Poses

It was Ron\'s turn to be entirely too chipper that morning, and Hermione\'s to blush and avoid eye contact. None of this escaped Draco\'s notice, although he wasn\'t sure whether he should have been proud or ill. On one hand, he\'d helped successfully manipulate Granger into putting out. On the other, well, Granger naked. Draco pushed his breakfast plate away.

It was juvenile to take satisfaction in squicking Malfoy, but Hermione reasoned it was better than getting offended, so she gave him a deliberate smirk when she saw him pushing his plate away. The night before, she had immediately recognized the book Ron handed her as being of similar design to the one Malfoy had held when she rescued him from Snape. When she read the title, The Taming of the Shrew, she knew. Malfoy must have given Ron the book to give to her, knowing this was her favorite. Of course, she\'d already decided to give herself to Ron that night. Bribery didn\'t work on Gryffindors, but the gesture from the both of them was touching.

Ron caught Draco\'s eye and he waggled his ginger brows. Trying to suppress a grin, Draco pressed his lips together and nodded solemnly. Ron lit up in a beaming smile. Draco opened his mouth and jabbed his index finger in to imitate gagging. This set Ron to giggling and Harry snapped his head up like an angry librarian.

\"What\'s going on?\" The edge of Harry\'s tone sucked the mirth out of the room.

Draco opened his mouth only to catch Ron\'s warning look. Ron\'s eyes darted meaningfully to his parents. \"Nothing.\"

\"That was an awful lot of giggling for nothing to be going on.\" Harry glared at Draco. Draco furrowed his brows.

Again Draco started to speak. Ron promptly stomped on his foot to prevent it. \"Ow!\"

Harry\'s resentful gaze turned on Ron just as Ginny breezed in. She took a seat on the other side of Harry. \"Oh, Ron and Draco playing footsie again?\" she teased before catching the dour looks on everyone\'s faces.

\"Again?\" questioned Harry.

\"She\'s teasing, Harry. They don\'t play footsie. Or anything else.\" Hermione was trying to be reassuring. She\'d gotten a fair idea of what was going on in that scarred head of his, but under the watchful eyes of the Weasleys, it wasn\'t a good time to blurt out what Ron and Draco were giggling about. Watching Harry\'s ever-reddening face, she determined what his problem must be. Projection. Though she tried to talk Harry through his episode with his classmate a few nights ago, he was determined to hang onto his guilt. She didn\'t see that he\'d done anything wrong, but it was clear that it was eating him alive. Hermione was starting to wonder if her advising him not to confess it to Draco had been the right thing to do. Especially with as moody and tense as Harry was.

In spite of Harry\'s prickliness and Ron\'s wrathful look, Draco leaned in to whisper the \"big secret.\" Before he could make a sound, Harry had sprung up from the table, skittering the chair behind him a few feet before it dumped over. \"I need to go, I don\'t want to be late,\" Harry announced.

Arthur was surprised by Harry\'s response to what he thought was a rather obvious situation. The Weasleys were no fools. After all, they had a litter of children and this whole scene was an open book. Clearly his son and Hermione had... well, he didn\'t want to think about it in those specific terms, but he was happy for his son. There was a good twenty minutes before they needed to be at the Ministry. \"Harry, there\'s still plenty of time before we need to....\"

\"I\'m going NOW,\" seethed Harry as he tromped to the stairs.

Watching Harry up the stairs, Arthur decided he might as well follow and try to talk to the boy along the way. He kissed Molly and said his goodbyes before giving Ron a knowing wink. He then gave Draco a quick nod to indicate he\'d try to sort it out. Draco frowned at his plate.

--

\"We have to stop. I\'m exhausted.\" Draco\'s pallid brow glistened in the midmorning light. He blotted it off with his handkerchief.

Ron nodded and wiped his sweaty face with his sleeve. \"I was exhausted an hour ago.\"

Draco flopped on the couch and slid his wand away. \"Yet another way in which I\'m superior to you.\"

By now, Ron was used to Draco\'s attitude. He shrugged it off. \"Are you going to be all right?\"

\"Yes, I\'m fine. Might have a nap, though.\"

\"You and your naps,\" said Ron as he shakily put his wand away and brushed his sweaty palms on his robe. Draco had been very driven to practice magic today; Ron surmised it was to do with his spat with Harry. He tried to keep up with Draco, particularly since he felt responsible for their friction.

\"You tire me.\" Draco stretched out on the couch and rested the side of his face on one of the cushions.

Ron started towards the door, taking Draco\'s not-so-subtle hint, but paused after a thought, \"Thanks for letting us have the bedroom and all.\"

Draco decided not to tell anyone about the portrait\'s habit of mocking him when no one else was around. He wasn\'t about to talk about it now. \"It\'s not the same without Harry in there with me.\"

Ron rolled his eyes. \"I never took you for such a sap.\"

Draco snorted as he rubbed his palms into his tired eyes. \"I didn\'t either.\"

\"I\'m glad that you two-- I mean, I\'m glad you have-- You two are good-- You know, he\'s only upset because he loves you so much.\" Ron frowned at his incoherency, but Draco seemed to understand what he was getting at.

\"Yes. I know. Love is grand, isn\'t it?\" Draco attempted a wry smile, but it came out rather pitiful.

Sympathetic to Draco\'s stress, Ron assured, \"I\'ll talk to him when he gets back, get it all straightened around. You just have a nap. You\'ll wake up and everything will be right as rain.\"

\"Mm. Good.\" Draco pulled the throw blanket up over his shoulder and snuggled in. \"See to the door on your way out?\" He didn\'t think everything could be fixed quite so easily, but he wasn\'t going to turn down some help.

\"Have a good nap.\" Ron left the room and shut the door. As an afterthought, he cast a Silencing Charm on the room guessing that Draco could use some quiet time after the morning he\'d had.

--

On top of his relationship stresses, Harry was not having the time of his life in Auror training. He filled his supper talk at Grimmauld by expanding his sparse training victories into longer stories to give the impression he was well liked. He only ever talked about training when asked since none of his classmates talked to him much.

Not even Richard. Not that he wanted to talk to the man after \"the kiss.\"

There were few things more vexing, Harry decided, than ignoring someone who obviously didn\'t care. He\'d expected for Richard to either throw a big fit at him after their pub brawl or to apologize. Richard did neither. In fact, he distanced himself from Harry and, shortly thereafter began to make rather intimate friends with two female trainees.

Harry wasn\'t sure why he felt so insulted; he should\'ve been relieved. Instead he felt like a hit-and-run victim. Richard showed up, implied Draco\'s infidelity, took him to a pub to sexually assault him, and then left Harry to deal with the remaining remorse and without concern for the wreckage he\'d left behind. Harry dearly wished he\'d stuck with his first impression of the man and stayed away.

But he hadn\'t stayed away and as a result, he\'d kissed another man. No, it hadn\'t been his intention, but he went to that pub of his own free will, sure enough. He had an inkling of what might happen there when he accepted, given the winks and flirty manner in which he\'d received the invitation. At the time, part of him even thought that he wanted something to happen. Just to show Draco.

Draco. Evasive Draco. Manipulative Draco. Draco-who-had-probably-dropped-the-issue-of-topping-because-he-was-screwing-Ron. Yet, Draco who constantly told him and showed him how much he loved him. Draco-who-was-putting-up-with-the-snapping-and-possessive-and-rough-lovemaking. Why? Why would Draco put up with it? Especially if he had someone else? Deep down Harry knew. He knew there was nothing but fidelity and sincere love. Maybe now he just wanted Draco and Ron to be involved so that he could feel less guilty about what had happened with Richard. So that Harry could point his finger and say \"Hah! You\'re not perfect either!\"

What the shit was that with Draco and Ron? Giggling? Footsie? Harry could feel his anger stirring again. It wasn\'t just that he worried that Draco was cheating on him. What also rankled him was that life was going on without him. Draco and Ron were... friends? That shouldn\'t bother him. That\'s what he wanted, wasn\'t it? For his lover and his friends to get along? Yet that happening without him there he felt lost and talked about and jealous of not being there to see the friendship develop. If that\'s all it really was.

Harry reflected on the conversation he had with Hermione about the kiss with Richard. He\'d conveniently left out the circumstances that had led him to going with his classmate to the pub. He didn\'t think she needed to hear that her boyfriend might be unfaithful any more than he wanted to think it. It probably should have occurred to him that she didn\'t suspect that for a reason, but it didn\'t. Hermione didn\'t ask why Harry had gone to the pub with Richard in the first place, likely assuming that he was popular and got invitations out frequently. He didn\'t care to ruin that impression either.

Her advice was on the money, and he knew it. Even so, it hurt not to tell Draco what happened. He wanted to confess, to beg forgiveness. Or maybe he wanted to confront Draco with it. Wait for the other boy to scream at him so he could make his accusations about why he locked himself away with Ron in the mornings. Mornings that Harry was not a part of. Mornings that led to giggling at breakfast over things that Harry didn\'t know about. He was stuck in Auror training every day. It should have been fun here. He should be having the time of his life. Instead he was ignored, if not reviled, while at Grimmauld they were all having wild fun. Maybe even orgies, he thought in hysterical bitterness.

He couldn\'t concentrate. This was unfortunate for Harry because he was brewing a blood-staunching potion and Harry wasn\'t good at concentrating for long periods of time on his best day. He was staring blankly at the manual when his potion caught fire and noxious fumes filled the room. Richard led the charge of cackling at Harry as their classes were dismissed for the day. He started to respond but found himself too wound up to even form coherent response. So, with the afternoon sun shining down on his daunted face, Harry trudged towards Grimmauld Place.

--

To anyone who wasn\'t Draco, the Eagle owl who arrived with a flat, bulky package would\'ve appeared to be the Malfoy family owl. Though it was an intentionally excellent likeness, it was not the same owl.

Hermione was thrilled to have received what appeared to be another book. She smiled and fed the owl a treat and unwrapped the package.

\"I don\'t know if I\'m comfortable with Malfoy giving you gifts, Hermione,\" said Ron with his brows raised. To Ron, it made no sense that Draco would send Hermione a present, especially another book.

\"Maybe he wants to thank me for rescuing him from Snape?\"

\"A month later?\"

Hermione shrugged. \"Well, it arrived by his owl.\"

\"Which is also odd because I haven\'t seen his owl since Hogwarts,\" Ron pointed out. Not even Malfoy knew where his owl was at present, not that he\'d fretted over it. It was a family owl, not a pet. He\'d never been allowed pets.

Already, Hermione\'s fingers were sliding over the snakes woven into the cover and she was mouthing the words on the tome. \"A Serpent\'s Revenge: Sneaky Spells To Wreak Havoc. It sounds like him, doesn\'t it? Anyway Ron, only someone who knows where we are could get an owl to us.\"

Ron was dubious. Even if Draco had suddenly become altruistic and decided to buy Hermione a gift, Draco would\'ve mentioned it to him. No, he definitely couldn\'t see Draco buying Hermione something to give her from himself. Not wanting to see her dead and showering her with gifts were two very different things. He was just about to express his doubt about it actually being from Malfoy when Hermione threw open the book.

There was a flash of golden light. Hermione\'s eyes widened in shock as the strong magic hit her, jolting her body rigid before releasing her. Letting out little other than a whimpered sigh, she crashed face first into the open book. Ron shrieked and grabbed Hermione up into his arms, not sure what else to do. He was relieved to feel her breath on his cheek; at least she was still alive. A second later, two things happened; Molly was up the stairs and in Ron\'s room, and the portrait of Mrs. Black woke and began screaming her wrath.

\"OH THE UNWORTHINESS WHO HAVE BEFOULED THE HOME OF MY FOREBEARERS, THUS SHALL YOU SUFFER THE VENGEANCE OF MY ELDERS! YOU SHALL SUFFER AND DIE!\"

--

\"How dare you! How could you?\" screeched Harry as he stormed through the silenced drawing room door.

Draco jolted awake and stared up in groggy shock at his enraged lover. \"What?\"

\"Hermione!\"

\"Huh? Oh.-- that... well...\" stuttered Draco. Clueless as to what had happened to Hermione, Draco assumed that Harry found out about his helping Ron get into her knickers and reacted as poorly as Ron had feared. \"I--\" he stumbled again, not sure what to say. \"She needed it?\"

\"SHE NEEDED IT?\" Harry shrieked. How Hermione needed to have a book blow up in her face was beyond him and, had he been in a more stable frame of mind he might have wondered if Draco wasn\'t on about something else entirely. \"ARE YOU SAYING SHE DESERVED IT?\"

Draco furrowed his brows. Sure, why not? Who wasn\'t deserving of a good seeing to? \"Yes, she deserved it. Honestly, I think she earned it. I don\'t see what the big deal is, I realize she\'s your friend and all, Harry, but in the end she\'s just a girl,\" he pled, reasoning that Harry must have her on a pedestal that made him think she was above sex.

\"SHE\'S NOT JUST A GIRL, SHE\'S MY BEST FRIEND AND SHE-- SHE\'S HURT!\" screamed Harry as he rushed to the couch and yanked Draco to his feet. They were lucky that the silencing charm was still intact or the noise would have likely roused Mrs. Black again.

Draco yelped in surprise as he was spun around and then thrown against the tapestry on the wall. \"HARRY! STOP IT! IT DIDN\'T HURT HER--. IT\'S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL!\" Well, as far as he knew it didn\'t hurt her, but then, who knew just how big Ron was? In a less desperate moment, he might\'ve made that joke to Harry; instead he scrammed to pull out his wand for defense.

\"Pulling your wand on me, Malfoy?\" hissed Harry as he plucked it out of Draco\'s grasp before he could get a hex out.

\"You\'re mad! Give me back my wand! Get off of me!\" Draco screeched in utter panic. Harry pocketed Draco\'s wand and grabbed him by the front of his robes.

Ron had been thrown out of Hermione\'s room while Molly tended to her injuries. In spite of the fact that the package was made to appear that Malfoy had sent the book, Ron wasn\'t buying it. He was shocked that Harry was. Wasn\'t Harry his lover? Shouldn\'t he give him more of the benefit of the doubt than this? Ron dashed to the room just in time to catch Draco whom Harry had thrown at the door. \"Harry! Wait! Stop!\" Ron protested.

\"And YOU! What happened, Ron? Did you dump him for Hermione? Is that what happened? He couldn\'t stand that you shagged her and attacked her?\" shrieked Harry.

\"What?\" Ron and Draco looked each other over as if this were the most repellant thought ever presented. \"Harry... we\'re not...\" Ron began.

\"Boys, boys,\" drawled Snape as he appeared in the doorway behind Ron and Draco. \"Is there a problem?\"

\"YOU! It figures you\'d show up now. Well you can have him. I\'m done,\" growled Harry.

\"WHAT?\" cried Draco in panic. He eyed Ron who was shaking his head in incredulity.

Snape was pleased that things had worked out according to plan. Hermione, insofar as he could tell, was unconscious but not dead thanks to his weakening of the book\'s potency. He was astounded that Ron wasn\'t attacking Draco as well, however; that wasn\'t a deal breaker. He had a mission and he was following through with it. He grabbed Draco by the arm. \"I don\'t know about having him, Potter, but I will not leave him here for more of your abuse.\"

Draco glanced at Snape in trepidation and then looked to Harry in appeal. Harry glowered at his lover and then gave a dismissive wave for Snape to take him away. Draco grabbed for Ron\'s sleeve, but missed. Snape yanked Draco into the hall with him and slammed the door before Ron had a chance to react.

\"Harry, you can\'t let Snape take him!\" Ron turned to open the door, prepared to stop this himself if Harry wasn\'t going to.

It was too late; Snape had hexed the door locked and shoved the dazed Slytherin ahead of him.

\"Merlin, Harry!\" Ron cried as he tried wiggling the door knob as if that would dislodge something.

\"Oh sure, you\'d defend him, wouldn\'t you, Ron? I thought you were my friend, but you always were very jealous of me. You always wanted the things I had. I should\'ve seen this coming,\" snapped Harry. Part of him wanted to beat Ron till he bled, but he was too exhausted and miserable to put up such a fight.

\"Seen what coming, Harry?\" Ron asked distractedly before he started trying a litany of counter hexes to open the door. In an attempt to be productive, he chose to ignore the hurtfulness of Harry\'s insinuation. They needed to focus on rescuing Draco from Snape.

\"You and Draco.\"

Ron stopped and stared at Harry. Disregarding it wasn\'t going to work. \"I thought you wanted us to be friends. You just haven\'t been around. You\'re still my best friend. He\'s just...he was here. There is nothing else going on.\"

Harry put his hands over his face and shook his head. \"I love him, Ron. I love him so much and he just-- and you-- the two of you...\"

\"Harry, I have room for more than one friend. He helped me a lot with Hermione. That\'s the thing, Harry. He really wouldn\'t have done this to Hermione. He hasn\'t said so, but... well I think he likes her all right, too. Or at least he wouldn\'t see her hurt. He did say he wouldn\'t see her dead,\" he said as he remembered their earlier conversation to that effect. \"But we can straighten that out later. We really need to get Snape away from him, Harry.\"

\"You mean-- he-- Hermione too?\" Harry peered over his fingers in horror at Ron, now believing that Draco also shagged Hermione.

Ron shook his head at Harry and spoke as one would to an excitable child. \"Yes, he gets along with all of us. Sort of. In his own-- well, none of us wants to kill each other so much anymore.\"

\"No, of course, why would you kill the slutty mad shagger?\" Harry scrambled to his feet. \"How could you? How could you all be shagging one another like that? Oh I bet it was a BRILLIANT ORGY that you all had at my expense!\"

Ron raised his wand, ready for Harry to attack, which as unhinged as he was acting, seemed likely. Honestly, how he\'d gotten from what he\'d said about Draco not wanting to kill Hermione to thinking he\'d shagged her was insane. Frankly, he was sick of the sexual implications as well, which Harry had latched onto like a dog with a bone. \"BLOODY HELL, WOULD YOU LET IT GO ALREADY, HARRY? I KEEP TELLING YOU WE\'RE FRIENDS. THAT IS ALL, JUST FRIENDS.\" It would\'ve been funny if it hadn\'t been so sick and if Ron weren\'t becoming increasingly fearful of Harry\'s madness. Not to mention what Snape might be doing to Draco. \"I HAVEN\'T BEEN SHAGGING DRACO! I DON\'T WANT TO! I\'M STRAIGHT! I SHAGGED HERMIONE!\"

\"WHAT?\" shrieked Harry.

\"I-- err-- Hermione-- \" stuttered Ron, flushing scarlet.

\"I thought... you hadn\'t? I thought you err-- were-- and-- uhhh-- \"

\"We-- no. We hadn\'t. Draco was helping me with that...she and I did... last night. For the first time, for either of us. Draco just had his father\'s books and we were practicing spells in here.\"

\"That\'s what you two were err... in here-- why-- why didn\'t he tell me that?\" asked Harry, simultaneously relieved and upset.

\"I-- he-- he wanted to tell you but I was embarrassed and I made him promise not to. We started out talking about Hermione and how I could umm... you know... because we hadn\'t. I thought it would be... weird for you to know I was trying to. Or that you\'d think I was umm... lame... for not um... doing it before now.\" Ron lowered his wand and looked at the floor. He felt guilty for the stress he\'d put on Harry and his relationship.

\"He promised you,\" whispered Harry in realization that Draco had just been acting out of... friendship. It stung worse to know that Draco had been only doing what Harry had asked him to. Harry had kissed another man and threatened Draco and-- now he allowed Snape to run off with him? \"Then why did he send that book?\"

\"I really don\'t think he did, Harry. I know it looks bad, but-- she-- he-- well... He just wouldn\'t do it. It\'s not important right now. We need to get him away from Snape. I wasn\'t supposed to tell you but...\"

\"What? Why are you all keeping things from me?\"

Ron frowned, that answer seemed obvious, but Harry evidently needed it spelled out for him. \"Well, he said you\'ve seemed so stressed and Draco was just... worried about you. But... Hermione caught Snape all over Draco and helped him get away a few weeks ago. That\'s what she said, anyway.\"

\"Snape was here? Touching him again?\" Harry wondered if Snape didn\'t have something to do with that book, given how quickly he managed to turn up, but he was too outraged with this revelation to voice it.

\"Before, yes. But now he just ran out of here with Draco and you--\"

\"Merlin!\"

\"Exactly!\" said Ron, who turned around and tried more counter curses.

--

Draco meekly protested being carted away by Snape, but his movements were leaden with grief.

Harry wanted him to leave.

Harry didn\'t want him anymore.

Evidently, Harry found out he was helping Ron get into Hermione\'s knickers and that was that.

Draco was stunned, but mostly he just felt sick. He let out a choked sob as Snape shoved him against the wall. Snape stuck a gloved hand into his pocket and held out a vial of a luminescent potion to Draco. After registering it for what it was, he looked up at Snape in question.

\"Take it,\" Snape ordered.

Draco didn\'t move. \"I\'m not drinking that.\"

\"Just hold it!\" he insisted. Pulling off the glove on his other hand with his teeth, he grabbed Draco\'s hand and held it palm up in front of him.

\"What? Why?\" squalled Draco.

\"It\'s a Portkey.\"

\"Wait! I don\'t want to--\" but in an instant, Snape had placed the vial in Draco\'s hand and covered it with his own. Feeling the familiar, uneasy swirling tug at his stomach, Draco was transported from Grimmauld Place. He found himself in a very dark room that had the same strange anise smell as the Potions master himself. Looking around wildly at the dim room, he tried to spy an exit or suss out where he was standing.

\"Welcome to my home, Draco,\" purred Snape as he slid his fingers up Draco\'s arm and caressed his face.