Holly and Hawthorn (Drarry)

1

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A week later Harry awoke to his name plastered over the front page of the Daily prophet.

Quite literally - he had been stirred from a deep sleep by a bang as loud as cannon fire, as his bedroom door swung open and hit the wall with such violence it let loose a small dusting of plaster..

"What's going on?" Harry mumbled and pushed himself halfway up. With one hand he shielded his face from the stark morning sunlight piercing both his eyes, and with the other he grasped hopelessly for his glasses, dimly conscious of a figure storming into his room.

Harry found his glasses on his bed stand and shoved them on (upside down at first), though the light was so glaring he could hardly see anyway. All he could make out was the outline of Ron Weasley standing over him and pushing a large newspaper into his face.

Harry blinked furiously until the words began to take shape. To his horror the front page was screaming in bold lettering "HARRY POTTER'S ROMANCE WITH A FORMER DEATH EATER" and below it was a picture, moving as all pictures did in the wizarding world, of Harry clasping Draco Malfoy's face with both hands and pulling him across a table into a long and deep kiss...

Ron yanked the paper back out of Harry's weakening grip. "Why in the name of Merlin's saggy bollock, is there a picture of you snogging Malfoy in the Daily prophet?" he said, straining each word, as though the very thought was putting him through immense pain.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but at that moment Hermione Granger barged through his bedroom door. She was out of breath and clutching the side of her stomach as though she had a stitch, Harry suspected she had run after Ron up the multiple flights of stairs in the Weasley's house to reach Harry's room.

"Sorry.... Harry...." she gasped between breaths, "I tried to stop him."

"It's- It's fine" Harry said shakily and shifted out from under his quilt, feeling rather vulnerable sitting in bed in his pajamas while Ron loomed over him. "I can explain."

"Yes, explain" demanded Ron and at the same time Hermione insisted, " No, you don't have to."

"It's alright." Harry had not been expecting this. For the past seven days the Daily prophet had decided to center their main stories on the small band of death eaters still at large. Harry had let out a relieved sigh when this happened- thinking that (rightfully so) the publishers of the Daily Prophet decided they had more important matters to focus on than an eighteen-year-olds love life. Perhaps Harry was naive to hope that the picture would end up in nothing more than the society column that only old witches seemed to read, and that he would never have to have this awkward conversation with his friends.

"What happened was I ran into Malfoy at The Leaky Cauldron and we talked for a little about his trial. Then this reporter came up and wouldn't stop pestering us, so I guess we just..." Harry trailed off, unable to meet his friends' eyes.

"So you snogged him?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"Well, yeah"

"In what world is that your next course of action?"

Harry shrugged.

"Were you confunded? I swear if that git-"

"I wasn't confunded," said Harry, although for a moment he considered lying. It would have saved him a lot of embarrassment.

Ron looked to Hermione as if she would be able to make sense of the situation. Hermione, who had been the only person Harry confided with about his secret romance with Draco during school, looked lost for words as her eyes shifted between the two boys. Harry could see how she was torn between her loyalty to Harry as a friend, and her honesty to Ron as her boyfriend.

"I don't see any problem," she said decidedly. "Isn't it time we get over these silly schoolyard rivalries."

"But- but why would Harry kiss him? This is Malfoy we're talking about, Draco Malfoy. The death eater."

"He's not a death eater," Hermione pointed out, "He was cleared. Even you said, Ron, that it would be unfair to send him to Azkaban."

Ron kicked a dirty shirt on the floor, "Yeah, that was before he went around snogging my best mate." Ron turned back to Harry, "I just don't understand, after the things he said about Hermione and my family. And who knows what he's done in the war, he could have been the one to kill Fred."

Harry shook his head, banishing the image of Fred's lifeless form from his mind. "Don't bring him into this."

"Sirius, Remus, Dumbldore," Ron continued on, his voice rising several octaves as he listed the names of their deceased friends. "Moody, Tonks. Do they mean nothing?"

"Stop it!" Harry shouted back.

"That's enough, Ron." Hermione interjected, and with an un-hermione-like strength she grabbed Ron's elbow and marched him out the bedroom while he protested furiously. Harry guiltily felt a twinge of satisfaction when, in Hermione's hastiness, she accidentally caused his shoulder to collide with the doorframe.

Hermione shot Harry a quick apologetic look while Ron frowned and rubbed his injured arm. She closed the door behind them, though Harry could still hear their muffled bickering as they made their way down the stairs.

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