Chapter One

It was nearing midnight on the first of June and Harry Potter walked hidden beneath his Invisibility Cloak through the corridors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He was heading towards the Astronomy Tower to meet his lover. He was still, after almost a year, confused at how and when they had fallen in love; for years they had cursed and hexed each other every chance they got. The feelings were unusual, unexpected, and frightening, but all was right when they were together, like they were the only two people in the world and they could face anything that came their way.

Harry approached the top of the tower as midnight struck. Once over the threshold he pulled off the cloak and waited for his lover to appear. Less than a minute later the door opened and Draco Malfoy walked onto the tower.

"Hi," Draco said.

"Hi," Harry said, smiling.

"Did anyone see you?" Draco asked. It was the same question they asked each other at the beginning of every meeting. It was essential for them both that their relationship remained a secret.

"No. I used my cloak. You?"

"I don't think so," Draco said, sitting down upon the couch that he conjured.

"That's good," said Harry, sitting down next to Draco.

"What are we doing, Draco?" Harry asked. He wanted to be here with Malfoy more than anything in the world, but it was a dangerous path for them to take.

Draco smiled slightly when Harry used his first name. Even after a year, it still sounded as beautiful as it had the first time Harry had spoken his name.

"I don't know, Harry," Draco said, looking into Harry's eyes and relishing the sound and feel of Harry's name on his tongue. "But I do know that I want this. I just never realized it. All those years of fighting were never because I hated you, but because I wanted you to like me. I understand that now. I just wish I had understood that sooner. We could have had so much more than a year."

"Yeah." Harry sighed. "I just wish that this didn't have to be a secret. I want to be out in the world. I want to be proud to be your boyfriend. But if anyone were to find out about this….it could be dangerous. Your father and Voldemort would kill us both," Harry said, concerned.

"Like Voldemort doesn't want to kill me anyway," Draco said quietly, standing up and walking over to the edge of the tower.

Slowly, Harry walked over to Draco and wrapped his arms around Draco's waist.

"Sooner or later he's going to kill us all, Draco," Harry said.

"Unless you do something about it."

"I can't defeat him by myself. The only reason I've stayed alive all these years is because Voldemort's too afraid of Dumbledore to attack me under his nose."

Draco tensed in Harry's arms.

"Dumbledore won't always be around," Draco said.

"I know that. Which is exactly why Voldemort is going to end up killing us all," Harry said, resting his chin on Draco's shoulder.

"You know what? Let's stop talking about this," Draco said.

"You're right. Tonight it's just the two of us. Let's not spoil it with Voldemort talk," Harry said.

Draco sighed, disentangled himself from Harry's arms, and walked back to the couch.

"I wish this could be easier."

"What?"

"This. Everything. Life.

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"Wild ambitions in our sights,

"How an affair of the heart survives,

"Days apart and hurried nights,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to live like that,

"Seems quite unbelievable to me,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want our time to be slower and gentler, wiser, free,

"We all live in extravagant times,

"Playing games we can't all win,

"Unintended emotional crimes,

"Take some out, take others in,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to live like that,

"I'm so tired of all we're going through,

"I don't want to love like that,

"I just want to be with you now and forever, peaceful, true,

"This may not be the moment,

"To tell you face to face,

"But I could wait forever,

"For the perfect time and place."

Harry walked over to the couch and took Draco's hands in his and looked him in the eyes. Draco placed his head on Harry's shoulder and Harry kissed the top of Draco's head.

Together they said:

"We all lead such elaborate lives,

"We don't know whose words are true,

"Strangers, lovers, husbands, wives,

"Hard to know whose loving who."

A tone of sadness in his voice, Harry said:

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to live like that,"

Draco lifted his head off of Harry's shoulder, looked him in the eyes, and said:

"Too many choices tear us apart,

"I don't want to love like that."

Together, very quietly, as their mouths moved towards each other, they said:

"I just want to touch your heart, may this confession be the start."

Harry's and Draco's lips met in a kiss that erased all thoughts of Voldemort and a dangerous world. The knowledge that the relationship was forbidden and could not last forever made both boys eager to show the other how much love they shared and how much they both wished that no one in the world existed but they two.

As dawn approached the two lovers awoke in each other's arms, having spent the night on the rooftop together.

Harry and Draco smiled at each other and shared a gentle kiss. Without speaking they stood up and Draco Vanished the couch that he had conjured five hours previously. All that had happened between the two of them, both over the years and in the past few hours, needed no explanation. They both knew they would have to keep their pretenses up during the school hours as usual, no matter how much it pained them and how increasingly harder it became to do so.

"Shall we head back to our dorms?" Harry asked, picking up the invisibility cloak and draping it over his shoulders leaving only his head visible.

"Yes," Draco said, smiling at the oddness of seeing only Harry's head. "Meet back here same place tonight?"

"Yes. But we have to start varying our nights. Someone is going to figure out soon that we are meeting here on the same night at the same time and then we'll be busted. And we don't want Filch or his cat on our cases either," Harry said, head floating eerily toward Draco.

"You're right," Draco said, kissing Harry.

Together they walked down the stairs of the Astronomy Tower.

They continued to meet each other in secret at the topmost tower of Hogwarts, unaware that in only a few weeks time they would both be there again for a very different reason.