m not going to watch you snog Weasley!”
“You can’t always have your way.”
“No.”
“But- mmph! Mmphf-…mmmmm…”
Several seconds of silence. “Alright, boys.” Pause. “Draco. Potter.” Another pause. “Draco!”
“What, Pansy?! Merlin, can’t even give us one minute…”
“Do it on your own time! The rest of us are tired of watching you dry-hump each other all over the place!”
“…”
**
“Harry.” Silence. “Harry?”
Not paying attention. “Hmm?”
Tugging on a sleeve. “Harry!”
Annoyed. “What, Ron?”
“Should I be worried?”
“About what?”
Gesture at the middle of the circle. “Hermione and Pansy…don’t they look like they’re…enjoying themselves a bit too much?”
“Umm…” Not paying attention again.
“I mean, really, it’s been nearly a minute now…” Pause. “Hey! Hands stay on her waist, Parkinson! Not above or below it!”
**
Lots of coughing and spluttering.
“Well I guess we know Neville’s straight.”
Faces are actually turning green.
“Blaise, too.”
“They hardly even touched each other.”
“Well, Blaise has always been a bit of a drama queen.”
“…Really, Draco? He’s a drama queen?”
“Yes. Why?”
Head shaking. Sigh. “Nothing, nothing.”
**
“Hahaha, Finnigan has to kiss a girl. Figures.”
“Hannah doesn’t seem to mind.”
A grin. “But Finch-Fletchley does.”
**
“Oh God. Like I don’t see those two going at it enough.”
“Draco!”
“Harry, shut up. It hurts my eyes. I can’t watch.”
“…Then don’t.”
“I can’t look away. It’s like watching a train wreck.”
“Funny, Ron says the same thing about us.”
“…Well. How rude.”
**
“Um…Draco?” Silence. “Draco? Seamus??”
“Harry, shush.”
“But…but, Hermione!”
“It’s just kissing, Harry.”
“…” Eyes widen. “That’s a far bit more than kissing- Seamus, get your hands out from under his shirt!”
Lazy grin as they separate for a second. “My shirt, you mean. He is wearing my clothes, after all.” Silence again.
“Hey!” Shuffling sounds, slight scuffle.
Pouting. “I was enjoying that…”
Grin. “Thanks, Justin.”
“No problem, Harry.”
**
“…I actually have nothing to say about this one.”
“Yeah.”
Snort. “How ironic that it’s a rarity when we actually see a girl and a boy kissing.”
“Parvati looks jealous of her sister. Merlin knows why; it’s Zacharias Smith, after all.”
Smirk. “I think he’s good looking.”
Flatly. “That’s because he looks like you. Sort of.”
“Just not as fit.”
Shared grin. “Yes.” Pause. “Though it’s hard to say who has a more annoying personality.”
“…” Smack.
“…Ow.”
“You deserved it.”
Pause. Apologetic look.
Rolling his eyes. Slight smile.
Hands intertwine.
* * *
It was late in the night now, and the room was deserted except for two boys who were lying together on one of the couches.
Draco was sprawled out on top of Harry, arms folded across the boy’s chest with his chin resting on top of them. Harry had his hands crossed behind his head. They’d been resting like that for nearly half an hour now, silently. Draco was finally beginning to doze off when Harry brought one hand down and brushed some wispy bangs off the other boy’s forehead. The movement made Draco blink sleepily and he looked up at Harry questioningly. Harry smiled gently at him. He moved his leg a little, as it was starting to cramp up from Draco’s weight on top of it, and Draco shuddered slightly.
Harry paused for a second, noticing the movement, and then he pressed up again, feeling Draco’s half-hard arousal against his thigh. Smirking, he raised an eyebrow, moving his leg slowly against the other boy.
Draco’s lips curved upwards in return, but after a second he shook his head. “No,” he said softly. “Not tonight. This might be the last bit of free time we have together, you know.”
Harry stilled, and his eyes went a little wide. “Is it?” he asked, looking as if he was trying to figure something out in his head.
“Well, I mean we have exams all next week,” Draco pointed out, “And then the year’s over. I doubt we’ll find any time to ourselves on the train. And then I’ll be at the manor for the first part of the summer.”
“Oh,” Harry said quietly, glancing away. “I hadn’t thought about that.” He lowered his other arm and wrapped both of them around Draco’s waist so that he could pull the boy farther up his body. Draco grinned and kissed Harry gently. Both of their eyes slid shut as their tongues danced around each other in a slow, rhythmic way. It was a kiss full of emotion, not meant to lead to anything else, and when they finally broke apart, Harry eyed Draco speculatively.
“Draco,” he said slowly, gaze sliding off to the side as a slight blush suffused his cheeks. “Do…do you think that…maybe…” Draco’s brow furrowed while Harry steeled himself and turned back to Draco, giving him an intense, burning look that made Draco shiver as sudden warmth filled his chest. “Do you think that one day you might actually…love me?”
The question took Draco by surprise, so much that his mind went blank and was instead filled with a soft buzzing. His eyes widened, his face felt so hot he was sure it was bright red, but he couldn’t think enough to form an answer. Nothing came to mind, he could barely comprehend what Harry had just asked him, but words were coming to his mouth and it was nothing he had thought about saying. They instead seemed to be coming from somewhere deeper inside him, but he could feel that they were true, and before anything else could happen, his mouth opened and his answer tumbled out.
“Harry, I think I already do.”
And then the words were out in the open, hanging between them, and Draco felt inexplicably mortified. Harry was staring at him in disbelief, or incomprehension, except he was starting to smile. And now he was beaming, and he might have been trying to say something but Draco’s ears were filled with nothing but a deafening roar and he couldn’t get beyond anything but the fact that he had just told Harry that he loved him and-
“Draco!”
Draco’s head snapped up from where he’d apparently buried it against Harry’s neck without even realizing that he had, and he looked fearfully at Harry.
“Draco, it’s ok. Look, I-” Laughter bubbling forth from his throat interrupted him, and Draco would have thought Harry was laughing at him except he hadn’t seen the boy look this happy in…well…actually, Draco didn’t think he’d ever seen Harry look this happy. “Draco, I love you too!”
And just like that, Draco’s embarrassment disappeared and the roaring in his ears faded and the world seemed to right itself again, so that all that mattered was him and Harry and this moment and-
“You do?” Draco asked faintly, hands curling into the material of Harry’s shirt and gripping tight. Harry nodded quickly, still laughing. Draco laughed once too, except it almost sounded more like a sob, and then he and Harry were kissing again, kissing like they were about to be torn apart and this was the last minute they would have together and they were desperate for each other and trying to fully use each second that slipped by to their best advantage.
“I love you,” Draco said when they separated, the words feeling foreign on his tongue but sounding absolutely right. Harry smiled, and then kissed him again.
Sometime later they had gone back to just lying there, their arms wrapped around each other and their legs intertwined. Draco had one ear pressed against Harry’s chest, listening to the soft ba-dump of Harry’s heartbeat, and one of Harry’s hands was absently playing with strands of Draco’s hair.
“I don’t ever want to leave this room,” Harry murmured, the hand he had on Draco’s waist tightening.
“Maybe if we require time to stand still, it will,” Draco said in response, shoving his own hand beneath the soft cotton of Harry’s t-shirt and letting in rest on the boy’s warm skin.
“I don’t think the room works like that,” Harry said dryly.
“Well if you doubt it like that, then of course it won’t.”
“Right, right, my bad,” Harry grinned, and then he yawned. “God, what time is it?”
“I don’t think we want to know,” Draco replied, yawning himself.
“The night can’t end yet. It’s too soon.”
“Harry, it’ll only be a little while that I’m at the manor,” Draco said reassuringly. “I’ll definitely see you in July. Can’t miss your birthday, after all. And it’s not like the world will end if we’re not together for a month.”
Harry couldn’t care less about his birthday, but suddenly his mind was swamped with thoughts of Voldemort and all the attacks this year, and the Death Eaters escaping…
His arm tightened even further around Draco’s waist. “You never know,” he muttered into the boy’s hair, pressing a kiss to his temple.
Draco rolled his eyes and grinned briefly at Harry, before rolling off of him and landing softly on the floor beside the couch. Grabbing the nearby Firewhiskey bottle that they had been using earlier, he quirked an eyebrow at his boyfriend.
“Forget about that for now,” he said, a smirk curving onto his lips. “Play me?”
Harry blinked. “Play what?”
“Spin the bottle, you prat,” Draco said affectionately, with a roll of his eyes.
“But there’s only the two of us…”
“Well, duh. Don’t tell me there are other people you’d rather be kissing.” Draco cocked an eyebrow. Harry stared at him for a second, and suddenly he realized something.
There were a lot of things he wasn’t sure about. Like what was going to happen that summer, for one. When would he see Draco again? Hopefully whatever he had to take care of at the manor wouldn’t take long. And what about the war? Would it escalate further? Were the Death Eaters really planning something, and was that why things had been so quiet recently? Would he finally have to face Voldemort again?
…Was Draco now on Voldemort’s ‘To Kill’ list? Was being with Harry putting him in danger?
Harry often thought about such things. He worried a lot, he couldn’t help it. And being away from Draco wasn’t going to help at all.
But right at that moment, as he looked at Draco, looked at that smirk, eyed his tousled hair, met the gaze that had softened almost imperceptibly as he stared at Harry, Harry found that there was one thing he was completely certain about.
There was absolutely no one else he would rather be kissing.
And so, grinning widely, Harry spun.
~ ~ fin ~ ~
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Well. Hehe. I told you there’d be a happy ending. ^.~
So that’s that. SWAS is finished.
Hard to believe, eh?
Some final notes real quick. First off, thank you. Thank you all so, so much. I’ve said it before, that I write because I enjoy writing, but each and every one of you make it an even more wonderful experience. It’s been a privilege to write SWAS for you all, and I can’t put into words how happy I am that you all stuck with me to the end.
Thank you to the readers on livejournal. I love LJ, I really do. It’s so easy to communicate with everyone there, and it’s been awesome getting to know you all. Thank you to those who read SWAS at Skyehawke. I really should have replied to all of you who left an e-mail address with your review, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But know that every time one of you commented, I couldn’t stop grinning for a looooong time afterwards. Some of the longest, nicest reviews came from Skyehawke. Thank you to the Cipher and House Rivalry archives, and all the readers over there. I probably interacted the least with you guys, and I’m sorry for that, but you all were just as wonderful as everyone else.
To everyone who recced SWAS at some point over the past months, thank you! That’s the best way to get a story read, after all. ^.^
Miints, Goldie, you’ve been there for me since chapter one, and you’ve been absolutely fantastic. I’ve said it a million times, I know, but I would not have been able to do it without you. *glomps like whoa*
To everyone who drew fanart for SWAS, I never imagined getting even one piece of art, much less…um…45!! That’s so incredible, and I’m still completely boggled by it. And that’s not even including the icons and banners!
Well…God, there’s so many individual people I want to thank, but I’ll never be able to do it all here. And if I try, I know I’ll forget someone along the way. But those of you who have been with me since day one, you know who you are. You’ve been awesome. So just…heh, everyone.
Thank you.
I love you guys.
It’s been a real trip! One giant emotional roller coaster, lol. And I’ve loved each and every moment of it.
I’ll be back for more H/D lovin', and I hope you all will too. See you around!
~Maxine
All art for SWAS can be found at my website!
***EDIT 2/10/2012 - The website no longer exists! All art for SWAS can now be found HERE. It's also linked with the rest of the chapters in my memories. THANK YOU!***
So here's the final part! I’ll let you all get right to it. Thanks for reading!
Beta’d, like I said, by the ever-fabulous miints and __goldie. Love you, ladies!
Title: Starts With a Spin
Category: Harry Potter
Genre: Humor/Romance/Smut/Slash
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: H/D
Final Word Count: 119,607
Disclaimer: Harry Potter ain’t mine…if it were…well…Draco certainly wouldn’t be Harry’s enemy forever. ^.~
Summary: It started with the spin of a bottle, and now Harry and Draco have gotten themselves so far into their own game there's almost no way out again. Except to keep playing. (finished)
--> All chapters can be found here. <--
previous
~~Epilogue~~
“You know what? Voldemort is a right pain in the arse.”
“Is he? I hadn’t realized…”
“Ha, right,” Harry snorted. He’d been standing in front of a mirror in the Gryffindor dormitory in nothing but his boxers and a white undershirt, absently trying to decide what he wanted to wear for the night. Now he glanced up into the glassy surface, catching sight of Draco sitting on a bed behind him, dressed much the same way. “It’s just…this stupid war,” Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Why did he ever have to start it if he was just going to up and disappear again?”
Draco snorted lightly, giving Harry an amused look. “Five months later, and now you’re wishing it had never started? And he didn’t actually disappear, seeing as how we never knew where he was to begin with. He just…stopped. For a bit.” He stood and crossed to stand behind Harry, still looking at him in the mirror. Harry sighed again.
“Yeah, that’s true. I suppose I’m just feeling antsy, because usually I get into all sorts of trouble at the end of the year, but this time? Nothing. Not even a clue as to what he’s planning.” He dropped his eyes for a second, and then looked up again, chewing slightly on his bottom lip. “Draco, have you decided where you’re going to stay this summer yet?”
Draco blinked at the abrupt change of topic. “I…hmmm.” He looked away, rubbing his arm absently. “No,” he replied. “I suppose I should go back to the manor and make sure everything’s in order, but… It still doesn’t seem real, you know?” Harry didn’t answer and Draco looked back at him, continuing quickly, “I mean, it did…for about a minute. At the…at the funeral. But after that, being back here… I can still pretend that I’m going to see her over the summer. It feels like I am. But going back…when she won’t be there…”
“…I know what you mean,” Harry murmured, thinking of Sirius, and how sometimes it still felt like he would write back if Harry sent him a letter.
Narcissa’s funeral had been an experience that Harry didn’t ever care to repeat. There obviously hadn’t been a funeral for Sirius, so, in a way, Harry had been able to treat Narcissa’s as if it was his as well. That had made it difficult, though, because he’d been saying goodbye to Sirius all over again, which only reopened old wounds that Harry had thought had long since healed.
The Aurors that had been stationed throughout the attendees hadn’t been needed, it turned out. No one had seen nor heard from Lucius since the breakout, and even months later, there still hadn’t been any movement from him. In fact, Voldemort’s attacks had stopped since Draco’s mother had been murdered, and no one had any idea what he might be planning to do next.
Which, of course, left everyone in a state of agitated panic. It wasn’t uncommon to be snapped at out of the blue, nowadays.
“Stay with me,” Harry blurted out suddenly, spinning around to face Draco. “I’ve got my own place- I mean, well, Sirius left it to me. You could stay there over the summer.” It came out in a jumbled rush, and Harry felt his cheeks warm slightly. He’d wanted to ask Draco for a few weeks now, but he hadn’t known what the others boy’s plans were, since Draco never gave him direct answer whenever he asked. But the days left until summer were dwindling, and if he didn’t ask now…
“Stay with you…?” Draco repeated faintly, staring at Harry wide-eyed.
“Yeah. Yeah, I mean… You’d have your own room, obviously. So you’d have some privacy. And a place to put your things. Not that I don’t want you sleeping in my room, but, you know, that way if anyone asks or gives you a hard time about it-”
“Harry,” Draco interrupted, smirking, “do you really think I care what anyone thinks about us anymore?” He gestured at the wall beside Seamus’ bed, where the Irish boy had taped up various newspaper clippings from a series of articles that had been released directly after the funeral. Everyday for nearly two weeks, the Daily Prophet had been showered with various pictures of Harry and Draco holding hands or leaning against each other, and there were even a few where Harry had his arm around Draco’s waist. All of them had been taken at the funeral, and they were accompanied by asinine headlines that started out somewhat innocently enough as:
Harry Potter’s New Angle - Befriending Death Eater Children?
Which had graduated into slightly more vulgar headings like:
The-Boy-Who-Lived…to be Queer?
And when they started running out of ideas, had ended up as:
The Only Girl for Potter? Not a Girl at All!
At first Harry had been mortified, then annoyed, then downright angry. Honestly, there had to be more important things that could be front page news, but with Voldemort’s attacks stopping so suddenly, the new scandal about everyone’s favorite teen hero was instant gold for the papers. Seamus insisted that the articles were funny, and he’d kept every single one. Then, after nearly a week of the Prophet’s speculation about Harry’s sexual orientation, Witch Weekly came out with headline shouting:
The Chosen One and the Death Eater’s Son - Hogwarts Hottest Hunks, and They’re Dating Each Other!
Written, of course, by everyone’s favorite nosy journalist, Rita Skeeter, and even complete with several interviews from students at Hogwarts. Harry had nearly snorted his juice through his nose when he saw it, while Draco had lamented about what a God-awful picture it was of him. From then on, Harry had just been amused with each new printing.
Then the mail had started pouring in, much like it had after he’d published his interview in The Quibbler during fifth year. Hate mail, support mail, random fan mail - and amidst all that, thank-you letters from boys and men of all ages. It was after the first thank-you letter that Seamus began taping up the articles beside his bed.
Of course there had also been letters from various members of the Order. Harry had been expecting that after he recognized Kingsley Shacklebolt as one of the Aurors stationed at the funeral, and soon enough he’d received several letters from Remus, the Weasleys, Tonks, and even Mad-Eye Moody, politely but very firmly asking him, “What the bloody hell are you thinking?!”
He’d waited until he got word about an Order meeting before he sent the entire group a Howler telling them that, yes, he was dating Draco Malfoy, and would they all please shut the hell up and mind their own business, thank-you-very-much, as he was sixteen years old and had the right to date whomever he bloody well wanted to. Even if ‘whomever he bloody well wanted to’ happened to be another boy.
That had been the first time Draco had really looked happy since his mother had been buried.
Smiling slightly, Harry shook his head. “No, I guess not,” he said. “There’s really not much more the public can find out about us, is there? Unless, you know, someone catches us on video or something.”
“Video?” Draco asked, quirking an eyebrow.
Harry laughed. “Nothing. Muggle stuff.”
“Ah.”
“So, what do you think?” Harry asked again. “The house is plenty big, I promise.”
“Oh…” Draco frowned, scratching his ear absently. “I don’t know, Harry. I-”
“Come on, Draco! Look, we can even go for our Apparating license together,” Harry suggested.
“But- I don’t want to wait that long!” Draco said, rather petulantly. Then he grinned. “You’re just a baby, Harry,” he teased, flicking the boy’s nose. “Still only sixteen. Us older, more mature people can go for their licenses now.” Harry scowled and rubbed his nose.
“Draco, you just turned seventeen two days ago,” he said flatly. Draco beamed at him.
“And that makes me nearly two whole months older than you!” he said, lifting his chin a bit. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Well?” he asked pointedly.
“I’ll think about it,” Draco replied, stepping closer to Harry and draping his arms over his shoulders. “I think I’ll definitely be there for at least part of the summer…but there really is a lot that needs to get sorted out, still,” he continued in a softer tone, resting his forehead against Harry’s. Harry sighed.
“How are you holding up, really?” he said, finally asking the question that had been on his mind all night. Draco tensed slightly, and Harry plowed on, “Don’t think I haven’t noticed. The closer we get to summer, the more distant you become. I’m…I’m worried about you…”
Draco pulled away and turned to the side. He crossed his arms in a way that made it look like his was hugging himself, and shrugged.
“Draco…”
“I’m nervous,” he finally replied, staring hard at the carpet. “I don’t really know what to expect. It…last summer, I thought I’d be able to handle it. My fa-… Lucius was away enough that I was used to him not being there for short periods of time, but it was still a shock, to…to not have him there at all. But…with my mother… I don’t know, I think I still have to wrap my mind around the fact that she’s not going to be there waiting for me this year. And that she’s…not coming back. Ever.”
He rubbed a hand tiredly across his eyes, Harry watching him silently. “But I’m fine, really,” Draco insisted, turning back to Harry. “Just don’t know what to expect, is all.”
“Maybe…maybe I should go back to the manor with you?” Harry said slowly, watching to see how Draco reacted to that. “Just so you’re not alone. Or…Professor Snape? Possibly?”
Draco snorted. “Yeah, right,” he muttered, but then reconsidered. “Well, maybe. We’ll see. Harry, I’ll let you know, I promise.” Harry grinned sheepishly, and Draco chuckled, before abruptly changing topics. “Right. Aren’t we supposed to be getting ready for my surprise party?”
Harry groaned, turning back to the mirror. “I never said it was a surprise party!” he insisted. “It’s just the last Saturday party of the year, so it’s a bit more spruced up than usual.”
“Right, yeah, mhmm. But there’ll be presents,” Draco grinned.
“Nope, no presents,” Harry said, shaking his head resolutely. “And you already got mine, anyhow.”
“There’ll also be cake, you said.”
“No I did not.”
“Yes you did. A great big chocolate cake, that’s what you told me.”
“I did not!”
“Harry. Don’t be an idiot. You and I both know that I know it’s a surprise party. And that there’ll be presents. And cake. You let it slip, admit it!”
“It’s not. And I didn’t let anything slip. And there’s no cake.”
“Yeah, alright. Only there is.”
“…No… I mean… It’s not…well…” Harry let out an exasperated breath. “Yeah, well, you know that if Pansy knows that you know, then she’s going to kill me!”
“She wouldn’t,” Draco said, smirking, “because that would be an absolutely terrible present.”
“Maybe she’ll just throw the cake at me instead.”
“I think that would be even worse,” Draco quipped. Harry rolled his eyes, and Draco continued, “But anyway, I digress. We need clothes. And I don’t feel like venturing all the way back down to Slytherin for a new set of trousers, so I’m borrowing some of yours.”
Harry blinked, and then chuckled. “Right, then. Hmm, mine don’t fit you too well, though,” he murmured, kneeling in front of his trunk and rummaging through it. “I think you’re probably closer to Seamus’ size. He won’t mind if you borrow some of his stuff.”
Draco shrugged and wandered over towards Seamus’ bed. “Alright. Hey, Harry…do you think I could try something with your hair?”
“Haha. No.”
“Fine. Prat,” Draco muttered.
“Wanker,” Harry shot back in kind.
But they were smiling as they went about getting ready for the evening.
* * *
“Oy, Potter. I want a word with you.”
Harry cringed and froze, his glass still at his mouth, and looked warily over his shoulder. Pansy was standing there, arms crossed and looking annoyed. Harry could hear her foot tapping agitatedly against the ground. Swallowing slowly, he lowered his cup and turned around, beaming.
“Pansy!” he greeted, feigning cheerfulness. “What can I do for you?”
“Tell me, Potter. Why wasn’t Draco surprised about his party?” she asked frostily, eyes narrowing.
Harry laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Why, whatever do you mean? He looked perfectly surprised to me.” Which was true, if perhaps you were looking for someone with acting skills decent enough to play a secondary character in a B-quality soap opera…
In fact, the statement was so outrageous that Pansy’s stony façade broke, and she snorted, before promptly burst into giggles.
“Right,” she choked out through her laughter, “because the hands-on-cheeks, wide-eyed, ‘Oh my goodness, a surprise party? For me?’ thing was oh-so-authentic.” She mimicked Draco as she said it, and Harry started chuckling as well, dragging a hand through his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he said, grinning guiltily. “I really didn’t mean to tell him, but he got it out of me on Thursday…”
“Tortured you, did he?” Pansy quipped.
“Erm…” Harry blushed, “Well, there’s a slight possibility that I might not have realized exactly what I was saying at the time, because he might have had me in a kind of…desperate and quite incoherent state of mind. Possibly. You know.”
Pansy cocked an eyebrow, smirking. “Riiiiight,” she said, snickering. “Possibly. Where is the birthday boy, anyway? You’ve been hogging him since Thursday; I haven’t even gotten to see him!”
Harry glanced over his shoulder to see if Draco was still where he’d left him, and then he looked back at Pansy and jutted his thumb in that direction. “He’s arguing with Hermione about the something-or-other theory about…something-or-other. Arithmancy, apparently. I left when they actually started waffling on in Greek.”
“Draco doesn’t speak Greek.”
“Well, it sounded Greek to me. I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.”
“Let me guess,” Blaise, who had just strolled over towards the end of their conversation, said. “Arithmancy, right?” Pansy rolled her eyes, nodding.
“Draco loves Arithmancy,” she put in. “Almost more than Potions, I think.”
“Don’t I know it,” Harry replied. “He’s been trying to make me help him review for his exams.” Pansy and Blaise grinned, not looking nearly as sympathetic as Harry thought they should.
“Better you than me, mate!” Blaise exclaimed cheerfully, clapping Harry on the shoulder. Harry glowered at him, but the other boy simply stuck out his tongue. Harry opened his mouth to make a retort, but suddenly arms were wrapping around his waist and a very familiar voice sounded by his ear.
“I’d put that away, Blaise, unless of course you’re planning on using it anytime soon,” Draco said, smirking. Harry smiled, leaning back in Draco’s embrace so that he was resting gently against the boy’s chest.
“Ha!” Blaise scoffed. “You’d only be so lucky!”
“I’ve got my own, actually, thanks,” Draco replied loftily as he pressed a quick kiss to Harry’s cheek Harry turned his head and met his next kiss with one of his own, which they quickly became caught up in until Pansy shoved her way in between them.
“Enough, enough!” she exclaimed, pushing the two of them apart. “Merlin, you’re like leeches, I swear!”
“But- Pansy!” Draco protested. “It’s my birthday!”
“Actually, Draco, your birthday was two days ago,” Blaise pointed out helpfully. Draco shot him a quick glare, which Blaise only grinned at.
“Birthday or not, I feel like I haven’t talked to you in ages. Come on!” Pansy insisted, pouting. Then she continued in a sing-song voice, “There’s a present waiting for you!” Draco’s eyebrows went up.
“Is there really? Well then!” He shrugged at Harry and then allowed Pansy to pull him to a fairly empty corner of the room, grinning the entire time. Harry rolled his eyes, before glancing at Blaise.
“Do you know what else Pansy has planned for tonight?” he asked. Blaise’s face scrunched up in thought.
“The usual, I think. She’s been too busy studying like mad to do much planning.”
“Right. Studying. Yeah, we’ve been studying a lot as well.”
Blaise gave Harry a flat look. “Is that what you call it, then?”
Harry felt his cheeks warm, and he rolled his eyes. “Yes, that is usually how one refers to reviewing all of one’s notes and reading over various chapters from the books in order to prepare for an exam, after all.” He paused briefly, and then continued with an impish grin, “It’s the study breaks you have you worry about, though I suppose we certainly took a fair amount of those…”
“Well color me shocked,” Blaise said dryly, turning to leave. Harry snorted and shared a final grin with Blaise before they both headed off to other parts of the room.
* * *
The night grew on, and as usual people began dropping out and heading back to their common rooms long before the party actually ended. Because it was the week before exams, more students left than normal, claiming they had a lot of studying to do the next day. So when Pansy finally called everyone together late in the evening, they were left with only a few students from each house.
“I couldn’t resist,” Pansy said, once everyone had gathered together. “It’s tradition, after all.” And she presented an empty firewhiskey bottle to the group with a catlike grin. “It’s how these parties even started, remember?”
And so the game began.
**
“Ew, no.”
“What- Draco!”
“No! I’m not kissing him.”
“Oh, thank Merlin.”
“Ron, shut up. Draco, you can’t just break the rules like that.”
A raised eyebrow. “Do you want to watch me kiss your best friend?”
“Well, no… You have before, though.”
“Ok, that was then and this is now and times are different! It’s my birthday anyway, so I’ll do what I want.”
“It’s not your birthday.”
“Shut up, Blaise.” Pause. Glance around the circle. “I’ll just kiss Granger instead.”
“Hey-”
In unison. “Shut up, Ron!” “-Weasley!”
**
“Oh no, that’s not on either.”
Exasperated sigh. “Draco.”
“I’m not going to watch you snog Weasley!”
“You can’t always have your way.”
“No.”
“But- mmph! Mmphf-…mmmmm…”
Several seconds of silence. “Alright, boys.” Pause. “Draco. Potter.” Another pause. “Draco!”
“What, Pansy?! Merlin, can’t even give us one minute…”
“Do it on your own time! The rest of us are tired of watching you dry-hump each other all over the place!”
“…”
**
“Harry.” Silence. “Harry?”
Not paying attention. “Hmm?”
Tugging on a sleeve. “Harry!”
Annoyed. “What, Ron?”
“Should I be worried?”
“About what?”
Gesture at the middle of the circle. “Hermione and Pansy…don’t they look like they’re…enjoying themselves a bit too much?”
“Umm…” Not paying attention again.
“I mean, really, it’s been nearly a minute now…” Pause. “Hey! Hands stay on her waist, Parkinson! Not above or below it!”
**
Lots of coughing and spluttering.
“Well I guess we know Neville’s straight.”
Faces are actually turning green.
“Blaise, too.”
“They hardly even touched each other.”
“Well, Blaise has always been a bit of a drama queen.”
“…Really, Draco? He’s a drama queen?”
“Yes. Why?”
Head shaking. Sigh. “Nothing, nothing.”
**
“Hahaha, Finnigan has to kiss a girl. Figures.”
“Hannah doesn’t seem to mind.”
A grin. “But Finch-Fletchley does.”
**
“Oh God. Like I don’t see those two going at it enough.”
“Draco!”
“Harry, shut up. It hurts my eyes. I can’t watch.”
“…Then don’t.”
“I can’t look away. It’s like watching a train wreck.”
“Funny, Ron says the same thing about us.”
“…Well. How rude.”
**
“Um…Draco?” Silence. “Draco? Seamus??”
“Harry, shush.”
“But…but, Hermione!”
“It’s just kissing, Harry.”
“…” Eyes widen. “That’s a far bit more than kissing- Seamus, get your hands out from under his shirt!”
Lazy grin as they separate for a second. “My shirt, you mean. He is wearing my clothes, after all.” Silence again.
“Hey!” Shuffling sounds, slight scuffle.
Pouting. “I was enjoying that…”
Grin. “Thanks, Justin.”
“No problem, Harry.”
**
“…I actually have nothing to say about this one.”
“Yeah.”
Snort. “How ironic that it’s a rarity when we actually see a girl and a boy kissing.”
“Parvati looks jealous of her sister. Merlin knows why; it’s Zacharias Smith, after all.”
Smirk. “I think he’s good looking.”
Flatly. “That’s because he looks like you. Sort of.”
“Just not as fit.”
Shared grin. “Yes.” Pause. “Though it’s hard to say who has a more annoying personality.”
“…” Smack.
“…Ow.”
“You deserved it.”
Pause. Apologetic look.
Rolling his eyes. Slight smile.
Hands intertwine.
* * *
It was late in the night now, and the room was deserted except for two boys who were lying together on one of the couches.
Draco was sprawled out on top of Harry, arms folded across the boy’s chest with his chin resting on top of them. Harry had his hands crossed behind his head. They’d been resting like that for nearly half an hour now, silently. Draco was finally beginning to doze off when Harry brought one hand down and brushed some wispy bangs off the other boy’s forehead. The movement made Draco blink sleepily and he looked up at Harry questioningly. Harry smiled gently at him. He moved his leg a little, as it was starting to cramp up from Draco’s weight on top of it, and Draco shuddered slightly.
Harry paused for a second, noticing the movement, and then he pressed up again, feeling Draco’s half-hard arousal against his thigh. Smirking, he raised an eyebrow, moving his leg slowly against the other boy.
Draco’s lips curved upwards in return, but after a second he shook his head. “No,” he said softly. “Not tonight. This might be the last bit of free time we have together, you know.”
Harry stilled, and his eyes went a little wide. “Is it?” he asked, looking as if he was trying to figure something out in his head.
“Well, I mean we have exams all next week,” Draco pointed out, “And then the year’s over. I doubt we’ll find any time to ourselves on the train. And then I’ll be at the manor for the first part of the summer.”
“Oh,” Harry said quietly, glancing away. “I hadn’t thought about that.” He lowered his other arm and wrapped both of them around Draco’s waist so that he could pull the boy farther up his body. Draco grinned and kissed Harry gently. Both of their eyes slid shut as their tongues danced around each other in a slow, rhythmic way. It was a kiss full of emotion, not meant to lead to anything else, and when they finally broke apart, Harry eyed Draco speculatively.
“Draco,” he said slowly, gaze sliding off to the side as a slight blush suffused his cheeks. “Do…do you think that…maybe…” Draco’s brow furrowed while Harry steeled himself and turned back to Draco, giving him an intense, burning look that made Draco shiver as sudden warmth filled his chest. “Do you think that one day you might actually…love me?”
The question took Draco by surprise, so much that his mind went blank and was instead filled with a soft buzzing. His eyes widened, his face felt so hot he was sure it was bright red, but he couldn’t think enough to form an answer. Nothing came to mind, he could barely comprehend what Harry had just asked him, but words were coming to his mouth and it was nothing he had thought about saying. They instead seemed to be coming from somewhere deeper inside him, but he could feel that they were true, and before anything else could happen, his mouth opened and his answer tumbled out.
“Harry, I think I already do.”
And then the words were out in the open, hanging between them, and Draco felt inexplicably mortified. Harry was staring at him in disbelief, or incomprehension, except he was starting to smile. And now he was beaming, and he might have been trying to say something but Draco’s ears were filled with nothing but a deafening roar and he couldn’t get beyond anything but the fact that he had just told Harry that he loved him and-
“Draco!”
Draco’s head snapped up from where he’d apparently buried it against Harry’s neck without even realizing that he had, and he looked fearfully at Harry.
“Draco, it’s ok. Look, I-” Laughter bubbling forth from his throat interrupted him, and Draco would have thought Harry was laughing at him except he hadn’t seen the boy look this happy in…well…actually, Draco didn’t think he’d ever seen Harry look this happy. “Draco, I love you too!”
And just like that, Draco’s embarrassment disappeared and the roaring in his ears faded and the world seemed to right itself again, so that all that mattered was him and Harry and this moment and-
“You do?” Draco asked faintly, hands curling into the material of Harry’s shirt and gripping tight. Harry nodded quickly, still laughing. Draco laughed once too, except it almost sounded more like a sob, and then he and Harry were kissing again, kissing like they were about to be torn apart and this was the last minute they would have together and they were desperate for each other and trying to fully use each second that slipped by to their best advantage.
“I love you,” Draco said when they separated, the words feeling foreign on his tongue but sounding absolutely right. Harry smiled, and then kissed him again.
Sometime later they had gone back to just lying there, their arms wrapped around each other and their legs intertwined. Draco had one ear pressed against Harry’s chest, listening to the soft ba-dump of Harry’s heartbeat, and one of Harry’s hands was absently playing with strands of Draco’s hair.
“I don’t ever want to leave this room,” Harry murmured, the hand he had on Draco’s waist tightening.
“Maybe if we require time to stand still, it will,” Draco said in response, shoving his own hand beneath the soft cotton of Harry’s t-shirt and letting in rest on the boy’s warm skin.
“I don’t think the room works like that,” Harry said dryly.
“Well if you doubt it like that, then of course it won’t.”
“Right, right, my bad,” Harry grinned, and then he yawned. “God, what time is it?”
“I don’t think we want to know,” Draco replied, yawning himself.
“The night can’t end yet. It’s too soon.”
“Harry, it’ll only be a little while that I’m at the manor,” Draco said reassuringly. “I’ll definitely see you in July. Can’t miss your birthday, after all. And it’s not like the world will end if we’re not together for a month.”
Harry couldn’t care less about his birthday, but suddenly his mind was swamped with thoughts of Voldemort and all the attacks this year, and the Death Eaters escaping…
His arm tightened even further around Draco’s waist. “You never know,” he muttered into the boy’s hair, pressing a kiss to his temple.
Draco rolled his eyes and grinned briefly at Harry, before rolling off of him and landing softly on the floor beside the couch. Grabbing the nearby Firewhiskey bottle that they had been using earlier, he quirked an eyebrow at his boyfriend.
“Forget about that for now,” he said, a smirk curving onto his lips. “Play me?”
Harry blinked. “Play what?”
“Spin the bottle, you prat,” Draco said affectionately, with a roll of his eyes.
“But there’s only the two of us…”
“Well, duh. Don’t tell me there are other people you’d rather be kissing.” Draco cocked an eyebrow. Harry stared at him for a second, and suddenly he realized something.
There were a lot of things he wasn’t sure about. Like what was going to happen that summer, for one. When would he see Draco again? Hopefully whatever he had to take care of at the manor wouldn’t take long. And what about the war? Would it escalate further? Were the Death Eaters really planning something, and was that why things had been so quiet recently? Would he finally have to face Voldemort again?
…Was Draco now on Voldemort’s ‘To Kill’ list? Was being with Harry putting him in danger?
Harry often thought about such things. He worried a lot, he couldn’t help it. And being away from Draco wasn’t going to help at all.
But right at that moment, as he looked at Draco, looked at that smirk, eyed his tousled hair, met the gaze that had softened almost imperceptibly as he stared at Harry, Harry found that there was one thing he was completely certain about.
There was absolutely no one else he would rather be kissing.
And so, grinning widely, Harry spun.
~ ~ fin ~ ~
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Well. Hehe. I told you there’d be a happy ending. ^.~
So that’s that. SWAS is finished.
Hard to believe, eh?
Some final notes real quick. First off, thank you. Thank you all so, so much. I’ve said it before, that I write because I enjoy writing, but each and every one of you make it an even more wonderful experience. It’s been a privilege to write SWAS for you all, and I can’t put into words how happy I am that you all stuck with me to the end.
Thank you to the readers on livejournal. I love LJ, I really do. It’s so easy to communicate with everyone there, and it’s been awesome getting to know you all. Thank you to those who read SWAS at Skyehawke. I really should have replied to all of you who left an e-mail address with your review, and I’m sorry I didn’t. But know that every time one of you commented, I couldn’t stop grinning for a looooong time afterwards. Some of the longest, nicest reviews came from Skyehawke. Thank you to the Cipher and House Rivalry archives, and all the readers over there. I probably interacted the least with you guys, and I’m sorry for that, but you all were just as wonderful as everyone else.
To everyone who recced SWAS at some point over the past months, thank you! That’s the best way to get a story read, after all. ^.^
Miints, Goldie, you’ve been there for me since chapter one, and you’ve been absolutely fantastic. I’ve said it a million times, I know, but I would not have been able to do it without you. *glomps like whoa*
To everyone who drew fanart for SWAS, I never imagined getting even one piece of art, much less…um…45!! That’s so incredible, and I’m still completely boggled by it. And that’s not even including the icons and banners!
Well…God, there’s so many individual people I want to thank, but I’ll never be able to do it all here. And if I try, I know I’ll forget someone along the way. But those of you who have been with me since day one, you know who you are. You’ve been awesome. So just…heh, everyone.
Thank you.
I love you guys.
It’s been a real trip! One giant emotional roller coaster, lol. And I’ve loved each and every moment of it.
I’ll be back for more H/D lovin', and I hope you all will too. See you around!
~Maxine
All art for SWAS can be found at my website!
***EDIT 2/10/2012 - The website no longer exists! All art for SWAS can now be found HERE. It's also linked with the rest of the chapters in my memories. THANK YOU!***