Chapter 12: Heroes and Villains
He is running to the Gryffindor tower. His mind is flashing with images of her, her face glowing red with embarrassment and happiness and her freckles standing out clear as day against her pale skin.
He barely notices that he is nearing the Fat Lady until he feels himself collide with something hard.
He falls onto his back and feels his head strike stone. It hurts enough to stun him for a moment, but then he is scrambling to his feet to see what it is he ran into.
And he finds himself staring straight at Harry Potter.
"Potter, what in bloody hell are you doing?"
"What am I doing?" he responds, rubbing his forehead, where their heads must have collided. "What are you doing on this side of the school?"
Well," Draco says smoothly, dusting off the front of his black trousers. "It's a free school. I can go anywhere I want."
Harry is standing now, and turning away.
"Besides," he continues, "I was looking for a certain redhead we both know. Have you seen her?"
"What do you want with Ginny?"
"That, Potter, is none of your business."
Harry glares at him. "You stay away from her Malfoy."
"I don't think that's your place to say, Pothead. Now, have you seen her or not?"
"I don't care what you think you have going with her, it had better stop."
"Really?" Draco asks sarcastically, cocking an eyebrow. "And what do you intend to do about it?"
"Well, I'm sure Ginny will come to her senses eventually. I mean, sure, she didn't take it to heart this morning, but –"
"Wait. You talked to Ginny about this, this morning?"
"Yeah," Harry says levelly, meeting Draco's angry gaze. "Yeah, I did."
"Potter, you are a moron! A bloody effing moron!"
"What in hell do you mean, calling me a moron?"
"You really know nothing, do you? Do you have any idea what you may have just done?"
"I haven't done anything!"
"You should consider yourself lucky that I am in a hurry right now, because if I wasn't, I would hex you into oblivion. But no, now I have to go play the bloody Hero, because you already played the part of the Evil Villain."
Harry stares at him in bemusement.
"Oh, but don't worry. When I get my Triumphant Return, we'll be hexing up a storm."