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- I\'m planning for this to be a long story, so I\'m starting it off where Harry and Draco aren\'t even together yet, and Harry doesn\'t even know he likes men. The slash will come in later.




Chapter 1- Partners


Harry ran through the halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was Monday morning, and Harry had over slept and completely missed breakfast. Now, he was desperately trying to make it to his first period, which was none other than Potions with Professor Snape. He didn\'t want to start of his first week of 6th year losing house points from Snape.


\'Merlin, why didn\'t Ron wake me up this morning when he went off to breakfast?\' Harry thought. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he never saw Draco Malfoy, who was also late to potions class, walking in front of him, and ran straight into him. They both fell to the ground and Harry landed on top of Malfoy.


\"Potter, get off of me! Geeze, ever heard of paying attention to where you are walking, or in your case running?\" Malfoy yelled as he pushed Harry off of him, and got up to smooth out his cloths.


\"Shut up Malfoy. Have you ever thought of not walking so slowly that other people will run into you?\" Harry said before thinking. \'Good one Harry.\' Harry mentally kicked himself for that one.


\"You\'re pathetic Potter. Get out of my way you stupid Gryffindork.\" Malfoy turned his back and left Harry to clean up his own books that were scattered across the hallway. Malfoy walked to the potions classroom, which was at the end of the corridor. The door was already closed meaning Professor Snape had begun his lesson. Malfoy pushed open the door and walked to the only open table left in the room and sat.


\"Mr. Malfoy, any excuse for your lateness to my class?\" Snape asked lightheartedly not really caring for an answer.


\'Excuse? Of course I have and excuse. I over slept. I had to stay up most of the night doing my stupid potions summer work, because you had to assign an impossible amount of work to do in the summer. Besides, why would I do potions work during summer when I\'m vacationing in France on the Riviera? So, of course I have an excuse.\' Draco thought before he responded with a simple, \"No sir.\"


Snape nodded accepting the answer. He continued his lecture on what they were going to study that year in NEWT Potions.


\"I do not expect any of our work this year to get past your thick pathetic skulls,\" Snape said as he looked at the Gryffindor side of the room. \"The fact that most of you in here had to whine to your head of house to be accepted into NEWT Potions is pathetic. I assure you, if any of you blow up one potion, you will be out of this classroom before you can say the word \'veritaserum\'.\" Neville gulped loudly in the background. \"I expect homework to be done perfectly. Assignments are to be completed on time. Your workstations should be spotless by the time you leave this classroom. Tardiness is unacceptable or else your house will suffer a severe amount of point lo-\"


Snape was suddenly interrupted by the door of his classroom opening up and none other than the boy-who-lived walking in.


\"Well well well, Mr. Potter. So you finally decided to join us. I started to believe that you wouldn\'t show up, that you believed you were too good to come to class.\" Snape\'s eyebrow rose. \"So tell me, Mr. Potter, what pathetic excuse do you have this time?\" Snape\'s eyebrow rose even further, to a height which some believed impossible. He then crossed his arms and started tapping his foot.


Harry was quickly trying to think of an answer. \'Umm a hippogriff attacked me? No, he wouldn\'t believe that. Hagrid wanted to talk to me? No, I shouldn\'t blame it on Hagrid. Umm. What to say, what to say. Think. Think. Think. Umm.\' Harry began to panic.


\"Mr. Potter, an answer. Now.\"


\"Umm. Well you see Professor, I -\"


\"No Potter, I do not see. In fact, I was just talking about you. Pathetic really. Begging your head of house to let you in my class when everyone knows you are abysmal in potions. Where did this sudden passion for my subject come from, hmm?\" He paused receiving no response to his question. \"I\'ll be watching you this whole year Potter. I mean it. One screw up and you are out of this class, and then you can say goodbye to your precious dreams. 20 points from Gryffindor for your tardiness. Don\'t let it happen again.\"


\"What?\" Ron Weasley said as he stood up to defend his friend. \"Malfoy just walked in here two minutes before Harry and you didn\'t take away any points from Slytherin!\" Malfoy and the other Slytherins snickered in the background.


\"Mr. Weasley! How dare you interrupt my class with your useless voice. 10 points from Gryffindor. Since I am in such a happy mood,\" Snape paused and smirked at Ron, \"I will explain to you why Mr. Malfoy didn\'t lose any points.\" Snape nodded toward Malfoy, and stalked over to stand in front of Ron towering over his desk in a very intimidating manner.


\"Draco had an excuse. He -\"


\"No he didn\'t.\" Snape was interrupted again by Ron. \"He just came in here and sat down. He even told you he had no excuse when you asked him.\"


\"That is it Mr. Weasley. Congratulations, you have won yourself a detention with Filch tonight and 20 points from Gryffindor. Do not disrespect me again. Now as I was saying, Mr. Malfoy was not penalized because he came late to class before I gave the rules about tardiness. Mr. Potter did not. Therefore, Mr. Potter caused his house to lose points. There Mr. Weasley, does that satisfy your curiosity?\" Snape now had his hands on Ron\'s table and was leaning over the desk yelling in Ron\'s face.


Ron didn\'t reply. He was breathing heavily, but he just looked at his hands and watched as he twirled his thumbs, hoping that Snape would leave him alone. In the background, Malfoy murmured something about \"pathetic Gryffindors\" to his fellow Slytherins. Harry was still standing in the back of the classroom. He hadn\'t moved since he entered the class.


\"Mr. Potter, I strongly suggest you find a seat, before I really lose my patience, or else you will join Mr. Weasley tonight in detention.\" Snape said as he walked to the front of the room. When he turned around, Harry still hadn\'t moved. He was looking for a place to sit, but the only open seat was the one that was next to Malfoy. \"Mr. Potter, a seat. Now. You have disrupted my class long enough. Find a seat or do not even bother coming to class again.\"


Harry sighed and walked to the seat next to Malfoy. He looked over at Hermione and Ron as he walked to the seat. Hermione mouth \'I\'m sorry\' and Ron was looking even more pissed that Harry had to sit next the Malfoy. Harry ignored Malfoy as he sat down and pulled out his potions work. He tried his hardest to pay attention to Professor Snape, but Malfoy kept distracting him.


\"You should keep your fan club in line Potter.\" Malfoy sneered as he whispered to Harry. \"Wouldn\'t want them to fall through any veils, right Potter? You would know all about falling through veils.\" Malfoy taunted. Malfoy could see what he was doing to Potter and he loved it. Potter was shaking and his breathing was very heavy. His hands were in tight fists, and he had destroyed his quill, which laid in pieces under his hand after he smashed it in his fist.


\'Don\'t kill him. Don\'t kill him.\' Harry kept chanting in his mind. \'He\'s not worth Azkaban. He\'s not worth Azkaban. Don\'t kill him.\'


\"You really are pathetic.\" Malfoy said as he watched Harry try to calm down. \"So tell me Potter, who are you going to kill next?\"


That statement hit Harry hard. Harry still wasn\'t over the death of his godfather, Sirius. His friends thought Harry was done grieving, because they believed he had the whole summer to. The truth was Harry hadn\'t even begun. It was still really hard to accept the fact that the only person he ever considered a father was dead. He was dead and never coming back. Harry tried his hardest not to think about Sirius at all during the summer. Luckily, the Dursleys kept him busy with chores. Harry never thought he would be thankful for the long list of chores that Uncle Vernon would give him every morning, but this summer he was. It meant that he would have something to focus on constantly. That way he could keep sad thoughts about Sirius out of his head. It\'s not that he didn\'t want to think about Sirius. He just wasn\'t ready to move on. He wasn\'t ready to let go of the guilt.


Guilt


Harry never told anyone, but every night he would have nightmares about Sirius and the veil. When he would wake up in the morning, he wouldn\'t think monsters that plagued his rest. He had a feeling that the Dursleys knew about his nightmares, but they never said anything. Harry figured that Dumbledore must have owled them before Harry returned from school to tell them about Harry\'s loss. The Dursleys didn\'t seem to be that mean to him. They just ignored him, and gave him chores. Harry was extremely grateful.


Harry tried his hardest not to think about Sirius at that moment. He hated being weak in front of Malfoy. He hated showing Malfoy that he had power over him. So he did the only thing he could think of at the moment: attack Malfoy with his own monsters. He knew that saying the things he did didn\'t make him any better than Malfoy, but he needed the satisfaction that he could make Malfoy feel weak too.


\"Why don\'t you tell me if your father reserved a place for you in Azkaban right in the cell next to his? Does it come with an ocean view so you can spend most of your life in Azkaban looking out a tiny barred window, being a desperate wanna be? Dreaming of what could be? Has your father written to you telling you about all his dementor friends? Has he come up with nicknames for them yet? Because I\'m sure they are really close.\" Harry turned to Malfoy and continued. \"You know, it\'s sad. When I first met Sirius, he told me how he snuck out of Azkaban. If you weren\'t so snobby and stuck up I would have told you. It\'s rather easy to sneak out of there actually, all you have to do is... Oops, I almost told you. What was I thinking? I don\'t want your nasty Death Eater father escaping. Sorry.\"


Harry saw Draco\'s eyes twitch for a second. There was a flicker of pain and hurt in his piercing silver eyes, but only for a moment. That moment felt like an eternity for Draco. Harry hit a hard spot for Draco, just like Draco had done for Harry, but Draco was much better keeping his emotions in check. He didn\'t let any other emotions show except for the eye flicker, but it was enough for Harry to know that he angered Draco.


\"Drop dead Potter.\"


\"Likewise Malfoy.\"


Harry and Draco stopped talking and started paying attention to Snape. Professor Snape had just finished telling the class the different potions they would be studying that year.


\"Now this year in potions you will have one partner all year round, just one partner. You will work with this partner on all your potions and assignments. The reason you can only have one partner is that we are going to be working on some very challenging potions and it is best to know your partner\'s abilities and habits, because this will decrease the chance of, shall I say, screw ups. I would advise you to enjoy the time with your partner this year, because it is the last time you will have a partner in this class. If you some how make it through this year, well then next year all work will be done individually.\"


Snape started to pace in the front of the class. He glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that there was ten minutes left of class. \'Good. I can\'t stand these mindless students, and it is only the first day of class. I\'m getting too old for this. I swear one of these days I\'m going to lose it and start cursing heads off.\'


\"Now are there any questions?\" Snape asked. Hermiones hand shot up in the air. \'Why did I ask that? I knew she would have a question. She always has questions. Oh how I hate know-it-all bookworms.\'


\"Yes Miss. Granger, what is your question?\" He asked in a very annoyed tone.


\"Sir, I was wondering if you could tell us how you were choosing our partners?\"


\"Ah yes. Well, the person you are sitting next to now is your partner for the rest of the year.\" Snape smirked when he realized who he just paired up. \'This will make the year very interesting. Malfoy and Potter, partners. Oh joy.\'


\"WHAT?\" Harry and Draco screamed at the same time.


\"Professor surely you will reconsider that decision. I don\'t want to work with Malfoy this whole year. We will kill each other.\" Harry pleaded. This year was going to be hard enough. He didn\'t need Malfoy there constantly. It would be murder.


\"No, Mr. Potter, I was not kidding. I made my decision, and that is final. No exceptions.\"


\"Professor. I beg you to reconsider. Surely you can\'t expect me to work with this air head?\" Malfoy complained.


\"Mr. Malfoy, though I share your dismay in this situation, I regret to inform you that it is either work with Potter or Longbottom.\" Snape nodded toward Neville, who was sitting in the back of the classroom all by himself at a table with no chair for someone else to sit in. \"Take your pick.\"


\"Professor, I\'ll work with Neville.\" Harry spoke up. He definitely didn\'t want to work with Malfoy, even if it meant that he had to work with Neville. Anything was better than working with Malfoy.


\"Potter, shut up. I do not remember giving you a choice in this matter. The last time I checked, your last name was not Malfoy, so stay out of this conversation.\" No way was Snape going to let Harry get out of this situation easily. \"Mr. Malfoy, your decision?\"


Malfoy looked between Potter and Longbottom. \'Hmm, do I want to work with the cauldron-exploding-idiot or the air-head-extraordinaire. Since my grade depends on this, I\'ll choose the air-head-extraordinaire. \"Potter, sir.\"


Harry slammed his head on the table. \'Why me?\'


\"Alright. Any other questions?\" Snape asked.


Neville raised his hand very slowly. Professor Snape could tell that he was shaking, and so he smirked and yelled. \"What Longbottom?\"


Neville nearly passed out. He barley managed to ask, \"Ppp-p-proff-fesor II-I waaa-as wondd-deringg-g if yoo-ou couldd-d tee-ell mee-e whoo-o II-I was woo-orking wii-ith?\" Neville gulped.


\"Ah, yes.\" Snape looked around the classroom at all the different pairs. His eyes landed on Granger and Weasley. \'This will screw up Grangers year for sure. Maybe she will actually fail potions for once.\' \"Granger and Weasley.\"


Hermione\'s face fell. She realized that potions this year was not going to be a walk in the park.


Just then the bell rang, saving everyone from their torture session. Professor Snape watched everyone leave. He loved the anger and fear he saw on several of the Gryffindors faces.


\'Maybe this year won\'t be that bad.\' He smirked, walked up to the door of his classroom, and slammed it shut. \'Ah, free period. No mindless students to teach.\'



To be continued...


So what do you think? Should I continue this story? Should I make any changes? Do the characters seem in-character? Any suggestions? Please review!


Thanks, RandomnessDotCom