As the BBC finished their news report on the capture of Osama ben Laden, Daniel disentangled himself from a sleeping Tom and got up from the couch. One of the luxuries he had spent some of his "movie money" on was a new house for his family. Included was a nice private suite for himself and Tom. It was here that they could be themselves. He paused a moment and looked down on his sleeping boyfriend. The world might go to hell tomorrow, but knowing he had Tom's love made all the long hours on the set, the crazy fans and the hectic publicity schedule worth it. Daniel smiled as he remembered the first day they met. It seemed like years ago.

Daniel reported to the studio promptly at nine o'clock. His father came with him. Despite his nervousness, he was anxious to get started. The production meeting was for all the cast so they could meet one another and go over the production schedule. Everyone had taken a seat in the conference room and were listening as the director described what would be taking place over the next few months. They would be shooting in many different locations and the schedule would be demanding. Suddenly the door burst open. Everyone turned and watched an rather embarrassed handsome young blond boy walk in muttering apologies and cursing traffic. Daniel was immediately smitten. The blond haired boy took the only available seat. As luck would have it, some might call it fate, the seat was directly opposite Daniel. The meeting continued, but Daniel had a hard time concentrating. He couldn't help himself as he continually stole glances at the cute boy across the table.

As far back as Daniel could remember, he knew he was gay. The attraction to other boys was undeniable. He hadn't given it much thought until puberty raised its ugly head. Everything had been fine until the hormones kicked in. The realization that his attraction was frowned upon by his mates was followed by months of depression. It was during this same time that other realizations made themselves known.

The evening of his eleventh birthday, he had a conversation that he would never, ever forget. His parents sat him down and explained that magical ability ran in the family. Neither of his parents were magical, but the possibility that Daniel could be was very real. They explained that a cousin would be coming that evening to assess whether or not Daniel was indeed magical. No sooner than the startling possibility was made known, a person Daniel had never seen before suddenly appeared in the room. He jumped up and grabbed his father around the neck.

"Ah, young Daniel," the person said. "It's understandable to be afraid of what you don't know." The voice was warm and friendly. Daniel loosened his stranglehold on his father and tentatively turned to look at the person who had just popped into the room.

"W-who are you?" Daniel squeeked.

"I'm Uncle Fester," the bald man said smiling.

"I've seen you on TV."

"That was a long time ago," the man said wistfully. Then he turned serious. "But right now, we need to find out if you have it."

"Have it?"

"Magic my dear boy, magic. Sometimes it skips a generation or two and sometimes it skips five or six. No one knows why, but children who are predisposed to magic are checked on their eleventh birthday. And since it's your eleventh, I've come to check. By the way, happy birthday." Daniel looked quickly at his father. He smiled and nodded. Then he looked at his mum. She also smiled and nodded. Daniel turned back to the bald man.

"Is this gonna hurt?" Uncle Fester broke out into a huge belly laugh that instantly broke the tension in the room.

"Oh dear Merlin, no," he said as he pulled out a long stick of wood. Daniel eyed it curiously.

"Fellow by the name of Kraft made this. He gave it to me personally this morning. Here, why don't you hold it for me." Fester reached out and offered the stick to Daniel. The young boy hesitated, and after receiving a nod from each of his parents, he took the stick into his hand. The light in the room immediately dimmed. There was a quick whoosh of wind followed by a loud crack of thunder. The sound vibrated throughout the Radcliffe home.

"Bless my soul," said Fester breathlessly. "You're a wizard, Daniel! And not just any wizard. The elementals have proclaimed you as one of their own." Fester smiled and looked down upon a bewildered Daniel. "You're going to be a very powerful wizard, Daniel."

The production meeting finally broke for lunch. Daniel slowly stood up, briefly spoke to his father, then headed out the door behind Tom. He followed as the rest of the cast made their way down the hall to another room where a buffet lunch had been set up. Daniel did his best to stay close to the blond and, much to his satisfaction, found himself directly behind him in line.

"You're Tom Felton, right?" Daniel asked as he grabbed a tray. The blond boy turned and looked at him. Daniel was totally captivated by the beautiful gray eyes that were now focused directly at him. A smile slowly grew across Tom's face.

"And you're Daniel Radcliffe," he said. Daniel could only nod as he heard Tom's voice. As taken as he was at Tom's good looks, the voice he heard was mesmerizing. "I've been looking forward to meeting you," Tom said casually as he turned back to the buffet. "Perhaps we can spend some time together," he offered as he placed a plate and some silverware on his tray.

"R-really?" Daniel stammered. Tom looked back at Daniel and smiled warmly. His cheeks were slightly reddened from his blush, but his gray eyes never left the piercing green ones looking back. With renewed strength, he answered.

"Really."

"I think I'd like that very much," Daniel said confidently. They filled their plates and headed for a table in the corner. The conversation was pretty generic ... where did you go to school? ... how did you get into acting? ... what music do you like? Toward the end of the lunch hour, the conversation took a decidedly different turn.

"This has been fun," said Tom.

"It has," Daniel agreed. His expression turned serious before he continued. "There seems to be a whole lot more to you than meets the eye." He knew the comment would take Tom by surprise and that's exactly what he meant to do.

"What do you mean?" asked Tom, suddenly on the defensive.

"I sense it. I'm sure you do to," Daniel said calmly. Tom looked at Daniel with a very serious expression. The look was hard to describe, but Daniel knew Tom's mind was racing.

"I'm not sure I follow you exactly," Tom said very carefully. Daniel leaned in close to Tom and whispered in his ear.

"Your magical aura is very bright. I can see it quite clearly." Tom let out a deep sigh of relief. His reaction to the comment took Daniel totally by surprise, but Tom's next comment steamrolled Daniel.

"Thank God, I thought you were going to say that you could tell I'm gay." Daniel openly gasped. Tom turned pale when he realized he let his sexual orientation slip out. "I'm, I'm sorry. I didn't mean ..." he started but his voiced trailed off. Daniel recovered quickly.

"It's fine, Tom. In fact, it's better than fine," Daniel said smiling. "I think you're cute." Tom was gobsmacked and the look on his face was absolutely priceless.

"You're ..." Tom couldn't even finished the question. Daniel just beamed and nodded his head. Tom's relief was obvious.

"What are the chances?" Tom said.

"I know. Two real gay wizards finding themselves on the set of a movie about wizards. This is just too much!" The conversation was cut short by a production assistant calling everyone to return to the conference room.

Daniel looked down once again at the sleeping love of his life and smiled to himself as the memories of their first few weeks together came back. It had been three years and the newness of the relationship had settled down from constant lust to compassionate love. He quietly slipped into the kitchen and started supper.

Daniel had been lucky to find a long lost cousin in America. Gavin had been a chef for a short period of time, but his love of cooking remained. Daniel and Tom had visited a few times and Daniel had been particularly interested in new recipes. Gavin had taken lots of time to teach Daniel in the fine art of proper culinary preparation.

Daniel's cousin was a unique person. He was gay like Daniel, but he wasn't magical. Daniel admired his cousin and secretly desired to have many of Gavin's qualities. His cousin lived a simple life away from all the media attention. It was a life that Daniel envied, but he knew deep in his heart that acting was his passion and all the hype and publicity came with it. He wanted to share his innermost secret of being magical with his cousin, but held that secret close. One day he would explain all of it, but for now, it would remain a secret.

The young wizard busied himself preparing the evening meal. When he was finished, he popped it into the oven and hurriedly cleaned the kitchen. It would take a while for supper to bake, so he opted for a quick shower. As he was lathering himself up, he noticed a dark shape through the shower glass. Smiling to himself, he opened the door to invite Tom in. Much to Daniel's surprise, the person in the bathroom wasn't Tom.

"Well, if it isn't 'Harry Potter' in all his glory," the voice snarled with hate. Daniel had no time to react as the man pointed his wand.

The earsplitting sound of breaking glass woke Tom immediately. He sat up quickly and tried to shrug off the fuzziness of having just woke up. Another crashing of glass came from the bathroom. Tom was on his feet in a flat out run and at the bathroom door in mere seconds. He tried the doorknob, but it was locked. He pounded hard on the door.

"Daniel! Are you OK? Daniel! Please open the door!" he screamed while continuing to pound on the door. Only the sound of the shower could be heard. Tom ran quickly back to the den, grabbed his wand and ran back to the bathroom door. He was about to cast an unlocking spell, but he felt something on his feet. He looked down and saw water coming under the door, but the water wasn't just water. It was mixed with blood.

Tom all but forgot his wand as he slammed his shoulder against the door. It didn't budge. He slammed his shoulder against it again. Remnants of broken wood scattered across the bathroom floor as the door gave way and slammed back against the wall. Tom stumbled slightly, but quickly regained his footing. The scene before him was surreal. He slumped to his knees as his mind tried desperately to take it all in. The timer on the oven shattered the silence as the smell of baked Ziti filled the air.


On the Chapter Five

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