Additional Tags: Professors Drarry

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Draco slipped out of his office and down the empty dungeon hallways, heading up through the maze of stairs, his cloak pulled tightly around himself. He made no sound thanks to a few carefully placed silencing spells and the hood to hide his hair. The only thing better than a late night trip to the kitchens for warm biscuits and tea was catching students out after curfew.

The castle was riddled with enchanted mistletoe, so Draco was careful to check every doorway he came to. Minerva wasn't the type to put up that sort of thing and none of the other teachers owned up to it, although Draco was suspicious of Flitwick, that sort of charm work was right up his alley. It was either that or Peeves who would certainly love putting them up though it was hard to imagine where he would have found the damn things.

Draco carefully skirted the edge of the large entranceway leading to the main hallway and thus to the kitchens, when his foot caught on something and he nearly tripped, stumbling forward and just barely catching himself on the wall opposite. He spun around, glaring up and down the hallway, ready to take points and give detention, but no one was there. He looked down and saw a foot connected to most of a leg before it disappeared. Draco frowned, leaned down and grabbed at the edge where the leg disappeared and encountering the thin silky material of an invisibility cloak, which could only belong to one person.

Draco jerked the cloak off, "Are you trying to get someone killed, Potter?"

Potter lifted his head, blinking his eyes opened like he had been asleep. He focused on Draco and groaned, his head falling back with a thump, "Merlin. Why'd it have to be you?"

Draco narrowed his eyes.

Potter's foot was stuck in the middle of the floor, flat to the stone, so he had to keep his knee bent. He slowly sat up, scrubbing his hands through his hair and leaving it standing in every possible direction. He pointed up with a grimace.

Draco looked up and saw a small bundle of mistletoe at the top of the archway. He looked back down at Potter already braced for whatever Draco was going to say, a wince already on his face.

Draco raised an eyebrow, "Are you a complete moron?"

Potter sighed, "No, Malfoy."

"Ah," Draco said flatly, "That would explain why you are still here rather than having, say, sent a patronus, which is one of your specialities."

"Flitwick is gone this weekend and Minerva- I've-" Potter sighed, "She helped me the last two times."

Draco stared at him.

"She told me in no uncertain terms was I was to wake her up for this again unless I wanted to be in charge of every detention until spring hols."

"And the reason you can't free yourself?" Draco asked with growing disbelief, "Surely you were watching when Minerva removed the charms?"

"I was!" Potter snapped. He frowned and took out his wand, pointing it up at the mistletoe with a muttered incantation and complicated swirl to his wand. His wand shot some blue and gold sparks in the air. "I must have the wand movements wrong. I swear that's how she did it."

"You..." Draco shook his head, at a loss for words.

"I'm not exactly a charms professor am I?" Potter said impatiently, "If you're so clever, you can disenchant it then."

Draco sniffed imperiously, "I'm not paid to save idiots from a children's charms."

"Great. So you don't know either."

"I did not say that-"

"Just give me my cloak back and bugger off," Potter said and laid back down on the floor, muttering under his breath, "I'll look forward to you mocking me for this for the rest of my life."

"Of course I will," Draco said, "Only you could do something this stupid, and three times no less."

Potter groaned, "I only wanted a sandwich."

That reminded Draco that his own tea and biscuits were waiting. He turned to leave and hesitated. His back still turned to Potter; he said, "There's more than one way to free someone from mistletoe." He waited, expecting Potter to mock him or laugh.

Instead, Potter asked, "What?" sounding perplexed.

Draco sighed. It was far too late to be testing his heart like this. He turned back around and held out his hand, "Hurry up, I haven't got all night."

"I don't-?" Potter shook his head with a frown as he sat back up.

Draco bit his lip, walking over to Potter and kneeling next to him as he pulled his hood down.

Potter grabbed his arm to try and push him back, "Wait you're going to be stuck too!"

"Shut up, Potter," Draco said, taking Potter's face in both hands and kissing him. He pulled away slowly, feeling dazed, Potter's hair brushing over his fingertips as he dropped his hands.

Potter stared at him like Draco had stunned him.

Draco stood up and swept down the hallway as quickly as he could.

"I- Wait!" Potter called after him, scrambling up and running after Draco.

Draco cursed under his breath, hoping the castle was dark enough to hide his flushed face.

Potter caught his sleeve and pulled him to a stop. Quite unfairly, Potter's darker skin showed no sign of distress. "You- um..." Potter looked away, biting his bottom lip.

"Yes?" Draco asked, fighting the urge just to take off running.

"I-" Potter broke off again, his throat bobbing as he swallowed hard, "Well, thanks."

Draco scowled at him, "It's fine." He pulled his arm free, straightening his robes as he hurried on his way towards the kitchens.

Draco closed his eyes and fought down a sigh as Potter trotted after him.

"Where are you going?" Potter asked.

Draco didn't answer.

Potter looked around and seemed to catch on, "Oh, the kitchens? That was where I was headed... y'know, before everything."

Draco didn't respond.

"I suppose I should have guessed that, since it's not your night to be on patrols," Potter went on, "and you were headed this way."

Draco tickled the pear on the large portrait and stepped inside. This late at night only one or two house elves were in the kitchens and they perked up at the sight of Harry and Draco. Both had apparently been there often enough that they didn't even have to request what they wanted, one elf automatically putting on the tea while another began putting together a sandwich comprised of what looked like leftovers from dinner.

Draco carefully sat on one of the small stools around the large work table and wasn't terribly surprised when Potter sat next to him. He was somewhat surprised that Potter seemed to have replaced his talkativeness with nervously fiddling with his hair and bouncing one leg under the table.

"I'm fairly certain you're only making it worse," Draco said, picking up his teacup and resting it right under his chin.

"What?" Potter jumped.

Draco smiled faintly, "Your hair, Potter. The more you touch it, the worse it gets."

Potter jerked his hand away from his head, "Yeah, I mean, yes. It does do that."

"If I had known kissing you would distress you this much, I would have done it ages ago," Draco said unable to keep the bitterness entirely out of his tone.

"It's not-" Potter stopped and pulled his hand through his hair again like he had half a mind to pull it out, "It's a bit the opposite, actually."

Draco nearly dropped his cup, rattling it quite badly against the saucer as he tried to set it down, "The opposite," Draco repeated.

"I know that you didn't mean anything by it," Potter said quickly, "It was- It was the clever thing to do and I-"

"Shut up, Potter." Draco reached up, taking Potter's hand before it could vandalise his hair again and placed it on the table. It took nearly all his self-control to keep his hand over Potter's.

Potter looked from their hands to Draco, "So..." he smiled hesitantly, "I can call you next time I get caught under the mistletoe?"

Draco flushed faintly and held Potter's hand a little tighter, "If you're stupid enough to get stuck under one again... and it's before midnight."

.

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Draco finished marking his last paper and threw it on the top of the pile, standing up and stretching with a groan. He grabbed his cloak as he left his rooms and headed up to the kitchens for something sweet as a reward for being subjected to his student's stupidity for the evening.

He had hardly made it out of the dungeons when his foot stuck to the floor. Draco barely managed to lurch back and keep from falling on his face, getting the other foot caught as well. Draco looked up in disbelief at the merry little sprig of green and white hanging cheekily over the middle of the doorway. He had thought they were all gone, removed by the Headmistress after a rather unfortunate incident with a bloke who had tried to kiss a girl against her wishes. She must have missed one, or it was Peeves doing it, the dratted poltergeist.

Draco used the charm Minerva had taught them to remove the other mistletoe but it had no effect. He tired a few others, and in a pique of rage hit it with a blasting charm, but the dratted plant didn't budge. Draco would have sworn it looked even healthier.

He looked down at his wand with a sigh. He had never cast a corporeal patronus. He checked his pockets half-heartedly. A soft crinkle drew his attention and he pulled out a folded piece of parchment. Having nothing better to do, Draco sank down onto the floor, carefully cut the paper into a perfect square and folded it into a small crane. It felt a bit like putting a note in a bottle and send it out to sea as he charmed it to fly and gently blew on it to send it flying off down the hallway.

Draco wrapped his arms around his knees. He would just have to wait until someone found him, and hope whoever it was wasn't the sort to gossip. Draco cast a warming charm over himself when the floor got too cold, resting his head on his knees.

Running footsteps coming closer made Draco jerk his head up, shocked to see Potter coming down the stairs. He was wearing a teeshirt and joggers, seemingly untouched by the castle cold. Draco hurried to his feet, cheeks growing hot with embarrassment. "Not one word, Potter," he said as soon as Potter was close enough.

Potter grinned, biting his bottom lip as he looked up at the mistletoe.

Draco shook his head, "How did you know I-?"

"I thought you said not one word?" Potter said raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean."

Potter opened his hand to a show Draco's little paper crane, "It slipped under the door."

"And you knew it was mine?" Draco asked.

Potter shrugged, carefully slipping the crane into his pocket like it was something precious, "It's not the first crane you've sent me."

Draco stared at him. He could hardly remember, it had been so long ago and they had been on very bad terms.

Potter smiled, "So, can I kiss you now?"

Draco felt himself start to flush and frowned.

"I know, I know, shut up, Potter," he said in a poor imitation of Draco.

"Don't presume you know what I'm going to say," Draco said.

He reached out and Potter stepped closer, letting Draco grasp the front of his shirt, and pull him close. Potter's hands caught Draco's hips, pulling him close. As soon as their lips met Draco found himself backed against the door frame, Potter pressed tight to his front as he kissed Draco with a groan. Draco clung to him like a drowning man; shirt fisted tightly in his hand as he curled the other around Potters neck and into his hair, kissing Potter until he was breathless.

"What were you going to say then?" Potter asked when they had both paused for breath, still tightly wrapped up in one another.

"What?" Draco asked dazed, transfixed by Potter's green eyes.

Potter smiled and leaned forward to steal another kiss, "You said, don't presume I know what you're going to say."

Draco sighed, carding his hand through Potter's hair. He hadn't had anything to say then, but he did now, "Rather than letting mistletoe do all the work, just ask me out."

"How about now?" Potter said.

Draco smiled faintly in disbelief, "Now? It's the middle of the night."

"Yeah but I can't wait a second longer to kiss you again," Potter said.

Draco felt his heart stutter into his chest, his cheeks getting hot, "I suppose it can't be helped then."

Potter grinned and kissed him again.