By midmorning the light outside had finally managed to penetrate the curtains and shine into Draco’s face, bringing him to the surface of consciousness. Not moving to block the glare or even to open his eyes, the blond remained perfectly still, reveling in the feel of the linen wrapped around his bare hips and the familiar smell on the pillow under his head. It smelled like Ian.

His smile alone betrayed the fact that he was awake. It had not been unusual when they were much younger for Draco to spend the night in Ian’s room, but it had not felt as good back then as it did now. For the past several nights this had been his bed. It had felt odd at first to have someone hold him in his sleep, kiss him, and caress him, but it had left a warm, swelling sensation in his chest. That feeling had made him want to laugh hard and loud, to run and yell with his glee, or to go racing on his broom against Potter for the snitch because at that moment he was certain he could win. However, as all those options had been inappropriate for the time and place, it had translated to him holding on to Ian a bit tighter.

He remembered that first night after they had left the pool. They had spent most of it just touching and kissing. Ian’s hands had traveled his body slowly, afraid of making him uncomfortable, and then he had been invited to return the exploration.

“Anywhere.” Ian had said as Draco’s hands moved hesitantly over him.

He had been encouraged by the way his touch made the other boy’s breath come fast and loud in the quiet room. His hands caressed arms and shoulders, his fingers counted ribs and brushed gently over hard nipples. His hands had lingered on Ian’s stomach, as he wasn’t sure where to go next. Finally, he let his palms glide over the ridge of hipbones and down to muscular thighs. He felt Ian shaking under his hands and suddenly found his wrist caught in a firm grip.

Draco was pulled up alongside his friend, no, his lover and he was kissed as he felt his hand guided downward. He knew in his mind the road his hand was traveling, but he could not keep from gasping into Ian’s mouth as his hand made contact with firm, silky flesh. It took a second to fully register exactly what forbidden treasure he was touching, but then it was there before him in flashing red lights like the ones that shone in muggle London at night: he was touching Ian’s penis.

Ian pulled away from the kiss to look at him and that’s when he realized that he was shaking, but he didn’t move his hand away. Instead he slowly let his fingers wrap more firmly around this new territory. He let his thumb rub gently as he felt again the texture of the skin there. Ian’s breath hitched and his arms pulled Draco closer. Realizing exactly the effect he was having on the other boy gave fuel to his own fire and this time Draco was the one to initiate the kiss as he continued to move his hand.

He barely noticed as one of Ian’s hands left him for a moment, but it was a little harder to ignore when it returned. He felt his own penis caught in a firm grip and shuddered at the sensation. He had touched himself plenty of times, but it had never felt like this. Before when he had pleasured himself, his release had been the focus and getting there had been nothing but the frantic movement of his hand to reach that goal. This was different. Draco found Ian’s hand confident on his flesh in a way that disconnected him from everything but the sensation of skin on skin. His climax was no longer the only focus here. The feeling of Ian’s hands on his body was addicting and though he knew it had to eventually, he did not want it to stop.

His own hand moved almost without thought now as he reciprocated and he kissed his lover frantically in a way he hadn’t since this had started. After a while it became a question of kissing or breathing because both were no longer possible at the same time and since breathing was necessary in continuing other activities, it finally won out. Ian’s free arm held him tightly as he gasped his passion into his shoulder.

When his climax came upon him it was sudden. He felt his muscles clench at the same time as he felt the explosion in his balls. He shuddered violently for many minutes afterward and was aware of Ian vibrating under him as well, but it wasn’t until he came back down from his trip into euphoria that he noticed the wetness on his own hand.

His lover was holding him and kissing his neck when he finally gained full control of himself. Draco returned the light touches and held Ian tightly to him as his mind caught up with what they had just done together and how it made him feel. By the way he was clutched tightly as they had fallen asleep that night, he knew Ian felt the same way.

Despite the fact that he was ignoring it and thinking on more pleasant things, the light on the other side of his eyelids was not going away. Both he and Ian had thought it best to wait before announcing their new relationship to their parents, who would no doubt prohibit them from sleeping together. Even Kayd and Eric, were oblivious. If that were to remain the case, getting up would probably be the best choice of action.

He sent that message out to his warm and relaxed limbs but to no avail. They really didn’t want to move and to be honest, neither did he. Maybe five minutes. Yes, five minutes more and then he would most definitely get up. That decision made, Draco began to scoot toward Ian’s side of the bed, searching for his warmth. After several inches without running into so much as a hand, he frowned and flung out an arm in search. Encountering only an empty pillow, his eyes flew open to glare down at the empty bedding as if the sheets themselves had planned it on purpose.

The sound of the door opening cut short his death glare at the empty bed. He sat up just in time to see Ian enter the room dressed for the day and his hair still damp from the shower.

“Look who’s finally awake.”

In reply Draco let himself fall back on the bed and turned his head into the pillows. He heard Ian chuckle and a second later the bed dipped as he sat down.

“Wakie, Wakie,” came the voice close to his ear. “I think someone was a bad boy and stayed up past his bedtime last night.”

Draco found himself laughing into the pillow despite the urge he had to tackle Ian. He turned his head back to the other boy. “Well, whose fault was that?”

Ian smirked at his tone of voice. “Since you’re reminding me, I think I can safely say you were a very, very bad boy last night.”

The teasing was halted as Ian kissed him. Yes, last night had been wonderful, as had the entire week before. Despite his inexperience and his fear because of it, Draco was finding his passion for this physical connection growing rapidly. Yet, things had not escalated much past what they had done that first night. The morning after the sudden shift in their relationship, the awkwardness of waking up in each other’s arms had given way to a talk about any experience either of them had. Ian had admitted to having done this before, but he hadn’t gone further. If they were to go beyond this, it would be uncharted territory for the both of them.

They had, however, gotten very good at giving each other pleasure and showing the other what they needed. Right now, Draco needed Ian back in bed with him and he demonstrated that by pulling the other boy down on top of him and tugging his shirt out from where it was neatly tucked into his pants.

“I think I’ve created a monster.” Ian said with a kiss to his cheek, but he reached to still Draco’s hand as well. “It’s getting late and we have work to do.”

Draco sighed theatrically and was placated with another kiss. “Alright, I’ll get up.” He made a show of sitting up and slowly pulling back the sheets from his otherwise naked body. He heard Ian groan and turn away and suddenly felt very pleased with himself. Draco knew he wasn’t ugly, but the reaction he always managed to get out of his lover did much to feed his ego. He made no rush in pulling on his pajama pants from the night before.

“Take a shower and I’ll go get Kayd and Eric. Our mom’s are out, but breakfast is in the kitchen.” Ian came to him now that he was covered and kissed him. Once they left the room it would be hands off between them so they both let this final contact linger.

“I’ll meet you in the practice room.” Draco said as he pulled away and moved toward the bathroom and Ian gave him a nod and a smile as he headed for the door.

“Morning Ben.” Draco called as he entered the kitchen. Ben gave only a nod in reply. His detachment was completely uncharacteristic of his usual personality, but Draco could hardly blame him for his bad mood. Just the day before, Ben had learned that his best friend would not be going to Durmstrang with him. Instead, Harper Skelly, the little girl who had been Ben’s shadow for years, would attend Hogwarts. Just remembering the reasoning of the girl’s parents made his anger rise.

Apparently, the lingering danger of the Death Eaters, despite the death of their leader, had made them look for the safest place for their daughter to go to school. That alone Draco did not have a problem with. What made his blood boil was the fact that they had decided that their daughter would be best off at Hogwarts where the very person responsible for defeating the Dark Lord was being schooled. Never mind the fact that Durmstrang took the same protective measures for their students as Hogwarts, or that it was accredited with a much more stable DADA department, no, so long as their daughter was near the famous Harry Potter she would be safe. It made Draco want to throw something.

Two more people were going to be made miserable because of Harry Potter. If Draco was honest with himself he knew it wasn’t actually Potter’s fault, but the anger he felt wouldn’t allow him to admit it. Ben was being pulled away from his best friend and it was too reminiscent of his own situation when he had been eleven for him to worry about misplaced emotions. He silently promised himself one good poke at Potter and his friends when he got back to school.

With an effort, Draco pushed his frustration aside and went to work trying to figure out how to talk to Ben. The boy was like a little brother to him in everything but blood and he wasn’t going to stand around and watch him suffer. He sat down across from Ben and tried to think of where to start.

“Are you going to be doing anything with Harper today? I don’t think Ian would mind if you two wanted to watch while we practiced.”

“I don’t know. We aren’t really getting along right now.” Ben replied, still pushing his food around on his plate.

“Just because she’s going to a different school, it doesn’t mean that you can’t still be friends. I know you’re upset about it, but it isn’t her fault.”

“It’s not so much that. I know this sounds silly, but…I guess I’m kind of jealous.”

Draco was stunned. “Jealous. As in, you are jealous because she gets to go to Hogwarts and you don’t?”

Ben shrugged, “Ian keeps telling me of everything at Durmstrang. He talks about his favorite classes and his favorite teachers. He talks about how often his Quidditch team won and about his friends in different years and how they are all looking forward to meeting Ian Pierce’s little brother.”

Suddenly it dawned on him exactly what Ben was getting at. “You know that Ian didn’t mean…”

Ben sighed and cut him off. “I know he didn’t mean it that way, but that isn’t going to keep the rest of the school from expecting me to be just like my perfect big brother who was the Quidditch captain and had top marks for his year.”

“I see. Ian has left some pretty high standards for you to live up to.” Draco said quietly. He knew that Ben had nothing to worry about, but he couldn’t really blame him. He knew what it was like to fall into the shadows of someone else’s reputation, namely his father’s, though he really hadn’t done much to prove anyone wrong either. “Have you talked to Ian about this?”

“And make him feel guilty? No. Though I suppose I should go talk to Harper. I was a bit snappy with her.” Draco was again struck with the realization of just how miserable Ben looked. “It’s just that I thought that if she was there with me it wouldn’t be so bad, but now she won’t be.”

“If you don’t want to talk to Ian about this, maybe you should talk to your parents.” Draco couldn’t believe the idea that was forming in his head, but it was there and what was worse, he knew it probably wouldn’t be much trouble to pull it off. “You know your mother did go to Hogwarts.”

Ben looked at him oddly for a moment before he caught on. “But Dad…”

“…Is very proud of Durmstrang, but you know he would be willing to at least listen and both of our mothers are fond of Hogwarts. You could at least give it a try.” Draco couldn’t believe he was actually encouraging someone to go to Hogwarts, but Ben seemed to have brightened at the idea.

Still seeming a bit stunned at how simple it seemed, Ben got up and headed for the door. The boy was small for his age making the long, quick strides he used to cross the room look awkward for his small frame. He stopped before leaving the room. “Thanks Draco. I’ll go find Dad…um, you won’t tell Ian what I said about…” Ben trailed off nervously.

“About what?” Draco replied in an innocent tone, making it clear that Ben’s words about not wanting to live in his brother’s wake had already been forgotten.

Ben smiled his usual ear-to-ear grin and Draco decided that today was a very good day. The boy left the room and he was left to face what he had just sparked. He hoped he hadn’t made the wrong decision by lighting that hope for Ben, but no matter which way he looked at it, there really didn’t seem to be a bad side. Holden and Kate Pierce had never had many restrictions for their children except for the fact that they were to take full responsibility for any decisions they made. If Ben were sincere enough when he brought it up, which Draco knew he would be, then Holden would do little to dissuade him and Kate would probably be ecstatic that one of her son’s would be going to her old school.

The only real reason Draco was questioning himself had to do with his own experience at Hogwarts, which he knew should be ignored. Besides, that was outweighed by the fact that Ben would be going to school with him. Having someone there that he didn’t have to hide from would make his seventh year almost pleasant…wouldn’t it? He hoped so.

Finally satisfied with his bit of meddling, he got up to get breakfast before Ian came looking for him. He reached for a muffin and quickly swallowed it down. A feeling of contentment washed over him as he left the kitchen to head for the room where the band was waiting. For the first time in a long time, Draco was actually looking forward to whatever life next chose to throw his way.