Coveting Thy Enemy

Chapter 23: Absolution

When Hermione, Harry, and Draco walked into the Great Hall for lunch, the world stopped spinning on its axis. Harry couldn't remember ever hearing such silence. He remembered a science teacher he once had back in Whinnery explaining that there was no such thing as real silence. Too bad that science teacher wasn't here now, because his theory would have been blown all to hell. It only took a quick survey of the room for the trio to realize that the secret was out. Looking at Draco, Harry watched the blonde boy square his shoulders for the inevitable. Draco grabbed Harry and Hermione by their robes and pulled them to the Gryffindor table. They seated themselves at the far end of the table, which seemed to be reserved for them, since it all but resembled a deserted island. Once seated, the silence was broken as everyone began talking to one another simultaneously behind open hands. Harry felt for certain he heard the words "fag" and "ponce" whispered several times.

The only good thing Harry could surmise from the situation was that the Gryffindor's Civil War no longer seemed to be going on. If anything, the Gryffindors seemed to be united again. Unfortunately, they all seemed to be united against he, Draco and Hermione. It would seem that Hermione had been included as the enemy since she had walked in with them. Harry looked at Draco who was wearing his mask of indifference. Only Harry could read the nervousness that lay deep within the silver depths of the Slytherin's eyes. "Well, I guess it would have to come out sooner or later, right?"

"Yea, but I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner," mumbled Draco, who was grimacing at his rune soup, the wizard variation of the alphabet soup that every Muggle kid known to man probably had eaten at one time or another.

While Harry and Draco seemed to be mostly worried about the outed secret, Hermione was enraged. "I'll kill him," she said in a voice that reflected her death threat. "I can't believe him. He promised me he wouldn't say anything, the bastard!" She was glaring at the red-haired Weasley at the far end of the table with unmitigated anger.

Surprisingly, it was Draco who tried to calm her down. "Don't bother, Granger. It's not worth it. Harry and I knew this time would come at some point. I think we need to be worrying about what will happen when the Death Eater community inevitably finds out, not Hogwart's."

Hermione looked back and forth from Harry to Draco. "Okay, so what do we do?" she asked, hoping one of them would have an idea for once.

"We go to Professor Dumbledore," Harry replied.

"And to Uncle Severus," Draco added.

Hermione nodded. "Okay, that's as good a plan as any." She glared back down the table at Ron. "But, first we have a few words with a certain Weasley I once dated."

Since the Gryffindors were giving them a wide berth, it wasn't easy to corner Ron. They were finally able to get him alone, however, when he entered the boy's lavatory on the main floor. The three entered about twenty seconds behind the redhead, Hermione put a locking charm on the door, and they waited for him to leave his stall. When he finally did, he gawked at them with disbelief. "What the hell do you want? This is a boy's lou!" he said gazing at Hermione.

Hermione crossed her arms and stared at her ex-boyfriend calmly. "Well, among other things, I would most like to know why you broke your promise, Ronald Weasley." She said, staring him down. "You said you wouldn't breathe a word about Harry and Draco."

"I didn't," Ron said, shaking his head vehemently. "I swear, I didn't tell anyone."

"Right, Weasley. That's why the whole school's treating us like lepers, right?" Draco drawled, smirking in a way that gave Harry a feeling of de ja vu.

Ron shot a glance of hatred toward Draco, but decided to answer his question anyway. "I don't know how they know, but I didn't say a word, honest." He said, glancing from the blonde to the raven-haired boy, to the bushy haired witch. Suddenly, Harry realized Ron was telling the truth. Not only could he see it in his eyes, but he also knew Ron would never lie about anything. He had always faced up to the music when he had done something wrong. Now wasn't any different.

Hermione must have realized this as well, because she gave him a look of bafflement. "Fine, if you didn't, who did?" she asked.

"I really don't know," Ron replied "I mean, I know I was pretty pissed off about what I saw last night," he grimaced when the memory hit him, "but, I really would never do anything that would hurt Harry. I mean, he's been . . ." he turned to Harry, "You've been my best friend for seven years, after all."

Harry was quite shocked at what Ron said. "Right, I've been your best friend for a long time. That's why you picked a fight with Draco and then turned my own house against me."

Ron couldn't meet Harry's eyes when he said this. He swallowed and looked guiltily at the wall above Harry's head. "Shit, Harry. I know I've been a right arse, but I've never not thought of you as my best friend. I don't know. I guess I felt . . .betrayed. Suddenly you were spending more time with Malfoy of all people than me. I mean, he's our enemy, for Gods' sake."

"Not anymore," Draco replied, leaning his back against the lavatory wall. His face was wearing that mask again, so Harry wasn't quite sure what he was feeling at that moment.

"Ron, Draco has been trying his best to get along with you. I mean, he and Hermione have even become friends. Right, Herm?" Hermione nodded an affirmative. "I never said anything to you when you and Hermione were spending all of that time together, now did I?"

"That's different, Hermione is. . was my girlfriend." Ron began.

"No, it's not," Harry interrupted in a flat voice. "Draco's my boyfriend."

Ron swallowed quiet visibly at this. It was one thing seeing it, he could convince himself it may have been an illusion brought on by too much alcoholic butterbeer, but when Harry admitted it in that voice, he had to accept it as the truth. "Fine, you're dating. Despite what I said last night, I really have nothing against gays, Harry, but I have to admit, it threw me for a loop. I mean, what about Cho?"

"Cho has known about my sexual preferences for over a year, now," Harry admitted.

This time it was Hermione's turn to register shock. "You mean, you told Cho before you told me?" she asked, the hurt evident in the tone of her voice.

Harry shrugged. "Yea, well, she was the one who I was supposed to be kissing."

"Point taken," Hermione said simply. She then sighed rather heavily and looked back and forth between Harry and Ron. "So does this mean, we're all friends again?" she asked hopefully.

Ron nodded and Harry grunted an affirmative. Draco, feeling isolated from the proceedings, decided to speak up. "That's fine and all, but where does that leave me?"

Harry pulled the Slytherin away from the wall and placed a comforting arm around his shoulder. "You happen to fit quite nicely right here," he said smiling down at the silver-haired boy who was now smiling rather shyly back at him.

Ron tried to stifle his gagging but wasn't quite successful. "I know you care about him, Harry, but are you sure he's trustworthy?" he asked, giving Draco a suspicious look.

"Perfectly sure," Harry said.

Ron wasn't, however. "Just what do you get out of this, Malfoy?" he asked, "Why are you suddenly so interested in a romantic relationship with Harry?"

Draco Malfoy looked into Ron's eyes and said with a steady voice, "That's easy, Weasley. I love him." He then jerked his gaze to Harry who had grabbed a hold on his robes. "What are you doing?"

Harry's grabbed more of Draco's robes, tightening his grip. "I'm holding you here. You have a really bad habit of flinging confessions at me and then running away."

Draco laughed. "I'm not going anywhere, Potter," he said, grabbing Harry's hands and forcing them to release his robes.

Ron coughed, gaining the three's attention. "Alright, Malfoy. I guess you do have your reasons. I don't like you, though, you know that, right?"

"Of course. I can't say that I like you much either," the Slytherin drawled.

"But, I guess I can try to be civil. Maybe someday," Ron said, rolling his eyes in disbelief, "someday, in the very distant future, we can be friends. But, until then, the least I can do is offer a truce," he said, holding his hand out for Draco to shake.

Draco hesitated at first, but then shook Ron's hand. "Fine, we're not enemies anymore. But, I'm only doing this for Harry."

"I know," Ron said. When Draco had admitted he was in love with Harry, there was no denying the emotion. The Slytherin had let his mask slip for an instant, and Ron had seen the feelings his eyes had contained. "I guess I should apologize for . . .Well, for everything," he said, glancing at the floor. He then mumbled almost inaudibly, "I'm sorry."

"Yea, well, I'm sorry too, Weasley." Draco said, feeling the weight of a seven-year rivalry fall from his shoulders.

Ron put his hand on Draco's shoulder, and after removing the locking spell from the door and pushing Draco ahead of him, he said, "So, Malfoy, you're pretty bright. Do you play chess?" Hermione and Harry looked at each other and shrugged before following after them.

It wasn't until several chess games later that Draco realized Harry hadn't said he loved him back.