He glanced over at Draco, good he was okay, and that was what was important. Though honestly that time Draco was lucky Harry knew what to do, in fact he wasn’t even sure he would be able to pull it off that time, since he had only seen the spell done once. “Well, honestly that time was pure dumb luck, I don’t think you should be thanking me for it” He said. And if he had hit the ground, he probably wouldn’t have died, just had a few broken bones, cuts, scrapes and bruises.

“Like what?” he asked as he looked at Draco “Come up with some plan to put them in their place so they’ll think twice before messing with either you or me?” He asked. He knew they had to do something, but what could they do? If they tried anything, and attacked them the Slytherins would be sure to tell Snape, and Snape would believe them and Harry and Draco would just end up getting in more trouble.

But maybe if they scared them bad enough, and showed them that they could handle themselves and they were serious about it to, they would back off. But he doubted that, they were clearly extremely mad and it showed.

"That Thestral was going faster than I've ever gone on a broomstick," Draco said. "I was headed straight for the trees. Magic can't always put a cracked skull back together." He shuddered at the thought. "I'd've been badly injured at least, so I still owe you thanks."

Hagrid began lecturing on thestrals again, so Draco lowered his voice as he whispered, "Putting the Slytherins in their place will take, I think, all of Gryffindor house," Draco said, and looked meaningfully at Ron. Then, as he looked at Ron, he remembered that Ron had a younger sister and two older brothers. "Do you think we could get Fred, George, and Ginny to help at least?"

"I suppose that's true" he said. A cracked skull couldn't be put back together, well at least they didn't have to worry about it, because he had prevented it from happening "You're welcome" He said and glanced at him "I did tell you I had your back" He said

Once Hagrid started speaking again, he turned his attention to Hagrid, so it looked like he was paying attention "Are you serious about this?" He asked. Putting the Slytherins in there place would be no easy task, and then the risk of them getting in a great deal of trouble was extremely high."Fred and George will jump in on any chance to cause some trouble, and I'm sure Ginny would help as well" He said. He could probably get some others to help to, but they would be risking a lot, especially if whatever plan they came up with failed.

Draco breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks. Let's put our heads together later on."

He could tell Harry wanted to pay attention to Hagrid, and anyway Draco needed to apologize to him once class was over.

"I hope you know, if we fail, and they rat us out to Snape, we might get a punishment worse then a detention" He said. By that he meant they might get expelled, if they got caught, or ratted out he was sure Snape would go out of his way to get them the worst punishment he could, and there was no way he would believe his precious students had started the fight.

"I'm all for it though, but there's a lot of risk involved and it has to be thought through, and there can't be anything wrong with it" He said. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble, even if they did agree to help him. He was sure they were all itching to put Slytherin in there place just as much as he was.

Draco considered Harry's words. "I think," he said slowly, "that Snape is on my side, even if I'm now in Gryffindor." He knew Snape and Harry detested each other—and as he'd once detested Harry himself, he could understand how Snape would misunderstand the other boy—but found that, despite Snape being unpleasant to him this morning, that he still trusted Snape absolutely. "And what's losing House points compared with keeping us alive?" he asked.

"You can understand when I say I don't believe that" he said. He didn't trust Snape as fair as he could spit. But if Draco trusted him, maybe he wasn't such a bad person after all, but he still wasn't about to start liking him and trusting him, because Draco did. There was a lot of history between the two that just couldn't be erased, especially when he showed no signs of being sorry for it. "If we lose House Points, that wouldn't be so bar" He said. Well, now they would just have to think of something, which would be one pretty big challenge.

((I've given up on writing Hagrid's accent -- it's so hard!))

---

Draco shrugged, though he thought it was ironic that Harry wouldn't trust Draco judgment on Snape, even though Harry was asking other people to trust him, Harry, about Draco.

Class finally ended, and, after watching the Slytherins slink away in a grumbling, shuffling group, Draco approached Hagrid.

"Er, Hagrid," he said, and the half-giant turned around.

"Yeah, Malfoy?" Hagrid said. Draco noticed the way his eyes flicked from Draco to Harry and back, narrowing.

"Er, I owe you an apology for, well, everything," Draco said. "I've been a real idiot, and I'm really sorry."

Hagrid's face instantly softened. "Knew you'd come around someday, Malfoy," he said. "Apologies accepted, I suppose. You just keep to the straight and narrow now you've come over to our side."

"I will, Hagrid," Draco said, and suffered to be clapped on the shoulder, which sank him knee-deep in mud.

Ron snickered as Draco hastily cleaned the mud off with his wand, but Hermione was beaming.

"We need to get to our next class, Hagrid," Hermione said, and took Ron's hand. "We'll come by and see you this Saturday, okay?"

"Sounds good!" Hagrid boomed.

The four of them left, Draco immensely relieved. That had been easy. Well, he could count Hagrid on his side, as long as he was on Harry's side, he guessed. Draco looked next to him at Harry's profile. He'd be on Harry's side as long as they both lived... which brought his thoughts back to the Slytherins.

"Maybe we should talk to McGonagall about what happened today," he suggested as he, Harry, Ron, and Hermione trooped up the sloping lawns back toward the castle. "I know Hagrid thinks it was a prank on the thestral, but..."

[[Erg, I just killed my hand, making a present for my little brother x___x; It kinda hurts to type xD]]

Harry stood there and watched Draco, go over and apologize to Hagrid. It would be good for them to make up, after all, Hagrid was extremely important to Harry, just as important as Ron and Hermione where to him. He could still remember the first night they had meet, and how he gave his cousin a pig tail, that was something he would never forget. And then he had gotten him a birthday present, Hedwig, something he would never forget. After all his aunt and uncle had never really cared about him enough to get him gifts, hell they didn't even recognize his birthday.

Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione "Why are you holding hands?" He asked with a curious look on his face. Where they dating now or something? I mean it would be good and all, but they at least could have let him know if they were, it would make him feel less stupid and left out.

"What is she going to be able to do?" He asked as he looked at Draco. Sure the Gryffindors would support there story, but she wouldn't be able to prevent them from trying something again "I think, if they find out we went to a teacher it'll make the situation worse" He said

((Gah, like a repetitive stress injury, or a cut?))

---

"Ah," said Draco, "if they find out. And Hagrid'll probably mention this to Dumbledore; he talks a lot, right? So I think we could have a chance of word getting out anyway."

He looked over at Ron and Hermione who were, indeed, holding hands. "I guess they finally figured it out," he whispered to Harry. "Maybe Hermione will have a strong influence on Ron, now."

Draco figured that he was just so used to having to work within a set hierarchy like Slytherin always had, that his first response if something went wrong was to go to a higher-up; in this case, it was now McGonagall. Or Dumbledore. And he still had to talk to Dumbledore about so many things.

"Actually, nevermind," he said, before Harry could object further to him going to McGonagall. "I already need to talk to Dumbledore about... something else... so I'll just mention this casually. And Dumbledore did talk about getting me an Invisibility Cloak. I hope it comes soon."

[[I suppose like the first option xD I was hand sewing something, and pulled the string a lot so it would be tight]]

"True, there's no doubt that Hagrid will go to Dumbledore about it" He said. Hagrid and Dumbledore where extremly close, and he was sure if Hagrid told him Draco almost got hurt, he would know the real reason behind what they had did, and not the reason Hagrid believe. "But if they DO find out we snitched were in a lot of trouble" He said

"They could have at least told me" He said. Even if Ron was mad at him, Hermione wasn't and could have at least told him. And the fact they were holding hands, said it wasn't much of a secret.

"What else do you need to talk to him about?" He asked as he glanced at him. "That reminds me I wanted to tell him something..." He said. He wanted to talk to him about his dreams, he was sure Dumbledore would want to hear about them, but that could wait for now "You can always borrow mine again if you need to" He said

Draco said, "Well, I remember from my time in Slytherin, that we always assumed Gryffindors told McGonagall everything. That's the way we do it in Slytherin, telling Snape everything, so I don't know if it will occur to them that we might not consult a teacher."

He hesitated in answering Harry's next question. "I just wanted to talk to him about... us, I guess," he summarized. He didn't want to go into all the conflicting feelings he had about being gay, and being in love with a guy he'd hated only a few weeks before.

"We don't tell her everything, granted to do tell her most things" He said. Like Harry hadn't told her about Umbridges detention, if he told her that she would go and have a problem with it. "Well, I don't have a problem with going to talk to her, after all, she should know what's going on" He said.

"What do you mean about us?" He asked as he glanced over at him. He was pretty sure he knew what this was about. he wasn't regretting it was he? Then again it was a little hard to come to terms with after all they had hated each other for such a long time.

Draco looked anxiously back at Ron and Hermione, so content in their normal straightness. He lowered his voice even further as he answered, "Just... we're different, you know. Our relationship. And Dumbledore—from what I've heard, he has experience."

It was a big thing to come to terms with, Draco thought. After all, everything in society was aimed at boy/girl couples; marriage ceremonies, language, the stories that made the Daily Prophet. Dumbledore was gay, yes, but not openly so, and Draco simply wanted to talk to someone who knew what it felt like to find boys attractive, instead of girls as was commonly accepted.

Draco suddenly had a sense of the space between him and Harry; not the physical distance, which was only a foot or two, but the emotional space that lay between them, constructed of the things they said to each other, and the things they understood about each other. It was a very different "space" than that which clearly lay between the laughing Ron and Hermione.

Ron saw him looking and scowled. Hermione saw the scowl and pulled her hand away. Ron rolled his eyes, cleared his expression, and took her hand again.

Draco grinned toothily and raised playfully lecherous eyebrows at Hermione; Ron made as if to lunge at him, but Hermione pulled him back, snickering. She whispered something in Ron's ear, and Ron's face took on the strangest expression.

Did Hermione realize what was going on? Draco couldn't tell from her expression.

"Did you... er... talk to Hermione about... us?" he asked Harry.

“I’ve always been treated like I was different, Draco” He said. He had, ever since he first started Hogwarts, they had treated him differently than they had treated others, because he was the boy who lived. “Although I understand where you’re coming from” He said.

They couldn’t be as free about it as Ron and Hermione were being, unless they wanted to get those odd looks, and have people whisper about them as they walked by. Them being together would be hard, and would end up putting a lot of stress on both of them. But the stress would be the test, if they could get past all that, then maybe they were supposed to be together and they would last for a while. They would have to fight harder to be together, the other couples would have, and they would have to work harder, to stay together.

“You know I get that it won’t be easy” He said as he glanced over at him, careful to remain quite so Ron or Hermione couldn’t hear him. “But that in a sense, is a test all in its own” he said. There was a lot they both had to come to terms with, a lot they both had to figure out, but it seemed like there was no going back from it now. After all they had kissed, and he wasn’t just going to forget about that so easily.

“No I haven’t told Hermione anything, why?” He asked as he glanced over at him “Better yet I was never alone with her even if I wanted to tell her, I was with you all morning, and then Hagrid stole me for a while” He said. He never even had the time to tell her, if he had wanted to.

"Right," Draco said, remembering the whirlwind day. "Of course, you wouldn't have had time to talk to Hermione. Still," he said, and lowered his voice, "I think she's guessed."

He was jealous that Harry seemed so comfortable with what was going on, and that made Draco feel unworthy, and even more guilty than he already did. Maybe just with more time to get used to this, to accept what was going on, and begin to feel that it was "normal," if anything in his life could seem normal.

"I think I'll just feel better after talking to Dumbledore," he said with finality.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she did, she's always been good with these things" He said. She was always so good with noticing things, especially when it came to two people liking each other, except when it came to her and Ron, that took longer then it should have.

"Look I'm not saying I don't have worries, or questions, or anything like that, I'm just saying I've never been treated like a normal person" He said. He had tried being normal, but where ever he went there was always someone or something that changed that.

"Alright, you know if you want to wait in till you figure things out, I don't mind" he said. If he wasn't sure of what he wanted, or if he wanted to be different, it would be better if they waited in till he was ready to be in a relationship or it would be bound to failure.

"No," Draco hastily backpedaled, "I'm not saying I have doubts about us. I just want to talk to Dumbledore and see how he adjusted. I've been 'normal,' or so I thought, all my life, and suddenly I realize I'm not. It's just taken me by surprise—it's great, but it's surprising. And I think Dumbledore might have some advice."

They'd reached the greenhouses by now, and Draco eyed the group of Hufflepuffs warily. They eyed him back equally warily, but no one appeared out to murder him, which was good.

"Come in, come in," said Professor Sprout, and began the lesson.

Draco positioned himself between Hermione and Parvati, who gave him an "ick" look but didn't object. He felt very weird now, about Harry, and hoped he hadn't ruined things simply by feeling new and uncomfortable with his sexuality.

“Alright, I understand” he said and gave him a reassuring smile, before they got to their class. Once he was in the classroom he took his normal spot, where he had stood every day. He wasn’t mad at Draco, nor did he think any differently of him, he understood where he was coming from, and understood his feelings. He was just hoping, he would come to terms with them, and be okay with everything.

Once the class started, Harry was careful to pay attention to Professor Sprout. Paying attention to what she was going on about, prevented his mind from wondering to other things, and there were a lot of things, he wanted to think about. But he knew if he did, it would only add more worries, and more thoughts to his long list, for now it was better to ignore them.

When Herbology ended, Draco told Harry that he'd go on ahead and meet him at the lunch table, and then set off alone—carefully—for Dumbledore's office. He recalled that Dumbledore rarely showed up to lunch right at the start, and hoped to catch him in his office.

Despite a rather anxious moment when he had to pass through a large crowd of mixed Hufflepuff and Slytherin second-years, he reached Dumbledore's office safely. To his surprise, the gargoyle said, "He's waiting for you. Go right on up," and jumped aside.

"Er, thanks," said Draco, and gratefully took the moving staircase up.

Dumbledore was waiting for him, his hands steepled under his chin, a faint smile on his face. "Have a seat, son," he said. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

And, once more, now that he was here, it was all awkward.

Fuck it, Draco found himself thinking. I'm tired of awkwardness.

"I have a crush on Harry," he blurted out. And, despite his mental insistence that he'd never feel uncomfortable about anything again, he could feel himself flushing bright red.

Dumbledore barely raised an eyebrow. "Harry is a fine young man, and you could do worse for a crush."

"But he's a boy!" Draco protested. "And I'm a boy! And... and... and why did this have to happen to me?"

Dumbledore smiled sadly. "Would you rather be perfectly normal? Have been sorted into Hufflepuff, for instance, and had your first kiss with a girl in your second year, and now be fantasizing at night about a pretty seventh-year girl completely beyond your reach?"

Draco's mouth fell open. Suddenly Dumbledore was a man, not just a teacher. He was a living, breathing, having-sex person. His face went even hotter and redder.

"Well, no, I guess," he admitted clumsily. "But it's not that easy. I mean, the wizarding world isn't very friendly to—to our sort."

"No, they are not," Dumbledore agreed. "The wizarding world isn't very friendly to a lot of types. Werewolves, for instance, or awkward asocial types, like Miss Bulstrode, who is a very sweet girl quite scared, like you, of being recruited into something she despises."

Draco blinked at this. "Really?"

"Really. The wizarding world is hardly tolerant, in day to day life, of the highly intelligent person like Miss Granger or, I daresay, myself. I recognize the protection my strong magical powers give me, but were I merely brilliant and not equally talented magically, I would be cast off the way poor Quirrell was. Briliant man, terrible magician, which is why Lord Voldemort—"

Draco jumped.

"—found him an easy target."

Draco swallowed and tried to settle himself. "Right, I understand, professor, but it doesn't help the fact that I, right now, in this moment, am madly in love with a boy. And we can't exactly make it public. And Harry's so comfortable with it, and I'm so jealous!"

There, it was finally out. He was jealous of Harry for being so easygoing about his likes and dislikes. Jealous that Harry didn't think it odd to have feelings for another boy.

"Being gay," Dumbledore said gently, "is not something you've chosen, Draco. You haven't chosen to fall in love with Harry. But you can choose to pursue the relationship, which I think will be good for both of you. It's a matter of choice, again, Draco—like the choice you made yesterday not to follow the easy, slippery path your father chose for you. The choice you've made to stand up for the good and the right. And, in my personal opinion, your relationship with Harry ought by all rights to be public, no matter what the repercussions are amongst your friends and enemies."

"People will just think that Harry's on my side because I have him under a love spell," Draco said dully.

"Yes, but many probably already think that," Dumbledore said, a trifle impatiently. "I have heard it said many times: if you are holding out for universal popularity, you will be waiting a very long time."

Draco gave a little laugh. "I guess."

"Now, I for one am hungry," said Dumbledore, and held out a hand to Draco as he stood up, as if Draco were a little boy. "I'd be honored if you would walk with me, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco had no choice but to take the hand and suffer himself to be led away, out of the office, down the stairs, and through the corridors to the Great Hall. Dumbledore talked as they walked, a kind of random babble that was nonetheless interesting. Draco found himself calming down as Dumbledore spoke, and realized it was probably a spell of some kind. Well, it was working.

The Slytherins gaped as Dumbledore led Draco to his seat next to Harry. Dumbledore patted Draco on the head, again as if he were a little boy, and then patted Harry as well. "Congratulations, boys," he said quietly, then added just as softly, "You'll find a new Invisibility Cloak in your bag, Draco." Then, humming under his breath, he left Draco gaping after him.

"Well," said Draco, sitting down between Harry and Neville. "That was weird."

Once they reached the lunchroom Harry took a seat across from Ron and Hermione interested in as to why they hadn’t told him about the fact they were dating. Not to mention it would take, his mind off of what Draco was talking to Dumbledore about.

“So when were you guys, planning on letting me in on this little secret of yours?” He asked as he stared at them.

“Er, well you see, we were planning on telling you… we just never had the chance” Ron said as he glanced over at Hermione for help.

“Well you see, it happened recently, and you were Busy handling the Draco thing… and we didn’t have a chance to tell you” She said. It was the truth, they had wanted to, but there was never really a chance to tell them.

“I suppose that’s a legitimate excuse” He said. There had been a lot going on, lately, and it seemed like most of it focused around Draco, but there really wasn’t any avoiding that. Ron was mad at him and didn’t even want to talk to him. Maybe he and Ron getting into a fight was indirectly a good thing, if it brought Hermione and him together.

Now that, that conversation was done, his mind started to wonder to Draco. What exactly was Dumbledore going to tell him? He didn’t know, but he hoped it help Draco with whatever he was feeling. He couldn’t help it, that he had come to terms with it so easily, he had never been treated like he was everyone else, he was used to standing out in a crowd, and getting a lot of un wanted attention and this wouldn’t change things. Maybe he would get bad attention, instead of the good kind, but it was still the same attention he didn’t want.

He was confused as to why Dumbledore had patted him on the head and told him ‘Congratulations’. Harry glanced over at Draco “Why did I just get patted on the head, and told Congratulations?” He asked in a confused voice. Was it because Dumbledore knew they were together? That was the only answer that fit.

Draco sat down slowly, still trying to clear his head of everything that happened. He then came to an impulsive, snap decision; and with a sinking yet exhilarating feeling that he might live to regret this, put an arm around Harry's shoulders.

"He's just congratulating me on getting through my first day as a Gryffindor," Draco lied. He gave Harry's shoulders a squeeze as he looked at Ron and Hermione. "So, are you two a real couple now?"

Harry glanced over at him when he put his arm around his shoulders, and smiled. Well chances were no one would question a jester such as that, he had done that to Ron before, but never for a long time, now if they were to sit there and hold hands, that would raise some question

"That still doesn't explain why I got congratulated" He said. He was guessing he would get the chance to find out the real reason, later, it was probably what he was thinking about them being a couple anyway.

Hermione glanced over at Draco "Yeah" She said as she shot Ron a glance, when he went to open his mouth, to clearly say something about what Draco had done.

"Oh, Dumbledore just knows we'll make great partners," Draco said, taking advantage of the double meaning of that word to leave things open-ended.

He couldn't bring himself to say straight out that he and Harry considered themselves a couple, but with Dumbledore backing him up, he wasn't going to be as afraid. He knew that would make Harry happy, as Harry, who had always been the odd one out, couldn't quite understand that Draco had always been part of a crowd—usually leader of a crowd, for that matter—and wasn't comfortable being "different," even if it wasn't a part of him he could, or wanted to, deny.

"Congratulations to you two, then, too," Draco said, and served himself some lunch from the platters in the middle of the table. He leaned over to whisper in Harry's ear, "In addition to the little pep talk, Dumbledore's just given me my invisibility cloak, so I should be safer now. Do you carry yours with you everywhere now? I think you should."

He liked whispering in Harry's ear; the smell of him—sweat, shampoo, oils, clothes—was something he could breathe in for the rest of his life.

“I would like to know, what that man doesn’t know” He said with a small laugh. He knew what Draco meant, and he was the only one who would. Well Hermione would possibly get the double meaning; after all she was pretty smart and noticed most things. It was certainly wasn’t easy to pull something over on Hermione.

“No, I don’t carry it around with me everywhere” he said softly. Ron and Hermione where busy with their own conversation and weren’t paying attention to them. Carrying it around all the time, didn’t sound like that bad of an idea, but it certainly would be a bit of a pain and he would probably worry he would lose it and have to check to make sure he always had it, not to mention it would make the risk of someone finding out about it higher “I guess you have a point about that, but I’m not sure” He said.