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The snow had just started falling and Harry did not want to spend more time at the Dursleys than the necessary summer. As he watched his friends walk out of Hogwarts he realized one thing, he wasn’t the only one who’d have to stay at school these three weeks. Draco Malfoy, who apparently had some complications with his family had been ordered by Dumbledore to stay as well, for safety reasons. “Poor bloke” had McGonagall said when Malfoy stormed out of the office. Harry did not feel sorry for him at all, sure, he couldn’t help being born into the Malfoy family but he could help his attitude. And given the way he treated Harry and his friends, Harry was almost happy that Malfoy was now stuck here. Except the fact that they’d have to meet every day.
About three weeks ago, when Harry had been reading in the library, Draco had managed to steal the map of marauders. Harry was of course oblivious that he had it and was hoping he had just lost it in his room. But as he searched the dorm without results he decided to take a look around school. Since it was late and he wasn’t allowed to be out, he took the cloak of invisibility. He was wandering around in the little yard of the school as he suddenly heard something behind him. Draco was standing there, he had been up and suddenly seen Harry Potter on the map. He knew that if Harry was outside at this hour he’d be up to no good. He saw Harry's footsteps in the snow and just as Harry turned around Draco attacked him. He got a grip on the cloak and pulled. Harry was trying to grab his arm while at the same time reaching for his wand.
“Malfoy! Stop it!”
“What’re doin’, Potter? Huh? Sneaking around in the middle of the night.”
The two of them suddenly stopped all movements as they heard someone walking. Harry hurried to throw the cloak over them. Why he helped Draco, he didn’t know, maybe with the thought in his back head that he’d snitch if he didn’t. Harry held his finger in front of his lips, a motion for Malfoy to keep quiet. McGonagall didn’t seem to notice their footprints in the snow. After all, it was dark and if you didn’t know what you were looking for you wouldn’t find it. Draco frowned, wanting to push Potter away immediately. Suddenly another teacher walked out of the doors.
“Ah, Severus. Any news?”
Harry turned his head to look at McGonagall while Draco turned his head to Snape as he walked towards them.
“Not yet, unfortunately.”
He took a few steps towards the boys and—since he couldn’t see them—accidentally stepped on Harry’s foot. Draco was quick in his reflexes and put his hand over Harry’s mouth to prevent him from exposing them. But he quickly pulls his hand back with a silent “ew” from the feeling of Harry’s saliva in his palm. He carefully wiped the saliva off on Harry’s shoulder as he turned his head to Snape again. Harry turned to keep an eye on McGonagall, both of them now able to tell if they were about to be discovered. Until the teachers walked towards each other, probably to hear each other better, and the two boys turned their heads. They were both shocked as they felt their lips brush against the others. Harry was smart enough to maintain calm but Draco instinctively jumped back while pushing Harry away. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand but then realized that he’d probably have to cut the hand off now.
“Bloody hell!”
He said, gaining the two teachers' attention.
“Mr.Malfoy? Where did you come from?”
Said McGonagall with a surprised tone in her voice before she understood and took a step towards Harry to remove the invisibility cloak. Harry had fallen to the ground from the push and McGonagall helped him up while Snape just stood and watched.
“What are the two of you doing up this late? Go to your dormitories!”
Draco wasn’t late with running inside and disappearing from their sight.
“Sorry professor.”
Said Harry and left as well, taking the cloak with him under the arm instead of over him this time. Harry was angry since he didn’t get the map of marauders back, Draco was angry because that stupid Potter had almost accidentally kissed him and before he knew it everyone would be hearing about it.
Two days had passed since then. Harry and Draco had not said a single word to each other, which just meant that everything was back to normal. Harry was walking through the corridor, towards the library to find another book to read. These days, he really had nothing else to do than read. He couldn’t stalk the teachers either since the map of marauders was currently in possession of Draco Malfoy. Just as he was about to go into the library he heard something behind him. He turned around and just got a quick glimpse of someone with blonde hair and black clothes. He was tall, way taller than Harry and he held his wand against Harry. He said something and suddenly everything around Harry went black and he lost his breath. He couldn’t control his body, it was jerking and bending until it hurt everywhere. He could feel his saliva becoming thick from the lack of air. With the little strength he had he desperately tried to grab his wand, not knowing what to do with it but it felt better with it close. But he couldn’t, his body would not obey even the slightest.
Draco turned the corner and saw Harry laying on the floor. His first thought was “Potter is up to something” but the thought quickly changed as he came closer and realised that he’d been hexed.
“Potter?”
He took a few more steps towards him, unsure of how to react.
“Potter!”
He yelled as he saw what was actually going on. He fell down to his knees and tilted Harry’s head back, trying to free the air passage while also trying to hold his shaking body down. Desperately letting his eyes sweep across the hallway they locked with Snape’s. Before Draco could react, say anything or even open his mouth, Snape said something while waving his wand and Harry relaxed. He gained his breath back and was now panting, slowly tilting his head up.
“Slowly, Potter.”
Said Snape and helped him up, letting Harry use him for support.
“I’m taking him to the infirmary, you continue on.”
And then they were gone. Even though Draco wanted to act like nothing he couldn’t seem to calm down. He walked around in circles before finally deciding to go to the infirmary. Not because he wanted to see that Harry was okay, obviously, but because he had nothing better to do. Shame on you for thinking he cared.
Harry was sitting up in the bed, rubbing the back of his head from when he fell to the ground. He didn’t seem to have noticed Draco coming in. Just as Draco was about to walk over to him he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Mr.Malfoy, Mr.Potter is not healed enough for an argument right now.”
Said Madam Pomfrey and gave Draco the same look as she usually does. The one where she knows that Draco wouldn’t on own accord visit Harry Potter in the infirmary to “see how he’s holding up”. But he shakes her hand off and takes a few steps towards Harry’s bed.
“Oy! Potter!”
The words came out of him more aggressive than he had intended but to follow the character he’d built up during all these years it would’ve seemed rather weird if he suddenly started acting like a decent person. Harry frowned at him, probably for the same reason as Pomfrey.
“You- what happened?”
Draco caught himself almost saying “you alright?” almost like he cared for the boy. He didn’t, of course.
“There was this man, he was wearing a mask and he whispered some spell and suddenly I couldn’t breathe.”
Harry seemed to be thinking really hard about the details.
“Any idea of who it could’ve been?”
Said Draco and started at him for half a second before adding;
“I’m only asking because I don’t want to end up like you, you know. Don’t get any ideas.”
Harry shook his head.
“It was too dark to see and as I said, he was wearing a mask. I’m pretty sure that he was blonde.”
Draco froze and left without another word, leaving Harry confused.
Even though Harry’s head still ached he had too much energy and couldn’t stay in the infirmary bed all day. One part of him wanted to go get the invisibility cloak and roam the place, looking for the person who hexed him. The other part was starving for lunch. He figured Malfoy hadn’t eaten either, not that it would affect him in any other way that maybe he’d be a bit more grumpy than usual. He started walking, out of the room and out the corridor. He was lucky Madam Pomfrey wasn’t in the room since she would’ve stopped him and forced him to rest. Just as he turned to go to the Great Hall he crashed into someone. His first thought was a teacher who’d now get mad at him for crashing into them. But as he looked up all see was Mafloy’s stupid face. It was better than crashing into a teacher since Draco was too big of a coward to actually do the things he threatened Harry with. Although, Harry didn’t want to talk to him either.
“Watch it, Potter! Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”
He spat, seeming angrier than usually. Instead of thinking of a comeback, something along with the fact that it was Draco’s fault as much as his own for crashing into him, he asked something that made Draco raise his eyebrows;
“Have you eaten yet?”
The question in itself was pretty harmless, something that people ask or get asked pretty much about every day. Unless, it was from your worst enemy and the question was leaning in such a manner that it had seemed like an invitation.
“What’s it to you?”
“Quit the attitude for once will you? I’m extremely tired and my head hurts, my urge to fight you right now is on the low down. I’m gonna eat, I don’t care what you do. But could you step aside-”
Draco turned around before Harry could finish the sentence and stormed away to the Great Hall. It seemed like he hadn’t eaten either. Harry followed, rolling his eyes and wishing it had been anyone else than Draco who had to be stuck here with him during Christmas.
The teachers were sitting at the Hufflepuff table which confused the two boys a lot.
“Ah, Mr.Malfoy! Mr.Potter! Glad to see that you’re only thirty minutes late for lunch. Luckily us teachers had a meeting, which is also why we’re all sitting by this table today. A sort of memorial evening for the Diggory boy. We also heard what happened, Harry, hope you’re doing alright.”
Harry nodded at Dumbledore and was just about to sit down at his table.
“Why don’t the two of you sit here today? We saved two seats-”
He gestured towards two seats by the edge of the table. Great, now they’d have to face each other. They sat down, already glaring at each other. Harry hadn’t noticed Malfoy’s eye colour before. He’d always thought they were light blue but they were actually more grey-ish. Draco broke eye contact to yawn, Harry now also noticed the dark eye bags under those grey-ish eyes.
“Close your mouth, Malfoy. I’m not interested in what you ate for breakfast this morning.”
Draco went back to glaring at him.
“I didn’t eat anything during breakfast today, maybe you would’ve noticed if you looked up from that photo of you and your stupid friends you narcissistic little-”
“Boys!”
They were cut off by Hagrid and immediately turned their eyes to their plates. Harry liked to have a photo of him with Ron and Hermione, that way he didn’t feel so alone. Draco didn’t have that, but Harry didn’t care if he felt alone or not. Draco had seemed rather hurt while they were talking about the breakfast. Harry didn’t know why he had skipped but he had a feeling that he’d get smacked if he asked about it.
A week left. A week and then Harry would have Ron and Hermione by his side to save him from this boredom. It felt like an eternity. Harry had been trying to avoid Draco as much as possible. He had succeeded pretty well since he’d spent most of the time in the Gryffindor common room reading. The only times they had to meet was when they ate. They were back to their own tables again. Harry hadn’t seen Draco during breakfast today either. It wasn’t that he was worried, but rather curious actually. Draco had missed five or four breakfasts during these two weeks. The teachers didn’t seem to care, the boys were old enough to take care of themselves. Harry had first thought that he was up to no good as usual but he had also been having a thought in the back of his head that Draco felt lonely and lost his appetite. He left the Great Hall and went to the library to look for yet another book. He had been reading so much these last few days that he was worried that his eyes would fall out.
He strolled between the shelves, looking for whatever really. Until he came across the restricted area. He thanked Hermione for teaching him the alohomora spell. He’d been here a few times before but those times he was looking for information. Now he was just looking to see if there was anything interesting to saturate his boredom. Letting his fingers slide across the books he suddenly saw “The chamber of secrets”. He reminded himself of his second year at Hogwarts when he’d killed the Basilisk and saved Ginny. He reached for the book but just as it was about to fall onto his head it stopped mid air. He turned around to see Draco standing there with his wand pointing towards the flying book. As Harry reached for the book, Draco let it fly higher and out of Harry’s reach.
“What’re up to now, Potter?”
“Just reading, Malfoy.”
Said Harry with the same attitude back to him.
“In the restricted area? What if I tell Dumbledore?”
“Can you just let me have it? Or are you gonna get it for yourself? Can you even read?”
Draco tilted his head slightly back, making him look more superior than Harry—who was also unfortunately shorter than him—and grinned.
“What do you want, Malfoy? Were you following me just to find an opportunity to throw me under the bus?”
Draco shrugged and dropped the book and started walking away. Harry knew he shouldn’t be so desperate for Malfoys attention but he wanted answers. Malfoy wasn’t the person who spent time in the library, if he was here, he had a good reason. Probably something evil. Without thinking he threw the book at him. Draco stopped for a second and then turned around. In one second he was face to face with Harry, pressing his wand against his throat. He was dead silent but his gaze gave Harry a feeling that he had to explain himself for throwing the book at him. To which even Harry didn’t really have a good answer. What would he say? ’You were in the library so you’re probably planning to kill someone’?
“Don’t do anything stupid now, Malfoy. If the teachers find me dead they’re gonna suspect you.”
Draco broke eye contact and lowered his wand. He seemed to consider if it was worth getting punished for killing Harry. But instead he just put his hand to Harry’s chest and pushed him into the shelf. Harry could still feel the burning feeling of Draco’s fingertips in his ribs. Draco turned away from Harry for the second time and just as he was about to leave someone appeared in front of them. Harry recognised the person in the mask, it was the same man who had hexed him.
“Father?”
Said Draco and took a small step backwards.
“Lucius?”
Harry was confused. Lucius removed his mask and looked at Harry.
“So, we meet again, Potter.”
“Again?”
This time it was Draco’s turn to be confused.
“Yeah, he’s the one who hexed me. And I assume he’s here to do it again?”
The last part was meant for Lucius. Harry took his wand out.
“Why would you- Didn’t you agree to let the dark lord kill him?”
“Why do you care, Draco? I thought you hated the boy.”
Suddenly Draco took a step back and held his arms out in a protecting pose in front of Harry.
“Dra-co?”
Harry stuttered, completely shocked by the action. This was the first time Draco had heard his first name from Harry’s mouth and he couldn’t tell if he liked it or wanted to vomit.
“Stupid boy! Protecting a boy who hates you!”
Said Lucius and then he was gone, just as quickly as he had appeared. Draco was pantin through gritted teeth. He dropped his arms by his sides and started walking, without looking at Harry, with his head tilted down.
“It’s not true, what he said… I mean, it might not look like it, but I do not hate you, Draco.”
Draco stopped only to listen, then continued to walk. Harry needed a minute to think about what he had just said. He did hate him, but at the same time he didn’t. Draco had grown up in a family that served the dark lord, a family who hated muggles (and Potter’s). He’d never had anyone that cared for him. Harry didn’t like to admit it but he knew that he deep down felt sorry for him.
Harry stormed towards the Great Hall, he was starving. He hadn’t eaten breakfast, scared that he’d meet Draco there. He wasn’t sure of why he was scared of meeting him, just that he was. All of these years he’s always been thinking that Draco was annoying but ever since yesterday he’d thought that maybe he isn’t such a bad person after all. It wasn’t that he was planning on becoming friends with him now, but maybe, not treat him so harshly. He sat down at his table and looked around. Dumbledore was sitting alone in his chair. No other teachers. No Draco. He quickly wolfed down the food and then went up to Dumbledore who looked like he was sleeping.
“Harry-”
“Professor, where is everyone?”
Dumbledore got something serious in his eyes.
“Harry, a few hours ago, Mr.Malfoy was found by Severus in the Slytherin common room. He was unconscious and bloody all over. We’re at the moment suspecting the sectumsempra spell. Do you know anything?”
Harry swallowed. It couldn’t be…? Why would he hurt his own son?
“Lucius Malfoy was here, yesterday, in the library. Draco saved me from him, I assume that Lucius-”
“It’s okay, Harry, it wasn’t your fault.”
Said Dumbledore after seeing Harry’s worried expression.
“Where is he now? Draco I mean.”
“Outside for some fresh air I believe.”
Harry rushed out. He didn’t know why. Why was he in such a hurry to see that Draco was okay?
He got outside. It was cold and the ground was covered in snow. He saw footprints that seemed to have been walking back and forth. Suddenly he felt a snowball hit him in the back. He turned around. Draco was standing a few meters away from him.
“Cold, Potter? You’re shivering, or am I just that intimidating?”
Harry took a step towards him just to make sure… It was what he thought. Draco had dry blood on his lips and a cut across his cheek. It looked like it could’ve come from a ring. As if he’d been punched in the face.
“Was that your father? Did he do that?”
He pointed at the wound.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Draco bent down and picked up more snow and formed it into a ball. He took a step back and closed his right eye to aim. He then threw it towards Harry’s head. Harry dodged it and chuckled.
“You saved my life and now you’re trying to kill me again?”
“Well, I can't let my father have all the fun, can I?”
This time Harry bent down as well, getting some snow. He threw it at Draco who tried to dodge but it still hit his shoulder.
“No fair, I’m hurt!”
Harry noticed that this was probably the first time he saw Draco smiling. Actually smiling. Not laughing at his own stupid joke about Harry or whatever. And so the snowball war between the two sixteen year olds started. They were hiding behind trees, pillars and whatever they could find. The person that got hit… Well, got cold. That was the punishment. Harry had gotten a snowball down his shirt and Draco mocked him by copying his moves as he squirmed around, trying to get the snow out. But once Draco got hit in the face he took his wand out.
“It’s over for you now, Potter!”
He made a gigantic snowball and made it fly towards Harry. Harry fumbled for his own wand but didn’t manage in time. Instead, he got crushed by a gigantic ball of cold snow and fell backwards. They were silent for a short moment before both bursting into laughter. Draco took a few steps forward and looked down at him.
“You alright, Potter? Didn’t anybody teach you not to catch with your face?”
Harry reached his hand out from all the snow and Draco took it and helped him up. Then suddenly Draco held his own ribs in pain. He was still hurt and had to sit down on the bench for a while. Harry sat next to him but didn’t ask how he was doing. He’d just been declared stupid since anyone could see that he was not doing good.
“You haven’t been mean today.”
“What?”
“I mean, I know you still hate me and all, but it was actually fun to have a snowball war with you.”
Draco went silent and looked at his shoes.
“Ha- Potter, do you know the difference between a person you hate and an enemy?”
“There’s a difference?”
Draco took a deep breath.
“A person you hate, you hate for a reason. You don’t always have a choice with an enemy, sometimes you’re just bound not to work together. Whether you hate them or not.”
Then he stood up and started walking away.
“It’s stupid, I know, I just read it somewhere.”
Harry was left alone. He was unsure of what Draco had meant but he knew one thing. Draco had been only a second away from calling him ‘Harry’.
It had been almost four hours since Draco had left Harry. Harry suggested to himself that Draco was hiding. So he certainly got a surprise when he walked through the hallway keeping his attention on his shoes and bumped into Draco’s shoulder.
“Ow, sorry.”
Draco ignored him (an unusual reaction if you ask Harry). He just stayed completely still, staring down into the map in his hands.
“I think I just saw my fathers name, but it disappeared almost immediately…”
Said Draco almost as if he could read the question from Harry’s mind.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about Lucius actually. Why did he hurt you? Was it because you saved me? And also, why did you save me?”
“You’re asking too many questions that I will not bother answering. Did you want something else? No? Then leave me alone!”
Draco snapped at him and started walking away. Harry was confused. Just a few hours ago they had acted as if they were friends. What was going on with that boy? Harry rolled his eyes and went off in the other direction. Maybe Draco was just angry at something as usual and would act differently after some sleep. Not that Harry wanted him to…
Draco was not acting any different at all. He was avoiding Harry at all cost and since he had the map of the marauders he could tell every time Harry got too close to him. It wasn’t that Harry missed Draco’s annoying voice and mocking but it kind of felt… empty? The hallways were ever so silent and he almost never saw the teachers except when they ate.
“Potter!”
Harry turned around as he heard Snape’s voice.
“Follow me.”
Since Harry had nothing better to do, he followed obediently after Snape until they stopped outside a door.
“I need you to… help me find something in there.”
He nodded towards his own potion room. Snape never let students in there, especially not him.
“What do you need me to find?”
“A small bottle of liquid luck, I would’ve gotten it myself but I hurt my leg and can’t climb the ladder.”
“But-”
“Just. Do. It.”
Harry walked into the potion room and started climbing up the ladder, since he knew what the bottle looked like it shouldn’t be difficult to find. It took about a minute and just as he was about to grab it and climb down he heard Lucius' voice. He turned his head and got a quick glimpse of Lucius before he shoved his son into the room and slammed the door shut.
“Colloportus!”
The door was locked.
“What just happened?”
Draco rolled his eyes at Harry’s dumb question.
“Polyjuice potion.”
“But why would your father-”
“Kill him, Draco! Now’s your chance to make it up to me for stopping me last time. Or do you need to be punished again?”
Draco let his fingers brush against the wound in his cheek.
“Let me out of here!”
He pulled the handle down and pushed himself against the door. It wouldn’t work, of course, since it was locked with the colloportus spell.
“I’ll let you out once Potter is dead!”
Draco took out his wand and used the alohomora spell.
“That won’t work, Draco, boy.”
All the two boys could hear from outside the door was Lucius Malfoy’s footsteps as he walked away. Draco slowly turned to Harry and lifted his wand.
“There’s a million places I’d rather be than locked in here, with you.”
“Draco, don’t.”
Draco took a step towards him but then suddenly put his wand back and broke eye contact.
“Climb up that ladder again, there must be something we can use to create an explosion that’ll open the door.”
Harry was relieved that he was going to live another day and started to look through cauldrons and potion bottles. Draco was searching the shelves in the lower half of the room when Harry spoke up;
“What’s this?”
He took down a small bottle of something pink. Judging by the colour it looked like just tasting it would blow your head off. Surely they could mix it with something and make it explode.
“Let me see.”
Said Draco and took the bottle from Harry since he (believe it or not) knew more about potion mastery than Harry did. He opened the lid to smell it, since he trusted his nose and hadn’t seen the little name tag under it. He seemed to recognize the smell first but then shook his head.
“You’re standing too close, Potter! I can’t smell what it is, all I smell is your disgusting perfume.”
Spat Draco and gave the bottle back to Harry for him to put it back. As Harry tried to read the blurred out name on it Draco found two other potions that he started to mix together in a cauldron, probably knowing exactly what he was doing.
“Amortentia…”
Whispered Harry just loud enough for Draco to hear it and turn around.
“What?”
“The name of this weird potion, do you know what it-”
“Never heard of it. Here, pour this into the cauldron and take a step back.”
Draco handed him a bottle with a far more ‘innocently looking’ potion.
“Why do I have to do it?”
“Because I don’t know how big the explosion is and I don’t want to get hurt.”
Draco grabbed Harry’s robes and pulled him in front of the door. Harry quickly poured the liquid into the cauldron, placed it on the floor in front of the door and took a step back. He then accidentally stepped on Draco’s foot.
“Ow!”
Draco tried to push Harry off of him but Harry stood his ground, not wanting to get any closer to the cauldron.
“Confringo!”
The cauldron exploded and so did the door and the stone around it. Draco just now realised that he had been pulling Harry closer towards himself and that he was still standing on his foot. He pushed him forward so that he almost fell.
“You crushed my foot, Potter!”
“It’s not my fault that you were standing so close!”
Draco rolled his eyes and walked off. As Harry turned around to mind his own business—maybe tell a teacher that a death eater was roaming the school—he realised something… He wasn’t wearing perfume today.
Hermione threw herself into Harry’s arms as they all arrived back to school. Ron came up behind her and patted Harry on the shoulder.
“So, how’s it been?”
“It’s been boring without the two of you, I’ve probably read every book in this building by now.”
Said Harry jokingly as they followed the stream of students into the Great Hall. Everyone sat down, listened to Dumbledores ‘three times a year speech’ and began to eat. Ron pushed Harry in the side;
“Merlin Harry, did you have a fight with Malfoy or something? He’s staring at you like he’s about to bloody murder you.”
“We didn’t fight, no…”
“What did you do then? Since he’s so angry? Well, angrier than usual.”
Hermione added.
“I have no idea, actuall, the other day, when there was a lot of snow we-”
Harry could feel the burning stare from Draco and looked up. It was obvious that Draco did not want Harry to tell them about the snowball war.
“Ah, nothing…”
Once they were back in their common rooms Harry sat down next to Hermione.
“Hermione, what’s Amortentia?”
“The strongest love potion there is, Harry, haven’t you done your homework?”
Harry knew he was gonna be scolded for not doing it.
“I’ll get to it… Anyways, what’s so special about Amortentia? I mean, I understand that you fall in love but why is it the strongest?”
“Well, when you smell the Amortentia you will smell what you’re most attracted to. Why? Did you smell it?”
“Someone said that they smelled my perfume from it…”
“And you’re telling me just now?! Harry! You need to tell me things like this immediately!”
“What does this mean, Hermione?”
“That she likes you of course! Was it Ginny who smelled it? I’ve noticed the way she looks at you.”
“N-no, it wasn’t Ginny… But Hermione, there’s no way that this person likes me.”
“The potion isn’t wrong, Harry.”
Harry couldn’t sleep that night. He was tossing and turning and he couldn’t get what Hermione had said out of his head. There was no way that Draco liked him. Draco hated Harry, deep, burning hate. He had to test it. It would be risky but he really needed to know what was going on. Maybe someone had tricked Draco to drink it and since he’d spent so much time alone with Harry during the winter he fell for him? It could be, except, Draco wouldn’t be that stupid. Harry was almost regretting what he was about to do even before he’d done it.
It was time to put the plan in action. All he’d have to do was to compliment Draco and see his reaction. He wasn’t sure if this was going to work, but he had no other options. All students were sitting in the Great Hall for lunch and Harry was waiting for that moment where Crabbe or Goyle made a joke. He didn’t look away from Draco for a second, and still somehow managed to only spill a bit of water.. Suddenly Draco started grinning and chuckling from the table in front of the Gryffindor table. Harry had missed the joke but now was his chance.
“Draco had a pretty smile, don’t you guys think?”
He quickly glanced over to the Slytherin table to see if he had caught Draco’s attention. Draco was looking at him, all confused. The same look that usually is shown on his face by the words “Go to hell, Potter!”
“I mean, I also want perfectly straight teeth.”
“Are you seriously jealous of Malfoy’s teeth?”
“Since when do you call him by first name?”
Ron and Hermione said at the same time.
“Who the hell is Draco?”
Said Seamus and looked around like he’d just been hit in the head. Right, Harry had forgotten that it might’ve been a bit too much to call him by his first name. Draco was ignoring Harry and was now talking to his friends again. Harry had been wrong. Draco had only been disgusted by the compliment. Maybe Draco's love interest wore the same perfume as Harry? God, why hadn’t he thought of that before humiliating himself like that.
Their next class was with professor Snape. Ron and Harry lazily pulled themselves after Hermione who did not want to be late. Draco did not show up for this class. But it seemed as if Severus couldn’t care less as he saw the seat next to Pansy empty. Harry was incredibly bored and following the raindrops racing on the window was way more interesting than reading about potions. He had almost fallen asleep as Crabbe, who sat behind him, asked if he could go to the bathroom. He was gone for a few minutes and when he came back he had a fat grin across his face but he also seemed rather confused.
“PST! Goyle!”
He whispered (rather loudly) across Harry’s and Ron’s table.
“Wanna know something funny? I met Malfoy in the-”
“Silence. Please.”
Said Snape in his even-more-than-usually monotone voice without turning his head to the person talking. Crabbe shut up and looked back into his book, scared he’d get hexed or something.
When the class ended, Harry told his friends to go ahead. He had to check on something… He followed Crabbe and Goyle, not letting them notice him.
“I met him in the bathroom, asked why he wasn’t in class and he said he felt sick. But the funny part is that he was standing in front of the mirror and smiling, almost like he was practicing. He looked so stupid, not every day you see the son of Lucius Malfoy smiling at himself like some kind of idiot.”
Harry hurried back to the common room. He hadn’t noticed it until Hermione pointed it out, he was smiling. He could feel his cheeks beginning to hurt but he couldn’t stop smiling.
Yet another night passed. Harry had slept really well and he knew, even though he didn’t want to admit it, that it was because he was happy. Not happy that Draco liked him (which he wasn’t even sure of yet) but because the comment had gone straight to his head and got him “practice smiling” for himself. Everything in his life went so well until…
“Potter!”
It was Snape, the real Snape this time. He was rushing towards him and Harry wasn’t sure if he should run or use the Patronus on him.
“My potion room. Do you know what happened?”
“No, sir.”
He lied. He’d blown the door of its hinge.
“Too bad that Mr.Malfoy already told me then.”
Harry sighed. Why in the world would he do that? Not only telling on Harry but he’d been involved as well. Maybe Snape had tricked him into saying something. And it would also not be that hard to guess who blew the door since it had only been the two of them there when it happened. Snape led Harry into the classroom where Draco was already standing by the window. They were just about to sit down by their own desks as Snape grabbed them both by their necks.
“There.”
He shoved them to the middle front desk, the one closest to the teachers table so that he can keep a close eye on them.
“But, sir”
“Sit, Potter.”
They sat down next to each other, trying to push the chairs as far away from each other as possible. Snape handed them books and asked them to open the chapter they were supposed to read next week. He thought that they might need some extra time for that one.
About forty minutes went by and suddenly McGonagall opened the door.
“Severus, Dumbledore needs you in his office.”
She said and quickly ran off.
“None of you leave…”
Said Snape before leaving them alone in the classroom.
“Ten galleons McGonagall is scared of him.”
Said Harry and turned to Draco, trying to get contact. He could see a small smile in the corner of his mouth but no comment. A few minutes passed with them sitting in silence and reading the incredibly boring chapter like Snape told them to. Harry had started to get annoyed by the leg next to him which was bouncing up and down. He tried to ignore it but the sound of Draco’s shoelace hitting the chair repeatedly drove him insane. So he did the only thing he could think of to get rid of the noise. He put his hand on Draco’s leg. He didn’t realise what he’d done until he got a hard punch in the face.
“The hell are you doing, Potter!?”
Harry, who had almost fallen off his chair from the punch, sat up again and looked at Draco. His eye would definitely bruise.
“I just tried to make you hold your leg still. It worked, but it might not have been worth my eyesight…”
Suddenly Draco stood up and grabbed Harry by his shirt, raising his fist again. Harry was quick and stomped on his foot. Draco dropped him and Harry ran out of the room, Draco following close. They ran for a while, Harry always a few steps ahead. He was pretty happy about the fact that Draco seemed to have forgotten that he had a wand. Or maybe he just didn’t want to use it. Suddenly Draco was all up close to him and pulled him by the shirt. Harry fell and managed to pull Draco with him down, landing on top of him. Draco grabbed a hold of his arm and spun them around. They’re both panting from the running but Harry is too full of adrenaline and fear to just let Draco hit him. Harry moved his head just before Draco’s fist hit the floor instead of crushing his nose. The punch was hard and it must’ve hurt. Harry wasn’t sure of why he was worried that Draco hurt his hand when he was trying to break Harry’s nose. He pushed Draco off of him and ran into the closest room. In there he immediately recognised it as the room that holds the mirror or the erised. Soon Draco was over him again.
“Maybe I should’ve killed you in Snape’s potion room like my father told me to!”
He was just about to spit in Harry’s face when he noticed that Harry’s attention was drawn to the corner of the room. He followed Harry’s gaze to the mirror.
“What’re you on ‘bout, Potter? It’s just a mirror!”
Without looking at Draco, Harry gently pushed him off and stood up. Draco didn’t argue since he could tell that something was going on. Instead, he followed Harry to the mirror.
“It’s my parents again, I see them.”
“What? It’s just a regular mirror.”
Draco tapped the glass of the mirror and in the reflection he could see how Harry took a step forward and made eye contact. He turned around to ask him what the hell he was doing when he saw that Harry was still in the same place, looking around in the rest of the room. He looked back into the mirror. “Mirror Harry” was smiling while slowly reaching for Draco’s hand.
“You can’t see anything in the mirror?”
“No… It’s just… normal, why?”
They could hear steps in the hallway outside. Snape entered the room, looking furious.
“Didn’t I tell the two of you to… stay?”
He pulled them out of the room and threw them out in the hallway.
When Harry got back, Ron and Hermione were playing wizards chess. They weren’t the only ones in the room so they were sitting on the floor since every place was occupied.
“Hermione, you know the person who you thought liked me…”
“What about Ginny?”
“Ginny!?”
Ron almost flipped the whole chessboard as he heard his sister's name.
“It’s not Ginny, but anyway, they’ve been acting rather weird lately.”
“That’s normal, I also act weird around my crush…”
Said Ron and gave a discrete glance at Hermione.
“What’re you talking about Ron? You’re always acting weird.”
She said laughingly and moved one of her towers, taking Ron’s horse. Ron blushed.
“Yeah, haha, don’t read too much into that. Anyway, Harry, I think that you should confront her. Do you like her back?”
Harry was taken aback. He hadn’t thought about his own feelings. This entire thing was just to find out what Draco felt and not himself. If Draco now had feelings for him. Maybe that’s why he cared to find out? Did Harry Potter deep down have feelings for Draco Malfoy? He shook his head in disbelief.
“I don’t know… maybe?”
“Find the right moment and kiss her. Like you did with Cho last year.”
“Alright… I’m going to sleep now, bye.”
“But it’s too early to sleep?”
“It’s past ten, Ron, and we have school tomorrow.”
Ron and Hermione looked at each other. Since when did Harry Potter keep track of bedtime? Harry laid down in his bed. Seamus and Neville, who were also currently in the room, looked over at him.
“You alright?”
“Yeah… I just… need to find the right moment…”
Said Harry, closed his eyes and pulled the blanket over himself.
“I’m going to sleep now.”
“But you’re still wearing-”
“Seamus, shhh! He’s sleeping!”
Said Neville. Seamus rolled his eyes and face palmed himself.
Harry had a dream where he confronted Draco on his feelings. He asked him if he liked him. But in the dream, Draco got angry and started cursing at him in parseltongue. Draco didn’t even speak it but in the dream he was telling Harry things that even Harry didn’t understand. Probably just because it was a dream. Just as Harry was about to take Draco’s hand, Draco’s face changed into his fathers. He pointed his wand at Harry and started saying the unspoken spell. Harry woke up. He was sweating and panting. There was no way he could sleep more after that dream. Without being able to think of something better to do he started walking around the school. He knew that if he got caught now he’d probably get detention for lifetime. But he needed to clear his head, not lay in bed and think about whatever the dream would have meant. He was sleepy but his mind was racing too much to go back to sleep anyways. The dream had felt so real and it was hurting him. He walked around in the dark, not bothering to use the “lumos” when he bumped into someone. It was difficult to see in the dark but he could make out a pair of grey eyes and blonde hair.
“Potter?”
He did not sound angry, like he usually does when seeing Harry, more confused. Which wasn’t weird considering the circumstances of them both walking around in the middle of the night and by coincidence bumping into each other.
“Are you having trouble sleeping too?”
Said Harry before Draco could start snarling at him about telling Snape.
“Mhm, nightmares.”
“Yeah… same…”
Harry wasn’t sure why he hesitated to tell him that he’d also been having nightmares. It wasn’t like he was planning on telling him what the nightmare had been about. Maybe Draco had been having the same type of dream? Harry clapped a hand to his forehead. Why would he think like that?
“You alright?”
“Er, yeah.”
Draco turned around and started walking. Harry hesitated for a second and then started to follow him.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing, I just…”
He had no response to this, he just felt like he had to follow Draco. They walked around school, silent at first but then slowly got engaged in conversations. Mainly mocking the teachers and making impressions of the angry ones such as Snape. They were giggling, which made Harry feel like the dream had meant nothing.
“Why have you acted so… I mean, the snowball war. I actually had fun, didn’t you?”
Draco was silent for a while.
“Do you remember what I said about the difference between a person you hate and an enemy?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t understand what you meant.”
They sat down to rest on the closest bench, Draco’s leg was once again bouncing up and down. This time, Harry knew better than putting a stop to it. Suddenly Draco took a deep breath and Harry looked at him. Even though it was hard to see, Harry was pretty sure that Draco had tears in his eyes.
“I hate my name. I hate that just because I was born into the Malfoy family I have to serve the dark lord. My father is constantly ranting about killing but I don’t want to.”
A single tear ran down his cheek but he wiped it away immediately, turning his head away. Harry was unsure of what to do. He felt so bad for him. He had been aware of Draco's father but he never knew that Draco suffered this much from it. Harry did what felt right, he put his hand on Draco’s back and slowly stroked up and down.
“You don’t always have to listen to your father…”
What happened next probably shocked Draco more than Harry. Draco put his head to Harry’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Letting Harry calm him down. They stayed like that, none of them said anything. Harry was pretty sure that Draco had fallen asleep because his breathing was heavier now. A part of him was still scared that Draco would wake up and get barking mad at him for sitting next to him as he fell asleep. Harry could feel his own eyelids getting heavier and he was just about to close them and tilt his head to Draco’s when Lucius appeared in the room. It was just as sudden as the last time and Harry jumped, making Draco mumble in his sleep.
“Potter. The boy who lived.”
He held up the marauders map—which he had stolen from Draco—and looked at his son asleep on Harry’s shoulder.
“Good thing the boy could finally settle you in one place.”
He grabbed Harry and yanked him off of the bench. Draco woke up from the lack of something to rest his head on and just in time saw his father teleport away with Harry. He wasn’t entirely sure if he’d really woken up yet but he slowly started panicking. He heard steps behind him and turned around. Dumbledore.
“Professor! My- Lucius he-”
“I’m aware, Mr.Malfoy. Unfortunately we don’t know where he took him. Probably on command of the dark lord, meaning that he could be anywhere.”
Draco looked at him, unsure of what to say.
“Why were the two of you up this late at night anyways?”
He sounded more concerned than angry but Draco still ignored him and started walking back to his dorm. Not that he’d be able to sleep, but on the other hand he couldn’t help Harry back either. Or could he? He had to think, figure something out. Just a clue about where his father would have taken him. He got an idea, but he wasn’t sure if it would work…
The next day, when everyone woke up, Harry was the only thing spoken about. Everyone wondered where he was or what could’ve happened while Draco had to sit and pretend like he knew nothing and didn’t care.
“Dear students!”
Said Dumbledore once everyone had sat down for breakfast, still talking about Harry’s mysterious disappearance.
“As you all probably heard, a certain student got kidnapped just a few hours ago. We’re trying our best to find him but if any of you know anything that could be a clue it’s your responsibility to tell us. Let’s hope your friend and classmate will be back soon.”
The teachers were scared, all of the students could tell, but no one said anything. Everyone was just wishing and praying that Harry was alright. Especially the two of his closest friends, Ron and Hermione who’d tried to talk to the teachers about helping to look for him. The teachers had told them that it’d be too dangerous to look for him and the best thing they could do right now was wait.
Harry had no idea of where he was. He’d woken up in a dungeon which he guessed was pretty far underground. His head was aching so bad that he almost wished that he’d just faint again. He still had his wand in his pocket, he could feel, which he was confused over. Maybe Lucius had not found it? Or maybe it was still there just to mock him since his hands were hand handcuffed to the wall above his head. The dungeon was cold and dark. Everything he wished for right now was to come back to school, back to Draco. He’d finally gotten along well with Draco and then his father had ruined it. His stomach was growling and he had no idea of what time or day it was.
Suddenly the door to the dungeon opened and Narcissa stepped in. She was holding a plate with food.
“Can’t let you starve to death can we? The dark lord himself wants to kill you, he just needs to regain his power. We’ll keep you here until then.”
She put the plate on the floor, just out of reach for Harry and left, locking the door. Harry tried to get to the food but his hands—which were stuck to the wall—stopped him. He then got the brilliant idea that he could use his feet to shove the plate closer. It took some time but he finally managed to get some food. He felt like an animal, eating off of the floor on a dirty plate in a dirty and cold dungeon. He started to feel sleepy. Not just because his body had gotten food and now needed to rest to get rid of the headache. But something was wrong. He started to think that maybe he shouldn’t have eaten that food. Then he fainted again.
A day passed. Draco woke up, hoping that it had all been a dream and that he’d walk out of his dorm and see Harry’s stupid face walking towards him to annoy him. But he wasn’t. The whole school had somehow gone silent. People were talking quietly or not at all. Some had already started to think that the great Harry Potter who survived Lord Voldemort had been killed. Hermione had been crying all day while Ron tried to tell her that Harry was alive and that he’d be back soon. Even though he might not have believed it himself.
Another day passed and this was when people started to worry for real. Even the teachers couldn’t hide it anymore. Everyone was sad and stressed. What if they’d never get to see Harry again? At this point Ron didn’t try to comfort Hermione anymore, he was crying just as much. The Great Hall stood empty. None of the students nor teachers felt like eating anything. Not even the slytherins.
Harry had expected for Lucius to be more harsh to him. But he hadn’t even punched him. They let him use the bathroom once every three hours and gave him food. It wasn’t so bad, unless the fact that he was chained to the wall and freezing to death. Narcissa gave him the food all hours a day except at night when she was sleeping and it was Lucius' task.
“We’re only feeding you so that you have enough energy for him to take when he kills you.”
Harry ate, waiting for Malfoy to leave but he didn’t.
“The boy cares for you too much. That’s why we can’t hurt you. As much as I want to break that nose of yours and punch you until you’re bleeding out it would hurt our son. Narcissa forbade me to hurt Draco.”
He then left. Harry didn’t know what to think. Draco cared too much about Harry so that his parents didn’t want to hurt him, scared that it would hurt their son?
Another two hours passed. Or, at least it felt like two hours, Harry wasn’t sure. The door opened again even though it wasn’t time for him to eat again. But it wasn’t Lucius and Narcissa who came on but Dobby. Dobby served the Malfoy family so Harry’s first thought was that he was here to deliver a message from them or something. But then Dobby stepped closer to him and started unlocking his handcuffs.
“Dobby is here to save Harry Potter!”
“But, I thought you served the Malfoy family? They won’t allow you to do this!”
Said Harry while massaging his wrists.
“As long as one Mafloy said Dobby can help Harry Potter, Dobby will!”
“Who? Which of them told you that you can help me?”
“The young, mean one who hates everyone.”
Harry smiled. Right, any Malfoy could tell Dobby what to do. For some reason he was surprised that Draco wanted to help Harry back into school, he didn’t hate him anymore but now the entire school would know that he saved Harry. It didn’t take long for the two of them to teleport out.
They appeared in front of everyone who’d gathered in the Great Hall. Dumbledore was holding a speech about Harry and how none had been able to find him yet. Everyone was shocked and Dumbledore took a step back. Draco stood up in an instant.
“Potter!”
He ran up to him—a sight that Harry never thought he’d see—and hugged him tightly. Harry could feel his ribs almost breaking but he still hugged back. Every student in that room had been prepared to shout and yell once Harry came back (if he did), but now they were all silent and confused. Especially Ron and Hermione who knew how much they hated each other. And now the two enemies were… hugging? They pulled apart and Harry could tell that Draco wasn’t far from crying. He could feel his own tears burning. He then made a dangerous decision… He kissed Draco. Not as slow and romantic as he had hoped but rather quick and sloppy since knew that there was still a chance he’d get punched to a pulp. Everyone started cheering and whistling as they ran towards them to greet Harry. Once Harry was surrounded by people, Draco took the time to sneak out. He could feel people's eyes burning in his neck but he ignored them and ran away. His face was probably bloody red right now. As much as Harry wanted to tell everyone that he was fine, he felt so tired that his legs couldn’t bear him anymore. He fainted again.
He woke up in the bed that he was getting a little bit too used to waking up in. Madam Pomfrey we’re treating some other students in the room. He was used to this as well. What he wasn’t used to though was to find a small note in his hand. He unfolded it and read:
“I knew he’d find you, Potter. Get well. D.M”
He smiled. He definitely had some type of feelings for Draco and Draco definitely had some type of feeling for him.
The two of them continued on like usual. Bullying each other in the hallways, sometimes even getting into fights. But one thing had changed. They never acted like this when they were alone. They were nice to each other, sometimes even holding hands. The kissing was still a bit too much for them and they did after all hate each other still…
Ron and Hermione entered the Gryffindor common room and heard Harry and Draco argue. They expected to enter a room where they were once again trying to strangle each other.
“You’re such a git, Potter! A shame to the wizard world!”
“Well, at least I know that it’s wrong to murder! And I don’t treat muggles like they’re nothing!”
And so on. Ron and Hermione turned around. Both of them thought that they’d see Draco and Harry trying to poke each other’s eyes out with their wands. But instead got shocked as they were sitting nicely on the couch in front of a game of chess.
“What are they doing?”
“Fighting… I think…”
“Then why are they holding hands?”
Hermione just started laughing and pulled Ron with her out of the room. Ron was confused but some part of his brain told him that he’d have to get used to this now.
Summer came along and Harry had to go back to living with the Dursleys. He hated it more than anything. He, Hermione and Ron had been writing back and forth but he hadn’t heard anything from Draco all summer. He had thought about writing but something always came up. He laid down on his bed as an owl flew through the open window. It had a letter. He opened it and started reading;
“Potter, just because it’s summer I don’t hope you expect me to write to you. I am just writing this because I don’t want you to forget me. My father is very angry with me and I can’t blame him. Anyway, this is the first time I think it’ll be fun to return to Hogwarts. And also, Happy birthday, I think? I prey to Merlín this stupid own makes it in time. Serenely D.M'”
Harry smiled. He couldn’t wait for the next year to start.