Truly Madly Deeply

Chapter Twenty-One - Harry The Hufflepuff

~ Gryffindor Seventh Year Boys' Dorm Room ~

Harry flung himself down on his bed. He felt so...wretched. He hated feeling this way. Really hated it. And he hated Draco for making him feel this way. Okay, so I don't hate him, he thought contrarily. I love him so much it hurts. How the hell can our marriage work if he doesn't trust me? I was just trying to do something nice for him. Argh! He screamed into his pillow.

Draco crept timidly into the room and almost fled when he heard Harry scream. If it weren't for the emotional anguish that was evident in that scream, he probably would have run. It made him want to scoop Harry up into his arms and rock him back and forth until the pain went away. It hurt Draco to know that he had caused that pain. It was his fault that Harry was questioning their impending marriage. It was his fault for jumping to conclusions.

I really should start hanging out with Hermione more often, then maybe her reasonable nature and her fondness for evidence might rub off on him. On the other hand, Draco remembered how she acted when she thought Ron was having an affair. So maybe she wouldn't have acted calmly in the face of the overwhelming circumstantial evidence Draco had been faced with.

Draco tiptoed over to Harry's bed. The Gryffindor still had his head in his pillow and Draco was starting to worry about the possibility that Harry might suffocate. He sat down on the edge of the bed next to Harry. If Harry was aware of the bed dipping as Draco sat down, he gave no indication of it.

Draco held his hand out over Harry's back and hesitated for a second before a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob made up his mind for him. He gently rubbed Harry's back and made what he hoped were appropriately soothing noises.

"Just listen to me, okay. I'm really sorry for pulling a Hermione back there. I know I totally overreacted and I'm so sorry. I do trust you. I really do. I know you would never cheat. You're too much of a Gryffindor to do that. Although you know you really would be a good Hufflepuff too, with your loyalty and dedication."

Draco felt Harry's body jerk beneath his hand and took that to mean he was laughing, always a good sign. Of course he could have been crying harder, but Draco pushed that thought aside and kept talking.

"I know it's no excuse but it's been pretty stressful lately, what with the wedding and exams and everything. I guess everything just got on top of me and then you were late and you've been keeping things from me....I don't like being left out of the loop and I definitely don't like surprises. I've had too many surprises that turned out to be absolute nightmares."

Draco took a deep breath and realised what he'd just said, and almost given away, so he quickly continued talking.

"Anyway, I'm really sorry and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I love you so much Harry and I hate that I hurt you. I hate seeing you like this. Please talk to me."

Harry pushed himself up so he was sitting on the bed facing Draco. His beautiful blonde boyfriend looked so distressed and so regretful that Harry knew he couldn't stay mad at him.

"I love you too, Drac. I'm sorry that I gave you a reason to think that I might not be faithful to you. I just wanted to do something for you. I wanted to surprise you."

Draco reached over and gently brushed a couple of tears from Harry's cheek.

"You have nothing to apologise for. You were right. I should have known that you would never cheat."

"Can we not talk about it?" Harry asked earnestly.

"Sure," Draco agreed and then grinned. "Whatever shall we do instead?"

Harry grinned back as they both cried, "Make up sex!"

~ Narcissa Malfoy's Room At Hogwarts ~

Narcissa stared down at the four pictures before her. In the days since her clandestine meeting with Harry, she'd been into Hogsmeade and the staff at Gladrags Wizardwear were helpful enough to photograph the outfits Harry and Draco had selected for their wedding day. The models in the photographs were posing in front of her, each trying to show off the clothes to the best advantage. The trouble was - which pair of outfits was she going to choose? One of the boys was going to be disappointed.

Draco, in spite of his heavy workload, was still overseeing the details of the ceremony and reception while Narcissa was taking care of the actual planning. The outfits he had chosen fitted in perfectly with the rest of the theme and the colour scheme whereas Harry's, while clashing with the overall design, were pure Harry and Draco and she could see them wearing them and enjoying every minute of their day.

With that thought, Narcissa decided what to do. She felt bad about discarding Draco's carefully laid plan but she felt that he would appreciate the thought that Harry had put into this surprise for Draco. Besides, it was more personal this way.

Chapter Twenty-One - Harry The Hufflepuff