Draco's words hit Harry like a punch in the gut, and he was too surprised by them for him to interfere when the two others left the kitchen. Harry was absolutely startled by being called<span style="font-style: italic">homophobic</span>and in a matter of seconds his disorientation was replaced by a sickening nausea. He wanted to argue against that, but he couldn't find the words to do so and before he knew of it, Draco had slammed the door behind them.<br/>________________________________________________<br/><br/>It had almost been a week and a half since Harry had seen neither Draco nor Chad. Harry had spend as little time in the dorm as physically possible, and had instead buried himself in school work and track. He had even skipped the last week worth of group training in an attempt to distance himself from Chad; something which had gone greatly until his coach had been waiting for him after his lecture today to cuss him out for skipping training. He had reminded him that Harry was here because of his lacrosse scholarship, and that if he didn't show up to training tonight, he would personally see him expelled. Therefore, Harry now stood on the grassy field, with his heart in his throat.<br/>The last ten days had been intense, not only academically but also emotionally. Completely devastated and frustrated by Draco's words, Harry had over the course of the last few days had several long (<span style="font-style: italic">uncomfortable</span>) talks with Ginny and these had left him on edge with his nerves on his sleeve.<br/>Harry had been fidgeting with his racket when he finally found Chad in the crowd, and the sight that met him made Harry take a step back in intimidation. Harry saw the other's lips move, but if he said anything, the words had been erased of Harry's memory when Chad's fist struck his face.<br/>Chad fist rammed against the bridge of Harry's nose and caught him taking a step backwards. Already off his balance, the force of the punch easily knocked Harry backwards and onto the grass. Harry wasn't sure if his blurry vision was caused by the immediate pain or by his lack of glasses; but from what he saw, Harry was certain Chad would have struck him again if some other teammates hadn't held him back.<br/>The punch had caught the team off guard, and shocked by the physicality of their otherwise calm teammate, nobody had seen the first hit come. Words expression this were said around Harry, as somebody helped him to his feet, but his head was killing him, and he had no answer to offer; not even when his instincts were to say that he had it coming.