Disclaimer: I own nothing and am on the verge of getting chucked out of my home.
A/N: you have to forgive me if there is more angst than slashy goodness in this particular chapter. I have a lot of rage right now and I think Draco is going to be taking in out on Harry, or maybe the other way round.
This one is for Lily.
The train was packed by the time Draco got there. The house elves had forgotten to wake him up, and after not getting much sleep because of Harry, and then Harry walking out on him, he was tired, and his face was all blotchy. But at least he had his stunning new robes, decked out in perfect Slytherin colours.
As he got on the train, he realised he was either going to have to search the whole train for an empty compartment or go to the prefects carriage and make polite but stilted conversation with Hermione and Ron. Suddenly it didn't seem such a bad idea. Maybe he could find out why Harry was such a commitment-phobe…
Harry was sat with Ron and Hermione in the end compartment of the train. Harry had said he wanted to go there so he wouldn't be bothered by people who were thanking him for saving the wizarding world, but in reality, he was trying to escape from facing how cruel he had been to Draco the night before. Ron had pulled out a copy of Quidditch weekly, and Hermione was reading some huge textbook about Ancient Runes. Harry sat and stared out the window and tried to figure out how he could make it up to the blonde. He felt awful. Draco had been so sweet and he had been such a shit.
Harry decided to go and do something about how much a bastard he was. He figured he had two choices. The first was to go and chuck himself off the train, the other, to find Draco like he had said he would, and apologise. Hell, maybe they could even fix up a date to finish what they'd started.
It didn't take him long. The fourth compartment he poked his head into contained Draco and a couple of incredibly nervous looking first years. They looked at him, petrified, and took every bit of him in, from his badly shod feet to the lightning bolt which still marred the skin of his forehead. The smaller whispered his name, and the other nodded in awed reply. Harry realised he wasn't sure if he could stand this kind of attention for the rest of his life. The back of the train started to look pretty appealing.
"Draco. Can I, talk to you?" harry was more nervous than he thought, he could barely form the words.
"I'm busy." Scowled the blonde, although he was sitting doing the same as Harry had been, blankly staring out of the window.
"Please, Dray. I'm sorry. I need to explain." To resort to begging had been Harry's lowest tactic, but it seemed like it was the only option he had.
"Five minutes." Draco stood up and walked out of the compartment. Harry slammed the door behind them.
"Dray… You have no idea how awful I feel. I'm…so sorry."
The blonde looked at him, and then lowered his eyes.
"S'O.K." he muttered. He then stepped forwards and allowed himself to be enveloped in Harry's arms.
"Shall we start again?" whispered Harry into the shorter boy's hair.
He felt Draco nod, and the blonde tilted his head back. Then, to the utter astonishment of the two first years, Harry pressed a light kiss to Draco's upturned lips. Draco returned the kiss with passion and desire.
Harry felt a small moan come from the blonde, and he teased Draco's mouth open with his tongue, and then plundered his mouth, exploring Draco, tasting him, stroking his tongue, savouring the unique taste of the very slight hangover which resisted the toughest of head-clearing charms.
Draco wrapped his arms around Harry, pulling him so close there was nothing between them; the only movement for a moment was their breathing and their heartbeats. Draco ran his hands over Harry's back, then lightly over his ass. Harry gasped into Draco's mouth, provoking the blonde to continue his journey over Harry's back with his long, slim fingers.
"Draco. We…ah…school?" Harry was completely incoherent as he tried to kiss Draco and talk at the same time.
"Privacy." Answered the blonde.
Harry pulled away from Draco and stuck his head into the compartment. The two first years looked like they had just been his with petrificus totallus.
"Out." Said Harry firmly.
"Are you? Are you? Harry Potter?" asked the bigger of the two.
"What? No. God, how ridiculous!" Harry laughed, and the pair apologised profusely and then ran away.
He and Draco sat down next to each other.
"So, what you want to talk about?" Nothing like Draco for getting straight to the point.
"Us. School. Me and my stupidness last night."
"So go. I'm all ears." The sarcasm was heavy in Draco's normally aristocratically modulated voice.
"I'm sorry I walked out last night. I've never…felt that way, and it, it scared me."
"What do you mean?" Draco was cold, but still smiling a little.
"I've been in relationships before, you know that. But, never with a, uh, guy." Harry was struggling to find the words to tell Draco that how much the night had meant and had affected him.
"Never with a guy? I would never have guessed. Impressive, Potter." For a moment, it was almost like the old Draco, the one who was cold and cruel. Harry was scared for a moment, scared he might have lost the real Draco Malfoy and that his Draco might have been replaced with this heartless creature.
"It meant more than I thought it would. And it scared the shit out of me. I had to get out and away and think about what I was feeling. It felt, oh god, this sounds so stupid."
"What?"
"Normally, when I've been with guys, it's been sex, plain sex. But last night, it felt like…more? I don't know. I needed to sort myself out."
"You get everything sorted out?" Suddenly, Draco, real Draco, was back. This Draco actually cared whether Harry had figured out his demons or not.
"Yeah." Whispered Harry, leaning closer and closer to Draco. "I figured out what I want."
"Oh? What's that?"
"You."
Draco looked surprised. It had been running through his head that Harry might find him today and tell him it had all been a mistake, but he had never imagined Harry might actually want him for more than a night.
"You want me now? Or you want me next week? Next month?"
As Harry closed his arms around Draco, he whispered, "All three."
The blonde felt for a long moment like the most precious thing on earth as Harry held him tight.
Neither boy really knew how long the embrace lasted, but as the train pulled into the station, they broke slowly apart. Draco dropped a kiss on Harry's cheek.
"So, uh, Draco?"
"Yeah."
"You want to be, you know, uh…a…uh…couple?"
"Yeah."
"Just us though, yeah?"
"For now, I guess. It's easier."
"See you later then."
"Bye."
Harry then pulled Draco toward him and into a mind-blowing kiss.
"That's in case I don't see you for a few hours."
Draco walked away from this encounter with Harry with a beaming smile on his face.
Harry made his way back to his friends to get his things and leave the train. Nervous as he was about facing the school after the events of the summer, he was ecstatic to be back at Hogwarts, even though it was his last year. He reminded himself that this year would mean a lot of hard work, and then remembered he had Draco. He smiled.
"What you smiling at?" Asked Ron as he walked back into the compartment. "Come on, we'll miss the carriages if we don't hurry up!"
"Just glad to be back, Ronnie-kins" grinned Harry; using the nickname he knew his friend hated in order to distract him from the smiling.
"If I didn't know you better Harry, I'd say you just spent the past half our being made very happy indeed." Hermione laughed, and pushed Harry and Ron out of the compartment. "Hurry up!"
"You just want to get back to that fascinating textbook huh 'Mione?" joked her boyfriend as he slung his arm round her shoulders.
"And what if I do?" Hermione pecked him on the cheek and he blushed, just like he always did at any public display of affection, especially in front of Harry.
It didn't take long to get back to school, and before the Golden Trio of Gryffindor realised the time, it was time to head down to the Great Hall for the sorting.
As Harry re-entered the Great Hall, the last of the first years, a skinny little girl called Amelia Zaplinsky, was sorted into Ravenclaw. He could see the two kids from the train, both seated at Draco's table. The blonde gave him a glare, which Harry returned. This pretending not to be friend's thing was going to be such fun.
Dumbledore stood up. Harry presumed it was going to be a typical Dumbledore post-sorting pre-dinner speech.
"As you all know, there were significant life-altering effects after school finished in the summer. Thanks to these, we are re-sorting the fifth, sixth and seventh years. We feel that the values and alliances of many people have changed, and we want them to be in the best house to represent these needs. Please could any student who feels they do not wish to be re-sorted make themselves known to their head of house immediately?"
Not a single student moved.
"Excellent. We will work in alphabetical order of houses, starting with the fifth years."
The sorting went quickly. Only two fifth years, Jean Goddard and Susan Bovary changed house, the first from Hufflepuff to Ravenclaw, the second from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor. They both seemed satisfied with their new homes and joined their new house table with tentative smiles on their faces.
The sixth year also stayed almost the same. A big surprise was three Slytherins who were moved one each to the other three houses. All three had refused to join the Dark at the start of the war, and Harry suspected this was why they had been moved. Ginny kept her well earned place in Gryffindor, as a Weasley, it would have been unheard of for her to have been transferred. He suddenly thought of the major player in the war who had also refused to join the Dark, and wondered where he would end up.
Gryffindor were the first seventh year house to be re-sorted. There was something in the back of Harry's head which was terrified. He suspected it was the part which the sorting hat had told would do 'very well in Slytherin'. Had the hat been telling him he would do Draco in Slytherin? The nerves he had managed to kill earlier manifested themselves once more. There were only a few significant people to be re-sorted in Harry's year, significant in that he actually cared where they went. The first of his little 'group' to be re-sorted was Seamus. The Irish boy walked quickly up to the front of the Great Hall and sat on the stool, placing the Hat on his head.
The Sorting Hat took only a minute to place Seamus firmly back where he belonged – "GRYFFINDOR!"
He leapt up, grinning, and almost ran back his friends.
Hermione was next. This took a long time, and she sat stock still with her eyes screwed shut, as though having a deep, meaningful conversation with the Hat.
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry was shitting himself. Absolutely convinced now that he would be re-sorted into Hufflepuff or Slytherin, he was tempted to run up to McGonagall and ask to be exempt from the Sorting. At the last minute, his pride wouldn't let him.
Neville stood up as his name was called. He looked as scared as Harry felt. Neville had always said he thought he had been lucky to be in Gryffindor in the first place, after all, he was almost a squib. He was seriously imagining hat the hat would take one look at him and condemn him to a year in Hufflepuff.
The hat touched his head for a second before it screamed out "GRYFFINDOR!" Neville did exactly as he had all those years ago, ran back to his friends with the hat still on, and had to run back up to the top of the hall to give it back.
"Potter, Harry." Announced McGonagall.
It sounded to Harry like Death calling him to Slytherin. He was absolutely petrified.
He walked to the front and sat down on the stool which was clearly made for first years. He picked up the hat from the table and placed it on his head.
"Evening, Mr. potter. Good to see you again. It's not often I get to reconsider one like you. You were difficult the first time. But now, I can see where your loyalties truly lie. I was right the first time though," Harry was terrified. That same old thought slid through his mine 'not Slytherin'. "Oh no my friend, not Slytherin for you. Your heart belongs to GRYFFINDOR!"
The Seventh year Gryffindors stood as one and cheered. Harry had told them years ago how the hat had tried to put him in Slytherin the first time, and they knew him well enough to know how scared he must have been this time.
The Golden boy of Gryffindor (still, thank god) made his way back to his house table on slightly unsteady legs, and collapsed into a bear hug from his friends.
The one surprise in the Gryffindor sorting, and one which did upset all the boys; was that of Dean Thomas. He was re-sorted into Ravenclaw, after his incredible intelligence helped a lot of Aurors with their work during the war. However, they knew he would do well in Ravenclaw, so they let him go.
Not needing to listen, they talked in whispers through the sorting of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Gryffindor gained one new member, Slytherin three, Ravenclaw one, and Hufflepuff one.
As McGonagall announced the beginning of the Slytherin re-sorting, Harry detached himself from the conversation. Miraculously, all the seventh year Slytherins had escaped death in the war, and although two, Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, had become Death Eaters, they had changed to the light, risking their lives to aid their old school friend Draco Malfoy. Crabbe and Goyle had been sent away by their mothers during the war. Their mothers had thought they were too stupid to help either side, and they had gone and stayed with Goyle's grandmother in Outer Mognolia.
Crabbe was the first to be sorted, followed by his trusty, and equally stupid sidekick. As neither had done anything in the war, they both stayed in Slytherin.
Harry's stomach dropped when McGonagall said "Malfoy, Draco." What would happen? He wasn't sure if he could face Draco staying in Slytherin when he clearly wasn't made for it anymore.
Draco tried to block out the whispers as he walked to the front of the Great Hall. He swiftly sat down and placed the hat lightly on his hair. He looked straight at Harry, as if to say 'this won't change anything, no matter where I end up'
"Mr. Malfoy. Nice to see you again. I'm told you performed most admirably in the war, young man. Where shall you go? Back to the dungeons? Maybe, but there's something more important than that in your head now…what is it? Harry Potter? Well then, better be GRYFFINDOR!"
Draco fell off the chair. He picked himself up off the floor in a very dignified, Malfoy-esque manner, and took the hat off his head. The surprise, and buried happiness was clear on his face.
Harry stood up. As Draco walked to their table, he waved.
"Malfoy! Over here."
Draco wasted no time sitting down next to Harry and being welcomed by his new house mates.
The celebrating going on in Gryffindor was nothing compared to the plotting going on in Slytherin and Parkinson and Zabini were both re-sorted into their family house. They began whispering words like 'blood-traitor', and the storms of war began to brew over Hogwarts.
A/N: hope that satisfied everyone. Someone said something about what they'd do when they got to school, so my mind decided to solve the problem…I'm a bit scared about hat the plot bunnies will do when Pansy and Blaise find out about Harry and Draco though. The plot bunnies are in control ….they're trying tdfgfnsbad to uh dasjdoasjfidsgnal type right now, bastards! REVIEW IF YOU LOVE ME! MORE SMUT COMING SOON! Maybe not too much angst after all. Fluff coming soon...
Lily x