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DISCLAIMER: I am not JK Rowling and the world of Harry Potter does not belong to me. I wish it did, but it doesn't. I am making no money off this trifle of a story.
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Draco had reluctantly escaped from Gryffindor tower early the next morning heading in the direction of his own common room while his mind was still on leaving Harry behind. For the next few days, Harry didn't see much of Draco because he was spending the better part of their Christmas holiday with Snape going over Potions and trying to successfully make the good fortune potion. Much to Snape's dismay, Draco had invited Ron along to join them in an attempt to make nice with Harry's best friend. Ron had eagerly accepted wanting to pull his grade up as much as Draco did. With his best friend and boyfriend preoccupied, Harry was left alone to contemplate how Hermione was going to take the news about his relationship with Draco. He never wanted the holiday to end.
By the end of the break, Ron and Draco had managed to do well in Potions, bringing each of them up to a passing grade. Harry was also happy to see that all the time they were spending together was making them a little more civil, borderline friendly even, but Harry knew better than to mention it. He didn't want the foundation they were building to come crumbling to the ground. He could only hope that things would go as well with Hermione. Not that he was worried because it was Ron and not Hermione that he had been worried about in the first place. At least she actually viewed Draco as a human being, even if he was a human being she didn't particularly care for. Now that Ron and Draco were on fair, if not good terms, which Harry mostly accredited to the cauldron Draco bought Ron for Christmas, Hermione shouldn't be too much trouble.
The day students were expected back at school, Draco and Harry spent the time between breakfast and lunch alone but rejoined Ron after they had eaten until the carriages were soon expected. Making plans to meet after dinner in the Astronomy tower, Draco had wandered off, probably to Slytherin, and Ron went outside with Harry to await Hermione's arrival. During the wait, they discussed tactics of telling her wondering how she was going to react.
When the carriages could be seen approaching, Harry held his breath and Ron offered him a reassuring smile before spotting Hermione and dragging Harry over to her. Ron threw his arms around her in a tight embrace when he reached her and Hermione hugged him back. After Ron, Harry came next and they then walked into the Great Hall together preparing for dinner.
Ron cast a glance to Harry over Hermione's head upon seeing Draco already sitting at the Slytherin table watching them. "How was your Christmas?" Ron asked her as he sat down beside her and locked their fingers.
"It was wonderful," Hermione told them. "How was your Christmas holiday? No problems from Malfoy, I hope."
"Not exactly," Ron muttered and Harry kicked him from under the table. "I got a new cauldron and worked with Malfoy and Snape to pull up my Potions grade," Ron told her and Hermione's face brightened with pride.
"I knew you could do it," she said, giving him a kiss. "I'm so proud of you. And Harry?"
"Fine," he answered. "Listen, Hermione, Ron and I have something, well - I have something to tell you about what happened over break. Here isn't the right place to do it, though, so after dinner we're going to take you to the Astronomy tower and tell you."
"Okay," Hermione replied, looking at them with suspicion.
They finished their meals and Harry walked out to meet Draco with Ron and Hermione by his side. His stomach was churning, bile rising in his throat, and Harry thought that they just might have to make a pit stop so he could vomit. He turned to Ron, frowning, and Ron must've been able to read his expression because he offered a sympathetic smile in reply. They entered the tower and Harry could see that Draco was already there, the outline of his body clear in the low light.
"Malfoy?" Hermione almost shouted in confusion. "What are you doing here? I need to talk to Ron and Harry."
"Just Ron and Harry?" Draco asked, a smug smirk directed at the two boys. A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he nodded and turned away from them. "Okay."
"What's he talking about?" Hermione asked as she turned to her friends.
"Actually," Ron started, gaze drifting between Hermione, Harry, and Draco, "Malfoy is a part of this."
Hermione stared from Malfoy to Ron and finally landing on Harry. "Draco?" Harry said and he tried to ignore Hermione's obvious surprise at his use of Draco's first name. "Are you going to go first?"
"Well that's the plan, isn't it? I suppose so. Did last time," Draco answered, weary, and Harry could tell he was struggling at having to tell the whole story over again. Diving right in, he told Hermione what he had told Ron, starting with his father and ending where Harry had overheard him speaking. Harry then picked up the story where Draco had left off and reiterated what he had told Ron, ignoring Hermione gaping. When the tale got to Ron, he picked up in sequence. Harry thought Hermione was about to pass out as Ron explained walking in on them.
Once all was told, including Draco's admittance to buying Ron his cauldron for Christmas, being jealous of Ron and Hermione, and apologizing for calling Hermione a mudblood countless times, she looked like she was going to fall over. Draco had gravitated into Harry's arms shortly after Ron had picked up the story and was now being held close to him. Ron took Hermione's hand, helping her to sit down on the floor, and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders while she tried to take in the information.
"That's a lot to hear in such a short amount of time," Hermione said sounding dazed.
"Malfoy really does act civil to me," Ron said, assuring her. "I mean, we'll still be fighting in front of everyone so his father doesn't know."
"Are you okay with this?" Harry asked, leaving Draco and kneeling in front of her. Draco kneeled down beside Harry, teeth nipping at his bottom lip.
"Of course, Harry," she said in a voice equally weak to the one Ron had used. "If Malfoy makes you happy, then I'll accept that."
"Thank you," he said, hugging her. "I appreciate it more than you know."
"Me too," Draco whispered and he looked from Harry to Ron, unsure, before he cautiously approached Hermione and gave her a quick hug. Letting her go, he said, "And I'll try not to call you a mudblood anymore but if it does slip out in front of people during one of our staged fights, I don't really mean it."
"He makes no promises," Ron and Harry said simultaneously.
Hermione, still too stunned from the hug to say anything, nodded.
"Crazy, isn't it?" Ron said to her. "First Harry is dating Malfoy, then Malfoy and I are civil enough to each other to make the good fortune potion."
"Bringing us up to a passing grade," Draco added.
"Yeah," Ron agreed. "He apologizes. Tells up he's jealous of what we have. Yet, we're still going to have to fight with him."
"It isn't like I want to. It's only staged," Draco pointed out. "I just can't have my father finding out because even if you don't care about me, Harry would be in danger too."
"We won't let your father find out," Hermione, now composed, assured Draco.
After embracing him for a longer hug than the first, causing him to blush profusely and avoid Harry's grin, Draco, Ron, Hermione, and Harry talked a little longer to sort things out before departing for the school. Draco headed for Slytherin, the other three headed for Gyffindor, and Hermione all the while continued to reassure Harry that she was on his side. She swore to be good to Malfoy as long as he behaved himself. Harry formed a weak smile, thanked her, and they sat in the common room for a long time into the night.
Hermione somehow thought that Harry and Draco were adorable and she kept Harry up, digging for details long after Ron went to bed. She couldn't have been more supportive and Harry loved every minute of it.
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"Harry?" Draco's voice broke through his mind and Harry rolled over on the cold floor of a room at the top of the Astronomy tower to face Draco.
"What?" he asked as he buried his face in Draco's chest.
"I've been thinking-" he started, voice trailing off in an obvious hesitation to complete the sentence. Raising his eyebrows, Harry gave Draco a questioning look as he waited for him to complete the thought. "The thing is, you've got Ron and Hermione to talk to about our relationship and since we know we can trust them, it makes things a lot easier to deal with. I was thinking that maybe we should tell a few teachers, too. Get them on our side. Maybe then we wouldn't have to sneak around as much."
Harry sat up, pulling Draco up with him. "I like that. That was a good idea. We can trust the teachers because none of them want your father or Voldemort to get a hold of me. Who did you have in mind?"
"Well-" Draco said, still hesitant, "I thought you might want to tell Hagrid since you're all so close to him and I suppose we should tell Dumbledore. If he doesn't know already, anyway. It would be nice to have the headmaster looking out for us. And I'd like to tell someone so I thought I'd tell Professor Snape."
"Snape!" Harry shouted, jumping to his feet. "But Snape hates me! He'll probably take fifty points from Gryffindor for thinking I'm not good enough to date a Slytherin."
"Harry," scolded Draco, "he isn't that bad and I'm his favorite student. I'll make him understand. He's the closest I've got to a friend around here and I need someone to talk to about you or I'm going to lose it. I won't do it without your permission, though."
Sighing, Harry sat back down and nestled into the contours of Draco's body. "You can tell him. I understand why you want to and I appreciate you respect me enough to ask first. If you think Snape's worthy of telling, I guess I'm going to have to respect and trust your decision."
"Thank you, Harry," Draco replied, voice soft, and he leaned forward to place a kiss on Harry's cheek.
They fell asleep there together that night and in the mad dash to get back to their common rooms in the wee hours of the morning, they agreed to meet back at the room atop the Astronomy tower that night. Harry got through breakfast, Divination, and Charms before lunch when he decided to skip the meal and went to see Dumbledore.
Running into the headmaster on the way there, Harry requested a discussion and Professor Dumbledore led him up the spiral staircase that led to his office. Fawkes was perched in the room looking more radiant than ever with his bright plumage of scarlet and gold. Sitting down across from Dumbledore, they barely had time to settle in before the whole story came spilling out and Dumbledore nodded, a secret smile and twinkle in his eyes signaling to Harry that he had, indeed, known all along. Harry was sure to explain that he just thought Dumbledore should know and expressed Draco's concerns over Lucius. He left the office for Herbology class when Dumbledore had to meet Cornelius Fudge, the minister of magic over some problem at the ministry.
He had one down and one to go and Harry was feeling good about Dumbledore's positive response. Apparently he thought that by being with Harry, Draco might not succumb to the dark arts like he had feared. Also, Dumbledore was quite pleased that Harry and Draco had crossed enemy lines, pus aside their differences, and gave into love. Harry responded by telling Dumbledore that Draco didn't believe in love.
Professor Sprout was unusually apathetic in Herbology and Harry spent most of the period telling Ron and Hermione all about his encounter with Dumbledore, his anticipated encounter with Hagrid, and his anxiety over Draco's encounter with Snape. Hermione assured him that everything would be fine but Ron seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Harry and they finished off the class going over all the reasons Snape could use to take points from Gyffindor. These ranged anywhere from Harry swapping too much spit with Malfoy, therefore contaminating a Slytherin mouth with Gyffindor saliva to distracting Malfoy and causing him to burn holes in his partner's cauldron. Hermione just shook her head at them in disappointment.
By the time he was at the door of Hagrid's hut, Harry was feeling a lot calmer thanks to Ron. All his butterflies vanished when he finally told Hagrid and his eyes glistened over with tears of pride as he hugged Harry, almost crushing his bones in the progress. He skipped dinner in the Great Hall that night, eating with Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione in the hut in a bit of a celebration to Harry's happiness and maturity. Ron had nicked food from the kitchen because no one was brave enough to actually eat Hagrid's cooking.
He made it back to the Astronomy tower only a few minutes later than usual but Draco was already in the room, pacing the length with worry lines across his face. "You're late," Draco snapped at him before Harry even had a chance to shut the door. Before Harry had a chance to reply, Draco cut back in, "Where were you at dinner? Do you even know what happened today?"
Harry bit his lip, shrugging. "Well, I told Dumbledore and Hagrid and they both seem pretty happy about it. Why?" Falling to his knees, Draco covered his face with his hands and screamed into his palms. Dropping before him, Harry gently pulled Draco's hands from his face and twined their fingers together. He placed a kiss on his lips before asking, "What happened?"
"I was telling Snape-" Draco started but his breathing got too heavy and he had to pause, trying to slow the pace down.
"He took fifty points from Gyffindor, didn't he?" Harry accused, trying to get Draco to laugh but he continued to frown.
"Worse," he mumbled.
"One hundred? I know I'm not worthy to date a Malfoy but that's ridiculous."
"I was telling Snape," Draco tried again, ignoring Harry's comment. "I told him all about what happened and how you make me feel and he was supportive of me like I know he would be. He told me that if you make me happy then I shouldn't worry so much and I could talk to him about you to him whenever I needed to. Somewhere along the way, though, we must not have heard the door opening and there was Dumbledore and Fudge. They needed to talk to Snape about Voldemort. Fudge knows about us, Harry. I got so scared someone else knew that I panicked and ran from the room. Snape promised me it didn't come up at all while I was gone but I was so scared and I wanted to tell you at dinner but you weren't there. I was worried."
"I was with Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione. I'm sorry you were worried," Harry said, wrapping his arms around Draco and kissing his forehead. "Look, it can't be that bad. I talked to Dumbledore right before he went to see Fudge and I'm sure he'll explain why it's so important to keep it quiet."
"I suppose you're right," Draco answered, bowing his head. "He just made me so angry. Didn't have any respect for me at all. Then I got into a fight with that inept, should be a squib, Longbottom."
"You didn't! Draco."
"Harry, stop reprimanding me," he said, holding his head. "I'm Draco Malfoy. This is what I do. I follow whatever my father says and do whatever I can to get on his good side. I want to make him proud and I haven't done it yet."
"And fighting with Neville will make him proud?" Harry asked, skeptical.
"No, but becoming a Death Eater would. I know I haven't been much to you over the last four years, just a whining prat that goes running to his father, gets scared in the forest, and rats on you to professors-"
"Don't forget Rita Skeeter, trying to get Hagrid fired, and all those blasted Potter Stinks buttons," Harry added. Draco shifted uncomfortably as a pink tinge came into his pale face.
"Right then," Draco said, "but all that time I've just been trying to make my father proud without having to become a Death Eater. Imagine how embarrassed I was and how disappointed he was with me over the ferret incident last year. I had to go to that awful reporter and make all those buttons to make up for it."
"Didn't you ever think that you were spending far too much time on me for someone who hates me so much?" Harry asked. "I mean, I'd just as well forget all about people I hate because they just aren't worth the waste of energy."
"I didn't think that until I realized why I didn't want Voldemort to kill you. Bit of a nasty shock for me but I've come to accept it and I already know I'm going to hate the day when we break up," Draco said, avoiding Harry's eyes.
Cupping his hand around Draco's chin, Harry forced him to look at him. "Why does that day ever have to come?"
"Be serious, Potter," Draco said and Harry winced at the use of his last name. "This thing between us is great now, but it's never going to work. I'm a Malfoy and a Slytherin. My father is a Death Eater. You've been my enemy since I could speak. You're Harry Potter, the orphan Boy-Who-Lived. A Gryffindor raised by muggles. We just don't work as people not even to mention we're both male."
"Who cares if we're both male?" Harry replied. "We aren't enemies anymore and you aren't Lucius Malfoy. You're Draco, two completely different people. He's the Death Eater, not you."
"But I will be," Draco responded.
"Why?" Harry snapped. "For your father? What about you, Draco? What about us?"
"Harry-" Draco protested, obviously weary of the conversation.
"No, Draco, you listen to me. You had your chance to speak. If you follow your father, become a Death Eater, when we graduate from school, we're going to be against each other out there. It isn't going to be the school boy rivalry that we're accustomed to. One day out there, we'll be face to face and you're going to have to kill me. You're going to win because when the time comes, I know I'm not going to be able to kill you. Can you handle that, Draco? Can you handle the responsibility of having to be the one who kills me? If it would make your father proud, would you kill me right now?"
Draco sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Harry, there's nothing I can do about it. If I can't come up with something else that's going to make my father proud, then I'll have to become a Death Eater."
"You didn't answer my question," Harry seethed at him. "If it would make your father proud, would you kill me right now?"
"This isn't the topic of conversation," Draco said, skirting the question. "I still have time before my initiation. All I did was say that I'm not going to like it when we break up. The possibility is very real. We aren't going to work, Harry. There's going to be no happy ending."
"So what are you doing here with me, then?" Harry asked, spitting out the words in anger. Draco looked at him with familiar dead and defeated eyes and instead of sympathy, all Harry could feel was rage. "Are you just stringing me along? Toying with me? Waiting for the right time to betray my trust in you and turn me over to Voldemort?"
"It's not like that, Harry," Draco replied but Harry held up his hand to stop him.
"Save it, Malfoy. I've had enough. You know, I was actually crazy enough to think that there was something special and real between us, but since I'm just a decoy until you toss me aside for Voldemort, I guess I was wrong. Allow me to save you the trouble." Grabbing his invisibility cloak, Harry pulled it over his body and fled from the room with one goal in mind: get to Gryffindor.
Arriving at the tower, he ran straight past the few people still in the common room and entered the dormitory. "Ron?" he asked. "Are you awake?"
"Yeah," he said, sitting up in bed. "Why? Is something wrong?"
"I need to talk to you in private," he said, looking over at the beds Seamus, Neville, and Dean occupied.
Ron pulled himself out of bed and from his drooping eyelids, Harry could tell that he had almost been asleep. Running into Hermione on the way down to the common room, Harry grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along with. Only a few stragglers were left behind, deeply involved in a game of wizards chess played between two sixth years and they paid no attention to the entrance of the trio.
"We had a fight," Harry said, dropping into an armchair. "Rotten one, too."
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, concerned. "What happened?"
"He was already upset because when he went to talk to Snape, Fudge overheard, and now he's panicked. I tried to calm him down. He was already upset over than and he wanted to tell me at dinner but I was with you and Hagrid. Then he mentioned getting into a fight with Neville and things turned to his father and Voldemort and Death Eaters." Harry sighed, holding his head in his hands and trying to block out the pain as Draco's words still swirled around in his head. "Before I could stop myself, we were fighting and he said we'd have to end once he followed his father and I got mad. I yelled at him and walked out. I don't even know if we're still together or if I ended it in my rage."
"Oh, Harry," Hermione whispered, hugging him. "It'll be alright. I'm sure he's just as upset and missing you as you are about him."
"But I don't want him to be upset," Harry replied, rubbing at his temples. "I shouldn't have yelled at him the way I did but he's more to me than he knows and it hurts that he's already anticipating the day its over. He's already waiting for the day when he chooses Voldemort over me and I hate that."
Hermione rubbed circles on the small of his back as the chess game ended and the common room cleared out except for the three. His breath was panicked, ragged as he sucked air in with deep inhalations that almost caused him to choke on his own oxygen. As his heart began to calm to a normal pace and his breathing evened out, Harry fell asleep with his head on Hermione's shoulder. With Ron's assistance, she helped carry him up to bed and Ron drew the curtains around Harry, hoping his dreams would treat him better than life.
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