It wasn't love! He didn't understand how no one else noticed what he did! There was something off about Potter, and Draco was the only one investigating it.
Potter was weird, no one would deny that. He didn't speak to others outside of his tight-knit group much, and people preferred it that way. It had been very exciting and dramatic to go to school with a celebrity, but that had quickly given way under the heavy weight of Potter's abject strangeness. Sometimes he looked at you, and the green in his eyes reminded you of everything bad you'd ever done, of pain and terror and death. People avoided him. But as far as Draco was aware, no one except himself thought any deeper into it. Potter was weird - but why? He was the only one brave enough to connect the dots.
It had gone to a head during their second year. Potter being able to speak the language of snakes had been Draco's first clue. Nearly everyone had agreed: Potter must be the Heir of Slytherin. But then his pet Granger had gotten petrified, and shortly after, Dumbledore announced with no detail or explanation that the whole damn thing was solved. The monster dead and the Chamber closed. Gryffindor miraculously won the House Cup despite being in third place just before this announcement, and Potter was preening at his table. So a no on the Heir (probably) but not a no to him having killed what rumor said was a basilisk. Weasley bragged eagerly that Potter had gotten it with a sword.
Draco had assumed Weasley had been lying, dramatizing the whole affair in an attempt to make himself famous. A twelve-year-old, take down a level five Dark creature? Impossible. Then Father had gone into the Chamber that the following summer and had confirmed it. A basilisk. Stabbed with a sword. By a bloody twelve-year-old.
Then there was the Snape debacle. Malfoy had tried to visit him, just before he had been kicked out of the school. Professor Snape had become a depressed, raving madman who muttered about ghosts and James Potter and drank more than was comfortable. How had the level-headed professor gone from the peak of calm to someone unable to tell what was real or not? Potter and Snape's feud had been infamous at the school. Potter had to have caused it.
And the little questions kept piling up. Miss Adams was a great teacher, and well adored by her students, but she was also one of the most eccentric people Malfoy had ever had the burden of knowing. There was currently a large betting pool going around the school about how she had been the one to facilitate Dolores Umbridge's death, and whether she would kill the Dark Lord, or Fudge, or Dumbledore, or all three. Potter also bragged openly about his mass-murderer godfather Sirius Black. He was surrounded by other Dark lunatics, it only made sense for him to be one as well.
For that was Draco's hypothesis. Harry Potter had to be a Dark wizard. He was not taking the negative for an answer. It all added up! He would find solid proof of this, to prove to everyone he was not crazy or in love and he would expose Potter as a fraud.
"Can you shut up and let me focus on my reading!? Why in Merlin's name do you care so much?" Pansy sighed. "You're a Dark wizard. Are you seriously worried about Potter's morals?"
"But he's not a proper Dark wizard! He hangs around with Weasel, the mudblood, and that weird Ravenclaw!"
Pansy frowned and set down her book, staring at him.
"But they're his best friends, if he really is Dark, then they most certainly are too."
Draco shuddered in revulsion at the thought of someone like Granger participating in the type of rituals and magics reserved for only the best of wizards. No, it was unfathomable. Not only would she not be capable of such things, but she would refuse even if she was granted such a prestigious opportunity. Mudbloods and their morals. Yuck.
"No, no. It's not possible. She's not pureblood. She doesn't have the power to accomplish that sort of magic, she's filthy," he insisted.
"Potter isn't pureblood."
"I'm sorry, you accuse me of having a crush! You're the one defending him."
She rolled her eyes and set down her book, giving him her full attention. "What is your goal, Draco? Because it sounds like you're stalking him because you're in love with him. If you exposed him of practicing Dark magic, who would even care besides Dumbledore? No one would believe you, and if they did, your father and other Dark-aligned members of the Ministry would have no choice but to publicly defend Potter's right to practice. Hell, with how famous he is, he might make the Dark Arts more mainstream. Leave him alone, would you? If you're wrong, you'll end up looking a fool, if you're right, you'll end up dead. Leave it, please."
Draco sputtered and his face turned a violent shade of red. "I'm not in love with him!" He stormed off. Pansy sighed and made a note to prepare a speech for Draco's upcoming funeral and/or wedding.
.....
Join my p@treon and read ahead by more than 60+ chapters.
Link : [email protected]/InfinityWeaver
Free members can read the next two chapters for free on my p@treon