Drarry - The Boggart

ELEVEN

"Finally, you're back! I thought he'd killed you or something!" Ron cried when Harry walked into the common room, still dazed. 

"Oh Ron, be quiet. You'll wake everyone up." Hermione whispered grumpily. She looked annoyed, but not at Ron in particular, just tired.

"He made us stay up and wait for you, normally I'd be asleep in my warm bed by now." She confirmed Harrys thoughts. 

"I'll tell you guys about it tomorrow." Harry said, too tired to convince them that it wasn't a date.  "Lets just go to sleep."

~~~

Once he and Ron were warm in their beds, Harry turned to his friend to ask about Hermione just as the red-head turned to ask about Draco. 

"You go first." Harry gave in instantly. He just wanted to get whatever meddlesome questions that were sure to be asked out of the way before they moved onto the more serious topic of a real relationship. 

"Harry, you know that we're best friends no matter what, right? I couldn't care less who you like. I mean, you've had to put up with your two best friends being super annoying and liking each other for a while. The least I could do is be fine with you liking Malfoy." Just as Ron said this, Harry - without giving it a second thought - corrected him.

"Draco." He reformed. Ron just smiled and gave Harry a knowing look, which he the boy had to admit was quite strange looking. "Ron quit looking at me like that, what is it." He urged. Ron just shook his head, a grin still on his face.

"You like him." He stated, turning to face the ceiling. Harry didn't even know what to say. He didn't want to say no, because he knew that the second he would say no he'd be lying. And he didn't lie to Ron. But if he said yes, it'd all be final. There'd be no going back, it'd be out in the open and everything could change. A ball started forming in Harrys throat, rendering him impuissant to speech. So he just sat there quietly and waited for it to go away. And once it did, Harry turned back to Ron and Ron turned back to him.  

"What happened with you and Hermione? And what's been happening?" Harry asked, outpacing himself from the topic that had just been at hand earlier. Ron's countenance expeditiously turned into one of euphoria and rapture. 

"Harry, it was all terrible, but now it's even better than it was before it was terrible and I'm so glad you asked because I can't wait to tell you about it!" Harry saw Ron looking like a kid in a candy store and sat up, knowing instantly that his friend wouldn't be able to hold his glee in a laying down position. Ron followed his actions, sitting up and swinging his legs around the side of the bed to face his friend. 

"So, just a month and a half ago we sort of got into one of those future talks. But, of course, we were both thoroughly awkward about. Because, one, it's me and Hermione - how could we not be awkward? And two,  we only just started dating at the end of last year. All of this is going really fast it feels like, even though we've known each other since first year and gotten along since the middle of that year. But suddenly we got swept into a conversation about what everything is leading to, and whatever jobs we were going to take next year. That was a bloody mess. It's all creeping up on us, but I still just feel like the scrawny little first year that had dirt on his nose. Or the lanky fourth year that didn't know when to shut up around her. Or the stupid boy who dated Lavender Brown just to make her jealous. Seriously, what was I even thinking? Anyways, we both freaked out and just started getting into arguments a lot more. I guess we were distancing ourselves because we were scared to change our plans for something that might be... temporary. But as soon as I got that thought, I got really scared. The thought of not seeing her everyday scared be way more than the thought of talking about what kind of jobs we'd take. 

"So we talked about that tonight, and I told her everything that I'd been feeling, and she spilled about everything that she'd been feeling. Basically, we'd been thinking the same things and both of us were just too oblivious and in-our-heads to realize it. So I told her that I love her." Ron finished proudly. Harrys jaw dropped to the ground with a gasp falling from his lips.

"Well what did she say!?!?" He rushed, grabbing Ron by the shoulders. He turned his chin up in the air.

"She said that she loved me too." He nonchalantly replied. 

"Well thats amazing mate!" Harry pulled his best friend into a hug. "What happened next?" He let go of him and started getting back into bed. Ron did the same.

"Well we just sat in the comfy chair by the fire and talked, and laughed- god, neither of us could stop laughing and smiling!" Apparently Ron still couldn't. "And I gave her this new thing that my dad modified. A muggle form of technology. A phon they call it, I think. Anyways, it's basically made so that you can press some buttons and someone else's will make a noise alerting them that that person is trying to contact them. And then they press a button, put the phon to their ear and suddenly you can communicate!" Ron acted like a phone was one of the seven wonders of the world.

"It's a phone, Ron, and I know what it is." Harry sniggered. It was quite funny when Ron acted like his father- so interested in muggle affairs. 

"Well anyways, I have one for you too. My father modified it so that no matter where you are in the entire world, it will always work. And it rarely runs out of battery, too! Now if any of us three are in danger, we can just call." He said, handing Harry an old looking flip phone. H turned it in his palm, about to thank Ron when an idea came to his head.

"Wait!" He hopped up, completely out of bed, throwing he covers to the ground. "Ron you're a genius, this is perfect!" Finally he had an idea to help Malfoy over holiday. Ron sat up, clearly confused. "how many of these do you have? Any extras?" He asked quickly. 

"Yeah, tons, dad always thinks I have more friends than I do." He answered, bewildered. 

"Can I have one? It would be perfect to give to Draco so that if he's ever in trouble he can just call me." Harry was much too excited about this, but finally he had a way to help. He'd felt so meager to the situation of helping Draco this whole time, and finally he could be of use. Ron looked weirded out by Harrys sudden change from tired to energetic, but he gave Harry another phone from the case at the end of his bed.

"Oh, but, delete mine and Hermione's numbers from it. I put yours, mine, and hers in all of the phones when dad first showed me how." Ron said. "And add that one to yours." He advised. Harry nodded, though he already knew to do all of these things. He was never allowed a phone in the Dursley house, but he knew how to use them.

Now he finally had a plan. Tomorrow when he and Draco would meet up, he could give him the phone. Finally he could breath again. 

He fixed up the phone by taking out Ron and Hermione's numbers and adding Draco's to his before going to bed. That night he dreamed only of the bright stars and constellations that he couldn't find.

~~~

"Hermione!" Harry called as soon as he got to the breakfast table. Of course she and Ron had woken up early and gone to breakfast without Harry, as they did constantly. 

"Ron told me everything, I'm so glad you guys are finally super together. I've known since first year that this would happen eventually." Harry smiled smugly as he sat down directly in front of them and his plate filled with a delicious meal. Hermione rolled her eyes, but couldn't cover up her giddy smile. 

"No you didn't, we hated each other then!" She insisted. 

"Ok, maybe not, but by fourth year is was painfully obvious."  Harry said dramatically. Hermione shook her head persistently but Ron just smiled down at her, not confirming any otherwise.

"Let's just eat, we've got a quidditch match against Slytherin today." Ron sighed, digging into his food. Harry remembered and instantly stiffened up. Slytherins seeker was Draco, and before matches were easy, but he'd never played against someone he... was friends with? This ought to be interesting.