Bonded

Summery: In his 7th year, Harry goes through a really rough break-up with his girlfriend, and then, what could be worse then being bounded to someone you hate? Will his bonded help him out, or will he make Harry as miserable as possible?

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry, Draco, or anything, which is related to Hogwarts, or J.K. Rowling's world. I changed some stuff in this fic, but Company Calls Epilogue did give it up to me and I have proof. Also, you should look at the last chapter of Company's Calls Epilogue, if you want.

Yes, I will be reposting everything, just because I have changed a few things here, and there, but not much at all. Hope you like it.

I'm saying sorry now for the bad language, slight fluff moments, which might grow into something more than fluff later on, and anything else you might find offensive about this fic.

Warning: slash, fluff, and others that now escape me, but will be up sooner rather than later.

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

Spells

(Author's notes)

Now, lets get this show on the road...

Previously:

"Wait," Ginny said as she stopped walking, and turned to face him. "You didn't really talk about what's bothering you," she remembered, frowning. Harry ran his hands through his hair, causing it to appear even more disheveled than usual.

"I know," he said with a sigh. "But, I think it's okay. I just have to tell Draco that I made a mistake… multiple mistakes." He sighed and looked at her. "Gods, Gin," He said with a sigh as he smiled weakly. "How do I always get myself into such messes?"

"I dunno, buddy. I dunno." Ginny said, and smiled as she said this. "When are you going to tell him?"

Harry sighed, looking more tired then usual. "Today," he said in a matter-of-fact tone. "Tonight. I have to," he said, sighing in defeat.

"Yeah," Ginny said sadly. "You have too." The duo began their stroll back to the castle; Harry lost in thought about how he would tell Malfoy his revelation, and Ginny confused as to why she suddenly felt nervous around Harry, one of her best friends. It didn't make much since.

Chapter Eight: Swim in the Calm Tonight

Harry sat quietly in the common room that night, waiting for Draco to return from wherever he currently was. While he waited, he worked on an essay for Professor Sprout that was due the next morning. However, his mind was far from magical plants, and all he could think about was, what in the world he was going to tell Draco when he returned. He knew what to say; he just didn't know the words, or how to make his mouth say them out loud. He lay his head down, and fell into fitful sleep.

He awoke suddenly as the portrait swung open, and Draco wandered in very late that night. The blonde dropped onto the couch, his legs hanging over the arm in a very ungraceful manner. Harry looked up. "Uh," Harry said. "We need to talk." 'Stupid!' Harry berated himself silently. 'Enough! There I go again, speaking in those bloody, cliché phrases. God damn you Ginny.'

"Yeah, I guess we do," Draco consented, grinning at Harry. A wave of guilt washed over Harry as he realized that he was about to ruin Draco's good mood. Along with the guilt, came a sharp pain in his chest at the idea of causing this other person pain.

"I made a mistake," Harry began.

Draco snickered, but in a friendly, joking way. "Wishing you had fucked me after all, are you? Even though I was drunk?" He smiled again.

Harry turned his eyes to the fire, and stared past it. His fingers began to fidget in his lap, and his eyebrows narrowed as he searched for the words. Finally, he decided to just be blunt. "No. I shouldn't have kissed you; I shouldn't have taken you up to my room. I shouldn't have even thought about sleeping with you, none of it."

"Are you serious?" Draco asked, his face falling when his mind registered the words coming from Harry's mouth, refusing to believe this. It was a cruel joke; a sick, cruel one that was merely payback for every insult he had previously hurled at Harry. Any minute now, Harry's face would crack into that adorable, lopsided smile, and he would laugh at Draco's distress. Then, they would kiss and laugh; he knew it. They would kiss tenderly, like lovers. That's what they were; that's what they would be, lovers. But, none of this was happening, and Harry wasn't smiling. His face was empty, but his eyes were shimmering slightly, and he watched him swallow, in an attempt to delay the tears. So far, Harry was managing to hold back his pain.

"I've never been more serious in my life," he said finally, refusing to meet Draco's eyes. "It was wrong." Harry swallowed again, and pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead, hiding his famous scar from view. "Disgusting even."

Draco just stared at him. "What? Why?" Draco asked, his voice sounded innocent to an almost comical level. Draco was anything, but innocent.

When Harry heard this question, this one word, 'why', he lost control. He didn't have an answer; he didn't know why it was wrong, it just was, because he said so. Didn't Draco understand that? Why the fuck, should he have to explain himself? Immediately, his subconscious covered his uncertainty with anger.

"BLOODY HELL! BECAUSE, I'M NOT GAY, MALFOY!" Harry seethed, and clenched his fists tight at his sides. Later, he would notice the tiny cuts that resulted from his nails, digging into the soft skin.

Draco didn't say anything, but then again, he didn't have to, his face told it all. Harry watched him bite his lower lip, and look at the ground. If Harry hadn't lost all form of control already, he would have felt a stab of guilt through his chest. But, he didn't. He couldn't, he was furious. Infuriated at himself, for being attracted to Draco, angry with Draco, for bonding them; but most of all, angry with himself, for not knowing what to do.

Unable to come up with a better plan, he continued to yell. "I am NOT gay, and I don't find you attractive." Draco winced. "I never have. I don't know what the fuck was wrong with me last night," Harry laughed bitterly. "No. NO, I KNOW WHY I DID IT. I know why I kissed you, why I touched you," he paused to gather his thoughts. "I kissed you because I felt bad for you. I pitied you. I pitied you, because you're gay, and because you answer to filth like Voldemort. But most of all, I pitied you because you loved me, and I will NEVER, ever love something like you. Never." His face was red with anger now, and he was standing over the other boy.

Draco finally looked up at him. First, his face displayed open hurt and betrayal, but in an instant, it was gone. Draco put up his infamous mask, and sneered at Harry. He gave Harry the same degrading look that he had given him every day, for the last six years. He stood too, and cursed the fact that Harry was about an inch or so taller than him.

"Prove it," Draco hissed angrily.

Harry looked a bit surprised by this. "What do you mean, 'prove it'?'

Draco quickly pushed Harry back on the couch, and before Harry had a chance to recover, Draco was on top of him in a flash, his hands against Harry's shoulders to keep him in place, as he started to kiss him.

When Harry finally realized what was going on, he quickly started to fight back, but couldn't move. After a few seconds, he gave up, and started to kiss back. Draco's tongue shot out to explore Harry's mouth, while he removed his hands from Harry's shoulders, to pull up Harry's shirt up, and let his hands wander as Harry's hands went around Draco's waist to bring him closer.

Only when Harry moaned into Draco's mouth, did Draco break the kiss. "Potter." His voice was cold, and icy now, and Harry shivered mentally, already regretting lying to Draco. "You disgust me."

Draco quickly got off the couch, and looked down at Harry. He didn't break eye contact once, as he continued talking. "I'm gay; I accept that, and that says something. You are gay, and you can't accept that. That's pathetic. When you finally come to bloody terms with yourself, you will see how pathetic it was, that I know more about your sexual preferences than you did, and when you finally admit it all to yourself, you won't have SOMETHING like me, to run to." With that, Draco spun around, and without looking back at Harry, quickly went up the stairs. He didn't slam his bedroom door; he shut it quietly. That was Harry's first clue; and he knew that he had fucked up beyond repair. Harry groaned, and then slowly, he turned and left the common room, that he was doomed to share with Draco. Once out in the main part of the castle, he followed the familiar path to the Gryffindor common room.

Upon entering, he collapsed onto one of the couches, spent from his mental exertion. It was past midnight now, and he curled up on the couch, and fell asleep. The few students that were still in the common room ignored him completely, and by one in the morning, the room was empty, save for Harry.

Ginny and Dean wandered into the common room at two a.m., after having been in an empty classroom together. Ginny sucked in her breath as she saw Harry lying on the couch, sound asleep with light tear streaks on his face. In his slumber, he looked innocent, childlike and frail. The mother hen in her came out with wings flapping, and everything. She looked at Dean, and he looked back.

"Well, I don't know what to do," Dean said quietly.

"I figured you wouldn't," Ginny sighed.

"Do you need me?" Dean asked, looking concerned.

"No, I should probably talk to him myself. Clearly, his conversation with Draco didn't go as he planned if he's sleeping here, and not in his own room." Ginny had filled Dean in with the details from her talk with Harry. She knew Harry wouldn't mind, and Dean was, after all, her boyfriend.

"Okay, then I'm going to bed." He kissed her gently, but with passion, and then disappeared up the stairs to his dorm. Ginny sighed and picked up a blanket, and spread it on top of Harry's sleeping form. He stirred at the contact, and Ginny smiled slightly as she sat down next to him. She frowned when she saw exactly how bloodshot and puffy his eyes were from crying. She wiped the tears away with her sleeve, and brushed the hair back from his forehead. She sat there for several moments, smoothing his hair, and watching him sleep. Slowly, his eyes opened, and he took a moment to focus his vision on the redhead who was sitting next to him.

"Ginny?" Harry murmured, his speech slurred from having just woken up.

"Yeah, it's just me," she said quietly, her hand stilling on his head.

Harry shook his head. "No… Not just you. You."

"Harry, that makes no sense." She smiled softly, and bit her lip to keep from giggling.

"I know, I know," he said as he sat up, and wrapped his arms around her tiny shoulders, burying his face in her hair. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo, and her perfume. Ginny's stomach felt like it flipped over at the contact, and she tensed briefly before leaning into his embrace. Finally, she broke the hug after a few minutes.

"What was that for?" Ginny asked, looking at him curiously, while trying not to laugh.

"That was for being you," Harry said with a simple smile. "And, for listening to me." Harry spoke honestly, and as he watched her face, he could truly agree with Draco, no, Malfoy's opinion. She was hot. Her face was creamy, and dotted with cinnamon colored freckles. Her eyes were light brown, with shimmers of gold and yellow in them. Her dark red lips were currently parted slightly, and stood out against her complexion. This struck him as odd, but he shrugged it off, and continued with his appraisal to her body, and he smiled. She was the epitome of a petite girl, and she was in perfect proportion, her chest, her hips, her slim legs, everything about her complimented her. She was thin, very thin. Harry briefly entertained the thought that she might have been too thin.

Her collarbone, dusted with light freckles, jutted out, and her face had lost all the baby fat it had sported when he first met her. Harry supposed that if she were to lift her shirt, you could count the ribs. She wasn't wearing her school robes, just a ribbed black tank top, and her uniform skirt. He noticed that the skirt, which had once fit her perfectly, hung slightly loose on her hips now, and her pelvic bones were defined, and prominent right above the hem of her skirt. Her legs were creamy colored too, and it was clear when she stood, that her thighs no longer touched. Harry frowned. This wasn't right, this wasn't right at all. Nobody should be that thin.

"Why are you frowning?" Ginny asked, and laughed at him quietly. She was well aware that he had been checking her out, but opted not to point it out.

"Gin, don't you eat anymore?" Harry asked. It seemed a stupid question, but he didn't laugh.

She paled slightly, but it was barely noticeable in the dim common room. "What are you talking about? Of course I do. I see you every day in the Great Hall. You see me eat. Don't be ridiculous." She laughed again, and made it clear the subject was closed.

Harry tried to think back to meals with her, and he was ashamed to admit that he couldn't remember if she had been eating or not, just that she had been there. He made a mental note to watch that more closely. There was definitely something wrong here. "So, did you tell Draco?" Ginny asked softly, breaking into his train of thought.

"Yeah," Harry replied, and trailed off, looking sad.

"And, I'm assuming it didn't go very well," Ginny said softly, looking at him with concern. "Since you're in here this late at night." It wasn't a question, more like she knew exactly how bad he had screwed up.

Harry sighed, and just bowed his head before taking a deep breath. "Not at all. I got mad, and I yelled. I told him I did it out of pity, and that he was disgusting, and that I wasn't gay."

"Wow," Ginny said as she sat back, a look of shock on her face at how blunt Harry had been with the Slytherin.

"Yeah," Harry agreed, his tone holding a flat quality to it as he looked away. "Wow."

"Well, did you mean any of it?" Ginny asked, drawing his attention back to her.

"Well, parts of it," Harry admitted. "He's not exactly disgusting. If I didn't hate him already coming into this, well, we would probably be good friends. But, I'm not gay. That wasn't a lie."

"Ah," Ginny acknowledged.

Harry raised an eyebrow at this. "Ah?"

"Just 'Ah'," she said with a smile, and they both laughed at this bizarre conversation. "It's late," Ginny said. "You should go to bed."

"Where? I can't go back to the common room," Harry said. "I don't have my cloak, or the map. I could get caught on the way back, and I don't have a bed up in the dorms anymore."

"Well, you were sleeping on the couch; you could do that." She paused, as if thinking for a better solution. "No, I know," she said slowly. "You can come upstairs, and you can sleep in my bed."

"Uh, Gin," said Harry uneasily. "The stairs, they won't let me up; you know that."

"For another cliché statement, where there's a will, there's a way. Follow me." She stood, and he followed. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, she instructed him to wait. She walked up the stairs, and took out her wand. She counted the floorboards on the top landing, and lifted the fifth one from the right. Under the board was a red dot. She pressed the tip on her wand to the dot, and the stairs glowed for a moment, and then returned to their normal state. "Come on," she said.

Cautiously, Harry took a step. The slide did not appear, and there was no ear splitting scream. He sighed in relief, and continued up. Ginny led him into her dorm, where three other fifth years were fast asleep. She pointed to the furthest bed on the left. He went to it, and sat down as Ginny cast a silencing charm over them, so as not to wake the triplets she roomed with.

"Close your eyes," she said. He did as he was told, and Ginny slipped out of her skirt, and into a pair of hand-me-down red pajama pants, that had once been Bill's. She rolled the waistband several times to make the legs shorter, and then used a hair band to tighten the waist. She turned around, and told Harry that he could open his eyes. He did, and laughed quietly at Ginny, who was practically drowning in the oversized pants. She glared at him jokingly, and climbed into her bed. "You can sleep in your boxers and shirt, if you want," she informed him, with her face muffled into the pillow. Harry laughed.

"Aye, Aye, Cap'n," Harry said with a smile. Ginny had once again managed to better his mood, and make him smile, when he thought he could never smile again. He slid into her bed too, and whispered a goodnight. He got a sleepy response, before he drifted off to sleep again.

Back in Harry and Draco's tower, Draco lay dejectedly on top of his made bed. His face was pale, and his eyes were blank. He had stopped crying long ago, and now, he was just confused beyond belief. 'If that's the way he wants it,' Draco thought. 'Then, that's just how it's gonna be.' After that final thought, he rolled on to his side, too tired to climb in bed, and fell asleep with his shoes still on, and the bed curtains still open.

...

That's all for this chapter folks. Hope you liked it, c ya.

Sorry for have a long wait these past couple of updates, but I promise to make the next chapter done within the next day or so, and the only reason I can give you that promise, is because it is already written.

Please review and I'll see you next chapter,

C ya