I'm Coming For You, Draco Malfoy!

Room Five

When Harry finally pushed open the door to room five, I launched an immediate assault, 'Are you going to explain what you meant when you told McGonagall that perhaps the Sorting Hat was right and Slytherin is where you belong?' I snarled from my bed. I knew I was on the attack, it was a natural defence mechanism but everything felt so up in the air.

Harry shrugged, 'I'm not the only anomaly that the Hat has had to deal with. Minerva and I are kindred spirits. And the Hat nearly put Mione in Ravenclaw... good thing it didn't, I probably wouldn't have defeated Voldemort without her.'

'Why though? I snapped, ignoring his ridiculous modesty.

'The Hat gave me a choice. Actually, it didn't; it simply wanted to put me in Slytherin, I persuaded it otherwise.'

'WHY?'

'I was making my decision based on stereotypes and you. You didn't give me a very favourable impression back then.'

'And you argued with the Sorting Hat? You annoying, conniving, stubborn, stupid, bastard!'

Harry smirked, 'I do my best to be annoying at all times but I take umbrage at being called a bastard, my parents were most definitely married. Why stupid on this particular occasion?'

'Stop putting yourself down. Because we could have friends,' I muttered, 'all this time.'

'Then one of us would probably be dead because you would have been expected to push me straight into Voldemort's lap.'

I clammed my mouth shut, knowing he was right. It would have been a case of my life or his. We both knew that Voldemort had used a similar leverage regarding Professor Dumbledore or my parents—and that was supposed to be a no brainer.

'And I told you I'm a Slytherin. Aren't we supposed to be stubborn and conniving when it comes to getting what we want?'

I glared at him silently until Harry broke eye contact and looked around the large room.

Out of the five four-poster beds, there were three depressingly empty and unmade ones. More guilt as I looked at Vince's old bed. I'd never treated him as an equal and he'd died in a horrible way for a horrible cause that he was blinded by. That we'd all been blinded by. I sat amongst the mess of my trunks on my usual bed nearest the large window that looked out under the lake when it wasn't pitch black outside. At least a fire crackled welcomingly in the grate but it was pretty miserable. I felt utterly pissed off as the emptiness and meaningless of coming back hit me.

He said, 'it'll be quite nice if we transfigure some of the furniture and make it different for you. I'm assuming that's your bed.'

'No shit, Sherlock!'

'Sherlock, eh!' he teased.

'Fuck off, Potter. I'm perfectly capable of reading Muggle literature...'

'Draco,' Harry's face fell and he sat down wearily on the only other made-bed, on what used to be Blaise's bed, his expression suddenly serious. 'What's going on? What's changed between the train and now?'

I sighed as I sat opposite him. I was, in all honesty, suddenly rather scared because of the way that Harry was watching me, seeing everything, seeing my vulnerabilities. I'd never been weak in front of him apart from the one time in the sixth year. But now I felt like I couldn't hide. I feared how much he actually saw. I feared he saw how deeply I felt for him.

'You've just decided to move in here, just like that, without a single thought about how I might feel or considering the implications and the future...'

'I apologise,' Harry said heavily. 'I'm too impulsive, I know. Minerva has been trying to coach me but I got carried away. I should have consulted you first. It's just... well, more than anything, I didn't want you being down here on your own. My heart was in the right place. It's just, after finally considering us friends, I thought you'd be okay with this. And Minerva forewarned me that none of your peers were returning. I just thought, above all, I didn't want you being alone with Merlin knows what thoughts and potentially in danger if someone decided to start any shit.'