Disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue…please?
Pairing: Eventual Draco/Harry…
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What the hell…??
Chapter 1: Wrongly Confessed vs. Wrongly Rejected
The cool night breeze swept across the Hogwarts corridor in a late September night. Harry Potter, hiding under his invisibility cloak, was taking a midnight stroll, which, he decided about twenty minutes ago, might be able to cure his sudden attack of insomnia this night. He realized that he actually didn't need to bring the cloak because ever since the fall of Voldemort at the end of sixth year, the school rules were not as strict as before. So if he was, indeed, caught, the punishment wouldn't be anything severe, if there was any punishment at all.
Harry brought it, nonetheless, to avoid any unwanted confrontation if he was seen, and most of all, he didn't want to be disturbed. But Harry knew it was a habit more than anything. His father's invaluable cloak had followed Harry for almost seven years. It provided him a sense of security and privacy in a world where those were scarce for the Boy-Who-Lived.
As Harry turned a corner, he realized his mindless wanderings had led him to the dungeons near the Potions master's private chambers. So he was less that surprised when he saw Professor Snape, his least favorite teacher, appeared and walked right pass him. Harry stood very still and held his breath as the professor glided pass, for fear that the alert teacher might notice his presence.
Harry was a little shocked, however, when he saw another figure not far behind the professor. The figure tiptoed closer to the unsuspecting Potions master, and Harry noticed that he was none other than Draco Malfoy, the prince of brats from Harry's rival house. But what Harry saw next stunned him to the core. He stared wide-eyed as Draco Malfoy turned his head around as if to check if anybody else was there, and when he was satisfied with what he saw, he smiled mischievously, and shouted, "SEV!" while simultaneously jumping on the professor's back like a little child demanding a piggyback ride.
Harry's jaw dropped as the professor calmly turned to regard his favorite student with a kind smile on his face.
"Draco, will you ever grow tired of that? I knew you were following me since the prefects' bathroom!"
"You could've at least pretended you didn't know," said Malfoy, sliding down from the professor's back with a little pout.
"So, how was patrolling tonight? Anything interesting?" asked Snape leisurely as his student walked alongside him towards his chambers. Malfoy was one of the seventh year Slytherin prefects, and one of the prefects' duties was to patrol the school grounds at night. Harry was the Gryffindor prefect, along with Hermione.
"Same as usual, boring as hell!" Malfoy replied without a thought.
"So I see you weren't patrolling with your crush tonight then," said Snape teasingly.
Malfoy didn't reply, but, instead, lowered his head slightly, attempting to hide his blush. Snape smirked. Harry blinked.
"You still haven't told me who he is yet. And here I thought that you would trust me, your godfather and your head of house, enough to divulge your secret," said Snape in a hurt and sullen tone, which would be very convincing if not for his smirking face, which Malfoy conveniently missed since his eyes were glued to the dirty, yet ever-so-interesting, floor.
They had reached their destination, and with a murmured password from Snape, the door swung open and they entered.
"Oh alright, I'll tell you," Malfoy said, looking up and pointing his finger in front of Snape's face, his tone threatening, his eyes dark and determined. "But if you tell anyone about this, I swear I'll rip your head out. I don't care if you're my godfather and my head of house!"
Snape nodded carelessly as if being threatened by his godson was a very common occurrence.
The last thing Harry heard before the door slowly swung shut was a soft whisper of Malfoy's muffled voice, "It's 'arry…" and the rest was lost behind the thick dungeon walls.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Contrary to Harry's hypothesis, midnight strolls did not help him sleep at all. If anything, it had only worsen his original problem. Harry suspected it might even have had seriously damaged his mental health.
Harry didn't know how he managed to return to the Gryffindor towers in that state of mind. He was confused as hell! Millions of questions swam through his head as he lay in bed later that night.
Did I just overhear the most bizarre conversation between the annoying git, Draco Malfoy, and the sadistic bastard, Severus Snape? Are they godfather and godson? Was Snape actually being nice and, ewww, smiling? Harry shuddered at the eerie, yet surreal memory of this night's ordeal. He was strategically avoiding the most disturbing revelation of all, but before he finally shut his eyes and drifted off to dreamland, he silently asked himself, Is Draco Malfoy crushing on some guy? And is that guy…ME?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The next morning found the hero of the wizarding world looking like he hadn't slept for days. With his black, unruly hair even messier than normal and huge bags under his eyes, Harry had spent his whole breakfast-eating time staring off blankly into space. But upon closer inspection, one could see that he wasn't staring into space. Not exactly. He was staring at the space currently occupied by one Draco Malfoy.
Of course Ron and Hermione noticed the stressful looks of their friend, and they did spare a moment between their kisses and cuddles to inquire Harry about it, but Harry, determined not to worry his friends, insisted that he was fine, just a bit tired due to lack of sleep. They suspected something more, but decided not to press the matter further, and retreated back to their snogging.
Over the next week, Harry had spent a lot more time observing Malfoy. Anytime they shared a class, or at the Great Hall at meal times, or even just walking past each other in the halls, Harry would send suspicious and calculating looks at Draco Malfoy, as if he was trying to dissect the Slytherin's brains with his eyes. He tried looking for little clues that could prove what he heard that night was true, or if it was just Harry's overactive imagination.
The Slytherin's reciprocating stares didn't help much either. One time during lunch, Harry had a peculiar feeling that someone was watching him. When he looked up, he was met with a pair of translucent silver eyes that were immediately diverted to something else. That was not the only time that had happened either. This little exchange had repeated itself more and more often lately, and Harry could swore that, once, the blonde was blushing when he looked away.
Harry had also noticed that the insults that used to come from Malfoy and his gang had disappeared, as if he didn't want to fight anymore. He didn't remember when this had started, so he consulted his best friends to see if they had noticed the lack of animosity from the Slytherin. He didn't know how to react, however, when Ron and Hermione asked him why Harry had suddenly taken interest in such a trivial matter, and told him that Malfoy hadn't picked a fight ever since their sixth year. Hermione had speculated that it was because the on-going war had forced Malfoy to grow up and abandon stupid house rivalries, but Ron insisted that the change was due to the sudden realization of the Gryffindors' immerse strength and power that intimidated the Slytherins. However, Harry suspected that it was something else entirely different that triggered the change.
It seemed clearer and clearer to Harry that what he heard was true. Draco Malfoy did have a crush on him.
Shit! What am I going to do?
Even if they didn't fight anymore, Harry still dislike the git. He was still that little bugger that insulted his friends, cheated in Quidditch, framed Buckbeak, and leaked information to that Skeeter woman.
So what if Malfoy had beautiful eyes and silky hair that practically glowed under the sun? So what if his body was slender and delicate and lithe and hot in his Quidditch robes, and in his school robes, and in his dress robes? He's still that insufferable prick I hated… hate!
And so, Harry decided from then on, he would avoid the blonde as much as possible. He would not give him a chance to try anything on him. He would go on as if nothing happened, as if he hadn't found out his little secret. Yes, that's it… nothing happened. Nobody likes me… nobody has a secret crush on me… Everything's normal.
At the first day that Harry's plan of 'Avoid Malfoy' was put into action, he had patrol duty.
With Draco Malfoy.
Harry groaned.
As Harry was busy berating himself for his stupidity and inability to create a plan that was actually feasible for more than one day, Malfoy silently approached the Gryffindor from behind. Harry let out a surprised yelp and stumbled backwards from Malfoy as he poked him to get his attention.
"Oh my God… don't creep up on people like that…" Harry put his hand on his chest, trying to soothe his wildly beating heart.
"Scared, Potter?" asked Malfoy, smirking.
"N-no. Let's get started. I don't want to be here with you all night."
Harry saw Malfoy's mouth twitched a little and he braced himself for a sarcastic retort of some sort, but it never came. Malfoy just shook his head slightly and looked away.
They walked around the grounds in an awkward silence. Harry noticed from the corner of his eyes that Malfoy was occasionally stealing glances at him and biting his lips as if he was nervous about something.
From Malfoy's expression, Harry knew that he wanted to ask him something. He both dreaded and anticipated the moment when Malfoy would finally crack and say whatever it was he wanted to say. But after two rounds of patrolling, he still hadn't said anything, and Harry felt like he was going to suffocate from the tension between them.
Finally, when they finished their patrolling, Malfoy turned to face Harry and asked, "Potter… Harry, do you have time Friday night?"
Although Harry had expected this somehow, but it still made him nervous all the same.
Shit, he finally asked, what should I do, what should I do? Laugh at his face and say something cruel… No, that's just… cruel… just… reject him… Yes… let him down easy… wouldn't want him to hate me again…
"Look, Malfoy… Draco… I…" Harry took a deep breath and tore his eyes away from Malfoy's penetrating gaze before continuing, "I'm flattened, really, but I don't… you know… feel that way about you…" Harry started pacing around in the middle of the corridor. "It's not you though, I mean, it's just that… we don't know each other very well, and we've spent five years fighting… And it's not because you are a boy, I mean, I had no problem with that, I'm not homophobic or anything… and I think you are one of the most beautiful person I've ever seen… but I… I… just don't feel that way…" Harry risked a glance at Malfoy's face, and he trailed off upon seeing his confused expression.
"Wait, hang on, what are you talking about? I only asked if you have time… oh… Ohhhhhh!" Malfoy's slight frown turned into an amused smirk as realization slapped him in the face. "You thought… you thought I was asking you out?" At this, Malfoy couldn't hold his amusement any longer and burst out in hysterical laughter.
"You… you weren't?" he asked dumbly. Harry suddenly had a weird sense of foreboding as Malfoy, laughing uncontrollably, leaned on the wall helplessly to prevent himself from falling onto the floor.
"Of course… not… What makes you… think that?" he asked. Words came out in bits as he tried to speak and laugh at the same time.
"B-but, you told Snape last week… that you have a crush… on me?" said Harry, with the last two words came out only barely louder than a whisper. He was feeling stupider and stupider by the minute.
"What are you… talking about?" asked Malfoy, while snickering incessantly with his waist bent and hands on his stomache.
"Last Friday, after you patrolled and met Snape in the dungeons, he asked you who your crush is, and you said, 'It's Harry…'" Harry didn't know why he was still there explaining this to Malfoy. This was turning out to be the most humiliating experience of his life. Right now, all Harry wanted was for the ground to open up and swallow him whole.
"I said, 'It's TERRY!' Not HARRY! You know, that really cute Ravenclaw Head Boy Terry Boot?" Malfoy's laughter had lessen slightly and he managed to speak a whole sentence without choking on his words, but his back was still leaning on the wall for support.
Harry's jaw dropped to the floor. He could feel heat rising steadily from his stomach to his cheeks and sweat forming in his palms. He silently wished that Voldemort could come back to life and kill him right about now. When he realized that his wish was not likely to be granted, he proceeded to hit his head on the wall.
"Shit, I shouldn't have told you that…" Malfoy murmured as he suddenly realized he had blurted out his secret, but he decided that the look on Harry's face was worth it as he resumed to laughing his brains out.
Both prefects didn't speak for a while. One continued snickering until tears were appearing at the corner of his eyes, and the other kept thumping his head on the innocent wall until he suddenly remembered something.
"Wait a minute," Harry said, and turned to Malfoy, "why were you asking me if I had time Friday night then?"
"Oh yes, that reminds me…" Malfoy wiped his tears away and stood up with, Harry noticed grudgingly, a wide grin still plastered on his face. "I've been meaning to ask you the whole week, can you exchange patrolling shifts with me this Friday night?"
A brief moment of silence.
"That's it? That's what you wanted to ask me?"
Malfoy snorted at Harry's incredulous look and nodded, "Umhum."
"Why do you want me to change with you?" By now, Harry was just looking for something, anything, to say to stop Malfoy from laughing anymore.
And he did stop at hearing the question. Malfoy seemed to have a mental conflict with himself before finally deciding to tell Harry. He blushed a little before saying, "Umm, Lisa Turpin is having a birthday party Friday night, and Terry invited me to go. But I had to exchange patrol shifts with someone first. I asked McGonagall, and she said if I could find someone willing to change, than it'd be alright with her. The only prefects who aren't on duties that night are Lisa, Terry, Susan Bones and you. But Bones had to serve detention with Snape that night, so… it leaves you."
Throughout the little explanation, Draco had started pacing around and fidgeting, much like Harry did a few moments ago when he was doing his own speech. Harry smirked at Malfoy's obvious discomfort.
Harry had heard about the Ravenclaw prefect's birthday party, but he wasn't invited since he wasn't that close to the Ravenclaws.
Malfoy was disturbed by Harry's lack of response, and he spoke again before Harry could refuse his proposition. "Look, Potter, how about we make a deal. You don't tell anyone about me liking Terry and help me out Friday, and I don't tell anyone about tonight and last week where you eavesdropped on me and Sev. Ok?"
Harry was about to deny the accusation of eavesdropping, but he knew it would be no use. He had no choice but to agree. "Alright. I'll take your shift Friday. And tonight never happened!"
Malfoy nodded and before Harry could say anything more, he began to laugh again.
Harry frowned as if he could sense what the blonde was going to say.
"Potter… were you… trying to let me down easy? That's so sweet, Harry, you didn't want to hurt my feelings," Draco said in a mock grateful tone, and made a swooning gesture before bursting out in laughter again.
"If you don't stop laughing in the near future, Draco, I'll have to seriously reconsider whether or not I should hurt you," said Harry. He sighed distressingly and turned to leave. He couldn't wait to escape from tonight's episode.
Malfoy attempted to control his sniggers while walking away. But before he was too far away, he suddenly remembered something else and he spun around again, and said, "Harry, did you say you thought I was beautiful?"
"Oh, do shut up, Draco!" Harry was too embarrassed to turn around and face him again, so he increased his speed and hurried back to the Gryffindor tower. But he could still hear the half suppressed giggles as Draco made his way down to the dungeons.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Although Harry was thoroughly exhausted, he couldn't sleep. He had spent half the night wishing that tonight didn't happen and the other half wondering if it really did happen. And in between, he would worry if Draco would keep his promise, and think of ways of killing the Slytherin if he didn't…
The next morning proved to be another stressful day for the Boy-Who-Lived. As he made his way towards the Great Hall for breakfast with Ron and Hermione, he was secretly stealing glances at the passing students, looking for any clues that anyone might know something about yesterday night.
The walk to the Great Hall seemed to be longer than usual for Harry. He cringed at the thought of seeing Draco. For first time in his life, Harry Potter was scared of seeing Draco Malfoy.
But Fate seemed to be playing a joke on Harry that day, because as he reached the Great Hall, he was confronted with none other than Draco Malfoy himself. Both of them stopped dead at seeing each other. It seemed that Draco wasn't prepared at seeing Harry so soon too.
Other seventh year Slytherins were accompanying him, but Harry took no notice of any of them as he stared intently at Draco's eyes. Silent questioning passed through the silvers and the emeralds. Did you tell anyone about last night? No, I didn't.
The whole school also stopped at seeing the two rivals stand off against each other. They could see Harry tensed and Draco started shaking and biting his lips as if to control his temper.
All students held their breaths, anticipating a fight to break out any minute.
Even Ron, Hermione, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle were expecting a fight.
And then, Draco, who couldn't control his amusement any longer at seeing Harry's face, snorted and began another laughing fit. Harry sighed and visibly relaxed, and, as if Draco's laughter was contagious, Harry slowly started smiling too.
Soon, the two of them were laughing like crazy in front of the Great Hall.
The students were stunned as they stared at the two idiots. Only one thought passed through their minds, What the hell…?
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A/N: Well? Review, please…