Title: How do you know?

Disclaimer: Don't own any of the characters, that privilege belong s to the eloquent Mrs. JKR. Besides, it's not like I am going to make any money of this anyways.

Warnings: SLASH! Don't like, Don't read! There will also be language in this chapter as well… maybe some adult situations…hmmm…if I can fit them in.

Pairings: Harry/ Draco and whoever else I feel like throwing in!

Rating: I'm going to be safe and say "R" for language.

A/N: 2 whole reviews! I think I'm going to go into shock!(Note the oozing sarcasm)However I would like to thank all of those that have reviewed my other works, both one-shots who have a lot more reviews than this does…(HINT,HINT)

Anyways

ElfFlame: I'm glad you thought it was lovely, and yes, maybe a bit heartbreaking.

Poxmaker: hands you a tissue for your snuffles I think it's beautiful as well!

X blue belle X: yes it's sad, but not everyone dies happy, though I wish we all could.

Anni Lehtonen: Thank you for putting it in Finnish! I'm glad you liked it enough to translate!

Lola

Lasan Malfoy: It's not that scary, at least in my mind! I'm glad you like!

Ash vault rose garden: I bow to your applause! Thank you, Thank you! I will read some of yours once you put them up again!

Satanic-Cupid: I'm glad you like the new pairing! I wasn't sure about it, but Percy just fits the whole virginal thing! I find it rather amusing myself!

How do you know?

Ashlee Brooke: Very good question…I don't know why no one is reviewing this. I'm glad that you like it though.

Vampire Jen: You rock! You are the only one that's reviewed more than once, and I'm glad that you do, I like feedback, especially since my beta is going to be MIA. Please keep reviewing!

That's it! Notice how one shots each have 3 reviews, and the one hasn't been up a week, but my 4 chapter WIP only has 2, and it's been up for I think like 3 weeks now…Hmmm….Me thinks I need better advertisement! Or maybe people don't like Harry and Draco. Oh well! I love them! SO on with the story!Just as a heads up, this is long, but you'll see why!

You were nothing I had known before,

You were everything I needed, but didn't want,

With your patience and understanding…you won my heart.

Everything I had known and cherished came crashing down.

Yet you remained…"Everything will be fine."

But how do you know?

Graduation was drawing close, and Draco didn't know what to get Harry. Harry was so special to him; he didn't think that a mere gift would ever show what he felt for him. Draco didn't know what to do. So he did the only logical thing he could, he sought the weasel and the mudblood. Just because he was in love with Harry didn't mean he had to like his friends. After all, he did spend the past seven years hating them; no matter that he hated them because of how close they were to Harry or not. They would know what would be really special for Harry. Besides, if he found out that I went to ask them of my own accord! He would be ecstatic!

Walking up to the library, where he knew Granger to be, Draco was mentally preparing himself for a barrage of insults. The other two-thirds of the golden trio were civil with Draco if Harry was around, but alone, that could be a different story all together. He entered the library and spotted Granger, and as luck would have it, Weasley sitting at a table near the back. The mudblood was obviously studying, but even though Ron had a book opened in front of him, he looked like he hadn't blinked in hours. Draco briefly entertained the idea that maybe Weasley could sleep with his eyes open, that would be so much easier, but as Draco's luck would have it, Ron was very much awake, and scowling at Draco.

"Weasley, Granger."

"Malfoy." Granger replied, while Ron continued to scowl.

"I was wondering if I might sit down for a bit of a chat with you two." This sort of amused Hermione, Draco asking if he could sit down with them to chat! It was one for the record books, but still, he was there for Harry when Harry needed him most. He was the one that saved Harry from his father and Pettigrew. She couldn't help but feel bad for Draco. After Voldemort's defeat, Lucius decided that he would get revenge on Potter, and thought that if he could kill Potter, then he would be the next Dark Lord…only to be thwarted by his only son. She knew that Draco had to love Harry to save him that night, and betray everything he had known. So for that she was willing to give him a chance. Though Ron was not as forgiving.

"Go ahead, it's a public place, we can't stop you." Just because she was going to give him a chance didn't mean that she had to be nice about it.

"Umm...Well yes, thank you." Draco was starting to think that maybe his idea might not be the best, but too late now. At least it was public, so they couldn't do much harm to him here.

"Well you see, graduation is coming up, and I want to get Harry something, something really special. But I regret I that I do not have the faintest idea of where to start. I thought that since you all were mates, you might have an idea." There he said it. Hermione's smile continued to grow as Draco talked, maybe Harry was right, and Draco isn't so bad if you give him a chance. Ron just rolled his eyes. Draco could afford a thousand things for Harry, 'Just buy them all.' He thought.

"Well, Harry isn't interested in most material things; the only things we have ever gotten him were useful. Like a broom kit, scheduling book, a few other books, candies, that kind of thing. I honestly don't know Draco. I'm sorry."

Draco was slightly peeved. "You gits spend the last 7 years of your life calling yourselves Harry's best friends, and have been to hell and back with him, and don't know what he wants more than anything in the world? Some friends you are." Draco started to rise, but not before Hermione stood up, and Ron right behind her.

"You wait just a minute Malfoy. How dare you talk to us like that? We have been to hell and back with Harry, we have been here for Harry for the past 7 years, and we always will be. Where were you Malfoy? Tell me. Where were you? You were sitting on the fence not bothering to choose to hurt Harry, but not choosing to help him either. I take that back. You hurt Harry almost daily for the past 7 years, and you save his life, and assume that we are all are going to forget that? Harry might have, but we didn't. We know what Harry wants most in life, and it's something I don't think that you are able to give wholly without a selfish reason for it. Its love and family. Harry has always wanted someone to love him unconditionally, and since he has never had a real family he has always wanted one. Are you willing to give yourself to him wholly, completely and totally forever? Are you willing to give him the family that he has always yearned for? Are you capable of that kind of love? Because if you ever hurt Harry, we will be right there, and we will make sure that you won't be able to do so again."

Tears streaming down her face, Hermione finished her tirade, and sat in a huff. Ron put his arm around her and continued his scowl at Draco, "You know Malfoy, you could buy Harry anything you want, but what Harry needs and wants isn't something that can be bought. Have fun trying to come up with something. Just remember what she said; if you hurt him, we'll be waiting." With that, Ron turned to consoling Hermione, and Draco got up and left. 'That could have been worse.' He thought. 'Now, what to do about Harry…'

Draco didn't have a lot of time to think these days, with Newts coming up, teachers were piling them with homework nightly. But Draco would lie in bed and think. Sometimes when Harry spent the night, Draco would barely sleep because he would lay awake listening to Harry's breathing while he slept. It was just one of those nights that the idea came to Draco. It would be perfect. It had to be, he had promised Harry that first night Harry spent the night with him, that he would make sure that Harry's life would be perfect. Despite the fact that Harry never heard the promise, Draco was going to see to it that Harry was happy. With that, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep knowing that tomorrow would be a busy day.

"The next segment of our graduation will be to hear from our Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Draco Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy, I believe that you are up first." There was little applause, most just to be polite, but that didn't deter Draco from what he was about to say, if anything it fueled his waning courage.

"Thank you Professor Dumbledore. It is custom during these speeches for one to thank those who have shaped their lives through the years. I intend to do just that. I know that many of you associated me with my father until just a couple of months ago when I helped Harry escape him. I do not like to take credit for that because it was Harry that saved me. He could have left me there to die, I had never done anything worthy of his attention, yet he still saved me. You ask what he saved me from. It was more than an unforgivable; Harry saved me from the darkness that my family had instilled within me from childhood. Many don't know that I had tried to befriend Mr. Potter in Madame Malkin's shop before we started at Hogwarts. I didn't know who that straggly little boy was then, but even then I felt drawn to him. On our first ride to Hogwarts, I discovered that the boy I had tried to befriend was none other than the famous Harry Potter. I tried to befriend him once more, but Harry had already made a friend out of Ron Weasley who had told Harry just how evil my family was. I didn't have a chance. So instead of trying to prove Mr. Weasley wrong I went out of my way to make sure that Harry never forgot who I was. I think I have succeeded." A few laughs were heard, and then Draco continued.

"I hope that I have gone past not being merely forgotten, but to always remembered. There is a difference between not being forgotten, and those who are remembered. You can not forget something, and have it in the back of your head, ready to be recalled with some work, like History of Magic." Some more chuckles and Harry's face turning red with an absolute look of amusement. Draco's courage continued to mount. 'Yes, Harry, I am going to do this, I bet you thought I never would!' Draco thought, then went on.

"But those that are always remembered are always right there in the front of your head, bringing out memories with the smell of a favorite coffee, or the way the sun light streams in through your bed curtains in the morning, and makes you smile to know who you will be with not only that day, but always. You see, my life at Hogwarts was always about learning to be the best, like my father had instilled in me, but I was constantly berated for being beaten. As you noted from the Head Master's introduction, and from your programs in front of you, I was beaten." At this he turned and bowed to a very astonished Hermione, who at least had enough sense left to nod in acknowledgement. Then Draco turned back to the audience,

"The better person won, yet again. You see every year, Miss Granger here, would top me in all of our classes, and my father would be furious that she, a muggle born, could beat me, a pure-blood and a Malfoy to boot. I took many punishments for always coming in second, but I am glad to say that this will not happen this year, and though I am not first, I am glad, because it proves yet again, that the best person has won. I am glad that Hermione had the grace, the courage, and yes, the intelligence to prove that muggle borns are in fact just as capable of magic, as the rest of us. I would like to pause now, and ask your applause for Miss Granger." Harry positively beamed. Draco was proud of himself, though not finished, and the applause he knew was more than just for Hermione, but for all those who had been killed because of the arrogant purist ideals, for Harry's parents…

"I was not only bested in academics here at Hogwarts, but in sports as well. As anyone who has ever been to a quidditch match knows. I am a very good seeker, but alas I was not the best. Harry Potter beat me every time we played each other and though I was good, I beat every other seeker, and I could not best him. It seems that I have become second in everything here. It was that thinking that changed me this year. Though most still think of me as the same, some will note just as easily the difference. For you see the spark that ignited this change was Harry Potter. Despite all the pranks pulled throughout the years, he always had a sense of understanding in his eyes. Like he knew that we needed to dance that dance to survive for the time. When I first went to save Harry I didn't know if he would accept. I wouldn't have if it had been the other way around. But Harry always was the better, and perhaps smarter, person. When I explained what happened later that night, he smiled. Harry Potter smiled at me, and said he understood. We were both wound so tight in our own facades that we needed the threat of death to unmask each other. "Draco took a sip of water and noticed the tears rolling down Harry's face. 'Hold on Harry just a bit longer.'

"Harry was like nothing I had known before. He was honest, and kind, and good. He was like a breath of pure oxygen to one who had been deprived it for so long. I had convinced myself that honest, kind, good people were only so if it was to their benefit, or they were too weak to be otherwise. But I was wrong. It was people like me who were weak. Those who thought that they hadn't needed those people. Harry was everything I needed, but didn't want. I want to thank Hogwarts and the staff for all that they have done. For they inadvertently given me the best present ever, love. What Harry saved me from was myself. Everything came crumbling down around me after I saved him. I was disowned by my parents, those I counted as friends ignored me, and my position as the "Slytherin Prince" had died. Anything I had to offer was gone, yet Harry remained. He stayed with me when I thought I had no where else to go, and assured me that it would all be okay. Harry with your patience and understanding through out the years, and more specifically the past months and weeks…you have shown me more love than I knew could exist. Professors, without your help, this would have never come to pass. Harry James Potter, you have won my heart and I want to thank you for that. Without you, I would not be here, and okay today. Thank you."

Draco barely got to finish before being crushed by a hug from Granger, and being overwhelmed by the thunderous standing ovation he received from the crowd. A crowd who barely batted an eye when he took stage. He looked for Harry and found him making his way up towards the front of the great hall with a tear-streaked face. Draco briefly heard Hermione saying something about perfect, and she didn't think her speech would compete before Draco let go of her, and met Harry off the edge of the platform and embraced him in a back breaking hug that only fueled the applause. Even the professors were applauding. Hermione hesitantly made her way to the podium. The applause slowly died down, and when Dumbledore nodded to her, she began her speech.

"This class has truly been through more together than any class before it. With the defeat of Voldemort" a shudder swept through the crowd, but Hermione continued, "we have strengthened and reinforced not only our safety, but we have helped to preserve our world, our homes, our futures, and ourselves." Hermione glanced fondly down at Harry and Draco, standing off the side of the platform together with their arms around each other. Draco leaned into Harry's ear and asked him if he could give him his present now, he didn't want to wait any longer. Harry agreed, and took the offered golden box with a red bow on it. Harry quirked his eyes at Draco, and Draco just smirked.

"I thought you'd approve."

Harry opened the box slowly and gasped at what he saw. It was a golden dragon with bright ruby eyes. It's beautiful he whispered to Draco giving him a hug. Draco shook his head, and said that's not all. He told Harry to tell the dragon that he loved him. Harry felt extremely foolish, but did as he was told. The dragon's chest opened to reveal a small emerald shaped heart beating magically in its breast. Harry looked at Draco who said, "I told you Harry, that you have won my heart, and as long as I am alive it will beat with the love I have for you. If you ever doubt my love for you, all you have to do is look at it. It will tell you what I know that I don't always say. I love you Harry." Harry crushed Draco in yet another hug, and thought that his day couldn't be better. His day was perfect. "I love you too Draco."