[Insert usual disclaimer here.]


Mostly just playing around here, so I hope you have fun reading it.


Chapter 1



"Christ, I'm hungry!"


Ron and Harry covered the last few yards up to Hogwarts Castle from the quidditch pitch in a few short seconds, and soon found themselves caught in the crush of students flooding into the Great Hall for dinner. Harry envied Ron his height as his red-headed friend looked easily over the heads of the crowd. "Oi! Hermione!" He turned to smile at Harry. "Save you a place, alright?"


Harry nodded and Ron moved off through the crowd. Harry craned his neck to see the two meet and exchange a small kiss in greeting.


Someone shoved Harry from behind.


"Left behind, Potter?"


Harry groaned inwardly and turned to meet the gaze of his long-time adversary, Draco Malfoy.


"What do you want, Malfoy?" he sighed. Harry was too tired to deal with Malfoy's idiocy at the moment; all he wanted was to get some dinner and go back to the common room to relax.


At that moment, someone pushed Malfoy from behind, and he fell forward. Harry reached out on instinct and caught him as he was about to hit the floor. He fell backwards to land with a soft thud on the carpet with Malfoy on top of him.


Grey eyes met green, and for a moment, they forgot that there were people watching. "What're you doing, Harry?"


It felt strange for Harry to hear his first name coming from the mouth of his enemy.


"Nothing," said Harry. There was a moment of silence between them, of bated breath, of pure anticipation before both boys simultaneously realized their position. Draco was on top of Harry, one hand on the other boy's chest, the other on the floor beside Harry's shoulder. Harry had one hand on Draco's shoulder, the other on his back. Their legs were very close, almost intertwined.


The moment they noticed this, the disentangled and sprang to their feet.


Harry turned to go into the Great Hall as Draco addressed him. "Thanks."


"Don't mention it."


Draco suddenly seemed to come back to himself. The infamous Malfoy poise reappeared in his face and he pushed past Harry toward the doorway. As he did, their hands brushed. Harry gasped at the contact. He hadn't realized that Draco- um- Malfoy's skin was so soft. The boy obviously took very good care of himself.


Harry recovered himself quickly and made his way in to dinner, still feeling the place on his hand where Draco had touched him.


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Inside the Great Hall, Harry took a seat beside Ron and Hermione, suddenly ravenous.


"Hi Harry," said Hermione. "What took you so long?"


"Big crowd outside- it was madness." Harry didn't look at her as he spoke, trying to forget the incident with Draco.


Dean and Seamus entered, together as usual, and seated themselves opposite Harry.


"Hi Harry," said Dean.


"Hiya," echoed Seamus. Harry nodded in greeting, his mouth full of chicken pie.


"Hey, Harry," began Dean, leaning forward and smiling devilishly. "What was that commotion in the entryway with you and Malfoy?"


"Things looked a little intimate." Seamus put on his most disarming smile.


"What're they talking about, Harry?" asked Ron.


"Malfoy was on top of Harry on the Entry Hall floor," said Dean before Harry could defend himself.


"What?" Now even Hermione was interested. Harry put his head in his hands, the cause lost.


"No, he wasn't." He had to try to save his reputation somehow. His hand still remembered the place where Draco had touched it. When did he become Draco? Harry thought to himself.


"Explain," said four voices at once.


"Well, we were caught in the crush of people trying to get in here, and Dra- Malfoy was getting all ready to pick a fight with me when he got pushed from behind, and he fell. I tried to catch him, it being the decent thing to do and all, and he fell and happened to land on top of me. That's all."


"What do you mean, he got pushed?" Seamus' eyebrows were raised quizzically.


"What?"


"We saw the whole thing from behind," said Dean. "Nobody pushed Malfoy. From where we were standing, it looked like he tripped or something, except that he was standing still before it happened."


"Why would he trip though," asked Hermione, gesturing with a diner roll. " Especially if he was standing still. I mean, he's a seeker. He's got that whole natural grace and balance thing going."


"Yeah, we don't understand it either." Dean looked up from where he and Seamus had been conferring. "I mean, why would he fake trip like that? Does he want an excuse to get close to Harry or something?"


Harry felt his heart leap slightly at the idea. What is going on? Malfoy trips over his own feet in the Entrance Hall and suddenly I'm all a-flutter at the thought of that slimy git wanting to get close to me?


He looked around the Great Hall, trying to appear casual, until his eyes fell on a certain blond boy at the Slytherin table. Harry watched the way Draco talked, the way he kept his eyes and face impassive while he spoke. Harry couldn't hear what he was saying, but watching his full, reddish lips move was a fascinating sight. He watched as a thin, pale hand reached up to smooth back the silvery blond hair. The movement was graceful and natural, almost dancer-like in its simplicity. Draco turned and his eyes suddenly met Harry's. Harry gasped, but didn't look away. He could see Draco's own surprise as a strange energy passed between them: a sort of shared secret knowledge. Draco quickly turned back to his plate. Harry swallowed hard.


"Harry?" Ron waved his hand in front of Harry's face. "You all right?"


"Uh... yeah, I'm fine." Harry jerked back to reality just a second too late.


"Where'd you go? Mooning over a certain Slytherin?" Ron's voice was almost visibly dripping with sarcasm.


"Yeah, that's right, Ron. Me and Malfoy." Harry's voice felt somehow hollow although his sarcasm matched Ron's. "That'd be the day."


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Harry left for the dormitory soon after dinner. He was already sick of Dean and Seamus' jokes about him and Draco, and he had some things he wanted to think out on his own.


A voice accosted him at the foot of the grand staircase.


"Hey, Potter, wait a minute."


Harry turned. His heart gave a small leap when he saw it was Draco, although he made sure his face didn't show it. "What is it, Malfoy?" He did his best to sound less than pleased to see him.


Draco stopped just a few feet from Harry. "I, um, I just wanted to say thank you- again- for what you did earlier."


"What do you mean?" Harry noticed for the first time that Draco was really only about two inches shorter than him. His hair shone beautifully in the light from the torches on the walls.


"Well, you reached out, tried to catch me. No one's ever done that before." Draco stepped forward, narrowing the space between the two of them. Harry could see the flecks of different shades of gray that made his eyes so fascinating. Or was it the emotion behind them that did it? Harry wasn't sure any more.


"It... it seemed the right thing to do." Harry was almost completely unaware of the words he was saying. His breathing seemed to be so much louder, and time so much slower. What's happening? His head tilted slightly to the side, and he felt himself leaning in slowly, unable to stop himself. He realized briefly that Draco was doing the same before his eyes closed of their own accord. Their lips moved slowly toward each other until the distance between them was almost imperceptibly small. Harry could feel Draco's warm breath on his lips. They were so close...


"Harry!" Dean's voice rang across the hall, Seamus beside him.


Harry and Draco opened their eyes and leapt apart. Harry was shaking almost visibly, and he found himself envying Draco's so easily recovered poise.


"Hi Dean, Seamus."


"Hi. How's it going Harry?"


Harry couldn't tell if they had seen anything or not, although Seamus' voice suggested that they had.


Draco suddenly turned and walked off toward the dungeons without a word. His hand brushed Harry's arm lightly as he passed. Harry felt a small electric pulse at the contact, but was thankfully able to hide it.


"Come on," said Dean, pulling Harry up the stairs. "We want to talk to you." He nodded at Seamus, and they each grabbed one of Harry's arms, leading him up to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory. They seated him on Dean's bed and settled opposite him, examining his face carefully.


"So," said Seamus. "Care to share?"


"What're you talking about?" Harry tried to sound calm, but he knew it wasn't working.


"That little interlude between you and Malfoy. What was going on there?" Dean cocked an eyebrow.


"I don't know. Nothing. I swear." Harry was almost squirming now. Why did they have to see that? Why did anybody? Couldn't Draco and I have been alone a bit longer? Harry blushed at the last thought, feeling a small pulse of excitement whenever he thought about what could have happened if he and Draco had indeed been alone for longer.


"Because it sure as hell didn't look like nothing." Dean looked almost stern. Harry suddenly noticed that Dean and Seamus were sitting awfully close to each other, their hands almost touching. As he watched, Dean reached over and took Seamus' hand in his own, holding it in a way that certainly wasn't platonic.


Harry raised an eyebrow. "Now who has some explaining to do?"


Seamus looked at his boyfriend, a slight blush staining his cheeks. "You want to, or shall I?"


"I'll start, and you fill in."


"All right."


"Well, I pretty much I always knew about me," said Dean. "I mean, I've seen plenty of beautiful girls in my time, but I never really could get into it, you know what I mean? I just knew that it wasn't for me."


"Last year, after I broke up with Lavender," continued Seamus. "I was really upset, of course, but at the same time I knew that the relationship had been missing something. I was depressed, because I thought there was something wrong with me. I thought I just couldn't fall in love or something. And Dean was... he was there for me, the whole time." He smiled into Dean's eyes. Harry thought they were about to kiss and wondered what to do, when they suddenly broke the romantic gaze to finish their story.


"Anyway," said Dean. "Long story short, we fell in love, came out at home, and everything is good. We decided to keep it a secret at school, just so that we could keep living in the dorm without getting strange looks all the time and all that. It just made everything easier."


"But that's part of why we wanted to talk to you, Harry." Seamus' face was open. "I guess we wanted you to know that, no matter what you're feeling, you aren't the only one."


"Thanks," said Harry. "Um... so you're both...?"


"Gay? Yes." Dean's voice was matter-of-fact. "Are you?"


Harry opened his mouth to say no, and suddenly found himself unable to speak. "I... I... don't know," he finally managed to say. "I guess I'm still waiting to find out."


"Well, take your time," said Seamus. "But if you ever feel like talking, you know where we live." He winked and got up, heading for the showers. "Blimey, I'm tired. See you later, Harry."


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