The First Time

Author: slytherin-nette

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Everything written is purely for entertainment. JKR is awesome.

Full Summary: The first time Draco Malfoy was staring at Harry Potter was before everybody else even knew who she was. A short collection of Draco's memories. DM/femHP. Semi-AU. Oneshot.

Genre: Romance

Pairings: DM/femHP

A/N: This is a short and sweet onepiece that hit me and just wouldn't go away. Hope you all like it!

The first time Draco Malfoy was staring at Harriet Potter was before everybody else even knew who she was.

That had been in Madam Malkin's robe shop just before their first year. He hadn't known at the time that she was the legendary chosen one of course. Back then, it had been your typical everyday incident, and if Draco remembered correctly, she hadn't even been that much to look at.

Well, not yet anyway.

She was a small girl – long black hair, very slight frame and a little shy when she had walked into the shop. She had been with a giant of a man but Draco hadn't really paid him much attention. His gaze had been drawn right away to the girl's very bright, almost luminescent green eyes and he smirked calmly at her, as though seizing her up. She was pretty then but certainly not beautiful - the kind of awkward-looking young girl who nobody ever really knew if she would end up to be beautiful or even more awkward when she grew up. In fact, had it been any other day, Draco might have passed her over with his attention but he was bored at the time while he waited for Madam Malkin to finish up with measuring his robes, so he decided to spare her a second glance and talk to her.

He found her a tad bit boring and quiet.

Truth be told, she hadn't looked as though she seemed all that excited to be talking to him either and after awhile, she began to give him one-word responses – which pissed Draco off even more. He began to sneer at her but then just as she turned to leave, he saw the scar on her forehead.

He had just met Harriet Jamie Potter, the girl-who-lived…And he felt like a complete idiot.

The first time he had hated her, however, was in first year. When Draco had searched the entire Hogwarts Express to find her only to have her throw his offer of friendship back at his face. He remembered retracting the hand he had extended to her and glaring at her in outrage, furious with her for daring to say 'no' to him and yet, hating her even more for choosing Weasley over him. It just didn't do well for a Malfoy to ever be rejected for anything and Draco was certainly not happy.

He hated her.

Draco Malfoy officially hated Harry Potter.

The first time he noticed she was getting prettier was in third year.

Strong gusts of wind had been blowing repeatedly throughout Hogwarts that day and Draco had been hanging out with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy just outside some of the empty classrooms. He remembered Pansy had been particularly whiny that day and she had happily seated herself on his lap as she listened to him, bragging on and on about how Slytherin was going to beat Gryffindor that year for the Quidditch cup. Potter, Granger, and Weasley had been on their way out of their Transfigurations Class and a short breeze had blown right past them, causing Potter's long black hair to flow gracefully just as she passed him. Draco had looked up at the exact same moment Potter had tilted her head to the side to keep the hair from her eyes and then Draco saw her face up close for the first time – pale and beautiful and for a moment, he just sat there – his jaw hanging and speechless.

He recovered himself after a minute or so though and, angry for having caught himself staring at his wretched enemy, he pointed his wand at her skirt and muttered a jinx just under his breath. Then he, Pansy, Goyle and Crabbe had burst out laughing when Potter and Granger both shrieked and vehemently clamped their hands down on their skirt, both girls flushing darkly as they walked away.

Draco remembered exactly the color of the underpants she wore – white with a pattern of green clovers.

He remembered the first time he realized he was attracted to her.

That had also been during third year, just during one of their Dueling classes. He and Potter had been assigned as dueling partners by Professor Snape and he had called them both up to the front of the class to demonstrate. Draco remembered he had fired a nasty curse at her and she had retaliated, by throwing one right back and causing him to crash into a nearby wall. Angry and thoroughly humiliated for having been hurt by a girl, he fired another spell – one that involved shooting a snake from his wand towards her. Potter had stepped back at first, throwing the snake a cautious look but then when the snake began to approach her, she began to hiss at it – in a strange language that seemed to lull the snake and cause it to back away from her as though in obedience.

The savior of the Wizarding World, Harriet Potter, was a Parselmouth.

All of the students watching had been completely terrified.

Draco Malfoy thought it was the hottest, sexiest thing he had ever seen.

He was hooked.

Hogwarts fourth year, the night of the Yule Ball.

Pansy Parkinson, the tiresome, obnoxious girl he took to the Yule ball as his date, was beginning to annoy him with her incessant whining and clinging to his arm. He had brought her simply because she was the safest choice for him to take and because Pansy practically fancied herself his unofficial girlfriend already anyway. They made out a couple of times and Draco knew his parents wanted him to be nice to her so he had agreed. If only the damn girl wasn't so naturally annoying.

The first time he wanted Harry Potter, Draco would always remember, was when she walked into the Great Hall that night – on the arm of Hufflepuff champion, pretty-boy Cedric Diggory – and captured the attention of practically every living male in that room. She was enchanting, wearing a dark green dress and her hair flowing and falling gracefully down her back. Draco remembered thinking to himself that she was, without a doubt, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

And he desperately wanted her to be his.

The first time he had kissed her, he would never forget that night during their sixth year, was in none other than Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Potter had followed him that night, with the avid suspicion of him being up to something dangerous that involved Snape and the Death Eaters. She had been right at the time, of course, but then Draco remembered he had been pretty messed up that year. It was the year of his initiation into the Death Eaters, and Draco had been nearly suicidal.

He had been crying by himself just by the sink when Potter had entered and without thinking, he fired a jinx at her, only to have her fire one right back in self-defense. Draco had evaded it and tried to run away but she was running towards him again and he fired another spell at her – this one more powerful than the last. Potter had ducked behind one of the bathroom stalls and just as Draco was about to cast one last spell towards her, she had rebounded and fired one right towards him – hitting him square in the chest. Draco couldn't really remember what the spell was now but he knew it had hurt terribly and it had sent him reeling backwards, crashing into one of the bathroom walls.

And then he remembered feeling an agonizing, excruciating pain from a very large wound right on his chest but he must have fallen to the ground because soon, Potter was gathering him to her, cradling his trembling, bleeding form in her arms. She was screaming for something, possibly calling for help, and whispering his name – along with other words Draco could no longer recognize. He remembered thinking that he had never heard his name sound more beautiful than when it was coming from her lips before he saw the tears that were beginning to flood her emerald green eyes. Soon, she was touching him, caressing his cheek gently with her soft hands and apologizing to him, pleading for him to stay awake and to hold on much longer because she was calling for help.

Draco couldn't really remember anymore.

All he knew was that in that exact moment, right before his eyes had closed and he had lost consciousness altogether, he had used that intimate closeness of her face against his and leaned upwards, brushing his lips very softly against hers in a sweet, hesitant kiss that made the Gryffindor freeze up like a statue. Then, just as Draco remembered her staring at him with her cheeks flushed in confusion, he passed out completely and he heard her voice screaming for him to wake up.

That was also the first time Draco realized that he loved her.

He remembered so many painful things that happened in his life after that. The war had officially started because of him and it had been the single, most painful regret of his life. He wished more than anything that he could have taken it all back, especially when he had stood there among the Death Eaters and watched as Potter and the rest of his Hogwartian friends fought for the Light.

He remembered the night of the battle at Hogwarts.

Nothing could have ever prepared him for the sight of Harry Potter, lifeless, bloodied and battered all over, being carried like nothing more than a dead corpse in Hagrid's arms as the half-giant brought her slender body back to Hogwarts with Voldemort laughing cruelly behind them. Draco remembered his screams of denial intermingling along with everybody else's when Voldemort had spoken of Harry Potter's death. And then he remembered flashes – bright flashes of spells flying about everywhere around him as the war broke out again but then, Draco couldn't bring himself to care.

All he thought about in that moment was running, as fast as he could, through the hazy mixture of violence and the piles and piles of dead bodies to find Harry – not caring and not believingfor one second that the girl he loved – that beautiful, carefree, spitfire of a girl he loved – was dead. Soon after, he remembered reeling back in shock to discover that her body was not there and that she was alive, as beautiful as he had ever seen her, and she was standing over Voldemort's dead corpse.

Everyone was crying.

The war was finally over.

The Light side had won…And Harriet Jamie Potter had finally killed Lord Voldemort.

The first time he had held her hand.

That had been three years after the war was over, and Draco, acquitted of his crimes by the Ministry, had somehow mustered up the courage to walk up to her, asking quietly for her forgiveness towards him and his family for their past mistakes. Again, almost ten years after the first time he had held his hand out to her, she had finally taken it, and he felt her slender fingers for the first time.

His heart had been pounding painfully inside his chest.

From that moment on, his entire life had changed.

And then, Draco began to remember a lot of the next 'first time moments' he shared with Harry. Some of them painful, some embarrassingly awkward, but most more beautiful than the last.

The first time she had smiled at him, and laughed with him.

The first time she had laughed at him, and Draco had glared at her for her audacity.

The first time Draco, blushing like a stuttering schoolboy, had asked her out on a date.

The first time he had looked into her eyes and told her, without hesitation, that he loved her.

And the first time she had whispered into his ear that she loved him too.

The many first times they had made love to each other that same night – under the stars, by the fireplace, and under the silk of his sheets – only to fall asleep for the very first time in each other's arms and dream of dreams that, for the first time, weren't filled with pain, or bloodied screams, or other violent images of the war. She had saved him that night – from his despair, his hopelessness, and his bitter isolation. She was his salvation, and Draco had found the missing piece of his soul.

And now…

Draco smiled to himself as his thoughts slowly drifted back to reality and he stared at the two silver wedding bands that were laid out delicately on his palm. Today would be the very first time he would make such a heavy decision for himself about his life but he had absolutely no fears, regrets, or qualms whatsoever. Because as he watched his beautiful, dark-haired, blushing bride, dressed exquisitely in her white wedding gown and looking like heaven herself, walking down that aisle towards him, Draco realized – without a doubt – that he was the luckiest, most blessed man alive.

And he knew.

In the name of all things magic, he knew.

That in that very moment, here on the happiest day of his life, this would be the first time.

The very first and last time that he, Draco Malfoy, would vow to love only one woman – Harriet Jamie Potter –his love, his best friend, his bride, and his wife-to-be, for the rest of his life until the day he would take his last dying breath.

"Nervous…?"

Breaking Draco out of his silent thoughts, Harry looked away from the Minister in front of them for a very quick moment and smiled at him, raising one of her eyebrows in mild question.

He looked at her, his eyes softening when he saw the flash of worry in her eyes. Smiling like an idiot and yet fully aware of it, Draco chuckled softly and answered her with a kiss on her cheek.

"First time for everything."

A/N: Awwww… It's so fluffy, I'm gonna die. It's so flufffaaaaay! :D

This hit me while I was listening to the radio at work the other day, and I really liked how it turned out. It's nice to get out and write some heartwarming, good-for-the-heart fluff every once in awhile.

Even if I am in Slytherin.

*checks around quickly to make sure no other Slytherin overhears*

PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE ME A REVIEW! HUGS AND KISSES TO ALL! CHEERS! :D