Title: Corruptela Vox
Author: Constant Vigilance
Status: FIN
Email: tirel@pcnuthut.com

Website: https://www.angelfire.com/tv2/firebird_ascending/
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Spoilers: AU. 7^th year.
Warnings: Slash, language, sexual topics
Disclaimer: I own nothing. JKR is God.
Summary: Draco’s kink is revealed. Pretty much a PWP.

”Draco,” Blaise announced with a wicked smile. The young man in question shot an annoyed look at his Slytherin dorm mate. The annoyance changed to anger as Blaise smirked. “Draco. Truth or Dare.”

“Truth,” Draco snarled, knowing he was going to hate either one regardless. Oh, he was going to hurt Zabini. Draco had only agreed to participate in this ridiculous ‘mending of fences’ crap because Blaise was his best friend and was desperately searching for something to prove his love to his precious Neville. That and Zabini had promised not to choose Draco for any of his turns. Apparently, that part had been negotiable.

“What’s your kink?”

A chorus of oohhh’s echoed throughout the Gryffindor dorm room as Draco’s eyes attempted to set Zabini on fire. “You fucking bastard,” he whispered, shaking his head. He could feel the curious eyes of the Gryffindors on him and he knew that, even should he lie, the nosy lions would just get the knowledge out of Blaise. “Why?” Draco knew some of his betrayal was expressed in his tone as Blaise just smiled at him. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“Because you won’t do it yourself,” Blaise responded, too cryptically for the Gryffindors to follow.

“There was a reason for that, you know,” Draco stated angrily.

Blaise shrugged. “Not anymore. He’s dead. She’s dead. We don’t care. We just want you to be happy. The only one left wanting in this whole situation is you.”

“I don’t want!” Draco snapped abruptly.

Blaise smiled sadly again. “Perhaps not. But you need. And it’s a need you refuse to meet. So I’m helping you.”

“Fuck you, Zabini!”

A grin. “You have. And you made it abundantly clear that I’m not your kink.”

A slight blush. “I won’t.”

A shrug. “So don’t. I’ll just say it for you, then.”

An infuriated snarl. “No!”

“Does someone want to tell us what the hell you two are talking about?” Ron whined.

Blaise smiled patiently at Weasley. “We’re talking about Draco’s Truth. We’re talking about what his kink is.”

“So, what is it then?” Ron rolled his eyes, and then glanced worriedly at the blonde. “It’s not redheads is it?”

Blaise snorted. “No, Weasley. Your virtue is safe.”

Ron sighed in relief. “So, what is it then, Malfoy?”

Draco was torn between snarling at Zabini and Weasley. Finally, he just dropped his head into his hands.

“Sparshlton,” he muttered.

“What the fuck is that?” Seamus frowned.

Harry froze. Did he just say…?

“It. Is. Parsel. Tongue.” Draco bit out, lifting his face out of his hands to glare at Finnegan. Yep. There were the dog-arsed confused expressions he was expecting. He snorted. “My turn. Finnegan. What’s your…”

“Oh, hell no,” Seamus cut him off with an oversized grin. “You don’t just drop a bomb like that and then expect us to wander happily on by it.” Draco sighed. Too much to hope for, he supposed. “You get turned on by Parseltongue?” Seamus reiterated.

“Yes,” Draco ground out between his teeth.

“Well, unless You-Know-Who has been whispering sweet nothings into your ear,” Seamus smirked at Draco’s shudder of disgust, “then the only other person who speaks parseltongue is our Harry, here.”

“I am aware of that, Finnegan,” Draco crossed his arms, knowing that the defensive posture wouldn’t do him any good, but somehow unable to stop himself.

“So when did Harry and you…?”

“What?” Harry squeaked. “We never! I didn’t!”

Ron frowned. “So when did Malfoy hear you then?”

Harry’s eyes widened and his face took on a hunted look. He stared at Malfoy, who just grinned back, happily enjoying the fact that he wasn’t going down alone in this wretched debacle. Harry slowly shook his head. Draco nodded. Harry winced. Draco smirked.

“Oh, God,” Harry groaned, planting his own head into his hands.

“Our Harry here has one of the most interesting methods of wanking that I’ve personally ever seen,” Draco injected his voice with saccharine sweetness. “Some boys call their cock a ‘snake’. Harry, I think, actually believes it.”

All eyes turned to Harry, hiding red faced beneath his hands.

“Harry?” Ron looked like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or look disturbed.

“Fuck off, Ron,” was his only response.

Draco rubbed his hands together. “You know,” he snickered. “I think I’ll not go with Finnegan after all. Potter.” Harry moaned low in his throat. Why…exactly…do you wank in parseltongue, Potter?”

Harry’s eyes came visible over the top of his hands. “I fucking hate you, Malfoy,” he spat. Draco just smiled benignly. Harry dropped his hands, resigned to his humiliation. “I’ve found that I’m quite…verbal when I’m…well…er…” he made an abrupt gesture reminiscent of the action of which they spoke. “I sometimes…fantasize about people I might should not. I talk in parseltongue so no one will catch who I’m fantasizing about if a name happens to slip out.”

He glared death at Draco and then at the curious looks directed to him from his friends. Draco felt remarkably vindicated. “Sooooo,” he drawled. “Perfect Potter has nasty fantasies. What will his public think?” He just let Harry’s anger roll over him, tickling him with its warmth. “Whom do you think about, Potty?” he purred. “Is it your little brainy friend Granger? Perhaps the Weasel’s baby sister?” He stretched his legs out in front of himself, crossing them delicately at the ankles, and leaned back on his hands.

“Maybe it’s that Loony girl. The one with the strange hats.” He cocked his head to the side, loving the dull red flush on Potter’s neck. “No, that wouldn’t make you hide, would it? Is it a teacher? Maybe another adult? Is it…?” Draco sat up quickly with a sudden interesting thought. “It’s a bloke, isn’t it?” He crowed when Harry groaned and dropped his face into his hands again. “It is! Perfect Potter is a pouf!”

Harry couldn’t even look up to meet his friends’ startled gazes. “So, is it just that it’s a bloke or is it that the bloke is someone you shouldn’t have naughty thoughts about?” Draco asked perceptively. Harry might not have been able to look at his friends, but he shot a venom filled glare at the Slytherin. Draco grinned again. “I see. Who is it, Potter? Is it your best friend Ron?”

Ron twitched until Harry shook his head slightly at him.

“Is it Finnegan?”

Harry again shook his head, though this time to head Seamus off before he could begin to molest Harry in an attempt at seduction.

“It’s not Neville, is it? Cause Blaise would kick your fucking arse.”

“No,” Harry bit out. “It’s not Neville.”

“Is it Blaise then? I don’t think Neville would kick your arse, but he’d probably give you a hang dog look and make you feel all bad about it,” Draco added with a shrug.

“No, it’s not Blaise.”

Draco grinned. “Is it Snape?” Squawks of horror were heard from the other Gryffindors. “What?” Draco shared a look with Blaise. “Snape is a sexy bastard.

More horrified noises.

Harry narrowed his eyes at Draco. “I don’t disagree with you. But, no. It’s not him.”

Draco was impressed. Potter had managed to surprise him yet again. And he’d done it in front of his little gang of do-gooders. Perhaps he was taking advantage of Draco’s question to share a bit more of who he was with his friends. Strangely enough, Draco hoped it would work out for him. He’d hate to see Potter isolate himself because of something like this.

“Maybe your other godmutt, Lupin?”

“No.”

“Dumbledore?” Harry actually winced at that.

“Merlin, no.”

Draco had a thought. A wicked, wicked thought. He eyed Harry slowly, watching the blush increase. Could it be? Maybe? “Then how about—“

“How about you shut the hell up before you give my bloody secret away, Draco?” Harry hissed in parseltongue.

The speech hit Draco like a physical blow. He jerked, his breath escaping in a gasp. His cock also grew instantly, expanding into uncomfortablility as it pressed against his jeans. He pulled his legs up from their lazy position and, though it was pinching, he tugged them up and wrapped his arms around them to cover his burgeoning erection.

Harry was watching him with a half smirk on his face. He raised one dark eyebrow up above the wire frame of his glasses, challenging Draco to continue.

“Fuck you, Potter,” Draco grumbled instead.

“Holy shit!” Seamus grinned. “You weren’t joking, Zabini!”

Blaise smiled like a cat with a canary. “Of course I wasn’t.” He noticed a red wave rising on Draco’s neck. “It’s your turn, Harry,” he offered.

Harry glanced up at Blaise before turning his eyes back onto Draco. He shook his head. “Pass,” he murmured.

“Then it goes back to Draco,” Ron offered.

Draco was busy watching Harry watch him. He shook his head too. “Pass,” he repeated.

“Back to you then, Blaise,” Ron shrugged.

Blaise wanted to kiss the redhead just then. “Yes, it is, Ron. And I choose…Draco again.”

Draco broke eye contact to stare helplessly at his best friend.

“Come on, Dray,” Blaise waved a hand slightly.

“Tru—“ he saw the excitement in Blaise’s face and knew what he was answering next. “Dare,” he finished quickly. Shit. Blaise looked even more delighted.

“All right, Dray. Your dare is…”

He sat long enough in silence that Draco started to squirm. “What, dammit?”

“To let Harry use parseltongue to talk you into an orgasm.”

“What?” Harry and Draco chorused in disbelief.

“No!”

“Are you fucking insane, Zabini?”

“It’s a valid dare,” Blaise defended himself. He had to admit; he was a bit surprised by the reactions in the room. Granted, Harry and Draco responded just like he thought they would…full of false horror and bravado. But the others? He knew Neville liked the idea by the way he bit his lip and refused to look at him. Seamus looked as though he’d won the Triwizard Tournament. Most oddly, though, was the contemplation on Ron’s face. Blaise had expected that Ron would try to kick his arse for suggesting something like that to his best friend. He didn’t expect the slightly hungry look.

“Oh, hell yeah!” Seamus whooped.

“Oh, hell no!” Draco returned.

“You’d have to strip him to be sure,” Ron tilted his head with a thoughtful frown.

“Ron!” Harry screeched.

Blaise nodded in agreement. “Too true. Draco is an accomplished actor. He could pretend to get off just to get the dare over with.”

“No,” Draco disagreed. “Because I’m not doing the fucking dare!” Harry nodded so vigorously that his glasses bobbed on his nose.

“Of course you will, Dray. It’s the rules of the game. And you’ve never deliberately lost a game in your life,” Blaise pointed out.

Draco made a whining noise in his throat and slumped. “But…shouldn’t the wet spot and the sudden cessation of hardness be proof enough?”

Harry stared in bewilderment at his former supporter. “You aren’t seriously considering this, Malfoy?”

Draco sighed. “I don’t want to, Potter, but Blaise is right. I can’t just lose a game.”

Harry gave a slightly hysterical laugh. “It’s not a game, Malfoy. It’s sex.”

“Just for me,” Draco snapped. “What are you so fucking bothered about? It’s not like you have to dirty your cock with me.”

Harry nearly choked on his own spit. He turned away and refused to say anything else. As the others continued to argue the specifics, Neville scooted closer.

“Harry?” he whispered. The other Gryffindor just gave a whuff of breath. “Are you okay?”

Harry whuffed again and Neville had to strain to hear his next words. “It is so sex.”

Neville shrugged. “I actually agree with you on that.”

Harry glanced up at him. “I can’t do this, Neville,” he whispered painfully. “I can’t just have sex with Draco Malfoy in front of my fucking dorm mates.”

Neville’s eyes narrowed as understanding began to dawn. “It’s him, isn’t it?” Harry’s eyes widened, then darted around the room nervously. “The name you don’t want anyone to hear. It’s Draco, isn’t it?”

Harry’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Finally he just buried his face back into his knees. “Yes,” he mumbled into his kneecaps. “I don’t want my first time having sex with him to be in front of four of our friends,” he added, raising his head a smidgeon.

Neville didn’t know what to say. He just patted Harry on the back, knowing that had Blaise suggested they have sex for the first time in front of anyone, that they’d never have had sex.

“He’ll have to be tied down,” Seamus stated.

“What? Why?” Draco demanded shrilly.

“Well, we don’t want to skew the dare by having you grab your cock halfway through, do we?” Seamus argued sensibly.

“How about a blindfold?” Neville offered. At Harry’s betrayed look, Neville leaned closer to whisper, “You can’t get out of it now. The best I can do is keep him from watching you trying to make him cum.” Harry moaned again and dove back for his knees. “That way,” Neville continued in a louder voice, “he’d have to concentrate on Harry’s voice. He couldn’t stare around the room and distract himself.”

“Good idea, love,” Blaise smiled, looking at Neville suspiciously. Neville just smiled angelically. “Well,” he continued, “since we have it all figured out, let’s get started.”

Draco pressed his eyes shut tightly for a long moment and then stood with a sigh. He moved to the nearest trunk and propped his boot up, untying it with as much decorum as he could manage.

“Which one is Potter’s bed?” Blaise looked around the room. Silently, Neville pointed and Blaise moved to stand by it, wand at the ready.

When Draco had removed his boots and socks, he shrugged his robe off and went to work on the buttons of his shirt. Public nudity truly didn’t bother him. He knew he was fucking gorgeous. He knew he had nothing to be ashamed of. And he’d also participated in enough common room sexual experiences and drunken multiple partnered experiences to know that cumming in front of others really wasn’t that big of a deal.

Cumming in front of Harry Potter? That was a different story.

He’d certainly never dreamed that his first time with the young man would be without physical participation on either of their parts. Nor did he ever imagine that he’d have to do it in front of a crowd. For the first time in his sexual memory, he’d found a person he didn’t just want to fuck. He wanted to worship Harry’s body with the reverence it deserved. He wanted to watch those green eyes glaze over and know it was because of Draco. He wanted to kiss, to hug, to touch, to love Harry with a single minded focus that didn’t allow others to participate…even voyeuristically.

Goddamn Blaise.

Draco finished pulling his shirt off of his chest and dropped his hands to his trouser buttons. He heard a quick intake of breath and his head came up to see who was ogling him. The question should have been who wasn’t ogling him. Blaise stared with the appreciation that only one who’d been intimately familiar with Draco’s body could manage. Neville kept looking and then letting his gaze skitter back to Blaise. Seamus looked to be held back from jumping Draco only by the force of the Weasel’s grip on his bicep. And the Weasel? Well, well, well. Was that a bit of interest he saw?

One glance at Harry, however, showed him where the breathy noise had come from. The Gryffindor was watching with hypnotized eyes, his fingers clenching and unclenching. Draco smirked and unzipped. He hooked a thumb in his pants as well, leaving him bare arse naked after he stepped out of the trousers. Continuing to watch Harry, he moved to the bed and crawled up.

He got comfortable and then shifted to a spread-eagled position, waiting for Blaise to cast. The other Slytherin did and silky soft bindings wrapped around Draco’s wrists and ankles, pulling his limbs taunt. Blaise allowed him one last look out at Harry before conjuring a blindfold and tying it securely around gray eyes.

“He’s all yours, Potter,” Draco heard the smirk in Blaise’s voice as he moved away from the bed.

A shuffling noise, some scuffs, and Draco could tell that Harry stood at the bedside next to him. “Could you all just back the fuck off, do you think?” Harry choked out. “It’s bad enough we have to do this in front of you, the least you could do is let us pretend we have some privacy.” Draco was pleased that Harry had included him in his demand and he rather agreed. Given a few moments of Harry’s presence, the lovely scent of vanilla and pine that the Gryffindor always exuded, and eventually Harry’s voice, Draco knew he could be readily convinced to forget anyone else’s presence. He was just saddened that Harry wouldn’t have that luxury.

He heard movement away from them and the muffled apology from Longbottom and then Harry’s heavy sigh. “They’ve moved to the other side of the dorm,” Harry said quietly. “I’m sure they can still hear us, and I know they can see us, but at least they’re not breathing down our necks anymore.”

“Thanks, Potter,” Draco returned.

“So,” Harry sighed again. “How do you want to do this?”

Draco grinned. “Well, you’re supposed to talk and I’m supposed to cum.”

“Fuck off, Malfoy.” Draco could hear the smile in Harry’s voice.

“Oh, how I would like to,” Draco said, not untruthfully.

“Yeah, I guess you could have found something much better to do tonight than have me…er…well, do this.” Draco caught the sad tone and wondered why his opinion would matter to the golden boy.

“To be honest with you, Potter, this would be quite a bit of fun if we didn’t have an audience and we weren’t being coerced,” he corrected softly.

“Really?” Draco was pretty sure that the barely uttered word hadn’t made it across the room.

“Really.” Strange how he was the one being reassuring when he was the one tied up, naked and blindfolded. But somehow, it seemed right anyway.

“Thanks,” Harry returned. “You know,” he continued, his voice dropping into something that Draco was surprised to identify as rather seductive. “You’re fucking beautiful like this.” Draco felt the blood rushing to his cock. Harry Potter thought he was beautiful. Somehow, that others had told him the same thing didn’t mean anything now. Because Harry Potter thought him fucking beautiful.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” Harry continued, slipping into parseltongue. “I hate that I have to share you like this. I hate that the first time I saw your beautiful body was in front of someone else. I hate that I’m not allowed to touch you, to taste you, to feel you. I hate that I can’t say any of this in English.”

Draco shivered as the first sibilant hiss rolled over his naked flesh just like a caress. He felt the power of Harry’s voice reaching into him, pulling reactions from his body that no one, that nothing had ever done before.

“I want to run my fingers over your chest. To find out if you’re as soft, as smooth as you look,” Harry sighed. “I want to follow it with my tongue, tasting you. What do you taste like, Draco? Sweet? Salty? Spicy? Do you taste differently all over your body? I think you probably do. I bet your skin is salty. That it tastes like sunshine. And your tongue? Sweet. Sweet like the sugar quills I see you sucking on in class.”

God! What the fuck was Harry saying? Draco couldn’t help the tiny moan that escaped his throat. Probably reciting fucking potions ingredients, he thought wryly. But Merlin, whatever it was…it was intoxicating. He twisted his hips, seeking something corporeal to rub his aching cock against, wishing Harry’s voice was flesh.

“And your cock…bitter, I’d imagine. But just slightly. Not enough to make me stop running my lips, my tongue over it. And lower? Have you ever had someone rim you, Draco Malfoy? Probably. I bet you’ve had every sexual experience imaginable. Okay, well maybe not this particular one before. But I’m sure someone has tongue fucked you before. I know that if you were mine, if you let me touch you, that would be one of the first things I’d do.”

Draco wondered if parseltongue always sounded this sexual, this needy. He’d only ever heard Harry using it while in the midst of his own orgasms. Perhaps it was just the nature of the language, but Draco could almost feel waves of arousal coming off of Harry as well. Every word…or words, he really couldn’t tell where one word stopped and another began…sent a wave of pleasure running down his body.

He pictured the tongue that formed those sounds flicking out against his skin. He felt it rake across his nipples, down his abdomen, past his quivering waist. He felt it dart out and taste the precum forming on his cock. The imagined warmth, the wetness caused a shudder to slip over his skin. He undulated his hips against the cotton sheets and arched his back towards that voice.

“I’d dig my fingers into your soft, creamy skin and part your cheeks,” Harry went on, staring at the magnificent creature in front of him. “I’d brush the tip of my tongue over your entrance, tasting you, needing you, wanting you. I’d breath in the musky scent of you, letting it go straight to my cock. While you were moaning, I’d lick you from tailbone to balls, marking you as mine. Then I’d gently suck the puckered flesh into my mouth, flutter my eyelashes against your skin, and sip at you like fine wine.”

He was dying. Saying what he was saying, watching Draco writhe against the sheets, mouth open and softly panting…he was ready to explode himself. “Then, I’d push past your entrance, laving your inner walls with my tongue. Thrusting in as far as you could take me, searching for that sweet spot that would make you see stars. I probably couldn’t touch it in reality, but this is fantasy. My fantasy, our fantasy. And in our fantasy, I’d tongue fuck you against that spot until you came, screaming my name.”

Harry’s voice had dropped again. Into that realm of seductive warmth that Draco never imagined he’d ever hear from the golden boy of Gryffindor. And he loved it. He felt his body break out in a sweat as he strained against his bonds, strained to reach that velvet voice. He could feel the precum had formed a puddle on his stomach. Lines of his own cum were rolling down his belly. His cock was so hard it hurt. The air against it hurt. The only thing that could make it stop was for the owner of that velvet voice to wrap his beautiful lips around it and suck Draco’s soul out through it.

Harry grasped the headboard with one hand and found his other hand sneaking into his crotch, rubbing against the erection put there by a man who’d not even touched him. “Fucking Christ, Draco,” he moaned. “I can’t wait to see you cum. To see your mouth open, screaming for me. To see your hips jerking with each pulse. I’d lick you clean. Every drop. And then I’d hitch your legs up over my shoulders and settle between them. I’d nudge at your hole with the head of my cock until you begged me to fill you.”

Harry had completely forgotten his audience. He simply didn’t care anymore. His only concern anymore was the unearthly angel in front of him. “I’d slowly sink into you, until the head of my cock popped through. And then I’d wait. I’d wait for you to get used to me because I think I might die if I ever hurt you, love. Only when you were back to moaning my name would I move. I’d slide into you, carefully, slowly…until you whimpered and thrust back up against me.”

“Harry, please,” Draco moaned. Fuck the audience. Fuck the rules of this bloody game. Fuck it all. He just needed Harry to touch him. He was dying without it. He began humping the air, letting the slight motion of his hips cause his cock to bounce off of his own stomach. “Please,” he whined. “Touch me…just once…please, I’m begging, Harry.”

“And then,” Harry continued with a choked sob, not really knowing why anymore, “and then, you’d beg me to just fuck you. Fuck you hard, fuck you fast. And I can’t tell you no, Draco. I can’t,” he swayed toward the bed and the pleading man in front of him. “I’d slam into you. Dragging the head of my cock across your sweet spot over and over. I’d fuck you so hard that the sound of our bodies slapping together would deafen us.”

“Please, Harry!” Draco pulled at his bonds until he could feel the wet burn around them. “Please, touch me…please fuck me…please…anything…just…oh, gods Harry I’m dying!” He could hear the heavy breathing next to him. He could hear the note of desperation in Harry’s voice. And he knew that Harry was just as affected by this as he was.

“I’d wrap my arms around you, Draco. I’d hold you so fucking tight against me,” he promised. “I’d never let you go. I’d kiss you. Devour you with my mouth. Claim you with my tongue, my teeth, my lip... just as I was claiming your body with mine.” He sagged against the bed, his hand now firmly inside his trousers, wrapped around his cock and jerking in rhythm to the tiny whines and whimpers coming from Draco’s throat.

“Harry, Harry, Harry…” Draco tossed his head from side to side, feeling the slow burn building in his gut. The tightening of his balls.

“And I’d brand you,” Harry gritted out. “I’d brand you and no one…not one fucking person…would ever touch you again, my love.”

“So close,” Draco moaned. “Harry…so fucking close.”

“And you’d scream,” Harry had to breath through his mouth now, along with the hissing of the parseltongue. “You’d scream my name and your cock would start to pulse again as you poured out over us, coating our stomachs.”

“Yes…Harry…yes,yes,yes…”

“And your muscles would tighten up around me, pulling my own orgasm out of me. I’d slam into you, so fucking deep,” Harry moaned again. “So fucking deep that it’d feel like I was never going to be out of you again. And I’d cum inside you. Bathing you in me. Marking you with me. Owning you with my body. And you’d love it. You’d love me.” Harry sank to his knees against the side of the bed.

“Please love me, Draco,” he begged. “Please love me back.”

“Fuck…yes…Harry!” Draco arched his back and his cock began to shoot long, ropy strings of cum across his stomach and chest.

“Draco!” Harry closed his eyes and let the waves of pleasure roll over him. His cock spurted into his hand as he listened to Draco cumming. Cumming from his voice alone. Because of him.

He collapsed to the floor, gasping. Above him, he could hear Draco breathing equally as hard. And then reality began to set in again. Harry gingerly pulled his hand out of his pants and cast a quiet cleaning spell. He settled himself back into his trousers comfortably and then just curled up into a ball on the floor and let the tears come.

Draco was sure it was part of his hallucination. It had to be. He couldn’t possibly be hearing Harry Potter fucking himself with his hand as he talked Draco into a climax. He couldn’t possibly have heard Harry beg him to love him. To love him back. And he certainly wasn’t hearing Harry softly crying on the floor beside him. He jerked at his bonds again, this time for an entirely different reason. He wanted to go to Harry. To take him into his arms and stop the tears.

“Fuck, Zabini!” he growled. “Get me out of this!”

Hurried footsteps, and the murmur of a spell. The rapidly cooling cum on his belly was suddenly gone. Another murmured spell and the bindings on his wrists and ankles were gone. Then he felt gentle fingers untying his blindfold and he blinked in the sudden light. Blaise stared down at him sorrowfully. He glanced around the room and saw that neither Ron nor Neville would meet his eyes. Even Seamus seemed subdued.

Without further thought, Draco rolled off of the bed and landed in a crouch next to Harry. He wanted to shrivel into dust and blow away when Harry shrank away from his touch. “Please,” he heard between the sobs. “Please just go away. I forfeit. Just go away.”

Draco stood, unconcerned about his nudity. “Get out,” he demanded.

“But this is our room,” Seamus whined.

“Get out!” The demand reached a roar.

“Seamus, come on,” Ron tugged at his arm. “We’ll find somewhere else to sleep tonight.”

“But—“

“Fucking go already!” Neville burst out, moving to help Ron shove him out of the dorm room. Blaise cast one last look at Draco before moving after his boyfriend, head bowed.

When the door shut behind them, Draco dropped back to the floor. “They’re gone, love,” he breathed.

“You go too,” Harry whimpered.

“No, love,” Draco shook his head, though Harry refused to look at him. “Not a chance in hell of that.” He reached down and practically lifted Harry up off of the floor, depositing him on the bed Draco had just recently vacated. He climbed up after him and wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist. “Talk to me, Harry,” he pleaded.

Harry choked out a laugh. “Talk to you? I thought I just spent the last 10 minutes doing just that.”

Draco wanted to smack himself. “No, Harry. I mean about why you’re crying.”

“Why am I crying? Harry opened his eyes; sad, huge, expressive eyes that made Draco want to hold him forever. “I’m crying because I’m a stupid fucking idiot. I’m crying because I can’t believe I ruined the first time…the only time…I’ll ever have with you by doing it in front of other people. I’m crying because I never even got to touch you. I’m crying because I forgot who I was and where I was and what the hell I was doing and wound up telling you that I fucking loved you!”

He attempted to jerk out of Draco’s arms only to have said arms close tighter around him like steel bands. “Do you regret doing it?” Draco asked carefully. “Or just that it happened like that?” Harry stared wide-eyed at Draco for a moment before beginning his struggle again. “Because I,” Draco continued, holding on tightly to the thrashing Gryffindor, “I regret that it happened that way, but I don’t regret for a second that it happened.”

Harry stilled.

“I could never regret finally being with you,” Draco added softly. “Blaise was right. It doesn’t matter anymore. My parents are dead. My friends just want me to find something to be happy about again. There’s no one to tell me anymore that wanting you, that loving you is wrong.”

Draco glanced up to find those green eyes watching him in wonder.

“I don’t care anyway, anymore. Even if they were both alive. If all of my friends left me,” he whispered. “I’d still love you. I’d still want you, still need you. I love you, Harry. And I’m sorry that it took humiliating you in front of your friends for me to finally be able to tell you that.”

“I wasn’t humiliated,” Harry breathed slowly. “I forgot they were there.”

Draco chuckled. “Me too.”

“I was just afraid that I’d ruined any chance of ever being with you again.”

Draco reached out and brushed a lock of sweaty hair off of Harry’s face. “Not a chance, love,” he repeated. “Nothing could keep me away from you.”

Harry reached back to Draco hesitantly. His fingers moved over Draco’s skin, tiny whispers of feeling. “I love you,” he said softly.

Draco smiled. “I love you too.”

“Can we never have sex in front of our friends again, please?” he asked plaintively.

Draco snorted in laughter. “I promise. No sex in front of our friends.”

Harry settled down into Draco’s embrace, letting himself relax for the first time since Blaise asked that fateful question. Draco sighed into Harry’s soft crown of hair and smiled. They slowly fell towards sleep.

“Harry?” Draco asked just before succumbing.

“Mmmm?”

“What were you saying in parseltongue?”

Harry buried his face deeper into Draco’s chest. “Ask me again when we wake up,” he grinned, his voice muffled against Draco’s skin. “Maybe I’ll give you a demonstration.”