A/N: Hey guys, i'm back with another chapter. I honestly loved writing this chapter, so please tell me what you think. I know the story is going slowly but hang in there. Hopefully When things between Harry and Draco become more serious it will be worth the wait. I always think the thrill is in the chase. Once their together, the story loses its interest. So enjoys, reviews very welcome.
Disclaimer: I thought I should add, This story in no way belongs to me. the characters all belong to JK Rowling, I am only manipulating the story, i'm not getting any money from this.
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Chapter 6 - The altercation
Harry Froze.
Holding his breath, he waited for the curses and hexes to come flying at him. Stupid, he thought to himself, he was so stupid to try and follow Malfoy after everything they had been through. A thought popped into his head as he stared up at Malfoy's murderous face; no one knew he was there, he could die and no one would know. But that thought was quickly squashed down, Malfoy had changed, the war between good and evil was over. As Harry waited he saw Malfoy's expression morph into a confused look, before he slowly turned back around.
'Of Course!' Harry thought. He was wearing his invisibility cloak. To Malfoy, the noise happened all by its self. Harry let out a shaky breath. He looked down, he had unconsciously taken his wand from his pocket and was holding it out in defence. However as he looked at it, the next second it had disappeared from his grasp. At the same time, his cloak was thrown off of him and landed in a heap to the right of him. Looking back up he saw Malfoy standing a few feet away, holding Harry's wand, and he was back to the murderous expression as he watched Harry. Not knowing what to do Harry just stood there, his heart beating faster and faster by the second. He had no wand, no back up, and no chance of escaping. His mind furiously tried to think up away to make it out of the situation alive, while his body was still frozen on the spot. Harry decided that the best option to go for would be the element of surprise, the plan was to jump Malfoy before he had the chance to use his wand, and hopefully get his own wand back in the process.
Harry waited a moment, to prepare himself for what he was about to do, when suddenly Malfoy was in front of him. Feeling slightly dazed, Harry decided that he was really off his game that day. Malfoy brought his right hand up to Harrys face until it connected with Harry's nose. Almost as if it were in slow motion Harry could see Malfoy's fist coming but could do nothing to prevent it, except prepare for the pain. A sickening crunch entered Harry's ears at that moment, he figured his nose must be broken. Warm, sticky blood poured down his face and into his mouth, so all he could taste was his own sweet metallic blood. Stars burst in front of his eyes, as his head spun. Felling dizzy, Harry took several steps back as he waited for the nausea to pass. Why had Malfoy not hexed him? Harry thought, this was so unlike him. Yet again Harry was distracted by his thoughts, and didn't notice Malfoy charging again until he was pulled to the floor with Malfoy pinning him down. This snapped Harry out of his stupor. Grabbing Malfoy's arms, he twisted his body, releasing Malfoy's grip and rocked to one side, throwing Malfoy off and onto the floor where Harry had just been. Now Harry was on top. Malfoy, tried to move but Harry was much more successful in trapping Malfoy's limbs, and so he was stuck. Unfortunately, Malfoy thinking quick on his feet suddenly brought his head up towards Harry and smashed his forehead into Harry's already broken nose. Once again stars burst out in front of Harry's eyes, causing him to go temporarily blind. Harry rolled off of Malfoy and got to his feet warily, he couldn't believe Malfoy was winning this fight! So he shut all thoughts of Malfoy away and just focused on getting one good punch in at least. Malfoy charged at him again, but this time Harry saw it coming and was able to dodge the oncoming arms. Side stepping, he lifted his arm up and punched Malfoy across the jaw.
Harry's victory didn't last long however, because seconds after Harry's punch, Malfoy hooked his leg behind Harry's and whipped them out from underneath him causing him to fall, landing on his back and taking Malfoy with him. Falling on the hard stone floor was bad enough, Harry thought, without a fully grown male in the form of Draco Malfoy on top! As Harry tried to turn around to gain his footing, Malfoy was quicker, and once again succeeded in pinning Harry to the floor.
At once, Harry began to sense his surroundings and all of his questions started flooding back into his memory. Both boys were panting quite heavily now, and Harry's heart was beating faster and faster, though he wasn't sure why. Looking up at Malfoy's face, his expression had turned into a sneer, then, all pretence at a smile dropped away and his bright blue eyes became no more than slits. Malfoy's grip on Harry's arms got tighter.
Then, 'Was it just Harry, or was Malfoy's face getting closer to his?' Harry wasn't sure what to do, or what he could do, so he just laid there looking up at Malfoy's pale pointed face. All at once, Malfoy seemed to go ridged, and a pained look appeared on his face, though Harry hadn't moved. Malfoy looked at Harry as if he were just remembering that Harry was their. Then he began to shake, Harry could feel Malfoy's arms quivering from where he still gripped Harry's arm. Gone was the menacing look; as Harry watched, Malfoy almost looked scared. What was Malfoy so afraid of? Harry decided to shift slightly, to see if he could move out of Malfoy's grasp, though as soon as he moved, Malfoy leaped up off of the floor, stared at Harry a moment longer, then ran away, not looking back until he has reached the door.
Laying on the floor a moment longer, Harry, went thorough everything that had just happened. He decided that he needed to tell someone, so slowly he got up. He was just about to turn away, when he noticed some small pieces of parchment scattered across the floor. Immediately Harry ran over and grabbed them. This is what he had been after in the first place, Harry couldn't believe his luck. He looked down at the first page and began to read:
"DONT BOTHER COMING BACK TO HOGWARTS THIS YEAR, OR YOU'RE A DEAD MAN!"
Harry paled, and looked at the next one:
"CAN'T RELY ON YOUR DEATH EATER PALS NOW MALFOY! BEWARE!
He got a sinking feeling at the pit of his stomach and read the next one:
"CAN'T EVEN TALK TO YOUR LOVER! TOO BAD, WATCH OUT I'M COMING FOR YOU!"
Harry peered at the last piece of parchment feeling sick now, but he knew what it was going to say,
"TICK-TOCK, YOUR TIMES RUNNING OUT MALFOY, WITH NO ONE TO SAVE YOU!"
Time slowed as Harry realised his big mistake. Malfoy was hiding something all right, but it wasn't dangerous, or evil: just a lonely boy scared for his life. Still feeling sick, Harry shoved the pieces of parchment in his back pocket and made his way out of the room of requirement. It was time he went and found Ron and Hermione.
…..
Harry found them in the great hall eating their dinner, he didn't realise that it had gotten so late, the fight with Malfoy had pushed all thoughts of food out of his mind. Sitting down opposite Ron and Hermione, he reached over and grabbed two chicken legs and some potatoes. Harry had already eaten half of his food before he realised Ron and Hermione were staring at him in disbelief.
"What? I was doing something after potions which over ran. I'm here aren't I?" They were still looking at him incredulously, Harry wondered if something had happened to them. " Whats wrong with you guys?"
"Harry… your nose!" Hermione said almost hesitantly, Instantly Harry remembered the fight and how Malfoy had broken his nose, his whole face must be covered with blood. Looking around he could see other people staring at him now, how could he have forgotten? Before, when he entered the hall, so much had been going through his head, he didn't think about his nose but now, it began to throb painfully.
"Oh shit! I forgot about that!" Harry grabbed a napkin and tried to gingerly wipe off some of the blood.
"Bloody hell Harry, How can you forget that your nose is broken? What were you doing?" Ron was still looking at him weirdly.
"I'll tell you guys later but right now, Hermione, help me out will you? Harry pleaded with Hermione who took out her wand and pointed it at Harry's face.
"Episkey!" A loud crack emanated from Harry's nose, and fresh blood began to pour out, however the throbbing slowly stopped making Harry sigh with relief.
"Thanks Hermione!" Mopping up the rest of the blood, Harry chanced a look at thee Slytherin table. Searching through all of the faces, he found the platinum blond mop of hair which he had grown so accustomed to. As per usual, Malfoy wasn't talking to anyone, a scowl planted firmly on his face, however, now he knew what Malfoy was hiding Harry also noticed a hint of panic in his eyes, as they casually flitted across the room. Malfoy's eyes danced across the Gryffindor table and lingered on Harry's for a split second, enough to notice Harry staring at him. The blonds face whipped away, and a deep red flush crept up his pale cheeks, for the rest of dinner Malfoy kept his head right down, ignoring anyone who tried to talk to him, once he was finished, he bolted out the door without saying a word to anyone. Harry thought this was such odd behaviour, but he decided to leave it and focus on what to tell Ron and Hermione. When they had finished eating, they made their way back to Gryffindor common room and collapsed into their usual place around the fire. Harry reached for his wand in his back pocket in order to cast the muffliato charm, so they wouldn't be over heard. This was when Harry realised he no longer had his wand.
His face went pale. "Malfoy still has my wand!" Hermione and Ron snapped their heads up to look at him. Their aghast faces said it all. "Hermione cast the muffliato charm so we can talk freely.
Hermione did so, then she and Ron waited expectantly. So Harry recounted everything that had happened to him that day. Although, he decided to leave out the notes, he wasn't sure why he felt the need to keep it a secret, but clearly Malfoy didn't want people knowing, and Harry could relate to that. A lot. He finished the end of the story and waited for one of them to reply.
"So thats what happened. What should I do?" Harry inquired.
"Well, for starters, you need to get your wand back! When do you next have potions? Hermione asked.
"First period tomorrow, so thats not an issue. I meant about Malfoy acting odd." Harry wanted to see what they thought to all of the secrecy.
"If you ask me mate, i'd say he's up to something, something bad. So be careful around him, yeah? Ron stated a worried look on his face.
"Yes Harry, I know you think he's changed, but I still don't trust him, and after everything we went though last year, I…I just want you to be safe, I couldn't bare it if you were in danger again," Hermione finished. Ron, next to her was nodding furiously in agreement. A surge of love came over Harry, as he realised that both Ron and Hermione were only worried about his safety and nothing else.
"I'll be careful you guys, I promise, I just really want to find out what he's up to. I won't let it take over like last time." Harry hoped that the last part were true. As the three of them settled down by the fire, Harry remembered that he'd left his invisibility cloak in the room of requirement. "I'll be back in a moment you guys, I left my cloak on the 7th floor." Harry left them and made his way back up to the room where everything used to be hidden.
…..
On his way back, he bumped into Ginny Weasley coming out of the great hall.
"Hi Ginny," Harry said, less than enthusiastically. He thought about shoving his cloak on when she wasn't looking, to avoid entering in another awkward conversation.
"Oh. Hey Harry, why was your nose broken at dinner today?" Ginny asked slowly.
"Um, Malfoy and I got into a fight, nothing serious, he was just being a bit of a dick, as usual." Whatever Harry expected after he told Ginny that, it definitely wasn't what Ginny did. She began to laugh, not even a giggle, a full blown laugh. Harry was so astounded he stopped walking and stared at her.
"Sorry Harry, I just found that really funny for some reason, are you alright?" Harry didn't believe her. Her voice took on a concerned tone but her face showed that she was trying her hardest not to laugh, and her eyes had a knowing gleam to them.
"What do you know Ginny? Tell me!" Harry knew that he sounded hurt but at that moment he didn't care.
"Oh Harry, you do need to grow a pair! And you'll find out soon enough, i'm sure." With a wink she sauntered off leaving Harry once again dumfounded. He really needed to try harder to avoid talking to Ginny, as she always left him feeling worse than before.
Arriving back at the common room, Harry had tried to wipe all emotions off of his face, so as not to worry Ron and Hermione. For the rest of the evening, the three of them attempted to get through their mountain of homework, which for Harry was no easy task, as he couldn't stop thinking about what Ginny had told him.
'You'll know soon enough…'
'Know what?' Harry thought. This stayed with him the whole evening, and of course followed him in his dreams that night.
There was no escaping them. Malfoy's horrid looks, Ginny's sneer as she turns him down, again, his parents, Sirius, Lupin… Each of them appearing, laughing at him like Ginny did, telling him that he was stupid for not getting it. Making him feel guilty for their deaths. Round and round they went, like a giant whirl pool, slowly sucking Harry in to the centre. They were drowning him, he couldn't breath, he was going to die…
Harry awoke with a gasp, sweat dripping down his clammy face. He knew it was a dream, but as he got ready for breakfast, the sinking feeling he had stayed with him.
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A/N: So i've definitely turned Ginny into a bitch! Not quite sure how that happened. Finally, a hint of some feelings coming off Draco! I bet you all can guess what happened to him, even if Harry can't! Reviews welcome :)
