A/N: I'm not even gonna make some half-ass excuses. I suck. But here it is my loves. Chapter six! Wee!
Just to refresh all of your memories so that you don't have to go back and read the last chapter: there was a party, blah blah blah, Draco was there, an intense moment of foreshadowed love passed between our star-crossed lovers, Seamus and Dean snogged, Draco (rudely) invited Harry and co. to his next party, Harry and Ginny kissed (don't mean a thang), and the house was a complete mess.
Ohmuhgawsh…Thank you's…
Intrepid Aarcher, Emerald Cat, ATadObsessive46 (I'm so glad you have fun reading it, especially since you seem to be able to relate to the scene. Well, that's what it sounded like at least…), Moo, Rose of Ravenclaw, Kimi-Sama (AH… I love your stories!), Olean, Akuma Memento Mori, Samilys (They will!), Jess, Fox Loves Shinigami (Not too many), Isidoria (aww… I can't answer your question cuz I'd be giving away too much, but… aww, thank you!), chekiita, TINK! (times four! Yay! I updated finally… haha… Seriously, we are too cool, you and I, PATMA rox, I can't believe you actually read my insane bio… freak… hehe. You know what? THANK YOU for the ramen!), Pyrefly Deactivated, Sandra & Jenny, Abby (Thanks so much!), Bloody Corsets (Proof that I'm a total American, haha. Thanks, though), Axie, Bulisen, tabbymogpuss (The AFI song is 'Bleed Black'), Shakespeares Whore, MyOriginalIntent, Vixen-Queen (That's my favorite scene too, and I love the Masquerade! Thanks for the spectacular review!), LiLy MaLfOy13, Blue Lycan (glad you like it), Kirrashi (ooh, I like it! Later chappie maybe!) And… to Unspoken Prayer (Beautimus, why thank you!), DanishGirl, and Ashes of Stars!
Eeek! 95 reviews!
Also, My friend Wesley (Knight in Rainbow-Coloured Armor) wrote his first story, H/D slash of course, AU, drug addicts in rehab (it's called For A Fix), and I'm shamelessly advertising it… Because I lurve him. So if you wanna check it out, DO!
Disclaimer: It's disclaimed. No lawsuits, okay?
Ron and Hermione showed up around ten the next morning, but not before Remus had come down for Coffee and an aspirin.
"He just kinda stood there at the foot of the stairs for a moment," he told a tired Ron and an even more exhausted Hermione, "And then he just went to get his coffee like there was nothing wrong."
"Oh, well the poor thing!" Hermione exclaimed, "Just look what you did to his house!"
"Yes," Ron said with disbelief, "And you were in no way involved…"
Hermione "Hrmph"-ed and then set to work cleaning. Ron and Harry joined her and they cleaned for two and a half hours. They picked up all of the cups and beer bottles, they vacuumed and mopped the floors, they wiped the counters and the tables, and they tidied up each room to where it looked just as it had before the party. Most of their accomplishment was due to Hermione who was constantly breathing down their necks.
"She's like this with homework too, so watch out," said Ron, "Oh and meat, milk, eggs, fur, leather, and just about everything that has to do with animals."
Yes, Harry had seen her bravely hassling the greasers for their jackets the previous night. He chuckled lightly, until Hermione rounded the corner and he set back to work immediately.
When they finished they all sat in the clean living room, Harry amazed that his guardians were still asleep. Hermione rose to go to the kitchen where they could hear her rummaging through the cabinets and when she came out she had coffee and toast with jam.
"Aww, thanks 'Mione!" Ron said delightedly.
"It's not for you, Ron, it's for Harry's poor friend Remus. Where's his room Harry?"
"Erm… first door on the left upstairs."
She climbed the stairs and came down, grinning, a half-hour later. Ron and Harry were eating cereal at the table.
"What a kind and intelligent man he is!"
"Yeah... he's pretty great," Harry agreed.
"Oh yes, he knows all sorts of things and he agrees with me on the way animals are treated. Though he says that he has to eat meat for the iron…"
"Yeah, Remus has immune system problems or something like that so he's always sick or really tired, but he doesn't eat red-meat."
"Well, I don't eat any meat," said a jealous Ron.
Hermione glared at him, "But you force those mummy cows to give their babies to the veal industry just so that you can drink their milk!"
"I'll bet you he does too!"
"Ron, you are such a git!"
"How am I a git?"
"Don't talk to me!"
They all left to go to Ron's house, neither Hermione nor Ron talking to one another. Harry took advantage of the silence to study his two friends' attires for the day. Hermione was wearing a bright pink skirt (that went 'properly' down to her knees) with black stockings and a black shirt with white words that said, 'Got Pus? Milk Does' across the front. Ron was clothed in a pair of skin-tight black pants, his new boots, and a 'Vibrators' shirt. Harry looked at himself and wondered if people thought that what he was wearing was as bizarre as what the two people next to him were. He was wearing his trusty old Chucks that had rips and paint and writing all over them, his blue jeans were ripped as well, though it was less from years of use and more from personal will, and he was wearing a tight, black zip-up sweater over a white shirt (also torn up). He hugged his sweater closer to him. Yes, people were probably looking. He supposed it should have mattered more to him so he tried to look modest, but after a couple of streets he forgot about it.
"So Harry, Ginny seems to be awf'ly fond of you…" Ron said suddenly.
"Oh heavens… Watch out Harry, the last person that Ginny was involved with only broke up with her because Ron kept threatening him."
"Well, he obviously wasn't right for her," Ron said matter-of-factly, "'Sides, Harry is a much be'er person and I know him."
Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, Harry said, "Well… I don't really think she likes me…"
"What do you suppose that kiss was about last night, then?" Hermione asked. Harry knew that her and Ginny were very close.
Harry was feeling even more uncomfortable with that statement. They had kissed. Oh gosh, he knew he shouldn't have drunken so much. That must have been one of those dark spots in his memory of last night. "I dunno, we're only friends though… she's a very sweet girl."
"On'y friends now…" Ron mused.
They didn't go into Ron's house when they got there but instead got into Bill's car to go to the beach nearby. Harry had been to see the sea very few times and so was quite excited. The car smelled putridly of vomit and without close inspection, Harry found a spot on the floor that was a slightly different color than the other parts of the dark beige floor.
Ron drove slowly with Hermione sitting in the passenger seat bickering about the directions and his driving skills.
"I'm already going slower than a bum with a shopping cart!"
"Ron! They are homeless people, not 'bums'! Watch the road, you wanker!"
Harry watched the trees slowly creep by and finally the car stopped on a cliff surrounded by a short, wooden fence.
"This is where we go on most weekends, Harry," Ron said. They were above a small patch of grass that slowly became a long stretch of dull sand. Tons of people that Harry had met and sat with at school were there. It was mostly the students that Ron was friends with and that they hung out with at lunch, though there were a few people that were not. They were all sitting out on the grass or playing Frisbee by the water. A few of the younger students were chasing each other in the sand or having fights with mud. Even some of the older students had joined in. Ron, Hermione, and Harry walked down the stable rocks of the cliff to get down to where Dean, Seamus, Neville, Lavender, and Parvati were.
There was a huge tree stretching over a corner of the grassy area and it was casting a shadow over the five students. Lavender and Parvati were studying for Philosophy and giggling to each other. They were dressed similar to how Harry had seen them before: Parvati with golden ribbons and a gold brooch in her long hair, covered in flowing black and blue clothing. Lavender in a bright yellow shirt and black velvet pants. Beside them, Neville was watching the Creevy brothers who were taking pictures of everyone and getting sand pelted at them. Seamus and Dean were a bit further away from the others. Dean was lying in Seamus's lap, where the latter was stroking his colorful hair. Seamus, in a Flogging Molly t-shirt, looked exhausted and his liberty spikes were drooping slightly. It surprised Harry that the two were so open in front of the rest of their friends.
Ron, who seemed to know what was on Harry's mind said, "They hadn't told the school yet, but most of us knew…"
Harry nodded and followed Ron and Hermione to sit near the others, though more under the tree than simply in it's shade. They looked upon the water and Harry felt content with his surroundings. The people he was with were so wonderful. All of them were so different and courageous for daring to be that way. He was proud to be accepted among them. They were all brave enough to walk out of their houses, dressed the way they were, acting the way they did, talking about the stuff that they talked about, or just being who they were and they were comfortable. They seemed so unaffected by other people's opinions and they truly just wanted to express their own. Why not, if they really believed in them?
The three of them sat together for hours, talking about their lives. Hermione lived with her two happily married parents, who were dentists. She was an only child and she had turned both of her parents vegan. Ron expressed how, despite the lack of money his parents had, they had wanted to get their children a proper education at the same school that they had gone to, Northbridge. Harry told them about all of the different places he had lived, though excluding some of the details.
Both of his friends seemed to know enough about each other so they were mainly telling Harry about themselves. They also told him about some of the past events that had taken place between them and Draco Malfoy's posse. Some of them were rather funny (one involved putting a ferret in Malfoy's locker, which Hermione disapproved of) and others seemed like bad memories to the two (Ron had been suspended, had detention twenty-two times, and had been beaten up very badly after school once). Ron seemed to think that no matter who came out on top, it was always worth it.
"M' mum always screams at me for hours after I get in trouble but m' dad agrees that it's worth it. He just wishes he could do the same. See, he works with Lucius Malfoy."
"Draco's father," Hermione clarified, "He's awful… It's no wonder his son is such an arse, pardon my language--"
"Don't be giving him excuses, Hermione!"
"Don't raise your voice at me!"
There was a silence that was broken quickly by a younger boy with light brown wispy hair who approached them cautiously from the other side of the tree. All three heads turned to look at him.
"Err…hey," Ron said first, with a slightly irritated tone, "Who're you?"
"Ron, be polite!"
"Erm, I'm Kevin Whitney," The boy said, he was grinning slightly as he continued. He even seemed a bit excited. "I'm friends with Emma Dobb."
"Oh, she's such a sweetie," Hermione stated, smiling.
"So… wha' do you want?"
"Ron!"
"Sorry!"
"Well… I just wanted to ask Potter a question," the boy voiced, looking at Harry and Ron in turn.
"Sure, go ahead," replied Harry.
"Well, are you by any chance related to the Potters that died at the school sixteen years ago?"
Harry paused, but noticed Ron's jaw drop for some reason "Er, no… my parents didn't die here," he stopped for a moment and looked furrowed his eye-brows, "But they did die sixteen years ago, why are you asking me this?"
"Yeah, that's kind of a tactless question!" Ron exclaimed in defense.
Hermione mumbled, "Tactless… like you know anything about tact…"
"Hey," the boy raised his hands in his own defense, "I was just curious as it was kinda a big deal and I know a lot of other people that have been wondering the same thing. I guess it's just a coincidence that two 'Potter' couples were murdered in the same year."
"How did you know my parents were murdered?"
"I don't know what you're talking about…" And he walked away.
"What was that all about?" Hermione asked.
"I dunno… but he was an arse-hole," Ron said quickly.
"Ron, tell me what it is you know that I don't."
"What's this you're on about, Harry?"
"I think I have a right to know as they were my parents!"
"Ronald, Harry, what are you talking about? What was that Whitney boy talking about?" Hermione asked, feeling left out. "Why am I suddenly the least informed?"
"Okay, okay… I figured you would have known, Harry. I mean, they were your parents an' all… It's just, after you told me they were murdered I talked to m' mum an' she told me (mind you, she made me swear not to say anything) that the murder had been a big deal 'round here, since they had gone to school at Northbridge—"
"What?"
"Well, it's what Mum said. Anyway, all she told me was that your whole family lived here 'cept your mum and dad and then they came into town after leavin' for a while and they were all… killed. If she knew, I don't see why you di'in."
"All anyone would ever tell me was that they were killed my some guy called Voldemort."
"That's horrible… That whole story…" Hermione whispered. "I'm so sorry, Harry."
"Don't be. I never knew them."
"Why wouldn't anyone tell you the whole story?" The brunette girl asked.
"I'm guessing that there's more to it than that."
"Well, don't tell anyone I told you anything, then. I mean… If they di'in want you to know…" Ron trailed off.
"I didn't even know that they had lived here." Harry was so confused. No one had ever told him anything about his parents' pasts besides what they were like: Nice, attractive, lively. It was no wonder why Remus and Sirius had been acting stranger than usual as of late.
"Well, a lot of other people knew that." Ron said matter-of-factly.
"I guess that's why people are always looking at me weirdly now."
"That, and the fact that you dress like a bloody loony!" Ron exclaimed fondly as he stood up and ran as Harry grabbed at his feet to trip him. The latter got up to and chased him off of the grass and through the sand where they playfully wrestled each other to the ground.
Hermione looked on, smiling to herself at the childish antics of her two good friends. Beside her, Lavender and Parvati were reciting poetry:
"And the passionate love
That flowed so serenely
Between shadowed bodies through the night
Became passionate blows
Of hate and misery
Before the resentful sunlight's gaze…"
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Heaven help me."
The next week passed easily enough for Harry, almost as though he was already in the swing of his new routine. However, Saturday's news from the beach plagued his mind nearly constantly. True to his word to Ron, Harry had not mentioned a thing to Remus and Sirius, but he was slightly resentful towards them for not telling him something that he had to hear from a person he had just met.
Although he had just met Ron and Hermione, Harry still felt such a strong sense of comfort around them that it almost made him feel uncomfortable. It was just odd to him how after years of being an outcast he could so quickly find two people who were not only willing to except him for who he was, but would except him for nothing else.
The three spent their time outside of school going over to each other's houses, cruising in Bill's car, or badgering people about Animal Rights (mostly Ron and Harry watched as Hermione harassed passerby's on popular street corners). Ron still wanted to take Harry by Knockturn Alley, though Hermione was against it and so was Ron's mother.
"You don't need to expose the poor boy to that awful part of town!" Mrs. Weasley had said to Ron. "There are far too many loonies and bums around there. And I certainly don't want to think about the addicts!"
"Mum I love that band!"
"Not the Adicts, the drug addicts that hang around there!"
Later, after Ron had told Harry of this conflict, he had assured Harry that they would be able to go anyway, he just couldn't tell his mother that he was corrupting 'the poor boy' by bringing him to such an 'awful' place.
At school Harry had become more used to the social statuses and he had made a ton more friends since he had thrown the party. They had come up to him at school on Monday, telling him that they had a great time and he had actually gotten to know a few of them better.
"Really, Harry! That was a happening party! No cops to ruin everything, a ton of sexy women. You are quite a popular guy. At least, if you weren't before, you are now," Justin Finch-Flechley had said to him.
"Lovely get-together. I adored the décor of your home. I do hope no one spilt anything on that soft rug in your dining room…" Luna Lovegood, who was one the less popular of the people who hung around the smarter crowd, had told him.
He was happy to have adjusted so nicely in just over a week and he was even getting used to his classes. It was excepted that Trawlany's class was bizarre, and Binn's class was bound to be boring all year, and certainly there was no anticipating that Snape would decide to change his mind and treat Harry decently. Yes, classes were going all right.
In fact, Harry would have said that everything was going just fine, if it weren't for three things: The truth about his parents' deaths, lacrosse, and Draco Malfoy. The last two could easily be lumped together to make one big problem.
For some reason, Harry hadn't been able to let go of that expression in Draco's eyes. He hadn't been able to let go of the defeated way he looked away. And as much as he tried to tell himself it didn't matter, he couldn't help thinking that he had seen something that no one else ever had. Why had Draco looked at him at that moment any way? Harry would have like to hope something that he would never voice, but he pushed that aside with doubt. Instead he figured that it must have been because Draco wanted to blame him. Maybe there had been a hidden eyebrow quirk, or a sneer, that Harry had missed. Draco must have been trying to say, 'Look at this nasty display on your couch'. But Harry knew that in all honesty that hadn't been it either. And in all honesty, he really didn't know what it was, which was why he was dwelling on it constantly.
It was bad enough to have to see the blonde boy in and between classes and across the lunch area when he ate, but it was utter hell to have to put up with him during lacrosse.
Harry spent three hours in lacrosse on the days that he no longer had PE for a last period, and two hours on the days that he had potions last period. It was tiring, but he enjoyed the sport a lot.
By the time Harry's second Friday of school had ended, he had already spent thirteen hours practicing lacrosse, not counting try-outs. Each day it was something he looked forward to, something that he knew would relieve his stress. But underneath it all was a tugging at his navel, not only at having to get dressed in front of all of those guys, but because he was going to have to face Draco Malfoy.
It was horrible. Draco was an attackman, and a damn good one at that. When Harry sat out of a game to watch, he was always watching Draco. 'Because he plays a great game,' Harry would tell himself because it was so true. But they didn't practice in all of their equipment so it wasn't hard to see Draco's agile body through his shorts and sweaty t-shirt as he ran with his crosse. What was worse was that many a time Draco had caught him watching and given him his awful glare, eyes narrowed, snarling lips.
They never talked in practice, like they would in class. It was okay to be immature and trade insults when in math and chemistry and such, but when on the field, when in the locker rooms, when getting instruction, it was only okay to be immature with dirty looks. Draco wasn't the only one with a scowl and a sneer.
Harry spent what Ron termed as 'a bleedin' borin' weekend' at the beach again on both Saturday and Sunday, choosing to keep some time away from his guardians since he was unable to shake his unhappy feelings. It was much like the last weekend, but so different at the same time. Harry ended up spending a lot of time with Dean and Seamus this time, after making sure that he wasn't intruding on personal time.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't have gotten you out of there before… well, you know."
"Hey, it was our own fault. We shouldn't have gotten so wasted. I mean, I should know by now what Seamus is like after a few beers," Dean chuckled.
"'Sides, Harry, it was about time we came out to everyone. It's not as though half of those people di'in know already."
"Yeah, but still…"
Seamus patted Harry on the back, "No YBS's. It's the gay man's fate, to have everyone find out his deepest darkest secret and then realize that it's better off that way. Do you get what I'm saying, Harry?"
"Erm… yes."
"Harry, Harry, Harry…." Dean sighed dramatically.
"Harry, m'boy. Dear, dear Harry." Seamus shook his head with eyes closed in amusement.
"The gay man's secret may not be known to all, but it's not a secret to all either."
"Okay. Well I better be going," Harry said hastily, standing in the sand from where he had hitherto been sitting. "Ron and I have to go buy tickets for the show on Thursday. Agent Orange and some other bands are gonna be there."
Harry turned to walk away quickly, flushed. Seamus called after him, "You know you can talk to us anytime!"
Mister Gay Man Harry Potter was mortified.
A/N: Not a lot of Draco in this chapter…
Draco: And why is that? You make us wait all this time and I still have nearly no role—
Me: Well, I didn't abandon you guys completely. I wrote another story and I've got a few others up my sleeve sooo—
Draco: You totally just interrupted me!
Me: Sorry…
Draco: I hate you.
Harry: Now you've done it. You didn't update for ages, you gave him a teeny-tiny role, and then you interrupted him! There, there Draco. It'll be alright…
Me: Okay, loverly readers. I got the scolding from Draco and Harry already so please don't tear me to pieces. I would like to have some nice reviews from you guys though, get me going again, you know. I really am sorry but please review. If only for our two lovers' sakes.
AND… I know you all want Harry and Draco to get together soon so expect more HD action in the next chapter… Don't expect too much, though… hehe!
Thank you!