The Irish

Chapter 12: the Masquerade

It was around 7:00pm when the boys woke up, craddled in each others\' arms, warmed by their bodies being pressed
together and the residual heat of the fire that had long since died out. There was an hour left before the ball was to begin. Harry had nerely forgotten about it, the other two had not remembered at all. Harry pried a pair of arms off from around his waist and rolled off of a chest, removed a leg from between his own and got up. \"Lucius, Draco, if we want to go to the ball, it starts in less than an hour! Come on! Get up!\" Harry tugged on some arms and pinch someone\'s butt, finally getting them up off the bed. They all looked at each other, knowing without words that the two feuding boys had a truce for the night, until they could at least talk, sort out their differences.

\"Alright, I have the best costume I could think of, and I don\'t want either of you to see it until the unvieling at midnight. So we should all scatt and get ready.\" Draco mainly spoke to Lucius, but included Harry grudgingly in his little speech.

\"Agreed. We should all scatter. We will not acknowledge each other until the ball has started? I would like to see who
people think we are... If they find out, it will be just delicious, but I think we should mislead them a bit, not let them know who we
are.\" Lucius glanced between the two, waiting for their agreement.

\"Done.\"

\"Great.\"

***

In the Entrance Hall....

\"Listen up, the Ball is about to begin. Her are a few rules. No nudity, no alcohol, no drugs or mind altering potions, no
sex. I think that about covers it. Dance with some decorum people, this is a school, not an orgy.\" Professure Snape said. He was
incredible bitter tonight, he had drawn one of the short straws in determining who would shaperone the ball. \"Let the party begin.\"

Students rushed foreward to get into the Great Hall, eager to start dancing and watching the other masked and disguised people. The Hall was decorated in a way completely disimilar to its usually traditional festive manner. It looked like a cross between a haunted house and a rave. The enchanted ceiling was black and clear, with stars dotting the rafters. The moon wasn\'t out yet, so there was little light. The only other illuumination came from candles spread around the room and charmed glass balls hanging from the ceiling that flashed coloured lights around the room, not unlike a strobe light.

The walls were a flat, matte black, as if they had been painted, with the floor the same colour. There were no tables or
chairs, only a bar-like structure from which McGonagal was handing out butterbeers. There was a raised stage near the back of the
room, from which a band was playing. The type of music seemed mostly to be heavy metal, shock rock and hard rock. The rest of
the room seemed to be dedicated to a dance floor.

As Draco walked into the transformed Hall, his eyes scanned everyone to see if he could spot Harry or Lucius. He saw a
brunette that looked suspiciously like Harry dressed as a biker. One closer inspection, he saw the jade green eyes that gave him away. Harry was wearing a pair of black dragon hide pants, tight as a second skin, and a matching vest with fringing on the bottom. A pair of dark sunglasses were his only attempt at anonymity. He looked like some ripe fruit, ready to have his skin peeled off and have the juice sucked out of. The metaphor his mind presented him did not escape Draco. He was willing to admit, even if in his own head, that Harry was an extremely scruptious piece of ass.

Harry walked over, sweeping his eyes up and down the nearly naked form of the blond boy in his path. Draco seemed to be dressed as either a waiter or a chipndale. He wore the collar of a white shirt along with its cuffs, and a black bowtie at his neck. His chest on the other hand,was completely bare, highlighting the glint of silver at his nipple. Draco had a piercing! It would not necessarily give his identity away, for he had a penchance for fucking fully clothed in closets. It was bloody difficult to sneek
someone into your room for a few hours without having questions asked! On top of this, he had somehow managed to stuff his
lower half into an incredibly tight pair of black pants, calf high heeled boots completed the look, boots not unsimilar to something the muggle singer Prince might have worn. They looked each other up and down, thanking their truce for the opportunity to oogle each other in their scanty clothing.

As they stood together looking around for Lucius, no matter how hard they strained their eyes, niether Harry nor Draco
were able to find him in the crowd. They eventually gave up and went back to eyeing each other. Harry raised an eyebrow and
offered his arm to his once enemie. Draco smirked, thinking he had won, and took the arm, allowing himself to be led onto the dance floor.

***
Pansy, dressed as a whorish she-devil, had helped Draco pick his outfit for the ball, so it was easy for her to pick him out of the crowd. It was also easy for her to detect who his dance partner was. Frankly she was shocked. Hadn\'t the two boys hated each other since their first day at school? What had suddenly made them become civil to each other? Then the image of Harry kissing the Irishman came into her mind. Could it be mutual love for someone? She mentally scoffed at the idea, but it never left her mind as she watched them move onto the dance floor.

***

Lucius watched his two soon-to-be-lovers walk arm in arm onto the dance floor, smiling to himself. It seemed that his
costume had worked, they were unable to recognize him. He had charmed his hair to look brilliant blue, pure sapphire, and it was
short, gelled into spikes. He was often remembered by his hair, and in changing it, he was instantly unrecognisable at first notice. On top of that, he was dressed in a manner that no one would expect of him. From the top to the bottom, he was wearing a latex domino mask, covering only his eyes and part of his checkbones, a leather slave collar with a D-ring, to which a leash was attached (the lead being tucked into his pocket), a leather chest harness, armbands made from solid steel, shiny PVC pants and a pair of boots. No one would expect him to dress as a slave. (1)

He watched while his two loves moved to the music, not really dancing with each other, just dancing near each other. He decided to go over and bring them together, not that he had any personal motivation for doing so, of course. He wove throught the crowd, swaying his body to the music, leaving stares and sighs in his wake. He slid up to the two boys, standing just behind Draco, then slid his arms around the half naked boy, swaying his body against his, nestling himself against him. He smiled into Harry\'s face, turned towards them, and placed a kiss on the nose of Draco\'s shocked face. The suprise was mostly for his get-up, not his presence. They all smiled, sharing grins for the secrect identity of their slave. Everyone around them slowly backed away, leaving a few feet of clear space around the boys, watching and waiting for any hint at the identity of this mysterious boy-toy.

The music picked up the pace, changing into a a hard bass line, thruming the rythm through their bodies, sending them into ecstasy. Their hips swayed in tandem, arms clinging and hands roaming. Harry watched, entranced at the sight of the other two being so open of their feelings for each other. He was shamed by the fact that he had wanted to hide his relationship with Lucius. As He watched them move as one, he knew that as soon as Draco had known about his feelings, he would have been open about them. Their perfectness for each other moved Harry to join them, rejoycing in the acceptance they gave him, wanting him for himself and no other reason.

Harry pressed his body to Lucius\'s back, drawing both him and Draco into his arms, holding them both. For long minutes the three danced, moving as one, an elemental thing of grace and music. Boys and girls, all ages in attendance watched in awe, knowing that the level of caring between the three was a thing to envy.

Harry still believed that he cared only for Lucius, even if he was willing to admit that Darco was a beautiful person, for all that he was an enigma. Draco had already admitted that he may have some deep-seated desire for Harry, sparking from their feuding. He had always wanted to master the brunette, to get him to shut up long enough to kiss him. As the gazed at each other around the body of the man who had brought them togther, they saw the emotions in each other\'s eyes, and knew the sentiments weren\'t one-sided.

***

Ten minutes before midnight, Serverus called fro attention, using a \'Sonorus\' charm to amplify his voice. \"Attention
students. All unidentified costumed party goers are requested to appear on stage for the grand reveal. The person with the most
convincing costume will recieve a prize. Here are the people needed on stage: the she-devil, the fallen angel, the biker, the chipndale, Santa Clause and the slave-boy.\" Harry and Draco were suprised that no one had identified them yet.

The three boys exchenged glances, inished off the butterbeers they were drinking and walked up on stage, arms around each other\'s waists. Just before mounting the stairs, Harry snuck a quick kiss to Draco, scaring the hell out of him in the process. Lucius just laughed.All the contestants lined up on the stage, waiting for Snape, McGonogal and Dumbledore to judge who the winner was. After much deliberation, Santa Clause got the prise, simple because his costume differed from everyone else\'s in that their skin was covered.

As the clock tolled midnight, everyone readied to remove their masks, charms and spells, revealing themselves. Harry, Draco and Lucius all held off, waiting for everyone\'s attention before slowly revealing themselves, one by one. harry whipped off his sunglasses, showing off his green eyes. Draco slipped the mask off his face, letting everyone know whom Harry had kissed. Lastly, Lucius bent himself low in a bow, hiding his face as he slipped the donimo off, the unbent, flinging his arm back over his head simultaneously removing the charm on his hair. The long black waves spilled into being again, sliding down his back in obsidian rivulets.

The crowd of students hushed, awed that these three boys had established such a close relationship and emotional
connection in so short a time. It was plain to everyone present that the three loved each other, even if they did not. They smiled,
scowled, and stared as fitting to their beliefs and houses. But not a person said a word.

Applause thundered through the school.


(1) go to http://www.msnusers.com/on6tgcqjb8dbujflcirhmkv262/Documents/Pictures/kinky%20man%2Ejpg
for drawing of the outfit worn by Lucius.