"LOVE IS FOR EVERYONE"

All Because You Kissed Me Good Night

By Passo

“What the hell must I do to get a good night’s sleep in this place?”

Irritably, Draco Malfoy shoved the Slytherin portrait door open and stormed out into the hallway, startling the banshee awake. The disturbed painting muttered a rude word before Draco was out of earshot but the Slytherin chose to let it pass. In a good day he would have come up with a comeback, but now he was far too annoyed to care.

Unable to sleep for three nights in a row, he had tried everything from warm baths to hot milk to cure his insomnia. The bout of sleeplessness had started quite suddenly and he found himself unable to concentrate in his classes during the past days. He was often bone-tired at the end of the day but, to his growing frustration, sleep had managed to elude him successfully. Now it was two o’clock in the morning and he was out of ideas. Instead of listening to Goyle snore the tune of the entire Hogwarts’ theme once more, Draco decided to walk it off.

He pulled his cloak around him to protect his pajama-clad body from the chill and strolled off to the castle’s East Wing. He passed numerous empty classrooms, their dark doorways staring vacantly as his feet padded silently on the stone floor. The moon shone eerily through the misted windows, casting long shadows on the halls. But Draco didn’t mind. He had been raised in a Manor that could easily rival the size and obscurity of the school. And often, he found the blank darkness comforting.

“Numbing,” he added to his train of thought. His voice echoed faintly through the hall. Smiling inwardly, he decided not to make more noise lest he awaken the teachers, or worse, Filch.

And then he heard it. As soft as a whisper. But quite unmistakable to one as astute as Draco: the shuffle of human feet not far from him.

Draco stiffened, instantly alert. If it was Filch, a teacher, or even a prefect, he’d surely get detention from walking around after curfew.

A window swung open and slammed into the wall with a crash. Alarmed, Draco nearly scuttled off in fright. But he managed to control himself in time. It’s only the wind.

“Who’s there?” Draco blurted out. Thoroughly spooked, he no longer cared if he’d get detention. He’d rather know for certain whether the thing standing a few meters away was harmless. Otherwise, he’d be hightailing out of here.

He heard a groan. A dark form moved forward slightly into the light, shook, and slowly slid to the floor, face-down. Draco heard the unmistakable clink of metal and the sound of glass breaking on the floor near his feet.

He looked down. Glasses. Broken glasses. Glasses with round frames. Like the ones worn by—

Another groan.

“Potter.” Draco peered at the prostate lump. “Is that you?”

The head lifted slightly as green eyes looked blearily at him.

“Ish dis the way to Hogwartshhh?”

Blonde eyebrows arched up in response. “Why, you’re smashed!”

Harry’s head plopped back on the floor. In a few moments, Draco heard soft snores coming from that direction. The blonde stood there, undecided. Should he leave this Gryffindor lying here for everyone to see in the morning? Well, it would certainly serve him right. The Great Harry Potter found indecently smashed after carousing the night away well after curfew hours. It was the opportunity Draco had been waiting for.

A low giggle floated up from the floor. Draco looked down. The stone surface looked cold and uninviting. His own feet were starting to freeze.

“Oh, what the heck…” Sighing resignedly, he picked up the broken glasses. Luckily, he had his wand with him. “Oculus Reparo.”

He bent down and whispered, “You owe me big for this, Potter. Unfortunately, you probably won’t remember. But I suppose it’s just as well.”

He heaved Harry into an upright position and supported the unconscious boy with his arms. Grumbling under his breath, Draco dragged Harry Potter all the way to the Gryffindor Tower while trying to make as little noise as possible.

Draco’s arms were starting to ache by the time he caught sight of the Fat Lady’s portrait. He shifted Harry to his other side as he carried the Gryffindor’s weight the last few steps to the portrait hole. He dropped the dark-haired boy unceremoniously at the foot of the painting.

“Potter, I don’t know the password so I guess I’ll just have to leave you here.”

The green eyes fluttered open with confusion. Full pink lips parted as Harry tried to get some words out.

“What did you say?” Draco crouched down, eye to eye with Harry.

“I can’t see,” Harry croaked.

“Oh yes, the glasses. I almost forgot.” He took the newly-repaired pair of glasses and moved to put them on Harry’s face. At the last moment, Draco stopped. Potter would recognize him. He folded the glasses and put them in the boy’s robe pocket. “Sorry, can’t risk it right now.”

Wide green eyes blinked owlishly back. Then Harry did something unexpected. He smiled. The bow-shaped lips parted to reveal a row of white teeth. Dimples appeared on the apple cheeks as the corners of his eyes crinkled becomingly.

“Who are you?”

It’s me, Draco.. The answer was merely thought, not said. Because, for some inexplicable reason, Draco Malfoy swiftly lost his ability to speak. He blinked back, entranced.

Maybe it was the smile, or the eyes that glinted madly at him. Or maybe it was the heady fumes of alcohol that swirled in the air, making him dizzy. Whatever the cause, there must have been something that influenced his mind. For Draco suddenly felt the strange compulsion to kiss those lips.

He sighed. “You know, Potter, you’re too pretty for your own good.”

What is Love?

Defined & Described by What it Is and is NOT

What is love? I will define it by describing what love is and what love is not. What is love varies from person to person but our need for it is the same. See if these descriptions ring true for you.

Prerequisite to Loving Another

We can only love someone else to the degree to which we love ourselves. This is the prerequisite to receiving life’s greatest treasure: love!

If we do not love ourselves, we unconsciously put an unfair burden on our partner to love us twice (once to fulfill our need for self-love, and once to fulfill our need to be loved). Then we unwittingly expect them to do this without receiving much love in return because we have little that is ours to give. This is why we must get our lives healthy before we enter into a relationship.

Self-love is the art of completely accepting our faults, completely appreciating our gifts, and completely acknowledging our individuality. (Individuality is the uniqueness that separates, and sometimes isolates us, from everyone else.) Once this is achieved, we are ready to love and be loved by another person.

Genuine self-love does not involve egotism, vanity, or self-valuation based on status or wealth. A person with true self-love is compassionate, humble, principled, and not affected by job titles or material possessions.

If you haven’t yet found love within yourself, then do it! When you begin to understand what is love, you’ll know that you are on the right path toward discovering self-love.

Impostors of True Love

“How do I know whether I am truly in love?” and “What is love?” are questions that are often posed. I believe that true love is only possible between two people who are right for one another. This is when the purest form of love can occur.

If the person is not right for us the feelings of being in love often come from unsound sources. Many times these distorted feelings are created when another person fills a void or deadens some great pain that we have inside. The void may be our own lack of self-love, self-esteem, or self-confidence. The pain might be connected to an event, such as a breakup

Overcoming Shyness

The Pathway & Methods for Success!

One of the Shyest People I Knew

I was once the one of the shyest people I knew. In preschool, I sometimes hid underneath wooden fruit crates after the other kids had removed all the balls inside at the start of recess.

Through out much of middle and high school I ate lunch alone. I usually left the school grounds during the lunch break so that the other students wouldn’t see that I was eating alone. I didn’t want them to find out how shy I was. (This was true during the short time I was in public school, but not as much while I was in the boy's home because we all lived together. For more details, click: About BP - Bio.)

During my first two years of college, I was so shy that I was constantly in a state of panic when I ate a meal in the cafeteria, as I sat in class for fear that I might be called on, and when I met with a professor in their office.

At this point in my life, the idea of overcoming shyness seemed like a distant possibility for me. Even so, I never gave up on my dream to overcome it.

When a Fortune 500 company hired me as a management trainee, I was repeatedly put into situations where I had to deal with my shyness. I’ll never forget the first staff meeting where I was required to give a short presentation. It was the most humiliating and agonizing event of my life!

Even when I walked into the entrance hall where people gathered before going into a business meeting I would panic. “How should I act? What should I say if someone approaches me?” I would think to myself.

The requirements for social interaction and public speaking increased with each promotion I got. I eventually became a regional division head and later a national marketing manager responsible for generating 400 million dollars in annual product sales. In order to met the requirements of these positions I had to learn about overcoming shyness and the fear of public speaking.

Proper Perspective about Overcoming Shyness

One of the most amazing things I learned during my journey is that many people who I perceived as NOT being shy were in fact very shy themselves. I’ve concluded that shyness is simply a normal human condition. I see it as one of those childhood based fears that we eventually grow out of or learn to control if we choose to do so. Some people choose never to face it or they never find themselves in a situation where that are forced to deal with it. My story is a combination of both of these.

Another equally amazing thing is the response I would get when I asked people how I did after delivering a speech or attending an important social function. I was always stunned when people would tell me how cool, relaxed, and confident I appeared because inside I felt scared, incompetent, and shy.

So one of the most important lessons to learn for overcoming shyness is that almost everyone is shy or has experienced being shy some time in their lives. I have been astounded many times by people who I knew as being supremely confident and socially skilled to report to me how excruciatingly shy they once were, and in some cases how they still are but that they had learned to control it.

The other important thing to remember about overcoming shyness is that the way people see you is frequently much different from the why you see yourself. Other people cannot hear the discouraging things that you’re saying to yourself or often even detect your nervousness. Why? Because they are usually more consumed with their own thoughts about how they are being viewed by YOU!

Shyness Can Be Good

In the dating world, both men and women often see shyness as a point of attraction. There is a fine line however. If a person does NOT allow their shyness to hold them back from trying, that is attractive. In contrast, if a person DOES allow shyness to hold them back, that is unattractive.

How times