Legal BS: Don't own anything, sorry. Some lady in Britain…. Scotland? I hear she's a really good writer…

WARNING! Character death in a later chapter. This story also contains SLASH! First couple chapters have moderate language. If you don't approve, don't read. That said, I hope you enjoy the story.

Kisses Were Never Meant to Hurt Ch. 7

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Morning came and both boys were sound asleep in bed, this being the first day of Holiday break. Last night's little "party" in the bathroom had tired them both out but made them cry for more. Literally on Draco's part. It was a huge relief to him that he would not be going home for the holidays, because he could then dominate Potter all he wanted and vice versa.

Draco woke with a start on Saturday morning, Christmas Eve day.

"PRESENTS!" he heard somebody shout and thump across the room, only to be followed by "Not TODAY you bloody idiot, TOMORROW. I should have gotten you a damn calendar or something that you actually could learn to READ."

Draco recognized this highly annoyed voice as Blaise Zabini's, who was just about as easily aggravated and hot-headed as he was. He pulled the covers over his head and groaned, cursing the fact that Crabbe had persuaded him to sleep in the regular boy's dormitory last night. He swore there was something outside in the forest that was stalking the boys through their windows and that Draco was the only one who was powerful enough to defeat it if it decided to come look for human prey. Though Draco liked the fact that Crabbe thought he was almighty and powerful, he was extremely annoyed at his childish there's-something-outside-my-window-mommy-come-look way of handling it.

Mommy.

Oh yes. Father had lovingly killed her. No more Holiday hugs, no more hand-printed stationary with the Malfoy crest on it for a Christmas gift, no more motherly anything. No more anything. Hollow insides, except for Potter. Well, almost. Draco never wanted to see that damned fancy "M" again.

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Harry's morning started out much the same, except for the fact that nobody mistakenly thought it was Christmas. He had been awoken by Seamus, who had reminded him for the thousandth time this week that today was their first holiday Hogsmeade visit. He was quite disappointed when Harry exclaimed he would not be going due to a very sore-throat that he in fact did not have. Seamus later left Harry to himself and accompanied Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the rest of Gryffindor to leave.

Harry was relieved to be left alone and be away from the tension between him and Ron. His last "anonymous letter" had undoubtedly come from him as Harry noticed severe pen marks that read "Ronald Weasley" that had apparently been the header for a previous assignment. He was also quite surprised to find out that the only people who weren't absolutely appalled at him for getting caught with Malfoy were Hermione, Seamus and Neville. Hermione he had expected to be angry, but not to the extent that Ron had been. For this, Harry was grateful. He knew he had at least 3 friends in the whole school.

"But what about Malfoy?" he forced himself to think. "No, Malfoy isn't a friend. He's more… more of an unexpected acquaintance," thought Harry. He got out of bed, took a shower, and went about his day, mainly staying in the common room thinking and reading his weekly Quidditch Players' Informative magazines.

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It was almost evening, and dinner would be starting in about an hour. The groups that had gone to Hogsmeade had just arrived back and were making their way into the common room, laughing and joking. Harry saw Hermione and Ron enter, and when Hermione made her way through the crowd over to Harry, Ron followed.

"How was your day?" she asked.

"Uneventful." Harry answered boredly. "Yours?"

"Quite fun, actually." Hermione's eyes glowed, but her expression turned from happy to worried. "Somebody has something to tell you."

"Yeah?"

Hermione made a gesture towards Ron, who looked like he couldn't decided between the emotions of anger or embarrassment. She then cleared her throat, and Ron opened his mouth to talk.

"Hermione and I were talking," he started slowly, and took a deep breath. Ron looked as if he was about to say something that took great concentration and effort. "And I have decided," he sighed. Harry raised one eyebrow at him. "ThatI'mnevertalkingtotyouagaininmyentirelife." He finished in a hurry.

"RONALD!" Hermione slapped him hard on the arm. "That's not what we were talking about Harry, Ron wanted to apologize, but he's too afraid to tell you he's-" She was interrupted by Harry, who had suddenly found his own voice.

"That he's sorry. I knew it was coming."

Both Hermione and Ron looked relieved.

"Well, let me tell you something of my own," Harry began firmly, "I'm glad he's apologizing, but I don't accept it. You can hardly call yourself a friend if you're going to shun someone for something as small as seeing somebody of the same sex."

"Harry, mate, it's not that you're-" Ron started to speak, but Harry cut him off.

"Gay? No, it's not because of that. It's because of the fact that I'm gay and dating Draco Malfoy. Well understand this; either you accept it or you don't. And if you're going to send somebody 'anonymous letters,' be sure what you're sending them is really anonymous."

Ron's whole face went beet red.

"You have nothing to say, do you?" asked Harry accusingly.

"No, not really," began Ron, "but I do have something to tell you. I honestly couldn't care less that you're gay, but the fact that you were dating somebody and hiding it from your best friends is a whole other thing. And much less, dating the enemy."

Harry had had enough.

"Okay then, what would you like me to say?" He stood up on the chair he had been sitting in, and yelled out, "Listen up Gryffindors! My name is Harry Potter, and my so-called best friend over here would like me to tell you that I'M GAY, and DATING DRACO MALFOY. Suck it up you sorry pricks, and you can send me anonymous hate letters if you like." With that, Harry swung his hip to the right, fluttered his eyelashes at the gaping crowd, and got down off the chair to face Ron.

"WAS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU RONALD WEASLEY? I'VE HAD IT WITH YOUR HATEMAIL, YOUR TAUNTING ME AT MEALS AND YOUR NASTY LOOKS IN CLASS. IF YOU FIND ME AND MY LIFE THAT MUCH OF A PROBLEM, YOU SHOULD HAVE CONSIDERED THAT I MIGHT HAVE BEEN A BURDEN TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY WHEN WE FIRST INTRODUCED OURSELVES. I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE APOLOGIZING, I DO NOT ACCEPT IT."

Silence.

"I think I'm gay too!" exclaimed a third year, who had apparently taken this outburst as a coming out expression. He nodded his head, stood proudly, and crossed his arms. People just rolled their eyes.

"Now's not the time, Hugh," Whispered another boy from behind him.

Harry looked at Ron, and Ron looked at Harry. The redhead opened his mouth and said "You're right. I should have considered it. Now I know you really are a burden."

The on looking crowd gasped. Had the inseparable Ron Weasley and Harry Potter just stopped being friends? No way.

Harry simply turned and walked away numbly, only to hear Hermione choke out a loud sob and Ron usher the crowd away with an annoyed, "All right, party's over, resume your previous engagements."

As Harry walked up the stairs to the boys' dormitory, an owl fluttered in front of him and dropped a letter at his feet. He opened it to read a single sentence:

Harry,

Meet me by the tree and lake where we got caught; tonight at 11:00pm sharp.

Draco

He would definitely be meeting Draco there later on. He needed something to get his mind off of what had just went on. Maybe he could even convince him to hex Ron or something. "Jesus, I'm even starting to think like him," Harry thought suddenly.

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A/N: I told you you'd be getting something soon, and this time I actually stuck to what I said! Tomorrow you're getting something else, because it's the FINAL CHAPTER! What will happen when Harry meets Malfoy? Did Ron really mean what he said? What about Draco's daddy and all this threats? We shall find out!

Till then,

silvertips.