The game and love

3

Ron had noticed Draco's change in attitude, he seemed to have a like extra pep in his step as he slid into step next to Ron. "So, who is it?" Ron asked. Not suprised by his question Draco responded. "It's nothing Ron." Rog gave him a half humored grin. "I said who, not what man, are you gonna tell me?" Draco responded after a quick hesitation. "not now Ron, but soon, I promise." With that, Ron dropped the subject and moved on to the task at hand.

"Snape is going to ride us hard for the game." Ron said, quickly deflating the mood and bringing the reality to bare it's ugly fangs. "Yeah." Draco agreed somberly. "Snape will probably eat me. Try to get my remains to my dad, ok?" Draco said jokingly. Ron gave him a playful shove and chuckled. "Yeah, sure, no problem. We should get going to practice. We don't need to be late too."

Out on the practice feild, Draco woked hard on his execution, the coach's mindless yelling was a blur. After four years, you got used to that. It was not really his yelling, but rather his way of changing how you thought of something. If you threw a ball over your reciever's head, he taught you not to take power off the throw, but change the angle. He was a perfectionist, but Draco appriciated his work ethic and came to depend on him for advice about everything, from football, to life.

On the right side of the field, in the bleachers, sat Harry and Hermione. They were talking pretty casually as Harry watched the practice, or rather he watched Draco practice. "So when are you going to tell me who he is?" Hermione said impatiently. "I mean I am your best friend, if you won't tell me, who can you tell?" "No one." Harry let out a lovesick sigh. "Besides you wou wouldn't believe me anyway." He added, sounding a bit defeated. "Yes I would silly. You have no reason to lie." "No, it's not that. It's just that I don't believe it." a blush crept over his cheeks.

"Ok Ron, skinny post X left. If they bring the blitz, give me a short post hitch, Y right. Ready?" "Break!" As Draco eyed the practice defense he saw Harry in the bleachers and for got what he was doing. The ball was hiked before he was ready and he fumbled. Then he was smacked by the outside linebacker. "What Happened Ron called as he helped Draco up. "Nothing sorry, I lost my head there for a second." "Well get your head right and throw me the damn ball." Ron grinned and went back to line up. 'I can't believe that just happened to me.'

"Ouch, did you see that?" Hermione yelped in shock. "Yeah, he'll be fine though." Harry replied softly and somewhat distant. She looked at him quizicaly and then out at Draco then back and forth, then at Draco, then Harry. She was trying to find something and then it dawned on her. "No way." She eyed Harry, the looked at Draco, then back again. "No way." Her repeat expressed more disbelief. Harry stayed silent, but the red blush told her everything. She looked at him closer and figured he wouldn't lie, but this was too much. The local hero was gay and Harry was into him.

"So what happened then, why are you so happy?" She prodded. "We just went out." He said shyly. He just wanted to melt into the bleachers. She thought about continuing her line of questioning but decided it wasn't fair to give Harry the third degree, besides she knew he'd tell her, they shared everything.

"Ready? Z eighty, two-nintey, X sixty, hike!" Draco picked up the ball and stepped back and surveyed the field, made a choice and passed the ball. George was wide open and the ball hit him in stride. Harry smiled quietly from the bleachers and Draco waived in his direction. He turned back to the practice group and saw ron giving him and odd look. He shook it off and ran the rest of practice well only missing two throws.

When he went to the locker room he noticed Ron giving him an odd look and decided to break the silence. "Look Ron, is something on your mind?" Ron kind of woke up as if in deep thought agout something, he quickly replied no. "Look man, we'll talk later, ok?" He put his hand on Ron's shoulder. Ron nodded and continued to pack his gear away. Draco got himself ready to shower and folded his practice jersey and hung his pads up. His arm was a tad sore, but he felt better than he had on friday.


Harry and Hermione sat near the entrance to the lockerroom and continued to chat a bit. Hermione was still supressing the urge to ask about what went on with Draco, so they stayed on other things, like writting and art, music and stuff. All the things that they shared in common. Harry felt guilty, because he knew that he was only there waiting for Draco to walk out. So he wasn't paying much attention to what they were talking about. He was far off in what he was hoping for, which seemed really girly to him, but everytime he imagined Draco scooping him up in his arms and carrying him off into the sunset.

"Hey bud, do you need a ride home?" Harry was jerked from his trance by the one who had caused it. He smiled shyly and Hermione decided to quietly make her exit. "Sure, ok." Harry replied softly. Draco extended his had and helped Harry up. "So, did you see my practice." Draco asked with a tone of arrogance. "Yeah, you were awesome." Harry said excitedly. He kicked himself for that, becuase he felt like a dork. Draco laughed a bit and placed an arm across Harry's shoulders and walked to his car.

Draco once again opened the door for Harry and then went and got in the car himself. On the drive home, Draco felt he should ask some questions. "Harry, did you like our date on saturday?" Harry was a bit unsure of how to respond but gave a soft "Yeah." Draco was nervous and very unsure of where he was going, he did know where he wanted to end up. "So, do you like me?" Harry's palms were sweaty and he gave a shaky yeah, not sure where this was going. "Would you like to be my boyfriend?" Draco threw it out there and Harry almost threw up with nerves.

"Yeah, I would, I really would. What about your popularity and friends?" Harry asked. Obvious concern in his voice. Draco took his hand and squeeze it softly. "You let me worry about that, ok?" Draco waited for a nod and then placed a soft kiss on Harry's cheek. "Good." He let that hang in the air as they drove to Harry's house.

"so, what shall we do next?" Draco said, a big grin on his face. Harry gave a shrug and Draco chuckled. "You're alot of help, Harry Potter." Harry looked at his feet. As he did, Draco reached over and lifted his chin up. "I wish you wouldn't do that, I can't see your eyes when you look down like that. Harry gave a light grin and picked his head up a little bit. "That's better." He ruffled Harry's hair and soon they pulled into the driveway of Harry's house. "Would you like to come in?" Harry asked hopefully. "I'd love to." Draco replied pleasantly.

Both boys entered the house and Harry called out for his dad. "Dad, are you here?" "Yes, I'm in the kitchen Harry." They walked toward the kitchen and his dad looked up as they came in. "Ah, Draco, you're back again. Harry, I'm making some meatloaf and mashed potatos. It'll be ready soon. Draco, will you be joining us?" Draco responded instantly. "Yeah, if it's no problem." Oh no, it's fine." Harry decided to interupt. "Ok Dad, call us when it's ready. We'll be in my room."

Harry led Draco down a short hall to his room. When Draco entered the room, it told him a story about the shy boy who was the object of his affection. The walls were covered with art work and some movie posters. The bed was large and covered with a white comforter with two large fluffy pillows. Draco smiled at the sight of it, to say he didn't have dirty thoughts would be a lie.

"Would you like to watch a movie?" Harry asked directing Draco's sight to a large bookcase with DVDs next to a forty-two-inch plasma TV. He smiled. "Sure, you pick this one though." Harry beamed at this and knew which one he wanted. He setup the DVD and turned on the TV. He went and laid down on the bed and motioned to Draco. "Wow, in bed on the second day, I just broke a record." Draco smirked and then realized Harry was frowning. He walked over to the bed and pulled Harry into a hug an kissed his head. "I was just teasing you, bud. I'm sorry." He climbed into bed and pulled Harry into a one arm cuddle as the movie started.

Niether were really intrested in the movie. Harry was enjoying being held and Draco was enjoying holding Harry. Soon, in their contentment, they fell fast asleep. James had peeked in on them when they didn't answer for dinner. He smiled softly and closed the door, letting the two boys get some sleep.

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End chapter 3

Dinner with Harry's dad is next up. Please review.