It was decided that Harry should spend the rest of the holiday at Malfoy Manor, to which news Ron has reacted rather badly. However, after Remus had taken Harry's best friend aside and had an undisclosed little chat, Ron had seemed much calmer about the idea. Harry could not say he thought Ron liked the idea, but his best friend did seem to support it. There were bound to be many conversations once they were back at school, but hopefully they would not be shouting matches.

So it was that Harry spent the next week with Draco trying to get to know the somewhat difficult Slytherin. What really surprised him was that under the cold exterior, which Harry was beginning to realise more and more was a mask of necessity, Draco was quite a normal human being. His blond mate had some unusual habits, like colour coordinating his wardrobe, and spending twenty minutes each morning straightening out Harry's clothes before he would let him out of his room, but Harry could live with those.

It was not all sweetness and light of course; they had been rubbing each other up the wrong way for so long that they were bound to keep doing it every now and then. They had a huge, screaming row before the first day was out and stopped speaking to each other for three hours until Harry had searched out Draco, pounced on him, kissed him senseless and then said sorry, since in that instance it had been his fault. Extracting an apology out of Draco was like drawing blood from a stone, as Harry had found the next day when the shouting had been all Draco's fault, but then he didn't expect miracles. Draco seemed to express more by action than words at such times, and Harry chose to accept that as well as the mind-blowing sex.

Harry learned a great deal about his mate in that week. He learned that Draco liked his tea dark with only a dash of milk in the mornings, and dark with a lot of milk later in the day; he learned that they would never agree on the pureblood vs Muggle-born issue even if Draco did not hold with his father's extreme beliefs; he learned that laughing at Draco's bed hair resulted in a tantrum on the part of his mate (they had given up the whole separate rooms idea on the second night); he learned that Draco had the most adorable pout when he wanted something from someone he did not consider an enemy; he learned that he was not the only one scarred by a childhood over-shadowed by Voldemort; he learned that Draco's extreme dislike of werewolves came from a violent near-miss when he was only five and it would take a long time for his lover to accept Remus; he learned that his mate was far more complex than he had ever given him credit for; and most importantly he learned that the need to be close to Draco was not the only motivating factor in his heart.

Harry was not well experienced with love; he had had little as a young child and his teenage years had not been easy either. He had loved Sirius in an instant when he had understood what his godfather had done for him, he had no doubt he loved Hermione and all the Weasleys, and he knew he loved Remus, but with Draco it was different. This would not be a love of brothers, or family, or friends; this would be a fiery love of passion, and a love that would shape every moment of every day. In a way it was a frightening love, but he could feel its beginning around his heart.

Harry had told Draco he needed to know him to love him, and he did not know everything yet, but he knew enough to understand that it would not be long before he did.

~*~

Draco had made a couple of rules the moment they had talked about going back to school. His mate did not care what Harry wore when they were alone, or apart, but Harry was going to have to wear proper Wizarding clothes when they were to be seen together. This had resulted in a shopping trip two days before going back since Harry had plenty of Muggle clothes and school robes after having to re-kit himself from the growth spurt, but he owned very little to do with Wizarding attire.

In some ways the clothes were not that different, but it seemed to be important to Draco, and Draco did have a point that Harry wanted to be taken seriously by the rest of Slytherin house. Harry had countered that Draco would need to at least make an effort with the Gryffindors and had bought his lover a pair of jeans and a silk shirt for occasions where Draco was the one that needed to blend.

They were, however, very much in Wizarding attire when they were dropped off at King's Cross. Muggles might have thought they appeared a little old fashioned, but Harry knew, thanks to Draco's coaching, that he was wearing an outfit that was all the rage in Wizarding circles. Harry felt a little over dressed, but Draco had assured him that that was impossible; underdressed, yes, but overdressed was simply a matter of attitude.

"I'll push our trolley," Harry said after one of the Malfoy house elves had stacked it for them.

They had nowhere near as much luggage as at the beginning and end of the year, but there was still a significant amount, especially with Harry's new wardrobe.

"Don't be silly," Draco said dismissively, "Fussy with deal with that."

That explained why the elf had been looking at him worriedly then; it was the one he had fallen on only a week ago.

"Draco," Harry said patiently, "remember the talk we had about Hermione, and house elves, and not being entirely rational on the subject?"

Draco lifted one eyebrow and just looked at him.

"Well Hermione will be on the station," sometimes he thought Draco did it deliberately, actually on reflection, he knew Draco did it deliberately. "Now I wore the clothes, but I will not risk a row with Hermione on the first day."

For a moment his mate appeared undecided and Harry thought they might be headed for a shouting match, which would be a great start, but eventually Draco nodded.

"Just don't expect me to lug anything around," Draco said and turned towards the entrance.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Harry said and couldn't help but smile.

It was then that Narcissa chose to climb out of the luxury car. Draco's mother was still a bit of a mystery to Harry, since she was a surprisingly busy woman and had been engaged in social events most of the week. It seemed to be a Malfoy tradition to have a meal together in the evenings, which Harry had become part of, but the conversation was never particularly deep or personal.

"Well, my darling boy," Narcissa said, taking her son by the shoulders, "I am glad to be sending you off to school in better spirits than you arrived home. Make me proud, Draco."

As Harry watched, she pulled Draco towards her and kissed him gently on the forehead. It was the most emotive Harry had ever seen the two and he could not help feeling a warm glow at how deeply Draco was loved. He had also come to realise that Malfoys were not expressive people when it came to the softer emotions, but they were there.

It was when Narcissa turned to Harry that he was rather shocked. She walked over to him, took his shoulders in exactly the same manner as she had done with Draco and kissed him on the forehead.

"Look after him, Harry," she said very quietly and before he could gather his stunned mind she turned and climbed back into the car.

When Harry looked at Draco his mate was looking thoroughly pleased with the whole situation. Harry still didn't really know how to react and took hold of the trolley in an attempt to ground himself.

The wizard's entrance to King's Cross was much closer to platform 9 3/4 than the Muggle one and they bumped into very few people on the way. Since Narcissa had said her goodbyes at the car it was just the two of them as they walked through the barrier. Harry pushed the trolley into line to be loaded onto the train and then walked back to Draco.

By the time he had completed this simple task something very odd had begun to happen on the platform. The usual bustle was coming to a grinding halt and every eye, parent and pupil was firmly on both of them. It seemed that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy standing together could bring Platform 9 3/4 to a complete stop.

"I didn't quite expect this," Harry said very quietly, not sure exactly what to do.

He had dealt with silences when he walked into a room before, but this was on an entirely different scale. The story of Harry's heritage and his assignation with Draco had been all over the Prophet, but it seemed that no one had expected to see them standing side by side ever again.

"I believe," Draco said as his eyes wandered over the crowd, "it may be time to make a statement."

"Statement?" Harry wasn't sure that was a good idea; he really wasn't good with words off the cuff. "You'll have to do it," he added quickly; "I'd probably mess it up."

When his eyes darted back to Draco from where they had been nervously dancing across the crowd there was a dangerous looking smile on his mate's face.

"If you insist," Draco said and then Harry found himself dragged toward Draco by the front of his robes.

It took him a moment or two to realise that his mate had in fact just smothered his mouth with hot, needy lips, and then he acquiesced to the kiss and forgot everything as his hormones rose to the occasion.

The way Ron described it later, what the crowd saw on that platform was "The hottest, most bone melting kiss known to Wizarding kind. You could have been doing it beside the train as far as anyone with a sex drive was concerned." Harry spent the entire journey with a smile on his face, even when he had to go and sit with the Slytherins. That kiss was one thing he did not mind going down for in 'Hogwarts A History'.

The End

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~*~

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