Chapter eight

The following morning, Harry and Draco kissed each other, than Harry stepped into the fireplace. A few seconds later, he stepped out in the atrium was surprised when he saw Kingsley, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Minerva all standing there along with two aurors.

'What are you all doing here?'

'Making sure you made it and if you were a minute late, the aurors were going in to find you,' Ron said.

'I'm fine, it was okay, so there's nothing to worry about.'

'All of us have been so worried Harry, wondering what he was doing to you, even with the contracts, we still wondered,' Neville said.

'Nothing happened, it was all good. I will tell you this though, he was going to just donate that money, but he thought everyone would think he was up to something or was after something. So when he heard about the auction, he decided to use it to give some money to the rebuilding effort.'

'He really treated you alright Harry?' Kingsley asked.

'Yes, he did, we mainly talked. Got a lot of old issues out in the open and worked them out.'

'I didn't think he would do anything Harry, but I was still worried,' Minerva gave him a smile.

'I'm sorry everyone worried, but I'm fine, just a bit tired.'

'Okay, well go home and I'll talk to you later, and thanks again for doing this Harry, it really helped.'

'I know and since you wouldn't allow me to give anymore, at least you got to sell me for the day.'

Harry watched the minister and his aurors walk away, the headmistress also left before the friends stepped back into the fireplace. They stepped out into the kitchen of the Burrow and Harry was instantly hugged by Mrs. Weasley.

Harry laughed, 'Sorry you all worried, but it was fine.'

'Harry seems fine, so everything must have went okay,' Hermione said but she gazed at Harry intensely.

'I'll be back in a minute, then tell you all about it,' Harry ran up the stairs with no intention of telling his friends everything, at least not yet. When Harry was finished in the bathroom he knew what he wanted to do and that was talk to Hermione and he could do that tonight while Ron was gone. It was his time to become owned, so it was the perfect time to speak with Hermione without the chance of Ron overhearing or asking what we were talking about. Harry knew Hermione would keep everything to herself. Harry walked down stairs just as Mrs. Weasley put cups of tea in front of everyone, then they all stared at Harry making him laugh, 'It was all good, really.'

'You're smiled and happy, did you hex him?' Ron asked hopefully.

'No, we talked and I mean we talked a lot. He's actually not a bad bloke and most of what you all saw over the years was because of his father. He said I could tell you all this, but his father was very abusive, so to stop that, he acted the part of a son of a death eater and even made everyone think he wanted to be a death eater. Oh we weren't at Malfoy Manor either, he must have bought himself another home. It was really nice, homey even. There were no dark objects, no books on the purity of blood, stuff like that, nothing like what I expected. This was how good he was, he has this indoor heated pool and we went for a swim, he even taught me a few things because I told him I wasn't very good.'

'Are you sure you're talking about the same Draco Malfoy Harry?' Neville asked.

'He might have used a potion or something on him, made Harry think everything was okay,' Ron said.

'No, you'll see for yourselves whenever you all see him again. He really is nothing like we all thought. At first he made me think I was going to be serving him, even made me wear a uniform, then he said we could talk and I was able to put my normal clothes back on. I thought he would have had a house full of staff and house elves, but he has one elf that he pays, I think Hermione got to him,' Harry grinned.

'He pays his house elf,' Ron said looking stunned.

'Yep, he's not free, even though Draco offered to set him free, but he begged not to. I asked Dibly about the money and he said he didn't want paying but Master Malfoy made him, so he gets ten galleons a week, but he puts it in a box and he's never touched it. He showed me and it was really full. They really do like that life and even though I agree with Hermione that no one should ever be a slave, if they are treated alright, it works and it's what they like and happy with, so leave it. He even said that none of you would believe me, I agreed with him and we're right, you don't believe it. But you know I don't lie to you, so trust me when I say he was good.'

Everyone around the table was still a bit sceptical, but they listened to Harry and they knew he wouldn't lie or stick up for someone if they didn't deserve it. So the conversation finally turned to Ron and what was going to happen when he spent the night and following day with an older couple.

Just before dinner, Ron kissed Hermione then left. Harry sat with Hermione while they had dinner and Harry kept the conversation away from Draco because he knew he wanted to talk to her about it later.

After dinner, Harry followed Hermione upstairs letting everyone think he was going to bed. But he stepped over to Hermione.

'Can we talk Hermione?'

'Yes and I was hoping we could,' Hermione took Harry's hand and they went into her room, closing the door behind them.

'Do you mind if we put a silencing charm around the room so no one can hear what we talk about?'

Hermione nodded but took her own wand and cast the charm, 'You were telling the truth, he never did anything, did he Harry?'

'No, it's fine. But when I was there I worked something out. Now can you promise not to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, not even Ron?'

'You know I will keep anything to myself Harry.'

'Alright, see,' Harry thought this would be easy but he was finding out it's not, 'This is really personal and hard to say.'

'Have you finally worked out your gay Harry?'

Harry whipped his head around, 'How in the name of merlin did you know especially when I didn't?'

'Harry, you know I kept an eye on you, mainly to make sure you didn't go off and do something stupid or rash. I would see you stare at him and it wasn't a look that you would give someone you were just watching, trying to work out what he was up too. It was the look someone would give if they were checking them out. I also noticed you would stare at some of the other boys. Why do you think I didn't side with Ginny about you two getting back together.'

'Blimey Hermione, why didn't you say something to me?'

'Think about it Harry, if I said you were gay, maybe you might have accepted that. But if I said you were attracted to Draco Malfoy, you would have dragged me up to the hospital wing thinking my brain was mush. You had so much on your mind, all to do with him so it was hard for you to think about your own personal life. I wanted to bring up the subject but so much was going on. So I thought if all that was over, then we could talk. The last few months have been relaxing and you needed that, no distractions and no serious discussions. Your mind and body needed to heal and to rest.'

Harry smiled then hugged his friend, 'Thanks Hermione, I can always count on you.'

'You should remember that because you can. Now I noticed your lips looked a bit puffed when you came home, like you'd been snogging. Tell me what happened?'

Harry smiled, 'Well yeah, we snogged a lot. He told me he'd like me since the second task during the triwizard, that's when he worked out he was gay. But his life, no, there was way he could say he had feelings for me. He thought I knew I was gay Hermione and that uniform he made me wear, merlin. It was a shirt that only just covered me. Then when I was massaging him, well he got turned on and so did I. From then on we talked but he said if he realised I didn't know he would have just talked to me. He did all this so we could get some time alone. So I got dressed and we talked, a lot. We really did get a lot of things out in the open. But Hermione, he let it slip he loves me. This is all new to me and I need time to get my head together. I know I like him, a lot, and he wants to go to the ball together, so what do I do?'

'It's three months away, see each other when you can and get to know each other as a dating couple. I think once you are comfortable with that, then you can admit your gay and who you're seeing. I even noticed the moment you stepped out of the fireplace how different you were, you looked happy Harry. Give everyone else a chance to see the difference. They don't notice things like I do because of how often I've watched you. Once they notice the difference, I think you'll be able to tell everyone you're gay and who you're with.'

Harry hugged his friend again. Hermione has been there for him for so long and she still was. Now Harry hoped everyone else would be okay with this news, not just that he was gay, but dating Draco Malfoy.