Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

CHAPTER FIVE

It was in Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts when he sat on a chair in the Slytherin commons, mindlessly scribbling out an essay for potions. Snape really didn't care about the quality of the essay as long as it was there--or at least for the Slytherins. Harry had always been on the good side of Snape, he and Draco being the Potions geniuses that they were. In fact, they could always get extra materials from him, which only helped them with being the two most notorious tricksters in school. They made even the Weasley twins jealous! As he scratched away with his quill, his foot tapped unconsciously on the ground.

Harry had pushed his desire for Draco out of the way years ago, although it still peeked out of its hole occasions. He had tried to put him out of his mind with one simple thought- Pansy. He talked about her to Draco all the time, and his smirking friend had told him there was one solution: tell the girl how he felt! Around the middle of their third year, Harry had admitted his crush on Pansy to her face. Pansy had enthusiastically stated her feelings for Harry, and- BAM. Instant couple.

Amazingly ((and quite unexpectedly)) enough, the couple had lasted up until now. Harry wasn't quite sure why, though. He had never told anyone, but he just didn't like Pansy all that much. She was a great person, a great friend, but he recently realized that he just didn't love her. This was a confusing time is Harry's life- he was just trying to dig deeper, to figure himself out- find out who he really was. And although he knew that Pansy wasn't a part of that answer, he still stayed with her- he wanted stability and ease at the moment. No struggle, no change.

He sighed as he wrote out yet another useless sentence. Why, if he was striving for stability and ease, was he longing for adventure? Something exciting, out-of-the-ordinary? He confused himself sometimes.

Draco hopped off of his bed, grabbed his wand, and headed down to the common room. Flopping down the spiral staircase, he let out a rather large yawn, and stretched his arms above his head. Jumping energetically off the last step, he looked around the room, eager to start a new day.

He saw Harry, sitting in a large chair working on his potions. Pansy was sitting halfway across the room, reading a book, and glancing up at Harry occasionally. She had a faint smile on her thin face, blood-red lips curving up ever so slightly to reveal large, dull teeth. Draco's gaze moved back to Harry.

God, Harry. The one person Draco had ever really related to, the amazingly smart and witty boy with the raven hair, his soul mate, best friend. And bloody well attractive, a voice added in the back of his head. A slight frown appeared on Draco's face. He hated how those thoughts popped up every once in a while. He thought he had them controlled back in his first year, until last year when they became a problem again.

Draco never really knew what to think about the matter- he was pretty sure he wasn't gay- he'd had his share of girls over the years- but there was always an attraction to Harry. He tried to convince himself earlier that Harry only had a feminine look about him, but he wasn't so positive anymore. He didn't know what was real and what wasn't anymore- nothing seemed to be right, everything to be wrong. Life could get so amazingly confusing; it didn't seem to be fair. He only wanted to figure things out.

Pansy looked up from her book. "Hey there, Drakey . . . " The smile on her face was sickeningly wide.

Draco half-smiled back. "Hi Pans. Catching up on your Charms homework?"

She nodded, a disgusted look on her face. "It's awful, truly. I miss one day, and get assigned five chapters. FIVE CHAPTERS! Can you even believe that?" She sniffed loudly, glaring at the pages.

She lifted her head, pouting up at Harry. “Think you could . . . cheer me up?” This earned a chuckled from Harry and a disgusted look from his blonde companion. “After quidditch practice, we could . . . “practice” . . . a bit on our own!” She winked at Harry, and set her hand up on his shoulder. Her tongue rolled heavily across her chapped lips and she stared at the boy, slipping back into her mouth as she began to talk. “Draco would probably be nice enough to leave you alone with me for a bit . . .”

Draco rolled his eyes. "Great! Talk about me like I'm not even here! Maybe I'll just go to practice now without you, Harry, how would you like that?"

Pansy, who was still staring, motionless, into Harry's eyes, murmured breathlessly, "Harry would like that verrrrrrry much, wouldn't he?"

No, not really . . . he thought, but his mind told him that she wouldn't take that for an answer. “Yes he would,” he chuckled, smirking back at her.

Draco started to gag, and turned away. "Oh, give me a BREAK!" he grumbled. "Have you stopped acting all gushy yet? Can I turn around?" He tapped his foot impatiently.

The sound of Harry chuckling seductively at Pansy gave two reactions to Draco- first, he felt like puking with this mushy lovey-dovey stuff the two were carrying on. He only wanted to go to practice! Secondly, it made a slight flutter in his stomach, and Harry's sexiness seemed to be jumping out and flailing about his thoughts.

Pansy giggled back. "Okay, you can turn around now Draco." Draco looked back at the couple, who were now looking suspiciously innocent.

"C'mon Harry. And snap out of it, by the way, you need to be alert to be a good seeker- don't want you daydreaming on the field again!" Draco commanded.

Harry yawned. "'Course I will. Alright, I'm ready- we can go now."

The two boys bid Pansy farewell, and walked out of the commons. They had been on the Slytherin quidditch team since their second year each. Harry was the seeker- a great one at that- and Draco was the keeper. Having the two most important jobs on the team, they tended to be the natural leaders- even the sixth and seventh years listened to them. They knew, however, that at the end of the year they would choose a new captain, and it would be one of the two. That could definitely bring more problems, but they decided together to cross that bridge when they get to it.

After a walk filled with joking and talk, they reached the quidditch field. They stopped the chatter and began to warm up. As Draco mounted his broomstick, he stole a glance at Harry. Perhaps it could happen, he thought. I think I . . . I . . love him . . . or is love too strong of a word? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't . . . time will tell.

Perhaps.