Chapter XIII- Explaining Draco
The only consolation Harry could find out of this mess was that, at the very least, he didn't have to get Ron used to Draco's presence. Ron was already used to Draco's presence. He had been since they'd first met, and his attitude hadn't changed.
"I'll kill him! You see if I don't! Did you see what he did to me!?" Ron was livid. He had been turned back to his normal form, only to begin cursing the boy that had altered him to begin with. It was a wonder, when Draco appeared at the open door a moment later, that Harry was able to hold Ron back from making good on his threats. Of course, he did have the twins, Ginny and Mr. Weasley helping, but it was still a wonder. Harry couldn't remember Ron ever being this furious, even when Umbridge refused to let the Gryffindor team play Quidditch.
"You arrogant prick! I could have you arrested, you know! Put you right alongside your father in Azkaban, you see if they don't!" Harry was the only one to pick up on the small noise of distress from Draco, and when he turned to the Slytherin to see if he was alright, leaving Ron to be held back by the other members of his family, he was rather surprised at what he saw. Draco simply stood there, composed and looking almost contrite, or as contrite as it was possible for him to look while glaring silver daggers at the redhead who was still cursing at him. When Draco spoke, it was more like a snarl.
"You listen here, Weasel," Harry grimaced at the use of the nickname, knowing that this was not going over as well as he had planned. "I came in here to apologize. But if you're going to be like that, you can forget it." With that, Draco turned on his heel and walked out, the sound of the door adjacent slamming shut followed a few moments after him, followed by the click of the Muggle lock and, though it couldn't be heard, probably a locking charm as well. Harry turned and glared at Ron with almost as much venom as Draco had done.
"WHAT did you think you were doing?" Harry was bordering on 'dangerously pissed', and his voice let it be known. He saw Ron gulp, all his anger suddenly fading as he realized that something was strangely wrong in his world. The redhead stopped trying to break past his 'guards' and stood stock still for a moment.
"You're defending him?" Harry suddenly felt a bit guilty. Ron did have a point. They were supposed to be best friends, and he was now siding with the one person they had both been dedicated to hating together. And, all things considered, Ron did have a right to be angry. He had probably been just as surprised as Draco had been to find that he was a three-foot-long slug, especially considering that all he'd been expecting was to drop his bags and go back downstairs. Harry finally understood what people meant when they complained of being between a rock and a hard place, but he wasn't sure which one was the rock, or if there was really a hard place at all, not just a cliff trying to fool him.
"I'm not 'defending' him, I'm telling you that no matter what he did, you are acting like an ass. What exactly would you have done if you woke up to someone yelling bloody murder?" Harry was still glaring at his best friend, but with far less anger than he had previously. In this particular situation, there was guilt on both sides. Ron shouldn't have said any of what he did, but he was also unaware of any of the circumstances he found himself in the middle of, and he had never known Draco as anything but an evil git. He was still a git, Harry conceded, but not really an evil one. Harry took a deep breath, even as Ron quieted slightly.
"Sorry, Ron. I shouldn't have gotten mad. But can you at least try to be civil to him?" The tension in the room drained with a speed known only in fights between best friends. Ron was still a bit put out, however.
"How am I supposed to be civil to him? And anyway, I shouldn't have to be! He shouldn't be here!" Okay, perhaps 'a bit put out' wasn't quite accurate, Harry winced, but at least he wasn't steaming mad anymore.
"I suppose I should explain, shouldn't I?" Harry deferred to Mr. Weasley as the only real adult in the room (though they had been 'graduated', they didn't quite fit the mold of 'adult', and Harry wasn't sure they ever would). He nodded his consent, even as Ron threw in a heartfelt, "Yes, you should," and Ginny nodded curiously.
It took a good fifteen minutes to explain the whole thing, from the time Draco arrived at his door in the middle of the night to their arrival at Grimmauld Place, glossing over what he knew of the reasons behind Draco's sudden appearance in deference to the other boy's privacy. That particular part of the story was Draco's to tell, and he was grateful for the approving look that Mr. Weasley gave him. Nevertheless, he was forced to spend an additional ten minutes answering questions before the Weasleys were satisfied. They all headed back to the drawing room downstairs, with the agreement that Harry would get Draco to come down when he was ready, and that they would be civil to the boy when he did.
Harry waited until they got to the bottom of the stairs, then knocked on the door that Draco had cloistered himself behind. There was no answer.
"Draco?" He ventured, knowing that he could unlock the door with little difficulty, but also knowing that he would prefer it if Draco opened the door himself. "It's just me. The others have gone downstairs." He smiled when he heard the lock click open, turning the knob and entering. Draco was sitting on 'their' bed (Harry noted with some curiosity that there were clothes strewn over it that he had never seen before), his knees tucked up with his cheek resting on them in such a way that he could pout at Harry when he entered. Harry sighed, wondering just when his life had managed to get even more complicated.
"Sorry about him." He commented, leaning on the door behind him to shut it, then coming over to sit next to Draco's feet on the bed. "He doesn't really mean most of that," Harry continued, adding a mental 'I hope' to the end. "I don't think he has any idea how to deal with this, and he's never really known you as anything other than an enemy. He'll come around eventually, and I think he might even apologize for all of that. Ron's not really a bad guy, he just..." Harry searched for an appropriate phrase to describe his best friend of the past five years. "He just makes up his mind about things, and it takes a freight train to change his opinion once he has." Draco nodded as well as he could, which wasn't well, seeing as how he had shifted to see Harry, and now had his chin resting on his knees.
"So, do you want to come downstairs? I don't think you've ever actually been properly introduced to everyone." He was rewarded with a small smile from the blond, who uncurled himself gracefully and let his legs hang over the side of the bed next to Harry's.
"I suppose I could make an appearance." He drawled haughtily, with a silver glint in his eyes that made Harry realize he was mocking himself. With a grin, Harry hopped off the bed and headed downstairs, Draco following on his heels.
The conversation in the drawing room halted for a moment as the two boys made their way in, four sets of eyes followed their progress as they made their way to sit on one of the large sofas, which was currently only occupied by Ginny. She obligingly moved over to allow Harry to sit next to her, with Draco on his other side. They sat in silence for a few seconds, observing and being observed. Draco was just beginning to be uncomfortable when Mr. Weasley rose from his chair and crossed the room to stand in front of the sofa, extending a hand before him.
"Arthur Weasley." He said genially, smiling down at the suddenly confused blond. Draco blinked for a moment before realization dawned, then he stood almost too quickly to take the proffered hand.
"Draco. Draco Malfoy." Harry could tell he was holding back a smile, and a weight lifted from his shoulders. Mr. Weasley wasn't exactly a top person in the Order hierarchy, but he held influence, and his acceptance of Draco would do more for the boy's confidence than anything Harry could do to reassure him.
"It's a pleasure." Mr. Weasley nodded his head in Ginny's direction. "As I'm sure you know, that is my daughter, Ginny," the girl offered Draco a warm smile, "and those three," he gestured to the twins on the other sofa and Ron, who was seated in one of the armchairs, "are my sons, Fred, George and Ron." The twins nodded at the same time, and Ron just gave a little huff of acknowledgment. Draco gave each of the Weasley children a polite half-bow, though Ron's was a bit shorter and tighter than the others. Harry just rolled his eyes, glad that at least they weren't trying to hex each other.
Introductions done, Mr. Weasley returned to his chair and Draco sat back down, curling up on the end cushion of the sofa like a cat, his shins just brushing Harry's thighs and his elbow on the armrest, his chin resting lightly on his palm. With everyone now situated, conversation began again, with the Weasleys filling Harry in on their summer activities so far. Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes was apparently becoming a great success, within the next year the twins projected that they'd have more business than Zonko's. It helped, Harry decided, that the Weasley's pranks at Hogwarts were famous among both former and current students. They had launched into a tag-team narrative about their near-destruction of the Burrow, during which Harry snuck a glance at Draco. The blond was listening with rapt attention, a tiny grin lightening his expression. Harry smiled. There was, perhaps, some hope after all.
It was about an hour later that the front door opened, revealing Tonks and a rather nervous looking Neville Longbottom. Tonks barely stopped to poke her fuchsia-and-lime-green head in the room to greet everyone, including Draco, who looked a bit shocked that his presence didn't seem to cause a stir. Harry assumed that word had gotten 'round to all the Order members by now. Neville, however, looked absolutely petrified by the presence of the Slytherin and gulped audibly when Draco turned his head to look at him. Harry worried for a moment that Neville might bolt and run when Draco grinned at him, apparently finding the boy's reaction amusing.
"Well!" Mr. Weasley stood up and stretched, addressing the room with an enthusiastic expression, "Now that we're all here, how would you all like to spend the day?" Harry looked up at the clock on the mantle, surprised to find that it was still very early in the afternoon, only about one o'clock. He was further surprised, though, that it was Draco who piped up with the first suggestion.