Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Twenty

On his way back to Gryffindor Tower, Harry had calmed down. He\'d narrowed
his problem with Draco down to one thing: he was tired of being used, and he
wanted more. He didn\'t want to sever any ties with Draco, and after this, he
knew he didn\'t want to return to hating each other. Did Draco still hate
him? He might after Harry walked out of the room, shutting the door in his
face. What did the blond want? Maybe, Harry thought, they should have a bit
of time apart. They hone did didn\'t spend all that much time together, but
perhaps that was the problem right there. There was no way of spending time
together without everyone knowing and questioning.

That anotanother thing, too. He knew his friends were worried about him, and
they obviously were starting to find the right track. They were too clever
for their own good, sometimes, or maybe for *his* own good. Was he insane to
want some sort of relationship with Draco? If they found otheythey\'d just be
trying to help him, and make sure he w't u't under some spell or something.

In the common room, Hermione and Ron had settled as best as they could at
their table, homework laid out in front of them. Ron was simply glaring at
his, and Hermione was trying to read. She couldn\'t even actually finish a
page, just ending up reading the same sentence over and over again. Her mind
wasn\'t on the book, but she couldn\'t just sit and stare at the wall while
they waited. They were both thinking about Harry, and wondering what was
going on in the Prefects\' room.

They both jerked their heads towards the portrait door when they heard it
creak open. Several people had already come in during the time they were
waiting for Harry to return, and each time they\'d looked up hopefully. This
time, though, they were much relieved to see Harry come through. Before
Hermione had a chance to say anything, she was startled by Ron slapping his
book shut and standing up from the table. \"And just what were you doing with
that piece of shit?!\" he yelled across the room.

\"Ron, no!\" Hermione cried out, standing up after him, struggling to get out
from between the bench and the table. They really needed to drag some chairs
over here to replace the bench, though the reason they hadn\'t done that to
begin with was because they had to do homework here. She thought the b
we
were in danger of falling asleep in the comfy chairs instead of finishing
their assignments.

\"What?\" Harry asked, feeling like all the warmth had drained out of his
body, leaving him cold and frozen to the spot. They knew, he thought
morosely. That had to be what Ron was talking about.

\"I SAID,\" Ron started, sounding even more mad than before, if it were
possible. Harry was glad someone still had their wits about them when
Hermione all but jumped up to slap a hand over Ron\'s mouth. She widened her
eyes at the taller boy, darting them around, indicating the rest of the
people in the room. Ron looked around, still frowning, and saw that everyone
had stopped to stare, the room silent, watching the three of them with
absolute curiosity.

Ron took a moment, but he relaxed slightly, nodding under her hand. She
slowly took her hand away, absently noting that it was wet from where it
pressed against Ron\'s lips. He\'d tried to continue shouting after she\'d
covered his big, fat pie hole, opening his mouth against her hand. She
lifted her other hand to pat the boy on his arm, running her other hand down
his chest slowly as he calmed down. Ron looked at her for a moment, a
different look in his eye, before he looked back to Harry, his anger flaring
again. He turned abruptly and stomped up the stairs to the boys\' dorms.

Harry followed automatically, and Hermione did as well, completely never
minding the fact that she wasn\'t allowed there. Thankfully, none of the
other boys were there, and they had the room to themselves. Ron barely
waited until Hermione had closed the door behind them before he started
yelling again. \"What the fuck were you doing with Malfoy?\"

\"What are you talking about?\" Harry asked, trying to sound confused, and
wondering if he was just digging himself a deeper hole. He couldn\'t play
this off now, they already knew, and had seen with their own eyes who he\'d
been with and where.

\"Don\'t lie to us, Harry,\" gesturing at Hermione as she came to his side. \"We
saw you on the map with him!\"

Harry glared at his best friend, wanting to tell him the most awful parts of
his and Draco\'s relationship, finishing off with that he absolutely loved
it. He couldn\'t do that, though. He couldn\'t take a malicious tone with his
friends, or lie to them anymore than he had already by keeping this from
them. \"Okay!\" Harry shouted back instead. \"You\'re right, I was with Draco.\"

\"Oh, it\'s \'Draco\', now, is it?\" Ron said mockingly, crossing his arms across
his chest to keep from gesturing wildly in the air, trying to vent his
frustration that way, and to keep from hitting something.

\"Ron,\" Hermione said, giving him a stern look. She wanted to hear what Harry
had to say. Even if she didn\'t like Malfoy any more than Ron did, they owed
it to Harry, as his friend, to listen. \"So... is Malfoy who you\'ve been
sleeping with?\"

Harry\'s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open, and Ron wasn\'t too far
behind. \"WHAT?!\" Ron screamed, as there was no other way to describe it. If
his voice had gotten deeper over the past few years, he wasn\'t above
squeaking occasionally.

\"Ron!\" Hermione shouted at the other boy, a look of pure warning in her
eyes. Ron didn\'t want to upset her, so he wisely clamped his mouth shut
again. Ugh, though, he thought. It was disgusting enough to think of Malfoy
and Harry having anything to do with each other aside from throwing a few
punches, but this really takes the cake. He shook his head to himself,
barely aware that the others were watching him.

\"Harry?\" Hermione prompted softly. \"You can tell us, we\'re your friends.\"
She looked at him, her expression completely changed. Honestly, she wanted
to knotherther way. It was Harry\'s decision in the end, but she didn\'t want
him to hide it from them, whether they disapproved or not.

\"Yes,\" Harry answered quietly. He supposed there was nothing he could do
now. He couldn\'t lie to them if they already knew. When he had contemplated
telling them before this, he had imagined a weight being lifted, not having
to hide the fact that he and Draco had some type of relationship, but this
certainly hadn\'t lifted anything. If nothing else, it seemed to add even
more pressure on him.

Harry couldn\'t look at Hermione anymore, and he looked down to the floor,
kicking a dust bunny back under Dean\'s bed. Ron had started an erratic path
around the room, clearly frustrated. He had no idea what to do with himself,
and was trying to deal with this new information. \"You used protection,
though, right?\" Hermione asked, breaking the awkward silence with an equally
awkward question. She already knew too much and felt a strong urge to go and
wash her hands, but she didn\'t want to leave the two boys alone together
right now.

\"Why would I?\" Harry asked, genuinely curious. He dared to look back at
Hermione and saw there what he hadn\'t wanted to see. She was obviously
making an effort to mediate between Harry and Ron, even if she felt the same
way as the other boy.

\"Because he\'s a nasty git, and probably contracted a disease from Pansy
Parkinson,\" Ron made a face, clearly grossing himself out at the thought.
Hermione hit him on the arm and he turned around, continuing to pace around
the stove in the middle of the room.

\"Uhm,\" Hermione said, unsure of how to proceed. \"Harry... I don\'t know if
anyone ever told you, but I guess no one really expected you to be gay, and
tho - \"

\"I\'m not gay!\" Harry protested, but immediately looked a bit disgruntled
after it came out of his mouths hes he? He hadn\'t enjoyed anything with his
time with Cho, but that could have been because she was a whiny crybaby.

Hermione continued as if Harry hadn\'t interrupted her, \"And they might have
not bothered in telling you that...\" She trailed off, feeling very horrible
for having to have this talk with Harry. She supposed the Dursleys had never
told Harry about anything regarding sexuality, and really didn\'t want to
picture Dumbledore doing it. She had trouble shaking the strange picture of
the old professor demonstrating with sock puppets, or something equally
ridiculous.

\"That what?\" he prompted. Ron had stopped pacing and was definitely not
eagar to hear what Hermione was about to say. He had an inkling, as his
parents had told him in about the say way. Ron, we don\'t think you\'re gay,
but you never know. We just want you to be careful, whatever route you take
in your life, but you have to know - \"That male wizards can get pregnant.\"

Harry stared at her. Ron had cringed, and his face seemed to stick that way
for a moment, slowly easing back into a slightly disgusted look. He\'d
probably be like that for a few days before he got something else on his
mind but the disgusting mental images of Harry and Malfoy. You never wanted
to picture it, but it ends up there accidentally anyway, sometimes no matter
how hard you try.

Hermione stepped back abruptly when Harry stood just as suddenly. \"What?\" he
breathed out, almost cracking a smile, hoping she was joking, or something,
trying to make light of the situation. She nodded at Harry, and he scoffed,
still not believing her. \"No joke?\" he asked when Ron started to look
extremely uncomfortable, shifting awkwardly, and Hermione shrugged her
shoulders and nodded again.

He felt himself start breathing faster, and hadn\'t realized he was almost
hyperventilating before Hermione came towards him and tried to tell him to
calm down. She didn\'t know why he was panicking, but that didn\'t matter at
the moment. She supposed that Harry had a lot of shocks to his system
whenever he\'d found out about something in the wizarding world that was so
different from the Muggle world.

When he felt Hermione\'s hands on his face, trying ull ull him towards her,
he shook them off. He shook his head, and was about to say he was fine, when
a wave of nausea rolled through him, and he became dizzy. Reaching out
almost blindly, Harry grabbed onto the nearest bed post, holding himself
He
He gasped in a breath of air, and held it, letting the nausea pass, and he
tried to focus his eyes.

Hermione stood back, not sure of what to do, but Harry obviously didn\'t want
her help right now. He had a lot to think abrighright now, and being hit
with this didn\'t make it any easier. \"I\'ve got to get some air,\" he said.
\"I\'ll be back later.\" He reluctantly let go of the bed post and took a
hesitant step forward. He didn\'t fall flat on his face, and he took that as
a good sign, continuing on his way towards the door. He hoped he would make
it out onto the grounds without falling over before his vision stopped
spinning.

That was all Harry said to his friends, leaving them watching after him as
he stumbled out of the room and down the stairs. Hermione sighed and sat
down on Ron\'s bed, realizing this was the first time in years since she\'d
been in the boys\' dorms. Ron sat down beside her heavily, making the bed
bounce slightly. Taking a chance when she felt Ron\'s arm brush her own,
Hermione leaned over, resting her head against Ron\'s shoulder.

The bed stopped moving, and it was oddly silent and, just as oddly and
tentatively, she felt Ron lift his arm behind her and settle it over her
shoulders. Despite the argument reharehand, at least they could find some
comfort with each other. They hadn\'t really spoken about their \'date\' on the
upcoming Hogsmeade weekend, but they had been feeling more comfortable with
each other ever since they\'d had that talk.

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