title: Come What May
author:![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif)
snottygrrl
rating: PG-13
pairing: harry/draco
prompt set: 100.3
prompt: #68 come what may
word count: ~835
summary: Hermione worries about Harry, but Harry will be fine.
warnings: flangst
disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.
author's notes: written for 100quills@lj for kcstories' table as part of The Trading Claims Challenge. I couldn't pass this one up.
Hermione hadn't really expected Harry and Draco Malfoy to get together after the war, but she wasn't exactly surprised either. It made a kind of convoluted sense. However, she watched with growing concern as Harry denied what she could plainly see he was feeling. He told his friends over and over that he and Malfoy were just fucking; that it meant nothing. Harry reassured them so many times that even Ron clued into the fact that perhaps Harry might be explaining a bit too much.
What Hermione couldn't determine was exactly what Harry was afraid of. She couldn't believe that after what he'd been through, he'd truly be concerned with what the public or the press or even his peers thought and it seemed illogical that he'd be trying to convince himself either, since Harry spent little of his time analyzing his own emotions and the reactions they caused. She finally concluded that it must be Draco himself that had Harry behaving this way.
But, why?
Instead of sating her curiosity, the answer led Hermione to a whole new host of questions. Was Harry misinterpreting signals from Draco? Or did Draco actually believe there was no underlying affection behind Harry's behaviour? Surely no Slytherin could be that oblivious. Maybe Draco felt no fondness for Harry and wanted no attachments. The idea that anyone could be the focus of Harry's passion and be unmoved by it rather incensed Hermione, but it was a plausible scenario.
Harry grew more and more moody as Draco's trial approached, despite the fact that it was almost assured that he'd get off with only some minor restrictions or at worst a short period of confinement at Malfoy Manor. Usually Hermione ignored Ron's rantings about Malfoy, but when he muttered darkly that he bet that Malfoy was just stringing Harry along until the trial was over in case he needed the Wizarding Saviour for something, and that of course Harry must suspect and that that was why he was such a git lately, Hermione wondered if maybe he was onto something.
Not wanting to leap to conclusions, Hermione attempted to broach the idea with Harry, but he brushed her off repeatedly. Moving to subtler tactics, she planned to trick him into spilling enough clues for her to make an informed judgment. However, Harry successfully avoided every one of her verbal traps. Finally, giving it up as a lost cause, she stopped her endeavour to prise the story out of Harry and left him with the cryptic, "Harry, no one that matters will fault you for decisions you make when your heart's involved. You need to be true to yourself. Your friends will back you, like always." He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and she thought he might say something, but he turned and left the room.
The more Hermione thought about what Ron had predicted the more likely it seemed that Draco was just using Harry and the more protective she became. Thus Hermione considered it perfectly reasonable to monitor their conversation when she somehow managed to forget to do a Finite Incantatem on a listening spell she'd just happened to have been testing earlier.
The pair was already involved in a heated discussion when they entered the kitchen.
"- can't see you anymore, Potter," Draco declared and Hermione was torn between smug satisfaction and righteous anger. Yet even as she debated which was more proper, a tiny part of her wondered why Draco sounded so subdued.
Before she could contemplate it further, Harry responded, "I won't accept that, Draco." His voice was quiet, but sure. "We can work through this. You mean too much for me to give up now." Hermione was startled to hear such confidence.
"No, Harry." To Hermione's growing surprise, Draco's voice broke. He sounded so worn, defeated. "I will not let them use me to ruin you."
"Haven't you figured out yet that I don't care what anyone thinks?" Harry scoffed, "The press can do what they like."
"You say that now. Now you’re just fucking the rich badboy; taking a deserved walk on the wild side. But wait until after the trial, I'll be a convicted criminal. It'll get ugly."
"It'll make no difference. No one that really matters will fault me for dating you. And my friends will back me. They always do." Hermione blinked to hear her own words being repeated.
"Besides," Draco continued as if Harry hadn't spoken, "I might be confined to the Manor, and you can't possibly want to go there to visit me."
"I'll want to go where ever I have to go to see you." Harry's voice held quiet certainty. "I care about you, Draco, come what may."
"But what if -" Draco began.
Harry cut him off. "Come what may, Draco."
There was a rustle of fabric sliding against skin and Hermione quickly ended the spell. Smiling, she realised she'd had it all wrong. Harry wasn't misinterpreting any signals and Draco wasn't unaffected.
They'd be fine.
Come what may.
~fin
y'all know the drill with comments and the desperate desire for validation. [*grins*]
author:
snottygrrlrating: PG-13
pairing: harry/draco
prompt set: 100.3
prompt: #68 come what may
word count: ~835
summary: Hermione worries about Harry, but Harry will be fine.
warnings: flangst
disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.
author's notes: written for 100quills@lj for kcstories' table as part of The Trading Claims Challenge. I couldn't pass this one up.
Hermione hadn't really expected Harry and Draco Malfoy to get together after the war, but she wasn't exactly surprised either. It made a kind of convoluted sense. However, she watched with growing concern as Harry denied what she could plainly see he was feeling. He told his friends over and over that he and Malfoy were just fucking; that it meant nothing. Harry reassured them so many times that even Ron clued into the fact that perhaps Harry might be explaining a bit too much.
What Hermione couldn't determine was exactly what Harry was afraid of. She couldn't believe that after what he'd been through, he'd truly be concerned with what the public or the press or even his peers thought and it seemed illogical that he'd be trying to convince himself either, since Harry spent little of his time analyzing his own emotions and the reactions they caused. She finally concluded that it must be Draco himself that had Harry behaving this way.
But, why?
Instead of sating her curiosity, the answer led Hermione to a whole new host of questions. Was Harry misinterpreting signals from Draco? Or did Draco actually believe there was no underlying affection behind Harry's behaviour? Surely no Slytherin could be that oblivious. Maybe Draco felt no fondness for Harry and wanted no attachments. The idea that anyone could be the focus of Harry's passion and be unmoved by it rather incensed Hermione, but it was a plausible scenario.
Harry grew more and more moody as Draco's trial approached, despite the fact that it was almost assured that he'd get off with only some minor restrictions or at worst a short period of confinement at Malfoy Manor. Usually Hermione ignored Ron's rantings about Malfoy, but when he muttered darkly that he bet that Malfoy was just stringing Harry along until the trial was over in case he needed the Wizarding Saviour for something, and that of course Harry must suspect and that that was why he was such a git lately, Hermione wondered if maybe he was onto something.
Not wanting to leap to conclusions, Hermione attempted to broach the idea with Harry, but he brushed her off repeatedly. Moving to subtler tactics, she planned to trick him into spilling enough clues for her to make an informed judgment. However, Harry successfully avoided every one of her verbal traps. Finally, giving it up as a lost cause, she stopped her endeavour to prise the story out of Harry and left him with the cryptic, "Harry, no one that matters will fault you for decisions you make when your heart's involved. You need to be true to yourself. Your friends will back you, like always." He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and she thought he might say something, but he turned and left the room.
The more Hermione thought about what Ron had predicted the more likely it seemed that Draco was just using Harry and the more protective she became. Thus Hermione considered it perfectly reasonable to monitor their conversation when she somehow managed to forget to do a Finite Incantatem on a listening spell she'd just happened to have been testing earlier.
The pair was already involved in a heated discussion when they entered the kitchen.
"- can't see you anymore, Potter," Draco declared and Hermione was torn between smug satisfaction and righteous anger. Yet even as she debated which was more proper, a tiny part of her wondered why Draco sounded so subdued.
Before she could contemplate it further, Harry responded, "I won't accept that, Draco." His voice was quiet, but sure. "We can work through this. You mean too much for me to give up now." Hermione was startled to hear such confidence.
"No, Harry." To Hermione's growing surprise, Draco's voice broke. He sounded so worn, defeated. "I will not let them use me to ruin you."
"Haven't you figured out yet that I don't care what anyone thinks?" Harry scoffed, "The press can do what they like."
"You say that now. Now you’re just fucking the rich badboy; taking a deserved walk on the wild side. But wait until after the trial, I'll be a convicted criminal. It'll get ugly."
"It'll make no difference. No one that really matters will fault me for dating you. And my friends will back me. They always do." Hermione blinked to hear her own words being repeated.
"Besides," Draco continued as if Harry hadn't spoken, "I might be confined to the Manor, and you can't possibly want to go there to visit me."
"I'll want to go where ever I have to go to see you." Harry's voice held quiet certainty. "I care about you, Draco, come what may."
"But what if -" Draco began.
Harry cut him off. "Come what may, Draco."
There was a rustle of fabric sliding against skin and Hermione quickly ended the spell. Smiling, she realised she'd had it all wrong. Harry wasn't misinterpreting any signals and Draco wasn't unaffected.
They'd be fine.
Come what may.
~fin
y'all know the drill with comments and the desperate desire for validation. [*grins*]