Love, Draco

Chapter 4

The first thing Harry noticed when he arrived at the party was that Hermione was clinging on to Ron's arm. Crap, he thought. What was he going to do? These are his best friends. He wants them to be happy, but he also doesn't want to get outed. Star would stop talking to him, and that would be the worst thing. So, operation cockblock was a go.

Harry walked over to his friends and stood in between them, placing an arm around each of them. "Hey guys!" he said.

"Harry! We were just looking for you!" said Hermione, smiling, while Ron appeared rather annoyed.

"I'm going to find Draco. He should be here any minute!" said Hermione, visibly excited, as she skipped away. Ron looked even more upset at the mention of Malfoy. He was always awful at hiding his jealousy.

Harry's eyes followed Hermione to where she was standing with Malfoy. Harry's breath caught in his throat when he saw him. His normally perfectly styled hair was slightly ruffled with bits falling over his face. The white button-up he was wearing clung to his body so tightly that you could see the lines of his toned arms through it, not to mention that the top few buttons were undone. He looked amazing.

Harry shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking things like this about a straight guy. But he's never confirmed that he's straight. Harry thought. But he dated Parkinson. The rational side of him argued. Even if he is gay, I'm not ready to be out yet. And besides, it's Malfoy! He may be friends with Hermione now but that doesn't make him less of a git, he decided.

"You okay mate? You're staring into space," said Ron.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine-" he started, but was interrupted by Cedric coming over to talk to them.

"Hey, Harry, I need another person on my team for beer pong," he said, and then he leaned over and whispered in his ear, "we're not playing with beer, it's just some muggle drink called kool-aid, but some people are so drunk they can't tell the difference,".

Harry laughed, and followed Cedric to the table. He quickly scanned the room to find someone to play with, when his eyes landed on a very drunk Cormac flirting with an uncomfortable-looking Hermione.

"Who should we play with?" asked Cedric.

"How about you and me against Cormac and Hermione?"

Cedric looked surprised, probably because he could see that Harry didn't like Cormac very much, but he went along with it. "Oi! 'Mione! McLaggen! We're playing beer pong!" he yelled, and they walked over.

The game was going fine until Cormac's constant awful flirting was getting to be a bit too much for Hermione to take.

"Hey, Cormac, that girl over there is clearly into you! You should talk to her!" said Hermione, trying to get him off of her back. She guided him away from the table.

"That's probably the smartest way that you can get a guy away from you. Honestly I'm surprised she's not a ravenclaw," said Cedric, and Harry's head snapped up. That's what Star said. Could it be Cedric?

"I have to go to the bathroom," he said, his head spinning. That's when everything went to hell. On the way to the bathroom, he passed the karaoke booth. On the stage were Ron and Hermione, just finishing up singing some sappy love song to each other. No no no no. Please Romione, just wait a little longer- and Harry's heart dropped when they kissed. He could see Cormac glaring at him across the room. That's it. His secret was going to be out to the whole school by tomorrow.

Around him, people were cheering for Ron and Hermione, and Harry was happy for them too. Honestly, he was kind of done with this blackmailing crap, but he still wasn't ready to be out yet. It wasn't even his choice anymore. This was supposed to be his choice. Coming out was his decision, and he wasn't going to be able to make it on his own terms. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. Suddenly, he couldn't take it anymore. He ran out of the room, not caring about the stares he got.

He sprinted down the halls until he reached the Gryffindor common room. He quickly muttered the password, and ran into the room, followed by none other than Ginny Weasley.

"Harry, are you okay? You seemed pretty upset back there," she said, sitting next to him and placing a comforting hand on his back. He couldn't hold it in anymore. He leaned into her shoulder and let the tears come. All of the anger, fear, and pain that he had felt over the last few weeks were finally showing. Ginny rubbed her hand on his back in circles as she whispered comforting words into his ear.

"It's going to be okay," she said. Yeah right. He felt like the world was crashing down around him. By tomorrow, his secret would be out and his life would never be the same. Not only that, but Star would stop talking to him. That hurt the worst of all. Harry realized it all at once. He was in love with Star. And that scared him more than anything. After a few minutes, his tears calmed down.

"Would you like to tell me what's wrong?" she asked.

"I-I'm gay. And I've been writing letters to the guy who posted the thing on the information board. I think I'm in love with him. Cormac found the letters and has been blackmailing me. He said that if I didn't help him get with Hermione that he would out me. Now that Ron and Hermione are together he's going to do it. He's going to out me and my life is going to be over and Star is gonna stop talking to me and-"

"Harry you're rambling," Ginny cut him off.

"Sorry," he said.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Harry. McLaggen has always been an asshole. You're just a victim. As for what you did to keep Ron and Hermione apart, they'll understand. You did what you had to do. Besides, we don't even know if the letters will be leaked after all," she said. She was wrong.