They made the front page of the Prophet the following morning. Because of course they did.
The Boy Who Lived and the Death Eater's Son — Friends?
By Rita Skeeter
Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, or as some reports have been calling him, The Chosen One, has been spotted walking around London with none other than Draco Malfoy, son of disgraced Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. According to our source, the pair looked "quite chummy" as they made their way down Oxford Street for some post-Christmas shopping.
The two chatted amiably as they made their way down Tottenham Court Road before braving the crowds on Oxford Street. By the time they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, they had picked up several shopping bags. Though The Daily Prophet was unable to discern what was purchased, the pair looked pleased with their trip.
Mr Malfoy was wearing a pair of tailored trousers and sensible boots paired with a black Burberry car coat. Mr Potter was in jeans and trainers and sported a jacket of unknown origin. Both young men were wearing their respective Hogwarts house scarves…
The article went on to detail what shop they had visited and even included an interview with a very confused Claire who clearly hadn't understood why two teenagers were such a big deal. The article included a picture of them taken from afar, and Harry had to admit, they did look "quite chummy". Because of course they did, they were dating for fuck's sake. Luckily, no doubt thanks to Hermione's blackmailing, Skeeter hadn't gotten close enough to hear any of their conversations or the article could have been much more sensational.
…
"I bloody well told you," Hermione said, brandishing the newspaper at Harry and Draco later that morning and Harry was so surprised to hear Hermione swear that he sat up a little straighter.
"No subtlety," Blaise agreed.
"But everyone knows we're friends," Harry said.
"Maybe the Hogwarts students do," Pansy snapped. "But no one outside of here knew until now." She looked at Draco in concern. "Draco, are you alright?" Draco nodded absently.
"Just, a little concerned about my mum," he said quietly. Shit. How could Harry have forgotten? Narcissa was in a precarious position at the Manor, what with Bellatrix staying with her and all.
"Did you want to talk to her?" Harry asked. Draco shook his head.
"Mother is smart. She'll likely say that I've befriended you for nefarious reasons."
"I'm sure plenty of people will think that," Hermione said darkly. "Don't open any unsolicited mail, Draco. Harry's fans can be a tad overprotective." She clenched her fists before relaxing them and Harry was sure she was remembering fourth year when someone had sent her bubotuber pus after Rita's ridiculous Valentine's Day article.
"I'm sure Narcissa will be fine," Pansy said, putting a hand on Draco's arm. He nodded.
"It's just," he started to say. "No one's ever cared about what I do before." It came out as more of a whine than he wanted it to. Harry let out a surprised laugh.
"Welcome to my world," he said. Draco brought up a hand and massaged his temples.
"How do you live with this?" he asked, dropping his hand after a moment. Harry shrugged.
"It's gotten easier now that some blond twit doesn't quote the articles at me at all hours of the day."
"Charming," Draco said and hit him with a throw pillow.
…
Though they ought to have expected it, it was still a surprise when Narcissa showed up to the Slytherin common room bright and early the next morning. It was made even more awkward by the fact that Draco wasn't there when she arrived.
"Well where is he?" she asked Blaise, Ron, Pansy and Hermione as she sat on one of the leather sofas in the common room.
"Um," Pansy said. She was still in her pajamas and she felt very underdressed next to Narcissa in her pristine robes.
"I can go find him," Ron offered. He was sitting ramrod straight on the sofa opposite Narcissa.
"I take it you're a Weasley," Narcissa said. Ron nodded.
"Yes, though I would like to point out that there are other red-headed wizarding families," he said.
"I was going off of the initials sewn into your pajama shirt," Narcissa replied, pointing at them. Ron flushed. "I was unaware there were any Weasleys in Slytherin house. Draco has never mentioned any of you."
"Ron's my boyfriend," Pansy said. She reached out and took his hand. Confusion flitted across Narcissa's face.
"But Christmas," she said quietly. "I thought."
"Oh," Pansy said. She forced out a laugh. "I had a lovely time at Christmas lunch, but no, Draco and I aren't together." Narcissa's frown deepened.
"But I—"
"—I'll just run and get Draco then," Ron said quickly.
"Where is Draco?" Narcissa asked, but Ron was already sprinting out of the room. None of the rest of them said anything. Hermione looked studiously at her hands. Narcissa turned her attention to Blaise. "Blaise?" He steeled himself and then met her gaze. "Where is Draco?"
"He's in the castle," Blaise said, unflinchingly holding eye contact. Narcissa clicked her tongue in irritation.
"Pansy." Narcissa's attention flicked to Pansy. "Where's the scarf I gave you?"
"I— what?" Narcissa breathed in sharply through her nose in irritation.
"Miss Granger." Hermione squeaked in alarm when Narcissa said her name. She had been quite sure that Draco's mother had no idea who she was. "It's nice to see you again. I believe the last time we met was at the Quidditch World Cup." Hermione relaxed and a tentative smile crossed her face.
"It's lovely to see you too, Mrs. Malfoy," Hermione said.
"You're also a Gryffindor," Narcissa continued as though Hermione hadn't spoken. "And yet you're here, in the Slytherin Common room. Why is that?"
"She's my girlfriend," Blaise said.
"And what? They just let you stay in each other's dorms now?"
"Not officially." Blaise jutted his chin out. "But it's the holidays."
"So Draco has what? Been sleeping in another dorm?" Blaise kept his face impassive and Pansy, following his lead, lifted her head up and did the same. After a long moment, Narcissa rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Well," she said. "I just hope you're all being safe." Then she crossed her legs and rested one hand on her knee and proceeded to ignore them until Draco finally walked into the common room.
"Mother," he intoned, inclining his head towards her. Ron entered the room a beat behind him and scampered over to where Pansy was sitting.
"Draco." Narcissa turned in her seat to stare at him. "Could we perhaps absent ourselves to your room?" She asked it like a question, but none of them were under the impression that it actually was one.
"Of course." Draco walked across the common room and towards the dorms. As he passed his mother, she stood and followed him. Once they were out of earshot, Blaise let out a long breath.
"Shit," he said. "Narcissa can be intense sometimes."
"Well, at least you didn't royally fuck up like I did," Pansy muttered. "What scarf was she talking about?" She looked at Ron and Hermione who both shrugged.
"Oops," said a disembodied voice. "I should have mentioned that." There was a rustle of fabric and Harry appeared behind Pansy.
"Harry," Hermione hissed. "What are you doing here?" Harry shrugged.
"Well, I wasn't going to stay behind in Gryffindor tower," he said by way of explanation. Hermione slapped a hand to her forehead.
…
"Draco. Those are not your pajamas."
"Well done, mother," Draco said. "You caught me."
"This is not a joking matter, Draco." Narcissa reached inside her robes and pulled out a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Would you care to explain this to me?"
"I don't suppose 'no' is an answer, is it?"
"Draco." Narcissa's voice was low and dangerous.
"Harry and I are friends," Draco said. He could feel the flush rising in his face and so he took a deep breath, calming himself.
"For reasons relating to your, ah, orders? Or because you're actually friends?"
"Does it matter either way?"
"Of course it does," Narcissa said, her severe air dissipating as she looked at her son. She reached out and took his hands, steering him towards his bed, where she made him sit before settling down next to him. "Draco, I am asking because I need to protect you and in order to do that, I need to know the true nature of your relationship. If you're friends with Potter, then I'll need to find a way to protect him as well as you. But if you're not…" She let her sentence trail off. She didn't need to finish it for Draco to get the picture.
He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes. They were wide and her face was open as she searched his for the truth. Nervously, Draco pulled his bottom lip between his teeth. Narcissa squeezed his hands.
"We're friends," he said and was then horrified as his eyes began to fill with tears of their own accord.
"Right," Narcissa said with a sharp nod of her head. "Then we'll protect him."
"But mother," Draco started to protest but Narcissa shook her head.
"Family comes first. Your happiness comes before anything." He couldn't help it. The tears spilled out of his eyes and made tracks down his face before he could stop them. "Oh, darling." And then she swept him into her arms the way she used to when he was small. As he cried, she rubbed circles into his back and pressed kisses to the top of his head.
After what felt like a long time, but was actually only a few minutes, Draco managed to get his emotions back under control. He sat up. His mother reached out and gently wiped the tears off of his cheeks.
"Thanks, mum," he said and she smiled at him.
"Now," she said. "Whose pajamas are you wearing?" Shit. Of course she would ask after he had already shown himself to be emotionally fragile.
"Blaise's," he said with as conviction as he could muster.
"Draco."
"Ron's," he tried.
"The Weasley boy is half a head taller than you."
"No need to rub it in."
"Are they Potter's?" Draco wondered how it was that his mother knew everything even when he hadn't told her anything. It was one of her best and most annoying traits. She stared at him even as he considered lying.
"Maybe," he settled on.
"Do you have more that you need to tell me?" Draco shook his head. "Really?" He nodded. "Really really?" She lifted her eyebrows and her stare bored into his eyes. He could feel himself cracking. Circe, the Dark Lord had nothing on his mother.
"Really," he croaked. She sighed and looked away in disappointment and honestly, that was worse.
"Because I won't care if you do." She idly brought her left hand up and examined her fingernails. "I mean, my best friend at Hogwarts was a lesbian."
"Mother," Draco all but yelled.
"Yes, darling?"
"Forcing your child out of the closet before he's ready is mean, even if you're doing it with love and support."
"Forcing is a bit harsh, Draco."
"Coercing then."
"All I have done is sit here and be open and willing to listen to you. I hardly see how you could call that coercion." She reaches out and smooths down a lock of his hair. "I take it Potter is your boyfriend then?" This was all going too fast.
"Mother," Draco said again.
"Was it Potter we had at the Manor for Christmas lunch?"
"Mother!"
"Interesting. Who brewed the polyjuice for you?"
"Mother." His voice was now barely above a whisper.
"Am I allowed to meet him?"
"If I say yes, will you stop questioning me?"
"Did he like the scarf?" Draco sighed.
"I'll go get him and you can ask him yourself." Draco stood up from his bed and traipsed over to the door. He pulled it open and hurried back to the common room.
His heart was hammering in his chest. He couldn't believe his mother had managed to get so much information out of him. But then, he supposed, she was his mother. He'd never been able to keep anything from her for long. Plus, it could have gone a lot worse than it had. She hadn't disowned him or yelled at him for dating the enemy of his father's boss.
Oh. His father. Well, Draco would get to telling him when his father was free again. If, he supposed. If his father was ever free again.
When he reached the common room he saw that Harry had taken off his invisibility cloak. When he saw Draco, he made to put it back on again, but Draco shook his head.
"Can you come with me?"
"Me?" Harry asked.
"No, Hermione's cat," Draco snapped. "Yes you." Harry nodded and stood up. Pansy tried to catch Draco's eye but he purposefully didn't look at her. He would tell the rest of them what had happened once it was all over.
"What's going on?" Harry asked as they walked down the corridor to Draco's room.
"She wants to meet you."
"But we've met," Harry protested.
"She wants to meet you as my boyfriend."
"You told her?"
"I didn't have to. She guessed."
"But you have the best poker face of anyone I know."
"Yes, but she's my mother." They stopped outside of the door to the sixth year boys' dorm. "Ready?" Harry nodded and Draco pushed open the door.
His mother was standing next to his bed, methodically un-shrinking Draco's pile of Christmas presents which now sat atop his blankets. When she heard the door open, she turned to face them.
"Ah, Mr. Potter," she said.
"Mrs. Malfoy," Harry responded, nodding his head in what he hoped was a respectful manner. He was acutely aware of the fact that he was wearing Draco's pajamas and Draco was wearing his. They had gotten dressed in rather a hurry when Ron had burst into Gryffindor tower.
"So you're the one who's corrupted my son."
"I— what?"
"You're the one who's made him change his ways."
"Mother!" Draco cried. But Narcissa ignored him and kept talking to Harry. Harry mouthed soundlessly. He wanted to defend himself but somehow couldn't find the words.
"You're the one who after sixteen and a half years of being a good, obedient son, has turned him into a rebel."
"Uh," Harry managed to get out. He had thought Narcissa had wanted to meet him, but clearly that had been a ruse to get him to come in here so that she could yell at him. Perhaps he should have seen this coming. He was only half concentrating on what Narcissa was saying. The other half of him was trying to figure out if he could take out his wand without her noticing in case he needed to defend himself.
"You're the one who got him to turn away from the Dark Lord." Draco immediately stopped trying to protest.
"Sorry, what?" Harry asked, slowly tuning back into what she was saying. His brain took a moment to catch up. "Yeah, I suppose I was?"
"Well, thank you."
"What?" This was Draco again. Narcissa smirked at him and Harry understood where Draco had gotten the facial expression from. He also understood that she had been winding him up from the moment he'd stepped into the room. Fair play to her.
"Draco," Narcissa said. "I thought you understood me on Christmas Day."
"That it's ok not to support You-Know-Who? Yes, I understood that, but I thought you and dad still did."
"I can't speak for your father, but I certainly don't. Not after this summer. Not after what he's done to our family. He's corrupted my sister, threatened my son—"
"—Mum, I'm fine."
"Draco, do you have any idea how worried I've been about you? These past few months have been torture." Narcissa took a step backwards and sat down on the bed. "I've been stuck in that giant house with only Bella for company. And I can't talk to her about my worries." Narcissa's face twisted in disgust. "She would just tell me that it's an honor for you to be risking your life trying to—" She stopped herself there, looking suddenly at Harry.
"Draco's told me," he said gently. "About his two tasks." Narcissa's eyes grew wide.
"So it's that serious then?" she asked Draco.
"Yes, mum," Draco said. He took a step sideways until he was next to Harry and then reached out and took his hand. He laced their fingers together and then looked back at his mother, his chin lifted slightly.
"Well then, Mr. Potter," Narcissa said. She stood and made her way over to them. "It is my pleasure to reacquaint myself with you." She held out her hand and Harry dropped Draco's in order to shake it. "I would like to apologize for how my family have behaved towards you in the past."
"Thank you," he said. "But there's no need to apologize." Narcissa gave a tiny shrug as if to say that there was, but that she wouldn't push it.
"Right," she says. "I don't suppose there's a place where the three of us could have a private breakfast, is there? Normally, I would suggest Hogsmeade, but after your little newspaper stunt, it would be best if we were out of the public eye." Draco looked at Harry, a frown on his face.
"Is there?" he asked and Harry had to bite back a laugh.
"The Room of Requirement," he said. It really was their "go-to" place.
