A Love So Belated
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,674
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,674
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Chapter 23: Silence Broken
Chapter Number/Total: 23/44
Chapter Title: Silence Broken
Words: 1996 Words
As Christmas drew nearer, so did the parties. Harry had never been to so many holiday parties before, but then again, he'd never had so many friends out of school before either. He'd already ventured to Luna's insane shindig, at which her father avoided him like the plague, and Ernie Macmillan’s stuffy affair, which he'd been trying to make sophisticated, even though Justin Finch-Fletchley had ended up getting pissed as all hell and knocking down the tree. Now, with only a few days left until Christmas was actually upon them, Harry was over at Seamus' house, along with all the other people he'd seen at all the other parties.
He wasn't exactly sure what the point of the parties were, especially since they were held so close together. Just a reason to drink too much, he supposed, though all he did was sit and think about Draco while Ginny hung onto his arm. The parties were seriously cutting into his personal time with Draco, and he missed him so much sometimes he ached - and then had waves of guilt as Ginny pecked his lips and Hermione shot him looks of disdain and warning. He knew he had to break up with Ginny soon. But right before Christmas? It seemed heartless.
He sighed, taking a sip of his drink as he sat at one of the tables Seamus had set up in his magically expanded basement.
"Aw, not having any fun?" Seamus asked in his lilting voice, nudging Harry with an elbow.
Harry tried to give him a smile. "Nah, this is great fun," he said.
Ginny rolled her eyes next to him. "He's been like this all day," she said, and ran fingers through his hair. "I keep asking if he's ill, but ...." She shrugged.
"I'm not ill," Harry told her and the rest of the people sitting with them. "I'm fine. You all think I would come and infect you if I were?"
"Probably are ill," Ron quipped. "God only knows what Malfoy's poisoned you with."
Harry's eyes narrowed as everyone at the table looked at him.
"You're still hanging around Malfoy, mate?" Seamus asked, eyebrows high on his forehead.
"Yeah, Harry, I thought you stopped that a long time ago," added Dean.
Harry let out a loud huff. "Why does everyone act like he's some sort of bad habit? He's a person, and he's my friend. Merlin."
Hermione glanced at him and he glanced quickly away.
Neville had been quiet, listening to the conversation. "How is he doing, Harry?" he asked.
Harry looked up at Neville, slightly surprised with the question. "He's doing very good," he answered. "Wasn't so great at first, but he's got a lot better."
"I am glad to hear that," Neville said, glancing around at his friends. "I was worried about him after everything that happened in seventh year."
Harry thought Seamus might have shifted guiltily; even Parvati and Lavender did. His eyes narrowed further. "Why, what did happen?" he asked.
Neville nodded understandingly. "I suppose no one ever told you." He narrowed his own eyes and glanced around again. "He came back from that summer a very different person. You would think with Snape and the Carrows in charge he would have been doing well, wouldn't you? But it was the opposite. The Carrows made him their personal slave or something." He glanced again at some of the others. "And everyone he had ever pissed off seemed to consider it time for revenge."
"Hey," Seamus interjected heatedly. "Don't make it sound like we just bloody attacked the arsehole for no damn reason. I don't care how much you deny it. I caught him spying over by the common room too many times to count."
"So did we," said Lavender. "All year. And no matter what we did he came back."
Harry's eyes were slits now.
Neville sighed and shook his head. "I broke up a couple of the beatings," he went on, looking angrier as he explained. "I thought it made us no better than them to pick on someone who was defenceless, because he just wasn't like he used to be. Then he started coming to me with information." Neville glanced up, waiting for their reactions. "Didn't you ever notice that he was only 'spying' when I was around? That's why he was hanging around the entrance to the common room and the Room of Requirement - looking for me. And those beatings for 'spying' were a bit more brutal than they needed to be. You can't deny that."
Seamus' eyes were nearly as narrow as Harry's. "You didn't bloody tell us all that," he hissed.
Dean's eyes went slightly wide, as did Parvati's and Lavender's.
Harry bristled at the word 'beatings', and Ginny concernedly patted his arm.
"What are you talking about, Neville?" asked Hermione in a calm voice, obviously hoping it would rub off.
Neville frowned at the others. "I couldn't tell. It would have cost him his life, what he was doing. You all saw what the Carrows did to him. Imagine what they would have done if they had known he was helping the resistance. At first, it was little stuff. I think he was testing me. But as time when on, I swear he saved everyone in the DA at least one time. How do you think I knew when to bring people into hiding? How to get out for things and where?" He sighed, shaking his head sadly at the others.
Everyone was completely silent, staring at either Neville or the table top.
"You've got to be kidding me," Ron said finally. "Malfoy?"
Neville looked Ron directly in the eyes. "He saved Ginny, too. How do you think we got her out so quickly when it got dangerous? And did you ever ask Luna how she survived three months in a cell at Malfoy Manor?"
Harry glanced over to where Luna was temporarily seated with some people from Ravenclaw, while Ginny and Ron both looked shocked with Neville's words.
"He fed them, didn't he?" Hermione realised, her voice quiet.
Neville smiled a bit at that. "Apparently, he arranged to have one of the Malfoy house-elves secretly bring them more food. Even while he went back to school," he answered, nodding.
"See," Harry said through his teeth, glaring at Ron. "I told you. I told you he was different. He never even told me any of this."
"How the hell was I supposed to know?" Ron argued, nearly white from the shock.
Hermione glanced from Harry, to Ron, to Ginny, and quickly at the others. "If all of that is true," she said a little stiffly, "then the least you can do is accept him as Harry's friend."
Ron rubbed at his forehead while everyone else looked away again, averting their guilty eyes.
"He might be angry with me for telling this," Neville admitted. "I swore never to tell. I always thought that when the war was over he would tell people his part in it. But he hasn't and I don't feel right about that. Maybe he didn't think anyone would believe him. He's probably right. Yet, in the end, he was one of the most effective members of Dumbledore's Army."
The look on Harry's face was almost a smirk and he was having difficulty trying to hold back the whoop inside of him.
"If we'd have known that ..." Seamus began quietly.
"We would have never done ..." continued Dean.
"What we did," Parvati finished.
"It doesn't matter," said Hermione. "It's over, it happened, and he's done nasty things as well. We're all human. I'm sure the point of Neville saying what he said wasn't to make you all feel bad."
"No, I just wanted to set it right again," Neville agreed. "So, this is a party. Where's the Firewhiskey?"
"I'll get it," Harry volunteered with a small grin, and he stood up from the table to find the alcohol.
***
Harry sighed happily, lying back against Draco's pillows. His breathing was still a little heavier than usual and his heart was still beating quickly. "Brilliant," he said with a grin.
Draco smiled down at him, kissing him again. "Fantastic, yes," he agreed before reluctantly rolling off his lover's body and onto his back, beside him.
Harry only rolled after him, attacking his neck with little kisses.
Draco laughed, lifting his chin and shivering under the assault.
Harry laughed as well, moving to Draco's mouth. It was the day before Christmas Eve and the first day that Harry had seen Draco since all the parties. "I've just missed you so much," he mumbled against Draco's lips.
"I missed you very much," Draco said. It had been way too quiet with Harry so busy with social gatherings. He didn't begrudge Harry his parties, but it did leave him rather lonely.
Harry smiled and rolled on to his back again. "Anything interesting happen in my absence?"
Another letter from his father encouraging him to go to France to find a bride, Draco thought but shook his head. "No, been pretty quiet here."
"Mmm," Harry hummed. "What are you doing for Christmas?"
Draco cocked his head, wondering what Harry might be leading up to. "Not much," he said. "Rusty will probably make a roast."
"Ooh, fun," Harry said with a dry grin and an eyebrow raise.
Draco frowned and sighed. He remembered times when his parents threw lavish parties for their friends.
"You should come over to my house," Harry told him, twirling a piece of his blond hair.
"Don't you usually spend the holiday with the Weasley horde?" Draco teased.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said, "and I am, but we're doing it at number twelve this year. It's bigger and we're having more people."
Draco's eyes widened in surprise but then narrowed. "You are asking me to come to a party at your house? You do remember the last time the Weas ... Ron Weasley and I were in the same room, right?"
Harry sighed. "I have a feeling it will be different," he said. "Plus, I don't want to spend Christmas away from you." He frowned.
"And how will your ... friends ... feel about having the notorious Draco Malfoy in their midst?" Draco pressed.
"I don't think they'll mind," Harry answered, not managing to keep all of the loftiness out of his tone.
Draco gave Harry a look that clearly implied that he thought his lover had gone mad. "And Ginny?"
Harry winced now. He hadn't really thought about that. "Well," he said, "no one knows that we're seeing each other besides Hermione."
Draco felt torn. He didn't want to admit that he desperately wanted to spend Christmas with the man he loved; that he was lonely. Not only did he miss Harry, he missed being around other people. But he wouldn't admit that. He couldn't. "Granger will have a fit," he said instead.
Harry frowned again. "She'll nag, yes," he said.
"And you still want me there?" Draco asked quietly.
"Draco, I want you everywhere I go," Harry said. "I hate being anywhere without you."
That brought a smile to the blond's face, and he reached a hand up to cup Harry's. "Yes, I wish I could always be with you," he admitted. "And if you want me at your house in front of all those people, then that's where I will be."
Harry smiled, too. "I'm not going to throw you to the lions," he promised, then chuckled a bit, realising his inadvertent pun. "Even though that's who's going to be there."
Draco felt that was an apt metaphor. Some of Harry's friends, who he supposed would be attending, had been very rough on him in seventh year. How would they behave toward him now? "I remember," he sighed.
Harry was slightly confused with that response. "You remember what?"
"Never mind," Draco said. "I will be there."
Harry leaned over and kissed him, thinking he might know what Draco remembered.
Chapter Title: Silence Broken
Words: 1996 Words
As Christmas drew nearer, so did the parties. Harry had never been to so many holiday parties before, but then again, he'd never had so many friends out of school before either. He'd already ventured to Luna's insane shindig, at which her father avoided him like the plague, and Ernie Macmillan’s stuffy affair, which he'd been trying to make sophisticated, even though Justin Finch-Fletchley had ended up getting pissed as all hell and knocking down the tree. Now, with only a few days left until Christmas was actually upon them, Harry was over at Seamus' house, along with all the other people he'd seen at all the other parties.
He wasn't exactly sure what the point of the parties were, especially since they were held so close together. Just a reason to drink too much, he supposed, though all he did was sit and think about Draco while Ginny hung onto his arm. The parties were seriously cutting into his personal time with Draco, and he missed him so much sometimes he ached - and then had waves of guilt as Ginny pecked his lips and Hermione shot him looks of disdain and warning. He knew he had to break up with Ginny soon. But right before Christmas? It seemed heartless.
He sighed, taking a sip of his drink as he sat at one of the tables Seamus had set up in his magically expanded basement.
"Aw, not having any fun?" Seamus asked in his lilting voice, nudging Harry with an elbow.
Harry tried to give him a smile. "Nah, this is great fun," he said.
Ginny rolled her eyes next to him. "He's been like this all day," she said, and ran fingers through his hair. "I keep asking if he's ill, but ...." She shrugged.
"I'm not ill," Harry told her and the rest of the people sitting with them. "I'm fine. You all think I would come and infect you if I were?"
"Probably are ill," Ron quipped. "God only knows what Malfoy's poisoned you with."
Harry's eyes narrowed as everyone at the table looked at him.
"You're still hanging around Malfoy, mate?" Seamus asked, eyebrows high on his forehead.
"Yeah, Harry, I thought you stopped that a long time ago," added Dean.
Harry let out a loud huff. "Why does everyone act like he's some sort of bad habit? He's a person, and he's my friend. Merlin."
Hermione glanced at him and he glanced quickly away.
Neville had been quiet, listening to the conversation. "How is he doing, Harry?" he asked.
Harry looked up at Neville, slightly surprised with the question. "He's doing very good," he answered. "Wasn't so great at first, but he's got a lot better."
"I am glad to hear that," Neville said, glancing around at his friends. "I was worried about him after everything that happened in seventh year."
Harry thought Seamus might have shifted guiltily; even Parvati and Lavender did. His eyes narrowed further. "Why, what did happen?" he asked.
Neville nodded understandingly. "I suppose no one ever told you." He narrowed his own eyes and glanced around again. "He came back from that summer a very different person. You would think with Snape and the Carrows in charge he would have been doing well, wouldn't you? But it was the opposite. The Carrows made him their personal slave or something." He glanced again at some of the others. "And everyone he had ever pissed off seemed to consider it time for revenge."
"Hey," Seamus interjected heatedly. "Don't make it sound like we just bloody attacked the arsehole for no damn reason. I don't care how much you deny it. I caught him spying over by the common room too many times to count."
"So did we," said Lavender. "All year. And no matter what we did he came back."
Harry's eyes were slits now.
Neville sighed and shook his head. "I broke up a couple of the beatings," he went on, looking angrier as he explained. "I thought it made us no better than them to pick on someone who was defenceless, because he just wasn't like he used to be. Then he started coming to me with information." Neville glanced up, waiting for their reactions. "Didn't you ever notice that he was only 'spying' when I was around? That's why he was hanging around the entrance to the common room and the Room of Requirement - looking for me. And those beatings for 'spying' were a bit more brutal than they needed to be. You can't deny that."
Seamus' eyes were nearly as narrow as Harry's. "You didn't bloody tell us all that," he hissed.
Dean's eyes went slightly wide, as did Parvati's and Lavender's.
Harry bristled at the word 'beatings', and Ginny concernedly patted his arm.
"What are you talking about, Neville?" asked Hermione in a calm voice, obviously hoping it would rub off.
Neville frowned at the others. "I couldn't tell. It would have cost him his life, what he was doing. You all saw what the Carrows did to him. Imagine what they would have done if they had known he was helping the resistance. At first, it was little stuff. I think he was testing me. But as time when on, I swear he saved everyone in the DA at least one time. How do you think I knew when to bring people into hiding? How to get out for things and where?" He sighed, shaking his head sadly at the others.
Everyone was completely silent, staring at either Neville or the table top.
"You've got to be kidding me," Ron said finally. "Malfoy?"
Neville looked Ron directly in the eyes. "He saved Ginny, too. How do you think we got her out so quickly when it got dangerous? And did you ever ask Luna how she survived three months in a cell at Malfoy Manor?"
Harry glanced over to where Luna was temporarily seated with some people from Ravenclaw, while Ginny and Ron both looked shocked with Neville's words.
"He fed them, didn't he?" Hermione realised, her voice quiet.
Neville smiled a bit at that. "Apparently, he arranged to have one of the Malfoy house-elves secretly bring them more food. Even while he went back to school," he answered, nodding.
"See," Harry said through his teeth, glaring at Ron. "I told you. I told you he was different. He never even told me any of this."
"How the hell was I supposed to know?" Ron argued, nearly white from the shock.
Hermione glanced from Harry, to Ron, to Ginny, and quickly at the others. "If all of that is true," she said a little stiffly, "then the least you can do is accept him as Harry's friend."
Ron rubbed at his forehead while everyone else looked away again, averting their guilty eyes.
"He might be angry with me for telling this," Neville admitted. "I swore never to tell. I always thought that when the war was over he would tell people his part in it. But he hasn't and I don't feel right about that. Maybe he didn't think anyone would believe him. He's probably right. Yet, in the end, he was one of the most effective members of Dumbledore's Army."
The look on Harry's face was almost a smirk and he was having difficulty trying to hold back the whoop inside of him.
"If we'd have known that ..." Seamus began quietly.
"We would have never done ..." continued Dean.
"What we did," Parvati finished.
"It doesn't matter," said Hermione. "It's over, it happened, and he's done nasty things as well. We're all human. I'm sure the point of Neville saying what he said wasn't to make you all feel bad."
"No, I just wanted to set it right again," Neville agreed. "So, this is a party. Where's the Firewhiskey?"
"I'll get it," Harry volunteered with a small grin, and he stood up from the table to find the alcohol.
***
Harry sighed happily, lying back against Draco's pillows. His breathing was still a little heavier than usual and his heart was still beating quickly. "Brilliant," he said with a grin.
Draco smiled down at him, kissing him again. "Fantastic, yes," he agreed before reluctantly rolling off his lover's body and onto his back, beside him.
Harry only rolled after him, attacking his neck with little kisses.
Draco laughed, lifting his chin and shivering under the assault.
Harry laughed as well, moving to Draco's mouth. It was the day before Christmas Eve and the first day that Harry had seen Draco since all the parties. "I've just missed you so much," he mumbled against Draco's lips.
"I missed you very much," Draco said. It had been way too quiet with Harry so busy with social gatherings. He didn't begrudge Harry his parties, but it did leave him rather lonely.
Harry smiled and rolled on to his back again. "Anything interesting happen in my absence?"
Another letter from his father encouraging him to go to France to find a bride, Draco thought but shook his head. "No, been pretty quiet here."
"Mmm," Harry hummed. "What are you doing for Christmas?"
Draco cocked his head, wondering what Harry might be leading up to. "Not much," he said. "Rusty will probably make a roast."
"Ooh, fun," Harry said with a dry grin and an eyebrow raise.
Draco frowned and sighed. He remembered times when his parents threw lavish parties for their friends.
"You should come over to my house," Harry told him, twirling a piece of his blond hair.
"Don't you usually spend the holiday with the Weasley horde?" Draco teased.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said, "and I am, but we're doing it at number twelve this year. It's bigger and we're having more people."
Draco's eyes widened in surprise but then narrowed. "You are asking me to come to a party at your house? You do remember the last time the Weas ... Ron Weasley and I were in the same room, right?"
Harry sighed. "I have a feeling it will be different," he said. "Plus, I don't want to spend Christmas away from you." He frowned.
"And how will your ... friends ... feel about having the notorious Draco Malfoy in their midst?" Draco pressed.
"I don't think they'll mind," Harry answered, not managing to keep all of the loftiness out of his tone.
Draco gave Harry a look that clearly implied that he thought his lover had gone mad. "And Ginny?"
Harry winced now. He hadn't really thought about that. "Well," he said, "no one knows that we're seeing each other besides Hermione."
Draco felt torn. He didn't want to admit that he desperately wanted to spend Christmas with the man he loved; that he was lonely. Not only did he miss Harry, he missed being around other people. But he wouldn't admit that. He couldn't. "Granger will have a fit," he said instead.
Harry frowned again. "She'll nag, yes," he said.
"And you still want me there?" Draco asked quietly.
"Draco, I want you everywhere I go," Harry said. "I hate being anywhere without you."
That brought a smile to the blond's face, and he reached a hand up to cup Harry's. "Yes, I wish I could always be with you," he admitted. "And if you want me at your house in front of all those people, then that's where I will be."
Harry smiled, too. "I'm not going to throw you to the lions," he promised, then chuckled a bit, realising his inadvertent pun. "Even though that's who's going to be there."
Draco felt that was an apt metaphor. Some of Harry's friends, who he supposed would be attending, had been very rough on him in seventh year. How would they behave toward him now? "I remember," he sighed.
Harry was slightly confused with that response. "You remember what?"
"Never mind," Draco said. "I will be there."
Harry leaned over and kissed him, thinking he might know what Draco remembered.