Waking Up

Harry Potter lost his virginity to Ginny Weasley when he was seventeen. It was his birthday, just off the end of the war. All of his friends laughed at him for reaching legal age without maturing his sexual powers. Only about half of them had any idea of what they were talking about, and to be honest most of them were drunk, but it wasn’t about the majority, it was about Harry. Everyone thought he worked too hard and played too little, that he was too pure for his own good.

Somehow the rich, famous, moderately attractive Harry Potter had managed to keep it in his pants for seventeen years.

Seamus had accused Harry of being inadequate, and that was what decided it for him. After his birthday party was over, he took Ginny to his new flat, dead set on making love to her.

It was horrible. Harry hadn’t any idea what he was doing. The whole thing was uncomfortable, and Harry didn’t feel much aside from a twinging pain and a bit of annoyance. Ginny lay still throughout it all; she looked bored and a little irritated.

Afterwards, half an hour later, Harry rolled off of her and vomited onto the floor.

He had never felt so ill in his life.

--

It was blizzarding outside when Harry stumbled into the café that evening. His usually jet-black hair was almost completely white, and a deep flush had come over his cheeks. The lower half of his face was lost in the fluffy scarf Molly Weasley had knitted for him that Christmas.

From behind the counter, the cashier, a young wizard named Sam, smiled at him. “I was wondering when you’d get in. Edgar’s been on my back all day. I can’t run this place by myself.”

“How many costumers have you got so far?” Harry asked a bit breathlessly, having run from his flat six blocks away. He would have apparated, but there wasn’t a safe spot in this cramped little café, and he didn’t want to randomly pop into existence in the middle of the street. He promptly went about stripping off his gloves and coat, hanging them up on the rack by the door.

“Just a few.” Sam sipped his own tea thoughtfully. “You know, usual amount. Oh! Do you know that fellow, there?” He nodded in the direction of the corner table. Someone was hunched over the table, head in their arms, so that Harry couldn’t tell who they were.

“Dunno,” he said truthfully.

“Well, I think he’s fallen asleep. He showed up in a bad way. Black eye. Acted like he was about to jump out of his skin. I gave him a coffee on the house… I guess the caffeine hasn’t managed to keep him up, so be careful.”

“All right. If Edgar comes looking for me, tell him that I’m sorry I’m late, but Ginny dumped the kid on me out of nowhere and I was up all night with him…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Sam smiled, and Harry felt a pang of affection for him. Ever since he had come to work at The Littleton Café three months ago, he and Sam had made fast friends. Sometimes they went out together, when Harry wasn’t busy with letters or with his family. They were strictly platonic after clumsily sleeping together one evening on New Years – Ron didn’t approve of Sam, and he made Hermione blush. For the most part, Sam had no interest in interacting with those two, either.

Harry stared at the stranger snoozing on the corner table. He had a knitted hat over his head and gloves over his hands. All Harry could make out was a patch of pale skin peeking out over the top of his arms, the delicate curve of his nose, flicking cutely up at the end. Harry didn’t recognize this feature.

After a long moment, Sam glanced up from his tea. He had swiped a pastry from the deli display. Taking a bite out of the ill-gotten treat, he said, “Well, aren’t you going to talk to him?”

Harry shrugged. “I should wait for him to wake up…”

“Mate, I don’t know if he is going to wake up.”

Somebody on the other side of the room coughed and turned a page in their newspaper with a loud crumpling sound. Sam finished off his pastry. A young woman came up and ordered a coffee, didn’t tip.

The strange man in the corner slept on.

Harry took a deep breath and came over. Even though the war had ended two years ago, the training and the trauma had altered his brain. All of the known Death Eaters were in jail, but there were still dangerous followers lingering in the streets. Harry didn’t sit beside the stranger, but stood within whispering distance, hand resting on his wand in case of trouble. Quietly, he said, “Who are you?”

The man didn’t stir. Up close, Harry could see him breathing.

“Hey.” Harry tapped the table. “Wake up.”

A quiet groan issued from the stranger, and he looked up slowly, as though he loathed to do it. Harry caught a flash of ice blue eyes and leapt back, pointing his wand directly at the stranger’s forehead. The man was on his feet instantly; Harry saw him reaching for his wand and Stupefied him before he could go any further. The man fell backwards, upsetting the table and his coffee, which spilled all over the floor. A woman by the window screamed and dashed out of the café in a panic.

Sam drew his wand and came around the counter to stand at Harry’s side. “I didn’t know,” he said quietly; Harry made a sharp motion to shush him. He called the stranger’s wand from him and handed it to Sam, who looked quite flustered.

“Who are you?” Harry asked again, nearly shouting. The remaining customers cowered against the walls.

“You don’t recognize me, Potter?” The stranger looked up from where he sat on the floor, pushing a tuft of blond hair out of his face.

The sneer was so familiar, Harry nearly lost the strength in his knees. “Malfoy.”

“Spinks, now, actually. I was disowned.” Draco smiled venomously and got to his feet.

“I would have thought you’d keep your name, narcissistic as you are.”

“I couldn’t. They literally wrestled it from me in court. I shall remain Malfoy at heart, however.”

“Oh, one can only hope.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you. Since when has the beloved Gryffindor hero been so catty?”

“What’s with the black eye?”

Draco’s previously vicious expression was replaced by one of pain. “That’s nothing. An accident.”

Harry chose not to press the matter. “Why are you here?”

There was a long silence. Draco scowled for a long time and then said in a strained voice, almost as if it pained him to say it, “I haven’t got anyplace else to go.”

“Oh.” Sam lowered his wand, looking at Harry uncertainly. “Did you hear that?”

“I’m sure it’s a trick,” Harry ground out, feeling weak. He looked at Malfoy hard. “Why me? Why not anybody else?”

“Didn’t you hear me? You, unfortunately, are the only person I know who won’t kill me the first chance you get. I have no money left. Whatever happened to your hero complex? Don’t you want to rescue a helpless innocent?”

“You’re hardly innocent.”

“That’s not the point at present, Potter.”

Sam shifted from foot to foot uneasily. Harry studied Draco’s pale face with suspicion, but he couldn’t sense any deceit from him. Draco certainly looked poorer than he ever had. His clothes were torn and even burned in several places; his hair was uncombed and hung around his face, which was a bit gaunt. There was dirt smudged across his nose and dry blood caked along his eyebrow, just above his glaring black eye. Draco snarled under Harry’s scrutinizing gaze, standing regally upright despite his desperation.

“I thought you didn’t want to see me anymore,” Harry said quietly after a long time.

“I don’t. But as I said previously, I have no choice. I don’t want to sleep with you, Potter, if that’s what you’re thinking. I just need a place to sleep while I find a… you know.”

“A job.”

Draco set his jaw, narrowing his eyes fiercely.

“Do you know him?” Sam asked at last. He pushed his dark hair from his eyes, and Draco fixed him with an icy stare.

“I should say I fucking know him, I lived with him for six months.”

“Malfoy –”

“Please. I don’t beg, but please.” Draco turned back to Harry and visibly slumped. His exhaustion was written on every line in his face.

“I have half a mind to say no,” Harry said hoarsely.

Draco grinned. He had won.

-- to be continued

Notes: All right, well... I'm inexperienced, so reviews are always fantastic. I'll try and upload this regularly. One of my first Drarry fanfictions ever so help me out.