-Story disclaimer at the beginning of Chapter One-

Authors Note One: I hope you like the flow so far. Someone mentioned that my writing style is awkward. I don't take it as an insult. I am glad that the person told me. If I can improve, that is a good thing. If you agree with them - feel free to email me with suggestions on how to change it.

Authors Note Two: To reply to another comment - I don't mean to make Harry naïve. Sorry if it comes off that way. I just don't think Harry is trying to figure the match out. I think he's is just letting things happen on their own.

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:Chapter Seven: Before Barrage

Draco was still awake on Sunday night when he got Jolt's last letter. Grinning, he debated responding right then. He wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not. If he responded, he was sure to keep Jolt awake all night, but if he didn't respond – Jolt might assume that he was already sleeping and possibly fall asleep himself. Eventually he decided to reply the next morning.

His plan of getting clues seemed to be working. If this was Harry, he was too innocent for his own good. So far, everything Jolt had responded with was easily connected to Harry. But again, it could be easily connected to many other students as well. Thinking of this, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

-o-O-o-

The next morning at Flying class, Draco was trying to get more clues. When the group was running, it was hard to tell anything, since Harry was way ahead of him. Harry seemed to take anything physical, seriously… which gave him high hopes for later.

Once they all took to the air, Draco caught himself watching Harry again. 'Does he look distracted? Gahhh. I can't tell. He always looks happy when he's on his broom.'

He simply couldn't read him and decided to leave the sleuthing for later.

Potions class should have been a bit more fun – but it seemed that Seamus was going to follow the Golden Boy around flirting with him now. Seamus kept finding ways to pat Harry on his back or touch his arm while preparing the ingredients for the batch of potion they were making and it was making Draco slightly shake from fury.

When class was almost over, everyone started putting away their supplies. Draco timed it so he could follow Seamus into the supply closet. Tripping him, Seamus dropped some of the bottles, causing them to break. Seamus now had to serve detention every night that week. Draco could have hugged Professor Snape.

While the students were leaving Potions class, Harry's books fell out of his bag. Telling his friends to go on to lunch without him, he stopped to pick them up.

Someone was stacking his parchments and folders and handed them to him. Looking up he saw Malfoy. He was sure he had a surprised look on his face because Malfoy handed him the stack of papers and said, "Why so shocked? Don't you know people grow up, Harry?" And with that, Harry was left alone zipping up his bag.

-o-O-o-

Sitting at the Slytherin table, Draco thought back on helping Harry. The only reason he made the bag fall open was so he could look at the papers and see if he recognized any of them as Jolt and Mischief's letters. But he didn't see any letters at all. The good thing, is that this also helped part of his plan. 'If Jolt is Harry,' he thought, 'I want him to be comfortable around me when we first meet.'

Watching the door, he saw Harry finally enter the Great Hall.

Harry sat down next to Ron and started putting food on his plate.

"Some of those moves we're learning in Flying class are amazing!" Ron said through his half-full mouth.

"Yeah, too bad Slytherin is learning them also." Harry responded while glancing over at the Slytherin table. He noticed Malfoy was looking at him. Harry silently wondered what he was up to… it had to be something. Then Harry looked away.

"How is your aide class going, Hermione?" Harry asked her.

"Oh, I just love it! Today not many students were in the library though. It gave me time to respond to my Quill-matches. And I shelved books too. You won't believe this, but I think I saw Madame Pince hugging Filch before she came into the library this morning."

The boys made looks of disgust.

"Aw, I don't know. It's kind of cute that two mean-spirited people can manage to look so happy with each other." Hermione said.

At that point, owls were swooping into the Great Hall to deliver mail. Hedwig dropped off a letter before getting petted and taking off again.

Opening it, Harry read:

Hello Harry. I am glad to finally hear from you. I hope your school term has been going well. Mine has been pretty good so far. Thank you for the candy you sent. I have never tasted chocolate like that. Where did you ever find it? The package said Honeydukes, but I have never heard of that brand before.

I am enclosing a few photos. You know that Photography is my main focus in school, which is why I take so many. I even included a couple of us from a few weeks ago - from a roll I didn't realize I had taken. I miss you but am glad that we are staying friends. I hope you will take some photos of you at your school for me.

Brent

-o-O-o-

Harry pulled the photos from the envelope, glad this time that he was the first to see them. The first few photos were beautiful photos of buildings and landscapes. The last couple photos were of Harry and Brent. Nothing too exciting since they spent the last few days of their time together trying to be just 'friends'. The photos were pretty safe.

Ron looked curious, so Harry handed him the photos. Soon after they were looked at by most of the kids near them. When Seamus saw the photos, he exclaimed, "Who is this, Harry? He's so pretty that I would consider giving him half my magic if he could attend this school. Is this your cousin?" He asked hopefully.

"No, that's my ex." Harry told Seamus who frowned and muttered something like, 'Well, not the prettiest boy I've ever seen…"

"What do you mean, your ex?" Ginny asked while flipping through the photos.

"I dated him all summer, but now we are just friends." He told her.

The next thing Harry knew, the photos were being passed from person to person. Harry asked for them back, but then a Ravenclaw girl accio'd them to her table and they were being passed around there. Harry walked over to the table and tried to get the photos back, but before he could – Blaise stood up and took them out of a girl's hand.

Before Blaise could finish looking at them, Draco reached over and took them out of his hands. He viewed each photo before Harry had made his way over to him.

"Hand them over." Harry demanded.

"Weird, Potter. It's spooky that muggle photos don't move." Draco replied.

"Give them back." Harry said again.

"What will I get if I do?" Draco teased.

"Nothing. Now hand them over." He said while holding out his hand.

"But that's no fun. There's nothing in it for me."

Harry tried to grab them out of Malfoy's hand, but Malfoy put his hand underneath the table and out of reach. Harry was fuming now.

"Aw, Potter. Calm down. Just answer this: Who is the guy in the photos?"

"Me. Now give them back."

"No, the other guy.."

"My ex, Brent."

"So you had a summer fling with a boy?"

Harry just looked at him, growing even more furious.

"Calm down Potter. I'm not making fun. Just curious."

Harry nodded and Draco held out the small stack of photos; minus one picture that Draco wanted to keep for himself. Harry cautiously went to take them. Their fingers touched and lingered for a moment considering Draco didn't let the photos go at first. Eventually he did and Harry stormed off to his table with them.

Draco would have held out for something much better than a silly answer, but he noticed McGonagall looked as if she was about to interfere. But he still smiled internally. That was another clue! Jolt said he dated a guy over the summer but was single now.

'I can't believe I had doubts that my match was Harry.' He thought. 'Truthfully no one else at this school could possibly be good enough for me – the Sorting Hat must know what he's doing.' Draco smirked while he ripped Brent out of the picture and stuffed the non-moving photo of Harry into his pocket.

-o-O-o-

After all the classes for the day, Harry was sitting with Hermione in the library doing homework. Actually, she was doing her homework and he was about to read his newest letter from Mischief. But before he could unfold the parchment, Hermione asked, "So tell me how things are going with your Quill match."

"Pretty good so far. We have a lot in common and things are starting to get… interesting." He replied. "What about you? You last said you were writing two guys and a girl. How are things coming along?"

"Oh, I am only writing two people now. There is something about the guy though… haven't been able to put my finger on it. And the girl, well I'll just say that things are coming along nicely." She said while grinning.

"Good, I am glad to hear it."

"Have you figured out who you are writing to yet, Harry?"

"No, why would I do want to do that?"

"Most people are trying to guess who their matches are before they meet up."

"Well not me. I'm too busy learning about him than wasting time guessing who he is."

"You're not curious at all?"

"I'll find out eventually, won't I?"

Hermione nodded her head and went back to doing homework. Harry opened the letter and read it. Then he replied:

Dear Mischief,

It's fine that you didn't respond last night. I realize that us seventh years are busy doing homework, studying, and sleeping. Not much free time this year. Actually, right now I am in the library 'doing homework' with a friend. Yeah, right… I'll get to it eventually.

You asked me if I have been having a good year so far. Well school has only been in session for a little over a week. Everything seems the same as last year, except we have been getting way more homework to do.

Oh and I just remembered this. Another different thing this year is that my biggest enemy at this school has been acting kinda nice to me. I can't tell why but I have a feeling he's up to something sneaky. Even today he was nice and helped me out with something. Very odd.

You never told me what you did over the summer? Are you planning on going home over Winter Break?

Going to start on my homework now since my study buddy is giving me the evil-eye,

Jolt

-o-O-o-

After Harry folded up his letter to Mischief, he dared a glance up at Hermione.

"What?" He asked.

"I didn't invite you here to goof off. You really should be concentrating on your homework, Harry."

"I'm going to start it in a minute. Promise. But, answer this first – when do you plan on meeting your matches?"

"Well I meeting the guy at Hogsmeade. Although, most matches seem to be waiting until the Hufflepuff Party or Halloween Party to meet up."

"When is the Hufflepuff Party?" He asked.

"The second week in October – a few weeks before the Halloween Party."

"Oh okay. Should be fun." He answered and then opened his book to start his first essay of the night.

-o-O-o-

The next two weeks passed by quickly and the weekend that all the upper years were looking forward to – finally arrived. Tomorrow was the first trip into Hogsmeade.

Everyone was looking forward to it. A few of the students were going to meet up with their matches, including Hermione. But most of the gossip taking place was about Harry's date with Seamus and how everyone thought it would go.

Harry woke up and reflected on the school year so far. Things were going good. His classes were going well, even in Potions he seemed to be improving a bit. Mostly because of his discussions with Mischief, he was trying not to let Snape bother him as much. Speaking of Mischief, their letters were getting to be the highlight of his days. Harry never felt like this with anyone before. He definitely had a growing crush on him and couldn't wait to meet up. Their letters were getting more and more intense and they would sometimes stay up until well after Midnight writing each other. They decided to wait and meet up. Harry would have loved to meet up tomorrow, but he knew he had his date with Seamus. He was honest with Mischief and explained that he had accepted the date before they started writing each other. Of course, he didn't say whom the date was with. Harry had decided to give Seamus a fair shot, even though he still wasn't sure about their relationship going past being friends.

As Harry heard his roommates getting up, he gathered his stuff and followed them into the showers. After that, they all headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Harry pulled Seamus aside.

Grinning, Seamus said, "Hey Harry, I'm glad it's Friday. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, how about you?"

"Yeah. That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about –"

"Don't worry about talking now, we'll catch up tomorrow, okay?" Seamus interrupted while trying to not look worried.

"Sure, tomorrow."

"Let's meet up at The Three Broomsticks at 11am. Sound okay? That will give us enough time to shop around first."

"See you then." Harry said as they entered the Great Hall. Harry went over and sat by Ron and Hermione. Seamus went to sit next to his best friend, Dean.

Dean looked at him and asked, "Things still set for tomorrow?" While shifting his eyes to Harry.

"Yes! How about you? You said you had a date tomorrow too?" Seamus questioned.

"Uh huh. I am meeting my top Quill-match tomorrow. Should be fun."

Hermione over heard this and said, "I am meeting up with one of my matches tomorrow also!" She never noticed Ron's eyebrows lifting or the weird look he was giving her.

The rest of the day breezed by. That night, hardly any of the upper years could fall asleep. Of course, it was much easier for Harry and Ron because Hermione nagged them into doing their homework so they would have the weekend free. Harry wasn't as upset about this as Ron was; he was just glad to have something to take his mind off of tomorrow.

-o-O-o-

The following morning Harry was woken up by Hermione's screams, which sounded as if they were coming from the Common Room. He ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was. Upon entering, he was mostly confused and a little shocked at the sight that greeted him.

-end of chapter-

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Authors Note One: Yes, I realize that the Owls deliver mail during breakfast and not lunch. Taking liberties here! Also, Harry got the Honeydukes chocolates he sent to Brent through mail order.

PS: I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I just moved. My gas got cut off on accident a couple days ago. Anyway, I wanted to thank my friend Mace for letting me take a hot shower at her place yesterday. Today I had to take a freezing shower… brrrrr! It was colder than a garden hose.