He loved everything about him. From his platinum blonde hair to the charming smirk that was his trademark. He had admired this boy for years, but always silently and to himself. Not even his best friends knew. They could never know. They would never accept it. But this boy would, he hoped, understand. He hoped Draco would feel the same, have the same thoughts, hold the same secret. He hoped…
'Oh, bloody hell. He's looking over here again. God, he's so gorgeous. If only he knew. Look at that hair. And his eyes…his gorgeous, deep green eyes,' these thoughts played through his mind daily, every time the black-haired Gryffindor looked at him. 'God, snap out of it, mate! You shouldn't be thinking like that.'
'Oh, but he's so damn gorgeous.'
'Stop it, stop it right now. You are not gay. You are not gay.'
'God, what I'd do to get that shirt off him.'
'Whoa, where did that come from? You're losing you mind!'
'Today's the day,' Harry thought to himself. 'Today, I tell Draco how I feel.' He'd been planning this day for over a month, trying to decide exactly how to word the announcement. 'Oh, God, what if he doesn't feel the same?' The thought hit Harry like a ton of bricks- just as it did each time he tried to express his feelings to Draco. 'What if he thinks I'm insane?' Harry shook the thoughts from his head. 'No, I can't back out again. I have to do it this time. There's only a month and half left of term. I can't bow out this time. I'm gonna do it, right after class.'
Across the room, Draco was having the same conversation with himself.
'I have to tell him today. I'll just pull him aside after class and tell him straight out. Yeah, it's not that hard. I just have to tell him how I feel… But what if he isn't like that? What if he's with someone else? Oh, bloody hell. I'm screwed.'
When the bell rang, both boys looked fearfully up at the clock. Harry made his way to the door, standing aside and letting the others pass before him. He caught sight of Draco's blonde hair at the back of the herd.
Draco gulped nervously as he moved closer and closer to the door.
Upon reaching the doors, both boys looked nervously at each other, realizing they had both waited behind. They watched Professor Binns float through the wall to the hallway, leaving the boys alone in the classroom.
'Oh, god, what now?' Harry asked himself.
'Shit, I knew I should have waited to do this,' Draco thought.
'Say something!' Harry's mind screamed.
"Uh, Dr-Draco, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute." Harry didn't know how he managed to form the sentence, but it came out all the same.
"Er, sure," Draco replied. He was upset with himself for not speaking up first. He wanted to lead, not follow. He never liked to follow.
"I, er…" Harry sighed. "This is hard to word… I um…. I sort of…er…like-"
Draco couldn't take it anymore. He pressed his lips against Harry's in a kiss. He was happy to see that Harry didn't resist. The boys kissed passionately for a moment before having the sense to pull apart before they were caught.
The boys stood there, staring at each other for a moment before Harry finally spoke.
"Good to see you feel the same," he said. Both grinned. Draco pulled Harry into a hug, glad to finally be able to hold him close.
Out in the hall, a third boy stood watching. Ron had gone back to Professor Binns classroom once he realized that Harry had not followed him and Hermione out. Ron arrived just in time to see the boys kiss again. He turned and walked back down the hall to the place where he had left Hermione.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked. Ron looked up at her and she knew something was up. "What? What's wrong?"
"We need to talk…now!" Ron said, pulling Hermione into an empty classroom.
"Ron, what is it?"
Ron leaned in closer and whispered what he'd seen in Hermione's ear. When he'd finished, Hermione clasped her hands over her mouth in utter shock. Ron gave her a look that clearly said "Tell me about it."
Harry and Draco managed to slip off together for their free period that afternoon. They found themselves a nice empty classroom and sat down to talk. Since they hadn't exactly been friendly towards each other in previous years, they had a lot of "catching up", if it could be called that, to do. They talked for the entire period, then met again after dinner that evening, talking late into the night.
Finally, at eleven thirty, the boys decided to call it a night and Harry walked Draco back down to the dungeon entrance. Draco tried to resist the urge to kiss his new found love, but gave in to the temptation. The boys kissed, said goodnight, and headed their separate ways- Draco into the dungeons and Harry up the seven floors to Gryffindor Tower.
But the boys didn't know that their farewell gesture had been seen by another student- Lavender Brown, the biggest gossiper in Hogwarts history.
By the time classes started the next morning, everyone in Hogwarts knew that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were together. The Slytherins taunted Draco to no extent and the Gryffindors weren't very supportive of Harry, either. Whenever the boys were seen together, they endured crude sex jokes. The boy finally resolved to avoid each other for a few days and allow the whole situation to blow over. Little did they know that their problems would only follow them.
That night as the Gryffindor boys prepared for bed, Harry noticed that Dean was quite reluctant to change. He also noticed that Dean was sending him suspicious glances. Seamus noticed it as well.
"What wrong, mate?" Seamus asked Dean.
"I don't think we should be sharing a dorm with him," Dean replied, gesturing towards Harry.
"Why not?"
"He's gay! What more is there?"
"Harry likes guys. So what?"
"So what?! How can you just stand there and say 'so what'?!"
"Look, we're all shocked about his decision, mate. But Harry's our friend. Someone has to support him. Are you gonna do that?"
"Hell no!" Dean stormed out of the dormitory, slamming the door shut behind him. Seamus sighed and turned to Harry.
"He's just shocked is all," he said. "Anyway, I support you, mate."
"Yeah, me too," Neville added.
"Ah, what the hell," Ron chimed in. "I'll support you, ya gay bitch." He winked.
"Thanks guys. I really need someone to understand," Harry replied, smiling at his friends.
"Well, we're here if you need anything. You can come to us for anything. You know that, right?" Seamus asked.
"Yeah."
"Well, you can come to us for anything except a snog," Ron joked. They laughed.
"I don't think you'll have to worry about that," Harry replied.
The next morning, Harry woke to the same routine as the day before. Things had lightened up a bit, but he still had to endure jokes and rude gestures each time he rounded a corner. He was happy to be going to Herbology, because he could take one of the short cuts from his previous class (Divination) and proceed through one of the lesser used corridors, where there would be fewer people to poke fun at him.
He had stopped for a moment to address a painting that had just made an especially nasty comment about his sexuality, when a hand suddenly reached out of the door way behind him, latched onto Harry's robes, and pulled him inside the classroom. The door shut quickly. Harry was surprised to find that the hand belonged to Draco, who was now pacing frantically in the dimly lit room.
"This isn't working, Harry," he said.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Harry replied, leaning against the wall. It had been a long day and it was only half over.
"What're we going to do?"
"What do you want to do?"
Draco sighed. "I don't know. I've run out of ideas."
"We could always keep avoiding each other and deny it all. You know, act like it never happened."
"No, no. I don't want to have to hide it. We shouldn't have to."
"I know we shouldn't, but what are we going to do about it? They're gonna tear us to shreds."
"I won't give in to them. I won't! I love you, Harry. I'm not gonna let those sods bloody ruin this. I want to be with you." Draco put his hands on Harry's shoulders.
"I want to be with you, too." Harry pulled Draco into a hug. "Don't worry," he said, pulling back. "We'll think of something." Draco smiled at him, then the smile turned to a smirk and his silver eyes glistened with mischief.
"No, no more plans," Draco replied. "I don't want to hide anything anymore. Let's just come out. Let's let them see us together. Who cares if they make nasty jokes about us?"
"Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, what if you're dad found out?"
"Screw my dad. I don't care what he thinks anyway."
Harry wasn't sure about this, and the emotion showed in his face.
"What do you think?" Draco asked him. "You're a part of this too."
"I can't think of anything better. And it's obviously not going to just blow over," Harry said. He sighed. "Let's do it." Draco grinned and took his boyfriend's hand. The boys left the classroom and headed off to Herbology together.
As they made their way across the grounds, they were approached by a group of Ravenclaw girls who smiled sweetly at their clasped hands.
"We think you guys are really cute together," one of the girls said happily. The other girls nodded in agreement. Draco laughed and Harry blushed.
"Thanks," Draco replied. The boys walked on and soon reached the green houses, where they were greeted by odd looks and whispers. The crowd parted as they made their way towards Ron and Hermione. When they reached them, Hermione's eyes were wide and Ron's face was flushed.
The class period passed with almost complete silence between Harry and Draco and Ron and Hermione. Afterwards, they headed off to lunch in the Great Hall. On the way back to the castle, a Hufflepuff girl came up to Harry and Draco.
"You two are so brave. Everyone in Hufflepuff is happy for you," she said.
"Thanks," Harry said, no longer embarrassed. The girl left and Ron looked nervously over at Harry.
"Yeah—uh—mate, that's…um…good for you and all…but…y-you never liked me that way, right?" he asked.
"No," Harry said, chuckling.
Ron suddenly relaxed. "Oh, well then, all I can say is I'm happy for you. But really Harry, why Malfoy?"
Harry looked at the blonde-haired Slytherin next to him. "Because I like him, Ron," he said smiling. Draco smiled back. Hermione could no longer control it. The words she'd been holding back all day came pouring out.
"But, Harry, this is really bad," she said. "Wizards want their powers to carry on, and two men can't carry out a family—and the wizarding community would be very upset about that. Especially considering Malfoy has a long line of magic and he's the last of his family—and so are you. But, I mean, you're the most desired wizard throughout England. This is bad, Harry. I'm happy for you, and I have no problem with it—but they will, Harry. Oh Merlin, just wait till the Prophet hears about this…"
"What if I don't care?" Harry asked.
"W-what?"
"What if I don't care what they think? It shouldn't matter anyway. It's about how I feel—how we feel. I don't care if the Prophet starts a petition to kick us out of Britain."
"But, Harry—" She was cut off by Romilda Vane and her pack of misfits approaching Harry and Draco.
"Will you make out for us?" Romilda asked. "Please! We've never seen two boys kiss."
"Um, let me think about that….NO!" Draco exclaimed.
Romilda and her friends shot him nasty glares as the turned on their heels and marched away.
After dinner, Harry and Draco were standing in the Entrance Hall saying goodnight when they were approached by Fred and George Weasley.
"Harry, why don't you bring Draco here up to Gryffindor," Fred suggested.
"Are you sure?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," George replied. "I know Fred and I'd like to get to know him better." Fred nodded.
"And everyone else is talking about him, bloody nosy sods," George continued.
"Well….alright then. If that's fine with you, I mean," Harry said, looking to Draco.
"Yeah, sure," Draco answered.
"Come on, then," Fred told them, putting his arm around Draco's shoulders. "Besides, George and I need to see if Draco here is good enough for our Harry." He winked.
When the four of them entered Gryffindor Tower, however, they were met with complete silence. Everyone, and I mean everyone, stopped talking. Even the crackling fire seemed quieter than usual.
"Harry! Harry!" a voice called from across the room. Ginny was pushing her way through the crowd towards the portrait hole. When she saw the group, however, she stopped. "O-oh," she whispered. Here eyes were frozen on Draco. Harry looked around the room and noticed that everyone else had their gaze fixed on Draco, too. It was an uncomfortable silence, and Harry was tired of it.
"Look, I know you all think this is weird and I know that 90 percent of you hate Draco's guts, but he's my boyfriend now, and you're all going to have to square with that sooner or later 'cause we're gonna be together for a long, long time," Harry announced. The room was still quiet for a few more moments, until Hermione managed to push her way through the petrified crowd to stand next to Harry and Draco.
"I'm with you, Harry, and I always will be," she said, giving him a reassuring smile. Ron made his way through the throng of Gryffindors as well, coming to stand next to Hermione.
"You know I'm with you, mate," he told his friend as he clapped him on the back. Fred and George moved around to stand next to Draco.
"And so are we," the twins stated simultaneously.