Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

A/N: This was originally two chapters, but they were both just so stupidly short that I thought I would combine them, and even then they only reach a little over 2,000 words. =/ Oh well, the story's nearly over! In my head I figure there'll be 2 more chapters left in this, with an ending that will allow me to write a sequel if you want me to and if I want to. For now though, enjoy!

Chapter 12.

The next day was bright and sunny and was regarded by Harry with a complex mixture of relief and pain. The previous day had been spent by Harry in bed, crying, and he awoke to feel a strange lightness in his heart, one he had never expected to feel after the messy 'break up' between him and Draco. Though his heart and body still throbbed dully, he could see himself coming out the other end of the tunnel with Ron and Hermione at his side just as always.

Getting out of bed quietly, so as to not wake Ron who had slumped into the room at some ungodly hour after doing who knows what with Hermione, Harry padded over to the en suite bathroom that all the eighth years had connected to their rooms. Upon reaching the mirror he yelped at his reflection. It looked like Hermione had cast the stinging curse on him again, like she had the previous year.

His eyes were swollen and pink, his nose was red and shiny and his lips were chapped and cut from where he had bitten them too hard in an attempt to hold back his tears. Thankfully, because of the travelling last year, Harry knew some tricks with charms and glamour spells, and quickly corrected his face, putting it back to its usual proportions.

When he walked back into his room Ron was stirring. Harry perched on the end of Ron's bed and cast a cold wash spell that made it feel like you were being doused in cold water, without getting wet.

"Harry!" Ron screeched, clutching his duvet around him. "You little prick, I was getting up! Oh. You look better." he finished upon seeing Harry's face. Harry smiled at him.

"Yeah, thanks, I feel better."

"Potion wore off then?"

"Err, yeah, something like that."

"Breakfast?"

"Sure." Harry smiled, glad to have some normalcy back in his life. The boys got dressed and headed straight for the Great Hall.

"So, what d'ya wanna do today?" Ron asked, his mouth full of scrambled eggs and toast.

"Hogsmeade?" Harry replied, wanting to get out of the grounds and figuring using the eighth year privileges would be the perfect way.

"Okay, mate. You not eating?"

"Nah, not hungry." And it was true. Harry knew he should be hungry; he hadn't eaten a thing the day before, but his stomach just wouldn't grumble for him. In fact, he felt bloated more than anything, like he would be sick if anyone made him eat something.

"Suit yourself." Ron replied before stuffing his face again.

"Do I want to know where Hermione is this morning?" Harry asked having noticed her absence.

"Ah, prolly best leave that be, Harry. 'Specially if you're already not hungry."

"Urgh, nice Ron, thanks." Ron shrugged.

"You asked, mate." Harry snorted at this and affectionately watched his friend eat. Allowing his gaze to wander, he glanced over at the Slytherin table, quickly scanning for a head of white blonde hair. His eyes were met with grey as he saw Draco staring right back at him. Harry blinked, smiled briefly, then returned his gaze to Ron, not waiting to see Draco's reaction.

Ron looked over his shoulder to see who Harry was looking at and shuddered when he remembered Harry's tearful admission. Hermione had talked and talked at him about Malfoy and Harry, and how Harry loved the ferret and how Malfoy had changed (Malfoy, changed?) and he had resentfully agreed to let it all play out. Now Ron felt like he could at least talk about it, as long as he didn't have to witness anything. 'I'm going to have to talk to him about it, aren't I?' he thought to himself with an internal sigh. 'Love counselling about the ferret. Great.'

When Ron had decided that his stomach was sufficiently filled they stopped off at the common room to grab the map and cloak (Harry never left the castle without them) before heading out the Main Entrance and walking off through the grounds. Once they were out the gates and were safe to hold a conversation without the risk of being overheard, Ron decided to leap in, both feet first.

"So, Harry... I saw you looking at the ferret at breakfast..." Harry's eyes widened in realisation.

"Ron, please don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing."

"What?"

"Counselling? Really? Sorry, Ron but it really just isn't your style."

"Hey! I can be emotional when I need to be. So...have you slept with him?"

"Ron!" Harry cried out, mortified.

"What?" Harry groaned and rubbed his temples tiredly with one hand.

"How much truth do you want to know?" he asked, blushing slightly at the thought of telling his best friend about his sexual endeavours.

"Oh Merlin." Ron's eyes went wide. "Oh sweet Merlin, you have haven't you? You've slept with the ferret. You've had sex with Malfoy!"

"Sh! Be quiet!" Harry pleaded, glancing nervously over his shoulder. "Yes, alright, yes! I've had sex with Draco, now please be more subtle about it!"

"When? Where? You better not have used my bed! Does this mean you're...together now, or something?" Ron whispered.

"Um, the night of the Reunion Ball... In my bed, and no, we're not together." Harry answered, just as quietly.

"What, so he just fucks you and leaves, you move on and everything's hunky dory again?" Ron's volume was increasing again as his anger rose.

"No, yes, well sort of. It's more complicated than that." Harry tried to placate him before he started roaring and tore back to the castle guns a-blazing. "I thought I was a one nighter, but I wasn't, he just got nervous and ran, but then he came back to apologise, and I accepted it, but I couldn't go out with him."

"Why not?" Ron asked, interested.

"It hurts too much to be with someone you love knowing they're only experimenting with you." Harry mumbled in reply.

"He was experimenting with you?" Ron yelled. "Using you?"

"No! Ron, just listen alright?" Ron nodded begrudgingly. "He only started to like me after he knew I liked him. That means that he was only curious. If he felt anything genuine he would have done something before. He was just lonely and when he heard that someone loved him he wanted to try feeling loved, so he went after me. Then he got scared because he realised he had just done something very big with someone who was very much in love with him and he ran. Simple as. Then he saw he hurt me, felt bad - he's not as heartless as you think he is - apologised and asked me out, out of guilt. I couldn't do it to myself so I said no. That's it. No using, no cheating or lying or scheming. Just another relationship in the world that didn't work out."

Ron thought about that for a few minutes before asking, "And you're okay with that? Last time I heard of it you were having a breakdown in the common room over not being with him."

"Of course I'm not okay with it." Harry replied quietly. "But it's what we both need. I've been hung up on him for much too long. I cried it out yesterday and woke up feeling a thousand times better. I need to move on Ron, and so does he." Ron conceded this point with a quiet nod of his head and they went the rest of the way to Hogsmeade in an amicable silence.


Draco Malfoy watched Harry at breakfast. 'Why isn't he eating?' he thought while absently twiddling his spoon in his porridge. Harry looked at him then. Draco stared back. Harry smiled and looked away. Draco continued staring. The Weasel looked over his shoulder at him. Draco scowled. The Weasel turned back round. Draco resumed staring at Harry.

'What can I do to make this work?' he asked himself. 'I need to be with him. It has to be him. Thinking of anyone else makes me feel sick. I definitely like him, but when does 'like' turn to 'love'?' Harry got up and moved out the hall with Weasley. Draco waited a bit then followed. He heard their footsteps ahead of his own and waited around a corner when he heard them go into the common room. They came back out, chatting about Quidditch and carried on in the opposite direction to where Draco was. He resumed the pursuit.

They reached the grounds and continued. Draco waited for them to walk a bit over the open grounds before skulking through the trees on the edge of the forest to follow them.

When they were out the gates and in the open, free of Hogwarts' spell boundaries, Draco cast a disillusionment charm on himself and then moved closer to the pair to hear their conversation.

He stayed deathly quiet throughout their conversing, making sure he didn't miss a word. His heart ached when he heard Harry's words, and his face flushed in anger and embarrassment at the Weasel's.

'How can I set this right?' he asked himself. 'I have to talk to Harry...but he probably wouldn't let me. He'd say it would give him hope or something. Granger. I need Granger on my side.' Having made his decision, Draco rushed back to the castle and to the dorms to find Granger and ask for her assistance.


"Granger." Hermione groaned and rolled over in bed. "Granger." The voice was louder this time. "Granger!" The yell was followed by a bang as Hermione's door was blasted off its hinges. Hermione sat up straight in bed.

"Eurgh! Merlin's balls, woman, cover yourself, I have no desire to see your lady bits!" Draco Malfoy screeched as he skidded into the room.

"Malfoy!" Hermione screamed as she clutched her duvet to her chest and slid down further under the covers, blushing furiously. "What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Night in with Weasley, eh? When can we expect the weasel babies?" Draco taunted, looking at the ruffled Granger bemusedly.

"About the same time we can expect Harry to bear the ferret babies." Hermione answered dryly. "Now what are you doing here? Don't think for a second that I don't know about what you did to Harry. He was a wreck you know." she narrowed her eyes at him. Draco winced.

"I know. I found him after you left. I apologised. He accepted but said he couldn't go out with me." Hermione's eyebrows rose in shock, then furrowed in a frown.

"But Harry loves you, why would he say no?" Draco sighed, then retold the whole story, including following Harry and Weasley out of the castle.

"I need him to see sense, see that I do... Like him. He's too stubborn though! He's too stubborn and I'm too much of a virgin to relationships. How do I know if I love him?" Draco asked dejectedly, sitting down heavily on the foot of Hermione's bed.

"Would you give everything up for him?" Hermione asked softly, seeing how broken Malfoy was about this. "Your name, your fortune, your manor, your pride?"

"I would give those up for no one!" Draco exclaimed, outraged at the idea. "I am a Malfoy for goodness sake!" Hermione sighed.

"Think about it. Think really hard, Malfoy. For Harry. This is Harry we're talking about. If it was for Harry, would you give it all up? If it meant you could be with him?" Draco sat there in silence for a bit, thinking.

"I could give up my name. I could give up my pride - hell I already have! I begged him, and Malfoy's don't beg." he paused. "But the manor. That's my home. My childhood. I'm not one to get sentimental about things, but I still grew up there. I couldn't give it up, despite the Dark Lord, despite the repossession of half of our belongings, if not for the grandeur, then for the memories." Hermione nodded.

"Okay, scrap the manor. What about your fortune, Malfoy? Would you be willing to become no more than a peasant for him?" Slowly, Draco nodded. Then shook his head. Then nodded again.

"I don't know. If he asked me to give it all away, I would. But without his ordering it, I couldn't do it." Hermione frowned in disappointment.

"Why's that, Malfoy?" Draco shook his head again.

"No. I won't tell you. You'll laugh at me, mock me. I know you don't have a good impression of me."

"I won't laugh, Malfoy. I promise. No matter how camp your answer is, even if it's that you want to buy lots of pink unicorns, I won't laugh." Draco shrivelled his nose in disgust at the unicorn idea.

"Please, Granger. Show some taste. I already think you have little for going out with the Weasel."

"Stop stalling, Draco. I will make you say it." Draco sighed, looked at Hermione once more with imploring eyes, then gave in.

"It would be our future." He said in a small, quiet voice. "If I got Harry, then I could give it all up apart from the money. It would be our future. It would buy our first house, our first pet...the things for our first child. I can't give that up. That future for us is something I'm not willing to give up." He finished even more quietly than he'd started.

He hadn't even known he was going to mention kids until it had come out of his mouth. It felt right, though; the thought of having children with Harry. Adoption may be the only way, Draco had never taken the time to explore his potions books for potions that made male pregnancy feasible, but it still felt like something he wanted to do.

Meanwhile, Granger was beaming at him. Not laughing, not mocking, not cooing nor fawning, just smiling.

"That is how you tell if you love him." Love. The word felt funny in Draco's head, but it warmed his heart. Yes. Love. He loved Harry.

"Thank you...Hermione." he said, smiling softly at her.

"You're welcome, Draco." he nodded once, then got up and left, allowing Hermione to get dressed. He loved Harry. Now he just needed to convince him that he did.

Draco sped back to his room to start planning. He knew how he would do this.

Chapter End.

A/N: Dun dun dun! Old animosity has been tamed, friendships have been formed, plans have been thought of! What will happen next? ;P Next chapter coming soon!