When The Smoke Clears

Hidden Trauma

Over the next month, Draco and Harry cautiously grew their friendship away from prying eyes. During classes, Harry stayed with Hermione and Ron, who grew tense Draco whenever he came close. Despite their limited time together, Harry found himself enjoying every minute of it. Slowly Draco was letting his shields come down, and Harry discovered that he liked the fascinating and intelligent person beneath. And Harry had to admit, it was nice to be around someone that could be biting and sarcastic since everyone else was nothing but sugary sweet to the Chosen One.

Every other night or so, Harry's mind picked through what he had learned about Malfoy that day. He likes green apples. His favorite color is black, but he writes with dark blue ink. The sound of wands tapping against desks bothers him. The tidbits were just surface stuff, but Harry still pondered over them like a child over seashells.

Everything was new, delicate, and unexplored. Draco still kept an unyielding wall around his soul, but a small part of Harry yearned to pull it back, brick by brick.

The night after a Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch scrimmage, the Golden Trio sat clustered in the Slytherin common room. Ron and Harry played a game of wizard's chess as Hermione pored over a book.

"Check," Ron announced. "You've fallen right into my trap."

"Damn," Harry sighed, moving his queen with his wand. Even after all these years of playing Ron, the redhead still managed to crush him every time. "Well, there you are. She's ripe for the taking."

"Aha! Thanks for that," Ron cackled, the red queen smashing off the white queen's head with her throne. "Your turn," He said triumphantly.

"Hermione," Harry said slyly, in an attempt to stall his pieces' inevitable demise, "That's a rather thin book you're reading."

"Isn't it?" Hermione enthused, turning it to show him the cover. "A Wizarding History of Gay Rights. It's brief but really fascinating."

"What's the subject matter for?" Ron said, brushing broken chess fragments off the board.

"Haven't you heard about the Ministry of Magic considering legalizing same-sex marriage?" Hermione asked as if everyone in the wizarding world knew about it. "I'm just doing a bit of research, you know, to keep up. The Prophet talks a load of rubbish about what's going on, so I'm getting information from more reliable sources."

"What sort of rubbish?" Said Harry, interested.

"Oh, just a bunch of hate against gay people in general. Thinks they're unnatural, strange, a bad influence on children, etcetera, etcetera."

"What's their problem?" Ron interjected. "It shouldn't matter to them. People can love who they want."

"I didn't realize you changed your stance on this, Ron," Hermione said, pleasantly surprised.

"I try to keep an open mind," Ron shrugged. The two of them exchanged a loving look that made Harry slightly uncomfortable. "Let's get back to it. Go on, Harry. Might as well get your defeat over with."

After two more lost games and a tired Hermione drifting off to bed, Harry found himself yawning hugely.

"Not ready for m-more?" Ron stuttered as he started yawning as well. He squinted at the clock above the fireplace. "Oh. It's past midnight. Although it's Friday night, so we could play another game."

"No, I ought to get to bed," Harry said. "I still need to write that dissertation for Slughorn on the differences between...what was it again?"

"I only remember it was animal parts, but not which kinds," Ron replied, stretching. "Hermione'll remind us tomorrow."