Draco's Crush

Chapter 3: Half Serious

They were standing on the edge of a corridor leading off the Great Hall, crowds of students pushing past on their way to lessons. Harry really had to get to Transfiguration.

"I don't know what to say to you Draco," said Harry weakly, shaking his head. "First you stalk me to the lake, spy on me, kiss me like it really meant something and then the next day tell me to pretend it never happened?" He grinned.

"So will you keep it a secret?" Draco hissed.

Harry sighed. "Whatever, Draco."

"And it's Malfoy to you! Do you want people to get suspicious?!" Draco glanced violently around, making the passing students stare at them both. For once, Harry enjoyed the attention. He loved to enrage the icy Slytherin.

"Didn't you like it?" Harry said, eyes glittering, half serious as he lowered his voice so that this time only Draco could hear. "Because I did."

Desire battled pride behind Draco's eyes. "NO!"

"Yeah, like I believe you." Harry remembered the way Draco had looked by the lake. Very gorgeous, but also as though Harry was the only person worth knowing at all.

"Will this stay just between us, Potter?" Draco demanded.

"DON'T YOU LIKE ME, DRACO?" said Harry loudly, blinking at Draco. He laughed in Draco's face. Draco spluttered.

"Potter!"

"I will keep it a secret," Harry said, "on one condition."

"What's that?" said Draco suspiciously.

"That you meet me tonight, at ten o clock on top of the astronomy tower."

"What for?!" Draco looked at him like was crazy.

"What do you think?"

"Promise you won't tell anyone!" he said desperately. The Slytherin would not let it drop.

Harry stared at the abrasive young man, with whom he had rivalled ever since their first day at school, each trying to humiliate the other.

Draco Malfoy. "I guess not."

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Draco waited impatiently at the top of the tower, an icy wind lifting his hair and stinging his eyes. However, he did not blink.

Harry ran panting up the stairs, a quarter of an hour late. Draco regarded him coldly, offended at having been kept waiting.

"Sorry," said Harry casually. "It was hard to shake off Parvati without touching her in any way."

"You mean your girlfriend, Potter?"

"Yes, her." No one thought about Parvati after that, but a very interesting idea occurred to Draco after he left.

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They met every night for a two weeks in a similar fashion. Sometimes Draco was late, having to make excuses to his friends and the ever-hopeful Pansy Parkinson. Sometimes Harry got held up trying to convince Ron that he was studying in the library every night and trying to horrify him into to not accompanying.

Was two weeks enough to fall in love? Draco thought so. And that is why tonight is the night that I break Harry Potter's heart. He MUST love me by now.

Draco took the astronomy tower steps slowly, not taking notice of the twists and turns he had come to know so well. He acknowledged various students that he was now on familiar terms with, each one bound by the rules of the tower not to reveal the identity any other student they might see. Draco and Harry were safe.

"Draco!" Harry greeted breathlessly. He reached for the blond Slytherin, but Draco stepped back out of his reach.

"I can see you no longer, Potter." Harry narrowed his eyes.

"Why's that?"

"I have decided that you are not good enough for me. You were never more than a flight of fancy."

Harry snorted. "So how come can I tell by your eyes that you love me?"

Draco puffed himself up in indignation. "I most certainly do not!" he asserted. Yet he did.

"Are you trying to get revenge on me, Draco?" Harry asked seriously.

"No-"

"Because I always beat you at Quidditch?"

"NO-"

"And always take the piss out of you?"

"Absolutely not-"

"There is really no need. Aren't we past all this?" Harry complained. He pulled Draco close, and Draco felt the warmth of the other boy flow into him, though he tried hard to fight it. He made an incomprehensible noise.

"Well … maybe," Draco conceded. "But don't you think it was a good plan all the same?" he added.

"Of course," agreed Harry . "I would have been heart broken."

"REALLY?" Draco said, his eyes shining. Harry nodded.

"I love you Draco," he confirmed, still holding Draco close.

"I love you too, Harry. Let's never fight again."

But they did.

THE END

A/N Thank you for reading this story and reaching the end. Please review and, if you have time, take a look at my one other completed story. It is called Neville's Woe and fairly short so I will not keep you.