Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Hermione was not daft. Nor blind. So it is quite perceivable that she did notice subtle differences in her best friend's behavior probably because she was around them 24/7. Also, when people said she was always studying, she really was always studying, and if it wasn't a book it was the people around her. Like she knew that Ginny always buttered her toast from left to right, Ron always put on his right sock, then his left, and that Harry was one of the few people that brushed his teeth in a circular motion. Sometimes this ultra-perceptibility it did sort of ruin things, like she so knew that Ron was going to ask her out about a week before he did just because of a change of actions, but sometimes it came rather in handy. Like with Harry. Harry never directly said or did anything. The boy was a living periphrastic, albeit a rather impulsive one. So when Harry had a secret, it made it even harder to tell what it was...unless he did something repeatedly. And looking at the Slytherin table, although in small almost unnoticeable glances, had become his new hobby. She only had to figure out why.

It was two days before graduation and Harry had to tell them. Draco had not become a death eater for his sake, so the least he could do was tell his friends he was gay and in love with his sworn, and delectable, enemy, right? Actually, Harry could see himself receiving the Dark Mark first then singing "Hakunah Matatta", but since that wasn't an option, he would just have to tell them...later. He fidgeted with the slender gold band around his middle right-handed finger; he and Draco wore them there as not to raise suspicions, and sighed deeply. He needed a plan.

Draco had a plan. Harry would never agree to his plan, but he had one. He had given Harry almost six months to tell them, and he probably was not going to make up his mind in two days to do so, so Draco was going to take matters into his own hands. All is fair in love and war, isn't it? Well, this was the war of love, and he was going to win...then proclaim it to the world. Now, he just had to pick out the perfect outfit for his "coming out with Harry Potter" ceremony.

Everyone got up from their tables as breakfast was over. It was a Saturday and no one had anything in particular to do, but everyone seemed to be in a rush to get back to their common rooms to do, well, nothing at all. Hermione took this as her time to attack. During breakfast she believed to have figured it all out. The ring, the Slytherin's, and the late night escapades all fit together. She just had to get Harry to be his usual compulsive self and things would be clear...

"Hey, Harry!" Hermione called and to get Harry's attention amongst the masses, "I was thinking (No big surprise there Hermione, thought Harry) and something is different. Don't think I don't notice, and I think I know what it all is. Who is it?"

Harry was absolutely speechless; of course he had planned to tell them, sometime within the next two days, but to be put on the spot totally unnerved him. "I don't get what you mean, Hermione," Harry tried, praying for no further inquisition.

"Oh, Harry it's obvious. Who is it, and don't tell me that she's not in Slytherin," Hermione pressed him further. What was this? The freaking Spanish Inquisition: Hogwarts style?

Harry fumbled for words. Well she had the Slytherin part figured out and she was handling it pretty well, maybe the addition of "it's my archrival WHO IS A BOY! from Slytherin" won't be too much of a shocking addendum. Still he couldn't; not in the middle of the Great Hall for Merlin's sake!

"Harry, don't even try to get out of it, you have guilty written all over your face," Hermione pressed further, she could tell he was about to break.

Enter Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, but Granger I beg to differ," he said coolly as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. Hermione was smart; she would get the simple gesture. "Our, yes our, friend Harry here is, in fact, innocent until proven guilty." Draco squeezed Harry's shoulder and a glint of something caught Hermione's watchful eye. It was gold. And identical to Harry's. Draco strolled away nonchalantly.

Harry was absolutely lost for words. And Hermione, well, Hermione was caught between "Yay, I so figured it out" and "Oh My Merlin, PLEASE let me be wrong for once in my life." Harry's bulging eyes confirmed her beliefs. She did what any best and supporting friend, besides Ron, would do in the situation. She ran to Harry and hugged him.

"Told you so," she whispered in his ear.

"Hermione, I know, but--"Harry stuttered.

"I won't tell, Ron, but I'm expecting you to," she said. That ultra-perceptibility this was a bit intimidating at times.

Harry simply nodded and tried to walk back to the dorms on shaky legs. "Well, that wasn't that bad," he thought, "but Draco will so die for this."

~*~

Harry hated that Ron was just so normal. He didn't have a famous scar right in the middle of his forehead, he wasn't under the threat of death at all times (and not just from Voldemort, but from screaming teeny-witches too), and he wasn't gay and completely in love with biggest and hottest "enemy". Some people really did have all the luck. Actually, the "in love with biggest and hottest "enemy" probably made Harry a bit luckier, but it was definitely more controversial. He hated how Ron and Hermione could happily sit together in the common room and kiss to their hearts content and not have a single person question it. God, they were sickeningly cute and sickeningly in love. Just then the little voice on the back of Harry's head chose to chime in: You could do that to if you just told them! Harry decided that he was going to evict his current in-head resident voice and put up a mental "for rent" sign. This one just seemed to be too logical for Harry's liking.

After becoming disgusted to the verge of retching at the sight of public displays of affection, Harry decided to go up to his dorm sit on his bed and ponder. Yes, Harry was going to ponder what he had to tell Ron and how to tell him with the least likely chance of having Ron totally freak out and have and aneurysm and/or congestive heart failure. This was going to be harder than Harry thought.

Once again, Draco Malfoy had a plan. And he happened to now have a plan that Hermione was included in. With epitome of evil and quintessence of brains in on the same plan together, things get dangerous for innocent by-standers or extremely homophobic red-heads. Yes, they had a plan.

Draco heard the seventh years boy's dorm door squeak open. This was his cue. Harry made his way over to his bed, absent-mindedly kicking a few books out of his way, and plopped himself onto his bed. He sighed deeply and took the pillow from behind his head and used it as a muffle as he screamed into it. Draco watched from under the invisibility cloak and had to stifle a laugh. Harry was just so funny when he was confused! He made his move; slowly he crept over to Harry's bed in a very James Bond-like fashion. He almost made it there without incident but of course he chose the most opportune time to trip, fall, and curse at a book that he hadn't noticed. "So much for Malfoy grace and agility," he though to himself, trying to make sure that he was still completely under the invisibility cloak.

"What the fuck? I swear to Merlin, if you are a minion of Voldemort I will not hesitate to kill you in the most painful way possible!" Harry yelled, as he sat bolt upright in his bed and looked around the room for the cause of the commotion.

The boy really was paranoid.

"Peeves, is that you?" he questioned, truly nervous about the fact that he couldn't see his intruder.

Draco crawled over the edge of his bed and pinned Harry down. "Would Peeves to this?" Draco whispered hotly into Harry's ear.

"Probably not," he laughed slightly, "but whoever you are, don't stop." Of course Harry knew it was Draco from his voice but Draco was appalled; his fiancée was a slut! Ripping off the cloak and revealing himself, Harry saw that he was quite pissed.

"Um, Draco, why'd you stop and why do you look quite so pissed as you are currently straddling me in a very, very sexual manner?" Harry questioned innocently.

"Whoever you are, don't stop?" he quoted Harry and raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Draco, I knew it was you!" Harry exclaimed in his defense.

"Sure you did, you slut, but I'll believe you and forgive you," Draco smiled as he kissed Harry's forehead.

~*~

Back down in the common room, Hermione looked at the clock. Draco said to give him ten minutes then go up with Ron, and it had been ten minutes. Hermione could not believe what she was about to do but she almost laughed at the situation. Poor Ron was in for such a surprise. She really wished she had a camera for the calamity that was about to ensue, but something told her that she would have the picture of Ron's face ingrained in her mind for some time to come.

"Ron, honey," she seductively whispered in his ear, "I want to play chess."

As silly as it sounded, Ron had wanted to hear those words for quite some time now. Of course, between the couple, they had a very, very alternate meaning. Ron nearly fainted right then.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Hell yah," said Hermione. Wow, it felt good to be a vixen she thought! Now I know why Ginny smiles so much...

"Isn't Harry up in the dorms though?" Ron questioned.

"Who cares, I'm sure he's had more surprising things happen before," she said.

"I always knew you were like this Hermione Granger, but why did you take so long to come out of your damn shell?" asked Ron teasingly as he stood up and whisked Hermione off of her feet. He proceeded to carry her from the common room to the dorms.

"Ron, you lucky bastard," said Seamus and Dean at the same time and then went back to playing their game of Exploding Snaps.

A loud yell was heard soon after. Dean and Seamus shook their heads in confusion and went back to playing once again. "Well that was fast," Dean said.

~*~

Ron, with Hermione in his arms, could not have been more unprepared for the sight that met his eyes as he opened the dorm door. His mouth dropped and so did his arms, hence the loud yell because Hermione suddenly found herself dropped on her arse. She looked to the bed and saw what had caused Ron his panicked fright. "Well so much for 'we'll have a serious conversation with him and discuss what has happened with no displays of affection'," Hermione thought.

Harry sat upright once again at the opening of the door and the loud yell. This caused Draco to accidentally bite down rather hard on Harry's neck where he was previously leaving a very intricate pattern of hickeys all over. Ron's face was priceless. And Hermione looked quite pissed. Harry just realized that both he and Draco were left in nothing but their boxers. "Damn bloody awkward situation," he thought.

Ron was about to yell, but Draco's voice of reason broke in before too much of a commotion was caused.

"Ron, before you yell, I know what this looks like," Draco started.

"So you've video taped it before you kinky bastard?" Ron yelled. The boy really was quite dense.

In the common room both Dean and Seamus looked at each other in utter confusion...and then went back to playing Exploding Snaps.

"No, you nit wit! I mean I know this looks awkward! But Harry and I have something to tell you," Draco looked down at Harry and Harry understood. The bastard had planned for this to happen.

"Well," Harry thought before getting too mad at Draco, "now is as good of a time as ever."

"Yes, Ron," Harry tried to remain calm, "we do have something to tell you." Draco rolled off from on top of Harry and sat besides him. At the same time, both boys showed Ron their rings. Since the rings were on their middle fingers, they didn't realize the inadvertent gesture until it was too late. They had both just flicked Ron off in an attempt to show that they were married.

"Well fuck you too, Harry!" Ron bellowed at the top of his lungs.

Having heard "we'll fuck you too Harry" instead of "well fuck you too, Harry" Dean and Seamus abandoned the game and bound up the stairs as fast as they could. If there was going to be an orgy involving Harry Potter they weren't going to miss out on it.

"NO RON! Just calm down for a second! We weren't flicking you off! We have rings on our fingers, wedding rings! Now just chill!" Harry yelled trying to get the information through Ron's thick head.

After hearing this, Dean and Seamus decided they better wait on the stairs and listen to see if the orgy was still on.

"Weas--I mean Ron, Harry and I well, sort of, kind of, love each other," Draco said trying to remain calm in the oh-so-very-awkward situation.

"Well I can see that," said Ron embarrassedly as he glanced from Harry's lap and then to Draco's.

Hermione, while still on the floor, smacked Ron as hard as she could. "Would you just listen and not have a one track mind for like three minutes?!" she yelled.

Harry and Draco both crossed their legs in a vain attempt to hide "it".

"Ron," Harry started, "I know I should have told you sooner, but Draco and I are married, and we have been for almost six months now. I was scared of how you'd react if I told you, and I didn't want to loose you as a friend."

"Well I kind of guessed you were guilty after I walked in on you!" he laughed.

Draco decided to go all "Law and Order" on Ron at the moment. "Innocent until proven guilty," he smirked.

"Draco, I have found enough evidence," Ron said glancing at their laps again, "to prove my point. Case closed."

"Touché!" said Draco. He was not going to argue the evidence.

Harry looked on as if the apocalypse had just been given a set date. A million different things passed through Ron's mind that he could have said but he decided to handle it in a mature manner. Or maybe it was because Hermione was hitting him repeatedly in the leg as if saying "if you don't handle this right you will never play chess ever again!" Either way Ron said something that made Harry's worries melt away.

"Well, what else to do but celebrate with a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks?!" Ron said as he looked at Harry and smiled, "Let's go, mate." Maybe he just really needed a drink after all of that...

Ron picked Hermione up from the ground, apologized, and asked if their "chess match" was still on. After a reassuring and very sexy smirk from Hermione, they left to let the two get properly dressed again. Upon exiting they found Dean and Seamus sitting outside on the steps. Both the boys sighed heavily.

"So I guess the orgy is off?" asked Dean disappointedly.

Ron and Hermione just stared at each other. "That has to be more shocking than what just happened in there," said Hermione as they continued down the stairs, shaking their heads.