Another Deviant Art request!

"You need to get out." Hermione informed me darkly, making my eyes widen as all the Weasley's stared at her in shock. She sighed dramatically before saying "I mean… get out of the house. You can't hide out here forever."

I nodded then, and continued to eat my breakfast as conversation resumed in the Weasley kitchen. I took one look at Hermione and I knew this conversation was far from over. The kitchen was looking especially orange today since everyone is home; George is even downstairs hanging out with us all, he usually stays cooped up in the room that he and Fred shared together.

"Harry, I'm being serious." She hissed softly and grabbed hold of my arm. Ron glanced between us looking a bit pale, but then grabbed a biscuit and started talking to Ginny about which Quidditch team she's going to try to sign up for. It's a relatively safe topic and could keep him out of this for hours… lucky bastard.

"Look… I'm not okay, Hermione. Just let me stay here for as long as I can and face the world later. I just can't do it now." I explained softly and pressed my forehead against a cool cabinet nearby. Everyone was clearing out as no one wants to be involved in any drama, not since the war and especially not since they found out that I stuck up for all the Slytherins who had unwittingly helped Voldemort. That wasn't my fault though.

It just wasn't fair.

"But Harry… I know you need your time alone but… it's not healthy! You'll need to go out eventually and it's best to get the rush of fans out of the way now! If they get used to you then it'll be easier but… you know you're not alone in this right?" Her change in strategy annoyed me. I'd prefer the lecturing than the pity. She was leaning back against the soft brown table with a frown in place and concern in her pretty hazel eyes. It doesn't matter though. I don't want to go out; she shouldn't be trying to force me.

I like being alone, and I like not having the public chasing after me to ask questions I can't answer. A piece of me is gone, yes I died, and yes I killed him because I knew things he didn't know and couldn't have a hope of knowing. Do I want to say this over and over again? Why, of course not! What sane guy would?

"Hey mate, you got a letter." Ron said walking into the kitchen with a sheepish smile on his face as Hermione glowered at him. I took the note quickly, knowing it was my one chance at getting out of here.

"Huh, Blaise wants to go out for coffee." I said slowly and in a curious tone. I don't know Zabini that well and I thought for sure he was off hiding in a hole like Draco and his family. Apparently Blaise isn't if he's inviting the bloody Chosen One out for coffee.

"Say yes." Hermione demanded immediately causing Ron and me to look at her in mild concern. She's not known for spouting nonsense, especially three hours after she's gotten up. Her arms were crossed along with her eyes as her pointer finger began tapping on her arm, waiting for my response.

"Yeah, sure, I'll go." I said slowly and wrote a quick, 'Yes' on the letter before being dragged toward the stairs to get ready. Ron managed to grab the letter before I walked upstairs; by myself might I add, to change. It did say that whenever I send a reply, he'll go to the nearest café to me and wait there, but… I didn't have to reply so quickly! It's going to seem like I'm fucking desperate!

Standing in my room I looked around for appropriate muggle clothes before settling on a black t-shirt with some odd decorations on it and jeans with dark tennis shoes. I don't really give a damn; it's just coffee after all. Blushing lightly I glanced at myself in the mirror and tried to finger my hair in a way to make it look like less of a mess but… it didn't work, per usual. Glaring, I thrust my hands away and fastened a scowl on my face… then tried out different smiles before giving up and leaving the room. Fine, I'll just go like this then.

Stomping down the stairs, I was very annoyed to see Ginny, Ron and Hermione waiting by the front door, trying to act casual. Ginny and Hermione are amazing at this, but Ron gave them away as he glanced over at me nervously and tried to pretend like he didn't and added something completely random and obscene to the conversation about Hogwarts teachers. If he still has a girlfriend when I get back, I'll have to torture him about this embarrassing feat he managed. "You look dashing." Hermione said with a soft smile before turning back to Ginny, but the youngest Weasley was staring at me with wide, longing eyes. I smiled at her apologetically making her face redden as she looked away with a frown.

"It's fine, just go and have fun." She said abruptly and left. But I saw the bitter smile on her face, letting me know she'll get over this sooner than the others think. It was just an idol crush after all.

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to the front door and noticed that Hermione and Ron had left the room to fight over his accidental comment about what he would do to get an 'O' in school.

I should walk out this door like I do it every day. I should walk out like I know exactly what's lying beyond it. I should walk out this door with all the dignity, grace and strength that I can muster. I should walk out this door like it won't kill me to do so. Smiling softly at that thought, I opened the door. But instead of dying or walking out with dignity, I gasped in surprise at Draco Malfoy looking like he was debating something too… until he saw my face.

"Potter!" He cried, like he was the one who should be startled in this situation.

"Oh it's the ditcher." I said icily and moved to shut the door, but paused at his gaping mouth and wide eyes.

"Can you get anymore… childish?" Draco demanded looking offended.

"Ditcher." I grumbled once more and crossed my arms with a deep frown. We had a date back in school; in the middle of it he left, but he promised to be right back. He never came back. I even waited six hours for him. Yes, it was pathetic on my part, but he was the one who ditched, not me. Narrowing my green eyes, I tried to make sense of him being here.

"Well you know what? Fine! I don't have to be here, especially to see some sarcastic, idiotic, snarky man who is deemed the Chosen One!" Draco shouted angrily and turned around to leave. The word snarky… didn't sound very nice. He has to be insulting me. Being called an idiot and sarcastic… well that's not too bad, I've been called that several times. Snarky on the other hand… just sounds plain rude, and I am not snarky.

"I am not snarky!" I hissed and decided to use my own large word. "Well, you are rather farthing, aren't you?" my voice was practically dripping with mock concern. His eyes widened and I could see his mind calculating what that word could possibly mean. He's not a muggle; he probably doesn't own a dictionary. I won when it came to this word.

"You are being so rude!" Draco growled just as Hermione walked out to see the commotion.

"You're so farthing aren't you?" I asked cheekily making his eyes narrow.

"We'll you're definitely snarky." He retorted.

The brunette looked at us both in interest until finally she cleared her throat. "Farthing means 'something of small value' and snarky means 'testy or irritable.'" She informed us both, making both Draco and I gasp in horror at the same time. He's such a bastard! I'm not testy or irritable! Where the hell would he get that idea from?

"I am not something of small value, Potter." Draco spat and looked as though he was ready to hex me. I just frowned and started thinking about it. Well…in possessions he isn't, and maybe a bit in looks but… put him on the street for a couple weeks and he'd be farthing, there would be nothing about him that would make him of any worth. I still have my status since I killed Voldemort, and I'm a good guy along with hard working and willing to clean if needed to. He has none of that, especially with his name being worth less than dirt now.

"Sure you aren't." I agreed with a smile and pat his shoulder sympathetically, as though I was just trying to be nice saying that he is actually worth something way deep down… well maybe a little farther than that, nope, still not quite there. Damn, how long will it take to-oh. Well, yeah, a speck is better than nothing I guess. Huh, I've been very sarcastic today; maybe it's something I ate.

"Harry, he's probably waiting for you. It's been thirty minutes after all." Hermione said softly, making my eyes widen.

"Where are you going? Who's waiting for you?" Draco demanded, looking annoyed that we couldn't continue our bickering. I glared at him but said nothing. However, Hermione decided to answer for me. Thanks Hermione.

Seriously, where is this sarcasm coming from?

"He's going out on a date with Blaise." She informed us, causing dust to rise as power swirled dangerously in the air. I threw on a pleasant smile then Apparated out of there. I love Draco as much as the next stranger, but I really do have a place I need to be.

"Harry! What happened to your clothes?" A voice asked making me blink wearily as Blaise stood in front of me, brushing the dust off of my clothing. He was wearing some band t-shirt with a leather jacket and jeans along with some heavy boots. Who's he trying to impress? Oh… that's right. Looking up into those chocolate brown eyes, I smiled with a shrug.

"Just some lunatic wizard got mad at me for something ridiculous. So how are you doing?" I asked as he began to lead me off of the busy sidewalk and into the crowded café. Well… at least here I'm not being pushed around like I was when I went to school with Dudley. He ordered me a hot chocolate and got himself a black coffee; I almost wanted to laugh at the irony but I wasn't sure if he would get that I wasn't being racist, but simply laughing at the irony. Due to the knowledge that Hermione would hit me if I laughed, I decided not to, and instead smiled timidly while trying to relax, knowing that no muggles here knew about me.

"You look nervous." Blaise pointed out in a soft husky voice, letting me see how dark his eyes are getting. This is just coffee right? I didn't just walk into a mating ritual? I nodded slowly and took a long sip of hot chocolate, ignoring the way it burned my throat. Were these chairs always so hard and uncomfortable? And why is it that it feels like everyone is staring at us?

"Are you alright?" He asked. I replied with a nod, feeling myself flush.

I'm acting like an idiot.

"Yeah it's just… my first time being out in a while, it's a bit overwhelming." I murmured and downed the rest of the cup as my ears buzzed from all the noise. When I looked up again, his eyes were wide as though not believing what I just told him. I wouldn't really expect him to believe that the Chosen One is scared to leave his friend's house because of how he thinks the people will react. Blaise's hand cupped my own and then he leaned forward and kissed me… and the world stopped. For just one moment, and then the world waited for me to catch up to it.

That is… until someone banged up against my chair causing our teeth to smash together and for him to accidentally bite my tongue. I moaned in pain and looked around for the dumbass that caused my tongue injury. That's when I saw Draco Malfoy, glowering at us.

"Hey Draco," Blaise said pleasantly as though there was nothing wrong with his picture. He intertwined our fingers and began stroking my wrist with his other hand, making my body shiver. Why would someone touch another person there?

"I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" Draco demanded, looking highly annoyed. I couldn't pay attention for long though because a single feather-light touch of Blaises' finger tip sliding along my vein was making me arch back and close my eyes tightly while trying to pull my wrist away. It felt so weird!

"No, you're not interrupting a thing. Harry, darling, this is Draco Malfoy. I don't know if you remember him, but he really hated your guts in school and stalked you everywhere." The dark man informed me with a grin that I just managed to catch a glimpse of before closing my eyes tightly as he stroked my vein again. "He's so ticklish! No one ever touch you there? Why is your body so sensitive? Are you a virgin? Wow, I'm so glad I chose you!" He said with such delight, I was happy my eyes were closed so I couldn't see his sick and twisted expression.

"Stop it! I'm going to die!" I cried a little too loud as people began to stare at us; it was a few more than what I saw earlier. Why the hell is this stupid girly-pink-with-purple-hearts café filled with so many freaking people? I pulled myself away from Blaise as roughly as I could, but my eyes widened as I began to fall backwards. Crashing to the floor I looked up blankly as Blaise smirked while Draco rolled his eyes at me. For an odd moment, I imagined us having a threesome, but then I remembered how Draco had called me snarky and decided that, never mind. I don't want a threesome that involves him of all people.

"I'm going home, you two have fun!" I said quickly and left the café before Apparating home in a cold sweat. Ginny, Hermione and Ron were hanging out in the front waiting for me, since today is pretty cool, I'm not upset about it. Sweating up a storm I stumbled over to them and hugged Ginny tightly, "Take me I'm straight now!" I demanded angrily and hugged her tighter to me. She didn't hug me back, and instead turned to Hermione, who sighed.

"Let go of Ginny and tell us what happened." I guess that means I can't take Ginny then, fine, I didn't want her anyway. After I told them the short and pointlessly cruel story, Hermione blinked hard. "Would you be willing to consider a threesome with them?"

Storming up to my room, I slammed the door and didn't even come down when Molly Weasley tried to sort me out. Apparently, I was acting even worse than George has been lately, which means he hung out in my room to feel better about someone feeling worse than he is. This family is sick.

"Harry James Potter, what the hell is wrong with you?" A voice demanded, making me roll onto my back and stare in a mixture of shock and horror at the blond standing in the doorway. "You're nerd sent me an owl saying she's concerned about you. You've holed yourself up in this dump for a week." Malfoy spat, looking disgusted at the idea.

Recovering quickly, I pulled the blanket over myself. I'm not used to being teased, it's not my fault that it freaked me out when Blaise was stroking my fucking vein and Draco… he showed up and made me turn into stone. I can't handle this by myself, so I need to get out more and date more, but I sure as hell won't be dating the farthing ditcher!

"Go away." I growled and smiled softly into my warm blanket, it's like I'm in a little house where no one can enter but me. So it's like I'm a turtle and this is my shell, warm and safe with light looming in from the outside… it's beautiful and I love it and I'm never going to leave! Well… okay, I will leave to do things such as go to the bathroom and eat and take a shower but other than that!

"You are such a…" Malfoy stopped, apparently unable to think of an appropriate word. Suddenly, the bed creaked and I knew he was sitting on it, and in another instant he was lying with me in my little cave of warmth with light shining through the blanket. He didn't look at me, he just looked at the blanket with a soft expression on his face. "I used to do this when I was upset too. It's like your own little world where only you can enter, but Harry… all someone has to do is lift the blanket in order to shatter it." He explained as his gray eyes met my green. I frowned and looked away.

"You ditched me." I said moodily, causing him to sigh and roll his eyes, but he didn't seem to annoyed, just a bit frustrated and tired.

"Pansy, Daphne and Astoria were taking pictures to sell them to the other students and some reporters. I had to stop them. It's not my fault you got all snarky and never accepted another invitation to go out." He said as though speaking to a child. I said nothing and just took it all in.

"I didn't like that day very much… you know, last week." Draco informed me with a glower as he tried to burn holes through the green and red blanket. I stared at him and then began to toy with the silky covers that were lying lazily over us.

"What bugged you? Me calling you a farthing ditcher, or the thing with Blaise," I asked quickly, knowing his answer will mean the difference between whether or not I'll get out of bed today. He glanced over at me and then sat up abruptly, causing the blanket to fall so it was only covering our legs. Punching me in the chest, though not nearly as hard as he could have, he glared at my shirt.

"Both." He said darkly, then jumped out of my bed and started to leave. I tried to be cool and graceful but in the end I fell to the ground with a loud thud, causing Draco to turn around and look at me with a mixture of shock and amusement. Then Ron burst through the door with Ginny close at hand. I didn't see Hermione, which means that this will probably get out of hand, and very quickly too.

"You hurt Harry!" Ron cried as his face began to turn as red as his hair. Ginny balled up her fists and glared at Draco as he paled and looked at them both frantically, as though trying to figure a way out of this without killing them. I must admit, it made me happy to see he's trying so hard, but even so, they're going to kill him if he doesn't do something soon.

"I didn't hurt him!" Draco spat and took out his wand just as the other two took out theirs. Standing up slowly, I started to brush myself off as they began to yell back and forth. Ginny was acting as though I was some weak child, Ron as though I was just waiting for someone to rape me, and Draco acted like it'd be disgusting to do anything with me in the first place.

"He didn't hurt me." I spoke up just as Hermione walked into the room. She glanced between us, then placed herself between the Weasleys and Draco Malfoy. "I just fell off the bed." I explained and scratched the back of my head, causing Draco to snort. "So… would you give me another chance? I swear I won't be a dick next time if you ditch me." I said making Malfoy smirk and look me over.

"Of course, because you'll be my bitch."