Title: Clear - Unmistakably Clear
Part 2-Chapter 3: Questions
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: R for slash themes
**WARNING**: THIS STORY CONTAINS SLASH THEMES – WHICH MEANS HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TWO MALE CHARACTERS. YOU ARE ADVISED TO LEAVE IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS.
Disclaimer: The characters portrayed in this story do not belong to me, but to the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling. This is all FICTION; none of it is true. No profit was made from this story. I bear no responsibility for anything you may claim from this story, you have been warned.
LAST WARNING. SLASH. HOMOSEXUALITY. LEAVE IF YOU DON'T LIKE.
Plagiarism is a crime. But I'm sure you know that already.
***
"Don't you dare say those things about him ever again!" Harry glared at Ron, hands still curled into shaking fists.
Ron's nose was bleeding, and a bruise was rapidly spreading on his left cheek. Hermione stood between the two of them, shocked. "My God, Harry…" she mumbled, but then was silent as she watched her two best friends stand off against each other.
"You know bloody well that whatever I said was true!" Ron shouted, moving towards Harry, wiping at his blood furiously.
"Well I know more, and everything you said was fake! They're just the lies you made up to yourself because you hate him!" Harry's eyes flashed, and he took a step forward as well.
"Well how the fucking hell do you know you have the truth?"
"Because I fucking saw it with my own eyes! I'd have died if it wasn't for Draco!"
"And how the fuck do we know? Or anyone else, for that matter? You've never even tried to prove it to us and you just expect us to believe you just like that?!"
"Yes! Because you two are supposed to be my best friends! I thought that you would understand that I needed time before I was ready to tell you, or anyone else, what happened that night because I almost lost him for real and I wanted to fucking die when I saw him in the hospital wing after the attack!"
Complete and utter silence.
"He's a bastard," Ron spat, "and you are the hero, Harry. It just doesn't work like that."
"How is it supposed to work then? Am I supposed to hate him forever, for things that he didn't do, would never do, but would commit his life to if he thought it would help me? I love him," he said tightly, voice quite and strained in the stillness of the room. "And nothing is going to change that. I loved him well before anything happened, and it's time you accepted that I was the one who went to him," he said, unconsciously mirroring Draco's past words. "I choose him because I love him and I love him because he's brave and strong and kind and…and…and everything and anything that I could possibly ever want…" he trailed off and lowered his head, hiding his suddenly bright eyes.
"Well what about Justin?" Ron said challengingly. "You go and almost screw Justin and then you turn around and say you love Malfoy?"
"Yes!" said Harry desperately. "I was caught in a vulnerable moment. Draco and I were having problems, yes, and when Justin paid so much attention to me then, I weakened and betrayed Draco."
"Betrayed," Ron sneered, face twisting into an ugly expression. "You make it sound as if it had nothing to do with Malfoy."
"It was just my fault!"
"And what about Malfoy's fault?"
"It had nothing to do with him, you understand? It was just me, me, ME, ME, ME!!!"
Ron stared.
"Draco had dozens and dozens of lives in his hands – lives belonging to those of the light. I had nothing riding on the Christmas attack except for my own well-being and life. Everything – the whole thing relied on him. Could you possibly imagine the pressure he was under? And he did it all without a murmur, without a word, merely nodding at all Dumbledore asked of him." Harry began to pace the room, running a distracted hand through his tousled hair. His eyes rested on Hermione, who was sitting, still, on the sofa. He had completely forgotten that she was still there.
"I could do nothing to help. I was trained to avoid the Death Eaters and trained on the method of destroying Voldemort. I was trained to keep myself alive, whilst Draco spent all that time alone, left with only his morbid thoughts on what was to happen. True, his pain and distress was caused by his father, but I had the ability to relieve him of it, and I ignored him in favour of the 'greater good'. There can be no greater good if he is unhappy, but I, too, bowed to the wishes of the Order."
"Harry…" Hermione began softly, but stopped when Harry spoke once more.
"He was unwell too, you know. Can you imagine, being sick and tired and in physical pain and yet having to practice with Snape all those nights, to perfect his incantations, having to go to meetings with Dumbledore and sometimes the Order. It was so much, and was too much for him – I've had experience, he had none. And so he started pushing me away during what little time we had together, not literally of course, just in the way that he got so much more snappish and angry with me more often as well. I just…I wanted his attention, but I didn't know how to get it. I wanted to comfort him, but he wouldn't allow me – I think he was afraid he'd somehow hurt me."
"You can't blame yourself for all this, you know," Ron said, much more calmly now. "He had a part to play in it, and it was his fault as much as yours. You were lonely because he pushed you away – you just said it yourself."
"You don't understand," Harry said. "You can't understand. It was so much more complicated than I'm making it out to be."
"How complicated?" Ron asked. "Tell us."
Harry sighed. "I. It's just. So hard to. You weren't there, and it's just impossible to explain how things were. And that's not the point anyway. I just want you two to recognise that Draco was the hero of the war, not me. And I hope you two could give him the respect he deserves, even if you, Ron, can't bring yourself to accept him."
Ron just stared. "I don't want to," he said grudgingly, "but I'll try."
"Thank you," Harry said, exhausted, collapsing on the sofa next to Hermione as she gave him a sideways hug and smile.
---
Draco sighed, and woke up.
"Boo?" he mumbled wearily, blinking at Booboo's face pressed right up against his.
"Day-co wake up!" Booboo exclaimed happily. "Booboo happy!"
Draco smiled a little and stroked his bear behind the ear. "How long have I been asleep?"
"All day. Booboo so worried."
"Oh."
"Sum-fing wrong?" Booboo asked, jumping off the bed in pursuit of a cup of tea.
"Just had a strange dream."
"Tell Booboo. Booboo will tell what dream meant."
Draco frowned. "I was with you, walking down the street. And then we saw a street performer with his pig, which was a stuffed animal, though it was alive. I went to pet it, but it kept on trying to reach you, and so I kept on pushing it away, telling it to leave you alone, but still petting it at the same time."
Booboo nodded. "Pig was sum-fing you want. You kept wanting to pet. But you also afraid it will take away or kill sum-fing very dear to you because Day-co said it kept wanting to eat me."
Draco blinked. His bear had just psycho-analysed his dream. "It's just a dream Booboo," he said, laughing lightly, not wanting to think about its real meaning. "Wait," he said suddenly. "Who brought me back here?"
Booboo reappeared on the bed, paws empty. "Rest, Day-co," it said, refusing to answer the question.
"Snape?" Draco asked, sitting up. "McGonagall? A teacher? Dumbledore? Madam Pomfrey? Who?"
"Pottie did, Day-co."
Draco's eyes widened so large that Booboo was half afraid they'd fall out of their sockets. Or explode from the fury that was in them. "Booboo bad?" it squeaked.
"No, no, Booboo good," Draco said, reaching out to hold his bear. "I just. I still can't bring myself to forgive Potter."
"What about later?"
"I don't think there ever will be a later."
---
Meet me in the music room tonight, midnight.
A short note, unsigned, and yet Draco knew that Potter had sent it; he could recognise the handwriting, even though he had only seen it a few times. He rumpled the note and dropped the pieces onto the floor carelessly. Two more days until school started again, fourteen more weeks until their NEWTs, and seventeen more weeks until they graduated from Hogwarts and Draco would never ever see Harry Potter again.
Yet, with all Draco's resentment towards Potter, he knew he would be there, at the music room, tonight at midnight.
By the Gods, he was pathetic.
---
Harry paced the room nervously, waiting for Draco to arrive. He had gone early, to wait, but it turned out to be a bad idea. There were too many memories in this room, most of them good, all of them concerning Draco and him.
Harry sighed, and trailed a finger on the edge of the window seat, looking up at the moon outside.
The door opened and Harry whirled as Draco entered, the wooden door shutting silently behind him.
There was silence for a brief, short moment, and then Draco spoke. "What do you want?"
"Just to talk with you."
"There is nothing left to say."
"There is."
Draco raised an eyebrow in question.
Harry's gaze dropped to the floor, unable to meet with Draco's accusing glare. "I'm asking you for your forgiveness, Draco. What I did was wrong, and there is no excuse for it. I didn't do it out of spite. I didn't do it so you would be jealous and want me again. I didn't give into Justin because my body wanted it. I was lonely, Draco."
He paused, chewing his inner cheek nervously before continuing. "Something was wrong with us – there was a rift or something, and I didn't know how to close it and you weren't willing to help. I needed – I needed someone to say kind things to me, someone to pet me, and do it as a lover, not as a friend. You were – you were unable to give those things to me for your own reason, and when Justin offered, I. Just. All those lonely feelings kind of brainwashed me," he finished lamely. He looked up at Draco for an answer, a reply, a response, anything, and was Draco's back.
Silence was between them once more, and Harry felt his pulse speeding up as he bit his bottom lip nervously. "Draco?" he said softly.
Draco turned, and Harry stepped back, eyes widening. "Why do you always have to make things so hard for me?" Draco asked in a low voice, as a lone silver tear burned its trail down his porcelain cheek.
"I – I…" Harry stammered.
"Why won't you let me forget you? Why won't you let me heal after all the hurt you've done to me? Why won't you let me go? Why is it that every time I believe I'm over you, you go and do something that makes me question myself all over again? Like the day in the hospital wing. Why did you have to come see me? Why did you have to look at me like that? Why are you looking at me like that now? Or what about the day before? Why did you have to take me back to my room? Why did you have to be so concerned? Why didn't you find someone else to do it for you? Why do you still care?" Draco finally screamed, clenching his hands into tight fists, a flood of tears now cascading from his eyes. "I know I was cold towards you when we were still together – that's why you did what you did, right? So why are you here now, asking me to forgive you? Why?"
"Because, Draco," said Harry, reaching out to rest his fingertips on Draco's chin. "Because I still love you."
Draco shook his head slowly. "Don't say that. Don't look at me like that when you say those words because you're making me think it's real. I don't want to think it's real because it's not."
"It is." Harry stepped closer.
"No," Draco whispered.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes," Harry breathed, leaning in.
Draco pulled back, but Harry gripped him around the waist tightly. "Don't run away from me," he whispered.
"Please," Draco whimpered. "Don't."
Harry closed the few inches between them, eyes dropping shut, and placed a soft, soft kiss on Draco's lips, salty from his tears.
---
Draco was so shocked he could only stand there as Potter kissed him, so delicately, so gently, and so lovingly that Draco felt as if his heart would burst should it continue. Harry's lips were chapped and rough but warm and so, so tender as they touched to his own.
Draco wrenched himself away, breathing heavily, tears still blurring his vision. Harry's eyes were so full of love, and they gazed upon him with such adoration that Draco's brain screamed at him to RUN and so he did, spinning around and flinging the door open to dash out of the room, leaving Potter alone in the music room.
He reached his room still sobbing, lungs feeling as if they should burst from their sprint through the castle, and emotionally drained from the few short minutes he had spent with Potter just then.
Draco collapsed onto his bed, and Booboo immediately set to work removing his outer robes and unlacing his shoes. In a matter of minutes, Draco was sprawled on top of his comforter, clutching his bear as he desperately tried to stop his tears, biting down harshly on his lip to keep from crying out.
He sniffed, and set Booboo down onto the pillow, before crawling to the end of his bed, where his trunk stood. Opening it, he rummaged around for a bottle, and pulled it out, ignoring Booboo's pleas and whimpers as he opened it and drank. Only this time, it wasn't just a few mouthfuls, as Draco tipped his head back and the iridescent liquid continued to flow endlessly into his waiting mouth.
---
Draco stayed in his room for the rest of the holiday, not even coming out for meals. Booboo, who had reacquainted with Dobby during its first venture into the kitchen in search of food for Draco, stayed with him throughout, and Dobby brought meals to his room on strict orders that no one should know of the arrangement.
However, on this particular morning, there was no escape, for lessons started today. The rest of the students had arrived in the late afternoon yesterday, though Crabbe and Goyle hadn't been with them.
Just as he was working on his composure to go to breakfast in the Great Hall while lingering in the Slytherin common room, he was ambushed by two huge skulking monsters – Crabbe and Goyle.
"I thought you two wouldn't be back until next week!" Draco laughed.
"Couldn't wait to come back and see how you were doing," Goyle said, as Crabbe picked Draco up and tossed him through the air to Goyle, who caught him neatly.
"Is everything taken care of then?" Draco smiled as he was set back on his feet.
"Sure."
They fell into a comfortable silence, the two of them eyeing Draco carefully, checking for damages. "So," said Goyle. "How have things been?"
"Not so great. But I'll tell you about it later. We have lessons soon, you know."
Crabbe's eyes narrowed as they scrutinized him, and Goyle frowned as he said, "Draco. You have to stop with the…you know. You'll kill yourself – you know how it is."
Draco waved a careless hand. "I'll be alright."
"I thought we settled this already. Did something happen?"
Draco couldn't meet their eyes. "No."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Nothing happened, alright? Harry Potter kissed me a couple nights ago, but nothing happened."
Complete and utter silence as Crabbe and Goyle stared at Draco, who was currently busy with banging his head against the wall. Crabbe growled suddenly. "I'm gonna kill him," he roared, and Goyle nodded in agreement as the two of them rushed towards the common room entrance, snarling death threats.
"Wait! Don't!" said Draco, holding out a hand to them. "Don't," he repeated. "It's not worth the trouble. Really. It's fine. I'm fine."
"You're not!" Goyle said indignantly. "You're anything but fine and it's his entire fault!"
"Just don't! I'm serious. It's not worth it. He's not worth it, not anymore. I need to get over him, and you two are going to, too."
The two of them hesitated for a moment, before Crabbe sighed and nodded. "Fine."
"Good," Draco said. "Because I can't let myself be that exposed to anyone ever again. And I won't. Not ever again."
To Be Continued!
Notes: I'm SO terribly sorry that this chapter was so late. There is absolutely no excuse, and I apologise for the long wait. Hopefully, this chapter was alright, and I'll definitely try and get the next part out sooner, promise! Thank you especially to Jubilee, who gave me the extra "oomph" I needed to hurry and post. :p Thank you!!!!!!
***I think that some people didn't/forgot to sign in or something when they wrote me reviews, and so were all lumped under xing@ff.net…If you were, then if you had questions, they'd but answered under that name, and thank you for reviewing, even though I couldn't see your name :p ***
Thank you SO much to everyone who reviewed Part 1, and also to: Akemi, mistykasumi – Thank you for reading! I'm so glad that Clear is making its way up on your favourites list, and hope you enjoyed this chapter too!, Aurora, Callisto Firestarter – Glad that the French was at least passable! Draco is definitely still frail, and he's definitely making it worse as well…Thank you for reading, and thank you very much for your review!, Tsuyuno – I actually sketched Booboo during class. I'll see if I can scan it any time soon. Heehee. And yes, it'll take a while for Draco to forgive Harry. But! I've prepared something that should put them together again. Should. Heehee. I think that Draco forgiving Harry will be the end of the story…and I'm estimating this to go into the early 20's, so there are a few more chapters to go. Thanks for reading!!!, Playboy Bunny, chrisseee667, havelock, Mi Su, Anna, Jezebel – Heehee, you're right, but details will have to come later I'm soo glad you like Booboo, and thank you for your review!, Shikala – Thank you so much for your review! It's always a pleasure to receive and reply to reviews, and I'm happy that you enjoy both just as much as I do :D I haven't lost faith yet, and definitely will finish the story. Thank you very very much for reading and reviewing all these chapters :), crimson nightmare – I like your explanation of Harry – because, yes, he is human! And a lonely human is also much, much easier to seduce. Plus a hot, lonely human, heehee. There will be a happy ending (have I said this before?!) and I'm glad you like Booboo! Hope you like this chapter!!!, Milady69, Queen Vegeta, mystic-flower, Jubilee – Thank you for your patience! I seriously think that Lucius was the type of father to have seriously warped Draco since childbirth, so I think it's mostly that aspect of Draco keeping him from getting back with Harry so soon. I think. And no, your reviews are not scary! Really! All reviews are encouragements for me to write more and more and (sometimes, heehee) soon…, S. Wing – I'm glad you liked all the angsty stuff. Hope this chapter had enough to sufficiently satisfy you! Thank you for reading!, Yoink Daydurfurits, Bunny-kuo – Thank you SOOOOO much for your review! You're too kind, and your words mean a lot to me. I'm glad you didn't get confused with the flashbacks (because it gave me a helluva headache trying to figure it out, heehee) and I hope you like this chapter too, even with all its lateness…, Amy-la, Cheyseri@aol.com, TanisaFyre - *hides* Sorry this took so long! Won't happen again, definitely! I'll make things right again, but that will be later, though, as I think I've said, there DEFINITELY will be a happy ending. Thank you SO MUCH for reviewing, and hope you like this chapter!!!!!!!, Liliku, real bluefalls dark.ness, queenofgondor21 – Thank you for your review, I'm glad you like the story! Hope you like this chapter too!, The Insane Floo Pot – :D It's alright that you didn't like Booboo at first; I was a bit hesitant about its character at first, and I think it's great how you like Booboo now! Part 2 is "Unmistakeably Clear", and yes, it carries on as Chapter 16 in the "Clear" series. It's because it's not really a sequel, so I didn't want to separate it from the rest of the story. Sorry the update took so long…There will be a happy ending, definitely, Hermione dumped Justin before he made a move on Harry, and I will only say that something is brewing in the clouds…Hope you like this chapter!!!, GLow – LOL! You can't keep Booboo just yet…for now, he's still Draco's. Heehee. Thanks for your review, and I really hope you enjoy this chapter too!, Silmarien, throbbing-squirm – Thank you very much for reading and reviewing! Sorry this took so long, but hope you liked it anyway!, Anita Blake, Klea, Aurenne – Thank you SO much for your review! Thank you!!!!!!!! Hope you like this chapter, too!, Lia Santana, I Am The Bunny Slayer – I've been hiding for a long time. Heehee. I suspect I'll remain in hiding for a lot longer as well…Thank you very much for your review!, jeannie81 – Booboo kept on saying 'Hee' in a disdainful way, sort of a "Huh" or "yeah, right"…It was meant to be sarcastic and mean, but Booboo can't *be* mean, so all it could say was 'Hee'. Thanks for your review!, xing@fanfiction.net – I'm really glad that I managed to answer any previous questions! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, too! Oh, and I'm SOOOOOOO sorry this came out so late. I really am! Won't happen again! I think the Malfoy family has French roots, mostly since their name has French origins…And I think it was Justin just because he was there, you know? Hmmm…Glad you like Booboo. I agree, the one in AI is a bit creepy. Draco didn't get Marked…details coming soon, and went completely psycho afterwards…I don't think he was asleep exactly, but more as if your mind is in another time frame…or something. Sorry that it's a bit confusing when I skip over parts, but hope you still understand most of it. Something fun is in the making, and thank you very very very much for all your wonderful reviews!, TheUnknownJedi – Thank you for your review! I'm going to have a bit more fun with Harry and Draco, but it will be a happy ending, really!!!, Alura – Thank you for reading! I'm glad you liked that bit – hope you enjoy this chapter too!, Marie McBride – Thank you for your review! Hope you like this chapter!, Ladyblondhair – Thank you for being honest about Booboo, and I'm so so so so so happy that you like this story so much! Thank you very much for reading and reviewing, and hope you like this chapter too!, coriander – Thank you so much for your review! I'm glad you like Clear, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much!, elfee – To be honest, I, too, hate cheating!Harry, but for some reason, I just *had* to put it in because…I don't know what possessed me to. Thank you for your review, it really made me look more closely at my characters and compare them against their canon personalities. I suck at computers, and got desperately confused when I went to the site you mentioned…I don't think I'll go into details here, but I think I'll need to ask a friend to walk me through it first…Thank you, though!!! I really don't want Harry to have cheated out of pure hormones, because, like you said, that would make it into a wrong vs. right situation. I think Draco definitely carries some blame, but is unwilling to admit it. Or something. Thank you *very* much for your review, and hope you like this chapter!, Lotta – Thank you for your review!, Dracavia – Thank you very very much for your review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Once again, I apologise for the delay, and also if I didn't manage to answer a question you had directly because you were put under the "xing@ff.net" name. I don't know what happened – maybe ff.net went crazy again, but somehow your names got lost in the reviews…so, sorry for that too. See you all soon!!!!!!!
