Author's Noteage!
Heyy guys, okayy so it has been a while but I'm really sorry… I've had retake exams *since ii practically failed last year* and I'm in the last year of my Alevels *senior year maybe to some of yoo* which means a lot of work && not a lot of time to think!!
Please bear with me [gives puppy dog eyes]
does, with her awesome Beta'ness!
Disclaimer – Same as before XD
Warnings - Homophobia, Gryffindor Bashing, Friendlier Slytherins && Things that probably wouldn't really occur in Hogwarts usually!
Chapter 8 – The Hand Behind This Pen Relives A Failure Everyday
. HP.
Harry woke up early, refreshed and surprisingly happy. He threw off the bed covers and skipped (yes skipped) towards the bathroom, waking up his dorm mates in the process. As they all sat up, realising they were awake, they were welcomed into the day by the sound of shower water running and Harry's singing.
"What time is it?" Seamus asked, sleepily.
"6:30," Neville replied through a suppressed yawn.
"In the morning? Jeez what's got him so happy?" Ron moaned as four heads hit their pillows once more.
Half an hour later, Harry emerged from the bathroom looking and feeling better than he had in a while. He'd styled his hair to add to its messiness (since it had grown slightly longer over the past year), his robes were creaseless, his tie hanging loosely around his neck. He was trying to look as relaxed as he possibly could without attracting attention worthy of an evening with Filch! With nothing he needed to do before classes, Harry ventured down to breakfast.
. DM .
Come 6:30, Draco's eyes opened.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." He huffed as he dug his head further into the pillows. Draco Malfoy was not a morning person. He thought that by burrowing his head as far as it could go, 'sleep' would get the hint and take him back to the land of slumber for at least another hour. However, after what seemed like an eternity, but only happened to be two minutes, he scrambled out of his duvet and stomped off to the bathroom.
As soon as the door slammed, two loud snores proceeded to wake another two Slytherins. Crabbe and Goyle could sleep through a stampede of centaurs fortunately for them. The other two, however, were not so lucky. Theo Nott and Blaise sat up in their beds and glanced to each other.
"Okay, why is Draco up this early? It's a real first here," Theo said to Blaise, as he climbed out of bed.
"I don't know. It's pretty strange." Blaise replied, kicking his legs out of his bed.
They'd decided not to go in and join Malfoy in the bathroom, since he was in such a bad mood, so they began to get their robes out ready to go into the bathroom and, since there was enough time, got their bags ready for their lessons. As they put their bags down, they heard the bathroom door open an out came a smiling Draco!
"Morning, guys. Do you want me to wait for you? We can go to breakfast together." Draco said as he gathered his books and parchment and walked towards the door.
"Sounds good, babe. See you in a few." Blaise smiled as Draco left the room.
"Smiling. Waiting. Nice Draco? Something's definitely up. It's over strange." Theo said, his voice still holding confusion.
"Yeah, strange," Blaise said, before he muttered, "something must've happened last night."
"What was that?" Theo asked.
"Oh, nothing, just muttering to myself, as usual."
. HP .
Harry entered the Great Hall and immediately saw the person he was hoping would be there this early. He strolled over to his bushy-haired best friend and sat down with a Cheshire grin on his face.
"Goooooooood morning, Hermione."
"Morning Harry. You seem extremely perky this morning. What happened to you?"
"Oh, nothing, I just had a lovely talk with Malfoy last night." Harry crooned laying his head on Hermione's shoulder.
"You WHAT!" Hermione shouted before realising the dynamics her voice was capable of. "When was this? How'd this happen? WHY!?"
"We ran into each other in the Library yesterday and we thanked each other for helping in the, um, Herbology incident. We began speaking and had a whole civil conversation but then we realised that it was time for dinner. We arranged to meet after dinner in the Room Of Requirement and we spoke until late last night."
"Wait, you said he thanked you? Wow, that's a first. Oh, Harry I'm so happy for you! It seems like its all going good for you right now." Hermione said, squeezing Harry's hand affectionately.
"Yeah, I guess it is." Harry replied returning the squeeze. He suddenly remembered the conversation of the previous night and his smile grew.
. DM .
As Draco walked into the Great Hall, he caught eyes with Harry. Emerald bore into Mercury and Draco found his lips curl into a small smile. As he saw Harry's eyes widen at the display, he quickly transformed it into a smirk. Harry gave a curt nod in his direction and continued with his food.
Theo saw a couple of fifth years that he needed to 'talk' to and left Draco and Blaise to find their regular seats. Draco sat and began to spoon food onto his plate but suddenly realised that it was still beside him. Draco slowly turned his head to find Blaise's face centimetres from his own.
"Blaise! How many times have I told you not to do that, you nearly gave me another heart attack!" Draco said, trying to get over the initial shock of his best friend invading his personal bubble again.
"Soooooo. How'd it go last night?" Blaise asked. Draco pursed his lips in a I'm-not-gonna-tell-you kind of way. "Oh, come on, I need to know these things. You've been smiling like a mad man since you got out of the bathroom this morning. Pleeeeeeease!"
"There's not much to tell, to be honest." Draco answered, basically telling Blaise that he was keeping his mouth shut.
"Well, you were moody when you woke up. You go into the bathroom as if you could slap someone with your own hand, then when you've finished you're… Oooooooh I get it." Blaise said with a nudge and a wink.
Draco, suddenly realising what Blaise was implying, jumped in, "No nothing like that." Blaise's smile didn't falter, still. "I did not wank over Potter. Seriously."
"Then how do you explain it?"
"I wasn't that awake when I went into the bathroom, Once I got into the shower, I remembered the chat I had with Potter last night, and it made me smile, okay?!"
.HPDM .
As time progressed, more people made it to breakfast, more people had morning conversations, and more people ate. As it got to the point when everyone was present in the Great Hall, everyone looked up as the noise of flapping wings overcame the chatter. Owls of all breeds and colours flew into the hall and began to drop mail for the students. A large Majority of the students subscribed to the Prophet and as the students unfolded their papers, a collective gasp was hears as they all saw the front page.
HARRY POTTER? HARRY POOFTER!
I, Rita Skeeter, can reveal today that our saviour, Harry Potteris gay!
I witnessed the chosen one confessing his sexuality to his friend, one Hermione Jean Granger, who seemed to take it pretty well, considering their fling in their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not all details could be heard, but the essentials were audible. Would you allow our fate to be left in the hands of a limp-wristed teen?
I'll let you decide.
MALFOY MONARCHY MAYHEM!
In related news, Lord and Lady Malfoy will be in for a shock as my impeccable snooping caught me a double whammy.
Draco Malfoy, Heir to the Most Noble and Ancient House of Malfoy, has also confirmed that he is gay. Whilst talking to lifelong friend Blaise Carlos Zabini, Of Joaquin and Francesca Zabini, he told of his new found interest in the same sex.
QUITE AN INTERESTING DAY THEY'RE GOING TO HAVE AT HOGWARTS TODAY!
The hall stayed silent as they read and re-read the articles. Suddenly a boom of noise began as everyone began to ask questions to each other.
"Do you think she's lying?" "Oh My God!" "Damn, that's my chance gone." "Good for them." "Well, that was unexpected." "Do you think they're together?" "Poor Hermione!" "I'd love to see the Malfoys' reaction to this!!!"
A chorus of these carried on for a while, until the pandemonium was silenced by one lonely shout.
"A fag, Harry. You're a bloody FAG?!"
It was Ron. The person Harry had been friends with since his first day at Hogwarts; the person who had stuck by him through everything. Ron had put his life on the line for Harry, yet this seemed to be different.
"Answer me, Harry. Is this true, or has Skeeter really out done herself this time?" Ron said, pulling Harry up by his collar.
"Wow, I never thought you'd react like this, especially since Charlie's gay." Harry said, straightening his robes.
"Don't mention his name, you know not to mention him. Now, just answer my question, Potter."
"Oh, so we've resorted to surnames already? Okay then, Weasley, she's right. I'm gay. I told Hermione yesterday and she seemed to be fine with it. I thought as my best friend, you'd be the same. But apparently not." Harry said, the hurt cutting through each word.
Harry stepped forward to place a hand on Ron's shoulder but before any contact could be made, Seamus jumped up and smacked Harry's hand away. "Don't touch him. You'd better be careful, Ron, he might try and get into your pants."
Harry looked at his hand and then back to his, apparently, former friends and said, "Yeah, Finnigan, because everyone knows homosexuality is a contagious disease. Won't want to catch it, would you?" Harry said, waving his hand in front of them, causing other members of Gryffindor, and some of the other houses, to laugh.
"Let's just go, guys, Potter might try and get one of us in the broom closet." Dean said, standing and steering his two friends away from Harry.
Harry stood there, a true look of shock and hurt etched onto his face. He couldn't believe them. The only people whose reaction he'd cared about and they took it the worst. Harry stayed staring at the door for a few minutes until he felt someone's arm entwine around his waist. He hadn't even noticed Hermione get up and walk around him. All he felt was the love emanating off of her body. He gripped onto and hid his face in her hair, for once thankful that it was so big so no-one could notice his tears.
Draco looked over to where Harry and Hermione stood, wishing it could be him that was doing the comforting. He could feel how upset Harry was and really felt the need to talk to him. He could hear muffled comments being made but he blocked them out as much as he could and his gaze never left the Gryffindors standing in the middle of the hall.
"Draco… Draco, Honey?"
Draco was brought back to his place once more by Blaise waving his hand in front of his face.
"What?" Draco said, his eyes still in the direction of the Gryffindor table.
"Well, there's something to keep your spirits up. Potter's gay, too. And you thought you didn't have a chance!"
"I already knew he was gay. He told me last night, and I told him."
"Then why do you look like you've taken a stunner straight to the chest?"
"I want to know how that Skeeter woman found out. And did you see how he just got treated by his so-called friends. It's horrible. No-one was like that when you came out, were they?"
"No. And there's nothing remotely mean being said by our house about you. Frankly, I think they're pleased to have someone else to control me." Blaise said with a smirk.
"I need to see how he is." Draco said, whilst getting a piece of parchment. He quickly scribbled a note, got out his want and muttered Permoveo Leo. The piece of parchment suddenly came to life and took the shape of a tiny lion. Draco picked it up in his palm and said to it, "you know where to go."
The parchment lion bowed its head and leaped from Draco's hand and ran towards the Gryffindor table.
"That's a clever little spell you've got there, babe." Blaise said with a smile.
"Yeah, it is. Now I've got to go. I'll see you in Charms, okay?" And he got up and headed out of the Hall.
. HP .
Harry and Hermione stood there in their own silence for a while. Hermione could feel Harry's silent tears and just let him cry. It seemed as though he needed it. Harry just let the tears fall for several minutes and as they began to ease off, he felt something tugging at his trouser leg. He pulled away from Hermione and looked down to see a small lion.
"Hello there, little guy," Harry said as he picked up the parchment and began to stroke it. A smile formed on his tear stained as he thought of who it would be from. "What have you got for me then?" Harry asked, and immediately the animal unfolded and he recognised the perfect handwriting that was Draco's.
Harry,
Are you okay? I saw what the bastards did.
Come and talk to me, just follow the note.
It knows where I am.
Draco.
Once Harry had read the note, it folded back into the lion. Harry turned to Hermione and told her about the note. She nodded and gave him one last hug as he put the lion down and followed it out of the hall. They walked along the entrance hall, towards the main doors and went into a small door close to the main entrance. Sat there, on a desk was Draco.
As he heard the door open, Draco looked up and saw Harry standing there, still looking pretty upset. Draco stood up and gave Harry a small smile, which Harry took as an invitation to run over and envelope himself in the blonde's arms. Draco, at first, was a little surprised at how broken Harry seemed but soon let the thought go as he hugged the boy back and began to trace soothing circles on his back. A while later Harry pulled back, looked into Draco's eyes and formed a slight smile on his face.
"Sorry, Draco." Harry said, finally breaking the silence.
"Shh. Don't worry about it. If the same thing had happened to me I'd feel the same. Maybe not show it as much but the feeling would definitely be there."
"Thanks. So why did you want to see me?"
"I saw what happened with Weasleby and how hurt you looked. I wanted to make sure you're okay. We are friends now, aren't we? It's what friends do."
"That's what I thought. But apparently the memo didn't get out to my dorm mates." Harry said, hoisting himself onto the desk. "I really can't believe they did that, after everything we went through. I knew Ron had a short temper and may be a little funny with the idea but what he did was just…"
"Cruel." Draco finished, taking his place next to Harry.
"Yeah. So, I didn't really notice much after that little incident. What happened with you and your 'outing'?"
"Not too much really. I think the Slytherins are used to it, with Blaise, and thought to leave me be." Draco said, staring at his shoes. "According to Blaise, they're happy that there's someone to calm Blaise down now." He laughed, and to his surprise, so did Harry.
"And here, I thought that the Slytherins were the snarky, mean ones. Apparently we were all mistaken." Harry said, his smile growing.
"You're right. Look, we'd better be off to lessons, before any rumours start about us."
"Oh, yeah. I nearly forgot." Harry replied, his smile declining.
"Harry, try not to let it get to you. You've got Hermione in your lessons today, haven't you?" Harry nodded, "Well, then. She'll be there to help you through it. And I'm in double Potions at the end of the day. If anything gets to hard for you, write me a note, point your wand at it and say Permoveo Serpentia, tell the note to find me, and it will. You'll get through it, I promise."
Harry and Draco both stood up and made their way to the door. Harry stopped and turned to give Draco one last hug.
"Thank you, Draco. I'm so glad we worked things out."
"Hey, no problem. We're kinda in the same boat too, being outed like that."
"True. Speaking of that, how did Skeeter know?
"Beats me." Draco said as they opened the door and headed for their respective classrooms.
So… Do you remember the Buzzing that went on in the potions lesson? SKEETER!! In her animagus form :)
Thanks for reading && the second chapter should be up quite soon XD
Heven, SlytherinSceneKid, Katie-1369, Niccoyne12, Chibitachi-Chan, Sakikaiba, Slash Superqueen… Thanks For Reviewing!!!ii Also got some new people on alert… I'd love to hear what you think!!!
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