A/N: PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A MOTIVE IN THIS NARRATIVE WILL BE PROSECUTED; PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A MORAL IN IT WILL BE BANISHED; PERSONS ATTEMPTING TO FIND A PLOT IN IT WILL BE SHOT.
-BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR
Yes, I just coined a quote from Mark Twain.
Harry didn't want to see the problem. He knew it was there, he just didn't want to acknowledge it.
He had a crush. A boy-crush, no less ...on Draco Malfoy. Jesus, Ron was going to kill him. Hermione, of course, was the one to point out that he was drawing little snakes on the inside of his potions book, the only class he had with Draco this year.
Harry had the dignity to look horrified and began scribbling furiously. Hermione laughed at him and just went back to her homework, saying "Don't worry, I know not to tell Ron. Just don't let him see that book." She grinned at him over the top of the book that she was reading for Arithmancy.
Harry glared at her before grabbing his books and going to the boys' dormitory, the sound of her laughter following him all the way up the stairs and into the room only to be blocked by the door shutting behind him.
Harry tried to think back to when his crush on Draco began and couldn't. He surmised that it was a very old crush that was just now asserting itself in his concious mind.
'Damn!' he thought to himself as he fell back onto his bed. 'Why do I have to have a crush on Draco-Bloody-Malfoy?'
'Because you like his hair' an evil little voice in his head answered.
'Go away' Harry told it in annoyance as he sat up to stare out the window. It was Saturday and he could hear the voices of the happy students enjoying their weekend outside. He picked up his potions book again to get to work on the 18-inch essay on demiguise hair that Snape had set the day before.
Harry had written about 6 inches and could find nothing else to write. How did you write an 18-inch essay on the properties of demiguise hair?
Draco's face flashed into Harry's mind like fire and wiped out any cohearant thought that may have at one point crossed his brain.
"Hey, Harry?" a familiar voice asked.
Harry jumped. "Wh-what?" he asked, not having quite recovered all of his brain from thoughts of Draco yet.
"You ok? You looked really spaced, mate," Seamus said. "I thought you were gonna float away."
"Uh ...yeah, I'm fine," Harry replied, mentally berrating himself for his lack-mindedness.
Seamus gave him a skeptical look and went to his trunk. Harry watched him pull out a few quills and an inkwell before he lay back on his bed again.
Harry heard Seamus leave and then remembered the potions homework again. He groaned and sat up again, pulling over his book and parchment.
Ten minutes later, he slammed the book down in disgust. "Screw it, I'm going outside," he said aloud as he put on his shoes and walked out of the dormitory. Hermione gave him a reproachful look but he ignored it and pushed open the portrait hole.
He made it all the way to the entrance hall before someone stopped him.
"Harry! Hey, Harry, wait up!" Ron came running out of the Great Hall. "Did you finish the Charms essay?"
"Which one?" Flitwick had assigned them 3 essays to test their memory, one on Cheerin Charms, one on Wingardium Leviosa, and one on something which Harry couldn't remember and would have to ask Hermione about later.
"The one on Cheering Charms," Ron replied looking rather annoyed at the fact that Flitwick had assigned them homework on a weekend.
"Yeah, Hermione helped me," Harry informed his red-headed friend. "She's still in the common room if you want to do it now."
"Thanks." Ron went off in the direction of the Gryfindor common room, and Harry continued out the door.
Harry walked across the grounds and to the lake at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. He sat under a tree on the far side of the lake and just stared out at the water. It was still warm enough that some of the students were swimming in the water. Harry watched idly as the giant squid playfully grasped one of the students around the waist and lifted them in the air.
"Well, if it isn't baby-Potty," came the drawling voice of one Draco Malfoy. "Crying to Skeeter again, Potter?"
Harry rolled his eyes and continued to stare out over the water. 'Gee, thanks you old hag' he thought to himself, resolutely ignoring the object of his decidedly misguided affections, afraid he might say something embarrassing if he opened his mouth.
"Aw, is Potty going to start crying again?" Draco's cronies snickered on either side of him.
Harry risked opening his mouth and was happy to hear that it didn't fail him, "Sod off, Malfoy. I don't really want to argue with you right now." He closed his eyes and rested his head on the tree. He heard the rustle of robes and cracked open an eye to see Draco moving for his wand.
Harry let his own wand slide easily into his palm and had it aimed at Draco's pretty face before the blonde had even gotten his half way up.
Draco was smart for once. He put his wand away with a snort and turned and walked away.
Harry sighed and covertly watched him go, his heart feeling just a little heavy with the knowledge that they would never get along, let alone live out some of the fantasies that Harry'd been entertaining lately. Then ,realizing this thought, he smacked his head hard on the tree with disgust.
"Damn it," he said to himself. "What's wrong with me?"
"A lot," came a familiar voice.
"But we won't bum you out even more by listing them," came another.
Harry smiled. "Hey Fred, hey George." He glanced to the left to find the Weasley twins walking toward him.
"What's got the best seeker we've had in years so down in the dumps?" Fred sat down next to him and threw an arm over his shoulders. George did the same on his other side.
"Definitely nothing I'm going to tell you guys." Harry grinned at each of them and stood up letting their arms fall from his shoulders. "Later, guys, I've got homework to do."
"Bye, Harry," they both replied at the same time in that weird twin way of theirs.
The twins continued to sit under the tree as Harry made his way back around the lake to the school.
Harry was unaware of the stormy grey eyes that followed him all the way through the front door.
A/N: How do you like it? I'll have another chapter up next week sometime. Review please, I love you all!!
