Disclaimer: The characters and past events referred to in this fanfic are credited to J.K.Rowling. I have nothing funny to say this time. End transmission.

Chapter Six

Secrets

Draco stood in front of Harry, his right hand holding his left arm, shy, blushing. Harry walked up to the blonde and looked him straight in the eyes. He smiled, and Draco smiled back – a timid, unsure smile. And then Harry lent in and pressed his soft lips against Draco's in a slow, delicate kiss that stopped Draco from breathing for fear of shattering it.

Draco did in fact hold his breath, and that, he supposed, was what woke him up. It certainly hadn't been noise from the carriage he was riding in because no one was speaking. Hermione was angry with Ron because Ron was angry with Draco and had snapped at Hermione. Harry – in the way that only Harry Potter could be – was just angry at the world. Draco felt bad for bringing this upon the three people who he had always secretly thought of as the perfect example what a friendship should be.

Draco sat up in his seat and rubbed his eyes. He looked at the three teenagers he was sharing the train compartment with and they looked back. Still no words were shared.

- - - - - - -

The compartment door slid open with a loud crack, surprising Draco and making Ron jump in his seat. Just as Neville Longbottom walked through the door the train gave a lurch, and Neville landed face first at Draco's feat.

'Oomph! Sorry,' he said to Draco as he clung onto his leg and tried to pull himself up. 'Oh, sorry!' He looked at Draco and, apparently only just seeing him for the first time, screamed and fell back down to the floor.

'It's ok, Longbottom,' Draco said. 'I'm not going to curse you for almost squashing me.'

Neville didn't seem to believe him though and when he had gotten back up with help from Harry he stood as far away from Draco as he could get without going back out into the hallway. Ron shifted over and made a space between him and Harry for Neville to sit.

'What … what's going on?' asked Neville.

'Draco's going to be spending a bit of time with us, Neville,' Harry answered. 'His mum doesn't want him being in Slytherin anymore and under the circumstances Professor McGonagall thinks moving him out of the house would be a good idea.'

'So what house is he going to be in now?'

'Gryffindor.' Neville made a little gasping noise that sounded somewhere between the squeak of a mouse and the sound a duck makes. Draco had to try hard not to laugh.

'But … and … why … how …'

'Breathe, Neville,' Hermione said. 'It's ok … Draco's told us that he's changed, and apparently we believe him.'

'Apparently?' said Harry. 'Oh that's nice.'

'Oh Harry, I didn't mean it like that!'

'No, that's fine. Just make sure to apparently … well whatever … put your own sarcastic comment on the end!' and he turned into his own corner and sulked.

Draco thought Harry was cute when he sulked, and it made him feel great to think that Harry had believed him when he had told him he was sorry … even if Harry hadn't wanted him to know it at the time. He doubted Harry wanted him to know it now, and if he pressed the subject Harry would deny it … but his reaction to Hermione's statement had made it fairly clear to Draco how Harry felt about his apology.

'Have you seen anyone else yet, Neville?' Ron asked.

'I just came from a carriage with Seamus and Luna.'

'Oh I bet Seamus is loving that,' Ron said, smiling wickedly.

'He's not in a good mood at all.'

'I thought he would be,' Hermione said. 'He must have had to have really fought with his mum to let him come back this year. I would have thought he'd be happy just to be here.'

'Well he wouldn't be, having to keep old Loopy Luna entertained like that. You should get back to him … not leave him by himself for too long.'

'No, it's not that. Dean sent him an owl the other week: he said his mum wouldn't let him come back to Hogwarts this year.'

Hermione spun around to face Neville. 'What? Why? Dean's not even got magical parents. How did they find out about our world?'

'Seamus said that they read his journal and when they found out about …'

'They read his journal? What's he doing keeping a journal?' Ron asked, incredulous that a boy should keep a diary.

'Ron, that's not the point,' Hermione said dismissively. 'Go on Neville.'

'Well Seamus said that when Dean's mum found out about the war and Dumbledore and … and about living with you, Harry …'

'What? What've I got to do with anything?' Harry demanded.

'Seamus said that Dean's mum said that it couldn't be safe, sleeping in the same room as the boy who You-Know-Who is out to kill. I'm sorry Harry.'

This news made Harry feel much worse, but in a way it was a relief. Harry had been getting bogged down in trying to figure out confusing feelings he was shaping about Malfoy – unsure if he was friend or foe, if he could or ever should forgive him for his role in Dumbledore's death. This new news, as infuriating as it was, gave him an excuse to vent his anger on someone other than his friends.

'Well then Dean's mum's an idiot then,' Harry said fuming. 'How can she think that Voldemort's just going to waltz into the school – into our common room, for that matter – and kill me or Dean.'

'Well he has had Death Eaters in there before,' Draco interjected. The face he pulled as soon as he had said it showed how horrified he was at how stupid a thing it had been to say, but the damage was done now.

'Yeah,' said Ron, 'and we all know whose fault that was.' He shot Draco a death stare the likes of which Harry had never seen coming from Ron before, and pushed himself off his seat and dragged a confused looking Neville out of the train compartment.

'You should go after him,' Harry said to Hermione, who was looking more worried.

'I've never seen him so angry. Not even when you were entered into the Tri-wizard, Harry,' she said, a sad, worried expression on her face.

'Go,' Harry said sympathetically, nodding towards the door to the hall. Hermione got up and left, looking down the hall for Ron.

'I'm sorry Harry. That was a really stupid thing to say,' Draco said.

'No kidding. You know what? Just don't talk to me at all, Malfoy.' Harry said grumpily, turning back to his corner. 'I may have to protect you, but I don't have to talk to you to do that.' A long silence was drawn out between the two old enemies.

'For what it's worth, I think Dean's mum's an idiot too.'

- - - - - - -

Draco hadn't felt as out of place at Hogwarts since his first night as a first year student there. He no longer wore green and silver – his robes had magically changed colours to Gold and Red, the Gryffindor colours, and Draco felt completely out of place. Not only that, but the school itself felt wrong.

At the train station was the first time anyone had had a chance to assess the damage the previous year's events had had on the student body, and Draco was surprised so many parents had pulled their children out of Hogwarts. Many of the Slytherin sixth and seventh years Draco had been friendly with were missing (though the damage was not quite as bad as Lupin had first suggested) and Draco noticed that well formed groups that everyone had always seen as strong bonds of friendships were now missing one or even two of the students in them. No group seemed untouched by the breaking of Hogwarts' defences last year, and Draco felt another strong pang of guilt over what he had done and the consequences his actions had held, even down to friends being torn apart at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

He looked around for familiar faces but saw that none of his old gang was there. No Crabbe, no Goyle, no Pansy. It made him sad to see that he was having to start completely anew, but he realised it was probably for the best. Had his friends been there he would have been outed right away … they all knew his dirty little secret because of their parents positions in the Dark Arts…they all knew he had betrayed Voldemort and had killed Dumbledore.

'What are you looking around at?' asked Ron, who had returned to Harry's side moments ago. 'Looking for the next person you can off?'

'Shut up, Ron,' Harry said. Draco was surprised by this – almost as surprised as Ron seemed to be. Ron shut up and didn't say anything else until they had reached the carriages that would take them to the Hogwarts castle.

'Can you see them, Draco?' he asked in an undertone, malicious, quietly enough for Harry not to notice. This year Draco could see the ugly creatures that pulled the carriages – a mark of his having seen someone die. It had been Dumbledore he had seen die, and Ron knew he would have been able to see the terrible creatures. Draco shot him a death stare and climbed into the carriage, sitting next to Harry, leaving an empty space next to Hermione for Ron.

The short ride gave Draco an opportunity to do something he had been meaning to address since he had seen Hermione outside the Ministry. The ride was short enough that if what he wanted to say backfired he would not have to spend too much time with the three Gryffindors, but was also inescapable, so that he knew he would be heard out.

'Hermione,' Draco said, 'I wanted to say something to you.'

Hermione looked up from her lap. 'Oh? What's that?'

'I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all those times I called you a Mudblood and said you were a bad witch. And for all the terrible things I'd said in general. And for telling people you were shagging Dean Thomas …'

'What!' both Ron and Hermione said in unison.

'Oh … well anyway. I'm sorry,' he finished.

'Whole lot of good that does.'

'I don't really care if you believe me or not, Weasley,' Draco said. 'I just wanted Granger to know that all those things I said I didn't mean … that it was just what was expected of Lucius Malfoy's son.'

'A likely story,' Ron said.

Hermione looked from Ron to Harry, and finally at Malfoy. She took a moment, staring him in the eyes, and Draco held her gaze. 'I accept your apology,' she said finally. Ron's jaw dropped to the bottom of the carriage.

'You don't actually believe him, do you?' Ron asked, flabbergasted.

Hermione gave Draco another long, piercing stare. 'I do.'

'Has the whole world gone mad?' Ron asked. He was answered with silence. 'I guess so.'

- - - - - - -

When Harry, Ron, Hermione and a new Gryffindor boy sat down together at the Gryffindor table the Great Hall buzzed with a whisper of questions. When people began to realise that it was Draco Malfoy, and that Harry and he weren't trying to tear each other's eyes out, but instead were simply ignoring each other politely, the entire hall erupted in surprise.

'What are you doing?' Seamus Finnegan shot at Harry from where he sat just across the long Gryffindor table. 'What are you doing eating with him?'

'He has a name, Finnegan.'

'No,' Seamus said, looking directly at Malfoy for the first time, 'that's my name.' Draco looked as though he had no idea how to reply to that. Obviously no one on the Slytherin table would ever be so flippant.

'Anyway, what's he doing here? And in Gryffindor colours?' Seamus demanded of Harry.

'His mum wanted him moved from Slytherin so he wouldn't be affected by all the prats in there – you know, all the Death Eater's kids.'

'Well I would have thought the first step would be to not marry and have a kid with a Death Eater if she was so worried about that!' Seamus said, glaring at Malfoy. Harry had to admit, he had a point.

'Look,' Draco said to Harry, 'this obviously isn't going to stand up. I don't know what idiot came up with it. I'm here,' he said, turning to Seamus, 'because I ran out on my father and on Voldemort and now McGonagall's moved me from Slytherin to keep me away from all of them and so Harry can protect me. Satisfied?' he shot.

'So you've left your father?' Draco nodded. 'And you've run off from Voldemort and his Death Easters?' Draco nodded again. 'And McGonagall believes you?'

'Yes,' Draco said.

'Then yes,' Seamus said, and he went back to his mashed potatoes.

'How did you manage to convince your mum to let you come back this year?' Hermione asked. 'You had to fight tooth and nail to stay at the end of last year, even for Dumbledore's funeral.'

'Well she almost didn't let me, but I told her that if she didn't let me come back than I would just come back anyway.'

'And she took you to that?'

'Haha, no! She wouldn't talk to me for a whole day after I threatened to leave!'

'So how did you manage to convince her?'

'I didn't.'

'What?' Ron asked.

'I ran away. I expect she'll be coming up here any day now to try to get me back.' The part of the table that had been listening to Seamus' conversation laughed and everyone went back to eating the beginning of term feast.

Harry noticed that a lot of people who hadn't heard Draco's explanation kept looking over to where they sat, and Seamus kept glancing at Draco out of the corner of his eye, obviously still not completely satisfied with what he had told him. This was a point that made itself very clear once the seventh year boys had finished the feast and gone up to their dorms.

'What are you doing?' Seamus asked when Draco made to get into Dean's old bed.

'I'm getting into bed,' he said, starting to undress. Harry saw something small fly across the room, from Seamus' bed to Draco's, and hit Draco in the head with a loud thump. Seamus had thrown his shoe at Draco.

'You're not sleeping in Dean's bed!' Seamus shouted. The Irish boy leapt across his own bed and tackled Draco to the floor before he could even reply to Seamus' comment.

'What the hell are you doing?' Harry shouted, jumping onto Seamus while Neville tried to grab hold of one of his legs, which was flailing around while Seamus tried to keep Draco pinned to the floor. Ron watched on with glee.

'He's not sleeping in Dean's bed!'

'But it's not … oomph!' Harry got kicked in the head by one of Seamus' flailing legs.

'Bloody hell,' Ron said, and went over to help Neville restrain Seamus.

Seamus stopped moving about when he realised he had hurt Harry, and Ron and Neville lifted him off Draco. The blonde boy was the most dishevelled Harry had ever seen him, having been half undressed already when Seamus had jumped him, and with his hair in a total mess. The sight made Harry's stomach flip in a weird unfamiliar way.

'What are you doing?' Ron asked Seamus, who had now stopped moving altogether. The other boys watched on in horror as the Irish boy went from fierce rage to breaking down into tears, and Ron and Neville, having no idea what to do, dropped him. Seamus picked himself up and stormed out of the dormitory. In a way Harry was glad for the scene, as it stopped him thinking about what he had just felt seeing Draco half dressed and dishevelled like that.

'What now?' Neville asked.

'Go to bed, I guess,' Harry said.

'Where?' Draco asked, looking thoroughly unsure of what to do now.

'Use Dean's old bed.'

'But he just said …'

'I know,' Harry said, 'but it's the only other bed in here. The boys finished getting ready for bed (Harry stopped himself from looking over at Draco as he got changed … couldn't even figure out why he had to stop himself in the first place) and one by one got into bed. Then Harry realised that in situations like this it would have been Dean who would have gone to find Seamus and make sure he was ok. Harry got back out of bed and went out into the staircase.

'Hey,' said Harry when he found a still crying Seamus just up the tower a little from their dorm.

'Hey,' Seamus replied miserably, wiping a tear from his cheek. Harry sat down next to him.

'What was all that about.'

'Sorry for kicking you in the face.'

'Don't worry about it. Seamus, what's up?'

'I miss him.'

'I know you were best friends, but you've still got Neville. And you've got me and Ron …'

'It's not that. Dean was my best friend. He was special.' Harry couldn't quite understand what Seamus was trying to tell him. The two sat in silence for a few minutes.

'Maybe Dean's mum will change her mind. Maybe when she sees nothing bad happens at Hogwarts then …'

'It's not that,' Seamus said. 'And she won't change her mind.'

'But if it's not because of Voldemort…?'

Seamus began to cry again. 'It's my fault, Harry. Dean's mam won't let him come back because of me. And I came even when I knew. Even when my mam didn't want me to. I shouldn't be here! It's my fault!' and Seamus started sobbing now as well as crying. Harry moved closer to him and Seamus turned to rest his head on his shoulder. It was cold up the tower and Harry was just in his pyjamas, so Seamus' warmth was welcome. The boy cried for another couple of minutes before he grew silent once again except for the occasional hiccup.

'Seamus, what did you mean by Dean's mum won't let him come back because of you?'

'She read his journal.'

'But that's not your fault! If anything it's mine! You shouldn't be blaming yourself. Blame me. If I wasn't here …'

'No … that's just what I told Neville.'

'Then what?'

'Dean and I … me and Dean were … Oh, don't worry Harry.'

'Seamus, it's ok … you can tell me.'

The boy sniffed and moved away from Harry to look him properly in the eye. 'Dean's mam found out that Dean and me were together.'

'What do you…? Oh!'

Seamus looked like he was about to cry again and looked down at his feet, Harry noticed only one of which still had a shoe on it.

'Hey,' Harry said. 'Don't cry.' Seamus sniffed loudly and Harry burst into laughter. Seamus looked at Harry in shock, but then smiled himself.

'I'm sorry,' Seamus said.

'Don't be. I can't believe Dean's mum would do that!'

'It's my fault. I shouldn't be here. If I wasn't here …'

'Don't say that again. It's not your fault. It's his mum's fault. You have just as much right to get a magical education as anyone else.'

Seamus sat there silently for a moment and then said, 'Thanks Harry.' The boy seemed to realise that Harry was in his pyjamas for the first time and said, 'Geez, you must be freezing!'

Harry laughed. 'A little. Come on.' He got up and offered Seamus a hand up too.

'So you're not freaked out … that me and Dean … that we were going out?'

'What? No. But Dean was going out with Ginny.'

'Yeah,' Seamus said. 'He says he likes me better, though,' he added with a cheeky grin on his face. 'Don't tell Ron but, Harry. Please?'

'About Dean liking you more than his sister?' Harry laughed.

'No … about Dean and me. He wouldn't understand.'

'Ok, I won't. But what about Hermione?' It seemed strange that Seamus wouldn't say not to tell Ron and Hermione.

'Oh, Hermione's known for ages. She guessed some time last year.'

'Oh.'

The two boys walked back down to their room and split up to go to their separate beds. Harry noticed that Seamus was too worn out from crying to even look to see if Draco had taken Dean's bed.

Thank you sososo much to everyone who reviewed or sent me an email. I realise that I was being a little desperate sounding last week, so I will do the opposite now and say please don't review! (Let's see if reverse psychology really works!!)

But an especially BIG thank-you to leisalmae for your wonderfully kind words, cdlowe8 for your time and coments and Dragenphly for your suggestion (I took it :D)

Hope you enjoyed,

Thayle N

P.S. Exams are over so Woo Hoo!