He was alone in the corridor, walking aimlessly back to the common room. Lazily he ran his hand along the rough stone of the walls and smiled. The texture and smell of the walls always seemed to calm him after a long day, and today had been particularly difficult. Lost in thought he failed to hear the hurried steps approaching him from behind. All of the sudden he felt a hand wrap around his shoulder and roughly jerk him around. Before he could process the movement he felt a fist slam into his face, stunning him enough to be pinned to the wall. By the time he got his bearings there was a forearm pressed against his throat and a hard body pinning the rest of him to the wall.

Blinking to clear his vision, he struggled to breathe as he finally saw who his attacker was.

"Malfoy?" He asked hoarsely.

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When I thought about it, I didn't really have a valid reason to hate him. Sure, my ideals were different from his and he rejected my friendship for someone I thought at the time to be beneath me. However, that was no reason to torment him every time I saw him.

Come to think of it, I seemed to put a lot of effort into a person I claimed to have no strong feelings for. I knew his favorite food, the sound of his laugh, how his voice fluctuated when he was angry or sad, and even went as far as to memorize his class routes every year. When asked about it I would smirk and say I was planning a grand prank. My friends would always shake their head and tell me to get a new hobby. Confused, I would shrug it off and say the best hobby is another person suffering. Often they would point out that I only ever went after one person, effectively ending the conversation.

I denied everything they said for years, claiming that I had to feeling for him. I would sputter and yell when they decided to bring up my 'crush', trying to convince them I simply wanted to make his life hell. I realized years later that I was also trying to convince myself.

During our fourth year of school together I came to realize that I had deeper feeling for the boy than I had convinced myself to believe. When I found out that the first task was facing dragons, I felt an odd pit form in my stomach. I tried to shake it off and enjoy the competition, but it seemed to grow bigger the closer his turn came. When I finally saw him emerge from the tent the pit grew into a full formed panic. I was terrified that he wouldn't be able to conquer the task.

The relief I felt when he came back from his terrifying flight around the castle, alive, is what showed me that I did not hate him. If I was being honest with myself, I loved him. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. For weeks I went around denying this and trying to show myself that I hated him. I couldn't deny it anymore after I saw him pop out of the maze with Cedric's lifeless body. It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water on me.

When we came back the next year, I had come to terms with my feelings, but had no clue how to deal with them. I had no chance of getting him to love me back. So I fell into my old routine, teasing him about fainting and pretending dementors were behind him. In hindsight, it probably didn't help my situation at all.

When Professor Moody turned me into a ferret for making fun of him I saw red. How dare he! He just sat there laughing while I was bounced up and down by that…..that….pirate!

My reaction to the incident though…well, maybe I should have thought things through.

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"I bet you thought that was hilarious, Potter. My getting thrown around like a rag doll by a bloody pirate." I seethed, unable to contain my anger.

"What?" He asked, his brows wrinkling up in confusion.

Of course! He didn't even remember the incident! I mean why would he, it had been a few days ago and he clearly didn't give a fuck about me.

My laugh came out bitter and cruel. "What? Can't bother to remember something about your enemy? You were laughing so hard at the time, you would think you'd at least remember how I got turned into a bouncing ferret."

Understanding dawned in his eyes as he struggled to breathe. My arm was pressing against his throat just hard enough to make him struggle, but not enough to strangle him.

"Malfoy, let me down. I had nothing to do with what Professor Moody did to you." He was remarkably calm for someone who had no control at the moment.

"Why should I?" I mocked, knowing he had no way out of my hold.

He rolled his eyes, making me scowl. "Then just what are you planning to do now?"

His voice was breathless and raspy due to the lack of air flow. My eyes dilated and I realized that if I held him any longer like this he would definitely notice how much I was enjoying this. Plus, I honestly had no idea what to do next.

Roughly I pushed off of him, letting him drop unceremoniously to the floor.

"Watch yourself. We can't have anything happening to the Golden Boy, now can we?" I said, trying to make my tone mocking.

He looked up at me with those bright green eyes of his in shock. "You almost sound like you care, Malfoy." He whispered.

I kept my face blank and shrugged. "You would never believe the truth even if I said to your face."

With that I pulled him to his feet and brushed him off. Not saying a word as I turned around and went back the way I came.

Maybe there was hope after all.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think! It's been quite a while since I posted something, but this story just fell out today. Next chapter will be Harry's POV!.