I Beg Your Pardon, Potter?

Chapter 6

Harry was rudely awoken by an impatient Malfoy poking him in the ribs. He groaned and blinked owlishly up at the blond.

"What?" he asked. His brain was still half asleep and the logic of the real world hadn't kicked in yet.

"Well, for one thing," Malfoy snapped, crossing his arms in front of him. "It's lunchtime." Harry sat up, shaking his head to clear the last of the sleep from his brain.

"Are Ron and Hermione looking for me?"

"No. Maybe. I don't know. I haven't seen Granger or the Weasel. I imagine they're still working on their potions."

"Then why the hell are you here?" Newly awoken Harry was quite blunt, Draco realized. No tact at all. He wondered what things he could get him to confess to in this state. He filed that information away for later. He needed to apologize to Harry before he lost his nerve.

"I came to say that I was sorry," he said quickly. Then he studied his nails, pretending to find them very interesting so that he wouldn't have to see the shocked look that was sure to be passing over Harry's face.

"That's very big of you, Malfoy." Harry swung his legs off the couch and stood up. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have gotten so angry."

"No," Draco said, now staring at the floor about two feet to the left of Harry's foot. "You had every right to be upset. I shouldn't have avoided the subject. The truth is I'm not very good at talking about my emotions or my personal life. And it's all the more complicated because it's you." Harry walked up to him and took one of his hands. Then he reached up with his free hand and lifted Draco's chin up until the blond was looking at him.

"It's okay," Harry whispered. "I get it. You don't want anyone to know about us."

"Well, no," Draco said. "But that's not what I meant."

"I'm not going to say anything to anyone. I'm a very private person too, you know, despite what the Daily Prophet might have you think. As a rule I don't talk about how I feel, unless it's something physical like my scar hurting, so I'm not very good at it either." Draco gave him a small, disheartened smile.

"Damn it, Potter, I'm trying to talk about how I think I might like you."

"And I would like to say for the record that I didn't hate last night either and I might just like you too." They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity but in reality was only a few seconds. Then Harry glanced down at his watch and said,

"Oh! Time for lunch." He made to pull away but Draco gripped his hand firmly.

"Oh, no you don't, Potter," he said. "You don't get to just walk away after all of that without kissing me again." Harry smirked at him.

"Good," he said. "I'm glad you said that. I feel the same way." He reached up and cupped Draco's cheek in his hand before leaning in and pressing their lips together.

Apologizing, Draco decided as Harry's tongue ran over his bottom lip, wasn't so bad after all.

...

They were fifteen minutes late to lunch, but they were still two of the first Gryffindor and Slytherin sixth years to sit down at their respective tables. Harry spotted Hermione at the Gryffindor table and sat down across from her. She was engrossed in the potions book that she was annotating, so he waved at her briefly and then began to fill his plate with food.

It was a full ten minutes before Ron dropped his bag down next to Harry and joined them.

"Mental," he said. "That woman is absolutely bloody mental. Snape clearly paired us so that I would fail this assignment." He piled sandwiches on his plate and began shoving them into his mouth. Hermione sighed and put down her quill.