What Friends Are For
Hathien Greenleaf
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It all, unfortunately, belongs to J.K. Rowling. I have no claim whatsoever.
Chapter One
Hermione slowly dragged herself and her heavy bookbag towards the corner table in the library. Normally her sanctuary, it was strange for her to dread spending a few hours there researching. But things were not normal. It could never be normal when it comes to a Care of Magical Creatures project with Draco Malfoy.
Hagrid must have had one too many drinks of his homemade brew when he assigned this project. Hagrid was not known for cruel and unusual punishment, that was usually Professor Snape's department, but he had become a little disagreeable ever since he injured his knee during the war. Nobody ever expected kind old Hagrid to become a bitter, sometimes cynical man, but he did. But then, the war had changed everyone.
It happened during one of those "special" missions for Dumbledore. The ones nobody else knows about. He was captured, which is understandable, for Hagrid is not hard to miss. He was taken in for questioning by the Death Eaters, and they used any means to extract information. They shattered his knee cap, and he would forever walk with a limp.
He still would not betray his idol. When he was rescued days later he still hadn't cracked. Poor, faithful Hagrid.
Hermione sighed and ran a hand through her bushy hair. She couldn't see Malfoy, he would probably arrive late just to spite her. It was his fault they were paired together anyway. He was sick on the day they assigned partners, and there was an odd number in the class. Since Harry and Ron had already paired up, Hermione got stuck with him. "Some friends they are," she muttered under her breath.
Ron always seemed to pick Harry over her. Ron...a goofy smile spread over her face. Ron's name always brought a little flutter to her heart. She was completely in love with him, no room in her heart for another. But Ron remained blissfully, and to her dismay, adorably unaware. It made Hermione want to cry at how naive he was. The whole time he had been dating that Ravenclaw Mandy Brocklehurst, Hermione had wanted to die. They had broken up last year though. And now he was lusting after somebody else, unware of the girl right in front of him.
Plopping down in her chair, Hermione buried her face in her hands. When was he going to notice her!? She could run naked around in front of him and he still would ask her if she cared to play a game of chess.
"Evening Granger."
Hermione shot up, startled at the familiar drawl. "Malfoy," she said neutrally, "You're thirty minutes late."
"I'm dreadfully sorry," he said, but he didn't look it. He sat down in the seat across from her. "I know how much you're looking forward to spending all this time with me."
She frowned, "Malfoy, I'm really not in the mood for your shit. All I want to do is pass this class. So why don't we just not speak to eachother unless absolutely necessary and get this over with as soon as possible."
He concidered her for a moment. Slowly he nodded, "Agreed."
It worked surprisingly well for a while. Malfoy didn't say anything except to occasionally point out a fact or to ask "Pass me that book".
The only sounds in the library were the scratching or quillls and the turning of pages. Draco was actually enjoying himself. He decided he liked Granger like this, when she wasn't being a bossy know-it-all. He had to admit that she was intelligent, perhaps as smart as him or even smarter. And she was one of Harry's friends, he reminded himself. No harm can come out of him making nice with the Mudblood, he decided.
The project was surprisingly challenging, which is a rare thing to come out of Hagrid's class. They were required to pick a magical creature, which Hagrid would provide for them, so nothing to extremely dangerous. But what was dangerous in Hagrid's eyes was different than normal peoples opinions. They were to study their animals habits and take care of it. Then they had to write a twelve foot essay on it. It would be the only grade for the semester, so it had to be good.
"Well, how about this one?"
Draco snorted. "A bowtruckle Granger? God, pick the most boring animal in the book why don't you."
"What's wrong with them? And flobberworms are the most boring."
"True," he agreed, " But bowtruckles are tree spirits for Merlin's sake, they are a pile of twigs."
Hermione sighed. "Alright what would you have us do then?"
Draco grinned and thumbed through the book. Stopping, he casually pointed to a paragraph on the page. Hermione leaned down to look.
"A CHIMAERA!?" she exclaimed. " You want us to study a rare Greek monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a dragon's tail?"
Draco looked at the book, and then at her, amused. "What they say about you is completely true. That was exactly the book's definition."
"Shut up," she grumbled, "We are not doing that."
"Suit yourself," he said shrugging, "Your no fun."
"I'm not here to amuse you Malfoy."
"Your meer existance amuses me Mudblood,"
Hermione gritted her teeth, "Just pick something,"
He shrugged again, indifferently. God, he was infuriating. "That one," he said pointing to a page.
"Fine."
Draco threw his covers off in frustration. "Damn it's hot," he grumbled to himself. He just couldn't seem to get to sleep tonight. Thoughts of his father, Harry, the next quidditch match, that annoying bitch Pansy, Harry, his schoolwork, Harry... all buzzing around in his head and inabling him to sleep. "Damn that Potter and the hold he has over me!" Draco screamed inside his head. "I need something to eat," he thought, pulling himself out of bed and grabbing his green dressing gown from the chair and heading for the door.
The dungeons were quiet. They were always quiet but at nighttime they always seemed to be even more so and eerie and scary. The dungeons had many tunnels and rooms that had no purpose whatsoever. Well, not anymore. Draco would never admit to actually being afraid of what lay hidden in the dark, he was a Malfoy, they weren't afraid of anything.
The Malfoy name seemed to be somewhat of a joke to him. He had long ago renounced his loyalty to Voldemort, which had really been more loyalty to his father. He had wanted so badly for his father to love him, he would have blindly followed a crazed maniac just to win his approval. It seemed silly to him now, but children will do strange things to win a parents affections. Not that it had done any good. He shivered, not sure if from the cold.
The war was over now. Harry Potter, Harry Sodding Potter, the Boy-Who-Just-Refused-To-Laydown-And-Die, defeated him at the end of last year. The details of the Dark Lords demise were not widely known. Even Draco himself, whose father was Voldemort's right hand man, did not know the details. Frankly, he didn't really care, so long that Voldemort was dead. However, his life hadn't really improved much since his father's master's death. In fact, it had gotten worse. Lucius seemed determined to win back some of his "Pureblood Pride". Draco was getting increasingly worried that he was up to something, but he couldn't be sure, he wasn't exactly his father's most trusted confidant.
Draco looked up to see the picture of the bowl of fruit. He hadn't even realized where he was going, his feet just seemed to carry him there. He reached up to tickle the pear, smiling slighty when it giggled softly and swung open. He went through the entryway, trying to decide what he was hungry for.
Crash
Draco jumped a mile high, his hand automatically going for his wand. The war had made him paranoid, it was just a plate breaking, really nothing to be worried about......until he saw who had done said plate breaking.
Harry Potter and his flavor of the week sat staring at him. Their clothes where ruffled, and their hair mussed, and both looked basically well and thoroughly snogged. Broken glass lay around them on the floor, and looked as though the plate had been knocked off during a particulary pationate moment. Harry looked a little pissed at the interruption.
"Malfoy, what are you doing here?"
The war had not left Harry untouched either. He had become what some would call a bit of a slut after he defeated Voldemort. Most thought the reason was because he hadn't had the chance to be a real teenager before, and this was his way of making up for it. It made it even worse that Harry was bisexual. Harry made no attempt to hide any of the relationships he was in, which he made perfectly clear with how he openly flirted with anything that walked. Well, almost anything, for he had never made a move on Draco and as far as he knew he still had full use of his legs. That made it a thousand times worse in Draco's eyes. It was bad enough that he had actually fallen in love with the git, but now he seemed to want everyone but him. It's not like he was unattractive. Draco had been told all his life that he was beautiful, and he had always believed it so. Sure he was a little paler than normal, and his hair was almost white it was so blonde, and his facial features were a little pointed, but that made him unique didn't it? Draco frowned. Maybe he was hideous. Maybe his parents were some of those people who tell their kids things that aren't true to make them feel better about themselves. No, he scoffed. If he was unattractive he would have known by now.
"What do you think, Potter?" He said. "What does one usually come to the kitchens for? Well, obviously no one told you, but most people come here to eat. Why don't you keep your filthy sexual activities in the bedroom, where they belong? You've gone and made me loose my appetite."
"Oh sod off, Malfoy. Don't you know when your not wanted?" He looks right pissed now, Draco thought. His wench won't look at me, wait a second, I know her....
"PANSY?! What the bloody BLEEDING hell are you doing?!"
What was wrong with that girl!? Wasn't it just this morning she had been all over Draco saying how much she loved him? Not that he cared or anything. Draco wasn't exactly interested in girls, or anyone for that matter, having only eyes for Harry. It just killed him that pug-faced Pansy could get something that he could not.
"Draco, darling, its not what you think..."
He raised an eyebrow, " What I think is, that this undying love you so claim to have for me may not run as deep as you think,"
"Draco, he means nothing to me! You know I love you, Draco, my love, please..."
Draco almost let himself smile, "Pansy, I could care less that your making out with another boy. How many times have I told you I'm not interested in you? But Potter? I never thought you of all people..."
"Oh for Merlins sake give it a rest Malfoy," Harry shouted at me,"Your just pissed because it's not you I'm kissing."
He could feel a blush coming on. Did Harry have any idea how close that hit to home? He had to get out of there now. "FUCK YOU POTTER! AS IF I WOULD EVER WANT A DISGUSTING WHORE LIKE YOU! I WOULD NEVER DIRTY MYSELF WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!"
He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, trying not to look as if he were running. God, it hurt so bad to see Harry with other people, with him hanging all over someone every morning in the Great Hall, and in the hallways, and in classes, and now this. Oh, how the fates like to dangle that which he cannot have right in front of his face.
He hated that he had to pretend to hate Harry, to insult him and be mean to him. But he had to. If Lucius ever found out......And besides, he had been so mean to him, why did he think Harry would even want to call a truce?
Did he really want Harry now anyway? He was fantastically easy. But Draco knew that it would be worth it, he felt his face growing hot thinking about what those hands could do. He just really wasn't interested in waiting in line for his turn. He knew what kind of relationship Harry was partial to, and he wasn't sure if he could handle it. Draco was still a virgin, he was loathe to admit. He had loved Harry for too long to not get attached if he were to...get intimate with him. Considering that Harry would ever want to get intimate with him...ever.
This was so confusing,"Gods, I need a cigarette."
A/N Well this is chapter one, I'm not sure if I'm liking this story I don't know, should I continue? O.o Hmm must think on that well I hope your all not disappointed in this chapter, if you are hides I'm sorry!! Please RR I will update sooner! . If I continue that is....
Thanks to: Nyoka Li, myrtilleEtMure, asphyxiation1013, SLNS, Thank you guys so much for reviewing me! It means alot! .