The Shadow of Innocence

The Shadow of Innocence: Chapter One

Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed outside the Gryffindor common room window, sending bright sparks of light into the pitch-black room, illuminating a sixteen-year-old boy, asleep on the couch. He didn't know how he'd gotten back to the common room, or even how he'd fallen asleep. He just knew what he had seen that afternoon, which had sent his entire world crashing down.

He'd loved her, and she said she loved him back. But worst of all...he believed her. How could he have been so stupid? He asked himself, on what seemed to be the longest walk back to the common room. This was Cho Chang. The most popular girl in school! He thought, resisting the strong urge to hit his head on the wall. No wonder she laughed when you told her you loved her.

Harry had gone down to the Quidditch field, retrieving his Firebolt he'd left in the locker room after practice. On his way back, he saw Cho and was about to walk over and talk to her, when he realized she was with someone else. Harry didn't remember seeing his face, but he walked up towards them and realized they were snogging. Harry's jaw had dropped in amazement, and he felt like his chest was being ripped open, his heart torn out and stomped on. Unable to think he leaned in closer on the two, wrapped in his Invisibility Cloak, and heard Cho mutter those three words he'd been longing to hear her say. Only she didn't say them to him.

But if you saw Harry, sleeping peacefully in the common room, you wouldn't suspect anything was wrong, or that Harry's heart had just been shattered into pieces. You would just assume that the boy was tired. And that's exactly what Hermione Granger thought as she bounced into the common room.

"Harry!" she exclaimed loudly, slapping him on the back. His eyelids flew open and he cried out in pain. He turned over on his back, to face an extremely pretty brown curly haired girl, standing over him grinning. "What are you doing sleeping?" she asked in a tone that suggested she had never caught anyone sleeping.

"I'm tired," Harry mumbled, pushing himself off the couch. His legs felt weak, and he stumbled a few steps before he stood up to face Hermione.

She was still grinning. "No silly," she said. "I thought you were meeting Ron and me in the library today! Remember," she said raising her eyebrows. "Potions test tomorrow? You told me that 'Snape should rot in bloody hell, because this was the third test he's given to us to study for on the weekend,'" she said, remembering what Harry had said earlier that day.

Harry looked at her in shock. How could he have forgotten? He thought, nervously running his fingers through his untidy black hair.

"Did you forget?" Hermione asked, her hands on her hips. "Ron and I could have used your help!" she told him. "Not that we minded being alone of course," she added grinning to herself.

Harry smiled. Ron and Hermione had been dating for the past two months, and Harry had watched every moment of it. He was extremely happy for them, of course, but couldn't help feeling a bit jealous that he didn't have a girlfriend. But then there had been Cho, and Harry was no longer jealous. He thought he'd had someone, but was quite obviously wrong. He shook his head. I am so stupid! He thought to himself, again. Stupid, stupid, stu--

"HARRY!" Hermione's voice broke through his thoughts. Her hands grabbed his warm face and he was forced to look at her. "Are you okay?" she asked, sounding worried.

Harry wrenched his face away from her hands. "Yes," he said, standing up straight. "I'm fine. Just tired, so I would like to go to bed."

"Okay," Hermione sighed, sounding unconvinced. "But what about Potions--"

"Goodnight Hermione."

"Blimey Harry, aren't you at least going to--"

"GOODNIGHT HERMIONE!"

And with that, he stormed up the cold stone steps to the boy's dormitory, pulled open the door and slipped inside. The room was empty, as usual. Seamus, Dean and Neville's beds were neatly made, all their belongings piled in their trunks, or neatly folded on their beds. Ron's bed was unmade, the sheets hanging off the sides and his pajama bottoms sticking out from his trunk. Two textbooks lay open on the bed surrounded by bits of parchment, with candy wrappers from Chocolate Frogs and Licorice Wands scattered around to complete the mess.

Harry's four-poster was neatly made, and his pajamas and bathrobe were lying at the bottom of the bed. Harry walked over to it, quickly undressed and slid into his pajamas.

The door opened, and Ron stuck his head into the room. "Harry!" he exclaimed, grinning. "How nice to see you. Pity you couldn't make it to the library today. Hermione was going on and on about how 'positively dreadful it would be if we didn't study!'" he said, mocking Hermione.

Harry grinned to himself. It quickly faded. "Yeah well, nothing else in my life can go wrong, so it doesn't matter if I study or not. I won't be able to concentrate anyway," he said sounding extremely depressed.

Ron came into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Harry," he said, squinting at his friend. "You look like the Hogwarts Express ran you down!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, well you wouldn't look so great yourself if you saw Hermione snogging...Neville Longbottom," Harry said.

"Is this about Cho?" Ron asked with extreme curiosity. Then his eyes widened. "She was snogging Neville Longbottom?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "I never would have thought...Neville you little--"

"No!" Harry yelled. "Not Neville! Some seventh-year," Harry explained, becoming red in the face. "She was snogging him out by the Quidditch field. I sneaked out of History of Magic, because Professor Binns wouldn't have noticed anyway, and I was heading down toward the locker room to get my Firebolt. I left it there after practice, and I didn't want anyone to steal it," Harry said, sitting down on his bed. Ron followed him, sat down on his own bed and turned to face him.

"Then what happened?" he asked, untying his shoes.

"Then," Harry continued. "I was walking back up and I noticed Cho sitting on the grass next to some guy. I thought they were just talking, but they were...snogging." It took some effort from him to say the last word. "I listened to Cho talk to him," Harry went on "and she told him...she told him--," he gave a heavy sigh.

"She loved him," Ron finished for him, looking up from his shoes. Harry nodded and suddenly felt very nauseous. Ron looked at him, and tried to comfort him by saying. "C'mon Harry, forget her! She's a stuck up seventh year who falls in love with every guy she meets."

Yeah, Harry thought. Everyone but me.

"Yeah," Harry responded, shoving his feet under the covers of his bed. "It's alright, I'll be fine. I just need to get some sleep," he said, pulling the covers up to his chin. " 'Night Ron," Harry said, rolling over in bed.

" 'Night Harry," Ron responded.

*****

Draco Malfoy moved to the corner of the room, his Potions book in his lap and his quill in his left hand. Dragon liver and Bat Spleens, he read, were used in the seventeenth century to help create a number of potions to cure wounded soldiers. Draco wondered how many times he'd read that sentence over that night. It was no use. He slammed the book shut, and carried it over to his trunk, which lay shut at the edge of his bed.

Draco couldn't concentrate, and for a number of reasons.

First, he felt like he hadn't slept in days. Most nights, he would wake up from strange dreams and horrifying nightmares. When he woke up, he found himself covered in sweat and panting like he'd just ran a race.

Second, his father had filed a divorce with Narcissa. Draco had never really questioned his parent's relationship, but come to think of it, he'd never really seen them show any sign of a relationship. He was sort of glad his father wouldn't be around as much to pester him about schoolwork and girls. When it came to talking about girls, his father had set down a load of restrictions. "No Mudbloods, No Half-lings, No Gryffindor or Hufflepuffs...Not that you would want any of them anyway," his father had said to him. Of course not, Draco had told his father, who nodded approvingly and sent him off to bed.

The third thing that was driving him crazy was about Harry. He'd done something terribly mean to him, and he was beginning to feel bad about it. This was making Draco worry.

Perhaps he was going crazy. Nah, he told himself. I'm too good-looking to be going crazy. He walked over to his bed, and fell backwards onto his pillow, thinking about that afternoon.

He had gone down to the Quidditch field to see if he could practice a bit before the big Gryffindor/Slytherin match this Saturday, and had noticed a very pretty girl walking down to the fields too. He smoothly slid beside her and indulged in a conversation, realizing that he knew her. He then asked her if she wanted to practice with him, and she agreed. They spent the next hour on the Quidditch field, practicing flying and throwing the Quaffle around.

But when they were finished, they entered the locker room and began to talk and before Draco knew what was happening, she had kissed him and they were snogging against the bench.

Draco grinned, knowing that that girl couldn't resist him. They walked up the field hand-in-hand, and sat on the hill overlooking the field. She'd said some things to him that he didn't remember, but he remembered her telling him she loved him. Draco knew that routine. Girls had told him that they loved him thousands of times and it had never meant anything to him.

But not even that had been the best part of his day. While she was talking to him, he could have sworn he saw his archenemy, Harry Potter, standing over them, his jaw dropped in amazement. Draco grinned.

That's right, he thought to himself, staring up at the ceiling. I kissed Potter's girlfriend, and he saw me.

*****

"Harry, you better bloody wake up or you'll be late for Potions," came Ron's voice from the back of Harry's head. He cracked open one eye and looked up at Ron who was leaning over him with a worried expression on his face.

"Blimey," Harry said, still sounding sleepy. "What time is it?" he asked.

Ron looked at his watch. "8:15," he said. Harry shot out of bed.

"Why didn't you wake me?" he asked, feeling angry.

"Sorry, I--"

"Never mind, never mind," Harry said, rushing over to his trunk and pulling out his robes. He ordered Ron to turn around while he quickly dressed. He grabbed his Potions book and raced out the door, followed by Ron.

They hurried down the corridor; twisting and turning down the stairwells, and ran right into--

Malfoy.

"Why hello Potter," he said as a giant smirk spread across his face.

"Move Malfoy," Harry said sounding extremely irritated.

"You forgot to say the magic word."

"Move."

"Temper, temper," Draco said shaking his head. "Is little Potty upset because he caught his girlfriend snogging someone else?" he asked.

Harry looked at him in shock. "How did--Was it--" Harry was at a loss for words, but his anger was rising throughout his body and he began to shake.

"Harry, take it easy," Ron said, trying to restrain his friend from hitting Malfoy. But Harry was too strong for him. He knocked Ron to the ground and shoved his two hands up to Malfoy's neck.

"Tell me you didn't," Harry said, glaring at him. Malfoy was still smirking. A grin spread across his face as he nodded.

Harry couldn't take it any longer. All the pain he had felt last night, wound up in his right hand, which hit Malfoy in the face. His hand flew to his cheek, rubbing it, and using his other hand; he punched Harry in the stomach. Harry felt pain rise throughout his body, but he ignored it. He shoved Malfoy against the wall and elbowed him in the stomach, and then proceeded to punch him in the face. A bloody lip appeared.

"Boy, Potter, are you going to be sorry you did that," Draco said, his smirk disappearing from his face.

Malfoy shoved Harry into a glass case, which was holding a statue of Helga Hufflepuff, who looked extremely scared as the glass shattered around her, and began screeching for help. Neither Harry nor Draco noticed, and they rolled on the ground on top of each other, taking turns punching each other in the face.

A group of Slytherins and Gryffindors appeared outside of the Potions classroom, watching as the two boys fought each other, no one daring to stop the fight.

"Should I call for Snape?" asked Millicent Bulstrode who was holding her ears from the screeching Helga Hufflepuff.

Pansy Parkinson shook her head. "I don't want poor Draco getting in trouble for something Potter started!" she complained.

Hermione snorted. "Honestly," she said. "I'll get Snape," she volunteered and turned down the corridor to find the greasy-haired professor.

Meanwhile, Harry and Draco beat the living daylights out of each other. Harry was full of so much anger that he didn't want to stop hitting Draco. Why him? He thought to himself. Why bloody him? He winced in pain as Draco hit him in the eye, knocking his glasses off his face. Harry heard them shatter on the ground next to him.

"Aw, poor little Potter can't see without his glasses?" Draco smirked, hitting Harry in the chin. Harry angrily pushed him off and threw a punch into his jaw.

*****

"Professor Snape!" Hermione called down the hall, when she'd finally found Snape conversing with Professor McGonagall. "Please come quickly! There's been a fight down the hall," she told him, out of breath.

He glared at her.

"Professor McGonagall," she tried again. "Please, Harry and Malfoy, they've -"

"Potter?" Snape cut her off. "And Malfoy," he said uneasily looking at Professor McGonagall's strict face. "How...unlike him," he said turning toward Professor McGonagall. "Let's go," he said quickly, looking at Hermione.

*****

"Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy! Stop this foolishness at once!" Professor McGonagall's voice broke out over the screeching of Helga Hufflepuff, whom Snape rushed over to, and tried to calm her down.

Harry and Draco looked up from their spots on the floor. They looked dreadful. Harry's eye was beginning to turn interesting shades of blue, and there was a giant bruise on his cheek, and a few more forming on his arms. Draco's lip was bleeding, which he'd tried to stop, but only ended up smearing more blood down his chin and he had two bruises forming over his face, and one on his neck from where Harry had gripped his throat.

"The two of you, will follow Professor Snape and myself down to my office," she said pointing at Harry and Draco. "As for the rest of you," Professor McGonagall said facing the other students. "I'll send a prefect down to watch over you," she said with finality.

"But, Professor McGonagall, we had a Potion's test and--"

Ron stepped on Hermione's foot. "-- Er, she means...she thinks...that her socks are...possessed," he said trying to cover up for her.

Hermione glared at him, but Ron continued smiling at Professor McGonagall. She was obviously not amused. She pointed a long bony finger towards the classroom door, directing everyone inside and ordering Snape to find a prefect to watch over his class while she brought Harry and Draco upstairs to her office.

*****

Draco shivered as he walked up the hallway, standing behind Harry, staring at the back of his black head. He felt the sudden urge to flick him.

Professor McGonagall looked so angry, Draco was almost afraid she would expel him right there. He frowned, and then bit his lip, which he had forgotten was bleeding. He wiped it against his hand, leaving a fresh trail of blood across his palm.

"In here," came Professor McGonagall's voice, pointing them into her office. There were two chairs in front of the desk, and two behind. Harry sat down in one, and Draco followed sitting down in the one next to him. "Don't move, until Professor Snape and I come back into the room, do you understand?" she asked them, heading towards the door. They nodded.

As soon as the door closed, Draco turned to face Harry. "I can't believe you Potter," he said, leaning against the back of the chair. "Look at what you've done."

"Look at what I've done!" Harry exclaimed. "Look at what you did to me! Snogging Cho and then bragging about it!" he yelled, his face turning a deep red.

Draco smirked. "I'm sorry Potter," he said, turning away from him. "I guess she just likes me better," he said, crossing his arms.

Harry groaned. "Malfoy," he began. "You know, that's the worst thing anyone's ever done to me," he said in a very serious tone. Draco turned to look at him. "Well, unless you count the time when Dudley shoved my head down the toilet, I guess that was pretty bad too," he added, thoughtfully.

Draco sniggered. "He shoved your head down a toilet?" he exclaimed, straightening up in his seat. "I think I'm going to have to meet this...Dudley."

Harry opened his mouth to protest and tell Draco he wanted to shove his head down a toilet, but he was cut off when the door opened and Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall walked into the room.

"Potter," Snape spat. "Malfoy. I'm very, very disappointed in the both of you!" he said glaring at Harry. "You damaged school property, and made Helga Hufflepuff extremely upset, to the point where she will not shut up," he said, looking like he had a bad headache. "And this is not the first fight you've gotten into this year! And it's only September!" he shouted.

Draco looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. It was true; this wasn't the first time they had gotten in a fight. At the start of the school year Draco had pushed Harry into the mud as they got off their carriages and into the school the very first day they had arrived. Harry responded by shoving Draco into a large bush, which held an enormous amount of sharp pricks. By the end of it all, they ended up in the same office, soaking wet and covered in mud.

"DRACO!" Snape's voice broke through his train of thought. "Are you listening?" Snape asked, banging his fist down on the desk. Draco nodded.

"We've decided to give you boys two months of detention," Professor McGonagall broke in. Harry stared at her. "But it's no ordinary detention," she went on. "Each of these detentions you boys will spend with each other. You will learn to respect each other, and learn to be able to live with one another, and maybe," she said hopefully, "You will be able to become friends, and if not friends, at least stand each other without having to throw insults back and forth every ten seconds!" she exclaimed. Now Draco was staring at her too. She looked at each of their expressions and stood up. "There is no way around this, you will either serve these detentions or be expelled from Hogwarts," she said with finality.

Harry gaped at Professor McGonagall. Draco's jaw hung down in amazement. Harry stood up first. "Y-You can't be serious professor," Harry stuttered, stumbling over to the two professors, sitting behind the desk, looking very calm indeed.

"Oh yes Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall replied. "We are quite serious," she said turning towards Snape. "Aren't we Professor?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Snape nodded, then looked at Draco. "As ridiculous as this may seem," he said, "It's for the best."

"Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, you don't understand," Draco began, standing up next to Harry. "We," he said, pointing at Harry and himself, "Can't possibly work together. We'll beat the living daylights out of each other!" he said, almost shouting.

Professor McGonagall grinned. "Oh, I'll be making sure that won't happen. Before each of your detentions, I will perform a Lottus Toccares spell on each of you, which will disable either of you to touch one another." Draco's stared at her. This can't be happening to me, he thought, angrily.

Draco opened his mouth to speak again, but Professor McGonagall raised a hand, and shoved them out of the door. "Your detentions begin on Saturday," she said firmly, and slammed the door in their faces.

Draco turned to look at Harry.

"Now look at what you've done Potter!" Draco exclaimed.

Harry frowned. "It's not entirely my fault Malfoy," he said defensively. He started to walk down the stairs, and then turned to look at Malfoy who was grinning.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked

"I was just thinking about how I might have to shove your head down the toilet for this," Draco said. Harry shook his head.

"Shut up Malfoy."