The Only Good Type of Secret

Chapter 2 - Princess

Draco turned over slowly, muffling a groan of pain into his pillow. His back ached; he was not used to the lack of a soft mattress and abundance of pillows he usually had back at the manor. He slowly stretched, knowing that Harry would tease him relentlessly if he complained. Harry was always keen to make jokes about Draco's behavior being much like that of a princess. Draco scowled at this, but soon his lips morphed into the shape of a smile. He and Harry both loved teasing each other; to some couples, banter could easily mean the downfall of a relationship, however the joking remarks Harry and Draco shared were anything but detrimental. In fact, the playfulness of it all was truly what got them together in the first place; it was much more amusing to tease each other as friends, after all. And soon, they realized that it was even more jocular to tease each other as, well... lovers.

Draco leaned up on one elbow and looked over at his boyfriend, who seemed to be quietly stirring on the adjacent mattress on the floor of the Wease- er, Weasley's room. As for the redhead, he was definitely still caught up in a sound slumber, his snores filling the empty silence of the room. Just as Draco was about to get up to comb his hair, he felt a light touch on his arm.

"Hey," Harry said, looking up at him with dazed eyes. Draco sucked in a breath; he absolutely adored Harry's messy hair, which was always just as untamed as it looked in that moment when he had just woken up. But even more startling were Harry's eyes. Everyone knew that Draco's favorite color was green, but no one had ever bothered to ask why. Draco presumed that people just assumed it was due to loyalty to his house. Though Draco had immense pride towards being a Slytherin, that wasn't the only reason why the color emerald seemed to attract him. It was because that was the color of Harry's eyes. Those eyes which seemed to pull him in, making him feel as though he was lost in a luscious forest, filled with magic, and...

"Draco?" Harry whispered, "you okay?" Draco quickly shook his head. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." Harry shot him a knowing smile. "Hmm, okay. I guess I should put on my glasses before you get lost in my eyes, again," he said, reaching for his circular frames. Draco just rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue. "Prat," he whispered, an air of playfulness which he only reserved for Harry in his tone. "What was that?" the now bespectacled boy questioned. Draco smirked; he knew what would happen if he continued to rile Harry up. "Oh, nothing, Potter. I was just saying what awful hair you have, although I suppose it is the proper style for such an unrefined git such as yourself." Harry grinned devilishly, before grabbing Draco's wrist and shoving his hand into his raven hair. "Hmm, is that so?" Harry whispered, his voice growing deeper. Draco swallowed, knowing Harry was positively gleeful at his current predicament. Harry continued to rake Draco's hand through his hair. "I've always wondered, Malfoy, what you find so endearing about my hair. I seem to recall you deeming it 'positively sexy' the other night." Draco gulped, then gave his signature smirk, which was, as always, reserved for Harry only. In less than a second, he had engulfed Harry's moth with a powerful kiss. He hummed in satisfaction after hearing Harry moan softly when Draco ran his tongue over the other boy's teeth.

"Ughh." Draco froze. Now that was not a sound he wanted to hear at this moment. Harry quickly detached his lips from Draco's and spun his head around to face Ron. The freckled boy yawned, before sitting up and facing his current roommates. "Harry, good morning mate. And, er, good morning, ... Malfoy." Draco nodded. "Good morning, Weasley," he replied.

Ron took in the sight in front of him, seeing a perfectly unharmed Harry and Malfoy sitting a mere two feet from each other. "Wow," Ron said, seemingly impressed. "You two have managed not to kill each other yet. I must admit, I am surprised. Maybe Harry's being civil, Malfoy, but don't count on me to not beat you up while you sleep." Ron and Harry both laughed at the disgruntled look on Malfoy's face. "I'm only kidding, Malfoy," Ron said, winking. "So long as you respect my family, we should be fine." Malfoy let out a breath, then nodded in appreciation. He felt Harry squeeze his fingers hidden behind the blankets on the floor. "Well," Ron said, "I am starving. Let's go see what's for breakfast, shall we? I bet Mum's made something special; she always does when we have guests around. I suppose there really is an advantage to having the ferret here," he said whilst chuckling, and made his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth before heading downstairs to the kitchen, where the rest of the Weasley family as well as Hermione already sat.

Hermione looked up as Harry and Malfoy entered the room. She noted that they both looked slightly flushed, though she assumed that they had probably gotten into some kind of petty squabble upstairs. It was, after all, quite difficult to share a room with your sworn enemy, she mused. But when she made eye contact with Harry, Hermione let out a noiseless gasp. There was something else there, in his eyes, something that wasn't fury or rage; and Hermione was going to figure out what it was.

She looked around the table as Harry sat beside Ron, and Malfoy sat beside Harry. She raised her eyebrows, however she mentally chastised herself; Malfoy had simply taken that only available seat. She was really reading too much into this. Well, she sighed, this is what happens when I don't have school to keep me busy. I jump to radical conclusions... She reached for her fork and began to spread syrup evenly on her pancakes, specially made by Ms. Weasley. Looking up, she noticed that Ginny seemed to be looking at Harry and Malfoy with a bemused expression of her own. Hermione made a mental note to talk with Ginny after the meal; maybe she wasn't overthinking things, after all.

After the delicious breakfast and a good few minutes spent by Hermione, Harry, and, much to everyone's astonishment, Malfoy profusely thanking Molly for the meal, the content inhabitants of the Burrow moved to the living room.

"That Malfoy git was probably just trying to butter up Mum. I don't trust him," muttered Percy. "Hey! The young Malfoy doesn't seem to be as much of a prick anymore-" "-though he is still quite a snobbish little brat," replied Fred and George, shaking their heads. "I agree," Ginny quietly said, stepping into their conversation. "It's the holidays, and Mum and Dad both seem to be perfectly fine to be having Malfoy here. Even Harry...." and she trailed off, because Harry was wearing an expression that she had never once seen before. Percy had left their conversation, and was now in what was getting to be an extremely heated argument with Malfoy. "You're just as much of a prick as you've always been! You'll never be welcome here, Malfoy," Percy sneered. "You're just a little princess, too posh for us, is that right?"

At the word princess, Malfoy seemed to stiffen, something dangerous glaring in his grey eyes. But there was something even more startling in Harry's eyes; his pupils were beginning to dilate, and his mouth morphed into a scowl that no one had ever witnessed before. "Shut. Up," he said, gritting his mouth while looking at Percy. "No one gets to call him that but-" suddenly, Malfoy had reached his hand up and was now covering Harry's mouth. His grip on Harry was gentle, both Hermione and Ginny noted, making eye contact across the room. They raised their eyebrows at each other, and Hermione knew they would be discussing this later. She turned back to Harry and Malfoy. Malfoy seemed to be whispering something in Harry's ear. Harry let out a quiet "mmph" and nodded softly, and Malfoy gently released him from his grip.

Seeming to finally notice that there were other people in the room, Harry's eyes widened and he quickly scurried away from Draco. "Er..." he began, but was interrupted by Ms. Weasley. "Percival Weasley. I expected more from you. Show our guest some respect!" At this, the color of Percy's face seemed to match that of his hair. "Yes, Mum," he muttered. "I'll go clean the kitchen." Ms. Weasley nodded in approval and turned to Harry. "I-I'm really sorry, Ms. Weasley. I didn't mean to lash out at Percy like that, honestly." Ms. Weasley gave Harry a warm smile. "Don't worry, dear. He quite deserved it, if I'm being honest. Percy always gets very prickly during the holidays." Harry smiled at this, and nodded his thanks. "So... what's up with the lion and the snake being buddies now, eh?" questioned Fred, leaning against the banister of the stairs and smiling. "Oh, er," Harry began, before Draco cut him off. "Potter and I have decided to be civil, which I do believe we informed you of yesterday, Weasley." Fred simply raised his eyebrows in amusement, nodding in approval and turning to snicker quietly behind his hand with his twin, who was wearing a matched expression of humor. Draco rolled his eyes and gave a small smirk to Harry. This did not, of course, go unnoticed by neither Hermione nor Ginny, who made eye contact again. Ginny swiftly nodded to the stairs, and the two girls made their way to Ginny's room to discuss what seemed to be an interesting turn of events.