Lessons weren't like they used to be, before the battle. So few had come back after the Hogwarts rebuild that those who should've been long gone and into the phase of their lives were bunched together in one class for every subject. Old rivalries were still there but had somewhat lost their competitive nature. When you'd literally fought for your life, the House Cup lost a little of its edge in the grand scheme of things. When Harry arrived for Potions with Hermione his eyes immediately fell on Draco at his desk near the front of the class. Draco was extremely intelligent but never more so than when he was in Potions. Over the last year they had talked of future plans and dreams, usually in the abstract but sometimes letting real possibilities enter the conversation. Harry was already receiving at least one offer a week from professional Quidditch teams, with ludicrous financial rewards and bonuses available for joining with no need for a try out. It was beyond Harry's comprehension that any sane professional institution would offer such things without at least seeing him play against other professional opponents. But all of that was by the by, Harry's plan was the same now as it had been all along. He was going to go to the Auror academy. Draco, on the other hand, didn't have as many options. The son of a high ranking Death Eater who had made some very questionable choices with this life thus far didn't have the same appeal as the The Boy Who Lived Again. His plan was more strategic. He would use the small amount of money he had left in his name after the reparations were paid to start up his own apothecary and potion making business, paying someone to run the customer facing aspect to allow him to remain anonymous. Harry didn't give too much thought to how their plans may change when they went public. It scared him too much.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Hermione nudged him from the left.

"Hmm? Yeah. Fine." He smiled tightly and moved into his seat so she could pass by and sit down on the other side of him. The class passed quite uneventfully with Draco being awarded house points for his advanced pain relief potion. Harry tingled with pride for his boyfriend before turning a little sad when he thought about the reasons Draco needed to learn that potion in the first place. Lucius fucking Malfoy. If he wasn't rotting in prison Harry wouldn't be able to stop himself from going after the disgusting waste of skin and making him pay for all the ways he hurt Draco.

"He alright?" Ron's voice spoke from nearby and Hermione scoffed.

"He's been in a daydream all morning."

The class was ending and the students were packing up their equipment.

"Hey Harry, me and Neville are playing chess later if you want to join us." Ron told him friend.

Harry smiled regretfully. "I can't, sorry. I have plans."

"Oh? What sort of plans?" Ron looked interested.

Harry blushed. "I...uh..."

"He's coming to hang around with us in our common room Weasley." Blaise cut in with a pleasant smile. "You and Granger are welcome too."

Ron's mouth fell open. "Harry. What's he on about?"

Harry was glowing red and resolutely not meeting Draco's eyes across the room. "He's right. That's what I'm doing. We're hanging out together."

Hermione tilted her head. "Why?"

"Why not?" Theo chipped in with his charming smile.

Harry took a breath. "Because I'm seeing someone in Slytherin."

Draco's eyes widened and he dropped his text book to the floor, swooping to pick it up before anyone could see a blush that rivalled Harry's.

"You're what?" Ron wasn't sure he was hearing right.

"Yeah. So that's where I'll be." Harry exhaled and grabbed up his books, giving a pleading look to the heavy wooden door in the hope it would suck him out of the room by the force of his will alone.

It didn't.

Hermione gave a small smile. "Who?"

Harry shook his head. "Not the time. Let's get to Charms."

Ron followed after his friends as they left the classroom, still trying to comprehend Harry's bombshell news. "Please don't tell me it's Parkinson."

"I won't." Harry replied easily.

Hermione tutted at Ron. "Pansy didn't even come back this year."

"Well then who is it?" He spluttered, but Harry was already gone.

Theo appeared behind Hermione and Ron. "So...maybe see you later Granger?"

She looked up at Theo, who was at least six feet tall, and squinted as she assessed his motives. "Alright. But I'll just be doing my Arithmancy homework."

Theo winked. "Didn't doubt it. See you later."

Ron glared at Hermione when they were alone in the corridor. "What are you doing? Has the world gone mad?"

Hermione smirked and shrugged. "I think he's cute."

"Ugh." Ron scrunched his face up in disgust. "Sometimes I wish we were the awkward kind of exes that can't stand to talk about the people we find cute. This is one of them."

Hermione giggled and patted his cheek. "Oh Ron you're sweet. Come on. I haven't suddenly developed an immunity to being late."

The Slytherin common room was almost empty when Harry found his way there after dinner. Draco, Theo and Blaise were always going to return to Hogwarts. Crabbe and Goyle did so to avoid making a decision about their future for one more year. Both of their fathers were in Azkaban and their mothers were learning to deal with being the outcast social lepers they'd become overnight. Only one female Slytherin returned so she asked to room with the Ravenclaw girls, becoming very good friends with Luna.

"Hello Harry." Theo greeted with a beaming grin.

The Gryffindor tugged on the sleeve of his black sweater anxiously. "Hi Theo."

Draco appeared in the doorway wearing his school uniform and smiled shyly. "You came."

Harry smiled back. "Course I did."

"Are you two going to start snogging?" Theo smirked.

"Not in front of you." Harry retorted.

Draco nodded to the dormitory. "I was just going to get changed..."

Harry didn't need more of an invitation and followed his boyfriend down the hallway.

"Oof." Harry grunted when he was shoved against the cold stone wall beside Draco's bed. The blond was on him immediately, kissing him deeply and pawing at Harry's upper body.

"Mmhf fuck Draco..."

Draco took this to be encouragement and pressed his whole body against Harry's, grinding on him as this tongue danced a tango in his mouth.

"Drake...fuck...gotta stop..."

"Why? Wanted to do this all day." Draco lowered his face into Harry's neck and nibbled in the soft skin behind his ear.

"Because Blaise is staring at us."

Draco froze for a second before moving back and turning to the middle of the room. Sure enough, there was Blaise with a huge smirk on his face.

"I just came to get my homework. I wasn't expecting a show."

"Fuck sake Blaise. Fuck off." Draco hissed.

Blaise shrugged. "You need to relax Draco."

When they were alone Harry smiled and pulled Draco into a hug. "He's just messing with you. That's what friends do. Come on, get changed and let's get out there."

Draco pouted. "Fine."

Theo and Blaise started up where they left off with their chess game the night before. Draco and Harry started on their homework. It was peaceful and calm.

"I'm hungry." Draco stated when they'd been working for half an hour.

Harry prodded his boyfriend in the side. "You just had dinner."

"And now I'm hungry again." Draco prodded him back.

They tussled on the sofa until Harry stilled Draco with a searing kiss. Just then the heavy common room door swung open to reveal Hermione, Ron and Ginny on the other side.

"Well...talk about comedy timing." Blaise grinned. "Welcome Gryffindors!"

Draco shoved Harry off him so hard he fell off the sofa and onto the hard stone floor.

"Ow! What the fuck Draco?" He yelled angrily as he rubbed his grazed elbow.

The blond was rooted to the spot, staring at the newcomers in horrified silence. If he thought they were going to murder him he was very much mistaken. None of them could form a sentence, let alone cast an Unforgivable.

"Hi." Harry waved at his friends from his spot on the floor. "Come on in. You know Theo, Blaise and Draco."

Ginny broke first, bursting into loud giggles that made her eyes sparkle. "Oh Harry! You're amazing."

"Thanks." He replied with a frown. "I think."

"How long have you been keeping this a secret?" She asked, bouncing in to help him to his feet.

"A while. Wasn't sure what it was or where it was going." Harry sighed.

"And now?" Hermione grinned.

"Now it's...more. It's...something." He smiled shyly.

"No." Ron shook his head. "No. No. No."

Ginny met the assessing glance of Blaise and she rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure my brother grasps that he's not in charge of Harry's love life."

"But...him?" Ron spluttered and pointed at the statue of Draco Malfoy on the sofa.

"Yes, him!" Harry scolded his friend. "If you're just going to cause trouble you can leave us alone."

Ron looked at Hermione and then Ginny. "You're okay with this?"

Hermione beamed at Harry. "Of course. Look at him, he's happy."

Ginny nodded along. "He's positively glowing."

Harry shot Draco a dark look. "That's probably the broken elbow actually."

Theo clapped his hands. "So now we're all in the loop, any chance we can move this along and close the door? These dungeons aren't very energy efficient."

Hermione glanced Ron. "Staying or going?"

Ron exhaled a deep breath but Blaise cut in before he could speak.

"He's staying. Potter tells us he's something of a chess genius. I want to see his skills."

Ron glared at the Slytherin. "Fine."

"Excellent." Harry smiled triumphantly and closed the door. "Draco and I are doing homework..."

Ginny smirked wickedly. "I've never seen homework done like that before."

"Oh Red, you're really missing out." Blaise grinned.

Theo gestured to the desk by the window and addressed Hermione. "Care to join me?"

Hermione had never turned down an opportunity to study. She wasn't about to start now.

Harry sensed Draco was uptight but hoped he'd relax once everyone was settled into their activities. He reached over and ran his hand down the back of Draco's neck, teasing the baby fine hairs. Draco flinched and pulled away.

"What's going on?" Harry was confused.

"Not when we have company!"

Harry glanced around room and found nobody was paying any attention to them.

"Are you joking? What was the point in coming out if you're going to act like I'm not here in front of my friends?"

Draco huffed a sigh. "Just get on with your homework."

"No. I want to know what all that crap about being ready to go public was all about when you've gone completely cold on me and haven't spoken a single word to my friends since they got here!" Harry snapped.

Draco got to his feet and moved down the hallway so they were a few feet away from their friends. Harry followed with an angry scowl on his face.

"I am ready for them to know about us!" Draco hissed.

"Then why don't you just act normally? I wasn't aware my boyfriend had turned into a cardboard cutout since dinner time!"

Harry's nonchalant attitude was starting to piss Draco off.

"Act normally?" He repeated furiously. "By now we've normally got our tongues down each other's throats and our hands down each other's pants! I can't exactly act normally now can I?"

A gentle cough permeated their angry silence and Ginny's voice spoke up.

"They do know we can hear every word they're saying, don't they?"

Blaise chuckled. "I really couldn't begin to guess what goes through their minds!"

"Draco, I know this is really weird for you but you don't have to worry about it. It's all fine. I mean, Ron is only just starting to realise what Harry meant when he said he was bisexual all those years ago but he's going to be fine. He's playing chess with Blaise and nobody has thrown about any curses. I'm doing my homework with someone who isn't going to copy my work, which is the first time in many years I can say that. It's all going to be fine." Hermione spoke up, gently but leaving no room for argument.

Ginny nodded and pointed down towards the dormitory. "So go through there, get it out of your system then come back out here and tell us all about how this started. Blaise is practically vibrating with impatience."

Draco blushed and glanced at Harry, giving him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. This is just very new for me."

Harry cupped Draco's cheek in his hand and drew him into a gentle, chaste kiss. "I know. But they're right. We have to find a new normal. One that doesn't involved sneaking into empty classrooms in the middle of the night...ideally."

Draco nodded and took Harry's hand, leading him towards the dormitory. With a confident wave of his hand he called out to their friends. "We'll be back in ten minutes."

"Maybe twenty." Harry added.

Blaise snickered loudly as they slammed the door closed. "Potter is seriously overestimating."

Ron swallowed the dismay he was feeling and gestured to the board. "Your move."

And just like that, it was the new normal. Theo and Hermione working together, debating theories and challenging each other in ways Hermione didn't know was possible. Ginny reading her Muggles books and keeping track of everything around her, chipping in with inappropriate jokes to rival Blaise on his best day. It was an eye opener for the older Slytherin and for the first time in his school career he was wildly attracted to a Gryffindor. First though, he'd work on winning over her brother.

"The new normal, eh?" Ron sighed. "I suppose this year was always going to mean big changes."

"Yeah. And it's so nice to see Harry happy like this." Ginny said, breaking into a huge smile when the common room filled with sounds from Draco and Harry through the door that really brought home their new romantic situation. "But maybe we can ask them to silence the room next time."