Harry Potter was walking down the halls of Hogwarts with his friends, they were seventh years, and the atmosphere around Hogwarts was much lighter than it had been in any of Harry's memories. He had defeated the dark lord at the end of his fifth year, when the maniac stormed the ministry looking for the prophecy the year before last.
Harry had been a lot quieter and more subdued since defeating Voldemort. He really was just trying to stay out of everybody's way, he just wanted to be the not noticed student he was when he was a kid in primary school, and for the most part it was working.
It was a couple weeks into the term, Harry was lagging behind Ron and Hermione just a bit as they bickered while they walked to the great hall. He had his hands in his pockets and his body language was closed off and almost empty, the complete opposite of the Harry Potter anybody had known before last year.
Truth be told, Harry had never wanted to be the popular kid, had never wanted to be the hero, all he wanted was to have a normal childhood even if he was a wizard, but that didn't happen. He figured if he had no choice but to be the hero, he might as well act the part of the stupid brainless brawn of the group.
But that was over now, Harry didn't have to worry about the weight of the world on his shoulders anymore, so he was just being himself. He had continued the act of the brainless idiot until about October of their sixth year, he was tired of playing the stupid role. His friends didn't know what to think of the sudden shift in personality, they thought he was depressed and forced him to go to the hospital wing on more than one occasion. And he was depressed, but they weren't taking him because of his real depression symptoms, but because he was quiet and didn't want to be stupid. It wasn't his fault if being himself meant being quiet and not causing trouble.
"Harry!" the man in question jumped about a foot in the air, he snapped his head over to see Hermione giving him a scolding look, he frowned, what had he done now?
"yes Hermione?" he asked politely, his friends didn't know what to make of this new personality, they always seemed rather worried or annoyed with him.
"Ron and I have been trying to talk to you for the past few minutes! And you've just been ignoring us!" Hermione huffed, Harry blinked a couple of times and realized then that they were sitting at the Gryffindor table, he hadn't remembered sitting down he was so lost in thought.
"Oh, I'm sorry Hermione." He said softly, frowning, "what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"oh, it doesn't matter now!" she threw her hands up in exasperation at the same time the bell to dismiss them went off. She stood, as did Ron and Harry, and her and the redhead continued their bickering from earlier as they took up the lead, leaving Harry behind.
Their first class of the day was potions, despite leaving shortly after the bell rang, they were some of the last people in the classroom. Ron and Hermione took up the only completely open desk, so Harry was left to go find someone else to sit and partner with.
It just so happened that the only empty seat left was next to Draco Malfoy, go bloody figure.
Harry spent a lot of his sixth year not so much following Malfoy around, but he did happen to make himself around often enough to see the blonde often. Truth be told, he had a major crush on the man, had since they were in like, third year. But that wasn't anything Harry told anybody.
For whatever reason, the Weasleys and the entirety of Hogwarts thought that Harry and Ginny were going to get together and get married and have a giant family with a million Potter spawn running around. Harry shivered any time he thought of it. He hadn't told anybody he was gay; it was one of the only things about himself he managed to keep a secret from everybody else (that and the way the Dursleys treated him, that is).
But now, here he was, in his seventh year and sitting next to the one person he's been actively trying to avoid this entire term. He was hoping that if he stayed away, distanced himself enough from the Slytherin, then his feelings would go away. That wasn't happening, though.
Harry sighed and sat down next to Draco. Draco snapped his head over to him and gave him a disgusted look "Potter" he spat. Harry felt a stab through his heart like he always did when Draco made it clear that he despised him.
"Malfoy." Harry greeted softly with a nod of his head, he turned and stared almost empty towards the front of the room. Draco was in the NEWT level potions class because he was training to be a healer, and in fact worked with madam Pomfrey in the infirmary at least 12 hours a week, so it made sense that he was in there. Harry however, he was just taking all the newt level courses, he figured it couldn't hurt him.
Severus Snape billowed into the room after only a couple of minutes, he glared around at his class like they had already fucked up their potions. "today class," he started, tapping his wand to the chalkboard and a recipe appearing on it. "we will be brewing veritiserum. Get to work!" he shouted; Harry had to fight a flinch at the shout. It had already been two weeks into the term, but the rules and fear that his relatives instilled in him over the summer were still fresh in his mind, as were some of the bruises that were fading on his body under concealment charms.
"Potter, go get the ingredients." Malfoy all but snapped at Harry, Harry just nodded numbly and stood to go get the ingredients. He waited behind so he was the last one to get their things, he sent a ball of light into the small ingredients cupboard and when it came back it was holding all the ingredients Harry needed.
Harry had been claustrophobic for years now, thanks to his relatives keeping him in the cupboard under the stairs for more than half his life, so he refused to actually go in the closet. He walked back to his table and gingerly sat each ingredient down in order of what needed to go in the cauldron first. He noticed Draco gave him a funny look as he took some of the ingredients and prepared them delicately.
Surprisingly, Harry didn't get in Draco's way very often, something Harry was glad of, he didn't want more hateful comments thrown his way. They were mostly through with the potion, all they had left to do was add in the moondust pinch by pinch, which is what Harry was doing now.
He was so focused on the potion that he didn't notice his professor step up next to him. "Potter!" Snape yelled, Harry jumped with a bit of a shout, the rest of the moon dust dumped into the potion at once.
Harry's eyes widened as it all fell in, the potion started to bubble and sizzle. "fuck." Harry mumbled before he reached out, pushed both Draco and Snape out of the way, then covered the top of the cauldron with his torso.
It exploded, as Harry knew it would. He was thankful his tactic worked when he stumbled back, and he was the only one with the botched potion all over his clothes. He looked up at Snape who was staring at him with wide eyes,
"you didn't have to shout." Harry commented to his professor before the potion seemed to seep through his clothes. He hissed as it sunk into his skin, he scratched at himself as it burned.
"Potter, are you okay?" Snape asked, taking a step over towards the Gryffindor.
"just peachy, professor." Harry commented, he frowned though, that wasn't what he had intended to come out of his mouth.
Snape's eyes narrowed at him, especially as he saw the frown and slight panic across Harry's face. "what is your name?"
Harry looked at him like he was stupid, his name was Harry, he knew that! "Patrick." He said when he went to speak, his frown deepened and the panic in his eyes only grew.
Snape sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "what Hogwarts house are you in?"
"Hufflepuff" Harry answered.
"the last bit of the moondust that got into the potion has caused it to have almost an opposite effect than what the potion would have normally had." Snape started to explain, tutting his tongue and shaking his head. "it appears that when you speak and are asked a question, you won't be able to answer truthfully, only in opposites or lies." Harry thought his voice was dripping with far less acid than usual.
"Draco, you keep an eye on the rest of the students while I take Mr. Potter to the infirmary." Snape glanced in the direction of the blonde. Harry glanced up at him as well and was surprised when he didn't see the usual hatred and disgust on his face right away.
He let Snape lead him to the infirmary, he sat down on one of the hospital cots and sighed, why was it always him?
-HHLL HHLL HHLL-
In the end, madam Pomfrey said he was healthy as a horse besides the whole speaking in lies thing. she said because the potion entered through his skin, it would be probably 2 weeks before he was back to normal. Harry had groaned,
"Oh, I am so happy this is happening to me!" he commented, hey, at least his sarcasm would be getting some practice over the next couple of weeks.
"speaking of things on your skin, Mr. Potter." Pomfrey looked at him with a frown, Harry glanced up at her confused. "the diagnostic scan showed a lot of bruises and cuts on you, what would that be about?" she asked suspiciously. Before Harry could answer though, Snape cut in.
"Poppy you don't really believe that Potter here is being treated anything less than perfect from his doting relatives, do you?" he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"my relatives love me." Harry finally blurted out. He had been trying to keep his mouth shut, had been trying to not answer, but it seemed the botched veritiserum also made it impossible for him to not answer when asked questions. He watched as Snape's almost amused look turned to a large frown marring his face.
"excuse me?" he asked, turning to look in Harry's eyes. Harry dropped his gaze and cursed under his breath.
"My relatives love me." he repeated, unable to not do so.
"do they treat you well, Harry?" madam Pomfrey asked, her voice softer than usual, Harry felt disgusted by the tone in her voice.
"yes." He answered.
"do they hit you?" Snape asked, Harry noticed his face was almost a neutral mask,
"no." he glared at his professor and the medi-witch; this really wasn't fair of them.
"what else do they do?"
"they give me so much food and my bedroom is the largest in the house." Harry put his face in his hands and groaned loudly. "this interrogation has been my favorite part of my day!" he added.
Poppy and Severus looked at each other over Harry's head, each wearing a look of unease. "if you would like, Harry, you are free to leave." Poppy said, patting his shoulder.
"oh, come on, ask me more, I love that you all know my secrets!" he glared at them as he stood from the bed, he marched himself out of the hospital wing.
Dumbledore announced that night at dinner what had happened with Harry, and that he would not be speaking normally for the next few weeks. Harry just let his head fall down and thunk against the table, he really wished this wasn't happening.
It had been a week into his two week stint of only speaking in opposites, and he wasn't doing too bad. He had yet to spill any more secrets, so he figured that was a good sign. He only had to make it another week and he would be back to having nobody be able to tell if he was lying or not.
"Harry!" Hermione called out to him, Harry jumped and looked over at her to let her know he was paying attention. "you need to pay more attention to your surroundings! Ginny and I have been trying to get your attention for ages now!" Harry was starting to really not like how controlling she was being.
"I'm not sorry, Hermione." He answered, blinking a few times.
Hermione gave him a weary look, apparently, she wasn't expecting that kind of response from him. "what the hell happened to you, Harry?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "what happened to the Potter who was loud and boastful?"
Harry's frown only deepened, "something big happened to me, Hermione." He felt hurt by her words, nothing happened to him, he was just being himself, although he did his best not to show the hurt. "I didn't do my job, I didn't kill Voldemort, and I have to be the hero, so I can't be myself."
"Oh, and yourself is some shell of a human? God Harry, you have no idea how annoying it is to talk to somebody who is practically a brick wall! I've been your best friend for 6 years now, I think I know what your personality is by now, and this isn't it! you're almost as worthless as a tree these days!" Harry thought it felt like a knife was going through his heart at her words. She thought he was annoying; thought he was worthless. He didn't even notice the way the entire great hall had gone silent during her tirade.
"oh?" he asked, his voice was unreasonably calm, he looked her in the eyes unwaveringly.
"oh Harry, come on! You know Hermione's right!" Ginny said as she wrapped herself around his arm, "you've done nothing but be by yourself! You haven't even asked me to be your girlfriend yet! I mean what's the matter with you?"
"Ginerva I'm in love with you. Please stay attached to me." Harry said coldly, shaking his arm to get her to get off of him. At first Ginny looked happy by the words but then she frowned, remembering he was speaking in lies still.
"you don't want to be with me?" she asked, an almost pout coming to her face.
"dear gods yes!" he snapped, finally getting away from her, he stood and took a step back from her and Hermione. "yes, I want to be with you because I'm straight as a board and I love when you cling all over me like we're already married!" he felt another stab through his heart at remembering what Hermione said. "and Hermione I love that you think I'm worthless, my relatives have a different opinion." He looked up and noticed the whole hall staring at him with wide eyes. Harry sighed and looked up at the ceiling,
"I'm going to stay right here." He said before turning on his heel and leaving the great hall.
Harry walked the halls with an almost lost expression on his face, his hands shoved into his pockets and his head down. he really really wished that he could just go up to the dorm and go to sleep right about now. He sighed as he made his way down to the dungeons, he had potions this morning anyway, he might as well hang out there for a while.
He made it down to the potions room and sat at a table near the front of the room, he rested his head on his arms that were on the table. He was half asleep when he felt and heard somebody pull out the chair beside him and sit down. He jumped just a bit and looked up to see Draco had come to sit next to him, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, especially at the almost sadistic grin on his face.
Draco Malfoy was a handful of things, and the thing he hated about himself the most, was that he was in love with Harry fucking Potter.
He had been pining after the Gryffindor since at least fourth year, during the whole Potter stinks epidemic. He thought that if he was just mean and nasty to the other, then it would make the feelings go away, but they didn't.
They were seventh years now, and it had been several years, and Draco still wasn't over the crush he had on Harry. He kept up the 'I hate you' schtick, but only for looks, really. He had heard him talking to Granger and weaslette, he was becoming very annoyed by the way she was hanging off of his arm, but then the Gryffindor told everybody he was gay. Granted, it wasn't because he wanted to tell anybody, and it wasn't like he came out and said it, but when a man who can only speak in opposites says he's straight, it's safe to assume he's not.
Draco watched as Harry left the great hall early, he wondered where he was going to run off to. In all honesty, he was worried, he could see the hurt on the others face as he walked out, and Draco just wanted to help somehow. He left early as well, but only a few minutes, he was honestly expecting Harry to just skip class today, but when he saw the other with his head down on the table, he felt a little relieved.
Draco took a deep breath, he knew loving Potter was a fruitless endeavor, but there wasn't anything he could do to stop it. He knew Harry hated him, had hated him since they were 11, but maybe he could use that hate to his advantage.
If Harry could only speak lies, then maybe Draco could get him to say 'I love you' to him just the once, even if he was saying the opposite of his true feelings. He put up his best mischievous look, trying to put an evil glint in his eyes.
"Oh Potter," Draco said as he sat down next to the brunette. Harry looked up at him and looked confused,
"yes Malfoy?" the boy responded, Draco had to fight from staring into the green eyes.
"so, you're gay?" he asked, trying to make it sound like he was going to mock him. Harry frowned but he answered anyway, which Draco knew he would.
"no." he lied, sighing.
"oh, then Potter, how do you really feel about me, hmm?" he teased, leaning in a bit, keeping the evil look in his eyes in place.
Harry felt his heart drop when Draco asked how he really felt about him. he knew that the blonde was just trying to mock him, knew that he wanted to hear 'I love you' so he could run away laughing with his cronies, but Harry knew that wouldn't be what came out of his mouth. He tried hard not to answer, even going so far as to covering his mouth, but it didn't work.
"I hate you," he blurted out, a bit of a pained look on his face. Draco's expression changed very quickly, suddenly his smirk replaced by a deep frown.
"I'm sorry?" the blonde asked, almost unable to believe what he just heard. He felt his heart rate spike, there was no way, no way that Harry had feelings for him, no way in hell. Although… Draco thought back to how Potter had been interacting with him the last couple of years. He was never mean or hostile, Draco was the one who always instigated everything, his frown only deepened.
"I hate you." Harry repeated, his eyes downcast towards his lap. "I've hated you for ages." A pained look crossed his face, "but you love me, so what's the bloody point. You will always love me, and I'll be stuck here hating you despite how amazing you've treated me over the years. Everything I haven't managed to keep hidden has been brought to light in just over a week. My loving relatives, the fact I'm straight, that I hate you with everything I have." Harry stood then, he didn't look back over at the blonde, but if he had he would have seen the shocked and regretful look on his face.
"I just wanted to be someone else for once in my life, I just wanted to be loud and have all attention on me like it was before I became the savior of the wizarding world. Was that so much to ask?" his voice was almost a whisper, and the tears he had been trying to keep in since breakfast finally started rolling down his face. "don't have fun mocking me with the rest of your friends, I'm sure they'll hate to mock me over this just as much as you will." And just like he had done in the great hall only 20 minutes ago, he turned on his heel and left the room. Fuck classes, he was going to bed.
Draco stared at Harry dumbstruck throughout his tirade, he watched him march out of the room with his head down and his hands in his pockets like he was a prisoner walking towards his death sentence. He couldn't believe it, Harry said he hated him, which meant he loved him? It felt like a weight had landed in his stomach with a harsh thud, Draco was truly stupid. He got up and all but ran to the door when his brain finally caught up with him, but when he looked into the hallway it was empty, Harry was already long gone.
Nobody saw Harry for the rest of the day, the Gryffindor found himself to the room of requirement and just laid curled up on the couch it provided for him. he stayed in there all the next day too, only leaving at dinner time because he was bloody starved.
Harry made his way out of the room of requirement and trudged down the halls, he really didn't want to deal with anybody right now, but it didn't seem like he would be that lucky by the ring of students that were blocking the entrance to the great hall.
Harry cast a quick notice me not charm, hoping that whatever they were paying attention to was enough of a distraction to keep them from noticing him. he was curious, however, at what had the students' attention. He was especially curious because the only students who were around were Gryffindor and Slytherin, something was up.
Harry slipped himself in between the people of the crowd, careful not to bump into anybody too much. He got to the front of the group and he felt a wave of pain crash over him.
Ginny Weasley was shamelessly flirting with Draco Malfoy. Harry didn't care that she had moved on so fast, he really didn't, what he cared about was seeing somebody flirt with Draco. Ginny was hanging off of him similar to how she had done to Harry the other day, the blonde looked disgusted at having her in such close proximity.
"get off of me, Weasley." His voice was cold, Ginny just gave him a playful pout, "Oh but Draco we would be such a cute couple!" she all but whined, Harry cringed, he noticed that Draco looked like he wanted to barf.
"no. we wouldn't be a 'cute couple'." He spat, "I do not like you, Weasley. And I do not like the other Weasley who thought vandalizing the school to mock another student was a good idea!" Draco motioned in the direction to his left, Harry looked up and winced, written on the wall was 'Potters a poof!' over and over again.
"oh, come on, Potter deserves it. it's what he gets for being a faggot!" Ginny rolled her eyes, there were gasps from all the other students that were around them, as well as a small step back taken. Harry frowned even more, he knew that most wizards and witches didn't have any issues with being gay or anything like that, he was honestly surprised Ginny was saying this now. He looked up and noticed that the 'potters a poof!' was definitely written in Ron's handwriting, he hadn't expected the Weasleys to be homophobic, but it appeared they were.
Draco looked furious, he yanked his arm away from the girl and sneered. "even if you and your family weren't disgustingly homophobic, even if I did like you even a little bit, I refuse to be the backup rich boy you fall back on to marry because Harry wants nothing to do with you!"
Harry was a bit taken aback by the use of his first name, he thought it sounded rather nice coming from the blonde. He looked back up at the 'potters a poof!' written multiple times on the walls, he took his wand out of its holster and waved it around, washing the insults off of the wall in front of them. while nobody noticed Harry specifically, they definitely noticed the insults disappearing. The crowd around him started to murmur to each other.
Draco snapped his furious gaze from Ginny to look out at the group of people, he looked right past Harry at first, but then his brain registered he had just seen black hair and glasses, he turned to look back at the spot just in time to see Harry pushing his way through the crowd to get out. Draco was far quicker to react this time then the day before, he gave one last glare to the Weasley girl before quickly forcing his way through the rows of people.
Harry left the castle all together, he walked out the front doors and just made his way onto the grounds, floating almost listlessly from the doors out towards the lake. He sat down in his favorite spot by the shore, it was under a weeping willow tree (not the womping willow, that was on the other side of the grounds, he was thankful for), the tree was so overgrown at this point that you almost couldn't see the little nook that the base of it provided for sitting, Harry liked the seclusion.
He sat down and leaned up against the trunk of the tree, he sighed and took the notice me not charm off, nobody was out there, anyway. He sat and watched the way the water rippled in the wind. It was almost October by now, and with the sun starting to go down, the temperature was dropping. Harry wasn't cold per se, but he wasn't warm, either.
"I am just so glad that these things always happen to me," he muttered, he leaned his head against the tree and closed his eyes. Things were silent for a few minutes, but then he heard footsteps crunching some of the fallen leaves on the ground. He listened to the footsteps get closer and closer until whoever it was, was sitting next to him.
"if you're just coming here to laugh at me, don't leave." He said a bit bitterly. He had been hiding away for the last two days to avoid a confrontation like this, and here he was, having to deal with it anyway. He didn't bother to open his eyes; he didn't want to have to look whoever it was in the face.
"I'm not going to laugh at you." Was the soft reply, Harry winced and just squeezed his eyes closed tightly, why did it have to go and be Draco? He would rather it be Ron, or someone coming to humiliate him or beat him up rather than it be Draco coming to break his heart.
"I wish you wouldn't forget about the conversation from the other day." Harry's response was quiet, but it held a bite to it. he finally opened his eyes, but he didn't look at Draco.
"Potter, I-" but Harry cut him off by standing, he didn't want to deal with this right now, his heart hurt too much.
"listen, I feel wonderful right now. Losing a group of people, I thought of as my family is exactly what I call a good time. Nothing hurts. I'm so goddamn happy all of this is happening to me. I really need you adding to that pain right now. You love me, you have always loved me, you have never treated me badly, it doesn't hurt at all." Without ever looking at the blonde he turned and started walking away.
Draco stared after him in shock, he had never seen Harry so open before, even if he was forced to lie, he certainly didn't have to say anything if he wasn't asked a question. He turned and looked back over the lake for a little bit, maybe being an asshole and instigating every fight they've had since they were teenagers didn't do well with their relationship.
Harry hid out for the rest of the week, skipping his classes. He didn't care if he missed the week of information, it wasn't like he couldn't already pass his newts if he took them. he was staying in the room of requirement, he figured if he went back up to Gryffindor tower than it would be a death sentence. He had gotten an owl, however, from Professor Snape asking him to come to his classroom, so he was begrudgingly bringing himself down to the dungeons.
Harry hadn't even made it to the classroom when Snape fell into step beside him. "Mr. Potter," he greeted, Harry sighed, he honestly didn't like the way Snape had been so civil to him since finding out about his relatives.
"hello, professor." Harry responded,
"why don't we walk and have a bit of a chat?" Snape suggested, Harry figured that he didn't have much choice in the matter, so he just nodded. Neither of them noticed the platinum blonde that was silently following behind them under a notice-me-not charm.
"how has your week been, Harry?" Snape asked, glancing down at him, he frowned at how Harry stared at his feet,
"Oh, absolutely wonderful, professor." Harry mumbled, "I would just hate for this potion to wear off, I really don't want to go back to speaking normally."
Severus just hummed, "I noticed you have not been in class, and the other professors have noted the same thing. you have been hiding?"
"no." Harry sighed again, rubbing his face under his glasses.
"I wanted to ask you more questions about your relatives." Severus glanced over at the boy and saw the way his back straightened.
"you know, I just love the way you are using my current ailment against me."
"yes, well, would you have spoken out otherwise?"
"yes, because I'm 17 and it surely does a whole lot of good to talk about how my relatives loved me during childhood. Especially since I'm of age and don't live with them anymore." Harry finally looked up and glared at him. "you care for me. you have always cared for me. I don't need that to change just because my relatives spoil me."
Severus only raised an eyebrow. "did you get fed every day?" Severus just asked, Harry glared harder at him but couldn't help answering "yes."
"did you get hit every day?" Harry hugged himself around his middle, he hunched over himself as him and his professor walked. "no."
Severus hummed and his frown deepened. "why did you say nothing?"
"everybody has always cared about the real Harry," he spat, "the hero never mattered."
Severus was quiet for a long while, his lips were pursed as he thought about what he wanted to ask next. "have you ever, or do you currently wish to kill yourself?" he glanced over and saw Harry had stopped mid step.
"fuck you, Snape. No, never." He glared up at the Slytherin head of house, Severus was caught off guard by how much pain was in his students eyes.
"are you suicidal now?"
Harry went to answer but his brain couldn't think of a way to flip his answer to its opposite, so instead he just held his fingers a small bit apart to indicate a little. Severus nodded slowly. "you should be back to being able to speak normally by tomorrow morning. I can tell by the bags under your eyes that you haven't been eating during your hibernation from the rest of the student body. If I do not see you eating something at breakfast tomorrow, I will hunt you down and force feed you." Harry blinked at him a couple of times before he just laughed,
"no way, professor." He gave him a two finger salute, Severus nodded at him in dismissal and Harry started walking in a different direction. Severus watched him walk away for a moment and made sure he was far enough away before turning and walking back down the hall the way they came.
"I have been a spy for 20 years Draco, your notice me not charms need some work." He said leisurely as he passed the blonde, Draco stared after him dumbfounded before sighing and falling into step next to his godfather as they headed back to the dungeons.
-HHLL HHLL HHLL-
The next morning Harry was back in the great hall for the first time in several days. He was sitting at the very edge of the Gryffindor table just trying to be ignored by the rest of the student body as he poked at a bowl of oatmeal with his spoon. He wasn't really hungry, his body had shut down and gone into stasis mode like it always did over the summers when he wasn't fed enough, so in all honesty the thought of food wasn't at all appealing, but he had glanced up at the potions professor and at the raised eyebrow he turned back to his food.
"hey Potter!" Harry heard from behind him, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he turned in his seat and saw Ron standing a few feet away, an evil glint in his eyes.
"what do you want, Weasley?" Harry asked quietly, he just looked tired at this point, like he had already given up the fight.
"where have you been the last week, faggot?" Ron laughed, but it wasn't a nice laugh. "what, were you too busy sucking a bloke off to go to class?"
Harry just blinked at him a couple of times. "yes, actually. Heard Charlie was in town, went and met with him at the bar, had a lovely week the two of us." He couldn't help the satisfaction at seeing the disgust and horror on the redheads face. The great hall had started to go silent when Ron walked up to Harry, but it was completely silent now, everybody watching with bated breath to see what would happen.
"you are a disgusting little welp!" Ron screeched, Harry just gave him a polite smile,
"I guess this would be a bad time to mention the rendezvous I had with Percy over the summer?" his voice was mocking, he hadn't really been with any of the Weasley brothers, but he sure enjoyed watching Ron react to his statements.
"you are disgusting! An abomination! A faggot, a poof!" Harry just sighed and stood from his seat, he sidestepped Ron and headed for the entrance of the great hall. He really wanted to punch him in the face, but he figured keeping his cool was the better alternative.
"yes, well, we all have our faults. For instance, you have a foot fetish, which personally I think is far more disturbing than me being in love with another man." Harry gave another polite smile before stepping out of the hall. The door closed behind him and he heard the entirety of the great hall explode with conversation and shouting. Harry sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets, he hung his head as he made his way to potions for the day. Thankfully, he didn't have the stupid effects of the botched veritiserum anymore, at least he had that going for him.
Harry sighed and sat down in one of the back corners of the classroom, he was almost completely shrouded in shadow where he sat, he hoped it would stop anybody from trying to sit with him. he still had a good while until class started, so he laid his head down on his arms and rested his eyes.
Draco watched Harry subtly during breakfast, he watched as the man in question barely touched his food before Weasley showed up and started causing a scene. Draco frowned and clenched his fists in his lap as he watched the redhead throw insults, but he felt oddly proud of Harry for responding verbally instead of physically. He watched Harry leave the great hall and then shouts and conversation erupted around them, but he wasn't paying attention to what anybody was saying.
Draco grabbed something from the table before getting up and heading out of the great hall himself. he was hoping that Harry would be in the potions room, at first, he was frustrated because he didn't think he was, but as he turned to leave, he saw the half sleeping figure in the corner. Draco frowned and went over to sit next to Harry at his workstation.
Harry vaguely heard somebody sit next to him and he groaned, gripping his hair in his fists. "go away." He mumbled, just burying his face further in his arms.
"you didn't eat anything before Weasley started hounding you." Draco's voice was soft, he noticed the way Harry stiffened when he realized who was next to him. "I brought you some food, and I wanted to talk."
"what is it, Malfoy?" Harry asked weakly, he didn't get what the blonde was trying to do, what he was trying to achieve by being not hateful towards him.
"the food?" Draco teased, "well, I grabbed an egg and cheese biscuit, it was the only thing I could wrap in a napkin and shove in my bag without making a mess." Harry started laughing at that, he was so confused, but he could tell a joke when he heard one, he wasn't completely stupid.
He sat up then, pulling his head out of his arms, Draco frowned when he noticed the tear streaks running down Harry's face. "no, I meant, what is it you want to talk about?" he asked, turning to face the blonde. Draco handed him the wrapped up food, Harry couldn't help but smile slightly as he took it from him. "thank you." He said as he unwrapped it and tore a little piece off to eat. He motioned for Draco to speak.
"earlier in the week, when I asked you how you felt about me, I was doing it to hear you say, 'I love you'." Draco started, Harry furrowed his eyebrows and nodded,
"I figured that, I'm sorry I couldn't give you the punchline to your joke." He slowly picked at the biscuit and ate it, Draco thought he ate almost like a bird. He shook his head though,
"no, no you don't get it. I didn't want to hear I love you from you because I wanted to make a joke out of it. I wanted to hear it because I figured that would be the only way I would ever hear it come out of your mouth and be directed at me."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed more, "I don't think I'm following." He answered honestly.
Draco blinked a few times before he shook his head, "god Harry, you truly are an idiot." he said, Harry was about to comment when suddenly Draco wrapped his hands around the back of Harry's neck and pulled him in to a sweet kiss.
Harry gasped as their lips connected, it felt like he was set on fire from the inside out. He kissed Draco back both with a hesitancy and a desperation, as if he would disappear at any moment and this would all be a dream.
Draco pulled away and Harry blinked his eyes open, the blonde noticed the bright blush on the others face and he couldn't help but smile gently and lean their foreheads together. "do you follow now?"
Harry nodded and he was pulled into another kiss. When they pulled away, Draco dropped his hands from Harry's neck and separated just a bit, knowing the rest of the class would be coming in soon.
"if I tell you I've loved you since we were 14 would you think I was weird?" Harry mumbled, his eyes traveling downwards so he wasn't looking Draco in the eyes anymore. He felt Draco rest a hand on his cheek, he looked up, blue met green and Harry was surprised by the gentle look in Draco's eyes.
"no, I wouldn't think you were weird at all, considering that's when I fell for you, too." He left a lingering kiss on Harry's lips and the brunette had to stop himself from following when Draco pulled away. They were at a normal distance apart when the first person walked into the classroom. Harry looked over at them with a frown, but Draco gave him a 'later' look. Harry smiled just a bit as he finished the biscuit that Draco had brought for him.
The rest of the students filed in and took their seats, Harry had just finished eating and threw away the napkin the food was wrapped in when Severus came stalking into the room. The man put their classwork for the day on the board and Harry and Draco got to work easily.
When class was over and the boys turned in their potion, they walked out of the classroom together. They spoke softly as they walked, their conversation came as easy as if they had been friends for years. Harry noticed they were walking towards the room of requirement and he smiled, his smile disappeared, however, when he heard a very familiar voice call Draco's name.
"Oh Draco~!" a flirty Ginny Weasley called from down the hall. Harry noticed how Draco stopped mid step and a look of disgust crossed his face. He turned with a scowl towards the redhead.
"what do you want, Weasley?" his voice had a bite to it, but she didn't seem at all deterred as she stepped up to him and put her hands on his chest, not noticing Harry yet. The brunette scowled at her, he very much did not like her touching Draco.
"oh, Drakey poo I wanted to talk about us!" she giggled, Draco sneered.
"there is no 'us' Weasley. As I've told you once, I'm not interested." Ginny pouted a bit, she looked like she was going to say something else when she noticed Harry. a look of disgust crossed her face and she moved back, pulling Draco away from Harry as well.
"ew, Draco, stay away from Potter. He might infect you." Harry just rolled his eyes at her. "go away Potter, nobody wants a freak around." She spat, Harry winced at the 'freak' and he sort of stumbled back a bit, his relatives favorite insult for him freaked him out just as much coming from Ginny's mouth as his relatives.
Draco was pulled away from Harry and he sneered down at the girl, but when he heard her call Harry a freak, well, he just about saw red. "what the fuck is wrong with you!?" he half shouted, putting his hands on her shoulders and shoving her away from him. "being gay isn't disgusting, or a disease. But even if it was, I would rather catch being gay than whatever std you've got running around your body!" the look on her face made Draco feel a bit accomplished. He marched up to Harry and took his hand, pulling him down the hallway back towards the room of requirement. He was more than pleased when Ginny didn't follow them at all.
Draco asked the room to give them a space that was comfortable, soothing, and a good place to talk. The room delivered with a sitting area filled with comfy furniture. As soon as the door to the room closed behind them, Draco turned and pulled Harry into a tight hug. Harry weakly hugged back, resting his head in the crook of Draco's neck.
When they pulled back from the hug Draco looked down into the green eyes in front of him, his heart broke at the almost broken look in them. he leaned in and kissed Harry tenderly, Harry kissed back and clung to him, almost afraid he would disappear if he let go.
The kiss ended and Draco pulled Harry towards one of the couches. He sat down and pulled Harry down with him; Harry leaned into his side.
"you had to deal with that wench for the last 6 years?" Draco asked after a moment, looking down at Harry with an almost horrified expression. Harry couldn't help but laugh, his mood lifting some.
"I swear she's been trying to get with me since I was 12." He answered, turning a bit to look up at Draco. "she insisted we were dating at some point last year, but when I didn't confirm the rumor or confront her about it, then she insisted we broke up." he shook his head.
Draco frowned "I remember that. I can't believe she went from you to me, as if I was going to put up with her bullshit."
Harry laughed again, "she sure has a lot of confidence in herself to think you'd date her."
"oh, she has another thing coming if she thinks she can take me away from you." He hummed, pulling Harry into his lap. Harry blushed softly and rested their foreheads together.
"is this something we're going to have to hide?" Harry asked quietly after a few minutes of just enjoying the others company. Draco saw the way Harry frowned and an almost pained look crossed his face. "I mean, I understand if you don't want people to know about me, I'm not exactly something worth showing off, but-" Harry was cut off by Draco kissing him hard. Harry gasped quietly but kissed back once he regained his senses.
"you are not a secret. You are my boyfriend, and I intend on letting everybody know that." Draco said softly, running a hand through Harry's hair. Harry leaned into the touch and smiled shyly.
"I like that title. Draco's boyfriend. Has a better ring to it than the boy who lived, don't you think?" he teased, Draco laughed softly and just kissed him again.
Harry walked into the great hall for dinner, humming softly to himself as he did. He kept his head down as he walked, that was until he was stopped by a certain Slytherin.
"Potter," Draco said with a fake sneer, suddenly, the entire great hall was silent, Harry had to hide his smirk.
"yes Malfoy?" Harry asked politely, cocking his head to the side a bit.
"so, the rumors are true you're a poof?" Draco acted as if he was almost disgusted. Harry just nodded, he could hear people murmuring in the background, he glanced up and saw the triumphant look on Ginny's face, Harry couldn't wait to see what her face looked like in a minute.
"yes Malfoy, the rumors are true, I am very much gay." Harry answered with a fake exasperated sigh.
Draco just stared at him for a moment before saying "good." The hall went deadly silent, awfully confused.
"good?" Harry questioned,
"yes, good." Draco said before balling his fists in Harry's shirt and pulling him into a searing, toe curling kiss.