Author's Note: This might be the last installment in this story-arc - unless my muse decides to whisper another idea. Enjoy!

Draco woke to find Harry looking at him thoughtfully. "Yes?" he drawled and quickly cast the spell to clean his teeth.

Harry's lips curved briefly before he became serious. "Why are you doing this?" The blonde raised his eyebrows. "Yes, you've agreed to share your trauma with me, but you only offered that deal after I felt guilty. I mean, would you have even shared, if I hadn't?"

"Probably," he answered easily. Harry frowned. "To make you feel better," he added. "Although, of course, it would have had benefits for me as well."

"So why-" he cut off as Draco gently laid fingers over his lips.

"Because I wanted to help you," he stated. He smiled as Harry startled. "I have wanted to help you from the first moment we met – of course, I went about it entirely the wrong way," he added.

Harry gently lifted his fingers. "You were eleven," he pointed out.

"So were you, and yet you didn't put your foot so thoroughly in your mouth," he griped.

Harry's lips curved. "I was used to being on my best behaviour – and besides, I was quiet, because I didn't know what you were talking about."

The blonde blew out a breath. "I wish I had been more observant back then," he murmured.

"You couldn't have helped me, even if you had realised," he pointed out.

"If I had done it early enough, I could have found advantages for it." Harry leant forward and kissed him. He pulled back quickly with a blush. "You haven't offended me," he stated and saw the brunet relax. His brows furrowed briefly. "Why did you kiss me?"

"It seemed like the appropriate response." The blonde gave him a flat look. "I wanted to?"

Draco made an exasperated noise. "You can be honest with me about your childhood trauma, but not about your feelings?"

"I don't know, all right?" he huffed and thumped onto his back, crossing his arms with another huff.

"You don't know?" he drawled, propping himself up on his elbow.

"No."

"Really?" he drawled, voice deliberately obnoxious.

"I don't!" he insisted. The blonde snorted disbelievingly. "You were just being so sweet, it seemed like the right thing to do!"

"The right thing?" he repeated gently.

He blew out a breath and uncrossed his arms. "Like I said," he murmured as he turned his head to face the blonde, "it seemed like the appropriate response."

"Hmm. Did you want to do it, or did you feel as if you should?"

"Both?" The blonde's eyebrows rose challengingly. "Both," he spoke firmly.

"And would you want to do it again?"

"You can't just-" he cut off as the blonde's eyebrows rose again. "Yes."

"Good."

Harry blinked. "Is that why you weren't offended? Because you want to kiss me?"

"Yes," he replied easily, smiling as the brunet's mouth fell open. "Have done for quite some time," he continued. "Of course, I knew better than to allow myself to want it too openly."

"That wouldn't have been safe for either of us," Harry muttered.

"Exactly." The blonde pulled a face. "By the time I had doubts, I was in too deep to get out. Not without risking those I cared about," he added.

"It's not just us that suffer for our choices," Harry murmured.

"That is something we both know all too well," Draco replied softly, linking their fingers together. He saw several emotions flit across the brunet's face. "What?"

"Do you want to date me?"

"I would be happy to, if that was what you truly wanted," he answered honestly.

"Publicly?"

"I will not treat you as a dirty secret – even if it probably would be better for you not to be seen publicly with me," he added ruefully.

"Anyone that has something to say will have to deal with me," Harry spoke hotly. "And Hermione."

Draco's lips curved. "I doubt if anyone would be that brave."

"Worse once we tell Mrs Weasley," he murmured. Draco's eyebrows rose. Harry grinned. "She's a tigress when one of her kids is threatened, and once she knows we're dating, that protection would spread to you."

"There is so much I want to question you about that sentence," he murmured.

Harry shifted onto his side. "Mrs Weasley has treated me like one of her kids since Christmas first year," he stated. "After the war, we had a bit of a chat about it, so I know she thinks of me as one of her children, which means open invitation to every Sunday dinner and family event – which will also be extended to whomever I choose to date."

"Is that how she phrased it?"

"Yes, why?" Harry asked, genuinely curious.

"It's an odd turn of phrase is all," he murmured.

"Maybe she knew," he retorted, lifting a negligent shoulder. Draco barely caught his jaw from dropping. "Between her intuition, the clock, and Fred and George, there's little she doesn't know – don't ask me how they know everything, I still haven't figured that out."

Draco's lips curved. "Harry, would you go out with me?"

"Yes," he replied with a bright smile. "Just don't take me to Madame Puddifoot's."

Draco laughed softly. "I wouldn't do that to you." He met the brunet's eyes squarely. "Whatever happens between us, I will always listen to you," he spoke firmly.

Harry leant forward and kissed him sweetly. "Good," he murmured and pulled back slightly, smiling. "The same goes for me by the way."

"Good," Draco drawled, before wrapping his hand possessively around the back of Harry's neck and tugging him into a deeper, claiming kiss.