Title: Mr. X

Chapter: 7

Author: Arawna

Disclaimer: Anything pertaining to Harry Potter and Co. does not belong to me, rather to JKR and anyone else who has stuck their hand into this cauldron.

A/N: Aw, look Harry's getting better with his texting; I know you're all rapturous and morose at the same time. Well, deal with it.

Harry sat with Ron and Hermione at a small café not a block from the men's flat. Harry wasn't the anxious, twitchy, obsessive-compulsive, nitwit that he was the day before, and Hermione took attention of it; not that Ron would do such a thing as notice. The dark haired man could feel his friend's studious gaze on him as he, in turn, gazed out the window, coffee in one hand and chin in the other.

"You're calmer today, Harry," she said, stating the obvious. Harry turned from the window, where on the other side stood a couple arguing about something stupid, to look at Hermione. "Pray thee, tell why."

He merely grinned at her.

"You talked with him again last night, didn't you? He's the one that calmed you, isn't he?" Hermione asked. He kept the grin on his face as he nodded. "Wow, that suddenly makes me feel unneeded."

Harry chuckled at her and shook his head. "You're not unneeded. I still need you around. After all, without you, who'll be my dictionary and random/useless fact finder?"

Ron, only having heard part of the conversation and none of the prelude from the day before, decided to enter said conversation. "The only other person that could substitute 'Mione in being a dictionary and knower of useless crap would be Malfoy, and Merlin knows you wouldn't go near him with a ten-foot pole."

It suddenly grew silent. Harry turned from his red-headed friend and cleared his throat and Hermione looked as though she were trying to read her fortune in the swirling foam of her mocha.

"What? Why're you guys so quiet all of a sudden?" he asked, his eyes shifting between the two of them.

Hermione was the first to speak. "Well…I don't know everything, only the very rudimentary details. So…Harry needs to tell you." She gave the man in question a very pointed look. "And catch me up on everything, especially why he's so chipper."

Harry rubbed the back of his neck and looked at Ron. "I'm – I think…I think I may be attracted to Malfoy."

The mug dropped from Ron's hands, spilling the black coffee he'd been drinking all over the table. Hermione made a quick survey of the café to make sure no one was looking their way before she muttered a quick cleaning charm. Her own reaction was merely a raise of her eyebrows, but it passed far quicker than Ron's since she'd been forewarned. She quickly motioned to the barista to get another cup of the house blend.

"Malfoy? As in Draco Malfoy? The same Malfoy that made all of our school years hell? That Malfoy?" Ron asked, his voice rising slightly.

It was Harry's turn to study his coffee. "Yes."

"Does this mean you're some sort of a gay masochist?" Ron asked. "What about Ginny? And Cho? I mean, both were women. Well, I'm not sure about Cho, but I grew up with Ginny, and I know she's female."

"Nice observation, dear," Hermione said sarcastically. "But, I'll let you in on a little secret, both were also kinda boyish. I mean, Cho was kinda masculine with no chest – and she still has none, remember what she looked like at the last Anniversary. And you can't deny that Ginny – well, let's just say that being raised with six brothers didn't help her femininity any."

Ron stared at her blankly before turning to stare at Harry again.

"Why?" he asked, his voice borderline pleading, as the barista set his new coffee before him.

Harry shrugged. "I found I miss him-"

"Then you miss him, that's it," Ron interrupted. "Although I can't fathom why you'd do that."

"Well…I talked with X about all this, and-"

"X? You mean the guy that sent that owl through your phone?" Ron interrupted again.

"Yeah, anyway-"

"I thought you'd stopped talking to him," Ron said.

"Well, he hasn't, and only let me talk to him yesterday," Hermione answered for Harry. "Now if you'd let him finish."

Harry nodded a thanks to his friend. "Anyway, I've been talking to him, and I kinda found that I sorta like the idea of being in a relationship with Malfoy. Not that that'll every happen, I just like the idea."

Ron looked at him like he belonged in the mental ward at St. Mungo's.

"What'd he have to say last night?" Hermione asked, changing the subject, slightly.

Harry took a sip of his coffee. "He said that if Ron wouldn't accept it that I'd have to threaten him with a break of friendship." Ron gaped at him. "Just be happy it didn't have to come to that." He took another sip of his coffee before continuing. "He also said that…uh…given our history, it would prove for some great 'angry sex', as he put it."

Ron, who'd been taking a drink from his own mug, suddenly coughed and the contents of the cup quickly went the way of the previous cup. Unfortunately, it wasn't the table that had the misfortune of acquainting itself with the hot coffee; it was Ron's face.

"Ah, it burns," Ron whined as Hermione grabbed a handful of napkins to mop the liquid from her boyfriend's face.

"Ronald, hush, and let me clean it off," she chided harshly. One doesn't have to be a genius to know Ron quickly shut up, turning his loud whining to a quiet whimper.

Harry watched as she gently rubbed Ron's face, telling him in a harsh tone to stop moving, but having a caring glint in her eye and an amused smile on her face.

He wondered, idly, whether or not he'd be able to achieve a relationship like that with Malfoy. He shook his head of the thought as the couple across from him turned to him once again.

"Please don't say anything like that again," Ron pleaded. One side of his face was red where the coffee had done the most damage, but Hermione was casting a healing charm, so Harry didn't need to worry.

"It's okay, Ron, he probably wouldn't like the idea of any sort of relationship with me, anyway," Harry answered, looking back into his mug. "He'd probably hex me if I asked him whenever I saw him next, which would be the next Anniversary."

Hermione placed her hand on his. "Then the stupid git wouldn't know what he'd lost before he even had it. If it be so, then I'd be here for you to cry on-" Harry glared at her, as if to say that he didn't cry. "-or talk to if you needed it."

"Pft, there's no way he'd deny Harry," Ron scoffed. The two looked at him, as if asking what the hell happened and if the coffee was the catalyst. "What? If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?"

TBC…