A/N: Just a little oneshot on my new favorite couple. I feel like it's a bit jumpy, but that might be because I wrote it on several pieces of paper and on different days . . .
Definitely NOT DH compliant; and I doubt I'll ever write anything that will be.
Special thanks to Cass and Steph for letting me know I don't suck, although they might be a bit biased.
Enjoy and review
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Draco Malfoy would have never become a Death Eater, and anyone who was a friend of the blonde could attest for that. It wasn't so much that he thought Voldemort was completely insane, which he did. It also wasn't because he loved muggles and muggleborns, only recently has he admitted that a couple of them are alright. And it wasn't the fact that he knew that Harry Potter would be the victor, and Draco would never be on the losing side.
No, none of the usual reasons for refusing the Dark Lord was Draco's reason.
In the end, it was because Draco was rather vain. He'd seen the ugly Dark Mark on his parents' arms at a young age. He also saw it writher and squirm when the Dark Lord returned. There was absolutely no way he was going to get a tattoo that moved and hurt and would tarnish his perfect skin. Draco would have even renounced his name and possibly lost all his inheritance before marking himself. He was lucky that in the wizarding world things automatically passed on to the next in line at the age of seventeen, and the crackpot Tom Riddle didn't mark his slaves until they were out of school, which would have been almost eighteen for Draco.
Besides, snakes weren't really Draco's thing.
Thankfully Harry defeated Voldemort during their seventh year at Hogwarts. Draco would have been sad that both his parents died in the war, but he was realistic and realized long ago that they didn't really care about him. Draco just fit into their plans: make an heir and future follower of their master; one out of two wasn't that bad.
It wasn't like Draco was completely alone though. Grandma Malfoy was still alive and she never really believed that blood supremacy thing anyway. And she has been dating a nice muggle baker from a nearby town for years now. Lucius never knew and Draco had received sweets almost every week since first year.
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Years later, Draco found it funny that his feelings on something could change so drastically.
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The one person that Draco thought would have shared his opposition to getting a tattoo was the one person that he didn't mind tattoos on. He had thought that if your mortal enemy branded his followers, one wouldn't be so keen on marking their own skin. But, Harry never really fit into any mold that people placed him in.
When Draco and Harry's paths crossed during a Ministry event a couple of years after graduation, the attraction that Draco felt during their last years at Hogwarts flared back into life. He was surprised when Harry wanted to continue their conversation after the representatives from other countries left their presence, and even more so when Harry asked if he wanted to join him at that new restaurant in Diagon Alley that weekend. Draco had said yes before the question was finished.
It was months before Draco was aware that Harry had any tattoos, much to Draco's chagrin. He wanted things to progress, but Harry was too much of a romantic to immediately jump into bed with the blonde. Somehow, that only made Draco like him all the more.
During a rather hot and heavy snogging session, Draco seemed to be doing all the right things because for once Harry didn't stop Draco as he began to unbutton his shirt. It might have had something to do with the spot on Harry's neck that Draco was sucking, which had a debilitating affect on Harry. And as Draco moved the collar of the shirt out of the way, he noticed something green on Harry's shoulder move.
"Harry," Draco whispered against his neck, moving the shirt a little more. "What's this?" he asked, swiping his tongue across his shoulder, watching what looked like a wing flex.
"Huh?" Harry asked, clearly dazed. It took him a moment to realize that Draco almost had his shirt completely off his right shoulder. "Shit," he said, backing up and attempting to pull his shirt back on.
"You have a tattoo?" Draco asked as he forced Harry's hands out of the way.
"Yeah," Harry began as he lowered his head and allowed Draco to pull his upper body off the couch so his right shoulder was visible. "I know you don't like them, and I swear I meant to tell you, but . . . but you hate them." Harry spoke fast, looking down at his hands in his lap, avoiding Draco's gaze.
Draco was mesmerized. He didn't think he had ever seen something so amazing in his life. On Harry's right shoulder blade was a green baby dragon. It's tail was spiked, swiping back and forth along the curve of his back while it's wings were closer to Harry's shoulder. Draco watched as it turned its head in his direction and attempted to spout fire at him, but all that came out was little sparks that dissipated on Harry's skin within seconds.
"We've discussed your thoughts on Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the past. And then there's the fact that you always associated tattoos with your parents. And . . . and things have been going well between us,really well actually, that I didn't want to jeopardize anything. I just couldn't deal with the heart ache of us not being a, well an us anymore because of them–"
"Them?" Draco asked, pulling back so he could look at Harry in the face.
Harry blushed slightly. "Well, you see, I have six tattoos."
"Six?"
"Oh god," Harry put his face in his hands. "You probably hate me."
Draco couldn't help but smile. "Harry, I can't hate you. And this little guy–"
"Norbert," Harry interrupted.
"Norbert–," Draco continued, although he did raise an eyebrow "–is actually really amazing. And I'm intrigued to see what the rest of them are." Draco kissed him as his hands moved to continue unbuttoning his shirt.
That night Draco had found each and every tattoo on Harry's body. He learned that each one was significant to him, and Draco was touched that Harry shared so easily with him.
The first tattoo that Harry got was a lion on his right calf. He had gotten it on his seventeenth birthday, Ron and Hermione both have matching ones but in different places on their bodies. It was a couple of months before the final battle and they had decided they wanted something to remember each other by, just in case the worse happened. Draco found out that during the first couple of weeks of their relationship the Gryffindor representative would pace Harry's leg and roar, although there was no sound. When Draco heard this he moved down to get a closer look and chuckled when the small thing tried to lick him.
The second was also magical and located on his left hip. It was a golden snitch with fluttering wings that was able to zoom up to his ribs and around to his spine. He had told Draco that Quidditch was the first thing that made him feel apart of the wizarding world, and that the first tattoo didn't hurt much so he figured 'why not?' Later that night Draco learned how ticklish Harry was as he tried to catch the snitch with his fingers, then his tongue.
The third, fourth and fifth tattoos meant the most to Harry. They were all muggle and represented people that he had lost and never really knew properly. After seeing the dragon of Harry's shoulder, Draco found the next tattoo, Harry's third, over his heart. It was the letters J and L intertwined with curvy edges. Harry told Draco that they were his parents' initials and when he choked up Draco told him he understood and continued his exploration for the other tattoos.
The other two were located on the inside of each ankle. His right ankle held a dog's paw, while his left had a wolf's paw. Draco knew instantly who they represented, since they had spoken about both Sirius Black and Remus Lupin in the past.
The dragon was the most recent, Harry just getting it a couple of months ago. Draco saw how much it hurt Harry to explain that it was in Hagrid's memory, who died not too long ago due to latent affects of a curse he received during the final battle. Harry made an effort to lighten the mood, telling Draco that both Ron and Hermione have the same tattoo in the same place and that the lion of Ron's back kept trying to fight with Norbert in the beginning. Draco smiled and decided not to ask if it was the same dragon from first year, but he had his suspicions.
Early the next morning, while lying in bed with Harry, Draco asked why no one knew Harry had tattoos.
"Well, you know now," Draco nipped his shoulder. "Ron and Hermione knew," Harry told him.
"Doesn't count. I meant all your adoring fans." Draco could almost feel Harry roll his eyes, even though he was facing away from Draco.
"Besides the whole 'my mortal enemy branding his followers' thing, making it odd that I would get one, let alone six . . . I dunno." Harry shrugged slightly. "Anyway, I'm a private person so no one really needs to know."
Draco could tell that Harry was still a bit weary about what Draco thought, so he pulled Harry closer. He kissed the sleeping dragon on his shoulder, then right below his right ear, whispering how much he liked all his tattoos and Harry in general.
---
A couple of months later Draco apparated into the flat that he shared with Harry. Harry was sitting on the couch, sipping innocently from a mug, another on the table waiting for Draco even though the blonde should have been in work at the moment. He smiled and turned to his side, allowing Draco to drop the item in his hand on the coffee table and slide in behind Harry.
"Hey Norbert," Draco whispered, pulling Harry's collar down a bit to expose the dragon's head. Norbert was stretching as high up on Harry's shoulder as he could and Draco dropped a kiss on his snout. "Hello love," Draco told Harry, kissing the spot below his right ear.
That same spot was enlarged on the front cover of the Daily Prophet, sitting where it was thrown moments before on the coffee table. The picture showed Harry's seventh and newest tattoo, which he had gotten that morning without Draco knowing. It was the only one visible to the public and Draco preened a bit at the information, kissing the spot again.
The tattoo, immediately Draco's favorite, was the letter D with curly ends, the same design as the letters above Harry's heart.