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Harry glared down at the shot glass in his hand, water with three drops of Veritaserum. How in Merlin’s name had Pansy talked them all into this. He looked around the circle of seventh and eighth years gathered in the Hufflepuff common room. Since the Hufflepuff dorms were the most comfortable, it had become their regular hangout spot.
Some of the group looked excited, some more apprehensive. Veritaserum was always a gamble. You might get a fun game full of juicy secrets or you might reveal something that you didn’t even know about yourself.
“Ready. Set. Drink!” Pansy yelled, and despite any nerves, everyone drank.
Nearly everyone was already buzzed, if not verging on tipsy, and that made it easier to willingly put themselves in such a vulnerable position. Though, at least he was among friends. Even scanning the faces of the few returning Slytherins, Harry truly believed that. Regardless of the side they started on or the side their parents, for the most part, stayed on, all the students who choose to return to Hogwarts had eventually fought on its side.
They had all been through hell together, and that buried old rivalries and fights faster and more definitely than anything else Harry could have imagined. Not that there wasn’t still competition and teasing banter, but it was all mostly good natured now.
Pansy placed a small pot in the middle of the circle, a new item from Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes “18 and Up” line.
“It’s like Truth or Dare.” Pansy explained. “Except the game comes up with the questions. There’s no opt out option, hence the Veritaserum. Anyone want to go first?” She asked with a wicked grin.
“I will.” Dean shrugged. “Truth to start, I guess.”
The pot immediately flared to life. Blue and purple lights danced above it for a moment, and words started to form in the lights.
Who was the last person you kissed?
“Easy.” Dean smiled. “Seamus.” He wrapped an arm around his boyfriend and tugged him closer. Seamus went willingly with a smile, and Dean planted a quick kiss on his lips to punctuate the point.
“Alright, alright.” Pansy said. She didn’t look annoyed though, in fact, she was smiling too. It wasn’t something Harry had seen her do much of until this year. “We’ll go clockwise. Seamus, you’re next.”
“Dare.” Seamus grinned.
The lights flared again.
Give the person to your left a lap dance.
“Things are getting interesting already.” Ginny said from the other side of Dean.
Seamus’ grin widened as he twisted out of his boyfriend’s hold and landed enthusiastically in the lap of a very startled Neville Longbottom.
The pot projected loud, thumping music as Seamus started to grind on Neville, who kept shooting apologetic looks towards Dean. Dean just smiled good-naturedly and leaned back against the mustard colored couch behind him to enjoy the show. Seamus was clearly loving being the center of attention.
After a minute, the song faded out. Seamus slid off Neville’s lap and moved to lean against Dean, who wrapped an arm around him and kissed the top of his head. Neville tried his best to smooth out his shirt and quickly do up the top two buttons that Seamus somehow managed to undo during the dance without Neville noticing.
“I think I’ll stick with truth.” Neville said once he’d collected himself.
Have you ever been caught masturbating?
Neville’s cheeks instantly colored and his gaze dropped to the floor.
“Oh! You have, haven’t you?” Ginny grinned.
“Do tell.” Pansy added.
“It was fifth year just before O.W.L.s.” Neville spoke in a rush, the Veritaserum forcing the words out. “I was just so stressed, so I went to the greenhouses.” Neville's head snapped up. “Not because I wanted to, you know… at least I wasn’t planning to… I just like it there cause it's quiet.” He dropped his gaze to the floor again. “But then once I got there, I thought it might help, you know, with the stress. And no one was around, so i just…”
“Who caught you?” Pansy asked.
“Professor Sprout.” Everyone burst out laughing.
“What did she do?” Harry asked.
“She turned around to run out the door and ended up knocking over a row of Mandrakes.” Neville smiled a little. “They all started screaming.” This time Neville joined in the laughter.
“Okay.” Pansy started when everyone quieted down. “Your turn, Blaise.”
While Blaise thought, Draco got up to get more drinks.
“I’ll go with truth.” He decided.
Cold drinks were passed around as everyone watched the next question form.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done in front of someone you liked? The words in the lights asked.
Blaise’s eyes flicked momentarily to Pansy and her eyes went wide.
“Don’t you dare tell that story!” She shouted. The two of them had broken up amicably some time around the end of last year, when Blaise discovered he was aromantic and Pansy discovered Ginny. They stayed friends, and Harry had a suspicion that it was, at least in part, Slytherin survival instincts. They clearly had dirt on each other.
“Now I’m intrigued. Please continue, Blaise.” Ginny said with a smile.
Blaise groaned and dropped his head into his hands. He didn’t want to tell the story any more than Pansy did, but the Veritaserum was compelling him to keep talking.
“Well, this one time last year, Pansy asked me to dress up like a sexy firefighter.”
“A what?” Ginny interrupted.
“It’s a muggle job.” Pansy mumbled, cheeks flaming.
“How do you even know that, Pansy?” Harry chuckled.
Harry could see her fighting her answer, but a direct question on Veritaserum was pretty impossible to resist.
“From a muggle porn.” She was finally forced to say.
“Anyway,” Blaise continued, not wanting to, but not being able to stop it. “Firefighters carry around these weird hose things to spray water onto fires to stop them. So, for the costume, I transfigured a rope to look like a hose.”
“Why did you have a rope, Pansy?” Ginny asked with a knowing smirk.
“Because I tied Blaise up a few times.” Pansy tried to muffle the words with her hands, but didn’t quite manage it.
“I tripped on the hose and hit my head on Pansy’s trunk.” Blaise said quickly, wanting the story and the uncomfortable feeling of unsatisfied Veritaserum to be over. “Pansy had to get Madame Pomfrey. I was still in the costume.”
“Don’t worry, mate.” Dean managed through his barely suppressed laughter. “Madame Pomfrey has seen worse.”
Seamus went bright red and smacked Dean’s chest. Before anyone had a chance to ask, Ginny saved him.
“I think it’s Luna’s turn.” Ginny announced. Seamus sent her a grateful smile.
“I’ll go with dare.” Luna said after a moment of thought.
Sit in the lap of the person to your right until your next turn.
Luna smiled and shifted over to settle comfortably in Blaise’s lap. He wrapped his arms around her middle and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Luna and Blaise had gotten quite close this year. Harry wasn’t sure what exactly the nature of their relationship was, but they seemed to make each other happy and that was enough to make Harry smile.
“It’s your turn, Harry.” Luna informed him, shifting to meet his gaze and returning his smile once she saw it.
“Okay. Dare, I guess.” Harry said.
“Always a Gryffindor.” Draco teased quietly beside him with a small smile on his face. Draco had been much quieter since the war. He had trouble adjusting to his new social standing.
So many people now just saw him as an ex-death eater, especially some of the younger students who would never really be able to understand what they all went through. So many people lost someone in the battle. Harry knew they all just needed someone to blame, but the way they had harassed, and even attacked, Draco at the beginning of the year was unacceptable. The worst part was that Draco didn’t even fight back. He just accepted it like he thought he deserved it. Harry had put a stop to it as best he could. People listened to Harry Potter, and he wasn’t above using his name to get what he wanted if it meant he was helping someone.
That had been the beginning of all this house unity. Harry had realized quickly that Draco talked more when it was just this group. He smiled a lot more, too. So Harry kept making plans until it just became a habit for them to all be together.
Harry smiled back, and they both turned to the lights in the center of the circle.
Hold hands with the person to your left until your next turn.
Harry looked at Draco and noticed that his cheeks were slightly pink, but he wasn’t sure if it was just the alcohol. Draco reached a hand out between them and turned it palm up. Harry took it and laced their fingers together.
They both glanced up from their joined hands to meet each other’s gaze. They sat staring at each other for just a moment past comfortable before both looking away.
“I believe it’s my turn now.” Draco said. “I’ll go with dare as well.”
“Feeling a bit Gryffindor-ish?” Harry joked.
“Well, I don’t think Truth would be very Slytherin of me either. I wouldn’t want to give any of you bastards something to hold against me later. Especially not on Veritaserum.” Draco replied.
“I already have plenty on you, darling.” Pansy chimed in.
“I think I may have more on you now though, thanks to Blaise.” Draco replied smoothly with a wink in Blaise’s direction.
Pansy groaned and dropped her head into her hands again. Draco turned to read the words floating in the lights.
Kiss the person to your right for 10 seconds.
Harry watched Draco turn pinker, and this time he was sure it wasn’t just the alcohol. Harry gave Draco’s hand a gentle squeeze before moving to kneel facing him.
Draco’s free hand moved tentatively forward, but paused in the air between them, as if he weren’t sure if he was allowed to keep going. Harry wrapped his fingers around Draco’s wrist and brought Draco’s hand up to cup his cheek.
Draco was on him in a second, pressing their lips together, catching Harry off guard and nearly knocking them both flat on the floor.
Harry pressed back. Draco’s lips were softer than he imagined, not that he’d been imagining them (much), but Draco’s movements were anything but tentative. All of Draco’s actions and emotions lately had seemed dulled. This was the most passion Harry had seen from him about anything this year.
Harry vaguely heard the rest of the group counting down around them, but Harry wasn’t paying much attention, especially when Draco’s tongue pressed against his lips. Harry parted his lips, and Draco’s tongue slid against his own.
Harry ignored them when everyone shouted “Zero!” to tell them their time was up. He kept kissing Draco, wrapping an arm around his back, feeling Draco’s arm snake around his neck. Their joined hands stayed on the floor, keeping them both propped upright.
Dean’s wolf whistle finally brought them back to reality with their friends laughing around them. They stayed close for a moment. Harry dropped his forehead to Draco’s shoulder and chuckled. Eventually, Harry managed to pull himself away, their only point of connection being their still joined hands.
They all kept playing. Ginny gave Pansy a hickey. Ron and Pansy had to switch clothes. Luna refused to leave Blaise’s lap, even after she completed her next turn. Blaise didn’t object.
Harry felt cold when he had to let go of Draco’s hand as the game came back around to him, so he wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled him close. Draco lent back against Harry’s chest, and they both chose Truth so they wouldn’t have to move.
They went three more rounds until they were all too drunk and too tired to keep playing. Susan Bones offered to take any girls who wanted to stay the night up to the girl’s dormitories, and Justin Finch-Fletchy offered the same to the boys. But most of them just ended up passing out around the common room on the cozy couches and plush arm chairs in varying shades of yellow and grey.
Harry woke up the next morning with a massive headache and a disheveled Draco Malfoy draped across his chest. Even though the lights were too bright, and his neck was sore from sleeping on the floor, and Draco’s elbow was digging uncomfortably into his side, Harry still smiled.
Draco’s eyes blinked open and then immediately scrunched shut as he let out a pained groan.
“We probably shouldn’t have drunk so much last night.” Harry said, staring down at Draco’s ruffled morning hair.
“Your breath smells like something died, Potter.” Draco grumbled into the fabric of Harry’s t-shirt.
Before Harry could respond, Draco pushed himself up and pressed his lips to Harry’s. The kiss was quick, almost like a habit, like they might do this every morning.
“I still like you, though.” Draco stood up on slightly wobbly legs and had to grab hold of the mantle above the fireplace to steady himself. Harry stood as well, grounding himself with his hands on Draco’s hips when the room started to spin just a little.
“I still like you, too.” Harry said when Draco’s face came back into focus. He leaned forward and pressed their lips together again.
House unity had been achieved, no one had died, and he had his arms wrapped around Draco Malfoy. This year was shaping up to be Harry’s best.