I'll Never Fall In Love (Drarry Fluff)

Prolouge

Harry steeled his decision not a moment too late. He climbed up into Malfoy's carriage just a second before the thestral began walking towards the castle.

"Potter?" Malfoy asked, his voice softer and kinder than it had ever been towards Harry before.

His expression reminded Harry a little of what Lockhart has looked like right after he had obliviated himself, causing Harry to let out a girlish giggle. Malfoy eyed him warily. "What are you doing here?"

"I admire how well you did in the war, and I really do believe you've changed. I wanted to start over. I think you got in with the wrong sort, and I think we should be friends." Harry stuck out his hand.

An amused look passed over Draco's face. "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."

Both boys laughed like children. Draco reached out and shook Harry's hand, still laughing.

When they both settled down, Harry asked Draco something serious.

"Do you think you will ever forgive Mrs. Weasley for killing your aunt?"

Draco snorted. "Seriously? I'm just glad someone ridded the world of motherfucking Auntie Bellatrix."

Harry took note that he said 'Auntie Bellatrix' like a curse word.

Draco continued, "I hate that wretch. After what she did to Hermione, Neville's parents, supporting He-Who —" his voice caught.

Harry could see slight pain in his expression, indecision, not sure what to do here. Harry helped.

"Voldemort?"

Draco nodded, not able to speak. For some reason, Harry had a compulsion to hug him, or kiss his head, or rub his back, just something to make him feel better. So he did just that.

He switched sides of the carriage and held out his arms to Draco.

"May I?"

He nodded slowly. Harry wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him as close as the small space allowed. Draco began sobbing, loud enough for Harry to hear, but not loud enough that the staring students in the adjacent carriages could hear.

Harry hated the sound of others in pain and quietly began crying himself. Draco noticed but said nothing, not wanting to make him uncomfortable.

They sat still like that in silence until they reached the castle. Hermione slowly approached the carriage and called, "Harry? It's time to go inside. Malfoy, Pansy told Blaise to tell Crabbe to tell Goyle to tell Theo to tell Luna to tell Ron to tell Ginny to tell me to tell you that the Slytherins are looking for you. And don't you dare ask why because even if it went through the nerd vine it didn't get to me."

I blushed and pulled away from Draco, only allowing myself a moment to be shocked that he was blushing as well. He sat still, stunned, so I grabbed his hand only for a moment to pull him up. He shook of his shock that Hermione was speaking to him somewhat civilly, and we both jumped from the carriage, ignoring the steps, and ran with Hermione towards the castle.

Entering as quietly as we could, we arrived just in time to see the first first year get sorted into "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Harry and Draco said their goodbyes and started off to their respective tables on opposite sides of the hall.

Although the sorting had always sparked a certain interest in him before, this time he could not take his eyes off Draco. He approached the Slytherin table, but one of the sixth years stood up and handed him a piece of paper.

Draco scanned it quickly, then shrugged and walked towards the back of the hall. He leaned against the wall. Casually crossing his legs, he eyed Harry.

When he realized Harry could only be looking at him because he was the only one over there, he threw him an exaggerated wink, causing Harry to smile and laugh a little.

When the sorting finally finished with Isabelle Zabel being put into "SLYTHERIN!", McGonagall stepped up to speak.

Tuning out Ron's stomach growling uncontrollably, he tried to listen to McGonagall.

"Welcome new students, welcome back old students, welcome back students who decided to come back and finish their last year. We have a little bit of news before the meal.

"First, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, would like me to remind you that the forbidden forest is, well, forbidden to all of those who do not wish to die a most painful death."

This set an ominous tone in the room, but McGonagall soldiered on.

"There has been one slight change, but I figure you all should know. Hogwarts is nothing if not fair, and a student vote counts. Slytherin House has started a petition to get Draco Malfoy removed from their house because of his actions during the war, and it passed. As of right now, Mr. Malfoy is no longer a Slytherin, but he will need somewhere to stay. Any volunteers?"

The hall went silent. Even the little murmuring between friends stopped completely. Draco stood perfectly still at the back of the hall, trying not to let all the rejection get to him, as Harry could easily see. It was a look he used to see everyday when he looked in the mirror.

Slowly, Harry leaned over and set his thumb up on the table. Everyone else caught on quickly. First, Ron quickly set his hand on the table, thumb down. Ginny and Hermione were on Harry's side.

When everyone had their vote, Harry counted, then grinned. He raised his hand.

"We'll take him."

McGonagall nodded at me, then at Draco. He came and joined us, filling in the tiny gap between me and Dean, who was quietly questioning Seamus if he knew anything about something a few girls had been talking about earlier, something called Deamus.

Hermione heard them talking and snickered.

His voice rough, attractive, and, Harry admitted begrudgingly, just a little bit sexy, Draco said in a low almost growl, "Thanks."

He recognized the about to cry tone of his voice. Casually, he tossed an arm over Draco's shoulders. Draco gave his dangling hand a quick squeeze of appreciation.

These gestures were friendly, not romantic. Ginny excused herself halfway through the meal when she saw her girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson, leaving the Great Hall.

Yep, Ginny was a lesbian. She had come out about halfway through the summer, first to Harry, then to everyone else. They had had a clean breakup and were friends now, which pleases Harry greatly because he liked Ginny a lot, just not really in that way.

Harry himself was gay. He knew this. He hadn't come out to anyone yet, not Ginny nor Hermione, and especially not Ron. Ron was a stereotype friend, and would probably just think Harry was gay for him.

(P.S. — he wasn't.)

He had decided a few days prior that he would first come out to Luna. He had owled her a note asking her to meet him in the third floor corridor at eight that night.

But for now, he lets his problems drift away. He refocused on the situation at hand. Hermione was gushing over the good looks of Ernie Macmillan, who finally seemed to have hit puberty over the summer.

"What do you think, Harry? Isn't he absolutely gorgeous?"

Harry shrugged. "In my opinion, no."

Ron laughed and replied, "but you thought that haircut looked good, so what do you know?"

Harry grabbed the mustard bottle and squirted a bit of it on Ron.

And so the meal wore on.