Chapter Text
It was a late Friday evening, sometime in the middle of October., Harry was studying near a large window in the common room, which the fall sunset streamed through, illuminating the room with a golden glow. The leaves swirled around in the cool breeze right outside the window, teasing him. He fantasized about playing quidditch out on the field, with the wind messing up his hair as he chased the golden snitch, hanging out with Ron and Hermione in the common room, reading or playing chess in front of the warm fire. Unfortunately, if he wanted to pass potions he needed to be inside, studying, in order to pass the upcoming quiz worth a big portion of his grade.
Harry slammed the book he had previously been studying closed, his brain was muddled and slow, full of answers, questions, and other random nonsense that he didn't care to actually think about. He slowly began to clean up the area around him, grabbing his papers full of notes and other various books he had checked out. Suddenly, Ron and Hermione burst into the common room, their cheeks flushed from running Harry presumed. They had both recently admitted their feelings for each other after what seemed like forever to Harry. Sadly, they had been in a honeymoon-like trance ever since and sometimes it felt as though Harry was third wheeling them on a date.
"Hey, Harry." Ron said, a suspicious glint in his eye. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stick up and he quickly looked for anything that could be the start of a prank around him.
"Hi Ron, Hello Hermione." He replied simply. He hoped they couldn't tell that he was on to their prank, whatever it may be. Ron opened his mouth to speak but Hermione's clear, slightly posh, accent was the voice that Harry heard first.
"There's a party for the 6th years in the Slytherin common room and you're coming."
"Pass." He replied immediately, he wasn't in the mood to hang out with anybody or go party, all he wanted was a solid nap and maybe a snack. The added downside of the party being in the Slytherin common room also did no favors for Harry's mood. He wasn't very fond of them at the moment, although it seemed like everybody else had buddied up with them once Voldemort seemed to have disappeared forever.
"Too bad." Ron grinned. Hermione quickly shot Harry a sympathetic glance before they both grabbed his arms and forced him through the castle and to the dungeons, Harry dragging his feet and complaining the whole way there.
Once they arrived he scanned the room, it seemed as though almost all of the 6th years showed up, and he saw a few nervous-looking 5th years alongside some strange-looking 7th years. The entire common room was packed with people by the time they had arrived but Harry could tell that someone put at least some effort into decorating it. Streamers of all colors hung from the ceiling and some people had random party hats on. Harry quickly found the food buffet with drinks and various delicious-looking snacks close to the door. There was a pool table in the left corner and a massive circle of bean bag chairs was placed in the center of the room. People seemed to be having fun, the atmosphere was high with energy, many were chatting with each other, and some were yelling because of the noise level at times.
Harry poured himself some –by the taste of it– spiked punch and sat down on a stray beanbag close to the door in a quiet, more isolated corner of the room. Time passed slowly as he listened to bits and pieces of random conversation between strangers. He talked to a few people he knew from his classes as they passed him and had a nice lengthy conversation with Neville and Luna, who had recently become a couple, on some random bug or plant (he wasn't quite sure which) but nothing very interesting happened. As he was working on a plan to get out of the party without running into anybody and going to bed the room went silent.
"Alrighty nerds," Pansy’s voice rang out "Who's ready for seven minutes in heaven?" Cheers and a roar of clapping engulfed her voice, and a few high-pitched, stray whistles rang in Harry's ears. He vaguely knew what the game was but wasn't completely sure he knew all of the rules and how to play correctly. Once the noise quieted down, Pansy explained the rules of the game.
"Everybody will write their name down on a piece of scrap paper and place it into this hat," She said, pointing to a pretend magicians hat with a flourish "Then, I will pick two names out of there and you must go into that big ass closet and the bare minimum you must do is a kiss, but you can do much, much more if it so pleases you." She said with a wink. Harry looked towards the christened "Big ass closet" and honestly, the name did suit it quite well. It was a rather large coat closet that seemed as though it could fight four, possibly five people in it.
He was slightly worried that he'd have to kiss someone that he didn't like, like Cho – Things had been awkward with her ever since Cedric died. But in the grand scheme of things, it couldn't be that bad. He quickly scanned the room around him and found Ron and Hermione cuddled up in a large bean bag together, Hermione's head resting on Ron's shoulder and his arm wrapped around her. Harry walked up to Pansy after the mad rush of people handing in their names and grabbed a small piece of paper from the pile, he quickly scribbled his name in somewhat legible handwriting and placed it into the hat.
Once everybody seemed to have put their name in the hat Pansy stuck her hand in, grabbed two pieces of paper, and called two names. "Alice and Neville","Lavender and Oliver", "Poppy and Hermione" The two selected would then make their way into the closet and inevitably kiss since Pansy had apparently put a spell on the door that made it lock until the two inside of the closet kissed. Once the chosen "Couples" 7 minutes were up they'd come out and everybody would cheer, whistle, catcall, etc. It was alright, Harry thought, Decently entertaining. Pansy once again climbed onto a large couch and ruffled around in the hat. "Harry and..." He held his breath, Pansy's eyes lit up as she read the name "Draco!" Shit.
Harry had not known that Malfoy was at the party, having not seen him at all. but it did make sense because it was his common room. All of a sudden Hermione was pushing Harry towards the closet.
"Have fun!" She giggled, looking slightly tipsy. Harry hated her right now, of all the people he could've been paired up with, this one was the worst, Malfoy was 1. His rival for the past 6 years and 2. A dude. Even though he knew he could have walked away if he really wanted to, he still situated himself inside the closet. He wasn't going to be the only person in this game to walk out, and there was some curiosity in the back of his mind about what Malfoy would do.
Once Harry was standing inside of the closet he saw the blonde emerge from the crowd. He was dressed in a silky-looking, dark green dress shirt and black dress pants. Once both boys were situated in the closet the sound of the door locking greeted Harry's ears.
"Hello, Potter." Malfoy greeted him, cooly.
"Malfoy," Harry said back with as much nonchalance as he could muster. "You dressed up nice" and he really meant it. Malfoy's dark green shirt complemented his eyes and looked stunning against his pale skin.
"You did not." Malfoy sneered. Harry quickly looked down at himself. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans. He shrugged, there was nothing he could do about it and he was comfy. They both stared at each other, Malfoy with his arms crossed against his chest and Harry with his hands in his pocket. The atmosphere quickly turned sour with awkwardness before Malfoy let out a huff and took a step toward Harry. They both stared each other down for what seemed like an hour but was probably only a minute before Harry broke the silence with an "Okay then." and closed the distance between them.
He cradled Malfoy’s face between his hands and pressed their lips together with a kiss. Malfoy took a beat to catch up to what was happening but eventually kissed him back. Harry could remember a few random past kisses but none of them were really up to par with Malfoy’s kiss. His lips were soft yet firm and pressed into Harry's with an undercurrent of urgency. The kiss was sweet and chaste but Harry quickly found himself wanting more, despite who his kissing partner was. He pulled away from Malfoy and watched as the other boy's eyes slowly opened, his pupils looking wider than they had been a minute before. Harry took a quick breath and pressed back into Draco moving his hands so that one of them was fisting the back of Malfoy’s hair and the other was pushing at the small of Malfoy’s back, bringing the two closer. He walked Draco to the wall of the closet and pressed him against it. Malfoy made a small sound in the back of his throat and fisted both of his hands in Harry's hair. He licked Harry's bottom lip, asking for entry and Harry complied. Their tongues slid against each other as the kiss slowed down from its frantic pace. Harry quickly detached himself from Malfoy's slips and Malfoy let out a little whine before realizing what he was doing. Harry could feel Malfoy’s skin heat up as he kissed the slide of his neck. Malfoy’s breath was hot in his ear and Harry could feel the vibrations of his silent moans against his tongue. The sharp knocks against the wooden door snapped Harry out of his trance
"Hey losers, 7 minutes is up, come on out." Pansy’s voice called from the other side of the door. Harry rolled his eyes and then flushed remembering what he was doing. Both boys made eye contact before Harry jumped away from Malfoy and immediately started to smooth his hair from where Malfoy gripped it. He refused to look at Malfoy while he adjusted his silky shirt and tidied up his hair, seemingly trying to look as put together as possible. Once both of them were ready the door opened up and they both exited without so much as a parting glance. The crowd did its thing as they both went to their respectable places and once Harry had settled back into his spot, Pansy started the game back up. "Lily and Seamus.", "Blaise and Rufus.","Charles and Molly." Eventually, everybody became too drunk to continue the game and just mingled, the party clearing slightly as they trickled out the door in drunken stumbles.
Harry eventually quietly made his way out, catching a glimpse of Malfoy and Pansy chatting, Pansy’s hands flying about as she chatted and Malfoy silently listening. His shirt was still rumpled in the back where Harry had grabbed onto it. Harry flushed and briskly continued on his way back to the Gryffindor common room. Nobody was back in his dorm yet, all still apparently at the party, so Harry quickly got dressed out in the open. The cool air chilled his skin and he pulled on tattered plaid pajama bottoms and an old, faded band tee. As he crawled into his bed and pulled the thick blankets around him till he was comfortable, he couldn't help but remember the way that Draco had melted into his arms as they kissed. He willed the images away and finally drifted off.