A Love So Belated
folder
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,687
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
1
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
44
Views:
46,687
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 36: Not Alone
Chapter Number/Total: 36/44
Chapter Title: Not Alone
Words: 3132 Words
Draco knew he needed to talk to his mother as soon as possible. He didn't look forward to it, but he knew better than to make her wait. He was cleaned, dressed and on his way to the Manor as quickly as he could be. He handed Rusty his cloak and asked the elf where his mother was.
Before Rusty could even open his mouth, Narcissa was striding around the corner and the elf was quickly gone with a crack.
Her cheeks grew the slightest bit pink when she set eyes on Draco and she seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
"Mother," Draco greeted her, wincing at the look on her face.
She took a quiet deep breath through her nose and looked to the ceiling for a brief moment, steeling herself. "Draco," she responded, looking back at him.
Draco made a pleading face. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
When she opened her mouth next, it was obvious she was trying to be careful. "It is awkward enough to have to hear about a sexual situation involving one's child. But it is another thing entirely to have to read about it with the rest of the world in the morning paper. Draco, what were you thinking?"
Draco flushed, looking at the floor. "They made it sound more lurid than it was," he protested.
"You think that makes a difference?" Narcissa asked. "It's been done now. Whether or not it is a fact that you had your trousers down is not what is going to matter."
"We were fully clothed," Draco insisted, still blushing but a bit angry as well.
Narcissa closed her eyes, taking another deep breath. "Draco, you are a grown man. I cannot tell you, nor do I want to tell you what to do with your ..." she took yet another deep breath, "intimate relations. But you should have known better than this. The Three Broomsticks? One of the most popular pubs in Britain?" She didn't wait for an answer and turned from him, walking toward the sitting room. She expected Draco to follow by the looks of it.
He couldn't really fault her on that one, but Draco hated being chastised. He sighed and followed his mother.
She sat down on the sofa, rather heavily compared to how she usually moved. "I absolutely detest that Rita Skeeter," she said, though she had never spoken of the woman before, other than to comment that she was rather crass. She snapped her fingers for Rusty, ordering him to bring them tea. "What are you going to do now? Your father will know about this. They will make sure he sees it."
Draco sat down in a chair, hands in his lap. "I know," he said with a shudder. "I don't know what to do about Father."
There was a short stretch of silence. Narcissa reached for three sheets of parchment on the low table in front of her. "I tried to write him three different letters," she said, sounding a bit softer now. She held up the parchment. "I think he will react the same way no matter what we do."
Draco nodded, glancing up at her. "I hadn't figured out a way to tell him," he admitted. He twisted his fingers together. "What will he do?" he asked in a smaller voice.
Narcissa frowned, replacing the parchment on the table. "Well, what can he do?" she said, softer still, reverting to her normal tone with her son. "He's in prison." She paused. "He will be ... very ... angry. Upset that he's finding out about all of this in the paper. Upset about it anyway. He will also be angry because, if you had to be with Potter, he will think you should have, at the very least, tried to hide it properly." She sighed. "That will be the first half of it. The rest .... He won't be happy, Draco, for reasons that you already know."
He looked up at her. "What do you want me to do now?" he asked.
"Write him before he writes you," she said after a moment. "Be honest with him, because if you lie now and he gets hope that it isn't serious or that you're not sure about it, he will never stop pushing. He might still push after that, but it will be much worse if you lie."
"Yes, Mother," Draco agreed. He swallowed hard. He wanted to ask if his father would ever forgive him, but he was afraid of the answer. Lucius didn't even know the whole story yet.
"To be honest," said Narcissa quietly, "I'm not even entirely sure of how he will react. I've never seen him in a situation like this. He is your father though, Draco. No matter what he may say." The last words were nearly whispered, and she looked to her hands for a moment.
"I will write him now," he told her, but didn't make a move to stand. He looked over at her, trying to think of something to say to make her or himself feel better.
"I'll write him as well," she said, still a bit quiet. "And I imagine you might have to put that house-elf to work on Howlers over the next few weeks."
"Father doesn't use Howlers," Draco said, confused.
"No, but a lot of other people do," Narcissa replied, arching her eyebrows pointedly.
Draco almost cursed in front of his mother, but managed to hold his tongue, wincing. "I can imagine that most people will not be happy with their hero choosing me."
"Most people will not be happy, not only because it is you, as the article said, 'the son of a convicted Death Eater,' but also because you're a man. Their hero has now stepped out of his mould."
Draco couldn't help but smirk at that. If they only knew how "out of the mould" their hero was.
Narcissa sighed. "Don't worry about it for now, I suppose," she said. "Well, I don't mean don't write your father. You should do that as soon as possible, but don't get yourself all worked up about it. What is going to happen will happen."
"I'm sorry I caused embarrassment for you, Mother," Draco added solemnly.
She sighed again. "So am I," she said, but she gave him a twitch of a smile.
"Do you mind if I use the writing desk in my room here?" he asked.
Narcissa shook her head slightly. "Don't insult me with that question, Draco," she chided, giving him another small and slightly wry smile.
"Yes, Mother," he said, getting to his feet. He walked over to her and laid a simple kiss on her cheek.
She rubbed his back a little as he did.
***
Dear Father,
I am, to be honest, at a loss as to how I should even begin this letter. I know that by now, you will have seen, or been told about the Daily Prophet that includes an article about myself and Harry Potter. I know you are probably angry and hoping that I am writing to tell you it was all lies. I cannot.
Although, in typical Skeeter style, the details were inaccurate, the major points of the article are true. I am involved in an intimate relationship with Harry Potter and have been since November. I know this will not meet with your approval.
When I first began socialising with Harry, it was, in truth, more accident than plan. The change from friendship to more was definitely unexpected, but not unwelcome on my part. I am in love with him. At Christmas, he told me he loved me too and asked me to live with him. I agreed.
I know my responsibilities to my family and I have always tried very hard to fulfil them. Father, I know I am supposed to marry a pure-blood witch and have children to continue the Malfoy line. I cannot tell you how much it pains me to disappoint you. I don’t know what the future holds. If I could find a way to please you and not betray my heart, I would. I do know that I am in love with a man and that nothing brings me greater happiness than being with him.
I continue to love and honour you, Father. I am sorry to have embarrassed and disappointed you.
Your devoted son,
Draco Malfoy
***
When Draco had gone off to see his mother, Harry stayed behind, even though he had sort of wanted to go - for Draco at least, but they had both decided that his presence would probably hinder more than it would help.
Only about five minutes' time had passed since Draco had walked out the door before someone else showed up. Hermione stood there, looking worried.
"Hi," Harry said flatly, letting her in.
"Hi," she answered. "You've seen it then?"
He nodded.
She sighed.
"Tea?" he asked.
"I suppose," she said, following him as he turned to head for the kitchen. "I don't mean to bother you two. I only wanted to check and see if you were okay."
"It's no bother," Harry said. "He's not even here."
Hermione frowned as she took a seat at the table. "He's not?"
"No. He went over to his mum's."
"Oh." She winced. "Yes, I suppose he would go there."
Harry nodded, wincing a bit himself.
"What will she do?" Hermione asked.
"I have no idea," Harry said truthfully, bringing the tea to the table and sitting across from her.
She pursed her lips, staring at Harry.
He sighed quietly. "Have you seen any of the Weasleys yet?"
Hermione let out a small sound of sympathy. "No," she said. "I came here first. I suppose I'm going there next."
Harry groaned a bit.
She made another small sound. "Well, Harry," she said, "why did you do that?"
"We didn't know anyone was watching!" Harry objected, flushing. "It wasn't like we were out in the open."
"You obviously were out in the open enough for someone to see you," Hermione said pointedly. "You couldn't even ... wait to get home?" She flushed a little now too. "What were you thinking?"
"We weren't, I guess," he said, sighing again. "It sounded a lot worse than it was though. You know Rita Skeeter."
A sudden stony look crossed Hermione's face. "Yes," she said, "I do."
He winced again. "It was stupid of us," he said. "I guess we were just ... caught up. We'd just spent hours pretending we were only friends."
"So you absolutely had to shag the very moment you got away?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He rolled his eyes a bit. "We didn't shag. Unless you were watching closely, it probably only looked like we were snogging," he lied.
"Right," she said, unconvinced.
Harry shrugged a little, shaking his head. "I don't even want to think of how everyone's taking this," he said quietly. "Merlin. Seamus and all of them ...." He groaned again. "I wish I could've just done it my own way."
"Well, yes. That would have been better," said Hermione, leaving unsaid the words, "You should have thought of that before you decided to frot in public."
"Well, Ron's probably laughing it up," Harry said, huffing and sitting back.
"Oh, no he's not," Hermione chided. "He may be angry with you, but it doesn't mean he wants bad things to happen to you."
Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but resisted. "I guess I just hope Mr and Mrs Weasley don't -" But he didn't finish, not only because he felt like he probably deserved whatever they would feel for him, but he felt like he was repeating himself.
"Well, just don't assume the worst," she said softly. "They do love you."
Harry shook his head.
They both sat there for a while, going through several cups of tea as Hermione tried to convince Harry that all was not lost, but he still felt like it probably was, and he was starting to wonder how much longer Draco would be gone. He hoped things weren't going terribly for him.
Draco came in the door and hung his cloak in the closet. He saw another coat there, recognising it as Granger's. He took a deep breath and walked down the hall, glancing into the sitting room. When he found it empty, he made his way to the kitchen.
Harry looked up when Draco entered and got to his feet. "Hey," he said, walking over to him. "How did it go?" He leaned in to kiss him, and then realised that he had never done so with another person in the room. He stopped short.
Draco glanced at Granger but brought his mouth down on Harry's. She had seen them fucking, she should be able to handle a kiss.
Harry flushed a little, but Hermione didn't seem particularly bothered. She nodded to Draco.
Draco smiled at Harry as he moved to sit down in the chair next to where his lover had been sitting. He reached and poured himself a cup of tea.
Harry returned to his seat and sat down. "How did it go?" he asked again.
Draco sighed, glancing up at Granger. "Well, Mother is understandably upset with our lack of discretion."
Harry flushed again and nodded. "Yes, understandable."
Hermione was silent, watching them both.
"I wrote my father a letter," Draco said into the silence.
Harry frowned. He didn't want to ask Draco what he said in the letter while Hermione was there, and he wasn't even sure if he would ask once she was gone. "Oh," he said quietly.
"Maybe I should just go," Hermione suggested, still looking between them.
"And Harry's other friends?" Draco asked her.
"Oh," she said. "Well, I haven't spoken with any of them. I was going to head over to Ron's house after this."
"Doesn't matter," Harry muttered. "They'll all be mad at me for something. Either mad because I didn't tell them, mad because it's Draco, or mad because I'm a poof - half a poof - whatever."
Hermione shook her head at him. "Everyone is just probably confused," she said. "None of this has been like you at all."
"You should go and talk with them," Draco said to Harry.
"You know," Hermione began slowly, "that probably wouldn't be a bad idea."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Now?"
Draco nodded. "I went to Mother and wrote my father immediately, because to let it linger would only make it worse. Let them see you are still their friend."
Harry snorted without humour. "What? Just stop over at everyone's houses? Hi, sorry about having sex with Draco outside the pub last night. Still friends?" He rolled his eyes.
Hermione rolled her eyes as well. "You're so stubborn!"
Harry frowned confusedly. "Stubborn? Where do you come off saying I'm stubborn because of that?"
"Because you haven't talked to anyone at all yet. You haven't even been to the Burrow since you broke up with Ginny," she said. "You've already got everyone's reactions worked out in your head but you really have no idea how any of them will take it."
Draco hated to admit to agreeing with Granger on this, or anything else for that matter, but he nodded.
"I know how they are, Hermione," Harry insisted.
"No you don't," she retorted. "Not when it comes to something like this. You're going off Ron's reaction and you think that's how all of them will be."
Harry shook his head, but couldn't really think of anything to say. He knew most of them would react much like Ron.
"You also assume that they are all against the very idea of you with a man," Draco added. "We aren't the only ones you know."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "None of my friends are," he paused, trying to think of an adequate word, but settled with, "Gay. Or at least, not that I know of."
"And they would tell you before because ...?" Draco asked, arching an eyebrow.
Harry raised an eyebrow as well. "Wait," he said. "Are you saying that you know one of my friends is gay?"
"I don't know if I would use the Muggle word," Draco said. "But it so happens that I wasn't the only boy at Hogwarts with such interests."
"Well, yeah, you said you'd done things with another bloke before," Harry said slowly. "But I assumed you meant someone in Slytherin."
Hermione looked interested in where Draco was going with this as well.
"That's quite an assumption. Are you suggesting that only Slytherins would be into such things?" he asked, smirking.
Harry rolled his eyes slightly. "No," he said. "It's just the House you were in."
"Oh, so it was just my gorgeous self that turned them to such?" Draco smiled.
"Well, it seems to have worked on me," Harry replied, shaking his head amusedly. "You know what I mean."
Hermione stared strangely between them.
"Yes, I am telling you that at least one of your friends likes men, too," Draco said, still smiling.
Harry let out a long sigh. "Are you going to tell me who?"
"Not my place to," Draco said, crossing his arms across his chest and looking smug.
"Are you kidding me?" Harry yelped, staring at Draco. "You're not going to tell me?"
"Granger? Do you think it is my place to tell someone else's secret?" he asked her.
She looked a little disappointed with not getting to know herself, but shook her head firmly. "No. If you aren't supposed to tell then you shouldn't tell."
Harry rolled his eyes a little, but found that he agreed with her, even though he did want to know.
"I only tell you so that you might think twice about judging your friends' reactions before you have heard them," Draco said, nodding at Hermione.
She nodded as well.
Harry sighed. "So you're saying I should go to each of their houses?" he asked.
"Maybe you should just invite them all out again. Or even invite them over here," Hermione suggested. "Anyone who doesn't show up probably didn't have a great reaction to the article, but you'd be surprised by how many actually would come."
Draco nearly laughed. "We could host a party," he said, only half sarcastically.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?"
Draco looked to Granger, assessing what she said. "If that is what you want to do, yes," he said, holding his chin up proudly.
Harry frowned a little as he sat there. "I'll think about it, I guess," he said noncommittally.
"Well, don't take too long," Hermione urged. "Like Mal - Draco ... said, letting it linger will make it worse."
Draco reached out and took Harry's hand in his, squeezing it.
Harry nodded. "I know," he said, squeezing Draco in return.
Chapter Title: Not Alone
Words: 3132 Words
Draco knew he needed to talk to his mother as soon as possible. He didn't look forward to it, but he knew better than to make her wait. He was cleaned, dressed and on his way to the Manor as quickly as he could be. He handed Rusty his cloak and asked the elf where his mother was.
Before Rusty could even open his mouth, Narcissa was striding around the corner and the elf was quickly gone with a crack.
Her cheeks grew the slightest bit pink when she set eyes on Draco and she seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
"Mother," Draco greeted her, wincing at the look on her face.
She took a quiet deep breath through her nose and looked to the ceiling for a brief moment, steeling herself. "Draco," she responded, looking back at him.
Draco made a pleading face. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
When she opened her mouth next, it was obvious she was trying to be careful. "It is awkward enough to have to hear about a sexual situation involving one's child. But it is another thing entirely to have to read about it with the rest of the world in the morning paper. Draco, what were you thinking?"
Draco flushed, looking at the floor. "They made it sound more lurid than it was," he protested.
"You think that makes a difference?" Narcissa asked. "It's been done now. Whether or not it is a fact that you had your trousers down is not what is going to matter."
"We were fully clothed," Draco insisted, still blushing but a bit angry as well.
Narcissa closed her eyes, taking another deep breath. "Draco, you are a grown man. I cannot tell you, nor do I want to tell you what to do with your ..." she took yet another deep breath, "intimate relations. But you should have known better than this. The Three Broomsticks? One of the most popular pubs in Britain?" She didn't wait for an answer and turned from him, walking toward the sitting room. She expected Draco to follow by the looks of it.
He couldn't really fault her on that one, but Draco hated being chastised. He sighed and followed his mother.
She sat down on the sofa, rather heavily compared to how she usually moved. "I absolutely detest that Rita Skeeter," she said, though she had never spoken of the woman before, other than to comment that she was rather crass. She snapped her fingers for Rusty, ordering him to bring them tea. "What are you going to do now? Your father will know about this. They will make sure he sees it."
Draco sat down in a chair, hands in his lap. "I know," he said with a shudder. "I don't know what to do about Father."
There was a short stretch of silence. Narcissa reached for three sheets of parchment on the low table in front of her. "I tried to write him three different letters," she said, sounding a bit softer now. She held up the parchment. "I think he will react the same way no matter what we do."
Draco nodded, glancing up at her. "I hadn't figured out a way to tell him," he admitted. He twisted his fingers together. "What will he do?" he asked in a smaller voice.
Narcissa frowned, replacing the parchment on the table. "Well, what can he do?" she said, softer still, reverting to her normal tone with her son. "He's in prison." She paused. "He will be ... very ... angry. Upset that he's finding out about all of this in the paper. Upset about it anyway. He will also be angry because, if you had to be with Potter, he will think you should have, at the very least, tried to hide it properly." She sighed. "That will be the first half of it. The rest .... He won't be happy, Draco, for reasons that you already know."
He looked up at her. "What do you want me to do now?" he asked.
"Write him before he writes you," she said after a moment. "Be honest with him, because if you lie now and he gets hope that it isn't serious or that you're not sure about it, he will never stop pushing. He might still push after that, but it will be much worse if you lie."
"Yes, Mother," Draco agreed. He swallowed hard. He wanted to ask if his father would ever forgive him, but he was afraid of the answer. Lucius didn't even know the whole story yet.
"To be honest," said Narcissa quietly, "I'm not even entirely sure of how he will react. I've never seen him in a situation like this. He is your father though, Draco. No matter what he may say." The last words were nearly whispered, and she looked to her hands for a moment.
"I will write him now," he told her, but didn't make a move to stand. He looked over at her, trying to think of something to say to make her or himself feel better.
"I'll write him as well," she said, still a bit quiet. "And I imagine you might have to put that house-elf to work on Howlers over the next few weeks."
"Father doesn't use Howlers," Draco said, confused.
"No, but a lot of other people do," Narcissa replied, arching her eyebrows pointedly.
Draco almost cursed in front of his mother, but managed to hold his tongue, wincing. "I can imagine that most people will not be happy with their hero choosing me."
"Most people will not be happy, not only because it is you, as the article said, 'the son of a convicted Death Eater,' but also because you're a man. Their hero has now stepped out of his mould."
Draco couldn't help but smirk at that. If they only knew how "out of the mould" their hero was.
Narcissa sighed. "Don't worry about it for now, I suppose," she said. "Well, I don't mean don't write your father. You should do that as soon as possible, but don't get yourself all worked up about it. What is going to happen will happen."
"I'm sorry I caused embarrassment for you, Mother," Draco added solemnly.
She sighed again. "So am I," she said, but she gave him a twitch of a smile.
"Do you mind if I use the writing desk in my room here?" he asked.
Narcissa shook her head slightly. "Don't insult me with that question, Draco," she chided, giving him another small and slightly wry smile.
"Yes, Mother," he said, getting to his feet. He walked over to her and laid a simple kiss on her cheek.
She rubbed his back a little as he did.
***
Dear Father,
I am, to be honest, at a loss as to how I should even begin this letter. I know that by now, you will have seen, or been told about the Daily Prophet that includes an article about myself and Harry Potter. I know you are probably angry and hoping that I am writing to tell you it was all lies. I cannot.
Although, in typical Skeeter style, the details were inaccurate, the major points of the article are true. I am involved in an intimate relationship with Harry Potter and have been since November. I know this will not meet with your approval.
When I first began socialising with Harry, it was, in truth, more accident than plan. The change from friendship to more was definitely unexpected, but not unwelcome on my part. I am in love with him. At Christmas, he told me he loved me too and asked me to live with him. I agreed.
I know my responsibilities to my family and I have always tried very hard to fulfil them. Father, I know I am supposed to marry a pure-blood witch and have children to continue the Malfoy line. I cannot tell you how much it pains me to disappoint you. I don’t know what the future holds. If I could find a way to please you and not betray my heart, I would. I do know that I am in love with a man and that nothing brings me greater happiness than being with him.
I continue to love and honour you, Father. I am sorry to have embarrassed and disappointed you.
Your devoted son,
Draco Malfoy
***
When Draco had gone off to see his mother, Harry stayed behind, even though he had sort of wanted to go - for Draco at least, but they had both decided that his presence would probably hinder more than it would help.
Only about five minutes' time had passed since Draco had walked out the door before someone else showed up. Hermione stood there, looking worried.
"Hi," Harry said flatly, letting her in.
"Hi," she answered. "You've seen it then?"
He nodded.
She sighed.
"Tea?" he asked.
"I suppose," she said, following him as he turned to head for the kitchen. "I don't mean to bother you two. I only wanted to check and see if you were okay."
"It's no bother," Harry said. "He's not even here."
Hermione frowned as she took a seat at the table. "He's not?"
"No. He went over to his mum's."
"Oh." She winced. "Yes, I suppose he would go there."
Harry nodded, wincing a bit himself.
"What will she do?" Hermione asked.
"I have no idea," Harry said truthfully, bringing the tea to the table and sitting across from her.
She pursed her lips, staring at Harry.
He sighed quietly. "Have you seen any of the Weasleys yet?"
Hermione let out a small sound of sympathy. "No," she said. "I came here first. I suppose I'm going there next."
Harry groaned a bit.
She made another small sound. "Well, Harry," she said, "why did you do that?"
"We didn't know anyone was watching!" Harry objected, flushing. "It wasn't like we were out in the open."
"You obviously were out in the open enough for someone to see you," Hermione said pointedly. "You couldn't even ... wait to get home?" She flushed a little now too. "What were you thinking?"
"We weren't, I guess," he said, sighing again. "It sounded a lot worse than it was though. You know Rita Skeeter."
A sudden stony look crossed Hermione's face. "Yes," she said, "I do."
He winced again. "It was stupid of us," he said. "I guess we were just ... caught up. We'd just spent hours pretending we were only friends."
"So you absolutely had to shag the very moment you got away?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He rolled his eyes a bit. "We didn't shag. Unless you were watching closely, it probably only looked like we were snogging," he lied.
"Right," she said, unconvinced.
Harry shrugged a little, shaking his head. "I don't even want to think of how everyone's taking this," he said quietly. "Merlin. Seamus and all of them ...." He groaned again. "I wish I could've just done it my own way."
"Well, yes. That would have been better," said Hermione, leaving unsaid the words, "You should have thought of that before you decided to frot in public."
"Well, Ron's probably laughing it up," Harry said, huffing and sitting back.
"Oh, no he's not," Hermione chided. "He may be angry with you, but it doesn't mean he wants bad things to happen to you."
Harry wanted to roll his eyes, but resisted. "I guess I just hope Mr and Mrs Weasley don't -" But he didn't finish, not only because he felt like he probably deserved whatever they would feel for him, but he felt like he was repeating himself.
"Well, just don't assume the worst," she said softly. "They do love you."
Harry shook his head.
They both sat there for a while, going through several cups of tea as Hermione tried to convince Harry that all was not lost, but he still felt like it probably was, and he was starting to wonder how much longer Draco would be gone. He hoped things weren't going terribly for him.
Draco came in the door and hung his cloak in the closet. He saw another coat there, recognising it as Granger's. He took a deep breath and walked down the hall, glancing into the sitting room. When he found it empty, he made his way to the kitchen.
Harry looked up when Draco entered and got to his feet. "Hey," he said, walking over to him. "How did it go?" He leaned in to kiss him, and then realised that he had never done so with another person in the room. He stopped short.
Draco glanced at Granger but brought his mouth down on Harry's. She had seen them fucking, she should be able to handle a kiss.
Harry flushed a little, but Hermione didn't seem particularly bothered. She nodded to Draco.
Draco smiled at Harry as he moved to sit down in the chair next to where his lover had been sitting. He reached and poured himself a cup of tea.
Harry returned to his seat and sat down. "How did it go?" he asked again.
Draco sighed, glancing up at Granger. "Well, Mother is understandably upset with our lack of discretion."
Harry flushed again and nodded. "Yes, understandable."
Hermione was silent, watching them both.
"I wrote my father a letter," Draco said into the silence.
Harry frowned. He didn't want to ask Draco what he said in the letter while Hermione was there, and he wasn't even sure if he would ask once she was gone. "Oh," he said quietly.
"Maybe I should just go," Hermione suggested, still looking between them.
"And Harry's other friends?" Draco asked her.
"Oh," she said. "Well, I haven't spoken with any of them. I was going to head over to Ron's house after this."
"Doesn't matter," Harry muttered. "They'll all be mad at me for something. Either mad because I didn't tell them, mad because it's Draco, or mad because I'm a poof - half a poof - whatever."
Hermione shook her head at him. "Everyone is just probably confused," she said. "None of this has been like you at all."
"You should go and talk with them," Draco said to Harry.
"You know," Hermione began slowly, "that probably wouldn't be a bad idea."
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Now?"
Draco nodded. "I went to Mother and wrote my father immediately, because to let it linger would only make it worse. Let them see you are still their friend."
Harry snorted without humour. "What? Just stop over at everyone's houses? Hi, sorry about having sex with Draco outside the pub last night. Still friends?" He rolled his eyes.
Hermione rolled her eyes as well. "You're so stubborn!"
Harry frowned confusedly. "Stubborn? Where do you come off saying I'm stubborn because of that?"
"Because you haven't talked to anyone at all yet. You haven't even been to the Burrow since you broke up with Ginny," she said. "You've already got everyone's reactions worked out in your head but you really have no idea how any of them will take it."
Draco hated to admit to agreeing with Granger on this, or anything else for that matter, but he nodded.
"I know how they are, Hermione," Harry insisted.
"No you don't," she retorted. "Not when it comes to something like this. You're going off Ron's reaction and you think that's how all of them will be."
Harry shook his head, but couldn't really think of anything to say. He knew most of them would react much like Ron.
"You also assume that they are all against the very idea of you with a man," Draco added. "We aren't the only ones you know."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "None of my friends are," he paused, trying to think of an adequate word, but settled with, "Gay. Or at least, not that I know of."
"And they would tell you before because ...?" Draco asked, arching an eyebrow.
Harry raised an eyebrow as well. "Wait," he said. "Are you saying that you know one of my friends is gay?"
"I don't know if I would use the Muggle word," Draco said. "But it so happens that I wasn't the only boy at Hogwarts with such interests."
"Well, yeah, you said you'd done things with another bloke before," Harry said slowly. "But I assumed you meant someone in Slytherin."
Hermione looked interested in where Draco was going with this as well.
"That's quite an assumption. Are you suggesting that only Slytherins would be into such things?" he asked, smirking.
Harry rolled his eyes slightly. "No," he said. "It's just the House you were in."
"Oh, so it was just my gorgeous self that turned them to such?" Draco smiled.
"Well, it seems to have worked on me," Harry replied, shaking his head amusedly. "You know what I mean."
Hermione stared strangely between them.
"Yes, I am telling you that at least one of your friends likes men, too," Draco said, still smiling.
Harry let out a long sigh. "Are you going to tell me who?"
"Not my place to," Draco said, crossing his arms across his chest and looking smug.
"Are you kidding me?" Harry yelped, staring at Draco. "You're not going to tell me?"
"Granger? Do you think it is my place to tell someone else's secret?" he asked her.
She looked a little disappointed with not getting to know herself, but shook her head firmly. "No. If you aren't supposed to tell then you shouldn't tell."
Harry rolled his eyes a little, but found that he agreed with her, even though he did want to know.
"I only tell you so that you might think twice about judging your friends' reactions before you have heard them," Draco said, nodding at Hermione.
She nodded as well.
Harry sighed. "So you're saying I should go to each of their houses?" he asked.
"Maybe you should just invite them all out again. Or even invite them over here," Hermione suggested. "Anyone who doesn't show up probably didn't have a great reaction to the article, but you'd be surprised by how many actually would come."
Draco nearly laughed. "We could host a party," he said, only half sarcastically.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Seriously?"
Draco looked to Granger, assessing what she said. "If that is what you want to do, yes," he said, holding his chin up proudly.
Harry frowned a little as he sat there. "I'll think about it, I guess," he said noncommittally.
"Well, don't take too long," Hermione urged. "Like Mal - Draco ... said, letting it linger will make it worse."
Draco reached out and took Harry's hand in his, squeezing it.
Harry nodded. "I know," he said, squeezing Draco in return.