There he was. Draco didn't know why he had bothered looking for him, but there he was standing in the middle of the crowd. He couldn't help the scowl that appeared on his face when he saw the girl wrapped around his waist.

He had known that Harry had started seeing the Weasley girl sometime during the year, but to actually see them together was a bit sickening. "You know, you're quite obvious."

Blaise Zabini was about the only person who knew about Draco's little problem. He hadn't planned on his Slytherin housemate finding out, but he guessed that getting drunk off firewhiskey in the prefects dormitory wasn't the best idea if he wanted to keep his secrets. "I'm not obvious. As far as people know, I'm glaring at Potter."

Blaise let out a laugh and patted his friend on the back. "Who would have thought you would have fallen for Potter's charm?"

Panicked, Draco looked around and sent a sharp glare at Blaise. "Watch it; I don't need the whole of Hogwarts knowing the intricate details of my mind."

"Right, if that's what you want to call it." He sighed. He really did hate having this stupid school boy crush on fucking boy wonder, but for some reason it didn't want to go away. "You know, I honestly think you're being ridiculous. This is simply a way of rebelling against your parents."

Draco wished it were truly that simple. "I doubt it. I could do a lot behind my parents back; anything that didn't have anything to deal with him."

Blaise shook his head and looked sympathetically to his friend. "What are you going to do?"

Draco let out a pitiful laugh. "What can I do?"

"Tell him or something."

"I think I'll stick to the or something."

Sensing that the conversations needed a much brighter topic, Blaise nudged Draco. "Have you figured out what you're going as for the Halloween dance?"

"No. I don't actually want to go."

"Well, lucky you that the dance isn't mandatory for anyone who isn't a prefect. I, on the other hand, will be stuck there all night" Draco couldn't help but feel bad for his friend.

"If it means anything, I'll probably go anyway. Pansy's asked me and if I say no my mother will most likely send a Howler. Or worse, my father might show up to Hogwarts himself. I'd rather avoid that."

"In that case, we better start looking for a costume."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Fantastic."


Hogsmeade was packed with students either looking for costumes or just wanting to get out of the castle. Draco had considered writing to his mother and just having her send over something, but decided against it in the end. Plus, it was the first Hogsmeade weekend and he shouldn't spend it miserable and trapped inside the castle.

That's why he was currently sifting through disastrous costumes with Pansy at his side, commenting on each one. "OOOOH, Draco look! You can be Dracula!"

"I'd rather have all my blood drained out of me than wear that." Pansy frowned and put the costume back on the rack. "There has to be something tasteful here."

"You can be this thing called the Phantom of the Opera. It's literally just a man in a mask with a fancy suit." He considered it. It would definitely be easier than buying a whole outfit since he could owl his mother to send him a suit.

"Do they sell the mask alone?" She gave him the mask and went off to go find her costume, now that she seemed satisfied with Draco's costume choice.

Draco didn't like the whole aspect of dressing up in silly costumes, pretending to be other people or things. He thought the whole idea was ridiculous and found himself missing the days of the regular Halloween feast. It was pathetic how much he was dreading the dance and even more pathetic on why exactly he had been dreading it.

Just at that moment, the door to the shop opened and in walked the Weasley girl and Granger. They were whispering to themselves and giggling like a couple of school girls. Draco supposed that that is exactly what they were, but it didn't stop him from being annoyed by it.

Hermione must have caught him staring them down because the next thing he knew, the two were shooting him looks that might possibly kill him.

With a roll of the eyes, he looked away from the girls and feigned interest in the costume rack in front of him.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Draco, please tell me you're not rethinking your costume. I've just found one that could sort of match." He looked beside him to see Pansy holding up a red, old century styled dress.

"No, I'm not. I think I'm good with this thing." He said and made his way up to the front of the store to pay.

When he was in the queue, he couldn't help but hearing Ginny and Hermione talking.

"Ginny, I'm sure that whatever you choose, Harry will love it." Draco felt sick and really wished the line would start moving faster so he could leave.

"No, Hermione, it has to be perfect. I've been bragging about my amazing costume all week long." Ginny whined and when Hermione started laughing, Weasley joined in.

"Why on earth would you be bragging about a costume you didn't even have yet?"

"Well I sort of got mad at Harry when he told me that he didn't buy his costume yet." Draco found himself hating the red haired girl even more than before.

"Oh Merlin, Gin." Hermione shook her head. "Well, I suppose I can go look for something else, but I doubt there will be anything truly remarkable left."

Draco secretly hoped that Granger wasn't able to find anything and then maybe the she would have to cancel on Harry.

When he finally got to the front of the line, he paid for his and Pansy's costume and left the shop immediately.

"So, do you want to go to The Three Broomsticks to get some Butterbeer? I could use some after all this shopping." Pansy said dramatically, holding onto his arm.

"We've only gone to one shop, Pansy. Besides, I think I'm going to head back to the castle." Draco took his mask and handed the dress box to her. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'll make sure my tie and whatnot matches your dress for Thursday."

Though Pansy tried to protest, Draco shook his head and started walking back to the castle. When he was finally away from the hectic streets of Hogsmead, he let out a sigh. He felt so much better on his own. Draco found that he preferred it that way. No one could try to cling to him or make fun of his crush if he was alone.

The wind was picking up speed and Draco almost wished he would have taken Pansy up on her offer for Butterbeer. Almost. Instead, he pulled his coat around him tighter and marched on until he reached castle grounds.

Draco was about to walk into the castle when someone shoved past him. He turned around, ready to cast a hex or two, but found Harry looking at him wearily. He didn't know what to do or say so he settled with what he knew best. "What are you doing here and not with Granger and the Weaslette?"

Harry's expression turned dark. "I could ask you the same thing. Why are you here without Pug-Face?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Pansy isn't always with me. Plus, Potter, not that it should matter to you, but Pansy isn't my girlfriend. I do have some taste, unlike a certain golden boy I know."

He couldn't help but smirk when Harry's face turned red. Draco didn't know why, but if this was the only way Potter would talk to him, he would take it. "You better watch what you say, Malfoy. Ginny is a better woman than you'll ever be."

"I would certainly hope so." Harry's face turned an even deeper shade of red that Draco thought they should name specifically for him.

"I meant person and she is." Draco merely shrugged and turned his back on Harry, walking inside the castle.

"You keep telling yourself that, Potter."


Draco sat in his bed, fiddling with the mask he bought in Hogsmeade. Tomorrow was the Halloween dance and as far as Draco could tell, everyone was excited for it. The Headmaster was going to be awarding the prize of no exams to the student with the most brilliant costume.

He would have been excited if he was in the mood for the dance. He had certainly pushed it this past weekend, it seemed. Potter had been sending him glares during any class they had together. Blaise had found it pretty amusing.

"Mate, he's pretty obvious, too." He had told Draco when he caught Harry glaring at him during dinner on Monday. Draco was mid-drink and almost spit his pumpkin juice everywhere.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Blaise only smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

Draco had been thinking about it for the next two days and wondered if maybe there was a chance that Harry could even possibly think about him like that. He doubted it.

His bratty attitude had made sure that Potter would never think he was a decent person. Now, Draco relied on that bratty attitude as a safety net. As long as he had that, Harry wouldn't completely destroy him.

Sighing, Draco put the mask down on his night stand and tried to fall asleep. Tomorrow would be a long enough day without having gotten any rest. He turned on his side, closed his eyes and right when he was about to fall asleep, Blaise walked into the dorm. "Draco, come quick."

"What? No, I'm about to go to sleep!" Draco hissed quietly, hoping not to wake up any of his roommates.

"You won't regret it. Plus, I'm a prefect. You have to listen to me." Blaise flashed a cheeky smile that made Draco want to hit him in the face.

"Fine." He got up, put on his robe and followed Blaise down to the common room. "What do you need from me that couldn't wait till the morning?"

"Potter's roaming the halls talking to the bushy haired Gryffindor prefect and after scolding him, she asked him how his and Ginny Weasley's relationship is going."

"For fuck's sake, Zabini, what made you think that I wanted to hear about Potter praising the Weaslette?" Draco groaned, rubbing the sleep off his face or trying to.

"Well, he did praise her, but that's not the main thing he said." Draco raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to know what he said?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?"

"He told her that he liked Ginny, but not as anything other than a friend. He was scared that Weasley was going to kill him. Ron, not the girl, but she probably could, too." Blaise stared at Draco, waiting to see what he would say.

"How does that help me?" He didn't want to admit it, but he felt a little bit better knowing Potter would be single again; not that Draco would do anything even if Harry was free.

Blaise looked around the common room to make sure no one was around to listen in. "You know how. Tomorrow at the dance, you should tell him that you think he's attractive. Charm your hair to a darker shade, wear the mask. He won't know it's you, but you'll know if he's gay or not."

"Right, that's exactly what I want. A double rejection." He couldn't help but be annoyed by his friend's idiotic idea.

"Well it's not like you're going to grow the balls to go and tell him as yourself." Draco glared at him and really did consider if he could get away with punching Blaise in the face.

"That would bode well, wouldn't it? 'Sorry for being such a prat, Potter, but just so you know; I never really meant any of it. I was just upset you rejected my friendship for Weasley. Right, and before I forget, I needed to tell you that it was mostly because I was jealous because I really like you. Oh yeah, did I mention I'm gay?' He'd hex me on the spot." Draco looked around the room, avoiding Blaise's stare.

"Well, why not? If that's how you feel, you should just tell him. If he rejects you and hexes you, at least he'll get a ton of detentions with Snape or McGonagall." He laughed, but Draco wasn't in a laughing mood. He was tired, stressed and about ready to kill his best friend.

"That doesn't stop the fact that he'd have rejected me twice. I'd rather just wait until this all eventually goes away."

"Whatever you say, mate. I'll let you get back to sleep. Don't dream dirty Potter dreams." Blaise ran out before Draco himself cast a hex or two.

He sat on a nearby love seat and put his head in his hands. What the fuck was he going to do?


Dressed and ready to get this miserable night over with, Draco walked down to meet Blaise and Pansy in front of the Great Hall. He was dressed in his costume; mask included and felt that he could maybe for the night try this whole pretending-to-be-someone-else thing.

When he was finally by Pansy's side, he allowed her to wrap herself around him. This earned a look from Blaise and he was sure that he wanted to die.

"Ready to go in, Draco?" Pansy chimed, smiling sweetly up at him. He really did feel sorry for her. He couldn't imagine putting so much effort into someone who it was lost on.

"Yeah, let's go in and get this over with." She dragged him inside and he had to say that Dumbledore really outdid himself this ear. There were pumpkins that had been carved into multiple different scary things everywhere, bats flying up above them, candles floating about and different wonderful smelling smoke coming from the ground. It looked like a graveyard pumpkin patch, if that made any sense.

The music was already playing, meaning Pansy would want to jump right in and start dancing. He obliged to every song and every conversation, but eventually he started getting tired. "Pansy, I'm going to get us some drinks."

The girl waved him off, not once looking away from the group of girls she was gossiping with.

Draco was about to walk toward the refreshment table when someone pulled him backwards. "He's alone. Right now. Go talk to him before he's surrounded by people."

"Zabini, just drop it."

"Never. Now go!" Blaise pushed Draco in the direction of where Harry was standing. He was definitely alone and it was almost a weird thing to see. He quickly tried to change directions, but Harry saw him.

Draco took a deep breath and walked the rest of the distance to get to Harry. "Malfoy, what exactly do you want?"

He can't say that he was taken aback by Harry's tone, but it didn't stop it from hurting a little. "To talk, actually."

"Right." Harry rolled his eyes and looked away. "I'm not in the mood for talking. So, if you could kindly go away, that would be amazing."

"Potter… Harry, I have something to say."

"I don't care."

"I like you. I mean, I really like you. I don't know why or how, but I think I always have. I'm sorry about being a prat, but I blame that on jealousy and bad parenting. I just… I just really, really like you." The words fall out of Draco's mouth before he could stop them. He has the urge to cry and to ask anyone to send a few curses his way.

"Funny. Are you done?" Harry said, rather bored. He looked around and Draco had to stop himself from following his gaze. "No? Well, as great as that trick could have been; I'm not gay. I'm definitely not interested in you and if you turn around right now, you'll see that my girlfriend has just heard everything you said. What did you think I'd do? Jump into your arms? Embarrass myself?"

Draco didn't turn around and he definitely didn't say anything else. He didn't even know how he managed to move, but soon he was out of the Great Hall and practically running to the farthest bathroom.

He stormed into the lonely room, ripped off the mask and stared at himself in the mirror. He hated what he saw. He hated the stupid costume, he hated his hair, his face and he definitely hated himself.

Draco strips\ped the long coat off of his body, tossed it to the side and focussed on taking of the stupid tie around his neck that felt entirely suffocating. Looking back into the mirror, the pathetic looking man staring back at him let out a cry.

What did he honestly think was going to happen? Potter would feel the same way? No, of course not. He was deluded and he partially blamed Blaise for letting him believe that he could possibly have this one thing. Draco wanted to laugh just thinking about him ever being slightly happy. It was impossible. This just didn't happen to people like him.

He couldn't help but let out another cry when he thought about how his parents were going to react to the rumors going around that Draco Malfoy was gay. Which, he was sure was going to happen because Weaslette and Potter would have told Hermione and Ron already. The whole school would know by morning. His father would kill him.

What the hell was he going to do? There was certainly no way to avoid any of this. He'd just have to face it. This is what he deserved for thinking he even deserved anything good. He deserved the hatred Harry had for him. It was always his f-

Draco stood up straight and drew his wand. He wasn't sure if he had heard correctly, but it sounded like someone had come into the bathroom. "Who's there?"

There was no sound. He sighed and turned back to the mirror and let his wand fall back into the sink. Was he becoming paranoid, too? Draco looked down at his trembling hands, putting them into fist and before he even knew what he was doing; his left fist was bleeding and the mirror in front of him was cracked.

Muttering a few choice words, he started pulling the little shards of glass out of his hand. "Malfoy, you useless idiot. You never do anything right. Can't even properly tell someone how you feel without them laughing in your fucking face."

This time he was sure he heard a noise and as he looked up at the cracked mirror, he saw him. Draco grabbed his wand, ignoring the pain and twisted around to face Harry. "What do you want? Shouldn't you be with your girlfriend?"

He couldn't even talk properly; his voice was scratchy and hoarse. He lifted his wand as if to dare Potter to insult him. "She's the one that sent me here. Ironically, she felt sorry for you."

Draco's anger grew. He definitely didn't need her pity. "What do you want?"

"Well, I had come to hex you a few times, but it seems like you've inflicted enough damage onto yourself." He almost started sobbing again. Almost. He knew that Harry was hardheaded and maybe even a bit short tempered, but this was cruel. "I'm sorry."

"You're obviously not, but its fine. I got the message perfectly clear, Potter. You're not gay. Even if you were, you aren't interested. I shouldn't have expected any differently."

"I thought you were lying." Harry confessed. Draco didn't understand how that made any difference.

"So, what? Now that you know I'm not, you're going to pity me? 'Poor Malfoy, Poor gay Malfoy. Fell for the only boy he couldn't get.' No thank you. I'd rather be alone."

"I do not pity you, Malfoy and I won't. What did you expect me to think when you march up to me and admit your undying love to me?" Harry said, barely hiding his smirk.

"I never said I loved you. I'd also appreciate it if you left and stopped teasing me." He really didn't want to cry again.

"Doesn't feel so good to be teased, huh?" Draco's hand tightened against his wand. "How did you know?"

"How did I know? You're teasing me as we speak, I'm not an idiot." Draco honestly didn't know what the hell Potter wanted from him.

"I didn't mean that, you git. I meant, how did you know I wasn't straight?" Draco was in shock. His wand fell to his side.

"I didn't." He admitted. Harry looked at him wearily, not sure if he should believe him or not. "Blaise Zabini told me that he heard you and Hermione talking. He said he had a hunch and that I should just tell you how I felt. I would like to point out that I wasn't going to tell you until he literally pushed me."

"So you took a risk."

"The same risk I took first year."

"You were an absolute prat in first year and I doubt you were looking for a boyfriend then." Harry pocketed his wand, sensing that their conversation wouldn't turn dangerous.

"I was looking for friends, Potter. I didn't know any better than what I was being taught, but yes, I was a prat." Draco put his own wand away. "I'm hardly looking for a boyfriend now."

"So you didn't expect anything from me when you professed your feelings?"

"Why do you say it as if you're the love of my life? No, Harry, I didn't expect anything from you. In fact, I figured I'd get hexed a few times. I didn't think you'd be unnecessarily cruel." He looked away, trying to avoid the man in front of him.

"I thought you were lying. Playing a trick on me or something. I'm sorry." Draco nodded, focusing on his sliced up hand.

"Well, I'm not."

"I can see."

"That helps nobody." He said quietly. He wished Harry would just go so he could go up to Madam Pomfrey and get his hand fixed up. "You should go."

Harry sighed, but nodded and left the room without being asked again. Draco stood there for about another five minutes before getting his coat and mask.

He was about five seconds away from the door when Harry stormed back in, muttering something that sounded vaguely like 'oh, what the hell?' and pushed Draco up against the wall. His coat fell, but none of that mattered because Harry's hands found their way onto Draco's waist.

"What are you doing?"

"Something I hope I don't regret." Before Draco could reply, Harry pressed his lips against Draco's. He froze, but eventually, he realized what exactly was happening and kissed him back. He was surprised by how perfectly rough Potter's lips seemed to be against his and when Harry's tongue ran along Draco's bottom lip, he opened his mouth slightly allowing Harry access.

Their kiss was over painfully fast, but Harry's hands didn't move from their place on Draco's waist. "You're still a git."

"Whatever you say." Then something dawned on him that made him feel incredibly small. "You have a girlfriend."

"Had. Hermione forced me to talk to Ginny the day after I spoke with her. Ron isn't speaking to me at the moment even though Ginny has no problem ending things this early."

"Can't say I'm upset about that." Draco muttered.

Harry, amused, pulled Draco closer to him. "It sounds to me as if someone is jealous."

"I thought I established this. It's a big reason as to why I'm a prat."

"Well it does certainly explain a lot of things." Harry said, pressing his lips against Draco's softly. "It makes you easier to deal with."

Draco put his hands on either side of Harry's face, smiles a smile that has been waiting for a moment like this and deepened their almost kiss. "Shut up."


A/N: I really hope you enjoyed it. It's my first ever time writing drarry so I'm pretty new to this! Plus it was really cool to do something in honor of Halloween. Please review and favorite, it'd mean the world!