Then He Opened His Mouth

Disclaimer: I don\'t own them and I don\'t want to. I\'m just borrowing them for a bit, but they will be returned, no harm done. No financial gain expected.
Rating: PG-13 to start, working to R later
Pairing: HP/DM
Archiving: http://adultfan.nexcess.net/aff/story.php?no=11254 and also at http://www.draconis-carpe-noctem.com.
A/N1: Thanks to a wonul bul beta and good friend, Chark, your ideas and help are always invaluable to me. Any errors left behind will be mine alone. Thoughts indicated by parenthesis or italics, unless it is contained within one of the \"letters\". WIP

Chapter Seven
In Diagon Alley

~@~

For the remainder of the day, Harry thought longingly of Glenn, and the interesting path his life had taken this summer since he began corresponding with the other boy. He\'d spent the past two years withdrawing from life, building a fortress of safety and solitude in his mind, and he had been comfortable within this self-imposed sanctuary. Then Glenn had come along and had broken through his defences, turning his whole world upside down in the process. And now all he could concentrate on was this other person, a boy whose face he could only imagine, but whose letters ignited something deep within his soul. Something that made him want more from his life.

A plan began forming in his mind that evening, a plan that would require that he fiy rey reveal to his closest friends the truth about himself, discarding the pretense of straightness he had cultivated over the years. Harry knew he would be taking a gamble coming out to Ron and Hermione, but he was tired of pretending to be something he was not, and tired of living this lie. He waettyetty sure that Hermione would be very understanding about this, however Ron might be a different story entirely. Harry could only imagine Ron\'s reaction in his mind; his face red, hands clenched in angry fists at his side, an accusatory glare through brown slits of venom. It wasn\'t a pretty picture by any means, and it was the only thing Harry regretted about his plan. But he just had to know who Glenn deWedlour was, and he was counting on Hermione to help him solve that particular riddle.

That night, he fell into a restless sleep, where dreams about Glenn were shoved brutally aside by the visage of Ron Weasley, screaming at him for lying to them all and letting them down as a friend.

~@~

Two days later, Harry lifted the loose floorboard in his room and withdrew the small bundle of letters that he had placed there for safekeeping. He untied the string that bound them together and removed two of the less personal letters, returning the rest of them in their hiding place. After reading the two letters again, he smiled and carefully placed them in the back pocket of his too large jeans, and began to make preparations to meet Ron and Hermione for a chat in Diagon Alley.

Twenty minutes later, he summoned the Knight Bus and made the trip to Charing Cross Road, and The Leaky Cauldron.

Once arriving at The Leaky Cauldron, he was so apprehensive over the purpose of his visit, that he failed to notice the pretty little heart faced owl that was perched on the shoulder of the blonde haired young man lounging leisurely in the dining room. He was also oblivious to ardent, silver eyes fixated on his every move as he walked laboriously in the direction of Diagon Alley.

Draco placed some money for his lunch on the table, and gathering up Psyche, he sped upstairs to his room. He paused to unlock the door to room number eleven, then dashed inside to freshen himself up. Psyche flew to her cage and watched as her human companion rushed around the room like a crazed lunatic muttering and swearing to himself. \"Bloody hell! What\'s he doing here? Ok, just calm the fuck down, Draco, you can do this.\" Clothes were tried on then discarded, leaving haphazard piles of trousers and shirts littering the floor of his room.

After picking out what he felt was a stunning ensemble guaranteed to take Harry\'s breath away, he turned his attention to his resplendent hair. He pulled a comb through his lustrous blonde locks, which fell in soft waves just below his ears. \"Gel or no gel?\" He thought for a moment. \"Gel. Right.\" He squeezed a generous dollop of the goop into his hand and began slicking his hair back when a strangled shriek from Psyche caused his eyes to bug out in panic. \"No gel?\" his voice cracked with alarm. \"Bugger!\" Yanking off his clothing, he fled into the bath to wash the offending stuff out of his hair. After toweling it off he performed a drying spell on it, leaving the silken waves wreathing his face attractively.

He stepped into cream coloured trousers that clung provocatively to his arse and thighs, which were well toned from years astride a broomstick. An off-white shirt hung from his shoulders, the form fitting sleeves flared out from his elbows. Draco left the collar open, exposing the flawless skin of his slender throat. On top of this he wore a tan vest made of fine Corinthian leather, which was buttoned up to just below his breastbone. His neck was adorned with a thin leather thong from which a pendent depicting the moon and stars was suspended. The ensemble was complete with tan thigh-high boots, which were made from the same leather as the vest. He tucked the shirt into his trousers and gave Psyche an inquisitive look. In response, she settled on his shoulder and gently nibbled his ear in approval. Even the mirror in the room gave out a low, appreciative whistle. He picked up a pair of pale blue tinted rectangular sunglasses and put them on. The half-sized glasses* partially hid his eyes, and made their colour appear more vivid. Not to mention they made him look positively gorgeous. He was pleased with the retro-hippie image he presented, so with a smile and a self-satisfied wink, Draco strolled toward Diagon Alley

~@~

Ron and Hermione were standing in front of Quality Quidditch Supplies gazing in the window whilst they waited for Harry to arrive. Ron was completely mesmerised by the Firebolt that was featured in the display. He imagined himself flying around the pitch on it; he knew he could be a phenomenal Keeper if only he had a Firebolt. Not that he was an inferior Keeper, mind, despite getting off to a pretty rocky start at the beginning of the last season. But his self-confidence had grown, and by seasons end had brought his team to victory, in spite of a certain someone\'s efforts to impede him. His thoughts were interrupted by Hermione\'s spirited voice calling out their best friend\'s name.

\"Harry!\" Her face lit up with a grin when she caught sight of Harry as he rounded the bend walking in their direction. But her smile soon faded, as intuition told her that there was something bothering him. Harry was moving leadenly toward them, the normal bounce in his step was curiously absent and the usual sparkle missing from his eyes.

\"All right, mate?\" Ron had also noticed Harry\'s odd behaviour, and joined his friends in front of the shop. \"I haven\'t heard much from you this summer, Harry. I swear, if the Dursley\'s have been mistreating you again I\'ll make sure Fred and George...\"

\"No! It hasn\'t been like that at all, Ron.\" Harry interrupted. \"We\'ve reached some sort of unspoken truce, and to be honest, they\'ve acted as though I\'m not even there.\" A sad look briefly crossed Harry\'s face, and he turned to face his best friends. \"I\'m sorry I didn\'t write you both more often. I\'ve just had an awful lot on my mind this summer...\" His voice trailed off softly, leaving little room for doubt about what may be troubling the young wizard.

\"Let\'s go to Fortescue\'s and get some ice cream, and we can talk there.\" There was an air of nervous tension amongst the three friends, and they were only able to manage small talk as they walked to Florean Fortescue\'s. Hermione had a strange feeling that this was not going to be one of their run-of-thel col conversations.

Draco lurked in the shadows and furtively watched as the trio made their way through Diagon Alley. Following discreetly behind them, he couldn\'t miss Harry\'s apathetic demeanour as he trudged down the street, and he puzzled over what might be the cause of it. Stepping into Flourish and Blott\'s he could see across the street into Fortescue\'s, where Harry and his friends now sat at a table. Then finally, for the first time since he had entered The Leaky Cauldron, Harry\'s face began to light up as he pulled something from the pocket of his trousers. Then a look of uncertainty and fear filled Harry\'s eyes as he began speaking to his friends, and Draco wished that he were a fly on the wall at Fortescue\'s, as he was dying to know exactly what it was they were talking about. But for the time being, he had to settle for watching the object of his desire from afar.

\"I\'m glad you both could meet me here today,\" Harry smiled, removing something from his back pocket. The smile was quickly replaced by a look of fear as he prepared himself for what he thought would inevitably be the end of his friendship with Ron. \"You know that I love you both, that you\'re my best friends, right?\" Both Hermione and Ron nodded, worried about the tone this conversation was taking. Harry took a deep breath and continued. \"This is so difficult for me, I\'m not quite sure where to start...\" he chewed on his lip nervously ...\"but I feel like I have been a dishonest friend because I have kept an important part of myself hidden from you. It\'s possibly the most important thing about me, and it makes up a huge part of who I truly am.\"

Hermione, who now had an idea where this was going, placed her hand on top of Harry\'s and gave it a small squeeze. \"Go on, Harry, it\'s okay\" she nodded, a tiny smile turning up the corners of her mouth.

Harry searched her eyes for any sign of malice and saw none, so he decided to finish this, hoping that Ron would not hate him too much. He inhaled sharply, and giving Ron an anxious look, he began to tell them everything. And once he got started, there was no stopping him.

To his credit, and Harry\'s extreme gratification, Ron handled the information extremely well. \"You know, this doesn\'t change anything, Harry. You\'re still the same person you were yesterday, and you\'re still my best friend. I can\'t believe you thought I would freak out about this. You know, Bill is gay and I accept him and his boyfriend. You\'re just like family, so why would I treat you any differently than I treat my own brother?\" Harry\'s whole body sagged with relief as all the previous tension was released, and he felt as though a huge burden had finally been lifted from his shoulders.

\"Bill\'s gay?\" Ron grinned and nodded. \"Bloody hell, Ron, how come I never knew this?\"

Ron shrugged. \"You never asked.\"

~@~

Glenn\'s letters lay on the table, and Hermione was examining them carefully. \"You might be right, Harry. The name could be some kind of riddle for you to solve. You\'re certain he\'s a student at Hogwarts?\"

\"Yes, I\'m pretty sure he is. He mentioned watching me flying alone on the pitch when I thought no one was watching. I reckon he would have to be a student to be able to do that. I\'ve just never noticed any blokes paying that sort of attention to me, you know?\" Harry ruminated over the events of the summer, and was still no closer to solving the puzzle of Glenn deWedlour. \"So you\'ll help me sort this out, \'\'Mione? Please?\"

\"Of course, I will! I can tell you now that whoever he is, he is very clever. He\'s used charmed quills to disguise his handwriting, and the parchment is relatively common to help keep his identity a secret, not to mention the riddle involving his name. You say he has a cute little barn owich ich you have never seen before?\" Harry nodded. The sudden memory of a pretty little barn owl flashed through her mind briefly. She was sure she had seen one very recently, but couldn\'t pinpoint where or when exactly she had seen it. \"You know, I saw a little barn owl very recently, but I can\'t recall where. Interesting.\" She filed the thought away in her brain for future reference, handing the letters back to Harry, which he placed in his back pocket.

\"I need to be fitted for my new school robes. Do you two want to come along with me to Madame Malkin\'s?\" Both Ron and Hermione agreed to accompany him, and after they paid for their ice cream, they started to cross the street to Madame Malkin\'s.

From Flourish and Blott\'s, Draco could see the trio heading for Madame Malkin\'s and decided that this would be the perfect place to reveal himself to Harry. Besides, it was where they first met all those years ago, and it now held a bit of sentimental value for Draco. He strode confidently out the back door at Flourish and Blott\'s and into the back door at Madame Malkin\'s in order to beat them there. He leaned casually against a wall looking deceptively calm as Harry and his friends walked though the door. An enigmatic smile tugged at his lips as he found himself face to face with Harry.

\"Potter.\" The name rolled blithely off his tongue without an ounce of malevolence, much to the surprise of the other teens.

\"Malfoy.\" Harry nodded, his eyes raking over Draco\'s body before going for a fitting for his new robes. Blimey, he\'s stunning! Harry had never seen Draco with his hair loose like this, and it was a revelation. He should wear it like this more often...oh, how I would love to run my hands through it. I\'ll bet it feels soft and silky, and probably smells wonderful as well. Harry groaned softly and stole furtive glances at Draco, taking in the way the other boys trousers hugged hidy ldy like a second skin, and how the hollow of his throat pulsed lightly with every beat of his heart. Harry closed his eyes briefly, lost in a melange of thoughts. But I can\'t fancy Malfoy! Not now! I fancy Glenn. No, that\'s not true. I think I actually love Glenn. But Malfoy is...oh god...he\'s beautiful! But why would someone like Malfoy ever fancy anyone like me? Harry sighed and attempted to look away from the gorgeous blonde. He was not very successfu thi this endeavour.

Draco was accutely aware that he was being watched, and it caused his heart to soar. He was almost sorry that he had gone to the trouble of creating Glenn deWedlour, but it had never even crossed his mind that Harry could be interested in him in that way. Not without a little help, anyway, and desire can make a man do unusual things. So he\'d done what he felt he had to do to do in order win the raven haired Gryffindor\'s heart.

Unbeknownst to both Draco and Harry, there was another pair of eyes appraising the stunning Slytherin, another pair of eyes getting drunk on sheer adoration of him. Another pair of eyes watching Harry as he watched Draco. Eyes that saw more than they were meant to see, and a mind that started to put two and two together.

It suddenly occurred to Hermione exactly where she had seen that cute little barn owl. It had been earlier that very day, in The Leaky Cauldron, where she had noticed the back of a blonde head in the dining room. Sitting on the shoulder of the blonde was the pretty little owl. Malfoy! Very interesting. Could it possibly be him? Was he the one Harry fancies? He certainly had the intelligence to perpetrate an elaborate plan such as this one. And was it merely a coincidence that Malfoy was also here in Diagon Alley today, or was there something more to it? She took a deep breath, and resolved to make sure she solved the riddle of Glenn deWedlour\'s name the moment she got home. She just wasn\'t sure what she would do with the information once she had it, though.

Ron, Hermione and Harry bid each other farewell as they prepared to head back to their homes. Ron and Hermione were able to Floo back to their houses from The Leaky Cauldron, but Harry had to wait to summon the Knight Bus. Left to his own devices, he ended up wandering around Diagon Alley a bit longer before heading home. He looked in the windows at all of the interesting things on display, and thought about buying Ron a Firebolt for the Winter Solstice, the Wizard equivalent for Christmas. Knowing Ron as he did, though, he figured that his friend would not accept such an expensive gift from him. But he might accept it if he thought he\'d actually won the coveted Firebolt. That was it! He went into Quality Quidditch Supplies and spoke to the proprietor, setting up everything for Ron\'s \"big win.\" He was so caught up in the details of his task that he didn\'t notice the silver-eyed blonde hidden in the corner of the shop, watching him intently through blue tinted sunglasses, a look of utter adoration on his face.

Harry walked out of the shop feeling delighted with his crafty plan, and headed to The Leaky Cauldron to wait after summoning the Knight Bus. He motioned a greeting to Tom, then took a seat by the fireplace. He had many fond memories of staying in room eleven before the start of his third year. Third year. His good mood vanished as quickly as it had arrived. That was the year he\'d met his godfather for the very first time. \"Oh, gods, Sirius,\" he sobbed. How he missed the man. His head dropped into his hands in despair as the guilt began to engulf him once again. Harry sat enveloped in his pain for what seemed like an eternity when he heard the flutter of wings approaching him. Looking up, he was amazed to see it was Psyche, and she was carrying a parchment, which she dropped in his lap before flying out the door and into Diagon Alley. In shock, Harry opened the letter.

Dearest,

Please don\'t be sad, Harry. It pains me greatly to see you suffering like this. Remember what I told you before; you have nothing to feel guilty about. I meant that. So show me the beautiful smile that I\'ve come to love so much.

Holding you close in my heart,

Gle

Harry scrambled to his feet, eyes darting rapidly around The Leaky Cauldron for any sign of his mysterious admirer, but it appeared to be too late. There was no sign of a boy his age other than himself, and no sign of Psyche. He dashed into Diagon Alley, glancing up and down the cobbled street. \"Glenn!? Glenn! Where are you?\" He shouted through the crowded street, only to have his calls unanswered. His search was interrupted by the arrival of the Knight Bus. Bloody great timing, he thought dejectedly as he boarded the bus for the return trip to Surrey.

Upstairs, a sweet little owl had flown through the window of room eleven, landing on the shoulder of her human companion who was sitting in a chair with a happy grin on his face. \"I think it all went rather well, Psyche. How about you?\" She nibbled his ear happily, as her human friend turned to the window to watch the Knight Bus lumber down the street and out of sight.

@~TBC~@

*The glasses I describe are similar to Dumbledore\'s half-moon glasses, only Draco\'s are rectangular and blue tinted.