AN: My reasons for taking so long to update after that ending you ask? Well, let's see, I think I'll go with working on SFW (but not enough to actually update – nearly there though), doing Broken Open, having a lot of deadlines and exams at school (I have literally been up till 9 every night the last 2 weeks doing homework) and generally spending too much time reading FanFiction and on HP Facebook pages. Did you know the snake Harry released on Dudley's birthday in the first book was Nagini? I love how everything always ties together . Also saw Hunger Games at the weekend- best movie I've seen since HPDH2 I think. Really awesome!

The Aftermath

Harry's breath hitched as Draco took another step forward and slid his hand down to the back of his neck. As he didn't react Draco took another step closer, until they were almost nose-to-nose, waiting. Harry stared into the grey eyes seeing the same odd look as when Draco had been leaning on the doorframe, and the first time they were in the library, though now without the fear or confusion.

With a jolt Harry realised he was going to be the one to make the first real move. He was the Gryffindor, the brave one, the courageous one, and this was a far as Draco could go. With his heart beating at a mile a minute he leaned forward, closing the gap between them and kissed Draco Malfoy.

Chapter 7 – Caught

Harry pulled away when he heard a gasp. He looked around and standing in the doorway to the locker room was Ginny, her eyes going glossy with tears.

"Ron and Hermione were wondering where you were," she whispered before turning and running out the room.

Harry took half a step away from Draco, trying to decide if he should go after her and explain… what exactly? That he thought he was gay? That he had a crush on Draco? Or if he should stay and talk to said crush. He looked into the other boy's grey eyes and the decision took under a heartbeat. Ginny wasn't going anywhere. Well she was, that was rather the point, but he could go after her later.

It took another half-a-heartbeat for him to start worrying. Oh gods, what if he was wrong? What if he had just completely misjudged the situation? He could have just ruined the friendship the two had been carefully building for the last month, since the start of school. But wait, it had been Draco that had come in, who had stood so close to Harry, who had looked at him like that. No, he hadn't misjudged it.

He felt a small tug as the elbow he had been holding moved further away, then another as the Slytherin took another step away, looking slightly shocked. Harry realised what was happening a second before Draco tried to turn to leave, giving him enough time, thanks to his Seeker reflexes, to tighten his grip on the other boys arm, stopping him from leaving.

"Oh no you don't- you're not getting away that easily."

"Sorry," mumbled Draco, surprising him- it was not a word you got to hear Draco Malfoy say, even when you were his friend. "It's just that… Well you… and I…" He paused for a moment, taking a calming breath, organising his thoughts, "I'm not a Gryffindor. When I get scared or surprised I don't stick around, I run. It's good self-preservation."

Harry raised his eyebrows; that was not the explanation he had been expecting. More like something more along the lines of Draco not flying for the other team, or him being in Gryffindor, or the whole 'Saviour of the Wizarding World / Ex-Death Eater' thing. Not 'surprised'.

"Well," said Harry, having no idea what he was about to say- Draco had always had that affect on him. It was probably one of the reasons they had fought so often; he was completely incapable of using the filter that was normally in place between his brain and his stupid mouth. "I've been waiting to do that since the start of term, I'm not letting you get away now."

"Really? Since September?"

"Yep."

"For a month and a half?"

"Uh-hu."

"And you never said anything?"

"No- wait, what?"

"Why," repeated Draco, as if speaking to a small child, "didn't you say something?"

"Like what?" asked Harry, absolutely mystified, "Hey Malfoy, I know we've been enemies since we were eleven, and we almost killed each other in sixth year, and we were on opposite sides during the war, but I think I'll be your friend now, oh and by the way I kinda like you?"

"Well obviously it sounds stupid if you say it like that. I was thinking more along the lines of 'Hey, I know we haven't gotten on well in the past, and have got quite a bit of history, but I think I like you and was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmede with me?'."

Harry watched the light dance on his blond hair, making it appear almost white, which really didn't help him think of a comeback.

"Shut u-"

It turned out that he didn't need a comeback after all as while he had been thinking Draco had stepped closer and kissed him again.

Harry leant in, pulling Draco closer with one hand which had somehow found it's way onto his waist, at the same moment as the blond wound a hand through Harry's damp hair. Harry realised that he hadn't actually gotten round to putting his shirt back on after his shower, which would make this situation a whole lot more uncomfortable than it needed to be if someone came in, but then Draco's tongue dragged across his bottom lip, and he decided he didn't really care. His mouth opened slightly and Draco's tongue slipped in, sliding across Harry's teeth, causing him to bite back a moan. He really should have done this a long time ago. His knees went weak as Draco let out a low moan as Harry's slid across the gap between his teeth and lip and he held onto the boy's shoulder to stop himself falling.

Eventually the kiss broke as the two surfaced for breath. Harry gave the Slytherin a once-over, admiring the slightly mussed up hair and his flushed cheeks.

"So I know we haven't gotten on well in the past, and there's quite a bit of history between us, but I like you and was wondering if you'd go to Hogsmede with me?"

Draco tapped his chin, pretending to ponder the question. "Harry, I'd be delighted."

"Great," he said smiling and pulled a shirt over his head and checked his watch, "Wow, we've been down here for half an hour, someone's gonna think we've killed each other or something."

"Yeah or something. You should get back to Gryffindor; The Wesa-" he cut himself off at Harry's sharp look, "Ginny seemed in rather a rush. I wouldn't want to have to face your friends now."

"Oh, they'll be fine with it," Harry said off-handedly, trying to think about how to deal with the problem that was Ginny Weasley.

"Really? It's just that Weasley doesn't seem like he'd be that open to this. Especially since it's me."

"You'd think wouldn't you? But nah, I told him in the first week of term and he was totally cool with it. Even though it's you. And," he continued, "when I told Hermione she'd already worked it out, which really I should have seen coming. They said they had a plan to get us together, but wouldn't tell me what; I needed to be 'genuine' apparently. They didn't seem to do much though."

Draco's eyes had widened as Harry's, rather lengthy, explanation had gone on. "Well at the risk of repeating myself; really? I think my opinion of Weasley just went up." He paused thinking for a second, "Don't tell him I said that though. I'll never hear the end of it."

"I won't," Harry laughed and then let out a huge sigh, "Now I need to go deal with Ginny. See you later?"

"See you later."

With a last smile at Draco he left the locker room and began the suddenly very long walk back to Gryffindor Tower.

HPDM Draco's PoV HPDM

Draco stopped at a stonewall in the dungeons, which looked identical to every other bit of stonewall in the whole place, until he murmured "Ashwinder eggs," causing the wall to slide back revealing the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

Green light spilled in through the windows, filtered through the lake and the charmed fire crackled bright green in the grate. The whole room had a feel of being under water, a fact that was not helped by the occasional fish or Grindylow which swam past the window.

Apart from a few other eighth years, sat on the black leather couches next to fire, the room was deserted as it was the middle of the day, the weekend and surprisingly warm for October. The blond didn't noticed any of this, still lost in his thoughts, reliving the events of the last half an hour, and wandered towards the doorway to the Boys' dormitory.

"Draco?" The boy's head jerked up at the sound of Blaise's voice. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," he replied, somewhat confusedly, "why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that, well to be frank you look like you've got your head in the clouds and you're actually smiling. Like a proper smile, not because you're laughing at someone or smirking."

"I am allowed to smile Blaise. It's not illegal."

"Are you sure? I thought there was a rule saying that you would get your Pureblood Elitist Git card revoked for actually being happy about something."

"Ha-ha Zabini. Hilarious, as always."

"Are you sure you're okay? That was an awful comeback." Draco was filled with dread as the confusion on Blaise's face disappeared, replaced with a look of complete clarity and he walked closer to Draco, lowering his voice so the others couldn't hear. "No. You didn't? No. Something happened between you and Potter didn't it?" Draco turned his head and watched as one of the Giant Squid's tentacles slid across the window, obliterating out most off the light, not meeting his friend's eye and trying to hide the blush he could feel creeping towards his cheeks; just because something had happened between him and Harry did not give his face permission to betray him. "It did, didn't it? Right come on."

"What? Let go!" Draco protested as he was dragged, rather forcefully, towards the dormitory by a determined Blaise Zabini

Theo looked up startled as the dark oak door swung open, making aloud thunk as it bounced off the wall, and was even more surprised as an embarrassed Draco was pushed into the room by Blaise- wait a second Draco, embarrassed?

"Guys, everything all right?"

"Just dandy. Don't mind us Theo, I just need to talk to Draco. Just for a minute. Excuse us." And with that pushed Draco onto his bed and shut the curtains.

He said 'just' three times there, this must be serious. Knowing Draco he would probably end up complaining about it to the rest of the dorm, as usual, so there really was no need to be curious. But that didn't mean he wasn't. Theo put down his book and dug around in his drawer for an extendable ear. He wasn't in Slytherin for nothing.

Draco sat up, edging slightly out of arms reach of Blaise as the other boy cast a silencing charm on the bed.

"Right, now tell me everything."

"Blaise, you've been spending far too much time with Pansy and Millie. You sound just like a girl."

"Time and place Draco, time and place. This is serious."

"Fine, fine." He sighed, "Okay so I went down to the locker room after the match," he watched as his friend's eyebrows rose slightly; he could already tell where this was going, "and, well, basically we ended up kissing. And The Weaselette saw us." He added.

Blaise rubbed his face then brought his hands together, almost like a prayer, and watched Draco over his fingertips. "This is not good, very not good. If anyone finds out you're dead for sure. And what about the papers? They'll have a field day! 'Ex-Death Eater seduces The Boy Who Lived' or some complete rubbish like that. Oh Merlin, what if your parents hear about this? And she already knows? It'll be halfway through all of Gryffindor already!"

"Blaise, calm down. If you stress anymore your head will burst and this is a new shirt. And anyway, I've been thinking a lot and I've decided I don't care."

"You don't care? You, Draco Malfoy, do not care about other people's opinions? Are you sure you've not been hit on the head recently?"

"I thought this wasn't the 'time and place' for stupid jokes? And no, I don't. All the crap that has happened over the last two years was because I wanted to impress people. Well it started like that. I'm not going to let it mess me up again. I'm going to firecall my parents and tell them I'm bi. Then I'm going to go on my date with Harry next weekend. And then, if this actually gets serious we will go to the press- someone decent, not that Rita Skeeter bint, and give them an interview, so then there won't be a horde of lies and rumours flying around. I think that's all the problems yes?"

"You missed out Weasley, the Gryffindors and the rest of the school."

"Harry's dealing with the Weaselette. Apparently Granger and Weasley already know so they'll have stopped her from telling, and unless you've blabbed, no one else knows."

"You're acting very calm about this. Normally there would a lot more posturing and snarky comments. Just generally more showing off and being the Drama Queen you are."

Draco gave him a playful punch on the arm. "And you know you wouldn't have me any other way. I think I've realised, finally, that there are more important things than your reputation."

"Going to tell the others then?"

"Woh woh woh. I said I'd mellowed, not that I was suicidal. Pansy alone would explode with excitement."

"Fine. The others might still be in the common room. Want to go outside and play exploding snap?"

HPDM Harry's PoV HPDM

Harry hovered outside the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

"Hurry up would you?" complained the Fat Lady, "I don't have all day."

"Okay, fine. Moonstones, happy?" The Fat Lady made a disgruntled noise and swung open.

Harry climbed through the portrait hole into the bright warm common room and was instantly assaulted by Ron and Hermione.

"Harry what on earth is going on?"

"Are you alright, mate? It's just Ginny ran through here 15 minutes ago after she went looking for you. Looked like she was crying."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great." He couldn't supress his grin, no matter how worried he was about talking to Ginny, "I kissed Draco."

"Finally," said Hermione grabbing him in a hug. "I told you it would work." She said pointedly at Ron who held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

"That what would work? Your plan? Because I didn't see you two do much at all to help. You just spent your whole time whispering. It was bloody annoying."

That was the point, see?" explained Ron, "It was Hermione's idea. Basically we practically ignored you so you would get bored with us and hang out with Malfoy. Between the two of you something was bound to happen. I talked to Dean, who's got a friend in Ravenclaw who's friends with Bulstrode she said that she and Parkinson thought he had a crush on you. Simple really."

"Yeah, really simple. Here's my question; why didn't you just tell me he like me?"

Ron opened his mouth, thought, shut it and turned to Hermione, asking "Why didn't we tell him?" to which she just tapped the side of her nose.

"Fine whatever. Where did Ginny go?"

"Girls' dormitory. You remember the charm I told you to get in?" Hermione checked. As Harry nodded she smiled, "Good. Good luck."

Harry could have sworn he heard Ron repeat his previous question to Hermione and heard her mumble back 'Really, I don't know why we didn't think of telling them.' Maybe she wasn't 100% infallible after all. Surprisingly this wasn't actually a comforting thought.

"Ginny?" he pushed open the door to the seventh year dormitory. It was much neater then the boys' room but apart from that almost identical. Ginny sat cross legged on her bed staring at the wall, her bright ginger hair standing out against the blue Holyhead Harpy posters above her bed. Her eyes were slightly pink but that was the only evidence of her earlier distress.

The girl looked up. "Hey."

"Hey."

"So. You and Malfoy then? I'd say I'm not surprised, but I am."

"So was I."

"Really?"

"Yeah- that was the first time we kissed. Rather bad timing I think."

"Sorry, I think. Really though- Malfoy?"

"I know. Funny how things turn out."

"You can say that again. Almost everyone was expecting us to get back together, get married and have the required two point six children."

"I know. I feel sorry for the kid that ends up being two fifths smaller than everyone else."

They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few moments; this was possibly the first time they'd been alone since Bill and Fleur's wedding, over a year ago.

"So, um, I gay."

"I kinda guessed. Your fangirls will be heartbroken."

"So-"

"Don't apologise. It's not your fault. I can't say I'm happy that it's Malfoy- I'm not going to start liking him if you're dating y'know. He has to work for that. But I'm fine with it. Well I will be- it just needs to sink in first I guess."

Harry smiled; he had missed talking to Ginny. "Thanks. If I'm ever straight again you'll be the first to know" he laughed. "Can we be friends again? I kinda missed this," he gestured between the two of them.

"We never stopped."

The two smiled at each other, their friendship finally back to where it was almost two years ago.

Harry settled down onto the opposite end of the bed. "So that game against Ravenclaw then. You flew really."

And it really was like it had never stopped.

AN: Now the boys are getting somewhere! And don't worry, I know it seems like everything is going too easy for them but there will be angst coming . Lots of talking I know, but a lot of stuff happened too, so I think that makes it alright.

*IMPORTANT* - So Draco and Harry are both eighteen year old boys. Who are going to end up dating. I think it's pretty obvious what that means. I also know that I was absolutely awful at writing that kiss up there, so if you want anything less awkward, never mind lemony I will need Help. I said in the blurb that this would probably become an M, and I still want that to happen because there is stuff I actually need to put in in that sort of scene. It's also a huge step in their relationship which means it will have to be done, and I think black-screening it is such a cop out. So recap- if you want anything more 'interesting' to happen PM me or say so in a review so I can get someone to help me write that sort of thing.

Speaking of reviews I have had a distinct lack of them. See that little button down there? The review one? Go on, click it. I dare you.

Chance x