Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.

Author's Note: Hmm… Everybody seems so confident that the reason for Draco's unhappiness is unrequited love, or something to that effect…Well, you won't find out for several chapters yet, I'm afraid.

In this chapter: Harry/Draco snogging, Remus makes a discovery, Sirius doesn't like what he finds when he comes home, and a bedtime story

~~~

Chapter 12

"Uncle Sev?" Draco called from the doorway to his and Harry's bedroom. "You're not allowed to come into mine and Harry's room, okay? We're busy, and you're not allowed to know what's going on yet! It's a surprise!"

"All right!" Severus called back.

Draco went back into the bedroom and closed the door. He locked it and placed a few privacy charms on the room. Then he went over to Harry's bed, where the other boy was sitting and waiting.

"So? What happened?" Draco asked, plopping himself down next to Harry.

"Not much," Harry sighed, laying back and folding his arms behind his head. "He woke me up. I stood up, and my leg gave out. He caught me before I fell. We stared at each other for a minute--my God, those eyes... And then he just picked me up and carried me so I didn't have to walk while my leg was hurting."

"Good move," Draco commented, nodding his approval. Harry burst out laughing and sat up.

"You think I did that on purpose? My leg hurt like hell!"

"But still, it was a good move, and great timing, too." Draco changed the subject. "Okay. You've never kissed anyone before? Not even a small kiss?"

"Never," Harry mumbled, his cheeks pink with embarrassment.

Before he could say any more, he felt Draco's lips on his. Harry was surprised for a moment, but then he began to respond to the kiss, letting his instincts and Draco guide him. Draco reached a hand up rest on the back of Harry's neck and ran his other hand through Harry's hair. After a few more seconds, Draco slowly pulled away, sucking on Harry's lower lip a little before letting go.

"Damn, boy, you're a natural," Draco teased. "I wonder if I shouldn't keep you for myself!" Harry's cheeks started to burn again. "All right, you're probably want to start out small with him. Make up a reason to thank him for something, and then just put your hand on the back of his neck and give him a little kiss right on the corner of his mouth. Like this."

Draco rested his hand on the back of Harry's neck again and leaned over, lightly pressing his lips to the corner of his friend's mouth. He let his lips linger for a moment before pulling away.

"Don't pull away too fast, or it will be pretty much pointless. But don't stay too long, either. Okay?" Harry nodded. "When you're ready to be bolder, just go up to him and kiss him like I just kissed you a minute ago. Start with your mouth open only a little, and when he starts to respond--and he will--try to get him to open his mouth a little, and try to get some tongue in there. Not too much, though. Don't try to stick your tongue down his throat or anything because that's a major turn-off.

"As you pull away, suck on his lip a little bit, and open your eyes, so you can see he reaction. If his eyes are open, too, look directly into them. Don't back down. After you pull away, smile at him a little, then turn around and leave the room. Don't hang around; make him want you even more than he already does. Got that?"

"Yeah, I think I can do that," Harry replied, uncertainly.

"And last, the biggest rule of kissing someone," Draco said, dramatically. "Make sure you don't have bad breath. In fact, right before you go in there, brush your teeth because that strawberry-flavored toothpaste you use is great, and I know for a fact that Severus loves strawberries. And I think that's about it on the kissing part."

"Anything else in general?" Harry wondered. Draco tapped his finger to his chin, looking at Harry thoughtfully.

"We need to dress you up so he can't take his eyes off of you. Harry, you're hot. But since you're so small, you still look extremely young, and I think that may be a part of why he's so against a relationship with you. Some kind of morality thing, I don't know."

"But I can't help looking young," Harry sighed. "I can't help that I'm small."

"I know that, and it's not that you're small. You're tall, which is good, but you're skinny. Sev is, too, but you're--"

"Abnormally skinny," Harry muttered. "Disgustingly skinny."

"That's not how I was going to put it, but hey, whatever floats your boat. Anyway, you've been eating more, so you'll be gaining weight, so you won't look so thin. We can't really do anything about that. I was thinking that we could go out and get you some new clothes; I know you don't have enough. We could get your hair trimmed a bit, and maybe get you some contact lenses? Wizarding contact lenses, you don't have to take them out. Once you put them in, they can stay in forever, if need be."

"I'd like contacts," Harry agreed. "I'm sick of glasses."

"Do you want to go shopping today?" Draco asked. "We could go to Hogsmeade." Harry shook his head.

"Not today. The trial's tomorrow, and I want to spend some time with Sirius before then. I was going to go over there after lunch, and I think I'll be staying the night, providing Remus and Sirius remember their Silencing Spells."

~~~

At around one o'clock, Severus made a portkey so Harry could go to Sirius and Remus's house. When he appeared in the living room, he nearly fell over, but Remus caught him.

"Hey, Harry!" Remus greeted him. "Siri's out doing some last-minute paperwork for the trial, so it's just me and you until he gets home. He should be back in an hour or so."

"Okay," Harry said, sitting on the couch with Remus.

"How have you been feeling?" Remus asked. "You look better."

"I'm doing better," Harry replied. "I've been sleeping and eating. No more flashbacks, but I've had a couple of nightmares... Apparently I've been sleeping too much, but I can't help feeling tired. Severus took Draco and me to dinner last night and then the cinema, and I fell asleep during the movie."

"'Severus,' eh?" Remus repeated, smirking. Harry shrugged his shoulders.

"He told me to call him that." Remus just chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Remus said, and he seemed to change the subject. "So what of that guy you thought you had a crush on?"

Harry sighed and lay on his side, with his head in Remus's lap. Remus lightly ran his fingers over Harry's back, smiling down at his godson.

"I think it's safe to say that it's gone way beyond just a crush," Harry murmured. "I think I'm falling in love with him, Moony..."

"You make it sound like a bad thing," Remus said, softly. "Something wrong?"

"In some ways, it is a bad thing," Harry sighed.

"Harry, maybe if you tell me who it is, I could help," Remus suggested, gently.

"I can't tell you," Harry whispered. "You'll hate me, and even if you don't, you'll tell Sirius, and he'll hate me, and he'll kill him, and--"

"It's Severus, isn't it?"

Harry froze and stared up at Remus for a moment before turning away and nodding his head. Remus sighed and reached down to squeeze Harry's hand.

"I saw how you've been looking at him, Harry. And how he looks at you in return. I know that he's really a good person when he really cares for someone, but just be careful, okay?" Harry nodded silently and wiped a tear from his cheek. "Oh, Harry, don't cry."

"I can't help it," Harry sighed. "When Sirius finds out, he'll be so mad at me. He hates Severus..."

"I think he's slowly getting over the 'hate' phase," Remus told him, gently stroking his cheek. "And he'll only find out if you want him to. I won't tell him without your permission." He changed the subject. "Do you know how Severus feels?"

"Draco insists that he likes me, and sometimes I think he does. But then sometimes I wonder if it's just wishful thinking." Harry laughed a little. "Draco's doing everything in his power to get us together. Earlier he even taught me how to kiss, so I can 'make my move,' as he put it."

"And are you going to 'make your move'?" Remus wondered.

"I don't know," Harry sighed. "Last week, I decided I wouldn't do anything because it could get Severus in trouble. But Draco looked in some books yesterday, and there's no rules in the Hogwarts policy book against student-teacher relationships, and by the Ministry's standards, I'm above the legal age of consent. But I'm still not sure... I don't want to do anything that would get him in trouble."

"If you really are in love with him," Remus said, gently, "then you shouldn't let the feelings just sit and not do anything about it. It hurts when you do that. You should at least talk to him about it and see what he says."

Harry sat up and leaned over, resting his elbows on his knees and covering his face with his hands. His shoulders trembled a little, and Remus rested a comforting hand on his back.

"It hurts already," Harry mumbled. "I want him so badly, it hurts... There's a pain in my chest and my head that keeps getting sharper when I think about not being with him..." Remus stared at him for a moment, then wrapped him in an embrace.

"God, Harry, you really do love him," Remus murmured as Harry broke down in tears and buried his face in his godfather's shoulder. "Go on, kid, you deserve a good cry..."

When Sirius came through the fireplace a short while later, he saw Harry and Remus and stated, "I don't like coming home to this."

"Harry, go clean yourself up in the bathroom," Remus said, softly. Harry obeyed and left the room, and Remus stood to hug his lover.

"What's wrong with him?" Sirius asked, quietly. "Why is it that whenever I come home when he's here, he's upset about something?"

"You know Harry has a lot going on, Siri," Remus said, gently. "And right now...there's something that he's scared to tell you about because he's afraid of what your reaction will be. He thinks you'll hate him and be angry with him." Sirius's mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened.

"I could never hate him, Remus! Why would he think that?! What could be so bad that he thinks I could hate him?"

"That's for him to tell you, darling," Remus replied, wrapping his arms around Sirius's waist. "But don't push him, all right? He'll tell you when he's ready." Sirius nodded as Harry came back into the room. Sirius crossed the floor to hug his godson tightly.

"Don't ever think something's so bad that I could hate you," Sirius told him, softly. "I could never hate you, love, and if you need to tell me something, feel free to just tell me. I may not like it, whatever it is, but I'll never hate you for it."

"Okay," Harry replied in a quiet voice. "Siri? If I stay here tonight, will you and Moony promise to remember a Silencing Spell?" Sirius chuckled, while Remus blushed a little.

"Sorry about that," Remus told Harry. Sirius glanced back at Remus, then looked at Harry, smirking.

"I suppose Moony and I can lay off the shagging for one night," he said. "You want to stay in our room with us tonight, love? Our bed's big enough for the three of us, and it'll be just like when you were a baby, and we'd baby-sit you while your mum and dad went out. They wouldn't let me baby-sit you alone, you know, so Moony had to come, too."

"That's because they were afraid you'd do something stupid, like you tended to do back then," Remus shot back.

"Will you tell me a bedtime story, too?" Harry joked.

"Of course!" Sirius replied. "Remus still has your favorite: The Puppy Who Wanted A Boy! You always thought I was the puppy in the book."

~~~

"'But won't she be surprised,' said Petey to himself, with a happy little grin, 'when I tell her I got fifty boys for Christmas!'" Sirius read, softly, as he closed the book.

He and Remus sat awake in bed, with a sleeping Harry between them. Sirius placed the book on the bedside table and pulled the blankets up over Harry. Remus turned out the lights, except for the small nightlight that he'd taken to leaving on for Sirius, who, after twelve years in Azkaban, was somewhat afraid of the dark. Remus then climbed under the blankets and lay down.

"Siri?" he whispered over Harry's head after a moment. "Are you nervous?"

"A little," Sirius admitted, quietly. Remus leaned over Harry to give Sirius a small kiss.

"Don't be; everything will be fine, sweetheart," he assured his lover. He gave him another kiss, then lay back down. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Rem."