DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter. Just this story line.

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"WON-WON! WON-WON! Ohh, how is he? Is he okay? Has he been asking for me?"

Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes and Ginny and Hermione glared when Lavender Brown burst through the hospital wing doors. However, her demeanor changed when she noticed that Hermione was there.

"What is she doing here?!" she asked no one in particular – perhaps Harry and Ginny.

"I could ask the same question," Hermione retorted angrily.

"I happen to be his girlfriend!"

"And I happen to be his friend! Of six years! I would think I have priority over you!"

"Oh don't be stupid, you haven't spoken much in weeks. All I ever see you do is either argue or not speak at all! What kind of a friend is that?"

Hermione stood violently, dropping Ron's hand. Harry and Ginny, as well as Pomfrey, Snape, Slughorn, McGonagall, and Dumbledore, watched with interest. "There is more than one side to a fight! Just because you're in a relationship with your precious Won-Won doesn't mean he can do no wrong!"

Lavender was about to shout back at Hermione when Ron muttered something, and she gasped. "There, see? He senses my presence." Hermione sat back down and took Ron's hand in her own again – mostly to incense Lavender. Lavender placed a hand on his ankles, as they were all she could reach due to the people surrounding his bed. "It's alright, I'm here. I'm here."

"Er…mnee."

"What was that, darling?" Lavender crooned.

"Her… mi... one…"

Lavender took back her hand as if it had been burned. The shock was clearly written all over her face – her eyes were wide, her hand clutched her chest where her heart was, and her mouth was open like a fish.

Hermione grinned.

The blonde stood up straight and ran from the room, covering her face with her hands as her sobs echoed off the linoleum.

"Ah, to be young and feel love's keen sting," Dumbledore said.

Hermione turned her eyes back to Ron's face and her hand wrapped a bit tighter around his. "Shut up," She said to Harry when he sent a knowing grin at her. She beamed. Ginny smiled and got up with Harry to leave them alone.

"I saw you bump into Potter, earlier."

Draco sneered while keeping his eyes on his essay. He was lying on his stomach on his bed, which was across from Blaise's. "Yeah. That disgusting, lowlife halfblood was just being himself, as usual."

"I know."

"Good."

"No, I mean… I know. About you two."

Draco's head snapped up and his heart nearly stopped. "What are you talking about, Blaise?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I most certainly do not."

"Don't play games with me, Draco," the darker boy said in a sterner voice. "I'm your best friend, for Merlin's sake. Why can't you trust me with this?"

This made Draco feel extremely guilty, and he looked back down at his essay. "I do trust you," he said childishly.

"But you didn't tell me about you two at first, and you're denying it now." Contrary to his words, Blaise's voice was not accusatory. He wasn't truly angry, just a little hurt. "Draco, I understand why you didn't come to me about this, but I don't understand why you're denying it after I've figured it out."

"I'm sorry, okay? It's just… embarrassing!"

"Is it?" Now Blaise always had this way of being wise when you least expected it. He was a fun-loving eccentric guy, but every once in a while, he would turn serious on you and say something odd and helpful. "If it really was embarrassing, would you still be with him? Spend time with him? ... Kiss him?"

"How do you know about that?!"

"Forgive me… I followed you two weeks ago to make sure you were alright. I wasn't trying to spy on you – you got a note from one of the three white owls in the school so naturally, I was curious. I knew you were feeling down and I wanted to see if you were going to do some more work on the cabinet or go somewhere else to be alone. I followed you to the astronomy tower and I wanted to talk to you, but then I saw Potter there."

Draco's eyes scanned Blaise's for any deceit, but he found none. Only severe loyalty and worry. He knew that his friend only had his best interests at heart, and his happiness. He was truly a great friend. "How much did you see?"

"Not much. I left after you kissed him. But I am worried about you."

Draco's cheeks were burning, now. "Oh. Well… thanks, I guess. I'm fine. Really."

"I'll let that go, Draco. For now." Draco merely grunted. "What's the main ingredient for the mermaid transformation potion?"

"Skin cells from human legs."

"Ah, right. Should'a known that." After he wrote that down, he sighed. "I need to say something that's been eating away at me ever since I found out about you. I feel ashamed of myself, and guilty... Pansy and I were joking with you about being gay at that Gryffindor practice over a month ago, and you got so upset... we should have known, and we shouldn't have teased you about it. I'm sorry."

Draco shrugged. "Forget it. It's fine."

"Don't do that, it's not fine. I know you're not into expressing your emotions, but I know you. You were probably really confused and embarrassed about having feelings for him and I know our comments hurt you. So, I'm sorry."

"... Thanks."

Blaise knew that was all he would get from Draco, so he changed the subject. "So how long have you two been seeing each other?"

"Couple of weeks." Draco's face flushed. "Maybe… a month."

"If you don't mind me asking… how the hell did that happen? You've been enemies for years, and he almost killed you." Finally Blaise's eyes showed the old Blaise instead of the weird, wise one Draco found creepy and endearing at the same time.

"That was in October."

"Draco, that was the beginning of last month. Don't tell me you got together so soon after he almost killed you."

"Oh I don't know. When he cast that curse on me, he looked horrified at what he'd done. He tried to heal me, but all he knew was a flimsy, minor healer spell. I told him to fuck off but he didn't. I was losing blood fast and was in a lot of pain, so I told him to get Snape, and he did."

"Wow."

"That night, he came to see me under his invisibility cloak."

Blaise's eyes widened. "He went to visit you?"

"Yeah. I was asleep, so he woke me up – all just to give me some chocolate."

"Wow. That was… nice. Chocolate has healing powers. I suppose that's why he gave it to you – and to try to make up for what he did to you, I guess."

"That's what he said when he gave it to me. He seemed embarrassed to be there, waking me up to just give me chocolate, but… well, I dunno."

"You thought it was sweet."

Draco looked up at him and shrugged, not daring to answer Blaise's statement. He went back to his essay. "We bumped into each other a few days after that and were sent sprawling to the floor. I, ah, fell on top of him… you get the picture." Draco was blushing and he knew it, so he hid his face by faking concentration on his essay.

"Images, Draco!"

"Fuck off. You asked. HEY!"

Blaise had thrown a pillow at Draco. Draco looked up at his friend, scandalized, and Blaise, who was rolling around on his bed, was laughing hysterically and clutching his sides.

"You-you should see your face! Hahahahaha!"

Draco threw a quill at Blaise, but he ducked, still laughing. He grinned when the corners of Draco's mouth twitched. "Anyway, we, ah, kind of realized that we were attracted to each other… must I continue with this? We're guys. We aren't suited for girl talk."

Blaise was grinning from ear to ear, and Draco's face was as red as a tomato. "Fine, fine. I get it. You're in love."

"WHAT?! I am – what are you – I AM NOT IN LOVE!" he roared. "WHY are you laughing?!"

"Because you're so blind, you can't even see it."

"It's impossible to fall in love that quickly, you fool!"

"No it's not, but, well then, you're falling at least."

"I AM NOT!"

"Okay." Blaise obviously didn't believe him. Draco grumbled something about idiot friends and their idiotic meddling and idiotic ideas.

Blaise threw another pillow at him. "Dude!" But Draco cracked a smile. Blaise was laughing hysterically again. "Anyway," the blonde began, "back to more serious matters… in the hospital wing… I… think he saw my arm."

Blaise sobered. "Why?"

"My sleeve was pushed up when I woke up so I assume he saw it. I dunno… he hasn't said anything about it, so…"

"Maybe he didn't see it," Blaise finished.

"I hope not."

"You do realize that if this… whatever you two have, gets serious, he'll eventually find out."

"I can hide them. With charms and such."

"And when he does find out, he'll feel betrayed because you never told him about it."

"What am I supposed to do? Pull up my sleeve and say, 'Hey Potter, look at me. I cut and I'm emo. Oh and look! I also have the dark mark.'"

"First of all, you're not emo, Draco, and stop being a pompous ass. You're dealing with something very serious and it's weighing on you. That would cause anyone to snap, and you needed an outlet. That doesn't make you emo. Trying to show everyone your arm would be emo. Secondly, it is a temporary, initiate dark mark, not a real one, and it was forced on you. Thirdly, you should be calling him Harry, not Potter. Doesn't he get upset about that? I would if my girlfriend called me Zabini."

"I do call him Harry. Sometimes."

"Whatever you say. Anyway, I dunno how you should let him know, but eventually, he is going to find out if he doesn't already know. I just don't think you should hide it with magic. Let him see. By accident. You don't have to outright show him, but don't try to hide it too much, either. I mean… eventually, you two are going to do stuff that requires shirts to be taken off."

"No." Blaise's eyes widened. "No, Blaise. It's not just the cuts, it's the dark mark!"

"Well, I think you should tell him about that, too."

"WHAT?! Are you nuts?"

"I think you should trust him, Draco. If you want to be freed of this, he's your only hope. Potter is your only way out."

"There you go spouting nonsense wisdom, again except this time, it doesn't make sense! You know what'll happen if I fail! He will kill me and my parents!"

"He won't kill you because you'll be under the protection of the Order of the Phoenix," Blaise said matter-of-factly. "I'm sure Dumbledore will give you and your parents a place to stay, whether it be headquarters or with the Weasleys – somewhere. Please, just think about it. Promise me you'll at least think about it."

"… Maybe."

Well, it was a start.

The next day, Ron was released from the hospital wing. It was dinner time, so he, Harry, Ginny, and Hermione were at the Gryffindor table. Ron gulped every time he looked over at Lavender, who was sitting with Padma at the next table over.

"She's scary when she's all over you," he said, "but she's even scarier when she's digging a fork into the table and glaring at you."

"So stop looking at her!" Hermione said.

"It's kinda hard not to – she's right in my line of vision."

Hermione, who had her back to Lavender, scooted to the left so that she was now blocking Lavender from Ron's view.

"Thanks," he said. "Why is she angry, again?"

"You really don't remember?" Hermione asked exasperatedly.

"No…"

"You don't remember anything you might have said yesterday when we were around you in the hospital wing? Anything at all?"

"Well… maybe something… but I was too boggled to really be thinking, right?"

Hermione looked down. "Right… boggled."

Ginny rolled her eyes – leave it to her brother to ruin Hermione's happiness without even knowing it. "You said her name in your medically induced state, moron," she told him.

"Huh? Lavender's?"

"No! Hermione's!"

Hermione looked scandalized; she had not expected Ginny to say that.

Ron turned beet red all the way to his ears. "I… I did? Oh… no wonder she's so mad at me… well, I guess it's over between us… man I'm glad for that… yeah…"

They ate in relative silence, none of them really having much to say. When Hermione and Ron were finished, they stood as their plates vanished. "We'll see you in a few, Harry, Ginny," Hermione said. Ron just waved, as he still had food in his mouth.

"See you," Harry and Ginny said. Harry glanced over at Ginny for about the fiftieth time that day since she saw him kissing Draco. She was currently drinking her juice, and when she opened her eyes, she caught him staring at her but he looked away.

"What?"

"Hm? Nothing."

"Harry, you were just staring at me, and you have been all through dinner. What is it?"

Harry looked at her again, trying to figure out what to say. "You're… not going to ask questions?"

"About what?"

He gave her a pointed look. "You know what."

She looked around her and decided that this was not the right place to have this conversation, so she got up and, with Harry in tow, left the Great Hall. They did not notice when a blonde got up and discretely followed them.

"Harry, I'm glad you found someone, no matter who it is. Well, if it was Voldemort, I'd be a little concerned."

Harry choked as he laughed. He loved that he was able to joke with her like this, especially after the ordeal she went through in her first year with said dark lord. "Well, Tom Riddle was pretty handsome when he was younger. OW!" Ginny smacked his arm, and they started laughing all over again.

"Anyway, back to matters that do not involve sticking images in Ginny's head about you and Riddle…" Harry snorted. "I've noticed a change in you, and I couldn't figure out why you got happier and more energetic all of a sudden. Now I know."

"But it's Draco Malfoy. He's terrorized us since my first year, and his father gave you that diary. Don't you have any objections?"

Draco winced, even though he knew Harry was only digging at Ginny to see if she really had any doubts.

"That was his father's doing, Harry. Not his," she said softly. "And has he done anything this year, really? If you've noticed, he's laid off us. I've noticed that he looks a little down, sometimes… like something's going on in his life that made him grow up. I dunno. But that's his business. Anyway, I'm fine with it, okay? I know what you're doing. Stop. I have no problem with this, just as long as he doesn't hurt you."

Harry filled with love and devotion for the girl, as well as confusion as to how anyone could be such a good friend. "Why are you so accepting of it?"

"Because he clearly makes you happy, and there is obviously something good about him because it caught your interest. He must be good, or he wouldn't have changed your heart so drastically. And that's good enough for me."

They stopped walking and he turned to her. "Thanks, Gin. For not judging me, and for keeping our secret." Harry blushed lightly. "For, uh…"

"For what?"

"For... you know..."

"Pulling that little stunt in the hallway, is what I think he's trying to say," came Draco's voice from behind them. They jumped and spun around. He was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed loosely over his chest.

"Oh, well I wasn't going to let Ron and Hermione catch you in the act. Can you imagine how that would've gone?" Ginny asked, looking at Harry, who shuddered. "And you!" She pointed at Draco. "Don't go sneaking up on people like that! You scared the begeeses out of me!"

Draco snorted. "Well, it's what I specialize in. Anyway, you didn't give me time to thank you, Weaslette, before threatening my family jewels and running off."

"Hm. Just find a room next time. I don't want to have to gouge my eyes out again." Draco and Harry chuckled. "Ohmigosh! You actually laughed! I didn't think you were capable of that," she said, pointing at Draco.

"I tend to do it, sometimes. It's quite rare. You're lucky to have seen it."

"Pompous ass," she mumbled.

Draco looked at her with an eyebrow raised. "Do you hang out with Blaise Zabini, by any chance?"

"Huh? No, why?"

"Nothing. You two would get along quite well. You have the same thought process, at any rate… anyway, see you, Weaslette. Harry."

As he walked away, Harry smiled; Draco had used his name in front of Ginny.

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I enjoyed writing it. :) Please review! I haven't gotten any for the last few chapters and it has made me sad! lol Thank you for the many favorites and follows, though! I appreciate it!