The Scent Of Malice | drarry

ten | twice in twelve hours

When Harry returned to his own dorm that morning, the sight of Draco Malfoy lounging on the end of his bed did little to make him feel less stressed.

In fact, seeing the subject of his most intense dream in the flesh made Harry's heart-rate skyrocket and his hands clench in need.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, attempting to mask his desire with anger as always.

Malfoy jumped hastily off the bed like he'd been caught doing something awful, and glowered down at Harry. Thank God there was no one else in the room.

"Granger blackmailed me," he said. "I suspect she wants me to apologise, which of course I won't. The only thing I'm sorry about is that I had to touch you last night to prove my point."

Instantly, Harry was livid. "Oh, you were meant to finally apologise, were you?" he snapped nastily. "Let me see, would that be for-"

He began to count on his fingers -

"- All the times you've publicly humiliated me, or the times you've physically pushed me around - or how about last night, when you assaulted me and then humiliated me like it was my fault? Or how about when you..."

He swallowed. "How about when you spat on me?"

Malfoy grinned, clearly enjoying the list of his misdemeanours. "For crying out loud, Potter. Why do you care so much? Everyone else is getting over it. Move on."

"Oh, they're getting over it, are they?" Harry asked. His eyes filled with angry tears. "Well, that's good. Let me just tell my heart to stop racing then, and my eyes to stop looking for you in every room I enter. It's not about everyone else for me, Malfoy, or whether it's a hot topic, or even whether it's relevant to you at this point."

He was crying now, and completely mortified to be doing it again in front of Malfoy. Twice in 12 hours, fucking hell, he thought.

But the other boy, for once, didn't seem to be fully mocking him. His expression certainly wasn't sympathetic, but it was less cruel than usual, and this gave Harry the courage to continue.

"This isn't funny, Malfoy, because it's my life, and I don't think you understand the gravity of your existence for me," Harry said with a slight tremor in his tone. "Or how I will spend the rest of my life searching for someone who makes me feel alive like you do. I just hope the next person doesn't torture me the way you do."

Malfoy still hadn't reacted and it was beginning to worry Harry. The boy was impossible to read - was he about to punch Harry, or apologise, or something completely different? Harry had no idea, but he kept talking.

"Do you have any idea how especially hurtful what you did last night was?" he asked. "Do you know the significance of the date, for example?"

"Halloween." Malfoy rolled his eyes; Harry was just pleased to hear him speak, but he shook his head.

"It's also the anniversary of my parents' death. So it's kind of a hard enough day for me without you assaulting me in front of my entire form and then embarrassing me."

"Congratulations," Malfoy forced himself to say in a nasty tone, though his heart wasn't quite in it as it normally would be. "Happy Orphan-Day for yesterday. If I'd known, I'd have bought a gift."

Harry pulled back his hand and slammed it into the other boy's smug face as hard as he could, taking great joy in the yelp of pain Malfoy let out as his knuckles collided with one of his sharp high cheekbones.

"Oh, did that hurt?" Harry seethed as Malfoy backed off, his face screwed up in pain. "Good. You deserved it, you evil bastard. You're the worst person in the world sometimes, you know that?"

But the look on Malfoy's face that accompanied the pain wasn't anger, as Harry had first assumed. Instead, he appeared overcome by hurt and guilt and confusion, which even he wasn't able to mask.

Before Harry could stop him, he'd leant in and pressed his lips firmly, deliberately, against Harry's. They were warm and soft without the fangs of the previous night, and sweet, unlike the salt of the tears on Harry's own lips, and it took every atom in Harry's body to fight the urge to melt into the sensation.

But his mind won over his body in the end, and he resisted the other boy.

"You have to stop doing this," he swore, shaking his head as he dragged a frustrated hand across his lips. "Is this just how you deal with complicated feelings? You just kiss people?"

Malfoy shrugged, feigning nonchalance again although inside he was panicking. "I don't know," he replied truthfully.

"Ok, well, you have got to leave me alone," Harry insisted.

Don't leave me alone, the voice in his head begged.

"This is twice you've kissed me now and it always hurts," he persisted.

"I think you're overthinking this, Potter," Malfoy's scornful tone was back. "It was a joke again, alright? I was just fucking with you."

"No, Malfoy, I know what it is," Harry snapped. "It's your fucking ego every time, and I don't want to fuel it any longer. I refuse to cry over you again."

"Fine, don't cry over me then," Malfoy smirked. "That was always your decision, not mine. See if I care."

Harry wondered if his heartbreak was audible.

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a/n: a pretty short one tonight, i'm sorry!

hopefully you enjoyed anyway, please leave a vote and comment if you did🤍

~ paradisedraco