When Snow Melts

~When Snow Melts~

Summary:
...What does it become? Harry and Draco fight, fight, fight, and find eachother by mistake. Prophesies are uncovered and the line between love and hate is crossed hesitantly.

Pairing(s): Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione
Rating: NC-17 or so. This is not a lighthearted tale. Sex will be involved, drug use is also involved, if you count potion-taking as a drug. XP Death might be included as well, but not Draco or Harry\'s.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything created by J. K. Rowling.
Warnings: M/M, Slash, Anal, Oral, MPreg implied, Pre-HBP for convenience issues, Drama


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Chapter One: Amiss
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\"When snow melts, what does it become?\"

Welcomed silence was suddenly broken by the familiar female voice of one of his best friends. Emerald eyes flicked in a motion too fast to be caught as they lit onto his friend\'s young, alert face. Her beauty was radiant in her growing years, and he knew he was lucky just to have known her, let alone be one of her best friends as well.

\"Do you know, Harry?\" prompted the female under scrutiny, bringing the dazed Harry Potter back to attentiveness...slightly.

\"Oh, er, no. Not really.\" The answer was lame, and in truth, he hadn\'t really heard the question. Having discovered this, there was no way he could have known the answer.

Hermione bit her lower lip as her shoulders drew up and down in a sigh, a most obvious expression of her frustration. \"Nevermind,\" she muttered, flipping the page she was on.

Harry looked guilty at her actions. \"I\'m sorry, I didn\'t really hear your question.\" Maybe honesty was the best way around this, either way it looked like he hadn\'t fooled her. \"I know.\" Came the sharp response. \"You were busy in your own little world.\"

Harry flinched at the truth, he seemed to be in his \'own little world\' a lot.

\"Again.\" Her closing word just dotted the i as she flipped yet another page, having skimmed it already and added more information to her already overflowing intelligence. She wasn\'t looking at him, but that could be explained due to the fact they were in potions and didn\'t want to draw attention.

\"Am I really that bad..?\" He questioned, almost nervously, hoping her answer would be lost on his unwilling ears. \"Most definitely.\" She snapped back in a harsh whisper before he had time to finish his wish that she wouldn\'t respond at all.

A wince crossed his face and he resignedly drew himself back to his own book. Trying to make sense of the words blotted across the crisp, dry pages, it surely showing it\'s antiquity. // I\'ve got to stop thinking..at least about this. Concentrate, Harry. // His mind wondered a few moments more as green gems flittered over the page in unpatterened intervals before coming to a stop on the question: When snow melts...what does it become?

Harry\'s brows furrowed at the question. It sounded awfully familiar, but he couldn\'t place a reason as to why it did. Whatever it was, it seemed out of place in his Potions book.

Just then, a nudge reigned in his attention toward his tall, red-headed mate. \"What is it?\" Fell from his lips in a hurried whisper, it seemed he was joyful to be rid of his potions at the moment, his mind craving interruption from the annoying work at hand.

\"It\'s Malfoy...look at \'im.\" Ron\'s face was void of the usual flustered expressions he got whenever Malfoy was the subject. Harry noted the strangeness in this before he was shoved again to follow through with Ron\'s command.

Emerald flashed across the classroom in a swift jerk, landing squarely on Malfoy, sitting a few desks ahead of his own, to be close to his favorite teacher no doubt. After looking for a few moments, his eyes turned confusedly on Ron. \"What is it?\" He repeated, not understanding the reason for his friend\'s urgent gesture.

\"Just look!\" Ron repeated, whispering louder than before. Harry did, only to feel a hand grasp his shoulder, whipping his attention onto his assailant.

\"And what, pray tell, are you looking at, Potter.\" A slow smirk appeared which drew Harry\'s guts into knots of revulsion. \"Perhaps..\" he began, slowly and silkily as always, \"the \'chosen one\' decided it wasn\'t below him to take \'notes\' from other diligent students of my class.\" At the bit about the diligent student, dark eyes slid slowly to lock onto his prized prodigy, Malfoy, who was turned in his seat to watch along with many other Slytherins, Harry noted without surprise before his gaze was drawn back to the dark features of his potions master, whose eyes regained their former uncaring position on his own in return- awaiting his response.

\"It wasn\'t that, sir.\" Harry mumbled, trying to retain his own dignity in the current situation without losing his house even more unnecessary points than was usual to lose in a single class period with Snape. \"I just.. needed to check on the assignment.\"

At this, Snape\'s eyes flicked to the board at the front of the class before resting uneasily on Harry\'s resentment-filled eyes. His mother\'s eyes. Only they were filled with disgust. At him.

Snape\'s lips curled in disdain before spinning around to stalk off to the front of the class, robes billowing behind no more than usual. Apparently this answer sufficed for now. Harry let out a breath of relief he had no idea he\'d been holding, feeling much better now that Snape was no longer a foot from his face.

The Slytherins watched their potionsmaster as he made his way to his desk, turning in their seats as he went. All except for Malfoy, who thought the moment opportune to taunt Harry. \"Psst.\"

Annoyed, Harry glared darkly to Malfoy in an instant after hearing his beckoning hiss. Eyes challenging the other to even continue with this tiring reoccurance of pestering him and his friends all the time. Malfoy, however, seemed unamused by the threat in Harry\'s eyes. \"Good one.\" He mouthed, before a sneer took over and he turned around in his seat, facing away from his rival once again.

\"Good one?\" Harry repeated silently, dumbfounded at Malfoy\'s lame choice of words and even more perturbed by the fact that the blonde didn\'t stick around long enough to answer why his response was so...lacking of the usual brutalities they normally possessed.

It wasn\'t uncommon for Potions to run roughly, it wasn\'t weird to feel hatred toward Malfoy and Snape all throughout class. It was, however, strange that he get out of class without points being taken away, with Hermione asking \'him\' questions,(still he didn\'t know what she had asked) and Malfoy making lame comments that made no relevant sense.

Something was amiss.

As Snape started to let out his students to go as their schedule permitted, he swooped from around his desk to block his door, an obvious attention-grasping entrance for the punishment he was about to bestow. Proud though he was, his voice remained it\'s apathetic slickness, making those around him oddly intimidated.

\"As for Mr. Potter, for his deplorable behavior and lack of an inventive excuse as to why he was obviously \'cheating\' in my classroom, and furthermore because I caught him staring at, and un-subtly trying to obtain a better grade from the knowledge of Malfoy\'s genius, I sentence a detention.\"

The classroom grew silent. The Slytherins; some paused mid-way from leaving their desks, others standing before Snape, waiting for this punishment to be delivered with a feeling of intense anxiety inhabiting their very beings, smirked toward their favorite teacher, who continued without further adieu, his eyes now focusing on said prey with a gleam of approval, \"You will spend every, single night of this week with Mr. Malfoy, learning from him how much it pays to be a student with true talent...not just some child who inherited his egotistical father\'s abhorrent attitude and his mother\'s vengeful eyes.\" For some, they may have noticed a slight shudder run through his frail body from beneath his cloak at the words about Lily\'s eyes...

Harry, however, did not.

\"But sir!\" he protested after a beat, anger heating his body up so that even here in the dank dungeons his body temperature felt as it did when he was up in Professor Trelawny\'s classroom. \"Harry, don\'t.\" Hermione reprimended, hoping to quell her friend\'s fury before he got himself into deeper trouble than was already in store.

Holding his hand up for silence, Snape continued, \"Not another word.\" And with the beckoning inner wave of his hand toward Malfoy, his favorite student stalked pridefully toward Snape, turning around to sneer at Harry wickedly. The two rivals held eachother\'s glare for many moments before the air was cut through by Severus\' voice,

\"Starting tonight.\"

At this, both Harry and Malfoy\'s piercing gaze seemed to intensify with animosity.

Hermione pulled Harry out of his glaring battle by taking him by the arm and escorting him past Snape, who appeared to be letting students go now.

\"8 \'o clock.\" He called out, making sure all heard.

Harry\'s fists clenched and Hermione squeezed his arm, rushing him faster out of the classroom and into the open halls. \"Calm down, Harry.\" She told him, softly, so that only he could hear. \"It\'s not the end of the world, you know.\"

Harry simply ripped away from her grasp and stalked off in a manner similar to Malfoy\'s, heading toward Gryffindor tower. Ron chose that moment to catch up with Hermione.

\"What was that all about?\" he questioned aloud. Hermione turned on him, eyes flashing darkly. \"You have room to talk, Ronald. It was your fault Harry got into this situation in the first place!\" And with an indignant huff, she briskly strode away.

As Ron was left alone, he pondered the cause for Harry\'s detention and recalled what he had been trying to show his best friend. With determination, he set off for Gryffindor tower, hoping to catch Harry there before Hermione did.

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To Be Continued...
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AN: Okay, I just started this and yes, it will eventually become Draco/Harry. With the possibility of interchangeable Harry/Draco in the far(?) future.

Let me know how you like this so far, and I will try my best to write more. Though I have to admit, I\'m a little stuck now as well. I\'m open to listening to suggestions, though I may not necessarily use them. I just started writing this and I do have some ideas for how it will turn out later...but right now, yeah. A bit baffled.

Especially with what Ron saw in Draco just then. Suggestions on this are even more warmly welcomed.* Though any reviews are welcome; just be honest.

**Can\'t provide suggestions? That\'s fine, too. My style of writing is just \'go with the flow\'. So once I start, the reasons for things tend to fall into place.. sooner or later.