Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter in any way. It all comes from the wonderful J.K. Rowling. :)
"Potter!" Draco Malfoy called from his nook in the corridor. He looked around sheepishly, checking for passerby, and beckoned Harry to come closer.
Harry, despite letting out a hearty sigh of annoyance, complied and approached him. "Yeah? What do you want, Malfoy? I'm kind of busy."
Draco- amazingly- fidgeted. Harry's eyes widened in disbelief. If only there had been someone else around to see it...
"Er, well, Potter, I just wanted to say I was... sorry," Draco muttered at a fast speed, fixing his attention to a spot on the floor.
"Huh?"
Draco let out a huff of impatience. "Honestly, do I have to spell it out for you? I've treated you poorly in the past, and what with everything that's going on, I thought- "
"All right. What's the catch?" Harry interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. "There has to be some reason you sneak around to fake an apolo- "
"I'm not faking anything!" Draco hissed heatedly. "You're just too thick to spot a real apology!"
"Why aren't you apologizing to Ron and Hermione, then?" Harry countered. "You've never exactly been peachy with them, either."
A faint pink tinged Draco's cheeks. "I-they-you... Well, you're different from them... H-Harry." He looked up furtively, a nervous expression on his face, as if to gauge Harry's reaction.
Hearing his given name spoken by Draco, having his eyes caught by Draco's, somehow made his heart skip a beat. "Why did you call me...?" he asked weakly.
"Why did I call you Harry? Why am I apologizing to you and not your friends? My feelings for you, and you alone, have changed," Draco said plaintively. "I can't believe I didn't see it before: you're so brave, and caring, and good. I-I-I'll never be as good as you!"
The sight of Draco's tears sent a shock of physical pain throughout Harry's body. Almost without thinking, he wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled him close.
"Harry, I've grown to love you throughout the years, but I've had to hide it! I was afraid of what my family might think, of what the school might think!" he looked up to stare into Harry's eyes, his hands clutching his tear-soaked robes firmly. "But now, I don't care! I love you, Harry, and I want to be with you!"
Harry was frozen, shocked, stunned. He had caught his eyes lingering on Draco several times in the past. He often thought about him- one might say he was obsessed, with all the time he spent checking the map for Draco's dot. And he had always secretly admired Draco's devil may care attitude. Had those been signs? Had he been harboring feelings for Draco and not knowing it all this time?
He smiled, not believing how thick he had been. Of course it would take the tears of someone he loved to make him realize his true feelings. He held Draco tighter and wiped the tears off his cheeks. "I love you, too... Draco."
Kisses had never been so salty sweet.
A sudden outburst of loud giggling reverberated through the classroom, effectively breaking the general dull stupor. "Miss Patil, Miss Brown, ten points from Gryffindor!" Professor McGonagall snapped. "Now bring that paper to me at once!"
Parvati and Lavender shared a look before Parvati walked to the front of the room to hand it to Professor McGonagall. "Here you go, professor."
Professor McGonagall looked down at it. "This isn't a note," she said, confused. "What is it?"
"It's a story," Parvati answered.
"About Harry and Malfoy," Lavender piped up. "We-"
"Found it," Parvati finished.
"What does it say, professor?" someone asked.
"Read it, read it!"
"Please read it!"
"Will you read it, professor?"
"Yes, yes, very well, I'll read it," snapped Professor McGonagall. "No interruptions or I'm docking points," she warned, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and bringing the mysterious story closer to her face.
Harry was very curious as to what it said. After all, who would be writing stories about him and Malfoy? And what about? He glanced over and guessed that Malfoy was wondering the same thing, judging from the confused expressions he was sharing with Crabbe and Goyle. Well, not that those two looked any more confused than normal. Unfortunately, the further Professor McGonagall progressed with the story, the more snickers echoed across the classroom.
Harry could feel to back of his neck burn in embarrassment. He had only ever dated Cho, and that had been last year. He did have a crush on Ginny, but it was just that, a crush, and a secret one at that! Could his lack of girlfriends really have led people to believe he was gay?
He sat frozen in his seat, and when Professor McGonagall read to last line, he winced as everyone around him let out a collective burst of laughter and cheer.
"Bloody hell!" Malfoy snapped from across the room. "Who would write such rubbish? I'm letting my father know-"
"About you're sexuality? You're pretty defensive, Malfoy, is it true?"
Malfoy sputtered with indignation. "I'm dating Pansy, you prat! Of course not! Potter's the gay one!"
All eyes shot toward Harry. "Harry, are you really...?" Neville began nervously.
"No!" he exclaimed. "I hate Malfoy!"
"We didn't ask if you liked Malfoy, we asked if you were gay," Seamus pointed out.
"Well, he never dates, "Dean supplied, earning sounds of dawning realization from most of the class.
"I do! I'm dating..." Harry looked around the room frantically, "Hermione!"
Ron exploded beside him. "WHAT?" he roared, turning a frightening shade of red. "You two-you- How could you?" he yelled, glaring daggers at Harry and Hermione.
"Ron, calm down, I'm not dating Harry," Hermione sighed.
Someone laughed loudly. "I knew it! I knew he was gay!"
Harry steeled himself. He knew what he had to do, and he didn't like it. But what other choice did he have?
"I'm dating Romilda Vane."
The rumor mill in Hogwarts was on fire- and defective. After the sixth year Slytherins and Gryffindors had had points taken away from their Houses for disrupting class, word had permeated through the school. By lunch, everyone with ears had heard the story.
It turned out that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy had been secretly dating for a while. They had, however, broken up, and were now dating Romilda Vane and Pansy Parkinson, respectively.
It took Harry two weeks to get Romilda to stop following him. And, for some reason, he had had to shake off Colin Creevey, too.