A/N: So, there's a section that is offensive in this chapter, and it deals with religion, homosexuality, and their relationships. It's never a good idea to bring that into a story, but I did anyway for a reality. No offense is intented, the author does not endorse any of the views given. This was just a conversation that happened in real life and was formed to fit the HP universe.
Harry's elation at Sirius's trial going so well evaporated when he remembered his own trial was the day after. Thankfully, it couldn't have gone much better. Sirius had accompanied him and berated the Wizengamot, who were apparently involved in a minor school infraction, for trying him in the first place. Several of the members had shifted uneasily even before Dumbledore showed up. Once he did, it was practically over. He was cleared of all charges! He did indeed donate money to St. Mongo's in the fountain like he had promised himself.
When they got back, there was a party for both him and Sirius. It was fun, there were multiple stories about his family, which he really enjoyed. It did leave him a bit melancholy, so he snuck away when he could. While he was looking for a place to hide, he saw Mrs. Weasley's boggart, which was members of her family, including him, dead. It was pretty traumatic. Luckily, they were saved so Harry didn't have to use any magic to repel the boggart; that probably wouldn't have gone over well.
The rest of the summer was a lot more fun without the threat of expulsion hanging over them. Sirius made a point of leaving the house every day, whether it was for any minor errand that needed to be done, buying supplies for the house's renovation, or taking Harry out to do something fun. He took Harry to the cinema, a fair, museums, and several wizarding attractions. They both had a blast, and their physical appearances gradually improved, both gaining weight and getting color to their cheeks.
Sirius also went out on a couple dates with the prosecutor for his case, Mary MacDonald. Sirius said it was going pretty well, but he still looked wistfully at Remus on occasion. Harry had realized they must have had something at one point, but he was afraid of bringing it up with either of them. If they wanted him to know, they'd tell him, it wasn't any of his business.
The only little bump of the summer, for Harry at least, came a couple of days before they were set to go back to Hogwarts. Sirius asked Harry to come to his room for a couple minutes in the late afternoon. When he got there, he looked around curiously. There were pictures covering every square centimeter of his walls, mostly of half-naked women.
"Definitely bi, then?" Sirius asked with a grin as he watched Harry. He took a seat on a chair by his desk.
Harry blushed. "Definitely. Isn't this a little, I don't know, teenaged?"
Sirius laughed. "Yup. Never use permanent sticking charms if you don't want them to come down. I've been thinking about painting over them, as horrible as that will look."
"Muggles have sandpaper, that might work to even out the layers." Sirius looked interested, then shook his head.
"I didn't ask you here to get renovation tips. I wanted to have a little… talk with you." Harry felt unease hook him.
"I don't need that talk, I already know about all that, Sirius." He was gratified that he could say that without blushing too much. He had already done stuff with Draco, he didn't need to hear anything else. His heart rate picked up.
"I know Draco got you that book, and I'm impressed with how much it covers. There's really not that much to add, and I'm sure you've done things with him, but am I right in thinking you haven't done the ultimate act yet?"
"Well, no." Harry admitted. He shifted uncomfortably.
"That's ok, Harry, I just want to make sure you understand everything, and if you have any questions you have an opportunity to ask them. The book tells you to love yourself first, and everything else will follow, and that is very good advice. Never do anything you're uncomfortable with, be safe, all that general advice."
Sirius kept talking for a little while, basically traumatizing Harry. "Hopefully that won't happen to you. Harry, are you ok, you're breathing a little funny?" Harry realized his breathing had picked up, and he was holding back a minor attack. He blushed furiously.
"I'm fine, I just, I get a little uncomfortable, talking about all this stuff, it happens sometimes." He opened and closed his fist, focusing on that, and the anxiety started to recede. Sirius got up to sit next to him and started rubbing his back, it helped.
He still didn't look up when it seemed like his heart was beating normally again. "I'm sorry."
"There's no need to apologize, Harry. Does this happen a lot?"
Harry shook his head. "It used to happen a lot, but I got a book that helped, and Draco is so good to me, it doesn't happen that much anymore. I'm not sure why it happened now."
Sirius frowned in confusion. "Was it a panic attack?"
Harry nodded. "A very minor one."
"I see. Well I don't want to go on if you're going to react like this. I don't know what to do. Does Pomfrey know about them?"
"No! I don't want anyone to know, you can't tell anyone, Sirius!"
Sirius frowned at him. "I won't if it's that important to you and you have it under control. It looked like you knew what you were doing when you handled it. If it ever becomes an issue, I want you to tell me, and we'll figure out if you need help together, ok?" Harry nodded. "You don't have to talk about details, but Draco knows? How does he react when it happens?"
"He holds me, or gives me space, rubs my back, talks quietly to me until I calm down. He's so good to me, he's never once made me feel bad about them."
"Hmm. Well, I'm impressed with him, he must really love you."
"I love him."
"Good. Hold onto him, then. Do you have any questions?" He did, actually, about Sirius's dating life, but now wasn't the time. He shook his head. "Well then, I guess that's it for now, we covered the most important bits. Write me if you have any questions, about anything—actually, I may have something that will be better than writing. Let me see if I can find it." Sirius bustled off, leaving Harry to make his exit.
For once, the ride to Hogwarts was pretty interesting. The ministry was still trying to suck up to Sirius, so he was able to get some ministry cars. There were a lot of people as the Order had plenty of people volunteer to escort Harry to the platform. Sirius kept Harry entertained the whole trip by messing with the driver, pointing out scenery, and telling Harry stories from his youth. Harry enjoyed hearing about his parents, even if the novelty had somewhat worn off from the summer.
At the train, he felt melancholy for the first time about going back to Hogwarts. He was excited too, there were so many things about Hogwarts he loved, but he had never felt closer to having a home than he had this summer. Grimmauld Place with Sirius felt about as much home as Hogwarts felt. He had loved having a place that was his, and that's what number 12 was.
"Be good at school," Remus said, shaking Harry's hand. Harry nodded.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Sirius winked from next to Remus. He seemed to be enjoying the winking, he would do it whenever someone looked at him with anything other than friendliness. What looked like a first-year ran behind her mother's legs to get away from him and Sirius sniggered.
"That leaves a lot to the imagination," Harry joked, before he was engulfed by Mrs. Weasley.
"Oh," she half grunted. "Be good, Harry. No skipping any meals this year, eh?" Harry nodded.
"Wotcher, Harry," Tonks said, pulling him into a hug. "Don't listen to their advice too much, alright?" she whispered to him. Harry chuckled and nodded.
"Harry," Mr. Weasley shook his hand. "Have a great year. Maybe we'll see you at Christmas."
The rest of the Order all had something to say to him. There were many well wishes, and his hand was almost aching by the end of it. Finally, he got back to Sirius. "Here," he said, pushing a small, hand wrapped parcel in Harry's hands. "Open it when you're back at school, alone." He pulled Harry into a tight hug. "I'll miss you, pup. I'll see you at Christmas."
"I'm looking forward to it already," Harry said into Sirius's shoulder. He was, too. Sirius ruffled his hair, making it messier than ever, and waved as Harry boarded the train. He followed Ron and Hermione to an empty compartment, Ginny following behind him.
"We have to go to the Prefect's compartment," Hermione said apologetically. Harry nodded, and she and Ron left.
"Oh! Hi, Luna," Ginny called to a girl in the hallway. Harry was honestly somewhat glad. He didn't fancy being alone with her.
The blonde girl was wearing strange eyewear, and carrying a magazine, The Quibbler, upside down. "Oh, hello, Ginny," she said as if she had just caught sight of her and wasn't particularly surprised. "I wasn't expecting to see you."
A slightly awkward pause went by while Ginny looked to Harry, then grinned widely. "How would you like to sit with us?"
Luna looked around as if she was trying to detect something in the air. "I suppose this will work." She plopped down on the seat across from Harry and stared at him. It wasn't the typical staring most people did when they first met him, rather like he was a particularly interesting television program. He blinked at her and she smiled back, completely unabashed.
Harry cleared his throat. "Hello." He said intelligently.
"Hello, Harry Potter." She said, not taking her big blue eyes off Harry.
Harry refocused on the magazine, a title mentioning Sirius Black caught his eye. "May I see that?" The article was hilarious and made Harry laugh. He asked Luna about getting a subscription.
"Daddy will be pleased," she said, not sounding much happier, and Harry wondered if she ever showed her emotions.
Neville had also joined them by that point, and he and Harry had a brief conversation before Neville showed him his Mimbulus Mimbletonia. He pressed one of the boils before it suddenly exploded. Everyone in the compartment covered their faces, except for Harry, who got a face full of stinky pus.
"Ugh, Neville," he complained as he wiped his face.
"Oh!" Came a voice by the door. Harry wiped his glasses and the form of an Asian girl appeared.
"Hi. Cho Chang, right?" He asked, using his shirt to clean his face. They had never actually talked, but they had played against each other in quidditch his third year.
"Yes." She appeared a little startled. Harry wasn't sure if it was him knowing who she was, or his appearance. "I just wanted to come by and say hi. So, I'm saying hi. Anyway, I'll see you around, Harry."
She didn't spare a glance to anyone before she exited hastily. Harry wondered why Ginny was glaring at her. Some of her friends had stopped by to say hi and didn't talk to any of them.
Minutes later, the compartment door opened again. "Hello, all." Cedric Diggory said, with a bright smile. Objectively, he had gotten even more handsome over the summer. Still nowhere near Draco's league, however. "How's everyone doing?" He took the time to look each of them in the eye as he said it.
"Hi Cedric!" Came a chorus of voices from around the compartment. Harry looked around. All of them were smiling up at him, genuine joy on their faces. He wondered how they knew him. Cedric went around and asked Luna about her father, Neville if the Mimbulus Mimbletonia he was still holding was a new plant, asked Ginny how her summer was, then focused on Harry.
"How are you doing?" He asked, and Harry felt strangely fluttery.
"I'm doing great. And you?"
"Brilliant. I heard about your godfather regaining his freedom. That was an incredible story. I'm sorry he was wrongfully imprisoned, but I'm glad he got out."
"Yeah, it's been great having him around."
"I'm glad you get to see him, now." Cedric grinned, and Harry found himself smiling back. "My Father was at the trial, and he said he thought Pettigrew was going to get off. He was wondering why he suddenly confessed." He was asking, but in such a polite way Harry could refuse. He shifted a bit uncomfortably. He had a suspicion, but no more than that.
When Harry had saved Pettigrew from Sirius and Remus killing him two years ago, Dumbledore said they created a life debt. Harry wondered if he had unknowingly called it in when he yelled at Pettigrew to tell the truth. He hoped that even if he had, there wasn't some obscure law saying that it made Pettigrew's testimony moot.
Just in case, he shrugged. "Maybe it was the guilt getting to him. I know I shouldn't have yelled at him in the courtroom like I did, but I just couldn't help it."
Cedric nodded sympathetically, eyes on Harry. "I can't imagine going through that. I really am very glad that your parents finally got justice, and your godfather, as well." Harry smiled, just a touch sadly at the mention of his parents. They talked for a couple more minutes, and Cedric looked out into the hallway before saying he should get going.
"Looking for Cho?" Ginny asked. "We just saw her, she went to the left."
Cedric made a noise of polite interest. "I'm not. Actually, we broke up. Yeah." He added at their various noises of disappointment and sympathy. "We just realized we didn't have a lot in common. It happens. No hard feelings. Anyway, I'll see you guys later."
"Well that's just too bad." Ginny said as he left.
"Yeah," Harry agreed, and Ginny grinned with a predatory gleam in her eye. Harry wondered if she was developing a crush on Cedric. He thought he was quite a bit too old for her.
As he was looking at her, he caught a whiff of himself. He excused himself to the restrooms. Sometimes cleaning charms just didn't do it. On the way back, he ran into a blonde girl that was staring at the floor with red rimmed eyes. "Oh, sorry—" Harry said, "oh, Mandy, hi, what's wrong?"
Harry put his hands on her shoulders, forcing Mandy to look into his eyes. "Oh, hi, Harry." She said this as sadly, her lip wobbling, taking shallow, shuddering breaths. Harry stared, a little uncomfortable with the idea of her starting to cry. He didn't say anything but kept his hands where they were. "It's Sally-Anne. She wrote to me over the summer. Her parents aren't happy with her, and they've decided to keep her out of Hogwarts this year! I didn't believe it, but I've been all up and down the train, and she's not here! They're keeping her, and I'm never going to see her again!" With that, she burst into tears and threw her arms around him.
Harry couldn't have been more startled if Voldemort suddenly rode onto the train on a broomstick wearing a tutu. He looked around desperately, trying to find help.
Funnily enough, he did find it, in the form of Draco. He was ahead of Harry, coming out of a compartment, so Mandy didn't see him. At first, he raised an eyebrow, but at Harry's slowly waving arms and scared expression, had a hard time not laughing. As he giggled into his hand, he looked around to make sure the coast was clear. It was, and he mimed putting his arms around someone. Harry realized that was probably a good idea and did put his arms around Mandy, hugging her.
Draco nodded in approval, then moved his arm up and down in the air in front of him. Another good idea, Harry rubbed her back. Draco nodded, then opened his mouth and opened and closed his hand in front of it, as if he were speaking. "I'm sorry?" Harry asked, then realized he had spoken aloud. Mandy however, sniffed, and calmed down.
Draco shot him the finger guns, gave him a thumbs up, and moved passed them, heading to the restrooms. Harry nodded to him and smiled over Mandy's shoulder. Draco raised his eyebrows and inclined his head down the train, and Harry nodded again.
He left, and Harry focused on Mandy again. "It's alright." He said, which got a response of louder crying. "It'll be ok," he tried, and she calmed slightly again. "You'll be ok." He tried various platitudes and finally had her at a point where she wasn't crying as hard.
"Why would anyone keep their child out of Hogwarts?" Harry wondered aloud. Mandy sniffed and pulled her head up from Harry's robes.
She wiped her eyes on a handkerchief then stared down at it sadly. "Her parents are muggles, who believe that homosexuality is a sin against nature, or something. They didn't take her being gay well." That got another round of tears from her. Harry found himself infuriated, his temper was never that far from the surface now-a-days. "They, they, they were already upset about her being a witch, I guess this was just one thing too many." She sniffled, and Harry stared. "Anyway, thanks, Harry, I hope I didn't ruin your robes."
"No, Mandy, you don't—"
"I'll see you around, Harry. You're a nice bloke." With that, she left, blowing her nose on that handkerchief. Harry turned after a moment and headed towards the loos, feeling like he needed a nice Draco hug.
He got one, a very nice, tight and hard one, the moment he was pulled into the tiny cubicle. His neck was attacked with Draco's perfectly pink lips, and his head was tilted upwards to give him more room. He still didn't feel like serious snogging at the moment, so he pulled Draco's lips to his own. They calmed immediately, stroking slowly across his own, the moment turning sweet. Harry was finally getting tall enough they were close in height, and this kiss had a new element to it, making it all the sweeter. Draco's tongue licked his bottom lip, pulling it into his mouth to suck slowly and his taste flooded Harry's mouth.
He moaned, loving the honey that was Draco's taste. They broke apart slowly, trading pecks before they got a couple inches away, panting and resting their foreheads together.
"Hi." Said Harry, smiling at him, feeling almost completely different than he had when he first walked into the cubicle.
"Hi." Draco returned, grinning instead, eyes bright and silver and wonderful. His hair style was a little different. "How are you?"
"Better now you're here. How are you?"
"I suddenly have reason to be excruciatingly exultant. How was Ms. Brocklehurst? What did you do to upset her?"
"Ha ha," Harry said sarcastically. "You know Sally-Anne, from the Ball last year? Her girlfriend? She didn't show up this year. She's pretty upset."
"Huh. That's pretty strange to just withdraw from Hogwarts, I wonder when the last time that happened was."
"She didn't just withdraw, Babe. Her parents kept her out, because she told them she's gay." Harry watched the sickness cross across Draco's face just as it had his own. Draco sat on the sink, making him level with Harry. "She told me she was going to do it, too. She sounded so hopeful. I know she was thinking they would accept her. I can't believe this."
Draco sighed. "Muggles."
Harry stiffened. Draco sighed again. "I don't mean it like that—really. I just don't know what else to call them. I sometimes wonder…how my parents would react. If they knew."
"I'm sorry, Baby." Harry pulled Draco close, stepping into his space. "I think my parents would be at least ok, they were fine with Sirius. He told me they both had rows with people over treatment of him. But I know exactly how the Dursleys would react. As normal, with the calling me a freak, hitting me, threatening to throw me out on my arse. In fact, that might just have thrown them over the edge. Draco?" He suddenly realized Draco had frozen.
"Sorry," Draco whispered. "It's just a little hard to hear sometimes. I'll get over it." Oh. Harry smiled sheepishly and kissed Draco's forehead. "I always want to hear everything about you, Harry." Draco smiled, and kissed his forehead. Then the bridge of his nose, then the tip. Finally, he got to his lips, and kissed those too. He spent much longer on those than anything else, then moved down to his chin, and lowered them to his neck, following the line. Harry let out a breath shakily. It felt amazing.
He was grinning and whistling when he returned to the compartment. Ron and Hermione were back, and they, Ginny, Luna and Neville all stared at him. His last note of his whistling went up higher, then cut off. "What," he asked.
They all shook their heads and looked away. Harry sat down, trying to tone down his happiness. "Good bathroom break, mate?" Ron asked. Everyone but Hermione and Luna started laughing. Harry turned red at the insinuation.
"Oh, stop it, Ron." Hermione said. "I'm sure it's not like that."
"No, it's not. Can't a bloke just be happy to be going to school?"
"I suppose you're normally cheerier on the train than normal. You just seem very happy."
"Is that a crime now? Lay off the man, Hermione." Ginny glared at her then turned to Harry. "I enjoy seeing you so cheerful, Harry. Your smile looks good on you."
"Thank you, Ginny." He said, a little uncomfortably. He wasn't great with compliments.
"You were gone for quite a while." Ron input slyly, still on that, the bastard.
"I ran into some people alright?"
"Oh. How is Sally-Anne by the way?" Hermione asked slowly, watching Harry intently. Harry furrowed his eyebrows.
"You heard about that? Yeah, Mandy just told me she's not coming back this year."
"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry!" Hermione was now aghast.
"Who's Sally-Anne? And Mandy?" Ginny asked, a frown on her face.
"Sal was my date to the Yule Ball last year, Mandy is her girlfriend. Ron and I took them, so they could hang out together. We talked and became friends after that. I can't believe her parents won't let her come back. Can you imagine not being able to go to school?"
"Why would they keep her out?" Hermione asked, looking as if she had found her new worst fear.
Harry sighed. "They're religious muggles, and they don't like her being a witch, or gay. It was apparently too much for them."
"Wait, she's gay?" Hermione asked.
"Why does it matter? Is that a muggle thing?" Ron asked.
"What's being religious got to do with anything?" Neville asked.
"You aren't dating?" Ginny asked, looking at Hermione.
"The Humming Dingers are quite active today." Luna stated, looking out the window. Everyone turned to stare at her. She gave no notice, so Harry shook his head and tried to remember the questions.
"Yes, she's gay, we're not dating, just friends. Er, I don't completely understand it, but some muggles believe that being a witch or wizard is inherently wrong because you use magic. Usually the people that believe that also believe that being gay is too much of an abomination, too."
"Not all of them." Hermione sent a look to Harry. "My parents are Christian, as am I, and they are fine with me being a witch. It's rather outdated to be scared of witches. Most believe magic doesn't exist. It's only certain denominations that say either is wrong."
"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't offend you, Hermione. That's just what they said."
"Who is 'they'?"
"People. Mandy. Sally-Anne. The Dursleys. People in my classes, students. You hear about it from random people, I guess. I didn't mean anything by lumping everyone together, the Dursleys are Christian, but they only act like it on Christmas and Easter."
"Alright, Harry. Just be careful in the future so you don't stereotype."
"I still don't understand how someone can think someone's wrong just for being magical, or gay."
"Some people just believe in different things. Like some people believe in Crumple-Horned Snorkacks and others don't just because no one's seen one." Luna input. Everyone turned to look at her, but she seemed nonchalant about that, simply smiling lightly until they looked away.
"Did everyone think I was dating Sally-Anne?" Harry asked.
"Yes," the compartment collectively answered. Harry shook his head.
"No, we're just good friends. I don't have the right parts for her." It was the first time he had made a joke even remotely dirty, and it went over well. He didn't even blush, while the rest of the compartment laughed.
He ignored Hermione, who was giving him speculative looks. He had forgotten that she was trying to find out his secret, maybe she thought Sally-Anne was the person he was seeing.
"So, who are you dating?" Ginny asked.
"No one." Harry answered, a little thrown off and too quickly.
"Oh. Well that's good news." She gave him a strange look, fluttering her eyelashes rapidly.
"Are you alright, Ginny? I think you have something in your eye." Ginny's mouth fell open and she turned away from him darkly. Harry was completely lost. There were some quiet snickers around the compartment, but Harry had no idea what was funny.
The new defense teacher couldn't have been any more boring. Harry recognized her from his trial and disliked her even before she opened her mouth and started a very boring speech. He was not looking forward to her lesson.
The first day back was a good time to sneak off to meet Draco for about an hour. Everyone would be in the common room, talking about their summer's collectively and he wouldn't be missed in the crowd. They talked about their summers, Harry skirting around where he had stayed, and snogged for a bit. Later that night, he opened the package from Sirius. It was a mirror, used to communicate between two people who had the matching one. He enjoyed talking to Sirius for a couple minutes before they each said goodnight.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was even worse than Harry had hoped. Umbridge, the teacher, was refusing to let them use magic, and was spewing the propaganda that Voldemort wasn't back. Harry got detentions for a week for that. On the plus side, he had a very pleasant conversation with McGonagall.
Detention was awful. Umbridge had him doing lines, but not with a regular quill. She had a special quill that wrote with his own blood, carving the phrase in his skin on the back of his hand. He would have a hard time hiding it from Draco. Fortunately, it mostly healed before they met on Sunday.
Angelina, who had been made quidditch captain, was most displeased he would be missing the tryouts, but there was nothing to be done for it.
On Saturday, he sent his weekly letter to Draco from the owlery. Cho Chang entered and asked him which owl was his. Harry called her down, and she spent several minutes fawning over her. "Such a pretty bird." She said, "almost as pretty as her owner." She looked up at him through her lashes, smiling lightly.
Harry was sure he couldn't be called 'pretty' and recoiled. "I don't consider myself to be her owner. She's more than that to me. She's my friend." He tried not to look too offended. Cho seemed to find this strange, as she blinked, and her mouth opened up.
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard! Oh, Harry…" She gave him another weird look, looking up, blinking slowly but frequently, and swayed from side to side. A lot of girls had been looking at him that way recently, was there something in the water? She looked like an airhead like that, therefore less attractive in Harry's opinion. Then again, what did he care what she looked like? She could walk around looking like a complete dunderhead and it wouldn't concern him. He left pretty quickly after that, regardless, even if Filch hadn't had come in accusing him of mailing dung bombs. Cho had saved him from getting detention for that.
The next day, bad news came in threes. Umbridge was made 'High Inquisitor' by the Ministry of Magic, Hermione said it wasn't good. Percy sent Ron a letter basically telling him to stay away from Harry. Sirius got back to Harry through the mirrors to exchange some news. He had tried to talk to him the day before, but Sirius had been busy and asked if he could contact him later. Harry had nodded, hoping his scar hurting with Umbridge touched him wasn't that important.
He was tired as the weeks went by, made worse by his tough nights. He kept having this strange dream where he was running down a long hallway, the door forever stretching ahead of him. It had been happening since the summer, and he was sick and tired of it. He awoke still feeling tired.
Hermione was apparently so upset by Umbridge's teachings she came up with a plan to form a study group, and she wanted Harry to be a leader. Harry told her he'd think about it, but just couldn't see himself as a leader. He did end up making lesson plans in his head, and he finally told her he would do it.
She wanted to have a meeting for everyone interested at the next Hogsmeade visit and Harry didn't have a good enough reason to say no. Draco was disappointed they wouldn't be able to have another date, but they met up the next day and had some butterbeer Harry had smuggled in together.
Harry was a bit worried about Mandy. He had invited her to come along to the meeting, along with a couple of his friends from other houses, like Cedric. She had been morose, wandering around on her own, and Harry hadn't seen her smile since the previous year. He tried to include her whenever there was an inner house study group happening, and she gradually at least gave small smiles. On one day in particular, Harry saw Luna and introduced them. They hit it off; they were in the same house, only a year apart, and Mandy was bubbly enough to pull the best parts of Luna out, Luna cheering up Mandy. Harry saw them together in the corridors sometimes, and finally Mandy started smiling again.
Mandy told Harry in confidence that Sally-Anne had broken it off with her. She said that Sally-Anne was going to a muggle school and some sort of bible class aimed to help her with her leanings and didn't think she would make it back to Hogwarts any time soon. "The noble bitch," Mandy said before crying. "She said she just wants me to be happy." Harry gave her a hug, more comfortable with crying women thanks to her.
The next time he saw Mandy, she had tears in her eyes. It took several more weeks before he saw her smile again. Luna happened to be with her, talking together, when he saw it.
The Defense club, which they had named Dumbledore's Army, turned into one of the best things Harry was doing. Especially after what happened with quidditch.
It was the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match, and the Slytherins were playing dirty. They had just won the match, despite Harry being thrown from his broom by a rogue bludger when Draco landed pretty close to Harry. They had decided on having a fight the last time they saw each other.
"So, about the match," Draco had said to Harry, and he came to sit on Harry's lap. He was avoiding looking at Harry's eyes, instead playing with his hair. "I am under a lot of pressure from Montague and the rest of the team. Really, we're all under pressure because the house is tired of losing to Gryffindor. We haven't won a single match against you since you became seeker." He paused, finding a tangle in Harry's hair and trying to get it out.
"Draco, what are you trying to tell me?" Harry asked, taking his hands in his and kissing them. "You can tell me anything." He added when Draco hesitated.
"I was thinking we could stage a fight. I think it would help relieve the tension in my house."
"Oh. Ok. We do that normally, what's the problem?"
Draco finally met Harry's eyes. "I don't want you to get in trouble. You've already had so many detentions this year, I don't want you going any more. And this has to be a big fight. Some of the older years are starting to make fun of me, and that's not a good sign, it could mean utter chaos within the house."
Harry didn't understand the innerworkings of Slytherin House's politics, but he didn't need to for him to agree to Draco's plans. Draco had eluded to some of the politics before, but every time he tried to explain it, Harry got lost. All he understood was there was a hierarchy, Draco was near the top, and it was based on way too many components.
"Oh, and let me tell you about the song…" Draco had said. Harry tried to talk him out of it, but his hands were tied. All of Slytherin had gotten together to write 'Weasley is Our King' and there was no way his sway would allow the cancelation.
"Hey, Potter," Draco called as Gryffindor team landed next to him. "Guess you really saved Weasley this time. You have the savior thing down. I guess you have to be around him. You already saved him by being his friend. I bet he just loves getting donations to the 'Weasley Outreach Program."
"Are you taking donations Malfoy? I heard you've got head-up-arse syndrome."
"They certainly need a lot of help, don't they? Then again, his mother is so fat, you've got to wonder what they're eating," Harry grabbed the back of George's robes to prevent him from going to pummel Draco. What was Draco doing? He was supposed to make fun of Harry, not anyone else.
He continued on, making fun of the Weasleys more than Harry. Katie, Alicia, and Angelina all grabbed Fred to prevent him from attacking Draco as well.
"Now your mother, Potter," Draco said, and George had slipped out of his robes, leaving Harry behind holding them. He got ahead of Harry, and Harry saw Draco's eyes widen as he realized he had made a mistake. Harry made it into a run, but George was too far gone to be dissuaded. He reached Draco, and threw them both to the ground, already punching.
Harry was seconds behind him, trying to get under George and get him to back up that way. Draco's face had blood on it.
"Get a hit in Harry," George yelled, and when he moved Harry tackled him. They landed in a heap on the ground right next to Draco. "What the hell?" George yelled. "Harry, get off me!" He threw a punch that hit Harry on the cheek. He was winded and lost his footing, falling half on George, and moved around trying to get off him.
By that time, others had arrived on the scene. "What are you doing?" Hooch yelled at them. "To your Head of House's office, NOW!"
Harry and George didn't talk as they walked. Harry thought it was a bit unfair that he was in trouble too. They had just made it to McGonagall's office when she came storming up.
"In!" She demanded of them, and once she was sitting at her desk, continued, "Never in all my years have I seen such a disgraceful display. Explain yourselves at once."
"Malfoy was trying to provoke us."
"Of course, he was, he had just lost the match! He certainly succeeded, but that's no excuse for fighting!"
"Harry didn't fight, Professor," George interrupted. He threw a still angry glance in Harry's direction. "He was just trying to pull me off Malfoy. I was the one who hit him."
"I see." McGonagall said, and she looked stunned. She glanced between the two of them. "Is this true, Mr. Potter?"
Harry nodded, gulping. He didn't mind taking punishment he didn't deserve, he was used to it, but he would avoid it if he could. "Malfoy was talking about his mother, Professor. His mother." Some sympathy finally entered McGonagall's eyes.
She sighed. "I suppose Gryffindor house's honor isn't totally spoiled, today. Mr. Potter, it is admirable you tried to prevent a physical fight. Perhaps things would have gone differently if there had been someone there to help you, or perhaps used magic, but that could have easily been a different conversation. I'm very pleased that you did not take part. Twenty points to Gryffindor. Unfortunately, I have to take them away for you, Mr. Weasley. As well as—" she was cut off by a tiny cough.
"Hem, hem." Umbridge came further in the room. "May I help, Professor McGonagall?"
"I can't think of any reason I would need help, Professor Umbridge." McGonagall said. Umbridge drew herself up.
"Unfortunately, I am able to give you one. You see, I went to the minister after you allowed the Gryffindor team to reform, and educational degree number twenty-five was passed, granting full authority of all punishments on students to the High Inquisitor. As High Inquisitor, I have the power to assign punishment, and I find yours sorely lacking. Mr. Potter, I can see that you participated in that fight, we already know you lie to get out of trouble. The entire school saw you fight with both Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Weasley. I think it is only fair that you are banned from quidditch, and another week's worth of detention."
"What?"
"As for you, Mr. Weasley, you are also banned from playing quidditch and you shall have two weeks of detention. I think it would be safe if his twin is also banned."
"What?"
"The rest of the team can continue playing, I saw no sign of violence there. Well, good afternoon to you all," she simpered, and departed.
All three of them stared after her.
"Professor, she can't-!"
"I'm afraid she can." McGonagall was white. "There is nothing I can do. I'm sorry, gentlemen. The punishment stands."
Harry was furious. He had to get out of there. Draco would be in the hospital wing, and he wasn't exactly happy with him either. He was worried, as he didn't look too good with bruises all over his face, but he couldn't let go of that little bit of anger. They were supposed to trade insults, grab each other, then be pulled apart before things could get too serious. If they had to, they had practiced making slaps look real as the other would turn his head.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. "Where are you going, Harry?" George asked, looking furious as well, but keeping his voice somewhat even.
"Hospital wing." Harry pointed to his face, where a bruise was forming. George winced.
"Yeah that's a good idea for me too. Hopefully she'll fix it, sometimes she doesn't for fights. I'm sorry for hitting you, by the way."
"It's alright." Harry said, and he was fine with it, "I know how angry you were. I was pissed too."
"Yeah," George said, and they walked in silence. "He insulted your mum too, Harry. Why didn't you hit him? I gave you a shot, and instead you took me down. What gives?"
Harry gulped but tried to hide that he had. "Malfoy is always insulting me. I don't think he has any original material, so it was pretty easy to ignore."
"Ah," George muttered. "I just thought it was sort of weird for you to be defending him like that."
"I wasn't!" Harry said quickly. Is that what it had looked like? That was the opposite intent. "I was just trying to prevent you from killing him. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia were holding Fred back. We just didn't want you to get into trouble and cost us points."
"Oh." George finally looked convinced. That was a close one. "I'm sorry, Harry, I guess I'm just fried. I can't believe we're banned from quidditch. That bitch!"
"More like Umbitch." Harry muttered.
George grinned. "Hey, yeah!" They spent the rest of the journey to the hospital wing insulting Umbridge. When they got there, a group of Slytherins were just exiting. They jeered and insulted them as they passed, but neither of them rose to the bait.
"Oh, it's you," Madam Pomfrey clucked her tongue. "I've been expecting you. Take a seat on the bed."
They both chose beds away from Draco, who was lying still at the end of the ward. Harry ached with a want to go see him.
Madam Pomfrey gave him a potion before healing his face and sending him off, it was the quickest trip to the hospital wing yet. He wanted to stay for Draco, and for George, but there was no way of doing that without looking suspicious and Madam Pomfrey was indeed taking her sweet time in healing George.
"He'll be up in the common room soon, dear, now get out of here. Don't you have a win to celebrate?" Harry had almost forgotten. Celebrating quidditch victory was the last thing he felt like doing just then. With one last look at Draco, he left the wing.
No one else felt like celebrating either. The night passed horribly, and Harry ached to go see Draco. They really needed a way of communicating other than letters. That was when he got an idea.
He wanted to be able to communicate with Draco like the two-way mirrors could. Something that they could carry with them, something discreet that wouldn't be strange for two boys to carry. It was too bad they weren't girls, or he might consider getting another pair of mirrors for them. That wouldn't work anyway, however, as he wanted something that they might use in class, that would be fun. There were spells on their letters to make it look like someone else wrote them, writing messages back and forth would be convenient. Was there a gadget in the wizarding world that he was thinking of?
The night of the quidditch match and Harry getting a lifelong ban on quidditch, Hagrid returned. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were out the door to meet him. Hagrid had apparently been with the giants. They (Hagrid and Madam Maxime) hadn't had much luck on their mission, and Hagrid looked terrible, like he had been beaten.
After they got back, he placed a mirror call to Sirius to talk about the gadget he had concocted. He said it would be challenging for him to make it, but doable. He gave Harry some spells used on the Marauder's map, and a list of spells to look up in the library. Harry would normally ask either Hermione or Draco for help, but he didn't want Hermione to know, and he decided to make it a present for Draco.
He was still a little mad at Draco. He told him so when they met up on Sunday. Harry got there before Draco, so he was able to see Draco pause and come in slowly.
"I know you're mad." Draco said as he purposefully sat in his chair. Sometimes, more frequently lately, he had been sitting on Harry's lap. Harry nodded. "I think I lost it a bit. I'm sorry. I got caught up in the testosterone, and the game, and Weasley was already on the roll, and honestly, I'm tired of losing. So, I lost it."
He got up and had started pacing as he talked. Harry sighed and leaned forward, thinking. It really wasn't that great of an excuse. "Sit down." He requested. Draco stopped to sit in his chair, Harry tried not to take it as an omen. "Draco, I'm not mad, not anymore. But I don't want to be with someone who was as cruel as you were yesterday."
Draco reared back. "Just what are you saying?" He suddenly looked positively terrified.
Harry leaned forward to take his hand, stroking the top of it comfortingly. Draco took several deep breaths and looked at Harry as if his heart was breaking. "It means that I love you, and I want to be with you, the you you are when it's just you and me. The you that treats me with such gentleness and kindness. That person yesterday was so mean, and I know that you aren't really like that. I'm just so tired, with having to pretend we hate each other, all the fighting, all the lying. It's really hard, babe."
Draco looked like he was about to cry, and Harry wasn't that far from it. "Oh, Sweetheart," Draco whispered. "It's so hard on me too. I want to walk you to class, and eat meals together, and see the looks on our friends' faces when they hear about all the poetry I wax about how much I love about you. I hate all the fighting, I absolutely hate it. I'm just, I'm just so scared…" He lost the grip on his emotions and was crying, hard as his voice broke on the final sentence.
Harry was up and jumping into his lap by the time he said 'scared.' He pulled Draco into his arms, hugging him as tightly as he could. He demanded, "come here, Baby, come here," as Draco was resisting being pulled into the hug. Draco finally came and let out a loud sob onto Harry's shoulder. Harry held him even tighter and started rubbing his back. Draco cried for a long time, his head buried in Harry's collar, Harry swaying them gently back and forth.
He could feel his heart breaking and hoped it hadn't been what he said that set Draco off. Gradually, his sobs quietened, and he sat there sniffling, soaking up Harry's comfort.
"My father put me under the cruciatus curse." Harry gasped, trying to look down at him. "This summer. He was disappointed in me one time too many. He said I needed to learn all I could, and quickly. He finally told me he was a Death Eater, and that the Dark Lord was back. He said that I would need to get used to it. He said it was for my own good." A couple more sobs escaped him, and Harry resumed his rocking. He had stopped during Draco's story.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered into Draco's hair, kissing it softly. Draco took several shuddering breaths and lifted his head.
"Please don't break up with me. I don't know what to do. I can't leave, I just can't, I'm the heir, and I care about my family's honor. I don't know if I'd make it out, even, I don't know if my father would—" he cut off, shuddering again. "I don't know what to do, Harry."
Harry moved his face, so he could see Draco's. "I'm not breaking up with you, my love. I just want you to think about the very near future and what we can do about your Father. I want you to leave." Draco sniffled. "I'm serious. I don't care about the Malfoy honor, I care about you, about your life. You can come and stay with me and Sirius, ok? No one needs to know where you went over the summer, you show up at school and you're safe, then you're seventeen and you'd be leaving anyway. Why are you afraid of leaving?"
Draco took a deep breath. "There are ways to force me to stay, to get me back if I escape. I don't want my Father to have to use any of the methods, then I don't know what he would do. I don't know, Harry."
"Ok, Baby, ok." He pulled Draco's face into his neck again, not caring about him sniffling. He wished he had a handkerchief to give him.
Draco eventually quietened completely, but he stayed in Harry's arms for a long time. Harry held him, willing to sit there as long as he needed to.
"We will need to come up with a plan." Harry stated when Draco finally sat up. Draco sighed but nodded.
"I'm working on something, looking to see if I can get myself emancipated quietly without notification to my parents. There are very old laws, and I think I might be able to by the time I'm sixteen, and it's a lot easier then."
"That's good." Harry was thinking. He was busy thinking. Maybe there were protective magics he could employ. His parents had a charm on their house to protect anyone from knowing where he was, hadn't they? Wasn't that just what he needed?
He decided to talk to Sirius, this was a bit over his head, and he could use some advice from an adult who knew about them. He mentioned the idea to Draco, who sighed and agreed they could use some help. Harry kissed him in thanks, he knew it was hard for him to give up that control. Harry told Draco about the lifelong ban, and he was suitably angry.
"I would have thought you'd be happy." Harry said, ever so slightly bitter. "You said you wanted to win."
"I never meant this way. I just want to be better than you. This is an outrage. There's no honor in cheating, and that's what this is. That bitch. She's going to have everyone wanting to kill her by Christmas." Harry chuckled. "I'm serious, no one hurts you and gets away with it! I really wish you'd go to Dumbledore."
"When McGonagall went to Dumbledore, she got her authority stripped, what do you think will happen to me?"
"Ugh, Harry, please don't use the words McGonagall, Dumbledore, and stripping in the same sentence."
Harry laughed. He pushed Draco lightly, and Draco pushed him back. They got into a slight pushing war and tumbled onto the ground, rolling until they were on the cushions. They laughed between kisses as they finally came to a stop, still holding each other.
Unfortunately, the moment only lasted until Draco checked the time and they jumped up, trying to get to their respective common rooms before curfew. Harry didn't make it.
It was too late to talk to Sirius that night, but he managed the next night. He told Sirius that Draco was afraid to go home, and afraid to leave, and just afraid. Sirius listened attentively, nodding along, and when Harry was done, he was silent. After a moment, he said he had some ideas and would get back to him.
Since he no longer had to go to quidditch practice, he spent the time on his communication project. He didn't want anyone to see what he was working on, so he mostly did it at night, going to sleep a little earlier than normal. The biggest problem he had was not having anything to work on. He tried the spells on parchment, and that worked well enough, but he wanted something they could carry on their person. His bracelet Draco had given him the year before caught his eye, and he decided something like that would work perfectly.
He was able to owl order two silver bracelets that had a large square on them, similar to an ID bracelet. The finished product had a basic design of Celtic knots that everyone could see, but he had enchanted anything that was written to be hidden. He could talk into or write on the bracelet and what he said would appear on the matching one. He was quite proud of himself for his accomplishment and couldn't wait for Christmas.
His other project was going pretty well as well. Sirius had told him he was planning on buying a house and putting it under the fidelius charm. He had a grudge with that particular spell, so he was adding on magics that were on the Black family home as well, making it as safe as possible for Harry, and Draco if he did end up coming to stay with them. Sirius had agreed to that before Harry had gotten the question out.
He had come up with the idea of making a portkey for Draco. He had read the theory book over the summer and thought he could make the very complicated homing-portkey. It worked differently than other portkeys in that it was activated on a code word and would transport to an object, not a specific place. If the object were to move, the portkey would too. Harry came up with the idea of making a portkey out of a necklace that Draco could wear at all times. He would make the homing object a necklace that he would wear, then, if Draco was in danger, he could say a codeword and be transported to wherever Harry happened to be.
In his research, he had stumbled on several protection charms that warded against dark magic. He wasn't sure if it would protect him against the spells Lucius would use on him, but he figured it couldn't hurt, and added them to the bracelet as well.
Then, one night when he snuck into the restricted section, he found more powerful spells that could protect against almost anything. It was very complicated, however. It required potion ingredients, and casting spells on full moons, it would take several months, at least. He made the decision to give Draco the bracelet for Christmas and the necklace to him when it was done.
The weeks passed by very quickly, and soon it was almost time for term break. The final meeting of the D.A. had let out, and Harry was the third to last person in the room. The two others were Cedric and Cho.
He wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to leave, but he didn't want to with two people still there and didn't know whether to go to Cho or Cedric. They got along well enough if forced to, but he noticed that they generally avoided each other.
Cedric was closer, reading a book from the shelf Hermione had requested. "Hey, I'm almost done with this chapter, is that ok?"
Harry nodded, and changed paths to walk to Cho. "Hey," he said.
He was surprised to see that she was crying. "Is everything alright?" He asked stupidly.
She nodded, sniffling and glancing over at Cedric. "Yeah, it's just hard sometimes. I'm so scared, Harry." All of a sudden, he had an armful of Cho as she threw herself into his arms. Harry returned her hug awkwardly.
"Are things ever going to get better?" She whispered into his neck, and Harry was distinctly uncomfortable.
"Well, sometimes things have to get hard before they get easy." He started squirming a bit, hoping she'd take a hint and dislodge herself from him. He wanted to tell her to just get off him, but he was a bit too polite for that. He was beginning to suspect that she wanted something more than just friendship from him, and he wasn't sure what to do. He couldn't tell her he had a boyfriend, could he? The more he spread it around, the more likely it was that someone would find out about Draco. "Sometimes the absolute best things in life are hard."
His relationship with Draco could be hard at times. It was difficult hiding things from his friends, acquaintances, even strangers. He wanted to shout from the top of the astronomy tower that he had the best boyfriend in the castle, but he couldn't. He wanted to scream that Draco wasn't the arsehole everyone expected him to be. He was a true sweetheart, as he called Harry, and it killed him when they had to fight to protect their secret.
Cho lifted her head from his shoulder, looking up at him through her lashes, biting her lip. Harry was slowly distancing himself from her, hoping against hope she wasn't actually thinking about kissing him…
She apparently was. With total suddenness, she threw her head at his, and as far as Harry leaned back, she followed him. It was so awkward, and lasted only a second, but her lips touched his.
He dodged to the side and they disconnected. Oh, this was so weird, now. They stared at each other, neither knowing what to say. Thankfully, there was an interruption.
"I'm leaving now, Harry, I was hoping to have a moment alone with you? Want to walk out for a bit?" It was Cedric, with a grin and his winning tone of voice, apparently clueless to what had just happened.
Harry looked at him in relief. "Yeah, sure. Sorry, Cho, er—Happy Christmas."
She gave him a heartbroken look, tears still in her eyes, as she ran out of the room.
"What was that about?" Cedric asked, as they too left.
"Er, not sure. She's your ex, any idea?"
Cedric shrugged, and they walked in silence. Harry realized after a minute Cedric was trying to escort him to Gryffindor Tower, but he was scheduled to see Draco, in fact he was a bit late.
"How do you know where Gryffindor is?" Harry asked.
Cedric looked surprised. "All the prefects know where all the common rooms are. It's for safety and security, but also for fun."
Harry gave a small chuckle. "I'm actually hungry, I was going to go to the kitchens."
"Oh." They changed directions, heading towards the dungeons, "you know, students aren't actually allowed in the kitchens."
"Oh," Harry said, looking at him. "I didn't know that, never mind." He was trying to shake Cedric, and he felt a little bad about that, but he knew Draco would be a little offended at him being so late. He wished Cedric would just get to the point.
"Harry," Cedric laughed as Harry put some distance between them, trying to get away. "It's alright, I'm not going to take points or get you in trouble. It will be our little secret." He had reached out and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him back to where he'd been. It was fine, except he didn't let go. Oh. Shit.
"Er—" he said, pulling his hand free. They walked a couple meters in silence. Cedric didn't seem bothered. He was. Two moves had been made on him in less than ten minutes, by two people, neither of which was his secret boyfriend he couldn't tell either about.
They reached the portrait of a bowl of fruit and stood facing each other awkwardly, at least on Harry's part.
"Thanks for walking with me Harry. I was hoping we could spend some more time together, I really enjoyed competing with you last year."
"Yeah, I enjoyed that too, I guess." Harry added dubiously.
Cedric laughed. "Yeah, when we weren't fighting for our lives. Anyway, Happy Christmas, if I don't see you." He walked away, and Harry couldn't be more relieved. He hurriedly ripped his invisibility cloak out of his bag and ran to their room.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" He panted as he entered. Draco raised one eyebrow, unimpressed, as he looked up from the book he was reading. He checked his watch melodramatically.
"Oh, are you? I hadn't noticed." His tone was as wounded as his demeanor. Harry sighed. He slouched over and threw himself down at Draco's feet.
"Please, please forgive me!" He begged as he looked up at Draco.
Finally, Draco smiled, looking pleased and regal, with his chest puffed up. "Now that is a pleasing sight. Grovel some more."
Harry chuckled, trying to keep it in, but went on, "Oh, holiest of lords, if it is my grievous mistake that displeases you, might I throw myself down on a sword for your pleasure. Might I cut out my heart, and give it to you, still beating, for it beats for you. I shall counterpoise at your discretion. Anything you wish, I shall obtain. Anything—"
"Alright, alright, you gigantic sap, I forgive you." He was laughing, pulling him up to sit on his lap, and Harry was straddling him. Draco leaned forward, trying to kiss him, but Harry pulled back. He had remembered what had happened earlier that night, and he wasn't sure how Draco was going to react.
"There's something I need to tell you." Harry said nervously. Draco sat back, a curious, innocent look on his face. Harry took a deep breath, "earlier tonight, I was in the Room of Requirement, and Cho was in there. She was crying, so I went up to her, and she hugged me."
"What is it with crying women coming to you?" Draco laughed.
"There's more. She was already so close to me, and she gave me this look, and I realized she wanted to kiss me, right before she went for it. I tried to back up, but she followed me. I ducked out as soon as I could, and it was just for a second, I swear." He said this all very fast. Draco's smile had slowly melted from his face.
"She kissed you?" He asked, and Harry for once couldn't read every emotion on his face. He could tell there was anger, and disappointment, but was that resignation? What was the other emotion? "She kissed my Harry?" This was more said to himself.
"I'm sorry, Draco, I didn't know what else to do. There wasn't anything I could do without, I don't know, hitting her, or maybe yelling at her. It just happened so fast. I'm so sorry." He really did feel terribly, even if he knew there was nothing he could do.
Draco sighed and put his head in his hands. Harry bit his lip and felt a beginning of an attack happening. He couldn't lose Draco. He just couldn't, he would die without Draco. A long, painful, torturous death. He pulled back, but Draco reached out his other arm and pulled him closer.
Harry's breathing picked up, "I'm so sorry, Baby, I swear, I didn't—"
"Hush, Harry. It's ok." He pulled his head out of his hand so he could look into Harry's eyes. "I'm not angry at you. I know you, and I know you'd never cheat on me. You told me right away, so everything is ok. I'm pissed at Chang, how dare she, but when you get right down to it, everyone thinks you're single. You are a hell of a catch, Harry, I've been expecting something like this for a while. You are so handsome, intelligent, funny, sassy, and everything I've ever wanted. I think it's likely that something like this will happen again."
Harry stared at Draco. He couldn't believe how forgiving he was. "You're really ok? You're not mad?"
Draco smiled, and it reached his eyes. "No, I'm not mad. I love you."
"I love you too." Harry leaned forward and gave him a peck. "That's really all it was."
"That? That was nothing, give me some more." Harry kissed him longer this time.
"Cedric was acting weird too," Harry said when they parted. "He tried to walk me to the tower, and he held my hand for a minute. What should I tell him?"
Draco frowned, then sighed. "I just don't know Harry. Let's think about it over the holidays. Maybe it's time to spread a rumor that you're dating someone. Maybe someone from Beauxbatons."
Harry nodded. "Speaking of which, I know we're going to try to meet tomorrow, but I want to make sure you get your gift." Draco grinned.
"We thought the same," he said, pulling his bag from beside him. Harry pulled his out and handed him the badly wrapped green parcel. Draco handed him his in red. He smiled.
He opened it carefully as Draco tore into his. "Oh, Harry, this is beautiful." He handed the bracelet to Harry and held out his wrist that didn't have one already on it. "Put it on me."
He latched it on, "it's more than just pretty. I have a matching one, and they can be used to communicate. See the writing? If you speak or write on it, the words will go to mine. It also has a slight perception filter, so no one will notice it, a small shield charm to protect you from minor hexes and jinxes, and it's scratch resistant."
Draco beamed. "This is incredible. It makes me feel like I should have gotten more for you."
"I already love whatever it is." He said as he returned to his own present, opening it slower than Draco had. It was a silver dragon pendant, with what he suspected were diamonds for eyes. "Oh, Draco, I do love it. This is gorgeous. Thank you!"
"Thank you!" Draco said, as they leaned forward to hug each other.
Harry escorted Draco to the Slytherin Common Room before heading up to his. That night, he dreamed of Draco. Then, just as things were getting really good, the dream changed. He was a snake, slithering on the floor. He attacked someone! When he awoke, he realized it had been Mr. Weasley who was laying on the ground somewhere with poisoned bites.
The next minutes were long and confusing. McGonagall was suddenly there, escorting him and Ron to Dumbledore. Dumbledore did things with gadgets around his office and sent portraits to check on Mr. Weasley. Then, just as a portkey was about to set off with Ginny, George, and Fred with them, Harry felt a stream of rage travel up his spine. He wanted to attack Dumbledore, just as he had attacked Mr. Weasley.
Sirius was there, they were at Grimmauld Place, and they spent the rest of the night sitting around the table in silence, waiting for news. It finally came in the form of Mrs. Weasley, who said, "He's going to be ok," and it was like the tension was released.
As the Weasleys shared a group hug, Harry went to Sirius. "Hey, kiddo, want to help me with breakfast?" Harry did, and actually ended up directing Sirius, who was not that good of a cook. Eventually, he went to sit while Harry handled everything. Mrs. Weasley tried to bustle in, but Harry waved her off; he needed to do something with his hands, he felt so awful.
After breakfast, he asked to talk to Sirius about what he had experienced that night. How he was a snake, how he had wanted to attack Dumbledore. Unfortunately, it didn't help that much and Harry was left feeling like a freak. Merry Christmas to me, he told himself sadly.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you've enjoyed thus far and will continue to do so! I hope no one is too mad at me for what happened to Sally-Anne. I did consider much worse things happening to her, so I hope that helps. This does answer the question of where she went, as she's mentioned in the first book, but not the fifth. I've always been curious about that, and I love hearing theories. I don't know if anyone will read close enough to tell, but the handkerchief Mandy wiped her eyes with in this chapter is the same one Sally-Anne gave her the previous year when she was crying before the Yule Ball.
Not all relationships are going to be like Harry and Draco's. Most relationships don't last from teen aged years til they die, and it's not special if they all get together right away and stay that way.