Title: Sign, Symbol, Token, Chapter 21 - The Last Day?
Rating: PG13 (up to "second base" explicit, beyond that implied)
By: PepperjackCandy
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing them for a time.

Warning: This is a slash story (Harry/Draco), though romantically-slashy, rather than erotically-slashy. Hence the PG-13 rating.

===========

It was the day before the Hogwarts students left for their winter break. Draco had sent the owl to his father, letting him know that he had found the ruby, and the students were getting ready for a dance. Speculation ran rampant in the school about why they were having a dance, since the last one had been three years earlier, during the Triwizard Tournament.

What no one except Harry, Draco and Ginny knew was that this dance was Dumbledore's gift to two students who were about to risk everything - Draco by returning to his father's grasp, Harry by remaining at Hogwarts, where Voldemort was due to attack in days.

Some students were attending dateless, and Harry had planned to be among that number, since he couldn't in good conscience take a girl and then spend the entire evening either sneaking away from her to meet with his boyfriend in secret, or planning to sneak away to meet with his boyfriend in secret.

However at the last minute, Neville was called in to work in the hospital wing. A student had been brought in with a stubborn case of ear knuts - a bronze coin fell out of his ear every time he moved his head - and Neville was needed to help apply the paupertas charm that would hopefully stop the plague of change that was bothering the student. This left Ginny free to go as Harry's date.

By the time the two Gryffindors made it to the Great Hall, the party was in full swing. Harry soon located Draco and the two made eye contact across the crowded room. He felt the same thrill go through him that he always felt when he saw his boyfriend. Draco was with Pansy Parkinson, who understood that Draco would abandon her to reinforce what she thought was Draco's deception of Harry.

"So?" Ginny prodded. "Go to him for crying out loud."

Harry smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks."

"No problem. Just remember to name your first daughter for me." She winked at him as he walked away.

Harry walked to the front door of the building and out onto the veranda that surrounded the castle. The music was loud enough that it could be heard clearly out there.

Soon, Draco joined him. Harry took Draco in his arms as they began to move in time with the music.

"God, Draco. How I wish we could do this in there, where the rest can see us."

"Do you?" Draco looked at Harry with love and hope in his eyes.

"Of course I do." Harry's eyes reflected the love he saw in Draco's. They kissed softly and resumed dancing.

They continued slow dancing through the next number, which was a fast song, resting their heads on each other's shoulders.

"We'll be back together at the end of break." Harry assured Draco. "And once Voldemort's out of the way, we can be together openly."

"But," Draco argued, "will you still want to be with me when it's no longer forbidden? I mean, I know that you were raised among the Muggles, and same-sex pairings carry all sorts of baggage among the Muggles, don't they?"

"That's as might be," Harry attempted to assure him, "but I'm a wizard now. And to be a wizard, and to be with you, is all I want in life."

"I wish I believed you," Draco said wistfully, clutching Harry tighter.

You can believe me, Draco. Harry vowed silently. I'll love you for the rest of my life, and if that's less than a week, I'll love you beyond, too. But he and Draco had never said that they loved each other. Why, Harry had no idea. But it had become a time-honored tradition to avoid the word, and somehow, when Harry might very well be facing his own death soon, he couldn't violate that tradition. He tightened his grip on Draco as well.

After a few more minutes of silence, Harry felt something wet on his shoulder. It was then he realized that Draco was crying. Draco lifted his head. "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm just so, so sorry." With that, Draco ran into the night.

Harry stood watching the man he loved fleeing and could only whisper, "I love you, Draco." He'd never said the words aloud and suddenly he wished he'd said them to Draco when he had the chance, but that moment had passed and Harry feared he'd never have a chance to say them to him.

He stood there, silent tears falling from his own eyes, until he finally couldn't wait any longer for Draco to return. He turned to go back in and encountered a wall of Gryffindors. Hermione, Ron and Ginny stood there. Anger flashed in Hermione's and Ron's eyes, and Harry saw that they each held one of Ginny's arms in a death-grip.

"So, Harry Potter. Were you *ever* going to tell us about it?" Hermione demanded.

Harry glanced in the direction that Draco had fled. "I wanted to tell you - " he began as he turned to face his friends again, but was stopped by a warning look in Ginny's eyes.

"I didn't want to tell them about Professor Dumbledore's plan. I really didn't. But they forced it from me." She said pointedly.

Harry took the hint. "How did you expect me to tell you?" He asked, "Should I have said, 'Guess what guys? I'm going to go head-to-head against Voldemort in the next few weeks'?

"I couldn't do that." He continued his rant, as much to the absent Draco as to Hermione and Ron. "I didn't ask to be the Boy Who Lived. I didn't want it. I wanted a normal life, with parents, and friends who loved me. Instead I get a godfather on the run for murders he didn't commit and a mortal enemy who might very well be going to kill me soon.

"There's no way in hell I'm going to let anyone I care about suffer the same fate I'm doomed to."

With one last glance behind him into the darkness, Harry stomped back into the castle.

===========

A/N: All right, this chapter was a little shorter than the others, and I had a real knockdown, dragout fight planned for Harry and Draco, but they didn't comply. Sigh.

Oh, and the soundtrack for this entire chapter, for those who care, is Sting's "Nothing Like the Sun" album. God, those songs are heart-tugging.

And here's the link to Rhysenn's wonderful Slave of Darkness Thank you, Rhysenn!