This wasn't how it was meant to be. This wasn't how it was meant to go. They were meant to be friends, good friends, close friends even but not this. How were they meant to be friends after this?

"Harry?"

He couldn't speak, he could barely breathe. He could still feel the tingle on his lips that continually reminded him, this was no dream. What was he going to do?

"Harry?"

He didn't know how to deal with this, Draco would blow up. He would see it as him rejecting him, again. But that's what you're doing, isn't it? Rejecting him? Again?

"Harry."

He didn't want to reject him though. He liked being friends with Draco. Draco was funny, he was interesting to talk to, and his wit was entertaining (when he wasn't being mean). He liked being friends with the blonde boy. That was all going to change, how could it not?

"Harry."

Draco kissed him. It was so sudden, so unexpected. One moment they're talking about Transfigurations and the next their lips were meshed together. Now, Draco was glaring at him, oh, right, ignoring him probably isn't helping.

"Harry!"

Harry flinched away from the growling voice but did meet Draco's eyes. "Yes?"

"Well?"

Damn, damn, damn, Harry thought, what do I say?

"Oh for Merlin's sake." Draco raised his hands, which had lowered after the first... incident, and gripped either side of Harry's face. He then kissed him again. Harry's eyes blew impossibly wide again and all his muscles locked into place. He couldn't move again. When Draco removed his lips there was a small smirk on his face. Harry didn't see it; he was out of the classroom the moment he could move.

"Well, damn." Draco said, following the boy-who-lived with his eyes.

It didn't take Harry long to make it back to the tower. The common room was packed with Gryffindor students studying, playing games or chatting up with each other. When Harry entered, he didn't pause, didn't stop to look around for his friends. He flew up the stairs, entering the dorm room and flinging himself onto his bed. The occupants of the common room barely saw a blur and most dismissed it as a trick of the light; others were too engrossed in their activities to notice. Only one person noticed the blur was distinctly human shaped. He looked around the common room and noticed that someone from his dorm room was missing, someone who was missing a lot recently.

Neville packed up his homework and slowly made his way up the stairs; he didn't want to alert anyone of anything amiss. Once he was out of sight of other people he picked up the pace and entered the dorm room. He saw Harry lying on his bed, staring up. He looked to be in a daze, not noticing Neville's entrance.

"Harry?" Neville said, trying his hardest to sound calm and reassuring. When Harry didn't respond in any way Neville started to panic. Is he under a spell? Did someone attack him? Should I find a teacher?

"Harry?" He spoke louder this time, touching Harry's arm at the same time.

Harry jumped half way off the bed and stared at him with wide eyes. "Neville?" He asked, looking like he just woke up from a nightmare.

"Yeah, are you um... are you okay?"

Harry blinked slowly at him. Neville could almost see the words filtering into his brain and gradually being dissected.

"Yeah, I guess," he said eventually.

Well, that's not true, Neville thought. "Do you want to talk about it? I mean, not with me, necessarily. I could go get Ron, or Hermione, I don't mind. That's not to say you can't talk to me because you can but if you're more-"

"What would you do if a relationship you were in was moving faster than you planned and in a completely different direction where you thought? How can you reject someone without rejecting them?"

Neville stared at the Gryffindor before him. He sounded so lost and confused, Neville just wanted to hug him, though that might be weird. He turned his attention towards the question, ignoring his slightly warm cheeks.

"I can't tell you what you should do. You have to decide that. What I can tell you is that sometimes life throws us a curve ball to push our boundaries and test our limits. Sometimes the best thing to do is to go with the flow, see where it leads you."

Harry stared at Neville for a while, Neville became very twitchy. He first started fidgeting with his hands, then his shoulder started twitching, eventually his eye copied the shoulder's movement. That's when Harry spoke.

"When did you become so wise?" Harry smiled and wrapped his arms around Neville. "Thank you." He whispered in his ear, and then was gone. Out of his arms, off the bed and out the door before Neville could even think about it. Neville smiled and shook his head. Oh Harry.

Harry raced out for the common room again, accidently knocking a small second year over in the process. He didn't even notice, so intent to send a letter before curfew. He couldn't let Draco fall asleep thinking there was nothing between them, friendship or otherwise.

Harry couldn't honestly say what his feelings were. He knew he liked to spend time with the blonde and he liked being close to him but friends were like that as well. Friends didn't kiss though. Harry wasn't too sure about how he felt about that kiss either. If he was being honest, he didn't want to think about the kiss. Either way, he didn't want to loose Draco so he needed to send this letter as soon as possible.

Once he arrived at the owlery he sat down on the floor. It was only then he realised he didn't have any parchment or a quill. With a frustrated scowl, he was about to head down when an idea popped into his head.

"Dobby?" He called.

"Yes Master Harry Potter Sir?"

Harry spun around and smiled at the little elf who was wearing a bright yellow knitted jumper. "Dobby, could you collect me some parchment and a quill please?"

"Of course Master Harry Potter Sir." Dobby disappeared with a pop, appearing minutes later with the requested items.

"Thank you so much Dobby."

"Dobby is happy to help Master Harry Potter Sir, is there anything else?"

"No, thank you again Dobby."

Dobby smiled and with a deep bow, he was gone.

Harry set about writing the letter.

Dear Draco,

First I would like to apologise for running off. I was unprepared for your actions and, to be honest, overwhelmed. That doesn't excuse my behaviour and I apologise for overreacting.

As for a response to your actions, I'm assuming it was an invite out, as a date. I have thought it over and, with a little help from a good friend, I think it would be nice if you could join me, at some point, on the Hogsmeade weekend coming up. Please let me know.

Harry

P.S. If you don't want to go, just wanting to stay friends, that is fine by me too. We can just go back to the weekly classroom meetings.

Harry tied the letter to Hedwig's leg and sent her off, with a few treats. Harry then needed to make his way back to the common room and go to bed. It was a waiting game now.

The next morning Harry awoke to the sound of a bird tapping at his window. He tried to ignore it until the reason for a bird arriving earlier than usual became apparent in his head. He bolted upright and tore into the letter. It only had one line of words but they made Harry smile brightly.

1 pm, Honeydukes. Don't be late.

(w.c. 1,318)

WolfWinks –xx-