Hi all. This is part one of two for chapter 4. In the summary, it says top ten romantic things, so it was supposed to have 10 chapters. However, on Microsoft, chapter 4 was over 17 pages. Therefore, I had to split my chapter 4 in half. Eeeeeeeee. Squeals with joy that I'm still getting reviews.
Ralna malfoy-went to read your stuff, and it's all in german {I think, that is german, right?} so I can't read it. Tear.
hee chan2- I shall.
Briana rose, you like it! Yay! And you're not just saying that cause you're my beta.
Sailor grape- I know, even though the emphasis is supposed to be the flowers thing-note chapter title- I couldn't stop thinking of the vocabulary kisses.
x-ari-kinns-x - thanks
Avvy kavvy- you made me giggle, and that is a hard task. I normally belly laugh, I don't giggle. Hehe, pitchfork. Just to keep you interested, I should let you know, a quote. "You giggle" "so, you snort" "I do not" "you do so" so, who snorts, who giggles, and what could they be doing to each other that gets this reaction? Read to see.
NatalieJ-I like exclamation marks!!!!!!
Rose of hel- don't die, I have your chapter 4 part one.
Green eyed dragon- I wish it was true too. don't you fantize during homework? I do, makes it more interesting.
Saydee- you liked it. Yay! Made you say wow! Double yay!
Gun mage- cute! Yay! And you did one of those faces. I love those faces. ^_^. I love those faces!!!!
Cydcharisse- ha ha, made you sing. :P
So, I was thinking, if the people that have reviewed a few times, like green eyed dragon, ralna malfoy, briana of course, sailor grape, want their name in a upcoming chapter, just give me, and I'll include you somehow. won't that be fun? The people that have reviewed once, can mention a object they'd like to see, and I can add that. I love challenge fics.
Harry went up to the owlery, and got an owl that wasn't obviously his like Hedwig and Pig were, to send Draco a letter telling him to meet at the door to Treelawny's room.
As he walked into the eating hall, he seemed to be getting a larger amount of glances from his fellow students then usual.
He sat down, and a girl with blonde hair and a handful of sickles ran up to him. "Oh I knew it! You lovely lovely boy you!"
She hugged him tightly, and kissed him on the forehead.
"Um, who are you?"
"Me, oh, that doesn't matter. You, on the other hand, you matter profusely. You're the gay savour of the world who's dating the most evil boy in school and he turned out to not be that evil! Its like a dream come true! And on the other hand, which in my lucky life turns out to be another good side, you won me 10 sickles! Thank you so much for being gay!"
"o…..k?"
She scurried off in the direction of the Slytherin table, but Kaciela stood up and dragged her back to the table.
"Are you out of your bloody mind? You cannot go bother Draco Malfoy."
"But I need to thank him for being gay!"
"He'll curse you, and so will most of the others at the table if you go near them."
"But he's not evil anymore. He's gay!"
"So? He's still a Slytherin, and he'll still kill you."
"Bugger." the girl said, and sat down.
"Harry, is it true?" Hermione asked.
"Um…" he stalled. How could he admit it? Then he had a sudden change of heart, a burst of the Gryffindor courage that was supposedly inside him. "Yes. Yes it is true, and if you have a problem, you can just go away, because I won't stand for any of the crap badmouthing that he's gotten for the last six years!"
"It wasn't just me badmouthing him, it was actually mostly you, if you can remember."
"Well, I didn't know what he was like back then. I do now. He's a lot better then everyone thinks. Do you have any idea what his father would do to him if he was a good person?" Harry didn't know either, but he hoped Draco's cruel attitude had something to do with his dad, because if it didn't, and he liked being cruel, Harry wouldn't be able to keep with him.
"He's a good kisser, isnae 'e?"
"Seamus?"
"Well, I'm presuming. You wouldn't stick around him if there wasn't something about him you liked. And it can't be his personality yet, you've only liked him since last night when you stole my amerICAN HAIRGEL AND-"
"Seamus, get off it." Dean replied.
"Fine, moving on. You only liked him since he rubbed his hands in your wet hair, so you can't know him really well yet. It's gotta be something physical, and yes, I admit he's hot, damn hot, but he's been hot since first year, and you hated him then. And I don't know you extremely well, I'm not Ron or Hermione, but I don't think you'd'ave had sex so early, you're one of those waiting people, shudder, so it's gotta be kisses. Shit, if he's as good as Monica is, you're one lucky boy."
The entire hour he was plagued by different Gryffindors, Gryffindors of all ages, and even some Hufflepuffs at the next table ask him questions about his torrid relationship with a boy from the axis of evil.
"How do they even know? I could understand her telling the Gryffindors, but she only had a hour. How could she get to the Hufflepuffs and the Ravenclaws too?" he muttered.
"Ah, never underestimate Kaciela's blabbing powers, Harry." Jack said with a smile.
"She's like a minature Rita Skeeter." he whined.
As dinner was over, and started to trickle out of the dining hall, rather slower then usual, like they hoped if they stayed they would get to see Harry and Draco make love on a table, many went up to him and made comments.
"Why him?"
"I didn't think you were gay."
"Kaciela's lying, right?"
There were also comments not said to him, but things Harry couldn't help overhearing.
"Man, the two hottest boys in the school are after each other. Who's that leave for the rest of us?"
"You think Dumbledore told him to do it, so Malfoy would start to deny the dark side?"
"You think You Know Who told him to, so he would be brought to the dark side?"
"Harry's gone insane."
Harry looked to see how Draco was fairing. With Crabbe on his left, and Goyle on his right, threatening to hurt anyone that came near, no one bothered him.
When the room was fairly empty, Harry made sure no one was following him, and started to walk to the Divination room. He got there and Crabbe and Goyle were with him.
"Hello Harry."
"Hi Harry."
"Umm, Draco?"
"What my virtious beauty?"
Harry's eyebrows raised. "I always sorta thought this wasn't the kind of thing you would say in front of them."
"Well, not the them I thought I knew, but as it turns out, Pansy, Greg and Vincent are all quite different people then I thought. It's their parents fault they had to play the roles that they did. But now, now there's only one year left of school, then we're free, and we don't have to do what our parents want."
"So the Slytherin's know you're gay?"
"Well, if they didn't before, they certainly do now, now that Kaciela found out. They should know though, I told them."
"When? They weren't bothered? I guess I find out new things every day, but I thought they wouldn't be tolerant of that."
"Harry, we're in Slytherin, because we were told to be by our parents, and you don't go against them. Very few of us are actually evil. We say and do things to others that we don't mean because we have to. Draco can be gay inside the walls of Slytherin, as long as the people that matter don't know." Goyle explained.
"Yeah, he's been out since first year. Not with the crush on you, we found that out today, as did everyone else in the school, but if he can't be himself in front of his family, or strangers, then he can be himself in the common room. Your common room knows, right?"
"Yeah, um about that. I wasn't out, not in the least."
"Oh, so the whole I love you Harry, from Draco thing in the quidditch locker room might not have been the smartest idea."
"Bit of a understatement. A few of them seem ok with it, but I made Ginny cry, and a lot of them seem disgusted."
"Because you're gay, or because you're with me?" Draco asked.
"I'm not sure. I still like you, but I wish the people I cared about didn't hate me."
"Look, we'll make sure no one says anything bad to you!" Goyle said, fists raised.
"If they say anything, we'll get them." crabbe threatened.
"Um, thanks guys, but you don't have to do that. I still care about them, even if they don't like me any more."
Draco reached up, and stroked Harry's cheek. "My love, I'll take care of it. It won't be violent, but things will be fixed, I promise."
"How?"
"We Slytherins have our ways." he gently kissed Harry's fragile lips, murmured "Exquisite." and walked off with Crabbe and Goyle.
Harry, after waiting a moment to see if Draco was going to come back, went to his common room. When he walked in, the entire room went silent.
He sat beside Ron, and offered him a game of chess, but he shook his head, and went to the other side of the room, so he could talk to Hermione.
Harry, ever persistant, got up, and walked over to his two conversing friends. "Hey, what's up?"
"Um, Harry, this is sort of a private conversation, could you please go away?" Hermione asked politely and coldly.
Without answering, he walked back to the couch. He sat for a whole 60 minutes without one person saying one word to him. He tried to concentrate on his charms chapter he had to read for homework, but kept being distracted by the people that would stare at him, only to look away when he looked at them.
He stood up, and threw his book to the floor. "Oh, to hell with this, to hell with you all!"
He stalked up the tower, to his seventh year bedroom, grabbed his cloak and his pillow, and stormed out of the common room. He went to a soft carpeted corner of the library, and laid down. There was no way he could stay in the same room with all those hypocrites, even Seamus who didn't seem to have a problem with it wasn't talking to him.
The next morning, he woke up by Madame Pince stumbling over him, and kicking the invisibility cloak off of him.
"Harry potter?"
"I'm sorry Madame, I couldn't sleep in my dormitory."
"I understand. You know, we do have a gay and lesbian support group."
"I know, Andrew told me."
"Oh, that poor boy. I'm so happy I found him in time. The next time you don't want to go to your common room, we do have private rooms, for guests of Dumbledore's, you could sleep there. It's a lot smarter then sleeping on the floor."
"Thanks, I'll ask if I need them. Though, I'm planning on dragging this out in the open, and making people discuss their problems with me, so it won't happen again."
"Ah, such a typical Gryffindor. I expect it's time for breakfast, you better go to the dining hall."
"Ok."
"I'll have a house elf return your pillow and cloak to your bed."
He left the room, surprised that the librarian wasn't such a mean old hag that everyone thought she was.
He had no idea what time it was, but it must have been later, because though it was a Saturday morning, and most liked to sleep in, the Gryffindor table was at least half full.
Just as he got to the table, trying to ignore the murmurs that filled the room, most about him, at least half the table stood up. Seamus, Dean, Hermione, Neville, Ron, Kaciela, Andrew, Jack, Mab and Ginny. So, more or less, all his closer friends.
They all started to go in one direction, except Ginny, who walked in the opposite direction.
"Where the hell are you all going? I want to talk to you."
"Later Harry, we have something important to do."
"Damn it, right now, you better not run away from me, I swear to god I'll-"
But without even asking what he wanted to talk to them about, they all left. Except for Ginny. She walked over to the Slytherin table, threw a crumpled up something at Draco, and slapped his face.
"How dare you ask me to do that?" she screamed, and went to slap him again when Crabbe grabbed her hand.
He wasn't yelling, but his voice was loud, and Harry could hear him say calmly and deadly, "I suggest you leave now."
She wrenched her hand out of his grasp, and walked out the room.
He saw Draco turn to his fellow Slytherins and say something, and Crabbe, Pansy, and Blaise got up and walked out too.
What in the hell was going on? didn't he say that the Slytherins were ok with it? And if they were, then why did all of his closest friends walk away from him?
He decided the only way he was going to fix this was to let them change their minds. If he fought with them, they would just get obstinate, and not talk to him for a longer time. But maybe Hagrid would be ok with things.
He went out to the hut, and knocked on the door.
Hagrid opened the door, oven mitts on. "Hello 'arry. I've rather busy now, could you come back later?"
"oh, please tell me you don't have another dragon egg."
"No, no. I'll talk to you later, my boy, but I have to finish something right now." He slammed the door in Harry's face.
Harry was about to scream with frustration. One small fact about him was made known to the public, and everyone goes insane. This was even worse then Rita Skeeter in fourth year, because at least then he had his friends. Now, it was his friends that were deserting him.
So he went back to the dining hall, hoping that Draco would still be sitting at the Slytherin table. If he was, then Harry would sit beside him, to hell with house rules, and maybe they could feed each other bites of pancake.
But Draco wasn't there, he had left. However, someone was there, and they were just another cause of frustration.
"Harry, you don't really like Draco, do you?"
"yes, Colin, I do. Are you going to reject me because I'm gay too?"
"No! of course not! I just, I thought…"
"What Colin." he sighed. It seemed in the last 5 years he had known him, he had never once said something without being prodded to.
"Well, I think I might be, so, you know, if you get over him-" Colin said the last word with disgust.
"What? Colin, I'm sorry, but no. I like Draco."
"That's bullcrap man. He harasses you for your entire life at Hogwarts, and all of a sudden you like him? I don't know what kind of spell he did to you, but honestly-"
Harry tuned out, and remembered with a bit of a laugh that Draco had called Colin a bumbling fool.
Harry wandered the halls for the rest of the day, trying to find someone that would talk to him, but all of his friends were gone. Annoyed and knowing he sure as hell wouldn't sleep in a dorm where no one would talk to him, he went to go see Madame Pince.
Without even asking, she knew what he needed, and led him to a portrait of, well, of nothing.
"You stay here, I'll be right back."
Harry watched her march off down the hall, and wondered what on earth she was doing.
A few minutes later, she came back in the same direction, and a person was following her from painting to painting.
"Harry, this is Dermot the Free." she said, introducing what seemed to be a man in muggle clothing cirque 1980's.
"Harry? As in the Harry Potter? Tubular."
Harry tried not to snort, though a man in acid washed jeans, a black studded leather jacket and long hair, saying tubular with a british accent was quite funny. (do british people think they have accents, or do they think they're normal, and Canadians have accents?)
"Harry, you can talk to Dermot if you want, a lot of people find him cool, but, like the other portraits, you have to know the password if you want to get by."
"Well, dude, it's actually a saying." Dermot said.
"Ok."
"it's so Matthew Shepard doesn't happen again."
"So Matthew Shepard doesn't happen again?"
"Yeah."
The painting swung open, and revealed small passageway and 4 doors.
"Right now no one is in any of these. Well, there are actually only 3 rooms, the fourth is my bedroom, but no one is in any of the three.
Harry picked the first one on the right.
"If Dermot leaves again, you have to go down to the great hall, find Rico the Happy, and tell Dermot to get his ass back here."
"ok."
Harry stayed in his room, doing his homework, and thinking of Draco for most of the day. When he went to go leave for dinner, Dermot said, "You know, if you want some munchies, if you speak into the picture of a fruit basket, a house elf will run up the food you ask for. It's understandable if you don't want to leave the room. Some people are such cruel bastards."
Though Harry normally would have objected to Ron being called a bastard, the facts were he wouldn't talk to Harry. And neither would Seamus, or any of the people he thought he could stick with. So, Harry went over to the painting and called up a few slices of roast beef.
Harry spent the night in the room, but by the morning had decided there was no point in letting other people scare him away. He marched down to the dining hall, fists clenched, ready to knock out anyone who said an off-colour comment, and was shocked to hear what he heard.