Disclaimer: the Harry Potter books are not mine. I just like writing fanfiction about them.
A/N: I'm back, with HPDM fanfiction! I really should update more often... anyway, fluffy bunnies abound in this Hogwarts-era fic. Also, this story occurred because I actually had Ron's "nightmare" about the girl who sits in front of me in Science class. It was a very frightening dream, honestly!
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"I've finally found you, Potter," a familiar voice resounded through the room. Harry Potter had come here, to the very top of the Astronomy Tower, to be at peace and watch the stars. He turned around at the unexpected intrusion.
"Malfoy? What the bloody hell are you doing here-" Harry's question was interrupted because on Draco Malfoy, infamous Ice Prince of Slytherin House, decided to use that moment to attempt to snog the living daylights out of Harry Potter.
It was a searing, passionate kiss. Malfoy's cloying tongue pushed its way into Harry's mouth and explored ferociously. Harry, to his own surprise, found himself kissing back for some bizarre reason that his brain failed to process because what with him kissing Draco bloody Malfoy who was doing that thing with his tongue… and it felt so… so good…
The two boys had to pause for air after a while, but they went back at it soon enough, and much fondling of clothes was taking place. Harry tore at the extremely irritating barrier of Draco's clothing-
--
"Merlin!" Harry yelled, sitting upright in his bed.
Ron Weasley looked up from the next bed in the room, not seeming terribly sleepy for one who had apparently just been woken up by Harry's screaming.
"What? You had a nightmare too? There must be a curse or something on this bed…" Ron said, "I couldn't fall back asleep after that… it was horrible…"
"Yes," Harry answered, hesitantly, "A nightmare… What was yours about?"
"Well, it was awful," Ron said, his face scrunched up in concentration as he recalled the 'awful' dream, "You see, we were in Potions class with that bloody bastard Snape. You, me, and Hermione, that is. And we were brewing some foul-smelling potion like we usually are, and I asked Hermione, who was sitting in front of me, for some help- you know I'm no good at Potions- and she turned around, obviously about to say something. And she had a mustache! A big, bushy, brown mustache, of all things, was plastered like a slug on her face!" Ron paused here for dramatic effect.
Harry was having trouble holding back his laughter at Ron's so-called 'nightmare.'
"And I gasped, because I wasn't expecting something like- like that- of all things, to be on Hermione's face," Ron continued, "So everyone turns around at my gasp, to stare at me. And they all had mustaches! It was a bloody epidemic, I swear! Harry! Some sympathy might help! Honestly, it wasn't funny at all, it was dreadful!" Ron gestured wildly around with his hands.
Harry was still stifling his laughter at Ron's ridiculous retelling of his dream.
"So of course I couldn't go back to sleep after something like that. But now that I've told you, I might be able to," Ron mused, "What was yours about, anyway? Your nightmare, I mean."
"I really can't remember now, Ron. Thanks for your concern," Harry lied, his conscience berating him all the while. He felt bad about it, but he didn't want Ron to think weird things about him. Besides, it was only one dream. It was totally normal for a hormonal seventeen-year-old to have bizarre dreams like that once in a while.
"Oh well. I'll go back to sleep and you ought to do the same, Harry," Ron said, turning over so that his back faced Harry.
Harry sighed, and went back to sleep, hoping that a certain stormy-eyed blonde Slytherin would no longer haunt his dreams.
--
The next morning Harry approached the Great Hall for breakfast in a rush. He had slept late and Ron hadn't bothered to wake him. Harry pushed past people, vaguely noticing who he was shoving aside. He barely registered trying to elbow somebody standing and blocking the doors to the Hall out of the way. However, the person did not bulge and they were in Harry's way, so Harry gave another shove.
"Watch it, Potter!" the person drawled. Harry realized belatedly and to his utter mortification that he had elbowed Draco Malfoy, current object of Harry's dreams.
Harry's rival instincts took over and he glared at Malfoy defiantly, spitting out, "Well, maybe you shouldn't stand there like an arse and block the door to people who are trying not to be late to class!"
With that, Harry ran into the hall and began to shovel food on his plate and devour it soon after. Just because Malfoy wasn't taunting him as much lately, after the War, didn't mean that he, Harry, would stop disdaining Malfoy. In his conscious state, at least. He was probably going to be late anyway, as his confrontation with Draco had wasted precious minutes. Wait, 'Draco?' When the hell did I start calling Malfoy 'Draco?' Even in my head? Harry though, shaking his head, It must be some weird side effect of that dream.
Harry wondered why Dra- Malfoy had been right outside the Great Hall so close to class time without his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Perhaps he was waiting for someone? This train of thought sent a stab of annoyance through Harry, who immediately wondered why. Why should he be aggravated at Malfoy and whoever the git was meeting outside the Great Hall? It struck Harry that it shouldn't have mattered one bit to him, but strangely enough, it did. He pondered this for a while until he realized that he was already rather late to Potions, and Snape would take off Merlin-knows how many points from Gryffindor if he was later. So Harry rushed to class, deciding that later he would talk to Hermione about his weird dream and the feelings that came with it. Hermione would know what he needed. She knew everything.
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Arriving in Potions class, Harry took his regular seat next to Ron and behind Malfoy while Snape scolded him for being late for the umpteenth time this year. The professor took off twenty points from Gryffindor for having "such an irresponsible poster boy." Malfoy and his Slytherin buddies in the front row snickered at Harry's plight. Eventually, Snape got around to talking about the potion they were making that day in class. Naturally, since Harry's partner was Ron, their potion was completely off. It was a bright pink color instead of the deep blue that was the color of the demonstrative model that Snape made earlier.
Snape saw this bizarre hue and immediately took off another ten points from Gryffindor and gave Ron and Harry failing grades for that potion.
This day just couldn't get any better, Harry thought sarcastically, as he made his way out of the dungeons and trudged to his next class. It was just his fortune to have Divination in the highest room in the castle besides for the room at the top of the Astronomy Tower right after having Potions at the very bottom of Hogwarts, the dungeons. Besides that, Professor Trelawny was constantly prophesizing his doom and him causing the general wizarding world to fall into complete despair. This generally did not put Harry in the brightest mood.
Harry was halfway there when he noticed that somebody seemed to be following him, albeit very sneakily so that he hadn't noticed their presence until then. He turned a random corner into an abandoned hallway that wasn't on his route to Divination, to make sure that the person was really tailing him and not somebody else. Sure enough, he could here light footsteps behind him if he listened closely. Harry suddenly turned around, bent on figuring out who could possibly be pursuing him. To his own astonishment, he looked into the stunned, deer-in-headlights face of none other than Draco Malfoy. The blonde recovered quickly, however, again assuming his superior air.
"Malfoy! What the hell are you following me for? Is this some kind of elaborate plan to kill me? Where are your cronies?" the questions poured out of Harry. Rivals weren't supposed to tail each other like lovesick puppies.
Malfoy, looking slightly guilty under his normal, calm, I-am-the-Ice-Prince-and-you-are-all-beneath-me facade, replied, "This isn't a plan to kill you, Potter. Crabbe and Goyle aren't here. I'm tailing you because I feel like it and I am bored."
"You're sneaking around, following me, because you are bored and you feel like it?" Harry asked, extremely irritated, "Malfoy, people do not randomly spy on others because they are bored, and tail them. And aren't you going to harass me, or torment me, or make me late to class, or some other stupid git-like thing to do that would suit you perfectly? Don't you have better things to do?"
"Potter- Harry, listen. I am not 'people,' thus, I do randomly spy on others because I am bored and then tail them. I am not going to harass you or torment you because I am sick and tired of this dumb rivalry. It was fun before the War when we didn't know how bad things could get, but now it's just stupid. And no, I don't have better things to do, as was explained by my boredom," Malfoy explained.
"Well, do you have any other reason? Because if you don't, go stalk somebody else. I have to get to class because I've already lost enough points from Gryffindor for being late today, thanks to somebody," Harry told Draco sternly, and the Slytherin flinched at the last comment.
"Sorry, Potter, if your idiot roommates didn't see fit to wake you up before the actual start of class," Malfoy sneered, but then softened, "Yes, I do have another reason. But I don't think I'm going to tell you it, since you have such a dire need to get to your next class, and that would be holding you up."
"Fine, then," Harry walked away, exasperated. He could feel Malfoy's stare burning a hole in the back of his head, and although Harry really wanted to know the Ice Prince's ulterior motive to following him, he had to get to Divination.
--
In Divination, Trelawny the bat-woman declared that Harry was going to bring destruction to everything he loves and die in the pursuit of justice. Harry just ignored her proclamations, used to them by now. He had believed her a little bit the first few times, but now he just didn't care about her ranting. He had spent the class staring into his crystal ball. The class was attempting to see glimpses of the future in the spheres. Harry looked, and it was empty for most of the time he was there. However, towards the end, Harry had seen glimpses of himself and… Draco Malfoy? Yes, that had definitely been him. And in the crystal ball, he was striding over to Harry, who was turned, facing away, and twisting him around. Then Draco had pushed forward and crashed his lips against Harry's. Harry figured it looked something like what his dream probably looked like from a third person's perspective. Still, if that was the future, Harry figured he had better go ask Hermione what the bloody hell was wrong with him, and soon.
So, after that class, Harry went to the Great Hall for lunch and ate quickly, asking Hermione, who had finished some time ago, to speak with him alone. Ron probably wouldn't get it.
"Yes, Harry? What is it? I heard that you had a nightmare last night," Hermione began. They were in an abandoned hallway.
"Well, not really a nightmare, I would say, more of a… very strange dream," Harry started, biting his lip, "Ah, Hermione, do you think it is normal for me to dream about kissing-"
"Harry, that is perfectly normal. You are a teenage boy with hormones. Honestly, didn't you pay any attention to those Physical Education lessons?" Hermione asked, rolling her eyes.
"It's not just kissing, Hermione. If it were just kissing, I wouldn't have to talk to you about it. It's kissing another male. A particular, blonde, grey eyed, Slytherin male," Harry explained.
"You've been dreaming about kissing Draco Malfoy?!" Hermione exclaimed.
"Sh! Not so loud," Harry shushed her, "I've only dreamed about it once… but then, in Divination, I saw myself kissing him in the crystal ball. We were supposed to be seeing the future…" Harry trailed off.
Hermione calmed down a bit, answering him, "If you've only dreamed it once, it would have been nothing. But if you saw it in the future, that's another matter altogether. Harry, I think that you have feelings for Draco."
"I knew that much before. I just thought the feelings were hatred and disgust," Harry remarked with a bitter laugh, "And now I have no idea what they are."
"Harry, you know perfectly well what those feelings are. You like, maybe even love, Draco Malfoy," she said matter-of-factly what Harry was so afraid to hear.
"But I can't love him! He's… he's Malfoy," Harry sputtered, aghast at this prospect, "And besides, everyone knows those crystal balls are faulty…"
"Harry, face it. It'll be easier on you if you just accept it. And anyway, I'll cheer for you no matter what you attempt, so I think you should go for it. Try to get Malfoy as your boyfriend. Who knows? He might even like you. It's no secret that he's bisexual," Hermione handled the issue surprisingly well, after getting over her initial shock.
"Okay, I'll do that," as he expected, Harry felt much more sure of himself after having talked to Hermione.
"Good luck, Harry. You know I'm rooting for you," Hermione said, turning and walking back into the Great Hall to talk to Ron.
Harry began to walk back to the Gryffindor Common Room, having an hour or so left before his next class. However, after several minutes striding through an empty hallway, Harry noticed that, sure enough, somebody was following him. He knew who it was, this time.
"Malfoy, get the hell out to where I can see you. I know it's you, and I demand to know what your 'other reason' for following me is, so out with it," Harry said, still really unsure how Hermione meant for him to "get" Malfoy.
Clapping resounded, "Well done, Potter. You've managed to detect my presence in marginally less time than it took you the last time I tailed you. As for my 'other reason,' why do you want to know?"
"It would be nice to know that the person stalking me has a legitimate reason for it," Harry pointed out, turning to face Draco and whipping out his wand. He wanted Malfoy to see that he was meant business and needed to know the real reason behind the stalking.
"Very well, then. Po- Harry, put the wand down, please. It's hard enough to say this without a piece of wood shoved in my face," Draco sighed, "Harry, I think I like you, and perhaps even love you. I have since right after the War last year. There. Are you going to run to your friends and denounce me as a flaming homosexual stalker, now?"
Harry's mind was still reeling from Draco's revelation. His thoughts came sluggishly, and Draco began to walk away, sighing all the time about how it was a 'stupid idea' and 'badly planned.'
Then Harry's brain started functioning again, quickly going into overdrive, "Wait, Malfoy! Er, Draco! Stop!"
Malfoy turned around, obviously shocked at Harry's use of his first name and the fact that Harry didn't seem as negative to this revelation as he had seemed to be originally, "What is it, Harry? I just bloody gave you a love confession. What more could you possibly want from me?"
Harry caught up to him, and said, "Well, a chance to say I'm sorry would be nice. I'm sorry for being such a jerk a lot of the time, but that's my rival side kicking in. I'm not going to tell my friends that I have a crazy homosexual stalker. Also, well… ah, I think that I like you too, Draco. But I only just found out about it a day ago and-"
After the immense relief that Harry wasn't going to tell his friends had washed over Draco, he realized that Harry actually liked him back. And he didn't let Harry finish his sentence because at that point, Draco grabbed Harry's tie and pulled him in order to bring their lips together.
This, Harry thought dimly, is better than any dream.
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I hope you liked it. Comments? Critique?
Flames will be used in order to toast Poptarts. I'm all out of marshmallows.