The tent smelled like old mushrooms.

Harry Potter had arrived in a rush, late on account of more dreams overpowering a worthless alarm clock. His gloves fit funny, and his tournament robes seemed worn, but he couldn't shake off everything that was on his mind. After choosing their dragons, Cedric took Harry aside.

"Please, let's not—"

"—Cedric, just… don't, ok?" Harry looked at the floor, avoiding the beautiful golden eyes. Before he knew it, he was being pulled through one of the cracks in the tent, toward trees, dirt, and grass, an empty area, with all the students having already gone to the stands. He stopped abruptly, and stood, as usual, just an inch from Harry's face. "I never meant to treat you like a child."

"Cedric—"

"—No, Harry, listen to me. Yes, I baby you. But it's not because I'm supposed to be watching over you, or because I look down upon you. I tease you, and I treat you like a child, because it's my… completely illogical way of getting closer to you… feeling… what is the word? I want to protect you, I want you to trust me, I want you to…" Cedric closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Harry's, their noses touching. "I want you to want me back." He took in a breath and pushed Harry's forehead upward slightly with his, their lips brushing ever so slightly.

I know it's wrong to love you from afar, but it's a craze. You recognize my pain. Could you be the one to find me safe and sound? Love is how it's found not how it's found.

Harry felt the warm lips of Cedric Diggory parting his own. He felt his hands wrap around his lower back, tighter and tighter until he could feel his entire body pressed against his own.

You take away my pain. Could you be the one to find me safe and sound?

Their lips closed around each other until slowly their faces meshed together, softly and strongly, Cedric's chest rising and falling quicker than it had before. Cedric had always been so calm, so sure. Harry, for the first time, could feel his vulnerability, and he loved every second of it. He wanted more. And he pushed his face in closer, tasting Cedric's lips on his own, panting and moaning slightly, every pain he'd suffered that year melting away. And suddenly, the sound of a canon's shot cracked through the air and the two boys tore away in one breath.

They stood panting a second, Cedric smiling, and Harry doing whatever he could not to blush. Then Cedric took a quick step forward, and kissed Harry one last time, before speaking, both hands tightly holding his head, and eyes closed. "Be careful out there, Potter. You're everything now, you know that?" After a few seconds, once Harry had finally opened his eyes, the boy was gone. He could still smell him, even when he turned and watched him walk away, toward the tent, where he would wait his turn to fight for his life. Harry could hear the dragons already from where he stood.

It wasn't until he lay in bed that night, sore yet again from countless injuries, staring at the golden again on his nightstand, that he realized what he'd done. It was two in the morning, everyone in the room was snoring loudly, and there he lay, eyes wide open, having gone hours without blinking, remembering Cedric's lips, Cedric's hands, Cedric's eyes…

Harry was warm, naked, and underwater, yet again. He felt hands all over his body, searching, exploring, and he smiled. Biting his lip, he watched as Cedric taunted him with his eyes, kissing him all over. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he took deep breaths, stifling moans. Cedric swam up, and whispered in his ear, "You don't have to be quiet for me. I like to hear you're enjoying yourself." They kissed and Harry moaned his name.

Ecstasy: a mental state, usually caused by intense religious experience, sexual pleasure, or drugs, in which somebody is so dominated by an emotion that self-control and sometimes consciousness are lost

Harry jolted awake, sweating profusely, sheets wet. He jerked around nervously, his heart slowing with relief when he saw he was surrounded by empty beds. Or, he was, that is, until he turned to his immediate right to see Ron, sitting upright in bed, looking straight ahead, face indifferent.

"You don't tell me anything anymore," he said with a drip of hurt in his voice.

"Ron," Harry started.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, but… well; I guess that's the point isn't it? I don't know what's going on, Harry. When are you going to tell me?" Ron pushed his blankets back, grabbed a towel, and slumped off toward the doors, slamming it when he left. Harry watched the door a minute before dropping his head in his hands and exhaling, sweat still soaking his hair.

Tonight was the Yule Ball. Harry and Ron were to attend with the twins.

"To be honest," he said as he and Ron waited at the bottom of the stairs. "I can't even remember which one is here with which… Does one of them have a mole or something?"

Ron shrugged and glanced nervously around, tugging at the bottom of the hideous robes his mom had sent him. As he did so, Harry glanced a time or two at the entrance to the Great Hall, where Cedric stood with his date, Cho. She was so happy, and so beautiful, and Harry could help but feel a twinge of guilt in his stomach. Poor girl… she was so oblivious. As she hugged and greeted her friends, Cedric stood by, eyeing Harry, smiling that beautiful crooked smile.

"She looks beautiful," he heard from behind him. As Cho pulled on Cedric's hand, he winked once in Harry's direction, so beautiful that it sent a shiver down Harry's spine. "Yeah he does," he muttered just under his breath, Ron completely clueless. That was when he realized Ron was facing the opposite direction, ogling at the girl at the top of the stairs… their best friend, Hermione. She smiled, obviously aware of how good she looked, at which Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes. The girl was too proud to be hurting his best friend and he wasn't very much appreciating the little performance she was putting on. He lost interest quickly and found his date to assist her into the ball.

Can you dance like a hippogriff, ma ma ma, ma ma ma, ma ma maaa.

Harry sat beside Ron, both their dates sprawled out in their chairs, impatiently eyeing the dance floor, Ron cursing quietly to himself, Harry 100% distracted by Cedric's seemingly harmless dance moves. Harmless, harmless, harmless. The song ended and Harry noticed Hermione approaching, the giddy little smile still painted on her face. Harry could feel the heat on Ron's ears.

He was half listening when he saw Cedric leaning against one wall to the left of the stage, in the shadows, smiling in his direction. His coat was slung over one shoulder, his shirt untucked, his tie lost somewhere under a group of students' feet. His eyes stayed glued on Harry. When he glanced to his right, Hermione had already walked off somewhere, and Ron was still steaming. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it. Looking back at Cedric, he felt his stomach flip, and some other excitement further south.

"Ron… I'll, uh, I'll be right back." He could feel Ron's glare as he walked away, but frankly couldn't care less as he stumbled toward Cedric. Backing up slightly, he kicked the door with the back of his foot and the two stepped into the icy air, the sounds of the dance fading as they paced further away from the stage door. They were in some sort of garden, rectangular pots all around them filled with various carnations, obviously magical judging their perfection, even right after a snowstorm. When they could no longer hear the music from the Great Hall, Cedric stopped, dropping his suit jacket and grabbed Harry by the face, violently pulling him into a warm embrace, lips pushing hard against each others. A few feet away there sat a short tree, a bench in front of it, most likely for reading or studying, or something other than two teenage boys making out.

Cedric pushed Harry's thin body against the tree and pressed himself against him, both hard and anxiously pushing at each other. Cedric's hand ran along Harry's bare collar bone, the top two buttons of his white collared shirt now unbuttoned, his head tilted back as Cedric massaged his neck with his tongue. Harry gripped the sides of the tree as he felt himself sliding in the snow.

Their breathing was heavy, and all Harry could think to do was watch the clouds escape their blue lips as they wordlessly clutched each other, violently searching for more, until Harry felt his pants being unbuttoned, and a cold hand slipping between the open zippers. He moaned as Cedric's hand glided up and down, increasing speed the more his heart raced He bit his lip and held his breath until releasing, moaning loudly, and gasping for air. Cedric's lips traveled up and down his neck, one hand moving up to stroke his stomach muscles, the other still stroking his collarbone. Harry found Cedric's lips and they shared one more long kiss before pulling away to collect themselves. Cedric watched as Harry slid down the tree, clutching himself, panting, hands shaking against his pants' buttons and zipper.

Cedric pulled his coat back on, and adjusted Harry's to secure warmth and placed a sweaty forehead against his. He grabbed both Harry's hands and pulled him up, wrapping his arms around him. He then took his right hand, placed Harry's head on his own shoulder, and slowly began to rock him back and forth, humming a slow song. Harry smiled against his chest and listened to his heartbeat, the snow falling all around them. Cedric continued to hum, and quietly whispered some of the words.

"So this is love… mm mm, mm mm. So this… is love. So this… is what makes life divine…"

Harry began to shiver in Cedric's arms and the humming stopped as Cedric looked down at Harry. He kissed him one more time on his blue lips before pulling away and leading him back toward the ball.

Ah, that felt good. It's about time they got some man on man action goin' on, don't you think? Ok so I added two chapters tonight. (See, the second school's out, I get in this "HEY now I can do something productive!!" mood and just go nuts). So the songs included in this chapter were "Safe and Sound" by Azure Ray and "So This is Love" from Disney's Cinderella. Oh, and of course, "Dance The Hippogriff" by The Weird Sisters. I really hope you like. Review. :]