Disclaimer: Is my name Joanne Kathleen Rowling? No? Then you can safely assume that I DO NOT own Harry Potter. Mutters about stupid land sharks However, the sprinkling of plot is MINE.

Pairings: One-sided Draco/Harry

Summery: Draco reminisces about Harry

Warnings: Contains hints of SLASH / Shonen-ai.

Author's Note: Constructive criticism would be nice.

Reason for re upload: Because I think this version is slightly better.

Too Late

I remember when I first met you.

You were a scrawny kid in clothes four or five times bigger than yourself; a scrawny, dirty street urchin with taped glasses in Madam Malkin's Shop.

I didn't know who you were at that time. I didn't know that you were the famous Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. I thought you were seven, eight at the most. I heard Madam Malkin ask if you were getting robes for Hogwarts. You nodded.

I took an interest in you then. You looked so scared and bewildered, like a Mudblood. Although you are a half-blood with a pure-blooded father from the old line of Potters and that Muggle-born, Lily Evans, who became your mother.

I tried to make friends with you by impressing you. And then I insulted the first friend you ever made. That didn't work very well did it?

I saw you again on the train with that Muggle-lover Weasley. I knew then that you were Harry Potter. I offered to help you sort out the bad lot from the good lot and gave my hand in friendship. You refused saying that you could tell the good lot from the bad lot very well.

I was angry. Nobody refuses a Malfoy. I guess you proved me wrong. I loathed you that day.

Ever since then I hated you. I tried to get you in trouble so many times, to get you in detention or maybe expelled.

I was so jealous of Weasley being able to sit next to you and talk to you. And then you made friends with that Mudblood Granger. I remembered thinking 'How dare you. How dare you choose a Muggle-lover and a Mudblood over me?' But I still wanted to be your friend.

Then in second year we had that fool Lockhart as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. I remember we were paired off as partners and we were supposed to disarm each other only. I cast a Serpensortia Spell thinking you would be afraid of snakes and therefore showing everybody that you were a coward.

I was wrong. You weren't scared at all and showed everybody that you were a fluent speaker of Parseltongue, a Parselmouth.

Everybody was scared that you might become a Dark Wizard what with all that Heir of Slytherin business. I knew better. You were and still are too pure to think about the darker sides of things and magic. I still wanted to be your friend but I thought it was too late.

Then in third year there were Dementors at Hogwarts. You fainted during a Quidditch match against Hufflepuff.

I remember tormenting you because of that.

Then in fourth year, you were chosen to become a champion of Hogwarts. Weasley was jealous of you. He was so stupid. He shouldn't have been jealous. I still wanted to be your friend, but I thought it was too late. Instead, I sank as low as to create POTTER STINKS badges and then I tried to attack you when your back was turned. Fake Moody was there and turned me into an albino ferret and bounced me up and down the Great Hall. You and Weasley laughed.

Voldemort got resurrected that year and I saw you cry because Diggory died.

In fifth year you created a not so secret Defense Club you called Dumbledore's Army. I remember being there when Umbridge caught you in the Room of Requirement.

I remember that one time she threatened to use the Cruciatus Curse on your scar to cause the worst imaginable pain ever to try to get information of Dumbledore's hideout. I remembered being scared for you. I guess I didn't really resent you no matter how much I tried.

Then after a trip to the Ministry, you somehow got my father in Azkaban. I remember threatening you on the train and for that I got hit with different hexes.

Then in sixth year, I was a Death Eater in training. My task was to kill Dumbledore. I always kept failing. I now saw what Voldemort was really like, and I hated him.

I saw you with that Weaslette and was jealous. I then realized that I loved you. My only hate morphed into my only love. How ironic. Just like an ugly caterpillar to a butterfly only with a twist, it will be up to me if the butterfly is destined to be beautiful and free, or a caged creature that is destined to be short-lived.

I remember going to Moaning Myrtle's lavatory to cry. Myrtle was sympathetic to me and comforted me as well as she could since she was just a ghost.

You caught me crying one day. I remember trying to use the Cruciatus Curse on you and you countered with a Sectumsempra Curse.

I started bleeding badly. You stood there shocked. I guess you didn't think that the spell could do this. Severus came and healed me.

You were off somewhere with Dumbledore. I had time to get the Death Eaters into Hogwarts.

Then Dumbledore came back, seemingly alone. I found out after the raid that you were there all along. 'This is it.' I remembered thinking, 'This is my chance to kill him.' But I couldn't. Instead Severus finished off Dumbledore and I felt numb.

I imagine the look in your eyes when you find out about my treachery.

I ran for it then.

I knew what would happen. Knew that the butterfly was destined to be a miserable, flying creature who is trapped in the jaws of a snake because it was too foolish to flee from danger. I knew it...and I still did it.

I knew when I let the Death Eaters in that it was going to be too late, too late for friendship and certainly too late for redemption.

And now I stand opposite of you in the war, because I had so many chances to make amends... and I didn't take any of them.

But now there are no more chances for me to take...

And it's too late now...

Fin

Author's Note: Like it? Hate it? Too much bad grammar? Too jumbled up and confusing? Tell me what you think in your reviews.