Throwing Punches
“How are you feeling this morning, love,” Pansy asked, placing a damp cloth on Draco’s forehead.
He groaned, tugging his duvet closer to his chin, “I feel like a fucking idiot, that’s how!” He had never been so mortified as to have ruined a moment with Harry like that. Especially when he was so close to a feeling of such clarity, he felt like he had practically won him over only to ruin it.
“It’s not your fault, Dray, you can’t control it,” She reassured, sitting next to him on the bed. “He asked about you this afternoon.”
“What?!”
“He stopped me in the halls and told me he was worried about you, I didn’t mention anything about the disease, I promise. I just told him you were recovering from a cold,” Pansy smiled, brushing a few strands of blonde hair out from under the cloth.
Harry asked about him? Ugh it felt like a miracle. His cheeks swirled with heat, a ruby color upon them.
Just before he could indulge in anymore thoughts, Blaise burst through the door. He had clearly sprinted all the way here, still trying to catch his breath. “Trouble- Great Hall- Harry- holy fuck I need to sit down.”
“What trouble?” Pansy asked. Draco sat up, “What about Harry?”
“He got in a fist fight with Arthur Corbin, socked him right in the nose,” Blaise gawked, reliving the memory he just witnessed.
In seconds Draco was up out of his bed, searching for clothes to change into. “What happened?” He asked frantically, tripping over his pants as he attempted to put them on.
Blaise had told them he didn’t know how it started, or how it ended since he’d run to get them. Draco swallowed an aspirin quickly, chugging it down with a glass of water, before following Blaise to the Great Hall.
They made it just in time to see Arthur being escorted to the infirmary, Dumbledore beside him. They heard a voice shout from within the Great Hall, “You say anything about him again and I’ll hit you way fucking harder next time!”
Peering into the hall, they saw Harry, who had been held back by Ron and the Weasley twins, as well as Dean with Seamus trailing behind him. He had a bruise below his eye, a blood thirsty look on his face.
“Chill mate, he’s gone,” Ron was trying to calm him down, a hand on his chest. Harry shoved them off, grabbing his things from the table.
His face rapidly deepened in a dark blush when he saw Draco standing in the doorway, shocked and meek. How long had he been standing there?
Harry huffed, storming out of the Great Hall, his eyes on the ground as he passed a flustered and confused Draco. When he was completely out of sight, the trio walked into the hall.
“What the hell happened?” Pansy asked, making her way over to Ron. He had a hand on his forehead in confusion, “I have no clue, Corbin was talking shit about Malfoy or something and he just snapped. Went all nuts and punched the guy.”
Draco’s heart skipped a beat. Harry had hit Arthur to protect him? It felt unorthodox and simply made up, yet his stomach jumped with butterflies. He took a seat on a nearby bench, his knees too weak to carry him.
“Did you hear what he said,” Blaise asked.
“Something about how Malfoy keeps missing classes, and how ‘his pristine father would have his neck for giving up on school.’ Harry had hit him before he could get another word out. He started telling him to shut the eff up and.. I mean it was pretty cool to watch but Harry’s got detention for the next week because of it, and they suspended him from the quidditch game this weekend.”
“They suspended him from the game?” Draco asked, “But he’s their star player!”
“Everyone’s pissed,” Ron groaned, grabbing Harry’s discarded things and making his way out of the room.
As they began to walk back to the Slytherin common room, Pansy nudged Draco. “This is perfect, you can’t play this weekend either, it’ll give you one on one time with Harry.”
Draco shoved her off, not wanting to think about the game. He wanted so desperately to play, quidditch was like an escape for him. He turned the corner, his friends following close behind.
Not caring where he was going, he face planted someone as he came around the corridor.
Falling back onto his behind, Draco aided his dazed head. Blinking groggily, he looked up to see messy curls and circular glasses.
Harry.
The Gryffindor had also been knocked to the ground, and frantically scrambled to his feet when he saw who he’d collided with.
“Malfoy! Oh- uhm-“ Harry struggled against his tongue. A strong blush appeared on his cheeks. Draco was a little disappointed to know it was out of embarrassment, rather than out of seeing him. “I’m sorry for what you had to see back there. Just.. lost my temper a little.”
Draco drew back a sigh, he truly couldn’t focus with the chosen one in front of him. He knew Pansy and Blaise were still behind him, and he knew they would never stop talking about this once they reached the common room. “It’s alright, really.”
“Well I’ll.. I’ll uh see you later,” Harry gulped, passing the trio.
“Harry, wait!”
The Gryffindor turned over his shoulder eagerly, maybe a little too eagerly to be frank. “Yes?”
Draco quivered. “Thank you.. for sticking up for me back there.” He could feel the scorch of blush on his cheeks, hoping boy wonder wouldn’t notice.
Harry let his guard down for a moment, a smile spreading on his lips. “Of course.” And with that, the Gryffindor raced down the hall.
Pansy was the first to explode. “He totally likes you!” Draco wriggled out of the tight hug she gave him. “Shut your trap, he could still be in ear shot!”
“But Dray, you had to have seen the way he looked at you,” Blaise added, “That kinda look, you only get it from someone who’s head over heels for you.”
“You two are delusional.”
“Or maybe you’re just in denial,” Pansy smiled, already continuing back to the common room. Draco and Blaise trailed along behind her.
“Harry, I hope you don’t mind my asking but what the hell happened back there?” Hermione asked as Harry stepped into the Gryffindor common room.
“Hermione just cussed, now you know you’re in trouble,” Ron chuckled. Harry watched as Hermione swatted at him.
“It’s not a swear, Ronald. And I wasn’t talking to you anyway! Harry, tell me what has gotten into you,” She demanded, less with concern and more with annoyance.
Harry’s mouth fell agape. “I.. I don’t know.”
“Don’t know? You punched another student for saying something bad about the boy who used to torment you.. and us!”
Harry winced. He remembered all the times Draco had pestered Hermione for being muggleborn. It hadn’t happened in almost two years, but she was definitely allowed to hold a grudge for it.
“Look, I don’t know why I did it, alright? I guess I’ve just been a little worried about him,” Harry admitted.
“What do you mean worried?” Ron asked, now curious too.
“Well he’s been missing a lot of classes, he’s always being rushed off to the nurses wing, I don’t ever see him at dinner. I think something’s definitely wrong but I have no idea what.”
Hermione shrugged off his explanation with a huff, returning to her homework. Ron gave Harry a ‘don’t say anything else or she’ll get pissed’ look.
Harry slumped down in one of the red Gryffindor chairs, feeling defeated.