The Circle of Endless Confusion

The Circle of Endless Confusion

By: Princess Amorina Weasley

Chapter 1: The Night to Remember

The two friends walked into her house laughing hysterically at some small joke he had made about a duck and a bar. Both friends' eyes were sparkling. The joke was not particularly funny and the two wouldn't usually have laughed at it. Tonight, however, they would do many things they would not usually do. Hermione was going to the sixteenth birthday party of one of her Muggle friends. She had invited Harry to go with her, both to make herself feel more comfortable, since she hadn't been alone with a bunch of teenage Muggles recently, and to get him out of his horrible relative's house. She had invited Ron, but his mother didn't want him going off unattended to a Muggle party, having heard horror stories from other witches about "normal" teenagers.

Anyway, Hermione and Harry hadn't really been alone much since the previous Christmas, when she and Ron had started dating. It had taken them until their sixth year to figure out they wanted to be together. They had been having their annual Christmas snowball fight before lunch, which was not as much fun without Fred and George. They were running around when both fell down, Ron landing on top of Hermione. He looked into her big brown eyes and instantly decided to kiss her, she kissed him back but then suddenly he ran inside. After Christmas dinner, she cornered him and they sat in a far off corner of the common room talking for hours. They both admitted to being crazy about each other and having been so since their first year.

It might have been the inspiration of his friends' sudden admittance of feelings for one another or the fact that he had found someone with whom to share his feelings; whatever the reason, it was not long after Hermione and Ron got together that Harry revealed his secret. Harry admitted that he in fact would rather kiss boys than girls; quite a few hearts were broken. The one most hurt, however, was Ginny who had started to think that Harry truly liked her. This fact is most likely what eased Ron's mind about letting his girlfriend go off alone with another guy. As if the fact of Harry coming out was not shocking enough, Hermione and Ron, who themselves were looking for a good place to snog, walked in on Harry and Draco Malfoy, of all people, snogging in an empty classroom late one night. They were forced into secrecy by the fact that Draco was not yet brave enough to come out to anyone but Harry and, of course, these two only because they had discovered him.

Harry and Draco had gotten in trouble for cursing each other in Snape's class two weeks before Christmas. Snape for once was unable to allow Draco to be off unpunished by the fact that Professor McGonagall walked in just as Draco uttered his curse. Their detention was spent cleaning up the Potions room. As Snape had no desire to interrupt Malfoy's torture of Harry, he stayed clear that night after telling them what to do. As they worked Draco uttered insults at Harry and Harry uttered them right back. However, during the night, Harry caught himself looking up at Draco and thinking about his beautiful blonde hair, his seductively pale skin, and his delightful gray eyes. "WHAT?!?! How can I think of Draco that way?" he thought. "I'm not gay and if I was I wouldn't look at Draco." Eventually, he noticed Draco looking at him the same way he had seen Ginny looking at him. Before they knew it, the two of them were tangled on the ground in a sea of gentle, sweet kisses. They saw each other several times over the next two weeks, with concealed kisses and public arguments. Finally the day after Christmas, the day after Ron and Hermione got together, Harry told his friends and anybody else who was in earshot, that he was gay. However, he did not inform them of who his secret lover was, for protection of Draco's privacy, until of course Hermione and Ron walked in on them.

However, tonight was the night, the night for just them. Both friends were quite happy to have a night alone, well at least away from their lovers' distractions. They were planning on going to her house after the party to watch videos and talk about how their lives had changed. Her parents were away, but they trusted Harry since they knew about his preference. The party had been a blast but there had been something in the mix that they hadn't counted on, something that changed the entire evening.

Hermione's Muggle friends were typical teenagers and it turned out that one of them had spiked the punch. Harry and Hermione were dancing quite a bit and therefore working up quite a thirst. Both teens took in way more punch than they should have and consequently when they got to Hermione's house they were both quite tipsy. Nevertheless, they had not completely lost control of their actions. They were quiet while they started watching the movie. Eventually, Hermione looked up and saw that she was alone with a boy. She forgot for the moment that he was gay and that she had a boyfriend, and she kissed him. He resisted at first, but then he allowed himself to be kissed. They continued to kiss and awkwardly made their way to her bedroom and the perfect little bed. As they kissed, Harry thought about Draco. He thought 'Hey nobody will ever know, and I'm interested to know what it's like with a girl.' Hermione thought of Ron and thought 'He'll never find out. It's just one night, and I won't pretend I've never thought about this'. She ran her fingers through his messy black hair as he undid the buttons on her blouse and discovered what it was hiding beneath it. 'This is nice. Perhaps I'm not completely gay,' he thought happily, as he kissed her. The two friends finally gave into their desires and did what Hermione had only dreamed of doing with Ron and what was completely different from what Harry got from Draco, though not necessarily better. Finally, they lie exhausted in Hermione's bed and feel asleep