Heya people! Sorry we havn't been around for awhile! ~Luna~

But don't worry, we are back! so you can stop crying now =D -Mirror-

Or you could start crying out of happiness Pepper

In other news, I have a challenge for you guys! 1) go bash a random straight person. 2) write a story about your favorite couple who either is gay, or who you think should be gay. (from a movie, t.v show, or book.) message us and send us a link to your story so we can comment on it. -Mirror-

If you're lucky, we'll be nice when we comment ;) Pepper

Shes kidding, we'll be nice ~Luna~

If you're lucky -Mirror-

~oOo...oOo...oOo~

The ongoing feud between Griffindor and Slytherin was no secret; and neither was the rivalry between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. However, something about this year had both houses and both students on edge. No one seemed to know the reason, of course. That would be too easy. And no one said that this year would be easy. Or simple.

Harry sat down at the Griffindor breakfast table. It had it's usual array of breakfast items spread across the table. Even though he was in his 6th year at Hogwarts, no one ever seemed to get bored of staring. And even though it was a year since he defeated Voldemort, the various houses never got tired of whispering. There was always a happy murmur of chatter until he passed, then the chatter would subside to whispers and hurried glances. So after Harry ignored any looks and/or whispers, he sat down and helped himself to eggs. Soon after, he was joined by Ron and Hermione.

They'd lingered in the common room because Ron had said something about needing to talk to Hermione about something important. Harry had grinned and said it was about time, earning an incredible blush that crept all the way up Ron's face. And the atmosphere between the two of them wasn't awkward, he assumed Ron chickened out.

Ron served himself a few slices of toast and said, "Seamus told me that he heard something about Malfoy having in for you today." He shook his fingers slightly when the hot toast burned his fingertips. He then reached for a cold glass of orange juice.

Ron didn't seem too worried about Draco, but neither was Harry as he replied: "Yeah, and what else is new?"

Both Ron and Harry chuckled at this. Hermione just rolled her eyes and swallowed a mouthful of bacon before saying: "You know, he may actually have a plan this time."

"He might have a wand up his sleeve." Ron suggested sarcastically as he pretended to be terrified.

"No seriously," Hermione started, "He hasn't done anything for days. That leads me to believe that he's planning something, because I doubt that he is just going to leave Harry alone."

"You might be right. I'll keep my guard up." Harry said.

All three glanced at the Slytherin as if Draco was about to hex Harry on the spot; but Draco wasn't there.

"Hmm... how promising." Ron commented.

"Great." Harry stated sarcastically.

After everyone went back to eating breakast and discussing classes, Harry muttered: "I'm definitely gonna watch my back." Just then the owls flew in, covering the cloudy ceiling with loud hoots and ruffled feathers. It made Harry jump.

Meanwhile... in the Slytherin common room...

"So... let me get this straight." Blaise Zabini began, sitting in a tall-backed but overstuffed black and silver chair facing Draco Malfoy, who was leaning against a wall, "You think you have a ithing/i for Potter."

Draco removed his back from the green wallpaper and started pacing aggitatedly in an attempt to hide a face slightly colored from embarrasement and sheer irritation.

"But you don't even know if you're gay?" Zabini continued.

Draco just nodded again and started pacing faster. He was perfectly aware of the fact that his pale face was becoming steadily more colored, but that was due to irritation and just a general feeling of being flustered more than from the realization that he liked Harry Potter.

"Enlighten me, you're telling me all this because...?"

Draco had thought about it a lot. He obviously couldn't tell anyone he was close to but he needed to confide in someone. This whole situation was killing him. He needed someone he knew he could trust yet not close enough to him to give him too much grief. So in an attempt to convey all this briefly he replied: "Because I have the slightest feeling that since it doesn't make a difference to you, you're not going to tell anyone."

Blaise grinned evilly and suggested: "But maybe since I don't care, I will tell everyone."

Draco stopped his pacing in concern but then he just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Actually Blaise, if you tell anyone, then I'll tell everyone that you're secretly gay."

It actually wasn't much of a secret at all. But Blaise thought he did a good job of hiding it and no one had the heart to tell him otherwise.

The grin was wiped off Blaise's face. "How'd you know that?"

"Well you stare at the ass of every guy that walks by. That could be a giveaway."

It was Blaise's turn to sigh. "Fine, your secret is safe with me."

They looked at eachother for a moment before Blaise asked: "So what're you gonna do about it?"

Draco looked distantly out of a window, it was rather gloomy and looked as if it would rain. "I have no clue."

"Hmmm I have a suggestion, but there's no way in hell that you'll agree."

"Go on." He turned to face Blaise again.

"You could always try and talk to him."

Draco rolled his eyes again. "That's easier said than done."

There was another pause.

"Hey I've got a different idea, how about I-"

"Am I gonna like this one?" Draco cut him off.

Blaise glared at him for a moment before continueing: "I'll talk to him for you."

Draco thought for a second, contemplating. "But what would you say to him?"

Blaise shrugged, "I'll just start a conversation with him. I won't mention you or the word 'gay', i'll just see how easy he is to talk to."

"That might actually work." Draco said, hope creeping into his voice.

"Well, glad that's settled then." Blaise stood up and stretched his arms. "I'm off to breakfast to talk to Potter. Want me to grab something for you?"

"No, not hungry."

Blaise caught up with Harry, Ron, and Hermione just as they were leaving the Great Hall.

"Hey! Potter! Could I talk to you for a sec?"

Harry turned around and saw the green trim of a Slytherin robe, then he seemed slightly confused and suspicious. "Sure..." He said tentatively.

Harry started to follow Blaise, but Ron was trailing them.

Blaise stopped to address Harry: "I don't mean to be pushy, but could I talk to you ialone/i?"

Harry waved to Ron and gestured to Hermione who was watching all three of them with concern in her expression. Ron went back to Hermione and watched Blaise lead Harry a small ways away.

"So what do you want?" Harry asked. It was obvious that he was still suspicious. It wasn't as if this person had ever given him a reason to mistrust him, but by now the reaction to a Slytherin was just automatic.

Blaise took his wand out from a concealed pocket on the inside of his robe. He gripped the wand at the tip so that the handle was pointed downward at the floor. Harry looked at the wand then at Blaise in confusion; he couldn't cast a spell with his wand in that position. Then Blaise raised his hand so that the handle of his wand was nearly the height of Harry's face in encouragement for him to take it. Harry reached out for it, then hesitated in confusion.

The confusion must've registered on his face because Blaise explained: "It's so you know that I won't jinx you."

Harry nodded once and took the wand gently. Then he took his wand out in the same manner that Blaise did and handed it to Blaise. "For the same reason. And so you know that I won't just run of with your wand." Harry assured the slightly taller boy.

Blaise smiled and took Harry's wand carefully. "I wanted to talk to you because I think the battle between our houses is kinda stupid. I'm not here on behalf of all the Slytherins, but I, personally, offer a truce." Having said that, Blaise held out his hand for Harry to shake.

Harry took the hand and shook it a few times. "But if there is a battle between members of my house and members of yours, and the battle can't be stopped, then I have to side with the Griffindors. I hope you'll understand."

Blaise nodded again and let go of Harry's hand. "I would expect no less. But I assure you that I will not be the one going around and picking fights with Griffindors. I'm sorry but I have to go to class now. May I have my wand?"

Harry handed Blaise's wand back without hesitation. Then Blaise did the same.

"Later." Blaise said as he started to walk away.

"See ya." Harry replied. He watched Blaise walk for a moment but then ran to catch up with him; Harry put his hand on Blaise' shoulder to turn him around. When Blaise stopped and turned, Harry said: "Thank you."

...oOo...

"So... What happened?" Draco questioned Blaise.

This time, Draco was sitting in the chair and Blaise was leaning on the wall.

"Well first he seemed very suspicious of me -but that's to be expected- then he came along anyway when I asked him if I could talk to him. He even sent Weasley away when I asked to talk to him alone."

Draco took all that in. "It used to annoy me when he was noble like that..." He trailed off with an odd tone in his voice that he, himself didn't catch.

Blaise noticed the lovestruck look on Draco's face and thought it best to keep talking. "Then I handed him my wand so prove to him that I wasn't there to turn him into a frog or something. I wasn't expecting this, but he actually handed his wand to me. He said that he wanted to assure me that he wouldn't curse me or that he wouldn't run off with my wand. I said I just wanted a truce, and he said he would accept it. This has to be the most surprising though, when I asked for my wand back, he just gave it to me. He didn't ask for his wand first or anything. He just handed my wand over."

"Wow. So he's easy to talk to then?"

"Yeah! He's easier to talk to then most of the Slytherins I know, actually. Probably because he said 'thank you' after."

"But we've still been fighting for six years. That will probably complicate things."

Blaise gave him a 'you're pathetic' look. "You're secretly gay, you like your mortal enemy, and your mortal enemy is straight... As far as we know. This won't be simple. And anyway the feud between our houses is centuries old, but with the offer of a wand and a handshake it just dissipated."

Draco gave Blaise a thoughtful kind of look. "Yes I suppose that's true. But there is no chance that Harry is gay."

"Hey anything is possible." Blaise shrugged. "Many great people in history have been gay."

"Like who?" He couldn't think of any.

"William Shakespeare."

"How do you know that? And he was a mudblood, he doesn't count."

"I know because he slept with men." And as an afterthought he added, "And you can't say the mudblood stuff around Potter. That Granger girl is a mudblood and his best friend."

Draco ran a hand exasperatedly through his blond hair. "This is going to be more trouble than it's worth... I can feel it already."

"Who ever said that this would be easy?"

...oOo...

"Hey Harry, what did he want?" Ron asked Harry.

"He said that the feud between our houses was stupid and he offered the Griffindor house a truce."

"Seriously?" Hermione asked, unbelieving.

"Yeah. Weird right?" Harry replied, slightly bewildered.

Ron shrugged. "Someone eventually had to see the rivalry as stupid."

"Yeah, but all the same do you think he was sincere?" Hermione asked.

"I'm pretty sure that he was. I mean, you saw how he gave my wand back to me even though I gave his back to him first. I think a lot can be said about that."

"You should still be careful though. You know that Slytherin's name right?" Hermione questioned.

"Ummm Blaise Zabini right?"

"Yeah and he's Malfoy's friend." She explained.

Harry shrugged. "And I'm Ron's friend but I'm not gonna curse every Slytherin that I meet."

"Hey!" Ron exclaimed indignantly.

Hermione started laughing. "Good point!"

The next day, Harry was zoning out in Divination class.

Now, Professor Trelawney was becoming steadily unimpressed with Harry's performance in her subject. But it wasn't just Harry that was doing badly. It seemed that almost every student thought her subject was a joke. So she was out to prove that Divination isn't all about predictions and staring into crystal, much to the future dismay of her students.

"Everyone, today we will be joining Professor Snape's potions class." Professor Trelawney paused for a second, waiting for someone to ask why.

"Why, Professor?" Lavender asked.

"Because your potions professor will assist you in making an elixr that will allow you to share the thoughts or dreams of someone else."

When she said this, some of the class looked curious and excited, some looked bored and exasperated, and others looked slightly worried.

"Last year," She began her explanation, "Nearly none of you even turned in a dream journal, much less did it correctly. The best way to aid this is to perhaps use someone elses dreams so you may be objective in your studies of them, and consequently, have no choice but to have your dream analyzed to the fullest extent whether you like it or not. I will have no more made up dreams or changing dreams from their original form as it compromises your work. Also there is a good chance that your partner will remember your dream even if you don't."

Professor Trelawney had everyone file into a line by the door, then walk quietly down to the dungeons. Once everyone was squished into the classroom -which was steadily filling with a purplish fog that made you drowsy if you inhaled it- Profesor Trelawney gave Professor Snape's class the same speech that Harry heard upstairs. Then Snape began a speechof his own:

"The effects of this elixr will vary greatly from person to person. For some people, you will be able to hear the opposite person's thoughts at certain times of the day. For others, you will be able to hear a person's thoughts incessantly. Sometimes, the people only share dreams. Or they can see what the other person sees when their minds iwander/i." Snape looked directly at Harry when he said that last sentence. Then he continued in the same slow drawl: "If you are extremely unfortunate, then you will have a combination of the three as well as having the ability to feel what your partner feels. But if you are lucky then you might be able to control the connection"

Hermione raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?" Professor Trelawney addressed her, as Snape had ignored her outright.

"How will our partners be picked?" She looked a bit pink in the face, but it may have been the fumes at work for that.

Instead of Professor Trelawney, it was Snape who answered, "Names will be drawn out of the Sorting Hat at random."

Then the professors had the students write their names on a piece of paper, fold it up, and put it in the sorting hat.

"Why the sorting hat?" Ron muttered to Hermione.

"So any spells that anyone put on the paper so they can get the partner they want will be rendered useless, I imagine." Hermione answered as she dropped her paper into the hat.

"That makes sense, but I really hope I don't get stuck with one of those Slytherins over there." Ron jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to gesture at a table of Slytherins, which included Draco.

"Yeah." began Harry. "It would be just our luck if one of us got stuck with Mal-"

Professor Snape heard Harry whispering and said loudly: "Thank you for volunteering, Mr. Potter. Stand up here." Snape stepped aside for Harry to get up and come to the front of the class to stand next to him.

Harry groaned quietly to himself and stood up to go join Snape.

Snape waved his wand over the open end of the hat and the piece of paper with Harry's name on it came out. Then he offered the brim of the hat to Harry.

Harry looked at the small ocean of folded paper contained within the old cloth. Then he carefully reached his hand in and pulled a piece out. Trelawney took the paper from Harry and unfolded it. She looked at it for a moment then read the name out loud.

"Harry Potter's partner is Draco Malfoy."

The class seemed to hold their breath as Harry locked eyes with Malfoy.

Both of them were thinking the same thing: idamn/i.

~oOo...oOo...oOo~

Don't worry theres another chapter coming! ^^ Pepper