Disclaimer: see chapter 01

Mural of thanks: to Jamie and Lildove, my beta readers, and to all of you who took your time to review the last chapter!

A/N: About Harry and the car issue… I didn't think the car would cause such a fuss! The car was there because Harry wanted to impress Draco. He wanted to look cool. That's all. After all, we all know men have this weird connection with cars and their sexuality… XD Kidding!

Chap. 29 – Surprise, Surprise!

It was a very difficult situation, but Draco couldn't keep postponing it anymore. So when Hermione sent him to Diagon Alley to investigate an old Death Eater that had been seen in The Leaky Cauldron, Draco dropped by Gringotts to visit Bill. They ended up in a coffee shop nearby, and neither knew how to begin the conversation.

"You look great," Draco began, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by it. He thought Bill would be a little worried about him and his whereabouts. He had pictured a devastated Bill with bags under his eyes from lack of sleep – and lack of Draco. Wasn't Bill jealous at all? Harry had snatched Draco away right under his nose, but Bill didn't seem to care. Draco's pride was deeply hurt.

"So do you," Bill answered with a feeble smile.

Draco took a sip of his coffee with a frown. Of course he looked great. He always looked impeccably great. He noticed that Bill was trying hard not to meet his eyes. Shouldn't it be the other way around? It was Draco who should feel awkward and embarrassed. Draco was the one who should be searching for the right words to say. But Bill seemed to be more nervous than Draco. Draco's mind began to work furiously, and then he exclaimed, "Oh, my God! You slept with that bitch, didn't you?"

Bill looked up confused. "Who?"

"Fleur!"

Bill's face went crimson. "No, I didn't sleep with her! I got over her a long time ago. In fact, till this day I don't know if what drew me to her was herself or her Veela charm."

"But you did sleep with someone!" Draco accused.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "Hey, it was you who left with Harry, not me! I'm the one who should be mad at you, not the other way around. Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you leaving with another man?" Bill started angrily. Usually he was a very composed man, but Draco had caught him on a really bad day. He didn't want to play the understanding boyfriend today. Today he wanted to play the hot-tempered Weasley.

And so the quarrel began.

"Well... You didn't seem to care at all for your boyfriend on the occasion!" Draco counterattacked.

"I was too shocked to react! Besides, I had already been stupid enough to give you permission to sleep with him! I was trying to be cool about it, because I know that I can't compete with Harry on equal ground, can I? And there's also the fact that I hate when my brothers throw public tantrums out of jealousy. It's a horrible thing to do. I didn't want to make a scene."

Draco clenched his fists on the table and hissed, "That's all a bunch of crap! You didn't do anything because you were too busy flirting with Fleur to care about me!"

Bill threw his hands in the air in disbelief. "Merlin! Why are you so obsessed with Fleur? And if you really cared about me, you would have stayed, Draco."

"It was you who told me to sleep with Harry and get over it!" Draco sulked.

"Yes, I know!" The colour in Bill's face matched his hair. "It was a stupid thing to do, I told you already. But it's Harry Potter we are talking about. You've been in love with him since Hogwarts!"

"I have not!" Draco answered defensively. "It was just a stupid physical attraction."

"Oh, please. You can call it whatever, but we both know that what you feel for him was love, not just physical attraction." Bill rolled his eyes. "Everyone knows, Draco. For Merlin's sake, it's all over your face. Isn't that the reason Hermione and Fred sent you to Harry's house in the first place? Everybody knows you like him, Draco. Stop pretending and just admit it. If you really want to get over it, just get over it! Don't keep making stupid excuses to be close to him."

"I don't make stupid excuses! And it's not that simple!" Draco sneered. "You can't just get over someone in the blink of an eye. It's more complicated than that."

"So you do admit that you love him?"

"Yes! Dammit!" Draco confessed, irritated.

"Did you sleep with him?"

There was a tense pause, and then Draco said with a low voice, "Yes."

Bill sighed heavily and clenched his fists. A lot of violent thoughts crossed his mind, like strangling Draco and then killing Harry. But he knew he had only himself to blame for throwing Draco at Harry. Besides, he had cheated on Draco. He didn't have the right to be so angry at his boyfriend. In fact, he had kept a lot of things from Draco. But even so, his heart hurt. He really liked Draco. They had a great relationship.

An old witch behind Bill poked his shoulder, interrupting his thoughts. He turned to her distractedly and then she asked, "So? What did he say? Did he sleep with him? I couldn't hear him." Bill turned red, and so did Draco as they realised that they had been displaying quite a spectacle to the few customers around. All eyes were turned to them as if waiting for Bill's next move.

"I wouldn't forgive him if I were you," said a witch who couldn't have been more than seventeen. "He slept with someone else. That's low."

"I agree," said the other teenager next to her, taking a big bite of her sandwich afterwards.

"But he said the other person is Harry Potter," said a wizard at the next table.

"And he's been in love with Mr. Potter since their time in school, if I'm not mistaken," pointed out his wife.

"But just because the love of your life appears all of a sudden, it doesn't mean you have a right to cheat on your current boyfriend. You should break up with him first," said the waitress of the coffee shop.

"Well, yeah..." the girl with the sandwich seemed deep in thought. "But like… what if things with the love of your life aren't that clear? Like, are you going to break up with your long-time boyfriend just like that?"

"But it isn't fair, Justine!" exclaimed Justine's friend. "You're treating your boyfriend as a rebound. That's horrible! You can't cast a person aside just because you're in love with somebody else and then expect the first person to come back to you if things don't work out for you with the other person!"

"That's not..." Draco tried to say, but was cut off by the old lady behind Bill.

"That reminds me of my General… He left me for some girl he met overseas…" The other old lady patted her friend's back.

"I think he's a slut," said the waitress indifferently pointing to Draco.

"Excuse me!" Draco exclaimed with a mix of outrage and embarrassment. He couldn't believe strangers were discussing his personal life so openly.

"I think you are all viewing this from the wrong angle. The real question in this whole story is: Harry Potter is gay?" asked the man to his wife. "He's our son's hero and as far I as knew he even had a fiancée. I thought he was straight."

Draco went pale and two thoughts crossed his mind at once: this can't be happening; and Harry is going to kill me. There was a short period of silence in the room, and then everyone started talking at the same time.

"No way!"

"That's certainly unexpected!"

"Why are all the great guys either married or gay?"

"I don't really care. It's his life anyway..."

"Oh, but he's such a handsome lad. It's such a shame..."

Draco felt his blood pressure rising. He wanted to cover his ears and tell everybody to shut up. Soon those people would leave the coffee shop and gossip about what they had heard and then he would be doomed. The news that he and Harry had slept together would be on the front page of the Daily Prophet. It would be the scandal of the year. The saviour of the wizarding world going out with an ex-Death Eater's son – and a Malfoy nonetheless. Harry would positively kill him. Draco calculated the odds of wiping everyone's memory away. If he was fast enough, he could do it all at once. There weren't too many people around.

"Now, now!" said Bill, making everyone quiet. "Harry Potter isn't gay. We were just joking. Right Draco?" Bill sent Draco a meaningful look. Draco only nodded. He was too shocked to say anything. "The thing is that Draco and Harry are sworn enemies, so I often like to tease Draco about it. This is a common joke between us."

"It didn't sound like a joke..." said the waitress. Draco felt like hexing her. He shot her a murderous look and she took a step back reflexively.

"Hey! This should be interesting." The wizard two tables ahead looked at the entrance and Draco almost collapsed. "The subject of the joke has just arrived! Oh, and he has company!"

"Harry..." Draco muttered, burying his face in his hands.

"Jacques!" Bill exclaimed as pale as Draco.

-----------------------------

Harry had been extremely disappointed when he hadn't met Draco at the Ministry, but he had hid his emotions well enough, or so he thought. Hermione had been thrilled to see him looking for Draco, and she had made malicious jokes about it until Harry had snapped, "Drop it!"

"All right…" Hermione sighed. "You might catch him in Diagon Alley if you run. He went to the Leaky Cauldron to gather some information for an investigation we're leading," Hermione said calmly. "Then you can have your date. I'll cover for him."

Harry raised an eyebrow and said between his teeth, "It isn't a date. How many times do I have to tell you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. It isn't a date... That's why you borrowed Fred's car, because you aren't on a date. And that's why you came here all dressed up looking for Draco."

Harry went red. "I wasn't planning to drop by. But since I was in the neighbourhood, I thought I would come here and see if he wanted a ride home..."

Hermione smiled. "Aww! You're so cute, Harry. Honestly... That's the worst excuse I've ever heard! You were in the neighbourhood?"

"It isn't an excuse!" Harry grunted.

"Oh, yes, it is," said Boss as he passed them.

Harry dropped his shoulders and sighed. "I can't win against you, can I?"

"Nope."

"And the reason why you are enjoying teasing me today is because Ron told you about the conversation we had."

Hermione made a wicked face. "Yep."

"I'll kill him," Harry muttered moodily.

"Oh, come on, Harry. You should have known better. I can always tell when Ron is hiding something from me. It isn't hard to make him talk... You knew that. In fact, you told him because you knew he would tell me in the first place. You didn't want to tell me yourself because I was right about you and Draco and it would be hard for you to admit it. You didn't want me to boast about the fact that I do know more about your feelings than you do and–"

"Ok. Enough! You're right, as always. Not a hundred percent right, but..." Hermione grinned and Harry rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date," Harry let out and instantly tried to amend, "Well, sort of... I just wanted to give him a ride home... And I'm not even sure I'm going to find him anyway."

Hermione patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Good luck!"

It wasn't so hard to find Draco in Diagon Alley. The place wasn't that big and therefore, everybody knew about everyone else's business. Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron, told Harry that he had seen Draco going to Gringotts. That fact had spoiled Harry's mood instantly, because he knew Bill worked there. In Gringotts a goblin had told him that Bill and Draco had left together for the coffee shop not so long ago. Harry's anger and jealousy reached a high level when he spotted Draco and Bill together through the window of the coffee shop.

"That bloody bastard!" exclaimed someone next to Harry, voicing his thoughts aloud.

Harry looked to the person beside him and gasped. The young man had blond hair, blue eyes and a cocky attitude that reminded him of Draco when they were Hogwarts students. The aura of attraction around him was as strong as Draco's. Harry felt not just flabbergasted but also fascinated. If Draco had a younger brother, Harry imagined him to be just like that.

The blond stared at Harry and frowned. "Is there a problem?" the young man asked with a French accent.

"Why?" Harry replied defensively.

"You're staring at me as if there's something funny on my face. Are you gay or something?"

"No!" Harry answered right away.

"Oh, I don't mind. I'm used to men and women hitting on me. It happens all the time. They can't help it. Nature was obviously kind to me, as you can see for yourself. I am very attractive... And there's also my half-Veela blood... It can be very annoying sometimes... There was a pervert once who kept stalking me. You're not a stalker, are you?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. That boy could definitely be Draco's younger brother. "Please, don't tell me your last name is Malfoy," Harry muttered more to himself than to the boy.

"No. My name is Jacques Delacour. You're Harry Potter, right?"

"Yes. I wonder what gave me away," Harry sneered.

"Oh, how could anyone not know who you are? Besides, you have that scar on your forehead… It's really unique," commented Jacques.

"Yeah, yeah." Harry was beginning to feel annoyed. This kind of conversation was one of the reasons why he would rather stay home. He hated when people pointed at him on the street and then asked for his autograph. It was even worse when people talked and asked about his battle with Voldemort.

He didn't want to think about Voldemort. His main concern was Draco and the reason he was with Bill in a romantic coffee shop. Jacques seemed worried about someone inside too. For a moment, Harry wondered if the object of Jacques' distress was Draco. That thought made him feel even more upset. How many lovers did Draco have? It was then that he noticed something else about Jacques.

"Are you related to Fleur Delacour?" Harry asked.

"Please, don't talk about that putain," Jacques said with contempt. "But yes, we are cousins, unfortunately. She thinks she can take Bill away from me, but that won't happen. Bill is mine. Look at that graceless blond with him. He's just a poor substitute for the one Bill really loves."

"Who?" Harry asked, but already anticipating the answer.

"Me! I'm the real thing, not that insipid person next to him."

Harry couldn't help but feel tremendous relief as he found out that Jacques wasn't interested in Draco. He also couldn't stop the smile from creeping upon his face as he imagined what kind of reaction Draco would have if Jacques called him insipid and graceless to his face.

"So you like Bill," Harry stated.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Jacques asked aggressively.

"Not at all," Harry answered. In fact, Harry was quite thrilled to know about that. He didn't want to feel so happy, but he did. Bill wasn't so perfect after all. There was just one problem, though. Harry didn't know Draco's feelings. And there was only one way to find out. "So," Harry began to say. "Do you want to come inside? I believe you need to talk to Bill, don't you?"

Jacques smiled briskly. "Oui."

TBC…

Next update: December 23!

Here's a list of songs that inspired me to write this story:

- Desire, Fallen Angel and Changes, by Mike Lindup.

- Bitter Moon, by Mark King.

- Staring at the Sun, One in a Million, Two Solitudes, Two Hearts Collide, Romance, Leaving me now, I Sleep on my Heart, It's Over, All Over You, A Kinder Eye and many others, by Level 42.

- Two songs from the anime Gravitation: In the Moonlight, Super Drive (instrumental).

- Long Night, by The Corrs.

- Various songs from Final Fantasy VI (yes, the PlayStation game!!): Coin Song (Orchestral); Relm (Orchestral); Celes (Orchestral); Forever Rachel (Orchestral); Terra's Theme (Orchestral); The Mystic Forest (Orchestral).

- Baby Come Back, by Player.

Now, I realise nobody asked me to do this… but I just felt like doing it! XD