I Hate You, I Love You - Drarry

Part 4: Trapped in Confusion

The world was black. Harry opened his eyes and rolled onto his feet, but wait - they were paws. He couldn't stand up straight, just stuck on all fours. Suddenly, it all came rushing back.

"WHAT HAPPENED? WHY AM I RAT?! RON! HERMIONE! DRACO?!" he shouted. Through his heightened rodent hearing, it came out as a deafening high-pitched squeak.

He scampered around the unknown floor until he hit a wall unexpectedly. It seemed that he was trapped in some type of closet. A small one, maybe a janitor's closet? There was a dim light softly glowing from under the door. Hopeful, he clambered toward it. Although the crack would have fit a mouse, the space wasn't tall enough for a rat. Harry sighed and flopped down on his plump rat rear.

After a few minutes of panic, attempt, and disappointment, he heard a noise from the other side of the dark room. Harry's tiny heart started beating rapidly.

Another rat, white as snow, came scurrying out of the blackness. It only took a second for him to realize it was Draco. The pale rat started squeaking frantically like Harry originally did. Harry watched him, bored as he went through the steps Harry had just experienced.

Finally, Draco gave up and sat down as far away from Harry as he could. They glared at each other through red, beady eyes until the light gradually faded from under the door. The sun must have set.

Harry had so many worries and questions. Will he turn back into a human? When will someone open the closet door? He was so hungry already, would he die in here? The inquiries in his thoughts lulled him to an unsettling sleep, where he had no dreams. Just a void of darkness, black as pitch.

He was awakened who knows how much later by a lurch of his stomach. Something invisible was pulling him upwards, expanding him. A sharp pain came from all his limbs and the only things he could see were the squished colors of the back of his eyes. His hearing decreased and his eyes returned to the normal blurriness of his natural sight. Checking to see his current species, he held his hands out in front of his face, hoping to see ten long fingers with no claws. He was flooded with relief as he counted up each human nail. With a sudden intake of air and once over of his surroundings, he was positive that he was a human once again.

Through his awful vision, he saw the same transformation happen to Draco on the floor of the cramped closet. He watched as Malfoy let out a wail as he morphed back into his annoying, human self. Then the chaos stopped. Everything was still and the air was thick with question and apprehension.

Draco was full-grown and uncomfortably close to Harry. As a rat, the room didn't appear this small, and Harry had overestimated its dimensions. The closet was probably a meter wide and long, so there was nowhere for them to escape to.

"How long were we animals?" Harry asked, breaking the quiet. His neck hurt from straining it backward, trying to put as much distance between him and Malfoy as possible, but his breath still reached Draco's face.

"I don't know, it still looks dark out there," he said nodding towards the crack under the door. Draco awkwardly cleared his throat, looking upwards to try to put space between their faces, even though he was a good head taller than Harry.

"Why did you do this one? Just for a laugh?" Harry asked, his anger building as he was reminded of the past hour.

"Yeah, and it's easier to mess with you when you're that small," he grinned wickedly.

Harry shook his head in disappointment and defeat.

"Stupid Crabbe messed though," Draco said through gritted teeth. "He was supposed to charm just you and your sad little friends' drinks. The git did magic on all the butterbeers on the table." He shook his head with a slight laugh. "Even did it to himself."

They were silent as everything fell into place.

"Why do you like making fun of me Malfoy?" Harry asked simply.

The blonde boy furrowed his brow in surprise as if this was something he never thought of before. Hard to believe that when he spends most of his free time taking the mickey out of him.

"I-," he began, but then paused, scratching his owl-white hair. "I don't really know sometimes," he muttered at the ground. A thin strip of pink flushed his upper cheeks, confusing Harry.

"That's not very fair to me, is it? I have never done anything to you, yet you treat me like this."

"I don't know! Stop talking you're confusing me! I can do what I want!"

"What do you mean?!"Harry exclaimed, surprised by his outburst and how much he had been holding in. "Why do you think of me like a toy that you can play around with whenever you are feeling destructive?"

Draco leaned back to lessen the hearing damage he would definitely get from Harry's shouting. Forgetting the close perimeters of the closet, he hit his head on the wall.

"Ouch!" he called and fell to his knees- at least they were further away now.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Hmph, karma."

"Merlin's beard, I thinking I'm bleeding," Draco said dramatically.

Harry watched him touch the area on the back of his head and inspect his hand. Sure enough, a deep red substance dribbled down his slender fingers.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked halfheartedly, looking down.

"I think it's deep can you take a look?" he pleaded.

Harry sighed and started crouching.

Draco looked down to see if there was something he could wipe his bloody fingers on. When he raised his head, Harry was a breath away. Their eyes widened from the sudden closeness. They both froze. Confusion lingered around them and the seconds were passing. Slowly, Draco leaned in closer, fear in his unblinking eyes. Harry stood still, refusing to make a sound, his mind slowing starting up again. Locks were being opened.

"What're you-"

"THERE YOU GUYS ARE!" Hermione exclaimed as she swung open the wooden door, spilling light onto the sight she walked into.