Storm Cloud Eyes

Momentarily, you had regained control.

Even (who you would come to recognize as) Crabbe and Goyle hadn't known what to do as their leader was indisposed.

You knew better than to waste the escape presented to you.

"Hey Nevile," you had said before grabbing the boy's hand and sprinting for the boats, "if we don't want to start our year off with blackeyes I'd suggest we run."

~~~~~~~~~~

From that point on you and Malfoy had it out for each other.

Your houses turning out to be natural enemies, Slytherin and Gryffindor, only encouraged the rivalry.

The age-old feud strengthened the hatred you had for each other, and when caught in a battle of words and whits neither of you were known to back down. Some of your fights had become legendary during your growing years at Hogwarts.

There was the time in second year where Malfoy made one of your Hufflepuff friends cry so hard she could barely take in a breath. Naturally, you had tracked him down, and gave him a bloody nose before he could get as far as greeting you.

Your third year together had only amped up your antics. It had found the two of you arguing over the true origin of the, 'accio,' spell in the middle of Professor Flitwick's Charms class. Your teacher had turned bright red as his voice was lost in the mayhem of the two of you screaming profanities at each other until rain clouds had formed above your heads.

But maybe the most infamous argument the two of you had ever partaken in started when Draco thought it would be funny to dye your skin green and silver. He had conveniently forgotten the countercurse. You had chewed him out in front of the entire school in the Great Hall, including Professor Dumbledore. The teachers not only had to drag you both from the room, but had to reschedule your classes so the two of you had as little contact with each other as possible.

Of course, now the two of you knew how to keep your arguments underwraps so as not to get into any serious trouble with the school.

Looking back, you had always been drawn to each other. The explosive energy between you was unbearable unless unleashed in a form of chaos. The two of you thrived off of weaponized words, aimed to kill like that of a well casted spell. You orbited each other; burning stars ready to erupt in a shower of blinding dust should they ever collide.

But maybe for the first time in your life you found yourself running away from a fight with Malfoy, despite his voice beckoning you from further down the hall.

This thing you shared with him had gone too far; you were freefalling without an end in sight.

It started in Potions class.

It was the only period you didn't share with any friends which meant you were stuck listening to Malfoy without being able to snap back at him. Especially because he was one of Snape's favorites, and you were very clearly not.

Just as class had been coming to an end, and your patience was wearing thin, you heard something that shattered the illusion you'd ever known the Malfoy prodigy at all.

"I'd hit that," Blaise, one of Draco's friends, said.

You could tell by the way he'd whispered it that you were not intended to hear.

Something in your gut curdled.

You never liked when Malfoy's friends were around to witness the arguments between you two. They changed the rhythm of things, and ruined the routine you and Malfoy thrived off of.

They warped the boy into something nasty and cruel where he'd once respected boundaries.

That was the thing, when it was just the two of you there were boundaries. As hard to believe as it might sound, you two were equals. You regarded each other with a certain amount of respect that could not be guaranteed when there was an audience.