Harry Potter and The Boy Who Had No Choice

First Name Basis

Chapter Twenty-Seven

    The next day, Harry woke up and he was convinced that he was still dreaming. The memory of Malfoy in his lap, his fingers tangled in his hair, the press of his lips against his own: it seemed too perfect to be his reality.

Unfortuneately, his wandering mind was abruptly brought back to the present during breakfast in the Great Hall.

"What is going on with you?" Ron finally snapped, waving a hand in front of Harry's face. Harry shook his head slightly in an attempt to banish his daydream and glanced over at Ron.

"What?" He hadn't fully caught what Ron said.

"You're all..." Ron gestured vaguely around Harry.

"You've been a bit distracted," Hermione said, clarifying Ron's unclear movements.

"Oh, I-" Harry began, but he was interrupted by Ginny, who was sitting across the table next to Hermione.

"And you keep looking over at the Slytherin table." She glanced over her shoulder, scanning the Slytherin table for anything out of the ordinary. While his friends' eyes were fixed on the other side of the room, Harry locked eyes with Malfoy and gave him a small smile. The pale boy smirked and the tips of his ears turned pink.

After they had been so rudely interrupted by Slughorn, the two boys hadn't gotten a chance to talk about the kiss, or anything they talked about before it. Harry was eager to get Malfoy alone, partly so they could talk, and partly for... other reasons.

"Has Malfoy done something?" Ron said, forcing Harry to look away from the blonde Slytherin. "The great bloody git, I bet he has."

"Er- no," Harry said. He pulled his eyes down to his plate and took a bite of his muffin. His friends watched him carefully, waiting for him to explain why he was behaving so strangely. When he didn't say anything, they sighed and moved onto a different topic of conversation. Harry tuned it out until he heard them start to discuss Neville.

"Neville and Hannah?" Hermione whispered, her eyes flitting over to the Hufflepuff table where Hannah Abbott was sitting with her friends. "That's actually quite... fitting."

"It is, isn't it?" Luna said, smiling. Harry's head whirled in her direction; he'd been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed her sit down next to him.

"Seems like everyone's coupling up these days," Ron commented absentmindedly, gazing at Hermione. Harry couldn't help but smile at the pure adoration in his friend's eyes. He knew, no matter what they went through, Ron would always love Hermione, and she would love him equally in return.

"Seems like it," Ginny agreed. At first, Harry thought she was staring at him, but he quickly realized she was actually looking just a few inches to his left, at Luna. Suspicion began to itch at the back of his mind, but he pushed it away, assuming it wasn't particularly important at the moment.

"Yeah," Harry nodded, finally contributing to the conversation. In an effort to keep his gaze anywhere but the Slytherin table, he glanced over at Seamus and Dean, who were smiling while engaged in a quiet conversation at the end of the table.

"So, Harry," Ginny started, smiling mischeviously. "Do you have your eye on anyone?"

Harry's eyes went wide, thinking for a moment that she knew about Malfoy. Of course, his worry almost instantly faded away; no one would ever possibly suspect that he and Malfoy were... together? Snogging? Harry wasn't quite sure what exactly they were.

"Er," Harry cleared his throat, feeling just slightly awkward. Not only was he not eager to share his unclear relationship with a certain Slytherin, he also wasn't exactly jumping at the idea of sharing his romantic prospects with his ex. Ginny was, and always would be, his friend, first and foremost, but he couldn't completely forget their past entanglements. "No? No," he said, more assuredly. Regrettedably, Hermione picked up on his nervousness.