You Were What I Needed [Drarry Fanfiction] [Discontinued]

Friends [7]

Having absolutely no idea as to what was going on, Harry stood before the boy with the green tie, his eyebrows still raised, wondering what he was on about. What had he meant by, how else had he meant to get his attention? Why did he even want Harry's attention so badly? And why did he use picking on him to do that, it just made no sense to him.

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned, as Draco exhaled, his eyes avoiding Harry's as he decided that he would explain.

"I mean, I couldn't find any other way to talk to you. So... I used picking on you as a way to get your attention." Draco confessed.

"You do realise there's such a thing as,  being nice, right?" Harry commented, making Draco give him an eye roll as if he had said the most idiotic thing all night.

"Yeah, because like I hadn't already tried that!" Draco snapped. "I offered you my friendship from the very beginning, and what did you do?! You threw it in my face!" 

"Well, if you hadn't acted the way you had towards Ron..." Harry muttered.

"He started it! He laughed at my name, did you think I was going to take that from him?! From a Weasley!" Draco spat, before deciding to calm down and roll his shoulders as he turned away from Harry, his tone saddening as he went on to continue. "I just... I wanted you to understand me. And I never knew how else to talk to you... You always jump to conclusions, and you always assume." Draco said, looking back at Harry. "That time, I was crying in the bathroom... You could have almost killed me, yet you seemed to continue to assume that I WANTED what happened. That I wanted to curse that girl, that I wanted to kill Dumbledore. But you didn't understand a damn thing! It's not like I enjoyed being on the bad side! It's not like I liked being viewed as the villain, while you were the heroic one!"

Harry said nothing, not really knowing how to reply. Draco's face had contorted into a look of misery, as he was thinking over everything that he had already done, over everything that had already happened. He really did look like he regretted all his choices. Like he wished he could go back and undo it all. But how the hell was he supposed to know whose side Draco was on? Sure, when he witnessed the killing of Dumbledore, he knew Draco couldn't do it, that he hesitated. He saw him lowering his wand, right before that witch, Bellatrix came onto the platform and saw him practically holding Dumbledore as a hostage, and he didn't really have any choice other than to carry it through.

Or the time when Harry and his friends were captured, they left it up to Draco to see if he could figure out Harry's identity when his face had been damaged. But, despite knowing it was him, he didn't tell the truth. Instead, he lied and acted as if he hadn't known it was him. Harry hadn't really ever understood why Draco had done that. Until this day, he was so sure that the guy had absolutely hated his guts more than anyone. He made it impossible to know whether or not he had actually wanted to befriend Harry, always picking on him and tormenting him. If he had known the truth so much sooner, maybe he wouldn't have had to jump to conclusions all the time, assuming things.

"I just wanted to be your friend..." Draco repeated. 

"Well, you didn't make it easy to figure that out." Harry pointed out.

"It's not like I could just go up to you and say hi, when I was under orders from the Dark Lord! Don't you understand?! I was chosen, and if I had been seen around you, I probably would have had to bring you in, and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had done that." 

"...So, you don't hate me?"

"I don't hate you..." Draco mumbled, confirming that fact. Harry stared back at him, his face set into a straight expression for a moment, before it began to slowly pull into a smile. 

"Oh, what the heck." Harry shrugged, deciding to hold out his hand for Draco to shake it. Draco rose a brow, actually surprised that the boy from Gryffindor had done such a thing. "Tell you what, if from now on you aren't such a git to me, Ron and Hermione, then I'm more than happy to be friends with you, alright?"

"...Seriously? Just like that?" 

"Seriously. To tell the truth, I'm sick of all the lies and the things that have happened over the years... I just want this year to be peaceful, you know? And if we're going to get along now, well, I'm happy for that to happen."

Unsure, Draco gazed at his open empty hand for a few moments, before managing a tiny smile and taking Harry's hand into his own, shaking it.

"Thanks, Potter." 

"Call me Harry." Harry spoke.

"Really?" Draco questioned.

"Really." Harry nodded. Draco paused, before replying.

"Alright, Harry. Then call me Draco." 

"Sounds good to me." 

****

Trying to sneak back in, just as well as he had sneaked out, Harry had the invisibility cloak wrapped around him once more, hiding him from the view of anyone that may have been walking around the school at night. Before heading back to his own common room, Harry successfully took Draco back to his own, without getting found by a single teacher in the halls.

It was kind of weird, thinking of Draco as his friend now. To even call him by his first name, it was strange as he had known to call him Malfoy since the moment they met as they had come to despise each other, he just hated the thought of naming him by his first name. But now, things were suddenly different and he felt it was going to take awhile getting used to it. Not just for him, but for Ron, Hermione and many of the others too. If they were even going to accept him, that is. Or if he had really meant what he said, if he had really meant he wouldn't be a bully anymore, then he was happy to be friends with him.

Just as Harry was walking up to the top of the stairs, up to his bed, he was ready to take off his cloak, thinking that no one would be up. However, as he removed the fabric from around his body, he saw his best friend Ron sitting up in bed, spotting him the moment he had come into view. Potter's eyes widened, a tad startled that his ginger headed friend was even up at this hour. He had expected him to be asleep.

"Hey Harry." Ron spoke, nonchalantly. 

"Uh... Hey, Ron..." Harry croaked, pacing over to his own bed as he went to put the cloak and the map back into its rightful place. He could feel Ron's eyes on him, even with his back turned, and it just made him feel really on edge.

"So, what were you doing, sneaking around at night? Got places to be?" Ron asked, now sounding suspicious. All Harry did was shrug as he climbed under the covers on top of his bed.

"I was just... Going to the bathroom." Harry lied.

"Sure. I believe that." Ron answered sarcastically, causing Harry to sigh as he furrowed his brows and closed his eyes.

"Look, Ron, can we not do this right now? I just want to sleep, alright?" 

"...Alright... Fine..." Ron muttered, as he could be heard lying down in his own bed, seeming like he was going to go back to sleep. Harry could have explained the truth to him, that he had ran into Draco. But as it was late at night, Harry really didn't want to cause a commotion, having his best friend think he was completely bonkers as he had just befriended what Ron believed was one of their worst enemies. 

And the truth is, just moments prior, Harry had seen Draco as an enemy too. But like he had said, he was willing to move on and accept him, all so he could have a nice and quiet year at Hogwarts.