"Why him?" Harry tugs on his shirt and fumbles with the buttons.

"Because," Cho says, half-laughing at Harry and still naked and lying in bed, "because he's vicious, he's evil, and he's incredibly hot."

Cho Chang is a brilliant girl. Brilliant and fickle. Harry is frankly surprised she's stayed with him as long as she has. The last seven months have constituted her longest relationship to date and the only one Harry has ever had. Cho is nearly twenty one; Harry is nineteen. He lives in a one bedroom flat above a sweets shop half-full of cast off furniture from the Weasleys, a cupboard full of half-rusted pots, and two dying plants. Cho lives in a wizarding high rise; not on the Diagon Alley strip but behind it, in the fashionable wizarding west end. Two bedrooms, heated floors, lots of counter space in the kitchen, very modern furniture. She has a thick Plexiglas coffee table with three books on it; Well-Dressed Witches of the Ages, Quidditch: Bare Naked, and The Joy of Sex (illustrated). She has no curtains in her apartment, in spite of the fact that the east and west walls are made entirely of glass.

They have never talked about living together. It's not that kind of relationship. It's experimental, she says, it's about exploring sexuality, pushing boundaries. She wants to indulge herself with all the fantasies she's ever had, and it's Harry's turn. When she first came to him and asked him if he would be interested, he thought she was high on something. Cho likes to think of herself as a sexual guru, a kind of new age specialist in things physical and erotic. Harry doesn't mention that their first kiss had involved no tongue.

"But I hate him," Harry says.

"I know." Cho rolls over on to her side, her bare back to Harry. "That just makes it more interesting, don't you think?"

Harry sighs. Cho's fantasies range from the domestic to the exhibitionist; they have had sex in a dressing room at Madam Maulkin's, behind a dumpster in Knockturn alley, and on her kitchen floor. Once he watched her masturbate while eating ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, and another time she asked him to drop off some letters at the ministry wearing a pair of her panties under his trousers.

This isn't the first time she has asked Harry if he minded her inviting a third to their evening activities. At first he had no objection; their first playmate was Padma Patil, which was a bit of a fantasy for Harry too. Cho had originally hoped for Parvati as well as Padma, but that was a no go.

This isn't even the first time Cho has asked about including another man; the first had been an extremely handsome cab driver Cho met named Ron Carstairs. The fact that his name was Ron gave Harry the heebie jeebies, but since Cho didn't ask Harry to actually touch him, it worked out okay.

But this. Harry is tempted to just say no, but it's only one night, after all. In fact, Harry can't even imagine that Draco Malfoy would even want to spend the whole night. He expected Malfoy would just come in, pretend to be all worldly and cool about the whole threesome dynamic, get naked and fuck Cho silly while sneering at Harry. 'Look at me, Harry! I'm fucking your girlfriend!' Harry would just roll his eyes and say, 'she's not my girlfriend.' He could picture it now.

But Harry never says no. He's not sure why he lets her do these things, really. Most of the time her antics don't even interest him that much, but for some reason he doesn't stop her. Curiosity, he tells himself. Just wants to know what she'll think up next.

"Oh, alright," he says. She'll be disappointed anyway at how completely self-absorbed Malfoy is, how his evilness and viciousness are not really that interesting in real life. Better as a fantasy, but she can learn the hard way.

Cho purrs, rolls over, and kisses him. "He'll be here tonight at eight."

"You already asked him?" Harry is shocked.

"Well..." Cho says. She wraps the sheet around her and pouts. "I could always have cancelled if you said no." Harry can almost hear her saying the next sentence. But you never say no.

Harry makes sure he arrives late, so as not to look as though he's waiting for this. As if he's anxious or something, as if it's all his idea. He is wearing an old pair of jeans and a nice shirt Ginny bought him for his birthday. It's forest green and once Hermione commented that it looked good on him. He opens the door with his key and hears Cho laughing in the bedroom.

"Harry," she calls out. "We've been waiting for you."

Malfoy is still fully clothed, but Cho has her top unbuttoned. Malfoy looks a little flustered to see Harry step in, as if he'd almost forgotten about him. They sort of grunt at each other, unwilling to strike up an actual conversation, and everything feels very awkward. Malfoy's lip twitches and Harry crosses his arms over his chest.

"Well," Cho says, pulling off her top. "hmmm, come here, Harry."

She undresses them both at once. Her left hand undoes his fly and her right curls under the waistband of Malfoy's black trousers. They are standing side by side by now, and that almost makes it easier. Harry doesn't look over at Malfoy, he just keeps his eyes on Cho's breasts, which shake with each movement of her arms.

They both step out of their trousers and in the corner of his eye Harry sees Malfoy pull off his shirt. Harry quickly does this same. It was all very different with Ron (Carstairs). He had tugged Harry into his arms right away and nuzzles into his neck while Cho sank down onto her knees to offer him some encouragement. If his name hadn't been Ron, it might have been...well, quite pleasant, really. This was something entirely different, though. Malfoy was clearly wishing Harry weren't there, and Harry found himself more amused by the moment. Why did Malfoy even agree to this ridiculous request? What did Cho offer him to make him do this? Was blackmail involved?

Cho has her back turned to Harry, she is kissing Malfoy, which seems to make him more at ease. He has his arms wrapped around her gently as if she might break, or as if he was waiting for something else to happen. Harry takes a look at him, standing there with Cho in his arms, completely naked. It's like ripping off a bandaid, you have to do it quickly and all at once, not in little secretive bits. He looks at Malfoy appraisingly, from his chest down to his knees, paying particulary attention to his groin. Not nearly as impressive as Harry had feared. He looks ready enough, more ready than Harry is. Something about all this awkwardness seems to appeal to Malfoy; perhaps he and Cho would make a better pair that she and Harry are.

For some reason Harry always imagined that Malfoy was ridiculously well-endowed. More so than Harry, more so than any of the rest of them. On some level Harry has always resented Malfoy's impressive genitalia without ever having any proof that his suspicions were true, and this quick glance proves to Harry that they were not, he was wrong. Nothing out of the ordinary there. With a sudden burst of confidence, Harry grins. He ignores Malfoy and kisses Cho's shoulder, and then kneels down behind her, unzipping her skirt and pushing it down to her ankles. She's not wearing anything underneath it. He kisses the small of her back and feels Malfoy's hands accidentally brush against his hair.

It feels strange, Harry concedes, to fuck Cho while trying very hard not to see Malfoy in front of him the way he is. She is on all fours, just the way she likes best, with Malfoy's cock in her mouth. Only Malfoy is standing, which means that Harry has a perfect view of most of him, not something he entirely wants. He is moving slowly inside of Cho, since they've really just started and something in him wants to be slow about this, to be careful. Like he has something to prove. If Malfoy keeps his eyes open he can see everything, and oddly Harry feels more naked than he ever has. This all feels so familiar to him but not; Cho, the texture of the carpet under his knees, her hips in his hands, but Malfoy's presence is palpable and strange. Harry can almost smell him. Harry's eyes are locked the back of Cho's head and Malfoy's thigh in front of her, his dark blond pubic hair.

He wonders what Malfoy has been doing with his time. Harry has no idea, he hasn't heard anything about him since they left school. Not following in the footsteps of his father at least, since he's not in Azkaban. Yet. Harry forgot to ask Cho the details.

She is moaning around Malfoy's cock and Malfoy himself isn't so quiet either. For a second Harry feels left out. He fucks Cho quietly, as if his voice can shatter some kind of illusion they're all clinging to. Harry was never one for screaming anyway.

When he looks up he sees that Malfoy hasn't closed his eyes.

Much later they are all lying on Cho's bed. Harry is on the side by the window, with Cho's head on his arm. Malfoy is lying beside her, on his stomach. His arm is draped over Cho, and his fingers are lightly stroking Harry's sternum.

Harry just breathes as evenly as he can, and keeps his eyes open.

"Draco."

"Again?"

"Will you?"

"Why?"

"Well, he wants to. I want to. Do you?"

Harry sighs. He wonders why he never says no, and if now might be the time to start. He wants to? Strange. Harry purses his lips and then shrugs. "Why not."

The second time Harry is alone in Cho's flat; she is out getting drinks when Malfoy arrives. Harry opens the door and Malfoy comes in, shrugging off his coat. It's raining outside, pretty hard by the look of him.

"Thanks," Malfoy says as Harry takes his coat.

"Sure." He walks over to Cho's well-organized front closet and pulls out a designer wooden hanger.

"You live here?" Malfoy sounds a bit incredulous. He's looking around at the very modern furniture, all in yellow, the abstract art on the walls (apple green), and the Plexiglas coffee table. He sits down and starts flipping through The Joy of Sex.

"No," Harry says. "I live...well, somewhere else." He hangs up Malfoy's coat and walks into the kitchen. "Cho will be back soon. She went to get some absinthe."

"Oh," Malfoy says. "I hate absinthe."

"Me too," Harry says. "It makes her feel...historical, I think."

They don't speak for a while. Harry finds there is nothing left to do in Cho's kitchen and walks out into the living room. Malfoy is still sitting on the edge of the couch, peering down at the full-colour illustrations.

"Malfoy," Harry says finally. He only looks up. "Why...why are you here?"

Malfoy smirks. "I'm here for a good time, Potter." He says it in a familiar voice, a snarky drawl he hadn't used until now. "Didn't she tell you? I thought you were okay with this."

"We hate each other." It very flat in Harry's ears, his own voice saying it. Malfoy just smirked more.

Cho brings home a bottle of absinthe, expensive from the look of it. She drinks three glasses while Malfoy nurses his first Harry grabs a bottle of beer from the fridge. He drinks that while Cho wanders around the living room in a skirt so short Harry can even tell from a distance that there's nothing underneath it. By the bottom of the third bottle he is feeling very lightheaded and less nervous about his non-conversation with Malfoy. Who cares why he's here? He won't be here tomorrow. It doesn't matter.

When Cho lets a little of her absinthe drip onto her thigh, Draco gets on his knees to lick it up. It seems odd to see Malfoy cowering in front of Cho and Harry laughs.

"I never imagined seeing you on your knees, Malfoy," he says. He feels a twinge, like it's wrong thing to say but he can't quite tell. He is about to get another bottle from the fridge anyway but Malfoy grins at him and grabs him by the belt.

"You don't need to imagine it," he says. He's not drawling this time. His hand slips across Harry's groin and Harry hears himself moan. It's like his brain is a tick to late, and everything happens before he agrees to do it. Malfoy is grinning at him. "Don't imagine," he says. Harry feels very warm.

This time takes much longer than the last. Harry has had too much to drink and he can feel it, but he doesn't care. He has lost the tally of bottles he's drunk so far but it doesn't matter. There are hands on him, Cho's voice is tinkling in his ears, followed by Malfoy's laughter. Someone's hand slides into his trousers.

Cho's hand. He can tell by the fingernails.

Eventually Harry finds himself in the bedroom again, leaning against the wall. Cho takes out her equipment, she's feisty tonight and Harry doesn't mind. He doesn't even mind that Malfoy will be watching, though he knows somewhere beyond his alcohol-soaked willingness that actually he does mind. Now it just seems like a comfortable idea, he wants this. He presses his hands up against the wall and plants his feet firmly apart. His clothes are all lying in the living room, where Cho and Malfoy peeled them off him.

He doesn't turn around to see Cho with the gear on. He doesn't like to see, he thinks she looks ridiculous. Harness, strangely purple protuberance at her crotch. She looks like a naked mountain climber gone wrong and he'd rather just look at his hands, anticipate it. He feels himself being spread open, he feels a tongue inching across his flesh and then dipping inside him. He closes his eyes and the he feels like he's spinning.

"Yes," he's saying. "Oh yes." Normally being drunk makes him feel so much less, but right now his whole body is wrapped up in that tongue, and the hands gripping his hips. He moans like Malfoy did the last time, but louder and longer. He spreads his legs further and wonders were Malfoy is, if he's watching this. He feels fingers toying with his balls and in a cold second he realizes that those aren't Cho's fingers. Cho never does that. She never understands how to do just what those fingers are doing. He feels the tongue and the fingers leave him a second later, and then he feels the cold, wet end of Cho's dildo up against him.

Cho, sexual guru, is all about the hard and fast thrust. It's like that thing is her actual cock, it's like it's connected to her skin and has needs. She can get off just but fucking him with it, without him even touching her. And so she presses inside him hard and he gasps, his head slamming into the wall with the force of her. On the third thrust he isn't hitting the wall. His chest presses against another and he feels breath on his neck.

Malfoy's arm is around his waist, there's a hand against his face and a thumb pressed against his lower lip. As Cho thrusts into him he takes the thumb between his teeth and he hears Malfoy moan into his ear. Cho is chanting, it's some tribal thing she learned in a sexuality class, something about reclaiming her masculinity. He feels Malfoy's lips on his throat for a second and then he feels fingers siding across his stomach and between his legs.

"No," Harry whispers. "Not yet." The hand strokes his inner thigh instead and the lips return to his throat.

Cho's chanting gets louder and she thrusts faster and faster into him. Harry's arms have drifted from the wall, he is now bracing himself against Malfoy. His skin is smooth and he feels solid. He feels like smoke; cool and invisible, mostly because Harry has not opened his eyes to look at him. He smells like smoke too, just a little, like he had a nervous cigarette before he knocked on the door, that tinged smell in his hair. Malfoy's hair is right in Harry's face because Harry is clutching at him, he is holding Malfoy tight. Malfoy's hand inches up to touch his cock and Harry comes as it slips into Malfoy's fist. Cho keeps pumping into him until she comes too, still chanting in some foreign language.

Harry doesn't remember much more, except that he kissed someone in the middle of the night, for a long time. Like some lazy love song. When he wakes up Cho and Malfoy are both gone.

The third time is a surprise. Harry and Cho are walking home from dinner when she pulls on his arm and leads him into a coffee shop. It's very modern, the kind of place Cho likes, with lots of glass tables and weird-looking art and uncomfortable-looking couches. Malfoy is sitting by himself at the back, looking bored and annoyed until he spots them. He raises an eyebrow at Cho and smiles at Harry.

"I was about to give up," he says. "You're late."

Harry doesn't say much. He's a bit shocked that Cho arranged this without his consent, but he feels more of a technicality kind of anger than anything else. He feels nervous and too sober, he feels both over- and underdressed. He can't look at Malfoy without remembering what happened the last time and he still doesn't know what Malfoy does for a living.

"What do you do for a living, anyway?" Harry asks on the way home. He hasn't been paying attention to their chatter and it appears that he's just interrupted something.

Malfoy glances at Cho. "I'm a legal clerk." He seems surprised that Harry asked.

"A legal clerk?"

"Yes."

"He works in the war crimes department, Harry," Cho says, sounding annoyed and tired. "I told you that last week."

He wants to contradict her, because she's never told him anything at all about Malfoy, but decides against it. Everyone suddenly feels tense. Is it the nature of these things, these strange sexual encounters, that no one is allowed to bring up real life? Harry finds this frustrating and he is embarassed. Cho's idea of 'pushing boundaries' is to pretend she's someone else, a man, a whore, a stripper, whatever, but they never push the actual boundaries of the lives they're living. It's all fun and games until someone starts asking questions, until someone wants to connect all the fancy games back to reality. Harry works himself into a silent lather over it. It's stupid, he hates Malfoy, and here he goes again, letting Malfoy watch whatever Cho wants him to just because she wants him to.

"Do you want me to go?" Malfoy asks quietly. They're standing in the corridor and Cho is fumbling for her keys.

Harry looks at him. "I just don't understand why you're here. It wasn't that long ago. School, I mean." He means more than school, of course. He means the taunting, the death threats, the petty cheating. Out for each other's blood, that's what school was half the time. "How can we go from fighting and spitting at each other to..." Harry tries to come up with a good way to describe what they've been doing but just blushes.

Malfoy pauses, looks up at Cho, who's still wrestling with the door, and nods. "Nothing's changed. Well, some things have. But this," he points at himself, and then at Harry, and at himself again, "is just the same."

"What are you talking about?"

Cho opens the door and beckons to them. "Come on in, boys," she says, in her little girl voice. Harry hates the little girl voice.

"Do you want me to leave?" Malfoy whispers.

Harry sighs and shakes his head. "Let's go. She's not very patient."

Harry isn't sure if it's because he and Cho are perceived as the couple in this arrangement or not, but over and over Harry gets the feeling that Malfoy is only intended to be there to watch. Now that it occurs to him it makes sense; Draco Malfoy has always watched him, ever since he was eleven years old. He watched Harry play Quidditch, make potions, talk with his friends, make mistakes, anything, everything. Tattle tale, spy, whatever, Malfoy was always watching.

This time Cho undresses Harry and pushes him backwards onto the bed while licking her lips at Malfoy. she straddles his face and lowers herself unto him, facing Malfoy so he can watch her. This surprises Harry, as Cho has said often enough that this is her least favourite sexual activity.

"It hurts my thighs," she explained once. "It just tickles and I don't...well, I don't feel properly actualized in that position." Harry just shrugged.

Malfoy is just sitting on the edge of the bed, his trousers still on but his shirt off, stroking Harry's calf absently and looking at her. He can feel his fingers gripping his leg at points and he wonders what Malfoy is thinking.

After a while he doesn't know what Malfoy is up to; Cho is moaning and chanting, she's telling Harry to dig deeper into her innermost self and he sinks his fingers into her hips instead.

"Oh Harry," she says. "Yes, yes, Harry!" She is moving a lot and Harry keeps losing his place; he pulls on her hips to steady her and tries to concentrate. Harry knows Cho well enough to know that this is all an act. Her voice sounds fake and she's reciting some erotic poem between gasps and groans. He wonders if Malfoy is buying this show, and expects that he probably is; Cho's a good actor most of the time. But why? What is the point? She's not fooling Harry, why does she want to fool Malfoy?

Is this some kind of elaborate revenge? And if so, on which of them?

Malfoy said nothing had changed. It is true there has always tension between them, but hadn't that had more to do with politics and house competition? Perhaps not. Perhaps Harry had missed something obvious, so obvious that Cho knew about it too. Malfoy did seem to be enamoured with Harry; he had stayed up for hours kissing him the last time, even though Harry was too drunk to be much good at anything.

Is that what this is about? Is Cho claiming Harry as her territory? Couldn't she have done that without inviting Malfoy into their bed? Why is she playing this game with him?

Harry suddenly feels Malfoy's lips close around his cock and suck him inside, and he lets go of Cho for a moment out of pure shock.

He says something, but it's lost in Cho's cunt and she moans even louder. She's rubbing herself against his chin, she's all over the place and her chanting has turned into some kind of throat singing. She's almost whining now as if Harry is keeping something back from her, and Mafloy's tongue is sliding along his cock, the tip of it is inching into Malfoy's throat. Harry arches his back into Malfoy and Cho shrieks out what make or may not be orgasmic shouting.

She purrs and rolls onto the bed beside Harry, and suddenly he has a perfect view of Malfoy, lying between Harry's thighs, his head bobbing up and down on Harry's cock. Malfoy's fringe brushes against Harry's belly each time his face is close enoughand it's like fingertips against him, likes feathers or butterflies or just Mafloy's hair. The thought is intoxicating and he doesn't care what Cho is doing anymore. He is writhing on the mattress and moaning in the back of his throat. He feels golden and warm, he feels like the palms of his hands are burning.

"Oh," Cho says. "This is interesting." She says it as if they are amateurs, as if this is cute. For half a second Harry wants to slap her, but he's too preoccupied to move. Malfoy's lips are riding up and down his cock and nothing else matters anywhere near as much.

Harry shouts and comes into Malfoy's mouth. A moment later Cho is straddling his waist and kisses him with what she must imagine is dramatic flair. She's losing her footing, Harry's jaw is sore and he feels confused. She wraps her arms around him and lies down, nuzzling into Harry's shoulder. Malfoy finds himself a place beside her, because that's the only place left. No one says anything. It's very dark out, and very quiet. Harry lays awake for a long time.

Somewhere after two o'clock in the morning Harry wakes up. He's cold and feels dirty, he feels sweat built up on him and his face is a mess. He untangles himself from Cho and walks into the bathroom, turning on the shower. His head is still thick with sleep but he wants to reconsider what he's learned.

Revenge, Cho. Cho asks Malfoy here because she wants to lord it over him, that she has something that...that he's always wanted. That's what it is, Harry's sure of it now. So Cho knows this, Cho finds him at the ministry one day and offers Harry up...as long as Cho is there too, as long as she always gets the upper hand.

The fact is, Cho and Harry are not dating, per se. He sleeps with her because it pleases both of them, it makes Harry feel less lonely and Cho gets to act out whatever she likes. He is permissive with her, perhaps that's what it is that makes her do this. He doesn't know. Cho doesn't want to date anyone, she doesn't want to be emotionally tied down. She goes to her actualizing classes and then tells Harry how horrible it would be if they were doing anything other than sleeping together. He just smiles but he agrees with her.

Sometimes he's not sure he even likes Cho all that much. Right now, he doesn't like her at all.

When he gets out of the shower Malfoy is standing in the bathroom, watching him. He looks tired, and for the first time Harry thinks he looks sad, too.

"She didn't tell you." He sounds disappointed.

"Tell me what?" Harry says. Malfoy is whispering, so Harry keeps his voice down too, though he knows nothing short of a scream will wake up Cho.

"She didn't tell you why I'm here. She didn't explain, did she."

"She didn't tell me anything."

Malfoy sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "I wanted...I wanted to apologize, I wanted to make amends. That was the whole point. She said this was your idea. I'm getting the impression at this point that she lied to me."

"My idea? What, the...the..." the threesome thing? He's so embarrassed that he can't even say it. Harry blushes, and then remembers that he's standing naked in front of Malfoy and pulls a towel around himself.

Malfoy laughs. "Yeah, that. I should have known."

"I thought you were here for Cho," he admits.

"No no. I'm not all that interested in people like Cho."

"What, asians?"

"No, girls."

"Oh." Harry pauses. "I didn't know you were..." he reaches for the best term for it, but fails to find one that seems inoffensive.

Malfoy laughs again. "A sodomite?"

Harry chuckles and shakes his head. "Not the word I would have chosen, but yeah." Malfoy gives him a look. "Well, alright. Maybe I had some idea."

"I thought so."

"What exactly are you apologizing for?"

"Well," he smirks. "For hoping you would die. For sabotaging everything you tried to do. For threatening you. For hating you. I guess."

"That's a serious change of heart."

"The war crimes department will do that to you. I've seen a lot of...evidence. And a lot of confessions."

"I'm sorry about your dad," Harry says. It's something he's meant to say for a while, in a round about sort of way. He knows Lucius Malfoy is a bad egg, but every since he lost Sirius he has felt a odd sort of compassion for Malfoy, losing his father the way he did. Awful. Tragic even, if Malfoy works in War Crimes. He must have had to see the entire trial. Maybe he had to transcribe it.

"Thanks," Malfoy says. He rubs his eyes and sighs. "I just...I was having trouble living with it, and I have to live with it every day."

Harry doesn't know what to say. He looks down at his feet and sees that he's dripping all over the floor.

"Here," Malfoy says, offering him another towel. Harry takes it and rubs his hair. His head is spinning; Cho has bee lying, what her motivations are he can't fathom. Malfoy has been trying to apologize, and here Harry has been assuming...well, what was he assuming? Suddenly Harry feels Malfoy's arms around his waist, and then the towel drops away. Malfoy is standing behind him, the towel in his hands, he's rubbing it across his back, over his thighs, over Harry's stomach. He feels Malfoy's fingers against his chest and closes his eyes. "I'm sorry," Malfoy whispers, just behind Harry's ear. He can feel Malfoy's lightly stubbed face against his shoulder.

"I was thinking..." Cho is playing with her hair.

"Yes?"

"Michael Corner."

"What about him?"

"I was thinking about asking him to join us sometime...what do you think?"

"Hmm." Harry pauses and looks at his watch. "I don't think so."

Cho has been smiling until now, but stops abruptly. "What?"

"I don't think so." He gets up from the couch and heads toward the door. "I'm though with threesomes, quite frankly. They freak me out."

"I thought you enjoyed yourself!"

"Too much, maybe."

"You're chickenshit, you know that."

"Sure."

"If you can't experiment with me, maybe I just won't invite you over anymore." She's glaring at him.

"Maybe it's time you stopped." Harry takes his jacket off the designer hanger in the front closet.

"But..."

"See you later, Cho." It feels very easy to open up that door and walk through it. Easier than he thought it would be. But he's always known this was temporary, he never really expected much from her. He's been marking time in this faux modern flat, he's been standing still and waiting for something to shake him loose. And something finally did. He drops his key on her doormat and walks down the stairs.

If he hurries, he'll catch Malfoy before he leaves the department. 

End