A/N: Not too much to say here, but there's more comments on the bottom, about the chapter...

Thanx to Ava, Lena18, and Robin the Bird and thanx to Vasquaz! Sorry for forgetting ya last time!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything connected to it; that would be JK Rowling and Scholastic Books. So don't sue; I'm broke.. heh..

Note: This Chapter was updated as of 10/17/07

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Going Through the Motions

By Squall Thrawn

Chapter 4 - I'll Never Tell

"He said yes?!" exclaimed Hermione. "I can't believe it!" She, along with Ron and Neville, were sitting in the Great Hall, eating breakfast. Harry had told Ron that he would catch up to them in a little while; he said he wanted to get some more sleep.

"I know!" exclaimed Ron. "I would have bet a galleon that Harry would refuse to play!" He shook his head disbelievingly.

"I wonder how Seamus did it?" mused Neville. Even though he had a room to himself, he had been hanging out in the one that Seamus shared with Dean when Seamus had appeared with the biggest grin on his face.

"Didn't he tell you?" questioned Hermione.

Neville shook his head. "No, he didn't. He just told us that he had a meaningful conversation with Harry and that afterwards, Harry agreed to play Truth or Dare on one condition."

"Harry didn't mention the condition when he talked to me," said Ron. "He just said that Seamus had talked him into playing Truth or Dare, and that we've been underestimating him all of these years."

"Well, of course yeh have," said Seamus, sitting down next to Neville. Dean and Ginny were right behind him and sat down as well.

"Conceited much?" asked Ron sarcastically. Seamus merely gave him an unrepentant smile. "So what's this condition you agreed to?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can guess," said Seamus. "Harry doesn't feel like answering questions about what he's feeling, last summer, that sort of thing." Seamus looked pointedly at Ron and Hermione. "He seems to think that certain people might use the opportunity to interrogate him on those subjects."

Ron looked slightly uncomfortable, but Hermione looked unabashed. "Can you blame me for thinking that?" she asked. "I do worry about him, after all."

"We all do, Hermione," said Ginny, frowning briefly. "But as Seamus said last night, the whole purpose of this game was so Harry could have a chance to have fun without thinking about all that stuff."

"I mean, we're not asking Harry to just forget all that stuff," said Seamus. "Even if we did, he wouldn't listen. You know how he is." Seamus smiled briefly.

"Talking about me again?" said a voice from above them. Harry was smiling slightly as he sat down next to Ron.

"Naturally!" said Seamus, grinning. "We were just discussing about how Neville is totally smitten with you!"

Harry's only reaction was to offer Seamus a tight-lipped smile very reminiscent of Professor McGonagall. Neville's reaction was much more satisfying; he seemed to be resembling a goldfish.

"Ease up, Neville," said Ginny soothingly. "Seamus is just yanking your chain." She glared at Seamus, whose grin didn't falter in the least. Neville's face finally started turning back from the bright crimson it had been.

As the others continued to harangue the Irish boy over his embarrassment of Neville, Harry got to work. He managed to spread the food in his plate around to make it appear as if he'd already eaten. After his talk with Seamus the night before, Harry had managed to block out his problems for a while, convincingly enough that Ron actually believed that Harry was getting better. But with sleep approaching, Harry's emotional barriers had weakened and his problems had come back full force, with a new addition. Now that Seamus had shared his hopes and aspirations of reconciling their recent past and becoming friends with Harry, Harry had yet another person to worry about. He was already trying to keep Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at a distance for their own safety, and Neville seemed to be trying to become more friendly with Harry as well. And now Seamus had made his way to the list. Another person to distance himself from, another person to keep secrets from.

Thus far, it had not been hard to keep his secrets from Hermione and Ron. Oh, they pushed and prodded for answers, but that had actually only made it easier for Harry. He had never liked people pressing him for answers, so all the insistent questions instead awoke his stubborn side. And Harry had found that all it took was a few angry words and then sullen silence, and the interrogation was halted. Ron and Hermione were much too tenderhearted about it, and just postponed the questions still some other time. Then they'd go through the same routine the next time. Neville and Ginny were even easier to keep secrets from; they didn't even know the entire story, so they couldn't figure out what they weren't being told.

But Harry could somehow tell that Seamus was different. He didn't even seem like the same Seamus who had left at the end of last term. He was slightly quieter and a touch more serious than last year, significant changes for the Irish boy. And despite his vow not to get close to anybody, and to drive off those who were already close, Harry found himself actually curious to see exactly how much Seamus had changed. And to find out why he cared enough about Harry that he would strive so hard to befriend him. 'But wait,' Harry halted himself mentally. 'I can't afford to get too close to him. All I can do is get him hurt, and make him a target for Voldemort. I can't do that to him.'

Abruptly, Harry stood up. "Guys, I'm going for a walk. I should be back in time for lunch." Without further ado, Harry started walking off, trying to distance himself both mentally and physically from those who would care about him. His friends sitting at the table looked at his retreating back before glancing at one another with worried looks. Hermione sighed, before silently continuing to eat her breakfast. The others followed suit. Most of the others. However, there were two pairs of eyes that gazed at the doors that Harry had just left through.

It was another beautiful afternoon at Hogwarts as Harry sat below a shady beech tree that was overlooking the lake. Since he hadn't been in the mood for receiving frequent inquiring looks by his well-meaning friends, Harry had elected to skip lunch and grab some food from the kitchen afterwards. The giant squid was lazily swimming across the lake as Harry sat there under the tree; but for all that he noticed, the squid could have been doing the foxtrot with Snape and he wouldn't have realized it. Involved in a deep inner monologue, Harry didn't even notice the sun being blocked out by somebody standing in front of him. He only noticed when that somebody finally spoke.

"Trying to ignore me, Potter?" said a familiar drawling voice. Harry knew before he looked up that his visitor was none other than one Draco Malfoy.

"Would it work, Malfoy?" asked Harry, somewhat wryly. Before this year, Harry had hated Malfoy with a fiery passion that had often led the two of them to frequent impromptu duels in the corridors or angry words exchanged. But at this point, any anger Harry still had was overshadowed by the sheer pain that Harry still felt for the loss of his godfather and Cedric. Malfoy was simply a secondary concern.

"Not hardly, Potter, " snarled Malfoy. "You've got a lot of balls to come back here this year. I'm going to make you regret sending my father to Azkaban." With that, Malfoy whipped out his wand.

"That's probably not a good idea, Malfoy," said Harry, not moving a muscle. "I seriously doubt that I'm sitting here unsupervised. After all, I don't think Dumbledore's going to just let me go wherever I want without protection when there are Death Eater wannabes running around." Malfoy quickly looked around the area. Harry arched an eyebrow. "Do you want to sit down?"

"I.. You.." sputtered Malfoy, caught completely flatfooted. "Did you just ask me to sit down?"

"Well, yeah," said Harry, smiling slightly. "Because my neck's hurting something terrible from having to look up all this time. Besides, it's such a nice day out, and there's plenty of shade under this tree." He patted the ground beside him invitingly.

Surprisingly, Malfoy actually looked like he was considering Harry's last statement, before he managed to regain his regular sneer. "Not on your life, Potter!" With that, Malfoy stomped off angrily.

Harry grinned a little before leaning his head back against the tree again and closing his eyes. It seemed that that tactic had worked much better than he had thought it would have.

"All right there, Harry?" A voice came from behind him that he recognized, but Harry didn't feel like turning to find out. Though it sounded like something Colin Creevey would say. "Harry?" Now the voice was in front of him. Harry opened his eyes to be greeted by Seamus's worried face.

"If this keeps up, I'm going to start thinking that you're stalking me, Irishman," said Harry without changing his expression.

Seamus grinned for a second. "I saw Malfoy standing over you, and thought the worst; after all, he tried to ambush you on the Hogwarts Express last year."

Harry snorted. "Now that Crabbe and Goyle are gone, Malfoy isn't nearly as brave. A good bluff was all it took to scare him away. Also, there's something off about him this year. Not sure what it is, though. It almost seemed to me like he was putting on an act, and strangely enough, he seems to be deliberately overplaying the act. I did notice last night that he doesn't seem to have control of Slytherin House anymore. Makes me wonder what he's really up to." Harry, shrugged, then laughed mirthlessly. "But more to the point, what's on your mind, Seamus? I do know that I'm far enough away from the castle that the only way you'd be able to see my confrontation with Malfoy would be if you were heading this way anyway."

"Guilty as charged," said Seamus, grinning sheepishly. "Ron and Hermione didn't see you at lunch, and were wondering if they'd missed you or what. They can't bring themselves ta admit that you might be missing lunch altogether just to avoid them. I, on the other hand, have no such illusions. Looks like I'm right, too, doesn't it?" Seamus gave Harry a piercing glance.

"Seamus…" said Harry, sighing. Why did Seamus insist on making this so hard? "If you don't mind, I just want to be left alone. I really don't feel like talking, and I'm not at all hungry." Just then, his stomach betrayed him by growling loudly.

Seamus arched an eyebrow, but didn't call attention to Harry's blatant lie. "If you say so, Harry. If you don't mind then, I'll just sit and picnic here and leave you alone. I mean, after all, it's way too nice outside ta just eat in that musty old castle." With that, the Irish boy sat down next to Harry and pulled out of his bag quite a bit of food left over from lunch. Mostly rolls and other breads, but there was also a chicken leg wrapped up in a thin plastic. "Me mam taught me that spell; she used to use it for my lunches." said Seamus, gesturing towards the wrapping. Tapping the chicken with his wand, the wrapping disappeared. Setting down all the food between himself and Harry, Seamus sampled one of the rolls. "Looks like I've grabbed way too much food, though. I doubt I'll be able to eat all this food by myself," he said, thoughtfully. "Too bad there's nobody around who's hungry at all…"

Harry looked at the food in front of him for a moment, before giving in and picking up the chicken leg. "Thanks, Seamus," said Harry simply. It was just a simple lunch, wasn't it? He could still keep his distance, without going completely hungry, right?

"No worries, mate," replied Seamus. "This last summer, I had times where I just wanted to be alone with my thoughts, without getting the third degree on what I was thinking about. Drove Dean absolutely batty, let me tell ya. But he finally realized that I would tell him when I was ready, and that sometimes all a friend can do is just stand back and offer silent support until the other person is ready ta talk. I've got yer back, Harry, and I'll give ya all the time you need." Seamus smiled towards Harry, who responded with a slight one in return. The conversation was left there, as the two of them sat there the rest of the afternoon in silence, looking at the lake while polishing off the food Seamus had brought.

"Okay, let's get this evening started!" said Seamus with a huge smile on his face. Dean Thomas nodded and pulled a small crate out from under Seamus's bed. After he opened it, the others looked in it to find about two dozen bottles of butterbeer. While Dean started passing a bottle of butterbeer to everybody in the room, Seamus opened up his trunk and pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle. Grinning at everybody, he pulled out a bottle of Ogden's Firewhisky and several shot glasses. Hermione looked fairly disapproving, but didn't say anything, while Neville gulped audibly.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry were all sitting on Seamus's bed, while Ginny was sitting on Dean's bed. Neville was sitting on a comfortable chair next to Seamus's bed. Dean finished distributing the bottles, handing Seamus one before sitting down next to Ginny.

"Ok, let's get the rules straight," said Seamus, opening up his butterbeer. "We all know the first one, don't bother Harry with any stupid prying questions." Harry grimaced as the others glanced his way. "Next, when it's your turn, pick different people each time. It's no fun if you just concentrate on one person. There'll be no dares that are dangerous or would get somebody into serious trouble here at school. Other than that, anything goes. Finally, if you refuse to perform a dare or answer a question, you have to do a shot of firewhisky with no chaser. Everybody clear?" The others nodded. "Now, who wants to open up the festivities with a shot of firewhisky?"

Hermione quickly shook her head, and persuaded Ron to abstain as well, by shooting him a fierce glare. Ginny waved off the shot glass, as did Dean. The look on Neville's face was answer enough. Seamus looked questioningly at Harry. "Yeh wouldn't want ta let an Irishman drink alone, now would yeh?"

Harry considered quickly. On the one hand, his experience with firewhisky was fairly limited and Harry was reasonably certain that it probably wouldn't take too much to affect him. And Harry knew that if he let his guard down, he would probably let slip something that he shouldn't. But at the same time, Seamus had been right about one thing. This was one of the last nights Harry was going to be able to endulge himself before term started. Why not go all out?

"Pour me the drinks, Irish, and I'll match you," said Harry, boldly stepping up and challenging Seamus. Seamus looked delighted.

"I accept that challenge," replied Seamus, as he quickly poured Harry and then himself a shot. He handed Harry the firewhisky shot and held his own up. "To friends, old and new," toasted Seamus. The two boys clinked glasses, and then quickly downed their shots. Seamus had no problem with his shot, merely grinning at the others. Harry, on the other hand, shivered violently after the shot went down. He took a quick swig of butterbeer to wash it down.

"Bloody hell, Seamus," exclaimed Harry. "That's some strong stuff you've got."

Seamus grinned. "Yeh forget I'm Irish, me boy. That's like milk to me." Seamus looked to the rest of the Gryffindors. "Why don't we get this show on the road?"

"Sounds good," said Ron, grinning. "Since this was all your idea, I think you should start us out."

"Well, you're right on that account, Ron," said Seamus as he settled down on the other side of Dean. "But this game slash party is in honor of Harry over there, so it's only right that he go first."

"Fine, I will," said Harry. He willed himself not to think about Voldemort, or the prophecy, or the deaths of Sirius and Cedric. He was here to forget all that, and to have fun, and he was bloody well going to! Time to start the game. Harry turned to Neville, grinning suddenly. "Neville." The chubby boy turned quickly to Harry. "Truth or Dare, Neville?"

"Umm.. Truth," said Neville diffidently.

The grin on Harry's face was positively evil. "In the average week, how many times do you wank?"

Neville's face drained of all color. Seamus and Dean both snickered. Neville looked like he was going to refuse and ask for his firewhisky shot, but then he steeled his expression. "About three times a week, Harry."

The others cheered at Neville's bravery, while Seamus wolf-whistled at him. Harry grinned at Neville. Neville smiled back at him, and took a long swig of his butterbeer.

"Ginny." Neville looked at the short red-haired girl. "Truth or Dare."

"Truth, Neville," said Ginny calmly. Her voice was calm; she didn't seem too worried at any sort of truth that Neville could come up with.

"Ginny, how far have you gotten with Dean? First base, third base, what?" Harry's and Hermione's mouths dropped open after hearing Neville's response. Ginny and Dean were looking very uncomfortable while Ron looked thunderstruck. Seamus merely looked on delightedly.

"Second base," said Ginny, finally. She then turned to Ron. "Don't say a word, Ron. Except one, that is. Truth or Dare, Ron?" She schooled her face into one of complete innocence.

Since he'd lived with her for so long, Ron wasn't fooled by Ginny's expression. But at the same time, Ron didn't really think that Ginny would come up with a decent dare. "Dare."

Ginny smiled at Neville devilishly for a second before turning to Ron. "Ron, I dare you to moon Neville here."

Except for Ron and Neville who were sitting there looking shocked to the core and Ginny who was looking content with herself, the remaining people in the room started giggling.

"Ginny…" Ron started whining. "I'm your brother, for Merlin's sake."

"Are you going to be the brother that couldn't even last one round of Truth or Dare?" asked Ginny calmly. "Just think of what Fred and George will say…" Ron glared at her fiercely; she seemed to ignore it. "Come on, Ron. Five seconds, that's all. Surely your pride can survive that long."

Muttering under his breath, Ron walked over to Neville, who seemed horrified at what was about to happen. Turning around, Ron lifted up his robes and pulled at his trousers. "Time me," said Ron, grimacing. With a heave, he pulled down his boxer shorts. The others couldn't see a thing because of his robes, but from the look on Neville's face, Ron was definitely mooning him.

"Time's up," said Hermione with a giggle. She definitely found the whole deal rather amusing. Nor was she the only one; Seamus looked like he was about to cry, he was laughing so hard.

Ron quickly pulled up his boxers and trousers, and straightened out his robes.

"Get a good look, Nev?" asked Seamus, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Neville swallowed audibly, before grinning and looking back at Seamus. "Enough to know that you're right, Seamus. His bum is better looking than his face." With that comment, everybody started laughing again, except for Ron, naturally.

"You'll pay for that one, Longbottom," said Ron threateningly, before smiling briefly at the boy to show he was kidding. "Now, who's going to be my target?

And the game went on. After Ginny's unexpected and shocking dare, there were quite a few truths revealed before anybody had the guts to do any dares. And as a result, Harry found out things about his fellow Gryffindors that he hadn't known before. He found out about how Seamus, over the course of the previous summer, had lost a bet to Dean and had been forced to walk around the whole day in drag. Ron was forced to recount the time when Fred and George woke him up one morning with a garden gnome in his face and Ron wet himself. And with her face blushing, Hermione told them all about the day when she played doctor with the boy who lived next door.

Eventually, though, after enough butterbeer and a few more shots of firewhisky for Harry and Seamus, and even one for Ron despite Hermione's disapproval, everybody started loosening up. The word 'dare' was used much more frequently, and everybody started attempting to one-up the previous dare. As a result, the mooning incident started looking tame in comparison. Harry dared Hermione to pretend that she was Crookshanks and sniff Ron's arse before rubbing up against him. Hermione in turn dared Dean to give Ginny a sexy lap dance and strip tease down to his drawers. Ron had looked a tad shocked at that one, but held his tongue. As Dean pulled his clothes back on, he turned to his best friend, the one who had been mocking him the entire time he was stripping.

"Truth or Dare, Seamus." Dean looked determined to get back at the Irish boy.

"Dare," said Seamus, grinning.

"Ok, Seamus," said Dean, evilly. "Since you enjoyed making fun of my body while I was stripping, let's see you do better. I dare you to strip in front of all of us. And…" Dean picked up a plastic cup from a nearby table. "This is all you get to wear until the end of your next turn."

Seamus took the cup gingerly from Dean. He sat there for a moment, as if contemplating whether or not to forfeit on the dare and be declared a chicken. Harry found himself actually hoping that Seamus would take the dare. Despite sharing a dormitory with the Irish boy for five years, it had been quite a while since Harry had caught a glimpse of Seamus's unclothed body. And Harry could already tell that Seamus had put on a fair amount of muscle over the summer break. Just then, Harry came up with an idea to help Seamus decide to take the dare.

"Need a shot of firewhisky to help?" asked Harry, in a helpful tone, with just a twinge of hopefulness. Seamus nodded quickly, and the two boys downed another shot each. Harry could already tell that despite his claims, Seamus was slightly buzzed. Harry himself, the lightweight, was more than a litle buzzed, and enjoying himself quite a bit.

Seamus moved into the centre of the room, still a little hesitant. And then for reasons unknown to Harry, the Irish boy seemed to look at Harry for support. Without fully knowing why, Harry gave Seamus a suggestive wink. It seemed to work, though. Seamus grinned wickedly back at Harry, and then started his dance. First pulling off his robes, Seamus then started dancing to the beat of some unheard music as he slowly pulled his shirt off. Harry couldn't help but notice Seamus's trim, fit body, his hairless chest. Seamus didn't throw his shirt away, but instead started swinging it around with one hand. Finally tossing it, Seamus unbuckled his belt, and pulled it off as well.

"Hey, keep that belt out for Neville," jibed Ron. "He might want to use it later." Neville stared daggers at Ron, who didn't seem to notice. The others weren't paying attention either; Ginny and Hermione were watching Seamus's performance, entranced, as was Harry, who couldn't help himself. Dean was half shocked, and half awed at his best friend's antics. It seemed as if Seamus was actually trying to give the performance of a lifetime.

Seamus, who hadn't listened to Ron's colorful comment, continued his dance, still listening to that inner soundtrack. Unbuttoning his pants, he stopped there for a moment to run his hands over his taut chest. Then, his hands crept down and pulled down his trousers. Quickly kicking off his pants, Seamus continued to dance in his boxers while the others gasped. Even Ron and Neville were watching his dance, with their mouths open. Seamus gyrated back and forth, his muscles flexing as he moved. Suddenly grinning at them, Seamus moved so that his back was to everybody. Still moving, Seamus suddenly pulled his boxers down and everybody was abruptly greeted with the sight of Seamus's pale bum. The Irish boy continued dancing with his back to them, then suddenly grabbed the plastic cup, placed it over his crotch, and sat down next to Dean as if nothing had happened.

Seamus looked around at the others, who seemed to have no words to describe what they had just seen; and were still seeing. Harry, in particular, kept glancing covertly at Seamus's all but nude form. After one such look, Seamus caught his glance and returned it with a sly wink. Harry quickly turned his head, blushing at being caught. Seamus, looking rather pleased at Harry's attention, turned towards Ginny and continued the game.

"Truth or Dare, Ginny," said Seamus calmly. Ginny, surprised at his nonchalant tone, stared at him for a moment before answering.

The game continued, as the six teens continued drinking their butterbeer. Harry was now feeling fairly well buzzed and in no mood for another shot of firewhisky, while Seamus found himself unable to pour with one hand. (Since the other was keeping the plastic cup in place). Neville had just found out about a stuffed animal Ron had owned when he was a kid, and Ron was now surveying the room. And saw the one person he hadn't gotten properly yet. "Harry, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare, naturally," said Harry, grinning. Ron hadn't come up with a decent dare so far that night.

"Very well," said Ron, grinning. He had it all planned out: kill two birds with one stone. "I dare you… to pull down your trousers enough so that Dean can grab your arse with both hands for ten seconds."

Harry glared at Ron. 'Yeah, now he comes up with a good one,' thought Harry wryly. And then a thought came to him as he looked from Ron to the plastic cup-clad Seamus. He would play along with this, but Ron was going down after this.

"Come on, Dean," said Harry, gesturing to the tall black boy. Dean gingerly got up from his seat, walking towards the smaller boy. Harry quickly whispered his plan into Dean's ear, who was soon grinning from ear to ear. "Let's just get this over with," said Harry in a normal tone. He slowly and deliberately pulled down his trousers, mooning Ron in the process. "Why don't you kiss this, Ron?" taunted Harry.

Hermione and Ginny looked rather shocked at this; in fact, so far tonight they had done so every time that Harry had acted atypically. But Hermione then realized that Harry so seldom had a chance to lower his guard, be himself, and not have any expectations of what he was supposed to say and do.

Shaking his head, Dean quickly grasped Harry's arse with both hands while Ginny timed them. Once the ten seconds were up, Dean quickly removed his hands and retreated back towards Ginny while giving her an apologetic look. The red-headed girl merely laughed and put her hand on Dean's leg in a sympathetic way.

"So.. It's my turn, is it?" asked Harry in a sing-song voice. "I wonder who I should pick?" Ron looked uneasily at Harry as the shorter boy paced around the room lost in thought. Ron audibly gulped when Harry suddenly turned towards him. "I've decided," said Harry firmly. "Truth or Dare…. Seamus!" He spun towards his intended victim.

The sandy-haired boy jumped when he heard his name called. He could tell by the look in Harry's face that he had a good dare in mind, most likely aimed at Ron. For a second, Seamus almost said 'Truth,' but he resisted the urge. Despite what he might be forced to do, it would probably be worth it to see the look on Ron's face. And besides, it was for Harry.

"Dare," replied Seamus, nodding towards Harry. "Do your worst."

"Oh, I intend to, Irishman," said Harry, grinning. The fact that Seamus was doing this solely for his benefit wasn't lost on Harry. "For twenty seconds… you must… make out with Ron."

Seamus had been right; the look on Ron's face was priceless. As were the looks on the faces of all the others. Ignoring the fact that he was clad only in a plastic cup, Seamus stood up and faced Ron. "Ravish me, you red-headed god," said Seamus in a dramatic voice.

Ron looked at a practically naked Seamus in horror. His pale face turned a nice shade of red. 'Payback's a bitch,' thought Ron numbly. And if he wimped out now, he'd never hear the end of it. Especially not from Fred or George. He was not going to be the one that ducked out in this game. Ron briefly considered drinking some firewhisky to help him through it, but just thinking about another shot of that awful drink made him shiver. "No tongues, Seamus," threatened Ron. "Or I'm kneeing you in your cup." The others burst out laughing at his threat, but Seamus could tell he was serious.

"Ready, Ginny?" asked Ron. His sister nodded, still shocked at what was about to happen. Fred and George would never believe her. Ron bent down slightly, and touched his lips to Seamus's.

"Hey, that's not making out, Ron," said Dean, angrily. But before they could do anything about it, Seamus grabbed Ron's head with one hand (the other holding his cup), and kissed him fully on the lips.

It was only twenty seconds, but felt like a millennium for Ron. 'If I never kiss a guy again in my life,' thought Ron, 'it'll be too soon.' Unlike some guys who, at one point or another, questioned their sexuality, for Ron Weasley it had never been an issue. He liked girls, simple as that. He had never had so much as a desire to kiss any boy, let alone his Irish dorm mate who Ron had noticed was showing interest in his obviously straight best mate. And so when Ginny called time, Ron immediately pulled his head back from Seamus so fast that he almost got whiplash. Grabbing the nearest open bottle of butterbeer, he gulped it down while ignoring Neville's protests that he had stolen the other boy's drink.

"He's a terrible kisser," murmured Seamus to Harry in a stage whisper. Harry snickered, as did Dean and Neville. Ron merely scowled.

"You can put your clothes on now, Seamus," said Hermione, smiling. "Your dare's over."

Seamus grinned, and quickly pulled his boxers and trousers on. He began to pick up his shirt to put that back on as well, until he caught a slight look of disappointment from Harry. Seamus put his shirt back down instead, grinning inwardly. He gave Harry a short, considering look, and thought up a possible question for the dark-haired boy. He had been planning on asking Hermione Truth or Dare, but Harry made a much better target. It went against his own rules about not picking the one who had selected you, but Seamus didn't care. Besides, the game looked to be wrapping up, and Seamus didn't want to lose his possibly only chance of asking Harry a personal question like this. "Harry, Truth or Dare."

"My turn already?" asked Harry, not bothering to hide his confusion. "Fine, Truth."

'Yes,' thought Seamus jubilantly. After all the wild outlandish dares, he knew Harry wouldn't pick Dare. "Who gave you your first kiss?"

Ron and Hermione groaned in disappointment, and Ginny shook her head. "Why couldn't you pick a better question, Seamus?" Hermione asked. "Most of us know that already. It was Cho Chang." She turned to Harry for confirmation, and was shocked to see Harry's expression.

Seamus was shocked as well. Instead of seeing Harry look all embarrassed as he always did when discussing his disastrous yet short fling with the Ravenclaw Seeker, Harry's face was a wall of unreadable emotion. Well, almost unreadable. Pain and loss were clearly etched in Harry's features.

"Harry?" asked Ron. "Are you alright?"

"Does he look all right to you, Ron?" asked Hermione. "So, it wasn't Cho Chang?" she asked in a quiet voice. Harry didn't say anything, but nodded his head.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," said Seamus, feeling tremendously guilty for asking. "You don't have to answer that. Bloody hell, I promised that I wouldn't let the others ask you questions that would hurt you, and I'm the one who does it." Seamus hung his head in shame. Only Harry saw the single tear that ran down Seamus's face.

"It's ok, Seamus, you didn't know," Harry managed to croak out. "After all, my life's so complicated, it's impossible to tell exactly how it all intersects." Harry shook his head. "But, honestly, I don't want to tell you."

"Then don't worry about it," said Hermione, calmly. "Let's just leave it at that, and call it a night."

"Hermione," said Harry, his voice still betraying his pain, "I said I didn't want to tell you... But I'm going to, just the same. It's something I've needed to tell you for a while now. I simply ask all of you not to judge me; I don't think I can take that right now."

"Never, Harry," said Seamus, firmly. "I'm behind you one hundred precent." Hermione and Ron echoed his statement.

"The first person who gave me my first kiss… was Cedric Diggory."

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A/N: Whew!! That took a while to write! Don't expect chapters this long all the time, though. One note: please don't carp about any out of character issues; this is the one time they can let it all hang loose. That, and they're all repressed teenagers who aren't getting any.. haha..

Please read and review!!