Stuck with Me

From their conversation the previous afternoon, and the one that occurred on their walk to the Great Hall, Harry could feel a shift. An actually shift between the two men. 

The next day Harry and Hermione were sat in across from one another in the back of the library when Malfoy approached. "Any room for one more?" 

Hermione smiled and gestured towards the open chairs, "Help yourself, I'm actually glad that you're here I was wondering if I could pick your brain about artithmancy." 

Malfoy placed down his things on the table and took the empty seat next to Harry. He tries not to concentrate on his heart which is beating much harder than it should while he watched Malfoy turn his body so he look over whatever 'mione is on about. 

He goes back to his history of magic essay, or at least tries to. But he keeps reading the same scentance over and over, unsure of what to write next, everything leaving his brain as soon as he reads it. Instead he's focusing on the way that Malfoy holds a quill in his hand, bites the end of it when he's thinking. 

Harry closes his eyes for a moment and breaths. It's been hours of this- although probably only twenty minutes- and he really does need to finish this essay. But he's finding it hard to concentrate. Come on Potter, get your shite together. 

He felt a nudge against his thigh and looked over to Malfoy. 'You okay?' he mouthed, not wanting Hermione to notice for whatever reason. Harry felt his heart swell just a little bit. The brunnett nodded and gave a small smile. Malfoy smiled back quickly before turning back to his own assignment. 

Malfoy did it again a few days later, but was joined by Nott. He and Hermione were sat in the common room playing cards, Ron on the other side of the room alone -nobody wanted to hang out with him once they heard about what happened. The 'Harry is straight but an ally' version of what happened anyways. "Can we join?" 

It was Harry who smiled this time. "Hell yeah, you know how to play go fish?" 

Hermione laughed and reshuffled the cards. "Go fish..?" Nott asked. 

"It's a muggle game. Don't worry it's really easy." Hermione encouaged. 

Malfoy took the seat next to Hermione while Nott sat next to Harry. Harry couldn't help feel a little disappointed by this, not that he didn't like Nott, the man was actually growing on him, but because he wasn't Malfoy. The disappointment left almost in it's entirety when he realised this new angle meant he could actually see Malfoy, and he liked that very much. For reasons he wouldn't acknowledge of course. 

"So basically you pair up all the cards you already have double of, then try to get the remaining cards paired by choosing someone asking if they have a whatever, and if they do they give it over, and if not they tell you to 'go fish' and you pick up from the pile." 'Mione announces and deals out the 5 cards to everybody, placing the rest in a messy pile in the middle. "Here, I'll go first so y'all can see but it truly is an easy game muggles start playing it at like age four."

She takes a moment to match all the pairs she has, 2, and encourages everyone else to do the same before turning to Harry. "Do you have any 3's?" 

Harry glances down at the cards in his hand before looking up. "Go fish." He smirks, and she does. 

"The person who has no cards first ends the game, and whoever has the most piles of matched cards wins. We're going to go clockwise, so Draco it's your turn." 

"Theo do you have any queens?" He asked. 

Nott sighs and hands over a queen of diamonds. "Here you are you're majesty." The two of them laughed. 

"Great! Now Draco because he had the card you get to go again, you can ask anyone it doesn't just need to be Theodore." 

The blond turns to Harry. "Do you have any 2's?" 

"Go fish." and so Draco reaches into the pile and must've grabbed a card he can match because he does and places it down. 

"Alright Theodore, you're time." Hermione says.

"You can just call me 'Theo', Hermione." The man says and they smile at one another. "Alright Potter, do you have a 6." Harry begrudgingly turns it over. 

The group of them play for hours. Draco won the first game, much to Harry's annoyance he was one off, but Harry beat him back on the second and then the third. Hermione and Nott-Theo, Harry corrected himself, both won a few, but really it was a competition between Harry and Draco. Although this time it didn't end with fist fights on the Quidditch pitch. 

The group's fun only ended when Ron decided to walk over and bother them. At this point it had been a week and a half, and the two still hadn't made up. Ron still wasn't even sleeping in their room, not that Harry minded much. He had seen the boy enter a few times to grab a change of clothes or a book or two, but that was it, and never when someone else was actually in the room. 

"Cozying up to some Death Eaters now are you? And I didn't think you could sink any lower 'mione." Ron said walking up behind Harry and Theo, surprising the both of them, not that Theo let it show. Damn Slytherins. 

"I beg your pardon Ronald?" Hermione answered in her scary voice. Harry was thanking every god he could think of that he wans't on the receiving end of that tone very often. 

"I've been watching you lot. Putting your hand on Malfoy's shoulder, laughing. Didn't think you'd ride his snake but seems here we are." 

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Ron actually think that Hermione was into Malfoy? He couldn't help the chuckle in the back of his throat, but when Ron turned to glare at him he pretended to start caughing. 

"What are you laughing at faggot?" Ron asked, and in that moment Harry didn't recognize his own friend, it was similar to when he had the damn horcrux around his neck, Harry would have thought that was the issue if he hadn't known for certain that Voldemort was gone. 

The once loud room suddently became incredibly silent. Chatter broke off, exploading snap game paused, even the wireless was turned down. All eyes were on Ron. 

Harry turned around in his chair to look at the man properly. "Just your insinuation that Malfoy is the worst Hermione could do, but he's actually not a bad guy. Plus she dated you, and there's only going up from there." 

Ron lungened at Harry, the brunettes cards fell on the floor as Ron punched him in the nose, an eye for an eye Harry thought. Harry himself got in a few punches before the two were torn apart, by Parkinson of all people. 

"Ronald Weasley! What the actual fuck is wrong with you?" Hermione screamed. 

"What's wrong with me? Harry's a fag all of a sudden and you're fine with it? Have you even bothered to check for love potions or the imperius curse, because there's got to be something wrong with him." Ron shouted back, his arms still frozen to his side. Harry closed his eyes. 

I should have known. He took two breaths before openeing them up again, the entire room was now looking at him. Great. And instead of saying anything, Harry just walked up the stairs and out of the common room. He needed some air. 

He had no specific place in mind when he started walking, but he ended up at the boat house where Snape had been killed. The blood and body had both been cleaned up of course, and it looked the same as it had before, but it was a changed place. 

Harry took a seat on the ground, legs hanging over the side just above the water where the boats were lowered into the water. Although he wasn't a big crier, he couldn't help the flood of tears that fell from his eyes, it's like once they started they couldn't stop. How did everything get so fucked up? How could Ron be such a piece of shit? How could Harry not know that Ron was such a piece of shit? 

He wasn't sure if the tears were due to frustration or genuine upset, but they helped him feel slightly better nonetheless. 

If anything he was disappointed with himself for really believing that Ron wouldn't say anything, wouldn't out him. Coming out was a private thing and Ron just took it away from him. It was supposed to be Harry's decision if and when he wanted to, he wasn't sure if he even did want to, Harry didn't need another reason to be a freak, abnormal. 

He had only been sat alone for a few minutes before he could hear footsteps on the wooden deck leading up the boathouse. He was surprised however when the door opened and it was Malfoy rather than Hermione. "Hey." He said in a quiet voice. 

Harry rubbed the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, "Hey." His voice scratchy and full of mucus. There was no way Malfoy coudn't tell he had been crying a moment earlier, but thankfully the blond didn't mention it. 

The blond took a seat next to him, his feet grazing the top of the water. Damn those long legs. 

"Why did you come after me?" Harry asked. He would understand if Hermione did, but not Malfoy. 

"Because you needed someone, and Hermione was ripping into Weasley rather aggressively and I didn't want to interrupt. Weasley deserved it after all." 

Harry let out a huff. Deserving it was an understatement. 

"I'm sorry he outed you Potter." The tears started welling up and he felt his throat start to close. 

"Thank you." 

"I'm sure it'll blow over Potter, if there's anyone who deserves to be happy after all the shite they've been through, it's you. You deserve your happily ever after." He bumped his shoulder against Harry's which caused the man a small smile. 

"I guess you're right. And 'mione keeps telling me that those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind, but like, Ron mattered. He did, I'm not going to pretend that it doesn't hurt what he's doing." 

"It's okay to acknowledge that he hurt you Potter, you two were best friends, if anything I would be surprised if it didnt' hurt. But at the end of the day, if he can't accept you for who you are, why would you want him in your life?" 

"Merlin, you sound like Hermione. You two should never become friends I would never get a break." 

The two laughed. "Well, I hate to break it to you Potter, but I'm afraid you and I are friends now, and I know that Granger and you are a package deal. Plus she is rather brilliant. So unfortunately..." 

Harry shoved Malfoy with his shoulder this time. "Yeah yeah I get it. I'm stuck with you." 

"Yeah, you are." Malfoy said, a tone in his voice that Harry couldn't quite read. He turned to look at the man. Merlin he was beautiful. 

Harry had always known Malfoy to be fit, he wasn't blind, but in this moment there was something more behind it. Not only was he fit and beautiful, but there was a kindness that Harry hadn't know the other man had until recently. 

He was looking at Malfoy. Malfoy was looking at him, but he noticed the way Malfoy looked down at his lips before back up to his eyes. Oh. He wasn't sure which one of them started to lean in first, maybe Harry, maybe Malfoy, but oh leaning in they were. When their lips connected Harry's eyes automatically closed. Malfoy tasted like vanilla, and apple, and this specific smell that he couldn't place but reminded him of when he stood before him in Malfoy manor and lied for him. It wasn't a bad memory, and not a bad smell either. 

They pulled back after a second and Harry opened his eyes, Malfoy looked panicked. "Salazar, I'm so sorry Potter, I shouldn't hav-" Harry cut the man off with another kiss. 

"Malfoy, you think I would kiss someone I don't want to kiss? Me?" Harry laughed lightly, Malfoy joining in after a second because yeah, Harry was making sense. "You're right, I think I'm stuck with you but I don't find myself minding all that much." Harry grabbed the man by the back of his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. 

Everything had gone to shit, yes. Harry was going to have to write the Weasley's and tell them before the Prophet found out and outed him, yes. But at the moment, he didn't think he cared about it all. Sure it was going to be a nightmare to deal with, but right now he had Draco Malfoy on his lips and nowhere to be.