'Harry!', before he knew what was happening, someone hugged him close to their chest, knocking most of the air from his lungs.

'Hermione, Ron!', he greeted his friends breathlessly as soon as the girl had released him, 'What are you doing here? Haven't seen you for ages.'

The both of them looked at him a bit sheepishly, before the redhead answered, 'Well, you see, Ginny called us…she's worried about you, mate.'

The last few days had been terrible, to say at least.

The girl had spent even more time than usual at her boyfriend's flat, watching him slowly give up the bit hope he had still possessed when returning from Malfoy Manor for what seemed the final time, as each day had passed without a sign from the other boy. Each time she saw his face fall when he discovered that no owl came bearing a letter, leaving he wondering which person could gain such an influence on the Boy Who Lived Twice in such short time.

In the end, she had decided to inform her brother about his best friend's state. Maybe, she figured, it'd do the raven-haired boy good to see the rest of the Golden Trio again.

'She said, you had a fight with a friend of yours you obviously value very much', the brown-haired girl added, 'What happened? And who is he?'

Harry sighed, he really hadn't wanted to talk this through with his friends -the risk of them recognizing who he was talking about in reality was too big- but he didn't have much choice. If he refused, it'd look even stranger.

'It's someone I know from my time with the Dursley's', he started, repeating the story he had already told Ginny: How he had by accident met his former tormentor in a Muggle shop, where they had started talking, only to find out that they weren't quite that different. How they had begun to meet up more often and finally built up something you could, with a bit of good will, call a friendship. And how Harry had destroyed everything, by not saying the right word, at the right time.

At the end of story, Hermione was looking at him with a strange mixture between disappointment and concern.

'You do realize that I know you made this up, don't you?', she asked softly.

'…what?', he replied completely dumbfounded.

'The story. Nothing of it did happen, right? So who have you really been fighting with?'
Shock written in his face, the Golden Boy stared at her. He had somehow thought she had lost the ability to read him so well since she had gotten together with Ron.

'Harry, we're your oldest friends. You can tell us', she urged him on.

He wanted to lie to her, tell her he didn't know what she was talking about, but then changed his mind. What did it matter anyway? It wasn't as if he was going to see the other again.

'It's Draco Malfoy', he said quietly.

The other's reactions were exactly how he had imagined them: Hermione fell quite, obviously startled, with a look in her eyes that made clear she thought Harry had lost his mind while Ron blanched and made a sound as if he was being strangled.

'As in the slimy, arrogant git who spent years just trying to make our lives as miserable as possible?', he choked out.

'Don't you call him that!', the raven-haired wizard spat defensively, before returning to silence. He should have known it wouldn't go well, that they wouldn't understand.

'It…really is Malfoy, isn't it?', the brunet female asked after a few moments, leading him to look at her incredulously.

'Of course it is. What, you think I just said it to shock you? No, sorry, this time I mean it.' It had been a long time since he had been just so angry at his friends.

'Sorry', she replied almost embarrassed, 'It's just so unexpected after all you've done to each other. After what he did.'

'I can't believe you actually want him to talk to you again', Ron started sounding both shocked and somewhat disgusted. And Harry exploded.

'What is your bloody problem? At least he was there and didn't disappear just because suddenly, someone was there who would snog him!'

'What, do you now blame us for being stuck with the stupid ferret?'

'For fuck's sake, use your brain for once in your life, Ron! Why the hell should I blame you? I like him, believe it or not! If anything, I have to be grateful for you both ignoring me to go shag, because I might have made the mistake of telling you earlier and letting you ruin everything from the very start, just because a long time ago, I thought the same way as you do!', breathing hard, he glared furiously at his best friend for a second, before, in a low and dangerous, adding, 'And if you dare to call him names or insult him in any way again while you here, I will make sure you'll never set a foot over the threshold to my flat once more.'

A long silence followed after that, in which the redhead did his best not to look at the other boy, who still tried to calm down. In the end, it was Hermione who spoke first. 'Have you told Ginny who the fight was really with?'
'No, I've told her the same story as I told you.'

'But…', she hesitated, not wanting to anger the boy once more, 'Don't you think you should?'

Harry sighed, 'I suppose.'

The brown-haired girl nodded, 'We'll just wait here, while you talk to her. And… sorry.'

He smiled at her weakly, before turning around to find his girlfriend.

She was sitting in the kitchen, a cup of tea clutched between her hands. It only took him one glance to know she had heard him and her brother fighting; she looked shaken.

'Hello', he greeted her quietly, sitting down in front of her.

'Hi.'

'You've heard me and Ron arguing, haven't you?'

She nodded yes, trying to smile. 'Has he acted like an idiot again?'

'You could say that, I guess…but actually I didn't want to talk about him. You see, I haven't been quite honest with you, Ginny, and I'm terribly sorry about that. I don't know what came over me, I just didn't know what you'd say if I told you the truth.'

'Which truth, Harry?', she asked, obviously scared of the answer she would get, but still intent to stop his rambling.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he told her, 'The person I've been meeting for the last month, the one I was fighting with, isn't someone I know from my time in the Muggle world. It's Draco Malfoy.'

The redheaded girl stayed silent for a minute, before looking up at him, both shock and pain visible on her face.

'Why didn't you just say?'
'I…I don't know; I just panicked. Thought you'd believe I'm mad, since I spent so much time hating him.'

Her look changed into something softer as she leaned over to take his hand. She took a moment to gather her thoughts before speaking.

'You can trust me, I thought you knew that. Of course, he isn't exactly the person I'd like you to be friends with the most, and I certainly can't imagine to befriend him myself, but as long as you want to…I won't stop you. Not that I could, obviously, since I know how stubborn you can be when it comes to people you care about, but I wouldn't even try, and you should have known that.'

'You're right, of course. If I could change it, I would', Harry answered and she gave a small, forgiving smile, which left him incredibly relieved. For a moment, he loved her more than ever before.

He entered the living room, still wearing a small grin and a bit of Ginny's lipstick on his face. 'She forgave me', he said to Hermione, before sitting down again.

His friend smiled back, before returning to a more serious look, 'I just wanted to repeat that I am sorry for my reaction earlier, I didn't think. Although I still don't trust Draco Malfoy and probably never will, I respect your decision to give him a second chance. He is going to need a friend over the next time, since I am sure most people will not be willing to change their minds so easily. Also, since Ginny told me you seemed so much happier when you were still on talking terms with him, I am going to try and help you in any way to try and fix this…whatever exactly this is.'

She looked relieved when she finished, and the brunet just knew she had been preparing this speech since he had left to find Ginny.

'Thank you, Hermione, I really appreciate it and…I missed you. Just so you know.'

She pulled him in a hug, before replying, 'I missed you, too. And also, what I forgot earlier, sorry for, well, disappearing. Wasn't exactly the nicest thing to do. Oh, and I also want to apologize for Ron's behaviour earlier on; it was completely unacceptable. Of course, it would be better if he could tell you himself, but I fear that this has upset quite a lot, especially in connection with what you said.'

Only then did the Golden Boy notice the ginger's absence from the room.

'He went back', the brown-haired female explained quickly, 'Mumbling something about you being out of your mind or, even worse, cursed into submission by Malfoy. But don't pay him too much attention', she quickly added when noticing the other's face contort with anger, 'He'll come round; he's just having a hard time accepting it.'

Harry nodded.

'Anyway, what is much more important at the moment is what we can do about your fight with Malfoy. Now, what did really happen?'

And so he told her, from when they first met, up until he had been rejected by the house elf, right at the front door. She listened, from time to time asking questions, and he suddenly noticed just how much he had really missed her.

After he had finished, she stayed silent for a while, looking at him with a strange expression.

'You do care a lot about him', she asked, as if to confirm something which only she knew.

'Yes. I know it's strange, but…'

Again, she gave glanced at him, before nodding.

'I think he does, too, at least after what you've told me. And I suppose he does, just like you, not know why exactly that is, and it's terrifying him. That's probably why he reacted so strongly when he thought you did not reciprocate his feelings, since if you didn't, he would be left, not knowing what to do. Also, from what I know about the family in general, it doesn't seem like they do know how to deal with trusting other's very well.'

'He told me something similar, that he had never trusted anyone except his parents before.'

'That'd fit', Hermione mumbled, more to herself than to her host.

'What?'

'Oh, nothing', she answered hastily, 'Doesn't matter.'

Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn't press on.

'I am completely sure that your deduction is once again flawless, but what should I do?', he asked instead.

The girl looked at him with the same expression she used when Ron asked something particularly stupid.

'Go and talk to him, of course.'

'Well, I tried, but if I may remember you, it didn't go very well.'

'You've got to be more stubborn. He thinks, you're not as interested in hi- in this friendship as he is, and currently, by not turning up anymore, you seemingly prove him right.'
'But- but he…the house-elf said he didn't want to see me again!'

'It's…complicated. Just trust me on this.'

Harry nodded; he had long accepted that just doing what Hermione said, even if it did sound a little illogical at that time, was a good idea. Most of the times.

A/N: I'd like to thank the ghostinside and superioritycomplex144 for their kind reviews, they make me really, really happy (: And I'm sorry for this very... Draco-less chapter, I'll try to make it up to you with the next one.

Take care xx