Anonymous Letters

A couple of weeks on, Draco and Harry had been writing to each other as often as they could, each getting a response at least once a day. Draco had begun to feel better about his predicament, being gay suddenly wasn't as bad a thing as it had once been. The only thing that put him off was how bizarre Harry was acting around him. Harry, on the other hand, was feeling more frustrated. He knew his friends would accept his sexuality, but wasn't sure if they'd accept his crush on Draco. During their correspondence, Harry had managed to explain his frustrations of being gay and liking someone and wanting the tell them; Draco had managed to figure out what it was about Harry he liked but still wasn't sure about what to do about it.

Hermione and Ron had been noticing Harry's weird behaviour in general, but especially around Malfoy. Whereas in previous encounters, Harry had tried to ignore Malfoy as best he could, now he'd provoke him, and said bizarre things to get reactions out of him. He'd also spend a lot of time on his own, reading and writing letters to an unknown person under the pseudonym 'Boris'. They'd also noticed his lack of interest in Cho Chang, who he'd once been nearly obsessed with. Cho had been paying a lot attention to him recently, greeting him in corridors and trying to get his attention, but Harry rarely reacted to anything she did.

"It's like he's a different person," Hermione mumbled. Ginny nodded.

"Cho asked him to go to Hogsmeade with her yesterday, he said he had other things to do."

They both looked over at Harry was sat in the armchair by the fire, reading a letter.

"Do you know who he's writing to?"

Ron shook his head; "I've looked through his things, as per your request, and I couldn't find anything. I felt pretty bad though, he's our best mate!"

"I'm aware of that Ronald, but I'm worried about him."

"He's defeated You-know-who three times, I'm sure he's fine!"

Hermione sighed and shared an irritated look with Ginny. They both rolled their eyes and looked over at Harry. He was still reading his letter. After one more read through, he jumped out of the chair and ran up to his dorm. He grabbed his bag and went into the bathroom, locking the door behind him, writing his reply.

Draco A hypothetical situation for you; if Harry were to come out, would you ever go after him? Public or not? I only ask because it doesn't seem you hate each other at all, you just hate what the other is. You both represent the enemy, and are obliged to hate the other, only you don't. The way you speak of him shows that, and the way you say he acts around you shows me he doesn't hate you either.
It's not going well for me. I've started speaking to Yuri a bit since last week, but he still seems to dislike me. He still taunts me and my friends, and tries to get me in trouble... If I think about it, he does a lot of the same kind of things you do to Potter... You don't think it could be for the same reasons?
Boris

Harry had created another person for 'Boris' to have a crush on, who had the same attributes as Draco. Strangely enough, Malfoy still hadn't caught on. Harry had written things that he was sure would give him away, but he always got a reply. Malfoy didn't even question why this Bulgarian was very good at English. Harry put the letter into an envelope, hid the letter from Malfoy with the rest and ran up to the owlry.

Meanwhile, Draco was patrolling the corridors, for once his mind being on something other than Potter. He'd gotten a letter from his mother about the Ministry, they were suspicious about the family and were contemplating another raid on the mansion. This news had put him in a bad news, and he was deducting points from houses and giving out detentions to any student who so much as looked at him funny. He stomped up the stairs to the seventh floor, hoping to catch some Gryffindors as they went in and out of the common room. He'd just gotten to the top of the stairs when Potter nearly bumped into him. However, to stop himself hitting him, he jerked backwards, losing his footing on the stairs. Potter instinctively reached out and grabbed Draco's arm to stop him going down, however it just exacerbated things. Instead of Draco tumbling to the bottom of the stairs, he was joined by Potter, who landed on him at the bottom. Both boys groaned, Potter rolled off Draco and lay next to him, rubbing his head.

"Way to go Potter."

Draco pulled himself into a sitting position and rolled up his sleeve, checking to see if he'd cut himself.

"Screw you, I went to catch you."

Draco looked down at the Gryffindor lying next to him, rubbing various limbs.

"Instead you decide to come with me and lie on me."

"Yes Malfoy, it was completely intentional! I'm sure there's easier ways to be on top of you than falling down the bloody stairs!"

A smirk tugged at the corner of Draco's lips; "so you do want to be on top of me?"

Potter sighed, finally sitting up; "don't start this now, I'm in too much pain."

"Oh boo-hoo, poor Saint Potter, it's not like I didn't fall down the stairs too! You didn't have a stupid git fall on top of you!"

"So sue me!"

Draco shook his head; hearing "screw" instead of "sue".

"What?"

"I said, so sue me."

"Oh... I think detention will suffice actually, and maybe, ten points from Gryffindor?"

Harry finally pulled himself to his feet, checking the letter he was just going to send to the boy in front of him was sufficiently concealed; "go on then, I'm past house points."

Draco's eyes narrowed; "fifty then?"

"If you want to explain to McGonagall why Gryffindor are down fifty points for me falling down the stairs, go ahead."

"Detention then."

"What? Lines? 'I will not fall down the stairs'? Think it through!"

Draco jumped up to his feet, feeling inferior on the floor whilst Potter towered over him; "watch your attitude, or I'll have grounds for detention!"

Potter shrugged; "all right."

With that he walked off; Draco stood watching him, bewildered. Every time he encountered Potter he reacted differently; he'd either, call him names, taunt him, come on to him or just ignore him. This time he reacted, without actually reacting. His behaviour was frustrating Draco beyond belief. he stormed back up the stairs, hoping to scare the life out of some first years.

Harry sighed and rubbed his head. That had been one of the closest encounters he'd had with Malfoy, and he had to act nonchalant to conceal the fact he'd accidentally touched Malfoy's crotch when pushing himself off and desperately just wanted to jump back on top of him. He decided an early night wouldn't go amiss. He hurried to the owlry and almost ran back to the common room. He ignored all his friends as he marched past them up to the boys dorm. The last thing he wanted was a confrontation about how he was acting weird. All he needed, was some privacy to think about the earlier events, and how close he'd been to blowing his cover. He got into bed and closed his eyes, remembering how Malfoy had felt underneath him, even if it was a very awkward position and he'd been in quite a bit of pain at the time.

* * * *

Harry was sat at the Gryffindor table, musing over his porridge whilst everyone around him talked. The Great Hall was strangely empty, but loud. Ron and Hermione were discussing something, but Harry couldn't make out what. He looked up and saw Malfoy sat directly opposite him on the opposite side of the Hall, staring at him intently. They both stared at each other for a few minutes until Harry's concentration was broken by a letter dropping on to his head. He opened it at stared confoundedly at the five words written on the paper inside. He looked up at Malfoy, who'd acquired a very smug smirk. Harry looked down at the note.

"I know you touched it."

Suddenly the Hall went quiet. He looked up, every eye was on him. The longer he stared at Malfoy, the more smug he looked. He suddenly jumped up from the Slytherin table and vaulted over all four tables before diving on Harry, sending the both to the floor.

"I know you liked it," he whispered. Harry stared into Draco's eyes, not understanding what was going on. He could hear the whispers of people judging him, even the teachers. Whist he lay in his daze of confusion, he failed to notice Malfoy undressing him, only noticing when his cold hand touched his stomach. Harry tried to wriggle out from underneath him.

"What are you doing?"

Malfoy just smirked; "I want to see."

"See what?"

"What do you think?"

He went for Harry's trousers, but Harry managed to crawl away. He scrambled to his feet, running out of the Hall, Malfoy close behind him.

"I don't know what you're running for! You want this!"

Harry knew he was right, but his body was reacting separately from his mind. He tried to stop running and let Malfoy have his way, but he just couldn't. Suddenly, he found himself falling to the floor, as if his body had just stopped working. Malfoy caught up and stood over him, his wand in hand.

"I had to stop you Potter, I'm not going to chase you forever."

With another flick of his wand, Harry was pinned to the wall by an invisible force. The smirk on Malfoy's face got bigger as he stepped up to the Gryffindor.

"My turn."

He reached out and grabbed the top of Harry's trousers, but instead of undoing them he stepped even closer, pressing his body against Harry's. The blonde nuzzled his victims neck, kissing it softly. Harry couldn't stop himself moaning out Malfoy's name as kisses were left down his neck and across his collar bone. Malfoy's long, thin fingers made easy work of undoing Harry's trousers. The raven-haired boy wanted desperately to reach out and touch the Slytherin, but instead moaned at the contact, moaning once more when it stopped. Malfoy took a step back and looked over Harry, still smirking. Just then the bell went for the beginning of lessons, but it wasn't like the normal bell. Harry shut his eyes, trying to block out the noise.

* * * *

When he opened them he wasn't staring at his blonde enemy, but at the ceiling of the boy's dorm.

"God fucking dammit!" he groaned, sitting up. He groaned again when he noticed the bulge under the covers. He tried to reach out and turn his alarm clock off without revealing his arousal to his slowly awakening friends. He grabbed his dressing gown off the floor next to his bed, purposely wrapping it round it round him roughly, so it rucked up around his crotch and ran to the bathroom before anyone else had even sat up.

Draco was sat outside in the courtyard that morning, not wanting to join his peers for breakfast. He also didn't want to be near Pansy; she was still harassing him, no matter how cruel or humiliating he was. He'd thought about coming out just so he'd get her off his back once and for all, but knew she wouldn't accept it and probably try to turn him straight. He pulled the apple he'd taken from the Slytherin common room out of his bag and took a bite of it. He sat watching people from various houses walk past him to the Great Hall, without a care in the world. He took a second bite of his apple and stood up, going to go on a short walk. A loud screech attracted his attention. He spun round a looked up, to see an owl bearing a letter flying towards him. It dropped the letter and flew off. Draco quickly looked around before running off to a place he knew he'd definitely be alone.

"Morning Harry."

Harry looked around to see Cho smiling at him. He smiled back, meekly.

"Morning Cho."

"Are you ok? You look a bit flustered."

Harry nodded; "I'm fine, just a bit... I don't know. Some food might help me."

Before Cho could reply, he walked off to the Gryffindor table, to his friends who were all looking at him oddly.

"You all right mate?" Ron asked. Harry sighed, knowing he'd be getting this all day.

"I'm fine!"

"All right..."

Ron looked down at his plate, knowing Harry wasn't in the best mood.

"What did Cho want?" Hermione pushed. Harry shrugged.

"Just saying hi."

"She really fancies you, you know."

"Oh, ok."

"Don't you care?"

"Not really."

Hermione sighed and looked at Ron urgently. Ron sighed and looked up at Harry, not wanting to irritate his friend, but knowing he'd get an earful from Hermione if he didn't.

"But you really fancied her last year."

"So? That was last year."

"I know, but-"

"-Just drop it! Please!"

Ron nodded and looked back down at his food, knowing that despite his attempts at getting Harry to talk, Hermione would still give him a telling off. Harry decided to grab a couple of slices of toast and go on a walk to avoid his friends. On his way out of the Hall, he bumped into Neville.

"Harry, can I talk to you?"

Harry grimaced but nodded; "ok."

They backed up into a corner so they wouldn't obstruct the entrance.

"You were making a lot of noise in bed last night."

Harry nodded sceptically; "ok?"

"You said 'Malfoy' a couple of times too... Are you all right?"

Harry shrugged; "I'm honestly fine."

"Ok, you just sounded like you were in pain or something, I was just wondering if you were having a vision or something."

Harry nodded; "I'm seriously fine, just a bad dream, you know."

Neville nodded too; "all right, see you round then."

The two of them parted ways, Harry walking slowly to his first lesson.

Draco meanwhile was musing over the hypothetical situation put to him by Boris. He was unsure about what he'd do if Potter came out as gay. It would certainly answer a lot of questions, but would he come out too? There was certainly a chance for a secret romance, if Potter was up for it - chances were he definitely wouldn't be. But coming out as gay himself, that wasn't really an option. Even if people at Hogwarts got over it pretty quickly, his father would not. He'd be disowned, and nothing, to him, was worth losing his family over. He could also pretend to be straight around his parents, but there was a big chance it would go horribly wrong. He sighed and folded the letter up, planning to reply after his first lesson.