Nightmare | Drarry | English

Chapter 12

Draco sat down at his desk and began his homework. Harry took the Marauder's Map and sat down in front of the window. After a quick glance at who was where, he found himself looking at Draco's footprints, just as Ron had said, and hurriedly opened another section of the map. He searched the map for the common room, bypassing the crowd returning from the Great Hall. Pansy, Theo, Parvati, and Neville were there. Dean and Seamus were heading for Dean's room together. Harry decided he didn't want to think about the rest. His eyes searched for his friends. Just as the people he was looking for entered the common room, Harry suddenly got up from his seat.

"Mischief managed," he said, placing the parchment he had touched with his wand on his bed and leaving the room, ignoring Draco's strange looks. He knew what the expressions on his friends' faces meant when they saw him enter the common room. Ron's stress in particular screamed, "I'm here."

"You!" Harry pointed at them with his index finger.

"It was her idea!" Ron took a few steps back as he immediately pointed at Hermione.

"Very brave, Ronald!" Hermione tried to smile innocently. "We can talk about this."

"I'm going to kill you," Harry said as he moved towards them. He couldn't speak openly, feeling the stares of the people around him, but they knew the subject anyway. He took them both by the arm and led them to the table in the far corner. After sitting down so that he was facing them both, he gave a quick glance at the people in the room.

"Harry-"

"You want to tell me why you would do such a thing?" he whispered, leaning forward.

"We thought it would do you good," Hermione said quietly.

"What I don't understand is what did you tell him? Why did he come? I hope you didn't say, 'Would you like to go and seduce Harry Potter, handsome'?"

"Well, we didn't really have to say anything," Ron was surprised.

"Clever boy." Hermione smiled.

"I've given up," Harry said. "I don't want to hear it. God, I feel like an idiot."

"Come on, mate, I thought you were cute together."

"Ron!" Harry's voice rose, and eyes turned back to them. Harry waited for everyone to return to their work and then continued. "There's something you don't understand," he said, looking away.

"What is it? Enlighten us."

"Well, just because I like him doesn't mean I like all men."

"So you're not gay?"

"I didn't say that-"

"Joyce is a good boy, isn't he?"

"Yes, but-"

"Handsome too?"

"Yeah, but-"

"And he's so polite-"

"I see, yes, he's a nice boy, he's polite, he's good-looking, but-"

"But what, mate?"

"But he's not Malfoy!" he hissed. This caused Ron and Hermione's expressions to change rapidly and Harry let out a breath of despair. "It's not that I want him to be, but I don't think kindness and goodness are very effective criteria when I've fallen in love with him."

"A-ha!" said Ron, as if enlightened. "So we're going to find a bad boy!"

"No!" Harry rolled his eyes. "You won't find anyone."

"Harry," Hermione interrupted. "I understand, but you don't know what's going to happen until you give it a chance. We just want you to take your time. If it bothers you, you can stop seeing him."