5.

"You look sad," said Lavender, trailing along Rose as both girls made their way to the Great Hall, "Did something happen during your visit home?

"No," Rose replied quickly, not wanting the events of the past night to become public knowledge. She was still convinced that her good-for-nothing brother was just the butt of some kind of prank and pretty soon, the world will return to its normal state. But for now, she was going to keep denying until her face turned blue.

"You sure?" Lavender insisted, sounding dubious. She knew Rose well enough to sense that her friend hadn't been telling the whole truth. On one hand, it was sometimes nice to have a friend who knew you so well, but on the other hand; not being able to keep any secrets can sometimes become daunting.

"I'm sure," Rose repeated, eyes looking anywhere but the girl next to her, "I'm sure."

Lavender remained silent for the rest of their trip to the Great Hall and Rose was grateful for it. She didn't want to talk right now, or at least, not about the things Lavender wanted to talk about. It was just better for both of them if they stayed silent.

They made it to the Great Hall in record time and Rose pushed open the door and was about to ask Lavender if she was hungry yet when her eyes caught sight of something that would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life.

"It's a terrible idea," was what Abraxas Malfoy had said when Tom had run past him his idea of doing the proposal in public.

"I agree," Alphard Black had commented, looking almost sick at being on the same side as Abraxas. Those two may be cousins by blood, but they still fought like cats and dogs whenever they had the pretext to do so. The only thing they really have in common was their friendship with Tom.

Talking about friends, Tom had truly taken in to consideration their views when making the final decision, but ultimately decided that if he couldn't risk people casting aspersions on the subject. If he wanted to make sure no one tries to tempt Harry away from him, he needed to make a grand gesture at the beginning; a pre-emptive strike if you will. Tom had always been a possessive bastard when it came to things he cared about and the power that would result from the bonding with the Heir of Magic was high on that list.

So Tom had opted for a public proposal, going all out with flowers and all. He was starting to admit that maybe he had miscalculated when Harry stared back at him in horror after he had said the proposing words.

For a moment, Tom was sure that Harry was about to reject him outright when the young man in question froze, eyes leaving Tom's to land on something in the distance. Something flashes through his eyes and before Tom could blink, Harry's whole behavior did a huge 180 degrees turn.

"Oh Tom, that's so romantic," he gushed and promptly looked sick at himself. But the grimace was quickly hidden as he continued, "I would love to accept your offer."

Tom omphed in surprise when Harry grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled, bringing him up in to a kiss.

It was, in one word, terrible. The kiss was too hard and too cold; their teeth clashed together due to the wrong angle.

Now Tom was the one who wanted to grimace.

Once they separated, Tom subtly turned towards where Harry had looked a few moments ago and just in time to catch sight of Rose turning around, her face red with anger and tears running down her cheeks.

Ah, thought Tom, so that's how it is.

Despite himself, a smirk found its way to his lips as he begin to regard Harry under a brand new light.

So maybe, Harry wasn't so Gryffindorish after all.

And that thought excited him to no end.

TBC

A/N: Hi, short chapter, but it hasn't even been a day since the last one. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Review lets me understand what you would like to see, and what you didn't like; it also encourages me to write And helps me improve:) Thank you all for the support so far. See you next time.

PS: I will be doing a section next chapter where i will be answering your questions and reviews (up to date), so if you have any, now is the time to ask. Thanks you once again for the support.