Trials, Tribulation & Love

DISCLAIMER: All except the plot belong to JK. Rowling. Wonderful woman.


CHAPTER SIX



One whole month had passed since Professor Nona’s reading in the Divination Tower. Harry had almost completely forgotten about the whole thing, not to mention the little happening with a sleeping Malfoy in the broom closet.

Hermione and Ron had seemed to have forgotten too, because they were back on speaking terms with him, which was a relief, because they were his only close friends at Hogwarts.

December was drawing closer and closer, making all the students jittery with excitement. The Winter Masquerade was only a week away and most students were dieing to attend.

Just for that night, all existing couples broke up and became single. The people that were partnerless from the beginning had nothing to worry about. The rule was that they had to wear masks, enchanted masks rather, that completely and totally made it impossible to know who was behind them. It was a y thy thought but that was what excited everyone.

During classes and in the corridors, there were giggling girls everywhere. Harry thought he wouldn’t be able to take it any longer when the day of the Winter Masquerade finally came. He felt like stuffing their throats with wad so that they couldn’t giggle hysterically anymore.

Hermione had disappeared along with Lavender and Parvati a good three hours before the event to get ready and so Harry and Ron just sat in the Common Room, killing time with a game of chess.

“Gotcha! That’s right! Crush him!” Ron was yelling at his black knight, which had just captured Harry’s bishop and was violently punching the daylights out of it.
Harry was losing horribley to Ron. Which was not an uncommon thing as Ron won most of the games they played anyways. Harry just watched as one by one, his pieces were being knocked out and dragged off the board.

“AHA! Check mate!” Ron roared.

“God damn you Ron.” Harry grinned as he flung his King at Ron’s head.
“Ow! That hurt! You’ll give me a scar before the big dance!” said Ron in mock anger.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be able to cover it up with the mask.” said Harry. “Speaking of dance, I reckon we should get ready, we’ve only got fifteen minutes.”

They headed toward their dormitories and to their surprise, found a mask lying on each of their beds. The masks were all different, Harry noted. The one on his bed was made with deep green feathers and gold beads. Seamus and Dean were already there, changing into their dress robes.

Harry and Ron slipped into their robes quickly and picked up their masks.

Dean and Seamus were holding theirs too, looking a bit apprehensive.

“Let’s all try them on at the same time.” Ron suggested. “I really don’t think that it’ll be possible to become unrecognizable in these.”

With a nodd, they all fastened them around their heads and looked at each other.

Harry’s head was beginning to get confused. He looked around at the three guys but there was absolutely no way on earth he could tell who was who. He was pretty sure that Ron was to the left of him but.... now he couldn’t be quite sure at all.

“Wow, this is weird!” said Dean, impressed.

“Creepy! Which of you is which?” Seamus said.

“They really made these flawless huh?” Ron said in an awed voice.

“Let’s just head down already, it’ll start any time now.” said Harry heading toward
the door.

“That you Harry?” Ron asked following him uncertainly.

“Who?”

“You- walking toward the door.”

“We’re all walking toward the door Ron.”

“God this is fucking annoying. Okay. Harry? Raise your hand.” Ron said.
Harry raised his hand.

“Ah, gotcha. I’m Ron.” Ron said waving his hand at Harry.

Harry grinned. Now that Ron had said it, the figure waving his hand was beginning to look more and more like him. He could see the red hair, the freckles, the worn dress robes...

“I guess the spell brakes when you admit who you are.” Harry mused.

“Yeah guess so. But who cares, let w som some girl ass!” Dean said, dashing out the door. The rest of the boys followed him.

Harry had never seen the Great Hall look so magnificent before. Yes he had been surprised many times before but today, or rather tonight, it was just beyond words.

The enchanted ceiling was reflecting a deep purple night sky with thousands of silver stars twinkling down upon them. Sparkling snowflakes were swirling around the students too and the air was filled with the sweet smell of pine trees and cinammon.

Harry noticed that no one was making any moves yet, they were all studyingh oth other intently. harry didn’t see the point in this, as it was ompossible to recognize anyone anyway.

He watched enviously as Ron immediately broke into conversation with a girl wearing a maroon gown. They went off to the dance floor.

He lingered for a few minutes but didn’t see anyone he felt a particular spark with and decided to go to the tables ans sit for a while. Bordom was starting invade him
as he just sat and watched. He wasn’t the only one though it seemed. he was awakedned from his stupor as someone took the seat right enxt to his.

It was a tall and slender male wearing dark blue high-collared robes, he observed, but that was all he could tell about him. Though he did faintly catch the fee tha that this guy was a bit depressed.

Harry decided to be civil to the poor guy.

“No luck?” he asked.

The guy shook his head. “None. There’s someone I was hping to find but obviously these bloody masks make that completely impossible.”

Harry laughed sympathetically.

“Yeah, no luck with me either. Haven’t met anyone special yet.”

“Are you originally single?” the guy asked.

“Yup. And you?” said Harry.

“Same.” the guy replied but then paused. “But I expect I’ll stay that way for a long time.”

“How come?” asked Harry.

“Well, the person I’ve been in love with for years will never love me back.” he replied sadly.

Harry patted him on the back to try and cheer him up.

“Nah. I bet that person loves you too. You just have to be more forward with them.
You know, tell them how you feel.”

The shook his head again. “It’s different... and complicated.”

“Hey, don’tgive up hope.” Harry said.

The guy turned his face toward Harry’s for the first time. He had obviously been about to say something because his mouth was opened but the moment his and Harry’s eyes had met, he closed it and just stared.

Harry felt a jolt of electricity through his spine as he stared into a pair of deep gray eyes. He felt as if he would fall through them if he didn’t break the gaze. Finally he cleared his throat and tore his eyes away. His heart was beating loudly in his chest.

He’d definately felt somethign there. What was it? The only time he’d ever felt anything like it was... but that was that, this was this...

“I must be going mad...” he thought.

“What?” the guy asked, startled.

“Oh-it’s nothing.” Harry said quickl#147#147;Hey listen, it was nice chatting and all that... I guess I’ll see you around-” he got up to leave but oth other guy grabbed his arm.
This time it was Harry’s turn to be startled.

“Please- don’t go! I’d like to talk to you- get to know you better.”

Harry didn’t know how to ond ond to that so he just stood there.

“Please?” the guy pleaded.

“Er- sure, I guess if you want to.” Harrys said sheepishly.

The guy with the gray eyes smiled and stood up.

“Let’s go for a walk outside.”

“Okay.” Harry let himself be steered out of the Great Hall and through the school to the Courtyard.

The Courtyard was beautifully decorated for the occasion with thousands of little fairy lights stringed across the rose bushes. And even though it was mid-december, the deep crimson roses were in full bloom.

They walked around side by side silently for a while, until Harry decided to break the awkward air.

“So... tell me about your love. Why do you love this person so much?”
The guy looked at Harry quickly but then set his gaze on the roses they were walking by.

“Well... I’ve known him for a really long time...”

Harry blinked. “Wait- it’s a- a guy?”

The guy’s cheeks flushed and he nodded.

“Oh... well go one then.” Harry prodded.

“Um, well... we really don’t talk much but I know so much about him.... he’s like an obsession to me. I love everything about him so much but I try to forget it all the time because I know that it’ll never work out.” the guy’s head drooped and he sighed. “Life is just so cruel sometimes you know? I mean, we’re not even in the same house, not to mention the fact that he hates my guts.”

Harry nodded understandingly. “But you’ve never really talked to the guy right? You couldn’t be sure that he doesn’t have the same feelings for you.”

“No, I’m pretty sure. Afterall, all these years, I tried to hide my emotions by saying awful things and hurting him... I didn’t want him to know my true feelings.”

“It’s not too late to change things though is it? It’s never too late. You already know so much about him, you shouldn’t give up.” Harry said with a smile.

The guy turned his head toward the sky. “If only it was that easy...”

“So what’s the first thing you’d want to do, if you ever had the chance to tell him?” Harry asked, turning the subject slightly so that it didn’t become to depressing.

“Kiss him.” the guy whispered so quietly that Harry didn’t hear him.

“Hm?”

“I’d kiss him. I felt like in heaven the first time I ev#148#148;

“You’ve kissed him before? But you said you guys were-” Harry said confused.

“Yes, I’ve kissed him, just once. He doesn’t know about it though. If he knew, he’d probably have to kill me.” the guy smirked.

Something in Harry twinged. It was like a memory struggling to be let out.

Somehow, everything this guy had been telling him seemed to... make sense. Of course it didn’t mean anything to Harry but he felt a connection with the guy that he couldn’t explain.

“I think you should just be bold.” Harry repeated. “Even if things don’t go the way you planned, you should tell him how you feel. You might never know how things will turn out.”

“You really think so?” the guy asked. “You really really think so?”

Harry grinned. “Of course. Don’t relationships always have to start somewhere? Why don’t you play the kickoff then?”

The guy stopped walking abruptly, still looking straight ahead.

“You know, you’re right. This is my last year here and I’ll only have half the school year to endure his hate if it ends up badly... and once school’s out, he won’t ever have to see my face again.”

“It won’t go badly. I have a feeling it won’t.” Harry said reassuringly.

The guy turned around to face him.

“Thanks Harry.”

And with that, he leaned close to Harry and kissed him softly on the lips.

Harry stood completely shocked as he felt the guy’s lips on his own. He summoned up all his strength and placed his hands on his shoulders and pushed himself away.

“Y-you know my name?” he stammered.

The guy smiled. “Of course I do. The magic of the mask wasn’t strong enough to hide your eyes, Harry.”

“So the guy you were talking about.... was me?”

He nodded.

“Who-who are you?”asked Harry weakly.

The guy reached out to Harry’s faced and slid Harry’s mask off his head. Harry’s mask fluttered to the floor, and his face was now completely naked.

The guy smiled again and kissed Harry slowly before reaching for his own mask and letting it fall from his face. Blonde hair fell across his forehead and his pearly white skin was finally noticable.

“Ma-Malfoy?” Harry whispered hoarsly.

Draco Malfoy was standing in front of him, with an imploring look on his face. There was little hope in his mesmerizingly gray eyes.
“I-I’ve love you for the longest time Harry... and I’m sorry for every cruel thing that I’ve done or said to you... I didn’t know how else to protect myself from becoming vulnerable because of my love for you...”

Harry’s mouth had gone dry. This was least of what he’d expected... His heart was racing so madly that he thought his chest would explode any second.
“But- but why?” Harry managed softly. “Why do you love me so much?”
Malfoy’s eyes glittered longingly.

“You’re everything I’ve ever dreamed of... and I’m in love with everything about you.” he said.

Harry felt like a million emotions had just burst inside him. He tried to understand what they were. But there was only one possible way to explain what he was
feeling at that moment.

“Malfoy I-”

Malfoy shook his head.

“Please don’t Harry- don’t try to make this easy for me. I already knew your answer even before I told you, you just gave me the courage to confess-”

But before Malfoy could say anything else, he was pulled into Harry’s arms and Harry’s warm lips were kissing his own.

Harry pulled away. “Malfoy- thank you. You’ve made everything so clear for me...”
Malfoy stared. “What-?”

“Until you told me all of this, I couldn’t comprehend my own emotions.... I thought I was crazy because everytime I was near you, I’d get these shivers and my heart would start to beat like mad.... I know now that I’ve wanted you Draco Malfoy... and I still do.”

“This must be a dream... ” Malfoy said pinching himself hard. “Ow!”

Harry noticed that Malfoy was shaking violently. Harry wrapped his arms around hime tightly.

“Cold?”

Malfoy shook his head. “Just hypervenilating is all.” he smiled weakly.

He looked up into Har146;146;s emerald eyes and tried to read the emotion swimming in them. But one look at them and he knew that Harry was not lying. He did love him.
Harry leaned down to kiss Draco and their lips brushed gently.

Draco slipped his arms around Harry’s neck and pulled his neck closer, deepening
the kiss.

“I love you.... I love you.... I love you...” he murmered through into Harry’s lips.

Harry began to press his lips harder and more passionately.

“I love you too Draco. Draco?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you go out with me?” Harry asked, pulling his lips away and putting his forehead against Draco’s.

Draco’s eyes were filled with lust as he looked back at Harry.

“Isn’t that the most obvious question with the most obvious answer?”

Harry smiled and ran his fingers across Draco’s soft cheek.

“Just in case.”

“Oh.” Draco said. “Of course.”

Then Harry pulled Draco in again for the most loving and unforgetable kiss of all.