P.S.: I changed it to where this takes place about halfway through December instead of October.
Disclaim Her: I own nothing. Except Draco Malfoy's soul. Oh, wait...I don't even own that. -pouts-
Chapter 9: Explanations and Explosions
"Well, you see, it started about two weeks after term started. We-"
"Two weeks after term started?" Ron was incensed. "It's almost Christmas! You two have been...for four months?"
"Yes." The answer had come from Malfoy. Ron glanced at him before looking at me plaintively.
"Tell me you're joking. Tell me this is some sort of practical joke. I mean...I didn't even know you were gay!"
"I didn't tell you because I didn't know how you would react. Not only to me being gay, but to Malfoy."
"Harry, you should have known being gay wouldn't matter," Hermione finally entered the conversation. "I don't see why you couldn't have at least told us that much. That way it wouldn't have been such a shock when we found out about..." She gestured at Malfoy. "him."
Malfoy was getting more and more uncomfortable. "I really should go."
I nodded. This was getting personal, and I could understand his not wanting to be there. "See you, Malfoy."
"Potter." He nodded his goodbye and took his leave, not stopping to even acknowledge Ron or Hermione. They watched him go silently before turning back to me.
"I'm sorry you had to find out this way. But, with all this other shit going on, I figured that this would be a really bad time to say anything."
Ron had calmed down somewhat. "It's okay, Harry. Well-I mean-it's not okay, but I can deal with it. I just-I wish you had said something."
I snorted. "What could I say? 'Hey, guys, I'm back form the dead, and by the way, I've been shagging Malfoy since September'?"
Hermione blinked in surprise. "You have sex?"
"What did you think we did, talk about our feelings?"
"Well, no, I just thought you might wait awhile before taking that step."
I laughed bitterly. "The way I saw it, I wasn't going to live to be seventeen, and I didn't want to die a virgin. And, as it turns out, I was right, wasn't I?"
Hermione blinked back tears. "Oh, Harry, I never knew you felt that way! You just always looked so happy, and I didn't-I didn't-"
"It's okay. I didn't want you to know. It would just have been one more thing for you to worry about, and you were worrying so much already."
"We would have been better off worrying!" Ron had found his voice again. "You acted so happy all the time, then you go and kill yourself, leaving us with no reason why! You think that wouldn't have caused us some worry?"
"I didn't kill myself!" I was tired of having that thrown in my face. Why did everyone think that I had done myself in?
"Harry," Hermione said gently, as if speaking to a small child. "You did kill yourself. We saw you. You jumped off the astronomy tower while we were in care of magical creatures class. We were wondering where you were when Seamus shouted that someone was about to jump. We got there just in time to see you hit the ground." Her voice broke at the end.
"I didn't kill myself," I said disbelievingly. "I wouldn't. There was too much counting on me. I couldn't let everyone down. If I had committed suicide, I would remember. Wouldn't I? I mean, I remember everything else, I even remember hitting the ground, but...I can't remember why I was falling in the first place!" I was getting nervous. I'd thought I remembered everything, but now that I was trying to recall what had happened, there was a large blank spot where that memory should be.
"It's alright, Harry. It doesn't matter, what matters is that you're here, and you're okay, and you were telling us how you got together with Malfoy." Hermione had decided to get the conversation back on topic.
"It wasn't really anything special. We were in detention, we started fighting, the next thing I know I had him shoved up against a wall, snogging."
Ron looked sick. "Please, Harry. No details. Ever."
I smirked. "I can't promise that. Sorry."