Chapter XV

Relationships and Ridicule

Harry woke up in a bed what felt like hours later. He was in his room at Grimmauld, and as he put his glasses on, he saw that Sirius was waiting for him with a plate of food. "The Weasleys left for St. Mungo's and came back already. Tonks wanted to wake you up, but the twins were very adamant that you slept. Sorry, if you wanted to see Arthur, but he's doing fine from what I heard," he said.

"Thanks," Harry said. He slipped out of bed and towards the small table with the food. Sirius watched him for a few minutes as he ate. "You know, Molly does not blame you," he said. "She's very thankful, we all are."

Harry just hummed as he ate, not sure what to say. "I've also been made aware that Kreacher left the house. Do you know why?" Sirius asked.

Harry's stomach fell. "I just wanted to send a letter to Draco," he said softly. "Tell him that I was okay because of how I woke up and left."

"Right that Malfoy brat," Sirius said, "I'm sorry to pry but, are you close with him? Ron's been yelling—well, everyone is yelling, and both his name and yours have been mentioned."

Harry's cheeks turned red. He suddenly lost his appetite as he quickly looked at the door, suddenly afraid to leave the room. "What did he say?"

"Harry… I'm not angry, you know that I'll accept it, but I would rather hear it from you than from Ron and Ginny yelling," Sirius said, offering an encouraging smile.

Harry nodded and his blush deepened. "It's new," he muttered, "We kissed at our first Quidditch game but… we didn't really talk about it until today."

"I see, that's very new then," Sirius muttered. "Well, I'm sure he will understand."

Harry nodded and said, "There's more actually. Draco invited me to go to his house for a Christmas party, and I said yes."

"Harry—"

"I'll be back before midnight I promise! I don't know how long it'll be but I'll be fine, I swear!" Harry said quickly.

Sirius sighed with a deep frown. "Harry," he started again, "You need to remember where you are! This isn't just my mother's home, and regrettably mine, but the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix! Dumbledore will not be wanting you to go anywhere, especially to a house where potential Death Eaters are going to be."

"I don't care, I'll sneak out if I have to," Harry said feverishly. "Please Sirius! I promise I'll explain everywhere after! I promised I'll be there and not everything is as it seems!"

Sirius still did not look convinced. He frowned heavily and looked around Harry's room. "This is a dangerous time Harry," he said. "Even if your friend's parents aren't actually death eaters—even if Lucius was telling the truth and everything he had done was under the Imperius Curse, you need to understand that there will always be that chance that we're wrong. That chance that someone will be there to harm you, or attempt to harm you. Personally, I would rather you not take that chance."

"But I will!" Harry fired back. "You know me, Sirius. I promised that I would go. Look, you may not believe me but from what I've heard, from what I hope to see—we've been getting it all wrong. Mr. Malfoy hates the Ministry almost as much as we do! At the party, he is going to free all of his house elves and hire them! Giving them actual wages!"

"As if!" Sirius said, scoffing at the idea.

"That's what I thought too, but Draco invited me to prove me wrong," Harry said. "Fred and George are nice, but I want to spend the holidays with my friends. Please. I'll be back before midnight before anyone realize I'm gone."

Sirius sighed and shook his head, "Fine," he said. "I'll help you." He smiled and gave a soft chuckle. "You know, this actually reminded me of something. I used to help your dad sneak out all the time when we were younger."

"You did?" Harry asked, his mood peaking at Sirius's help along with this new tidbit about his dad.

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, It's fuzzy but I remember helping James sneak out to see James almost nightly. Of course, this was before I moved out of this personal hell hole. Things became rather harder then, but I did my bit as a best friend does."

"Err, you said my dad's name twice," Harry pointed out.

"I did? My bad, head must be fuzzier than I realize," Sirius muttered. "Don't tell Remus, he's thinking I'm getting a severe cold or insanity from being cooped up here all the time."

"No worries," Harry promised. He returned to finish the food in front of him before insisting that he would bring his dishes down himself. Sirius followed, worried that he would drop something, and the two walked into the basement kitchen where Mrs. Weasley was waiting, along with a smug-looking Ron and Ginny. Mrs. Weasley stared disappointedly at Harry, her hands on her hips, as Harry brought the dishes in and placed them in the sink. "Thank you for the food, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said politely, turning to her.

"You are welcome, Harry, now tell me what exactly were you thinking?" she demanded.

"Err, I'm sorry?" Harry said and Ron and Ginny snickered behind him.

He turned to glare at them before turning to Mrs. Weasley, "What did they tell you?"

"Only that the moment you've been resorted, which you did not tell any of us I should mention, you have begun to bully Ron and Ginny with the rest of your new 'friends!'" Mrs. Weasley said. "Honestly after everything we've done for you, I am truly disappointed, Harry!"

"That's not the truth, that didn't happen at all!" Harry began to say but Mrs. Weasley talked over him.

"And now you're calling them liars!? This is an absolute outrage! Ron is your best friend and you let a housemate punch him!? And Ginny! She told me how you've led her on for years Harry while you were having other relationships! Have you no shame!?" Mrs. Weasley demanded.

"You do not talk to Harry like that, Molly, he is not your son!" Sirius warned.

"He's as good as and I am furious and disappointed in his behavior!" Mrs. Weasley yelled at Sirius before turning back to Harry. "Do you have anything to say for yourself young man?"

"I have not bullied either of them! Ron's the one who bullied me!" Harry yelled. "He's the one who outed me in front of everyone and suggested that I killed Cedric when he knows for a fact that it was Voldemort!" The adults both flinched at Voldemort's name.

"Is that true?" Mrs. Weasley said, turning to Ron. "Did you do that!? Ginny's letters did not mention any of this, Ronald Weasley!"

"He's changed! He can't be gay!" Ginny said quickly, "He never once looked at Diggory last year Mum! He made the whole thing up and those Slytherins pushed him to think he's gay!"

"I am gay!" Harry yelled at Ginny. "I am gay, and you hate me for it! You and Ron and Hermione! I told you all and you rejected me!"

"Then how come you were never seen with Diggory!?" Ginny demanded. "Why didn't you go to the ball together or—or why was his girlfriend Cho his victim in the second task last year?"

"Because we were both competing and in the closet, you nit!" Harry said angrily.

"Don't talk to Ginny like that, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley yelled but Harry ignored her.

"We were closeted! We wanted to wait until Cedric graduated! His dad hates people like us! If you haven't noticed, we are blamed for everything and are constantly abused! Why do you think Charlie never visits? Eh?"

"Harry really!" Mrs. Weasley said, "That's enough—"

"No it's not enough," Harry said. "The one time I saw Charlie, the one summer he actually came to visit and all you nagged on to him about is when he will drop his fancy and get a girlfriend! How do you think that made him feel, eh? I ran into him in his room crying! He told me everything! About how every time he tries to visit, you and Mr. Weasley keep asking if he is done with his gayness and have a girlfriend and he is left feeling unappreciated. He was the one who I came out to first, he was the one who helped me understand my feelings and I understood quickly how afraid he was to tell you two and how hurt he was with everything you and Mr. Weasley do to ignore who he is! Ron outed me in front of everyone. He tried to attack me—he did attack me right here! All because I'm different from him. If you don't think—"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, her face completely red. "I WILL NOT ACCEPT YOU TALKING TO ME IN THAT TONE HARRY! APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY—"

"DO NOT YELL AT HARRY LIKE THAT MOLLY!" Sirius roared. "THIS IS MY HOUSE AND I WILL NOT ALLOW—"

"THIS IS THE HEADQUARTERS FOR THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX AND HE IS MORE MY SON THAN YOURS—"

"Look at what you started, faggot," Ron sneered, looking too smug for his breeches as the two adults yelled at each other.

"Don't call me that," Harry growled out.

"What are you going to do?" Ron laughed, standing at his full length. "Punch me?"

Harry had his wand out in a second, jabbing it in Ron's throat. "One reason," Harry growled out. "Just give me one reason, Ron."

"You've changed," Ginny said coldly. "Our Harry would never act like you."

"I was never yours, Ginny, and I never will be," Harry said. "Get it through your thick, apparently useless, skull: I will never like you."

Ginny took out her wand and Harry was a second too slow before he was hit by her spell. His nose flared with pain as large black bats ripped themselves out of his nostrils, their wings slimy and making gross wet flapping sounds. Ginny and Ron laughed as Harry tried to hold his nose, the newly transformed bat boogers scratching at his fingers with miniature claws. "Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, "You are not allowed to use magic outside of school!" However, she did nothing to help Harry.

Sirius quickly cast the counter hex and Harry's nose still flared in pain, but it didn't feel as though it was being carved by bats trying to escape. Ron and Ginny continued to laugh, "That's what you get, you filthy faggot Slytherin!" Ron laughed.

"Ron!" Sirius yelled angrily but Harry didn't hear the rest. He sprinted away, crying as Ron and Ginny's laughter filled his ears. He found himself in the twins' room, barely noticing that they had their beds pushed together and they were both lounging on them.

"What happened?" Fred asked immediately as George got up to close the door. Fred brought Harry to the joint bed and grimaced at the state of his nose. "Did Ginny do this?" he asked.

Harry nodded and wiped his eyes, "I shouldn't have cried," He muttered to himself.

"It's okay," George said, sitting at Harry's other side. "It's okay, little brother. Can you tell us what happened? Was it Ron and Ginny?"

"And your mum," Harry muttered. "Ron and Ginny told her that I'm this horrible, evil wizard who pulled everyone along, especially Ginny. We argued, and I blew up and mentioned Charlie and how it was all her and your dad's fault he doesn't visit. Mrs. Weasley and Sirius got into an argument over that while Ron called me a faggot. I was so angry, I had my wand right against his throat and that was when Ginny did this," Harry said, gesturing towards his nose.

The twins hugged Harry close, and Harry couldn't help but find it both comforting and a little funny that this was the second time in what felt like less than two days he found himself squished between the twins. "We're sorry," Fred murmured softly.

"You're so much more amazing than anything they say. Don't listen to them Harry," George whispered. The two held Harry until he had calmed down. They separated but stayed on the bed. The two twins looked at each other as if having a secret conversation, before nodding. "In fact, there's something that Fred and I've been meaning to tell you, Harry."

"What is it?" Harry asked, looking between the two.

"We don't think we're going to finish this year, we've been thinking of just dropping out," George started, "to open our own store and focus on our tricks and stuff full time."

"We already found a building with a loft too. When we move out, George and I don't think we'll ever see our parents again," Fred said, looking saddened. "We love them, don't get us wrong but I don't think they'll ever accept us, especially if they don't accept Charlie."

"You both like boys?" Harry whispered.

"Yeah," George said, "but there's more to it." He moved his hand to hold Fred's and the twins stared at Harry. Harry got up and looked at them for a moment, the wheels in his mind grinding until realization finally popped. He quickly hugged them both, shocking the twins. "You don't care?" George asked.

"As long as the two of you are happy? No," Harry said. "Just put my money into good use and make it the best joke shop the wizarding world has ever seen!"

"Of course, we will, who do you think you're talking to?" Fred said, smirking. "Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes will be an international name before you graduate Harry, just you wait!"

Draco was feeling incredibly nervous. But nervousness was the normal reaction one would have when they were facing the Dark Lord. He was with Blaise and Theo, the two boys visiting Draco when the two were summoned by the Dark Lord to one of the Malfoy studies on the first day of break. The three boys were sitting close together on a long sofa while the Dark Lord was sitting across from them.

He was very different from what Draco imagined based on the horror stories and tabloids he had read and heard. He looked to be in his forties with raven-black hair that was very neat and tidy. He had no wrinkles on his smooth pale skin, he looked perfectly human really except for his eyes. They were red eyes.

Red eyes that were currently staring at Draco, and the blond felt as though he was staring directly at his soul. "I was informed that the preparations are going smoothly for Yule," the Dark Lord said, his voice deep and calm, almost charismatically charming.

"Yes my lord," Draco said, doing his best to stay calm in front of him. "My mother is keeping the house elves on schedule while father is talking with the Daily Prophet to have them report his announcement."

"Good, then I will be at my usual spot until they are gone," the Dark Lord said.

"My lord, err, sir," Blaise said, those eerie red eyes moving to him. "I've invited my uh boyfriend to the event."

"I am guessing it is who your boyfriend is that might cause a problem," the Dark Lord said.

"Yes sir, it is Neville Longbottom," Blaise said. "He's been resorted into Hufflepuff and—"

"Enough," the Dark Lord said, raising his hand. "He is welcomed. And you, Malfoy?" he turned to Draco.

Draco's cheeks turned red if only for a moment before he cleared his throat, "I am bringing Harry Potter to the party as both my guest and boyfriend, my lord."

"Potter? How did this come about?" the Dark Lord asked, "you do know that he is my enemy?"

"Yes, sir, however, I do not think he wishes to be part of this fight, at least not against you," Draco said, already having his argument mentally ready. "He has been resorted into Slytherin and has already become integrated into our group very well, both my friends' group as well as Slytherin as a whole. He has shown a great hatred for the Ministry and a growing distrust of Dumbledore. On top of that, he has taken to training his fellow Slytherins in the Chamber of Secrets, both of us finding Slytherin's study in the Chamber and its secret passage to the common room. He is training us in order to protect ourselves, stating that he did not care for what we or our parents believed in, he only wanted us safe. I truly believe that he does not want to be whatever Dumbledore wants him to be and is fully ready to accept our ideals. Yule will be the perfect time to fully integrate him and have him help our cause and bring about the great change that all of us, both him and you including, my lord, long for."

The Dark Lord stared at Draco amused, a small smirk playing on his lips. "All of this to tell me that Potter will be at your party? I am impressed Draco, not for your speech, but that you were able to steal the boy from Dumbledore."

"Harry is right where he is supposed to be," Draco said. "He is smarter and more open than we realized. Also, it turns out that we know nothing about how he was actually raised."

"Is that so?" the Dark Lord said thoughtfully. "I see, then I will have to go tell my husband." He stood up and dismissed the three teens. The three left the room, breathing a sigh of relief. Even if they were supporting the Dark Lord, Draco couldn't help but admit his presence was powerful and it would make anyone nervous. How Harry was able to stand up against him time and time again was a mystery.

"At least he knows now," Theo said. "So it won't be too awkward if he and Harry run into each other."

"Yeah, I only wish I can warn Harry before time," Draco said. "I think I have a good idea where he is. He's being held hostage along with his Godfather by the Weasleys and Dumbledore. They will not want him to go anywhere."

"How can you tell?" Theo asked.

"The house-elf who gave me the letter was the Black's," Draco explained. "You remember my mother used to be one before she got married. I remember because they had this disgusting ritual of beheading their house-elves when they died and stuffing the heads to hang up. My mother brought me a few times to visit them to visit her aunt, Sirius Black's mother. She was a rather horrid woman."

"Oh fun," Blaise drawled. "So Harry will have to escape a creepy home filled with Weasleys to come to our party? And here I thought meeting Neville's grandmother was going to be nerve-wracking."

"He'll find a way," Theo said casually. "Even before he got in the right house, Potter always had a slippery quality about him. I'm sure he will figure something out by himself. If not, then we can always try asking the Dark Lord to kidnap him."

"Harry will not like that at all," Draco said, frowning, but he believed in his Harry. Though skinnier and smaller than most boys his age, that only allowed Harry to be just as slippery and elusive as Theo claimed. Draco wouldn't be surprised if, on the day of the party, Harry would be the first to arrive, smirking knowingly at Draco before kissing his lips in front of everyone.

Oh, that was a scene Draco couldn't wait to experience.

Harry was in his room knelt over his trunk. It was night, approximately two days before Draco's party, and he needed to plan. He already had Sirius agree to be the distraction. He would keep the Weasleys, and if needed any Order members in the house, busy while Harry left for Malfoy Manor. Harry first thought about using the Floo Network, which Sirius gave him a warning which helped Harry focus his plan. "For security's sake, Dumbledore has most of the fireplaces watched by Order members."

"Most?" Harry asked. "Why most?"

"Oh there's this one in my old mother's room that nobody can get into," Sirius said airily. "Her room is magically locked and nobody can find the key, and any attempt at unlocking the door by magic has proven unsuccessful. So we figured that it will not be needed to keep a constant watch on them."

"Then I'll use that fireplace," Harry said.

"And how will you get in?"

"I'll find a way," Harry said, which was what he was doing now as he emptied his trunk. He separated his clothes and books to the side and was looking at his gifts from the years. There was his Cloak, obviously, however, he did not see how turning invisible would help him get into the room. Aside from that, Harry had his wand and a penknife from Sirius. He picked up the knife and twirled it in his hand before he gasped. This knife could break through any lock! Both regular and magical! Sirius gave it to him for Christmas last year and Harry never thought to use it for some reason. "Why don't I carry this on me all the time?" he wondered as he pocketed it. This would work perfectly. He would just use the knife to get through the lock and sneak into the bedroom.

With this in the plan, Harry took his Invisibility cloak and put it on, needing to get one more thing. The Order kept all of the house's floo powder locked in a cupboard in one of the long rooms they've cleaned during the summer. The cupboard was usually under enchantments that only Order members could break, but Harry figured with his penknife he could easily slip through it and get the powder he needed.

He hoped that Mad-Eye Moody wasn't inside as he made his way to the room, slipping through the Weasleys as he did so. He saw Ginny and Ron and snickered silently when he used his magic to trip them, both of them left looking confused on the floor. Harry slipped into the room with the cupboard, which was thankfully empty. He made his way to it and pulled out the penknife. Harry slid the knife into the edges of the cupboard and heard a small metallic click. The cupboard swung open easily and Harry grinned as he pulled out a very small leather pouch, filling it with floo powder from the large tin inside it. He closed the cupboard, slid his knife around it again until he heard it locked, and returned to his room.

With everything in place, Harry felt much more confident in his plan. All he had to do was wait.