You

Story: You

Chapter: Two, I Hate You

Rating: Up to M in later chapters

Author: gorgeousbowneyes

Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter in any way, shape or form, I’m just using JK Rowling’s characters for my own entertainment and no copyright was intended.

Summary: It’s their seventh year at Hogwarts. Harry’s been avoiding Draco, and Draco wants his attention back. He does something Harry never expected. Meanwhile Ron’s busily planning a party, it’s destined to be the best Hogwarts has seen since the Marauders walked its halls. All the seventh years are in invited. Will Draco ever get what he wants?

AN: At the end.

You

Chapter Two: I Hate You

The next morning, at breakfast in the Great Hall, Harry was sitting at Gryffindor table across from Ron and Hermione. He was gazing across at the Slytherin table at the object of his desires. Hold up. Wait, had he just called Draco the object of his desires? He couldn’t have…He hated that prat. No, he was just staring into space; he wasn’t looking at the Slytherin table at all…

“Harry?” Hermione questioned, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Hmmm?” he mumbled back.

“I said, where did you get to last night? When I got back to the common room last night, Ron was still up planning with Lavender and Pavarti but you were nowhere to be seen.”

“Yeah and you weren’t up in our dorm when I went up to check,” Ron added.

“Oh, ah, I uh just went for a walk is all, guys.”

“Right,” Hermione said disbelievingly. “Sure you did.”

“Huh? Oh sorry I phased out again.” Harry was a bit fuzzy on what she just said. Did she say ‘I know what you did’? Or was that just his mind playing with him? But he didn’t do anything last night so there was nothing to worry about. Right? “Could you repeat what you said?”

“Oh honestly, Harry, what have you been up to? Something’s got your attention right now so just fess up!”

“But Hermione, there’s nothing to fess up about. I’m just really tired this morning.” Harry complained back.

“Well you wouldn’t be tired if you hadn’t have been out half the night til after curfew doing whatever it is that you wont tell us.”

“Huh,” Harry said. He’d phased out again.

“Oh honestly!” she huffed. Then she finished of the last of her toast and stormed out of the Great Hall.

“Hey Harry,” Ron said, after a reasonable lapse in conversation. “I need your advice.”

“What about?”

“Hermione.”

“Oh. I don’t know how much help I can be with her Ron. You just saw how infuriated at me she was!”

“Yeah well it’s not really anything you have to do. Remember I kissed her last night?”

“Oh yeah.” He nearly added, ‘I forgot’ but stopped himself just in time. He had been so busy worrying about Draco (since when did he become Draco in his mind?) that he had completely forgotten that his best friends had hooked up the night before. “So you guys are going out now, right?”

“That’s just the thing. We haven’t talked about it since. I don’t know whether to ask her about it, whether she’s avoiding saying something because she doesn’t want to be with me or what!”

“Hmmm. You should just talk to her, Ron. I mean, this is Hermione we’re talking about. She’ll be straight with you either way. And then you can move on to be boyfriend and girlfriend or you can go back to being friends like nothing happened and move on with your life. Personally I hope it’s the former, everyone knows you two are meant for each other.”

Ron blushed red. “Well I’m hoping she chooses the first option as well.”

“Well you better go after her! Classes start in twenty minutes, and you know she won’t talk about this during class!”

“What? Talk to her now? Are you crazy? I don’t have nearly enough courage to do that!”

“C’mon, Ron! Are you a Gryffindor or not? Find the courage from somewhere and just do it!”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll see you later.” With that Ron got up from the table and left in the direction Hermione had headed. The library. Where else would Hermione be before school started for the day?

Harry sighed. He was glad his friends were finally realising that they were meant for each other. All that bickering was just their way of releasing unresolved sexual tension. Harry laughed. He got up and headed out of the Great Hall as well, as he had finished breakfast and there was nothing to keep him there. On his way out, he wasn’t really paying attention to his surroundings, and literally ran into none other than Draco. Again.

-

“Hermione!” Ron called out, seeing her sitting at a desk in the library. There were immediate shushing noises from other students and a piercing glare from Madam Pince. “Sorry,” he said, softly this time. He made his way over to the table that Hermione was reading at, blushing slightly because it was she that Ron had been calling out to, causing such a ruckus in the library. This was her favourite place, other than Gryffindor Tower, and didn’t want to be kicked out because of Ron.

“Hey Hermione,” Ron said as he sat down across from her.

“Hey. What are you doing in here?” she questioned, an odd look on her face. Ron never came to the library by choice.

“Oh, um, nothing really. Just thought I’d get in some last minute study,” Ron searched for an excuse.

“Oh please Ron, do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Well, no, not really.” Ron sighed. I may as well be out with it, no use delaying this. “Hermione, about last night…”

“Yes?”

“Well, what I was wondering was, would you, I don’t know, um…”

“Ron what are you trying to say?”

“Wouldyoupleasegooutwithmepleaseimeanithinkthatyoulikemetooconsideringyoukissedbacklastnightandallandilikeyouwillyoubemygirlfriend?” Ron said in a rush.

“What? You’re going to have to slow down, I didn’t catch that,” Hermione said, genuinely puzzled.

“Will you go out with me and be my girlfriend?” Ron said, slower this time, flushing nearly as red as his hair.

“Oh! Of course Ron. I thought that was a given considering last night!”

“Oh. Right. Well, I wasn’t sure you know.” Hermione laughed and her new boyfriend. Sometimes he could be so thick, but she wouldn’t have him any other way.

“Come here you,” she said, leaning over the table. They shared a brief kiss, before she bent back to the book she was reading. Suddenly she felt Ron’s hand on top of hers, and she looked up.

“This weekend’s a Hogsmeade weekend. Will you come with me, for our first official date?”

“Of course.”

The bell rang just after her answer, and she jumped up quickly and began packing up her books. Just as she went to pick up her big stack of text books, Ron stepped in and picked them up for her.

“I’ll carry your books and walk you to class,” he said in way of explanation. Hermione smiled and kissed him on the cheek, making Ron blush red again. He put all the combined books into one arm and held her hand with the other. They walked out of the library, content with their new relationship.

-

“Watch where you’re going you – ” Draco suddenly cut himself off as he saw who it was that had walked into his left shoulder. Their eyes connected for a few seconds before Draco looked away. If he looked at those emerald green eyes for long, he’d lose himself in them, and then he’d never be able to recover whatever dignity he had lost the night before.

“Dra-Malfoy. What are you doing getting in my way again?” Harry sniped.

“Sorry. Didn’t know it was you.” He bowed his head slightly and moved to walk away.

“What’s this, Draco Malfoy apologising to me? I didn’t think I’d ever live to see the day.” Harry scorned.

“Shut it, Potter,” Draco said, spinning around. He was angry now. First Harry had crushed him, had made him feel the worst he had felt in a long time, by telling him he hated him. And now he was acting like nothing had happened and they were rivals again.

Of course, Draco didn’t know that all Harry was really doing was trying to regain some form or normality in their lives. He had been drowning in this sudden turn of events, and fighting with Draco was the only life ring he had to grasp onto.

But Draco didn’t know that, and took it as Harry trying to hurt him more than he already had. He was rubbing salt in his wounds.

“Why are you doing this? I thought you were a Gryffindor, all noble and brave and yet you want to make fun of me, when I opened up my soul to you!” he practically yelled at Harry, in the middle of the Entrance Hall. The crowds of people moving about them suddenly stopped. They knew a fight was destined, after all Harry and Draco always fought. But what Draco had just proclaimed was quite peculiar. It caught the interest of the crowds of students. Before either of the boys realised, they had quite a gathering surrounding them.

“What the hell do you mean by that?” Harry responded.

“You know, Potter. Stop being a complete arsehole!” Harry could see Draco’s eyes starting to gather tears in them, although no one else would have seen them. Draco ducked his head to gather his composure. When he finally raised his head again, both boys stared daggers at each other. Finally, Draco was fed up with it and turned to walk away.

“Oh no you don’t! Don’t you walk away from me!” Harry yelled, pulling on his shoulder and twisting him back around. Draco’s eyes flashed with anger.

“Let go of me Potter!”

“Fine!” Harry let go of him. Then he brought his fist up all of a sudden and punched Draco in the stomach. Draco doubled over his stomach in sudden pain, he hadn’t even seen the punch coming. Draco raised his fist, but his resolve wavered and he lowered it. He didn’t want to hurt Harry. He tried to walk away again. Harry clipped him on the side of his jaw as he turned. It sent Draco sprawling on the ground. As Draco slowly brought himself to his feet, he spoke softly to his attacker. “I’m not going to fight you.”

“Why not!?!” Harry demanded. He was angry, confused, frustrated. He didn’t even know why he was hurting Draco. Something inside him had just snapped though. He was so angry at Draco for making him feel this way, for making him so confused about what to do. He was upset as well. “Why the hell not??”

“You know why.”

“I don’t care! That’s not a good enough reason. Why won’t you fight me? Why? Why the hell did you have to go and do what you did yesterday??”

Ah, Draco thought. Here’s the real reason Harry was lashing out.

“I’m not going to fight you because that’s not what you really want from me is it? You want to know why the hell I love you!” The crowds gasped. Draco Malfoy loved Harry Potter? Why, this was an unusual turn of events.

‘I don’t even know myself, Potter! And right now I don’t love you, I fucking hate you! I HATE you, so you don’t have to worry about me professing my love all the freaking time. Are you happy, Potter? Is this what you wanted?” With that he left, not stopping to hear what Harry had to say in response.

-

Harry watched Draco’s retreating back in shock. What the hell had just happened? Malfoy just admitted in front of all these people that he loved him. And then that he hated him. Draco hated him. Draco hated him. He glared at all the onlookers.

“What the hell are you all staring at?? Fuck off!” The crowd jumped into movement straight away and dispersed just as quickly as they had gathered. Harry was in no mood now to go to classes, least of all Potions, which was first up on his schedule this morning. So he made his way back up to the Gryffindor common room and then into his dorm, where he collapsed onto the bed. He buried his head into his pillow and began to cry.

What the hell was wrong with him? First Draco loved him, and Harry would do anything not to think that he might have feelings back for him, and now Draco hated him, and all Harry could think was that he desperately didn’t want Draco to hate him. He screwed up bad, he knew it. All because he was in denial about his feelings for Draco. And yes, he was starting to admit to himself that he did have feelings for Draco. He wouldn’t call it love, there was no way he could call it love so early in the piece. He hardly knew Draco. But there was something there, something he couldn’t explain, that made him want to get to know him, want to be with him. And now Draco hated him. He kept coming back to that and couldn’t stand it. How could he have been so insensitive to Draco yesterday? Draco must have gone through the same thing he was now feeling, but even worse. Draco loved him, and he, Harry, had told him he hated him. And now because of his stubbornness, Draco hated him as well. So maybe they could just go back to hating each other, since they obviously both did? But the more Harry thought about that option, the more he wanted to be so much more to Draco than just his enemy. He didn’t think he could ever go back to just hating Draco.

-

By lunch, Harry still hadn’t come out of his room. Ron and Hermione were getting worried, as he hadn’t been to any of their classes, and they didn’t know what had happened. However, they had heard rumours of a fight between Malfoy and Harry, and decided they needed to find their best friend.

They entered Harry and Ron’s dorm room to find the curtains on Harry’s four poster bed drawn tightly shut against the outside world. They both walked over to Harry’s bed, hand in hand, and Ron drew the curtains back. Harry had his back to them, lying on his side, curled up in the foetal position. His body language made him look so small, so insignificant, so very not the strong Harry they knew and loved. They dropped each other’s hands, feeling that Harry was more important right now.

“Harry, mate,” Ron started, but didn’t know what to say next.

“Harry, are you alright? You haven’t been in any of your classes today,” Hermione tried.

Silence.

“Harry?” Hermione queried, leaning over the bed a bit more, trying to see his face.

“Go away.”

“Harry, mate, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing. Just leave me alone!”

“Well something is obviously wrong for you to be curled up in bed like this! It can’t be nothing!” Hermione said calmly.

“Well it is nothing, so you can just leave me alone now, alright? I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Harry, we heard rumours of a fight with you and Malfoy,” Ron tried to start. Harry suddenly sat up, and they saw that his eyes were red and there were tear stains all down his cheeks.

“I don’t want to talk about it, alright!” Harry all but yelled. “Please just leave me alone,” he finished, dropping his head into his hands.

“No,” Hermione stated, dropping down to sit next to Harry on his bed. She put her arms around him and gathered him up into her arms. He reached an arm around her neck and started to cry into her shoulder. She started rubbing him on his back, making gentle cooing sounds, and looked helplessly up at Ron. What had gotten him so upset? He hadn’t even cried like this around them when Sirius died. But then, there had been a good month between when they had seen him and when Sirius died, as he had had to go back to his relatives.

Ron sat down next to Harry as well, and started to pat his shoulder comfortingly. They stayed there for a quite a while, letting Harry cry until he stopped, cry as much as he needed until he could cry no more. It took a while. Hermione watched as the clocked changed, indicating their next class was starting, and didn’t bat an eyelid or move a fraction. She was staying here with her best friend. Sometimes there were more important things. But only sometimes, on very rare occasions like this one.

-

AN: So when I originally wrote this, this chapter turned out a lot more angstier than what I'd been aiming for, but it lightens up again in the next chapters. So hope you liked it and please review! Also thanks to the reviews who've reviewed in the past day the previous chapter of this!! I'm uploading now because I don't think I'll have a chance to in the next few days! Please review!