Only Time

Chapter 4 – Far From My Side

" I know who you really are," he said without missing a beat, while Draco stared at him with wide eyes.

"Huh?" asked Draco eloquently, after opening and closing her mouth several times.

"It wasn't very difficult to uncover after those hints, Malfoy," established Harry.

"Hints? What hints? I don't know what you're talking about, Har...I mean, Potter," stuttered Draco, sweating coldness.

"Don't you see? You almost called me by my first name!" said Harry, with victorious air and a sardonic smile on the face.

"You must have been in the sun too long, Potter. Now, excuse me. I have to sleep, its late," said Draco trying to outwit Harry, without a lot of success.

"Don't you leave Malfoy. Not if you don't want everyone to know about your little secret by tomorrow morning," challenged Harry.

"If I didn't know that you are a Gryffindor, I would swear that you are a Slytherin, Potter," commented Draco, "Therefore, since you behave as one, you will be treated as one," continued Draco, while Harry looked at him with annoyance, "What will it take to keep your mouth shut?" Draco asked arrogantly with his nose raised.

"What do I want, well, its simple," said Harry, quickly, while he approached the blond, "Draco," Harry said, earning a distrustful look from Draco, "I want to know you better," he finished, their noses touching.

Draco did not know how to react. A minute ago she was calm and casual in the kitchen with her old house elf, and in the next she was penned in. She had lowered her guard too much, and now she didn't have a way out. She had been discovered by the only person who trusted everyone; her love Harry Potter.

Draco lost her famous quick reasoning. In barely two phrases, Harry Potter had completely disarmed her calm, cool, and collected manner! She could feel her dry throat, and she tried to make an effort not to tremble. But her brain was paralyzed, and the only thing she could utter was, "Ok."

"Ok., then," said Harry awkwardly, caught by surprise by the quick acceptance of his offering, "Then tomorrow we will meet at 1 a.m. in the Astronomy Tower," he said quickly.

"Yeah," she heard her voice answering, without having any control of what she was saying.

"I think that I should be going," said Harry trying not to conceal his smile, "Oh and one more thing, call me Harry," he said while putting on his cloak and walking towards the tower.

Alone after Harry disappeared around the corner, she let out the breath she had unconsciously been holding. Swallowing air in big gulps, she tried to regain his composure. After a few minutes, she was able to walk back tot he dormitory that she shared with Crabbe and Goyle, in the Slytherin dungeons.

Upon entering the dormitory, Draco passed by her friends who were discussing which flavor of biscuit they were going to go eat, and she went and laid on her bed which was in the corner of the room. She barely had the strenght to take off her cloak and her shoes laying the beside the bed, she then curled up underneath the covers. But no matter what she did, she couldn't sleep, her heart was still beating quickly in her chest. She rolled on her side, absorbed in her thoughts. Still not falling asleep, she gave up and sat upright in his bed, holding his pillow.

"He mentioned "hints"," thought Draco, "But what hints is he talking about? I don't remember hinting about anything. Though Lupin and Granger didn't need hints…they could just tell. Is there something showing on my face?

Draco looked in the mirror.

"Is there something that I won't be able to hide?" she continued while looking in the mirror, "No…I look the same as before. Nothing has changed, my hair is still short, and my eyes are cold just like my fathers. Ok well, then it wasn't my appearance" certified Draco, "You couldn't look at my face and say that I'm a girl," she smiled putting away the mirror and getting into bed, "Was it a bluff? No it couldn't be," she thought while embracing a pillow, "He looked so full of himself for it to be a bluff. He knows, that much is certain, the problem with that is how he discovered. Granger and that little professor Lupin wouldn't have opened their mouth now after so long. But outside of the two of them, only Dobby knows. But Dobby doesn't count, or does he? No, he knows what would happen to him if he told."

And amid those thoughts, Draco finally fell asleep.

That day, the Great Hall was full of students eating breakfast and reading their mail or newspapers, however, everyone stopped when Draco practically flew into the hall. When she entered, she felt like everyone was staring at her. Unable to control her tongue she asked angrily, "What? Have you never seen someone be late before?" she asked removing a piece of hair from her face and walking towards the Slytherin table.

"You look like crap," stated Crabbe looking at Draco from top to bottom.

"It's your eyes," retorted Draco.

"No it's not. You look like crap without hair gel, your ties not knotted," continued Gregory.

"Well if you would have woken me up, I wouldn't look like this, Goyle," stated while looking at herself, "I look like a Weasley!" laughed Draco.

"Too bad that Halloween's already gone," laughed the three while they finished their breakfast.

Her morning classes passed quickly, and they were relatively calm, with Hermione and Harry watching Ron who was now around five years old, and like all kids that age, he never stopped moving.

Ron spent most of the classes bothering the student in DADA, especially the Slytherins. And he spent the entire Divination class crying, mainly because the professor predicted a horrible death for the Boy-Who-Lived.

Thanks to the whole scandal of his friend, Harry was expelled from the class he hated. However, when he had collected his stuff and turned to leave with his little friend, a hoarse voice made him turn. It was the professor, who had entered in a trance, like in his third year. More astonishing was not that it was a prediction, even though he knew they were rare, it was the fact that she hardly ever could foresee the future. Harry heard the prediction which left him flabbergasted. Without stopping to think, he picked up Ron and ran for the Great Hall.

"Hermione!" called Harry as he ran towards the Gryffindor table.

"Are you feeling ok Harry? You look pale," asked Hermione, while Harry sat down at the table, "Does your scar hurt? If it does, we had better tell Professor Dumbledore, or Sirius," she finished standing up.

"Its not that, I want to talk with you about a thing Trelawney said," he finished while signing for Hermione to come and sit back down.

"That old bat? Oh Harry, don't scare me like that. For a minute I thought it was something serious," grumbled Hermione annoyed.

"But it is serious!" said Harry urgently, "She said that"

"That Harry is going to have a girlfriend! Harry is going to have a girlfriend! La la la," interrupted Ron while singing and clapping with a smile on his face going from one ear to the other, "Sorry," he said after seeing the grave look that both of his friends gave him.

"Continue Harry," said Hermione, glaring at Ron who shrank back.

"When I was leaving class, the professor went into a trance," said Harry. After seeing the skeptic look Hermione shot him he continued, "like when she foresaw that someone would go help Voldem…I mean, You-know-who," he quickly corrected himself upon seeing the tension in Hermione when he had started to the name of the Dark Lord. "She said that I would soon fall in love"

"Well, you should be happy then Harry," Hermione shrugged her shoulders and went back to eating.

"But that's not all Hermione! She said that I would love the person I've always hated!" continued a panicked Harry, while Hermione looked in the direction of the Slytherin table.

"This is going to be interesting to watch," said Hermione between laughs.

"Don't laugh, Mione! This is serious! What if my love is Voldemort?" asked Harry while Hermione was laughing so hard she was almost in tears.

"Harry, you're hilarious," Hermione said while wiping the tears from her eyes, "I don't think that the person she was referring to was You-know-who."

"Well, who was she referring to then?" he question, curious.

"Who have you fought with almost every day since we started Hogwarts?"

"Malfoy," he answered automatically, still not understanding.

"There's your answer," she said trying to contain her laughter after seeing the incredulous look of her friend, "But you know what Harry? No matter what your sexual preference, you'll always be my friend," concluded Hermione not being able to contain her amusement, which quickly became laughter.

Still not understanding, Harry decided to focus on lunch. However, he couldn't help but throw furtive looks in Draco's direction. After awhile, Draco felt extremely uncomfortable with the looks from Harry.

The night soon arrived.

Harry spent more time in his detention than he expected, but it was expected, since cleaning Moaning Myrtle's bathroom by himself would be difficult.

After his detention, Harry ran towards the tower. In record time, Harry was ready to meet with Draco. He was extremely curious about what would happen. After he picked up his cloak and map, he left for the Astronomy room.

Draco was very impatient and walked from one side of the room to the other, cursing and talking to herself.

"I'll get you Potter! No one stands a Malfoy up" claimed murmuring.

"BOOOOO!" yelled Harry, still invisible causing Draco to jump.

"Never do that again," ordered Draco, breathing heavily with his hand on his chest.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Besides, you deserved it. You looked like an old lady pacing the room," said Harry while he imitated Draco.

"I do not look like an old lady!" said Draco, taking a small mirror out of his pocked and looking at himself.

"An old lady…a vain one but still an old lady. Hmm..Draco…maybe you should have gotten some botox injected here," he said pointing at the corners of Draco's eyes, "Then we wouldn't see these expression marks here."

"I do not have expression marks!" said Draco insulted.

"Calm down I was just joking," said Harry who walked in front of Draco and extended his hand, "Hi, I'm Harry James Potter," he said presented himself.

Draco looked at him confused.

"Were you dropped as a baby? I've known your name for the past five years!" exclaimed Draco.

"No, I was not dropped as a baby. I just thought that if we are going to get to know each other, it would be better to start all over," said Harry, not bothered by Draco's reaction.

"Draco I. Malfoy, and the pleasure is all yours," finally answered Draco.

In there five years of living together in Hogwarts, they had never been able to remain in the same room without exchanging insults, and on the rare occasion they had a civil conversation, they both felt extremely uncomfortable with the situation. However, after a few weeks, Draco and Harry had become accustomed to one another, and were slowly forming a friendship.

They always met in the same room. Sometimes they talked, or they simply lay on the ground, appreciating the night and one another's company. Then finally they began to tell each other personal information.

"Then it was you who sent Dobby to prevent me from going to Hogwarts my second year? When the Chamber of Secrets was opened?" asked an astonished Harry.

"Yes it was," answered Draco, without not even turn, "Would you have rather had me personally go and knock on the door of your muggle relatives, huh?

"Yes I would have."

"You would have slammed the door in my face," stated Draco.

"I would not," defended Harry.

"Yes, you would have," refuted Draco.

"Ok, maybe I would have," Harry admitted, "but why did you want to warn me?"

"You were an annoying git, but you didn't deserved to die," justified Draco, shrugging her shoulders.

"That's not what your father thinks," nudged Harry, scooting towards Draco.

"Yeah, and I bet your uncle agrees with him," retorted Draco, moving away from Harry.

"Ok! You won. I won't speak of your family, and you won't speak of mine," said Harry, seeing Draco smile in return, "You know, I was thinking…"

"That's a miracle!" interrupted Draco laughing.

"Hey I'm serious! What's your middle name?" asked Harry, scooting towards Draco again.

"Isabele," answered Draco, noticing how close Harry was and moving away again.

"That's strange," said Harry.

"Strange?" asked Draco.

"Isabele is a girl's name," said Harry, while looking at Draco.

Draco sat still. She had spent three weeks with Harry. At the beginning, she feared that Harry would spread her secret throughout the school. However, these past few days, she had become really attached to him. It gave her the chance to be near the one that she loved, even if it was as a friend.

From Harry's reaction to her middle name, Draco knew that she had been mistaken. The one she loved still didn't know that she was in fact and girl, and that the big secret he had referred to was probably her friendship with the house elves. What a drag. And now what she was going to do?

"Draco? Are you ok?," questioned Harry after seeing Draco's puzzled look, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you," he said while hugging Draco.

"He doesn't know….he doesn't know. And yet Harry stayed with me. But he's made a mistake! If someone figures it out…they won't like it" she thought while feeling Harry's strong arms wrap around her. But she had to be in control. Especially now, that there was a chance to keep her secret!

"Don't come over here," ordered Draco, extricating herself from the embrace.

"What? I apologized, you don't have to be like this," argued Harry, trying to approach again.

"Stay away!" she said, her voice raised while avoiding Harry's touch.

"You act like I have some contagious disease!" said Harry irritated, "Every time I get close to you, you move away!"

"No…" said Draco.

"Whenever I mention a personal matter, you quickly change the subject. I know that your still bothered about what I said about your name, but why won't you say anything? Why don't you just say it so we can put in clean sheets at once?" asked Harry.

"That's not it," Draco tried to defend her argument.

"Of course it is. You cannot be the git that everybody thinks, but when it comes to me, you're nothing but a a ice cube," Harry yelled. His fury was so strong that the glass in the windows shattered.

But Draco didn't have time to be frightened. She lost control to and yelled, "Don't you understand that I love you, you idiot?"

Harry immediately shut up and stared at Draco, no knowing how to react. His eyes still grew wider behind his glasses. Draco gasped, the silence blanketing the two. To break the tension, she continued, "I shouldn't but I do!" and then unable to hold it in any longer, she fell sobbing.

A little piece of the shattered window fell and the clink it made when it joined the other pieces was the only noise in the room except for Draco's hiccups. By now Draco had buried his head in his hand and his shoulder shook violently, while his tears ran.

Harry still hadn't moved and looked flabbergasted, he experienced a range of emotions at once. Few things and been more beautiful and exciting than what he had just witnessed. Suddenly, one certainty dawned on him.

"You must hate me now, even more that before," hiccuped Draco.

Not being able to stand it any longer, Harry sealed his lips of those of Draco, which answered after the initial shock wore off. They kissed with urgency, and Harry murmured senseless words.

Draco, finally realizing what they were doing, pulled away from Harry and moved backwards.

"I love you," said Harry, looking at Draco who was trying to cover his mouth with his hand.

"You love what you see, but your eyes mislead you Harry," said Draco amid tears.

She turned quickly and left, leaving a confused and disturbed Harry Potter behind.

End of chapter 4

AN - This is the english version of the fic that I originally wrote in portuguese. English is not my first language, and all I know of grammar is the basic. I don't have a beta or anyone to translate it for me, so if you find any error please let me know so I can correct them.

Thank you all for reading ^^