Bond (Drarry)

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

October 26 - October 29

Day 28, Monday

"You've spilled juice on your tie," Draco said as he finished putting his books into his bag.

"Oh - thanks," Potter waved his wand quickly and cleaned his tie, not pausing in his search through his desk. "Have you seen my inkwell?"

"No idea. Have you seen my tie?" Draco asked, and Potter thought for a moment before pointing to the sofa in the sitting room. "Thanks."

"Ready?" Potter asked quietly a moment later, having evidently located his inkwell.

"Yeah. Let's go." They headed out and nodded a quick thanks to Sir Xander as he wished them well. They walked in silence down the long empty seventh-floor corridor. Draco paused at the top of the staircase.

"Did you forget something?" Potter asked, and Draco shook his head. Not knowing how to say what he felt, not knowing why he was stopping at the top of the stairs.

It didn't matter, he told himself. There was no need to mark the fact that once they went down those steps, they were effectively re-entering the outside world and no longer in this odd semi-solitary confinement that had seemed so dreadful an idea four days ago but had ended up as a sort of... well, there was that stupid word again, 'honeymoon', for lack of a better term...

"No, let's go," he said brusquely, starting down the steps. Stopped as Potter put a hand on his shoulder. "Yes?" he looked up at Potter.

Potter's eyes were veiled, his expression impossible to decipher. Draco waited for him to speak, and was about to say something when Potter stepped closer, gently tilted Draco's chin up, and took his mouth in a long, slow kiss. Draco closed his eyes and surrendered to the kiss willingly for a few moments before reluctantly drawing back.

"Er, bad idea, Potter, we've got Potions, remember?" he said, a little breathlessly. "I really don't feel like coming in late our first day back."

Potter smiled. "I know. I just - it just seems like - like we-"

"Yeah. I - I know," Draco said quickly. "Me too. But - don't. Just don't." Potter nodded, running a hand through his hair and starting down the stairs, and Draco reflected that that little exchange hadn't made any kind of sense.

But he didn't want to know if they'd been speaking about the same thing at all. Because he suspected they had.

ooooooo

"I've got notes for you for Thursday and Friday," Pansy said as they made their way into the half-empty Potions classroom, and Draco nodded.

"Great, thanks." He busied himself setting up his text and quills and ink, then looked over the scrolls of notes from Pansy, grateful for the excuse to not engage in conversation with anybody as the room filled.

"Turn to page 394," Snape said, stalking into the classroom, and anything else Pansy - or anybody else - might have wanted to say was thankfully squelched by his entry.

Good thing, too, because Draco was feeling a lot more uneasy about this than he'd anticipated. Somehow he hadn't realized how odd it would be to return from their suspension as though nothing had really changed, when it had. He and Potter were sitting with the same people, in the same classroom, same teacher, same subject - but they themselves were different. Far more so than the day they'd walked back in here newly bonded, because then there was nothing but a spell between them.

Not a good topic to be thinking of, he told himself firmly, and busied himself trying to follow Snape's lecture. It seemed they were past the anti-flu potions and were now deep into potions meant to produce sensory illusions. Which were quite fascinating. He'd read up on the topic on his own over the summer, but hadn't realized they'd be working on it in class this year.