I Beg Your Pardon, Potter?

Chapter 11

"Harry, there you are," Ron said as he entered the 6th Year boys' room. Harry, who had been lying on his bed waiting for the ache between his legs to dissipate, jumped. He sat up quickly.

"Before you say anything," he said. He had been thinking about what to say to Ron since he had lain down on his bed. "I just want to say, that Draco isn't really the jerk we all think he is. I mean, he can be, but he can also be nice. Just like we can be jerks or we can be nice. I know you think he's a slime ball and a good-for-nothing-"

"-Can I stop you there?" Ron interjected. Harry snapped his mouth shut. "Look, Harry." He walked over to Harry's bed and sat down on the edge of it. "While I am not overly thrilled that you are dating Draco Malfoy, who you date is none of my business."

"I don't know if I would call it dating," Harry said. "We've been on one date."

"Well, be that as it may, who you date is none of my business. I'm just upset that you didn't tell me about it. I mean, I had to find out from Malfoy himself." Ron made a horrified face. Harry let out a breath that he did not realize he had been holding. Ron seemed almost OK with the fact that he was seeing Draco. That was unexpected.

"You're right, Ron," Harry said. Because he was. "I'm sorry. I should have told you. I just didn't know how to bring it up. I mean, it wasn't even a week ago when we all still hated each other."

"How did it happen?" Ron asked. "This whole dating thing, I mean."

"Seamus."

"Seamus?"

"Yes, Seamus dared me."

"Ah, yes, I remember that. But I thought Malfoy said no."

"He did. But then, you know how Snape always pairs us in Potions?" Ron gave a bark of laughter.

"Yes, I think he's been trying to get you two to get together for years."

"Ew, really?"

"Well, perhaps just as friends. But go on."

"Yes, well, we were talking about how I had asked him out as a dare, and, I don't know - we had a lot of banter, and I thought why not ask him out again? It could be fun. The banter that potions lesson was kind of fun, perhaps it would be nice to not always be at each other's throats." (Or, said the Seamus voice in Harry's head, to be at each others throats for the purpose of trailing kisses down them). "So we snuck out to the Three Broomsticks on Tuesday night and we had a really nice time."

"So that's where you were on Tuesday!" Harry nodded.

"Yeah, we made out in the tunnel on the way back."

"Harry, I do not need those kinds of details," Ron said, holding a hand up.

"Well, and now Snape has paired for this six week project."

"In a soundproof room," Ron added, waggling his eyebrows. Harry shoved Ron playfully on the shoulder.

"It's not like that," Harry protested.

"Yeah, ok."

"It's not! We've only made out there once."

"What did I say about the details!"

"You're impossible!" Harry cried, throwing up his arms. "One minute, it's no details, the next minute you're implying I'm having sex in a private room!"

"Who's having sex in a private room?" asked another voice from the middle of the room. Harry and Ron spun around to see Seamus who had clearly just walked in on the conversation.