A/N: I realized that this story may actually have a chance so I am going to start working on it again. I'd like to apologize for the extremely long wait and say that I actually have a plan, so if the chapters are a little short or they seem a little slow bare with me. I may go back and put this all under one chapter but I want to see where this goes and how people take it. This story is unbeta-ed, none epilogue compliant, and I warn that updates aren't going to be like daily, but I'll try to finish before summer is over. Review please and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated! -Kaila aka Cyclone :)
And a P.S. I'm typing this up on a blackberry so the format may look weird, but bare with me (insanely long A/N over)
He walked up the stairs to the owlery in a cold sweat. Although Draco Malfoy had changed after the war, he was still Draco Malfoy. What if he didn't show up? Or worse what if he showed up and just laughed at the sight of him? Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach.
The boy stood at the door to the owlery willing for a calm to wash over him. Finally, Anonymous opened the door, shocked to see the silhouette of his thoughts sitting in one of the large windows. He gasped quietly as the figure had yet to notice him, but making out that his silhouette was not alone. The fact was confirmed as a soft stuttering voice filtered throughout the tower. "....You?"
He looked away from the scene facing him only allowing one tear drop to fall before furiously scrubbing at his face and eyes. He would not cry for Draco Malfoy, not today and not ever.
Harry was not the only one heartbroken and disappointed. On the other side of the owlery Draco had sat stroking his Spotted Eagle-owl, the note clutched in his unoccupied hand. His heart was racing, his hands were shaking, and a cold sweat was chilling his spine. Who could Anonymous be?
He loosened his death grip, abandoning his stroking to smooth out the paper like a precious artifact that had been trampled on. His owl hooted for attention, but his eyes had glazed over as he sat studying the hand writing. It looked familiar, but he could not place it himself.
It was during times like these he wished he had told Pansy. She was good at scoping out information on people, though for admittedly more devious reasons. Such was a skill that Draco had not mastered, preferring to hire someone else to do the dirty work. This time however, Draco could bring himself to tell his oldest female friend of his secret admirer. She didn't understand his changing after the war, couldn't see how people's sneers at him cut him. All Draco wanted was someone to love him, someone he could hold. And even if Pansy could understand that part, Draco didn't want to see the pity on her face if it all fell through.
He could have asked Blaise, Draco thought briefly. But Blaise would over analyze everything, always too cautious to go into anything. They all would have graduated by the time that Blaise's plan came to fruition. The thought that they were due to graduate this year, forced to set out into a world still filled with prejudice and naivety even after the arrival of peace did nothing to help slow Draco's flitting heart. Draco forced such thoughts out of his mind, thinking of Blaise's own "secret" desire. Blaise had been in love with Pansy since they were children; he'd been planning their first date since second year. Draco smiled fondly.
A sound in the stair well, like someone crashing, startled Draco out of his musings. He sat tensely waiting for Anonymous to show their face. Slowly, the figure that appeared in the doorway began to progress towards the center of the owlery where most of the light filter in to. The sight of black hair had his heart stopped, before a heavily curved figure came into sight. Draco gave a mental sigh preparing to let her down gently, and if that didn't work to break out the Malfoy intimidation.
He looked up into the face of Anonymous and was met with shocking blue eyes. They were full of shock with a variety of emotions swirling just beneath the surface. Dread swelled like bile from the pit of Draco's stomach. Somehow he knew that this girl would be the end of end.
".... You.... You came." She whispered sweetly. "Draco I-"
He cut her off, not wanting to prolong this. A flash of yellow and black gave him his motivation. "This isn't going to work."
She face fell a little before she started again with renewed energy. "Draco, you don't understand, I want to get to know you- though I feel as if I already know everything about you. I want to complete you-"
"You don't know me! And I am not incomplete!"
She ignored his protests, continuing on as if he hadn't interrupted her. "-I want to comfort you, I want to love you!" She reached out, and Draco realized he'd had to go to extremes to get his point across. If only Anonymous had been… Draco cut off his hopeful thoughts to refocus on the task at hand.
"Listen, I am Draco Malfoy. You do not know me, you cannot complete me, and I could never love- or would ever be seen- with a Hufflepuff. So go back to your common room, tell all your little friends what a jerk I am and how stupid you were to ever even think of liking me, and I'll forget you ever attempted such an idiotic pursuit."The girl ran sobbing from the room, leaving Draco with a heavy heart and unfulfilled desires.
The next day Harry Potter awoke with an ache in his heart and lead on his eyelids. He groaned out a curse that the sun should rise only a few hours after he had managed to actually fall asleep. Green eyes blankly stared at the red and gold canopy overhead.
"How stupid of me…" And that was the end of his wallowing. He got up and ready for the day. He talked with friends about the newest listen-or-die gossip, passed notes during classes he really should have been paying attention in, and smiled and laughed at all the appropriate- and inappropriate- times. If his smile was a little bit stiffer and his laugh a little bit staler than usual, then who should notice given all of his normal, happy behavior? Too bad the calm facade couldn't withstand pressure of a confrontation with one Draco Malfoy.
It was just after potions. After the war Snape had lightened with the pressure of being two people in one body gone. However, he still did not like one Harry Potter, for he was the spitting image of his childhood tormentor and the man who had stolen the love of his life. Harry exited the classroom into the labyrinth of the dungeons a little more drained than before, but excited that he had a free period next. His uplifting thoughts were cut short when he bumped into a wall. Bag sprawled out and ink staining the dungeon floor, Harry cursed his inattentiveness shocked and disbelieving that he could have walked into a wall of all things. He sat up to collect his things feeling a little dafter than before when a groan forced its way into his consciousness. Understanding set in as he realized that wall was actually a person who was now laid out on the floor next to him. He felt a little better realizing he in fact hadn't ran into a wall, before scrambling up to offer apologies and a hand.
The words died on his lips as he took in the sight of Draco Malfoy propped up in a sitting position on one hand, rubbing his head with the other, and a brunette Hufflepuff kneeling down to offer whiny words of support and an arm to clutch around one of his biceps.