It's OK To Not Be Ok...Right?

28.Harder To Breathe

"Well?" Draco snapped as he made his way into Sloane's room. Harry and Hermione quickly followed. 

"It was nothing, really." Sloane tried to fawn them off. Neither the three of them looked convinced. 

"Why did Ron just shout at you?" Harry asked. 

"We had a little bit of a...difference of opinion." The three waited, and Sloane sighed. "He was under the opinion that because I was a girl, that I was over-emotional and not able to take care of myself." Goose let out a huff.

"He what?" Hermione gasped. 

"He said that if Draco were to bat his eyelashes at either of us that we would basically melt." Draco tried his hardest not to smirk. "Basically that he was up to something and that only Harry would be on the ball and keeping an eye on him."

Hermione and Draco both looked to Harry. Draco looked pissed. "I'm not keeping my eye on anyone." Harry shrugged. "My stalking days are over."

"Thank fuck!" Draco sighed as he bent down to pet Goose. 

"Ron is....it's just he..." Hermione started. "He -"

"Doesn't trust me," Draco scoffed. "Not that I really blame him... all things considered." Goose pet his leg in sympathy.

"That's not fair," Sloane said almost immediately. 

"It's life. I was a Death Eater. I knew that there would be students who still believed I was evil. Out to get revenge or whatever. It doesn't matter and -"

"Yes, it bloody well does!" Sloane snapped. "The whole point of the war was to banish all types of prejudice. And yet, it still exists. What exactly does he have to do to prove himself?" She looked to Harry, who shrugged. "He threw you his wand during the battle so you could finally defeat Voldemort. He handed himself into Azkaban. He was jailed for eight days. Eight days of abuse, eight days of neglect and isolation, and Merlin knows what else." Draco was staring at the girl in front of him. She barely knew him, and yet here she was defending him to The Chosen One. She was outraged that someone thought badly of him. "He was cleared of all charges, as he should have been. He didn't have a choice. Do you think he wanted to become a Death Eater? Do you think he wanted to let Death Eaters into the school where his friends and classmates slept? That he wanted to endanger them. Do you think that he wanted Dumbledore to die? Or that he wanted to take orders from the spineless, noseless fucking coward?" She was staring at Harry who looked like a deer caught in headlights. He knew it wasn't actually him she was angry at, but he was still scared. "Draco had no choice. He did what he did because his family was in danger. He obeyed that prick to save his mother. And I will tell you something—Harry Potter. You would have done exactly the same thing. I would have too. And Hermione. And bloody Ron! He would have followed those orders if his family was in danger. You are The Boy Who Lived. Draco was The Boy Who Had No Choice! And Weasley is no saint! He has no right to talk shit about Draco. Or me for that matter. I am glad I defended Draco. Defended myself."

Harry put his hands up. "I am too. I believe everything you just said, Sloane. All the things you just shouted at. I know Draco had no choice. I know he didn't want to and I know that if it weren't for him, I would probably be dead." Harry stepped forward. 

"I do too," Hermione added.

"I hold absolutely no prejudice against Draco anymore." Harry finished as he held out his hand to the blonde boy who looked beyond shocked. Draco looked at the hand for a few seconds. "I promise," Harry added. Only then did Draco slowly reach out and take Harry's hand in his own and allow Harry to shake it. 

"Thank you," Draco said with a half smile.

"And I will tell Ron as much." Harry turned to Sloane. "I am sorry Sloane for what he said. About both of you. I will speak to him."