DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter
Hope you guys are enjoying it so far :) I found my pad of paper with all my chapter notes! Yee!
"Why so glum, Potter?"
Harry tore himself away from his troubling thoughts to address the all too familiar smug voice behind him. Draco and his cronies were exiting the Great Hall behind him, their cocky attitudes present as they made their way towards him. He turned to Ron and Hermione.
"I'll catch up with you later, guys." he said in a low voice.
"Are you sure?" Hermione whispered. Harry looked up at the smirking blonde with a sling around his neck. He just nodded so his friends gave Draco one last glare before heading down one of the long hallways. Watching them go, Harry finally turned to the snickering group.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" He really didn't need this right now, especially after just finding out that Sirius Black was spotted near Hogwarts.
"Aww," Draco pouted teasingly, "Is the poor little Golden Boy mad that I jeopardized his favorite professor's job? Don't blame me, Potter. If it were up to me, I would have sacked the great ugly giant years ago."
The muscles in Harry's jaw flexed. "Sod off, Malfoy" he growled through clenched teeth.
Draco tilted his head to the group behind him, giving them permission to leave for their next class.
"You gonna make me? With what army, Potter?" With deliberate steps Draco slowly made his way over to where the raven haired wizard stood. "Granger and Weasel aren't here to watch your back. Think you can take me?"
Eyes shifting around, Harry realized the hallway was empty. Only the two of them stood there. Still, he refused to be intimidated.
"You're just a lot of talk" he retorted, matching Draco's speed moving toward him, "Just like you've played up that 'injury' of yours."
"Well it was all for a good cause."
"And what cause is that?"
A smirk played across Draco's face as they stood a foot away from each other.
"I'm doing the school a favor! Now that my father knows how dangerous a beast like that is, he'll take it upon himself to make sure that thing is destroyed."
Harry's face fell as he thought about how this was going to crush Hagrid.
"Don't worry, Potter. Once he's dead he can join your dear old parents. I'm sure they've always wanted a pet!"
Before he could react, Draco was forcefully shoved backwards, stumbling into the marble wall behind him. The torches that lit the hallway exploded before fizzling out in wisps of smoke. The only light now came through the large windows from the cloudy skies. It was significantly darker but it was enough so Draco could see Harry's shoulders hunched, rising and falling quickly as he drew in angry breaths.
"You're asking for it, Potter" he warned darkly.
"My parents," Harry managed to say through gritted teeth, "have been dead for almost my entire life. And I know that they still care about me more than your parents ever will."
Draco's silver eyes flashed as he grabbed Harry by the shirt with his free hand and swung him around, slamming him up against the wall. He leaned in so close Harry wasn't able to reach his wand in his robe pocket without touching Draco, which he thought might set him off.
"You fucker" Draco hissed through snarling breaths, "Don't you ever talk about my family like that. You're just lucky that bitch bird cut my wand hand or you would be dead, Potter. You hear me?"
He was waiting for another physical confrontation as he glared daggers at the wizard in front of him, but Harry just stared back at him with wide, bright emerald eyes. His body had frozen, fearfully looking into the pale face only an inch or two away from his own. Draco felt a twinge of disappointment, almost hoping Harry would have had the guts to pick a fight with him.
"Now looks who's all talk" he whispered with a sneer, releasing his hold on Harry's shirt and placing his hand against the wall next to the mass of messy black hair.
Harry's breath caught, shifting his eyes nervously to the arm brushing against his hair then back to Draco's piercing gaze. The blonde furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. A heavy silence encompassed the room as the two stood face to face. The only sound between them was Harry's shaky, audible breathing.
"What's wrong with you?" Draco questioned skeptically, his mouth close enough that his breath moved a few strands of black hair on Harry's forehead.
Harry swallowed hard as his face began to turn pink. He flexed his hands, palms slightly moist with sweat. Draco noticed how Harry's body flinched and stiffened every time he spoke. He was gracing his stare from the fiercely green orbs behind clear glass down to the boy's slightly parted lips when he suddenly realized two things that disturbed him deeply. One, Harry wasn't acting like this because he was scared, and two, he should not be spending so much time going over the specific details of his rival's face. With a jerk, Draco pushed himself away from the wall and quickly stepped backwards. His eyes searched the ground for an exit line, running his hand through his loose blonde hair and trying to avoid Harry's frightened stare.
"Next time you try something like that, Potter," he mumbled quickly, "make sure you've grown a fucking spine first."
Harry said nothing as he leaned against the wall, slightly stunned. Trying to keep his cool, Draco rushed off down the hallway with his hand pressed against his quivering stomach.
Shit.
Late that night, the dungeons of the Slytherin dormitories were peacefully silent with everyone deep in sleep. Everyone, that is, except for one. Draco rolled over in his bed, causing the frame to squeak, in order to check his clock.
3 am. Damn.
He let his body drop with an exasperated sigh. As he stared up at the blackened ceiling, he let his mind play through his encounter with Harry for the hundredth time. The queasy feeling at the bottom of his stomach still hadn't lessened. Why was he feeling so weird about this? Finding out that Potter is a poof should have him dancing on the rooftops. Instead of exuberance, he felt an odd kind of anger. An overload of confusion made his head spin painfully and he groaned quietly, glancing at his clock again. The bed squeaked with his movement.
"Can you please finish so I can finally get some sleep?"
Draco flinched at the suddenness of Blaise's voice.
"What?" he hissed back.
"You've been jerking off for over 2 hours" he replied groggily, "You could at least have the decency to do that in the lavatory. Or at least limit your motions so your bed's creaking doesn't keep me awake."
Draco snorted and rolled his eyes. "That's not what I'm doing, idiot."
"Then can it please wait till morning? I'm going to look like shit tomorrow at this rate."
Draco sighed and Blaise turned over in his bed with a huff. The blonde haired wizard reluctantly rolled over onto his side, staring at his clock's black second hand as it clicked past the numbers.
"Yeah," he whispered, "I suppose it can."
With that, Draco drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
"Harry, would you quit pacing?"
The raven haired boy looked up suddenly at his weary best friend.
"It's 3am and you're going to wear a hole in the floor."
He stopped his pattern across the Gryffindor dorm floor and gave the redhead an apologetic look.
"Sorry, Ron. Just can't sleep."
"Ah, no worries mate" Ron said with a giant yawn, "I know what's bothering you."
Harry's heart stopped, staring at his friend with wide eyes and swallowing thickly. "You…do?"
Ron nodded sleepily with his eyes half closed. "Sirius Black can't get to you here, mate. Don't worry. Dumbledore won't allow it."
A slow, relieved breath exhaled through Harry's lips. "Yeah…right. Thanks, Ron. Sorry I woke you."
"S'alright" Ron mumbled with another yawn before rolling over and falling asleep instantly.
Harry made his way back over to his own bed, sitting on the edge and staring out the small window into the darkness that peacefully covered the school grounds. That night, Harry dreamed he was being chased by something, but every time he turned around to see what it was, all he saw was a ball of white. As he was chased through a never-ending forest, he felt both fear and worry. The worry that he felt wasn't because he was worried the thing behind him would catch him, but rather worry that it would disappear forever. Harry woke up with such an overwhelming flurry of emotions and exhaustion, he had to run to the bathroom to be sick. There was an uneasy feeling present that told him this was just the first of many dreams to come.