Don't Mess With The Chosen One....

23

Harry and Draco had gone from always being seen together and fast friends, to being rivals in the span of a week. The professors were at a loss as to what to do with the two boys. They were always finding some way to start fights with each other. Their friends would back either of them up. And it soon became Slytherin vs Gryffindor all over again.

By the third month of the school term, Harry and Draco were kept at separate ends of the classrooms, and it was as if the last two years had never existed.

It was weird to Harry how easy it was to act the way they were. He thought it would have been hard. But he put on the perfect performance, and so did Draco.

One day in December, Harry was on his way back from Dumbledore's office. He'd just seen two new memories of Voldemort's past. The first was of his mother (Merope) and uncle (Morfin) and grandfather (Marvolo). The second memory was of a meeting Dumbledore had had with the woman who ran Wool's Orphanage. Seeing young Tom Riddle stuck in a place where he was not loved or cared for, made Harry feel bad for him. And when Dumbledore had questioned Harry if he was perhaps feeling pity for Voldemort, Harry hadn't known what to answer.

But Harry did feel bad. Whether Tom would grow up to be Lord Voldemort or not, Dumbledore couldn't have known that. And to feel the need to keep an eye on him....

'I was always under the impression that Tom had shown that he was a bad person from the get-go. But what if Mrs. Cole was just saying whatever she could in hopes that Dumbledore took Tom away? Like what Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia wanted to do with me?'

It hadn't escaped Harry's mind that Tom had scared two kids at the orphanage, and done something to their bunny. But Harry wondered what had happened beforehand. Had the kids done something to Tom? Was Tom being bullied? Even if he knew he was different, he hadn't figured out it was magic he was doing, until Dumbledore showed up. Did the other people at the orphanage treat him nicely?

Harry kept thinking about this, and wondering why Dumbledore was showing him Voldemort's past, as he walked back to his common room. But then he bumped into someone.

"Watch where you're going!" Draco snapped.

"Sorr- Draco? What are you doing here?" Harry asked.

Draco's face was pale. He looked stressed over something.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," Draco said. "I'll see you around, Potter."

And he hurried down a staircase.

Harry was about to run after Draco, and find out why he looked sick, but then he saw a group of Ravenclaws walking past, and looking at him, so Harry decided just to head to his common room. He'd talk to Draco the next day.

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Draco ran down a flight of stairs, and waited in a corridor until he was sure Harry wouldn't follow him. Then he ran back up and made his way to the seventh floor.

Draco closed his eyes, and walked in front of the blank stretch of wall three times, thinking of what he needed: 'I need the place where things are hidden....'

A door materialized, and Draco stepped inside.

Draco looked around the Room. It looked as if students had been storing things in the Room of Requirement for years. There were old broomsticks, the cages that had once held Cornish Pixies back from Second Year, old desks, and towers of miscellaneous objects.

Towards the back of the room, Draco found what he was looking for. It was identical to the one he'd seen in Borgin and Burkes. The Vanishing Cabinet was tall, made from a dark wood, with a woven pattern on the door. Draco opened it, and stuck just his head inside; He could hear the distant sounds of someone moving around, opening and closing drawers.