The Dursleys were a very predictable family and were hence daytime people. To avoid them, Draco and Harry became nocturnal. Vernon might have been under the impression that the pair was not allowed to do magic, but of course they could do anything they liked as long as the local Muggles didn't find out.
Since the whole idea was that Harry should be away from lots of magic they had only used one of their repertoire and that was a silencing charm on the room. After their initial fun, no one outside could now hear what they were up to inside.
Since it was four in the morning when Draco wandered downstairs to find himself and Harry something to eat, he was surprised to find that the kitchen was not empty. He padded into the room with bare feet to find Harry's cousin Dudley with his head in the refrigerator.
Draco still found the whole idea of a Muggle kitchen bizarre, but he was nothing if not a quick learner and he had to admit that some of the ways the Muggles solved their needs were intriguing. He found the refrigerator quite fascinating with its strange noises and little light. Seeing Dudley with his ample behind sticking out of it was not as interesting, however.
Calmly Draco walked up behind the oblivious Muggle and said: "Are you finished yet?"
Dudley stood up straight instantly, forgetting that he had his upper body in something shorter than himself, hit his head on the top of the refrigerator and then leapt backwards clutching the bruised spot. His piggy eyes were open wide and he stared at Draco as if he was his worst fear.
For his part, Draco gazed at the boy evenly and let his lips curve in amusement. Draco milked the awe he inspired for a couple of seconds and then turned back to his task in hand, expecting the Dursley child to run away the same way he had the only other time they had come into contact.
Surprisingly, when he had retrieved what he wanted from the refrigerator and turned to place the items on the kitchen table, Dudley was still there. He jumped as if hexed when Draco actually looked at him a second time, but he was never-the-less still very much in the room.
"Did you want something?" Draco asked, keeping his voice even.
It occurred to him that baiting and then terrorising the Muggle might be fun, but he knew Harry would disapprove and he was not in the mood for a fight. Dudley might deserve anything Draco could dish out, but he was not worth the effort.
"Yes?" Draco tried again when the portly Muggle just stared at him.
"Are you and Harry...?" the pitiful excuse for a human being began, but seemed unable to finish his sentence.
Draco let the pause hang for a while until he became impatient.
"What?" he asked sharply. "Shagging; casting spells; leaving; feeling like baying at the moon?"
Dudley stood there for a moment with his mouth open.
"Together?" he finally finished.
It was not a question Draco ever expected a member of Harry's family to ask.
"Yes," he said in a put upon tone. "Why, did your parents try and pretend that we're just friends?"
Surprisingly Dudley nodded and the way the boy actually appeared to have a thought in his head intrigued Draco. However, when the Muggle did not appear to have anything else to say, he dismissed him from his mind and went about making himself and Harry sandwiches.
Draco had never actually made a sandwich before he came to the Dursleys'. He had eaten them of course, but they had always been made by house elves and, if asked, Draco would have had to admit that he'd never even considered how they were constructed. Hence Harry had described his creations as 'interesting', although his lover had not objected to Draco making any more. Draco started putting ingredients together almost as if he was making a potion and he totally forgot that Dudley was there.
"How did you know you were gay?" the question came as such a shock that the emotion actually made it to Draco's face before he could stop it.
He looked at Dudley in surprise, putting the knife down where he had just cut the second sandwich in two.
"Pardon?" he said eventually, wanting to make sure he had heard correctly.
"How did you know you were gay?" Dudley repeated quietly.
Draco had the sudden urge to laugh, but managed to sit on it when he realised it was a serious question.
"I didn't," he found himself answering truthfully.
Dudley looked confused.
"I have never bothered to consider the question," Draco clarified his statement. "If I want something I tend to just reach out and take it, which includes people. I snogged my first girl when I was eleven and my first boy when I was twelve: it didn't really bother me either way."
This honesty caused Dudley to just stand there with the word 'Oh' on his lips, but not actually saying anything. It finally occurred to Draco that the silence might never be broken if he left it to the Muggle.
"Why did you want to know?" he asked. "Do you think you might be gay?"
Dudley shook his head vigorously and started blathering something about a friend, but Draco didn't believe him for a second. For a start he doubted Dudley had any friends he would care that much about.
"You don't lie very well," Draco said eventually when the stream of denials ran dry. "Muggle," he continued pointedly, "if this wasn't bothering you, you'd never have plucked up the courage to talk to me. Now that I am here and I have decided not to turn you into a toad, take the opportunity for what it is. Why do you think you might be gay?"
Draco was actually at a loss as to why he was allowing this conversation to continue; he could only assume Harry's bad habits were rubbing off on him. Dudley did not reply for some time.
"There's this boy at college," the Muggle finally began, "and I sort of had a dream about him."
"And you think that might make you gay," Draco was stating a fact not asking a question, but Dudley nodded anyway. "Okay, when you," he almost went for the crudest expression he could find, but then decided that would be lowering himself to Dudley's level, "play with yourself, do you fantasise about girls, boys or both?"
Dudley was doing the staring thing again, but it looked as if he was actually thinking about his answer.
"Girls," he concluded eventually.
"Never boys?" Draco wanted to make absolutely sure that the slow-witted Muggle had not missed the point.
Dudley shook his head.
"Congratulations, you're straight," he said and picked up the sandwiches he had made. "The dream was just that; a dream, welcome to the truth about puberty, if a bit late. Now good night, please never speak to me again."
Without waiting for a response, Draco turned with his burden and walked back towards the stairs. Only when he had opened the door to Harry's room, gone in and closed it again did he speak.
"I think I'm scarred for life," he said and put the sandwiches down on the desk.
Harry looked up questioningly from where he was reading yet another book about Quidditch.
"Your cousin thought he might be gay," Draco explained with a grimace, "and I now have mental images I never imagined."
"Don't share," Harry said quickly and he was only half joking. "Dudley, gay? I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it."
Harry made a face.
"Oh hell," he said shortly, "I think I just found my own mental images."
The pair looked at each other with matching grimaces.
"Memory charm?" they both said at the same time.
* * *
The last day was quite a relief when it came round and Draco gladly packed his things back into his trunk. The rest had been good for Harry, but Draco had taken it upon himself to shield his lover from his family no matter what, and it hadn't been quite so much of a rest for him. It had only taken him a matter of hours to despise Harry's relatives and he would be very glad if he never saw them again.
Draco felt the spike of alarm first and then heard the crash from downstairs. Harry had gone down to say goodbye to the Muggles against Draco's wishes. His soulmate confused him sometimes, Harry still insisted on being polite. Something had happened downstairs and Draco knew who was going to get the blame before he heard Vernon Dursley's loud recriminations. He felt his face set in a grim expression and he walked towards the door, ready to go and extract Harry from whatever trouble the Muggles had created.
It was when Draco felt the surge of anxiety and confusion in his lover that he forgot anything about being civil.
[Draco, help!] Harry sounded desperate.
Without even thinking, Draco was out the door so fast that he almost pulled it off its hinges. He flew down the stairs and went over the bottom banister, jumping and bracing himself with one hand rather than making his way to the bottom. He raced through the kitchen door and came to a halt with his wand trained on Vernon Dursley, who had Harry pinned against the sideboard with a hand on each of his nephew's arms.
"Get away from him," Draco yelled across the room, unsure of how his wand had made it into his hand, but knowing that he would use it if necessary.
He could feel Harry trying to shut out the raging emotions coming from his uncle and he tried to lend his mental support, but his first priority was getting the slug away from his soulmate. The Muggle seemed far too gone in his rage to obey Draco's command and, although his wife gave a scream at seeing a wizard with wand in hand, the man did not move.
"Dissendium," Draco said forcefully, casting at the large man and the Muggles hand flew off Harry's arms, "Mobilicorpus," Draco followed up his first spell with a second and then swiped his wand viciously in the opposite direction from Harry.
His lover's uncle was yanked backwards as if on a rope and ended up crashing into the counter between the kitchen and the dining room. Draco covered the distance between himself and Harry in a heartbeat and put his arm around his soulmate as Harry tried to reassert his equilibrium after the rage Dursley had thrown at him. Draco let his mind connect with Harry's, but he did not take his eyes off the Muggles.
"You'll be expelled for that," the slug of a man yelled at the top of his voice, "I know how this works."
Draco turned his glare onto the Muggle and let his fury blaze in his features. When he was annoyed he could be scary, when he was completely furious he knew he was terrifying, and Draco watched as his anger had an effect on the raging Dursley.
"You worthless piece of detritus," he said, his voice cold and merciless, "you don't know anything."
If Draco hadn't needed to keep a steady grip on Harry he would have taken a step towards the centre of his wrath. He was so angry he wanted to do damage.
"I can do anything I need to, to defend Harry," he said icily, "he is my soulmate and I am his protector. No one hurts him, and that includes you."
"Underage wizards may not perform magic ..." the man did not seem to gather quite how angry Draco was and was obviously used to getting his own way.
"We're not underage and he's not a normal wizard you complete idiot," he exploded, so infuriated that he lost any control he had left, "didn't that much get through to you. You think Hogwarts normally condones its pupils sleeping together?"
The look in Dursley's eyes told Draco that that was exactly what the Muggle had assumed, which did not improve the his mood.
"What Harry is has never existed before," Draco said, his voice returning to dangerously cold, "and he's the best chance my world and your world have of surviving the decade. The nephew you think is a worthless nobody is the greatest wizard we have and if we fall you can kiss your safe little existence goodbye."
He was ready to do something very nasty and Draco hadn't felt like that in a long time. He was almost shaking with rage when a waterfall of calm washed over him. It was so sudden and it took his breath away.
[They're not worth it, Love,] Harry's voice sounded in his mind and Draco turned to face his soulmate. [They will never understand, let it go.]
[How can you not hate them?] Draco asked, unable to reason how his lover could put up with his relatives.
[I don't care enough about them anymore to hate,] Harry said calmly.
Harry's shock was gone and his shields were firmly in place. He looked and felt serene and Draco did not know where his soulmate found the inner strength.
[You,] Harry said silently to his unasked question, [my strength is you.]
"We're leaving," Harry said perfectly calmly and looked at his uncle, "I doubt you'll ever see us again."
Draco glared at the now silent Muggle and then Harry steered him out the door. They finished packing and left the house in less than ten minutes.