Chapter 2

Please, God, let the bell ring, Draco thought desperately as he glanced at his watch for the third time in ten minutes. It was his last lesson of the day and lucky him, it had to be History of Magic. He scraped his fingernails across the old desk as he attempted to listen to Professor Binns' unremitting blather but, his mind continued to drift away to Club Venom, where he really wanted to be.

So many things had gone wrong that week and he just needed to get away. And the longer he sat in that musty old classroom, the more his mind drifted to the stage that he so longed to be on. He check his watch again. Twelve more minutes, he thought, painfully. It seemed like an eternity.

He lay his head down on the desk and closed his eyes. Immediately, he saw the red curtain he had become so used to. Slowly, it rose until he had a full view of the audience sitting in front of him, all of them faceless, except for one. Bright green eyes, that seemed to outshine the spotlight, stared up at him intently. A pink tongue peeked out from in between two plump lips, gliding across the lower one. Draco licked his own lips as he thought of his love doing the same, letting the breath he was holding out very slowly. All of a sudden, he realized where his thoughts were taking him, and that it was not a place he wanted to be going, in his History of Magic classroom. So very reluctantly, he opened his eyes and pulled his head off the desk.

Out of habit, he checked his watch again. Only three minutes had passed.

-o-

"Is it that Hufflepuff girl?" Ron asked, hopefully as he and Harry entered their Transfiguration classroom. "What was her name?" Harry, paying no attention to him, took a seat at the back of the classroom. It had been this way throughout the entire day. Every chance he got, Ron would commence with pestering him about who it was that he fancied. At first it was funny; Ron guessed all the girls' names he could think of while he, Harry, secretly laughed at him, knowing that it wasn't a girl that was on his mind. Now, Harry was beginning to become deeply aggravated.

Ron took the seat next to him. "Come on Harry, you remember," Ron continued, "the one you went out with last year." He put his finger to his chin and screwed up is face in contemplation, "Abbot!" he exclaimed, struck with realization, "Hannah Abbot! Is it her, because if it is, you know, I don't blame you. She's definitely grown up some since last year and-"

"It isn't Hannah," Harry said, flatly, putting an end to his best friend's rambling.

Luckily, just as Ron opened his mouth, Professor McGonagall entered the classroom. "Good afternoon, class," the stern looking witch said as she took her place in front of her desk. "We have a lot to get done today so I'll waste no time. Separate yourselves into pairs and I will hand out the ferrets." She went to a stack of cages sitting on the side of her desk. "Remember," she said as she bent to open the first one, "you will be taking turns transfiguring the ferrets into wooden swords. Wooden," she repeated, casting a harsh look over the class. "If I see a single glint of silver, you will all have a month's worth of detention. I can't tell you how many students I've had to send to Madame Pomfrey because of their idiocy."

The rest of Professor McGonagall's speech was drowned out by the sound of chairs scraping and people moving about the classroom. Harry quickly scanned the classroom for anyone without a partner. This was the first time, in over six years of friendship, that he'd actually wanted to be partners with someone other than Ron. Unfortunately, the rest of the classed had paired off and they were the only two left without partners. Harry looked over at Ron.

"I've got it!" Ron said, grinning broadly, "It's Parvati, isn't it!" Harry groaned loudly.

He would have to endure an hour and a half's worth of his best friend's spontaneous guesses at who his infatuation was with. When bell signaling the end of class finally rang, he quickly shoved his books into his bag and rushed out of the classroom, to the Great Hall, for dinner. Unfortunately for him, Ron caught up with him as soon as he put his things down under the table, a fresh batch of girls' names in his mouth. "Is it, Eloise Midgen?" he asked.

Harry looked at Ron incredulously. "What?"

"Well, I don't know. She did manage to fix her nose up and she's not that bad looking now."

Harry could feel his blood begin to boil. He took deep breath. "No," he said calmly, hoping it would put an end to Ron's guessing. "It isn't Eloise. Now I'd appreciate it if you'd stop guessing because you're really starting to get on my-"

No such luck. Ron interrupted him with another guess. "It's Luna, isn't it!" he exclaimed. "Luna Lovegood!"

Something in Harry snapped. He slammed his fist onto the table, knocking over several goblets. "You're never going to guess it, Ron," he shouted.

"And why not?" Ron shouted back. "I know every girl at this school!"

Finally, before he could even think about it, the words Harry had been longing to shut Ron up with came spilling out of his mouth. "Because it isn't a girl!" At that moment, the entire Great Hall fell silent. Seeing the look Ron was giving him, Harry immediately regretted his words. "Ron," he said, reaching out to put his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "I-"

But Ron shook the hand off. He opened his mouth to speak but had no words to say so, in lieu, he turned and left the Great Hall. Harry watched him until he disappeared through the doors. He groaned in frustration before dropping himself heavily on the bench.

Not long afterward, he heard Hermione's voice, calling him. He turned to see her rushing into the Hall. "Harry, what happened?" she asked, breathlessly. "I just saw Ron and he didn't look too good."

"You know that secret I told you a while back?" Harry said. Hermione nodded. "Well, let's just say we don't have to worry about telling Ron anymore."

Feech's Note:I know, I don't update mearly as often as I should but, if you think you can convince my teachers to stop assigning me stupid papers and crap so I can devote my life to writing Harry Potter fan fiction, be my guest. I'd love you forever. Anyway, for anyone that's wondering, Ron is not a homophobe! I just needed to add some stress causing conflict for later chapters. wink wink Peaches!