xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Flobberworms have barely one face," Draco began, sneeringly, then stopped at the look on Harry's face.

"Harry?" he asked gently. Without looking at him, Harry replied dully, "They're my friends Draco."

A frown slipped across the other's face. Then with one gentle touch on Harry's cheek he ran after the other two.

"Oye! Listen. You!" he stopped, panting, as the pair halted and looked at him coldly.

"You want anything, Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"A word with you. Both of you. I know how you feel. It's probably how I'd feel if I knew Blaise had snogged her." He gestured at Hermione.

"Watch your effin..."

"Let me finish, then you can turn your 'gallant lover' act on. Look at me! I'm actually bloody standing here in the middle of the corridor, asking a Weasley and mu…Granger to listen to me, ok?"

"You have a minute." Hermione said curtly.

"That'll do. Like I was saying, if Blaise told me he snogged you I'd probably think he was under the Imperius or something…"

"I don't believe I'm still standing here," Hermione muttered.

"God! Woman, don't you ever LISTEN? What I'm saying is…ok ok...I'd react at first. But the point is Blaise is my pal. So I'd finally accept it as his choice. I mean, even if he snogged Weasley…I'd still say he was nuts but I wouldn't cut off from him. Not if he cared as much for me as Harry does for the pair of you. Why I don't know…but still…"

"You're trying to sell us the idea of you being ok with your friend snogging either of us?" Ron snorted.

Draco exploded, "Merlin's ass! You're Gryffindors aren't you. Aren't you supposed to be stupidly noble? I mean, one night. It was probably just a one night stand even…one night your best friend spends with his enemy and you cut off? Well, I'm glad I'm still standing by Harry." He turned on his heel and walked off.

Standing where he had left them, Ron and Hermione stared at each other.

"Are you…do you…is he...do we…"

"He's right." Hermione said flatly, "And I never thought I'd live to see the day when I was wrong and Malfoy was right! Harry should have talked to us. He was a prat. But he is still our friend. Come on." She grabbed his hand and stomped back towards Harry.
"We don't like you, and probably never will. But if you can fall for Harry in one night I guess we can forgive him." She shot at Malfoy, then turned to Harry who tried to smother his smile, rather unsuccessfully, "And you can stop smirking. You're not forgiven, yet."

...oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

It took rather a long time for Hermione and Ron to forgive them, but they did ultimately. During the day Harry and Draco stayed away from each other to prevent any rumours reaching Lucius. But there was hardly a night they weren't together. They spent more time now getting to just know each other. To talk, laugh, hold hands and do all the other things they couldn't do during the day. They still differed in opinion on many matters. But their fights no longer held malice, only vehemence. Their friends treated the other party with civil courtesy and badly veiled bewilderment. Indeed, Ron, Hermione and Blaise were more or less united by their mixed feelings. And so the year sped by. An unlikely study group comprising the couple and the 3 friends was formed, which must have helped because the NEWTS were, atleast according to all the boys, a wheeze. And Draco surprised everybody including himself by making Hermione laugh at the end of the exams when she looked like she was heading for a breakdown.

But the end of the exams also signified the end of the year. Their last year at Hogwarts. And in the last week of their life at school, Harry and Draco finally faced the fact that the outside world was waiting to spring on them. They would have to part ways for the time being atleast.

On the last night they were sitting in Draco's room after an impromptu nostalgic party with their friends had ended. As he straightened up the room, Harry noticed Draco collapsed on the couch, a look of abject misery on his face.

"Dra!" Harry sat down beside him, gently brushing his hair off his face, "What is it?"

"I don't know how I'm going to survive at the Manor without you Harry." He groaned, burying his face against Harry.

Harry couldn't speak for a minute. He was trying to hide his own despair at the inevitable separation that was going to occur and would last atleast till Draco somehow managed to tell Lucius. He had offered to help break the news, but Draco had vetoed the suggestion with a wry smile, "He might just find it harder to kill his own flesh-and blood than a boy who has been his target for murder for over a decade."
Now as he felt his own mind devastated at the thought of the separation, he held Draco tighter, "I'll write Dra. Remember our codes and be careful, that's all. But I'll write. And I'll be dying for you every second."

"Harry," Draco's tone was low and something in it roused every protective instinct in Harry. "Harry, if he forbids it or…"
he paused. But both Harry and he knew what he was trying to say. He took a deep breath then completed his sentence,
"I don't know what he'll do, Harry. But I owe this to him in a way. And I would never forgive myself if I didn't give him this chance of accepting me,"
Harry framed the face he had come to love so deeply, in his hand and looked straight into his lover's eyes, "Dra, I want you to know how much I admire you for what you're doing. And I want you to know how much I love you." He leant forward and they kissed, long and lingering. The bittersweet kiss of lovers parting. For a long time they didn't speak. But as the kiss ended and they clung to one another Draco whispered in broken tones, "Harry, whatever he does, however long it takes, wait for me, I'll find a way back to you."
"I'll wait Dra. I promise. But if it takes too long," he kissed the blond hair ," I'll come to you and we'll find a way back together."