Quill-Pal

AU/Alternate Universe – Some characters are still alive and some 'official' story lines are not followed as canon. It's as if books five, six, and seven weren't even written yet. And someone pointed out that some of my story has some 'modern' things in it, so we'll just assume the time frame is recent and definitely not canon.

Warning: SLASH, Harry/Draco pairing. If Slash offends you, now is your chance to run away.

Typical– Yes, my explanation for Voldemort's death is pretty generic. Sorry kids!

Obligatory Disclaimer - J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. Duh. I am not making money off this fictional writing. This is completely for hobby and fun. This disclaimer goes for every chapter.

Summary - Seventh Year a program called Quill Pal starts in the hopes of students becoming friends with and dating outside of their own House. Voldemort is already defeated, won't go there. HPDM, Drarry, SLASH. If you like quick hookups, this isn't for you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:Chapter One: Year Seven Begins

The sun shining on Harry's face woke him up. He realized that he forgot to close the curtains around his canopy bed last night, so he turned to his side - putting his back to the window. Smiling, he remembered this was his first day back Hogwarts. He missed sleeping in this bed every time he was away for summer break. He was glad to be back and excited to see what this year would bring.

He was now in year seven. Last year he had defeated Voldemort. Professor Dumbledore helped him practice the wandless magic that he had always possessed; slowly Harry had become more and more powerful and yet, he was still as modest as when he first stepped onto the Hogwarts Express.

The War was finally over and now Harry could attempt to have his first peaceful year at Hogwarts. At least he hoped.

With Voldemort gone and almost all of the Death Eaters either killed or in Azkaban, everyone assumed Harry should be content and happy in every way. But with years built off negativity and non-stop thoughts of death, he just needed time to learn what it meant to be happy and carefree. Plus, the nightmares he continued having about the War didn't help too much with his healing.

Harry had now been lying in bed for a couple of hours thinking, when he heard his roommates waking up. The Saturday was just beginning. They knew they had to get to the Great Hall for breakfast in less than an hour. That is when the hall closed on weekends and they wouldn't have an opportunity to eat again until after noon.

Harry threw his covers off and sat on the side of his bed. Rubbing his eyes and trying to pretend he just woke up also. He did not want to start the year off with Ron worrying about him.

"Are you coming to shower, Harry?" Ron Weasley asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute." Harry said as he watched his roommates walk out of the shared dorm room with their clothes and wash supplies in their hands.

Harry got up and grabbed his cleaning supplies and stopped at his wardrobe. He opened the door and reached inside. Picked out a dark blue form-fitting shirt and a pair of snug black jeans. He was sure the school would be in shock. Yes, Harry had finally learned to dress decently. Over the summer, he had stumbled across some muggle clothing catalogs for young men. He had immediately apparated to the closest store and spent hours trying on all sorts of clothing. The sales associate, Brent, was overly flirty each time Harry had selected an outfit that looked sexy on him. So he knew exactly which ones to buy.

Then, he had owled Hermione and Ron and asked them to take him to some thrift shops to buy some unique items including a few thin jackets for fall. He even bought a few muggle shirts for Ron to deliver to his dad.

When the trio met up, Hermione taught Harry a spell she learned to correct his vision temporarily so he would no longer need to wear glasses. The spell only lasts a week at a time, but she taught him how to do the spell by himself.

-o-O-o-

As Harry walked into the communal shower he briefly stopped in the changing area to put his clean clothes and towel on a bench and then strip off his pajamas. Then he left the changing area with his cleaning supplies and walked back towards the showers. The shower area was a huge rectangle with about twenty showerheads on each side. There weren't any stalls and you could definitely get an eyeful even if you didn't try. The showers they were using were for fifth years and above.

Listening to the conversation going on between Ron and Dean, Harry started washing up. They were in an animated talk about Quidditch, of course. He tuned them out and started to think about the new school changes. This was the first year that Dumbledore had the students arrive on Friday night to the Welcoming Ceremony and Sorting Hat event, instead of Sunday night.

This way, the new students had the weekend to make friends and the other years had time to discuss their summer and hang out with their friends so they would be less distracted come time for class on Monday.

While washing his hair, Harry though about Brent - who was kind of his ex-boyfriend. Before Harry could leave the muggle clothing store during summer, Brent had asked him out on a date. Harry had accepted, mainly because he didn't want to hurt his feelings by turning him down.

For the first date they met up at a local coffee shop. Harry surprised himself by having a really good time. Brent was easy to talk to and very easy to look at. Like himself, Brent had very dark hair. But his was long and very straight. His hair covered most of his forehead and went past his jaw. He was fit from skateboarding and promised to give Harry lessons if he wanted.

After having tea and coffee they decided things were going well enough that they would go see some local bands play. Harry wasn't sure if he had ever had so much fun. Apparently his new clothing was a hit, because he had tons of guys and girls smiling at him. So many in fact, that Brent had possessively put his arm around Harry's waist a few minutes after they walked in the door at the venue.

Harry was shocked at what that made him feel. When he had originally accepted the date, he figured that they could turn out to be friends because he didn't quite think he was bisexual or gay. Not that he had anything against that, but he couldn't think of a time when he felt sexual towards another guy. But come to think of it, he never really felt overly sexual towards any girls either. Sure, he had a couple of crushes on girls in the past, but it had never gone past kissing.

Speaking of which… Harry again thought back to the night of his first date with another guy. After the show, Brent decided to escort Harry home on the bus. The whole way there, they held hands and when they finally ended up at the Dursley's house, Brent leaned over and kissed Harry full on the lips. It was short and sweet. It also proved to Harry that he was at least bisexual. Of course, as soon as he walked in the door – his Uncle was screaming at him for coming home at such an ungodly hour and with alcohol on his breath. But the reminder that Harry had just defeated on of the most powerful wizards in the world a few months back allowed him to casually walk up the stairs and go into his bedroom without further interrogation.

-o-O-o-

Harry turned off the water tap and walked to the changing area with the rest of the guys to retrieve his towel and dry off. As he started getting dressed, his mind drifted back to Brent.

In the beginning of their 'special' friendship, Harry explained to the other boy that when summer ended he would be going to Boarding School in a different country and that he didn't think it wise to start anything too serious. They both agreed to be friends, but they wouldn't stop any natural progression that happened. By the time summer ended, they were definitely close but both mutually decided to keep in touch as friends. Neither wanted to try for a long distance relationship.

Harry was brought back to the future when Ron slapped him on the back a few times.

"It's good to see you, mate!" Ron grinned, "I wish you would have come stayed at The Burrow with us this summer."

"I wanted to, but I really needed some time to myself after everything that happened last year." Harry said.

"Yeah, I understand. I am glad I got to spend at least one day with you. Even if it was at a few muggle used clothing stores!" Ron said.

"Oi, mate! You aren't wearing your glasses," Said someone behind Ron and Harry, "you look good."

Harry blushed. "Thanks Dean."

As everyone started leaving the bathroom, Harry didn't notice a couple of the guys looking at him in an appreciative matter.

-o-O-o-

Ron, Harry, and Hermione walked into the Great Hall. Harry was too absorbed in their conversation to hear any of the catcalls directed at him. He surely didn't notice a particular blond Slytherin raising a single eyebrow in his direction.

Sitting down, Harry piled his plate with pancakes and strawberries.

"I want to talk to you both about something. Let's hurry up and eat and go for a walk around the lake." Hermione suggested.

"And the year begins." Ron then winced when Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.

Ron leaned over to Harry and said, "I hope she isn't going to start in about our class schedules and homework. This weekend is supposed to be free from of all of that."

"I know!" Harry whispered, with a huge grin on his face.

-o-O-o-

The three friends had been walking around the lake chatting for about ten minutes when Hermione stopped at a big tree and sat in its shade. Both boys followed and sat down beside her, leaning against the tree.

"I just wanted to tell you about a plan I came up with this summer." Hermione started while fidgeting with her skirt hem. "I am planning on going to Professor McGonagall and suggesting to start a Pen pal-type system."

"Why would you do something like that?" Ron asked while looking stunned.

"Well how many friends do you have that are not in Gryffindor? I know we say hi and wave to a few people from other houses, but how many of those people would you actually meet up with, at say, the library just to spend time talking to?" Hermione asked.

'Um' was the only answer the boys could give her.

"Exactly my point." Hermione said enthusiastically. "It can also be used as a dating service, because most of us don't know anyone from other houses well enough to ask them out. Not many people hang out with anyone who isn't in their house. And not only that, but even people in your own house. Most of us only stick with the same few friends. What if there is someone in our own house that we are a great match for – but we haven't really given them a chance to get to know them like that?"

At this point, the boys were giving each other odd looks.

"Oh come on you two!" Hermione roared as she pushed Ron in the shoulder. "This is a great idea." She said as she hopped up and started walking back to the castle alone. "I'm going to talk to the Professor even if you can't see how good of an idea this is."

After she was out of earshot, Ron shook his head and said, "She's gone completely mad."

-o-O-o-

Later that night, Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room with a winning grin on her face. The following morning, there was a note attached to all four House bulletin boards as well as the one outside the Great Hall, reading:

Quill-Pal

Dear Students,

A pen-pal system of sorts will be started this year. It will allow you to make friends with people of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

Along with that, there will even be a secret dating match-up system installed.

There will be papers to fill out, for each service. The friendship form will try to match you with the top five people that you have the most common interests with. Please realize that you may or may not be included in their top five matches.

The dating form will match you with the top three girls and top three boys who you are most compatible with, as well as a compatibility number from 1 percent to 100 percent. There will be no way to select your sexual orientation. When you receive the list (which will have an anonymous mailbox code number listed instead of any names), you can read their answers and decide whether you want to contact the person back, based on your own personal judgement.

I would like to remind you that the Wizarding World is open to many types of relationships. Wizards marry other Wizards, Muggles, Veelas, Werewolves, Elves, Vampires, and even Giants on an occasion or two. If you open your heart and learn to care about someone based on their mind instead of their Species or Sex, you might just find yourself living happily ever after!

You can then decide to start your Quill-ship with the person(s), if any, that you feel most connected to. It is up to both of you to decide if you wish to continue with the Quill-ship, meet in person, or discreetly stop all communications.

The mailboxes can only be opened by the person to whom it is assigned. The number on the box will NOT correspond to the mail number you send it to. This way sneaky people cannot try to figure out who their matches are before they decide to meet.

And the last thing to note is that no one – not teacher nor student - will get to read any of these forms or answers. The Sorting Hat has agreed to match up the potential friendships and romances in secret and never ever reveal anything he reads. He has been set up with a few school owls that will deliver the responses and this way no one can try to find out who they are corresponding with.

Please answer truthfully on your forms. The Sorting Hat already has met each one of you and will know if you are fibbing. If you are found to be answering incorrectly on purpose (as a joke or gag), he has the power to shred your forms and never allow you to join in again.

And lastly, it is sad that I have to say this, but I feel that I must. If you go through this process, please be respectful to others. If you start a Quill-ship with someone and decide to meet in person – please do not be rude or mean to him or her if they turn out to be someone you would least expect to be paired with. All the answers you filled out connect you to this person. If you decide to not maintain a friendship or relationship, be honest and respectful of each other. If too many negative things come from this – the Quill-ship will be permanently discontinued.

Yours truly,

Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall

(And special thanks to the creator of this program, whom wishes to remain anonymous.)

-end of chapter-

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Authors Note One: This is my first attempt at fanfiction. Feedback is appreciated - especially if you notice any serious errors or flaws.