Draco wandered into the kitchen, following the smells of roasted pheasant and freshly baked bread. Harry was happily toiling over several boiling pots, rarely using his magic to assist him in creating the aromatic meal.
Teddy was sitting at the small island in the center of the room looking glum, and Andromeda sat beside him with a self-satisfied grin.
Harry looked up at Draco's entrance and beamed, then followed his gaze over to Teddy and Andromeda. "Andromeda took away his PSP," Harry answered without Draco asking anything out loud. Draco found this annoying.
"I wasn't going to ask," Draco lied, wondering what in Merlin's name a PSP was.
Teddy looked up upon hearing his voice and leapt from his seat, running over to Draco with a grin. "Draco!" he yelled enthusiastically.
Draco stood up straighter and scowled. "Do you always greet guests like a screaming banshee?" he asked haughtily.
Teddy faltered a moment, his eyes flicking to the floor. "No, sir," he replied quietly.
Draco laughed and Teddy looked up swiftly to see the grin on Draco's face and he renewed his journey to meet him on the other end of the kitchen. Teddy leapt up into his arms and hugged his cousin tightly.
They usually only saw one another at holidays, so this was a special treat, and now Draco would get to spend a good deal of extra time with his small cousin. "Have you been behaving yourself for your grandmother?" he asked, noting how Andromeda winced at the title.
Teddy nodded quickly. "Yes, and Harry, too. You remember Harry right? He's the best, he's been teaching me how to fly and how to be a seeker like he was. I hope I'm in Gryffindor just like him and then I can be the Gryffindor seeker and I can win the Quidditch cup and-"
"Slow down there, champ," Harry called with a chuckle.
Teddy blushed but started in on another stream of praises about Harry. Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes and gag on fake vomit. Of course the small boy would be infatuated with the idea of the great and legendary Harry Potter, even Draco thrilled at hearing stories about him when he was young, but it wore off soon enough, and this would to.
"I could probably teach you lots of things about being a seeker. Did you know I was the seeker on the Slytherin team?" Draco asked.
"Harry told me. He said he always beat you," Teddy snickered.
Harry chuckled again but didn't look up but Draco scowled at him all the same, certain he would feel it. "I suppose he also told you that my father bought my way onto the team?" he grumbled.
Teddy looked perplexed. "How did uncle Lucius do that?" he asked innocently.
"I would have never told him that," Harry interjected in a serious tone.
"Why not? You seem to revel in making my own blood think of me as a dolt," Draco seethed.
"Telling him that I beat you was the truth, telling him that Lucius bought you a spot on the team was purely speculation, and I don't spread rumors, no matter how little any of it matters now," Harry said, turning back to his roasting bird.
Draco huffed. It seemed Harry the man could not be baited quite as easily as Harry the boy. Still, it didn't mean there wasn't some nasty Gryffindor temper just waiting beneath the surface to lash out at him when he least expected it.
"Now boys, you shouldn't bicker. That time in your lives is ages away now," Andromeda piped in. She acted as though her words were for both of them, but her eyes were only fixed on Draco.
"I'll be nice, Aunt," Draco replied with an innocent smile.
Her eyes narrowed slightly and she nodded her head. "See that you do. Harry's been very kind to welcome you into his home. You would be lucky to count him among your friends," she added.
Draco grimaced. He hated being lectured, and it was worse coming from his own Aunt, and in front of Potter, no less.
"Andromeda, leave Malfoy alone. He's only just arrived and he just needs to settle in," Harry said in his defense.
"Fine dear, just let me know if you need me to speak with him," she said and Harry chuckled, shaking his head slightly in dismay.
Great. That was all Draco needed, Potter defending him and his own flesh and blood ganging up on him. What kind of bizarre world did Draco step into when he entered this house?
He turned to leave and Harry's voice ghosted over him like a soothing caress. "Where are you going? Dinner is almost ready," he asked.
"I've lost my appetite," Draco muttered and headed back to his own room.
--
Draco was sulking, or at least that was what his mother had always called it. Draco called it 'leave me the hell alone'.
Either way, he was sitting in his room trying to decide if it was better to suck it up and stay here with Potter, or get a room at the Three Broomsticks. The accommodations were incomparably nicer here, much to his chagrin, but at the Inn there would be no Potter.
Decisions, decisions.
A sharp knock on the door jarred him from his thoughts and he looked out the window and saw it was already quite dark. He padded over to answer the door, hoping it was Teddy coming to say goodnight, or Andromeda coming to apologize.
It was neither.
Harry stood in the doorway in nothing but a pair of black silk pajama bottoms and a tray of food, which he extended to Draco. "You know, I made this meal specifically for you. Your Aunt said it was your favorite."
Draco rolled his eyes. Of course Potter would make some grand gesture like this. Eventually though, he would tire of Draco, just like everyone else did, and he would turn into the same snide little teenage boy Draco had grown up with.
He took the tray and carried it over to the small sitting area. The meal was indeed his favorite and smelled even better than the pie Harry had baked earlier. The Pheasant was roasted to a golden brown and flecked with green herbs and a buttery looking sauce. It was nestled on the plate among steamed carrots, garlic roasted potatoes and a hunk of warm French bread.
He looked back over to Harry, who was in the doorway holding out a bottle of fire whisky and two glasses. So he wanted to join him? Well, perhaps Draco could allow it just this once; maybe a brief physical interlude was exactly what Draco needed to take his mind off of Harry's unusually appealing assets.
Maybe Draco would be truly lucky and Harry would be a terrible lover, thus freeing Draco from any and all fascination with the man.
He motioned for Harry to come in and the Gryffindor shot him a crooked grin and shut the door behind him. He sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the sofa and Draco looked at him oddly.
"I find it more comfortable on the floor," Harry answered, again without Draco having said a word. That was really going to start grating on him soon.
Draco rolled his eyes and took a bite of his delicious looking dinner. An involuntary moan escaped his lips and Harry's eyelashes fluttered at the sound. "Oh, how I crave for you to make that sound because of something besides my food."
A warm blush crept up Draco's cheeks and he continued to look at his plate instead of at Harry's open and expectant face. "Why are you doing this? I thought we agreed that we weren't attracted to one another?"
Harry shrugged. "I lied."
"You lied?" he repeated, stifling a laugh at the bluntness of it.
"Well, not lied really, I just didn't understand the depth of my feelings until you arrived here," Harry corrected.
"And what are your feelings exactly?" Draco asked.
"I want to get to know you," he answered. "Back at the manor, you seemed the same as you always were, but when you arrived here, you seemed... different. I realized that there were aspects of you I had never seen, and I want to."
"How poetic, but why don't you just jump to the point here. You want to bed me," Draco offered casually.
Harry didn't blush as Draco had expected, instead he did quite the opposite.
He smirked.
That was unacceptable. "I would like to know all of you, everything from your daily habits, to your funny quirks to your ideas on politics and the weather. And yes, it also includes seeing you sprawled nude across my bed, but that part comes much later," Harry added, his voice low and seductive.
Draco was sure he meant to trick him, to trap him in some humiliating way. Make Draco fall for him and then yank it all from under him. He had to put a stop to it this instant.
"You already know me in every way other than physically, and I'm afraid I don't sleep with co-workers," Draco said evenly, trying to avoid staring at the sleek, sun-kissed abdomen in front of him.
Harry ran his hand through his hair and sighed, nodding. "You're right. In just a few short weeks we'll be working together at the school and that would be entirely unprofessional."
That had been too easy.
"Well, no harm in trying I suppose," he muttered.
Harry poured the fire whiskey into the glasses and handed one to Draco. "Friends?"
"Friends," Draco muttered, unhappy with the way the word sounded on his tongue, and knocked the shot back down his throat.
--
Several shots later, Harry was making Draco listen to muggle music on a stereo that had been hidden in a small cabinet under the bed. He had put in several gleaming silver discs and with a small black item he called a remote, Harry was flipping through song after song, trying to find something Draco would appreciate.
They had been through at least two dozen songs, and though Draco would never admit it to Potter, he had liked a fair few of them. It didn't stop him from mocking each song with his trademark sarcasm however.
The song they were listening to now was the fourth on a disc Harry said was called 'fallen'. Draco liked the music so far, a bit of a hard edge matched with seductive vocals. On that particular song the lilting quality of the girl's voice was haunting and the accompanying piano painted a dark and brooding picture of lost love.
Draco sighed.
"Do you like it?" Harry asked hopefully.
Draco nodded and Harry's face it up. "I do. It's the perfect cure for the will to live," he responded sarcastically.
Harry pouted prettily and Draco had a hard time resisting his lips. His resistance was made even more difficult by the alcohol addling his brain.
"What's she singing there?" Draco asked, listening to the words, but not quite able to make them out.
Harry backed the song up a little. "You used to captivate me by your resonating light. Now I'm bound by the life you left behind. Your face it haunts, my once pleasant dreams. Your voice, it chased away all the sanity in me," Harry sang along.
Harry was driving him insane, making him feel like they had been friends for years, instead of enemies in school and effectively ignoring one another afterward.
Draco grinned at Harry's slightly slurred voice, which was far too low to carry the octave the girl sang in properly. "You're drunk," he whispered his face closer to Harry's than it needed to be for him to hear.
"Maybe a little," Harry replied, moving even closer.
Green eyes sparkled with anticipation as Draco stared at Harry from only inches away. He really was attractive, and it had been awhile since Draco had shagged anyone. He closed the gap between them, pressing his lips against Harry's in the barest of touches and smiled when he felt Harry respond.
Harry's eyes went a little wide as Draco pulled away. He was still fairly sure it was a terrible idea to be with Harry on a physical level. Harry struck him as the type who would insist on the entire package and Draco just wasn't in the market for a relationship.
Harry sighed and looked away, startling Draco slightly. "What?"
"You have very expressive eyes," Harry said, as if that explained anything at all.
"And?" Draco asked impatiently.
"You don't want me," he replied, getting up from his spot on the floor.
"What? I-" Draco grabbed Harry's arm to keep him from leaving, but Harry wouldn't look at him.
"It's all in your eyes, Malfoy. You'd be willing to sleep with me, but nothing more," Harry said, gently pulling free from Draco's grasp, which wasn't too difficult because Draco was shocked at Harry's revelation and frozen in place.
"How can you possibly know that?" Draco whispered, more to himself than Harry.
"I don't have casual sex, Malfoy, and I can recognize when a person has only those intentions. You would fuck me, but then you would avoid me, which would be very hard while you're living here," Harry added, a bit dejectedly.
"So that's it? I was right? It's either a relationship with you or nothing at all?" Draco asked.
Harry only shrugged, which served to infuriate Draco further. Suddenly all he wanted to do was have Harry in his bed.
"And if I can agree to your terms?" he asked, slipping into a seductive stance and tone.
Harry laughed and the sound made Draco feel small, even though he was almost certain that was not Harry's intention. "This isn't a business deal, Malfoy. You either have feelings for me or you don't."
"But I do," Draco started.
"You do now, but only because you suddenly realized sleeping with me wasn't a sure thing," Harry corrected. "What you don't seem to understand is that I wouldn't have slept with you tonight even if you begged me."
"Malfoy's don't beg," Draco said at once, causing Harry to laugh again.
"That doesn't surprise me," he said. "And I wouldn't expect you to. I like you just the way you are."
"You do?" Draco asked skeptically. He had been burned many times before by lovers who claimed to like him, but really only wanted the chance to sleep with a Malfoy, or a death eater, or who discovered later that Draco wasn't what they imagined him to be in the beginning.
Harry smiled softly and walked to the door. "I do, bratty behavior and all. But I'm perfectly capable of keeping myself at arms length, Malfoy. You won't hear another word about it, I promise," he added, right before walking out of the guestroom and leaving Draco alone and confused.