Unconditional

Padma had successfully turned the girls in Ravenclaw against him. They didn’t actually do anything to him, but they glared at him a lot and whispered. It was quite distracting while Draco was trying to read in the Common Room.

There was one, however, who didn’t follow the rest. Draco groaned when he saw her approaching.

“Hello, Black.”

“Hello, Loony.”

Luna frowned. “I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t call me that.”

“Tough.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Why are you so mean?”

Draco sighed and put down his book. “Why do you continue to talk to me when I’m always mean to you?”

“I hope that one day you won’t be mean and I can find out how Harry can like you,” she said, unabashed.

Draco shook his head in confusion. “Firstly, I won’t just stop being mean. That’s ridiculous; I have no idea why you’d think that. Secondly, Scarface doesn’t like me. He hates me. We’ve always hated each other. A lot.”

It was Luna’s turn to be confused. “He definitely doesn’t hate you, Black. He’s always defending you against people who think you’re still on You-Know-Who’s side. He says you belong in Ravenclaw, that it’s not just a trick. He’s always standing up for you and saying you’re not as bad as people think.”

“No!” Draco exclaimed. “You’re lying.”

Luna gave him a strange look. “I’m not.”

“This is mad,” Draco muttered. To Luna he said, “Potter and I are not friends. We have never been and we never will be. I do not like him in any way, shape or form. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some things to take care of.” He got up and walked briskly up to his dormitory.

---

Draco formulated a new plan. Clearly, the psychological approach wasn’t working. How Potter was getting these crazy ideas in his head, he didn’t know. Defending him? As though Draco needed or wanted Harry bloody Potter to be saying mildly nice things about him behind his back. The nerve! He needed something much more direct.

He hid in an alcove in the Charms hallway. The alcove, Draco knew, contained a tapestry behind which was a hallway which led to certain places he assumed Rowena Ravenclaw enjoyed to visit. One door was quite close to the Common Room, another let out near the library, a third to a small courtyard, and another near the Astronomy Tower. Draco wouldn’t need to visit any of these places today; the hallway was enough. He cast a silencing spell on the tapestry and waited for Potter to walk by.

Soon enough, he did. Draco grabbed him and pulled him inside. The element of surprise gave him enough time to disarm him and to cast a spell on the tapestry that made it as hard as stone. He hoped Granger didn’t know the counter spell to it. It wasn’t well known, but then Granger did read dictionaries for fun.

“What the bloody hell d’you think you’re doing, Ferret?” Harry was, to put it mildly, a bit perturbed.

Draco didn’t say anything. He just pocketed both his and Potter’s wands, smiled, and punched Harry in the face.

For a moment, Harry was too shocked to do anything or fight back. Draco waited. Harry let out a frustrated cry.

“Why are you trying so hard to fight me?” he yelled.

“Why are you trying so hard not to fight me?” Draco yelled back.

“Maybe I just don’t want to fight anyone,” Harry said.

“That doesn’t matter,” Draco said offhandedly. “I’m special.”

Harry barked out a laugh. “Oh, really?”

“Very,” he stated. “But enough of this. We will get nowhere with words.” He raised his fists and waited for a moment to see what Harry would do. He raised his hands halfheartedly, as though out of instinct but with no real desire to fight or protect himself. Draco made an exasperated sound.

“You’re pathetic, Scarface! You won’t fight me, you don’t get upset, you defend me to your stupid friends. This is insane.”

“I just don’t want to hurt you, Ferret.”

“If you don’t hit me right now, I’ll… I’ll…” He tried to think of something Potter would actually care about. It was all backwards, he didn’t even know what to say. And then it hit him. Harry Potter was trying to be his friend, Dumbledore was nice to him, he was in Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin… it was all backwards. If he wanted things to be the same as they were, he had to act backwards.

It was a stupid thing to think, Draco knew, but nothing else had worked. “I’ll never speak to you again!” he declared.

Harry started. “What, really?”

“Really.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“…I don’t believe you,” Harry said slowly.

“I don’t lie anymore, Scarhead,” Draco said. He lowered his fists. “I’ll never speak to you again. It’ll be quite difficult in Charms but…” He shrugged. When Potter didn’t make a move, Draco turned and began to walk indifferently for the tapestry.

“I don’t believe you,” Harry said again.

Draco stopped walking and looked back. Harry was biting his lip and looking very worried indeed. “Are you willing to risk it?”

After a moment, Harry took a few very determined strides towards Draco. When he reached him, he didn’t hesitate. He hit him in the stomach. Draco grinned wickedly.

He pushed him off and tried to hit his face, but Potter ducked and got him in the stomach again. It wasn’t as hard, and Draco managed to get an uppercut in as he straightened from the blow. Harry reeled backwards and Draco advanced quickly. The retreat had been a feint, though, and suddenly Harry rushed forward and caught Draco’s chest with his shoulder. He rammed the other boy into the wall and while Draco was breathless, he punched him full in the face. Draco spat blood on Harry’s shirt. Harry hit him again. Draco’s punching arm was crushed against the wall by Harry’s body, so he reached up with his other hand and pulled Potter’s hair. He got a headbut in return.

They fought for a good ten minutes. Draco managed to push Potter off him and had the dominant position for a while, but he found himself back up against the wall again. Honestly, he was getting the piss kicked out of him.

He tried to blink the blood from his eye. This time, both of his arms were held against the stone by Harry’s elbows. They both stood, catching their breath for a moment.

“Sure like to have me up against the wall, Scarhead,” Draco said between breaths.

“I’d chain you up to them if I could,” he said.

“Ooh, Kinky. I had no idea, Potter. If I had known you’d get off on this—“

“Oh, whatever. You were the one begging for a chance to put your hands on me.”

“In your dreams.”

“God, Ferret. Do you ever stop talking?” Harry shook his head. Blood and sweat from his hair hit Draco in the face. “You try to goad me, make me beat you up, and you still won’t shut up taunting me.”

“I’ll never stop taunting you, Scarhead.”

Harry gave a strange little smile when Draco said that. He could feel Harry’s grip loosening, but he was so tired and sore he pretended not to notice. He also pretended not to notice how their bodies pressed up on each other from chest to knee.

“You said you would.”

“I what, now?” Draco asked distractedly.

“You said you were going to stop talking to me,” Harry said, looking into Draco’s face for the first time. Draco could see a split lip and the beginnings of a pretty nasty black eye.

“Oh, right. Yeah, you fell for that pretty quick.” Draco laughed. It hurt. “Like I could resist torturing you.”

Harry sighed heavily and his head dropped down to rest on Draco’s shoulder. Suddenly, Draco was very uncomfortable. There was a tightening in his nether regions that told him it was about to get even more uncomfortable. He was about to push the boy off him when Harry looked up at him.
Harry opened his mouth and Draco closed his eyes as if that could protect him from the imminent mortification that was Harry Potter realizing Draco’s cock was hard against his thigh.

He felt warm breath across his face. Then he felt lips, ever so lightly brushing against his.

Potter was kissing him.

Potter was kissing him.

The arms that moments ago held him down now held him close. He could taste the blood from Harry’s lip and feel a throbbing in his shoulder that might mean it was dislocated. Draco didn’t really mind. He had been trying for so long to get Potter’s attention.