Whee!!! Well kids, it's been quite a while since I last posted ANYTHING, much less any additions to this particular story. But when I saw that I had people who actually had me on their favourites and alert lists, well, I was inspired to bust out a new chapter for Outline. Umm....as it's been quite a while since I started this story, you'll notice that my style has changed to some degree....hopefully for the better....tho I did come up with some funny stuff in those first three chapters, I mean come on, drowning kangaroos? Hilarious!....Aaanyway, here's the extremely loooooooooooooooooooooooong awaited next chapter to Outline of a Harry/Draco Slash! Yay!! Party!!! Thank you sooooooooo much to everyone who waited for this and actually had faith in me....more than I did. You are all awesome! ::tear::

Outline of a Harry/Draco Slash

Chapter 4


Confrontation with the best friends

Harry returned to the tower shortly after saying goodnight to his boyfriend. They had barely begun their relationship, but he just knew they would last forever and absolutely nothing could ever tear them apart. Little did he know that an obstacle was about to rear it's ugly head in just a few short hours.

When Harry came down for breakfast the next morning, Ron and Hermione were waiting in the common room for him like they usually did. This morning, however, they wore peculiar expressions on their faces. Confused, Harry asked, "Hey guys, what's up? What's wrong?"

"Harry..." Ron began, "Why have you been coming to bet so late for the past couple nights? I could understand half an hour after curfew, but a couple hours? What have you been doing?"

Harry could feel a small wave of dread pass over him. What would Ron and Hermione do if they ever found out about his relationship with Draco? Could they ever understand? Could they ever forgive him for being with the enemy? What's more, could they ever accept Draco as one of them? How could he choose between his best friends and his boyfriend? Carefully, Harry decided on a course of action.

"I haven't been doing anything illegal, if that's what you're wondering, Ron. Nor have I been getting into any trouble without you. I promise I wouldn't do that if you weren't with me to share in the punishment!" Despite his light hearted attitude and big grin, Harry didn't feel that his response would sate his friends' curious nature. He was right.

"That's not the answer we want, Harry. What have you been doing that keeps you out of the dorm way past curfew? What would be so important that you would risk possible expulsion for??" Leave it to Hermione to blow the situation out of proportion. Harry sighed, it seemed he had no way around it. He just had to tell his friends. Plus, if they were truly his friends, they wouldn't care that he was gay nor that he was with Draco Malfoy. They should be happy for him no matter what. He took a deep breath....

"Ron, Hermione, I'm in love."

"You're what? With who?" Ron was mystified that he hadn't picked up on this sooner.

"I'm in love and going out with........Draco Malfoy." Harry cringed and waited for the blood bath to begin....

Ron gets pissed

...and he wasn't disappointed.

"What? Did...did you just say what I think you said? Did he just say what I think he said Hermione?" Ron seemed quite confused about the events transpiring at the moment. "You see, I must be crazy because I could SWEAR Harry just said that he's in love with....Draco Malfoy?"

"Umm....I don't think you're crazy Ron, because I think that's what I just heard as well." Hermione said.

"Yes, Ron, that is what I said. I'm with Draco. We're in love."

"You're in WHAT?"

"Love, Ron. We love each other." Harry was getting scared. Ron seemed to be turning redder by the millisecond, doing a startlingly good impression of a tomato.

"No, you're not."

"I...I'm not?" Harry was confused.

"No, because you're Harry Potter, you see. And Harry Potter is my best friend, my very STRAIGHT best friend who likes Cho and hates Draco Malfoy with a passion, just like me. So therefore you can't LOVE him. How can you love him if you hate him just as much as I do? Plus, everyone knows it's wrong to be gay. No good wizard was ever gay and no gay wizard was ever good." Ron would have gone on with his rant, but he was stopped by a fist suddenly connecting with his jaw. Hermione screamed and then rushed to Ron's side to help him up.

"How can you say those things? How can you do that to me? You're my best friend! You're supposed to support me, not hate who I am. How could you?" And with that, Harry ran out of the common room to the astronomy tower where he and Draco had met the previous night. There, he broke down and began to sob over his best friend's reaction to the new development in his life.

Hermione fixes things

Back in the common room, Hermione had moved Ron to one of the many sofas in front of the fireplace in order to tend to his wounded face and try to talk some sense into him. With a quick spell, the minor cut that had appeared vanished from Ron's skin and the bruised skin faded back to its original pale colour.

"You know, Ron, that was really harsh. It's a big deal to trust your friends enough to tell them something that important and you really let Harry down with way you acted and things you said. He needs us to be supportive of him, not to bring him down. I bet he was agonizing over whether or not to tell us. You shouldn't have gone off on him like that, even if you don't agree with his choices."

"But Hermione, he's a guy! And Malfoy's not only a guy...he's Malfoy? How could Harry do this to us? We're best friends! Or at least, we were..." Ron's whining was cut short by Hermione's harsh tone.

"Ronald Weasley," Ron flinched at how much Hermione could sound like his mother. "Harry is your best friend and nothing can change that. It doesn't matter who he chooses to be in a relationship with nor what sex they are because he is still the same person. He's the same Harry we have known for years. He won't all of a sudden become a totally different person just because he has come out to us. He needs our support now, Ron, not your idiocy. You need to apologize to him and let him know you didn't really mean what you said earlier, or else we may never get him back. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Ron thought long and hard about his best friend and what life would be like without him versus life with him and possibly Malfoy there too. Even though he didn't like Malfoy at all and probably never would, he realized that Harry meant too much to him as a best friend to let go for something as small as this. He smiled.

"You're right Hermione. I was stupid. I have to let Harry know I'm sorry. I couldn't ever lose him as a best friend to this."

Hermione grinned as she realized that she had successfully mended the rift between the two best friends. Seeing her happy made Ron's smile grow even bigger. He realized that he should take a page out of Harry's book and stop hiding his own secret from his friends, namely the one sitting next to him. Much as Harry had done earlier, Ron took a deep breath before beginning his confession.

Ron and Hermione get together

"You know, Hermione, Harry being gay wasn't the only reason I threw a fit earlier." He began. "I'm actually a bit jealous of him to be honest."

"Jealous? Why would that be?"

"Well, because he has something that I want."

"What, Malfoy?" Now Hermione was utterly confused.

"No, silly, not Malfoy. Harry can keep him. No, Harry has love for someone and is loved in return. I want that."

Hermione smirked. "Love? Well did you have anyone in particular in mind?" Hoping she was reading him right, Hermione scooted a little bit closer to the redhead.

"Well," Ron grinned as he moved close to his friend, "Actually I did. Care to take a guess?"

"Hmm...it's probably a girl....."

"Yes..."

"Probably someone in our year....."

"Yes..."

"Probably a lot smarter than you......"

"Hey! But yes..."

Giving a sweet smile, Hermione guessed, "Hmm.... Parvati Patil?"

"What?" Ron jumped back a bit from shock. He hadn't been expecting that...but seeing Hermione giggling from his reaction he knew he'd been had. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Ron moved in swiftly and countered, "Only if she's got the initials 'HG' and is top in our class." before capturing her lips with his own.

TBC

Blegh. Ugh. Ron/Hermione=major eeewwwie. Gah, i'ma go wash my mouth out now, it seems to have developed a disgustingly overly saccharin taste whilst I was writing that last part...