Harry awoke suddenly to a soft knock at their door. Wintery sunshine was streaming through the floor to ceiling windows, illuminating the city as it too roused from its Sunday morning slumber. The knock came quietly again, and Harry slipped out of bed, leaving Draco looking untroubled and oblivious.

He pulled on one of the complementary dressing gowns, marvelling at how soft and fluffy it was as he padded over and opened up the door to their hotel room.

"Mr Potter?" A petrified looking bell boy stood on the other side, trembling in the corridor with wide eyes and a stack of mail clutched between his hands.

"Yes?" he replied, raising an eyebrow.

"These, uh-" He held out the letters, and Harry eyed them up dubiously. One or two were definitely quivering as much as the hands that were clamped around them. "They came to the front desk, by uh, I mean...They were dropped off by birds."

Harry raised both his eyebrows at that. "Owls?" he guessed.

The bell boy gulped. "One looked like an eagle," he stammered.

Harry sighed. He should have known it was too much to ask that they be left alone. If he had learnt one thing from his acceptance into Hogwarts, it was that letters would always find you, no matter how hard you tried to hide. At least it was just a bit of mail, and not an actual Lucius Malfoy or anything.

He held up a finger to the teenager and darted back into the room for his wallet. "I'm very sorry about that," he apologised, giving him a hefty tip and removing the envelopes from his hands. "It shouldn't happen again," he said, hoping that was true.

He kicked the door closed and made his way back into the bedroom where Draco has woken, presumably at the sound of the voices in the hall. "Morning," said Harry affectionately, dropping the post on the cabinet and slipping back into bed.

Draco smiled sleepily, curling into Harry's side and rubbing his face against the robe. "Cuddly bear," he muttered, clearly still half asleep.

Harry laughed and ruffled his hair, making a mental note to tease Draco about being soft on him once he was properly awake. Sadly he didn't have to wait long for that though. "We have mail," he said neutrally.

Draco pulled away and looked at Harry, then at the stack of letters he had brought in. "Oh," was all he said.

Harry though had already steeled himself, so he hopped back out of bed briefly to fetch the other dressing gown for Draco to put on, then collected the letters as he got back under the covers. "I think we should just face the music," he said, fishing out the bright red howler and reinforcing the sound proofing on the room with his wand. "It'll only get worse if you wait."

Because of course it was addressed to Draco, and Harry would have bet his life savings on who it was from.

Draco swallowed and took the letter in his own hands, meaning Harry could put his right arm around his shoulders and squeeze, bracing him for what was about to hit. Draco slid his finger under the sealed flap, and tugged it free, releasing the magic.

"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY!" his father roared, making both of them jump no matter how much they had been prepared. "YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THIS FAMILY, YOU HAVE BROUGHT SHAME DOWN UPON US THE LIKES WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN!"

Harry thought about the fact that Lucius had thrown his lot in with the most heinous wizard who'd ever lived, and doubted that very much, but of course that didn't stop the voice from blaring.

"HOW COULD YOU! WITH *HIM*! IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE PEOPLE! YOUR FACE IS PLASTERED ALL OVER THE PAPERS LIKE SOME COMMON WHORE! YOU ARE *NO* LONGER A PART OF THIS FAMILY, DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU WILL NEVER AGAIN SET FOOT IN THIS HOUSE, YOU WILL BE STRUCK FROM THE WILL AND YOUR NAME ERASED FROM OUR HISTORY!"

Harry blanched, but Draco was watching the talking envelope with a steady gaze, no emotion flickering over his face.

The voice coming from the howler dropped dangerously low, and somehow, that was worse than the bellowing. "You will have nothing, I will make sure of that; no job, no money, no allies. You have made this bed, with the boy that took everything from us. So be it, you shall reap what you sew, and it will be a cold day in hell before I ever see or speak to you again. I no longer have a son."

The letter exploded into flames, and the ashes drifted gently down to the duvet, where Harry quickly vanished them before they could do any damage. He heart was in his throat, he was almost too scared to look at Draco, not sure if he should wait or speak first.

Draco though, blew out a deep breath and rubbed his jaw. "Well," he said with something resembling cheerfulness. "That could have been worse."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Really?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "How?"

Draco laughed, thankfully, and let Harry pull him into a hug. "I wasn't really expecting him to do any less," he admitted, and Harry felt a knot of selfishness twist in his gut. All that time he'd been pressuring Draco to come out of the closet, this is what he knew he'd be facing.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

But Draco just shrugged and gave a shaky sigh. "He can't get me fired," he said stubbornly. "No matter what he thinks, he just doesn't have that kind of power anymore."

"And I'll support you," Harry added hastily. "If you need, in any way I can."

Draco stoked his arm. "I know," he said, more subdued, Harry's chin resting on his head. "But I don't need your money, I pay for my flat, and like I said I'm sure I still have a job."

Harry was stroking him back; his hair, his face, his collar and his neck. "I mean," he said softly, picking his words. "I'm just...here. Right next to you, and I always will be. Whatever you'll have to face, I'll be by your side. And if anyone has a problem with this, us, they'll have to deal with me first."

Harry felt a smile on his chest, even through his dressing gown. "Careful Potter," Draco said, a hint of strain in his voice but also humour too. "You're starting to sound like a celebrity, throwing your weight around like that."

"I'll go full diva if anyone dares to try and fuck with the man I love," he growled, only half joking. He wouldn't use his name for hardly anything, but he would if it would spare Draco unnecessary pain. He meant that with everything he possibly had to give.

Draco raised his head and kissed him delicately, showing his appreciation as best he could. Harry imagined he must be so torn up inside, and he made a promise to himself to make sure that his sacrifice would be worth it, that what they had would be worth it.

After a time Draco sighed. "Shall we see what the rest have to say?" he asked, resigned to the task.

Luckily, Lucius' seemed to be the only howler. There were several more letters in various shapes and sizes, addressed to Harry as well as Draco. He decided to go next, attacking a couple which he was unsurprised to discover were from reporters begging for interviews. "Urgh," Harry said in disgust. "Vultures." There were probably more of those in the pile, so he searched for any familiar handwriting.

"I think," said Draco, beating him to it. "That this one's from my mother?"

Harry looked down at the black envelope and elegant silver writing. "You don't have to," Harry began, but Draco shook his head and tore it open, shaking the single sheet of parchment out and unfolding it carefully in his hands.

There were only a few lines, and Harry averted his eyes to give Draco some privacy. But it wasn't long before Draco was holding it in front of him, silently asking him to read it.

"My darling Draco," it began, and Harry couldn't help the shimmer of hope in his chest.

"All I ever wanted was for you to be happy. I wish you had told me sooner. If this is what your heart truly desires, then I will support you.

Your father is mistaken. We owe Harry Potter a great deal indeed, and I will state here and now I find him worthy of your affections.

Do not worry yourself too much about your father. I know what his letter contained and I will do my best to speak reason to him.

There is no power in this world that could make you no longer my son.

Love,

Mother."

As Harry finished reading he realised Draco was doing his best not to cry, but Harry couldn't be bothered with any of that. "Come here," he instructed, turning and pulling Draco to nestle his head into his neck, fingers massaging his back and his scalp, kissing his forehead as Draco shook. Typical it was kindness, not cruelty, that had broken him.

After a time Draco calmed, and Harry suggested he took the burden of continuing to open their mail, despite who it was addressed to. More reporters from all over the world were offering frightening amounts of money for exclusive interviews, but Harry just dropped each of these on the floor with distain. But then there was one from Astoria Greengrass that simply stated: "Thank you for not breaking either of our hearts."

Draco sniffed and wiped his eyes as Harry showed him that one. "Guess you might have been right," he said with a watery laugh.

Harry had saved the few with familiar handwriting until last, and opened letters from Luna, Neville and Ginny all expressing their surprise but also their congratulations. George Weasley had a few delighted words to say about the senior Malfoy's loss of face, but even then said he'd get his mum on making Draco a Christmas jumper while she still had time.

"One of those hideous, scratchy creations you wear around the house?" Draco cried in mock horror, but Harry could tell he was secretly quite flattered.

And then, Harry opened the letter he'd purposefully saved for last.

"Dear Harry and Draco," wrote Hermione, the only one to address them as a couple.

"You are complete idiots. If you don't think I worked out months ago what was going on, you both deserve to have your Ministry licences taken away. You could have avoided a lot of bother if you'd just been honest with us or at the very least yourselves, but I'm glad everything is finally out in the open.

Ron is a bit shocked to say the least, but he's actually coming around to the idea already, which surely proves to you that anything is possible.

I hope that you've been able to sort out any grievances by the time this letter reaches you. Harry, I never want to see that depth of sadness on your face again if I can help it (so Draco, please hear my friendly but firm assurance that any more broken hearts will not be tolerated.) And Harry, you be nice to Draco too, he was very brave last night and I'm proud of him for what he did.

Now, I shall be cooking dinner on Tuesday night, I expect to see you both at seven o'clock sharp with some extremely good apology wine.

Warmest love and affection (and patience),

Hermione xxx"

Harry waited until Draco looked up. He was pretty sure he was reading it twice, maybe three times. "Bossy, isn't she?" he said finally, and Harry laughed.

"And right," he sighed. "Nothing gets past her, I should have known."

Draco bit his lip. "She really wants us round for dinner?" he said, looking back at her writing. "And Weasley?"

Harry imagined Ron might take a little persuading to let a Malfoy into his house, but if anyone could do it, it was Hermione Granger.

"Yeah," said Harry, scooping up the letters and piling them back on the cabinet. "We're a package deal now. We do things together."

They wriggled back down into the bed, arm in arm, chest to chest. "Together," Draco repeated.

Harry smiled, thinking of the implications of what that really meant. He was whole again, the world made sense once more – or didn't, he mused, thinking seriously about who he was actually holding in his arms.

But it made sense to them, and that's all he cared about. No more lying, no more feeling ashamed. In fact the world was probably going to get substantially more complicated, but Harry didn't care, because they were back where they belonged.

"Together," he promised.

The End

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