Harry watches his every step the next days. He tries to busy himself with things to do on campus, but he was never as invested in this as Hermione used to be, who found a way to sneak him small notes, much like texts, through caterpillars every day.
Alternately, Harry would love to spend his days at home getting to know the others better, Nate seems like a decent guy to him, maybe a bit absorbed in his mind, and he genuinely longs to have a proper conversation with Cora, but he can't stay in the same room as Malfoy longer than five minutes without the situation getting awkward.
One time he wants to go to Cora's room, but overhears her discussing relationship problems with Malfoy in there, and stops right at the door.
If there was anybody but Malfoy sitting in there, he might go inside and offer his help. He doesn't consider himself an expert in relationships, he ended his only functioning one with Ginny when he went to America, and discovered it to be for the best.
He was not that surprised when he was chatted up in a bar in Boston by a guy, and went home with him. The newfound freedom far away from his friends and usual boundaries gave him the opportunity to discover this part of himself, and when he came back to England, he felt comfortable enough with himself, to tell Ginny that there had been others, and not only women, and that maybe it was for the best if she stayed with Dean Thomas. So he knows heartbreak and how to deal with it, but he can't help Cora with Malfoy sitting next to her, holding her hand disguised as a guy called 'Luke' and looking at him in disgust.
So the weeks crawl by and they fall in a routine. Harry gets up in the morning to make coffee for himself and Malfoy, while Laura prepares porridge for everyone, they have a quick breakfast together and bicker about who has to do the dishes or clean the bathroom.
Cora usually gets Nate, who tends to be the biggest slob of them, to do one of the nastier tasks, which has led to him getting up even later, so that it's mostly the four of them sitting together in the morning.
"Can you take care of this, Potter?", Malfoy asks one morning as Cora takes out the cleaning list once again and gestures towards the trash cans while sipping his coffee.
"Really now? We've been living together for like three weeks, why do you still call each other by your last name? Is it some kind of fetish or what?", Laura sighs and shakes her head.
Harry startles mid-breath and looks at Malfoy. He has never noticed the name calling, because it's just natural to call him by... his name, well.
"Old habits.", he mumbles, not sure in which direction the excuse is going to go – it's about time the others suspect something, what with them dancing around each other like they were stepping on hot stones.
"So you two do know each other, then?", Cora asks with a sudden interest.
Let me handle it, Harry hears Malfoy in his head and immediately closes his mouth before he can answer.
"Yeah, we went to the same school.", Malfoy admits, "Shared some classes, but I never knew he was coming here."
"Neither did I.", Harry adds with a sheepish smile and gets a small glare from Malfoy. He stops smiling and looks down. They can't cock this up.
"Didn't you go to this preppy boarding school?", Cora asks, "Something like... What was it called again?"
"Err.", Draco falters. Harry sees the small flicker of panic he is so accustomed to flash in Draco's eyes, that unsettling moment when you need an elaborate lie but also have to answer quickly passing before them.
"Smeltings Academy for Boys", Harry supplies, Malfoy's glare a bit wearier now, a mix of thankful disappointment. "Had the most horrible school uniform, but we did learn some things that come handy in everyday life."
A secret smile steals across his and Malfoy's face as they both simultaneously touch the wands hidden under their sleeves, neither of them noticing the other doing the same.
"Oh dear, that must've been hard for you.", Cora says and looks at Malfoy with compassion. "An all boys school? But you weren't bullied, were you?"
Harry frowns at her in confusion. "Why would anyone bully him?"
Now it's Cora's turn to look at him in bewilderment, then back at Malfoy, who gives Harry the most desperate gaze, sighs so deeply he shutters a little and looks like he wants to drown himself in his coffee. Harry has no clue what's going on. Neither does Laura.
"Oh my god, they didn't know? You lived in denial for the better part of your life?", Cora finally gasps and puts a comforting hand on Malfoy's back.
Harry believes to hear Malfoy mutter something like: "So not ready for this at this time of day." and asks: "Didn't know what?"
Malfoy looks up at him from his coffee cup, his whole hunched posture screaming defeat. Harry just fails to estimate what for, Cora can't possibly refer to his past as a Death Eater. She bites her lip and after a quick check-up glance to Malfoy tells Harry straight forward and with a sense of defense as if Harry is going to attack them: "Luke is gay. And he's out for a while, so I hope you won't start giving him a hard time now."
Harry's eyes widen. The thought of Malfoy being gay is not that hard to progress, there have been... signs, after all, but why does Cora think he would ever give him a hard time for that?
"What!?", he finally asks when he can blink again.
"Yeah, Potter, go on, all the jokes you always wanted to-", Malfoy starts until he is interrupted by Harry: "No, nono, I don't, I mean no, whatever, why would I even care about this, but... Why in the seven hells would you assume I'd bully you for that?"
That they both think so little of him sets a little pitch of rage burning in his guts.
Cora has the notion to look a little bit embarrassed while Malfoy simply blinks at him in amazement, not saying anything.
Harry's brows are still furrowed.
"Sorry, Harry", Cora finally says, now gnawing away at her lip as if it was a chicken wing, "It's just... Well, when I first met you, I really thought the two of you had something going on a while back and just didn't want to draw us into the whole 'living with the ex' business."
She chuckles as Harry and Draco both turn to her with equally horrified expressions on their faces, and shrugs. "You know what they say about those preppy places with hormone-high teenagers."
Malfoy purses his lip in distaste – or at an unwelcome memory, Harry doesn't really want to know what the Slytherins got up to in their common room, and quickly shakes his head at the thought.
Then he imagines what Ron's face would've looked like if he had started dating Draco Malfoy in sixth year instead of Ginny and has to laugh.
"What's so funny?", Malfoy asks with a small scowl.
"Sorry, Malfoy, not for nothing, but the idea of us dating in school is rather funny.", Harry adds and has to laugh a bit more when he sees the images now forming in Malfoy's head until he is laughing as well.
Cora smiles at them proudly as if they were fighting children in a school class she has to teach, who have finally agreed on letting it go.
"But just for checkers: Are you gay?"
Nobody had anticipated Laura's question to Harry, so they all stop in their tracks and look at her with big eyes. Then Harry can feel the sudden shift of interest as all eyes turn to him and he actually blushes. He clears his throat and scratches his temples beneath his glasses.
"Uhm, I wouldn't... I wouldn't call it gay.", he decides to say finally. Because, well, if Malfoy can come clean with who he is in the muggle world, then he can more than ever. "But from experience I'd say there's definitely something to the male gender."
He looks down to where he is playing with his coffee cup, only hearing Cora's small giggle and the whispered "called it!" to Laura under her breath.
When he looks up, Malfoy's nose is scrunched and his eyes are widened. "If you mean the Weasel by 'from experience', I think I will actually have to obliv- brainwash myself from the images of that. Please tell me you don't."
Harry laughs at him and shakes his head. "God no, never with Ron."
Malfoy's sigh of relief comes naturally, like they have actually been friends since forever and it's just a typical overdramatic thing to do upon such a revelation. Which, if Harry comes to think of it, he would never ever have expected from college life. Not like this.
Cora has sensed the shift in Harry's and Draco's attitude towards each other as well and asks: "So, for the sake of our friendship and all, could you both please start calling each other by your first names?" while comically blinking at them with her long lashes.
"Sure.", Harry says, "Luke." and adds as an afterthought just for Draco: Please set this right some time, yeah?
I will. "Harry."
They shake hands while pinning each other down with still playfully challenging gazes, which seems too formal and out of place at a breakfast table, but has a hidden meaning just for the two of them that Laura and Cora will never be able to grasp.
Laura slurps the rest of her morning milkshake with a lot of noise, before clearing her throat and asking: "Yeah, well, now that that's settled, we still need someone to take out the litter."
And that's when Nate enters the kitchen.
Sorry guys, I hate those Coming Out Scenes as well, but I think I managed to finally give them something to bond over.
More drama next time! xxx