Part of him selfishly hoped that Draco wasn't in, that he could run over to Lisa's and have her help him handle this too, but just as he was about to knock again the door flew open and a rumpled looking Draco appeared.

"Harry?" he said surprised as Harry tried not to panic even further. Draco was only wearing chequered pyjama bottoms and they did not leave much to the imagination. "Is everything alright?"

"Um," said Harry, wishing the ground would swallow him up. "No, not really. Can I come in?"

Draco's eyebrows disappeared under his pale hair, and he nodded as stepped aside to allow Harry in. His apartment was like something straight out of Hogwarts, despite being in a Muggle neighbourhood. There were gilded mirrors and velvet finishings everywhere. Draco had charmed the place to be bigger on the inside, so the hallway lead into a grand living room with windows that afforded a spectacular view of the city. Harry had found it both decadent and comforting in the past. Now he found it suffocating.

"So what's the matter Potter?" Draco said, thankfully pulling on an old and faded Slytherin t-shirt. With his bed hair all mussed and out of place, it was the most dishevelled Harry had ever seen him. "You look frightful."

Harry twisted the magazine between his hands and tried to think where to start. "That shoot we did a few weeks ago," he began. "It – they – I uh..." He gave up and thrust the publication Draco, staring miserably at the floor as he did. "I'm so sorry, I had no idea that's what they were writing. I'm used to this crap but it's not fair you got pulled into it too and I feel dreadful." He sucked in a deep breath, having spat all that out as fast as he could.

He risked a glance to see Draco's confused expression, before he slowly reached over and slid the magazine from Harry's hand. He didn't say anything as he flicked through, there weren't that many pages after all, and then stopped on the offending spread.

His eyebrows shot up, eyes raking the article. And then he burst out laughing.

"Oh Harry!" he cried, slapping his forehead with the magazine and grinning like a loon. "You're not the only one who'd had terrible stuff written about him, I thought it was going to be something hideous about my father, or this!" He batted the magazine against his Dark Mark tattoo and laughed again, apparently in relief. "Bloody hell, you scared me."

Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You-" he stuttered, not sure what to do with his hands, so wrapped them around his chest. "You're not angry?"

Draco dropped the magazine and smiled fondly at Harry. "It's just silly gossip trash, I've had at least three written about me and Pansy. They're funny."

Harry wasn't sure what was worse, the fact that Draco didn't see how bad this was, or the fact he was dismissing the idea of Harry being in love with him as funny.

He rubbed his forehead. "I'm glad you're not upset," he mumbled around the lump in his throat.

He heard Draco sigh. "How about a cup of tea?" he suggested.

Harry shook his head though, feeling the walls closing in around him. "I should get going, I-"

"Sit," Draco snapped, not unkindly, pointing at the sofa behind Harry. "Tea. Now."

Harry chewed his lip and let his legs drop out from under him, flopping into the cushions dejectedly. "I'm sorry," he said again, his eyes hot with tears threatening to fall. How embarrassing.

"Stop that," Draco said good-humouredly. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Harry wanted to argue that you could only get so many candid shots of someone making puppy-dog eyes before you had to admit there was some truth to them. So he stayed quiet, trying to compose himself, but every time he did another wave of humiliation got the better of him.

In the meantime, Draco made them both tea, and produced some delicious smelling pastries from somewhere. "Hungry?" he asked as he sat down next to Harry, and Harry froze at their sudden close proximity.

"Why aren't you pissed off?" he demanded quietly instead, jabbing the discarded magazine on the table by their breakfast. "They're implying that we're..." he struggled to find the right word. "Together," he eventually managed.

Draco chuckled, and again Harry felt it was a kick in the gut. He couldn't even fathom them being romantically involved, it was all just a big joke.

He bit his tongue though, and watched Draco fish up the publication again and flip to the right page. Harry winced.

Draco dropped it back down and pointed to it as he retrieved his tea and took a leisurely sip. "I've wanted to get you in that jacket for ages."

Harry blinked, his hurt and anger momentarily forgotten. "Huh?" he said, rather eloquently.

"Pansy wouldn't let me. She knew it would cause trouble."

Harry looked at Draco, his turn to wear the confusion. "The jacket? The...leather jacket. That one?" He turned and indicated the magazine again, where his picture self was sporting the coat in most of the shots.

Draco smiled lazily back at him. "Can't you see it?" he asked through the steam from his mug. "Trouble."

Harry frowned at him, then looked back.

And looked at Draco this time.