Shades of Truth

Shades of Truth

Chapter 23

*****

“Harry!” Hermione’s voice startled Harry so badly that he dropped the toast he’d just made. Turning, he noticed her head was in his fireplace. “You idiot! Don’t you know how to be discreet at all?!”

“Er…morning,” he answered. “What’s going on?”

“Haven’t you seen the Daily Prophet yet? Ron certainly has, and I only just convinced him not to come over there and hex Draco and you silly.” Hermione scolded him.

“Oh…not yet.” Harry reached across the table and opened up the paper. It didn’t take him long to see what Hermione was ranting about. Plastered on the front page was a picture of Draco and him holding hands as Draco placed a kiss on Harry’s cheek. In large letters the headline read, “Auror Seduced by Notorious Dark Wizard.”

“I can’t believe you’d do this!” Hermione continued, “I thought you were going to lie low until Ron knew. And what about Narcissa? Does she know? Well, I mean, did she know before this?”

“How did…we were in muggle London! We were being careful!” Harry was rather upset, but Hermione was clearly not worried about his feelings at the moment.

“Yeah, I can tell.” She snorted. “Being in muggle London doesn’t mean a wizard won’t spot you, idiot. I have to go to work now, but I just wanted to warn you, Ron’s furious.”

“Well…what should I do?” Harry wanted to know. Hermione laughed humorlessly before answering him.

“I already told you what to do! Tell Ron before he has to read about it.” Hermione reminded him. “Clearly, you had no care for that advice. Now…I’d say a sincere apology and practicing your Shield Charm are you best bets. Also, you aren’t allowed in my flat until this is taken care of. I don’t want any more of my things broken.”

“Thanks.” Harry sighed heavily.

“No problem.” And she was gone.

Harry took the paper upstairs to show Draco, but he wasn’t sure how much the other man understood, as he was still mostly asleep, and after Harry showed him the picture, he grumbled some incoherent complaint about salt in his waffles and promptly went back to sleep. He had plans to actually go to work that day, but now he wasn’t so sure he wanted to be out where he could easily be attacked by any number of witches and wizards opposed to his current living arrangements. He thought maybe he should wait a couple of days for things to calm down, and in the mean time, he could climb back in bed with Draco, who looked very warm and comfortable and generally inviting.

However, he was hoping it wouldn’t be that bad, and people would ask questions if he never went to work. So he went downstairs and opened the front door, where he was nearly hit by a hex from a clearly angry Narcissa Malfoy. Pulling out his wand, he disarmed her with no real damage done, and asked if she’d like some breakfast or some tea, as Draco was still asleep. She slapped him.

“You! I can’t believe you!” she stormed into the house as though it were hers. “Keeping my son away from me and doing…doing awful things to him in your dirty den of sin! How could you! He’s…he’s a good, pure boy, and you…you!”

“Mrs. Malfoy, please,” Harry decided that, indeed, there was no way he was going to work. Not if there were people waiting at his door to hex him. “I’m not doing anything awful to your son. We are involved romantically, yes, but it’s an entirely consensual relationship. And this is not a den of sin.”

“You took him away, and you’ve completely corrupted him. Malfoys are never gay!” she shrieked at him shrilly. “And even if they were, they would still marry a nice pureblood witch and have some pureblood grandchildren for me, because that is their duty! Do you want to end an ancient family? If Draco has no children, he will be the last Malfoy! Is that what you want?!”

“What’s going on?” Harry felt the blood drain from his face as he looked up at the sound of Draco’s voice and saw the other man standing in his underwear on the stairwell, his hair artfully mussed. “Mother?” he seemed not in the least perturbed by her sudden invasion.

“Draco Phineas Malfoy! You get dressed and get down here at once!” Narcissa snapped at her son as though she honestly expected him to obey. “I’m here to save you from this…this cesspool of depravity and corruption!”

“Um…” Draco looked at his mother, noted his own state of undress, looked at Harry, yawned majestically and stretched his arms over his head. “Harry, I’m going back to bed. Get rid of her and then come corrupt me.”

Harry was too terrified to laugh. Draco actually blew him a kiss and then turned around and went back to bed. Narcissa’s face was scarlet as she turned on Harry.

“You fiend!” she shrieked, “I’ll be going to the Minister himself with this! I’ll tell him what you’ve done to my sweet, innocent boy!” and she stormed out. Harry was glad to see her gone, but he wished Draco had been slightly more helpful about diffusing the situation. Sighing heavily, he trudged upstairs and took off his robes before climbing back into bed.

“Your feet!” Draco yelped as soon as he got close to the other man, “They’re frozen, get them on your side and keep them there.”

“Don’t hassle me, I’ve had a rough morning.” Harry grumbled, snaking his arms around the other man and pulling him close. “I’m not going to work.”

“I’d noticed that.” Draco turned to face Harry, stroking the side of his face with one hand. Harry leaned in and kissed him lightly. “I should leak pictures of us to the Prophet every day if it means you’ll spend the day in bed with me.”

“You would do that.” Harry chuckled. “Your mother is pretty upset, you know.”

“I’d noticed that as well.” Draco let a wicked grin spread across his face. “But at least now she knows about us, and I didn’t even have to tell her myself.”

“Aren’t you worried she’ll disown you?” Harry wanted to know.

“She might not.” Draco shrugged. “And anyway, I knew what I was getting into when you first kissed me, and I want this. I want it more than I want some inheritance. And who would she give it to other than me, anyway? One of her many illegitimate children with Snape?” Both of them laughed then, and Harry felt ridiculously happy for someone in his position, and he had to agree that this was worth the risk to him, as well.

----------

Harry felt rather nervous and unprepared as soon as he spotted Ron moving toward him in the Three Broomsticks. It had been a week and a half since the story in the Prophet, and Harry had sent exactly four owls in that time to his best friend. To the first and second he received no reply, but to the third, he had been sent back the terse message “Bugger off, you dirty git,” which hadn’t exactly surprised him. Oddly, the fourth owl, a request that they meet for drinks so Harry could explain properly, had been accepted politely with no further name calling. Harry had deep suspicions that Hermione had intercepted that one, but he wasn’t going to complain about her assistance.

“Thanks for coming.” Harry smiled for a brief moment, but his hesitant warmth melted away at the scowl on Ron’s face as he sat down in an extremely huffy manner.

“Just say whatever you want to so I can go home.” Ron grumbled, “Hermione’s making me talk to you.”

Harry suppressed a smile at Ron’s pouting before plowing on with his attempt at a friendly meeting. “Did you want an ale? I’m paying.”

“No.” Ron crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not thirsty.”

“Honestly, Ron, does it have to be like this?” Harry sighed deeply as his friend refused to meet his gaze. “I should have told you, and I’m sorry about you finding out like this. I know it must seem like I’m keeping all kinds of secrets from you, but I thought it would be easier to kind of ease you into the idea of trusting Draco as a friend of mine before I broke it to you that I’m in love with a bloke that used to be our enemy. And if it makes you feel any better, Narcissa Malfoy already reamed me out and waited on my doorstep to hex me. I haven’t heard what Draco’s friends think, but I’m sure Pansy at least won’t be pleased at all to hear that I’ve stolen Draco from her. His mother might disown him, and so far, the only person supporting us is Hermione. I don’t want to lose my best friend over this, but I don’t think it would be fair to ask me to stop seeing him, either. I mean, I understand that it’s probably weird enough for you that I’m with another guy, and the fact that it’s Draco…I’m sure that must seem…”

“Like a betrayal?” Ron glared at something just beyond Harry’s left ear. “Honestly, are there any other secrets you’re keeping from me? Maybe Hermione and you are planning to elope? Or maybe Draco was going to come move in with me now, and you just wanted to ease me into it, you know, natural progression there. First, Draco’s not a vicious serial killer, then you’re friends with him, then Hermione is as well, and she expects me to like the dirty bastard as well, then you’re sleeping with him, and then he’s making breakfast in bed for all of us and having sleepovers at my place. Well, I’m sorry if you don’t like it, or want me to just forget every nasty prank he ever played on us and every horrible name he ever called Hermione, but I can’t, and I won’t. I can’t really understand how you guys can even want to be friends with him, and when I found out you and him…I just…I’m trying, Harry, I really am. I’m sure you think I haven’t tried to see this from your side, but I just…Malfoy? It’s like you’re trying to make me angry.”

“It’s so easy for you, you’re engaged to bloody Hermione. Could you have picked a safer choice? Even Percy gets along with her, and he hates everyone.” Harry fumed. “It may seem like I’m aggravating you on purpose, but it isn’t something I chose, any more than you did. I wanted to help Draco because whatever he did in school, he didn’t deserve to be punished for crimes he never committed, so when I found out that he had his memory modified and was innocent in at least one or two of the cases, I knew I had to check out all of them. Hermione thought I was out to bury him under more convictions, and at first, she wouldn’t leave me alone, she kept accusing me of being petty, but I didn’t tell her what was really going on until I realized that I’d need her help with the investigation, and she was annoyed with me for keeping everything secret. But I knew that you’d be angry, because of who it was, and…well, everyone thought he’d killed Fred and Ginny, and all those others as well. I wanted to be sure, and I didn’t want to risk getting you angry over nothing if he really did commit some—“

“But he did! He killed his own father!” Ron slammed his hand down on the table with a loud crack. “That’s the thing that doesn’t make any sense to me! Draco Malfoy killed his own father, and just because you vouch for him, everyone assumes that’s all he ever did, and that it’s totally excusable! What if I’d killed my father?”

“Your father wasn’t Voldemort’s right-hand man!” Harry shot back. “It’s completely different! We all had to kill during the war. If that means Draco deserves to be in Azkaban, so do I. So does Hermione, and so do you.”

“None of us killed our parents!” Ron was adamant. “How can you feel safe, sleeping next to someone who would betray his own father? No matter what an evil bastard Lucius was, that doesn’t make it okay for a son to kill his own father! How can you trust him?”

“Because I know Draco, and I know what Lucius had to do to make him turn to that, and I saw it happen. I’m not saying what he did was a good thing, but I don’t think killing is ever a good thing, even if it’s Voldemort. If there had been another way…But I also saw the look on Draco’s face when we watched him kill his father in Narcissa’s memory. He was devastated. I’d told him that those memories were false, and when he found out that he really had killed his own father…you think he’s a twisted, evil bastard who only thinks of himself, but the Draco you imagine could never feel so guilty about doing something like that.” Harry took a deep breath then, composing himself. “I’m not asking you to condone what he did, or what I did to you. I just…I don’t want to end our friendship over this.”

“Would you?” Ron’s response was very quiet, his tone solemn. Harry sighed heavily, examining his hands, and when he looked up, Ron was finally meeting his gaze. His cheeks were pale, his lips pursed, and his eyes burned with a determined intensity. Harry realized then that Ron was just as scared as he was, and when he knew that they wanted the same thing, he felt soothed somehow, and he couldn’t stop the small smile that reached his lips.

“Do you remember when Ginny died?” he wasn’t sure why he’d said it until he heard the words, amazed by how calm he sounded even as he spoke. “I blamed myself. I know that you felt like you should have protected her, too. But I led the counterstrike. I had sworn to keep her safe. And even though you knew that it wasn’t really my fault or yours, you couldn’t help blaming me, at first. Without Hermione to make us admit what we already knew, we might have ended that day. But we got through it, didn’t we?” There was a long silence from Ron before he slowly nodded. “If I stay with him, will you leave me just to spite Draco?”

“I don’t…” Ron trailed off, struggling to find the words he needed. “Do you…do you really…does it have to be Malfoy? Because I don’t care if you fancy blokes, as long as you don’t suddenly take a fancy to me. But…there’s hundreds to choose from. Why does it have to be him?”

“I love him.” Harry didn’t hesitate to answer, and Ron leaned back heavily, as though defeated.

“Makes me ill, to think of him with you, you know.” Ron signaled Rosmerta over. “Two ales, please.” And then he turned a long-suffering grin to Harry. “But I guess I’ll have to learn to get used to it.”

“Thanks, mate.” Harry smiled broadly, feeling relief seep through him. “It means a lot.”

“Yeah, well, when he hexes you in your sleep, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Ron shrugged as they accepted their drinks.

*****

To be Continued…