Draco drifted pointlessly through the days lately. Disowned by his father
and being beaten to an emotional pulp due to his refusal to take the Dark
Mark had really taken a toll on him. Yes, the mudblood-hating bastard
finally grew a spine and stood up to his father, obviously too late in the
game. Of course, this only made Voldemort want Draco on his side more. He
admired a man [or boy in this case] who could stand up to him. That proves
that there is hope that all wizards are not mindless drones hiding behind
their words.
But Draco wasn't concerned with any of this at the moment. The reason for his refusal had just walked into Potions. Malfoy [because Draco would never hurt Harry] opened his mouth to make a snide remark about Harry's tasteless clothing. choice, but stopped when he saw the look on Harry's face. Before he realized what he was doing, he reached up and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Are you ok?"
"Sod off, Malfoy. I know you're just fishing for other things about me that you haven't yet picked apart."
At that point, Snape entered the room and everyone fell silent, but everything Harry didn't get to say was reflected in his eyes.
The class ran rather smoothly, until Draco noticed Harry's breath hitching a bit, and realized he was crying. The famous Harry Potter, crying. It was at this point that Draco dropped an entire vial of God-knows-what right into his potion, thusly causing it to bubble and boil in a matter of seconds. It began to fizz and sputter all over his potion's partner, Pansy Parkinson. Draco would have died in a fit of laughter, if Harry wasn't still crying, and if Snape wasn't so angry that he was actually giving him detention. Three nights of it.
Malfoy glared at Harry.
This is all Potter's fault.
~*
Harry seemed to have calmed down, and felt he needed to finish what Malfoy had started in the beginning of class. Draco was scrubbing the potion- sludge off the floor, as instructed by Snape to clean it without magic.
"That was real graceful of you, Malfoy."
Ron laughed and spat a remark of his own.
"Hey, Hermione! Come knit a hat for this poor house-elf!"
Draco flushed red and pulled Ron down by his ankles. Harry, always aware of his surroundings, grabbed Ron and stepped his falling.
"Don't even, Malfoy. This is between you and me."
"Alright then." And with that, grabbed Harry's ankle and yanked. Harry landed hard on his elbows, but quickly recovered and pulled Malfoy's head back by his hair. Malfoy whirled around and came face to face with Harry. At that moment, Malfoy melted away, and became Draco again. Harry drew his fist to strike him, but stopped when he realized Draco wasn't going to do anything to stop him.
"This isn't any fun if you don't fight back."
Draco's eyes emptied and he seemed far away. His mind drifted back to the summer, and he once again saw his father's face...
"Crucio!"
Draco's body quaked violently, and his screams were no where near describing the pain he was suffering.
"Why don't you make it interesting and fight back?"
A frantic shaking of his body snapped him out of his flashback and forcefully into reality. He saw a flash of worried green eyes beofre he closed his own and broke into a shaking fit of tears. Harry acted on his first instinct and held the smaller boy close and whispered tiny comforts into his ears until he calmed down.
"Potter, why are you helping me?"
"Because Snape will kill you if he saw you crying on the floor."
"He'll kill us both if he finds us holding each other on the floor, too."
"Good point." Harry stood up, then helped the other boy up.
Kind of stunned by the whole situation said,"Well, McGonagall's going to kill us too, if we don't get to Transfiguration soon."
"You go. I'll catch up."
"Whatever,"said Ron, and hurriedly went off to Transfiguration.
Harry made a weak smile at Draco. "I'll walk you to your dorm. You don't have another class today, right?"
"Right."
They walked in silence most of the way.
"Um, Po-Harry. I j-just wanted to say, well, t-thanks for what you did." Overwhelming emotion that seemed to swell behind Draco's eyes was obviously clouding the judgement of his actions and pulled Harry into a hug. And Harry didn't pull away. He looked down and noticed Draco blushing madly. Draco let go suddenly. "I'm sorry, you're going to be late."
"S'alright. I don't think I'm gonna go to class."
"You sure? Weasley might have a heart attack."
Harry actually laughed. "Yes, I'm sure."
Draco blushed again, but only slightly this time. "If you're not going to class, would you like to come in with me?"
Harry smiled. "Even if it is treason, I suppose I'll take you up on the offer. Considering today's recent events, my hypothesis was wrong, and you actually are human. So I suppose you can't be that bad."
They stepped through the Slytherin portrait hole, and ignoring the startled gasps from the other house members, they walked to the boy's dormitories.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you, Potter? All that beautiful attention. Sickening, Potter. Really fucking sickening."
He noticed the surprise that took over Harry's face, which was quickly replaced with anger. Harry reached for his wand.
"Whoa! Whoa, Potter, breathe. I'm just kidding."
"Are you always pretending like that?"
"Huh?"
"You're a very good actor. Unless you really hate. But I doubt I would be here if that were true."
"I don't hate you, you're just so cute when you're mad."
"What?!"
"Kidding again, Potter. I never realized how terribly gullible you are."
The both stood there silent for a few minutes.
"Malfoy?"
"Yea?"
"What exactly happened before?"
"You'd best sit down for this. It's kind of a long story."
They both moved towards Draco's bed and sat down.
"It was last summer, and well, obviously, you know my father is a Death Eater. And obviously, he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Last July was supposed to be the month he recommended me to Voldemort, and for me to take the intiation tests and receive the Dark Mark. But I refused. My father was furious. He attacked me daily with Unforgivable Curses, before finally d-disowning me."
Draco's voice threatened tears again, and leaned against Harry, who took the hint, and took him in his arms again.
"Then today, when you told me that punching me isn't fun if I don't fight back, I had a flashback. My father was attacking me, and afterwards he said,'Why don't you make it interesting and fight back?' And I suppose the similiarities and all caused me to lose it."
Tears ran down Draco's face, but it was controlled now, unlike the shoulder- heaving sobs of earlier today.
"Um, I know this probably sounds really insensitive to ask right onw, but why did you refuse the Dark Mark?"
"Because Voldemort is an insane, irrational monster. There's no satisfying him. It's just not worth all the pain. And besides, you keep screwing him over every year. If you can fight him off constantly, you'd have no problem doing me in."
"Yes I would."
Draco looked confused. "Why?"
"I know you. Even if you are an insufferable git, I couldn't kill you. Sure you're insults can be annoying, but not enought to kill you. You don't deserve it."
Harry notice Draco was shaking, and realized he was sobbing again.
"Draco! Draco! I'm sorry, good god, what did I do?"
"Nothing, it's just good to get this all out, and I suppose the tears just come with it all. This is the first time I've talked to anyone about it."
They both sat in silence, rocking gently back and forth, until finally, Draco fell asleep. Harry laid him down on his bed, gave his hand one more comforting squeeze, and strode out into the common room. Once again ignoring the glares, he headed towards the portrait hole.
"Not so fast, Potter."
Harry looked up and came fact to face [more or less] with Snape.
"Detention, tonight, for cutting class. Come to the Potion's room at seven."
Harry glared, but nodded.
~*
Harry noticed all the eyes of the Slytherin's on him as he walked into the Great Hall for dinner. He also noticed Ron and Hermione's, but their eyes, unlike those of the Slytherin's, were filled with worry and concern. Harry flashed them a smile and strolled over to the table.
"Harry, where were you? McGonagall gave me the third degree and I had nothing to tell her!"
"S'alright. Doesn't matter anyways. Snape already caught me cutting class and gave me detention."
"How did Snape catch you in Gryffindor Tower?"
Harry flushed. "I wasn't exactly in Gryffindor Tower."
"Well, where were you?"
"Um, Slytherin..."
"SLYTHERIN?! What the bloody hell you doing over there?!"
I walked Dra-Malfoy to his dorm and he invited me in since I wasn't planning on showing up for McGonagall's class without an excuse. We just sat around and talked a bit, then Malfoy fell asleep, so I just left. That's when I ran into Snape."
"Alright. Seems strange, but not really harmful, so I suppose it's alright. Leave it to Malfoy to fall asleep during a guest's visit though. Ha."
~*
Ron, Hermione, and Harry headed towards the Quidditch pitch. Today's game was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Oh wait, that's not a cat, just a weasel."
Harry put his arm to keep Ron from pouncing on Malfoy. Harry walked--more like strutted--to him.
"Good luck today, Draco," Harry drawled in an obviously mocking manner, and finished off his show with a swift, sporty slap to Malfoy's rear. Malfoy recovered quickly, unlike Ron and Hermione.
"Oh, no, Harry, good luck to you. After all, you'll need it more than I will."
"Git."
"Prat."
After a few moment of silence, and quite surprising to Ron and Hermione, both the quarreling boys burst into fits of laughter. Hermione had never seen anything so strange as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy fallon each other, breathless from laughter.
"See you in the air, Malfoy,"called Harry as he took off toward the Gryffindor broomshed.
~*
There it was. Glittering spectacularly inthe sunlight, zooming at a tremendous speed. Taunting him with the impossible idea of catching it.
The Snitch.
Harry dived. Malfoy saw this, and followed him, racing him for the little gold piece of glory. Harry's fingers stretched forward, brushing the wings of his goal. He reached further, pushed harder and closed his fingers around on wing of the Snitch. He had it!
Unfortunately, all his focus was on the Snitch and not his flying. Harry's broom tipped a bleacher stand, causing him to spiral into Malfoy, sending them both hurdling towards the ground.
"Malfoy! Get off me!"
Malfoy looked down and realized he had landed, basically straddling Harry.
"Hm, no, Potter, I think I like you better beneath me. After all, I am above you."
Harry sat up, so Malfoy was up on Harry's hips, legs spread.
"Get. Off. Me. NOW."
Malfoy just smirked. Harry's face turned red, but this time from anger. He pulled his wand out and began to hex Malfoy. The blonde boy panicked and did the first thing that came to mind.
He fucking kissed him.
But Draco wasn't concerned with any of this at the moment. The reason for his refusal had just walked into Potions. Malfoy [because Draco would never hurt Harry] opened his mouth to make a snide remark about Harry's tasteless clothing. choice, but stopped when he saw the look on Harry's face. Before he realized what he was doing, he reached up and put a hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Are you ok?"
"Sod off, Malfoy. I know you're just fishing for other things about me that you haven't yet picked apart."
At that point, Snape entered the room and everyone fell silent, but everything Harry didn't get to say was reflected in his eyes.
The class ran rather smoothly, until Draco noticed Harry's breath hitching a bit, and realized he was crying. The famous Harry Potter, crying. It was at this point that Draco dropped an entire vial of God-knows-what right into his potion, thusly causing it to bubble and boil in a matter of seconds. It began to fizz and sputter all over his potion's partner, Pansy Parkinson. Draco would have died in a fit of laughter, if Harry wasn't still crying, and if Snape wasn't so angry that he was actually giving him detention. Three nights of it.
Malfoy glared at Harry.
This is all Potter's fault.
~*
Harry seemed to have calmed down, and felt he needed to finish what Malfoy had started in the beginning of class. Draco was scrubbing the potion- sludge off the floor, as instructed by Snape to clean it without magic.
"That was real graceful of you, Malfoy."
Ron laughed and spat a remark of his own.
"Hey, Hermione! Come knit a hat for this poor house-elf!"
Draco flushed red and pulled Ron down by his ankles. Harry, always aware of his surroundings, grabbed Ron and stepped his falling.
"Don't even, Malfoy. This is between you and me."
"Alright then." And with that, grabbed Harry's ankle and yanked. Harry landed hard on his elbows, but quickly recovered and pulled Malfoy's head back by his hair. Malfoy whirled around and came face to face with Harry. At that moment, Malfoy melted away, and became Draco again. Harry drew his fist to strike him, but stopped when he realized Draco wasn't going to do anything to stop him.
"This isn't any fun if you don't fight back."
Draco's eyes emptied and he seemed far away. His mind drifted back to the summer, and he once again saw his father's face...
"Crucio!"
Draco's body quaked violently, and his screams were no where near describing the pain he was suffering.
"Why don't you make it interesting and fight back?"
A frantic shaking of his body snapped him out of his flashback and forcefully into reality. He saw a flash of worried green eyes beofre he closed his own and broke into a shaking fit of tears. Harry acted on his first instinct and held the smaller boy close and whispered tiny comforts into his ears until he calmed down.
"Potter, why are you helping me?"
"Because Snape will kill you if he saw you crying on the floor."
"He'll kill us both if he finds us holding each other on the floor, too."
"Good point." Harry stood up, then helped the other boy up.
Kind of stunned by the whole situation said,"Well, McGonagall's going to kill us too, if we don't get to Transfiguration soon."
"You go. I'll catch up."
"Whatever,"said Ron, and hurriedly went off to Transfiguration.
Harry made a weak smile at Draco. "I'll walk you to your dorm. You don't have another class today, right?"
"Right."
They walked in silence most of the way.
"Um, Po-Harry. I j-just wanted to say, well, t-thanks for what you did." Overwhelming emotion that seemed to swell behind Draco's eyes was obviously clouding the judgement of his actions and pulled Harry into a hug. And Harry didn't pull away. He looked down and noticed Draco blushing madly. Draco let go suddenly. "I'm sorry, you're going to be late."
"S'alright. I don't think I'm gonna go to class."
"You sure? Weasley might have a heart attack."
Harry actually laughed. "Yes, I'm sure."
Draco blushed again, but only slightly this time. "If you're not going to class, would you like to come in with me?"
Harry smiled. "Even if it is treason, I suppose I'll take you up on the offer. Considering today's recent events, my hypothesis was wrong, and you actually are human. So I suppose you can't be that bad."
They stepped through the Slytherin portrait hole, and ignoring the startled gasps from the other house members, they walked to the boy's dormitories.
"You enjoyed that, didn't you, Potter? All that beautiful attention. Sickening, Potter. Really fucking sickening."
He noticed the surprise that took over Harry's face, which was quickly replaced with anger. Harry reached for his wand.
"Whoa! Whoa, Potter, breathe. I'm just kidding."
"Are you always pretending like that?"
"Huh?"
"You're a very good actor. Unless you really hate. But I doubt I would be here if that were true."
"I don't hate you, you're just so cute when you're mad."
"What?!"
"Kidding again, Potter. I never realized how terribly gullible you are."
The both stood there silent for a few minutes.
"Malfoy?"
"Yea?"
"What exactly happened before?"
"You'd best sit down for this. It's kind of a long story."
They both moved towards Draco's bed and sat down.
"It was last summer, and well, obviously, you know my father is a Death Eater. And obviously, he wanted me to follow in his footsteps. Last July was supposed to be the month he recommended me to Voldemort, and for me to take the intiation tests and receive the Dark Mark. But I refused. My father was furious. He attacked me daily with Unforgivable Curses, before finally d-disowning me."
Draco's voice threatened tears again, and leaned against Harry, who took the hint, and took him in his arms again.
"Then today, when you told me that punching me isn't fun if I don't fight back, I had a flashback. My father was attacking me, and afterwards he said,'Why don't you make it interesting and fight back?' And I suppose the similiarities and all caused me to lose it."
Tears ran down Draco's face, but it was controlled now, unlike the shoulder- heaving sobs of earlier today.
"Um, I know this probably sounds really insensitive to ask right onw, but why did you refuse the Dark Mark?"
"Because Voldemort is an insane, irrational monster. There's no satisfying him. It's just not worth all the pain. And besides, you keep screwing him over every year. If you can fight him off constantly, you'd have no problem doing me in."
"Yes I would."
Draco looked confused. "Why?"
"I know you. Even if you are an insufferable git, I couldn't kill you. Sure you're insults can be annoying, but not enought to kill you. You don't deserve it."
Harry notice Draco was shaking, and realized he was sobbing again.
"Draco! Draco! I'm sorry, good god, what did I do?"
"Nothing, it's just good to get this all out, and I suppose the tears just come with it all. This is the first time I've talked to anyone about it."
They both sat in silence, rocking gently back and forth, until finally, Draco fell asleep. Harry laid him down on his bed, gave his hand one more comforting squeeze, and strode out into the common room. Once again ignoring the glares, he headed towards the portrait hole.
"Not so fast, Potter."
Harry looked up and came fact to face [more or less] with Snape.
"Detention, tonight, for cutting class. Come to the Potion's room at seven."
Harry glared, but nodded.
~*
Harry noticed all the eyes of the Slytherin's on him as he walked into the Great Hall for dinner. He also noticed Ron and Hermione's, but their eyes, unlike those of the Slytherin's, were filled with worry and concern. Harry flashed them a smile and strolled over to the table.
"Harry, where were you? McGonagall gave me the third degree and I had nothing to tell her!"
"S'alright. Doesn't matter anyways. Snape already caught me cutting class and gave me detention."
"How did Snape catch you in Gryffindor Tower?"
Harry flushed. "I wasn't exactly in Gryffindor Tower."
"Well, where were you?"
"Um, Slytherin..."
"SLYTHERIN?! What the bloody hell you doing over there?!"
I walked Dra-Malfoy to his dorm and he invited me in since I wasn't planning on showing up for McGonagall's class without an excuse. We just sat around and talked a bit, then Malfoy fell asleep, so I just left. That's when I ran into Snape."
"Alright. Seems strange, but not really harmful, so I suppose it's alright. Leave it to Malfoy to fall asleep during a guest's visit though. Ha."
~*
Ron, Hermione, and Harry headed towards the Quidditch pitch. Today's game was Slytherin vs. Gryffindor.
"Well, look what the cat dragged in. Oh wait, that's not a cat, just a weasel."
Harry put his arm to keep Ron from pouncing on Malfoy. Harry walked--more like strutted--to him.
"Good luck today, Draco," Harry drawled in an obviously mocking manner, and finished off his show with a swift, sporty slap to Malfoy's rear. Malfoy recovered quickly, unlike Ron and Hermione.
"Oh, no, Harry, good luck to you. After all, you'll need it more than I will."
"Git."
"Prat."
After a few moment of silence, and quite surprising to Ron and Hermione, both the quarreling boys burst into fits of laughter. Hermione had never seen anything so strange as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy fallon each other, breathless from laughter.
"See you in the air, Malfoy,"called Harry as he took off toward the Gryffindor broomshed.
~*
There it was. Glittering spectacularly inthe sunlight, zooming at a tremendous speed. Taunting him with the impossible idea of catching it.
The Snitch.
Harry dived. Malfoy saw this, and followed him, racing him for the little gold piece of glory. Harry's fingers stretched forward, brushing the wings of his goal. He reached further, pushed harder and closed his fingers around on wing of the Snitch. He had it!
Unfortunately, all his focus was on the Snitch and not his flying. Harry's broom tipped a bleacher stand, causing him to spiral into Malfoy, sending them both hurdling towards the ground.
"Malfoy! Get off me!"
Malfoy looked down and realized he had landed, basically straddling Harry.
"Hm, no, Potter, I think I like you better beneath me. After all, I am above you."
Harry sat up, so Malfoy was up on Harry's hips, legs spread.
"Get. Off. Me. NOW."
Malfoy just smirked. Harry's face turned red, but this time from anger. He pulled his wand out and began to hex Malfoy. The blonde boy panicked and did the first thing that came to mind.
He fucking kissed him.