.~*~*~*~*~*~*~.

Love.

.~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~.

"I want to tell my friends about us." Harry said quietly, with a small smile, "I mean obviously Ron and Mione already know but I was thinking of Dean, Seamus and Nev. They know I'm seeing someone so it makes sense to tell them who. And we have been together for over a month now…" Wow, a month, time flew, he thought, smiling slightly as he realized that this was honestly the longest he had ever been in a relationship.

Josh frowned, "I… I dunno Harry, I don't think it's a good plan."

"They're my mates, they won't care." Harry laughed, wondering what was bothering Josh, he'd been whining at Harry for weeks that they should tell, in fact it had caused several arguments.

"I just think we should wait." Josh mumbled, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

Harry frowned, what was with the sudden change of direction? "Is everything okay?"

"Yes!" Josh snapped "Sorry… I just…" He trailed off, looking awkwardly at the floor.

"It's fine." Harry said quietly, watching Josh cautiously, "Really…"

.~*~*~*~.

"That was amazing, you're amazing." Draco breathed, leaning on his elbow to look at Neville properly.

Neville flushed a delicious pink, ducking his head slightly, "You're pretty good yourself." He murmured.

"Only pretty good?" Teased Draco, kissing the boy lightly before shivering and dragging the duvet over them from where it had fallen.

Neville moved, pushing Draco backwards before resting his head on the boy's chest, yawning slightly, "I like Sundays." He murmured.

"Oh?"

"Hmm… No classes. Just you and me and sex and food…" Neville grinned, turning slightly to kiss Draco's skin and smirking as he heard Draco hiss slightly. "It's the best day of the week." He added, flicking his tongue across the other boy's nipple.

"Can't argue with that." Draco breathed, his fingers moving to clutch at Neville's hip as his boyfriend continued to lick and nip at his skin, "Fuck Nev."

"Maybe in a bit, still recovering from the last shag." Neville laughed, kissing Draco lightly as the boy rolled his eyes.

"What happened to the shy guy who blushed if someone even mentioned sex?" Draco teased.

Neville laughed, "I met you!" He retorted, kissing Draco again. "We should probably move in a bit though… We need to get clean, we're meeting the others here at six remember."

Draco groaned, pulling a face, "Can't we just stay here forever?" He mumbled, "I'm so fucking tired."

Neville pressed a kiss to the boy's shoulder, "They might get a bit suspicious when they can't get into the room." He pointed out, glancing at the charm they'd set to tell the time. "We've got a while though." He added, sitting up and moving to pick up his glass off the table, "You can sleep for a bit you know, I'll read."

"Mm..." Draco pulled a face, "Don't wanna." He grunted, "I wanna go for a walk."

Neville sighed, "Well go then, but we can't go together, you know that."

Draco grunted again, "Wish we could… Not that I don't enjoy the sex." He added, "I want to spend all my spare time with you but…"

"It means being stuck in here all the time?" Neville nodded, "Well… Maybe we can borrow Harry's cloak next weekend or something? It is a Hogsmede day."

Draco's face lit up, "Sounds amazing."

.~*~*~*~.

"What you grinning about? Been visiting your secret boyfriend again?" Dean teased.

Harry laughed and flopped down onto his bed, "Maybe."

"How comes we don't know who it is?" Dean asked, lighting a cigarette, "Don't you trust us?"

"Of course I do!" Harry said, "It's just… He was a bit off about people knowing."

Dean frowned, "Seems odd. Are his parents homophobes or something?"

"I dunno. Maybe." Harry mumbled, wouldn't Josh have mentioned it though, then again maybe he was embarrassed. But no, he'd been the one telling Harry to come clean before… He gave a small shrug, leaning against the head board, smiling as Seamus walked in, "Y'alright?"

"Fine." Seamus said quietly, smiling slightly as Dean moved to kiss him, "I just gotta go pee." He added, moving away, into the bathroom.

"He still being weird?" Harry asked, Seamus had been acting strange for the past week and Dean was getting more and more concerned.

Dean nodded slowly, sitting next to Harry, "Yeah." He sighed.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Ron said quietly, looking up from his essay, "He's probably just stressing about work and exams."

Dean gave a grunt, turning back to Harry, "So what's your boyfriend like?"

Harry grinned, chewing at his lip, "He's… He's amazing."

"Who's amazing?" Seamus asked, coming back out of the bathroom.

"Harry's new boy." Dean grinned, "Not that we're allowed to know who it is." He added teasingly.

Harry shrugged, smiling slightly, what the hell, he decided, Seamus and Dean were hardly going to tell the world, "It's Josh, Josh Grosen from sixth year."

"Oh I know him!" Dean grinned, "He's gorgeous isn't he? Good job there mate." He laughed. Seamus just sort of stared, "You know Josh right?" Dean asked him, "The cute one who's always in the library?"

Seamus nodded slowly, "Uh yeah… I think so." He gave a half shrug, "Seems nice." He added after a moment when he realised they were all watching him. Harry almost laughed, looked like Seamus didn't have a clue who Josh was, he thought.

.~*~*~*~.

"Harry!"

Harry looked around and grinned when he saw Seamus coming towards him. "'Sup Shay?"

"Hey, can we talk?" Seamus asked, looking around him nervously. Harry nodded slowly, wondering what was bothering his friend, and led him into the empty transfiguration classroom.

"So uh… You and Josh… How long's that been going on for?" Seamus asked quietly, glancing over to the window.

"About a month or so. Why?" Harry asked suspiciously, something wasn't right here, and the way Seamus was avoiding looking at him only added to his concerns. Seamus chewed on his lip for a second, his eyes flickering over towards the door, "Shay?" Harry persisted.

"I… I slept with him!" Seamus burst out, "Last weekend." He added as Harry stared at him dumbly, "I didn't know you guys were… I swear Harry!"

Harry stared at his friend, wondering, hoping, he'd misheard. "You fucked Josh?" He asked stupidly, Seamus nodded, looking like he was about to cry, "No. No he wouldn't… And you're with Dean."

"Please don't tell him Harry! I really can't -"

"You're lying." Harry said, aware even as he said it that he was kidding himself. He walked out of the room, ignoring Seamus calling after him, it all made sense now, Seamus' weird behaviour lately, Josh's attempts to persuade him to keep their relationship secret from Harry's friends… Fuck, how could he have been so stupid? Numbly Harry walked through the halls, wordlessly passing students and teachers alike. He found his way to the room of requirement and was momentarily surprised to see the others there before he remembered that this was where he had been heading before… Before Seamus had… Harry sank down into an armchair, looking up in surprise when Severus knelt down before him. "Harry?"

"Yeah?" Harry whispered, clearing his throat slightly and repeating the word, hoping his voice sounding stronger now.

Judging by the worried look on Severus' face, it didn't. "Are you okay? We've been talking to you for the past five minutes, you've just been sat there…" The older man trailed off.

Harry blinked, swallowing slightly and wincing as he realised how dry his mouth and throat were. "Sorry. My mind was on an essay." He mumbled, pulling his legs under him and staring past his father, into the fire.

Severus frowned slightly, "Okay." He said, although it was obvious he didn't believe Harry, he moved back over to sit next to Remus, watching Harry worriedly, and starting a conversation. Harry toned him out, staring into the flickering flames. Why had Seamus told him, when he'd worked so hard to keep it from Dean? Harry knew that the most likely reason was that Seamus didn't want Harry to get hurt, but Harry was too angry to consider that right now. Harry raised his hand to his mouth, chewing on his fingernail, unable to tear his eyes away from the fire which seems to be twisting in shape, the flames becoming writhing bodies… Their bodies… Harry closed his eyes, opening tem slowly, glad when his mind had stopped playing tricks with the fire.

"Harry!" Cut across his thoughts again and he looked up, raising an eyebrow at Ron who was stood in front of him. They'd keyed Ron into the room a while back but this was the first time he'd actually been in. "Seamus told me what happened. Are you alright?" Ron asked quietly, perching on the edge of Harry's chair.

"He scared I'll tell Dean?" Harry asked bitterly.

"Yeah." Ron admitted, "Mainly he's worried about you." He added and Harry leant his head against his friend's knee. "How you feeling?" Ron asked gently.

"Numb… Angry… Like I'm gonna puke." Harry mumbled, looking over at Severus who was frowning at them, obviously trying to hear what they were saying, "Do they…?" He trailed off, nodding towards the others.

"No, figured it was your business, plus Snape'd probably punch Grosen." Ron said softly.

Harry managed a weak smile, "Thanks." He said, sitting up properly, "Me and Ron are going for a walk." He told Severus , "I'm fine." He added as Remus opened his mouth and Draco frowned, "Really." Harry said quickly, swallowing again and standing up, grateful when he felt Ron's hand on his shoulder, silently comforting him.

.~*~*~*~.