Disclaimer: Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.

THE PROPOSAL

"Potter, I need to hire you."

Harry looked up from his book and scowled at Malfoy. They had unfortunately both been roomed together at Auror academy and Malfoy nearly never spoke to him unless it was training related and whenever Harry tried to talk to Malfoy-be his friend-Malfoy always shut him down.

"Hire me? For what?"

"To be my pretend boyfriend."

Harry's eyes widened at that. What was Malfoy on? Didn't he have a boyfriend?

"In case you are wondering, Sebastian and I are off. He's managed to make a fool out of me as I realised the other day that he was shagging half his mates from tactical training. The gay ones, anyway. He told everyone that we weren't exclusive, which was a lie, of course. And when I found out, he insulted me."

"So why do you need me?" Harry asked; he couldn't help but think that Sebastian was a fool. He'd seen those guys in tactical training. They weren't half as good looking as Malfoy. Malfoy with his slender body, his style of dressing - making the robes hug every curve of him - no, Harry needed to stop right there.

Malfoy's cheeks reddened and Harry didn't know if he was angry or embarrassed

"There's the holiday party in a few weeks where all the training teams assemble. I don't want to go alone. I don't want to show up with a random date, either. I really want to make Sebastian squirm. Since you are the most famous person in training - not to mention the wizarding world. I want it to be you."

Snow fell outside his window and the chill that seeped in the room through the frosted window pane making Harry shudder, or maybe it was Malfoy's proposal. It was one thing to pine over Malfoy when he was with someone else. But now? Malfoy wanted him to pretend to be his boyfriend? Hold his hand in public? Fake that it was a holiday romance.

This might have been the biggest challenge Harry could face yet.

"Are you sure you want it to be me though?"

"Sebastian was always a bit jealous of you. He always acted so insecure and now if we pretend to be together - it'll really stick to him."

TBC. THANKS.