Title: The Lemon Incident
Author: liyu
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Draco and Harry are the properties of JK Rowling. Not mine.
Summary: One day, Draco Malfoy woke up with a strange craving...
Been a growing teenager, Draco was used to waking up hungry and didn't think much about it. But even after a copious breakfast, his mouth was still tingling for something he couldn't quite identify. He quickly pushed those thoughts in the back of his mind since he had more pressing matters to think about, like having Harry Potter as a partner in Potions. One might believe that Snape, been the head of Slytherin, would treat Draco kindlier by placing Potter as far away from him as possible, but Snape seemed to immensely enjoy watching them yelling because and in each other's company. Draco always knew Snape had a sadistic streak in him.
One might also think that Potter's horrible skills at potion making were greatly exaggerated by said Potion master who happened to dislike Potter. Draco knew from first hand experience that Potter's presence tended to make things blow up. It was quite funny to provoke and to watch (which was probably why Snape put them together) when he wasn't in the center of the explosion too.
So Draco was usually extra careful in Potions when he wasn't bickering with Potter.
But today, something was off. The smell emanating from their cauldron while Potter added lemon skin (for the taste) greatly distracted him. He would have liked to taste something sour but sweet, like a sweetened lemon. He would have liked to put one of the remaining slices in his mouth and chew it just like Potter was doing right now. But he couldn't reach them, been stuck at mixing the potion.
'Damn!'
He should have had Potter do this boring part except that he knew Potter would have screw it up and probably find a way to blow them up into another detention.
He stepped around the cauldron to be nearer to the table. Maybe by stretching his arm, he would be able to reach a slice. Contorting his body so that he was till mixing the potion with one hand and with the other, he reached out for the slice, only to realize that it was a few centimeters too far away. Draco wriggled his fingers, trying to close the tiny gap.
"Trying to dislocate your shoulder, Malfoy?"
Potter grinned from the stool where he was sitting, mouth full of lemon.
Draco snarled at him and turned back to the potion, seizing the long wooden spoon with both hands.
'Damn the brat, I want some!'
Annoyed at Potter, he glared at the boy chewing happily on the sour and sweet lemon. Potter just glared back, figuring it was one of those glaring sessions they often engaged in when they haven't yet felt the need to go verbal.
Draco looked at the clock on the wall. Just five more minutes to go and he would eat that slice. Turning back to resume glaring at Potter, he saw him holding the last piece centimeters away from his mouth, taunting him. Draco would have gasped in outrage if he wasn't brought up so well. He just increased the level of his glare.
"This piece is mine."
Mimicking a false innocent look, Potter held out the piece at eye level.
"Really? I don't see your name written on it."
Draco almost growled. Damn it, that piece was his! He had been waiting for this taste since this morning. He would not have Harry Potter steal it away from him.
Throwing caution out of the window, Draco also threw the spoon at Potter who deftly stepped aside. He brought the piece to his mouth. But Draco had anticipated this move and his fingers were already pressed to Potter's jaw, forcing him to open his mouth. Potter tried to push Draco away with his hands, but Draco's free hand seized one of them. Potter just tangled the other in the blonde's hair and pulled, only to have his wrist painfully bent.
Draco stared at Potter, green eyes glaring fire at him, and saw the, his, piece between Potter's teeth. Without thinking, he stuck his tongue in Potter's mouth, fully intending to get his lemon back. Swirling his tongue around, he encountered no resistance since Potter had gone slack from the shock. But he quickly regained his sense and stepped back, gasping.
"Aha! Told you it was mine!"
Draco was feeling great, his tasting buds overwhelmed by the long awaited sweet and sour lemon, with an underlying taste that he guessed was Potter. He suddenly realized that everybody had stopped talking and were staring at him like he had gone crazy. Then, the full meaning, and impact, of his actions hit him.
'Shit.'
Yes, shit happens.
Needless to say, by lunchtime, everybody knew, including the staff, the house elves and the paintings. People had always turned around to look at him anywhere he went and he was used to the attention, what with been rich, handsome, and a Malfoy. But today, he just wanted to take out his wand and blast that look away from their eyes. It was a look that said they knew... whatever they thought they knew. Draco could well fathom what those suppositions were.
Though he could, with a glare, scare away the younger students, the older ones, the ones in his year, were less easy to intimidate.
Of course, as soon as he went back to his dorm, his comrades had showed, in a rather Gryffindorish speech, their unconditional support and loyalty, even when Draco had repeated for the thousandth time that it wasn't like that. They just looked at him with those smug knowing eyes; he couldn't tell them the truth because it sounded too much like a pitifully made up excuse.
Barely refraining from pulling his hair out from frustration, Draco walked to the Great Hall, the Slytherin house trailing behind him, helping him glare students away. At least they were somewhat useful.
Entering the Great Hall, he heard snickers coming from the Gryffindor table, quiet whispers of curiosity from the Ravenclaws and scared silence from the Hufflepuffs, just like expected. He could handle that. He was a Malfoy after all. Walking proudly to the Slytherin table, he sat down and began to eat.
Though under a lot of pressure, Draco didn't crack... yet. He could take stress, no problem. Only if those Gryffindors would stop laughing... He was so near to pull his wand out and yell curses in their direction, especially at Potter who had that smirk on his face.
The dessert undid him. It was just too much. Sweetened lemon skin on lemon pie. Pushing his plate away, he stood up and stomped, albeit graciously, towards the doors, a heated look in his eyes to prevent the Slytherins from following.
At the doors, he was stopped by Potter and his fans. The infuriating Potter waiting there for him, twirling a slice of lemon in his hand. Draco's eyes twitched. The bloody Gryffindor was taunting him again. Two could play the game.
"So Malfoy, how did you find the dessert? Appropriate to your taste?"
He laughed, popping the lemon in his mouth, his entourage of stupid Gryffindors laughing also.
Draco saw red.
Grabbing Potter's robe, he tipped him backwards, like a tango dancer, so fast that Harry had to grab at his shoulders to not fall. Draco, for the second time this day, stuck his mouth on Potter's, taking advantage of Potter's confusion to get the lemon. Potter gasped when he felt a tongue forcefully parting his lips and grabbed tightly Draco's shoulders, wrinkling his robes. Then the lemon passed from one mouth to the other and he was set back to his feet. Draco wiped his mouth.
"The dessert was good thank you," Draco drawled. "Too bad it was tainted with a taste of Boy Who Lived."
Smirking, Draco exited the Great Hall walking head held proudly up, the image of the dumbstruck Gryffindors staring at him enough to make him laugh. He swore he could hear cheers from the Slytherins behind the closed doors.
Retrospectively, it had been a bad move. The immense satisfaction received after the event was gratifying, but couldn't make up for the rumors that came after. The worst was that Draco didn't even realized until after the rumors were too spread out to kill. He had assumed the whisperings to be the usual gossips until Pansy had confronted him.
Honestly, a crush on Potter, he could understand. But the story of an epic love tale à la Romeo and Juliet was pushing the limits a bit too much. And each growing day was worse. Gruesome detail of Draco's wooing ('Wooing??') was made up, from him crying his nights away to him considering suicide when he was well and walking and kicking their ass when he heard someone talking about this.
The only positive side to all of this mess was that Potter seemed to suffer as much as Draco. The pained look on his face was enough to lighten Draco's day. One evening, he overheard a conversation in the library between the Weasel girl and a Hufflepuff. It was interesting to learn that Potter's friends thought that this sudden interest from the "cold blooded snake" was encouraged by Potter. That explained Granger nagging Potter all day and the cold shoulder treatment he received from the other Gryffindors.
One evening in the Great Hall, Potter exploded under the pressure. Pushing away from the table, he slammed his hands down on the table.
"I have enough of this! Look at you! Would you rather believe some wild rumor than my word?"
Blank look from the Gryffindors. Draco knew they were idiots, or maybe it was just the shock. Potter was clearly furious and Draco had to admit that he looked scary.
Addressing the whole hall, Potter proclaimed, "I am NOT in LOVE with Malfoy! I have never harbored a crush for him. We do not have secret rendez- vous at midnight in the Astronomy Tower every Thursday!"
Silence.
"I don't believe this," he whispered and just left the Great Hall.
Draco arrived at the Quidditch pitch knowing that it was Potter's favorite place to be alone with his angst. He wanted to see if he could piss off the golden boy more without receiving bodily damage. It was a positive sign when he saw the Weasel walking dejectedly, but in one piece, back to the castle, leaving Potter sitting alone on the grass.
"Fancy meeting you here Potter. Where is your fanclub?"
"Get lost."
"You hurt my feelings..."
Draco gasped and grasped his hands together melodramatically.
Potter frowned and with a vicious kick in the shins, sent Draco sprawling to the ground. Rolling around, he came back on his knees, wand drawn, to be met with Potter's own wand. They glared at each other.
"It's all your fault," Potter groaned.
"My fault? I warned you not to eat my lemon!"
"Who cares about the lemon? My friends think I have a crush on you!"
"The whole school thinks I am head over heels in love with you."
Potter sighed, lowering his wand.
"Well, maybe you have it a tiny bit worse them me."
Draco snorted, lowering his wand in turn.
"A tiny bit, uh?"
They stayed in silence for a few minutes, slipping into the usual comfortable silence they had learned to share when they were not yelling at each other.
"So... what do we do now?"
Raising his eyebrow, Draco asked, "We?"
"Well, we are both in this very unwanted situation. By your fault."
"It is not my fault. And this situation will go away if we just leave it alone for a while. The stupid rumors will just die if they have nothing to fuel them."
"Right. It's not as if they had any proof... I mean, the fact that you stuck your tongue in my mouth doesn't have anything to do with me having a crush on you."
Draco raised one of his eyebrows curiously.
"I wonder what gave the Gryffindors this idea..."
Potter blushed.
'Mmm... interesting,' thought Draco.
"I mean, they all say it's so obvious you have this crush on me..."
Potter blushed even more and muttered something.
"What did you say?"
"I said that I don't walk on the same side of the street than most guys."
Draco's face looked blank for a moment before he realized what Potter meant.
"Oh.... No wonder they thought you had a crush on me. I am, after all, the best looking guy around here."
Potter hit him on the shoulder.
"It's not like that!"
"I'm not handsome?"
"Yes. No! I mean, even if you've been nicer since well, you know... you're still a nasty brat."
Draco laughed. "So, did you enjoy it?"
"What?"
"Having my tongue in your mouth."
Potter blushed again and Draco couldn't help but think that it was kind of cute.
"Didn't really have time to think. Anyway, that was hardly a kiss."
"Who talked about a kiss?"
Potter was beginning to become more and more flustered. Draco couldn't help it to tease the boy a bit more. He put his hand on Potter's neck and pulled him towards his mouth.
It was sweet and lasted longer than a simple teasing should have. It left Draco's mouth tingling and his breath short.
The next morning, Draco woke up with a strange taste of emptiness in his mouth and a strange craving for something sweet.