It Started With A Letter

4

I started dancing with Parvati Patil, and we both knew that this was once but never again. When I asked her to the Yule Ball with me, I had made it very clearly that we would go as friends, nothing more, and that I was in love with someone else. She was okay with it, as she also only saw me as a friend, and as the famous boy-who-lived. We opened the dance, and we were allowed to stop dancing. We said your goodbyes and she walked off to a Beauxbatons boy.

'Lost your date, Potter? Or are your dancing skills so poorly that girl doesn't even want to be around you anymore?' I turned around and noticed Draco standing behind me. 'What about you, Malfoy? Were you such an unbearable git your date didn't want to be around you anymore, or were you such a stupid twat and unable to even get a date?' He smirked and we continued throwing insults at each other until the ball was over.

We headed to the Astronomy Tower, Draco a little hanging back so we wouldn't be seen, and started to chat about our experiences. 'You and Parvati Patil, then?' he asked. I shook my head. 'No, we're just friends, and she knows it. When I asked her to the ball with me, I made it very clearly that we would go as friends, nothing more, and that I'm in love with someone else.' I realised what I'd just said and looked down, blushing. Draco chuckled. 'You're turning into a tomato. Let me guess, the Ravenclaw?' I shook my head.

'What about you, I didn't see you dance. Did you had a date?' He laughed. 'Yeah, I asked a friend, Daphne Greengrass, only she went off with Theodore Nott.' I nodded, a little absent-minded. 'Harry?' I looked up. 'Yeah?' He smirked. 'What were you thinking about? You seemed happy,' he asked. I felt myself turning as red as my Gryffindor sweater. 'Never mind, you were totally thinking about her,' he smirked, but I looked confused. 'Her? Who's her?' He smacked my arm. 'Your crush, idiot!' I went very quiet, and I think he noticed, because he asked: 'Harry?' 'I need to go,' I said, standing up, grabbing my cloak and basically running down the stairs. I heard Draco yell 'Harry!', but I didn't look back.

~•~

I launched myself out of the water. Ron and Hermione came rushing over to me with towels. 'Harry! Thank Merlin you came back up, we started to get worried,' Hermione said, wrapping a towel around my shoulders. 'Proud of you, mate,' Ron said. 'You're in first place, same with Diggory.' People started to move back to the castle and I shivered. Ron, Hermione and I started to also walk back, so I could take a nice warm shower and change to some warm clothes.

I told them all about swimming under water and everything what happened. Before we knew it, dinner was over and it was 8:45. Ron went to bed, and when he called for me, Hermione called me back, claiming she wanted to talk with me about homework. I thanked her and ran to the Astronomy Tower. Draco was already there, pacing back and forth. 'Sorry, I lost track of time,' I said, pulling the cloak off. He jumped. 'Merlin, Harry, is everything alright? I thought you had died or something when you didn't came back up,' he rushed, pulling me in a hug.

'Harry, I'm really sorry. I don't really know what I'm apologising for, but I could see you were kinda upset when you ran away yesterday.' 'It's fine,' I said, hugging him back. He released after a while. 'Do you mind if I ask why you were upset?' I looked at the ground. 'Well... you kept going on about how I am in love with a girl, but I- I'm-' I took a deep breath. 'I'm in love with a guy,' I said rather quietly, looking up. For a moment Draco just stood there, wide-eyed, before choking out an answer. 'You're gay?' I nodded. He suddenly laughed. Only one thought shot through my head: He was laughing at me for being gay. My eyes filled with tears and I ran. 'Harry, wait!' I didn't wait, I didn't look back. I threw my cloak over me and ran, quietly crying. I certainly wasn't planning on going to the Astronomy Tower at 9'0 clock anytime soon.