The L Word

⁂✒♞𝕯𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖔⁂✒♞

There was tension and it was sensed throughout the school. Having to share the same spaces with Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, the students of Hogwarts became accustomed to knowing when there was a fight between the two males. By now the reason as to why would have spread to everyone, but this time, no one knew what was going on.

Draco sat in the Slytherin common room, legs sat crisscrossed as he stared intensely into the fireplace. The light of fire across the male's face and the look of hatred towards the world (which was not uncommon) intimidated the other Slytherin students. They avoided him aside from Pansy Parkinson, who was now making her way to him. She sat in the seat beside him, making Draco huff in annoyance. He had wanted to be left alone while he thought about the other night with Harry.

"What is it, Pansy?" He finally said, his eyes looking in her direction without moving his head.

"I saw your 'I'm ready to kill' face and thought I should stop a murder. The school doesn't like us Slytherin's much already and especially not you or me." Pansy crossed her arms. "So.. what happened between you and Potter this time?"

Malfoy grimaced at the mention of the 'Golden Boy's name. "It's none of your business as always. Go bother someone else with your need for gossip. I can deal with all this on my own as I am right now." He snapped at his friend but Pansy only rolled her eyes. She was used to getting yelled at by the boy and no longer had much reaction when it happened.

"Well if you asked anyone besides yourself you would learn this really isn't a normal way to deal with this. I recall that you just try to fight Potter when you guys disagree." Pansy said matter-of-factly, her head turning towards Draco with an unamused look. Draco didn't say anything which made Pansy think he couldn't argue with the truth. He knew what he did was wrong, but the look on his face had a completely different story. He looked guilty, but for what?

Draco let out a sigh, which only confused Pansy more. "I know what I do, Pansy, you don't have to lecture me. But this is serious." He gripped his arm, his robe sleeve wrinkling under his fingers. "Potter knows about my father." He finally told his friend.

"What?" Pansy's brows dipped into an angry and concerned expression. "You aren't joking?"

"Why would I joke about this?" Draco hissed, suddenly turning towards Pansy. The girl shook her head and let out a miserable groan.

"Well then, what are you going to do? Are you really going to sit here and wait for what Potter does? I think you know as well as I that he won't hesitate to turn you in. You're smart, Darco, don't let some kid who got lucky by pure chance ruin you again." Pansy said, nothing but affection in her voice.

Malfoy leaned back against the couch, eyes once more staring intensely into the fire. His pale eyes seemed to glow from the light, making him look like he was ready to start a war. "I have all I need to make Potter think twice about telling anyone about this." He said mysteriously, making Pansy wonder just what was going on between Draco and Potter this time.

❅✐♘𝐻𝒶𝓇𝓇𝓎❅✐♘

Harry sneezed. As he sniffled and rubbed his nose, Ron spoke up. "Think someone is talking about you?"

"What?"

"Well, my dad always said that if you sneeze or your ears itch, it means someone is talking about you."

"I'm not too sure about that." Harry smiled. He thought to himself about how silly it was to think what Ron said was out of reality but the fact that he was a wizard was normal.

The brunette plopped back onto his bed, staring at the ceiling. A few days ago he had that encounter with Malfoy that made him rethink everything. Of course there was that Malfoy might have been kissing up to Harry so he would have him on his side, or.. was it real all along and it really was the worst timing in the existence of ever? Harry rubbed his face. This made him feel odd. He felt twenty years older stressing about this and all he wanted was peace of mind. Harry grew more physically than mentally. He still refused to talk to Malfoy about these things and expected an apology every time.

"Hey, eh.. what's going on up there?" Ron spoke up from his bunk below Harry. "It's something with Draco again, huh? Damn, he gets worse every year. He must know he'll miss us when we graduate so he's getting all he can this year. Haha!"

"Mhm.. maybe," Harry said softly, making Ron bite his lip in thought. This wasn't normal for Harry at all. He was so fiery when it came to the topic of Malfoy.

The red haired male climbed up the ladder to Harry's bed, standing on one of the steps to look over at his friend. "Is there, like.. something going on?" Ron asked, elbows resting on the bed. Harry looked away, unsure if he actually wanted to tell Ron anything. He was his best friend, but he didn't know if this was one of those things he could just casually mention. 'Oh, nothing, it's just that my arch enemy of eight years kissed me and I think I like him but I also really fucking hate him and I saw him talking to his dad who should be in Azkaban right now.' That didn't sound logical or easy to process. Then again Ron had been Harry's first friend and had been there for him all that time. It wasn't fair to keep this from him. It's been months now and he hasn't spilled anything.

"It's.. really complicated. And I don't know if you would see me the same after I tell you." Harry said.

"Well unless you killed someone I think it'll be fine." Ron laughed, making Harry smile.

"Ok, I'll tell you but you have to promise not to tell Hermione. I'll do that in my own time." Ron nodded, agreeing to keep this a secret.

Harry took a deep breath and looked out of the window. "A few months ago.. Draco followed me through the halls and cornered me. We argued for a while until.. he, eh.. kissed me. And he did multiple times after that. But recently I found out.." Harry thought about what Draco said. He knew Malfoy was a follower by all means but he also had to remember who his parents were. "I found out something rather unsavory about him and I really can't say what it is. I feel like whatever he was saying about liking me or kissing me was a plan or something. I don't know, it's fucking crazy, I know." He felt relieved to get that off his chest.

Harry looked over at Ron, his heart dropping when he saw his expression. His eyes were wide and his jaw open in surprise. Harry felt like he just messed up until he heard, "No way! Hermoine was right?! I mean, she's right nine times out of ten but I thought it was a little far fetched this time. Ugh, thank God I have to keep this secret because I did not want to hear her say 'I told you so'." He slumped over.

"W.. what?" Harry sat up, more than confused.

Ron cleared his throat, looking awkwardly away. "Well.. Hermoine had been thinking for a while now that Draco was teasing you for other reasons than his father influencing it and being an overall asshat." He said. "She said that the way he looked at you wasn't one of seeing an enemy, more like he wanted your attention. You know how we look at each other when we want to say something to each other but we can't right then? Sort of like that but more.. desperate? That's how she put it, I don't know."

Harry blinked and looked at his lap. Could he really buy that? Of course Malfoy wanted his attention, they hated each other. Until he got confirmation from Malfoy himself he didn't want to let it go to his head. Hermoine read into things a little too much a lot of the time anyway.

"Huh," Harry scoffed. "Yeah, right. We're enemies, we aren't going to look at each other kindly. What Hermoine saw was nothing more than Malfoy wanting to keep bugging me." The brunette swung himself over the side of the bed, making Ron scramble after him to make sure he didn't break his arm again. "Malfoy is a snake whether he was destined to be a Slytherin or one of us." He turned when he heard Ron scoff, who was also now on the floor.

"Do you know who else was destined to be something else? You. You were supposed to be a Slytherin. Would that have changed your whole mindset on everything? Would you be any less noble, or brave, or bloody reckless? I sure don't think so."

"Err.. what?" Harry asked. Ron groaned like Harry was being stupid. He probably was.

"I'm trying to say that just because you would be a Slytherin doesn't mean you're inherently rude or domed to be part of the Dark Mark, meaning maybe Malfoy might be.. and this pains me to say.. not as bad as we thought? Hermoine could be right on point. Malfoy could be this mean to us because he liked you and doesn't want any of us to catch on. As far as I've seen he's pretty decent to the other Slytherins." Ron shrugged.

Harry paused. Could Ron be right? Could Hermoine? "That's rich coming from someone who hates Malfoy as much as me, if not more." He scoffed and shook his head.

"Harry.." Ron murmured.

Both boys' heads lifted at the sound of the Fat Lady's high pitched voice arguing and huffing about. "Let's see what's going on," Harry said, speed walking down to the entry door with Ron quickly by his side. Opening the door, Harry paused. "Malfoy?" He hissed, dark brows furrowing into an angry expression. There was the platinum blonde in all his annoying beauty pestering the Fat Lady to open the door. He turned, looking shocked for only a moment before his face turned nonchalant, almost annoyed. Harry felt his heart beat loudly with an ache in his chest. "Why are you here? You didn't magically turn into a Gryffindor did you?"

Malfoy's head turned, loose hair that fell into his face sweeping to the side, looking like rich silk. "I would never," He answered simply. "I am not here for the weasel." He pointed to Ron.

"I take back what I said earlier.." Ron said through gritted teeth.

"Oh? Were you talking about me?" The sides of Malfoy's lips turned up into a snide smile.

"If your ego was any bigger you would explode," Harry remarked back, one hand on his hip. He started to burn up in the face watching Malfoy's eyes travel from his face to where his hand rested. "What is there to look at?" He snapped, which brought Malfoy's grey eyes quickly back up to his own green ones.

"I need to talk to you about.. something important." Malfoy quickly changed the subject. Harry knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah? And if I refuse?" Harry asked. Malfoy's expression turned dark, making Potter really wonder what would happen if he didn't go along with him.

"You won't," Malfoy said.

"Don't go with this wanker, Harry! As you said, he's just a snake." Ron interrupted, grabbing Harry by the arm to drag him back inside. Other students started to gather around to watch the famous (for the wrong reasons) duo fight again.

Harry saw.. pain in Malfoy's face for a split second? No way was that possible. Malfoy is lying, he's manipulating him! But fuck did he look nearly irresistible with his tousled hair and slightly wrinkled shirt. Had he been worried about this too? Is that why Malfoy looked so uncharacteristically out of order? Of course he would, Harry saw something he was never meant to. He would be the same way. The two boys from opposing houses stared at each other without a word.

"Alright," Harry said with a sigh. "Let's talk then."

Ron's eyes widened. "What?"

"Go back inside, Ron," Harry said, moving away from Ron's loosening grip. "Malfoy and I need to talk something over."

The Golden Boy walked towards Malfoy, bumping his shoulder as he walked past. "Let's go, Malfoy. Let's talk.."