Summary: Draco has to learn what love is after a life without being shown any. Can Harry, who is unexpectedly his mate, show him what it's like to truly be loved? SLASH

Disclaimer: Don't own. Would love to, though.

Warning: Do you flee at the sight of gays? I'd start running now.

A/N: I've put all of my active fanfictions in a list, so instead of jumping from fiction to fiction, there will be a set order when things will be worked on and updated. Also, in college now and working my ass off, so updates might be even slower until I can work in usable free time. I'm stuck using Google Docs too. Pfft.

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Show Me The Meaning Of Love - Chapter Ten

There was an awkward silence in the carriage as they reached Hogwarts, the slight jolt the only thing to tell them it had stopped. Draco gave Harry an almost imperceptible nod before moving to open the door. Glances were thrown around the carriage as everyone waited for someone else to break the moment apart. Finally, Ron stood up and, hands shoved in his pockets, he kicked the door open and ducked out into the night air. As Hermione was about to stand and follow after him, she looked up to find Blaise offering his arm to her.

"Shall we?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

She glanced after Ron with a small frown before shrugging her shoulders and linking her arm with Blaise's as she stood. "If we're going to freak out Hogwarts with those two, we might as well go all out, right?"

"Quite," Blaise replied with a fox-like grin as he helped her out of the carriage.

Harry smiled as the two exited the carriage, secretly thrilled that Hermione was accepting of his situation. He could only hope that Ron would follow her example soon.

With a sigh, he turned to Pansy, his lips quirked to the side as he bit the inside of his cheek in consideration. "You know, you're not that bad of a person, Parkinson."

Pansy snorted. "Of course, Potter," she said with a flip of her hair. "Took you long enough to notice."

Letting out a bark of laughter, Harry smiled. "Dumbledore's influence had me a little biased, so you'll have to forgive me."

Rolling his eyes, Draco fell into step between them, gently urging them forward. "Careful, Potter. Don't get her rambling on that. She can go on forever about his prejudice to our house."

"House unity my ass," Pansy snarled in response.

Harry let out another laugh, softer this time. "I think that's a subject for a time when people aren't trying to listen in." He cast his eyes around at the other students eying them curiously. "Should I sit with you and make things obvious or sit with my house and let Dumbledore tell the school?" he asked Draco absently as he glared faintly at a pair of second-year Ravenclaws until they stopped staring.

"They'd eat you alive!" Pansy interjected cheerfully.

"I don't know, Harry," Hermione said softly, twisting slightly so she could look back at him.

"Oh, come on Granger," Pansy sneered. "We know you never would. You're such a wuss. How you ended up in Gryffindor is beyond me."

"I am not a wuss! Where do you get off saying something like that!"

Sighing, Blaise tightened his hold on Hermione's arm and leaned closer to her. "You're going to have to prove it."

Startled, Hermione jerked her head away from his and glared at him. "Don't do that!" she snapped. "I don't have to prove anything."

"So you are a wuss," Pansy chimed.

Deciding that the argument was turning into a fight, Draco rolled his eyes and finally interrupted. "Look, I don't care who sits where, but if we don't hurry up, we'll be the last ones in the Hall. I realize that we're the center of attention already, but there's no need for a grand entrance." Heeding Draco's words, the group quickened their pace.

"I'm sitting with you, Draco," Harry said softly, moving his wand up the sleeve of his robe discreetly.

"Suit yourself," Draco said with a shrug, following suit when he saw the motion.

Blaise, having glanced over his shoulder at the right time, noticed the precaution and snorted. "Paranoid, Potter?"

Harry gave him a flat stare. "I have every right to be paranoid. I can't imagine you not doing the same when venturing over to the Gryffindor table. Unless you're that full of yourself."

Blaise blinked at Harry a few times in surprise before bursting into laughter. "I'd watch him, Drake. He may look like a lion, but he bites like a snake."

"Enough about snakes and lions," Hermione snapped quickly. "Why are we going towards the Slytherin table? I'm not sitting there."

Blaise slowed to a stop beside his house table, smiling charmingly down at the brunette. "Oh really?" he asked sweetly as he gently forced her to sit down. "It certainly looks like you are." Grinning, he sat down beside her.

Hermione balled her hands in her lap, face turning red. "This is ridiculous."

"You'll get over it," Blaise cooed, placing an arm around her shoulder.

Harry shook his head at Blaise's antics and sat down across from Hermione, ignoring the glares and shocked looks from the school population. His nerves relaxed slightly once Draco was seated next to him. The blond sent a glare down the table, effectively silencing the whole of the Slytherin house. Unfortunately, the rest of the Hall seemed to be immune. Just as Harry was finding that he could manage to ignore the rest of the students, a sudden commotion burst out from the other side of the room. Looking up, Harry saw Ron rounding the Gryffindor table with Dean Tomas trying unsuccessfully to slow him down.

"Well shit," he muttered, lowing his head so he could rub the bridge of his nose.

Hermione followed his gaze and sighed heavily. "Should have seen this coming."

"Malfoy, take whatever spell you put on them off right now!" Ron snarled as soon as he was feet away from the table. When his hand went to his back pocket for his wand, Harry stood up abruptly.

"Don't you dare, Ronald Weasley," Harry said sharply. "Leave it. I do not want to deal with this right now."

"Are you kidding me?" Ron asked, his voice raising slightly in pitch. "That ferret has done something, I just know it!"

"This is not something to be discussing in front of the entire school."

"Harry..."

Frustrated, Harry slammed his hands down on the table and a strong breeze suddenly picked up, ruffling his hair and clothes. "I said drop it!"

A shocked silence engulfed the hall as the breeze surged briefly, then dissipated. A throat cleared beside them and Harry noticed for the first time that the headmaster had moved from his seat at the head table.

"What's going on here?" Dumbledore asked softly, his blue eyes twinkling pleasantly.

Ron quickly jumped at the opportunity. "Malfoy has Harry and Hermione under some sort of spell, Professor!"

Casting a disbelieving look at Ron, Harry spoke up. "With all due respect, Headmaster, this is a personal matter."

The twinkle disappeared from Dumbledore's eyes and a frown creased his brow. "Ah. Mr. Weasley, they are not under any kind of spell. The castle would have informed me the moment the spell was cast or when they stepped on school grounds. I am surprised, however that Harry has not told you of his situation with Mr. Malfoy."

Harry snorted. "I did tell him. He's gone into denial."

"You only said it because he's got you under imperio!"

Dumbledore place a firm hand on Ron's shoulder. "That's quite an accusation, Mr. Weasley. As I have said, the castle would have informed me if any of my students were under a spell, especially one as harmful as that. Now, let us all calmly return to our own tables and discuss this matter later. That includes you as well, Harry. It is not absolutely necessary for you to be near Mr. Malfoy at the moment."

The air in the hall grew restless as Harry stared back at the Headmaster, eyes narrowed slightly.

Sensing an impending eruption from Harry, Draco sighed and finally spoke up. "But Headmaster, were you not the one asking for house unity? Potter and Granger are merely sitting with us, not starting a fight. Surely you wouldn't tell us not to do something you have been asking for since first year?" Draco's voice was smooth and compelling, though his eyes met Dumbledore's challengingly. All eyes were on him now.

Taken aback, Dumbledore studied Draco carefully before suddenly turning to beam at Harry. "Of course, of course. If they wish to stay they can. Move along now, there's a sorting ceremony to start."

As Dumbledore walked away, Ron leaned between Blaise and Hermione to raise his fist threateningly at Draco. "I'm not finished with you yet, Malfoy," he hissed and then turned to return to the Gryffindor table. "Come on, Dean." When silence met his ears, he stopped and turned to see Dean eying the empty seat on Harry's other side. "Why, you...!"

Harry shot Ron a sharp glance before gesturing vaguely at Dean. "No one's stopping you from sitting here, Dean. The Headmaster's opened the gates, so to speak."

Dean hesitated for a moment before quickly rounding the table and sitting next to Harry. Furious, Ron spun on his heel, muttering angry words under his breath.

The hall suddenly burst with talk again and a few students quickly hopped over to another table just as the first years were being led in.

"Interesting example you've set, eh Harry?" Dean said humorously.

Harry nodded distractedly in agreement. While he appreciated the gesture, he wasn't sure of what to make of Dean's decision to join him at the Slytherin table. Had one of the bleating sheep finally found access to their mind? For a pessimistic moment, Harry found this unlikely.

"You look different."

Harry looked over see Dean studying him intently. "Part of my inheritance this summer," he said slowly.

"That's cool! I didn't get much of a magical inheritance. Do you have any creature blood in you?"

Harry grew wary. Dean usually became chatty when he was trying to flirt. "A little bit of elf. Don't know how much." His hand lifted briefly to his ear as he watched a rather clumsy looking first year join the Hufflepuff table.

"Wicked!" Dean said cheerfully as he reached out a hand to touch a pointed ear.

Harry quickly grabbed Dean's wrist and gritted his teeth. "Don't. Touch."

Beside him, Draco snarled quietly and clenched his fists. "Get to your table, Thomas."

Harry glanced back at Draco in mild alarm. "We're in the middle of sorting ceremony. He can stay."

"No, he can't," Draco snapped. "Leave, Thomas."

Pansy reached across the table and touched Draco's wrist. "Drackie, just ignore the idiot for now," she said soothingly.

"Now."

"Draco," Harry hissed, growing aware of the eyes turning to them. "Are you trying to cause a scene?"

Dean suddenly laughed and pat Harry on the shoulder. "It's okay. He has every right to be possessive. I'm a little jealous of him, to be honest." In quick succession, he kissed Harry on the cheek and retreated to the other side of the hall. Shocked, Harry gaped at him as he roughly ran his hand across his cheek.

The hall fell silent once more. Even the Sorting Hat seemed to sense what was going on and had pause on its announcement of the placement of the first year sitting under it. Hermione was the first to react when Draco stood up from the table and started moving, fury rolling off of him in waves. Seeing Harry still staring after Dean in shock, she hissed at him. "Harry!"

His eyes followed hers and he was on his feet as well. "Shit!" He caught Draco by the arm before he was halfway across the hall and bodily hauled him out of the room. There was a muffled eruption of chatter once the doors closed behind them and Harry quickly formulated ten ways to slowly kill Dean Thomas for causing the scene.

"Let me go," Draco hissed as he struggled against Harry to get to the doors. "I'll kill him for touching what's mine!"

"Hey!" Harry firmly place his hands on either side of Draco's face, forcing him to look at him. "As flattered as I am that you are so possessive of me, he is not worth the effort."

"Nobody touches what's mine!" Draco growled out, though he calmed slightly under Harry's touch.

"Merlin, Malfoy! What are you going to do? Murder every person that so much as looks at me now?"

"He didn't just look at you."

"You were irritated far before he kissed me!" Harry tore away from Draco, running a hand through his hair in an attempt to calm himself.

"You probably liked it," Draco spat out angrily, his Veela Rage rising again. "Didn't you, Potter!"

"Don't make a habit of automatically assuming the worst from me," Harry spat back without turning around. "Believe me, if he pulls something stupid like that again and you don't get to him first, I'll beat the shit out of him."

Draco huffed and crossed his arms. "So you don't like him."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned. "I don't like people who change their opinion of me on a whim."

"Maybe you aren't so stupid after all," Draco drawled.

"Oh, har har, Malfoy."

Suddenly, the doors to the Great Hall opened, admitting Dumbledore into the corridor. Smiling, he closed the doors behind him and stepped towards them. "I trust that everything is well now. No more Veela Rage?"

"I believe you already know that, sir," Harry said levelly. "We can handle this, so there's no need to bother yourself."

"Ah, well, at least return to the Feast," Dumbledore said pleasantly.

"Sorry. We don't have much of an appetite right now."

"Then I will show you to your dorm."

"I'm not daft, Professor. I know where the tower is."

"You will not be returning to the Gryffindor tower for dorming, Harry."

Harry paused. "What?"

"The two of you will be rooming in a dorm separate from the other Houses for both of your well being and Mr. Malfoy's peace of mind."

"You've warned the whole school then."

"Naturally. They have a right to know and now Mr. Malfoy can legally use his Veela Rights. The student body has been warned to not interfere unless the wish to suffer the consequences at the hand of a possessive veela." Dumbledore chuckled lightly.

Harry sighed. "What about classes?"

"Fortunately, yours and Mr. Malfoy's class choices were very similar so we were able to combine them. You will have all of the same classes and in December, Professor Snape has offered to tutor you on anything that you cannot learn on your own."

Harry nodded solemnly, masking the flash of panic at remember Mating Season. "If that's all..."

"Actually, Harry, there is something I need to speak with you about. At your convenience, of course."

The air in the corridor suddenly grew restless. Harry new exactly what Dumbledore wanted to talk to him about and he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it. He glanced over at Draco and saw that he too could guess what Dumbledore wanted. The look on his face was sour. "Of course. Our rooms?"

"Follow me," Dumbledore said cheerfully, heading towards the stairs. "The entrance to your rooms will be across from the library. I've placed Sir Cadogan there to guard the door."

"No," Harry said sharply. "I refuse to have him guarding our rooms."

"It's just a stupid portrait, Potter," Draco muttered.

Harry gave Draco an irritated glance. "Yes, it is stupid. That's why I don't want to deal with it."

The two brooded in silence as the climbed the stair after Dumbledore, casting glares at each other every now and then.

"What's the password?" Draco asked finally, ignoring Harry's pointed look when the knight appointed as their guard started shouting.

Dumbledore failed to notice their irritation with each other and happily offered that name of a muggle candy.

When they stopped in front of the portrait, Sir Cadogan greeted them loudly, causing Harry to wince. When the knight attempted to start up a conversation with Dumbledore, the air in the corridor turned cold. Sighing, Draco quickly interrupted what promised to be a long string of pleasantries with the password and firmly pulled Harry with him when the portrait swung forward. The door pulled itself shut behind them, leaving Dumbledore outside.