Bonded

Bonded

Harry/Draco, Pansy/Hermione

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35392933/chapters/88219483

Summary: Harry gets assigned the most boring Auror case in the world with the most horrible partner. Featuring a certain blonde nemesis, ancient magic bonds, a dragon, and a little too much Pansy/Hermione love (in Harry’s opinion).

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 

He wakes up to Draco standing over him wide eyed in terror.

“You have to be okay Potter, I can't lose my job over you,” Draco rushes.

Harry blinks blurry-eyed and realizes that his head is pounding with a sharp piercing pain. When he puts a hand to his forehead it comes away sticky with blood.

“Uh what happened?” He manages dazedly staring at Draco’s blonde hair. When he wears it down like this it looks like a halo. In fact as the sun falls through the window and onto Draco’s face he looks like an angel.

“Has anyone ever told you your hair looks like a halo in the sunlight?” He asks blearily, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“Um no.” Draco looks distracted, touching his hair briefly before the panic returns to his eyes. “We fell onto my desk, your head hit the corner of the desk, it split your scar open, and then you blacked out. I’m sorry.” He rushes like he’s forcing it out “I get carried away when I haven’t slept enough.”

“Lack of sleep isn’t an excuse to shove people into desks.” Harry responds grouchily, secretly pleased at the apology.

“Well I didn’t start it, you punched me first.” Draco’s voice is haughty and Harry is certain if it didn’t hurt to keep his eyes open he would see Draco sticking his nose into the air and making a very aristocratic face.

“I only punched you because you were being an asshole.” Harry growls the pain in his head making it hard to think.

“I was simply stating the truth.” Draco says diplomatically, offering a hand to help Harry up. “But we can agree to disagree”

“Ugh you are insufferable.”

“Well you’re stuck with me so you’ll just have to suffer” Draco’s voice is markedly more cheerful. “Now how should we fix up your head?”

“You’re not doing anything to my head. I’m going home and having Hermione fix it because I trust her.” Harry says pointedly, glaring at Draco.

He steps out of the office and walks swiftly down the hall focusing firmly on the exit to the floos ignoring the entirety of the Auror Department as they stare quizzically at the blood dripping across his tanned skin.

~~~~~~~~~

Harry arrives home to find Hermione sitting at the dining table surrounded by notes and chatting animatedly to Pansy Parkinson.

“I’m sorry. I seem to have walked into some sort of horrific nightmare.” He says making a horrible face at Pansy mind reeling. “What are you doing in my house?”

“Oh dear,” Hermione says flatly without looking at him. “I must have forgot to tell you we’re working on a project together for work.”

“Yep we’re busy Potter, run along.” Pansy remarks coldly as she turns in her chair to look at him.

“Oh my god, what’s happened to your face!” At Pansy’s exclamation Hermione finally looks up and her gaze slides from calm and collected to frantic in a single instant.

“I thought Kingsley had given you a safe assignment for once!” She rushes towards him with her wand out. Repairing his injury with no warning she blindsides him with the stinging pain of his skin stitching together.

“Merlin's beard, Hermione. Give me a warning next time” He exclaims, clutching at his forehead.

“I would have thought Potter could handle a little bit of pain.” Pansy says smirking at him with cold eyes before suddenly freezing “Where’d you get that cut anyways, weren’t you with Draco? Is he okay?” Harry thinks he can see a bit of panic in her expression before she arranges it blank again. Interesting, maybe the Slytherins care a little more than they let off.

“He’s fine, don't worry. I just tripped”

“So you’re just as clumsy as you were in school then? Not surprised you didn’t grow up” Pansy remarks looking considerably more upbeat. She shoots Hermione a small smile and Harry is perplexed to see her smile back. He can’t believe this.

“Looks like a pretty bad fall.” Hermione says looking concerned again and Harry can see a telltale glimmer of suspicion behind her eyes.

“No really I slipped on a piece of paper and went down hard onto the marble floors” He winces to fully sell his story refusing to let slip that he’s fought with Malfoy. He doesn’t want to let Pansy gloat.

“I’ve been saying they should replace those floors for years.” Pansy whines. “They’d be disastrous in a high speed chase.”

“Oh? And how many high speed chases are taking place within the Ministry?” Harry scoffs, unable to restrain himself.

“You never know it could happen.” Hermione muses and Harry looks at her aghast. “I think it’s a good idea.” Harry can’t believe she’s siding with Pansy against him. Doesn’t she know they’re on opposite sides?

“Hermione, I think this could be helpful?” Pansy interjects as she offers Hermione a heavy leather tome pointing at the text inside.

Both of them turn back to their books and Harry stomps loudly out of the room to sulk until the room is free of Slytherins.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours later Harry’s stomach is rumbling and he feels weak with hunger. He figures Pansy’s left by now but when he walks down the stairs he finds her curled up on the couch next to Hermione laughing as Theo describes a quidditch malfunction in colorful detail. The room goes silent when he sees Harry.

“Why are you still here?” Harry says glaringly at Pansy.

“Because I, unlike you, seem to have grown up and realized that some of the people I used to hate are actually really cool and smart and surprisingly witty.” Pansy says looking across at Hermione as Hermione's cheeks pinken into a light blush. “Now I’m sorry I tried to give you over to the Dark Lord one time 6 years ago but I was scared and ignorant and I really think you should have gotten over it by now.”

“Well I can’t get over it!” Harry erupts, stalking towards the kitchen.

“Fine! Have a miserable night while we hang out and enjoy ourselves if that's really what you want.” Pansy calls after him prissily.

Harry sulks in the kitchen for a while making a cold and disappointing sandwich. He sits stewing for a bit on the kitchen floor before stealing himself to walk back into the sitting room. When he arrives Neville and Ginny are perched on the other sofa so he settles himself on the ground leaning back against Ginny’s legs.

“I see you’ve returned Potter.” Says Pansy, reminding him of Draco as she sticks her nose up in the air. “That sandwich really does look horrible”

“I know” Defeated Harry picks at his sandwich hoping it’ll magically become delicious. “We don’t really have groceries this week I think someone” he looks pointedly at Theo “Forgot to put in the order.”

Theo holds his hands up “I said I was sorry, I have a horrible memory and no one reminded me.”

“Maybe write yourself a note or something. Theodore it’s not that hard.” Ginny smirks, hitting him lightly over the head with one of the auror case’s Harry’s left sitting around. He really shouldn’t do that, confidential information and all.

“Ugh I am starving” Theo speaks looking wistful.

“Bet you wish you'd remembered the groceries now.” Hermione responds demurely.

“What if we get takeout?” Pansy offers and its the most helpful thing Harry’s ever witnessed come out of her mouth. The room slowly becomes a circle of grins.

“Fantastic idea! What are we getting?” Theo’s face is awash with relief.

“Indian!” Harry and Pansy say at the exact same time before glaring at each other.

“My aunt owns a restaurant pretty close to here” Pansy offers. “I promise it’s very good.”

They end up ordering a vast amount of food from the restaurant. As they eat, Harry warms up to Pansy a bit. Sure, she has a cold cruel exterior much like Draco but once he realizes that most of the time her cutting remarks are meant to be funny he starts to enjoy chatting with her. They compare favorite dishes and Pansy tells him about visiting family in India during the summers of her youth. Harry knows little about India except that his dad’s family is from there and he starts to enjoy Pansy’s stories full of colorful characters and interesting experiences. It makes him want to travel more.

The meal wraps up quicker than he expected. The room becomes quiet as people get up and place their dishes in the kitchen wandering off to their respective activities. Pansy returns both her and Hermione’s plates to the kitchen before graciously thanking Hermione for having her and vanishing into the fireplace. Harry finds himself wondering when he’ll see her again.

“So what kind of project are you two working on?” Harry asks turns towards Hermione.

“It’s confidential obviously” Hermione responds, twirling her hair around a finger and staring off into the distance. “Pansy’s really changed hasn’t she?”

“I guess.” Harry says grudgingly watching as Hermione starts to smile.

“You’ll warm up to her in time. You already seemed to enjoy talking with her.”

“Ugh does that mean I’ll be seeing more of her?”

“You might be, '' Hermione smirks mysteriously, still watching the fireplace that Pansy had disappeared into.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Harry arrives at Draco’s office to see him frantically tearing the roof off of his cardboard model. He looks like he’s slept but his hair is disheveled like he’s been tearing at it.

“Um, are you alright?” Harry says cautiously, stepping into the room.

“Not in the slightest,” Draco says, looking harried and carrying on with his demolition.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Harry, do you know what it feels like to have to start from ground zero?” Draco asks conversationally, eyes darting back and forth across the room.

“I would think so, we did both go through a war and start over.” Harry says gently crouching at Draco’s side and looking worried.

“Well that’s nothing compared to this” Draco scoffs. “You want to know why Harry?The blueprints were wrong.” Draco is making an extremely devastated face.

Harry attempts to make his face calm and soothing “Um why is this such a big deal?” His voice comes out a bit high pitched as Draco fixes him with an icy glare.

“You don’t understand anything Potter.” Draco says dramatically, throwing ripped cardboard at the wall behind Harry's head. Harry flinches and moves himself out of danger.

“I must restart my masterpiece.” He gestures at the demolished building before him. “The Ministry has tunnels. Tunnels Potter.” He sounds a bit hysterical. Harry wonders how much caffeine he’s had this morning.

“Um alright, should we maybe check the tunnels for the pickpocket today?” Harry speaks in an attempt to cheer Draco up.

“Great idea.” Draco says, looking surprisingly cheerful. “Observing the tunnels will give me a better opportunity to recreate them properly in my model.” He sounds quite a bit more interested in finishing his model than catching the criminal and Harry can’t blame him. After all this is the most boring case ever.

“So where do the tunnels start?”

“Behind the statue in the lobby obviously.” Draco scoffs, picking a book and waving it in Harry’s direction. “It’s all laid out very clearly.”

Draco proceeds to show Harry the book which is not in fact laid out very clearly at all. There is a half page dedicated to a very small map of the tunnel system which has faded away in some places since the book is very old.

“This is not laid out very clearly,” Harry says glaring across at Draco. Draco’s eyes seem way more grey than they used to be in school he muses before realizing he’s been glaring a bit too long and looks quickly away.

“I was trying to make you more comfortable.” There is a toothy grin stretching across Draco’s face.

“Why would I need to be comfortable? And why are you smiling at me like that?” Harry says suddenly suspicious.

The grin drops off of Draco’s face and he looks sullenly down at the book. “I thought you might have reservations about exploring with a Death Eater.” He mumbles.

“Come off it Malfoy, you’ve had two entire days to kill me I would have thought you’d gotten it over with already”

“You’re right” Draco looks cheerfully into his eyes. “I’m really very impatient aren’t I? Let's get going then! As much as you’d like to, we can't sit around all day Potter '' He calls over his shoulder striding quickly out of the room.

Harry notices that his normally taunting tone has softened a bit to sound almost teasing. He grabs his cloak off the desks and runs out of the office to catch up with Draco in the hall.

When they reach the lobby it becomes increasingly clear that it will be difficult to slip behind the statute unnoticed. They stand around for a while looking for a break in the hustle and bustle around them. People start to look at them suspiciously and walk around them with a wide berth.

“Unfortunately it looks like we might have to stage an emergency to get everyone out of here.” Draco says grinning at Harry evilly.

“Shouldn’t there be a bunch of other entrances to the tunnels?”

“Well yes but the map wasn’t very clear about where they were” Draco looks shifty eyed.

“Hmm alright. I have an idea” Harry strides off back in the direction they came from and Draco scrambles to follow.

~~~~~~~~

They arrive back in the lobby wearing the invisibility cloak draped over them. Draco still hasn’t gotten over the unfairness of Harry having the cloak in the first place and is tiring himself out with a long rant about privileged people and power trips and how Dumbledore really wasn’t fit to run a school if he was going to favor students with dangerous artifacts.

Harry isn’t really listening. He’s distracted, pressed up so close to Draco’s body heat that he can feel it through his jumper. Draco smells fresh like lemongrass and fresh rain. Harry takes a deep breath and feels strangely comforted by the scent. He moves closer to Draco without realizing it until his hand brushes against Draco’s thigh and he stops mid sentence jerking his head up and staring into Harry’s eyes.

“Were you not listening to a single thing I said to Harry?” Draco asks but he stumbles over his words not quite managing the cold tone he usually aims for.

“Sorry not really, I was lost in thought.” Harry forces himself to move back a couple inches.

“Well you should really be paying attention on a mission. Really Potter this behavior is quite inappropriate.” This time Draco’s voice comes out normally, cold and cutting. Harry knows he should feel relieved but he feels his heart drop a bit in his chest.

“Here we are,” Draco gestures to a small button on the back of the marble statue. “After you Potter.”

Harry pushes the button and a panel slides back allowing them to squeeze through a narrow door shaped opening. Inside the tunnels are dark and cold. Harry can hear water dripping somewhere. He casts a luminos and waits for Draco to step through the opening behind him.

Draco joins him in the tunnel folding the cloak into a small square and crowding into Harry’s bodyspace to tuck it into the pocket of his auror robes. The warmth of his hand once again shocks Harry and he goes rigid for a second until Draco backs away.

“Well I’m not carrying your fancy magical object for you” Draco mumbles, refusing to meet Harry's eyes.

Harry stares at him baffled for a second and then starts walking down the hall.

They haven’t walked more than 20 feet from the entrance when a metal wall comes clanging out of the ceiling on either side of them, sealing them into the tunnel. Then their wands flicker, tips going dim.

“This is so bad.” Harry growls pushing at the walls trying to find a weak spot.

“So bad.” Draco echos looking guiltily at metal in front of them.

They try a couple of spells but they come out weaker than normal and the walls refuse to budge.

“The book did say there were some places where the tunnels were resistant to magic.” Draco admits avoiding eye contact.

“And you didn’t think to mention that BEFORE we entered the tunnels?” Harry asks, glaring directly into his eyes. Draco looks away.

“It didn’t seem like something that would interest you”

“WHY WOULD IT NOT INTEREST ME?” Harry explodes stepping up into Draco’s space.

“I mean you didn’t ask about it?” Draco says meekly, stepping back. Harry steps forward pining him between his body and the wall.

“HOW COULD I ASK ABOUT IT IF I DIDN’T KNOW IT EXISTED?” His rage gets the better of him and he reaches out twisting Draco’s cloak in his hand and pulling him in. “GODDAMMIT LOOK AT ME DRACO.”

When Draco finally meets his eyes Harry is unprepared. His gray eyes are dark and stormy and sear into Harry’s green gaze like burning embers. Harry breathes in Draco’s comforting scent and he can't stop his gaze from flicking across his lips. Suddenly he can’t decide if he wants to punch or kiss him. He freezes and steps back letting go of Draco’s robes.

“Sorry” He breathes shakily. “I might have overreacted a bit.”

“It’s alright” Draco steps forwards towards him and meets his eyes. Harry can’t stop his body from reacting with a flush of warmth. “I should have told you all the details. I was worried if it sounded dangerous you wouldn’t come.” he adds sheepishly dropping his gaze to the floor again.

“Malfoy, do you even know who you’re talking to?” Harry shoves at his shoulder lightly ignoring the rush of warmth that jolts up his arm.

“You’re right. Should have known a little danger wouldn’t scare you off.” Draco’s smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Now what’s your plan for getting us out of here?”

Harry pokes around at the doors a bit before slumping defeated against a wall. “I can’t find a weak spot. Someone’s going to have to come get us.”

“Ugh.” Draco groans. “So humiliating. The most capable student of our class defeated by a stupid tunnel.”

“Oh I’ve gotten stuck in lots of different places before.” Harry says cheerfully sitting down and leaning back against the wall.

“I meant myself.” Draco says haughtily, folding himself against the wall next to him.

“Oh”

“Can you cast a patronus and get us out of here?”

“I can try.”

Harry tries. A silvery cloud appears at the end of his wand before dispersing into the darkness. He tries again. This time the cloud is smaller.

He slumps back defeated and his shoulder falls against Draco’s. He can’t help himself, he leans in a little. Draco lets him.

“I can’t do it.” he says dejected.

“Okay let me think.”

They sit there for a long time staring into the dark in front of them. Harry, comforted by the warmth of Draco against him, starts to doze off.

He wakes about an hour later to Draco shaking his shoulder enthusiastically.

“Harry. Harry!” Harry realizes he’s slumped against Draco’s shoulder, his body curved around the blonde boy. He pulls himself back into a sitting position abruptly wiping his eyes and looking over at Draco’s face.

“Sorry I fell asleep.” He rushes, voice husky.

“Doesn’t matter,” Draco says distractedly. “I think I have a solution.”

“What is it?” Harry perks up, straightening his spine against the wall.

“You aren’t going to like it.”

“Why not?”

Draco signs. “I think if we combine our magic it’ll be enough to get through to someone in the ministry.”

“You can combine magic?”

“Yes I’ve read about it. I think we can do it. You’ll channel my magic and it’ll be enough for you to cast a patronus.”

“I’m in” Harry says without hesitation.

“Okay.” Draco sounds hesitant. He reaches for his boot, pulls out one of the carefully concealed blades and makes a long slice along his palm.

“Merlin's beard!” Harry exclaims eyes wide as he watches Draco’s blood drip onto the bricks below them. “What are you doing, are you crazy!?”

Draco looks at him with a serious gaze “Harry this is how we combine magic. When our blood mingles we can draw on each other's magic. I have to slice your palm too.”

Harry shakes his head, his eyes wide but when Draco reaches out he lifts his hand and places it in Dracos. “Go for it.” He steals himself for pain.

Draco narrows his eyes and draws the blade against Harry’s palm. The pain sears hot and radiates down his arm. Harry watches his blood drip through his fingers dazed before glancing up into the comfort of Draco’s eyes. Draco grabs his bleeding hand and presses it against his own. Their finders link together and the pain stops. Harry watches Draco’s eyes widen. Their hands start to heat and suddenly raw energy rams itself through Harry’s bloodstream and up his arm. Without even thinking Harry attempts a patronus and watches as a small silver dragon blooms from the tip of his wand.

“Do you usually cast a dragon?” Draco is looking at him, eyes wide and bewildered.

“No,”Harry responds, looking just as confused. “It must have something to do with our shared magic.”

“I guess,” Draco furrows his brow thinking about it for a while. “Well I guess all we do now is wait and hope he’s able to find Granger.” He gestures at the small dragon as it disappears through the metal wall.

Harry nods. Drained from his use of magic, he glances at Draco’s shoulder again wondering if he can get away with another nap.

“Oh go ahead Potter. Just like you get burnt out after only a bit of magic” Draco scoffs gesturing at his shoulder with his free hand, before rubbing his eyes and attempting to look highly alert.

His body sways in exhaustion slightly giving him away but Harry is too tired to taunt him and relaxes his head gratefully onto the warm shoulder next to him. As everything fades to dark. Harry feels Draco's head drop onto his. He hums slightly and curls into him.

The two men succumb to sleep. Bloody hands clasped between them they breathe in unison as the darkness of the tunnel closes in around them.

Bonded

Bonded

Harry/Draco, Pansy/Hermione

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35392933/chapters/88219483

Summary: Harry gets assigned the most boring Auror case in the world with the most horrible partner. Featuring a certain blonde nemesis, ancient magic bonds, a dragon, and a little too much Pansy/Hermione love (in Harry’s opinion).

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 

Saturday morning Harry refuses to attend his magical testing at St Mungo’s. He sleeps in as late as possible. When the sunlight through his curtain finally forces him out of bed he jams on running clothes and runs for over an hour. Every time he catches a glimpse of blonde hair he’s convinced it’s Draco and the panic of it all makes him run faster and harder than ever.

When he returns he showers before sinking boneless back into bed. He reads a novel and fixes himself a sandwich for dinner bringing it back to his room to eat away from the prying eyes of his friends. As he scampers up the stairs he hears Neville in the sitting room ask Hermione in a hushed voice “What’s wrong with Harry?”

“Oh you know the usual.” He hears Hermione respond “He had an altercation with Malfoy at the pub. Now they’re both stewing over it.”

Harry rushes up the stairs before he can hear Neville's answer. He can’t believe Hermione’s got it so wrong obviously he’s not upset about Malfoy. He’s upset about the ancient magic bonding them.

He eats his sandwich in the silence of his room, stewing in rage that Hermione thinks Draco is strong enough to have this type of effect on him.

That night he dreams about Draco again.

~~~~~~~

Sunday follows the exact same pattern as the day before.

On Monday and Tuesday he calls out sick from work and goes on long hikes that last most of the day. He tells himself that he’s getting in touch with the natural world but deep down he knows that he’s doing it to avoid Hermione's wrath.

On Wednesday he wakes early to Hermione prodding him with her wand. She is dressed for work and her face is stern.

“Get up Harry. You can’t keep calling out of work. This is ridiculous. I know Draco hurt you but this is insane.” Harry grumbles and turns his face back into his pillows. Hermione casts an aguamenti charm spraying his face with ice cold water.

“Hey!” Harry yells in protest sitting up ramrod straight in bed.

“I’m just trying to help you get your life together.” Hermione huffs sitting down on the edge of his bed. “You need to get up and shower. We have a meeting at St Mungos in half an hour. I’ve done some research on your bond with Draco and I have some theories.”

“Ugh. Any theories that’ll erase Malfoy from my life forever?” Harry mumbles his heart icy at the thought of seeing Draco again.

“Nope.” Hermione responds primly pulling the covers off him. “But you’ll want to shower I assume, since Malfoy will be at the meeting.”

“If he’s there I’m not going.” Harry spits stubbornly refusing to roll out of bed.

“If you don’t stop acting like a child I’m sending Pansy up here and you know she’ll be a lot less nice about getting you out of bed.” Hermione threatens.

Harry would really rather not talk to Pansy. Especially since he’s only wearing a pair of boxers covered in flaming snitches that Theo had gotten him as a birthday gift.

“Fine, I’ll go shower.” He concedes pushing his body up out of bed and strolling to the bathroom door.

“Thank god.” Hermione signs. “I’ll see you downstairs in 15 minutes.”

Harry arrives downstairs in 20 minutes because he’s really quite a petty person and if Draco can walk out on him in a bar Draco can wait a couple extra minutes in the St Mungos waiting room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they arrive in the conference room at St Mungo's Pansy and Draco are already there. Draco is staring at the floor desolately and refuses to look up when Hermione greets him. He does mumble a small greeting back. Harry assumes it is only his pureblood manners talking.

Harry ignores Draco and sits down in the chair furthest away from him. He focuses on Hermione and the St Mungo's healer at the front of the room and forbids himself from even so much as glancing in Draco's direction.

About three minutes later he catches himself breaking his promise as he watches Draco shove limp blonde hair behind his ears. He notices the bruised skin under Draco's eyes and wonders if he hasn’t been sleeping well. Hermione clears her throat at the front of the room and he scrambles to look back at her, pretending he wasn’t watching Draco at all.

Hermione explains she’s done some research and found a similar case of ancient bond magic in an auror pair 20 years ago. She says that the paper she read detailed diagnostic charms to make sure that the bond magic is directed solely through the scar tissue like him and Draco had hypothesized

She directs them to stand next to each other and touch scars. Heat boils in Harry's stomach and he feels like there’s a magnet in his chest pulling him towards Draco but all the people in the room are distracting and Draco is still refusing to meet his eyes so this time he finds it easier to ignore the bond magic. He focuses intently on the floor in front of him and uses all his strength to keep from reaching for Draco with his other hand.

He’s focusing so hard that he loses track of how long they’ve been there. Hermione’s directing the St Mungo's healer through a series of diagnostic charms. Their wands work in tandem to pluck at multi-colored strings of magic and examine them before placing them back into the air.

At one point Harry notices Pansy hovering at the door and glaring at him and Draco as if daring them to try and leave.

Finally when Harry’s bones are aching and he’s started to realistically consider giving into the magnetism of Draco’s body Hermione announces that the diagnostics are done and they can drop hands.

Harry finds himself feeling a little disappointed. He ignores it.

Draco drops Harry's hand like he's been burned and quickly sits back down. Harry notices that he's breathing hard and his fingertips are trembling. Ha! He thinks, just like Draco, to be too weak to properly fight a bond.

Then Harry looks down at his own fingertips and realizes he’s trembling as well. He feels suddenly a hell of a lot less cocky and slouches in his chair praying Hermione will let them leave.

“Just as I thought!” Hermione announces happily. “The bond doesn’t affect either of you or your magic unless your scars are directly touching. So you should be able to go back to working normally.”

Harry watches as Draco’s face turns paper white. He turns to Harry and their eye contact is frantic, charged. Draco pushes himself up out of his chair and practically runs for the exit. Pansy follows.

Harry remains frozen in his chair.

“ I um. I thought that was going to be good news?” Hermione hesitantly says, walking over to Harry. “Why did Draco act like it was the end of the world?”

Harry gives in and explains the night at the bar. He tells her about the way the air feels charged when he and Draco touch, The way he can’t stop dreaming about Draco. He tells her he doesn’t know what to do. Tells her that if the bond doesn’t make them want each other than something else must and maybe to Draco that is the end of the world. Because a Death Eater and the Savior would never work out would it?

Hermione listens and nods and comforts him. She rubs his back as he tells her the hard parts and afterwards Harry finds himself feeling drained and empty but somehow relieved. Hermione convinces him to apparate home and they drink tea again. This time there’s a lot more talking and a lot less avoidant mumbling. Harry wishes he had confided in Hermione earlier but it’s such an embarrassing concept falling for one’s nemesis. He can’t believe that’s what he’s done.

Hermione tells him she’ll always be there for him and thanks him for opening up. Then she disappears upstairs. Harry is suspicious that she’s firecalling Pansy. But what can he do about it? He can’t quite tell her that she's not allowed to talk to her girlfriend.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Harry goes to work. Mostly because Hermione explains that he’ll have to face Draco at some point. Also because she explains that if he doesn’t she’ll tell Kingsley about how many of his St Mungos appointments he’s missed this week.

He arrives at the office to find Draco’s called out sick. Kingsley assigns him to paperwork all day since Aurors can’t do field duty without a partner.

When he questions Kingsley about Draco’s illness. Kingsley says “He must have caught whatever you had earlier this week” and stares at him pointedly until Harry mumbles his agreement and flees the office.

He spends his day reading case files and accidentally drawing pictures of men with blonde hair in the margins. He spends half an hour digging through his desk to find whiteout to cover said drawings. He paces the floor, sticking his head into offices of his fellow Aurors and catching up. It’s a fine day but he finds himself searching for a flash of blonde hair around every corner.

The next day is much the same. Draco calls out sick again. Harry spends the whole day with his heart in his throat watching the hallway for him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Harry only goes to pub night that night because Hermione pinky promises him Draco won’t be in attendance.

Attempting to use multicolored cocktails to numb his internal turmoil he drinks himself into quite a state early in the night. Pansy and Hermione are so happy together it makes him sick and he’s too drunk to listen to the way Neville is lecturing Ginny and Theo on South African plants so he throws himself onto the dance floor and makes it a goal to dance with as many attractive people as possible. If Draco doesn’t want him that’s fine. He’s sure there are many others who do.

Harry’s correct. He dances with an assortment of pretty people. None of them make his skin sing like Draco does but he ignores it. The ebb and flow of bodies feels nice against him and he loses himself in the music. A tall blonde man appears in front of him and wraps his arms around Harry’s waist pulling him in. He smells like brown sugar and Harry’s body doesn’t feel like a live wire against his. It’s kind of a relief. He feels in control, unaffected. Harry leans in, pushes up against him, reveling in the slide of skin against his.

Suddenly the man releases him and vanishes into the crowd. Harry looks up confused and his eyes clash against steely grey ones.

“You’re not supposed to be here.” he growls, shoving Draco’s chest hard.

“I know.” Draco says looking just as frustrated as he pushes Harry’s arms away from him.

“This is all your fault Potter,'' he spits.

Then all at once he's leaning in and Harry can’t tell if he’s about to be shoved or kissed and he freezes. Their lips meet in a bruising kiss. Draco is biting Harry’s lip so hard it might bleed and he’s leaning into it. Their arms grapple pushing at each other until hands slide under shirts to meet warm sticky skin.

Harry spins on his heel and apparates them straight into his bedroom. Draco doesn’t even pause to look around; he's focused on mouthing at Harry’’s neck as he pushes his shirt up over his head.

They fall onto the bed in a tangle of limbs and heat. Draco touches him, harsh and angry. Harry responds, pushing back against him, craving more. They move in tandem. All hot breath and whispered words.

As their clothes come off and skin meets skin Harry watches as magic ricochets in bright flashes across the room. He watches in awe for a second before turning back to the lean pale body in front of him. He pulls him close and loses himself in an ocean of gray eyes and tender skin. He thinks he can never get enough of this.

~~~~~~~~

The next morning he wakes to an empty bed. The sheets are cold beside him and every trace of Draco has vanished from the room. It’s like he was never there.

A heavy ache rises in the pit of Harry’s stomach. He forces himself to ignore it.

He goes on a long run and naps until dinner. He forces himself downstairs to eat because he knows if he mopes too long everyone will get suspicious about the Malfoy situation all over again and he really doesn’t want them figuring out what's transpired in the last 24 hours.

He traipses down the stairs and slides into his seat at the table reveling for a second in the cheerful chatter of his friends and the clatter of silverware.

“Curry?” Ginny offers. “Pansy made it.”

“Sure,” Harry reaches for the large platter.

As he grasps it in his hands and starts to pull it closer to him Theo interrupts conversationally “So, Harry. Anything to say about Draco Malfoy sleeping over last night?”

The table immediately goes dead silent. Harry’s hands tighten on the porcelain platter a second too late and it falls to the floor. It shatters on impact and the loud noise makes everyone jump and reach for their wands. Curry spread out across the dining room floor and a bright yellow stain. It still looks delicious spread out across the floor and Harry’s so hungry he could cry. “No comment” He responds tightly casting spells to mend the palter and vanish the curry from the floor.

“There’s more curry in the kitchen, I'll just go grab it.” Pansy soothes rushing from the room.

“You can’t go all no comment on us.” Ginny whines. “When me and Luna hooked up last month you made me give you all the details.”

“That's totally different.” Harry scoffs, “You’d been obsessed with Luna for an entire year. There was a whole build up to it you couldn’t just stop giving us details.”

“Oh like you haven’t been obsessed with Draco for literally your entire time as a wizard.”

“That’s different. He’s my nemesis.”

“No. Voldemort was your nemesis and you still cared about Draco Malfoy ten times more than him.”

“I don’t CARE about Malfoy.” Harry explodes pushing back from the table.

“You must a little. You did sleep with him.” Hermione interrupts serenely from across the table.

Something sinks in Harry’s chest. He tries to channel the anger and hatred he’d felt towards Malfoy at school and he can’t quite reach it. Fine maybe he does care about the blonde git. But only a little. And there’s no way he’s admitting that to his friends.

“Yes.” Theo adds mildly. “You’d have to be insane to sleep with someone you actually adamantly hated.”

“Alright, alright.” Harry holds his hands over his head in defeat and watches as Pansy levitates a fresh curry out of the kitchen. “Maybe I don’t hate Malfoy as much as I used to. But that doesn’t change anything.”

“Ahh.” Pansy exclaims mysteriously. “I think it might.”

Harry ignores her and focuses on spooning his curry carefully onto his plate.

“So, how was the sex?” Ginny asks, always the brash one.

“I’m not talking about it.” Harry clenches his jaw and glares furiously down at his plate.

“Come on just a few details? Malfoy’s quite fit.” Neville chimes in grinning.

“No! It’s not important. It didn’t mean anything.” Harry thinks about how he’ll never touch Malfoy again and suddenly feels nauseous. “I’m feeling a little sick, I’m going up to lay down.” He shoves his chair into the table with a tad more force than necessary shaking the plates and cups and turns storming up the stairs to his room. As he disappears he hears Hermione say, “You really should be more gentle on him. I think he’s quite shocked about the outcome of things.”

Pansy responds, “Quite shocked? I have a hard time believing anyone is quite shocked. The tension has been building between them since the first year.”

Harry slams his bedroom door shut, shaking the walls. Pansy is so completely wrong. How could anyone have seen this coming. He doesn’t even like looking at Draco.

He thinks again about the delicate features of Draco's face. The hypnotic swirls of his ever changing eyes and okay maybe he’s wrong. Maybe he does like to look at Draco but that doesn’t MEAN anything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry wakes up early the next morning. Mostly because Hermione is standing at the food of his bed yelling “Harry! Wake up you git. Kingsleys calling you in today.”

“Um. What?” Harry mumbles sleepily attempting to disappear under his pillows.

“You have to get up.” Hermione states, flat and impatient. “There’s a dragon loose in Scotland. It’s set a town on fire already. Kingsley's calling you and Malfoy in. You need to leave as soon as possible.”

“Ugh. That's so unfair. Why can’t someone else deal with it.”

“It’s actually completely fair because neither you or Draco did a single piece of work all last week.” Hermione says primly, throwing his Auror robes at him.

“I did some paperwork.” Harry tells her haughtily, rolling out of bed and pulling on his robes.

“Oh did you?” Hermione questions looking cheerful. “Or did you just doodle on the margins of case notes like you always do?”

“Fine.” Harry mumbles chagrined, “I didn’t do much last week but I was going through serious emotional strife.”

“I wouldn’t call wanting to fuck someone serious emotional strife.” Hermione says snidely ushering him out of his room.

“Pansy really is rubbing off on you.” Harry retorts.

Hermione directs him to the portkey sitting in the hallway and he places his hand on it. Immediately the walls start spinning around him.

When his stomach stops feeling like it’s being turned inside out he opens his eyes and finds himself standing at the top of a green grassy hill. Below him a village is burning. He turns to his right to find Draco watching him, a guarded look in his eyes.

“So, we have to stop the dragon.” Harry says by way of greeting.

“Yes.” Draco’s tone is clipped and he’s still watching Harry with suspicious eyes.

“Okay so if we use the bond we should be able to encapsulate it in a holding charm of some sort until Charlie gets here to collect it.” Harry says flatly, trying to act as normal as possible.

“I’m not using the stupid bond.” Draco spits at him childishly.

“Why not? This is what bond magic was originally used for.” Harry scratches the back of his neck feeling awkward.

“Because we don’t need the bond.” Draco’s face is twisting into a familiar grimace. “In fact I don’t even need you. Don’t know why Kingsley sent you out here, you're good for nothing.” He turns and starts to stride down the hill away from Harry.

If this had happened even a month ago Harry might have fallen for it but by now he’s studied Draco, seen him with less of a guard up. He recognizes that grimace from when they were children. Back then he thought Draco only looked like that when he was angry, when he wanted to hurt someone, but now Harry knows better.

He knows better and in a split second he’s caught up to Draco and grabbed his wrist twisting him back towards him.

“Is that really why you don’t want me here Draco?” He spits, voice hoarse and cracking. “Because to me it seems like you’re just scared.”

Draco’s eyes meet his wild and defiant. “Of course not Potter, how could I ever be afraid of you. You’re nothing to me.”

“Really?” Harry takes a step closer to Draco and thinks he can see his fingertips trembling. “Because it doesn’t feel like nothing.” He reaches up and caresses Draco’s cheek leaning in.

Then abruptly he’s airborne.

At first he thinks Draco’s hexed him but when he looks back and sees horror spilling across his face he realizes this couldn’t have been something Draco did. In fact Draco looks worried for him.

His body relaxes and he starts to feel relief. His brief sense of calm is quickly washed away when he looks down at his chest and realizes that he’s slowly being crushed in a large set of talons. He looks up to find he’s staring at the underbelly of a dragon.

Harry quickly casts a quick incareous binding the dragon talons around him. After all he doesn’t want to risk getting dropped onto the burning town below.

He watches as below Draco casts a patronus. He never knew Draco could cast a patronus but he guesses Draco wouldn’t have been allowed through Auror training without learning one. He watches as the silver cloud blooms out of the end of his wand and forms into a fawn. Harry thinks it looks weak and helpless standing there on it’s long spindly legs. He watches as Draco speaks to it, sending it for backup he assumes. He watches as it disappears into the mountains behind him.

It’s only after the patronus disappears that the importance of the fawn shocks him. He freezes silent in the hold of the dragon as he watches the sunlight glint off of blonde hair beneath him. Suddenly he’s certain of just how much Draco’s been lying about.

He feels a sharp jab of pain run through his chest and looks down to see the rough red talons closing even tighter on his body. The jagged edge of a claw catches on his shirt and presses down.

Harry watches as crimson red blossoms like a wine stair against his white shirt. The blood spreads quickly and he suddenly starts to feel dizzy with a combination of blood loss and the sight of scenery rushing past below him.

He twists looking below him for a glimpse of Draco. He catches a glimpse of red and black Auror robes to his left and watches Draco swiftly catch up to them on a broom. Draco yells something to him but it disappears into the wind. Harry tries to respond but his vision gets blurrier and blurrier and suddenly everything goes black.

~~~~~~~~~~

Harry wakes up in a hospital bed. He blinks his eyes slowly opening them. A gasp of relief to his left straddles him and as he swings his head to the side his gaze catches on a swatch of bright blonde hair.

“Draco?” He breathes quietly having a hard time believing his own eyes.

“Yes, It’s me.” Harry feels someone squeeze his hand. He looks down and watches as pale cool fingers wrap delicately around his tanned palm.

“I’m glad you’re here.” Oh no Harry didn’t mean to say that out loud. “The pain potions might be going to my head.” he adds quickly hoping to avoid scaring Draco away.

“No worries. I’m glad I could be here, you scared me.” Harry carefully watches Draco’s face and his expression seems genuine.

“I’m sorry Harry. I know I’ve been a right git about it but I do like you.” Draco looks sheepish and small. Harry can’t stop looking at him.

“That’s alright.” Harry responds nonchalantly. “I get it. It’s hard falling for your nemesis.”

“Who said I was falling for you?” Draco retorts, crossing his arms and making a face like he’s pretending not to care.

“I did.” Harry pulls Draco’s hand closer to him caressing it.

Draco falls silent letting Harry pull him closer. The room starts to get hazy again and Harry feels his meds pull him back to sleep.

When he wakes up the second time Draco is asleep next to him. The top half of his body is leaning off of his chair and onto the hospital bed. His golden locks spread halo-like against the pale green sheets. Harry cards his tan fingers through his glimmering hair and waits for Draco to wake up. Somehow he can just tell that Draco will never run from him again. Or at least if he does he'll always return.

Louis loves his work. He loves the gentle buzz of the tattoo gun in his hand, the way it goes slightly warm after a long session and heats his hands like it's alive. He loves the adrenaline of piercing skin, the trust that comes with marking someone permanently. 

So, on Friday morning when he’s been open three hours and the shop is still completely empty he’s disappointed. Lately his work has developed quite a fan base and, though he’s often too humble to admit it, it's been a long time since the shop was empty on walk-in day. 

It must be the god awful weather he thinks, signing, as he looks out the long windows at the front of the shop. He watches as rain and sleet pour onto the empty streets outside. There isn’t a single person in sight. 

Dejected Louis moves back to the front desk. Situating his feet as close to the small space heater as he can get he leans over the tall wooden desk and goes back to work sketching a design he’s promised to one of next week’s clients. They'd requested an anchor and Louis had had to pretend to sneeze in order to keep them from noticing his eye roll.

 It’s just that anchors are so overdone he thinks, as he forces his pen down onto the paper in front of him. He attempts to draw with some of his original flair but it’s a little hard when he’s so frustrated in the piece in front of him. Recently he’s well enough off that he could have turned away a client like this but the man had said he was a friend of Stan’s dad and Louis had immediately felt too guilty to send him away. 

Louis furrows his brow and tries to keep his frustration from distracting him for his work. He’s finally getting to the groove when the bell on the front door tinkles. 

Louis flinches at the unexpected noise fumbling with his pen and almost dropping it. When he gets himself under control he looks up to see a tall man standing in the entryway of his shop. The man looks like he’s lost a fight with the storm, he’s dripping water onto the shiny wood floor beneath his feet and his coat looks soaked through. The hood of his coat is pulled up but it looks like it’s done little good because the strands of brownish hair peeking out are soaked through and cling to the stranger's forehead. His appearance is completely normal given the state of the weather outside yet something about him seems sort of… off. Louis can’t quite place it. 

“Welcome to Elysium! How can I help you?” Louis calls to  him using his best customer service voice. 

“Elysium?” The man asks as he moves towards the front desk. Louis looks up to meet his eyes before realizing that he can’t because the man is wearing dark sunglasses. Aha! So, that had been what seemed so weird about his appearance. Who wears sunglasses on a rainy day? Louis wonders, before coaching his face neutral.

“So, are you going to share that?” Harry asked, stretching his hand out towards Draco.

“Obviously not Harry. Your wine is up there far away.” Draco gestured at the desk grinning lazily before taking another large sip from his bottle.

Harry found his body buzzing with frustration and also a thrum of excitement. Before he could think about it he threw himself at Draco tackling him onto the floor.

The boys grappled frantically. Draco managed to wrap his arms around Harry, pinning his hands to his sides. Harry’s gaze was locked on the wine bottle. In a violent twisting movement he managed to free both his hands at once. He pushed against Draco’s chest as hard as he could, shoving him roughly into the ground. Draco’s back hit the floor in a loud smack and Harry clambered on top of him using his thighs to pin Draco’s legs together. Grinning maniacally Harry reached his hands towards the wine bottle in Draco’s left hand. In a quick movement Draco jerked the bottle away and Harry landed heavily, his hands bracketing Draco’s head.

At that moment their gazes locked. Suddenly Harry was no longer thinking about the bottle of wine.

Suddenly the only thing Harry could think about was the hot heat of Draco’s body beneath him and the depths of his grey eyes.

He froze watching Draco’s face. Draco’s gaze flickered, ghosting down across Harry’s lips and then back up to his eyes. Before Harry could stop himself he was leaning down. All at once their lips pressed together. The kiss felt like drowning in an oil spill. Dangerous like with one spark they would go up in flames. Harry lost himself in the warm brush of Draco’s lips against his. He shifted closer, draping his body over Draco trying to get as close to him as possible. Draco mirrored him, placing his cool broad hands on Harry’s waist and pulling him. Their bodies shifted against the floor in sync.

One of my fav excerpts from my new fic Infiltrate the Slytherins

He’s a bit breathless as he shoves through the dark wood door of the office and it takes him a second to realize that Malfoy is not at his desk. As he glances wildly around the room he locates Malfoy perched on the rug directly in front of him hidden by what looks like a cardboard replica of the entirety of the Ministry building. 

“Oh hello Potter,” Draco drawls in a bored tone. “I see you’ve found me. Do take a seat.” 

Harry looks for a chair before realizing that there are none to be found and plopping down criss-cross in front of a pile of cardboard scraps. 

“Er, What is this?” He questions feeling strangely uncomfortable in Draco’s space. 

“A replica of the entirety of the Ministry building” Draco chirps, sounding proud and also a bit unhinged. When he pokes his head out from behind his cardboard monstrosity Harry notices that his skin looks a little sallow and he has dark bruises under his eyes. Draco grins manically, giving him a thumbs up between disappearing again. 

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Harry wonders out loud feeling more concerned about Malfoy than he should, given that he was his nemesis. 

“Oh I haven’t slept” Draco winks at him through one of the larger ministry windows. “Sleep makes the mind weak and all, surely you’ve heard.” 

Harry dismisses this as the ravings of a lunatic. 

One of my fav excerpts from my new fic Bonded

Bonded

(Complete fic, words: 16.6k)

Harry/Draco, Pansy/Hermione

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35392933/chapters/88219483

Summary: Harry gets assigned the most boring Auror case in the world with the most horrible partner. Featuring a certain blonde nemesis, ancient magic bonds, a dragon, and a little too much Pansy/Hermione love (in Harry’s opinion).

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4