Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Golden Snitch ❯ In which Harry is curious and it doen't have dire consequences ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
"Ron, 'Mione? I think something wrong with Malfoy" Harry softly said to his two best friends as they passed the blonde boy who didn't even look at them.
"Honestly Harry not this again! You know that he has to be good unless he wants to be thrown in Azkaban. I thought we went over this" Hermione huffed already irritated with the conversation, she really hoped that this wouldn't be a repeat of their sixth year. She didn't think she could handle Harry's paranoia, although there had to be some other reason for Harry's obsession. You didn't simply hate some one that much for eight years without some reason. Maybe they were hiding something....
"That's not what I meant 'Mione I think he might be ill or something. He just doesn't seem right." Harry confessed quietly.
Harry was getting a worried. It was 2 weeks into their 8th year and Malfoy hadn't said a mean word to anyone. Not even to Hagrid! At first he thought that Malfoy was just up to something and was trying to lay low. So Harry watched Malfoy like he did in their sixth year and he slowly started to see that Malfoy was just quiet. He went to classes, he studied his school textbooks in the library(yes Harry looked at the books after Malfoy was done with them.) and the only two people he talked to were Blaise and Pansy. Harry even tried talking to Malfoy himself. Which worked about as well as his relationship with Ginny did. Harry sighed as he remembered Ginny trying to seduce him into her bed, only for him to not arise to the occasion. After that Ginny had ignored him for a week before moving onto Dean Thomas. All in all Harry thought that Malfoy must be ill or worse depressed.
"Who cares about that ferret Mate? As long as he isn't up to some evil plot I say we take this year off and pretend to be normal students for once!" Ron said with feeling, after all he was tired of risking his life all the time. It had been fun and exciting his first few years at Hogwarts, but he was tired of fighting. They all were.
"But Ron, I just don't think it's right-" Harry's face was alight with indignation. Maybe before the war he might have agreed with Ron, but after seeing the things that he saw and did he knew that people weren't always what they seemed.
"Right? Malfoy has been a pain in the arse for the past seven years, its about time that something's happened to him! I say good riddance!" Ron didn't care that he was being unfair. He didn't care that Malfoy probably did alot of things he wasn't proud of in the war. Ron didn't care that Malfoy now looked like a kicked dog. He did to many things that were unforgivable in Ron's opinion, even if he was sorry.
"Really Ron, Malfoy was found innocent at the trial using Dumbledore's memories." Hermione said to Ron frowning guessing at what he was thinking.
The Golden Trio stayed up for a couple more hours discussing Malfoy, Snape and justice(or lack of it in Ron's opinion). When the room was finally empty and it was time for bed Harry felt no better about what to do about Malfoy than before. So after tossing and turning for half the night Harry decided to take go flying around the lake, as it was a lovely full moon tonight.
As he was gliding around thinking about life, death and Voldemort he heard crying. Not the full out sobs kind of crying just someone sniffling with a few heaving breaths thrown in. So being Harry, he gets off his broom, takes out his wand (It could be a trap after all.) and goes off to investigate. Just as he is about to look behind the greenhouse Malfoy comes charging out , not noticing Harry in his haste to dry his tear stained face. Harry, not sure what just happened flies around thinking about how much more human Malfoy looks without his mask on and how approachable he could have been, before going back to bed. When he laid down he fell asleep, exhaustion finally winning out and dreams surround him. Grey eyes haunted him from the shadows of these dreams, sometimes full of laughter, sometimes full of tears and even a few that were filled with a heat that wasn't hatred.
The next morning, Harry woke up confused about his dreams. He could understand dreaming about the blondes eyes happy or sad. Harry was trying to figure out how to make him happier after all, but why the heated eyes? Harry was use to seeing Dra-Malfoy's eyes angry but that heat was a different intense. Almost like Ginny's were when she was trying to seduce him. But that couldn't be right, Dra- Malfoy didn't think of him like that. Which would make sense since it was a dream,but its not like Harry had ever had such thoughts about the moody, annoying, hands, arrogant, blonde. After shaking his head out of another image of the grey eyes Harry decides to figure out what the matter was and forget about his dreams, they would only get him hexed anyway. Harry followed Malfoy around in all his spare time but couldn't find anything wrong, Malfoy wasn't being picked on and the people Harry talked to didn't have any information that would help either.
"Why would I tell you anything about Draco, Potter? Mind your own business before I hex you." Parkinson had said with a glare. So Harry hurried away from the scary Slytherin, knowing that she would too. She may have apologized for trying to send him to Voldemort Harry knew she still hated his guts. Unfortunately had to get to Quidditch practice and couldn't ask Zabinni right away. Harry didn't know what he would do if he couldn't get Zabinni to tell him. Draco didn't talk to anyone else as far as Harry could tell. Draco didn't even mail other than his weekly care packages from home.
As the Gryffindors were on the way to the pitch everyone was laughing and joking until they got there. Once they did a horrible sight awaited them.
The Slytherin's were flying around the pitch practicing during the Gryffindors scheduled time!
"Hey!" yelled Ron face as red as his Quidditch robes. "What are you doing on the pitch? Its our time!"
The Slytherin's didn't seem to hear Ron, or didn't really care that he was there, either way they carried on with flying. Just as some of the older Gryffindors were grabbing their wands to try hexing the flying snakes, the other captain Theodore Nott came down to talk to Ron. Seeing their captain distracted the rest of the team followed.
"What are you doing here Weasel? Come to try and steal our strategy?" Nott said eyes glaring at his fellow Keeper.
"As if! Its more like you're trying to keep us from practicing, so maybe you can win a game this year." Ever since Malfoy has been quieter Ron needed another Slytherin to fight with and Nott, being a rival keeper was the perfect target.
"Whatever. The only reason you losers keep winning-"
"You aren't losers if you keep winning, troll brain." Ron said feeling the urge to stick his tongue out at the other boy.
"Troll brain? Who are you calling troll brain? Mudbloo-" Nott was once again cut off, this time from the looks his fellow Slytherin's gave him. Many of the green clad students only followed Voldemort because of their parents, and didn't really believe in the cause. Now that Voldemort was gone, it was safe to go against their parents views. After all it was one thing to argue against parents who on some level you were valuable, but it was totally different when you went against a crazed egocentric.
"Anyway, what are you guys doing here anyway?" Zabinni asked in a neutral tone, trying to diffuse the situation.
"We should be the ones asking you that, after all its our turn on the pitch" Seamus replied eyes hard. They may not have been on opposite sides of the war, but one does not just forget years of rivalry overnight.
"What are you talking about? It clearly says Slytherin on the chart."
"What are you blind? It says Gryffindor!"
"Slytherin!"
"Gryffindor!"
Everybody rolled their eyes at their captains childish behavior.
"Enough!" Yelled Pansy, who was watching from the stands "really, why do boys have to be so difficult? Just play a quick game of catch the snitch!"
Both teams looked expectantly at their seekers, who just nodded their approval. Although Harry noticed Dra-Malfoy looked a bit more pale than normal. They both got onto their broomsticks and kept their eyes peeled for the snitch which was just released. Harry decided to glide around trying to look, but his eyes kept being drawn to the blonde Slytherin. The way that even though he looked exhausted, if you looked close enough, he was still so graceful on his broom. Harry tore his eyes away from Dra-Malfoy just in time to see the snitch zip almost directly between the two. The both took off after it, Malfoy just barley behind Harry. They followed the tiny golden orb underneath the stands. Somehow Malfoy ended up in front of Harry in their chase, as he was closing in on the snitch his broom wavered as he over reached and lost his balance. As he was falling, Harry crashed into the now rider less broom, causing him to fall off his broom. Both boys fell to the ground in a heap of body and robes. Harry landing face down was lucky enough to land on something soft and avoided breaking his nose.
"Potter, kindly remove your face from my crotch" Malfoy said in a tight emotionless voice, however Harry noticed his eyes were just a little wider.
"Oh! Sorry bout that!" Harry mumbled with a slight blush covering his face. He couldn't believe out of all the places he could have landed it would be right there, Harry thought he would much rather have a broken nose. Both boys now sat in a slightly awkward silence. Malfoy was trying to fix his robes and Harry was trying not to stare at the flustered looking blonde. Malfoy finally looked up from his grooming and saw Potter staring at him. He wanted to say something witty and sarcastic but for some reason something he saw in Potter's eyes stopped him. So there they both sat staring into each others eyes, the awareness being replaced by tension. They sat underneath the stands for what felt like hours, but in reality only minutes, before the silence was broken by the whizzing of the forgotten snitch smacking into the back of Harry's head.
Harry was not expecting this at all, as he was to busy staring at Draco, jerked his head forward from the impact smashing his face into Draco's. Draco's eyes widened at the feel of his rivals lips against his. They were slightly chilly from the flight and stiff against his own, but still Draco felt something from those stiff lips. A kind of electricity he had never felt before and he didn't want it to end. Harry also felt the same charge running between their lips, so he moved his a little willing and dreading Draco's response.
'What happens if he responds? Does this mean he likes me? Do I like him? Merlin! If he doesn't respond he wont ever let me live this down!' These thoughts circulated through Harry's head panic worming its way around him. But slowly Draco responded and the kiss they now shared was simple, just a meeting of lips, nothing more or less at a glance. But to the two rivals sharing it, it was nothing short of magical. Short, sweet and passionate all in one. It only lasted a minute at most and soon the two broke apart eyes wide and faces as red as a Weasley's hair.
As they sat and regained themselves their teams came into view, wondering what happened to their prized players. Both teams noticed the slightly flushed looks on the seekers faces, however none but Hermione and Pansy saw the shy glances and the half concealed smiles the boys gave each other. The end?

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