Bleed Me An Ocean

A/N: For those of you who may be checking back to see if I added anything to this chapter - I did. It still doesn't totally suit me, but it's somewhat better than it was. Maybe some smut in the next chapter will make up for my lapse on this one. Who knows what may happen?


"Finally! It's Friday!," Harry exclaimed as he and Draco made their way back from Potions.

"What's so great about Friday?," Draco asked, preoccupied at the moment with the nagging little voice that kept telling him he needed to get out of the castle with Harry for a while before they both went stir crazy. All they did was homework, eat occasionally, and drink, of course. Well, there was the sex too, that was always a good thing. But still, he knew they needed to get away. Harry looked borderline haggard, he hadn't been sleeping well and he'd been increasingly short tempered ever since the incident on the Quidditch pitch Wednesday.

"Because Friday means no classes for two whole days and that means I get to keep you all to myself," Harry said, a naughty smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

"I see," Draco responded, his own mouth curling into a reciprocal grin.

Both having opted to drink their lunch that day, they made their somewhat unsteady way down the corridor that led to their room when a feminine voice spoke from behind them,"Harry! Harry wait up!"

They both turned to see Hermione walking towards them, her face anxious but determined. Harry pulled Draco close when he felt him go rigid beside him. Trying to compose his face into a mask of indifference, he looked at her with what he hoped passed for mild disinterest. "What do you want?," he inquired, bracing himself for the worst from the girl.

She reached them and stood quietly, shuffling from foot to foot before blurting out,"I miss you, Harry. I miss my friend."

Draco and Harry both gawked at her and her outburst. She looked to be on the verge of tears, but she collected herself quickly and carried on,"I am so sorry for the way I treated you, ignoring you like that. Professor McGonagall and what she said to us that night in the dining hall really made me think . . . but Harry . . . this is so hard to accept. Wait, let me finish," she rushed on when Harry's eyes narrowed in anger at her last statement, although he couldn't help but wonder what McGonagall had said to her house that night,"I have been watching you two together, trying to understand and even though I don't . . . I see that you are really happy together. I've thought about it a lot, and I realize that's what matters. I think. And . . . well . . . there was and is no excuse for Ron's behavior and all I can do is tell you BOTH how sorry I am. I remember what you said to me in the dungeons that day, Harry, about how the Draco I know isn't really who he is, or ever was. So, if you will forgive me, I would like to be friends again with you . . . and get to know the Draco you seem to love so much."

She was breathless when she finished, standing before the two young men. Harry finally gathered his wits enough to speak and asked her,"Why this sudden change?"

"It really wasn't sudden, I have been thinking about it for some time now. I just needed to work up my nerve . . . and I thought I had when I saw you on the stairs Wednesday, but I couldn't speak. I don't know why, but I couldn't. Yet, when you screamed at me as I was walking away, the hurt and anger in your voice made up my mind for me. I simply couldn't ignore the suffering in it and as Professor McGonagall said, you have never been anything but a friend to us and we all betrayed you," she replied, her voice still an anxious rush that was so unlike Hermione that Harry was left reeling.

"Neville didn't," Harry reminded her, his voice edged with both relief and tightly controlled anger.

"No. You're right, he didn't. Harry, all I can say is I'm sorry. I was wrong," she said, her eyes pleading with him.

Draco watched the exchange with nervous excitement. He really hoped that Harry wouldn't take the prideful way out and refuse to accept her apology. She seemed so sincere as she spoke to him that Draco couldn't help but believe she meant what she said.

"That you were," Harry said, his voice cold now. He turned to walk away and Draco grabbed him asking, "What are you doing, Harry? She apologized and she meant it. Don't be stubborn, not about this."

"Who is she, Draco? Huh? They have made our lives hell here lately and you . . .What? Want me to just roll over and pretend everything's fine now?," he snapped peevishly.

"No, that isn't what I want, at all. I want you to have some small part of the life back that you gave up for my sake though. She's still your friend, she just proved that by apologizing. And did you hear her?? Hermione Granger just admitted that she was wrong. I don't think that's ever happened before," Draco said, shaking Harry's arm for emphasis, "Think, Harry, THINK!"

Harry didn't say a word, just stood in the hall, his eyes locked with Draco's. He could see Hermione still standing a few feet away, watching them with a hopeful look on her now tear-streaked face. Harry's last words had cut her to the bone and she'd thought all was lost, then she saw Draco grab Harry and start speaking to him. She could only cross her fingers and pray to the gods that Harry would listen to his blonde Slytherin. If he did choose to take her back as a friend, she swore to herself right then and there that she would make an effort to accept Draco and get to know him. Admittedly, she didn't like or trust him, but having seen the way he and Harry were together in recent weeks had planted seeds of doubt about her feelings toward him.

Turning back to face Hermione, Harry stared into her eyes as he spoke,"You hurt me, Hermione, a lot. You all did. Do you have any idea what it's been like for me - for us - here lately? A nightmare, that's what it has been. Everything I thought I had here at Hogwarts was yanked away from me all in one day. All because I happened to care about what you lot thought of as the 'wrong' person. But let me tell you something, he's the only thing in my life that has ever felt totally right. As long as you can make an effort to understand that, then I am willing to accept your apology."

Her face lit up at what he'd just said and she couldn't help but smile in sheer joy as she threw herself into his arms saying,"Yes, Harry, oh yes. I promise I will. I told you, I want to get to know the Draco you love so much. Please give me that chance, please."

"I am willing to try if you are," he answered noncommittaly, even as he hugged her back.

Pulling herself out of the embrace, she looked at Harry, then at Draco. Deciding now was as good a time as any to start making good on her promises, she held her hand out to Draco and said,"Hi. My name is Hermione. Nice to meet you."

Draco was once again taken aback by her display, but hesitated only a moment before he took her hand and shook it lightly, "My name's Draco. It's nice to meet you, too."

"Great!," she beamed at them,"Why don't we have dinner together?"

"Um . . . Hermione, just because you decided to come around doesn't mean the whole school did the same thing," Harry told her.

"You both eat in your room don't you? Who says I can't eat with you two?," she queried, starting to sound more like herself again.

"What will Ron say about you not being at dinner?," Draco asked her, even though he was looking at the floor. He was becoming quite nervous standing out in the open like that, under the scrutiny of whoever happened to pass by them, although luckily no one had done so during their conversation.

"What Ron doesn't know won't hurt him," she said quickly,"Anyway, I can tell him I stayed in the library studying through dinner. He'll believe that."

"Then I guess it's settled," Harry said, sounding somewhat reluctant. Draco noticed and shot him a questioning glance,"Later," Harry muttered to him under his breath as he started leading the way back to their room.

Dinner was a rather quiet affair, which was nothing really unusual for Draco and Harry, but the tension in the air that came with the third person in the room was unsettling to all present. Hermione sensed it as well and finished her dinner quickly before excusing herself. Harry walked her to the door while Draco sat on a trunk fidgeting with the sleeve of his robe.

"Goodnight you guys," she said forcing a strained smile, aware that she had perhaps been too pushy with wanting to have dinner with them so soon.

Harry smiled back genuinely though and told her,"Goodnight to you as well. It was nice to see you again."

"I hope to see you more often now, Harry. I really have missed you," she spoke before lowering her voice to a whisper and saying,"And Draco does seem like a different person. You were right."

Harry hugged her tightly to him and told her, "Thank you."

Telling them goodbye once more, she turned and headed back to Gryffindor Tower feeling better than she had in weeks and wondering at how different Harry's Draco (as she had started thinking of him a couple of weeks before) really was.

=*|*=

After he'd shut the door, Harry turned to find Draco looking at him quizzically, "What was that all about in the hallway?"

At first, Harry wasn't entirely sure he knew what Draco was talking about, but after a moment's thought he remembered, "That . . . well . . . I just wasn't really comfortable with the idea of her knowing where we live is all. I can't trust her anymore. I hate saying that, but it's how I feel."

"Oh. So you're afraid she'll tell Ron or someone and they'll give us shit. Is that it?," Draco asked.

"Yeah, it is. I don't like feeling that way towards Hermione, but after the way she's acted . . .," Harry broke off, throwing his hands into the air out of frustration. He was incredibly glad that Hermione had come around and seemed willing to try and rebuild their friendship, but the events of the last weeks haunted him endlessly. The only sanctuary he seemed to be able to find was with Draco and whiskey. Other than that, he found that he really knew no peace and wondered if he ever had, however briefly. Bitter. He had become bitter and that was all there was to it.

"Pour us a drink," Draco said, not knowing what else to do.

"Since when do we drink out of glasses? Just hand me the bottle," Harry said, the same needy gleam in his eyes that seemed to always linger in Draco's as well.

Draco noticed it and paused for a moment, then shrugged it off, reminding himself that he had no right to preach to Harry about the Demon Alcohol. He almost laughed - there he was, a drunk who worried about his boyfriend's growing addiction to booze. Yet, he kicked himself even as he acknowledged that he kind of liked Harry drinking with him. It seemed to enrich the relationship somehow. With a mental shrug, he cut off that train of thought and withdrew the whiskey from his pocket before saying, "Harry, we need to get out of here for a bit. I am going stir crazy and so are you. We spend all of our time cooped up in this room and never get to go anywhere or do anything."

Harry said nothing for a minute or two, seemingly lost in thought, then he finally nodded, "You're right, we don't. But I may be able to remedy that. I have an idea. What time is it?"

Casting a time spell, Draco reported, "Ten after seven."

"Then we have time. Grab what you need and let's go," Harry said, his voice excited as he dug in a trunk for his cloak and the map.

"What're we going to do? We can't just leave Hogwarts. They'd have our heads and you know it," Draco said, interested but cautious.

"As long as we're back by eleven, we'll be ok," Harry said as he retrieved the items from his trunk.

"Erm . . .," was all Draco said, taking a nervous sip of liquor.

Waving the map and cloak in front of Draco, Harry smiled,"We'll be ok, but we do have to be careful. Very careful. I don't know how well we're both going to fit under the cloak, but we need to cram ourselves under it until we get to the passage."

"Passage?," Draco asked doubtfully. Had Harry gone mad?

"Just shut up and come with me. It'll be fine if we're cautious," he said, grabbing Draco's pale hand and tugging him under the cloak. They shuffled their way to the door, Draco being forced to stoop so his height wouldn't cause the cloak to pull up too high and betray them. Reaching the secret passage that led to Hogsmeade without incident, Harry quickly pushed the witch's statue aside and ushered Draco into the entrance.

"Harry, where the fuck are we going?," Draco asked him, growing annoyed with the Gryffindor's secrecy.

"It's a surprise. You'll see soon enough," was Harry's cryptic reply.

With an irritated grumble, Draco resigned himself to being kept in the dark and they both began to walk toward their destination.

A/N: This chapter turned out much shorter than I had hoped. In fact, I was on a roll until unexpected guests came along and fucked me up. I totally lost my train of thought, but I tried to finish it the best I could. Barring anymore interruptions, the next chapter should be longer and not so sucky. I will likely (try to) revise this one as well, so check on it if you want.