(A/N: Hi there! Thank you to all of my awesome reviewers and to iheartkenji who encouraged me to post this next chap today :D Enjoy and review pleeeaase!)
A very weary Harry Potter sat at the breakfast table the next morning, yawning every now and again and pushing his eggs around on his plate. He hadn't gotten much sleep at all the night before due to his fear of saying something embarrassing while he was unconscious. Ron was busy, messily devouring his toast, but Hermione was watching her raven-haired friend like a hawk.
"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked, making him jump.
"Nothing, I'm just tired is all," he yawned, "Nightmares, you know…"
"You're having them again?"
"It's nothing to worry about."
A moment of silence passed before: "What's that on your neck?"
Heat rushed to Harry's face and he leapt up from the table. "Nothing! I have to go…I mean…I'm not hungry. See you in class." He nearly ran from the Great Hall and spent the rest of the period trying to pull himself together.
Potions class was a nightmare. When he arrived, he saw that the space next to Malfoy had been filled by Blaise Zabini so he took up his old spot next to Ron and Hermione. He suspected that Snape was behind the new seating arrangement and he was sort of grateful. Every now and again, he would glance up at the blond and his heart would start pounding. This frightened him and what frightened him more was the bruise beneath Draco's right eye. Had Snape been the cause of that too? Anger boiled up inside of him like a monster about to rip out of his chest. He hadn't expected to be so angry because of something bad happening to his enemy. …But were they still enemies? Harry was so confused that his stomach hurt. He chanced another look at Draco and his heart nearly stopped when cold silvery eyes met his gaze. Harry whipped his head back around and knew that his face must be as red as a beet.
"I've got to stop thinking about Draco," he told himself firmly…only…when had he become Draco? Sure he had begun to call him that out loud but never in his personal thoughts. Harry considered feigning illness to get out of class.
"SHUT UP!" Harry almost fell out of his chair at the outburst and all heads turned to gape at Draco Malfoy, the one who had screamed.
He was glaring menacingly at Blaise who looked taken aback. Silence descended on the room as Draco picked up his things and stormed out, leaving a very befuddled Slughorn to call the class back to attention. If Harry was having trouble paying attention before, it was nothing compared to this. What could Zabini have said to make him that upset? They were friends after all, weren't they? For a split second, he thought of chasing Draco to confront him but he refrained, thinking of how that might look. He probably wanted to be alone anyway.
***
Harry didn't see Draco in the Great Hall for lunch, nor did he see him at dinner. He sat and tried his best to listen to Hermione rant about something or other but he just couldn't focus. Discretely as he could manage, he looked back toward the Slytherin table but the blond boy was still not there. "That's it," he decided silently and stood up from the table.
"What's got into you, mate?" Ron asked.
"Nothing," Harry lied, "I just forgot that I have a meeting with Dumbledore this evening."
Ron seemed to accept this but Hermione was eyeing him skeptically. She was exceedingly too clever sometimes. Harry started toward the door at a quick pace and threw a "seeya" over his shoulder before she could ask any questions. Harry pulled out the Marauders' Map once again and looked for Draco's dot. It was not on the seventh floor like he had expected and not in the dungeons. Just as he was about to come to the conclusion that he had gone into the Room of Requirement, he spotted him outside by the lake.
He considered for a moment that perhaps he should just leave him alone, but that is not what Gryffindors do. Harry made it out of the castle, for it was not truly dark yet but he was under the invisibility cloak just in case. As he was headed down to the lake, he spotted a figure seated at the base of a tree near the waters' edge (one of Harry's favorite spots), his head turned towards the setting sun. Harry decided to remove the cloak so it wouldn't look like he was spying on him. He stowed it in his pocket, along with the map, and walked down towards the person he was sure to be Draco.
The other boy jolted and turned towards him abruptly at the sound of Harry's foot crunching a stick beneath it. He didn't appear to be surprised and didn't even smile. Harry approached, albeit cautiously, and stood nearby.
"Mind if I sit down?" he asked quietly. Draco didn't respond so Harry took it for indifference, settling himself down beside him.
Draco didn't look at him, just kept watching the sunset over water. Harry couldn't help but notice the way his hair appeared to be made of gold and that he seemed to glow with an ethereal quality. He swallowed hard, trying desperately to make those thoughts disappear. He didn't want to believe he had a…crush…on Draco Malfoy.
Feeling incredibly awkward, Harry leapt into questioning, "So…what was that fight between you and Snape really about?"
"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped coldly.
"You never want to talk about anything," Harry accused just as frostily.
"Well maybe you should get your obnoxious Gryffindor nose out of my business!" This was the first time he had turned to look at Harry and he regretted it instantly. Harry was looking at him with those bright green eyes that were full of hurt. Never had the other boy been truly hurt by something Draco said.
Harry didn't respond with a cruel retort but bowed his head so as not to have to look at him anymore. He couldn't understand why Draco's words had twisted his heart into a knot but he could feel the heavy ache of it in his chest. He couldn't stand this!
"I guess I'll leave you to your thoughts then," he uttered quietly and made to leave but Draco's hand caught his wrist before he could get away.
Reluctantly, he raised his eyes to meet the blond boy's again, his confusion and pain mirrored in their silvery-blue depths. "I…" Draco began and paused, biting his lip.
"You…?" Harry asked after a moment.
The Slytherin averted his eyes and released Harry's wrist, "Nothing."
Rage suddenly boiled up inside him and Harry couldn't stop himself from shouting, "No! Not 'nothing'! When there's something to say, go on and say it! Don't be such a bloody coward!"
Draco lashed out, grabbing Harry's shirt and pulled him to the ground once again. He quickly straddled the other boy's hips and pinned his arms down so he couldn't struggle. "I am NOT a coward!" Before Harry could speak, Draco's lips were silencing him with a crushing kiss that stole his very breath away. He hadn't realized how much he had missed the feeling until he heard himself emit a soft moan which was devoured by Draco's hot mouth. Their tongues battled for dominance, more roughly than before, and the Slytherin released his wrists in order to rove his hands over Harry's form. One of them found the other boy's most private area and squeezed almost viciously.
Harry cried out, arching off the ground, unintentionally pressing himself flush against Draco's body. Draco shuddered and grinded his hips into Harry's involuntarily, revealing how very interested he was in the other boy. Said boy could not deny his own prominent interest either.
"D-Draco…what are we…" Harry stuttered, trying to form a coherent thought.
"Shut up," the blond hissed before claiming his lips once again, kissing and biting them possessively.
Harry liked to think he was being overpowered and there was nothing he could possibly do to stop it…but he knew that was not the case. It merely eased his troubled mind not to think of all the obscene things he wanted to do to the Slytherin that played themselves out behind his firmly closed eyelids. Without realizing what he was doing, Harry flung his leg over Draco's waist, pulling them closer together, if possible, groaning at the contact.
From miles away it seemed, they heard a girlish gasp and stopped what they were doing abruptly to stare at none other than Hermione Granger. Her hands were covering her mouth and her face was tomato-red in embarrassment. Harry had never seen her eyes get that wide before.
"Bugger off, Mudblood. Can't you see we're busy here?" Malfoy growled, daring her to say anything.
Harry was horrified and Hermione began to run back towards the castle when she finally regained control of her legs. Draco tried to resume his previous administrations but Harry pushed him off.
"Are you barking mad?! I have to go talk to her!"
"What for?!" he demanded.
"She's my friend, of course!" Harry replied as if he were stupid.
Hurt flashed across Malfoy's face and then fury, "Fine then!" he shouted, climbing to his feet, "Go run to your precious Mudblood! Run to your real friends!"
"Don't. Call her. A Mudblood," Harry warned menacingly and then caught the last part of Draco's statement. "'Real friends'? What is that supposed to mean?"
"Just forget it, Potter," he replied somewhat dejectedly and dropped himself back down by the tree, "I told you from the off that you should just leave me alone… why don't you ever listen?"
Harry bit his lip and found his feet particularly interesting for about half a minute before he finally said, "I can't leave you alone. Especially not now."
Draco gave a cold, humorless laugh, "Oh so you suddenly discover that you get off from being pinned by a Malfoy and I automatically earn a spot on Golden Boy's "people to save" list? You don't know me. Not really."
Harry was angry and hurt and down right frustrated. "I bet I know you better than you think," he muttered and then left him to find Hermione.
(A/N: I like to call this chapter: "Foiled Again" XD)
