Drarry? Me? Foh-Real?
Title: The Wrong Foot
Pairing: Harry/Draco with mentions of Harry/Cedric
Summary: Maybe Harry and Draco just got off on the wrong foot?
Rating: PG13
Warnings: A/U Non-Magic (wow big surprise, right?) and as they are aged 17 in this fic, nothing p0rny.
A/N: Well I hate Drarry but I literally dreamt this fic, well sort of because we all know how wonky dreams are, but pretty much this was it. So enjoy :) Frighteningly enough I enjoyed writing it. X-Posted.
A/N2: So I re-read the chapter and found a disgusting amount of spelling errors which I CANNOT have, so I went back. I think I've fixed them all, but I do apologise for it.

----v----v----v---

It took just about forty-five seconds for Harry Potter to immediately hate Draco Malfoy. They didn't even have to meet for the seeds of dislike to be planted, at least on Harry's end, the day Draco Malfoy arrived at Hogwarts School for the Academically Gifted.

You see, Harry, who had been attending the school since he was eleven, was now one year away from sitting his exams and leaving Hogwarts. Not that he didn't like it there; quite the contrary, he deeply enjoyed it. It was a far cry from his foster family, his mother's sister and her husband, who disliked Harry for even being a wink smarter than their oversized son, Dudley. Of course it was easy to be smarter than his cousin; the doormouse could probably score higher marks.

All the same, Harry had a feeling he was going to dislike his second to last year at the school when he overheard his boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, whisper to his mate Justin Finch-Fletchley, "Now I wouldn't mind sampling that," upon seeing Draco entering the school with is parents.

Cedric obviously didn't know that his boyfriend was standing within hearing range of him, or he probably wouldn't have said it. Cedric and Harry had been together for a little over a year and Cedric was well aware that Harry had abandonment issues that manifested in extremely jealous behaviour.

If Harry was pacified, of course, he was a great boyfriend, but it didn't take much to set him off. Still, he also wasn't unreasonable and he didn't say anything to Cedric. He didn't even bother to make his presence known to his boyfriend, instead turning on his heel and heading back into the school.

Harry had the misfortune, however, of meeting said object of Cedric's desire just after his first class that day. Harry, who had forgotten his text book for his Maths lesson, had to run back to the dorms, and when he returned, he ran into the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall and the new boy.

"Ah, Mr Potter," McGonagall said.

Harry groaned inwardly, but plastered on a smile. "Hello Professor," he said. He got a good eyeful of the new kid. He looked to be about Harry's age, and he was attractive, if you like the blond, pointy look.

"This is Draco Malfoy. He's transferring from Durmstrang Academy and he's in your year." McGonagall turned to the boy called Draco. "I assume you're going to need a sighted guide?"

Sighted guide, Harry wondered silently. And then he noticed the long, white cane Draco had tucked into his side. Oh, so he was blind. Great.

"I prefer to get around on my own," Draco said arrogantly.

"Well, you'll need someone to give you a tour after classes, at least. Mr Potter, I’d say since you and Mr Malfoy are in the same year-"

"I can’t," Harry said quickly. "I mean, I have a lot of extracurricular things going on, football practise and stuff, and clearly Mr Malfoy won’t be interested in that."

Draco flushed but before he could say anything, a voice from behind chimed in. "I wouldn’t mind, if it’s not a problem that I’m older."

It was Cedric. Harry sighed inwardly. "Excellent," McGonagall said. "He’s going to need someone to help him learn the inside of the school as well as the grounds, and perhaps the route to Hogsmeade Village."

"Cedric can’t," Harry cut in, his jealousy momentarily overtaking his reason and his manners. "I mean, he has just as much to do after classes as I do. Besides, they aren’t even in the same classes and Cedric is on the football team so he has practise every day."

"I don’t mind," Cedric said, frowning at Harry.

"Well he said himself he didn’t want a sighted guide," Harry cut in. "Besides, we have plans together."

Harry almost missed the smirk on Draco’s lips before he spoke. Almost. "Actually, now that you mention it, since it is a new school, I really will be needing a sighted guide. I mean, I’m liable to get lost going from my bed to the loo."

"So that’s settled, then," McGonagall said. "When you get done with classes, take him to the dorms and get him settled in. If you have to shift a person or two around, that would be fine as long as there isn’t any major conflict."

Harry breathed a small sigh of relief. Cedric was in the room with Harry, and the other beds were filled so there would be no room for Malfoy in there. The teens stayed silent until McGonagall walked off.

"Do you have a timetable?" Cedric asked.

Draco reached into his rucksack and pulled out what looked like a blank sheet of paper. "Yes, it’s here."

"There’s nothing on that piece of paper. It’s blank," Harry said.

Draco snorted. "No, you stupid ass, it’s Braille, not blank. You didn’t expect them to give me a printed timetable, did you?"

Harry flushed. "Whatever, Malfoy, I have to get to class. See you later, Cedric?"

"Maybe," the older boy said. "It depends on how long Draco and I take."

"And I’m kind of a slow learner," Draco simpered.

Harry wanted to snap back but decided against it. Instead he headed off to class, hoping he and Draco didn’t share many.

Later that evening, Harry still hadn’t caught sight of Cedric or Draco. The blonde only had two classes with Harry, which was a relief for the raven-haired teen. Now he found himself lying on his bed "studying" with Ron and Seamus.

"I hate him," Harry said. "I don’t even know the little ponce and I already hate him."

"Maybe he’ll be wandering the grounds and accidentally fall off a cliff," Ron suggested.

"There aren’t any cliffs around here," Harry said with a sigh. "There’s a lake, though. Maybe he’ll drown."

"Not a chance, someone would hear him cry for help," Seamus said. "Probably be Cedric, too. Ever the hero, that stupid git."

Harry threw his pillow at Seamus. "Stuff it." But he couldn’t stop himself from envisioning Cedric pulling Draco from the lake, and sharing a wet, passionate kiss on the shore before they- Harry groaned and shook himself out of that nightmare. "I’m doomed. I’ve lost my boyfriend to a blonde little... little..."

"Ferret?" Ron suggested. "He really looks all ferrety, pointy face and what not."

Harry nodded. "To a ferret, who hasn’t been here twenty-four hours yet."

Seamus shrugged. "Maybe it’s for the best. I mean Cedric really is a pompous-"

Ron took a turn throwing his pillow at Seamus. "You’re just bitter because we got Dean to swap beds with Cedric so he could be in here with Harry."

"Yeah well, I don’t even see the point. They don’t even have sex," Seamus snarled, throwing the pillow back.

"Just because I’m not a whore like you," Harry said.

"And just because we were all sick of listening to you and Dean go at it every night," Ron added, "doesn’t mean Harry and Cedric shouldn’t be together in the dorms."

"Besides, McGonagall was already going to make you and Dean split up. Too many people were complaining about the noise."

Just then, the door opened and Cedric walked in with Draco on his arm. "Evening, gents," Cedric said.

"Cedric," Ron said pleasantly and added with a sneer, "Malfoy."

"I was just showing Draco to the dorms," Cedric said, "and finding where he's going to sleep."

"Well he can't sleep in here," Harry said quickly. "You took up the last free bed."

"Oh," Draco said in a pathetic voice, "I thought we’d be rooming together, Cedric. If I have to get up in the middle of the night, I won't be able to find my way round."

"They’ve got a free bed down the hall with the twins and Dean," Ron said, referring to his brothers and Seamus’ boyfriend.

"Down the hall?" Draco asked with a pout.

"Actually, McGonagall said we could swap someone," Cedric said. "I’ll ask Dean if he wants to come back in here."

"McGonagall won’t go for that," Harry said hurriedly. "She doesn’t want Seamus and Dean together if they can’t control themselves."

"We'll be good," Seamus chimed in hopefully.

Harry rolled his eyes, "No you won't be, don't try to pretend."

Cedric shrugged. "So I’ll ask Neville. He’s probably ready to get away from the twins anyway. They keep testing their prank products on him."

Ron sniggered but Harry shot him a withering look which quickly shut him up. "I just don’t see how you swapping rooms makes any sense."

"It’s just for a little while," Cedric said patronisingly. "Quit being such a child about it."

Draco smirked. "Nice to meet you all," and with that, he followed Cedric out of the room.

Harry groaned. "Do you see what I mean? Doomed."

"You’re not doomed," came another, female, voice from the door. Hermione Granger walked in and sat on the edge of Harry’s bed. "I mean, I can see how you’re upset, with him cancelling your date to take Draco to Hogsmeade and all but-"

"What?" Harry shouted. "He did what?"

"He didn’t tell you?" Hermione asked.

"I haven’t even seen him before now," Harry said. "Where did you hear that?"

"I overheard him talking to Draco about it. He said that you and him were supposed to have a weekend at Hogsmeade together but that he would cancel so he could go with Draco."

Harry was furious. He got up and started pacing the floor. "That tosser! That bastard! That ungrateful git! I cleaned Snape’s lab for three weeks to earn those Hogsmeade hours! I’ll kill him!"

"Calm down," Hermione said. "Why don’t you just talk to Cedric about it. I’m sure he’ll understand."

Harry shook his head. "He’s making it quite clear who he’s choosing, Hermione."

"I think you might be overreacting a little," Hermione said carefully. "Just wait until he’s not with Malfoy and tell him why you’re upset. He’s always understood before."

"Yeah, but he’s also never cancelled one of our dates before," Harry snarled. Still, he knew Hermione was right. Before he went and actually tried to murder Draco, or Cedric, he’d have to find out the truth, and Cedric had never lied to him before.

-------- ----------- --------------

It wasn’t until Friday evening after classes that Harry managed to find Cedric without Draco on his arm. Cedric was sitting at their usual study table in the library, pouring over a Chemistry text and taking furious notes.

Harry sat down across from Cedric and cleared his throat. "Where’s your little ferret?"

"Harry-" Cedric said with a sigh.

"We need to talk, Cedric," Harry said with complete and utter seriousness.

"Not now, Harry," Cedric said tiredly. "I’m so far behind on my studying, Snape threatened to chop me up and put me in a jar of formaldehyde to keep on his desk as an example of what happens to those who don’t study. And I think he was serious."

Harry, who wasn’t in the mood for laughing at all, glared at Cedric. "Maybe you wouldn’t be so far behind if you and Malfoy didn’t spend your nights snogging in dark corners."

Cedric rolled his eyes. "You’re being childish and ridiculous."

"No I’m not! You’re the one who swapped rooms, so how do I know what you’re doing with your nights."

"We’ve been over this before, Harry. I’m not the one that hurt you, so you have to stop taking your insecurities out on me or this is never going to work."

"Cedric," Harry said, "you’ve never lied to me before, so I’m going to ask you just once and then I’ll drop it. Is there anything between you and Malfoy?"

Cedric closed his text and took Harry’s hands in his. "Not a single thing that ought to worry you, Harry. I promise."

Harry let out a breath. "You do?"

"Yes," Cedric said and leant across the table to kiss Harry’s mouth. "Now please, I really don’t fancy spending the rest of my days in a jar on Snape’s desk."

Harry smiled a little. "Okay. Well, I guess I’ll save my Hogsmeade hours for next weekend, if you’re free."

Cedric winked. "It’s a date. I’ll pop by later on and say goodnight, okay?"

"Okay." Feeling like he had a thousand pounds lifted from his shoulders, Harry walked back to his dorm. No one was there, so he got out his books and decided to study until Cedric came in later.

The next thing Harry knew, it was pitch black in the room and he was lying on his bed with his Grammar text open on his chest. He had fallen asleep and when he squinted at the clock he saw it was nearly midnight.

"What the hell?" Harry muttered. Cedric hadn’t come in at all. Feeling a little put out, Harry decided to pay Cedric a little visit in his room. He quickly toed on his slippers and padded down the hall to the second dormitory.

When he peered inside, he noticed that both Cedric and Draco’s beds were empty. With a frown, Harry shut the door and turned to look down the darkened corridor. Nothing.

"Maybe he was helping Malfoy find the loo," Harry reasoned. Padding down the corridor, Harry peeked in every corner, but turned up with nothing.

It wasn’t until he rounded the corner, did he see anyone. He had decided to check the prefects bathroom but when he turned the corner, he saw them.

Draco was pressed against the wall, his hands splayed out behind him, bracing himself. Cedric was cupping Draco’s face gently in his hands and they were kissing.

Harry made a choked noise which caused the two to split apart. Cedric immediately spotted Harry and flew back from Draco. "Harry!" he called, but it was too late. Harry had taken off running. He made it back to his dorm, slipped inside and shut the door tightly, locking it.

He slipped into his bed and buried his face into his pillow. His insides were twisting painfully, but he didn’t cry. Eternal moments passed in the dark before there was the sound like someone was trying the doorknob. A second later there was a light rapping and Cedric’s voice calling, "Harry! Let me in!"

Harry turned his face away from the door and said nothing.

"Harry, please!"

Ron, who was a heavy sleeper usually, sat upright. "What’s going on?"

"Nothing," Harry said.

"Please!" Cedric hissed again. "I know you’re in there, just let me talk to you!"

"Is that Diggory?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," Harry said miserably.

"Do you er... want me to let him in?"

"No," Harry said. "No, I don’t." Harry paused and then shouted, "He can go talk to MALFOY!"

That, of course, woke the other occupants of the room. "What the bloody hell is going on?" Seamus hissed.

"Diggory and Harry are having a row," Ron explained.

"What for?" Seamus asked.

Cedric had stopped knocking but Harry knew he was still out there. "Oh I dunno," he said loud enough for Cedric to hear, "he just wants to explain how somehow he found himself lip-locked with that ferret, Malfoy."

Seamus’ eyes widened. "He wasn’t!"

"Just now," Harry said with a nod.

Seamus got up and walked to the door. Opening it a crack, he stuck his head out, "If you want to spend the rest of the week with a black eye and bloodied lip, I suggest you keep trying to talk to Harry."

Cedric huffed and puffed for a second but eventually decided to leave. Seamus shut the door and turned to Harry. "Sorry, mate."

"Can’t say I didn’t expect it," Harry said. "He told me I had nothing to worry about. I guess he meant nothing to worry about as long as I don’t go wandering the corridors at night." Ron tried to comfort Harry, but Harry shoved him off. "No, it’s okay. It’s fine. I just... need some sleep."

Seamus and Neville stared at Harry for some time before switching the lights off. "I’ll murder him for you, if you want," Seamus muttered sleepily.

"Thanks," Harry said and fell quiet until the rest of the teens were asleep.

As hard as he did try, when morning came, Harry hadn’t slept a wink. He rose with the others and prayed he wouldn’t run into Cedric or Draco in the baths or at breakfast. And oddly enough, he didn’t. The day was surprisingly free of both teens, including the classes Harry shared with Malfoy. Harry wondered what the problem was, but when it came time for football practise, Cedric was there.

He offered a cautious smile to Harry. "How are you?"

"How the bloody hell do you think I am?" Harry snapped.

"If you had given me a chance to explain things," Cedric said helplessly, shrugging. "He kissed me, Harry. He came on to me."

"Yeah well, it didn’t look like you were protesting very hard... or at all," Harry snapped.

"I was surprised by it!" Cedric insisted. "He woke me up and asked me to help him to the loo. Afterwards, he started talking to me and suddenly he was kissing me."

Harry frowned suspiciously. "Cedric, if you bother to recall, I predicted something like this was going to happen."

"I told you, Harry, he kissed me. I would never do something like that to you!" Cedric was pleading now.

Harry sighed. "I just can’t stop picturing you two last night. You with your..." Harry trailed off and frowned. "Hey! If he kissed you, why were you the one holding his face and pressing him to the wall? Care to explain that, Cedric?" The more Harry spoke, the louder and more hysterical he got.

Cedric flushed and dropped down to the grass. He cocked one knee up and looked up at Harry. "Alright, Harry. Alright. I kissed him. Are you happy now?"

"Am I what? Are you mad?" Harry shouted.

Cedric lifted one hand up. "Calm down, Harry. Let me explain."

"Explain what? Because if it’s how much you fancy Malfoy, well I don’t want to hear it!"

"No," Cedric said. "Let me explain what happened." Cedric took a deep breath and took Harry’s silence as the signal to continue. "You were right, I was attracted to Malfoy when I first saw him-"

"I know," Harry cut in. "I heard you talking to Justin."

Cedric let out a puff of air. "But I’m with you, Harry. I mean, I love you and I never had any intention of acting on it."

"Convenient," Harry spat.

"Then, during the week, I was spending so much time with him and he’s so different than anyone here. And I started to remember how nice it feels to fancy someone, to have that newness. I haven’t fancied anyone since you, Harry, and it just got me thinking that I’m so young and trapped in this relationship with you-"

"Trapped?" Harry hissed. "I’ve trapped you!?"

"That’s not what I meant," Cedric said swiftly. "I just mean, we’re so young but we act like we’re married or something and we haven’t even had sex yet."

"Oh god!" Harry said and suddenly felt like throwing up. He found himself sitting on the ground next to Cedric, still glowering at him.

Cedric sighed. He tried to reach out to Harry, but the younger teen pulled away almost violently. He shook his head and continued. "Last night when Draco came out of the loo, he started talking to me about how it’s amazing that we don’t let his disability define him here. He said that even you and your friends, although you lot are total gits, don’t pity him as the blind kid. Then he started talking about how it’s the first time he’s felt connected to someone, when I offered to show him the grounds without patronizing him. And suddenly I had this urge to kiss him... so I did. And I never meant to hurt you."

"Isn’t that what they always say?" Harry asked bitterly. "Is that supposed to make me feel better? You didn’t mean to hurt me. You did, but you didn’t mean to."

"It was a momentary slip, Harry. Okay? I don’t want to lose you."

"Pity for you, because you have," Harry said. "As much as I ache to just put things back the way they were, I can’t go through this again."

"Harry, I’m not-"

"I know you’re not Tom," Harry shouted, now getting to his feet. "I know you’re not him, but you hurt me just the same. Maybe you didn’t out me in front of the school while simultaneously telling me you cheated on me because I wasn’t enough of a whore, but the pain is too similar for my liking." Harry paused and then added, "He was cruel, Cedric. You’re just stupid." Harry turned on his heel and despite Cedric’s protests, he managed to walk away.

----- ----------- ------------

After a few days, Cedric gave up trying to win Harry back. Strangely enough, he moved back into Harry’s dorm, but didn’t say anything to anyone. No one had seen Draco since the night Harry had walked up on him and Cedric kissing, but Harry could bet it wouldn’t be long before Draco was back and he and Cedric were a happy couple.

Harry wasn’t sure he could stomach the sight of that, but as Draco was still MIA, he decided not to think on it and try to focus on his school work.

At the beginning of the next week, McGonagall sent Harry to the library to fetch some assignment papers Madame Pince had printed out for the class. Harry was walking back, looking down at the at the printouts, and didn’t see Draco Malfoy walking until he ran straight into him.

"Damn it!" Harry shouted as he toppled back and the papers went flying everywhere. "Malfoy," Harry sneered.

"Jesus!" Malfoy said, as he got up from the place he had landed. He brushed himself off bent down, feeling around until he found his cane. "Wouldn’t expect the sighted to watch where the fuck they’re going," he hissed.

Harry glowered at him. "Wouldn’t want your stupid little stick thingy to do its job," he retorted.

Draco sighed and smoothed back his hair. "What the hell were you doing? Walking with your eyes closed?"

"No, I was reading our assignment for English."

"Don’t you think reading should be done when one is not walking?"

"Whatever, boyfriend stealing prick," Harry lashed out and turned to walk away. The moment his back was turned, Draco lifted his cane and thwaped Harry on the back of his head with surprisingly accurate aim.

Harry turned with an open mouth and stared at Draco’s smirking face. "What?"

"Nothing," Harry snarled and walked off.

To Harry’s dismay, Draco had returned to classes, and he was now, for some reason, in all of Harry’s classes. Harry did his best to ignore the blonde as McGonagall gave out their assignment, which was a paper on a Shakespeare play of their choice, to be done with a partner.

Of course Harry chose to work with Ron, and the two teens sat in the back of the class taking turns hitting Draco with tiny pieces of paper and making comments like, "Wonder what a ferret is like in bed?" or "I wonder if Cedric has a ferret fetish."

Draco took all this with dignity and chose not to respond to them at all. McGonagall eventually gave Harry and Ron each a detention for disrupting the class and not working, but Harry felt it was worth it, even if he was acting like a child.

Later that afternoon, Harry had football practise, something he wasn’t looking forward to as Cedric was still on the team. When he reached the pitch, he didn’t see Cedric anywhere but he did see Draco standing on the sidelines.

Harry started to walk past him but stopped. "Are you lost, Malfoy? You’re on the football pitch."

"Oh no, I’m right where I should be," he said with a nasty grin. "I just wanted to tell Cedric that he left his boxers on the floor by my bed last week and I kept forgetting to give them back."

"Son of a bitch!" Harry said and lunged at Draco.

Draco began to deliver his own punches to Harry and before long, the teens were wrestling on the ground. Madame Hooch, the football coach, hurried over and helped the other students break the boys up.

"Enough!" she said, holding onto Harry’s arms. "What is going on here?"

"He attacked me!" Draco said, sounding out of breath.

Hooch glowered at Harry. "I’ve had enough of your attitude the last week, Potter. Consider yourself benched for the next three games. And a detention for both of you with McGonagall for fighting."

Draco smoothed out his shirt and his hair. One of the girls put his cane back in his hand and Draco sniffed. "You fight like crap, Potter."

Harry rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Hooch. "The next game determines whether or not we make it to the finals, and you know I’m the best goalie we’ve got."

"Be that as it may," Hooch said, "you are suspended from playing. If we lose, it’s on your head for acting like a couple of first years. Now go, I don’t want to see your face for the rest of the day."

Furious, Harry stormed off the pitch and went to the showers to clean up. He spent the time scrubbing himself envisioning holding Malfoy’s head under water.

After dinner that night, Draco and Harry had to serve their detentions simultaneously, both ordered to read the one hundred page Rules and Etiquette Book of Hogwarts. During the detention, Harry kept stealing glances over at Draco, who was reading a Braille copy with his fingers. He wondered if Draco really was making sense of all those dots, or if he was just pretending, the way Harry was pretending to read.

"Stop it," Draco whispered the third time Harry looked over at him. "I can feel you staring at me."

Harry glanced up at McGonagall who seemed to have dozed off in her chair. "I wasn’t staring at you. Quit talking to me," he whispered back.

"Quit talking to me!" Draco hissed a little louder. "You got me into this stupid detention."

"Well if you hadn’t been a boyfriend stealing whore-" Harry began but Draco’s eerily accurate aim landed his punch directly on Harry’s mouth.

Shocked, Harry lunged at Draco and hit him in the nose. The boys began wrestling around again, which woke McGonagall and set her into an immediate fury. The boys were separated and dragged up to the Headmaster’s office.

Dumbledore, who was usually a cheerful and reasonable man, looked down at the boys with disdain. "I don’t understand this," he said. "Mr Potter, you’ve never been anything but an exemplary student. And now this? Fighting not only on the football pitch but in a detention. Would one of you care to explain?"

Harry knew what a serious offense it was to let personal affairs, especially ones involving relationships, affect school work. He opened his mouth to try and buffer the situation but Draco spoke faster.

"I think Potter and I just started off on the wrong foot, Professor," he said. "We let a few misconceptions cloud our judgement today, and for that, sir, I do apologise."

Harry’s eyes widened a fraction. Malfoy was certainly smarmy, in a good way... almost. Dumbledore hummed a little and looked at Harry. "Do you agree with this assessment, Mr Potter?"

Harry chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment. He could attempt to place all the blame on Draco, but that would likely turn into another battle which would likely result in harsher punishment. Eventually Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. I think Malfoy has it right."

Dumbledore smirked a little and looked up at McGonagall. "So perhaps we find a punishment to fit the crime?"

"Indeed," McGonagall said in that way which made Harry suddenly afraid for his life. "I believe you both have a literary paper due next week?"

"I’ve been working on it!" Harry said defensively.

"I’m aware of that," McGonagall said. "As we just started it, I don’t believe it would cause too much upset if I insist that you two work together on it. And as you are currently on suspension from football, Mr Potter, I dare say you have ample time after classes for you and Mr Malfoy to catch up to the rest of the class."

Harry and Draco groaned, but both boys seemed to recognise it could be a lot worse. There wasn’t a letter going home about them and they were being offered an out. It could have been a month of detention with Snape, which Harry knew would probably be worse than death.

"Fine," Harry said eventually. "We can get started tomorrow."

Draco grunted in agreement and both boys were excused from the office. They started down the hall, Harry walking just a pace behind Draco. Eventually, he couldn’t stop himself from bursting out with, "Are you and Cedric going to date now?"

Draco stopped and turned towards Harry with a frown. "What?"

"Are you and Cedric dating now?" Harry asked.

Draco pulled a face. "No, Potter. We aren’t dating now. I don’t know what makes you think I want your slimy, smarmy boyfriend."

"I..." Harry said and frowned. "But you two were snogging."

Draco snorted. "If that’s what you think, you are a bigger fool than I thought."

Harry’s eyes widened. "You said he left his boxers in your bed!"

"I said he left them on the floor, which he did. He forgot them when he moved out. And I only said it to piss you off. Cedric is an asshole and you can keep him." Draco turned away and started to walk off.

Harry, his head reeling, followed Draco again, and just before he reached his dorm, he called out, "He’s not my boyfriend anymore."

Draco didn’t pause or answer so Harry went into his room and wondered what Draco actually meant.

------- ---------- ------------

The next two weeks, Harry and Draco managed to work on their project without a single incident or row. In fact, they had become rather cordial to each other, almost friendly.

They were working late Friday night, getting ready to finish off the last of their essay when Draco suddenly asked, "Why were you so concerned with Cedric?"

Harry stopped writing and looked over at Draco. "What?"

"Why were you so concerned with having Cedric as your boyfriend? He really is a stupid git."

Harry shrugged. "He was there for me during a hard time," he said. "I loved him."

"Loved?"

"I can’t love someone who could hurt me like he did," Harry said. "He knew that."

Draco hummed in acknowledgment and went back to reading.

"Two years ago," Harry said suddenly, "when I was fifteen, I had just realised that I was gay. I didn’t really know how to tell anyone, but one day I accidentally let it slip to a seventh year called Tom. He was the guy that everyone was into, friends or more. He was really good looking and he was damn funny. When I told him, he kissed me. It was my first ever kiss, male or female, and from that second I was totally smitten with him.

"We started dating but it was secret. I told him I wasn’t sure how my friends would react and he was so understanding. We dated, or whatever it could be called, almost to the end of the year. Then he started to get really weird, pressuring me to have sex with him and he knew I wasn’t ready for that kind of thing. He started to get pretty mean to me and there would be nights I couldn’t find him anywhere.

"When I finally confronted him on it one night, he told me I was being stupid. He insisted that I should show him how much I loved him by having sex but I refused and he stormed off." Harry took in a shuddering breath. "The next morning at breakfast, Tom strolled in with a girl who was in his year. He walked up to the table I was sitting at and at the top of his voice started yelling about how I was a delusional whore. That I should stop acting so obsessed with him and stop begging him for sex. He yelled about how he was taken and in love and that I should stop trying to make him fancy men just because I did. He called me psychotic and told me that the times I forced him to kiss me, I was a horrible kisser."

Harry licked his lips and rubbed his face over his hands. "Everyone was just staring at me and I panicked and ran out of the Great Hall. I refused to go to class or football practise or anything. The day before school was over, Cedric showed up at the dorm. He was all black and blue and his hands were shaking. I let him in and he told me that he had just gotten into a fist fight with Tom. He said Tom looked twice as bad as he did and was in the hospital wing. Cedric said he was probably facing expulsion, but he did it because he had always wanted me and he couldn’t stand to see someone hurt me the way Tom did.

"Funny thing, too, because Cedric was never punished for what he did. The next year, I worked up the courage, with Cedric, to come out of the closet completely and there wasn’t a single person who cared what sex I liked to date. It was really great, not just to have someone there for me, but to have someone who had seen what I had gone through."

Draco had sat there and listened to the entire thing with quiet respect. He kept his face turned towards his paper but it was clear he was listening. Eventually he turned his head towards Harry. "Why did you tell me that, Potter?"

"Because I thought maybe you’d want to understand why I was so angry," Harry said. "I blamed you even though Cedric told me that he was the one who kissed you. I just didn’t want to think that someone who had seen me go through all that could turn around and hurt me that way."

"Did Diggory say why he kissed me?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded but didn’t explain.

Draco sat there a moment and then said, "You have to use verbal answers."

Harry blushed. "Sorry. I nodded. Do you know why?"

"Not really," Draco said. "He was asking me all these questions about my old school and the next thing I knew he was shoving me against the wall. I wasn’t really sure how to react so I just stood there."

"Oh," Harry said. "Do you even like men?"

"Oh yes," Draco said. "At my last school they said I was pretty flamey."

Harry snorted. "Now that you mention it, you kind of are."

Draco sighed and shut his book. "Want to turn in for the night?"

"Sure," Harry said. He started to gather his things when Draco suddenly started speaking.

"I was expelled from Durmstrang," he blurted.

"Really?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Draco said. "For promiscuous behaviour." Draco stood up and leaned his back against the back of his chair. "I was more comfortable there, and I guess I was a little more outgoing. When no one seemed to mind how much of a flamer I was, I let that define me. It didn’t really bother me that much. I’d rather be the gay kid than the blind kid." Draco paused and laughed. "My whole life I’ve always been afraid that people would label me the blind kid and make me feel helpless and pity me. That’s never been an issue for me, but I’m always afraid it will be." He shook his head.

"One day one of my classmates came up and kissed me, claiming he wanted to know what it was like to kiss a boy. I laughed and snogged him proper and it became this big joke. The next thing I knew, random students I hadn’t even heard of were coming up trying to snog me.

"It got completely out of hand and one night one of the older boys came up and tried to do a little more than kiss me. I made him sorry for it, but we were both sent to the Headmaster who had already heard about my ‘reputation’ and when the other kid produced some witnesses saying that I had come on to him and that I was the whore of the school, they ruled against me and expelled me.

"My father knew Dumbledore and knew Dumbledore was a reasonable man, so I was allowed to enrol here without my past being a deterrent. When your stupid boyfriend kissed me that night in the hall, I thought, oh Christ, here we go again. Then you called me a whore and I thought the rumours had started to fly." Draco turned his face away from Harry.

"I’m not a virgin or anything, but I’m not a whore and I don’t just let people come and take what they want from me. They’ll be deeply sorry if they think they can just take what they want from me and they’ll be deeply sorry if they assume I can’t and won’t defend myself."

Harry bit down on his bottom lip. Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed Draco’s chin, turning his face towards him. He meant to pull his hand away, but he didn’t. "I like watching your expressions when you talk," Harry said. He had no idea where the words were coming from, and still, he didn’t remove his hand.

Draco slowly reached up and curled his fingers round Harry’s wrist. He didn’t pull Harry’s hand away, however, he simply held Harry’s wrist in a gentle grip.

Harry let out a slow breath. Draco’s touch was almost burning. He found himself caressing the side of Draco’s cheek with his thumb and Draco found himself leaning into the touch ever so slightly.

Suddenly, without really knowing he was about to do it, he leaned forward and kissed Draco. It wasn’t a demanding kiss, just a short press of lips and then he snapped out of it. Terrified at himself for doing what he had just done after everything Draco had just told him, Harry ripped his arm out of Draco’s hand and ran for it.

-------- ------------- ---------

Harry had locked himself in the dorm, refusing to speak to anyone at all. Cedric, who hadn’t actually slept in their dorm since he had officially moved back there, came by only once to pick up a spare pair of socks before the football game the next morning.

Harry didn’t even look at him; he kept his gaze fixed down on the book he wasn’t reading and he excused himself to bed before dinner. The next morning, Ron tried to wake him for breakfast, but when Harry wouldn’t respond, he gave up.

Just before the game, Hermione popped in and set a plate of food on the end of Harry’s bed. "I take it you’re not coming to the game?"

"Not a chance," Harry said. "We’re probably going to lose and I don’t want everyone staring at me like it’s my fault."

Hermione sighed. "Is this still about Cedric?"

Harry looked away. "No," he said softly. "This time it’s not about Cedric."

Hermione nodded and before she left, she turned and said, "You know, most people dislike other people because of the traits they see in themselves."

"What?" Harry asked.

"Most people," Hermione said slower, "dislike other people for the traits they dislike in themselves. And sometimes people are afraid of other people because they like them for reasons that might hurt them later."

"Cedric-" Harry began but Hermione cut him off.

"I wasn’t talking about Cedric," she said.

Harry turned to look at her but she was already gone. Harry groaned and buried his face in his pillow. A half an hour later, Harry decided on a shower. If he was going to hole himself up in his room, fine, but he wasn’t going to stink it up while he was doing it. He grabbed his clean, casual clothes and headed out.

In the shower, he found himself scrubbing his skin raw and he wondered if maybe he wasn’t just trying to scrub off every trace of everything disgusting he hated about other people. Hermione’s words came back to him and they made sense. Maybe he was afraid to like Draco because he was afraid of what Draco might do to hurt him. Or better yet, maybe he was afraid of being the one to do all the hurting.

It was making Harry’s head spin, thinking about all of this, so he quickly dried off and dressed. He gathered his dirty things and headed back to the dorm, but when he got to the door, he frowned. It was cracked open, but he distinctly remembered closing it before he left.

Carefully stepping forward, Harry pushed the door open and saw Draco Malfoy standing by the edge of his bed. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

Draco shrugged. "They said you weren’t at the game. I figured you’d be here." Draco sniffed and then smiled. "Showering?"

"Yeah," Harry said. He dumped his pile of dirty things in the corner of the room. "What do you want?"

Draco shrugged. "Do you want to take me to Hogsmeade?"

"What?" Harry asked out of surprise.

"Cedric told me you had worked for Snape for three weeks to earn a weekend's worth of Hogsmeade hours. McGonagall said I could have some on the house so," he paused and shrugged, "since the football game is lost on me and seeing as you are suspended from the game, I thought maybe we could get some lunch."

Harry was utterly confused. He had done exactly what all those other people Draco hated had done. And Draco wanted to go to Hogsmeade with him. "Is this a trick?"

Draco snorted. "Yes, it’s a trick. I plan to trick you into going to Hogsmeade so I can have my assassins shoot you in the head." Draco shook his head and sighed. "I thought we were done with trying to maim each other."

"Er," Harry said. "We are."

"Good. So shall we?" Draco extended his arm towards Harry.

Harry stared at the hand that had been touching him the night before and he hesitated. Still, something was going on and curiosity was eating at him too furiously to hesitate any longer. He took Draco’s hand and together they started out of the school.

Draco walked casually on Harry’s arm, using his cane to guide himself for the most part, and they got to Hogsmeade rather quickly. It was a nice day for a visit since all the students were at the football game. They didn’t have to compete for sweets in Honeydukes and they didn’t have to wait at all for a table when they went into the Three Broomsticks.

The two teens chose a table towards the back of the restaurant where there was very little chatter and both of them ordered sandwiches and soft drinks. Before the food arrived, Draco came right out with the question on his mind.

"Why did you run off last night? You left all your stuff on the table and just took off. What’s going on with you, Potter?"

Harry shrugged. "I felt like an arse," he confessed. "You had just told me that all these people presume all this stuff with you and then I go and kiss you..." Harry trailed off and shook his head. "I’m sorry."

Draco laughed a little. "I also recall telling you that when people cross the line with me, they pay for it. I think you’ve experienced a little of that."

Harry snorted. "Yeah, I guess so."

"So perhaps the fact that I didn’t pull away, and that I tried to kiss back before you ran off, might have given you an indication that your advance was a welcome one."

Harry let out a sharp breath. "Wow this feels more complicated than it should be."

The food arrived and the subject was dropped for the moment. Draco paid the bill, despite Harry’s protests and the teens walked outside. It was approaching winter now, and it was cold enough to make them walk huddled up together.

"Find us a little alleyway or something. Somewhere private," Draco whispered in Harry’s ear.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because I don’t like being overheard when it’s personal," Draco said.

Harry scanned the streets and found a little niche in between the bookstore and the sweet shop. He pulled Draco over and they huddled together against the cold brick walls.

"There are a few things I know for certain despite being blind," Draco said. "I know that I’m dead gorgeous, despite you telling me I look like a ferret." Harry blushed but Draco laughed. "I know that every day is a good hair day for me. I know that you're the kind of boy who's bed will never be made and your handwriting will never be neat. And I know that you and I would be perfect for each other."

"Draco," Harry said softly.

"I know that you are probably one of the best looking boys at this school. I know that Cedric was cuter than you, but not cuter than me," he said with a smirk, "and I know that doesn’t really matter because I can’t see you anyway, and the way I do see you, you’re perfect. We haven’t spent much time getting to know one another but I know you’re a headstrong git and I’m an arrogant ass. But I think that works for us and I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks."

Harry couldn’t find words to answer Draco, not that Draco needed a verbal answer at all. Harry didn’t move when Draco brought his hands up to Harry’s face and cupped his cheeks.

"Now maybe we can try that kiss again, without one of us acting like a moron and running off before it can get really good." Harry’s cheeks flamed and Draco felt them warm up, making him laugh. "Blushing," he said and leaned in to kiss Harry.

This time it did get, as Draco described it, good. Their lips parted and their breaths were so hot against their faces. Harry wrapped his hands round the back of Draco’s neck and Draco’s fingers pressed into Harry’s cheeks.

When they finally parted, Harry and Draco were both breathing hard and despite the cold, they both felt rather hot. Draco leaned his forehead against Harry’s and spoke very softly. "I know you’ve never... you know... and I’m not going to pressure you. We’re only seventeen, we have plenty of time to get to the other good stuff when we leave school."

"Thank you," Harry whispered.

"It’s the least I can do," Draco said. "I’m only going to ask one thing of you... for now."

"What’s that?" Harry asked.

Draco smiled. "Stop calling me a bloody ferret."