Unsure how to answer properly, Harry pulled Draco back into a hug. "I think so," he said, but the truth was his mind was reeling with so many conflicting thoughts.

Draco stroked his hair tenderly. "Tell me what's on your mind?" he asked.

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, unsure why tears were now threatening to fall. At least they were already wet, so he hoped they wouldn't necessarily be obvious. "We're not..." he started, trying to find the right words. "We shouldn't...I mean, that seems like something maybe, um, boys don't do together?"

He risked moving a fraction so he could see Draco's face again, and it was filled with nothing but compassion. "Why not?" he enquired gently, still stroking the back of Harry's head.

"Isn't it, I mean the kissing and everything..." He cleared his throat, feeling heat rise into his cheeks. "Isn't it homosexual?"

Draco bit his lip. "I guess so," he agreed.

"And that's illegal," Harry carried on. "It's perverted and wrong."

His voice caught on the last word, and he tried his best to hold back the tears, but he had a feeling he was losing. "Did it feel wrong?" Draco asked, and he was almost relieved to hear his voice quivering.

Harry quickly shook his head, because he wasn't going to lie, not to Draco, not about this. "It was quite possibly one of the best moments of my life," he blurted out in a rush, and he was immensely relieved to see Draco's face blossom into a look of pure delight.

"Mine too," he said, reaching up, and placing a chaste kiss on Harry's lips. "So I argue it wasn't wrong, laws be damned."

Harry studied him for a moment. "That's not what you said before?" he challenged, referencing their brief kiss by the blackberry bush two years ago even though he didn't really want to. Draco didn't stop stroking his hair though.

"I had a lot of time to think about that," he said, his silver eyes wide and earnest. "I knew what I'd been told, but I also knew how I felt. It was nice, Harry," he said, sorrow creeping onto his features. "But I was scared, and you were angry, and I didn't know what to think."

"Me neither," Harry admitted. The water around them had been well churned by their activities, and there were muddy streaks of water running through Draco's blond hair as Harry mimicked his actions and ran his wet hand through it. He stirred his courage, unwilling to be dishonest with Draco, even if it meant risking changing their friendship forever. "But I think I know what I want now," he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"And what's that?" Draco whispered.

"You," Harry whispered back, forcing the words from his throat. "Like this...this close, togetherness. The way our bodies exploded like Chinese fireworks, I want that. You make me so happy Draco, when we talk and do things together. I want to share everything with you."

Draco smiled, and Harry was mildly alarmed to see a pearly tear slip down the side of his face. "For someone who claims to be bad with words," Draco chuckled, another tear escaping. "That was pretty good."

Harry smiled, and leaned down to place a sweet, simple kiss on his lips. "You make me better," he confessed. "At everything."

"You make me better too," Draco replied.

They kissed slowly and leisurely for some time, protected by the shelter of the willow tree, but eventually they could no longer ignore the coldness of the water seeping into their bones.

"Perhaps we should lie in the sunshine for a bit?" Harry suggested with a chuckle, and Draco nodded, a shy smile on his plump, reddened lips. Harry would have to learn to be a little gentler with him he reasoned as they swam back into the middle of the lake and washed away the mud that had clung to them.

The sun had shifted and the afternoon air was gloriously warm for early May. The two young men shook themselves off like dogs, still giddy from their revelation and the endorphins rushing around in their blood from the kissing (and everything else). Harry blushed to think what they had done, but he refused to be ashamed. He and Draco had wanted to do it, and it had felt amazing. A part of him was already wondering when they could do it again...

For now though, they flopped on their backs, the grass helping to dry them as they looked up at the clouds drifting through the sky, and talked about the future.

"Do you think the war is really ending?" Harry asked as he slipped his glasses back on and the world came back into focus. He was cautious of being optimistic after he'd raised his hopes two years ago, but he couldn't help but trust peace was really coming.

"I hope so," Draco murmured.

Harry didn't ask this time what he and Draco would do, what would happen if (or when) they moved back to London. He just knew it would be alright, however things turned out.