Rating: Will probably rise to PG-13 or R.
Warning: Slash!! M/M!! Harry/Draco!! Run, people, run!!
Disclaimer: These pretty little characters obviously don't belong to me, you have no idea what they'd already have done if they did. I don't want to steal them from JKR - But I do!! I do!! They're mine!! They're... not mine - and I don't want to make any money with this story. Uhm... of course I'd like to but... no, I don't. Hope that satisfied you.
Author's note: This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction, and if I finish it, it'll be my first complete fanfiction as well. I warn you!! I'm slow. It'll take a while.
Author's very special chapter note: Last time I forgot to mention some feelings and I'm trying to make up for that. I don't think I succeeded yet. Well. Even less words this time, 807 or something. But I do have some nice plans for this story, no worries...
Author's extra note on last chapter's reviews: Thank you all, but of course I won't tell you about Draco because then you wouldn't need to read the story, right? At least this chapter is gonna make things a bit clearer. And come on, it was explained why Harry, Snape and Neville acted that way, and Ron is just... Ron. Hehe. I'm not going to school btw, I just have some serious sleeping problems. /
Have fun reading chapter #2!!
When the bell rang, Draco Malfoy left the Potions classroom very quickly. He told himself that there was no need to worry - so what if he had overheard one of his father's visitors mentioning the name of some dangerous poison; so what if said poison looked exactly like wine, which happened to be what they'd been drinking later that evening; SO WHAT if the whole school seemed to think that he was going to die - there certainly was no need to worry at all.
He had noticed the way that even Gryffindor's Golden Boy had been looking at him. Potter. As much as Draco hated his enemy's usual glares, this wasn't better at all. He had almost seemed concerned, but Draco really didn't need his pity. He didn't need nor want anyone's pity, especially not when there was absolutely NO reason to be pitied, like now, because as the rest of his classmates somehow failed to realize, he wasn't going to die. He definitely wasn't, and just to be sure he mentally repeated that to himself about 25 times on his way to the Slytherin common room.
"Draco!! There you are!!"
That was Pansy Parkinson. Draco sighed in annoyance. The girl was hurrying towards him in the dark corridor where the hidden entrance was and the look on her face led him to the conclusion that she had also heard something about his supposedly nearing death.
"Draco, are you okay?! You look so pale..."
He quickly took a deep breath, did his best to remove all signs of any emotions from his face and sneered at her before turning towards the wall.
"Pansy", he drawled dramatically, "Haven't you looked at me during the last few years? I'm always pale." After saying the password and entering their common room, he turned around again and added, "And if I'm not okay, you'll certainly find out without having to ask me."
Harry was searching for Hermione. He had already been in the Gryffindor common room, and seeing that she wasn't there, he had decided to go to the library. To his utter and utmost displeasure, some wicked moving staircases were just making his way remarkably longer.
Mumbling disgruntledly to himself, he trotted onward, hoping that there wouldn't be any more obstacles from now on. He was nervous. Usually Harry didn't exactly spend his free time thinking about potions, but in this case he just needed to know what his teacher had been talking about.
'Why should I be worried about Malfoy?', he thought as he finally reached the right corridor, 'I'm not, am I?'
Of course he wasn't. He was just curious, and after all the death of a fellow student was something that had to be avoided, even if that student happened to be his archenemy.
'But I'm sure he isn't going to die, that's just another one of these stupid rumors. And I'm not worried.' Harry shook his head irritatedly.
Fear was something that nobody liked to admit, especially if it seemed to be inappropriate. But even if it was ignored completely, it wouldn't just go away. Somehow it shared quite a few traits with the lurking, attacking, penetrating rumors, except it was worse. While rumors only disguised themelves as facts, fear could have a strong influence on its victim and still go completely unnoticed.
Hermione was just finishing her Charms essay when the door of the library opened and Harry entered. He spotted her at once and strode towards her, looking slightly upset about something.
Quickly she scribbled down her last sentence and looked up again as her best friend plopped down beside her, greeting her with a nod.
"Hi Harry", she said, "You alright?"
"Me? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Look, I came here to ask you something about a potion..."
He didn't get the opportunity to voice his question because at that very moment Ron and Ginny entered the library as well. That was a bit of an odd occasion as the two of them hardly ever did anything together and even if that was the case, they wouldn't likely go studying. The first part of the mystery solved itself at once as Ginny went to sit with a friend of hers, and as for the studying, Ron apparently wanted to do just as much of that as Harry did.
"There you are!!", he shouted, which earned him a reproving look from Madam Pince, and soon the three of them where chatting about all sorts of things that didn't have anything to do with potions or danger in general. When they were finally thrown out of the library, Harry hadn't exactly forgotten about the topic, but he didn't really want to talk about it anymore either.
That was, until they parted ways and Harry rounded a corner just to run straight into Draco Malfoy.
Well, that was chapter two!! It didn't even take me that long, eh? But then, that's probably because nothing really happened at all...