Warning: Alcohol and gushy romance up ahead!

Disclaimer: Into the Woods, the best musical on the face of the planet!

Chapter 3

Next weekend came much more quickly than either Harry or Draco had anticipated and soon they found themselves wandering through Hogsmead. They pushed through the crowded streets, neither of them sure of where they were going. Eventually the throngs of students and villagers lessened and the two boys found themselves standing in front of the Hogshead pub.

"You want to go there?" The blonde-haired boy asked his companion.

"How romantic." Commented Harry sarcastically.

"I said I'd go out with you. I never said it would be romantic." Draco shot back.

"Fine," Harry agreed, rolling his eyes.

They made their way into the dingy bar, both a bit apprehensive. Dust and grime carpeted the earthy floor, muffling their footsteps. The door, in serious need of some WD-40, squealed as they passed through it and headed toward the counter. Draco took a seat at a hard wooden bar stool and Harry followed in suit. They both sat in an awkward silence until they were approached by a rather intimidating wizard from the other side of the bar.

"What do ya want?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"Firewhisky. Unless you have something stronger?" Draco replied promptly in a smooth practiced voice.

The grizzly barman seemed a tad bit cowed by his customer's cool manner, "We've got vodka…but it might be a bit strong-"

"I'll take it." Interrupted Harry's boyfriend.

The man nodded and quickly shifted his eyes to the bespectacled boy on Draco's left, "And you?"

"Er…a butterbeer please?"

The bartender raised an eyebrow, "Butterbeer?"

"Er…yes please."

The man's eyes darted to Draco who shrugged, "I'll see what I can find." He stomped off into the back room and Harry and Draco were left in silence.

Harry's eyes took in the dimly lit room around him. The corners were shrouded in darkness since only about half the candles were lit. The "sunlight" coming in from the windows was practically non-existent. Despite the poor visibility, Harry was pretty sure that the bar was deserted except for the two of them.

The silence was getting increasingly uncomfortable and, though Harry tried to break it by twiddling his thumbs and whistling Take Me or Leave Me from Rent, it dragged on. When Harry couldn't take it anymore he asked the first question that popped into his head.

"Do you believe in love?"

Draco looked at him skeptically and he looked like he was about to give a sarcastic remark when his brows suddenly furrowed in thought. He finally answered after a couple of moments, "I…I don't know. I've never really thought about it. How about you? Dou you believe in love?"

Harry's eyes brightened as he responded, "Love? Above all things I believe in love! Love is like oxygen! Love is a many splendid thing; love lifts us up where we belong! All you need is love!"

When he finished his monologue Draco was staring at him, mouth slightly agape.

Harry colored slightly, "Sorry, Ewan moment."

"I'm not even going to ask. Ah, here are our drinks."

Sure enough the bartender had returned and was holding two drinks. He placed a glass of clear liquid in front of Draco and a filthy bottle full of murky fluid before Harry. They both thanked him (Harry a little less enthusiastically).

Draco took a sip of his vodka and shuddered in delight, "Nice!"

Harry prodded his bottle as though he expected it to scuttle away. When it didn't he gulped and opened the container. He brought the concoction to his nose and took a whiff. Grimacing, he was about to put it back down when he caught Draco smirking at him out of the corner of his eye. Not wanting to appear a wimp in front of his boyfriend, he swallowed and, closing his eyes, took a gulp. He had never consumed anything that tasted less like butterbeer. Usually the drink tasted rich and warmed him up from the inside, but this felt like liquid ice and the taste made him want to run to the nearest facility and vomit his guts out. Instead, he forced a grin onto his face and took another sip. If he had expected it to taste any better the second time he was sorely mistaken. He placed the bottle on the table with a thump and glanced over at his companion.

The blonde was looking at the bottle, "Can I try?"

"Go ahead."

Draco brought the bottle to his lips and a look of pure ecstasy crossed his face, "This stuff's amazing! Trade you?"

"Sure." Said Harry, glad to be rid of the stuff. They swapped beverages. Harry decided that his new drink looked and smelled like water and, since water was one of his favorite drinks, concluded that he would most likely enjoy it. Being wrong had never tasted so bad. At the first swig, his mouth went numb and tingly. Though it was not a bad taste, it was most certainly not a good one. He idly wondered how they could turn potatoes into something like this.

The boy next to him broke his spud-filled train of thought, "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

"Uh…just about us I guess, I mean what are you like?"

"What am I like? You mean what's my favorite color and that sort of crap?"

"Sure, I mean just to start out; we could get deeper as we go on."

"Alright. Sounds lame, but I'll give it a shot. My favorite color is silver. I'm fond rock music and I enjoy bacon, coffee and toast. Your turn."

"Um…well, I like the color green, I guess. I like bagpipes and I'll eat just about anything."

The banter went back and forth like this until Draco broke the pattern, "Oh, this is stupid, tell me something interesting. What's your deepest, darkest secret?"

"Besides the fact that I'm gay and madly in love with a wicked Slytherin?"

The wicked Slytherin grinned, "Yeah."

"Probably that I enjoy watching chick flicks."

"Whoa! You really are gay!"

"Told you so! Anyway it's your turn now."

"My secret? Fine. I like flowers."

"Not much of a secret."

"Well neither was yours."

"True."

They lapsed into silence once more while both finished their drinks, or more, Draco finished his and the dying plant next to Harry finished his. Though neither would admit it, the pub was beginning to creep both of them out and so, after paying, they left in a hurry.

Once outside they were one again faced with the dilemma of what to do. They wandered into the post office where Draco wrote a letter telling to his parents, explaining in vague terms that he was in a relationship.

"I still haven't told them that I'm gay." He said in response to Harry's questioning expression at his lack of detail in the note.

"You ever going to tell them?"

"Maybe, once I get my response from 'Dear Abby'." At Harry's shocked and disgusted look he hastily added, "Just kidding, just kidding! God, can't you take a joke?"

Harry smiled weakly, "You really had me worried there for a second."

They both laughed and watched the post-owl fly off into the cloudy sky. Suddenly, Harry felt a drop of water splatter on his head and run down into his face in an icy stream. He looked upward and found that the sky was leaking water. He grinned, "I love the rain!"

"Good thing you live in England then."

Harry frowned, "Don't you like it. You seem like the sort of person who would like rain."

"Do I? Well I guess you'd be right about that."

It seemed that the rest of Hogsmead's population disagreed with their opinion as the streets emptied quickly at the first few drops, leaving Harry and Draco to wander the muddy roads in peace. Conversation came easily between the two and they let their feet lead them. Neither was very surprised when they found themselves in a cemetery.

"I love cemeteries." Commented the Slytherin idly

"Lots of flowers?" Suggested the Gryffindor.

"I guess, and they're just…I don't know…peaceful."

"Yeah."

A comfortable silence passed between them as they wandered among the stones and plants. It was as though they understood each other perfectly and had no need to speak. Rain was falling harder now, plastering Harry's robes to his body and making Draco's hair gleam brightly. Drops fell onto the numerous plants, bringing out the vibrant colors that made up the blossoms around them. Water fell off the green stems and leaves making it appear as if they had a silver lining surrounding their very beings. It was perfect, simply perfect. The two stood there, a thousand words of love and devotion passing between them in a moment of golden silence. And then, midst the flowers and rain, they kissed sharing more emotion in a single kiss than most people do in their entire lives.

A/N: Aww, you've gotta gushy, mushy romance. Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long. I just started school and it's been hectic. Harry's love monologue is from Moulin Rouge if any of you were wondering, weirdest movie I've ever seen, but I love it oh so much. Ewan rules! Also the whole "sharing more emotion in a single kiss than most people do in their entire lives" is sorta from one of the lines in A Walk to Remember.