I Understand

EXPLANATION

Harry, Ron, and Hermione met up with Neville in the Great Hall for lunch. Harry had not gotten around to telling Ron and Hermione about what had happened Friday night. It was just as well, because now he would only have to tell the story once. Glancing at the Slytherin table, he noticed that Draco and his sidekicks were not at lunch. Wonder where they are, he thought.

Catching Neville's eye, Harry glanced at the seat next to himself so that Neville would know to sit there instead of with Dean, whom he usually sat next to at lunch. After Neville sat down and started eating, Harry leaned closer to his friends to get their attention.

"Hey," he whispered, "eat quick, we need to talk." Harry saw the questions in their eyes, but refused to say anything else until they were somewhere they could not be heard. Ten minutes later, the four friends finished eating and left the Great Hall.

"Harry, what...," Hermione started to say but Harry shushed her.

"Not here," Harry said, ignoring the affronted look she gave him.

Finding an unused classroom, he opened the door and ushered his three friends inside. After closing the door, Harry placed a complex locking charm on it and then cast a silencing charm over the entire room.

"Harry," Hermione said in a shocked voice, "where did you learn that locking charm?"

Waving his hand at her absently, Harry muttered, "Lupin taught it to me."

Glancing skeptically at each other, the three decided not to mention the fact that Harry shouldn't have been able to perform that charm, as his wand was still in his pocket. No one said anything; they just waited for Harry to tell them what was going on.

"I went to the Astronomy Tower Friday night, you know, to think," Harry began slowly, trying to sort out how he was going to tell his friends that they were going to have to lay off fighting with the Slytherins.

"How'd that work for ya, mate?" Ron said jokingly and the others snickered. Ron's smile faded as he saw the serious expression on his best friend's face. "Harry, I'm kidding..." Ron started to apologize.

Harry interrupted him with a faint smile, "I know, Ron, it is just that I found something out that we need to discuss."

"You can tell us anything, Harry," Hermione said. Neville said nothing, as was his practice, just nodded his agreement.

"I know, Hermione. I will tell you what I found out, but the rest will have to come from someone else."

"Who?" asked Ron.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry started.

"That pompous git!" Ron snarled. "What has he done now?"

"Ron," Harry said sharply, "would you please let me finish?"

"Sorry," Ron mumbled, glancing at the floor to hide his now pink face.

"As I was saying, Draco Malfoy is not who we think he is. I heard some things and I want your ideas about it."

"Harry, what are you talking about? How is Malfoy not like we think he is? Maybe you should start from the beginning," Hermione said in her very logical way.

"You're right, Hermione, as always. After I left the Tower, I was walking past the Potion's classroom when I heard voices. I stopped but didn't hear anything else. I was just about to continue on when I heard someone say the name Voldemort." Harry stopped to gather his thoughts and his friends just watched him waiting for him to continue.

"I looked in and saw Snape and Malfoy, with Malfoy laying on the table, he was. . ."

"EEEEWWWWW! They were snogging! Oh, I'm gonna be sick!" Ron burst out before Harry could finish his thought.

"Ron!" they all yelled at the same time, with horrified looks on all of their faces. Harry started to giggle and was soon joined by the others.

"That's disgusting!" Hermione gasped.

Neville groaned, "Out of my head. Picture...out of my head."

Ron gulped, "That just ain't right, Harry."

Harry snickered, "Snape getting some, huh, wait oh no!"

The peals of laughter could have been heard halfway down the hall, if anyone had been there to listen. It took a few minutes for each of them to calm back down, though Neville still looked a bit green.

"What's going on, Harry?" Neville asked.

Harry sighed, he did not know how to say this. He finally decided to just say everything outright and then wait for the explosion.

"Look, don't interrupt me any more. This is really hard to say. Promise me you won't say anything until I am done." Harry waited for each of them to nod and then, taking a deep breath, he started talking.

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Dumbledore and Snape had a meeting after lunch before their groups were to meet. They agreed to tell the groups next Sunday.

"I do not think we have a choice in this matter, Severus," Dumbledore stated, "they will find out about each other; it is just a matter of time."

Snape glared at the old man in front of him and grudgingly agreed with him, "Potter and his friends will mess up everything that we have worked on for the last year. I still think you are wrong, Albus. But, Sunday it is."

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When Harry finished with his story, the classroom was silent for a few minutes before Hermione spoke.

"No," she agreed in a shaky voice, "you're right, Harry. I don't think Malfoy is who we think he is. What do we do now?"

Neville had a stunned look on his face. When Hermione spoke, he nodded his agreement and looked to Harry for an answer.

Before Harry could answer, Ron spoke up. "Do?" he asked incredulously, "What do you mean, 'do'? We do like we always do." He threw a look of confusion at Harry, "Don't we, Harry?"

"No, Ron, we don't," Harry said, "we leave him alone. And that means all of them, too. It is time to stop the petty fighting and grow up. Can you do this?" Harry asked the question of all three of them, but knew that he was mostly asking Ron. He was relieved when Neville and Hermione both nodded their heads quickly.

"Harry..." Ron said, with confusion evident in his voice, "all of them?"

"Yes, Ron, all of them."

Ron nodded hesitantly. "I'll try," he agreed doubtfully.

"It's time to meet with Professor Dumbledore. Anything else you want to tell us, Harry?" Hermione asked, looking at him shrewdly. She had figured some things out on her own the last couple of weeks and was wondering when he was going to tell them.

Harry looked at her with a slightly frightened look. What did she mean by that, he thought, surely she doesn't know. How can she? No one knows. Harry just shook his head in answer. Neville noticed the look and wondered about it, but said nothing. Ron, of course, noticed nothing.

Waving his hand at the door, Harry opened it for his friends. They walked to the Headmaster's office in silence, everyone occupied with their own thoughts. Only Hermione noticed that once again, Harry did magic without his wand.

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It wasn't until Harry and Ron were getting ready for bed that night that Ron had a chance to talk to him about Malfoy and his cronies.

"Harry, I just don't see why we have to be nice to all of them. I mean Crabbe and Goyle don't have a brain between them and that bitch Pansy, is just... well she's a bitch. So tell me again why we have to be nice." Ron was whining by the time he had finished. He really hated Malfoy, but if what Harry had witnessed was true then Ron and his brothers owed Malfoy an apology. He really didn't want it to be true; he had no desire to apologize to the nasty git.

Harry sighed. He was tired from his lesson with Dumbledore and all he wanted to do was sleep.

"Ron, we have to be nice to them all. If we're only nice to Malfoy, then he might become suspicious and figure out that we know something. He can't know that we know, so we will leave them all alone. Okay?"

Ron muttered his agreement and they both laid down to sleep. Harry was asleep in moments but Ron stayed awake for a few minutes longer. His last thought was that the Slytherins were so paranoid as a general rule, that they were sure to be suspicious of the Gryffindors being nice to them, no matter how they tried to do it.

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Monday went pretty much like every other Monday since term had started. All four of them had avoided any confrontations with the Slytherins. After the fourth time that one or more of the group had walked away from a fight, it was obvious that they were doing it on purpose. By lunch it was the talk of the Gryffindor table. The four friends ignored the whispering and the questioning looks from their housemates, as well as from students in other houses.

"Harry, maybe going cold turkey on the fighting thing was a bad idea," Neville said after they had endured five minutes of whispering.

Ron and Hermione nodded their heads in agreement.

"I know, you're probably right, but it is too late now. We just have to continue on this way. Maybe they won't have noticed," Harry said with a hopeful expression on his face.

"Yeah, right, and Malfoy will quit gelling his hair," Ron said through a mouthful of food.

The four of them snickered loudly.

"Something wrong with my hair, Weasel?" came the sarcastic voice of the person they were trying to avoid. "At least I comb mine, unlike the hero here."

They turned to look at the furious face of Draco Malfoy. He had come into the Hall and heard their laughter. He was furious. How dare they make fun of him. He smirked at Crabbe and Goyle who were standing one on each side of him. Pansy giggled and latched onto his arm.

"Nothing wrong with your hair that a stiff wind won't cure, Malfoy," Ron snarled.

Hermione carefully drew her wand from her sleeve. No matter what Harry said, she wasn't going to let any of them get hexed by the four Slytherins standing there. She saw out of the corner of her eye that Neville was doing the same thing.

Unbeknownst to them, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape had seen the confrontation start. Both had left the Teacher's table and were heading their way. The other Gryffindors watched the scene. This was the way things were supposed to be, Malfoy and Potter fighting.

Before it could escalate any further, Harry stood up and said softly, "Ron." Ron shut up, but you could see that it took a great deal of control for him to do so.

"May I talk to you for a moment, Malfoy? Privately?" Harry said softly to the blond haired Slytherin. He spoke as softly as he had to Ron, but this time there was hard tone in his voice that made the Slytherins take notice of what he was saying. His green eyes flashing, Harry took a slow look at Malfoy and his friends standing with him.

He could see the astonishment on the other boy's face but was too mad to think about that. Here they were trying to be nice and not fight and Malfoy just couldn't leave it alone.

Draco could not see what they had to talk about. Especially in private. The fury in the other boy's eyes was a sight to behold. He wanted to know what was going on and against his better judgment, he turned to his friends and told them to wait for him at the Slytherin table. As expected, Crabbe and Goyle left immediately, after giving him a glance; but Pansy took a bit more time before she, too, slowly walked away.

Walking a few steps away, he turned to see that Harry had followed him. He smirked the famous Malfoy smirk.

"What was so important that you couldn't say it in front of my friends, or yours, for that matter, Potter?" he asked in a cold voice.

"Drop it, Malfoy. There will be no more fighting. From this point on, it stops," Harry replied back in an even colder voice. Draco suppressed a shiver at his tone.

"What brought this on?" Draco asked.

But Harry said nothing more. He turned to go back to his table but paused and then left the Great Hall instead. Malfoy stood there with a surprised look on his face before he walked slowly over to the Slytherin table and sat down next to his friends. He ignored their questions; his mind on the raven-haired boy who had just left the hall.