A/N: Draco will slowly ease more and more into the story, I imagine. This story will also have some romantic moments in it later. Please, if you like the story, hate the story, or have ideas or criticism for me, press the blue button at the bottom. Reviews make this whole process worthwhile. If you write your own stories, you know the reward of reviews. Ok this A/N is too long, so on with the disclaimer and the story.
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter universe, and I deeply thank her for inspiring all the stories you read on fanfiction under the tab Harry Potter.
Harry was the first to wake in his dormitory. He stretched and got dressed quickly and quietly. He slipped into his shoes and walked down the stairs to wait for Ron to wake up. He sighed as he sunk into his favorite armchair. Harry jumped as he heard someone approach behind him. He turned to see a gorgeous Ginny… NO! You can't love her, Harry. You don't love her. Don't think about her that way!
"Hi Harry." Ginny said in a cheerful voice.
"Morning Ginny." He replied in his own cheery voice he knew wasn't his own.
"Got a good Sunday planned?" she asked.
"Just a normal one, I guess." He replied
Don't act so boring! Talk about something more worthwhile. Don't say anything stupid!
"Harry…are you alright?" she looked at him with genuine concern on her face. "You seem to be a little jittery lately."
"I'm fine Gin." He was relieved to hear the fake cheeriness gone.
"I like it when you call me that." She smiled. "Even though u say that you're fine I want you to know that you can tell me anything. I will never judge you, Harry. Even if you did something terrible like kill someone, you can tell me." She finished quietly.
"I'll keep that in mind, Ginny. Thanks. You don't know how much that means to me." He gulped down his nervousness and asked, "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course. You can ask me anything. Although, admittedly, I don't guarantee an answer." She laughed.
"Do you have a boyfriend since you dumped..." He thought through all her past boyfriends. "since Dean?" It's sad that I had to go through such a long list.
"Well actually, yes. I fancied that new boy on our quiditch team. Apparently he fancied me too, so we're together now."
You shouldn't care this much Harry. Be happy for her.
"Oh that's great!" he said with the fake cheery voice. "Well, um, I promised Ron I'd go with him to wherever he's dragging me. So I'll see you later."
Ginny looked confused, but nodded and said her goodbyes. He headed out of the portrait and had no idea where he was walking until he realized he was outside the room of requirement. He was supposed to come here with Ron, but apparently he was so upset his feet carried him here without his body knowing.
He tried not to think about Ginny, but the thought came coming back to him.
Chris is a git. It should be me.
Then his mind would scream at him for thinking about anything like that.
No! You. Do. Not. Love. Ginny. Weasely!
A door popped up with a large brass handle but he suddenly wondered how it could know that he wanted the room he went into the other night. He didn't want to question it, so he turned the handle and walked in.
It was exactly the same as the last time he was in here with Ron, except for one difference. The three beds were gone. Up on the ceiling were pictures of Hermione, so he wondered why it was already changed before he entered the room. Maybe Ron beat me here he thought. No, that's impossible. He argued with himself. When I left, Ron was sleeping.
But he was interrupted by a voice he knew all too well.
"You." Sneered his enemy, Draco Malfoy.
"You where seeing pictures of Hermione on the ceiling!" Harry nearly screamed.
"No…actually, that must have been you, Potter." He smirked. "Because unlike you, I do not love ugly mudbloods."
"TAKE IT BACK!" Harry clutched his wand and pointed it directly him.
"Oh so you think your precious little 'Mione is BEAUTIFUL, do you?" He laughed.
"That's not what I wanted you to take back, Malfoy." He looked at him menacingly.
"So you think she's ugly also?" He laughed as he took out his own wand and pointed it back at Harry.
"No, I…" He faltered. "I don't like Hermione like that. TAKE BACK WHAT YOU CALLED HER! You don't to deserve to know someone as fantastic as her, you little ferret." His smirk was almost comparable to Malfoy's.
That did it.
Malfoy yelled, "Stupefy" but Harry was one step ahead.
"EXPELLARMIUS!" he shouted, as his wand flew out of his hand.
"Acio Wand." He said and the wand flew to his hand.
It was Malfoy's turn to falter. "I.. you…Hermione."
"APPOLOGIZE, you worthless scum. Hermione is not … what you called her. So take it back before I snap your wand in half." Harry snarled.
Right before he could say something else, he was hit sharply in the back of the head and he was engulfed in blackness before he hit the ground.
He woke up startled and looked into the face of Ginny. "Draco...I...Ginny?" he stuttered, knowing fully well he was making no sense at all. Ginny calmly talked to him, intentionally soothing him. "Shhh...it's alright Harry. Draco's not here." she pushed his hair back.
Suddenly a bottle of blueish liquid was forced into his hands. To his dismay, he heard faint instructions to drink whatever was in the bottle. He put it to his lips, swallowed it in one large gulp, and only then did he taste the horrible aftertaste. It didn't really matter that much to him because right as he tasted it, he fell into a deep sleep.
The next time he had stirred awake, he actually was awake. He registered for the first time that all he could see what white. I'm dead, he thought frantically. I died and there's nothing I can do to help anyone. Voldemort will rule again and it's all my fault. I'm dead. How can I be dead? Once his mind was done babbling his vision focused and he realized the white was from the clean surroundings of the hospital wing. I'm not dead. His mind stated bluntly. Harry looked over at the chairs to see who was in them. Hermione, who was in the one closet to him, had not looked up from the magazine she was reading and apparently was very engrossed in the article. Harry was happy to note that Ron was sitting in the chair next to her although he seemed to be fidgety and looked at the ceiling every few seconds. They were apparently waiting for him to wake up, so he over dramatized this by stretching and yawning far more than a normal human would.
Hermione's deep brown eyes looked up and instantly sparkled when she saw Harry was awake. "Harry!" she exclaimed, jumping up and rushing to his bedside. She threw her arms around him and when he moaned in pain she carefully drew away. "Sorry." she murmured.
Ron had walked over by this time and grinned at his best friend. "That was a nasty fall off your broom, according to Malfoy. Harry, I think he saved your life." Even with the compliment towards their enemy, he still looked angry at the mention of Malfoy's name.
"I...fell off a broom?" he asked carefully. He actually had no idea what had happened to get him here, so falling off his broom seemed like a reasonable answer.
"I told you that I thought Malfoy had changed!" Hermione beamed. "He saved your life, after all." Hermione cradled the magazine gently as she said looked straight into Harry's emerald eyes. She was looking for some sort of agreement or disagreement, any form of emotion that had to do with the blonde headed Slytherin.
"Hermione..I don't think I fell off my broom." Harry said, staring back into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes. He was searching for the truth in his words, which he obviously didn't find. He tore his eyes away and looked at Ron.
"You...didn't fall? Then why did Malfoy say..." she began cautiously.
"I don't remember exactly Hermione," he interrupted. "I just know that you shouldn't trust him. I don't think I fell off my broom, and I don't think Malfoy saved me."
He still wasn't looking at Hermione, though purposely now. He was looking anywhere but at her. He looked at Ron for help who just nodded as though he agreed.
"But...he carried you in here. Well, actually he levitated you with wingardium leviosa, but that's not the point. He saved you Harry. Even Madame Pomfrey told me that Draco saved you. You had an awful split on your head, according to her." she looked so desperate to prove Malfoy was a good guy, and it shocked him. But that wasn't the only thing that shocked him. Ron had noticed it too and instantly spoke up.
"You called him Draco." he said, with an utterly perplexed look on his face. He gave Harry a what-is-wrong-with-her look.
"Oh, well... I..." she blushed, deeply taken aback. "I meant to say Draco Malfoy...but I guess I got carried away..." She, for the first time, looked confused. "It shouldn't matter whether I call him Draco or I call him Malfoy. They're both his name, after all. And 'Malfoy' reminds me too much of Lucius Malfoy, who is far, far worse than his son."
It was justifiable, to Ron at least. "Well, I guess." he admitted. "The name Malfoy does remind me of his father."
"His mum is also odd," Hermione was completely keen to change the subject, and Harry knew it.
"Hermione, you didn't call him Draco on purpose. You also didn't mean to say Draco Malfoy. I think you are starting to like him, Hermione." He said accusingly.
Ron gave him another furtive look, this time as if saying are you kidding me?
Harry looked purposely into Hermione's eyes but she avoided his gaze. "That's ridiculous! He's our worst enemy, he's vile, and cruel, and he thinks I'm horrible because I'm a mudblood." Even she looked upset at the word, but not near as upset as Ron, who was fuming. He had been silent for a while but now he spoke up.
"Harry, stop being insane. No one could possibly have an friendship with him." He said the last word with as much hate as he could muster. "She doesn't even like him."
Harry knew better than to argue, and as he had a searing headache he used this as an excuse to sleep.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I was wrong." Harry said quietly.
"It's fine, Harry. I know you didn't really mean it." She answered quickly.
She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Goodnight, Harry."
As Ron and Hermione walked to the door, he heard them bickering. The last thing he heard before the door closed clearly cut through the room.
"How come you don't kiss me on the forehead like that?" Ron said, faking anger.
"Because," answered Hermione, with the same feigned anger as Ron, "That's your job."
A/N:
Thanks so much to all my reviewers. Hugs All
Especially the ones that like my story. Please, if you have any ideas, thoughts, and/or critisim, press the button. I like..no love all reviews.
