Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I just made up the story.
A/N: Please review! It makes me feel happy!
And now, to the story!
Prologue
Draco Malfoy, despite all outward appearances, did not hate Harry Potter. In fact, he was quite obsessed with the boy. Since the Triwizard Tournament, when Draco and Harry were in their fourth year at Hogwarts, Draco had been having odd feelings towards Harry. It began when Harry was facing his first task: the Hungarian Horntail.
While the Slytherins surrounding him on the stands were excitedly cheering on the dragon attempting to kill Harry, Draco could only watch in absolute fear. He felt an odd, nervous fluttery sort of feeling in his chest and stomach and came to the conclusion that he did not want Harry Potter dead.
After this realisation, things seemed to progress a lot faster. Draco lost his enthusiasm for fights with Harry, but he still kept them up for fear of revealing his true feelings.
And when Snape had murdered Dumbledore, Draco had glimpsed Harry's face before he was forced to flee. Harry looked completely anguished – and with good reason, Draco thought – Dumbledore had been like a grandfather to Harry. Seeing that look on Harry's face made something tug at Draco's heart, and even as he ran for his life all he could think about was Harry.
Draco Malfoy was in love with Harry Potter.
Harry Potter wore his heart on his sleeve. In most cases. Generally, if he thought someone was an ok kind of person, he was friendly to them. If he didn't like someone, he was nice to them but never made any attempt to befriend them.
For years he had hated Draco Malfoy and for years he had shown his hatred to the world. And to the boy himself. But something had happened during his sixth year at Hogwarts that had changed that. He had witnessed Draco Malfoy crying.
In that one moment, when he had heard Draco saying that Voldemort would kill his parents if he didn't succeed, Harry heard what was intended between the lines. Harry had heard the desperation to save his family, the fear of failing and the reluctance to even try. But most of all, Harry had heard the unspoken meaning: 'I'm only doing this to save my parents'.
Nevertheless, when Draco had been standing with his wand pointed at Dumbledore, Harry had, for a few moments, truly believed that he would do it. But then, he caught the look on the other boy's face. A look that invoked in Harry a rush of sympathy for the boy. And, watching him flee, Harry had wondered what would become of him, barely allowing himself to hope for the boy's safety.
In the Room of Requirement
Although the room of Requirement was widely heard of, the general population of Hogwarts was still unaware of its location or how to access it. As Dumbledore had been the only staff member to know its location, and as Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco – the only students with the knowledge of how to access it – had not revealed their knowledge to Professor McGonagall, it was still around, and still useable.
Currently, Draco was in the room of Requirement, attempting to relax, away from the persistent badgering of the Slytherins. Yes, he failed Voldemort. Yes, Voldemort murdered his family. Yes, Voldemort was after him. No, he would not beg forgiveness. No, he was not on the light side. No, he was not on the dark side. Yes, he was on his own side.
"Bloody Slytherins," Draco muttered, wishing for more chocolate cake and butterbeer.
Helping himself to the newly arrived refreshments, Draco stood up and walked to the far wall, where a window appeared. Draco had the perfect view of the lake. Scanning the grounds, he noticed three familiar figures standing at the edge of the lake.
I wish Harry were here now, instead of down there with his friends, Draco thought, sighing.
"Ron, for the last time, I'm not getting back with Ginny."
"Why not, mate? I mean, you came back to school this year, didn't you?"
"Yes. I did. To learn as much as I can. But I'm still looking. I've got permission from McGonagall to leave the school grounds. She knows it's not worth trying to stop me and has grudgingly agreed to let me leave whenever I need to, as long as I'm secretive about it." Harry said, shifting his gaze to meet Ron's eyes.
"Alright, mate, you know I don't pester you about things like this, but-"
Hermione snorted as Harry rolled his eyes; although Ron continued as if nothing had happened, his voice was a bit louder with a slightly angrier edge to it.
"but I just wish you'd tell me why."
"Ok, Ron. Do you want to know why I'm not going to get back together with Ginny?" Ron nodded. Hermione looked towards Harry, expectantly.
"It's because I'm gay."
"You're WHAT!" Ron shouted.
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly he was forced into blackness and he had the feeling of being squeezed on all sides into a space that was too small for him.
As suddenly as the feeling began, it stopped. Harry heard a loud gasp and waited for his vision to clear before he realised he had his eyes closed. He opened them, blinking stupidly as Draco Malfoy came into focus.
"Malfoy!" Harry said angrily, "what the hell do you think you're doing? And… how did you do that?" He added, a bit less loudly, genuinely interested. The Hogwarts wards were meant to stop apparition, and besides, Harry hadn't apparated himself…
"Potter? What are you doing here? You can't apparate inside the grounds!"
"Well, duh, Malfoy, I didn't. You brought me here." Harry said, rolling his eyes at Draco's stupid remark.
"Um, no, I didn't," Draco retorted, grimacing at the weakness of his response.
"Whatever," Harry rolled his eyes again and turned to leave, only realising as he turned around exactly where he was.
"This is the room of Requirement!" Harry exclaimed, whizzing back around to face Draco once more.
"Ten points to Gryffindor for that observation, Potter." Draco said sarcastically.
"Well, it's obvious what's happened here," Harry said, looking smug. Obviously Draco hadn't put two and two together yet.
"Enlighten me," Draco said, attempting a bored tone but looking intrigued at the same time.
"You wanted me here. You must have wished me here, and the room brought me."
"And why would I want you here?" Draco sneered, feeling his heart speed up a bit. Harry noticed the boy becoming nervous. Excellent.
"I don't know. Why don't you tell me, Draco?"
Draco was all ready to lie. I wanted to hex you, I wanted to hex you, I wanted to hex you. "I wanted to hex you," he said. That's damn right, Potter, I wanted to hex you.
However, Harry's reaction was not exactly what he had anticipated. Instead, the other boy's eyes grew wide and a faint blush crept onto his cheeks. "You… what?"
This made Draco wonder if he had really said what he had intended to. He frowned thoughtfully.
"I… wanted to hex you…?" He tried, looking to Harry for confirmation that that was in fact what he had said. Harry was shaking his head and frowning.
"That's not what you said before."
"Well that's what I meant. It doesn't matter what I said before, whatever it was."
"Oh but Draco, I beg to differ. I think it makes all the difference."
"…" Draco was speechless; what on Earth was he going on about?
"You see, Draco, you told me that you wanted to kiss me," Harry said calmly, even a little patronizingly, his blush being the only thing that betrayed his slight embarrassment as he looked at Draco.
"I… what? Don't lie, Potter. Why would I say such a thing?" Draco was panicked. Had he really said that?
"You tell me," Harry said, finally looking away and freeing Draco of that intense gaze.
"I must have been thinking about someone else," Draco said, realising its stupidity even as he said that. But Harry seemed to buy it. What a stupid idiot. Honestly, why did Draco bother his time crushing over a bumbling fool like Harry Potter?
"Oh… well that's a shame," Harry said, turning around and opening the door. "Because I may just have obliged, if you were thinking about me," He added, having the nerve to wink at Draco as he left the room.
Draco stood in shock for a few moments, processing this new information. Harry Potter flirted with him. Harry Potter wanted to kiss him. Harry Potter had just left the room.
It only took Draco a second to run to the door and open it.
"Harry!" He shouted down the corridor, blushing as a few passing third years looked at him oddly. "I mean – Potter! Wait, Potter."
Harry, who was only about ten metres from the door to the room of Requirement stopped, and turned around slowly.
"What? Come up with a better excuse, Malfoy?" He asked, smirking.
What right did he have to smirk? Draco wondered. That was his thing.
"No. I haven't finished with you yet," Draco said meaningfully, hoping Harry would get the message. Apparently he did.
Harry's eyes widened imperceptibly and he glanced around at the openly gawking students.
"All right then, Malfoy, let's finish this." He said walking past Draco back towards the room of Requirement and holding the door open for Draco. Once they were both inside, he cast a silencing and locking charm on the door.
"So… what's up then?" Harry said, dropping all pretences.
"I… just wondered if… if you meant what you said before."
"Yeah, I did actually. Go figure." Harry said, giving Draco a wry smile.
"Um… that's cool… um yeah, I mean… I… me too." Draco said, feeling flustered.
"You meant it too? Which bit? The wanting to kiss me bit or the wanting to kiss someone other than me bit?"
Damn him! How was he so eloquent when Draco was reduced to stutters?
"The first part." He said, figuring small phrases would work best.
"Oh. Good," Harry said, and, without warning, pushed Draco against the door and brought their lips together in a rather passionate and possessive kiss.