A/N: No one has mad any comments about "Brokeback Hogwarts" yet and I'm wondering if anyone ever will. I'm also wondering if I'm moving the relationship between the boys too fast. The plot wasn't about them hooking up though… I'm glad for the reviews I've gotten! You guys are awesome.
Last Chapter: Goyle admits his feelings for Harry… Harry has a full Quidditch team and then Goyle and Harry begin a secret relationship…
The departure of summer was beginning to appear with a rather jubilant display of color as the trees changed to fit the oncoming season. Deep reds, yellows and oranges burned like fire through the full green of the trees. The sunlit days that had seemed to last forever during the summer were slowly becoming shorter turning into longer moonlit nights. The sunny days of summer were becoming the greyer days of autumn, whose vibrancy was seen on the leaves of the trees instead of in the sky.
Harry sighed to himself as he walked toward the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. It seemed as though so much had happened during the week previous. Returning to Hogwarts had always been a joy for Harry and this year was no exception to that joy. Changes were in the air this year, and Harry could feel it because it seemed to be happening through him.
In one week Harry had gone from being enemies to something morewith Gregory Goyle, the massive Slytherin whom Harry had once believed lived to serve Draco Malfoy and bully younger students. This was not the case as Harry had been shocked to find out. He had found the hulking brute to be kind, sensitive and his presence soothing. They became friends in the matter of two days and before the week was over their relationship had delved deeper than that of just friendship. Harry did not feel as though he was gay, as most people would label a relationship between two young men, because it wasn't Goyle's physical appearance that attracted Harry, there was something more. Something that the skin hid deep within the heart and soul of the other young man, that was what Harry found alluring.
When Harry joined his friends at the Gryffindor table for breakfast, he decided that a hearty breakfast was in order. He had a long day ahead of him and didn't want to add hunger to his list of worries. Loading his plate with eggs, sausages, potatoes and toast, he didn't notice the pair of eyes beaming at him almost carelessly.
Gregory Goyle had been enjoying his breakfast when he watched Harry walk into the Great Hall. Gregory never stopped staring at the own to whom his feelings were attached. The feeling of joy springing about in his body as something new, something warm and Gregory didn't know exactly what this feeling was, but he knew that he liked it. In his mind, he went over the time he and Harry had shared the day before.
"I wish we could share our feelings with everyone, and everyone would be ok with us." Gregory said, while running his fingers through Harry's hair. A smile crossed his lover's lips asHarry pondered whathe had said. It was a wish, a hope and a dream that "everyone" would be ok with their relationship. Seeing the look in Gregory's eyes though, a fervent want for that acceptance, Harry wouldn't say anything other than to agree.
"I know Gregory that would be great…"Harry's replied wistfully, trying not to think on the fact that they very well might be two "gay" lovers; this thought had crossed Harry's mind when he realized as to why he couldn't tell Ron about his relationship. As unsure of what his feelings for Gregory had been, he was even more unsure of how the news of their relationship would be taken. Harry then decided that it was time to discuss how they would take their relationship into class, secretly.
"Gregory, you know that this, I mean us, this is going to change things." Harry thought aloud, "In class I mean." Gregory smiled wide, telling Harry that he understood. As Harry continued the innocent smile on Gregory's face never departed. "We can't be too close, but we can't be too far apart. We're going to have to be just like we were last week." Harry finished, but he sounded a little confused. Hadn't he spent that last week hoping that Gregory would touch him more?
This was also the forefront of Gregory's thoughts as he stated very clearly, "Yeah, but… uhm, Harry, didn't we spend last week just trying to touch each other?" Gregory was still smiling, although his face had gone a shade redder. They continued to talk for a while longer, before Gregory had a very bold idea.
"Harry, it's not going to be warm for much longer…" Gregory looked pointedly at the lake. As they looked at the lake, the idea seemed to dawn on Harry as well.
"You mean… you want to…" Harry never finished his sentence. Gregory took him by the hand, which was very easy to do as they'd been holding hands by a tree during their entire talk, and led him closer to the water. Realizing that he hadn't brought a swimming suit with him, Harry stopped rather suddenly.
"Greg, I haven't a suit with me." Harry said quietly, not wanting to sound like a prude. Gregory, who could not wipe the happiness of his face, continued smiling and told Harry very plainly that he, did not have a suit with him either. He figured they could just go swimming in their shorts. This left Harry very glad that he did indeed wear boxer shorts.
Stripping off their clothes, the two young men ran into the water. It was cold, but not too cold. The water was more refreshing than anything else and Harry was suddenly very glad that Gregory had thought of it. For a short while on that beautiful Sunday afternoon, they swam and splashed playfully in the water. It was a moment of complete peace.
The two young men, whose early lives had been dictated for them, had finally found another soul that understood their plight. When they had first met, half a decade before, they had never thought that they would feel the way they did. Even then, while swimming together, they felt as though it was somewhat odd that they had been drawn together; two people that had once believed that they were complete opposites discovering how similar they truly are. The feeling they felt when they were together was bliss.
After they had been swimming for awhile, Harry began to get a little cold. His teeth were beginning to chatter a little as he smiled at his aficionado. Noticing this change of demeanor, Gregory swam closer pulling Harry softly into his arms. Harry could feel the warmth that Gregory was emanating; his skin was pudgy and smooth. Embracing one another in a chaste, yet ardent hug they floated in the water together. Floating until they realized they could stand on the lake bottom, they stood stilling holding one another. Harry's shoulders were barely above the waterline, and Gregory had placed his arms around Harry's neck.
Once again, as it had happened before, their lips slowly met in a deep passionate kiss. The sun was still shining down, seeming to smile on the young lovers as their kisses deepened, pressing their bodies closer together. Harry felt a surge of energy pass through his body when Gregory avidly slid his tongue into Harry's open mouth. Their tongues danced, lost in a conversation of passion. With their bodies so close, Harry could feel something warm and solid pressed against his own solidity. Sighing profoundly, Harry opened his eyes as their lips parted after what seemed like an eternity of being as one. Harry ran his hands along Goyle's soft, warm back appreciating the smooth skin.
Goyle smiled as he snapped back to the present, the memory of their time together thick in his mind. Crabbe was prodding Gregory, telling him to hurry or they would be late for Care of Magical Creatures.
"Oi, Greg, C'mon, it's my favorite class this year. I wanna see how Rudolpho is doing." Crabbe almost shouted at his friend, wondering what they hell as making him take so long. It wasn't like Gregory to be out-of-sorts, day dreaming in the middle of breakfast. Something was going on that Gregory hadn't told him yet, but he wanted to find out.
Ronald Weasley also noticed that something was weird at Hogwarts but he didn't know what. Harry had been incredibly happy. Not that Ron wanted his friend to be unhappy, but lately Harry seemed to reside forever on cloud nine. Harry hadn't yelled at anyone unexpectedly, or fumed rampantly about you-know-who. Something was off and Ron was going to get Harry to tell him. As Ron turned to ask Harry what was going on, Harry said goodbye and was off to Care of Magical Creatures.
"That was not what I was expecting." Ron thought reflectively as he went to Gryffindor tower to go over his Potions homework from Friday. He paused on his way to the tower at one of the great windows at the front of the castle, to see if he could catch a glimpse of Harry making his way to Hagrid's hut for class. He did see Harry, but who in the name of Merlin was Harry walking with. Noticing the two hulking brutes next to Harry, Ron audibly gasped. This was not right. Harry Potter was not walking, laughing and joking with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, he was a Gryffindor, and by definition Gryffindor's do not associate with Slytherin's. "What the hell is he thinking?" Ron fumed vehemently as he stalked away from the window to Gryffindor tower to contemplate his best friend's betrayal of their house.
Harry on the other hand was in very high spirits. During his walk to class, he felt himself wanting to reach out and hold Gregory's hand, but held himself back. That was no way of keeping their relationship a secret. Harry did notice that Gregory bumped into him as often as possible during the walk. When Crabbe had made an incredibly hilarious statement about his physical relationship with Millicent Bulstrode, Harry and Gregory, doubled over with laughter had to hold each other up in order to keep walking. Feeling the close, though wanted, physicality with one another they pulled apart rather awkwardly, thankful that Crabbe was overcome with his own joke to notice this odd movement.
Their next class did not have the same closeness that their walk had. The two boys were happy that they were together, but they felt as though they were being scrutinized by Crabbe, who kept looking over at them, as if they were up to something devious. They avoided touching each other, at every awkward cost while in class that morning and this was not an easily accomplished task. Hagrid had the students studying small three headed snakes.
It was just like Hagrid to assign something as dangerous as three headed snakes, no matter how small. Hagrid thought they were wonderful little creatures, with many stories and myths surrounding them. Handling the snakes was like handling a two year old baby, except the snakes had tiny fangs that could draw blood if they happened to be provoked. The snake the boys were given to study was incredibly squirmy and two of them had to hold it while it was in their care. Crabbe had asked Harry and Gregory to hold the snake while he consulted the textbook on the vagaries of three headed snakes.
They would have been delighted to partake in this particular task, if not for the scrutinizing eyes of Vincent Crabbe. Harry had always pictured Crabbe as being an unintelligent bully, but was realizing that he was not as dumb as everyone had once thought. Crabbe may have failed some of his OWL's but he was not so dense as to not notice what people around him were doing. Harry could feel a light tension during that lesson mostly because He and Gregory were acting a little too shy around one another, fearing to touch for fear that someone might notice. The only thing that was noticed was that they were acting a slight odd and Crabbe was now more interested than before to find out.
Then a thought occurred to Crabbe, hitting him with a tenacious force that he almost forgot to read about the three headed snakes. Quidditch, this had to be about Quidditch. The first match of the year was a few weeks away and Gryffindor was playing against Slytherin. This seemed far off, but they only play each other once a year and they weren't exactly used to being friends with each other yet. Crabbe had an idea, he would steer the conversation into Quidditch, thereby bluntly asking about it.
"How's your Quidditch team Harry?" Crabbe tried to ask offhandedly, but being so blunt he only managed to startle him by asking. Harry was curious as to why Crabbe would ask about Quidditch when they had a baby three headed monster in their hands. Not wanting to think about the present situation, and the awkward closeness with Goyle, Harry indulged Crabbe with a friendly answer.
"Far better than yours Vincent and we're going to 'sweep," Harry paused for effect, "you Slytherins off your feet I should think." Harry smirked at Crabbe upon finishing. The smirk was misleading for Crabbe, who opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Gregory who spoke first.
"Oh right, Harry, you know at least our Seeker can seek." Goyle then smirked at Harry, who was surprised by the originality of the insult given the offender, but silently refused to dignify the response with an answer and returned his gaze to the squirming snake that seemed to be eyeing the lion on Harry's robes hungrily. Crabbe was now slightly confused, no argument, no fighting; the two boys just keep awkwardly holding the snake. Crabbe silently wondered what the hell was going on.
Walking back towards the castle, Crabbe continued to watch his friends, well, his friend and perspective friend. Harry was talking about the hell-spawn that he and Goyle had been holding for a half hour. Gregory laughed when Harry reminded them of when it had latched onto the lion insignia on his robe, trying to eat it off. It had been a funny scene, even if it brought Goyle closer to Harry in order to pry the little monster off.
Once inside the entrance hall, Harry was met by an extremely aggravated Ron and a perplexed Hermione. Saying goodbye to Gregory and Crabbe he approached his friends wondering why they looked upset. At that moment Harry, who hadn't been having that great of a morning even though it hadn't been bad, just awkward, greeted his friends, one of whom did not seem interested in talking.
"Ron, what's got you so upset?" Harry was trying to proceed with caution, not entirely sure why his friend would be mad about after having first period break.
"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Ron accused Harry viciously, as if he had just watched his friend casting an unforgivable curse.
"I'm walking from one class, to another." Harry spoke plainly as this had been what he was doing. "Am I doing something wrong? What has you so upset this morning?" Harry was now feeling a mixture of confusion and concern.
"Oh you know what the hell you're doing! You're mixing in with them! Their not our bloody friends mate. They've been terrible to us our entire time here, and now you're just joking with them like you've been best mates forever! What the hell is wrong with you? You're a Gryffindor for Merlin's sake!" Ron cried as they made their way down to the dungeons for potions. Harry was not greatly perplexed at his best friend's anger althoughRon was insulting the young man for whom Harry had many feelings and a new friend. Ron didhave somewhat of a point because Gregory and Crabbe had been quite cruel to them during their first five years at Hogwarts, but ever since they were separated from their father's and spent less time with Draco Malfoy, they had seemed nice enough to him. Harry did not want to fight with Ron about this, but it seemed like a fight was in order.
"Ron, since when is it wrong for us to have friends in other houses. You're a prefect, you should know better than this." Hermione chirped in, giving Ron a very Mrs. Weasley look. "Magical Cooperation and all, Slytherin's aren't all bad people…" Hermione was unable to finish her sentence when Ron broke in over her.
"Sod off about that Hermione, they have been so mean to us for the last five years. How's that for Magical Cooperation?" Ron was seething, almost foaming at the mouth in his anger. Harry was unsure of where this anger was coming from. He had spent the evening before with Ron finishing their weekend homework and playing Wizard's Chess. Everything had been fine then.
"What the hell is wrong with my making friends with them? Since you didn't want to keep on with Care of Magical Creatures I had to find another group to work in, all the other ones were full, so in a sense, I was stuck." Harry tried to explain to his friend, who seemed to be calming down; Harry hoped he could guilt Ron into an apology or something to that effect. "You knew I was going to stay on with it, why didn't you?" Harry asked trying to push the guilt into his friend.
"We never really liked that class. We only stayed on because of Hagrid, after getting the OWL, what was the point? But that does not explain you laughing and joking with them on the way out there." Ron persisted in this accusation. Ron didn't feel as though he was losing his friend, he felt that his friend had lot his mind.
"Ron, they are not the bad people we thought they were. I thought we already covered this? Please just give them a chance. Hermione has, and they don't even call her… well, you know, anymore." Harry pleaded this point with Ron, mentioning the discussion they had the week previous. Considering what Harry had said, Ron, though still upset walked to Potions in rapt silence.
During dinner that night, Ron was not present at the Gryffindor table. Hermione suggested that they should give him some space to think. Not wanting to fight a battle that cannot be easily won, Harry decided to remain with her for the duration of the meal. Ron was not in attendance at dinner because he had gone to the Quidditch Pitch for an evening flight. Ron was flying around the goal posts when he noticed someone else was flying toward him. Seeing Vincent Crabbe bulleting toward him, he quickly withdrew his wand and prepared himself for a fight. When Crabbe started slowing down and did not withdraw his own wand, Ron looked around for Malfoy or Goyle, thinking that Crabbe might have been a diversion for an ambush. This was not the case at all.
"Weasley, stop pointing that thing at me unless you want me to hurt you, I just want to talk." Crabbe spoke bluntly as he was wont to do. Ron was suspicious of the Slytherin Bully, but felt confident that he could handle Crabbe if it came to that, an aerial battle.
"What do you want Crabbe? Can't you see I'm busy?" Ron wanted to sound impatient, trying to hide his curiosity at what Crabbe could want with him that did not involve a hex or beating him to a pulp. Crabbe wasted no time explaining to Ron that something was afoot at Hogwarts.
"Something is going on here at Hogwarts, and I think you know what it is Weasley." Crabbe almost spat at Ron. "What's going on with Potter? Why's he acting so… different this year?"
"Why should I tell you Crabbe?" Ron drawled, wondering why Crabbe would ask him about Harry, even after being told about Harry and Gregory acting "weird" around one another.
"Because Gregory is my best friend and I think Harry's done something to him, I don't know what, but I want to. You're going to tell me." Blunt as a blacksmith's hammer, Crabbe wanted to find out. Normally he wouldn't persist so much with something such as this, but he and Gregory had been near inseparable for about five years and he didn't want to lose his best friend.
"Well, I don't know what's going on with them either Crabbe." Ron finally admitted, almost regretfully, leading Crabbe to believe that he knew might have been fun, but Ron didn't want company and especially not the company of a Slytherin Bully. Ron did want to find out though, what the hell could be happening between Goyle and Harry. "Did Harry have a new best friend and was Ron being phased out?" Ron thought wildly as Crabbe turned his broom to fly away.
Something in the air was different that evening though, the setting sun sending waves of multicolored light through the sky; the moon, still waxing into fullness hanging gleefully above them. Vincent Crabbe turned his broom around to face Ron once again.
"Weasley, do you want to help me find out what's going on here?" Crabbe asked almost hoping that Ron wouldn't agree to help him, finding himself saying this so quickly, he hadn't paused to consider what it meant. At hearing the question being asked, Ron was overcome with curiosity. He could hear Harry's words in the back of his mind, "They're not bad people."
"Alright Crabbe, what do you think is going on?" Ron asked after thinking for a moment.
