Ok so I'm so idiotic and I got a few reviews telling me that Ron is also a pureblood which you must forgive me for hahaha. It was 2am Australia time and I was so whacked [tired] and I was very determined to put up a chapter. I'm gonna try and clumsily attempt to give you guys a reason as to why Harry didn't turn to Ron...it's gonna be dodgy so hopefully you'll still like my story afterward =).
Disclaimer: see Chapter 1.
Let's go!
Chapter 15
Harry wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. He was being very openly friendly with Draco when he told himself he shouldn't be doing anything until he sort everything out with Ginny. It was annoying when your head wanted one thing and your heart wanted another. Regardless, he was becoming more and more confident of what he wanted and it was becoming increasingly hard to have self-control.
Draco had agreed to look in the Archives for him. He had entered the Archives room over an hour ago and Harry stood outside patiently waiting. He was thinking of ways to attempt to get out of eating dinner back at his own place tonight when the door opened.
"Harry."
It was Ron who came out of the door.
"Ron? What are yo-ohhhhhh." Harry said with realization.
"Yeah, I was waiting for when you would realize mate." Ron replied as he walked up to him.
"I'm so sorry! It didn't click with me!" Harry said apologetically; his heart slowly filled with guilt.
Ron gave him an odd searching look which Harry didn't particularly like.
"It's fine, It didn't even click with me until you ran off into the floo. Anyway, I went in there and Malfoy's been in there for a while. We did some research together." He said.
"Wow you worked together?" Harry said with open disbelief.
"He may be a Weasley but he focuses a lot better than you do Potter." Malfoy said as he exited the room.
Ron looked very uncomfortable with the compliment and started to be very interested at a dirty spot on his robes.
"I'm just glad to hear you guys worked together!" Harry said with some cheek. "Draco, do you want to come to dinner with the Weasleys this weekend?"
"What?" Ron said.
"Maybe not Potter; don't want to send Weasley here into St. Mungos." Draco said with a nod to Ron who was looking at Harry with shock.
"Come on Ron. We've been working for years now." Harry said casually, but deep down his heart was beating like conga drums.
There was a pause before Ron snapped his mouth shut. "Fine, just don't eat all the food or insult the family Malfoy."
"Wouldn't ever think of it." Draco replied with a smirk.
"Brilliant! Anyway, what did you guys find on Camillus?" Harry said, switching back to Auror mode.
"I'm thinking we should wait til after the weekend to brief everyone; what we found wasn't that urgent." Ron said.
Harry nodded in agreement. It was common between Aurors to not converse about the case unless they knew they were in a secure area.
"Mate, I'm gonna head home, Hermione's waiting and we're going out tonight; by the way still gotta tell you about how I proposed." Ron said as he prepared himself for the floo.
"You proposed Weasley?" Malfoy said as Harry waved goodbye to Ron who disappeared with a roll of his eyes.
"He sure did Draco." Harry said as he stared at the spot Ron disappeared.
They headed slowly and side-by-side out of the department, out of the Ministry building and to the Apparition point. Harry gripped Draco's hand as they apparated back to Belgravia.
"You know I think you hurt Weasley's feelings by asking to do enter the Archives." Draco said as they slowly made their way down the street.
"It was completely unintentional. He even forgot himself for a few minutes. I feel bad though, really." Harry said; his stomach clenching painfully.
"You're Gryffindors, you'll all hug and forgive each other." Draco said with a little spite.
"Yeah but-
"Where are you going Potter?" Draco said sternly as Harry headed to Draco's mansion.
Harry mentally smacked his head; he was always bad at being subtle.
"We're eating dinner at your place tonight remember?" Draco said as he dragged Harry across the road.
"I don't want to." Harry mumbled as they reached the wards.
"Little steps Harry; you'll never conquer anything if you don't try." Draco said; with no hint of malice behind his words.
Harry didn't think he could be surer of his decision that right now.
He flicked his wand to allow Draco within the wards as they entered his house. Memories filled Harry's head as he stepped in and saw his grand staircase. He saw the grandfather clock that showed Ginny was "away" and Harry's had just turned to "home". He felt sick. He wanted nothing more than to just turn around.
Draco's hand rested softly on his lower back.
"You have a nice house Potter." Draco said lightly.
"Thanks; it's nothing special." Harry said modestly.
"Harry shut up."
They spent a quiet night together, they cooked their dinner by themselves [to the slight horror of Draco] and they exchanged soft words in the living room. It was amazing how the past memories of Ginny seemed to dissipate with the mere presence of Draco.
And before Draco disappeared into the guest room for the night; they shared a quick soft kiss.
HXDHXDHXDHXDHXDHXDHXDHXDHXD THE NEXT DAY
It was 5pm.
Harry was beginning to doubt himself. The very idea of having to sit at the same table as Ginny was making him sweat bullets; he'd already done a Cleaning Charm three times.
"Harry will you relax? I doubt the Weasley girl will jump across the table and attack you." Draco said as they stood in front of the fireplace.
"I don't know what she'll do; that's what I'm worried about." Harry replied as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"Just calm down, I'm the one entering the Weasley den, be worried for ME here." Draco said with haughty tone.
To anyone else that would have sounded selfish and conceited, but Harry knew Draco was trying to distract him and he couldn't appreciate it more.
The grandfather clock chimed indicating that it was now five past 5. With a sigh he grabbed some floo powder, with one last nervous look at Draco he disappeared in a flash of green.
"Wishing us both luck." Draco mumbled to himself as he followed Harry.
Molly Weasley was always amazing at making dinner. But tonight, Harry felt she outdid herself, he had inkling feeling it had something to do with the fact that Draco was coming over.
The small but homely kitchen was filled with so much food the scent reminded Harry of the Great Hall on a Christmas night.
"Harry! Oh I'm so glad you're here." She said as she gave him a tight motherly hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Good evening Mrs. Weasley, I hope I'm not intruding." Draco said with an air of formality.
"Oh tush! Call me Molly and there's always room for one more here." She said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
Harry was immensely proud of the Weasley's family maturity. They could easily have been hostile to Draco knowing the Malfoy past; but that's exactly what it was to the Weasleys...the past.
"Mate!"
He turned around and saw Ron coming down the stairs.
"Good to see you here Malfoy." He said politely.
"Likewise Weasley." Draco nodded. Harry didn't think his heart could have swelled with more pride just then.
"Hermione's just in the living room next door; she wants to talk to you for a second. We won't be long Malfoy." Ron said as he gestured next door.
"I'll be right back." Harry said softly as he gave Draco a reassuring smile.
"Go on Potter; I can fend for myself." Draco replied with a smirk before heading over to Molly to help set the table.
Harry and Ron found Hermione in the living room, her head buried in a large text book.
"Oh hello Harry!" she said as she got up and gave him a hug. "I've missed you, how've you been feeling?"
"Fine Herm, I'm still living with Draco. We actually had dinner at my place yesterday."
"Oh? Isn't he here tonight?" Hermione said.
"Yeah, he felt it was needed to conquer my fear of the house or something. And yes, I think he's just helping out Molly."
"Well he IS right. I'm glad to hear he's a good influence." Hermione said as she sat back down.
Ron gave him that odd searching look again before they sat down on the couch opposite Hermione.
"Alright, I thought we should do this now so it wouldn't look to suspicious after dinner. I did some of that research you wanted me to do about Ginny." She said.
Harry sat up a little straighter.
"Don't be too excited; I didn't find anything spectacular." She seemed annoyed at this. "Basically, I was looking through some old spell books in the restricted section and I came across this spell."
She handed the book over to Harry and Ron who peered down.
"It's called the Abeo Verbatim, it's fairly old magic; outlawed in several countries. Essentially it enhances feelings; makes them stronger. There is a reason why it's outlawed though, if this spell is done once that's fine, the effects will just dissipate after a day or two. If done more than twice it can actually cause seriously severe mental damage and in the worst case scenario split personality or schizophrenia."
"Well it would explain a little bit I suppose." Harry said.
"But not much, even if this were true who would've case the spell? Is Hogwarts the only source to this book Herm?" Ron said as he handed her back the book.
"Oh of course not, the spell maybe outlawed where we live now but that doesn't mean access to books like this is out of the question."
"Who would've done this?" Ron pondered.
"I found her with Dean that morning." Harry said; really more to himself though.
"I suppose he's our number one suspect, but he's never given any indication he would go that far. I thought he was happy with Maria." Ron replied.
"He also never gave any indication he was the sort of man to cheat on his wife with a mate's girlfriend." Harry said with some spite.
"I understand you're upset Harry but we can't jump to conclusions. We haven't got much information right now. I think maybe it would be best if we met next weekend at Grimmauld to find more information on this spell and from there we could start thinking of 'suspects'; as you call them." Hermione said logically.
"Right as always Herm." Harry said.
"Ginny maybe acting weird; but she's still my sister. I think we should keep a look out on her as well." Ron said with a resigned sigh.
"I'm sorry Ron." Harry said softly. He felt bad for the older brother.
"Nothing for you to feel sorry about mate."
Hermione seemed to sense the need for a change in subject because she bounced up from the couch and dragged the two boys from the room.
"We'll meet next week for dinner at Grimmauld or something. In the meantime, let's eat, I know you both love doing that." She said as she led them into the kitchen.
The sight he witnessed in the kitchen made his heart flutter. The Weasley family was moving around, plates of delicious food floating, people chattering and in the midst of the organized chaos was a head of blonde hair moving gracefully from the stove to the table.
He turned around to find Ron and Hermione with the same looks on their face.
Before he knew it they were cramped around the small table which was laden with so much food Arthur had performed an enlarging spell so that now their chairs were pushed up against the surrounding area and it made it virtually impossible to get out of your seat. But by the looks of the food, no-one in their right mind would get out.
Draco sat to Harry's left with Ron on his right; Hermione was squeezed in on Ron's right which left Ginny, Bill, Charlie, George and Percy opposite them with Molly and Arthur at the two heads of the table.
Despite the lack of room, everyone dug in like it was their last meal. It was only until Harry had devoured a quarter of one roast chicken did he notice the odd staring of Ginny.
His neck prickled with uncertainty and he averted her gaze. He tried to get Ron to notice but he was too busy eating steak slathered in tomato sauce.
"You alright Harry?" he heard Draco whisper to him.
Harry turned his body slightly so that his mouth was blocked from Ginny's view before replying.
"Yeah, Ginny's staring at me funny. It's making me uncomfortable."
He saw Draco eyes flutter to Ginny before flickering back to him.
"Harry could you please pass the buttered corn?"
He winced at the voice...It was Ginny.
"Sure." He said as he passed over the bowl. As she took the bowl from him her fingers lingered for a bit too long. He wasn't sure if it was deliberate but regardless he snatched back his hand.
He quickly looked back down at his plate, but not before he caught Ginny's face flash with hurt.
'Oh Merlin, not now; please don't freak out now' Harry thought.
"Harry, why won't you look at me?" She said.
It was very lucky the table was still incredibly noisy so no-one heard what she said apart from Draco and himself.
"What do you mean?" Harry said; his eyes focused on a roast turkey in front of him.
"Right now, why won't you look at me? I apologized for what I did; I said I was sorry, I didn't know what I was thinking. It was a momentary lapse."
Her voice started to get louder. Harry started to slide lower in his seat.
"Harry!...HARRY!"
The table went quiet.
Molly spoke first. "Ginny, come with me to the bathroom, you don't look well."
"No! Why won't you talk or look at me Harry? I understand what I did was wrong, but I apologized I feel terrible for what I did! Don't you want to try and see if we work again?"
"Ginny...I need some time." He said, his face flushed red from the attention.
"Gin dear; come with me." Molly tried again.
"No mum! And why did you bring Malfoy? Are you trying to rub something in my face? All you've been doing is talking to him. Are you with him?' she demanded, her face getting red.
"What? I just invited Draco. He's a guest." Harry emphasized Draco's name.
"Oh sure, I didn't see you object to what I said. So that's it? You don't want to give us a second shot and now you're shacking up with him?"
Ginny was yelling by this stage, standing up in her chair. Bill and Charlie stood behind her, their wands slightly drawn out just in case.
"I have a name. It's Draco. And what right do you have to yell at him like that Weaslette?" Draco said with spite laced in his words. "As far as anyone's concerned, YOU slept with someone else so you're not in any position whatsoever to demand anything from Harry."
Harry looked at Draco with awe.
If the kitchen could be any quieter; it happened.
Arthur broke the silence.
"Bill take Ginny upstairs please."
Bill nodded, he gave Harry and Draco an apologetic look before holding Ginny's arm and disappearing with a crack.
An awkward silence ensued that was broken by George.
"Well that was a mood killer."
"George!" snapped Molly. "Harry dear, we're sorry that happened. I talked to her earlier about her behaviour. She promised she wouldn't do anything."
"It's fine Molly, don't worry about it. Excuse me for a second, I just need to go to the bathroom."
He stood up and apparated to the bathroom outside in the hallway, before he could take a step inside the bathroom though he was stopped by the sound of another crack. Draco stood beside him.
"Draco thanks for standing up for me. I didn't know what to say to her. She's mad." Harry said as he ran a hand through his mussed hair.
"It's nothing. She's a stupid bint anyway." Draco muttered. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine...for now."
Draco nodded as he prepared to disapparate back to the kitchen.
"Wait...just wait. Listen Draco, I know I've been a bit indecisive and I've probably given you so many mixed messages I'm surprised you haven't got a migrane."
"Who says I haven't Potter?" Draco said with a smirk.
"Well, I was having this huge battle with my head and my heart, they were clashing and it was driving me nuts. But if tonight wasn't a clear indication of what I want then I don't know what it is." Harry said nervously. He realized the back of neck was stinging from the amount of scratching he was doing.
Draco simply stared at him; his face gave away no emotion. This didn't really help with Harry's anxiousness.
"I was wondering maybe if you'd like to be something, you know, official?" Harry mentally cringed at how lame that actually sounded.
From the raised eyebrow on Draco's face, he seemed to realize to.
"You're so terrible at articulating yourself."
Harry was about to die from embarrassment before Draco leaned in and pulled him into a hug. Harry's arms immediately wound themselves around Draco's neck. He noticed his hair smelt of vanilla.
Before too soon, Draco pulled back with a small smile on his face. "About time Potter."
"Well, you now Gryffindors..." He said with a laugh.
They apparated back to their seats to find the food had gone with the Weasleys cleaning the now-back-to-normal-table.
"Oh sorry boys, we cleaned the table; there wasn't much food left anyway." Molly said as she flicked her wand so the dishes automatically cleaned themselves.
"No worries Molly." Harry said as he and Draco got out of the chairs and helped clean up.
Bill came into the kitchen, presumably from calming down Ginny.
"She's calmed down; she was fairly hysterical up there. She cried herself to sleep." He said as he took a seat wearily.
Despite what had happened Harry couldn't help but feel guilty.
"She's not dealing with this very well." Percy said.
"Thanks for stating the obvious Percy." Ron said in a monotone voice.
Percy was about to say something when Molly interrupted.
"Don't argue boys, I don't need to deal with this right now."
"Well there's not much we can do until she can accept and deal with it herself first." Arthur said. "And don't go around blaming yourself Harry. We're all upset to see that you two fell apart, but that doesn't mean you need to feel guilty. She was in the wrong here, we're not too proud to say that."
Sometimes Harry didn't know what he would do without the Weasley family.
He gave Arthur a small smile. "Thanks Arthur." He looked around to find the other members nodding at him in agreement.
There were a few moments of silence as everyone helped clean the remaining dishes.
"We're gonna head off now mum, it's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow though; I made this dish of casserole I want you to try." Ron said as he and Hermione stood up.
"Alright love. You be safe now." She gave them both a hug and a kiss.
Draco and Harry followed after them. Molly gave them both a hug and once again reassured Harry he shouldn't be feeling guilty. They all shook hands with the rest of the family before the four of them made their way to the floo entrance.
Hermione gave him a tight hug, a small kiss and told him they would meet soon before she disappeared with a flash of green. Just as Draco prepared to go, Ron laid an arm on his shoulder.
"Wait a moment."
"Yes Weasley?" Draco replied.
"Harry...is there something going on between you and Malfoy?"
The question shocked him; for a few seconds he just stood there with his mouth open.
"I'm not mad Harry. I just want the truth. You thought of him before me as a pureblood, you kept staring at him at dinner and both disappear for 10 minutes after Ginny had her episode." Ron said.
"Yeah, well there was always something. But it's official...tonight." Harry mumbled; he was highly embarrassed.
"Oh."
"Listen Ron, I don't want you to think I'm being inconsiderate. I really thought about this." Harry said.
"No I understand, don't worry. I mean, it's a little odd; no offence Malfoy." Ron said with a side glance to Draco.
"None taken Weasley." He replied.
"And I think Hermione thought I wasn't that perceptive, but I think I'd like some credit." Ron said with a small smile.
"So...you're actually ok with this?" Harry said carefully.
"Yeah...I'm ok with it. It's still a bit strange that you're into guys and Malfoy at that. But I'm not at all closed-minded." He said. Then he turned to Draco and continued. "But if you hurt him in any way possible I will pound you into the ground. He doesn't need any more shite than he's getting now."
"Understood Weasley." Draco said, not flinching at all from the threat.
"I'm gonna head off now mate but don't think you're off the hook. This is seriously weird." Ron said as he disappeared.
There was a moment of silence before Harry spoke.
"Well that went well."
"You were expecting him to freak out?" Draco said.
"I admit, I didn't expect him to take it that calmly, but I'm glad he did." Harry replied looking at Draco.
"I'm not the largest fan of Weasley, but the man has matured. Even I can tell." Draco said.
"Yeah...you have no idea how proud of him I am. There was a time where he would've bloody murdered me if I told him I was involved with you; and that time wasn't too long ago." Harry said with a smile, staring at the fire place.
"Let's go back to my place." Draco said as he grabbed some floo powder.
Before he could though; Harry grabbed his collar, dragged him forward and pressed a hard kiss to him before pulling back.
END!...for now haha. I realize that ending was abrupt but it's 5:12am and I need to get up in 5 hrs for university. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the clumsy cover-up I did. I know it might seem slow, but I like to build characterisation so I hope you keep reading!
Thank you for every review; really! =). They're the biggest motivation. Thank you thank you thank you. Also thank you the story alerts/favourites/favourite author =). An update will be up in 3 days! I promise!
Thank you to:-
Cloud646
Kogas Hentai Luver
Anna
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