Chapter 2: Presence

After the great feast of the first day of term, all the students took the familiar routes to their house common rooms. Gryffindor's was on the 7th floor, giving them the furthest to go.

While all the Gryffindor's started their yearly catch-ups, Harry found himself getting lost in conversations with several people. He loved being back at Hogwarts more than words could describe. It was the only place he felt he really belonged and could be himself. Seamus was brought up in the muggle world, like Harry, so they had a lot in common. Harry found he could talk to Seamus about a lot of things. Right at this minute, the topic was football. Harry wasn't a huge fan of football but he wasn't completely reserved to watching it. Seamus however spent most of his Summer doing nothing but watching West Brom games. Harry was trying his best to look interested as Seamus was talking about an "absolute scorcher" of a goal when an owl came through the open window and dropped a letter right on Harry's lap.

He recognised the familiar scrawl immediately. It was Hagrid, the gameskeeper of Hogwarts and good friend of Harry's.

Fancy popping to the hut for a cup of tea? It's been a while.

Hagrid

A smile grew across Harry's face as he realised Hagrid had missed him. His body filled with warmth.

"Sorry, Seamus, I've got to go," Harry interrupted.

"Oh, bye then," came Seamus's reply, feeling put out.

Harry went up to the boys' dormitory to grab his cloak and, just in case, his invisibility cloak. He didn't want to be caught out of bed late after all.

As he strolled down the stairs, Harry's mind was taken by how much Hagrid's friendship actually meant to him. Without Hagrid being so blunt to the Dursley's when he was 11, Harry probably wouldn't even be in Hogwarts right now. How different would his life have been? Just as Harry was starting to contemplate life without magic, he was shocked to be knocked back by a barrier. The feeling of surprise quickly turned into something else as he realised exactly what his barrier was.

It was Draco Malfoy.

Whatever Harry saw in Malfoy in the Great Hall had reappeared, and Harry felt himself blushing, but he couldn't think why.

"Watch where you're going, Potter," Malfoy spat. "Thinking up new ways to get you noticed this year?"

"No, actually," Harry said boldy, though he wasn't feeling so bold. "I was thinking of curses to cast for the next time I ran into you. Lucky for you, I didn't get very far."

"Oh please. A first year Hufflepuff has more chance against me than you."

Harry wasn't listening. He was staring into those sharp, piercing, silver grey eyes. His legs had gone to jelly and he was struggling to think of anything other than Malfoy.

"Potter! Anyone would think you'd been petrified. Why are you staring? Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude?" Malfoy sneered, knowing full well Harry's mother was murdered when he was young.

Harry had a feeling he knew exactly why he was staring at this Slytherin boy, who he should despise, but he didn't want to admit it to himself, let alone Malfoy. So instead he opted for "Leave my mother out of this."

"Or what?" Malfoy took a step forward and closed the gap between the two. Just his presence made the hairs on the back of Harry's neck stand up and there was a twinkle in Malfoy's eyes.

"Oh, you'll see," Harry said coolly. And with that, he pushed Malfoy aside to gain passage. He had to get out of there. Harry couldn't take much more of being that close.

When he thought he was completely clear of Malfoy, he turned to take one last look at the boy who was giving Harry chills, only to find Malfoy doing exactly the same thing. Malfoy suddenly went bright red and, as quickly as he could, turned round and hurried to his destination.

This confused Harry a lot, and the rest of his journey to Hagrid's hut was spent wondering why Malfoy watched him. And why did he look so embarrassed when he was caught? Could he feel what Harry's feeling? Or is that just wishful thinking?

Hagrid's rock cakes pushed these thoughts out of Harry's mind. And he enjoyed the catchup with one of his closest friends.