A/N: This is the prologue to the story coming up. I was graciously granted permission to borrow it from Regina Artemis DeLuna, who wrote it for her story A Cycle of Heartbreak: Fire and Ice. You should go read it, and I know she was talking about creating a series of spin-off oneshots, so check those out too! There's a reason there are no first names in this… it could be any Potter/Malfoy duo. You know what they say… Potters are suckers for red-headed women. And Malfoys, apparently ;)

"Malfoy! Malfoy? Come back here!" yelled Potter frantically.

Malfoy whirled around to face him and snarled.

"Why, Potter? Why? So I can have you ridicule me in front of your idiotic friends and call me evil, when you know damn well that I have no intention of going dark now or ever?" he spat, hurt and anger mingling in his slate gray eyes.

He crossed his arms and glared at him.

Potter looked torn between defending his friends and pleading with his secret lover of three years.

"Malfoy..." he whispered, his love for the blond boy in front of him winning, "I love you...but I can't let my friends know...I mean, you know how they'd react...I couldn't bear to lose them..."

"So you'd rather lose me?" cried the Slytherin, emotion choking his voice and filling his eyes.

"NO!" yelled the Gryffindor, then softer, "No, of course not..."

"Then what are you implying?" asked Malfoy coldly.

The black haired boy grew frustrated.

"I'm not implying ANYTHING!" he yelled.

"Oh really?" said Malfoy, his gray eyes narrowing.

"Yes! Really!" yelled Potter.

"Then tell me this," said Malfoy suddenly, "If you had to choose...if you absolutely had to choose...who would you choose: your friends, or me?"

Potter's eyes widened.

"That," he said, through gritted teeth, "Isn't fair!"

Malfoy only glared icily at the other boy.

"Tell me, Potter, tell me," he hissed, "Because now I want to know."

Potter's eyes narrowed, recognizing the challenge in the blond's voice, and his quick, rash Gryffindor temper flared.

"And what if you don't like the answer to that question?" he demanded.

Shock and hurt flashed in his lover's gray eyes before his face once again became a cool mask of deceptive indifference.

"Then, we're through," he snarled, "So, what's it gonna be? Me, or them?"

Potter took a step back, surprised at the blonde's persistence.

"Potter..." said Malfoy, warningly, when he didn't answer right away.

Potter looked down, defeated.

"I can't answer that, Malfoy," he said softy.

Malfoy glared at the Gryffindor cooly.

"Why?" he spat.

"Because," growled Potter, "If I say them, I lose you, and if I say you, I lose them, and I couldn't bear either."

"Sometimes life requires risks and sacrifices, Potter," said Malfoy coldly, "You should know that by now..."

"And what if I don't want to take the risk! Huh? What then Malfoy? What then?" yelled the black haired boy.

"Then," said the Slytherin softly, "Then maybe we shouldn't be together."

Potter's eyes widened.

"But—" he started.

"Look," cut in the blond, "If you don't know what or who you want, then maybe we aren't meant to be!"

Malfoy smiled a bitter, sardonic smile and then added, "Maybe we were NEVER meant to be. This always WAS a fucked up relationship, was it not?"

"No, Malfoy, I—"

"Don't say it Potter," Malfoy yelled suddenly, losing his cool, "Don't you dare tell me you love me, because I don't believe it!"

Potter just looked at him in shock.

"Please, just listen—" he began, but Malfoy once again cut in.

"You know what? Don't bother!" he cried, tears suddenly filling his gray eyes, "I've always known, that deep inside, you don't really care..."

"Malfoy—"

"NO!" he yelled, "Just don't! You don't love me, and I don't love you! So why don't you just go back to your red-haired whore and fuck her like you always do."

Potter looked at him with shock and hurt before his face hardened.

"You know what?" he hissed angrily, "Fine! Just don't come crying back to me when you get your heart broken by that money grubbing Slytherin bitch!"

Malfoy drew in a sharp breath, "Don't worry, I won't!"

Potter growled, and with one final look at his lover, turned on his heal and walked away, leaving a broken hearted Slytherin behind.

A/N: Great, right? I cried the first time I read it. If you've read both, you'll have noted I changed one line and random pronouns. After this though, it's all my writing! I'm going to attempt to post at least once a week, I know I hate when I have to wait ages for a story to update…