Harry Potter and the Fluffy Bunny
What happens when the Dark Lord is reduced to a state of helplessness? Harry is a Slytherin and Draco has a pet rabbit?
Warnings: mentions of past abuse and neglect. There will be slash later in the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters I simply like to play in the wonderful world that was created. If I owned it, it would have ended differently as that is not the case.. Also I in no way condone the treatment of any person infant, child or adult the way most fans perceive the Dursleys treatment of Harry. This is simply a story about a fictional character in a fictional world.
It was a quiet evening in the Hogwarts dormitories. Every one of the students asleep on the first night of the new school year. All the students accept one Harry James Potter. He sat on his bed in the Slytherin dorms clutching a small stuffed rabbit and trying not to panic. There had been an uproar in the Great Hall tonight when the boy-who-forgot-to-die was sorted into the Slytherin house. No one could believe it, the boy sworn to be their savior was sorted into the house of evilness or at least that's what they would all say.
Tears rolled down his cheeks as the young boy snuggled the bunny impossibly tighter. He was trying to hold back the wave of hysteria he was bordering on. No one had even clapped for him when he was sorted into his house, they had all just stared on, silently judging. This had been the start of another bad evening for Harry; however, it had been worse than the years of abuse and neglect at the hands of the Dursleys. Here he was in a school of magic and yet he was still treated as the freak they had said he was all those years. He had hoped upon originally learning there were others like him that they had been wrong. Instead he was convinced now more than ever that they were right, he was nothing special and he would never amount to anything. No one would ever want anything more than to torture him in some form.
The young boy started shaking violently as the panic began to spiral out of control. Blood drummed in his ears and he was hugging the stuffed animal so tightly to his chest now that he was probably hindering his breathing. Just then a light touch on his shoulder jerked him out of his waking nightmare. He looked up to see a boy his age with blonde hair. Harry was still full of panic but the light touch seemed to calm him in a way. He looked up at the blonde, knowing his face would give him away, it always did.
"Hello, my name is Draco." The boy said, smiling lightly at him. Draco daintily perched on the bed beside Harry. The blonde was being, well, rather nice to him but he could not bring himself to respond. Which seemed to be alright with the boy because he simply continued on talking softly.
"I see you like rabbits." Was what he said next as he nodded his head towards the stuffed animal. "I find them to be quite fascinating creatures, as well as being adorable." Draco paused for a moment giving him time to respond if he wanted too but it seemed he was quite happy to let this conversation be one sided.
"I actually have a pet rabbit who is rather interesting. His fur is jet black and he has these dark colored eyes and of course he is pretty fluffy. Maybe tomorrow you would like to meet him?" By this time Harry had finally stopped shaking and was listening with interest to the other boy. He nodded shakily to the previous question. Harry expected the blonde to just leave now but instead he lay down on the opposite side of the large bed.
"We should get some sleep, good night Harry."
Slowly he accepted the new situation and, laying down as well. Snuggled up with his stuffed bunny and his new friend close by, he was finally able to sleep.
Harry woke early in the morning as was his usual schedule; it seemed he was the only one up so early. However, that was the best nights sleep he had in a long while. He had never had the privilege of sleeping in such a grand bed before. Whimpering slightly at the memories, the boy sat up and began taking in his surroundings. His stirring around caused Draco to wake and sit up rubbing his eyes tiredly.
"What are you doing up so early?" The boy asked, almost annoyed. Harry just sat there frozen, clearly unwilling to answer the question. "Nevermind," The blonde sighed. "Might as well get up and prepare for the day. It is the first day of classes after all. I at least want to make a good impression."
With that Draco left to go take a shower. Harry glanced around curiously, taking in the four large beds in the room. Everything in the room had the color scheme of emerald green, silver and black. There were two other boys whom they shared the dorm with. He remembered them from the sorting; they were Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. Harry wasn't used to being around so many people all at once.
He had never been sent to school before this and had only learned how to read and write because Mrs Figg taught him. The Dursleys would drop him off with her whenever they went on vacations or trips that required all of them to leave home. Now, it was no secret that Mrs Figg was a huge cat person. However, she also had a pet bunny who had quickly become young Harry's favorite animal. The boy stood and made the bed up quietly. Draco returned from the bathroom just as Harry finished making up the bed.
"You don't have to do that Harry." The blonde said in confusion. "That's what the house elves are for." He paused for a moment probably realising that the raven had no idea what a house elf was. "Come on then. Time to get ready for the day. Then you can meet my bunny." Draco turned away with a smile on his face and walked over to his bed. He sat down waiting for Harry to change. The raven turned his back to Draco and pulled out his uniform, the only clothes he had that fit, and began dressing. As he changed shirts the blonde couldn't help but notice all the bruises, confirming his suspicion about the other boys past.
Once dressed, Harry approached Draco's side of the room timidly. The blonde just smiled and hopped off the bed to pull a nice cage out from under it. He gently took the rabbit out of it's cage and held it. The rabbit was as he said: black as night with dark eyes. The eyes didn't seem very friendly but somehow that didn't faze Harry in the slightest.
"Here he is. This is Jasper." Draco introduced the rabbit. Harry smiled softly, eyes not leaving the small fluffy critter. "You can hold him if you like?"
The boy looked up surprised and slowly he took the rabbit gently from the blonde's grasp. He grinned at the feel of soft fur under his hands. Harry pulled the rabbit to his chest and sat down on the bed so he could set Jasper in his lap.
"He's a handsome rabbit." Harry said, it was the first thing Draco had heard the boy say. The rabbit sat up a little bit at the praise, causing the boys to laugh. "Yes I was talking about you. Such a smart little bunny aren't you?"
That was the moment Zabini and Nott chose to introduce themselves. Blaise was the first up, noticing the 'Golden Boy' playing with a rabbit. He walked over to the two boys and stood in front of Harry.
"Hi, I'm Blaise." He said, holding his hand out for the boy to shake. Harry just looked at him nervously before gently cradling the bunny to his chest as if to protect himself. "It's okay Harry, Blaise is actually a very nice person. We've been friends all our lives, since our parents were and are very good friends." Draco tried to calm the raven down since he seemed to have come to trust him. Harry nodded to Blaise with a small smile on his face.
"What's this?" A sarcastically mocking voice said. "The Boy-Who-Lived can't even shake hands with someone in his own house?" Theodore Nott had just picked a target for his bullying. Draco turned and glared at him. "Drop it Nott." He practically growled. "This is none of your concern." The blonde was angry that Nott had decided to pick on the boy he already considered as his brother.
Harry's day didn't get any better. Not too long after the incident with Theo, they had to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. As soon as the Wizarding World's Savior walked through the door with the two Slytherins the entire hall started to whisper. Harry wasn't stupid and knew when he was being talked about and he hated it. That is how the rest of the day proceeded for the young boy. On the bright side, that night in the dorm Draco told Harry that he expected him to care for Jasper. The raven smiled joyously and hugged the blonde.
"Thank you Draco." Was the first whispered words he had spoken directly to his new friend.
Well what do you all think? This is the first story I've written of this nature but I think it turned out pretty well. Please review :) Next chapter should be up soon.