Anonymous Letters

Harry glanced round the common room and looked for Ron, he was sat at a desk, looking over a thick book. He shuffled over and slunk down in the chair next to Ron's.

"You want to speak to me?"

Ron nodded and looked up at Harry, exasperatedly; "try-outs tomorrow! I'm absolutely, crapping myself."

Harry smiled, worried it was something serious; "don't worry! You're good at Quidditch."

"But, but people are better than me!"

"Seriously Ron, you'll be fine. Just, play the best you can, ignore everything around you, and you'll be great, you might even get on the team."

"But-"

Harry waved his hand; "no more on this Ron, you'll be great, if you don't get onto the team, you'll at least be a sub, I guarantee it!"

Ron smirked foolishly; "all right, and if I don't get onto the team, I'll just assume it's because there's too many Weasleys and you don't want to be accused of favouritism."

Harry grinned; "that's exactly it... Anyway, I've got to-"

Ron grabbed Harry's arm; "look mate, I know you've got a lot going on, and there's something else going on you don't want to talk about, and, I respect that and stuff, but, don't skulk about upstairs, you know, we're here for you, even if you don't want to talk."

Harry sighed and looked down at Ron, before glancing round the common room at all his friends. He shrugged and waited for Ron to go over to the sofas before following. Everyone smiled at him; Neville moved over so there was space for Harry to sit.

"So, is anyone here not trying out for Quidditch tomorrow?" Harry asked. Hermione meekly raised her hand slightly.

"It's a brutish sport."

Ron laughed; "what she means is she's not very good on a broom."

Hermione scowled; "I'm very decent on a broom, actually, Ronald, I just prefer spectating."

"But really Hermione, it's an excellent sport! There's all the adrenaline, feeling the wind in your hair, sportsmanship-"

"-Sportsmanship? There's no such thing! Especially where Slytherin are concerned."

Ginny sighed, her attempt at changing Hermione's mind had failed. Now it was Dean's turn.

"That's because the Slytherins are a bunch of cheating gits. We're fine with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff."

Hermione shook her head; "you're all as bad as each other. I'll admit the Slytherins play dirty, but they bring it out in you, and you're no better."

Dean shrugged and looked at Harry, as if passing the baton to him. Harry shook his head.

"You don't have to play Hermione, actually, it makes it easier, it's another friend I don't have to choose between."

"How are you going to choose, may I ask?"

Harry shrugged; "just, rate everyone on a scale of one to ten and pick the best, I suppose."

"I hope everyone's mature enough to accept your decision."

Everyone around nodded. The conversation carried on until everyone got tired; and throughout Harry hadn't once thought about Draco, which was surprising to him when he found the letter from earlier under his pillow.

The next day, Harry found Quidditch try-outs not as difficult as he'd thought. Some people were obviously better than others. The only difficult part was choosing between Keepers. Ron was good, but so were others trying out.

"I'll post the results in the common room on... Monday, nice going guys!" Harry shouted, noticing a blonde boy walking down the hill by the pitch, heading towards the forest. Everyone wandered towards the changing rooms, Harry followed. After showering and getting changed, Harry managed to shake off his friends, insisting he was off to think about things, and hurried off towards the forest. He found Draco sat by the lake, wearing a casual suit. Harry smirked and walked over. Draco looked up and smirked too.

"Get my note then?"

Harry shrugged; "might have..."

Draco shuffled, Harry sat down awkwardly. Draco cleared his throat.

"So, um, how were try-outs?"

Harry fidgeted; "not that bad really... It's just going to be difficult picking people."

Draco nodded; "I suppose it would be..."

"Still seeker?"

"Yeah..."

Harry nodded and looked out at the lake, he hadn't anticipated it being this awkward with Draco. Draco was feeling awkward too, he hadn't planned this far ahead.

"So, who are you thinking about putting on the team?"

Harry managed a smile; "I'm not going to tell you, am I, you'll go tell Flint."

Draco smiled too; "I promise I won't... Is Weasley any good?"

"Which one? There's four!"

Draco chuckled; "your one."

"Ron? He's pretty good actually, but I don't want to stick him on the team in case people think I'm biased... Fred and George are definitely staying, Ginny's really good... I don't know..."

"Well, are the other keepers better than him?"

Harry shrugged; "not really, they're all pretty much the same in terms of skill..."

"But...?"

"...I don't know. I'd really like Ron to be on the team, but he cracks under pressure, really badly..."

Draco shrugged; "why not make some sort of rota? Have one play one match, one play another... I don't know... Or have practice games to see who's really better..."

Harry nodded; "that could work..."

"...I'm thinking about dropping out of Quidditch, it doesn't interest me that much really, I only joined to piss you off, and it worked for three years..."

Harry smiled; "really? You only joined to annoy me?"

"Well, it was one of the reasons..."

"I'm surprised you haven't resorted to pulling my hair and kicking me when you walk past, you really fancy me don't you!"

Draco scowled and punched Harry's arm; "fuck off."

Harry's grin got bigger; he shuffled closer, putting his hand on Draco's. Draco's scowl slowly turned into a smile.

"You're so gay, Harry."

Harry laughed; "yeah, I know!"

They both leant forward, meeting in a soft kiss. Their smiles got bigger; Draco raised his hand to Harry's cheek, stroking it with his thumb. For their first proper kiss, both thought it was going well, and sank into it, allowing it to progress to a more passionate kiss. Harry pushed forward, Draco pulled away, yanking his hand from under Harry's, rubbing it. Harry looked down at it and grimaced.

"Sorry."

Draco shrugged; "it's all right..."

They both leant towards each other again, Harry cupped Draco's cheek, pulling him closer.

For a while they kissed and giggled like any other teenage couple; pushing and pulling each other, finding out how ticklish they were, and teasing each other.

"So is this it?" Harry finally asked, the two of them were lying side by side, their fingers entwined. Draco shrugged and looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

Harry shrugged too; "I don't know... Meeting in secret, not really doing anything... Are you still going to 'bully' me around school."

Draco smirked; "of course, we can't let people know about this! Besides, it's fun winding you up."

"It's fun winding you up too... You are so easily annoyed."

"...And?"

"Just saying... It's funny."

"It'd be more fun bullying you if your friends didn't jump to your rescue all the time."

"They're just doing what any friend would do."

"Lucky for some, my friends can barely string a coherent sentence together..."

Harry shrugged; "shouldn't have such crappy friends then."

"Yeah, thanks."

Harry smiled and squeezed Draco's hand lovingly. They lay in a comfortable silence, occasionally nudging each other and squeezing their hands.

"It's weird how this isn't very awkward, isn't it?" Draco asked. Harry looked at him.

"What? It's not awkward for you? It's so weird for me! I was never good with girls, and you're no easier!"

"Well, at least we had a previous relationship, albeit a bad one, but still, it counts for something... We know each other, to some extent..."

Harry shrugged; "I suppose... I'll still be a mess though, I'll end up accidentally punching you or something."

Draco laughed; "thanks for the warning."

"...Do you think we should probably go back now?"

"...Probably... I think we've had enough fun for today."

"Fair enough."

"You go on ahead, you know we can't be seen together."

Harry nodded; "right, yeah, um... See you round?"

"Sure, if you're lucky."

Harry smirked; "it seems that way."

Draco cringed; "Dear Merlin, did you say that? Just, go now, Potter, leave!"

Harry laughed; "sorry."

"No, apology not accepted, leave!" Draco laughed. Harry pulled Draco into an involuntary hug; Draco pushed him away, before leaning closer and kissing him softly.

"Now get lost."

Harry smiled and pulled himself up, grabbing his things and walking backwards towards the castle, keeping an eye on Draco, who shook his head at Harry's weird behaviour.

For a couple of weeks the two of them were quite content with how things worked out. In lessons and in and about Hogwarts, Draco and Harry were enemies, hassling each other, giving each other abuse and pushing and shoving each other in the corridors. But outside of lessons, where people weren't around, they were like an average couple. They'd spend the occasional night together in the Astronomy Tower, star-gazing and talking about themselves; and they'd hide out in the forest, kissing passionately and trying to impress each other.

Harry's relationship with his friends gotten better too. They were still suspicious about his behaviour, but decided to leave him alone, hoping he'd tell them in his own time.

After lessons one Friday, Harry, Ron and Hermione went down to Hagrid's for tea. Though at first, Harry was eager to join the conversation, and accepted refills to his cup of tea more than once, he began to get tense.

"He gets like this a lot recently;" Hermione mumbled to Hagrid, nodding at Harry who was sat by the window, craning his neck to see outside.

"Well, he's either like this, or he's not there... It's like he's got something else to do... Well, he does usually, the first chance he gets he leaves..." Ron added.

"Maybe 'e's got a girlfriend or somethin'..." Hagrid suggested, as quietly as possible. The three of them looked up at Harry. He was still craning his neck and his knuckles had gone which from gripping the chair tightly.

"I don't think he'd get a girlfriend and not tell us, me, at least," Ron replied. Hagrid shrugged and poured himself another tea. Hermione's head suddenly snapped up.

"What if it's not a girl..."

Hagrid and Ron both pulled a face.

"You're saying, he's gay?" Ron asked, exasperatedly. Hermione nodded.

"Think about it, there's something up with him but he doesn't want to tell us, 'not yet at least'... He's always running away to some secret place, sometimes sleeping there... He sends mystery letters... And like you said, if he had a girlfriend, he'd have told us..."

Ron shook his head; "no Hermione, you're misreading it or reading into it too much, or something, Harry's not gay! Besides, who'd his boyfriend be?"

Hermione shrugged; "I haven't figured that out yet..."

They all looked up at Harry again. He was literally balancing on the edge of his seat, looking out of the window.

"Harry...?"

Harry jerked about, not expecting his name to be called, and fell off the chair.

"Yes?"

His friends watched in an awkward silence as Harry picked himself up.

"We're just wondering if you were ok, you seem a little, restless," Hermione said. Harry nodded.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, really, I'm ok... It's just, there's somewhere I need to be..."

Hagrid shared a concerned glance with Ron and Hermione; "well, go if you 'ave to, don't let us keep you, you know..."

Harry nodded; "you're sure it's fine? I'd love to stay, I just forgot to cancel plans, you know..."

Hagrid nodded; "it's fine, off you go."

Harry smiled awkwardly; "um... Thanks... See you later, then."

His friends nodded as he grabbed his things and ran out of Hagrid's hut, through the forest until he got to his usual meeting place. Draco was already there, lying on the grass, staring up into the trees, twirling his wand round his fingers. Harry, panting, slumped down next to him, not even getting a sideways glance from Draco.

"You're late."

Harry nodded, trying to get his breath back; "I know, unplanned tea with Hagrid, went on longer than I expected... Ron and Hermione are still there..."

Draco tutted; "making plans on top of ours? Honestly Potter, how are we supposed to work if you keep doing this?"

Harry smiled when he saw Draco's playful smirk; "it's happened twice... Three times maybe, but come on, I have friends, I can't cancel on them all the time!"

"Why not? I thought you loved me?"

Harry's face flushed bright red, worried he might have confessed his love for Draco and not remembered. They hadn't been together long, and even then it was hardly exclusive, he doubted it was even that serious. He knew he had strong feelings for Draco, but knew he wasn't in love... Draco laughed.

"What's wrong? Having second thoughts about whether you love me or not...?"

Harry shrugged, trying to act casual; "when did I ever say I loved you?"

Draco smirked and propped himself up on his elbows; "why, don't you?"

"Well, do you love me?"

"Are we serious enough for me to love you? You haven't even told your friends!"

"I've been thinking about it, actually," Harry sighed, lying next to Draco. Draco looked at him fervently.

"Really?"

Harry nodded; "well, at least tell them I like boys."

Draco smirked; "boy, not boys, boy, just me."

Harry chuckled; "yes, I like boy."

"That's better."

Draco rolled onto his side, stroked Harry's cheek and leant closer, kissing him softly.