Summer Rain

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. JKR owns everything.

Chapter 13

"Come on, Harry, you need to tell us what you want to talk about. You keep putting it off and I'm really worried now." Hermione nibbled her pinkie nail. They were all sitting in the living room drinking coffee, and Harry knew he had put the conversation off long enough.

"I think it's actually me who should explain," Draco said and squeezed Harry's thigh. "If Ron promises not to immediately deny what I say and get defensive, because I assure you that everything I am about to tell you is the complete truth." Everyone stared expectantly at Ron who nodded hesitantly. "You ok, babe?" Draco asked Harry, the memory of Harry's reaction to learning about the Weasley's ringing in his mind.

"I'm fine. I just want this over with," Harry mumbled and hung his head. Draco kissed the top of Harry's head swiftly and shifted his gaze to Ron and Hermione. He took Harry's hand and held it firmly, more for ensuring he knew Harry was ok, but also for a little comfort for himself.

"Harry told you that the reason I left was because I was threatened to get away from him?" Draco asked and Harry's best friends nodded in unison. "That, in itself, would never have been enough for me to leave him. It was from whom the threats were coming that frightened me enough into running away from the only person I have ever loved more than life itself." Harry bit his lip to hold back tears; he'd been nervous all night about Ron and Hermione learning about the Weasleys, and now that it was finally coming out, Harry was battling an internal swell of emotions.

"So, it was a Death Eater, then? Someone to do with Voldemort?" Ron asked.

"Death Eaters caused me no fear once Voldemort was gone," Draco said honestly. "No, the people who threatened me were people I actually thought accepted me and cared for me. They certainly cared for and loved Harry. So, you can understand why I was intimidated enough to actually leave. Threats are always made with so much more intent when they come from an innocent mouth."

"Um, it wasn't Remus and Tonks, was it?" Hermione worried her bottom lip. Draco just gave her a blank look.

"Why would Ron get defensive and deny threats made by Remus and Tonks?" Draco asked her pointedly and Harry cringed. The looks flickering across Hermione's face indicated that she was putting the pieces together; Ron, however, remained clueless. Hermione put a hand to her mouth and squeaked in surprise when the realisation dawned on her. Harry dropped his head into his hands to hide his face.

"WHAT?!" Ron demanded. "She's figured it out! I know that look! So, tell me! I have a fucking right to know who threatened my best friend to the point that it ruined his life!" Draco closed his eyes briefly and sighed.

"You have more right to know than any of us, Ron," Draco said sadly. "I'm sorry. It was your mother, father and your sister who threatened me to leave Harry or they would make sure he turned against me enough to leave me himself." Hermione was gaping at him, her eyes wide and tear-filled. Harry was shaking slightly, and Draco suspected he was crying.

"What?" Ron whispered. "No. NO! They would NEVER hurt Harry like that! They treat him like a son!"

"Which is why they wanted him out of the influence of a Death Eater's son," Draco insisted. "They wanted Harry to get back together with your sister and eventually marry her, so he was an official part of your family. I was a roadblock in their plans, and a fucking stubborn one at that." Draco wet his lips and concernedly at Harry before continuing. He was getting to parts of his ordeal that Harry had yet to question him about, but needed to know for his own sake. Draco had had all intentions of talking to Harry about this alone, but now he was having second thoughts and felt that it was probably better to have Ron and Hermione present for even a small amount of additional support. "They told me that Harry's -- quote unquote -- 'dabbling with boys' was just a phase and he would get over it and want to marry Ginny. They said Harry was just confused and emotional because..." Draco trailed off and looked down at his hands.

"Because...?" Hermione prodded.

"Because he'd grown up without a mother or any strong female influence," Draco finished softly and Harry made a strangled whimpering sound. "They obviously felt they had no other choice but to interfere and get me out of the picture."

"Mum and Dad aren't fucking homophobes!" Ron roared.

"I didn't say they were, Ron," Draco pointed out. "They even professed to 'respect Harry's curiosity', so to speak, but they thought that he should be 'experimenting' with someone other than Draco Malfoy."

"THEY ACCEPTED YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!" Ron screeched, floundering with the information he was receiving.

"No, they hadn't, Ron. They just lead us all to believe they had because Harry was still healing emotionally after Voldemort's defeat. It would have been the death of him if they had tried to split us up early into our relationship because he had become so dependent on my presence. It seems then, that once they decided to take action, it was difficult to get me alone at any time without Harry nearby. When he passed out at your wedding, it was the first time they could speak to me without Harry walking in and hearing it." Draco tore his eyes away from a red-faced Ron to pull Harry up from where he had slumped forward in his seat. He turned Harry's face towards him gently, and saw that tears were streaming down his cheeks. "Oh, sweetheart, come here." Draco wrapped his arms around Harry and hugged him protectively. "I'm so sorry but you need to know this," Draco murmured to Harry.

"Why did you let them get to you, Draco? Why did you leave?" Hermione asked.

"Like I said, I knew they were genuine in their threats. The reason I actually left was as much for my benefit as it was for Harry's -- I couldn't have handled having Harry turn against me again, not after we had overcome our past and become so close. I still had emotional issues myself. If I had to live knowing Harry hated me, I would have killed myself." Harry sobbed harder at Draco's confession, thinking about Draco's suicide attempt in Australia; he gripped onto the front of Draco's shirt as if hanging on for dear life. "I also couldn't have lived with the fact that Harry would be led to harbour so much hate again. He spent a majority of his life hating people, and I wasn't going to allow that to happen again. He is too good, and has too much love to be engulfed by so much hate. I knew it would be a possibility he would hate me intensely for leaving, but it was better than then him hating me for thinking I lied to him or betrayed him."

"But, seriously, what could they have possibly said to Harry to convince him to hate you?" Hermione pointed out. Draco hesitated and looked down at Harry. Harry hadn't asked this question of Draco either and this would be the first time he heard the complete story, but Draco knew it was time to get everything out in the open.

"That's a fair point, but you are forgetting Ron's father's connections in the Ministry and also through the remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix. It was a really explosive argument I had with the Weasleys that night. By the time their threats came, we were all very very angry and that probably just compounded the situation. First they threatened to Obliviate me to make me forget my feelings for Harry or Obliviate Harry into forgetting his relationship with me. Then they threatened to get my father involved, knowing how intimidated I was by him..." Draco gulped audibly but shook himself to regain his composure. "And finally, they said they had information on me that would make Harry seriously regret his relationship with me. All this was said at wand point, I might add. I know for a fact there is no incriminating information on me anywhere because I never got in deep enough and I had been honest with Harry about everything I had been involved with anyway. But there must be whole floors of incriminating evidence on my father and other members of the Malfoy family, for many generations prior. With the right connections, things can be fabricated at the drop of a hat, and made very believable if uttered by the right people. Needless to say, I was shit scared by the time they had finished with me," Draco admitted.

Ron sat there shaking his head in disbelief, and Hermione was frowning in deep thought. Harry gave a strangled cry and pulled out of Draco's arms. "Baby, what's wrong?" Draco asked urgently. Harry pressed a hand to his mouth and shook his head furiously as he stumbled over to the kitchen. With one violent, choked retch, Harry's dinner started streaming out into the sink.

"Fuck, I was expecting this," Draco cursed softly. Hermione stood to rush over to Harry but Draco waved her back down. "I've got it, its fine."

"But your phobia --"

"I seem to have gotten over it with Harry when I first told him about the Weasleys. I remember Harry's panic attacks from when he first started having them. It's time enough I learnt to help him with them," Draco said regretfully and Hermione sighed sadly at Draco's indication that Harry had been violently ill when also hearing the news the first time.

"Maybe I should help him..." Ron said sounding lost. "It's my family who've done this to him."

"He doesn't blame you, Ron. Not at all," Draco said firmly before hurrying over to Harry.

Draco rubbed Harry's back between his shoulder blades and spoke soothingly into Harry's ear. Harry vomited over and over again for about ten minutes straight.

Once he was completely empty, Draco had to steady him firmly around the waist when Harry's knees nearly gave out from exhaustion. "It's ok, babe. I've got you," Draco murmured.

"I'm sorry," Harry choked out. "You went to so much trouble cooking that dinner."

"Harry," Draco laughed slightly, "I don't care, love. I'm more concerned about the fact that you just spent ten minutes vomiting the whole thing back up rather than the fact that I cooked it!"

"I'm alright now." Harry smiled weakly. "I always feel better after throwing up."

"Are you sure? You don't look it." Draco stroked Harry cheek. Harry nodded and reached over to turn the tap on to wash away the mess he made.

"It was just a lot to hear all at once. I didn't want to believe that they had threatened you so harshly, Draco, that's why I never asked you exactly what they said," Harry mumbled. "I know you must've been worried that I hadn't questioned you further, but it was easier to not think about it. But hearing you talk about it like that, it just so much to take in and hurts so bad. I trusted them. They were some of the very few people I actually put complete trust and faith in, and they threw it back in my face."

"They were trying to protect you, Harry," Draco reminded him.

"That's not good enough! They should have accepted my choices unconditionally, not used my mother as an excuse for what they thought was my poor judgement!" Harry cried and then closed his eyes and took some calming breaths.

"Shhh... we're together again now. We'll show them," Draco soothed. "Promise me you're alright now? Those panic attacks you have scare the shit out of me."

"They're no walk in the park for me, either," Harry scoffed. "But I promise I'm fine now. I just probably shouldn't have had such a big dinner knowing we were all going to have a 'deep and meaningful' afterwards. I haven't had an attack in months, but since you've come back I have had numerous ones! No offence to you, of course, sweetheart, you coming back was the best thing to happen," Harry assured Draco. Draco snorted in amusement and shook his head. "I've just felt a little like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster lately and I think I'm ready to get off."

"Come here." Draco pulled Harry into a big hug. "What am I going to do with you?" Harry glanced over at Ron and Hermione, who were watching them anxiously. He dropped his voice and whispered in Draco's ear.

"You could whisk me away into the Australian sunset to live happily ever after?" Harry chuckled. Draco drew back and looked searchingly into Harry's eyes.

"We'll discuss it later, ok babe?" Draco promised. "I know you must be serious about this, but we need to talk about it properly." Harry pulled a face but nodded reluctantly and kissed Draco on the cheek. Draco took Harry's hand and led him back over to the living room.

"Are you alright, mate?" Ron asked softly.

"I am, Ron. It's just been a lot for me to take in," Harry replied. "You know what my gut is like when I flip out."

"Do you hate them now? Mum, Dad and Gin, I mean," Ron asked with a sad frown on his face.

"No, hate is a very strong emotion. I'm just very very hurt that they would do that to me," Harry admitted. Draco put a comforting arm around Harry's shoulders. "I have him back, and that's all that matters. I mean, they haven't said anything about him being back, have they? They've probably just accepted it, and we can move on from all this crap." Hermione gave Harry a fretful look and shook her head.

"Harry, they don't know," Hermione said. "We didn't tell them. They still think you are with Lucas. I'm sorry. We obviously didn't know about any of this and thought you would want to tell them about your break up with Lucas yourself. We... well, we thought they'd be happy that Draco was back for you." Harry swallowed heavily and groaned.

"Fuck," Harry said simply and Draco nodded in agreement.

"I think you really need to talk to them, love," Draco suggested. "They should hear it from you, and they should know that you know what they did. It'll be hard, but you need to face this."

"How can I possibly face them?" Harry whispered.

"Harry, you've done nothing wrong!" Hermione cried. "We'll all go with you and face them together."

"I'd love nothing more than to have you all there, but this is something I need to do alone. You can understand that, right?" Harry asked pleadingly.

"Of course, honey," Hermione soothed.

"God, I just feel ill. I can't stop thinking about what they said. I don't think I'll even be able to look them in the eye." Harry wrung his hands nervously. At this point Draco stretched and yawned exaggeratedly, feeling it was time try and get Harry to calm down a little.

"I think we should call it a night. Harry worked last night and I'm not letting him have a late night tonight," Draco said politely but firmly, though no one protested.

"When will you speak to Mum and Dad, Harry?" Ron asked as he gathered up his and Hermione's jackets.

"Next couple of days, I suppose," Harry sighed.

"Just let us know if you need anything," Hermione said and gave Harry a big hug. "We can get here in minutes."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. But I think Draco has everything covered." Harry smiled. "I'll let you know how things go. I wish I could promise you it will be fine, but I'm not so sure to be truthful." Draco and Harry walked their guests over to the front door.

"I'm so sorry my family did this to you," Ron mumbled guiltily to Harry and gave him a brief hug.

"It's not your fault, Ron and I still love them. I just don't think things will be the same anymore. Knowing what they think of Draco deep down is enough to turn me off being in their presence ever again. I'll try to make amends though. They've been good to me. The least I can do is hear them out." Harry kissed Hermione's cheek and waved to them as they left.

"That went better than I thought," Draco commented.

"Yeah," Harry said absently. "I need to go to bed. I'm knackered." Draco nodded, knowing that was Harry's way of indicating that he didn't want to discuss it anymore. Harry took Draco's hand and smiled at him. "Make love to me, Draco?"

"That's something you never have to ask me, babe." Draco kissed Harry's forehead and led him into the bedroom by his hand.