I always said I'd never write HP fics, but this was a little gift for a friend that someone convinced me to post.
I don't own Harry Potter, because if I did, I would have married Snape.
Draco Malfoy wouldn't have labeled himself as a creeper, whatever those Ravenclaw 3rd years may have whispered about him as they passed by. He just liked to people watch; sitting in the corners of the halls watching the other students go by was for him a lot easier than actually becoming friends with them.
On this particular afternoon, he had a particular reason for being in that particular hallway. A particular person, in fact.
Draco wasn't quite sure what the attraction was for him. Maybe it was the red hair, though as far as he knew, he was into girls. Sometimes he thought that maybe it was just because he represented something that Draco had never had, something that Potter had that he didn't; a real friend.
When he spotted that flash of ginger hair through the crowd, he quickly jumped off the window ledge he was sitting on and heading into the mass of people, in the opposite direction of his target.
Draco had his timing down perfectly; he didn't even notice that anyone was behind him until suddenly Draco slammed into him.
"Watch where you're going, Weasley. You keep your filthy blood-traitor hands away from me," he sneered, turning to look at the boy he had just shoved. Weasley had pulled his wand from his pocket, preparing to defend himself, though he didn't cast a spell.
"Not so brave without your boyfriend Potter, are you?" Draco taunted. "Now that he's left you for your sister?" Draco could tell from a momentary flash of emotion across Weasley's face that he'd hit the right spot with his taunt. He could see Weasley's mouth begin to form the words of a curse, and in anticipation, he reached for his own wand, even though he knew that the odds of him grabbing it in time were slim.
Then all of a sudden, a dark figure appeared behind Weasley, grabbing the collar of his shirt.
"Mr. Weasley…I think that a month's worth of detentions might…cure you of the temptation…to duel…in the hallways," Professor Snape said in his slow drawl.
For a split second, Malfoy considered actually reasoning with Snape, telling him that the fight had been his fault, that he was the one who deserved to be punished.
Instead he saw the anger in Weasley's eyes, a look so intense he actually stepped back as Snape dragged Weasley off to detention. He hadn't thought it was possible that someone could hate him that much.
He walked back through the crowd, feeling like he'd been punched in the stomach.