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The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever	By : makochan0217 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 6654 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimers: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Publishing, and Warner Bros. I make nothing from this. In fact, I lose money to write this, so… no suing, ‘kay?

Chapter List
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Disclaimers: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Publishing, Warner Bros, and some other companies that are NOT me. I make nothing from this. In fact, I lose money to write this, so… no suing, ‘kay?

Warnings: Angst, language, OOC, 7th year timeline based upon OotP – Disregarding HBP and DH, slash, gore

Author’s Notes: Many thanks to everyone who’s reviewed so far! Poor Draco’s earlier actions are coming to bite him in the bum. Thanks and chocolate go to Sevfan, Sky, and Jamie! I don’t want to think about what this would look like without your help.

Chapter Eighteen – You Gotta Spend Some Time

“Oh, my god,” Hermione gasped, staring down at the prone form of Terry Boot.

“Granger, thank you,” Malfoy said. He was clutching an envelope to his chest with a hard glint in his eyes. “I didn’t even hear him.”

“Well, he was being quiet,” she replied, shaking herself out of the shock. “Where are Harry and Neville?”

“I left them in the headmaster’s office so that I could answer a letter from my mother.” She watched his face, but she couldn’t tell if the blond was lying or not. It would be easy enough to ask her friends later if it was important.

“I wonder why he would try to attack you,” she mused aloud. Malfoy opened his mouth to say something, but shut it just as quickly when the sound of heavy footsteps came up the stairs of the Owlery.

“Draco, are you here?” Harry called before him.

“Up here, Harry,” the blond returned. Hermione turned around to face the open doorway. The smile on her friend’s face spoke volumes.

‘Oh, God, he’s in love with Draco Malfoy…’ She stopped, wondering at her reaction before shaking her head. Hadn’t the blond changed? Hadn’t she almost defended him to her own boyfriend? Hadn’t she seen him in the company of Ginny, Neville and Luna, acting like a normal human being? Hadn’t he been extremely polite to her since his return, not using the word ‘Mudblood’ where anyone could hear him? Why was she surprised? ‘It could be worse, I suppose.’

“’Mione, what’re you doing here?” Harry asked, his smile faltering a tiny bit as he looked around. She didn’t miss it when his face turned hard as he saw the downed Ravenclaw between Hermione and Draco.

“Well, I was going to send a letter to Mrs. Weasley, thanking her for being so kind to my mum while she was in the hospital, and I saw him,” she pointed at Terry, “pointing a wand at Malfoy here. I wasn’t sure what he was going to do, so I Stunned him before he could cast a spell.”

“Draco?”

The blond shook his head. “I was about to send my letter off. The next thing I knew, Granger here was taking down Boot. I didn’t see anything.”

“Nev, can you go get Professor Dumbledore and Professor Swanly,” Harry asked curtly. Neville nodded and ran from the Owlery as if it were on fire. “Thanks for helping, ‘Mione.”

“Yes, well, Malfoy’s been fairly decent lately and he hasn’t done anything to Terry, so I thought it would be best to take him out before things got out of hand.” She gave Harry a wry smile, which he attempted to return. But he failed miserably.

“Oh, Merlin,” the blond muttered, putting one long-fingered hand up to his face.

“What?” Harry asked, coming up and wrapping his arms around the other boy, who just buried his head in the crook of Harry’s neck. She thought she could hear a mumbled “later” from the upset blond. “Draco, can I tell Hermione about what’s going on?”

Malfoy’s head shot up so quickly that Hermione feared he’d smack heads with Harry, and the look on his face was enough to curdle milk. “Why?”

“If you’re worried about my reaction to the fact that you two are involved, save it,” Hermione said crisply. “I don’t care who Harry dates, so long as he’s happy. But, just know that if you hurt him, I know some spells that can remove your ‘bits’ quite easily.”

She thought she saw Malfoy’s lips twitch in amusement. “It’s not really that I don’t believe you’re trustworthy, Granger. Merlin knows that you alone have stuck by Harry through everything since first year, even my stupid schemes. It’s just…”

“Personal?” she asked. He nodded in response. “Well, I am the soul of discretion.” Again, he gave the small twitch before staring straight into Harry’s eyes.

“I guess,” he whispered after finding whatever he was looking for in their friend’s face. “But not here.”

“When we deal with Boot,” Harry said, scowling again, “we’ll all go to the Room of Requirement and talk there.”

“Is this something Ron and Ginny should know?” Hermione asked. She instantly regretted it when she was met by twin looks of disgust. “What the hell did Ronald do?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Harry said, pulling away from Draco and staring down at Terry Boot’s body. She could tell from his body posture that he was holding back some instinct to hurt the unconscious boy and was glad that he was refraining. Harry wasn’t pretty when he was mad.

When Professors Dumbledore and Swanly appeared, Hermione let out a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding in.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“What’s going on here?” Professor Swanly asked in her sharp voice. Draco held back a grimace and looked at the narrow-faced woman. It looked as if she’d run all the way from her office, and so had Neville and Professor Dumbledore, who were taking a moment to drag air in, it appeared. “What’s the meaning of this?”

The Slytherin stood back, quiet and stone-faced, as Harry and Granger began talking at the same time.

“Professor, I was-” “Professor, Boot, he-”

“One at a time, if you please, children,” Dumbledore said in a kindly voice. “Miss Granger, if you would go first.”

“Yes, sir,” the Muggleborn girl said. “I was coming up to the Owlery to send a letter to Mrs. Weasley. I saw Boot here with his wand out. When I looked beyond him, I could see Malfoy’s hair at one of the windows. Terry, he didn’t say anything or call out to Malfoy, and Malfoy was minding his own business. I didn’t know what was going to happen, so I Stunned Terry.”

“And you didn’t also restrain Mr. Malfoy, Miss Granger?” Professor Swanly asked, quickly sliding her eyes to glare harshly at Draco. He knew he wasn’t imagining the hatred that the older woman was sending in his direction. Whether it was for him personally or the fact that he was a Malfoy wasn’t important and didn’t really shock him. He was growing used to looks like that.

He wasn’t the only one who saw the ugly look on the teacher’s face though. The three Gryffindors all were looking at their Head of House with varying degrees of anger. Something inside of Draco that had been tight and painful relaxed, and suddenly he felt much lighter than he could remember being in a long time.

“Well, no, Professor Swanly, Malfoy wasn’t a threat. He hadn’t even turned around or spoken yet,” Granger said eventually. “I don’t think he even knew that anyone was there until I Stunned Boot.”

“Hm,” the woman replied, looking at her boss with an expectant air.

“Professor Swanly, if you would please go get Professors Slughorn and Flitwick and meet me in my office,” Dumbledore said, ignoring the tension from the teenagers and his employee. Draco looked up at the old man and felt like raging when he noticed the almost amused look on his face. “I am glad to see that you are well, Draco, but I would suggest that you avoid being alone for the time being. Until the winter holidays, it will be safer if you stay with one of your friends here.”

“Yes, sir,” Draco said between clenched teeth. ‘It is sound advice and I’d be a fool not to take it, but I resent his jovial attitude about every bloody thing.’

“Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you and Harry would walk Draco back to my office. Mr. Longbottom and I will be escorting Mr. Boot there as well, as soon as I revive him.”

“Yes, sir, of course,” Granger said. ‘Bloody sycophant,’ Draco thought before shaking his head and letting Harry take his arm.

They were halfway down the staircase before Harry spoke again. “Did you get the chance to send off your letter, Draco?”

“No, Boot and Granger interrupted right before I could even attach the letter to Tiberius’s leg.”

“Hm,” Harry muttered. “Did I imagine the look on Professor Swanly’s face as she looked at you?”

“If you’re hallucinating, then we all are, Harry,” Granger piped in. “She really hates Malfoy, and to be honest, he’s been a human being this year.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” Draco drawled, raising one pale eyebrow. She, in turn, blushed furiously, causing a smile to ghost across his face. “And thank you again for your assistance. It was stupid of me to walk around the castle alone.”

“It is a shame that even when you clean up your act that the others don’t give you the benefit of the doubt,” the girl said. Draco couldn’t help it, he laughed, full and hard.

“Granger,” he gasped out while holding his sides, looking up at the girl’s scowl and Harry’s wry smile. “I understand that you are trying to defend my honor – valiant try, truly – but they have no reason to trust me or even like me. I was lucky with Harry and Neville, as well with the female Weasley and Lovegood. No one is required to like me, and I finally understand that.” He looked over at Harry’s face and felt his heart speed up at the openly adoring look the other boy was wearing.

‘I suppose he’s through with trying to hide our relationship, whatever it is,’ Draco thought, feeling a bit lightheaded with giddiness. ‘I will be clarifying things, because Harry is MINE now, and I don’t share my things.’

“Let’s get Draco to the Headmaster’s office before anyone else appears in the halls, ‘Mione,” Harry said with a faraway voice.

“Of course,” she replied with a thoughtful look on her face again.

Well, Draco pondered as they walked along, there was always the talk they’d be having later in the Room of Requirement to clear things up more. If he didn’t get an answer with Granger and Longbottom in the room, well, they could leave. It was beyond time they’d defined things between them. Harry had been right about that earlier.

And this latest altercation had opened Draco’s eyes more. He could no longer put off what he had with Harry until the war was over. It wasn’t fair to either of them. And with Draco’s inherent selfishness and possessiveness getting worse by the moment, he didn’t care what his father had to say anymore.

His mother and unborn sibling were free and safe, and Lucius and Voldemort’s days were numbered.

TBC

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The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever