Chapter Nine:
We; Together

A/N: R&R! Alright, here's my momentous goodbye to you all! =) I hope you check out my other fanfictions, they're a lot better than this one! ^_^ Thanks for the reviews/views, I appreciate them all! Now to end it! Edited and Revised April 2014.

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The couple was rather nervous. It was Draco's first day out of the Hospital Wing and Harry had arranged to go to Potions with him. Together. The two of them, around Hogwarts, holding hands, or their arms around one another. Harry felt like he was going to crumble to his knees of nervousness. Ron still hadn't fully accepted it but he was speaking with Harry after a heated apology. He didn't dare ever acknowledge or look at Draco, who was rather fine with that himself, the less interactions with Weasley's the better.

"It will be fine, stop worrying," Draco cooed his boyfriend and grabbed a tight hold of his hand before leading the way out of the Hospital. Pomphrey looked worriedly after them, she wished sometimes she could keep her patients locked away forever, she knew things weren't going to be simple or easy for the two boys.

Thankfully, everybody was still at breakfast, but that would mean that Harry and Draco would be making a grand appearance. The Halls were empty for now, but Harry could already feel the eyes that would be burning onto them. "Are you going to sit with me at the Gryffindor Table?" Harry asked as they neared the Great Hall.

"No way, it will ruin my reputation completely. Not to mention, I am not exactly thrilled to be spending my time with more Gryffindor's other than you and maybe save Granger. We will sit apart and I will be fine, I'm a Slytherin, too," Draco assured, of course he knew Harry was just trying to protect him from whatever cruel words or hidden curses his house mates would throw at him but he would end up doing more harm than good by his actions if Draco allowed them to continue.

They entered and it was just as Harry had imagined; everybody became hushed and stared in stillness, they tried their best to ignore it and gave a quick kiss goodbye before parting ways. Harry's eyes followed Draco until he made it to his seat, the Slytherins were glaring death at him but the blonde nonchalantly began filling up his plate. Then he saw Blaise Zabini sit beside him and smile, Harry could see it was genuine and he sighed with relief. At least he had one friend over there thus far, and it was the only one that counted in Draco's opinion as well.

"Feeling peaky?" Ron mumbled his question, he still wasn't comfortable around Harry.

"Feeling a little annoyed, I don't wanna leave Draco to the snakes by himself," he explained.

"Harry, there are Professors everywhere and most are keeping an eye on the two of you. I doubt anything will happen," Hermione ensured him.

"And if it does, everybody knows that you'll bite their yapping heads off," Ron grinned, he was really trying his best and with the help of his girlfriend it was easier to accept things than he would have thought. As long as Harry was happy, was what he kept telling himself. But then he'd look over at his sister and see Ginny glaring daggers at Draco, which Harry ignored.

"Speaking of Draco," Harry began uneasily, "Would you guys like to join us to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"No way am I going anywhere with that Ferret," Ron snapped, but his voice didn't raise as much as it would have done in the past. This was an improvement, Hermione smiled encouragingly over at him.

"Of course we'll join," she said sweetly, putting her hand on Ron's knee and squeezing it to keep him from arguing, but he looked none too pleased about it.

Harry glanced across the Great Hall at Draco, they shared a smile before averting their eyes back to their friends. "Harry, you've got to eat more than toast," Hermione said after awhile, looking concerned. Always the Mother Hen, she was.

"I'm too nervous," he mumbled, pushing his egg around with his fork not daring to attempt to eat it, it just looked vile as it said limply on his plate.

"It'll be fine," Hermione promised, she reached out and touched his hand as the Bell rang loudly through the castle. Ron grabbed his bag and Hermione's hand at once, Harry followed the two out of the Great Hall. Him and Draco met in the Entrance Hall, they immediately clasped hands and the blonde leaned over to give Harry a kiss on the cheek.

"Look!" screamed a voice loudly above the others, catching the foursomes attention, "It's Potter and his plaything!" the voice chortled, it was coming from a Sixth Year Slytherin on the first landing on the stairs. Draco growled and Harry held his hand tighter, but the blonde merely pulled him aside for a moment. Hermione and Ron looked behind them and joined Harry and Draco apart from the crowd. The blonde had a vicious look on his face and he was dragging Harry up the stairs, towards the awaiting crowd of Fifth and Sixth Year Slytherin's on their way to classes. He withdrew his wand and pointed it directly at the light brunette who had made the comment, his eyes were challenging. "What, gotta thing for brunettes?" his housemates chuckled.

"Please, continue if you wish to have your head hexed off with curses you couldn't even dream of," the blonde growled rather defensively, his one wand gripping the wand and the other Harry's own hand. Hermione could understand, Draco, he needed to validate his place in Slytherin, still, he couldn't let the other house-mates get away with undermining his character, she smiled despite the situation.

"Look at this! A poof is trying to..."

The boy was cut off not by Draco but by an enraged Ron, the redhead thrust the younger boy up against the wall on the landing of stairs and everybody was staring incredulously at him. He didn't have his wand drawn, but his hands were balled up at the Slytherin's throat. "Stay the hell away from my friends and shut your bloody mouth if you know what's good for you," and the look in his eyes was not something to mess with.

The Slytherin calculated him and looked at the infuriated couple behind him and swallowed heavily. Maybe enticing The-Boy-Who-Lived and the only son of the most reputable Dark magics family wasn't the best thing to do. "C'mon guys, lets go," he mumbled defeatededly as he left with his cronies on his heels.

Ron turned back around with a light smirk on his face, "Ready to go face Snape?" he said, and lead the other three down into the dungeons.

"Thanks Weasley, but I could have stuck up for myself," Draco roused with a certain sound of boredom in his voice, Harry knew he was being as sincere as he could to Ron.

"Yeah, but I did," responded Ron, then there was a silence. Hermione was looking uneasily at Harry who seemed to be smiling, both Ron and Draco seemed to shrug off the situation.

"Guess this means Hogsmeade won't be as bad as I'd have thought..." Harry whispered, more to himself than anybody else.

When the four entered the classroom, it was an entirely different situation. Draco usually would have gone to the front of the classroom with his fellow Slytherin's, but with the look he was currently receiving from them he preferred to deal with them later and sit beside Harry in his empty seat instead. It wasn't only the students that sent the couple glares, but Snape didn't seem too happy about it, either and deducted ten points from Gryffindor just because Harry had pronounced an ingredient incorrectly in one of his verbal answers.

The day dragged on for the both of them, it felt like forever before they could sneak away after dinner into their Room. They sat in front of the usual fireplace and Harry was leaning on Draco's chest, his eyes closed and his mind exhausted. "You feeling okay?" he slurred up at his boyfriend, who was absently twirling the others hair around his slender fingers.

"Why would anything be wrong?"

"Today, I dunno. A lot of people staring at us, a lot of people whispering, a lot of rumours of love potions and Dark Lord plots..." Harry chuckled darkly at the last part, it was really getting on his nerves but as he felt Draco's hold tighten around him and he knew none of it really mattered.

"I do not give a damn about what they say or think. As long as I get to be here at the end of the day," he whispered and kissed the top of Harry's head, "That ring," he gestured with his free hand to the Christmas gift on Harry's forefinger, "Is supposed to remind you that it will always be you and I, nobody else. I could careless about anybody else, all I care about is you, Harry. As long as you are with me and happy, that is all I could ever ask for. I do not care for my parents opinions nor all the students in Hogwarts. It is up to them to accept this or denounce their acquaintances with us. Keep that in mind and just look at your ring whenever it gets to you," Draco assured him.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, just happy to be in each others arms and to have this time to hold one another without having to sneak around or lie to do it. Finally, Harry turned to him with a lop-sided grin, "I just got you your Christmas gift because I knew a poof like you would like it...too bad there wasn't one in purple," he teased.

Draco smacked him lightly on the arm, "Oh, you are so in for it now Potter!"

"Oh, am I? What are you gonna do...give me a detention?" Harry joked with a laugh on his face.

"Better," Draco sneered and he started tickling Harry's sides as he held his hands in submission, it was one of the most cherished sounds in the world to him, the joyous giggles that escaped the boy beneath him.

Harry's happy laughter could be heard through-out all of the corridors on the Fifth Floor. Harry nor Draco couldn't be happier for have fallen so many times, forcing them to realize just how much they had fallen together, for each other.