Chapter 17
A/N: Once again, it's been ages, and I'm sorry. Please keep my hit-counts up, people! Every read and every review is welcomed.
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After he and Draco finished breakfast, Harry made a mental note to kill his sister when he got home. That situation could have been a lot more awkward thanks to her meddling. Fortunately the whole thing had turned out rather well…
He stayed at Draco's house for most of the morning, getting home shortly before twelve and going straight to Deb's room. "Come in," she called when he knocked. He opened the door and walked in, closing it after him.
"Harry," she said deadpan when she saw who it was. "I cannot believe you did that."
"Neither can I," he answered, breathing slowly to stay calm. "Though that's probably because I didn't."
She turned to look properly at him, her face betraying scepticism. "Then what was all that stuff on the phone earlier?"
Harry fought down his growing annoyance. "That was a joke. Dray just said that to wind you up."
Deb raised an eyebrow. "Including 'Harry, come back to bed'?"
He folded his arms, starting to get sick of having to justify himself. "No, that part was real. Just because we shared a bed last night does not mean we had sex."
She blushed suddenly; neither of them had been that blunt before. Harry noticed it with satisfaction – one point to him. It was a moment or two before she spoke again. "Well I'm glad to hear it. You shouldn't be doing stuff like that."
The quick reappearance of the maternal tone in her voice made him snap. "I also meant to say that after you hung up there was a rather awkward situation between me and Draco, entirely down to you. He told me he never said anything about last night either, but I didn't even know what he was thinking. And you did. That's what's bothering me; I'm sick of the fact you know my boyfriend better than I do!" His voice rose as he spoke, glaring at her fiercely. "So will you just butt out? I don't mind you and Dray being friends, but stop trying to interfere in our relationship; it's none of your goddamn business!"
For a moment she looked defeated, but his last sentence made her look straight back at him and reply angrily: "Well in case you hadn't noticed, you two wouldn't even be back together if it wasn't for me!"
"If we're as made for each other as you claim, it would have happened sooner or later! You're my little sister; I don't need a kid like you trying to fix my life when you can't even handle your own!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
"Don't think I don't know what you've been doing! It took me a while to realise, but I can see it now. All that stuff on your desk, the way you didn't hide it, the way Ginny stuck up for you how she did – and now you're all flippant and in love. You faked it, didn't you? That stuff was exactly what I thought it was, but you weren't using it. All along you were just trying to get Ginny, weren't you? That was the reason I didn't notice anything untoward in your diary; you didn't really want that Sam girl – she was a cover – and you weren't hurting yourself. Sure, Ginny was in there, but she was your friend, so I never thought it was anything more. Let me guess; you 'confided' in Ginny about your self-harm to make her feel sorry for you, told her not to tell anyone, and so she defended you to me! Then you got together, and all of a sudden you outed yourself after being oh-so-scared of what you were."
He could see in her eyes that he'd got it right.
"So should I tell her?" he asked innocently.
"I love her!" Deb yelled, her eyes misting over with angry tears. "And she loves me too!"
There was no going back now. "Even though you had to trick her into going out with you? I wonder why only you are out, and not her…"
He'd never seen her this angry before. "You bastard; shut up!" The tears had spilled over and were running down her face, which was pale and furious. "You know nothing! I told Ginny the truth, and she doesn't care, and I'd bet my life that we'll be out as a couple months before you and Draco are – you're such bloody cowards!"
That was it; Harry took a step forward and slapped her, seeing red. "You don't know what he's had to put up with! He had to leave his old school because of being gay; he still has nightmares about it. You're just too young to understand how this stuff works!"
Her face drained of any remaining colour as she screamed back: "Get out of my room! Fuck off and don't come back!"
"Gladly," Harry answered coldly, storming out and along the corridor to his own room. Behind him, he heard her door slam and footsteps on the stairs. Seconds later, the front door closed heavily. She'd gone. Good.
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A/N: I'm so sorry about how short this is! But once I got to the end I just couldn't do any more. I had no idea what I was going to write until I was partway through, and a lot of dithering was involved. I also have to apologise for focusing on an OC. I know it annoys me when I read stuff that does that.
