Throwing In The Towel

Disclaimer- I don\'t own any of the ideas from the Harry Potter Series, JK Rowling does. I\'m not making any profit from this story, so there is no need to sue me.


Summary­- Harry never knew that the Wizarding World didn\'t accept homosexuality. Unfortunately Harry will have to learn this the hard way. Slash HPDM, Mpreg.


A/N- It\'s snowing outside right now!!!!!!!!! I\'m praying for a delay from school tomorrow.. well maybe not.. the snow can be a good and bad thing: shorter school (good), can\'t drive my car cause it has rear-wheel-drive and I would spin out everywhere on the road (bad).. oh well.. I\'m just happy that its snowwwwwwwwwing.. any who.. oh oh!!.. this weekend, I got accepted to two of the three colleges I applied to! *sigh* I\'m just so happy this week.. *smiles*.. any who.. on with the story...


Chapter 2 - Library


\"Come on Harry, hurry up. It\'s lunch time, and I\'m hungry,\" Ron whined as he and Hermione waited for Harry to pack his bags up. They were just leaving History of Magic, and Harry had fallen asleep during the class.


\"Harry, you really shouldn\'t fall asleep in class. I know History of Magic is really boring, and that it is hard to stay awake, but you really should make more of an effort to stay awake next time. It\'s not good to fall asleep in the first class, that is when we learn what we are going to learn the whole year.\" Hermione was in full lecture mode, and Harry just wasn\'t in the mood to hear it. He was still a little angry at his friends for not waking him up in the morning for potions.


\"You\'re being a little hypercritical, don\'t you think?\" Harry asked. \"You\'re telling me it\'s not good to sleep in class, especially on the first day. Well, you and Ron were ready to let me sleep through Potions, which was the first class of the year no less, and you know how Snape is. He is always dying to get me in trouble somehow. Save the lecture for another time Hermione, I\'m not in the mood to hear it.\"


Hermione and Ron were a little shocked at Harry response. Hermione felt hurt. She could tell there was something wrong with her best friend. It was the first day back and he was already exhausted. Ron had tried to get Harry up this morning, but he just wouldn\'t get up, so we left him. Now he was falling asleep in class, and snapping at his friends. They looked at each other, and Hermione gave Ron a look that said they were going to talk about Harry later on and try to figure out what\'s wrong. For now they just ignored Harry\'s comment, and walked to lunch.


Ron\'s stomach rumbled as they turned the corner to the Great Hall. \"Oh man, I\'m so hungry.\"


\"Ron, you\'re always hungry,\" Harry stated.


\"Harry\'s right Ron, stop complaining, we\'re almost there.\"


\"I know. I\'m just excited.\" Ron said with a huge grin on his face. He looked like an over-excited dog getting a treat because he had done a trick for his master.


\"The way you act around meal time, makes people wonder if you have ever eaten food before. Is it really that necessary to get that excited over food?\" Hermione asked. They sat down in their usual seats at the Gryffindor table.


Ron loaded up his plate and started eating his food. \"I can\'t explain it. I just love food.\" He looked over at Harry and said, \"So Harry, do you know who is the new Quidditch Captain this year?\"


\"Ron you are on the team also. If you don\'t know, what makes you think I know?\" Harry asked. Harry didn\'t even know if he was allowed to play. \"I might not be able to play this year. My life-long ban on Quidditch has yet to be lifted. McGonagall will come around to one of the team mates later this week and name them captain. Who knows, maybe you\'ll become captain, Ron.\"


Ron grinned at that comment, and an image of the Ron he saw in the Mirror of Erised came into his head. \"Don\'t worry Harry. There is no way McGonagall will let your ban on Quidditch hold. We\'ll need you this year if we want to win the cup.\"


Harry thought about that for a second and agreed. \"You\'re probably right. If that doesn\'t happen, then I can go and talk to Dumbledore, and see if he can do anything about it.\"


\"Mood mydeema.\" Ron tried to say \'Good idea\' with his mouth full, but it didn\'t work too well.


\"Ronald Weasley! Where are your eating manners?\" Hermione chastised Ron for talking with his mouth full.


\"Umm... I ate them.\" Hermione shook her head at her friend\'s stupidity. Her face quickly turned to horror at the way Ron sucked his food up like a vacuum cleaner.


\"Clearly.\" She shook her head in disgust, \'How in the name of Merlin does he not choke? The speed at which the food is entering his mouth and reaching his stomach is nearly impossible.\' Hermione shuttered as she watched Ron, and then got up from the table. \"I\'ve lost my appetite. I\'m going to the library to get a head start on the potions project.\"


Harry\'s head shot up at that statement. \"Potions project? What potions project?\" He was confused. \"There was nothing said about a project in potions this morning.\"


Hermione shook her head. \"Harry were you paying attention in any of your classes today?\"


Harry thought about that question, and quickly realized that he hadn\'t, not even in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He had been to busy sleeping with his eyes open, an art which he had almost perfected during the summer. \"Well you see Hermione, in Potions I couldn\'t focus. Then in Defense Against the Dark Arts, there was this bird in the window, and it kept on flying-\"


\"No no Harry. I didn\'t actually want an answer to that question.\" She shook her head at Harry. \"Come on, I\'m taking you to the Library with me. Then I can straighten you out about this project.\" She looked over at Ron to tell his to meet them there, and nearly screamed when she saw him trying to talk.


\"M\'ll meet moo-\"


\"Don\'t speak!\" She quickly cut him off quickly. \"I don\'t want to know what you ate. Can\'t you keep food in your mouth? Ron, you better shape up, or I will be owling your mother about this eating behavior.\" Ron opened his mouth still full of food to say something, but Hermione cut his off again. \"Keep your mouth shut! When you\'re done sucking things in your mouth, Ron, then you can come and join Harry and me in the Library. Otherwise, stay far far away from us when you look like that.\" She shuttered again, and grabbed Harry by the shirt and walked quickly out of the hall.

Ron watched them go and thought, \'Oh man, I think I\'m in love.\'


******


Hermione slammed her heavy notebook down on a table in the back corner of the library, and sat down in the chair. Harry sat down in the chair opposite her, and watched her open her notebook. \"You\'re lucky I\'m going to let you look at my notes from Potions, Harry. I\'m warning you though, this is the last time I\'m going to let you. I\'m only doing this because you had a bad morning. We are in NEWT classes now Harry. You really have to pay attention.\"


Harry rolled his eyes. \"Gee, thanks Hermione. I\'m glad to know I have such great friends who will always be there for me.\"


Hermione sighed, and looked her friend in the eye. \"Harry, is there something you want to talk about?\" She said in a careful voice.


\"No Hermione, I\'m fine.\"


\"You sure, because you seem distracted. It\'s only the first day back and you\'re already exhausted,\" she said. \"Did something happen with the Dursley\'s this summer?\"


Maybe it was the fact that Harry was tired, maybe it was all the stress he was under, or maybe it was something else, but something caused him to snap back at Hermione, even when she was trying to help. \"No Hermione. In fact, they weren\'t that bad this summer. They made me actually enjoy this summer. It was a break from here. From this world. From magic. From all the responsibility. From being hurt.\"


\"I\'m sorry Harry, but I really don\'t understand what you\'re talking about.\" Hermione stated.


\"That\'s it. You don\'t understand. You don\'t understand anything. So, just stop asking questions. You\'ll never understand!\" Harry knew he wasn\'t being a good friend. He knew he was being whiny, but he really didn\'t care.


Hermione didn\'t really know what to say. She still didn\'t understand anything, and that wasn\'t like Hermione. She always felt that she knew her friends pretty well, but something was seriously wrong, and Harry wasn\'t talking about it. She decided that she would watch her friend carefully this year, maybe she could figure it out on her own and then talk to Harry about it, because he obviously needed help. \"Ok Harry, I won\'t ask you anymore questions now. Just remember that if you ever need to talk to me, I\'ll always be there.\"


Harry nodded his head, \"Ok, Hermione, I\'ll keep that in mind.\"


\"Good.\" She looked at her notes, and then started explaining the project to Harry. \"Ok, Harry. Professor Snape told us that we should start gathering information on Skele-Gro.\"


\"Oh I know all about that. That stuff burns and tastes horrible.\" He shuddered at the memory, and Hermione laughed.


\"Yes Harry, you would know all about Skele-Gro. Anyway, that is the potion we are going to be studying. Snape said he wanted a whole write up and everything, and he said that everything had to be done with your partner. He wants you to research and write together, so I guess you\'re going to be spending a lot of time with Malfoy.\" She said the last part in a sad careful voice. She didn\'t want to get her friend angry again.


\"Great, just great. Sure, I thought it was bad enough having my grade in Potions depend on how well Malfoy and I can get along to produce a potion, but now I have to spend time out of class. Could this year get any better?\" Harry asked while holding his hands up in frustration.


Hermione sighed. \"Look at it this way, Harry. At least Malfoy is smart in Potions. The project shouldn\'t be that bad, and he is really good at making potions. I know it will be hard to work and deal with his horrible self-centered personality, but I know you can do it,\" she said with a smile. \'There is always a bright side to a horrible situation\', she thought.


\"Thanks for the encouragement. Now I have to find a way to get this info to Malfoy,\" he said as he finished copying down the notes on the project from Hermione. \"I don\'t think he knows about this either. We were both arguing when Professor Snape assigned it. He probably would have said something about getting together if he had known.\"


\"Maybe you could owl him?\" Hermione suggested. \"That way you won\'t have to go up and talk to him. It will reduce the amount of time you have to spend in his presence by about a minute.\"


\"Yeah, I guess you\'re right. Maybe I shouldn\'t send Hedwig to him, though. He might rip her head off or something.\"


Hermione laughed. \"I don\'t think you have to worry about that. I\'m sure Hedwig would love to deliver some mail. She didn\'t get to do it much this summer.\"


Harry smiled at that last statement, but the smile didn\'t reach his ears. When she said that Hedwig didn\'t send much mail this summer, it was true. It just reminded him of how he felt that his friends abandoned him. He chose to ignore it now. He didn\'t want to get angry and snap at Hermione again. She really was helping him a lot, and he was grateful.


Just then Ron showed up, and sat down next to Harry. Hermione looked at Ron and sighed. \"Ron, you have a stain on your robe.\"


Ron looked down at his robe, and sure enough, there was a big huge Pumpkin Juice stain on it from when he was trying to drink and chew at the same time. \"Wow, thanks Hermione, I didn\'t even see it.\"


Hermione shook her head and pulled out her want and vanished the stain. Ron smiled at her. \"Ron, what am I going to do about you.\"


Harry watched the two interact. The already acted like an old married couple. They would playfully argue, and Hermione was constantly making sure Ron looked presentable in public. Anyone could see that they were in love with each other. It was only a matter of time till Ron worked up enough confidence to ask Hermione out, and Hermione was patiently waiting for that moment. Watching them made Harry wonder if he would ever find someone who he felt like that for, and vise-versa. He wondered if he would live long enough to have children of his own and watch them grow up, and see them receive their Hogwarts letter and fly their first broom stick. He desperately wanted a family of his own, one that loved him. He just needed to find that special someone that looked beyond that scar on his forehead.


Hermione broke up Harry\'s thought by saying, \"Our free period is almost over. We should probably start heading to charms now.\" Harry and Ron nodded their head yes, and the three of them got up and started walking.


******


It was now after dinner, and Harry told Ron and Hermione that he was going up to his room to write the letter to Malfoy. He pulled out a quill, some ink, and some paper and laid down on his bed.


\'What should I say?\' He thought. He didn\'t want to sound too demanding, because then he knew Malfoy would be really difficult. He didn\'t want to sound nice, because it was Malfoy he was writing to. He also didn\'t want the note to be very long. \'Why is this so difficult? It\'s just a note to Malfoy about a project we have to do. Why am I thinking about what I say in it so much?\' With that thought, Harry began writing. Five minutes later, when he was finished writing, he read it. It said:


Malfoy-


During your whining in Potions today, we missed Professor Snape assigning a research project on Skele-Gro. This project is due next week, and I don\'t know about you, but I don\'t want to spend my weekend stuck in the Library with you. So I would suggest we pick a time this week and get together and get this project done. Send a reply about when and where you want to meet.


-Harry


Harry thought about adding, \'P.S.- You hurt my owl Hedwig, you die!\' but he didn\'t want to give Malfoy any ideas.


Harry put his ink and quill away as he waited for the note to dry. He then walked down stairs to the Common Room. \"I\'m going to find Hedwig to deliver this letter. I\'ll be back in a few.\" Hermione nodded her head from behind the book she was reading, and Ron nodded his head from the chest board where he was currently beat Seamus.


Ten minutes later you could find Harry with Hedwid on his shoulder with Malfoys not attached to her leg. \"Ok girl, it\'s been a long time since you delivered a letter. Now I need you to deliver this letter to Draco Malfoy.\" Hedwig made a noise when Harry said Malfoys name. \"Yes I know, it\'s Malfoy, but I really need you to send this to him, because we have to do a project together, ok?\" Hedwig nodded and flew off toward Malfoys room. Harry walked back to the Common Room, and said a quick goodnight to Hermione and Ron, and went to bed early. His last thoughts were, \'I hope tomorrow is better than today,\' and then he fell asleep.


******


The next morning at breakfast, Hedwig flew to Harry with a note tied to her foot. \'Oh, it\'s Malfoys reply,\' he thought. He took the letter from Hedwig, and gave her a small piece of bacon to say thank you. She flew off as he opened the letter.


Potter-


Meet me in the Library today after dinner. We can work until curfew.


-Draco


Harry sighed, \'Hopefully we will get the project done today.\'


The Golden Trio then got up from breakfast and walked to their first class of the day.



To be continued...


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