(Gryffindor Common room, a couple days later)
"Guy's!" Ron yelled. He had come tearing up the stairs. He dropped onto the couch beside Hermione, out of breath. Harry was seated in the window seat watching the quidditch game below.
"You'll never guess-" he gasped, "what I just heard!" He giggled and tossed himself over his girlfriend's lap. "It's Malfoy!" He laughed so hard he hiccupped and fell onto the floor.
Harry perked at the mention of his lover. "What about him?"
"I over heard him talking with that twit, Zabini." He hiccupped again. "He said, and I quote, 'I hear your boyfriend...'," he trailed off while trying to remember the rest, which was impossilble as he had tuned the rest of the conversaion out. If he had continued listening Ron would have heard Blaise mention Harry soon after. "Well, the rest doesn't matter. MALFOY HAS A BOYFRIEND!!!" He exclaimed, grabbing his stomach as he laughed. "Oh, we can use this juicy bit of information for years to come! He will never call me 'Weasel' again." He cackled with glee.
"You will do no such thing, Ronald Benedict Weasly! (1)" Hermione exclaimed.
"Uhh, why not? This is our chance to get back at him." He stared at her. "Come on, Harry! You have my back, don't you?" His eyes pleaded with him.
Harry didn't say anything at first, instead he decided to change the subject. "That just isn't right... You're middle name is Benedict?"
"How would you like it if people teased you about your sexual orientation?"
He pointedly ignore comment about his name. "Not right?! Haw can you say that it wouldn't be right?! He deserves anything I do to that little bastard. And besides why would I be teased about the fact that I like girls. I mean, really Harry. That only the normal way to do things if you're a guy. Guys shag girls and girls shag guys. That the way it goes! Although girl on girl is ok some of the time." He huffed. /pouf/ he thought to himself. His face slowly turned red.
"Accio." Harry summoned his broom and flew out the window without saying a word.
"Ron!" Hermione frowned.
"What did I do!? It's not my fault if he doesn't accept it. Gay people are not to be accepted. At least not in any normal society." He glowered. His good mood had been ruined.
Fuming, Hermione darted up the stairs.
/alone again. Damn it!/ Ron stared around him in surprise.
(The Leaky Cauldron: a day later)
"...and then my star chart read that I would loose my way along the road, and that I would loose all those close to me. Ridiculous isn't it! I should have dropped that class long ago. If I had known that you were going to then I would have dropped it as well, this year. Now I'm stuck with it. Hey, do you think it isn't too late?" Ron said around a mouthful of chocolate frog.
"Yes. You waited to late. You have to do any schedule changes done before school starts." Hermione replied, then took a sip of her soda.
"Oh. Harry, what are you thinking about?" He waved his hand in front of Harry's face. He had been quietly staring out the window, while he sipped his butterbeer. He had barely heard any of the conversation so far. His eyes snapped back from the window when he heard Ron calling his name.
"Harry!"
Harry stared at the boy in front of him. ...do as I tell you...obey...OBEY ME...
"Oh come on. You're not still mad, Harry. Are you?" Ron asked. He didn't like look in his eyes. Harry's eyes were blank. Unseeing.
"Harry! What's wrong?" Worry was written across her face. She reached out to shake her shoulder.
"Huh..." He blinked his eyes, refocusing on his friend's concerned faces. "What did you say?"
"Harry, what happened?" Hermione asked.
"I don't remember." A lie. He heard the voice again. ...obey....the unheard voice whispered. "Um...I'm a bit tired, guys. I'll see you later." He left before they could say a word.
"Do you think he's still mad?"
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Gods, you are dense." She got up to see if she could catch Harry but he was long gone. /what happened/ she asked herself.
They were sitting in the Great Hall for dinner. Harry was sitting in between Ron and Hermione, since she wasn't talking to the red-headed boy.
"Hermione." Harry whispered in her ear.
"Huh."
"I'm going to go hang out with Draco later. Are you coming?"
Was Harry asking her to go with him on his date? "Umm, sure. Are you sure I wouldn't be imposing?"
"Yeah. I asked him to bring a friend along, so you wouldn't get lonely."
"Who is it?" Her curiosity was starting to increase.
"Blaise Zabini."
"Oh!" She blushed. Hermione had noticed the boy watching her for a while, and he was rather handsome. She then saw the far off look in his eyes again. "Harry, are you ok?"
He turned back to her and gave her a slight smile. "It's nothing 'Mione. I'm fine.... Really." He continued eating.
Unknown to them Ron was watching them the hole time. His anger began to show itself when he saw Harry scoot closer to her and whisper something in Hermione's ear. He remembered that Harry had compared her to his sister, but couldn't he back off of her, just a little bit. And she shouldn't be comfortable being that close to someone else other than him. /She's practically in his lap, for Merlin's sake!/ But, then again...
Ron got fed up watching them in a private conversation. He slammed down his fork and stomped off, back to Gryffindor tower.
"We're really going to have to talk to him at some point." Harry muttered, he wasn't looking forward to that.
"I know. I should probably go after him." Hermione whispered. She was unsure about what to do.
"Yeah. Do you want me to go with you?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure if he wanted to leave her alone with Ron when he was in this type of mood. Ron may have been his best friend, but he would be the first to admit that Ron had a temper.
"No, it'll be fine." With that Hermione made her way up. She did not noticing the blue eyes watching her with mild interest, from the Slytherin table.
Hermione was able to placate Ron. When Harry got up to the tower he saw that Hermione had been able to get Ron to play her a game of wizards' chess. She must really been trying to make him happy. She didn't even like wizards' chess. Harry sat in the chair beside Ron. He watched.
Ron won the match. But just barely.
Once Ron had fallen asleep Harry quickly got dressed and looked around in his trunk for his invisibility cloak. He then snuck out of the boy dorms and into the girl's. They had separate rooms unlike the guys, and Hermione had given him permission to enter. Without it any boys would have been unable to enter. It was to give them privacy.
He lightly tapped on the door and was immediately answered. Hermione was already dressed.
"I waited up for you." She looked at the clothes Harry had chosen for the night. He had worn the form-fitting long sleeve black shirt along with a baggy pair of black pants. He looked good in them to say the least. She herself had worn the light blue tank and black jeans. Along with it was a simple gold necklace with a small blue topaz jewel that Hermione's parents had given her for her birthday.
Harry nodded and tossed the cloak over them. They silently made their way down to the dungeons. When they got to the statue Harry whispered the password 'dragoon'. The statue moved aside to let them pass.
"Harry, why are we heading right into the Slytherin common room?" she hissed.
"It doesn't matter, Hermione." Harry turned around, leering. "They already know." He laughed slightly and continued forward.
Hermione stared at him for a second before following. "And you couldn't tell ME sooner!"
"Shh. You'll wake up Snape. I was afraid that you would tell Ron."
"Aren't you worried that they may tell somebody." She was having a harder time grasping the fact that most of Slytherin knew and that she had only found out this summer. "Namely Voldemort!"
"No. They're either too scared of Draco to risk it, or they're afraid that Snape will give them a months worth of detention, which is not fun, by the way. He doesn't want it to get out that his favorite student is dating a Gryffindor. Namely, the 'Boy-Who-Lived'." He smirked at the memory.
(Flashback to the middle of 5th year)
Harry and Draco were lying in the afterglow of a night well spent. Draco was currently playing in Harry's hair when the heard the thump of the door hitting the wall.
"What's going on in there!?" They heard Snape's voice boom as he entered the room.
"Oh shit!" Harry and Draco scrambled to get their clothes on. Luckily they still had the curtain drawn around Draco's bed.
Snape snatched the curtain back. They had forgotten the silencing charm.
They saw Snape glaring down at them in surprise, with an equally surprised Blaise in tow. Draco, who had been reaching for his pants, collapsed across Harry and started laughing when he realized who was there. He wasn't worried. He didn't have a reason to be.
"Mr. Malfoy?" He asked quietly. "If I may ask, is this your idea of a joke?! You are the one caught wrapped around HIM." Snape was a bit irked that he was the one being laughed at when Draco was the one being caught in this most undesirable act.
"You won't do anything." Draco got a really smug look on his face; he rolled of of Harry only to cuddle close to Harry's side. Neither one further bothered to dress themselves, although Harry was frozen at being caught.
"And why wouldn't I?" Snape was beginning to look more pissed off, while Blaise was contemplating how to handle the situation. It's not everyday that you see your best friend in bed with his "worst enemy". And enjoying it, by the looks of it. He was now possibly regretting having gone to get the Professor. Draco was going to kill him.
"'Potter' here has told me a few things. Some regarding you." Draco had a rather satisfied smirk on his face.
"I can't think of anything that he could know." /not that it would really matter/ Snape glanced at Harry, who was currently looking rather uncomfortable having been caught. As much as seeing Potter scared would usually be the highlight of his day, the context of finding him in bed with his favourite student cancelled it out.
"Remember you buisness with the Order? Something my father would surely love to know. And Voldemort, no doubt. Are you sure that you don't know what I'm talking about? I could elaborate." He glanced at Blaise.
Blaise was one of the few Slytherins whose parents hadn't openly sided with Voldemort, before they died. He was rather glad, because it meant that he wasn't expected to become a deatheater. Although, he was still somewhat of an outcast, in his sixth year, among most of Slytherin, where nearly everyone was intended to become Death Eaters. Though no new Death Eaters had been taken lately. Draco was one of the few people who would still talk to him. Then there were the ones who knew about his parents affiliantion with the dark arts....
"That's ok, Mr. Malfoy. I've gotten the hint, which you have so graciously pointed out." /and you have no idea.../ Snape glared at him. He didn't like having his so called secrets out in the open with the child of Lucius. Even if he was one of his brightest students. And it had been him who had told him!
Snape whirled around and left the room. The only immediate problem now was Blaise and the other Slytherins who had woken up, and were peeking out of their curtains. It only took one glare from Draco for them to scramble back into their beds.
Draco climbed out the bed, pulling Harry along with him, who hadn't quite figured out what to make of the situation. At least he had been covered during most of the conversation....
"Blaise. Downstairs, now." All signs of mirth were gone from his face. This was no longer a laughing matter. He had to ensure that this wouldn't get back to his father, or they were all most likely dead.
(end flashback)
"Even Snape knows!" She was quieter this time. "How the hell did that happen?" They had reached the common room by now.
"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Mione." Harry teased.
"We were found in bed." The voice came from behind them. Draco came up behind Harry and kissed him on the neck. "Mmm... nice outfit, Harry. Much better then the trash you got from you over-weight cousin."
Harry turned and they shared an actual kiss. "Thought you would. Missed you."
Hermione blushed. Knowing wasn't the same as seeing. Well at least Malfoy hasn't told her to beat it, yet.
"Yeah, and I was the first person to hear them." Blaise got up from his place on the sofa. "Hello. I do believe that you are Miss Granger." He held her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "I think you're my date for the evening."
"Um. I have a boyfriend." She started blushing again when his lips touched her skin. "So what are we going to do tonight?"
Draco pulled away from Harry. "Granger, glad you could make it." He nodded, still smiling. He then grabbed Harry's hand and said, "Blaise managed to bring in a couple of muggle movies. We were going to watch them on his television."
"You know about muggle movies AND have a television set!?" Hermione was almost speechless at this point. It was almost too much. Malfoy, the person who had called her a mudblood for years and hated anything muggle, was talking about watching TV as if he did it all the time.
"Yes, dear." Blaise gave a lecherous smile and led her to the couch.
"I thought I told you-"
"I know. You have a boyfriend. He can't be much of a boyfriend if you're here with a group of horny guys instead of with him," he said in a suggestive voice causing her to blush.
For a second Hermione stared into his light blue eyes, before she shook herself out of her stupor. What am I doing?! She asked herself. "Well, he's asleep right now."
"Is he, now?" Blaise's smile widened
Harry and Draco came back down the stairs. They had gone up to get Blaise's TV. The DVD player was connected to it.
"Just wondering, how are we going to watch them? This castle doesn't have electricity." Hermione inquired.
"Blaise charmed it." Draco replied, surprisingly with none of his usual frostiness towards her. It was... pleasant, actually.
"None of the others will touch it." Blaise rolled his eyes. "They don't know a good thing when they see it." She was surprised with him. He was far nicer than she thought.
"Well guys. Let's go ahead and start the movies."
Draco stretched out on the couch and Harry squeezed in beside him. Draco proceeded and draped his arms around him. /they're seem so right for each other/ Hermione thought. She was stuck beside Blaise, who kept leaning in closer.
Hermione glanced up at him, before quickly turning back to the screen. /This might not be so bad./
Over all it was a great night. It opened her eyes to some things a bit. She was almost sorry when her and Harry had to leave. He was starting to fall asleep on Draco's arm on their end of the sofa. That wouldn't have been that much of a problem except that he had to get Hermione back under the invisibility cloak.
"Harry, wake up." Draco nudged Harry to wake him.
"I don' wanna..." Harry mumbled and pulled on Draco's arm tighter. Then Draco felt something cold touch his arm. He looked down and his face turned as white as a sheet.
"YOU DROOLED ON ME!!!"
"Wha?" Harry asked groggily and looked down at the arm he had been laying on. Indeed there was a trail of clear slime going down Draco's arm. "Sorry." He yawned and almost leaned back against Draco to go back asleep.
"No you don't, Harry. You will clean this up! I'm not going to touch it!"
"But your already touching it, Draco. It's on your arm." Harry mummbled; he was beggining to wake up and he wasn't happy.
"I won't ever let you fall asleep on me again if you don't get this off my arm!" He did his best to hold the arm with the offending substance as far away as he could.
"Fine," Harry yawned, then pulled out his wand and cast a cleaning spell. "Now let me go back to sleep, would you. You're comfortable..."
It took Draco a few more minutes to extract himself from Harry's grip.
Meanwhile, Blaise took this opportunity to "get closer" to Hermione. "So. Have more fun than you thought you would have, didn't you." Blaise asked Hermione.
"Actually, yes."
"Why don't you come back soon? I'm tired of being stuck with them all the time. Sure they're fun to watch, but sometimes it's better to have someone else around." He gave a low laugh.
/Are all Slytherins like this?/ She thought of Crabbe and Goyle, and decided not. "I think I would enjoy that actually. I don't know very many people outside of Gryffindor."
He quickly kissed her on the cheek before they left. /How did that happen/ she thought as Harry finished his good-byes.
"Be careful with him, Hermione," Harry said to her while they walking back the stairs to join the rest of the school.
"Huh?" She had been lost in thought over what had happened earlier.
"Just saying be careful, I don't want some big love triangle going on where you're dating both Ron and him. Someone will get hurt, whether it's you, or Ron. Or Blaise for that matter."
"I know, Harry. I don't know why he kissed me. Besides, it was only on the cheek."
"Just be careful."
"I'll try."
(a couple days later)
/Damn!/ Ron thought as ran back to his dorm room. He had left his divination book and Harry had dropped the class this year, so he couldn't look off of his anymore. /Damn you Harry! You couldn't have just kept this one class!/ He had been already upset when Harry had just about changed his whole schedule, but now it was just irritating.
Trelawny was being particularly vindictive today. Without Harry's doom to 'predict' she took to making his life as miserable as possible. She had given him five minutes to go get his book or it was a whole week of detention. Five minutes! To run all the way from the astronomy tower to Gryffindor tower. It took ten minutes at the very least! Merlin, the woman was worse than Snape.
He stormed into the room and heard a loud moaning from Harry's bed. Was Harry sick? Without thinking he grabbed to curtain open, but wasn't prepared for the sight before him. Skin, everywhere. Skin on skin. Particularly Draco Malfoy's skin against Harry's in a way that he never wanted to see.
"What the blo-"
"Ron!" Harry interrupted. "What are you doing here!?" Harry continued to stare at him while Draco searched for his wand in the covers; it wasn't there.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!" Ron glared at the couple in the bed. "For that matter what is HE doing here?"
"I was enjoying myself until you rudely interrupted. Honestly, didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Draco replied before Harry had the chance to reply.
"Draco, not right now..." He whined and fell back onto the bed and pulled the blankets further up and turned into Draco's side. "Can you fix this please; I don't really feel like dealing with this right now. I suddenly have a headache...."
"You- What do you mean fix!" Ron almost stepped back when Draco stepped out of the bed and pulled on a pair of pants (they looked sort of like a pair of Harry's), but he didn't want to show Malfoy any weakness by not standing his ground. Though, he did blush when noticed he didn't have on any underwear.
"Uh... Ron! Not now."
"Yes now. I want to talk NOW!" Ron's face was redder than his hair now and Harry would have laughed but his headache prevented him from anymore then a chuckle.
"Harry, where are the painkillers." Draco was ignoring Ron while rummaging around Harry's trunk.
"Stay out of that!"
"Quit your whining, Weasel."
"Draco!" he patronized. "Your wand is is the drawer." Harry moaned.
"Oh, yeah." He smirked and pulled it out of the nightstand beside the bed. Draco helped Harry before he turned back to Ron.
"There, now it's your turn."
"You won't touch me Malfoy." Ron drew his wand and he realized how stupid he was to have just stood there this whole time.
"Like I would touch you. I would shag Hermione before I willingly touch you with so much as a pinkie." Draco sat on the bed still pointing his wand at the redhead.
"Don't talk about her like that. What gives you the right to call her that!?" Ron yelled at the aloof boy in front of him.
"Why are you still standing there?" Draco yawned.
"Why are you still sitting there!"
"Amusing myself, but you're getting annoying now. Obliviate." Draco said the spell before Ron could say anything else. He then cast petrificus on him before he oriented himself. The boy froze on the spot and fell flat on his face. He leaned back on Harry legs and nudged him. "Harry we have to move him." A soft snore answered him. He smiled at the sleeping boy and shook his head. "Never mind." He levitated Ron's body to next bed over, not caring whose it was. He crawled back into the bed and placed a charm on the curtains before he pulled Harry close and shut his eyes.
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
