Part 3 of 4

Author's Notes: This was written for cassie_black12 for the 2009 hp_yule_balls. Many, many thanks to my gorgeous beta raisinous_fiend for putting up with my bad grammar, impossible tardiness and panic attacks. And also for being brutally honest and not letting me get away with anything. All remaining inconsistencies are mine.

Harry saw Malfoy again the very next day. He came early in the day to make another announcement. Ron popped his head into Harry's office eagerly when he arrived. "Come on. Malfoy's here again. Let's see what he has to say."

Ron was obviously keeping something back. "You have insider information, don't you?" Harry asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Maybe." Ron tried to smile mysteriously as he led Harry towards the group of congregated Aurors.

Malfoy stood in the centre, tall, slim, and glowing in blood-red robes. Harry was surprised how well the deep colour suited the pale blond. He made a note to get a set of red sheets if everything went well.

Malfoy was holding a red, pointy wizard's hat, the rim decorated with an intricate holly and ivy design, in his hand. "As you know, Yule is coming up," he was saying. "Preparations are under way for the festivities on the twentieth. I would like to remind you that if anyone would like to take part in the pageant, it is still not too late." Malfoy looked around hopefully, but most of the gathered crowd averted their eyes shiftily, Harry amongst them.

Malfoy gave a put-upon sigh. "Ah, well," he said, sounding like a disappointed parent, before looking around cheerfully once more. "Never mind. You can still participate in the Yule traditions. Another well-known Yule tradition is the exchange of gifts."

"What did I tell you? Just like Christmas," Ron whispered in Harry's ear as he elbowed him rather sharply in the ribs.

Malfoy held up the hat and looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention. Noises of interest and apprehension could be heard throughout the room. "I have put all your names in the Yule Hat," he explained. "You will all draw a name to see who you will be gifting this year. To make it more fun and exciting, I will please ask you all to keep the name of the recipient of your gift secret until the gift exchange that will take part in the beginning of the Yule festivities."

Malfoy looked around, eyes bright and excited and a pleased smirk on his lips. Harry hated exchanging gifts with people he didn't know well enough, but for Malfoy he'd make an effort.

One by one all the Aurors and secretaries picked a name from the hat. Harry found it amusing seeing who looked pleased, who disappointed and who thoughtful. When his turn came, Malfoy gave him his special warm smile. "Hello there," he said.

"Hello there, you too." Harry couldn't help smiling goofily as he answered back, putting the folded piece of parchment in his pocket without opening it.

Harry stood by as Malfoy gave out the rest of the names, his heart beating inexplicably fast. He combed his hands through his hair, trying to smooth it back. Soon enough Malfoy came to stand next to him, and together they looked over the assembled witches and wizards as they gazed at their parchments, looking perplexed, or held quiet discussions in groups of twos and threes.

"My work here is done," Malfoy told Harry, sounding pleased with himself. Harry just hummed in reply and Malfoy turned to look at him. "Presents are fun," he said. "Even you must agree with that."

"I do enjoy receiving presents, that's true," Harry agreed grudgingly.

"You just don't like giving them?"

Harry cringed. Put that way, it sounded rather bad. "It's not that. I'm pants at choosing them, that's all. And for someone I don't know that well? I'm guaranteed to make a mess of it."

Malfoy gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder, his hand lingering just a little too long. "Don't worry about it so much. It's all simple fun. It's the thought that counts, and all that rot."

Harry shrugged noncommittally.

"What about the pageant then? Are you sure you don't want to take part?" Malfoy asked, changing the subject.

"Definite." Harry couldn't decide whether to laugh or shudder at the thought of himself on stage in a fancy costume. "You just want to see me in tights," he said, giving Malfoy a suggestive look.

Malfoy gave his habitual short sharp laugh. "You caught me out," he said, eyes twinkling. "This whole Yule lark was nothing but a ploy to get you into tights."

"I knew it!" Harry was oddly enjoying himself. Once he stopped being so anxious and uptight, this flirting business turned out to be actually quite fun.

"Well," Malfoy said, playfully waggling his eyebrows, "with a killer arse like that, it would have been a crime if I didn't at least try."

Harry blushed at the compliment, but told his hammering heart to calm down and tried to be nonchalant. "Thanks for noticing."

The blond grinned and shrugged. "I make it my business to notice things like that."

"Oh, so how many other.... attractive arses have you noticed in the Ministry?" Harry asked, trying to play it as casual as he could, while holding his breath for the answer.

"A few," Malfoy answered breezily. "But don't worry, yours is the best."

Malfoy was leaning close to Harry, two twin spots of pink blooming fetchingly on his high cheekbones and large grey eyes glittering. He looked like he was having a good time bantering like this with Harry, and Harry would be lying if he said he wasn't having a good time too. The heady feeling he always got while close to Malfoy, combined with the intoxicating smell of his cologne, was making him quite light-headed. He hoped he managed to keep his cool and not slip up and say anything stupid.

"You know," he told Malfoy, leaning forward to lower his voice conspiratorially, "maybe you should play in the pageant. I'm sure you're good at acting, and you would definitely look great in tights."

Malfoy blushed, looking inordinately pleased with the compliment, and Harry felt a strange warm feeling blossom in his chest. He suddenly decided it would be well worth his time to brush up on his complimenting skills.

"Why thank you, kind sir." Malfoy gave an impish little bow, doffing the Yule Hat. Harry couldn't help but laugh, finding him adorable. "While it's true that I look good in almost anything..." Except that bright orange robe, Harry couldn't help thinking. "...and I'm not lacking in thespian talent, unfortunately I can't take part in the pageant for I happen to be the director," Malfoy explained with a superior smirk.

Harry wondered if Malfoy had ever heard of delegating, or if he was simply a control freak.

"You seem to be a wizard of many talents," Harry told him. "Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew."

Malfoy smirked and looked caught between being flattered and offended. "I have many, many talents," he said, looking at Harry slyly. "I could show you some of them sometime, if you want. And don't worry, I never bite off more than I chew." His voice dropped. "You might be amazed by how big a mouthful I can manage." Strangely enough, he looked almost shy after saying that, his cheeks and the tips of his ears going delightfully pink.

Harry found himself getting rather hot and bothered too. "I... um... That's nice to know," he said in a low voice and offered Malfoy a tentative smile.

"Yeah..." Malfoy had never sounded this uncertain before. "Well, you know, you are welcome to see for yourself any time you want," he added with a passable approximation of his usual hauteur.

"So you've said before," Harry couldn't help reminding him. "But, you know, I think I just might." Harry held his breath, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake in taking the chance.

But instead of laughing, as Harry still half-feared he would, Malfoy smiled at him, looking pleased and oddly bashful, certainly not nearly as poised as he usually did. "I'd like that a lot," he practically whispered.

Harry felt his insides unclench in relief. He had given in and hadn't lost the game, he hadn't been laughed at. Actually things were looking rather good at the moment. He briefly wondered if he should try pushing it, but he suddenly found himself feeling rather timid. They ended up spending a couple of awkward minutes standing close together in silence before Malfoy spoke again in something closer to his normal voice.

"I've got to get going," he told Harry. "I have to spread the joy of gift giving to the rest of the Ministry." He smirked his usual haughty smirk but it came out looking crooked. Harry felt a flutter deep in his chest.

"Yeah, right." Harry cleared his throat. "Good luck then and continue the good work, I'll be seeing you." Soon, I hope.

Malfoy grimaced. "What with arrangements for the celebration, I'm going to be very busy for the next week."

Harry couldn't help feeling disappointed, but was unsurprised to hear that.

"But, I will try to pop round at least once more. It would be a shame not to share some more Yule traditions with my esteemed fellow Aurors."

"Yes, it would be a shame," Harry answered, giving Malfoy an eloquent look. Malfoy blushed, looking pleased, and with a hasty goodbye was soon gone.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Harry strolled back to his cubicle, fighting unsuccessfully to keep the soppy smile off his face. Once he was seated, instead of following the usual course of swiftly unbuttoning his trousers, he rested his chin on his palm and sighed dreamily, his eyes going unfocused.

Unfortunately his pleasant reverie was interrupted by Ron ambling into his cubicle a little while later. Ron sat down and looked around furtively before leaning towards Harry. "Well?" he asked. "Who did you get?"

It took Harry a while to understand what Ron was talking about. When he did, he reached into his pocket for the forgotten piece of parchment. He couldn't help feeling disappointed once he saw the name. "Cummings," he said morosely. "I have no idea what to get for the man!" he practically wailed.

Ron looked to be musing for a couple of minutes. "It can't be too hard," he said. "He must have some kind of hobby, or something." When Harry just looked at him blankly, he continued. "There must be something the man likes that you know about!"

Harry thought for a few minutes, but couldn't come up with much. "Dunno," he said. "Don't think he likes much besides following rules and regulations and fishing. Merlin, would he bloody shut up with the fishing!"

Ron sat back complacently. "Well that's it, innit? Get him some fishing tackle or whatnot. Shouldn't be too hard."

Harry sat back and thought about it. That actually wasn't a half bad idea. "Thanks, Ron," he said. "You're a life-saver."

Ron flashed a grin. "That's what friends are for." The grin quickly disappeared however. "Now that I solved your present problem, who's going to help me?"

"Who did you get?" Harry asked curiously.

"Head Auror Robards!" Ron moaned despairingly. And Harry didn't blame him. Robards was a difficult and inscrutable man, not to mention their superior. He shrugged uselessly.

"Unfortunately I can't help you with that, mate," he said. "You'll have to go to Hermione. She's the only one who can save you."

Ron looked glum. "That's what I feared," he said.

They sat for a while in companionable silence before Ron left to be moody somewhere else. Harry opened a file he was working on, but thoughts of Malfoy quickly intruded once more. With only the slightest twinge of guilt, he closed the file and returned to pleasant daydreams of the blond.

True to his predictions, Malfoy spent the rest of the week in a flurry of anxious activity. Harry hardly saw him, and when he did, it was usually nothing more than a glimpse of a bright blob of frenzied activity rushing through the Ministry corridors in a flurry of extravagant robes, barked commands and nerves. Harry found himself not a little dismayed that they didn't have a chance for another little chat. Over the weekend he even considered getting his address from Hermione and fire-calling him, but he soon realised how pathetic that would look and patiently waited for Monday.

When Malfoy came round to Auror Headquarters on Monday, Harry predictably wasn't there.

After spending the whole Monday morning and most of the midday too hunting down a difficult lead on one of his cases, Harry returned to the Ministry tired and hungry. He found Ron sprawled out in the guest chair in his cubicle, reading an old Quidditch magazine.

"Make yourself at home," Harry told him as he collapsed into his own chair with an audible sigh of relief.

Ron put down the magazine and looked Harry over. "How'd it go? Find anything?"

"Ugh, don't ask," Harry groaned. "Don't want to talk about it."

Ron shrugged affably. "Malfoy came by today," he said. "He brought food. My kind of Yule spirit." Ron smiled, looking pleased and well-fed and pointed to Harry's desk. "He left this for you."

It was a plate, with the requisite festive adornments on the rim, containing four cookies and three small caraway cakes, and a suspicious amount of crumbs. Harry looked at Ron accusingly.

Ron lifted his hands in self-defence. "You were late," he said. "Besides, Malfoy should know better than to leave me to look over cakes. They are delicious, by the way. You should try them."

Harry did try them, and they were delicious. He ate them all in short order, resolutely ignoring Ron's longing looks. However, they were small consolation to missing Malfoy's visit. Malfoy would be busy until the celebration at the end of the week, and after that he would be most probably taking his Christmas holiday. Harry might not see him again until January! It was almost enough to kill his appetite.

Fortunately Malfoy miraculously found the time to come around the next day too. He came regally ushering in a troupe of elves and a group of wizards and witches Harry had never seen before.

"Festive greeting to you all!" Malfoy began, all but bouncing on the balls of his feet from barely contained nervous energy. "I have brought offerings of food and drink," he said, gesturing for the elves to offer round the cookies, cakes, fruit and nuts they were carrying and pour out what looked suspiciously like eggnog to whoever was interested. "I have also brought you music. Please welcome the Hampshire Magical Choir. They have not only agreed to do us the great honour of singing at the celebration on Thursday, but I have also managed to prevail on their goodwill to give us all a taster today of what they have in store for us."

Most of the Aurors present clapped enthusiastically. Malfoy looked around proudly for a while before gesturing for quiet. And then the choir started to sing.

Their voices rose and weaved together, filling the room with beautiful harmony. Harry hummed along in appreciation. He had never had the chance to experience or appreciate much music, but he found that he liked what he was hearing. The songs were uplifting and festive, and the members of the choir were obviously enjoying themselves.

Once they finished, there was a lively round of applause and the singers scattered to chat with the assembled Aurors and secretaries. Malfoy took advantage of the lull to unobtrusively sneak up to Harry, who was standing on the sidelines munching on a caraway cake.

"Hi," Malfoy greeted him in an undertone.

"Hi, you too," Harry answered, after quickly swallowing his mouthful, in the same near whisper. "How's it going? You have been very busy lately. Everything under control?"

Malfoy attempted a small pained smile. "As much as it can be. Almost everything is ready for the big day. I took a small break today to bring you all the joy of music. But I still have a lot of work to do tomorrow." Malfoy paused briefly before adding with a proudly accomplished smirk. "The celebration is going to be brilliant!"

Now that Harry was getting a better look at him, the other man looked frazzled and not a little harried. He was dressed in the two-piece green robes once more, but his hair wasn't up to his usual neatly combed standard. An errant lock of soft blond hair fell over his forehead and dangled in front of one eye.

Without thinking about what he was doing, Harry carefully lifted a hand and smoothed the lock back. Malfoy suddenly went very, very still, and Harry couldn't help letting the tips of his fingers lightly skim over his cheek and the sharp curve of his jaw line before pulling the hand back.

Malfoy looked at him for a long silent minute, a light flush on his cheeks and pupils big and large inside his wide unblinking eyes. "I have been thinking about you," he finally said, voice rough and slightly unsteady. "When I've been able to think about anything else besides the Yule preparations, that is. I have been thinking about this. Being close to you. Touching you."

Harry swallowed thickly, feeling very hot and not a little trembly. Malfoy's eyes blazed bright, and he continued in a voice that sounded like sex to Harry's ears. "More than that, though, I have been thinking about you touching me. I have been imagining how it would feel for you to undress me. Slowly. Piece by piece. How it would feel to stand naked in front of you and let your eyes devour me. Because they would, wouldn't they, Harry?" Malfoy paused and looked at Harry, waiting for a response.

Harry licked his dry lips, and through a haze of unbearable arousal, managed to make some sort of sound. "Uh huh."

The response seemed to satisfy Malfoy because he leaned even closer and went on. "And after you looked your fill, you would touch me. All over. Your hands would touch and caress and smooth over every part of me. They would touch me everywhere. Even in the most hidden, private places. Right, Harry?"

Harry nodded distractedly. He felt like he was in a trance, a trance of Malfoy's making. He felt sure that he would do and say anything, anything, Malfoy asked at this moment. Anything to make the blond continue talking. Anything to keep that sinful, throaty voice washing over him. A little longer and he was sure that Malfoy could make him come, with nothing more than the sound of his voice.

Malfoy smiled wolfishly, eyes feverish and bright, face flushed. "But touching wouldn't be enough for long. Would it, Harry? Soon you would want more. What would you want? What would you do then, Harry? Tell me."

Harry felt completely lost; the world was a bright haze of lights and sounds that only served to highlight Malfoy's face and Malfoy's voice. With great difficulty he tried responding, tried articulating any of the lewd images that were rushing through his mind. "Gnuh."

Malfoy leaned back, looking rather pleased and shaky. He lifted a trembling hand to smooth back his hair and looked down meaningfully at the obvious tenting of Harry's robes. "Good," he said, his voice taking on slightly more normal tones. "Think about that. Think about what you want to do to me, and tell me next time you see me."

Before Harry had time to react, to bring his spinning head under control, to grab Malfoy and keep him there until he finished what he started, the slippery Slytherin had gathered together his troupe of singers and elves and had left Auror Headquarters. Leaving Harry unfulfilled and very, very aroused.

Harry leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes in pain and frustration. He would get back at the git. He would do everything he had said to him, and more. But for now, Harry had to find a way to get himself back under control, and then he could plan how he would give Malfoy the comeuppance he so finely deserved. Harry went a bit cross-eyed, thinking about the many delicious ways he could punish Malfoy.