harry's secret

Chapter 18

Hogwarts was nearing February as everyone felt the love soaring through the air. This Valentines Day, Harry wouldn't be alone, thinking about Draco. This year, however, Harry would be with Draco. Harry was so lucky, his crush of one year was now in a relationship with him. Although, it was hard keeping that secret from the students at Hogwarts. And too many people already knew about it. More people than Harry wanted, that's for sure.

His day started off like every other day, waking up in his four-poster to see that no one else was awake. The only thing peculiar about this was that Ron's bed was empty, while his sheets were sprawled all around. Harry stood out of his bed and walked around the dormitories, looking for any sign of Ron.

Harry quickly grew worried as he couldn't find any indication of Ron. So, he ran down the stairs to Common Room, the cool floor causing Harry's skin to erupt in goosebumps. Harry shook them away as he looked around the Common Room for red hair. Harry jumped as he saw red hair sitting at a table in one of the far corners, the hair reflecting the light, making the red brighter. He became disappointed as the red hair belonged to Ginny. Harry decided to ask her if she knew the whereabouts of her brother, Ron.

"Have you seen your brother today?" He questioned her.
"Yes," She started, "He ran quite fast down the dormitory stairs and out the Common Room."
"Do you know where he is?" Harry softly placed his hand on the chair opposite of Ginny's.
"No, he sprinted out of here before I could ask him what he was doing." Ginny shrugged and looked down at her parchment paper. She looked up and pointed at Hermione as she descended the stairs. "Maybe she knows, though."

Harry turned around to look at Hermione. Her hair bushier and frizzier than ever. He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She gasped and looked up at him, obviously not expecting him to be up at this time. She became worrisome as she saw the look on his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked him, examining his face.
"Sorry," Harry ignored her question and dropped his hands from her shoulders, awkwardly stuffing them in his pockets. He looked down at the floor, then up at her again. "Have you seen Ron anywhere? I can't find him and I just thought you'd know where he was."
"No, but I'll help look."
"Thanks."
Hermione nodded.

••0••

The first place the duo decided to check was in the Great Hall. And of course, Ron was sitting at the Gryffindor table, eating his breakfast. Harry and Hermione let out a sigh of relief before joining their friend.

"There you are!" Hermione said plopping down next to Ron.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked, his mouth full of toast.
"We couldn't find you this morning. You're bed sheets were sprawled all over the place." Harry explained.
"Oh, well I had a nightmare and I woke up. I came down here to eat some food because I supposed it would help me get my mind off of it."
"What was your dream about?" Hermione asked him, grabbing a piece of toast and smothering it with butter.
"Everyone in my family dying." Hermione stopped mid-bite, shocked.
"Well, uh, are you alright now?" Harry asked him, Hermione obviously at a loss of words as she sat there, toast in hand.
"Yeah, I'm totally fine." Ron answered, pushing the piece of toast into Hermione's mouth. She gagged and choked before spitting the piece of bread out. The three of them laughed together, the first real laughed they had shared in a while.

After breakfast, Harry stood up from the table and caught eyes with Draco. Harry looked away, hoping that Draco didn't think it was a rude gesture.

Harry ran down the hallway, finally catching up to Ron and Hermione.

"There you are! I was scared you were going to be late for- OH NO!" Hermione's mouth quickly formed an "o" as she ran the opposite way from them.
"HERMIONE!" Ron screamed down the corridor, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"
"I FORGOT SOMETHING!" She screamed back as she turned a corner and ran up some stairs. Harry and Ron sighed in unison and looked at each other.

After minutes of hard-staring they broke into laughter before turning around to see Hermione sprinting towards them. Harry noticed that her shoelaces were undone. He was going to warn her, but it was too late.

Hermione yelped as she hit the floor. The impact of her body hitting the floor created a smacking noise.

It wasn't long before Ron broke into fits of laughter. Harry hit the back of his head with his books. Ron immediately stopped laughing and rubbed the area Harry hit with his books.

"That hurt you know!" He grumbled at Harry.
"It also hurt when I fell!" Hermione sang out from the floor as she pushed herself up, cleaning off her robes and straightening them.
"Oh, yeah forgot about that," Ron sheepishly smiled.
"Maybe because you were laughing so hard," Hermione gave him a fake smile and rolled her eyes. There was an awkward silence as the three of them walked fast to class before Harry began laughing. The other two smiled before joining him in laughter, not really knowing why they were laughing. But it felt relieving to laugh and smile.

Harry stopped laughing when he felt something grace his leg. He looked down and screamed as Mrs. Norris maneuvered her way around and through Harry's legs. He looked up to Ron and Hermione and they all looked at each other before making a run for it. They ran as fast as they could before Mrs. Norris warned Filch about they're tardiness.

••0••

After the next two classes, the trio walked to go eat their lunch. The Great Hall was booming with voices as students conversed. Harry sat across from Ron and Hermione and pulled in the bench he sat on with him. Harry was about to begin eating when someone yelled out "OW!" Harry looked around to find the spawn of the noise.

"I'm down here!" Harry looked down and saw Ginny lying on the floor, mashed potatoes all over her face and chest. Harry began laughing, he quickly stopped and pulled Ginny up to sit.
"Did I do that?" Harry asked her.
"Yeah, when you pulled in the bench that I was also sitting on." She said harshly, obviously annoyed at Harry.
"Well, uh," He scratched the back of his head, "I'm sorry."
"Yeah." Ginny rolled her eyes and left to go clean up.

Harry turned back to his friends to see them both holding in their laughter. Harry ignored him and began to eat his chicken when he felt like someone was looking at him. He looked up and saw Draco's eyes. They stared at Escher before Harry cleared his throats and excused himself from the table. After Harry stood up, Draco shortly followed after him.

••0••

The two of them stood in silence for a few minutes in the Room of Requirements. After a while Draco walked over to Harry and hugged him with a great amount of force. His hold was strong, and Harry tried to match it as best as he could. They embraced each other for a long while.

Then, Harry could hear Draco start to sob so he pulled himself off of him. Harry kissed Draco. Draco kissed back until he pulled away and hugged Harry again.

"I love you." He whispered into Harry's neck.