The Spirit of Death

Before anyone knew where the time had gone, it was the last night that Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione would have the entire of Gryffindor Tower to themselves. They had made a routine out of taking a wing of the tower per couple, with Harry and Draco taking the boys' staircase and Ron and Hermione retaining the girls'.

Even while Draco was fondling Harry's hair, and nudging him gently, neither of them were feeling particularly passionate, with the weight of what was to come weighing heavily on the pair of them. Harry was almost at the point of feeling physically sick whenever he though about what he was going to have to do. He felt as though he'd take a rematch with Fluffy, Hagrid's enormous three-headed dog, over having to tell the world that he was going out with Draco.

However secure Harry and Draco had felt in each others' arms over the past weeks, both of them were feeling the pressure now. Neither of them had eaten much the entire day. They lay on their backs beside each other, breathing in unison.

"It'll be OK, you know," Draco sighed. Harry shifted slightly on the bed.

"I hope so."

"I don't expect it to go down well - the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch heroes and both gay and they're going out with each other. And everyone in Gryffindor hates me. I suppose all the Slytherins will too, this time tomorrow," he continued. "Some loss," he mused, smiling slightly.

Harry leaned onto his side, so that his body was touching Draco's, taking comfort in his warmth. Draco slid his arm around Harry. Draco didn't use words to tell Harry any more.

Whatever happens, I'll still love you, he promised. Harry pushed one arm under Draco, and wrapped the other over his stomach, clasping his hands together on the far side of his boyfriend, and squeezed his reciprocation. Finally, all forms of conversation ceased, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

All four occupants of Gryffindor Tower awoke early the following day. Draco woke first, and after spending about half an hour watching Harry sleep, allowing him to continue while he showered. Draco was just smoothing a few stray creases out of his robes when Harry suddenly awoke, sitting up fast. Across the room, Draco started, and creased his robes again.

"Good morning," he said in mock reprove, brushing the crease away again. He crossed the room, robes in his wake, and kissed Harry good morning.

"Ugh - morning mouth," he said, with absent-minded resentment, as they broke apart. He grinned at Harry, who tried to smile back, but failed. Draco read his mind.

"We have to do this, Harry," he said, picking Harry's hand up off the bed and holding it between both of his own. "I mean, even if we got away with it all day, everyone would find out when they saw me sleeping in the extra bed anyway. It's best if we go and tell everyone, instead of going 'oh, yeah' when they see us together anyway."

Harry knew he was right, and Draco pretended to smirk, as he again read Harry's mind.

"You don't have to act all calm for me," said Harry, sensing Draco's own unease, "I know you're nervous too."

"Yeah, well, I'm slightly more likely to be murdered than you are," Draco responded, glibly, "I'll be viciously outnumbered if everyone decides to rid the Tower of a Slytherin."

"We'll be viciously outnumbered," Harry corrected him, squeezing Draco's hands back. Draco managed a smile.

When they went down the spiral staircase to the Gryffindor common room, they found Ron sitting in an armchair by the fire, looking as if he was about to fall back to sleep, and Hermione pacing very fast around the room.

"There you are," she said when she saw them, shepherding them into a sofa, and resuming her pacing to and fro in front of it. "have you thought about what you're going to do?"

"Tell everyone," said Harry, simply. Hermione stared at him.

"You're going to stand at the top of the marble stairs and let everyone see you?"

"No, don't be silly. We're going to let everyone in Gryffindor know, and then the rest of the school will find out on its own," said Harry, saying the first thing that came into his head. He hadn't considered that actual logistics of telling everyone he was gay, just that he was going to have to, and that he was going to have to today.

"Yeah - they'll all find out from Cho Chang, who will be at the top of the marble staircase," said Draco, facetiously, "she always 'has to be first' with gossip." Hermione frowned, and led them all down to breakfast.

Breakfast was the usual fare it had been ever since Cho had found Harry and Draco in the Room of Requirement. Ever after that event, Draco had taken to sitting at the Gryffindor table with Harry, Ron and Hermione. This had made little difference, as he was the only Slytherin left anyway, and the remaining Ravenclaws had shared the Hufflepuff table. As usual, all conversation died when the Gryffindors entered. On the Hufflepuff table, everyone was seated to face the Gryffindor table.

Hermione led, as usual, everyone to sit with their backs to everyone else, though this didn't stop the whispering and tittering from behind. She still can't get enough of you, Harry, thought Draco as Cho Chang giggled loudly. Harry smiled.

When the rest of the school arrived back at Hogwarts on the train, Harry and Draco were sitting together by the lake. Ron and Hermione were inside, because Ron said it was 'cold' and Hermione couldn't stand Harry and Draco looking calm.

Harry didn't think that they looked particularly calm; certainly neither of them felt it. Hermione, however, seemed to think that they didn't look disconcerted enough.

The part of the shore that the boys had chosen, which they had selected because it was closest to the front door of the castle, as opposed to any requirements in terms of seclusion, was viewable in its entirety from the route the horseless carriages took from Hogsmeade station to the main entrance to Hogwarts Castle. The two boys sat there, holding each others' hands and talking animatedly about nothing in particular, completely unaware of the school processing past behind them.

In truth, not many people spotted the two boys sitting by the lake together, they were still wrapped up in each others' holiday stories. Everyone from the carriages went directly into the Welcoming Feast laid on in the Great Hall. Harry and Draco, however, along with Ron and Hermione, who had all eaten well at lunchtime, returned to Gryffindor's common room to savour the final hour or so of privacy, before it was back to business as usual. The two couples were sat opposite each other, in sofas either side of a low table, in the corner of the room. The fire they had built that morning was, due to their nerves when they had conjured it, still far too hot to sit near to. The sofas were arranged, by pure chance, so that they both faced towards the portrait hold entrance to the room. When the first few people started trickling back to the common room after the feast had evidently let out, Harry braced himself for the worse.

A huge crowd of Gryffindors arrived all at once, about half a minute after those who could remember the password had opened the portrait hole. They were all talking loudly and were laughing and joking. They fanned out across the room, finding chairs and sofas and starting to settle in large groups. Just as Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione's conversation died at the sight of the rest of the House returning, so did the noise that those other members were making. There was a loud shout.

"The fuck is he doing in here?" The entire common room fell silent, as everyone looked around to see who 'he' was. It didn't take long. Draco's normally pale cheeks, which had been reddening more and more in apprehension, were suddenly chalk white, paler than usual; he looked like he was suddenly very ill. The crowd, whilst continuing not to talk, crossed the room and formed a semi-circle against the wall - an enclosure around the pair of sofas on which the Harry, Draco, Ron and Hermione were sitting. Hermione fidgeted uncomfortably and looked at the floor. Ron, like everyone else in the room, was looking between Harry and Draco.

The crowd of Gryffindors, all of whom look angry to various degrees, remained still silent. They were evidently waiting for an answer to the anonymous question. Harry nervously cleared his throat. Every pair of eyes in the room suddenly switched to focus on him.

"He is here because he is now in Gryffindor," said Harry, not meeting the eyes of anyone in the crowd. It sounded like a lame thing to say, even though it was entirely true. He had never imagined that this would be this hard to do. Still, his nerves were understandable, with a hundred pairs of eyes fixed on his face. His face burned. He could tell what the next question was going to be. Finally it came - another anonymous voice in the crowd.

"Why the hell is he in our House?"

Before he could answer, another voice sounded - it was Dean Thomas, who was standing right at the front and, Harry noticed, looked like he had just stepped on a Bubotuber.

"Fucking hell!! Malfoy's holding Potter's hand!!"

There was an explosion of noise. Harry looked down at the sofa and saw his hand in Draco's. He looked up at Draco, who started to withdraw his hand from Harry's. Harry took hold of it, though, and shook his head slightly to Draco. Draco looked like he would have liked to have smiled back at Harry, but he couldn't do it, so nervous was he.

The noise abruptly stopped, and everyone was staring at Harry and Draco with expressions much like Dean's on their faces. Harry looked through the crowd and saw nothing but the same thing. He did not dare look at Ron and Hermione. He stood abruptly, and pulled Draco to his feet also.

To the sound of catcalls and wolf whistles, Harry pushed through the barging crowd towards the spiral staircase to the boys' dormitories, leading Draco. They were jostled by some members of the crowd, while others backed away. Draco got both worse than Harry did.

Harry was heartened, but only slightly, to see some slightly less aggressive expressions nearer the back of the group. Neville was standing near the base of the stairs, looking almost as worried and confused as Harry felt. He looked at Neville as he passed, though Neville nervously dropped his gaze. Harry understood, he would have wished anyone else to be on his side of the crowd. Neville moved as if to follow the two boys up the stairs, but obviously thought better of it, and lurched slightly before stopping again. Harry felt his ears burn as he and Draco mounted the stairs and collapsed onto Harry's bed, still holding hands. They both sighed heavily, and stared at different points on the opposite wall. They did not kiss goodnight before they retired to their beds, but there was a lot of thinking going on about what had just happened, and about having to face tomorrow, knowing it was going to be worse than today was, and knowing that today had been worse than either of them had thought it could be.

Back down in the common room, the crowd dispersed angrily, and small conversations broke out about the pair who were now asleep in the boys' dormitory.

"As long as their in different beds and that Slytherin isn't in mine," Dean was heard to observe loudly. Hermione looked seriously at Ron as his lip twitched in reaction to they neither of them had left their chairs, but Ron had been looking rather uncomfortable ever since Dean had first spoken up.