Harry's POV:

It was around midnight, and Harry still couldn't fall asleep.

He kept going over and over what had happened in the Potions hallway, enough times that he had stopped 'reacting' to it every time he thought of it.

That had been amazing. It felt amazing, and Draco looked bloody amazing, head thrown back, mouth barely open in a loud moan.

Harry had felt ecstatic, even after it was finished, because maybe, just maybe, Draco felt the same as he did?

He had- sadly- been harboring a crush on the blonde Slytherin since fifth year. which was embarrassing to admit, because then sixth year happened.

Ron had guessed it, and Hermione had already known. Confirming it with Ron had been... awkward, to say the least. He had been completely fine with the fact that Harry was gay, saying "Oh, Charlie is too!" but when Harry  told him about Malfoy, he had gone a bit mental, yelling to no one "Why Malfoy? Of all bloody people?".

Eventually, he had accepted it, and for that, Harry was thankful.

Back to the subject at hand, he was more and more confused about it. Pansy had just sent him a tired owl- she had somehow guessed about his crush at the beginning of the year, and was, even more confusing, rooting for him-, explaining Zach's deal, what Andrei had said, and how he was the only person Draco had reacted to like that. (She had left out the part where Draco had confessed to her about his crush, she couldn't be too helpful, then it wouldn't be any fun.)

Ignoring the fact that he didn't know why he was the only one, whenever he thought about it, he felt warm, as if surrounded by a warm blanket.

Andrei. Andrei Bishop, he guessed, by the amount of venom that could be seen in the note Pansy had sent him.

Andrei had never quite gotten over Harry beating him in that one game of Quidditch right before the holidays.

And, consequently, every single game after that.

So, now he had (hopefully given up on obsessing over Harry, and moved on to other things. Harry could be- would love to be- perfectly happy about that. He would, if that thing that Andrei had moved onto- literally- wasn't Draco. It honestly seemed like everything that boy did was connected to Harry. If he did well in Potions, it was because it was Harry's worst class. If he was still Seeker, even though he would much rather play- and be better at- Keeper, it was because Harry was Seeker, and so on and so forth.

If they had to be his personal bodyguards,- Pansy had also written to him to say that she had asked about, and they had gotten special permission to follow Draco around to his classes, to 'protect' him- then that meant that they would also be in Potions, and, well, he would just have to outdo Andrei.

With that plan in mind, and a smirk on his face, Harry slowly slipped into the land of Nod, clutching the note tightly.

---le time skip (muahahaha)---

The second Harry stepped into Potions, he felt like hurling. Andrei was there alright (And so was Zach). The former was hanging off of Draco's chair, probably whispering (again, dirty) sweet nothings into his ears (The cat ones), making him shiver.

Forcing a smile, Harry stepped into the room, and walked directly over to Draco.

"Hullo, Draco," he said, setting his books down and not-so-kindly dropping Andrei's bag to the floor.

Looking up, Draco's face split into a smile, and Harry looked down slightly to hide a blush.

Seeing this, Andrei grit his teeth and whispered harshly into Draco's ear "He'll never like you,"

Draco's smile faded slightly, and Andrei grinned triumphantly.

Harry, who had been looking down, missed this exchange, and was puzzled to see the contradicting expressions on the two faces when he looked up.

Shrugging, he sat down next to Draco and scooted his chair closer, glaring subtly at Andrei.

"Turn to page three hundred and ninety-four," the substitute Potions Professor's choice said from the front of the room. "Now, I got a hot date, so I gotta scoot. See ya," With that, Mr. No-one-could-remember-his-name was gone, leaving only a few rose petals behind.

"Why is he our teacher?" Draco muttered to Harry. "And what's with the rose petals, this isn't a wedding."

Harry snorted. "Because Headmistress thinks 'he should get one chance'," he quoted.

"One chance? He's gotten fifty!"

Harry nodded, and was about to remark when a pale hand snapped it's fingers in front of his face.

"Back to work, please," Andrei said, smiling smugly.

Harry rolled his eyes and got up to get the ingredients.

After their potion was completed, Draco sat back and stretched, drawing the attention of both boys next to him. (Zacharias was chatting up Pansy, much to her amused pleasure.)

Harry watched, almost drooling, as the muscles in his arms flexed and released, as his shirt (They had given up on robes, it was too warm) rode up slightly, showing a strip of white skin that he wanted to run over with his tongue- That was enough of that train of thought. Looking quickly over at Andrei, he scowled when he saw that he was watching the exact same thing.

A wicked (and immature) idea came to him, and he lifted his wand and murmured a few words, causing the ink bottle next to Andrei to tip over suddenly, causing it to spill all over his outfit.

Andrei immediately shot up, ripping off his shirt (much to the happiness of the female population of that class) and casting cleaning spells one after another.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" He whisper-yelled at Harry, who couldn't keep the smug look off of his face.

He eventually  managed to quash the feeling of smugness, and looked in mock horror at Andrei, "Oh Merlin, what happened to your shirt? Was it accidental magic?"

Half of the class snorted at this, and Andrei's face turned bright red.

Even Draco, who had been staying dutifully silent, let out a quiet snort, and Harry mentally pumped his fists. 'Yes!' he chanted.

"I thought that was for nine-year olds," Draco said thoughtfully. He turned to Andrei and looked at him quizzically, causing the other half of the class to burst into quiet giggles.

The teacher chose that moment to pop his head in the door. "Class dismissed," he called cheerfully, then popped back out. The students, who had frozen the minute the door had opened, heard pattering footsteps, and the sound of the sub calling "Yoo-hoo, Sevvie, wait up!"

The other students turned and started packing up their books, and Draco turned to Harry.

"Hey, Potter?" he asked hesitantly.

Harry turned to look at the blond, immediately drawn to the ears.

Draco was quiet for a long while, then finally spoke. "You can touch them if you want," he said softly.

Harry blinked once. Twice. Had he really...

Harry looked at the aforementioned ears, which were twitching hopefully (and adorably). Smiling softly, he shook his head. Draco's ears drooped immediately, and a look of complete despair came over his face.

Harry hurried to explain. "I'd- I'd rather save it for when we're alone," he said, watching Draco carefully.

Draco's ears slowly perked up, and he looked at Harry in such naked, vulnerable happiness that it took almost everything he had not to jump the blond right where he stood. If he did, they would both never get to class.

"O-Okay," Draco said, blushing bright red. Harry smiled one last time, picked up his books, and walked out of the room, passing Andrei, who was glaring at him with the most hatred he could muster.

Draco stood there for a second, then turned to the door, but Harry was already gone, leaving behind only unspoken promises of 'alone time.'

*does that voice from SpongeBob*
Two... Months... Later...
Hello all, no idea how to apologize for this (read: all of my) story's hiatus, (what's the plural of hiatus. Hiati?)

I'm back now, and I will try to update more often. Read my A/N at the end of Sex Before Love Chapter 9 to see what you can do if I take too long with a chapter.

-Raven

(Dedicated to @xWeasleyIsOurKingx for her amazing book The Price of Valor.)