AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first attempt at Draco/Harry slash - although I've loved this pairing since the very first time I came to know the Harry Potter series.

I'm an avid Draco Malfoy/Tom Felton follower - in my opinion you couldn't have possibly casted a better actor as Draco then Tom. Dead sexy... with the perfect smirk.

Ah yeh, so besides that, although I'm a pretty huge HP fan - there may be some faults here and there (just to let you know), so go easy on me.

I'll go on writing this story regardless, but if you all would like me to continue posting chapters on fanfiction.net, please take the time to review after you've read it! This includes Constructive Criticism (although I will try and justify my actions or explain my reasons if it comes to that ^^) - but please, no flames! I'll just end up deleting them anyway (or ridicule them - after all, what's the point of them on here really? if you don't LIKE a story then just don't read it!)

Anyways [/rant] ^^ - enjoy the story, let me know what you like & hate & whatever!! Thanks!! -Strawberry

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THE OPPOSITE OF HATE

A Harry/Draco yaoi.

(Yaoi is male/male sex, so if you don't like it... don't read it!)

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CHAPTER ONE - Another Year at Hogwarts.

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DRACO

Draco Malfoy sat up in bed, eyes wide... breathing hard... heart beating fast - his mind a flurry of confusion.

The nightmare was fresh in his mind, as if it had been reality rather then a single frantic thought manifested in the far reaches of his sub-conscious mind.

Draco had stood in front of his father, head dipped slightly and clothed similarly in black Death Eater's garb which was also worn by the circle of hooded figures surrounding them. The only light amongst a void of darkness illuminated from two crackling torches held by members of the brotherhood.

And Lucius Malfoy's voice had sounded strangely eerie and alien, even in the ears of his son.

"It is time." he had proclaimed in a quiet hiss, fixing Draco with a look that held non of it's usual high-class authority but purely one of stern forbearance that said:

'Disobey me and face the dire consequences.'

The hooded teenager spoke not a word throughout the whole procedure - eventually offering his wrist up for the induction ritual.

The stillness of the moment was shattered, however, when loud calls where heard nearing them in the darkness.

Draco's eyebrows had shot up in recognition at the fearless... but strangely desperate tone in the familiar voice that greeted him.

The first introduction of the intruders into their space was the glinting of firelight against the smooth surface of round, slim-framed glasses.

Ah yes. It had to have been them.

The three bloody musketeers of the wizarding world.

Led by Potter, as always.

Bloody Potter...

Even now, standing amongst a circle of  Death Eaters that outnumbered his little posse twenty to one, his face blazed with intense indignation - exuding a strength that made Draco tremble as Harry's eyes met his own.. In a way he'd never experience before.

When he spoke his voice still held no trace of fear, his gaze was clear and steady, never breaking contact with that of his long-time rival.

Potter was once again - albeit, for the very last time - offering him an ultimatum.

And once again - as the torches blazed brightly around him, standing amidst the scathing heat of hexes building around him - he found himself torn between two impossible decisions.

Draco raked a hand through his sleep-tousled hair nervously, a scowl finding his face.

It had seemed so real... each and every time he had that nightmare... but never before had Potter been a part of it... until the previous night.

It was bad enough he had to see The Boy Who Lived frequently throughout the day, now he was haunting his sleep?!

Sliding out from under silky green sheets adorned with the Malfoy family crest, Draco grabbed a towel and headed toward the communal shower, pushing all thoughts besides the events ahead in the day out of his mind.

Gregory Goyle had already claimed a cubicle when Draco entered, and was currently singing some muggle song in a painfully out-of-tune voice.

Recently it seemed to have become an obsession of the dimwitted wizard's, probably due to the fact that muggle culture and style of any sort was pretty much forbidden at Hogwarts - something Draco himself never objected to, after all, why would anyone want to stoop to the level of a pathetic mudblood?

Goyle, on the other hand, had accidentally overheard a Hufflepuff junior listening to music on a compact disc player in his time off, hidden behind a suit of armor in a hallway - and naturally, because he found himself intrigued by the device and the sound it was giving off, nabbed it and threatened to beat the kid up if he told anyone. The little wizard had been so terrified that he'd fainted cold on the spot, leaving the burly senior to beat a hasty retreat.

What really got to Draco wasn't so much the fact that Goyle was listening to and enjoying the art of a lower-class culture, but that he seemed to religiously choose the time before bed to switch it on and drift off to sleep to its strains. This meant that Draco - who was an extremely light sleeper - was forced to hear the music right through 'till the end, even when Gregory's snores had risen to a deafening crescendo that indicated he was far from a conscious state of enjoying it.

Presently Draco was in a less-then-pleasant mood, and hearing the extremely poor rendition of an extremely poor art form in a bathroom choking with steam did nothing to change this.

Slamming the door shut to his chosen cubicle, the blonde-haired Slytherin undressed and pulled out his wand - casting a quick silencing spell to put an end to the torture he'd had to endure.

Goyle, singing at the top of his lungs beneath the heavy spray of the other shower was immediately choked of, and gaping - wondered what the hell had happened. It was only when he took a peek under the door of his cubical and noticed, some distance away, the set of delicately pale feet that could only belong to one person, that recognition dawned on his face and he rolled his eyes - wrapping a towel around his generous waist and exiting the bathroom.

Switching the water on and adjusting the temperature, Draco allowed the cool spray to wash over his body - massaging his skin and tracing invisible patterns across it before being swept away with a gurgle down the drain.

Despite his resolve to push the thought of the extremely annoying individual that gate-crashed his nightmare out of his mind, somehow it wormed it's way back in - and he could do little but scowl as the wheels in his head turned and the water from the shower-head beat down on his upturned face.

He hated that self-important, sinlessly oblivious, scar-faced little god-boy. With his messy brown mop, ridiculously nerdy glasses, skinny arms and legs with knobby elbows and knees... and worst of all.. Endlessly positive intentions.

It was sickening, really.

It was only when Draco began to dry himself, a short time later, that he realized he had a painfully hard erection - immediately causing a blush to rise to his cheeks and a curse to escape his lips.

For Merlin's sake... he only wished it wasn't caused by the thought of... Potter.

Draco shuddered... and it wasn't from the cool shower he'd had, either.

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HARRY

Harry had woken up that morning, first official day back at Hogwarts for the year, in a wonderfully positive mood.

After spending the holidays with the Weasleys on their little farm, he'd arrived at the school a week early - with Dumbledore's consent - to prepare for the birthday which, in the muggle world, was known as ones 'sweet sixteenth'.

It was Harry's birthday, of course, and this year the headmaster had been only too happy to throw a gigantic party amongst all of the students of Hogwarts, to celebrate the savior of the wizarding world and 'child prodigy'... or something.

Ginny Weasley, his girlfriend of some weeks, had quite fondly dubbed him with that title - as much as he secretly disliked it. But when she looked at him with such unconcealed love in her eyes... he couldn't help but give her the benefit of the doubt.

Anyway, currently Harry was lounging in the Gryffindor common room, frowning slightly and wondering why Ron was taking so long to meet him there.

When he'd gotten out of bed and pushed his glasses onto the bridge of his nose, noticing that the curtains around his friend's bed were drawn tightly, Harry had simply assumed he needed the sleep, and left the room - knowing how he himself hated to have them ripped open, exposed to the day at a time when he didn't feel ready to face it.

But that had been well over two hours ago, he was sure. In that time he'd already played two games of extremely one-sided wizards chess - amusing himself with the antics of an infuriated knight who, after being forced into checkmate several times and successfully dodged the attacks of other pieces, lost his temper and proceeded to 'gallop' around smashing everything in sight. Also, at some point during that time, Harry had even found himself bored enough to flick through a copy of - which he assumed was Hermione's - 'A Complete History of Hogwarts'.

Finally though, "sleeping beauty" appeared at the bottom of the stares, yawning widely and fixing his friend with a dazed look through half-closed eyes.

"'Morning, Harry!"

Harry was extremely close to giving Ron a piece of his mind, but on seeing the condition of his face and clothes - burst out laughing.

"What's the joke? Come on, share!" The red-head wore a goofy, yet puzzled look on his face.

And that wasn't the only thing he was wearing.

"Ron, have you looked in the mirror at all this morning?!" Harry chuckled, wiping some stray tears from his eyes and grinning. "I'm guessing you indulged in some late-night snacking... judging from your pajamas and face..."

"Oh yeah, that would have been the chocolate frogs." He explained, after wiping his mouth on his sleeve. "I found some galleons that someone must have dropped, on the train yesterday and bought a heap of junk from the trolley - you should see my stash, its brilliant!"

Harry rolled his eyes, but smiled despite himself. It was just like Ron - even at the steadily maturing age of sixteen, he still found the greatest delight in much the same things he did as a first-year at Hogwarts.

"Where's 'Mione?" Ron inquired, bringing his friend back to the present.

"The library - she wanted to check up something to do with a potion we're supposed to be making in Snape's class... no idea what of, mind you - but she promised to meet up with us for breakfast, so let's go.

"Right  ...And Ginny?"

"Off practicing some choice quidditch moves - she's really counting on making the team this year, and I'm hoping for it too. Frankly, we've lost a lot of good players over the last few years... Slytherin might even beat us this time around."

"Pfft - as long as it comes down to you and Malfoy, they don't stand a chance."

"Yeah..."

Harry fixed Ron with a reassuring smile at this... but deep down he wasn't so sure....

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DRACO

Draco stood in front of the full-length mirror by his bed-side, trying to ignore the overly-plump lady who resided in it. She looked much like the woman from the portrait that served as the entrance to the Gryffindor common room - probably a relative - if only she had the same snobbish poise, maybe then the strikingly good-looking blonde could get some peace from her constant cooing and gushing at his appearance.

"My dear, may I say you look simply dashing this morning - all the Slytherin girls will be absolutely beside themselves with lust!"

"Shut up, will you? I can't concentrate." Draco shot in annoyance, fixing her with a glare before squirting a small amount of gel into the palm of his hand.

"Ah yes! The gel is the perfect touch - as always! Say, what brand do y--"

"I thought I told you to shut up!"

"Oh hush! Allow me this small time of day." She finished, eyeing the way Draco ran the hand with the gel on it through his hair to sleekly add more dimension. It wasn't the same as his first years at Hogwarts, these days he used much less styling products and focused on keeping a certain rebellious, though neat (and definitely sexy), edge to it - a few strands falling onto his forehead. His hair wasn't long, ending neatly just above the nape of his neck so it softly showed up the 'v' of the hairline against his neck.

He was by far the best-looking boy at Hogwarts.

Finishing with one last once-over, he threw a casual farewell toward the lady in his mirror and headed out for breakfast.

Somewhere along the way, Crabbe and Goyle managed to catch up to him - flanking him on either side and following behind like obedient canines. Although dogs obviously possessed larger brain capacities... and slobbered less.

Pushing open the double-door entrance to the Great Hall, Draco made his usual advance toward the Slytherin table - turning heads in the process but ignoring each and every one of them.

No indeed - the only individual he found his eyes drawn to was currently cracking a joke which resulted in Ron Weasley squirting pumpkin juice out of his nose.

Filthy Weasley... no manners whatsoever... but then, he hardly expected otherwise from that family.

Draco continued to regard Harry with a heavy scowl on his face as he ate breakfast, feeling the familiar dislike filter heavily through his body. It made him feel extremely pleased with himself, especially after the way his body had reacted earlier that morning.

The 'boy-wonder' had indeed changed somewhat over the months that had passed since Draco had last seen him. His chin and jaw-line had lost some of their softness in favour of a slightly more chiseled look, and arms which he remembered to be somewhat skinny -- with knobby elbows, were now toned and lightly tanned.

All in all he did look quite good... but still nothing for Draco to feel threatened over... yet.

He couldn't help but notice as a flushed red-head came flouncing into breakfast some time later, placing a kiss on Harry's mouth before sitting down beside him.

'So Potter has a girlfriend... I would never have guessed.'

Draco smirked at the hilarity of it - it was just too predictable that Potter would end up with Ginny Weasley after all - they were practically looked upon as a canon couple ever since the incident with Tom Riddle and his diary back in second year, even though it seemed they'd only officially gotten together during the school break.

Somewhere amongst the predictability of it all, Draco felt an odd stab of anger, and promptly hacked the piece of toast on his plate into little pieces.

Blaise Zambini, who had been watching the blonde for some time now, chose that moment to speak. "Problem, Draco?"

"Of course not!" he snapped, after a moment.

"Yeah okay - so you decided to massacre your breakfast why exactly?"

"I wasn't hungry."

"So you thought it was only fitting that you made the food on your plate inedible for everyone else?"

"Shut up, Zabini."

A moment later, Blaise reached into the folds of his robe and withdrew a few chocolate frogs - one of which he offered to Draco.

And, after staring at the sweet with the same intense anger with which he'd regarded his breakfast for a while, he eventually accepted and began to unwrap it.

"What card did you get?" Blaise asked with a frown, eyeing Draco as he set the enchanted frog loose on the table and it proceeded to hop all over the place.

Pulling back the folds of cardboard, the smirk on the blonde Slytherin's face promptly fell and he glared in disbelief.

'I can't believe..! I mean... what in the..! I got Potter!"

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November 10th, 2003. Disclaimer: Harry Potter, etc is ©JK Rowling, Warner Bros. & all that jazz - I just own this story idea and events which take place in it. ^^