Harry sat in the pitch black room, shifting uncomfortably in the hard chair as he eyed the painting that separated Malfoy's room from the rest of the school. Geez, you would think that Malfoy would only have the best of chairs that were filled with feathers, and covered in the finest of leather, but no. It wasn't. It was the most uncomfortable thing he had ever sat in. Ug.
He let out a tired sigh as he let his eyes wander to the blonde who was sleeping soundly on his bed two feet away from him. Harry had no clue how the bloke was sleeping, so soundly, but he was glad that he could find peace enough to get some sleep… He noticed how the blonde's chest rose and fell at a calm, slow pace, and soon became mesmerized by the movement. While he watched the silver eyed boy sleep, he wondered why he was helping him? Why he cared about his comfort? Why he couldn't stop staring at his nemeses? Why the fact that he was breathing comforted him? Just why everything? He also briefly started planning what he was going to tell Ron and Hermione about why he wasn't back at the Gryffindor dorms sleeping in his bed when they woke up. He decided to simply tell them that he couldn't sleep and he went for a really long walk. Yeah, he did that sometimes, so it should be believable enough.
He felt his eyes begin to droop as he watched the rise and fall of Malfoy's chest. Must stay awake. Mustn't sleep. Must stay awake. Mustn't sleep…
The painting suddenly creaked open causing Harry to snap awake and his head whipped around, body tensed, but he seemed to be frozen in his chair.
Brown eyes met green and Harry felt the tension in the room immediately rise as he was met face to face with Blaise Zabini, Draco's best friend.
Blaise looked surprised and thrown off guard by Harry's presence but he quickly hid it and his expression darkened. He looked at Draco, who was still sleeping peacefully, and his shoulders seemed to relax, but his gaze was still sharp when he looked at Harry's again.
Harry's mind was blank as he slowly stood from the chair he had been occupying, after all how could he possibly explain this without looking like the bad guy? He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted before he could get a word out.
"Blaise? What are you doing?" A high pitched voice asked from behind Blaise's form.
Harry's heart skipped a beat when he recognized it as Pansy Parkinson, who was well known for her rumor spreading abilities. Luckily Blaise was blocking her from viewing the inside of the room but somehow that didn't relieve Harry's worry.
Blaise looked back at Pansy and then to Harry, brown met green again and although Blaise's expression was still sharp, his eyes said otherwise. They almost seemed...curious.
Blaise turned back to Pansy and said reassuringly to her,
"Just checking in on him is all, Pans. Nothing to worry about."
"Well.. alright, but don't bother him. You know he hates it when-"
Harry saw Blaise raise a hand to silence her and Blaise turned to look back a Harry. He was smiling slightly. Not the mischievous smirk he usually wore, but this time it was friendly.
"Don't worry, I don't think Draco minds company every so often."
Harry didn't hear what Pansy had said after that, he was too confused at to what he had just witnessed. Blaise slid into the room, closing the portrait behind him. Crossing his arms over his chest, he tilted his head at Harry.
"So," he said softly, "why do I have the pleasure of seeing you here tonight, Potter?"
*** Draco's POV several hours later ***
"Malfoy.."
Called a voice that sounded as soft as the grass in spring, and as soothing as a fluffy blanket that had come out straight from the dryer. The half conscious blonde stirred awake for a moment at the sound of his name but quickly felt himself fall back asleep. Draco didn't want to get up this morning, not yet anyway.
"Malfoy." the voice said a little louder this time, and Draco felt someone shaking his shoulder gently.
The only person bold enough to try and awaken a sleeping Draco was Blaise, who Draco cared for very much, but was beginning to question their friendship since it seemed all Blaise was doing recently was bothering him when he slept. Draco was too tired to deal with him though so he simply grunted in response, hoping he'd take a hint and leave him alone. Also, when had his voice gotten so deep? And why was he calling him by his surname?
His eyebrows furrowed slightly in annoyance when his bed shifted from the sudden weight on it. Was Blaise seriously going to do this, this morning? Draco pulled his covers over his head to shield himself as he turned away, trying to return to his slumber.
"Go away Blaise," he mumbled darkly when he felt him shaking his shoulder again, "Leave me alone.."
Draco thought he had won when he felt his bed shift again, this time from the lack of weight on it. Figuring Blaise had decided to leave, he smirked to himself and curled up even more under his covers, feeling triumph. His satisfaction was short lived when his covers were jerked from his grip, exposing him to the cold air.
Draco scrunched his face in displeasure when sunlight shone against his closed eyes and he sat up immediately, pissed. Rubbing his eyes as he sat up in his bed, Draco hissed out angrily as he looked up, his vision spotted and blurry from being awoken,
"Merlin do you not fucking know how to-"
Draco froze when he saw the unfamiliar blurry black haired figure standing over him and all alarms in his body went off. Without any hesitation and within the blink of an eye, the blonde's hand shot underneath his pillow, where he kept his wand before pointing it at the man in front of him, who had yelped in alarm and raised his hands to defend himself.
"Who are you?!" Draco nearly screamed as he pressed himself against his bed frame. blinking rapidly to try and focus his blurred eyesight. He quickly rubbed his eyes once more, finally clearing his vision, "I swear I'll-"
"MALFOY IT'S ME!" the figured shouted, his voice suddenly sounded familiar, too familiar.
"P...Potter?"
The messy haired wizard was sitting on the foot of his bed, looking at him with his eyes wide in surprise, and his arms raised in surrender. Then it hit him. All the events that took place last night… the boy with piercing, silver, blue eyes lowered his wand to his side and ran a hand through his messy, blonde hair, pushing back his bangs, just so they could fall back down again.
There was a long silence that followed that moment. It seemed that the brunette was choosing his next words carefully, or was seriously contemplating whether or not he should even speak at all. Malfoy looked up at the boy who lived, and soon noticed that his eyes were red, and half lidded. Had he actually stayed up all night? Neither of them even dared to try and move in this thick silence that had fallen over them. They just sat there studying each other until Harry broke the silence.
"I um," He started as he let out a yawn and stretched," Wanted to let you know that it's breakfast time."
"Oh," He said," But it's Saturday, scarhead."
The green eyed boy shot the blonde a slightly heated glare before he sighed, rolling his eyes, and said,"I know, but i thought that you'd wanna eat."
Malfoy saw that he was resisting the urge to call him a prat, and hid a chuckle. He suddenly noticed the absence of the raven haired boy's glasses. He surely looked different. He thought to himself. His eyes are much brighter when he doesn't wear his glasses.
For a second his mind wondered if his attacker wore glasses as well, but he pushed that thought away, and got out of the bed. He decided that he should get up.
"You can go now,"The blonde mentioned.
"I know," He said carefully," I just…Don't wander off alone…"
Malfoy looked back at Harry wondering what he was about to say and feeling curious about the meaning behind his words.
"Whatever do your words mean, Potter," He said trying to sound sarcastic in attempt to cheer himself up, but he quickly found that he didn't get any enjoyment from it. He just wanted to crawl back into bed and sleep.
"I mean," Harry said in a voice that was more clear," That i want to find who did this and he's still out there. I don't think you should be wandering around alone," There was a short pause," And i think we should tell Pomfrey."
"No," The silver, blue eyed boy blurted immediately.
The raven haired boy looked up at him with worried eyes.
"I mean… Yes, i wanna find him. No, i will not wander off alone, but not because you said so, but because it's my choice, and no, i will not be telling anyone."
"But," Harry protested," What if your hurt, or caught an STD-"
"I'm not. I didn't. Go to breakfast."
Harry looked Malfoy in the eyes giving him his best "come on please" look and acted as if he was going to say something, but the blonde interrupted," I said go to breakfast. NOW."
The raven haired boy gave the blonde an angry glare before grabbing his glasses and storming out. Malfoy let out a sigh and cursed under his breath, trying his best to think about how annoying Potter was, rather than that other thing, but it wasn't working. He busied himself with changing into some clean clothes, but when he started to pull his shirt over his head a certain smell froze him in his efforts. It was the faintest smell of Quidditch, morning dew, treacle tart, and something else. Shampoo? Coloane?
Was this the smell of Harry? He took the shirt off all the way, pressed it against his face, and gave it a nice long sniff letting the pleasant scent fill his lungs, and lowered the shirt, staring at it.
This combination of smells, smells amazing. It gave a nice sense of comfort along with the feeling that everything was going to be okay.
This caused a weak smile to form on his face as he tossed the shirt aside, and finished getting dressed. He tried his best to ignore the bruises, and hickeys covering his body along with the pain in his lower region, but it was close to impossible. He couldn't help, but to shiver, he could almost feel his breath against his neck. He could almost feel the feeling of his moist tong sliding against his skin as he was pent helplessly against the freezing stone wall. He could feel tears threaten to sneak out of his eyes as his vision blurred. No, he was not going to cry. He started for the painting that separated him from his solitude safe house and the world, but stopped dead in his tracks when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The boy approached the mirror and examined himself. His usually flawless blonde hair was slightly messy, his silver, blue eyes that were known for twinkling with mischief now seemed to be faded, and dull without a trace of life hidden inside, his skin that always seemed to be a flawless pale tone was now just pale, and it seemed that that glow that it once held was gone, and his posture was slightly different. It seemed to be stiff and on guard as if it expected the man in the mirror to jump out at him.
He sighed knowing how incredibly pathetic he must look right now. He needed to toughen up. He needed to push these thoughts away. The last thing he needed was for his friends to find out about what happened… How would they even react? 'They would probably shame me,' He thought to himself,' They'd probably think i'm bloody pathetic.'
At this thought he sighed again and left the room. He walked out of his common room and began his way to the great hall, but he could swear that he heard footsteps behind him, but when he turned around nothing was there. He could have sworn… He took out a coin and began casually tossing it as he whistled the song We're All Mad Here by Cheshire Kitten. He started to wander continuing with tossing the coin and his whistling echoed through the empty corridors. He stopped abruptly, froze, and listened closely as he heard something skid to a stop behind him. The blonde looked down at his coin and gave a flick causing it to fly up over his head and behind him. He didn't move. He just kept looking forward waiting to hear the sound of the coin hitting the hard floor, but there was no clink… He continued down the hall and took a sharp turn around a corner, flatly pressing himself against the wall, holding his breath. He listened as the footsteps grew closer… And closer… And closer until they were so close that he was sure that the stalker was about to turn the corner. Malfoy's heart was pounding so hard that he felt like he could hear it in his ears. He waited until the footsteps came around the corner and he snatched it into his hold, flipping it around, and slamming it against the wall. He could hear a welp of pain, or surprise come from the invisible figure.
"Show yourself!" He yelled so loud that he practically screamed pulling the invisible person from the wall, and slamming him back against the wall with a "thump","Now!"
The figure hastily lifted the invisibility cloak and the blonde immediately recognized the messy raven hair, big glasses, and bright emerald green eyes that were wide in shock.
***Harry's POV***
The raven haired boy felt paralyzed where he stood, pushed up against the wall, nose to nose with an angry Malfoy, but as soon as he removed his invisibility cloak he looked confused. Still angry, but now confused as well.
Their eyes were locked and Harry couldn't tear his gaze away from Malfoy's silver, blue eyes. He couldn't help, but to notice that they lacked a certain light that they always seemed to hold. Harry was snapped out of his train of thought when the blonde broke the silence.
"Scar head, why are you following me!?"
The emerald eyed wizard felt a twinge of guilt in his ribs as he opened his mouth and spoke in a low whisper, "Just to be sure you got to the great hall…"
The blonde let go of Harry's shirt, and a look of hurt flashed across his face, but it disappeared in an instant, replaced with a look of anger.
"So now you're stalking me," He bursted sounding aghast," Because you, The Golden Boy, doesn't think i can handle myself. Typical Gryffindor prat!"
"Well, if you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself, then what the hell happened last night," He shot back immediately regretting it when he saw a whole new look of anger and hurt replace his old one, and he looked as if he were going to burst into tears.
"Malfoy, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I wasn't thinking-"
"Damn right you weren't thinking," He said cooly, his emotionless mask replacing the emotions that were so clearly plastered on his face just seconds ago, " And you aren't sorry," He released his shirt and began to walk quickly towards the great hall.
"Malfoy, wait!"
No response.
"Malfoy!"
Nothing.
"Draco!..."
This caused the blonde to freeze in his efforts, turned around and stomped back toward Harry. He kept approaching till he was so close that the messy haired wizard had to start backing away to keep some distance.
"Don't. You. Ever," He said through gritted teeth," Call. Me. Draco. Ever. Again!"
Then he shouted the jelly legs jinx on Harry, and he left.
Harry felt terrible for what he'd said, and all he could do was stand there, trying to gain control of his legs.
Okay you guys. He it is! I tried really hard to write this chapter and I hope it's good. What did you guys think review?
