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Harry sighed in frustration as he watched his best friend toss a muggle football in the air as he contemplated his next words. What a fucking jock.
“I just think,” Liam said slowly as he carefully chose his next words. “That if you gave him a chance, the two would really hit it off.”
“I’m not going to start hanging around some Slytherin, Liam.” Harry scoffed. “Least of all, Louis Tomlinson. You know how much of an arsehole he is.”
“Sophia’s a Slytherin and you love her.” Liam interjected.
“Sophia doesn’t count because she’s basically a Gryffindor,” Liam gave him a questioning look, prompting him to add, “given the amount of time she spends in our tower anyway.” He finished without missing a beat, smirking at his friend who had paused his tossing and turned to face him.
“Also, Sophia’s a nice person and doesn’t make me want to vomit every time I see her.”
“You do not feel the need to vomit every time you see Louis, stop being overdramatic Haz.” Liam shot back fondly. “He’s a nice bloke. Just your type too. Have you seen those cheekbones?” He teased.
“Oh sod off.” Harry shot back grumpily.
“Just sayin’.” Liam replied with a laugh. “Speaking of Slytherins,” He continued, sitting up from his reclined position. “Have you begun Professor Cowell’s essay on Wolfsbane yet? I can’t believe he wants 24 inches by Monday!” He groaned, placing his head in his hands.
“I told you not to wait until Sunday to finish.” Harry chided, but nonetheless began to rummage through his book bag that was perched next to him, looking for his completed essay. “Now, I’ll let you look at mine.” He stated, emphasizing the word ‘look’. “But you’ve got to drop this Louis Tomlinson nonsense. And sneak into the kitchens and bring me some treacle tarts after dinner tonight.”
“Deal!” Liam replied, hastily grabbing for the rolled up parchment in Harry’s outstretched hand.
Harry watched his friend stick his tongue out in concentration as he began to read the scroll in front of him and flopped on his back, thinking about Louis Tomlinson, of all things.
______________________________________________________________________
There were few things Louis disliked about Hogwarts, most of them relating to Gryffindor. More specifically, a certain Gryffindor, Harry Styles. He had nothing against him being a muggleborn- he wasn’t that old fashioned- but something about Harry just set Louis off, and it certainly didn’t help that he was in the most obnoxious house. Fucking Gryffindor’s. Not all Gryffindor’s were horrible though, Sophia, his best friend was dating one and he was all right. Louis got on well with him, but there was just something about Harry Styles.
Maybe it was his stupid dimple that made all the girls fall for him or his stupidly curly hair that had all the girls tripping over themselves to watch him study. Not that Louis particularly cared being gay himself, but it was infuriating to not be able walk through the library without hearing some girl whisper something about the wonderful Harry Styles.
“Oi Lou, we’ve got to get going if we don’t want to be late for Quidditch.” Sophia said throwing her keeper gloves at him, breaking him from his thoughts.
“You’re the captain.” He whined. “We can be late if you wanna be.”
“Not if we want to thrash Gryffindor in the match coming up.” She shot back.
“Fair.” He conceded, slowly sitting up and pulling on his Quidditch robes.
They made their way up from the dungeons, winding their way through the castle on the peaceful Sunday afternoon. Louis thought about the lovely warm dinner that’d be waiting for him after Quidditch practice but that’s exactly when one Harry Styles randomly appeared in front of him, causing him to have to stop abruptly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough. Next thing he knew Louis was flat on his back looking up at the curly haired boy.
“Oi. Watch where you’re going!” He half shouted while he started to sit up.
“Sorry! I didn’t see you down there.” Harry shot back, extending a hand. What an asshole, making fun of Louis for being short. Not that he was short, but compared to freaking giant Harry Styles he was.
Louis ignored the offered hand, electing to stand up on his own and began to dust off his trousers. “I swear to merlin Styles, next time you do this I’ll give you a bat bogey hex so bad you’ll be in the hospital wing for a week.” He fumed.
Harry looked like he was holding back a laugh, which infuriated Louis more. The bastard probably did it on purpose as well.
“I look forward to our next meeting then.” He smirked, looking Louis up and down. “Sophia. Good to see you.” He said warmly, nodding in her direction before sauntering off and turning a corner out of sight.
“Fucking Harry Styles!!” He yelled once the boy was out of sight. “I’ve never hated anyone more than fucking Harry Styles.” He grumbled. “Did you see that? He ran straight into me!”
“It did look like an accident Lou… I think the two of you just have too much bad blood anything you do to one another feels like a deliberate attack.” Sophia offered quietly.
“You’re supposed to me on my side.” He whined. “He totally did it on purpose too. He just likes to make fun of me for being short. But everyone looks short next to Harry bloody Styles.” He pouted, folding his arms over his chest. He knew it was childish, but he didn’t really care at that moment.
“That’s not true, and you know it.” Sophia countered as they resumed their path to the Quidditch pitch. “I think you’re just trying to distract me from talking about all the sexual tension between the two of you.” She teased.
“There is NO sexual tension between me and stupid Harry Styles!” He protested indignantly.
“Mhm. Sure, whatever.” She replied airily. “C’mon now. We’d better hurry, else we’ll be even later.” She said quickly, ending all discussion on the topic as they picked up their pace and booked it to the field.
The rest of practice flew by in a blur and soon enough, Louis was landing his broom and hiking back up the castle with Sophia. He was in desperate need of a shower, but first, dinner.
The weekend ended much too quickly for Harry’s liking and soon enough it was Monday morning and time to head to class with Liam.
“Double potions with the Slytherins is always the worst.” Liam grumbled as they made their way to the dungeons.
“You’re dating a Slytherin…” Harry countered, raising one eyebrow at his friend.
“Yeah but she never gets to sit by me because of bloody Cowell.” He pouted. “And just because Soph is great, doesn’t mean there aren’t a few dodgy ones as well.”
“Fair enough,” Harry agreed. “And Louis Tomlinson is in this class too.” He mumbled. “All he does is prattle on about nonsense and Cowell lets him.” He huffed in frustration, pushing a wayward curl from his face.
“Next time you want to talk shit about me,” A cold voice behind him sniffed, “at least say it to my face.” With that Louis pushed past him forcefully, causing Harry to fall sideways into Liam.
“Prick.” Harry snarled, regaining his balance. At that Louis twirled around, wand clenched in hand. Instinctively, Harry withdrew his wand as well. Liam placed a warning hand on Harry’s arm, when the swooping figure of Professor McGonagall suddenly barked, causing all three of them to break apart.
“What’s going on here?” She demanded, her eyebrows arching closer and closer to her hairline.
“Nothing Professor…” Harry mumbled quietly, attempting to stash his wand. Unfortunately, he was too slow and she saw both wands drawn.
“Looks like a duel was about to take place.” She tutted. “Detention, both of you. My office, 8 pm tomorrow night. Please be prompt and leave your wands in your dormitory. They won’t be necessary for our purposes.” With that she gathered her robes about her and walked away.
“Thanks a lot.” Harry snarled, throwing a filthy looks at Louis and flouncing away, not paying any mind if Liam was following or not. When he arrived in the dungeons, he threw his book bag on the table farthest away from where a small group of Slytherins had already gathered. Liam came in a minute later and gingerly sat down next to him.
Sophia followed a moment after and looked like she was going to swing by and say hello but a look from Liam caused her to divert her course quickly. Liam flicked his eyes to Louis who was now entering and shot her an exaggerated frown then looked at Harry who was bent over the table with this head resting on his arms. She gave an understanding nod and motioned Louis to sit down at her table with some other Slytherins.
“Harry fucking Styles is the most arrogant prat to ever attend this bloody school and I for one am sick of him and all his fellow Gryffindors.” Louis said angrily as he sat down under one of the many trees that littered the Hogwarts grounds. “He’s the reason I’ve got detention tonight and I needed time tonight to write a 24 inch essay for McGonagall and I’ve got like six.” He complained to his blond companion.
“Harry’s alright Lou. I just think you guys got off on the wrong foot.” Niall offered carefully.
“You’re supposed to be on my side.” He whined. Louis really needed to look into getting new friends who always agreed with him.
“I am.” Niall said gently sitting down on the grass next to Louis. “Well, kinda.” He finished with a shrug and a small laugh. “I’m just saying Harry’s not a bad bloke, I just think you both got off on the wrong note, but you could be great friends if you wanted.”
“Ugh, you sound like Sophia.” Louis said with a sigh. “She’s always trying to set me up with Harry and it’s annoying as all heck.”
“Does she now?” Niall asked, instantly perking up with a big grin on his face.
“Don’t you dare go getting ideas from her Ni.” Louis said flopping onto his back dramatically. “I don’t need the Ravenclaws and Slytherins annoying me about this.”
“I make no promises about anything…” Niall replied gleefully. This did not bode well for him. Louis responded by groaning again and flipping onto his stomach under the pretense of searching his book bag for a quill and parchment.
“Just put away your differences tonight for detention. Try to be friendly to each other and see if it kills you.” Niall offered before standing up. “I’ve gotta go meet Bressie to get the quaffle for practice tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow and good luck!” He offered cheerfully before walking away and leaving Louis to his thoughts.
Why were all his friends conspiring against him and trying to get him to be friendly towards Harry Styles. Realistically they were correct, Harry was exactly Louis’ type, but he was just so bloody annoying. Louis groaned for the third time before settling in to a comfortable position against the tree where he tried to complete McGonagall’s essay, but all he could think about was Harry Styles and their impending detention.
To be honest, Harry wasn’t really sure what happened with Louis to make them hate each other. It just kind of happened. One minute they were first years eager to find themselves a place in the Hogwarts food chain and it seemed the next moment they were sworn house enemies. Harry knew that not all Slytherins were awful, Liam’s girlfriend Sophia was an amazing person and her friend Eleanor was all right too, but there were definitely still a few dodgy ones.
House relations, mostly between the Gryffindors and Slytherins, weren’t as bad as they were in the past, but there were still old feuds present in Hogwarts today. Harry wracked his brains for why Louis would hate him, but he always came up empty. It wasn’t that he was muggleborn, there were some people that still cared about that, but Louis didn’t seem to, he was rather friendly with other muggleborns. Unable to pinpoint a cause, Harry had just seemed to let their feud be naturally fired and now it seemed that it was getting out of control. He was genuinely ready to duel in the hallway the other day.
Harry shook his head to clear it and knocked on his head of house’s door at promptly eight. After a crisp “come in” was heard he pushed the heavy oak door open and was met with the sight of Louis Tomlinson wearing a pair of frilly pink rubber gloves, not unlike the ones he and his sister bought their mum for mother’s day a few years back as a joke.
He bit back a bark of laughter, but his amusement was still clear. Louis shot him a dirty look that promptly turned to glee as McGonagall pulled another pair out of her desk drawer.
“These were all Professor Longbottom had to loan me for this task.” She stated. It seemed like a small attempt to be apologetic, but the gleam in her eyes showed that there was no sympathy to be had for the pink gloves.
“That’s alright Professor!” Harry chirped happily. “Pink is actually one of my favorite colors. I do think these go nicely with my eyes.” He began to put the gloves on and watched Louis from the corner of his eye. It was true, Harry did love pink, but he did want to see if he could get a rise from Louis. Liam may have accidentally let it slip that Harry’s eyes and especially his hair infuriated Louis, when he was drunk and Harry may or may not have stored that information for a time precisely like this.
“The two of you will have the thrilling job of cleaning the corridor on the third floor. Recently, Peeves has decided it is appropriate to encourage student’s to set off Filbuster’s Fireworks in that corridor. It’s left them full of soot and need a good scrubbing. There will be buckets, sponges, and a ladder awaiting you and I expect a good work ethic from both of you, as I know you are both fully capable of this task. I will come retrieve you when time is up at eleven. Is that understood boys?”
They both nodded in agreement, Harry adding a “Yes Professor.” for good measure.
“Excellent.” She nodded, sitting back down at her desk. “Off you go.” Now dismissed the two boys walked quietly to the chosen corridor.
“Pink really is my favorite color.” Harry said conversationally after a minute of silence in attempt to break the ice.
“Lovely.” Louis replied with a nod. What was Harry playing at?
“What’s your favorite color?” The question kind of caught Louis off guard, but he decided to roll with it, his conversation with Niall earlier that day playing through his head.
“Hmmm, I’d have to say I really enjoy a nice light purple.” Louis answered honestly. The answer seemed to slow Harry in his tracks for a moment but he soon regained his composure and resumed walking.
“That’s awesome.” He replied earnestly. “I’d say that periwinkle is my favorite shade of purple.”
“That’s a nice color too. It makes me think of the flowers in my nan’s gardens.” Louis revealed.
“My nan has a lovely garden too. Sometimes I wonder how she manages it so well without magic.” Harry added with a reminiscent smile.
“I don’t think mine would be able to without it.” Louis replied with a small laugh. “My whole family is pretty rubbish at doing things without magic.”
“That’s understandable.” Harry said kindly.
“Bloody hell.” Louis said suddenly, stopping abruptly at the sight before him.
“How the fuck do you get a corridor THAT dirty with bloody fireworks?!” Harry asked incredulously, mouth agape, taking in the horror scene before them.
‘There’s no way we’re gonna get all this done in one detention.” Louis added with a groan. “McGonagall could clean this in a minute with her wand, why’ve we got to do it by hand?”
“Detention I suppose. Getting a work ethic and all that.” Harry offered with a shrug.
“Ugh.” Louis groaned again. This was not going to be a fun time.
“Well, best get a start then.”
Louis nodded and picked up his bucket, moving it closer to a wall and started scrubbing. He could feel Harry staring at him and he really couldn’t help himself when he snapped, “Just because I come from a family of purebloods doesn’t mean I don’t know how to clean without magic.”
“I. Right, sorry, yeah.” Harry stuttered quietly going to work on the opposite side. “Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you.” He offered quietly.
“‘S alright.” Louis said quietly with a shrug. He didn’t know why he snapped at Harry, they were actually being cordial to one another for once.
“Well, at least the pink gloves add a nice pop of color against the sooty grey walls.” Harry joked, holding his gloved arm up to the wall, immediately making Louis break into a grin and breaking the awkward tension once more.
The rest of the night flew by, the two of them occasionally talking and joking as they worked. Before they knew it McGonagall was back and told them they were free to leave.
With a flick of her wand, the buckets and remaining grime on the walls disappeared and the groan Harry gave was similar to the emotions Louis himself was feeling. The smirk on her face as they left led Louis to wonder, not for the first time, whether or not the sorting hat should’ve put McGonagall in Slytherin all those years ago.
Harry trudged back up to Gryffindor tower slowly, bidding Louis a cordial goodbye as they parted ways near the Great Hall.
“So how was detention with Louis?” Liam asked when he entered the dormitory.
“Not horrible.” Harry answered, surprising Liam a little bit with his answer.
“Oh?” Liam prompted, raising his eyebrows in curiosity.
“I don’t know how the bloody hell those kids made such a mess with fireworks, but at least Louis and I were decent towards one another.” He replied, downplaying how well he and Louis seemed to get along for now. He wasn’t really sure why he was keeping this from his best friend, but it just seemed like what he should do.
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As the days went by after the detention Louis found himself more and more drawn to Harry. He felt his anger towards him deflated, no longer wanting to tease or taunt the Gryffindor in the mean ways that he had done, that they both had done to each other for the past six years. Instead, he found himself giving him a small smile or a friendly nod.
The days turned into weeks and Harry found himself spending more and more time with Louis outside of class. He found himself accepting Liam’s offers to go to the library and study with Sophia and Louis, something he had outright rejected, and even laughed at, in the past. He also find himself more and more comfortable in Louis’ presence, something that he often found hard to do with people he was unfamiliar with. The culmination of these past few weeks were what prompted him to finally ask the million dollar question that had been digging in the back of his mind, one full month after the aforementioned detention.
“Do you even remember why we ‘hated’ each other?” Harry asked suddenly, putting air quotes around hated, while they were walking down a quiet corridor. That was happening more and more now, the two of them being alone together, without the protective buffer of Sophia and Liam.
Louis paused and looked at him for a moment. “Your use of scare quotes around hated implies that you no longer hate me then.” He said with a nod.
Harry shot a sidelong glance at him before replying. “Yeah. I’d even consider us mates now, if you’re up for that.” He replied hopefully.
Louis stopped their walking and gave Harry a soft smile. “Yeah, I’d like that.” He said quietly.
“Me too.” Harry replied, returning Louis’ grin with one of his own.
They began walking again, staying silent a few moments before Louis began talking again.
“I ‘hated’ you when we first met because I was jealous of you.” Louis said in a small voice.
Harry came to a stop again and turned to face his companion. “What?” He asked shocked, mouth agape a little bit.
“It’s completely stupid and honestly the dumbest thing to start a six year feud over, but on the platform before first year I saw you. I saw you and your parents and I could tell how confused you all were and it was so obvious you were a muggle born just from your whole family’s awestruck expression. But I also saw hope and excitement from your parents. They had absolutely no idea what they were doing but I could tell that they just wanted the best for you. I was just a jealous spoiled brat who was getting dropped off at the platform by my family’s nanny with parents who were too busy to take me to my first time going off to school. You had a family that loved and cared about you and really that’s all I wanted.” Harry continued to stare at him with a dumbstruck expression so Louis continued on.
“It was never fair to you Harry, I was so jealous of this family you had and I didn’t even know you. Then I got into Slytherin and you got Gryffindor and I used our house disputes to justify the jealousy I had towards you and that’s why I was so mean to you. By the time I sorted my life out in fifth year, I realized how absolutely stupid that was but we sort of had this weird pattern of fighting that I didn’t know how to even go about attempting to break. And because of our fighting I just got so mad because you knew exactly how to get under my skin unlike anyone else.” Louis paused to take a breath and gauge the reaction of his friend.
“Oh my god.” Was all really Harry could say. “I honestly thought I’d done something terrible to you and that’s why you hated me, so I just kind of went along with it. I could never remember what happened between us, but as you said, we just knew all the right buttons to push for each other I guess.”
Louis let out a sigh of relief he didn’t know he was holding in. “I’m sorry Harry, I really am. For all the awful things I said to you and all that.”
“I’m sorry too.” Harry replied quietly. “I really wish we could’ve been friends before our last year.”
“Me too.” Louis replied with a frown. “If only we’d’ve listened to our friends.”
Harry took a moment to process what had just happened as they stood in a deserted corridor. “Dinner?” He asked after a moment, indicating they should begin walking again.
“Dinner.” Louis replied with a smile.
______________________________________________________________________
Things with Louis were going better than ever now. It’d been about a month since they finally confronted their past and now they were both constantly around one another, studying, eating, sneaking into the kitchens. Now that their past was behind them and out in the open, Harry felt more comfortable around Louis than ever.
With this always hanging out with Louis, came an unusual fluttery feeling in Harry’s stomach. If he’d’ve known any better, he’d say he had a crush on Louis, but they were just mates.
When the feeling didn’t go away after two weeks Harry knew he was officially a goner. He and Louis were hanging out more and more by themselves than they ever had before and Harry couldn’t help but resist the urge to push a stray hair from Louis’ face, or have his heart melt when Louis smiled.
Louis hated that his stomach churned with anticipation when he thought about the prospect of hanging out with Harry for the umpteenth time, but here he was, waiting in the library, a stupid grin on his face, waiting for the curly haired Gryffindor. Upon seeing him he offered him a cheerful wave, despite the great amounts of homework before him.
“Hullo Lou!” Harry replied brightly, sitting down across the great oak table. “How’s your day been?”
Louis would be lying if he said he didn’t love Harry’s smile. It was just so inviting and made him want to tell him all his secrets. “Not much. Just working on Professor Longbottom’s essay.” He replied, nodding to the parchment before him.
“Yeah, he assigned us an annoyingly long essay as well.” Harry grumbled, pulling a quill out of his bag. They began to work in silence, each scribbling away.
Louis wasn’t sure what made him look up, but as he did, he caught Harry watching him work. He looked genuinely intrigued by watching Louis scribble away on parchment. He gave the other boy a soft smile before shyly diverting his eyes, a soft blush creeping up.
“Sorry.” Harry mumbled before Louis could say anything else.
“‘S alright.” He laughed a little before continuing on him work. Well, that just happened. They worked in silence a little while longer, Harry humming quietly to himself as he worked. Now it was Louis’ time to be caught staring as he tried to place the gentle tune Harry was humming under his breath.
“Sorry.” Harry replied quietly. “It’s been stuck in my head all day and I don’t know where I know it from.”
“It sounds familiar to me too, but I can’t remember either.” Louis offered with a shrug.
“Ah well.” Harry said, brushing it off. Resuming their work, Louis let his mind wander to the events that had just transpired. Maybe he wasn’t alone in this “more than friends” campaign that his treacherous heart decided to run for him?
Louis regarded Harry carefully. There was no denying he was an attractive boy, heck, Louis even thought that when they weren’t friends. Could it be that he felt the same way as Louis? He pushed the thoughts from his head and began to write again, working distractedly for another hour before his stomach gave a sharp growl. Harry looked up at him and they both shared a knowing smirk, laughing quietly.
“Just a few more minutes, then we can go eat. I just wanna finish this paragraph.” Harry said after a moment.
“Sounds perfect.” Louis replied quickly. He watched his friend finish in silence, letting his mind wander back to what he had been thinking about earlier. Well, there was only one way to find out. He watched Harry gently set him quill down before gently saying “Hey Harry?”
Harry looked up and smiled at him. Seeing his dimple gave him all the confidence he needed. Before either of them could say anything, Louis was kissing him. And Harry was kissing him back. So maybe Louis wasn’t going crazy after all. They parted after another moment.
“Sorry.” Louis breathed. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“I’m really glad you couldn’t.” Harry said, equally as breathy. He leaned back in for another kiss and didn’t pull away until Louis stomach gave another involuntary growl. “Dinner?” He asked, softly smiling and holding out his hand as Louis gathered up his things.
“Dinner.” Louis affirmed, threading his hand with Harry’s and smiling to himself.
He wasn’t really sure what this meant, but there was time to figure that out later. Right now, he was holding hands with the prettiest boy in school and had a lot of hope for the future, and really that was all he could ever ask for. Maybe the Gryffindor’s weren’t so bad after all.