Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

The war was finally over. Harry Potter had defeated the most infamous dark wizard of all time. Of course the end of the war had many casualties including all of the Weasly family except Ron, Charlie, and the twins Fred and George. Hermione was gone, her skill of over-thinking had been her downfall in the end. Dumbledor was found to be just as bad and Voldemort himself, planning on killing Harry and taking over the ministry as soon as the war ended. Everything seemed to have settled down only one year after the day of victory.

Everything except, of course, Harry's grief and guilt. He felt as if everyone who had died, died because he couldn't stop Voldemort earlier in the war. No matter how many times his few remaining friends told him otherwise, he refused to believe them. All he saw when he looked in the mirror everyday was a murderer by association. He holed himself up in Grimauld Place and refused to step foot outside, even to buy necessary supplies. All of this soon had to change, however.

The remainders of last year's seventh year students were to return to Hogwarts in two days. Harry was not pleased about this news, but felt he needed to be there to support what few friends he had left. Packing up his school trunk he sighed heavily and moved toward the fireplace, making his way to the Weasley's house.

Harry stumbled as he stepped out of the floo and wiped the dust off of his jeans and black t-shirt.

"Hiya Harry!" Fred exclaimed, taking Harry's shrunken luggage and pulling Harry into a bone crushing hug.

"Hullo Fred. How is everybody?" Harry asked the tall red head sullenly.

"Well Ronnikins is still sulking in his room but I suppose he'll be better now that you are here. Charlie's off at the ministry trying to get them to allow him to return to Romania, but they are giving him a hard time now that he is the head of 'the most important Light family.' Loada crock, if you ask me. And my dear twin is off putting the last touches on a few new products we have created."

"I hope Charlie is allowed to return. I know how much he missed his dragons." Harry laughed. "I'm gonna head up and talk to Ron. I'll see you around dinner time." Harry made his way up to the youngest Weasly's bedroom. He knocked on the door before slowly pushing it open.

The sight before him made him want to cry. Ron was curled in on himself, laying on the bed wrapped in layers of blankets. By the smell of things, Ron didn't get out of bed much, not even to shower.

"Hey Ron." Harry said quietly, afraid to startle the mourning red head.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH?!" Ron screamed, jumping out of bed and running toward Harry.

"Ron what's wrong? I always come over just before school starts, you know that." Harry said in a soothing voice.

Grabbing the front of Harry's t-shirt, Ron yelled, "YEAH WELL SO DID HERMIONE BUT YOU COULDN'T KILL THAT SCUM SO NOW SHE'S DEAD. I DON'T WANT YOU HERE! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE AND OUT OF MY LIFE YOU ASS HOLE!" Ron pushed Harry backwards out of the room and slammed the door in his face.

All Harry could do was collapse against the wall.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! I'm not one to do a whole lot of authors notes but I just wanted thank you for reading my story. I have another profile on here but I never use it anymore and too many of my friends know about it so I can't post any drarry stuff on there. I won't be able to post a whole lot right now because my girlfriend doesn't know about me writing again but if ya'll hang in there with me I promise I'll finish this story. **

**Oh and I forgot last time but I do not own Harry Potter. That amazing plot belongs to JK Rowling.**

Harry's school year started off terribly. Everybody in Gryffindor either blamed him or wanted to date him. The Ravenclaws hailed him a hero, but still stayed away from him as much as possible. And the Hufflepuffs were neutral so they just avoided every conversation about him. And there were a lot of those. Everywhere Harry went, he was followed by hushed conversation, giggles, and glares, the worst glares came from his former best friend.

Ron was constantly telling everyone how everything was Harry's fault because he couldn't kill the psychopath the first few times they went head-to-head. The only people in Hogwarts who treated Harry the way they always had were the Slytherins. But even the arrogant Prince of Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, was acting slightly nicer, only occasionally throwing out mild insults that were slowly getting tamer and tamer.

Harry decided to confront the grey-eyed blonde and find out why he was acting so weird. Walking into the Great Hall, he head for the silver and green table, making a bee line for the Malfoy heir. The few students and the snake table stopped all conversations as the saw the hero of the wizarding world standing in front of their table.

"Malfoy, Draco, can I speak to you?" Harry asked timidly, looking around at the prying eyes in the grand room. "Privately?"

"What in the name of Salazar do you want?" Draco drawled out.

"I just want to talk. Please?" This time Draco agreed and followed the green-eyed boy out into the entrance hall.

"Get on with it Potter." Draco urged when Harry stood there fidgeting with his black robes.

"Right. Umm, well I was just, you know, wondering why you weren't tormenting me the way you have for the past 7 years."

Draco stood there for a moment before answering. "Well, Potter. You've been through a lot. You lost a lot of friends in that war, to death and to anger. Your best friend no longer speaks to you and walks around slandering your name. Your other best friend died, and your girlfriend as well. You have no family, and few remaining friends. You walk around the castle with this lost look in your eye, like you don't know where to go or what to do. When I try to argue with you or insult you, it doesn't have the same effect it used to. You don't get angry and lash back or even deny anything I say. You just shrug and keep walking. And some of the things I say, it looks like you take them to heart and they hurt you. So I stopped being so mean. I stopped treating you like scum and I started to really notice your new personality. You defeated the darkest wizard of all time, yet you remain kind and gentle. Your friends turned their backs on you yet you do not try to punish them. You puzzle me, Potter, and THAT is why I have stopped treating you as I used to."

Harry was speechless. He didn't know what to say so he just stood there for a moment gathering his thoughts. Did Draco really notice all those traits about Harry? How long had he been watching Harry?

"What… do you, do you really believe all of that about me." Harry asked, bewildered.

"Yes." Draco replied shortly. He turned around and walked toward the dungeons, leaving Harry speechless.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the reviews guys. I forgot how good it feels for people to like my stuff. I have, however semi lost interest in this fic. I've kinda started on another one but I will finish this one first. I might accidentally rush the plot on this one and I do apologize. I will try my best to keep it flowing and stick to the plot.**

Harry was feeling confused and alone. Malfoy had been watching him and realized more about Harry than Harry had figured out about himself. Sitting at the end of the Gryffindor table, he glanced over at the almost empty Slytherin table catching Malfoy's eye. They stared at each other for a few moments before Malfoy winked and looked away. Harry felt heat creeping up his neck and covering his face.

As Harry left the Great Hall, he bumped right into someone entering the room. "Sorry." Harry mumbled automatically.

"Watch the fuck where you're going you stupid git!" Ron said in relpy. "You'll kill even more people not paying attention like that." Ron stormed to the table and immediately started to shovel food into his mouth.

"Shut the fuck up, Weasly. He never did anything to warrant you treating him like a yard gnome! He singlehandedly saved the entire Wizarding World, including your sorry ass. If I ever hear you say something like that to him again I will gladly kick your wimpy ass. And don't think I won't." Draco Malfoy had heard what transpired between the former friends and it enraged him. He turned to Harry. "Are you ok Potter?"

"Yeah I'm fine Malfoy. But I really didn't need any help." Harry said, embarrassed.

"Malfoy's defending the murderer now huh? That's rich." Ron mumbled under his breath turning to walk away. When Draco noticed Harry was doing nothing but bowing his head in shame, he felt the need to step in.

"I told you not. To. Talk. To. Him. Like. That." Malfoy said, punctuating each word with a step forward. He pulled his arm back and punched Ron square in the nose. "Next time, it will be a LOT worse.

With that, Harry and Draco exited the Great Hall and went their separate ways.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry was more confused than ever. Not only was Malfoy being nice to him, but he also stuck up for him against Harry's former best friend. Why was Malfoy doing this? Why was he being so different? Harry didn't understand the changes in his ex-enemy, but he filed the changes away to ponder about later.

He headed down the tower on his way to his first class of the day. As he was walking down the hallway, Malfoy walked up next to him and started walking with him.

"Good morning, Harry." Draco said pleasantly.

"Um.. Good morning, Mal- Draco. What are you doing here?"

"Walking to class. What does it look like I'm doing?" Draco joked in response.

"I get that. But why are you walking with me?"

"I thought we could be friends. If you would like that of course."

"Th-That sounds good. I don't have any friends anymore. Ron's being a prick, the other Gryffindors listen to everything he says and Hermione… well you know about Hermione." Harry faded off sadly.

"Yeah.. I know about all of that. And I don't think it's right. They all loved you when they needed you to save there asses, but as soon as you do they blame you for all of the war casualties. I've never seen people with so little loyalty. And here I was thinking all you Gryffindors were going to be the best of friends till the day y'all died."

"Yeah. Guess not…" Harry whispered. "But knowing all that, why do you want to be friends with me? The one person everyone in Hogwarts hates."

"Well, for one thing, you're not the only one everyone hates. For another, I don't think you deserve what you're having to deal with. Nobody deserves to be treated like you're being treated right now, but especially not you. YOU deserve to be treated with respect, with admiration, and with love. You deserve to be surrounded by people who love you and who appreciate you. You deserve to be able to do whatever you want with whoever you want and not have to worry about being judged. You deserve to walk these halls proudly. You deserve to be the best, act like the best, and associate with the best. You deserve better than what you're dealing with right now." Draco had a passionate gleam in his grey eyes when he was done talking.

"Wow." Harry said, standing against the wall outside the transfiguration class room. "You really believe that don't you?"

"With all of my heart. You are an amazing wizard Harry. You saved all of us." Draco stepped closer. "You saved me." He said the last part quietly, making sure nobody heard him.

"I just… did what everyone expected of me."

"No. Killing Voldemort was what everyone expected of you. But saving me… nobody asked you to do that. Nobody asked you to come back for me in that fire. Nobody asked you to risk your life for me. I've never said this to anybody before but… thank you. Thank you for all you have done for me." Draco leaned in and brushed his lips against Harry's.


End file.

Harry Potter, Angst, Romance