Undisguised

Undisguised
What was Hidden is Now Seen

Can You Paint With All The Colors..?

Harry's eyes suddenly snapped open. Squinting against the lights of the infirmary, he lifted his head and looked around until he spotted Madam Pomfrey standing at his bedside. She was placing a cup on the table next to his bed. The cup of steaming liquid was only half full, a vile shade of green. By the evil taste in his mouth, Harry guessed the other half of the cup was already inside of him.

"Well, that did the trick," Madam Pomfrey said as she slipped her wand back into her robes. "Now that you're awake, you can take the rest of this to soothe that bump on your head."

"What happened?" Harry asked her, his mind still somewhat cloudy.

"Well, I was hoping that you would be able to tell me that. Kayden Hanne floated you in, saying that he found you lying on your back in a hall. There was a nasty bump on the back of your head and he said that there was some water nearby. I'd assume that you slipped and fell, knocking your head a good one. I just gave you a draught to wake you. You've already missed your first class."

"The last thing I remember is leaving breakfast and heading back to Gryffindor Tower to finish my homework for Divinations."

"I see," she nodded. "Well, I'll just have one last look at you, then, and send you off to class."

After she had declared that all was well with him, she made him take the last of the draught. A soothing calm stretched through his body, covering him like a warm blanket. Madam Pomfrey let him go with a final admonishment to be careful.

Grabbing his Care of Magical Creatures books, Harry headed out of the castle to where the class was working with unicorns, upset that he had already missed so much of class. Charlie Weasley was teaching the class now. Hagrid had resigned two years before, after a freak accident with a creature that Harry didn't even want to try to remember. It had almost killed a student, and the memory of its poor, mangled victim was not something that he wanted to think about. He had been so excited when he heard that Charlie would be teaching the class the following year that he spent three nights talking to Ron instead of sleeping, the two of them trying to guess the first magical creature that Charlie would teach them about.

"Harry, there you are," Charlie said as Harry took his usual place between Ron and Hermione. "I was just saying that I think I'll pick up where Professor Grubby-Plank left off."

He turned back to the rest of the class, continuing as though he had never paused to talk to Harry. Ron gave Harry a funny look, but didn't say anything. Charlie seemed to be harder on his brothers than the others. Harry could remember the first time that Charlie had chewed Ron out -- also the first day they had had him as a teacher -- and it was not pretty. Now, Ron was a perfect angel -- even if it was only in his brother's class.

It happened in a blink. One moment all was fine, and the next there was not a single person present that didn't have a color surrounding them. Memories of the morning came rushing back to him almost as soon as the colors had appeared, but he didn't panic like he had then. A calm flowed through him, compensating for his almost instinctual panic, as he looked around at his classmates. Harry wasn't sure, but he thought that its cause might be the potion that Madam Pomfrey had given him.

The yellow that sprung up around Hermione when she looked at Charlie made Harry do a double take. She was in love with him, or thought that she was at least. When did that happen? Ron was haloed in a light orange whenever he looked like he was paying attention to the class, but that quickly changed to a gray every time he glanced at Harry from the corner of his eye. If Harry was right, Ron was worried about him and frustrated with his brother because he couldn't talk to him in class. The rest of the class was surrounded by colors of his own, each a different hue and shade. He looked at them, studied them, but could not reason out what they meant. That confused him, and he pushed it to the back of his mind to think about later. He suddenly realized that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Charlie studied him for a second, then shifted his eyes to Hermione.

"Not a word, Hermione," he said firmly with a grin on his face. "Can you answer my question, Harry?"

"IÂ… uhÂ… I didn't hear it, Professor," Harry said.

Charlie nodded as if to himself. "I thought as much. I also think that I'll need to see you after class."

Harry groaned. He did not need another of Charlie's gentle reprimands. It wasn't they were badÂ… they were just long. The color around Charlie had not changed a shade from the gray that it had been when the colors had first appeared.

"What I asked, Harry, was what the magical creature that allows us to make clothing like Invisibility Cloaks is."

"Oh, the demiguise."

"Very good, Harry," Charlie said, smiling, as he looked at his watch. "I want you each to write me a 15 inch scroll on which qualities of the demiguise allow the gentle creature to hide from its enemies. I also want views and opinions on how those qualities might be useful to us. Dismissed. Harry, if I could see you please?"

Harry walked over to his favorite Care of Magical Creatures professor as the rest of the class headed back to the Tower to drop off their things before lunch. Harry was not looking forward to Charlie's lecture on listening in class. He looked up at the man with some apprehension. This must have been evident, because Charlie was looking at him oddly with his head tilted to the side.

"I won't bite you, Harry," he said. "I was just wondering why you were late for class."

Harry sighed internally, more than relieved.

"I was in the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey thinks that I slipped and bumped my head. She said that I came in unconscious."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, much. Just a bit confused, is all," Harry said truthfully.

"Well, that's likely to happen when you knock your head on something, now isn't it?" Charlie laughed.

"Yeah. Have you seen Kayden Hanne this morning? We had a fight, and I don't want him mad at me."

Charlie looked at him for a moment, seemingly deep in thought. "No, I haven't. I'll let him know that you would like to see him after class this afternoon, if you'd like."

"That would be great," Harry said. He looked at his professor and started to worry that he had said too much about Kayden.

"Ok, then, off you go." Charlie smiled and then, as Harry was walking back to the castle, added, "Oh, and Harry? Try to pay attention to class. You might actually learn things that way."

Harry nodded and ran across the lawn to the doors before Charlie could think of anything else to add in the gentle prodding of a friend-turned-professor. He was on his way up the last stretch to the Gryffindor Tower when he bumped into the other Gryffindors. The sudden attack on his sight from the myriad of colors around his housemates was enough to make him stagger. Ron and Hermione ran up to him the moment they spotted him and started raining questions on his head before he could regain his composure. Ron's gray and Hermione's green of worry were bright enough to make him squint.

"Where were you during Potions?" Hermione asked. "I hope that you didn't skip for something stupid."

"You are OK, right?" Ron asked right on top of her, then looked thoughtful. "You better not be, cause if you are Snape is going to flay you."

"Slow down, you two," Harry said, the annoyance thick in his voice. "I'm OK And no, I did not skip Potions. I was in the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let me leave until she was sure that I hadn't bumped my head too hard."

That brought another onslaught of questions. Harry sighed and started walking to the Great Hall while telling the morning's happenings as Madam Pomfrey had explained them to him, careful not to lie to them. Hermione clicked her tongue against her teeth and told him he needed to be more careful. Ron just shook his head.

"You would think that the best Seeker Gryffindor has had in years would be able to walk," Ron muttered to himself, feigning innocence when Harry nudged him.

They walked through the doors of the Great Hall and Harry nearly stumbled to a halt. Ron and Hermione looked at him and then the Hall worriedly as he stopped in the doorway. Ron reached into his robes, undoubtedly grabbing for his wand. Almost the entirety of Hogwarts was there as usual, all the student tables were almost filled as well as the High Table, where only Charlie and Dumbledore were missing. Nothing seemed amiss.

The colors were almost blinding. So many people in one place! Harry's head started to hurt almost immediately. He shook his head and gave his best friends a look that said that nothing was wrong. He started into the Hall again and the pain got worse. By the time he was at the Gryffindor table he could barely see from the splitting pain in his skull. Closing his eyes did not help in the least. He could still see the colors behind his eyelids.

"You know," he said to Ron and Hermione, "I'm not really hungry. I think that I'll go to the library and look over my Divinations homework again."

Ron looked at him funny, but Hermione looked pleased with his explanation. She would keep Ron from following him to allow him the time to do his work. He just needed to get out of there before his head exploded. Turning on his heel, he walked to the doors quickly and into the hall outside, nearly running into a group of Ravenclaws in the process. He was about to walk around them, only nodding at their "Hi, Harry", trying to ignore the colors, when Kayden detached himself from the crowd.

"I will be there in a few minutes, guys," he said to his classmates. "I need to talk to Harry."

They nodded and disappeared and Kayden, surrounded in a deep red, quickly pulled Harry halfway up the stairs that led to the upper floors.

"Are you OK?" he asked without hesitation. "You had me worried sick."

"I'm fine. Sheesh, is that the first thing you have to ask when you see me these days?" Harry responded, smiling at him. "And you are still worried, by the way."

There was a slight questioning tone to the statement. Harry was still groping around to see if he really knew what Kayden was feeling when he saw him.

"Damn right, I am!" Kayden exclaimed. "I get to see you alone for the first time in a week and you freak out and collapse on me? I was afraid I wouldn't catch you in time. You still hit the floor pretty hard. What was all that about this morning anyway?"

"Not here," Harry said as he looked up and down the stairs. "Let's go to the library. No one else will be there. Hermione's at lunch with Ron and no one else would think to go there during lunch, except maybe a Hufflepuff."

On their way to the library, they talked about anything but what had happened earlier, the deep red that Harry now knew meant intense worry never leaving his boyfriend. How was he to tell Kayden that all was OK when he could see the emotions running through him at any given moment? He saw the quick glances that they got from others in the halls (what few there were), and didn't worry about them. The whole school knew that he and Kayden had grown close over the past summer. They also knew who Kayden Hanne was: the son of friends of Harry's mother and father. They would not question too closely what they would be doing in this area of the castle at lunch.

The library was quiet, the only person in the room the librarian, Madam Pince They took seats as far away from her and the door as they could, pulling out the books that they had on them from their last classes. Kayden's worried eyes turned on Harry again.

"What is this about, Harry? It's not like you not to talk to me."

"Look, it just happened last night, I think," Harry said slowly, thinking. "I'm not sure I have this right, let alone what it is that is going on. All I know is this: I am seeing things around other people. Like Muggle aura readers would, only different. They mean things. Not like who the person is, but what he is feeling."

"Are you telling me that you can see a person's aura and can tell what they're feeling from it?" Kayden looked at him in disbelief. Harry nodded. "All the time?"

"I see them all the time, if that's what you mean," Harry said, unconsciously opening his book. Kayden looked at him strangely, but followed suit. "I don't always know what they mean. I know what they mean when I see them around you, Ron and Hermione. No one else though."

Kayden studied Harry silently for a moment, then looked down at his open Transfiguration book. He didn't know what to make of this, he conceded to himself. He had expected almost anything that would have explained Harry's behavior. What was he supposed to do with this? He sighed.

"You said that you thought you knew that it had happened last night?" he said hesitantly.

Harry nodded, and took in the very pale yellow that had sprung up around his boyfriend. Yellow? Distrust, but this dim and weak? That would have to mean disbelief. It was funny. Harry had never thought that they were in any way connected, but he could see now where they would be.

"I'm sure that it happened when Neville hit me with whatever he hit me with, last night in the common room. I was sitting there minding my own business, talking Quidditch with Ron when something hit me in the back and knocked me into the table. I later found out that Neville had cast a spell without knowing it and it was supposed to make me loyal to him." Kayden raised his brows in shock at this. "I was supposed to feel like everything I did was wrong and evil if I didn't do it for Neville. But that's not what happened. This aura thing did instead and I don't know what to make of it."

"Have you talked to Ron and Hermione yet?"

"I haven't had time. I can't even go into the Great Hall without getting a massive headache that doesn't stop until I leave. That's what I was doing when I bumped into your class."

The yellow was still around the boy but it seemed to sit on top of another color, not unlike a cake, with one layer on top of the other. The evil red for worry was back, with a vengeance this time. To Harry, it looked like the boy would never stop worrying now, the color was so intense. Not bright like some of the ones that he had seen in the Great Hall, but still intense. It slammed into him, making his own worry that much stronger. He shook his head to try and clear it, but it didn't help.

They quickly hushed as Madam Pince came bustling up to them. "You two have missed lunch and unless you have a signed note saying that you can be here during class I am going to have to kick you out. Notes?"

"UmmÂ…." Harry said. "We were just leaving."

Gathering their books under her hawk-like gaze, they left the library. Glancing around outside the door and seeing no one they kissed quickly and left to get their Divinations work and books.

They met again at the ladder to the classroom. They stayed apart, with their own houses. Slytherin was there as well. So many of the Slytherins and Gryffindors had dropped the class at the end of the last year that Professor Trelawney suggested to Dumbledore that they add the Ravenclaws to the roster and double either Slytherin's or Gryffindor's class so that they would share a class with the Hufflepuffs as well. Dumbledore gladly agreed.

Harry and Ron came back to Hogwarts to double Divinations, the first with a mixture of Slytherins and Ravenclaws and the second with Hufflepuffs. They had groaned at the thought but the Ravenclaws proved to be a bigger distraction to Professor Trelawney then either the Slytherins and Gryffindors together. They had questions and were not easily impressed. More importantly, they made this known. The second Divinations with the Hufflepuffs was worse on her. She could not go off into ghostly explanations with those Hufflepuffs. The only problem was they always got more homework because the Hufflepuffs loved it, and Trelawney was all too happy to oblige them.

Kayden looked at Harry from where he was standing with the rest of the Ravenclaws. The boy was smiling with Ron and Dean, but Kayden could see the dark circles under his eyes. He had probably just dismissed them with his friends, but Kayden knew they were from all of the stress he was under with the whole emotions thing. Kayden did not want to know what Trelawney would do with her "predictions" if she knew about this latest development. He sighed as the silvery ladder fell from the hole in the ceiling. It was time to deal with his least favorite classÂ…which was unfortunately also his best class.

Harry headed up the ladder behind Dean. He had some misgivings about the class ahead, but he didn't think there would be any problems with Trelawney and her silly predictions. He was worried about his homework. Trelawney had all but said that she would choose one of them to read their charts to the class. Another small benefit to having the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs both as classmates was that she had stopped calling on him all the time. But if she chose him this timeÂ…

As usual all the windows were closed, and the classroom was stuffy and hot, with its omnipresent faint red tint. Harry sighed as he took his seat between Dean and Ron. They were the only Gryffindors in the class, now that Hermione and the other two girls had dropped it. There were four each of the Slytherins and Ravenclaws. Harry had been surprised to learn that Draco had kept the class and even more surprised to find that Kayden was taking it as well. He was glad, as it meant he got to see him more than once a day, but all the same it was a shock.

Harry looked over to where Kayden was sitting as Trelawney made her standard grand entrance. Kayden was studying him, worry upon worry surrounding him. Harry smiled at him to reassure him that he was fine, then turned his attention to Trelawney. The soft white around her was dim but radiant. So, she is human after all, he thought.

"I trust that all of you have done your homework," she said dreamily. "As you know, you were to all to do a Love Charting, choosing the one person with whom you thought you could spend the rest of your life. Plotting one's love life from the stars is not easy. The stars do not always like to allow that information to be taken from them, and they guard it well. Now, let's see."

She paused, and she glanced around the room. Her eyes landed on Harry for a moment and then passed. Harry sighed with relief, as this usually meant that she wouldn't choose you. Her eyes moved to Draco, and as she passed him momentarily his face settled into a similar look of relief. Then her eyes returned to him.

"Mister Malfoy," her airy voice broke the silence. "Why don't you tell us who you chose and what you found?"

Harry saw the fear flit across Malfoy's face. He also saw the gray that had surrounded the boy suddenly snap to a deep black. Harry had never seen a black like it. Unlike the other colors, which gave off light, this seemed to draw in all the light around it, as though no color had ever seen the inside of it. The thought made Harry cold.

"IÂ… I d-don't have it, Professor," Draco stuttered. "IÂ… I left it back in the dorm, by accident. I w- I will get it to you after dinner, if that's all right?"

Harry's and Ron's brows shot into the air simultaneously. They shared a glance that spoke volumes. Malfoy stuttering?!?

"...afraid that it will count against your grade, Mister Malfoy," Trelawney was saying quietly as she shook her head. "I will be expecting it no later than the end of dinner, though, and if I don't have it by then, I'll have to give you a detention."

"You'll have it, Professor," Malfoy assured her.

If Harry didn't know better, he would have said that there was sweat on Malfoy's brow from more than just the heat of the room. He marked black as Malfoy's fear color in his mind and let it go. It had to be fear. His whole posture screamed it. The blonde slumped back in his chair as Trelawney's eyes started their rounds again. This was definitely not the Malfoy they all knew. Harry really didn't care, and he let it go. He turned his mind back to Trelawney and his prayers that she wouldn't choose him.

"Mister Hanne, how about you? Do you have your assignment?" Trelawney said suddenly, causing the majority of the class, who were still looking at Malfoy as though he was from outer space, to jump.

Kayden's eyes darted to Harry's. The top level of the dual reds of worry around him disappeared as the bottom grew to a red brighter than the lamps in the room. The blue appeared above the red, only slightly less bright. A gold, which at any other moment would have made Harry smile, held the top of the three-color tower. This one had stumped Harry for a while, but he finally realized that it was around Kayden every time his boyfriend looked at him and realized that it was love, pure and simple.

"I do, Professor," Kayden said. He did not stutter but Harry heard the almost imperceptible shake to it.

"Then please tell us who you chose and what your findings were."

Kayden rose. It was not a hurried motion, but he was on his feet faster than he wanted. He had hoped that time would suddenly accelerate so that class would be over by the time he got to his feet. He stood there, his homework in hand, with the whole class looking at him expectantly, and sighed.

"I chose," he started, pausing to look at Harry apologetically. "I chose Harry Potter."

Sharp intakes of breath could be heard around the room. Harry suddenly felt every pair of eyes turn to look at him. He knew what they were thinking, and didn't want to think about it. If he tried to hide that he and Kayden were together then he would fail and everyone would know.

"You two?" Ron whispered, leaning close to him. "Did you know that he did his on you?"

Harry shook his head. It was the truth. Harry had thought that he would but Kayden had never told him that he, Harry, was his homework.

"What do you think?" Dean whispered from his other side.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders and turned back to Kayden. His boyfriend looked like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole. Harry gave him an encouraging smile and nodded to him.

"Well, get on with it, boy," Trelawney said snappishly.

"I-I started with the Numerology Comparison," Kayden said a little sheepishly.

Harry noticed that the colors around him had shifted. The gold had migrated to the bottom of the tower and was almost bright enough for him to have to squint against. The red of worry and the blue of fear were still there, but had moved to the top of the tower and gotten very dim. Teal, Kayden's color for happiness, had snuck its way above the gold.

"Harry's Lifepath is an eleven while mine is a five. This would suggest that Harry is a stronger person than I in terms of thinking things through and what it means to do the right thing. I, having the five, would hold pessimism at bay and look to the brighter side of life at all times, or as much as I can. Harry's ruling planet, the Sun, at the First House positionÂ…"

Unlike everyone else, Harry listened with less-than-rapt interest. He wanted to know if Kayden had gotten the same reading. He was waiting for the summary; Harry was sure that the actual info was just for Trelawney's benefit. She was smiling to herself and nodding, her eyes fixed on Kayden along with everyone else's.

But the look on Malfoy's face wasn't one of interest. Harry looked at him and furled his brow in thought, squinting against the sudden brightness surrounding him. What could this blinding white mean? Harry really didn't care, but he did care about the murderous look that Malfoy was giving Kayden. He would have to pay him more attention.

"In conclusion," Kayden's voice came to him, bringing him out of his thoughts about Malfoy, "a relationship between Harry Potter and I would seem, in the beginning, not to be a good idea. But if we were to start a relationship and weather the initial troubles, we would most likely share a long and happy life together."

Harry sighed. That is almost exactly what he had gotten when he had done his own.

"That was very good, Mister Hanne," Professor Trelawney said when he had sat back down. "Is this a relationship that you would like to pursue?"

"IÂ… ummÂ… I really have not given it much thought, Professor," Kayden said. "I chose Harry because he seemed to have a lot of qualities that I am looking for in a person-"

"Like the quality between his legs," Draco muttered, acid dripping from his tongue.

"That will be enough, Mister Malfoy," Trelawney snapped, rounding on him. "I will not tolerate that in this class. You will serve a detention now, and you will get another if you do not get that assignment to me before dinner."

Malfoy muttered something that Harry couldn't hear. Trelawney either didn't hear or decided to ignore him, turning to Harry instead.

"If Mister Hanne decided that he wanted to pursue a relationship with you, Mister Potter, do you think that you would be interested?"

Harry had been expected something like this from the moment that Kayden had mentioned his name. Trelawney hadn't said one word to him, which was odd. He looked at her. He knew what he wanted to say, but he had told Kayden that he wouldn't tell anyone that they were together until he was ready, and he wouldn't break that word now. He fell back on what he had planned to say if the question had arisen.

"I have never thought of boys like that. I don't think I'm averse to the idea, but I would have to think about it for a while first. I mean, I don't think that there is anything wrong with being with another guy. I have friends that are boys who are dating. I've just never thought of doing it myself."

"I would suggest that you do," Trelawney said, taking on the voice that she always used when predicting his death. "I see a lot in store for you two together."

Everyone was looking at him again, and he realized that there was no way that he and Kayden would be able to see each other outside of the classroom before the Hufflepuffs appeared. The bells tolled right then, signaling the end of class, and the Ravenclaws and Slytherins began to get their things together. Malfoy walked by Harry, Ron, and Dean on his way out.

"What? Aren't you going to follow your boyfriend out and kiss him good-bye?" Malfoy sneered at Harry.

"Bugger off, Malfoy," Dean said, standing.

"Yeah, get lost," Ron stood as well. "At least he doesn't have to pay anyone to look at him. What are you paying Zambini, anyway?"

"At least I have the money to pay someone, Weasley," Draco retorted. "You couldn't afford a two knut hooker."

"I said get lost, Malfoy," Dean repeated a little more forcefully.

Trelawney swung up to them then, glaring at Malfoy even more than she had while giving him detention.

"I think that you had better get to your next class, Mister Malfoy, as I will personally see to it that you get another detention if you are late."

Malfoy glared at Dean and Ron, and batted his eyes at Harry as he walked away.

"I'll tell Hanne that you want to meet him tonight in Gryffindor Tower," he threw over his shoulder at Harry.

Harry wasn't listening. He had been watching Malfoy's aura. It was interesting how it could switch so quickly from the fuchsia that was around him whenever he looked at Ron or Dean to a green when he looked at Harry. Harry wanted to know what those colors meant. He had a feeling that he would need to know soon. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, as the saying went.

The second Divinations flew. Trelawney had chosen a Hufflepuff girl, who had chosen Ron for her charts. Harry was amused by how his best friend's ears burned as he blushed, his face turning as red as his hair. When the bells tolled for dinner, Trelawney still hadn't given any homework, and Dean, Ron, and Harry dashed for the trapdoor before the Hufflepuffs could get Trelawney to give them more than they would have gotten from both of the Divination classes combined.

Harry avoided the Great Hall for dinner as well, making excuses to both Ron and Dean and heading for the common room. Meals were one of the times where people would talk about things passionately, making their auras blinding. The common room was empty, since all of the other Gryffindors were at dinner. Harry had just sat down in a big chair in front of the fire when he heard a scratching sound coming from the hearth. It had confused him like all the others Gryffindors the first night that it had happened, but he knew what it was now and stood back up. Walking over to the hearth, Harry touched his wand to the stone on the inside. He held it there long enough for Kayden to dash through and then pulled it back quickly. The wall slid back into place and the opening vanished as Harry and Kayden met at the fire. Pulling him close, Harry reached up and brushed a lock of the raven black hair out of Kayden's face.

"I thought you might be at dinner," Kayden said as Harry let his hand fall back to Kayden's waist. "I have been thinking about cutting it. Do you think I should?"

"Gods, why!?" Harry looked at him shocked. A deep purple that Harry could only think of as "plum" was suddenly layered on top of the gold already there, showing Kayden's amusement at his reaction.

"I was just thinking I might," Kayden said, a smile slowly spreading across his face. "But now I think I won't."

"Good," Harry said, tilting his head to the side and pulling his boyfriend's black locks through his fingers. "I like it."

Kayden blushed and the smile became wider for a moment before it disappeared. "You're not upset, are you?"

"About what? You thinking about cutting your hair?"

"No, about Divinations."

"Why would I be?" Harry whispered. "You almost made me happier than you ever have. I was thinking you were going to tell Trelawney that we were already together." Harry looked into Kayden's eyes, almost the exact same green as his own. "You're the one who wants to keep us a secret, not me."

"I know, Harry. I just don't think I am ready to deal with everyone yet."

"You wouldn't be doing it alone."

"I know. I just wish I could convince myself that it's a good idea."

"Don't worry about it," Harry whispered lovingly as he saw the tortured look on his face, and orange replaced the plum. "We will tell when you're ready, and not a moment before."

"By the Gods, Harry!" Kayden whispered fiercely. "Gods, how I love you!"

"As I love you, Kayden my love."

Harry leaned up and kissed him. The moment was one that he would've liked to stretch out forever, but it was soon over.

"I need to get back," Kayden said, breaking the kiss and looking over his shoulder at where the secret passage was. "Bridgette likes to come back from meals early so we can talk about things. If I'm not there when she gets there, she'll freak. I don't relish the idea of having to tell her where I was and how I got there."

"I was about to say the same," Harry said as he reluctantly released Kayden and pulled out his wand. "It's Ron or Hermione here, though. They know something is up and will be by soon to see if I'm okay. That's how it is with them."

Harry kissed Kayden again, then touched his wand to the stone. He pulled back as soon as Kayden was through. The portal hole started to open just as the wall was sealing shut, and he turned towards it, being glad that there wasn't a trace of the opening to the passage.

Ron and Hermione climbed through the portal, Ron carrying something.

"I thought I'd bring you something to eat," he said as Harry walked over and took the proffered plate. "You didn't eat lunch either, and I thought you would be hungry."

Harry thanked him and took the plate to the table that they had pulled into the corner the night before, but didn't remove the foil keeping the food warm. He was starving, but he didn't want Ron and Hermione asking questions.

"I have to go to my room and get my books," Hermione said, ending the silence. "I have a Muggle Studies paper due tomorrow and I haven't started yet."

Harry and Ron looked at her like she was something from another planet. Hermione always had her homework done well before it was due. That assignment and the next three as well, if she knew what they were.

"I've been doing other things, OK?" Hermione snapped at them. "I don't think it's any of your business if I don't have my work done."

Harry and Ron shared a look as she stormed off to the girls' dorms, then shook their heads and sat. Harry was just getting settled and thinking that he could eat when the portal hole flew open and the rest of the Gryffindors flooded in and surrounded him and Ron. They stood there for a second, silent, as Harry and Ron both stood slowly, looking at them like a pack of wolves ready to pounce.

"Is it true, Harry?" Seamus asked from the back.

Harry looked at them and then to Ron. Ron shrugged, knowing what they were talking about no more than he did. The colors around the other Gryffindors seemed to blend together, so many of them standing in a small cluster in the corner. Harry could see that most of it was dim, here and there a brighter one or two, but nothing that he couldn't handle.

"Is what true?" Harry asked.

The common room exploded as the Gryffindors all started talking at once. Harry looked from one to another as Ron got pushed further and further from him as they crowded closer to him. Harry couldn't hear what they were all saying but he heard some of the more vocal statements.

"Kelly St. James of Ravenclaw told me that Kayden likes you."

"Tom Knull told me that Jessie said that Kayden did his homework on you, Harry. What did it say?"

"Would you date him if he asked, Harry?"

Harry's head spun as all the questions and colors were thrown at him. Through it all he could hear whispers at the fringes of the group, things like, "I didn't think that he was into boys" and "Is he seeing anyone?"

"Yes, yes," George and Fred's voices came to him in unison, "tell us. Are you seeing anyone right now, Harry?"

The entire group hushed suddenly, looking at him as though he held the answer to Life in his mind and he was about to tell them what it was.

"IÂ…I am," Harry said, looking at them worriedly.

Ron had managed his way back to him, as had Hermione. They now stood on either side of him as they had so many times before. They usually stood with him, except for in the beginning, when Hermione had started a one-girl mutiny over stunts he and Ron had pulled. This time it was Ron who confronted him, rounding on Harry almost before he had finished speaking.

"Who?" Ron demanded. "And when?"

"Ron!" Hermione stared at him. "You have no right toÂ…"

"But how could he be?" Ron asked, cutting her off. "I mean he is with us, like, all the time."

"Come on Harry," Colt Watkins, a third year, asked from the back. "Tell us who it is."

"I can't," Harry said, feeling ashamed. "I promised I would not tell."

"Tell us. Tell us. Tell us," the chorus of Gryffindors sang.

Harry tried, but they would not leave him alone. They were excited, not upset, and curious as to who had managed to grab the famous Harry Potter's hand. Many girls had tried over the past two years, and all of them had failed. Harry was soon reduced to just shaking his head, his voice no longer heard over the names thrown out as guesses.

"BACK OFF!" Hermione suddenly shouted.

The silence was deafening, and the group took a collective step back. Even Harry was surprised at the almost blinding pink that surrounded her. He didn't think he had ever seen her this angry before.

"There is not a single one of you who doesn't know Harry," she continued in a quieter tone. "Who here would not trust Harry to keep a secret?" She looked around as no one said anything. "Then how could you ask him to violate that trust with someone else? He told you that he told this person that he wouldn't say anything until they were ready. Where do you get off asking him to renege on that now?" Again she was met with silence from most of the room.

"Gosh, Hermione," Fred said from the middle. "We're sorry. We're sorry, Harry. We'll leave you alone now. We didn't mean anything by it, honest."

Hermione gave them all a curt nod as she pulled Harry away. Ron followed meekly. He knew that he deserved Hermione's rant as much as the others. Harry sat down and pulled his plate to him as the other Gryffindors flitted up to their rooms for their books, quills and paper and then back to the common room to do homework. Harry ate slowly as he thought about Kayden in the Ravenclaw common room. Kayden had most likely received the same thing that he had just gone through, and he hoped that his boyfriend hadn't ended up saying something he didn't want to.

"You're coming to practice, right, Harry?" Seamus said suddenly from beside him, Quidditch robes in his hands.

"Damn!" Harry mumbled, almost swallowing a bite of chicken whole. Chewing quickly he swallowed. "Go ahead. I'll be down as soon as I get my robes."

"Sure thing," Seamus smiled. "I'm glad. Some of the others thought you wouldn't come becauseÂ… well, because ofÂ…"

"It's OK. I'll be there, just go ahead. I have to clean up a bit first. I'll be there soon."

Seamus nodded and followed the others out of the portal hole. Harry looked to Ron askance. Ron shot a look at Hermione who only raised her eye brows.

"I can't tonight, Harry," he whispered as he leaned towards him. "If I don't do this tonight I won't have to worry about SnapeÂ… Hermione will take points from me and give me detention."

Harry nodded, ran up to his room, grabbed his game robes and dashed out the portal hole. He ran down the halls trying to make it to the pitch before the others started thinking that he wouldn't show. They already thought he was upset with them. He had a right to be, he knew, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew that they were only curious, and he of all people knew what a Gryffindor could be like when excited. He was one, after all.

He rounded a corner and skidded to a halt. At the far end of it he saw Kayden, surrounded in blue, and Malfoy, haloed in a evil yellow topped with a lighter blue than Kayden's. How did they meet in the halls? He didn't think their common rooms were anywhere near each other. The thought was quickly pushed out of Harry's mind as he saw Malfoy slam Kayden against the wall.

"Â…just stay away from what I've claimed as mine, Hanne, if you know what's good for you," Harry heard as he rushed up to them. The heated acid in Malfoy's voice made Harry's hackles raise.

"Leave off, Malfoy," Harry snapped, pulling him off Kayden. "What the hell is the matter with you? Decided to start picking on others because you can't best me?"

"Stay out of this, Potter," Malfoy spat back, both colors surrounding him dissolving into a green when he looked at Harry. "This has nothing to do with you."

"I don't think so, Malfoy," Harry growled, his anger rising. Malfoy did *not* just touch my boyfriend! "What are you doing so close to the field at this time? You know that Gryffindors have the pitch. You are not trying to spy again, are you? I would hate to have to tell Madam Hooch and see you expelled from the team," his tone saying that he would like nothing more.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Like hell I wouldn't. Try me, Malfoy."

Malfoy's wand was in his hand before Harry knew it. Harry didn't worry, though, as he saw Kayden's appear as well, over Malfoy's shoulder.

"What now, Malfoy? Have you taken to attacking unarmed people? My wand's in the Tower."

Malfoy didn't say anything, instead just looking at Harry for a moment or two before turning and stalking away.

"I hope that you two lovebirds rot in hell together," he snapped as he threw a look over his shoulder.

Harry noticed that Malfoy's aura switched back to the light blue on top of yellow when he looked at Kayden and then once again back to green when he looked at him.

"Just stay out of my way, Hanne, or else!"

He turned a corner and was gone. Harry turned to Kayden but the boy put his hand up. Pointing his wand at the corner around which Malfoy had just vanished, he whispered something and the tip of his wand began to glow red. Slowly, it melted to a purple and then to a bright blue. Kayden whispered something again and the wand-light died.

"I just wanted to make sure that he was gone."

"What was all that about?" Harry asked, moving to take Kayden in his arms.

"I don't know," Kayden said, shaking his head. "I was walking back to the dorm when he popped up out of nowhere and started telling me that I was encroaching on what was his and that I needed to back off or else."

"Don't worry about him, I'll take care of it," Harry said, stroking Kayden's hair. Just as soon as I figure out what the hell his blue, green, and yellow is.

"Have you given any thought to your problem?" Kayden asked when they broke the kiss.

"No, and I can't think of anything that'll help. I guess that I'll talk to Hermione. She'll know what to do," Harry said, biting his lower lip as Kayden bowed his head in thought.

"What about Longbottom? Neville, is it?" Kayden asked, his head snapping up. "Didn't you say that he was reading something when he cast the spell on you? Maybe he just got what he was reading wrong when he told Herm what it was."

"You might be right. I'll ask him for it. I have to get to the pitch. Will I see you tomorrow morning?"

"No," Kayden shook his head sadly. "I have to be at breakfast with Bridgette and then it's off to the library. I have this paper due for my Ancient Runes class. The professor is hard on us."

"Then send me a note by Hedwig. I will be waiting with baited breath."

Kayden leaned in close and kissed him and then headed off in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. Harry turned and headed out to the pitch, a spring in his step.