Fic: Chocolate (original) (raw)

Title: Chocolate
Author: Nicole killerangels13
Rating: PG
Challenge: #20 With Lucius in Azkaban (summer after 5th year), Narcissa does something crazy and winds up in St. Mungos. Draco is sixteen, so needs a guardian, and winds up in the custody of Tonks. She has Order/Auror work to do, but thinks Draco shouldn't be left alone, knows Harry hates the Dursleys, brings him to her house then goes off to wherever. Her flat won't let them leave or hurt each other.
Summary: Draco and Harry learn that they can get along without causing too much damage.
Notes: Thanks to kowaiyoukai for betaing my story. This is my first Harry/Draco story so I apologize if either of them seems OOC.

Draco hadn’t been pleased to know that his summer was going to be difficult. With his father in Azkaban, he thought he would have the run of the manor. Unfortunately, only a month into the holiday his mother had fallen down the stairs, acquiring a concussion, a broken leg, and a few broken ribs. She was admitted to St. Mungos and would be remaining there for the rest of the summer.

The Minister of Magic had not permitted Draco to remain at the manor alone, fearing he would do something to assist Lord Voldemort. Thus, he found himself under the care of his cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. They had never been close since their parents didn’t get along. However, she was the only relative that could be contacted on such short notice, and as such he was forced to live with her until his mother recovered.

Only to himself would he admit that it wasn’t as bad as he had anticipated it would be. His cousin was gone most of the time. When she was home, it was usually to get some sleep. Draco was content with being alone all day, and he often found things to do around the flat to relieve his boredom. After a week, though, even the most interesting of entertainments he had found in her flat were getting old

He was lying on his bed one afternoon at the end of July when he heard the main door open. Good, he thought, Dora’s home. She can make some dinner. Draco was about to go ask her to do just that when he heard her talking to someone.

“You’ll be sharing a room with my cousin. He’s staying with me until the end of August. You’ll get along fine, I’m sure. Sorry I can’t show you around, but I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll be back later. Try not to kill each other until I get back. Make yourself at home.” With that, the door closed once more.

Not sure he liked the idea of having to share a room, even though it would explain the second bed, he went out to see who he was going to be living with.

He could see most of the flat from the bedroom doorway, so he only had to glance around the door to find that standing in the middle of the living room was none other then Harry Potter.

Harry was looking around the place and hadn’t seen him yet. Draco took the opportunity to turn around and slam the bedroom door shut.

There is no bloody way I am going to spend the rest of my summer locked in a tiny little Muggle flat with Harry Bloody Potter! Draco thought as he stormed back over to his bed. He had just flopped back down on it, very unbecomingly for a Malfoy, when the door opened.

“Hi, I guess I’ll be staying with –” Harry started when he noticed who it was that he would be sharing a room with. “You have got to be kidding me. Malfoy? I have to spend the rest of my summer with you?”

“This isn’t exactly my idea of a picnic either, Potter. So you might as well make yourself scarce, I’m claiming the bedroom. You can just go entertain yourself someplace else.”

“Yeah, sure. Like I would want to spend any more time with you then I have to.” With that, Harry deposited his trunk at the foot of the second bed and left the room.

~*~

Draco thought he could hide out in the bedroom forever, but after a while his stomach reminded him that it was getting to be past dinnertime. It also didn’t help that the smell of something cooking was wafting through the door. Wondering if he could bully Harry into giving him some of the food, he decided to venture out.

As he was passing though the living room, he saw Harry sitting at the island bar eating. “Potter, make me some dinner.”

“Make your own dinner. Or are you afraid you’ll get your perfect hands dirty?”

Harry hadn’t even looked up; he seemed to be reading something. Draco sauntered over to the kitchen area, though he wasn’t sure why. He certainly didn’t want Potter to look at him the way all the girls, and a good number of boys, at school did.

During the past school year he had finally admitted to himself that he was gay. The more Pansy hung off of him, the more he was repulsed and turned off by it. Nor had he been turned on by any of the random girls he would follow around from time to time or fantasize about undressing. But there were a few boys, both in Slytherin and other houses, that did draw a reaction from his body.

He had started a relationship with Anthony Goldstein, but it didn’t last very long. It hadn’t even been that much of a relationship. They had met in a broom cupboard or two for some random groping and kissing. They had even snuck up to the Astronomy Tower once to see how thrilling it really was. There really hadn’t been that much of a thrill in it, and they were almost caught on their way back down.

Draco would admit to one blissful night of snogging Blaise in the common room. But the next day he had seen Pansy hanging all over him, so he decided to end that one before it went any further. But none of this explained why he was sauntering over to Potter. He would not be attracted to his arch-nemesis; there was just no way he would concede to that.

“I am not afraid of anything, least of all getting dirty. Just watch, you’ll be so jealous of my culinary concoction that you’ll be begging me to make you dinner next time.”

“You wish, Malfoy.”

Draco went first to the pantry and then to the refrigerator to gather what he thought he needed. He didn’t know what he was doing, but was not about to admit that to Harry. He took out some sausages and chips, deciding they couldn’t be that hard to cook. After all, both of them had to be fried, so he could cook them in the same pan. From the pantry he pulled a bottle of oil to do the frying. He took a pan from the cupboard and set it on the stove, pouring a liberal amount of oil into it. He turned on the burner to let the oil heat up before putting the food in, which he thought was very suave. When it started to bubble, Draco dropped the sausages and chips in. He soon found that there was too much oil; it splashed out when he dropped the food into it. Some of it ignited from the burner and the rest was threatening to follow.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Draco jumped back from the flaming mess.

“Holy shit.” Harry jumped up from where he had been sitting, grabbing a lid. He slammed it down on the pan, turned off the heat, and, using a towel as a potholder, removed the pan from the stove. “What were you trying to do? Burn the place down? Yeah, that’s going to make me really jealous of your skills.”

“I didn’t know it was going to catch fire.”

“Hot oil and open flames? What do you think happens when you mix the two? Chaos, panic, and disorder. Looks like your work here is done.”

“Fuck off, Potter. I didn’t need your help. I would have handled it just fine on my own. Why don’t you just leave? What are you doing here anyway?”

“I can’t leave. Tonks put a spell on the door that won’t allow me to leave. And if I had known you were staying here, I wouldn’t have agreed. But she said her cousin was staying with her and she didn’t want him to be alone all the time when she was at work.”

“I don’t need a babysitter!” Draco stormed back to their room and slammed the door for the second time.

He couldn’t tell what Harry was doing, but it smelled like he was making the sausages that Draco had messed up. It didn’t matter how hungry he was. Draco was not about to ask Potter for help with anything.

~*~

Later that night, after Harry had gone to bed, Draco left the room to see if he could get something to eat. He found a covered plate in the kitchen. He unwrapped it, and found the sausage and chips from earlier. They were cold by then, of course, but he couldn’t care less. It didn’t matter that they had been made by Harry, either. All that mattered was that he hadn’t eaten for hours, and this was the only food available to him.

After eating and putting away the dishes, Draco still wasn’t ready to go back to bed. It occurred to him suddenly that although Harry couldn’t leave, that didn’t mean that Draco himself was similarly stuck here. Feeling rather cheerful at this new discovery, he went to the door and opened it. He looked out into the stairwell, grinning widely. He didn’t have to be stuck with Potter. He walked briskly out into the hallway- or at least he tried to. As soon as he reached the doorway, Draco smacked face-first into an invisible barrier.

Ah, bloody hell. So I’m really stuck in here with Potter. Of all people, it just had to be him.

~*~

The next week followed the same pattern. Draco spent the day in the bedroom while Harry was out in the rest of the flat. He would occasionally go out and get a sandwich or something for lunch. There was always a plate of food set out late in the evening when he went looking for dinner.

He still didn’t like Harry, but he wasn’t going to complain if the git was going to make him dinner without being asked. Though Draco did make one compromise: he stopped insulting Harry whenever they were in the same room. He even offered a begrudging happy birthday when Tonks came home one evening with cards and presents for Harry from his friends.

Harry had looked up, startled, but smiled and said thank you.

After that evening, Draco came out of the bedroom for small periods of time. He even had a conversation or two with Harry. In return, Harry would ask Draco if he wanted anything when he went to make dinner in the evening. They had reached a peace of sorts, and neither was quite sure what to make of it

~*~

One night after dinner, Draco decided that he could stay out of the bedroom and it wouldn’t kill him. He went and sat in the living room to work on some homework while Harry was reading. Draco couldn’t concentrate, though, because Harry was turning the pages quickly. It seemed like he was skimming rather than reading, and it quickly got on Draco’s nerves.

“What are you reading?”

“It’s a book Hermione gave me. It’s full of riddles and brainteasers. You want to try one of them?”

“Fine. Just to prove my superior intellect, though.” Draco ignored the look Harry shot him as he thumbed through the book to find one.

“Here’s one. Two dragons are facing in opposite directions. One was facing due east and the other due west. How can they manage to see each other without walking, turning around, or even moving their heads?”

“What kind of a question is that? It can’t be done. If they’re facing east and west, they’re obviously looking in opposite directions.”

“That’s true, but it’s not the point. Well, it is, but that’s not the answer.”

“If you’re so smart, what’s the answer, then?”

“Though facing in opposite directions, they were facing each other and thus could see the other.”

Draco sat there trying to figure out how that worked while Harry went back to reading. Suddenly it all connected and he understood.

“That wasn’t fair, you already read the answer. Give me another one.”

“Here’s a simple math one you should be able to get. Lord Stoddard had eight owls. One unfortunate week all but five die. How many does he have left?”

“Obviously he has only three left.”

Harry was trying really hard not to snicker, but Draco noticed anyway. “What are you laughing at? I have the right answer.”

“Yeah, if I had asked how many die. If all but five die he has five left.”

“Give me that book.” Draco reached across the table and took the book from Harry. “I’ll ask you one and see how smart you really are. Here. A breeder had eight hippogriffs. Four of them were white, three were black and one was brown. How many of the hippogriffs can each say that it is the same color as another one of the hippogriffs?”

Draco got slightly annoyed that Harry took a minute to think about it when he, himself, knew the answer.

“The answer is none.”

“You’re wrong, it’s seven. All four of the white ones and the three black ones.”

“Give me that. Look, right here.” Harry flipped to the back where the answers were. “One would think that the answer would be seven, but the answer is none, since the hippogriffs can’t talk.”

“That book is stupid. I think it makes up the answers to agree with who it wants to,” Draco huffed, slouching back in his chair and picking his homework back up.

~*~

“Oi, Malfoy, I’m melting some chocolate to go with the berries Tonks brought home yesterday. Do you want some?” Harry called from the kitchen. Draco was again spending the day in the bedroom, but had the door open.

“Yeah, sure. Just don’t expect me to help you. In any way. Whatsoever.”

Draco wandered out to the kitchen to watch and make sure Harry didn’t do anything to the chocolate. At least, that was what he told himself. Over the past couple of days, he had taken to watching Harry. He would never admit it to anyone, of course. Fortunately, no one else was around, so he didn’t see any harm in it as long as Harry didn’t catch him.

Harry finished melting the chocolate and set it on the island top, along with a plate of berries and two forks. The two boys started eating the sweet treat with very little conversation. Draco was trying not to get chocolate on everything, but it was harder than he expected because Harry kept hitting his fork and dunking it in farther.

Draco then switched to dipping his fruit when Harry ate his. This worked for a short time, until Harry found other ways to antagonize Draco. He started flicking little specks of chocolate at Draco, who didn’t notice at first. Then a slightly larger splatter landed on his cheek. He didn’t miss that one.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I haven’t done anything. I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Harry kept right on dunking and eating as though nothing had happened.

“You’re throwing chocolate at me.”

“Actually, I’m not. Throwing is more like this.” He picked up a glob with his fork and flung it at Draco. It landed in his face, making him screech in indignation.

Harry was laughing at this and didn’t see when Draco picked up some chocolate to retaliate. This resulted in a chocolate fight that moved out into the rest of the flat. They were both covered in chocolate, along with most of the flat, when they finally stopped with Draco having caught and pinned Harry to the floor in the dining area.

“I don’t know why you’re still laughing. This really wasn’t my idea of fun. And you’re going to clean everything up since you started it.” Though he tried to hide it, Draco was laughing at the mayhem they had caused.

“Does that mean I get to clean you, too?”

Draco looked at Harry, the slight smile disappearing completely. He didn’t know what to say. The look Harry was giving him was drawing a reaction from his body, no matter how hard he tried to fight it. “Why, Potter, I didn’t know you felt that way. The Boy-Who-Lived likes other boys. Who would have ever guessed?”

On impulse Draco ground his hips into Harry’s. There was no mistaking the reaction that simple movement drew from the other boy’s body. Nor did Draco miss the groan that was quickly muffled.

“You like that, do you? Well, you’ll just have to find someone else to toy with.”

Draco made an attempt to get up and leave, but as soon as he was standing Harry grabbed his ankle, tripping him. Suddenly their positions were reversed, except that Harry was laying on him rather then sitting.

“Don’t think I couldn’t tell you enjoyed that as well. You just think you’re too good for anyone, but really you’re no better then the rest of us.”

“You want to see how much better I am than you? Come with me to get cleaned up. You’ll see all you need to, I guarantee it.”

~*~

“Hey, love. You’ve got this faraway look in your eyes. What are you thinking about?” Harry asked as he sat next to Draco on the sofa.

“Just remembering summer before sixth year. And that lovely chocolate fight you started.” Draco leaned into Harry’s embrace and the other man wrapped his arms around him.

“Ah yes, I’m sort of disappointed that I didn’t take you up on the offer to ‘clean up’ that day. But it wasn’t long afterwards that we managed to remedy that mistake.”

They sat in companionable silence for a little while, content in just being together. Draco had made plans for them later in the evening to celebrate their anniversary. Harry wasn’t aware of what was happening; he just knew that Draco had made dinner arrangements. Nor was he aware that it was for a special occasion.

When they finally got up, Draco led Harry into the dining room where dinner was being set out by the house elf. It was set up very intimately on the long formal table.

“Did I miss something?” Harry asked. “I didn’t have anything written in my date book. Is it a special occasion?”

“Do I need a special occasion to spoil you?” Draco responded before dropping a kiss on Harry’s lips. “Now sit and eat before it gets cold.”

Dinner turned out to be a nice affair. When they were done eating, the house elf came to take the dishes away. Draco surprised Harry by getting up and going into the adjoining kitchen. When he came back into the dining room, he was carrying a tray with a fondue set. The burner was already lit and the sauce was bubbling slightly.

When he set the tray down, Harry was able to see fresh fruit and melted chocolate arranged just so on the plate. At first he looked confused, but then comprehension started to dawn in his eyes.

“Draco, what’s all this? Now I know it’s not just a show off dinner.”

Draco didn’t reply right away. Just speared a berry and dipped it in the chocolate. When it was covered to his satisfaction he held it out to Harry, who opened his mouth for it like an obedient child.

“Happy anniversary, love.” Draco gave Harry a kiss, ignoring the chocolate covered berry in his mouth. He had always been rather fond of chocolate covered berries.