Welcome… to the dreaded day itself… (LJ: Maiwiz) {November 28th}
Chapter 10: Leaked
It was another normal day for Draco… or so he thought. He awoke earlier than Harry was always, straightened his hair with a straightening charm as always, and snuck out to get his early cuppa before showering as always. But that's when he heard the unquestionable flurry of gossiping from up the hall, right by the elevator and the owl post. He gulped, not used to this, not used to this at all- He watched as a figure ran back from it, and saw it to be Pansy, with only some relief. She would only wake up so early in the morning if it was something serious.
"In. Now." She growled, her bangs covering her expression as she tilted her head down and forced him back into their room. "What is it?" Draco asked anxiously, chancing a look back at Harry, snuggled up in his bed, thankfully still asleep for the time being. Pansy hissed and showed the paper she had hidden behind her back. "Those no-good, ugly, girlfriend-ridden bastards! Why if I don't- "Draco shushed her and jerked a hand back at Harry, who had groaned and shifted. Pansy looked grouchy at being shushed, but Draco ignored her and looked at the newspaper.
Boy Who Lived Twice… with a former Death Eater!
Draco had expected this. He had expected the crushing pain in his gut and the bad memories he had tried to put away forever in a short amount of time rushing out again. But it still hurt him in a way he had never experienced before: it hurt his heart. And maybe that was the least Slytherin thing to say in the moment, but that was it. "Oh Draco…" Pansy said softly, seeing something in Draco's expression he didn't. He wrapped his arms around the girl that meant so much, but who he could never love. Not like…
"Parkinson, why are you groping my man?" Harry asked to be funny, but had a sleepy yawn in the middle of it. He scratched his head and turned to try and see Draco, and Draco turned around to see him. "Draco, what's wrong?" Harry asked, squinting without his glasses, padding for it on the nightstand. Draco came over, in a frozen daze, helped him find his glasses that had dropped onto the floor in the night, and showed him the paper when he had slid them on. "Shite. Why do they always do this? Can't they care about the people who died instead of my love life?" He cried out desperately.
We've got an edited version of our previously submitted photo, and it's not pretty! Shown here is none other than our Golden Boy locked in an amorous embrace with son of convicted Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy and his Black's wife. Draco Malfoy was the rival of our darling army leader back in high school, but with nefarious plans and having a new burn mark on his arm, he had no time for that anymore. But there are questions to be answered… What did Malfoy do to Harry Potter that caused him to be with him? Theories and more on 6.
"I'm sorry, Harry. So, so, sorry…" Draco cried, beginning to break down from the stress. Once the internship company saw this bad publicity, his chance at anything other than managing his Father's name was gone. And with it, the small respect he had gained back from Britain, as he had now 'enchanted' the Chosen one. Harry got up urgently and smooshed him with a mind-numbing snog. "Please don't cry, Draco, you mess up your hair when you do." Draco gasped from laughter and indignation as Harry wound his fingers through Draco's fine-done hair, and Harry pulled back in. Draco heard the door close but didn't acknowledge it.
~.~.~.~.
A brief time later, as Harry had resisted the urge to tear Draco's sodden pajamas off as there was a knock on the door. Draco tensed, and Harry ran a finger over his worry line. "Don't worry, only friends know where I reside." Draco relaxed slightly and allowed him to untangle himself from their position on Harry's bed and went to the door. Hermione, Ron, and surprisingly Parkinson was stationed there, and each seemed keen to be the first person inside the door. After being pushed several times to the hollers of all them, Harry had managed to make them quiet at the sound of the door slamming. Draco shook quietly. "Enough. What is it?"
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, HARRY?" Hermione yelled, and sparks flew out of her wand. "The idiocy… I can't believe you two… wandering around indecent in public like that…" She ranted. What in Merlin's name is she on about? Harry began to shake in anger. "Okay, Hermione, they weren't actually in public. They were in the woods, for Godric's sake." Harry's shoulders untensed as Ron came to defend him. "Thanks, Ron." Pansy spoke up. "Did you not hear any cameras?" She asked, more at ease then Harry thought she should be. "Yes, but I thought It was just twigs snapping from other couples." Harry said woefully.
"Obviously not." Hermione shook her head at the newspaper crumbled in her hand. Harry knew she had his best interests in mind, but she was always taking things way out of proportion while Draco was still around. "Why don't we all settle down?" Ron asked in a peace-making voice, eager to make his girlfriend not angry enough to boil a hard-boiled egg on her head. Hermione, mentally exhausted, spent herself on the couch while Pansy lingered by Draco's desk. Ron, however, stood in solidarity by Harry.
"I'm sorry, Harry, it's just that you haven't had media attention on you for so long. We though the last one was just a fluke. What are we to do? This isn't Skeeter." Hermione commented to no one. "We should start with an interview, I reckon." Ron thought to himself. All heads turned to him, even Draco's. "Are you off your rocker, Weasley?" Draco spoke for the first time. "Don't look at me like that! Since it's obviously real, and we have no other leverage, the best thing to do Is to change the bad publicity into good publicity." Hermione stared at him in shock. Pansy looked at him incredulously. "What? I do learn a thing or two at Auror training, you know." He said, offended. "It's not that… just, how will we convince the most prejudiced pureblooded people that I'm in the right for dating Draco? They'll skin him alive."
Ron hummed and rubbed his shave with this thumb. "Well, for one, you might want to consult with Hermione about setting off a bunch of protests. Might make them buttered up and willing to see another side of it after they see all the wounded elves because of the war." Hermione began to scribble furiously on a parchment of paper she summoned. "Next, Draco, bring that internship to light. Show them what you can do. You should probably bring up the fact that George is in it too." Draco nodded, still frozen. "Parkinson, if you could get some blackmail about whoever sent in those pictures, that'd be damn helpful." Ron turned back to Harry as Pansy nodded affirmatively and began to call for an owl. "And lastly… Harry, just be yourself. Make them bend at your will, buddy."
Harry, for once, couldn't find anything to say. He went back to his bed and sat down next to Draco, holding hands tightly. He felt their world had changed drastically again, and there was no going back from it. He only hoped Draco could get through it. And I, too, he thought, looking at Draco's worried face as the hustle and bustle continued and the whispering increased throughout the building.