Hello. This is the third and last time i will be reposting this. The reason i have reposted is to give credit to my new BETA Laura. Thanks for all your work.
It began as a strange morning for Harry Potter. His usual nightmare filled nights were for once peaceful. For the first time in God only knew how long, he had actually woken up refreshed, happy and on time.
Now as he sat across from his two friends, Ron and Hermione, at the Gryffindor table, he couldn't help but smile at the irony of it all. It was only typical that the one night he got a full sleep and the one time he actually had woken up early that it would have to have been the last day of term.
It was his sixth year, end of first term to be exact. The past four months had been frightfully normal for Harry and his friends. Voldemort had been in hiding since the Ministry incident, the Slytherins; one in particular, had been strangely subdued. The only thing Harry ever had to worry about was school work and his lack of sleep, caused by his sorrow for the loss of his godfather. Even the prospect of the final Potions class of the term hadn't dampened his mood. He felt pleasantly giddy this morning.
Even the announcement of the Yule ball earlier that month, something in which Harry was dreading, now seemed slightly appealing. The dance in which was taking place only thirty six hours, the dance in which Harry had refused to go partnered to, the dance in which he now couldn't wait for, though why he didn't know.
Harry smiled across to his friends in front of him. Ron with his usual mop of red hair and his head gently resting on the shoulder of his new girlfriend, Hermione. It had taken Harry some time to get them both to admit their feelings but in the end it was worth it. He had never seen a happier couple. Though some times he did resent what they had, something he never could. Love.
Harry sighed as he pushed his depressing feelings away to the bottom of his stomach as he watched the morning post arrive. The flutter of owls over head always seemed to depress him more lately, since Sirius any way. There was never any thing for him and he never expected it. Everyone he knew and loved were now within touching distance. Hermione and Ron were in front of him, Remus, the newly appointed DADA teacher, was always a classroom away and Hagrid was merely a stroll across the snow covered grounds away. Everyone he loved, counted on one hand.
Some how sensing his change in mood Hermione smiled at him. "Alright Harry?" She inquired.
"Yeah 'Mione." He replied, forcing a smile onto his face.
Hermione smiled at his sympathetically, something she seemed to be doing a lot lately. Ron on the other hand was trying to grab his attention.
"Harry? Mate? Hello?" He asked dragging Harry out of the thoughts he had sunken back into.
"Ron?... What?" Harry asked
"There's a letter for you mate." He said pointing to the brown and gold Eagle Owl that had landed merely three inches away from his right elbow.
"F-For me?" Harry asked as he skeptically eyed the beautiful bird. The letter was indeed for him. He watched in bemusement as the bird stuck out its right leg impatiently, waving it around as to show that it indeed had a letter for him tied to its limb.
Harry removed the letter cautiously and watched as the Owl took off and out the window without even asking for a treat. "Who'd be writing to me?" Harry asked suspiciously as he twisted the envelope around in his outstretched palms. "Every one I know is right here."
"Well open it silly." Hermione giggled, something she had also been doing a lot of lately.
"Umm, ok." Harry replied
He first studied the wax seal of the envelope, it was unlike any other he had seen before. Two serpents circled around a crest that contained two crossed wands. He looked up once last time to note that Hermione and Ron had gone back to their conversation before he tore the seal and pulled out the parchment inside.
Dear Harry. It read.
Let me start by telling you why me of all people are writing this. Lets just say I need to get a few things of my chest, well by a few I mean a lot. A lot of what I am going to say in this letter you may or may not want to hear and I just hope you take the chance to read it all before you throw it away. And hey, if your still reading now then that's a good sign right?
Well here it goes. Where to start… I know, how about, I'm sorry? I know, original, but I mean it. I'm sorry for everything I have done for the past five years. Sorry for the fights I have caused, for the trouble I have gotten you into, for the names I have called you. Everything bad I have ever done, I'm sorry. I know I don't deserve your acceptance, and I know that you more then likely won't give it to me, but a guy can hope right?
Why am I saying all this you might be asking? Well it's very simple. So simple that it can be summed up in nine words. 'I Draco Lucius Malfoy love you Harry James Potter'. There, I said it. I took me two years to admit it but now I have. Maybe not to your face, but now you know.
Harry looked up in shock from the note in his hand. He cast his gaze over to the Slytherin table. The unmistakable shock of platinum blonde hair was missing. So he decided to read on.
Now what you need to know is why. That is not so simple. The thing is I think I have loved you for more than two years. I think it all began when we first met. Madam Malkins, do you remember? I do. It was a day that has haunted me until now. Of course I was too young to actually 'love' you back then, we were what, eleven? But from the day I first saw you I knew I wanted to be in your life. I wanted to impress you from that first meeting. I know I was an ass-hole. Insulting Hagrid as I did, but how was I to know who he was, that you knew him. In that instance I knew I blew any chance I had to know you.
You see I wanted to be your friend even before I found out you were Harry Potter. After Madam Malkins I met up with my Mother outside Flourish and Blotts. I rattled on for hours about a boy I hardly even knew, a boy who I had only met for ten minutes, a boy who in that instant I managed to make hate me for the rest of his life. You.
Then there was the train. I will not try and apologise for what I said about the Weasley. It was the way I was brought up. I cannot change what I believed, no matter how stupid a belief it may have been. What I know is when I saw you on the train I was beyond ecstatic. The boy I had been waiting all summer to see was right in the next compartment and I had to see you. Then I found Ronald Weasley with you and I couldn't help but feel jealous at that very moment. So I did what any Malfoy would have, I insulted his heritage. A low thing to do. It was from that moment on I knew that I had stuffed up the only chance I ever had of knowing you.
Well that's how it all began. My side of it any way. Hopefully by now you are still reading. Maybe in shock, or maybe in disgust, maybe even in a way I can only dream of, but either way I hope you are still reading, because no matter what you might think of all this, at least you will know and I can go on.
Well back to it. In fourth year was when it happened. I had spent the past four years terrorizing you. At first it was out of spite. I wanted to show you what you were missing, as lame as that sounds. I wanted you to feel bad about not accepting my hand, as bad as I had felt. For you did make me feel. You were the first person to make me truly feel. My mother had loved me all my life, my Father, well, lets not go there yet, but when I met you it was something else. When you refused me, it crushed me. So I was determined to make you hurt like I was. I insulted you, harassed you, bullied you. I did it all, but when you came out of that maze, clutching the body of a student, that's when every thing crumbled. That was when I knew I couldn't hate you, that was when I knew I loved you.
At first it scared me. Like nothing ever had. But then I accepted it, though it pained me to know nothing would ever happen. So when fifth year began I hid what I felt. Insulted you more, bullied you more, while at the end of every day I cried my self to sleep, only to dream of something I could never have. You.
I know your likely thinking, "A Malfoy crying? It must be a lie." You may think Malfoy's are heartless, but you're wrong. You're thinking of my Father, and I want you to know, I Am Not My Father. I do not share his beliefs, his ideas or his ambitions. I am nothing like the man who helped bring me into this world, for he is nothing to me than that. The day he got sent to Azkaban was the happiest day of mine and my Mother's life, for she too resents him as much as I. I have no wish to follow Voldemort. Another thing you need to know.
By now you must be sick of reading this. I don't blame you. You are more then likely trying to hold down your breakfast. I am sorry. Know that I am writing this for my own selfish reasons. I NEED you to know how I feel, for it kills me that you don't. It kills me to know that if I never told you this you might have felt the same. So no matter if the next time you see me you hex me, insult me, hell even kill me, at least you know, and I can die with the knowledge you know.
So now here is the tricky part. As you know, tomorrow is the Yule ball. No matter how you feel about this letter, about my confession, about me, could you do me one favor. Just one. Tomorrow night at 10pm, the band will begin to play 'Fur Else', (don't ask me how I know this) I will be waiting in the middle of the dance floor. If there is the remotest chance you feel the same about me, as I feel for you, then could you ask me to dance? If you feel nothing but resentment for me then I ask you to tell me. In the middle of the great hall, surrounded by every one, because it won't matter, nothing will matter.
So I finish this, once again by saying I Do Love You, with all my heart.
Draco Malfoy.
Harry stood staring at himself in the full length mirror inside the sixth years boy's bath room. He had just finished reading Draco's letter for the sixteenth time since he had received it the morning before and now he stood dressed in his green formal dress robes, a silver dragon embodied on the back, still deciding his fate, something he had been doing non stop in the past few hours.
After he had finished reading the letter the morning before he had literally bolted from the Gryffindor table in the great hall and ran out side to sit by the lake. A place he had always gone to think.
Ron and Hermione had gone and found him close to sunset, both worried as to why he had missed all his classes and inquiring as to what the letter had said that could have upset him so much.
Ron's initial question was "Who died?" which was promptly followed by a smack across the head from Hermione. It wasn't until he assured them that every one was alive and well that they left him to think, once again, in silence.
He knew he had to go to the Yule Ball. One way or another. Draco had poured his heart and soul out to him in that letter, something which took a lot of guts, and he deserved an answer.
Harry was finally wrenched from his thoughts as a loud knocking echoed from the bath room door and he saw Ron enter casually.
"Ready to go mate?" He asked some what hesitantly.
Harry chanced one last look into the mirror and nodded his head. "Yeah, lets go." And with that he sucked up his last ounce of Gryffindor bravery and left the tower behind Ron and his date, Hermione.
The great hall was decked out marvelously, as usual. Silver, blue, red and green streamers lined the walls and ceiling. Purple confetti floated down gently, covering the floor and tables, magically avoiding the food and drinks. Ice sculptures of swans, bears, tigers and other animals lined the walls, the greatest of which being an enormous dragon seated in the middle of the dace floor, something which Harry found rather ironic. For he was after all to meet Draco, who's name meant 'Dragon', in the middle of said dance floor.
Harry's heart raced at the thought and he glanced down at his watch. Thirty minutes. That's all he had until everything was decided. In thirty minutes Hell would come crashing down. In thirty minutes he could loose everything he ever knew and wanted.
Hermione smiled at him. She looked splendid of course. Dressed in a shimmering white ball gown. Her hair tied up in an elegant bun and a simple yet beautiful tiara resting on her head. Ron fidgeted on the spot as he adjusted his newly acquired dress robes, a gift from his brothers, which looked just as good as Harry's, and almost as expensive.
They made their way over to a nearby table where they had an entire view of the great hall and its occupants. Everyone looked magnificent. It really seemed like a fairy tale. All the girls wore elegant ball gowns, some with tiaras atop their heads, some with glitter on their faces, some with both. The males all wore there best robes. Each person in the hall looked just as good as the next. Even professor Snape seemed to have washed his hair for the occasion.
Harry ran his gaze over the halls occupants once again. No Draco. He didn't expect him here yet. Knowing Draco Malfoy, he wouldn't make his appearance until just the right time. Fifteen minutes from now.
Harry watched Hermione and Ron stand and make their way to the dance floor as a slow ballad started up. Twelve minutes. Eleven. Ten.
This was getting ridiculous. Harry had never been so nervous in his life. Not at Quidditch. Not facing Voldemort. Never. And now he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. Eight Minutes. He scanned the room again. The song Ron and Hermione were dancing to slowed to a stop and all the couples made there way to their tables as the band declared a break.
"Harry what wrong?" Hermione asked as she noticed Harry's slightly scared state as she approached.
"Yeah mate," Ron began, "What's up?"
"Five minutes." Harry spoke out loud as he studied his watch again.
"Til' what?" Asked Hermione raising her eyebrow quizzically at Harry.
"Umm, N-nothing." Harry said realizing his mistake. "I-I'll be right back." He finished lamely as he stood from the table. And that's when it happened.
The unmistakable first notes of 'Fur Else' began to play on the piano and Harry stopped dead in his tracks. He quickly swung around so he was once again facing the dance floor. A few scattered couples were slow dancing. Six or Seven maybe, but one figure caught his eye, and his breath.
Draco stood completely centered underneath the ice sculptured dragon. His silver dress robes flowing magnificently around his form, his long blonde hair flowing behind his back, tied in what Harry assumed to be a ponytail. He stood looking down at the floor, obviously nervous, as the purple glitter floated down around him, resting on his hair and shoulders. As if on auto pilot Harry made his way through the now slightly expanding crowd to stand in front of the blonde.
"I don't love you." Harry said softly, the only indication Draco had heard him was the sharp inhaling of breath. "But I'm willing to try." Harry finished slightly louder this time.
Draco's head shot up at his word's. Harry could see the glee in his tear filled eyes and he reached a hand out to wipe away the solitary tear that fell down his cheek.
"W-why?" Draco whispered.
"Because of your letter." Harry explained, resting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "It made me realize a few things about you, and after much thinking, I realized that I could spend the rest of my life with you." Harry finished, but Draco seemed to be waiting for something. "Draco would you care to dance?"
As quick as lightning Draco threw his arms around Harry's neck, his enthusiasm showing in the small gesture. Harry paced his hands around Draco's waist and they both slowly started to move to the beat of the music, completely unaware of the eyes watching them and the unmistakable sound of a Weasley fainting.
When the song finished Harry looked down at the smaller boy who had rested his head in the crook of Harry's neck and slowly lifted his chin. Harry looked into Draco's storm grey eyes and traced his thumbs down the visible tear tracks on his cheek to the corners of his lips.
"Thank you." Draco whispered.
"For what?" Harry asked.
Draco leaned in hesitantly and Harry followed suit, closing his eyes as their lips met. It started gentle, lips on lips, until Draco opened his mouth slightly, licking Harry's bottom lip for entrance, which Harry eagerly granted.
When breathing became an issue both boys pulled away, foreheads resting together, as identical smiles played on their lips.
"For accepting." Draco finished Harry's earlier question.