Harry was boarded on the Hogwarts Express an hour before other people started arriving. He stayed in a locked compartment and waited for a familiar knock on the door. He didn't know when it'd come, but when he started to hear voices and storming footsteps, he knew it would happen soon.
"What will they say?" He wondered aloud to himself.
He was feeling antsy. The dark tunnel outside the train window was no help in calming his mood swings – one second calm, the next second hot and sweaty, almost dizzy. He had come to terms with Ron; he wasn't the one to blame for any of this. If anyone was the victim, really, it was Ron. Harry had been poisoned with the toxin and took advantage of him, whereas Harry hadn't done much fighting off of his intimate moment. Also, it was Ron who was framed, and Harry hadn't even done anything to lead the proper authorities into finding his attacker – if attacker was even the word for it.
Maybe Marty was right…maybe he had to forgive to forget. Whoever had had sex with him didn't do it out of spite or to hurt him; they did it because they loved him – or just wanted him. He didn't know many things and Smeltings was proof of that, but he did know the panic and worry in the pseudo-Ron's voice and face was legitimate. Harry just hadn't given him a chance to explain. Well…he was going back to Hogwarts, and Draco Malfoy could explain then.
Harry sat there with resolve of this notion. He was going to get Draco to talk, and yes, he was afraid, but his fear couldn't be that which stood between him and his answers. He needed answers, and once he got them then time would tell what happened next. Would he tell people that he consented to the union of him and his mid-night visitor, even though that visitor wasn't Ron? Could he do something like that? Could he accept that it was Draco Malfoy?
A knock came and interrupted his thoughts, and he opened the door and there was Hermione and Ron, both grinning and pushing their way in. Hermione gave him a big hug and didn't let go for quite awhile.
"Hey, Harry," Ron said, a bit uneasily. "How are you?"
Harry looked at him over Hermione's head and untangled an arm to clasp Ron's hand in a tight shake.
"I'm all better, Ron. I'm sorry for…everything. I'm sorry I didn't write more."
"You wrote just enough," Hermione said, holding his face in hers, tears stinging her eyes. "We were so happy to hear you were coming back! It'd been too long! Hogwarts just isn't the same since you left."
"Life hasn't been the same since I left. How's the team?" Harry asked Ron, and Ron grinned.
"Great! We were in the lead up until the last match, but we'll get it back."
"I knew you'd be the best captain," Harry said with a confident smile. "I couldn't think of anyone better."
Ron's smile may have faded a bit, and he did look away, but he nodded in agreement. Hermione looked between them and then settled for looking daggers at Ron.
"Ron's not the captain," she said sternly.
That took a moment for Harry to understand, but then shock settled in. "What! Why not?!"
Ron looked angrily at Hermione. "Why'd you have to tell him now? He just got back..."
"Who's the captain?!" Harry looked between them both in anguish. He said, "Ron, I wanted you to be captain!"
Ron shook his head forlornly and sat down heavily. "I couldn't do it, Harry. I tried, you know? But I was lousy at it."
"We lost by over a hundred points to Hufflepuff in the first match."
"I'm sorry, Harry," Ron put his head in his hands.
Harry's first instinct was to shout, his second was to cry, but seeing Ron this way made him too shaken to do either.
Harry sighed and sat across from him, leaning forward and pulling Ron's hands off his head, letting them drop onto Ron's knees. He looked him right in the eyes and thought about the last thing Marty told him.
"I forgive you, Ron. I'm not even disappointed. It was a heavy burden, and I knew it would be hard. I just didn't trust anyone else with it. You shouldn't live with this on your shoulders. You did the right thing giving it to someone else."
Ron blinked away a bit of confusion.
"Wow, what's happened to you, Harry?" He said in awe.
Harry smiled. "Therapy. Lots and lots of therapy. So, who's the captain now?"
"Brace yourself," Hermione said, and Ron nodded in agreement and said, "Cormac McLaggen."
"NO!" Harry exclaimed and jumped to his feet. Shouting it was then. Ron expected as much, and nodded sadly and put his head back in his hands. "WHY WOULD YOU GIVE IT TO HIM?!"
"You see? That's why this is so horrible!"
Harry briefly felt sorry for Ron's misery, and then felt real misery himself.
"You're still Keeper, though, right?"
For a second, Harry thought Ron had completely given up Quidditch, but then Ron nodded.
"McLaggen took over as Seeker. When I held the tryouts I was so sure Ginny was going to take the spot, but she wanted to keep being a Chaser in case – you know – you showed up before the first match."
"And McLaggen was the best Seeker?"
Hermione nodded, but looked really sour about it. "It was horrible, Harry. He caught every Golden Snitch there was. The only one better than him was a Second Year girl, and she caught half as many as him."
"He got your spot and your Captain's badge," Ron said angrily, still beating himself up. "No one could believe it. And the way he struts around the halls – it's like he's pretending to be you."
"I never strutted!" Harry said defensively.
"I know! That's what makes it worse!"
They all sat for a moment of silence, mourning something unspeakably sad. Then Hermione looked Harry over. "You are different."
"I got a haircut," Harry confessed. His hair was cropped rather short in the back, and it wasn't even long enough in the front to cover his scar – which was completely new for him, actually.
"You're really thin, too. Like…way thinner than before."
"You look like a Muggle!" Ron exclaimed, and got shushed by Hermione.
Harry shrugged. "I wasn't…doing too well for awhile. Don't worry, there were people looking after me. Really good people."
Harry knew he would tell them the truth about the last two months eventually, so he took a deep breath and dove into it since now he had the chance. He told them about the change in the Dursleys and his enrollment at Smeltings, and a few of the private boarding school Muggle boys he got along with.
Overall, they were shocked at the news, figuring he was actually in some hospital in France, or a secret corridor in St. Mungo's where they kept all their secret patience. They didn't talk about that night in the hospital ward. They all wanted to put that behind them, and Harry was willing to let them think that's the way he wanted it. Truthfully – and he only told himself this way deep down inside – there was no way that was going to happen. What happened to him happened, yes, but what came now had to be built on answers as to why it happened.
Draco Malfoy, I think it was you. Why did you do it?