Not feeling the desire to explain an unconscious Ron Weasley to any of the school's teachers or Madame Pomfrey, Hermione guided the floating (and very much out cold) redheaded boy to the Room of Requirement. Trailing not too far behind her were the almost-but-not-quite-touching Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. They had moved marginally farther apart when they had reached the school, not wanting to draw attention to the change in their relationship.
When she opened the door to the room, Hermione saw a very comfortable sort of place, much like the Gryffindor common room. It was furnished similarly, with a few overstuffed burgundy sofas and armchairs, a fireplace, bookshelves, and a coffee table with a muggle chess set on it.
Hermione lowered the now drooling Ron onto one of the sofas, making a quiet sound of revulsion at the sight of the drool. As soon as he was free of the levitation charm Ron curled into the fetal position and started sucking his thumb. Hermione rolled her eyes, turning towards the door when she heard two distinct snickers behind her.
"Really now," Draco asked through snickers, "Does he always look like that when he's sleeping? Where's that Creevy kid when you need him?"
Harry had calmed and sat on the sofa across the coffee table from Ron's. "No, he usually doesn't, I don't think," he informed Draco, "This is an entirely new phenomenon, and I do intend to tease him as much as I can about it."
Draco looked delighted, and immediately sat down next to Harry on the sofa so that his thighs were in Harry's lap, and wound his arms around the other boy's neck. "I'm rubbing off on you already! You're turning into the boyfriend I never knew I wanted!" he seemed quite happy that Harry was planning on irritating Ron. He accentuated his pleasure by giving Harry a wet kiss on the cheek; something that he would have never considered doing before the previous night.
Hermione, who had since seated herself in one of the armchairs beside the sofas, was currently ignoring the display between the two boys, in favor of watching to see if her boyfriend was going to wake up. She found that he was.
"Boys," she said, glancing over to where Draco was trying to plant sloppy kisses on Harry, and Harry was trying to push Draco away (though unsuccessfully, as he was giggling too hard to put up much of a fight). She saw that they hadn't heard her and spoke up. "Boys," she said again, loudly, and this time they did hear. "He's about to wake up, and this," she waved her hand in their direction, "is probably not something he wants to see."
Draco shot her a glare, but stopped trying to orally molest Harry. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he can take it." He paused to think for a moment, then added, "Though, after what happened outside, maybe he can't." Hermione nodded, and noted to herself that while Draco had stopped trying to kiss Harry, he was still practically sitting in his lap. Ron was not going to be a happy camper.
The three students' attention was diverted as Ron let out a pained groan, and slowly sat up. He looked around bleary eyed for a few moments, before he spotted Hermione.
"Where are we Herm?" he asked; confusion from sleep was still clouding his mind, and he did not recognize his surroundings.
"Room of Requirement," she replied shortly, but with some affection, "I thought it would be the best place to bring you after you fainted."
"Fainted? Wha?" Even more confused now, he yawned and looked around for some indicator of why he might have collapsed. When he saw Harry and Draco looking oh-so-chummy on the couch, he remembered why. Then he groaned and started twitching. First his left eye, then his right hand began making small, uncontrolled movements that were beginning to scare Harry and Hermione. Draco simply raised an eyebrow.
Hermione decided that she had better do something, and soon, before Ron blew his top at the situation. "Ron, honey," she murmured as soothingly as possible, moving beside him on the couch and taking his twitching hand in her own, "Everything is going to be O.K. This is not something to lose your temper about. It will all be alright." She could see that he wasn't listening, so she stopped talking and just held onto his hand.
After about 30 seconds of loaded silence, Ron removed his hand from Hermione's, grabbed one of the pillows off the couch, put it up to his face, and started screaming.
Hermione was speechless. She could only blink at the redhead. Draco had started snickering again, and Harry was looking bewildered.
A minute and fifteen seconds later, he was still screaming into the pillow.
"How long do you reckon he can go?" an incredulous Harry asked a rather impressed looking Draco.
Hermione, who had overheard said plainly, "He's got a lot of anger to let out, obviously. At least this is better than violence."
"Yes," Draco interjected, "Total and immediate acceptance and understanding isn't plausible, but violence is almost anticipated. So I'd say he's handling this about as well as could be expected. I've heard that Weasleys have horrid tempers."
Harry nodded, and the three turned back to Ron who seemed to be stopping his vocal assault of the pillow. The redhead calmly put the pillow down beside him, and looked at the three faces that were staring at him.
"I have thought about the situation at length," he began, as calmly as if he had not just had a conniption fit.
"At length?" Draco interrupted, disbelieving.
"Yes," Ron glared fiercely at him for a moment, "at length," and then continued looking back and forth between Hermione and Harry. "I have decided that I plan to be in denial about this whole affair for quite some time. That is all I have to say on the matter. Now. Harry," he motioned to the chessboard on the coffee table between them, "would you like to play a few games?"
Everyone was silent.
"Alright," Harry finally replied, "That sounds like a good idea."
-8-8-8-8-
Ron skillfully ignored Draco's presence in the room for the rest of the afternoon.
He had twitched once or twice when Draco had lain down behind Harry on the couch and begun to scratch his back, receiving sounds of pleasure and approval from the brunette. Hermione had looked up from the book she was reading at the quiet noises (she had found a copy of their Transfiguration text on one of the shelves), and gave a quiet snort, but had then preceded to pay no further attention to the boys.
However, Ron nearly lost his ability to ignore the blonde soon after that. It was Harry's turn to move a piece on the chessboard, and as soon as he had put his hand to the chess piece he planned to move, he froze. After a moment, Ron looked up to Harry, and did not at all like what he saw. Harry's eyes were closed, and he was breathing laboriously. He looked as though he was trying to restrain himself from moaning out loud. Draco had put his hand up the front of Harry's shirt, and was doing things that frankly, Ron didn't want to think about, to the left side of Harry's chest.
Draco looked at Ron, and smirked. Then he turned his attention back to his boyfriend, and slowly moved to where he could whisper right into his ear.
"Harry," he whispered, "You're about to move the wrong piece. Move the kingside castle instead or Weasley will have you in checkmate." Draco leisurely licked the outside of Harry's ear, causing the boy to shudder violently, and slowly moved away again, also removing his hand from Harry's shirt.
Harry gradually came back to himself, shook his head, and registered what had just happened. He shot Draco a quick glare (at which he just received an innocent smirk), smacked him on the bottom (this time getting an "Ow!" and then an "Ooh, feisty aren't we?" from the blonde), but did as was suggested nonetheless.
Ron was red in the face, Harry was hot and bothered, Draco was smug, and Hermione was hiding a blush behind her book, but no more such incidences occurred that afternoon.
And that was fortunate, for Ron's sanity, if nothing else.
-8-8-8-8-
When the foursome sat down to dinner in the Great Hall that evening, they did not expect to immediately be surrounded by their peers wanting to talk about the previous evening's party. However, this is exactly what happened, so the four settled in for what they figured would be a long, boisterous meal.
Much was discussed, from who was there, to what they wore, who danced with who, and the like. Seamus kept glancing over in Harry's direction, so the dark haired boy steeled himself for what would most likely be a question he didn't want to answer.
It finally came, when all of the noise was dying down and the meal was almost over. Harry had become complacent that Seamus wouldn't ask him about whatever it was he was curious about, so when the Irish boy finally did attempt to get his attention from down the table, Harry was almost unable to restrain his groan of annoyance.
"So, Harry," he asked in what he must have thought to be a conspiratorial manner, even though it was obvious that at least 12 people could hear what he was saying, "You left the party very early last night, and you never came to bed. Who were you with that whole time?"
Harry's mind raced. How should he answer? It was overly apparent that Seamus, and the rest of the uninformed onlookers, thought that he had been with a girl the night before. It was written plainly on their expectant faces. He was saved having to think up an acceptable lie when Draco spoke up for him.
"He was with me," was Draco's simple statement, "I got bored so I asked him to take a walk with me outside. We fell asleep later in my room. Harry didn't want to wake you guys going back in your dorm room so I let him stay."
Harry almost laughed when he saw the faces of those around him fall. If only they knew how close to the truth Draco's explanation was. He managed to keep a straight face, and nodded to show his agreement to the story. Harry was very relieved when the conversation turned to Quidditch.
The tryouts for the open spots on the Gryffindor team had been held a few weeks earlier, and the results posted just days before, so the new team was still relatively new news. In addition to Harry and Ron, the team now included third years Nathan Hasberry, Charles Lane, and fourth year Melanie Crabtree as chasers, fifth year Ethan Hawke and seventh year Alex Band as beaters. Most of the talk as of late was about Harry and Ron deciding to take a seventh year on the team, but they defended themselves by saying that the most qualified person to try out, and he could simply be replaced after he graduated.
Harry tuned out of this conversation, and contented himself with looking at Draco. It was hard to believe that at this time the night before, he had been totally ignorant of his feelings for the other boy, and now they were filling him up and making him happier than he could remember being since before Sirius had slipped through the veil the previous spring. But he was not going to dwell on the past, he thought to himself. Draco had noticed Harry's eyes on him, and motioned for Harry to meet him outside the Great Hall in five minutes. Then he stood up and left.
Harry waited all of thirty seconds before saying a few quick goodbyes and hurrying after the blonde boy. Draco had hardly moved the doorway before Harry came barreling up behind him, quickly turned him around, and pushed the blonde fifteen paces down the corridor and up against a wall, out of sight from the main doors of the Great Hall. Harry grabbed Draco's thin wrists and lifted them up over Draco's head, holding them against the wall with one hand, and holding Draco's torso against the wall with his own body.
Draco barely had time for his surprise to register on his face when Harry's mouth was forced upon his own.
'Oh Gods, yes, more now quicker harder faster oh so hot more yes yes yes,' was the extent of Draco's thoughts as Harry pushed him harder into the wall with his mouth, hands, and body. And then, as quickly as he had started it, Harry pulled away, dropping Draco's hands.
Harry watched in silent appraisal as Draco blinked several times and then shook his head. The blonde looked at Harry for a minute before, without any notice whatsoever, he reached out and grabbed Harry's robes, pulling the dark haired boy back into a forceful kiss.
This time it was Draco who pulled away, leaving a dazed Harry. "What was that all about?" Draco queried, trying to straighten out invisible wrinkles in his robes without actually touching them.
"Um," came Harry's ineloquent reply, "Just something I've always wanted to do, I suppose."
"Mmh, well, I'm quite glad that you did. I think I could get quiet used to you if there's more where that came from. What's next? And didn't I tell you to wait five minutes?" He began walking back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry followed.
"Oh," Harry blushed lightly, "I thought if I waited I'd lose my nerve to do it." He straightened, and said in a matter-o-fact way, "Actually, I don't think that there will be too much more of that, tonight. I need to do some homework and polish my broomstick."
Draco's eyes lit up. He smirked in a way that Harry knew meant trouble. "Well, I can help you with that, now can't I? I'm just so good at rubbing them down."
Harry groaned, knowing he had set himself up for this, but decided to play along. "I don't know, Draco, it's really, really long. I don't know if you could handle it. Your hands might get tired."
"Oh but Harry," Draco said seductively, "I know I can handle anything you want to give me. Besides, I have lots of practice with this kind of thing. I bet I can make it better than it ever was before."
"I don't know about that, Draco, I can do it pretty well all by myself."
"Oh Harry," the way Draco said his name made it sound like a moan more than a way to address a person, "You should know that the end result is much more satisfactory when there are two people to work on it. It's so much shinier."
"I know, Draco," Harry replied, nearly getting lost in a fantasy, "Wait. What? Shinier? Eww, that's gross, Draco!" Draco had already started laughing, and by the time the pair had made it to the Tower and up to Draco's room, they were both about to fall over from laughing so hard.
Harry pulled Draco into a hug in order to support himself, and soon both boys were leaning on each other in a futile attempt to remain standing. Soon, they were both on the floor, and their laughter was finally subsiding.
Harry, who was partially on top of Draco scooted up his body so he could look at the blonde eye to eye. Draco's hair was splayed out beneath his head, there were tear tracks on his face from laughing so hard, and he had a huge smile on his face. Harry thought that Draco had never looked so beautiful before in his life. He leaned down and kissed him once, a lingering kiss that he poured his feelings and affection for the other boy into, and sat up.
"I really do have to polish my broomstick, you know," Harry said, at which Draco gave a small chuckle, "And I know we both have homework. So lets get that done before anything else happens."
"Wow, Harry Potter chooses homework over pashing with his boyfriend?" Draco asked, half teasingly while he sat up, "Am I really that bad a kisser?"
"No," Harry responded sheepishly, "But I was hoping you would help me with the Potion's work."
At this Draco swatted at Harry's head and stated, "Like hell I will." At Harry's surprised look, the blonde sighed and relented, "I was kidding; sure I'll help. Lets get our things and go down to the common room to work." So they did, and that's where they were when the Gryffindors came back from dinner.
-8-8-8-8-
Harry had just finished his Charms work when Neville, Ron, and Hermione came to sit by him at the table he was working at. Draco had gone up to his room to shower when people had started arriving back from dinner, not wanting to appear suspiciously close to Harry, and the brunette had been sitting alone until the three had joined him.
"Harry," Hermione said somberly to Harry as he sat back in his chair and looked at the three of them expectantly, "We have something that we want to talk about with you."
He was visibly confused. "About what?" he questioned, not being able to think of a reason why they would feel the need, Hermione especially, to drag him away from homework for a serious talk.
Hermione motioned with her head for the small group to move somewhere else, and so they went and sat in a group of chairs away from everybody in a corner of the room.
"Have you noticed anything unusual about Ginny's behavior lately, Harry?" Hermione looked at him from her seat next to Ron's with questioning eyes.
'Oh. So that must be what all of this is about,' he thought. "Do you mean the way she's been really moody and angry lately?" Harry asked, "I asked her to pass the milk at breakfast today and all she did was glare at me."
"Yes, that's exactly what we mean," Hermione both looked pleased and distressed that Harry was aware of the change in Ginny, "But if she's doing this to you, too, then something must be wrong." Hermione glanced at Neville, who then spoke up.
"At first," he began, "I thought she was just acting rudely to me, which was plausible since I broke up with her, but then I saw her blow off Hermione twice and I thought something had to be wrong."
"Yeah," Ron interjected, drawing the attention of the other three onto himself, "Gin's never acted like this before, even that time the twins set off six dungbombs in her bed at once. While she was in it. She reeked horribly for a week, and she didn't speak to either of them for almost a month, but she was still agreeable with everyone else."
"And she's been broken up with before, hasn't she? So it can't be that," Harry added, looking to Hermione for confirmation.
She nodded. "That's true. Has she been touchy with you lately Ron?"
"Well, no. Oh, wait, yeah I guess she has. Before the party I asked her if she had gotten any owls from our mum, and she told me to 'sod-the-hell-off'. And she threw a bat-bogey hex at me. I just figured it was that time of the month or something-"at this Hermione hit him in the face with a pillow she was holding.
"Merlin, Ron, you're such a guy," she said, almost laughing, then more seriously, "Anyway, we know that this isn't just something restricted to Neville, and we know it's never happened before, but we don't know much more than that."
"I don't guess that there's much we can do about it now, then," Neville said glumly. Harry nodded in agreement.
"I say that we take some time to watch her and see if the odd behavior continues and talk about it again later. I have stuff that I need to do."
"Yeah, like Malfoy," Ron said under his breath. Hermione snorted and Harry paled.
Neville looked up, surprised, "What?" he asked, eyebrows shot up as high as they could go.
"Oh!" Ron reddened quickly, realizing his mistake, "Uh, I said Yeah, me too." He looked around quickly, trying, and failing, to look innocent.
Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Neville, changing the subject, "Do you want me to help you with that potion's essay now?" she asked.
Relief flooded the boy's face and he nodded. The two stood and left the room to get their things.
"Sorry, mate," Ron muttered, still red as a tomato.
"Right," Harry replied, hitting him on the side of his head. Ron put his head into his hands and massaged his temples. Harry laughed and stood to go to Draco's room and say goodnight.
Harry stopped in his dorm on the way up to Draco's to change into his pajamas, and to put away the things he had been using to do his homework. Then he made his way up to Draco's room, entered and sat on the edge of the other boy's bed when he heard the shower still running.
Five minutes later the water had stopped, but Draco still had not emerged from the bathroom, and Harry was growing bored. He decided to look through Draco's closet. The brunette walked over to the monstrous piece of furniture that was his boyfriend's wardrobe, wondering how someone could own so much clothing.
He opened the armoire's large mahogany doors and peered inside. The closet space was totally filled up, and it appeared that every article of clothing was organized by color, style, and occasion. Harry gaped at all of the expensive clothing. He was willing to bet that all of the clothes that he had ever owned in his lifetime together weren't worth half of what some of the garments he was looking at were worth.
The brunette took his time looking through all of the clothing, running his hands over the fabrics and examining them. Eventually he reached the back of the closet where he found a beautifully crafted, unstrung bow made from a light colored wood, and a quiver with arrows of the same wood. He gingerly lifted the bow out of the closet in order to examine it. He heard a voice behind him:
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go through other people's things?" Draco sounded slightly irritated.
"No," Harry replied good-naturedly, still looking at the bow, "Didn't get much of a chance to tell me much of anything, I don't think."
"Well hell. Not much I can say to that, now is there?" Draco sounded disgruntled and a little embarrassed now. "You suck the fun out of everything, damn you."
Harry grinned and turned to look at him. "What kind of wood is it?"
"Maple," Draco replied, "Imported from America. There's no other with such color, hardness, and smoothness."
Harry nodded. "Can you shoot it?" he asked, genuinely interested.
Draco walked over to him, nodding. "Yes, I can. I took archery lessons for eight years. I'd still be taking them if there were anyone that could teach me anything I don't already know about it. Archery sort-of helps me relieve stress."
"Mmh, arrogant little bastard, aren't you? Nobody to teach you anything. Right. Care to prove your skill?" Harry grinned mischievously.
Draco sighed, went into the closet and pulled out one of the arrows. He strung the bow easily and turned to Harry. "Name your target. Nothing expensive please."
Harry looked around the room. What could he have Draco aim for? Then he had an idea. He pulled a small bit of parchment out of his pocket and went over to Draco's desk. He took a quill and drew a small dot in the lower left-hand corner of the paper, and used a sticking spell to stick the parchment to the wall. He and Draco moved to the far corner of the room and as soon as Draco had turned towards the parchment he lifted the bow and loosed the arrow.
He hit the dot square on.
Harry blinked.
Draco smirked.
"Believe me now?" Draco asked innocently.