LOVE ME OR HATE ME ◦ H. POTTER, D. MALFOY

08.

Lightning crackled high above the turrets of Hogwarts, and rain pounded against the windows. Draco Malfoy, luckily, was safe and dry inside the four walls of the castle, hands stuffed in his pockets and head down. Once upon a time, he would have walked down the corridors with his head high, Crabbe and Goyle trailing behind him, and everyone would shy away.

But now they shied away for entirely different reasons. Their eyes averted from the ex-Death Eater, and their murmurs started up.

They all wondered what he was doing there. But to be honest, Draco was too.

His trial had gone well, and he and his mother had been let go with only a probation. Surprisingly, Harry Potter himself had testified. He hadn't said a word to Draco afterward, only giving a slight nod when Draco gave him his thanks. Not that Draco expected them to suddenly become friends after everything. But their meeting at the courtroom had left Draco feeling...empty. A feeling which he hated. He had enough emptiness in his life, thank you very much, and he didn't need Harry bloody Potter giving him any more to deal with.

Draco finally reached the eighth year common room, pausing in front of the door. Was he ready to go in? Was he ready to do this? It didn't seem like he had much of a choice.

He sighed, giving the password. "Balderdash."

The portrait, one of Hogwarts, opened up and he stepped inside.

The eighth years, as they had dubbed themselves, were the students who had come back to redo their seventh year, including Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter. They were students from all houses, but Draco was the only Slytherin left. Everyone else from his year were either in Azkaban or off in a different country.

Draco quickly walked through the common room, which was pretty empty. He guessed that everyone had gone up to their rooms already. The only reason why Draco was late was because McGonagall had wanted to talk to him, just in case he needed to talk. She had taken him early from the feast, then made him wait for her to finish announcements.

Each of the eighth years was roomed with another eighth year of the same gender. Draco had no idea who he had been assigned to, McGonagall had only told him he was in the first room on the left. He quietly opened the door, in case his roommate was asleep already.

It looked like his roommate had already unpacked, though very messily. The bedspread on his roommate's bed was red, and Draco had a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach. Of course he had to get stuck with a bloody Gryffindor as a roommate, what else would he have expected with his luck. But he would be fine as long as it was anyone, anyone except for-

"Hey, Malfoy."

Draco froze, slowly turning towards the one person he had been dreading to see. Harry didn't look menacing at all, with a toothbrush sticking out of his mouth and wearing an overlarge shirt over boxers. Harry looked exhausted, his hair sticking up all over the place. He looked like a man come back from war, which was exactly what he had done. But he also looked like a exhausted boy, which he was as well.

"Potter." Draco said, giving a curt nod of his head. "I didn't know that we'd be roommates. Again."

Draco was horribly reminded of the last time that he and Harry had been roommates, and it had ended with he himself storming out of the dormitory. Just because he had fallen in love with Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Draco's feelings hadn't diminished. If anything, they had only grown stronger, especially since Harry had saved him from the licking flames of the Fiendfyre.

"I actually requested that we be roommates." Harry replied, catching Draco off guard entirely.

"Wait, what? Why would you even do something like that?" Draco folded his arms. "I know you'd rather be with Weasel."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn't. But we're roommates now, so that's that."

Then he went back into the bathroom to finish brushing his teeth, leaving Draco stumped. Draco had no idea why Harry would want to room with him, of all people. They hadn't been on the best of terms. But, Draco supposed, since Harry had saved him and Draco's mother had saved Harry, they were even.

Draco took out his wand and unpacked everything neatly with one swish. He gazed down at the smooth wand in his hand. This had been the wand that had saved the Wizarding World from Voldemort. It seemed so plain now, just sitting here in Draco's pale palm. It was hard to believe that Harry had held it, and cast the final spell to defeat the Dark Lord. Draco had expected Harry to show up at the door of the Manor to return his wand. Instead, he got a box that contained it, and no note.

Draco had divided his time during the summer, working on rebuilding Hogwarts the first half, and redoing the Manor the second half. Draco had spotted Harry a couple times during the rebuild, as well as the Weasel and Mudblood, but he had always ducked down a different hallway before they could see him. He hadn't wanted to confront them just yet.

But yet, here he was, back at Hogwarts. It seemed so strange to be back here after all that had happened so far. But yet, it felt somewhat right. He knew he would've missed Hogwarts if he hadn't come back.

Harry came back out of the bathroom at that moment, sitting on top of his bed and crawling underneath the covers. Draco went into the bathroom after, changing into pajamas and washing up for bed. After he crawled into his own bed, he extinguished the lights in the room, curling up on his side.

Draco was very surprised when he heard, "Goodnight, Malfoy." from the other side of the room.

"Night, Potter." he replied, pulling the blankets over his head.

He was in for a long year.