“HAHAHAHAHA! LOOK AT POTTER! WHAT A WEAKLING!”
“Honestly, Potter, do you ever get tired of embarrassing yourself?”
“Potter, Potter, Potter. Is there anything more pathetic than you?”
Dracaena Malfoy laughed every time she saw Harry. She mocked him in the corridors, insulted him in the Great Hall, and made every encounter an excuse to remind him how much she supposedly hated him.
And Harry endured it.
Day after day.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Until one afternoon, Harry finally stopped walking away from her insults.
“Malfoy.”
“What is it now, Potter? Come to cry?”
Harry looked at her quietly. There was no anger in his eyes. No frustration. Not even the sadness she had grown accustomed to seeing.
Just exhaustion.
“If you hate me so much, Dracaena, I'm sorry.”
Malfoy's smile faltered.
“What?”
“I'm sorry for bothering you. I'm sorry for existing in your life when all I've ever done is make you miserable.”
“Potter, what are you talking about?”
“I'll leave. I won't bother you anymore.”
Harry paused, giving her one last, tired smile.
“And I promise, Dracaena. You'll never have to see me again.”
For the first time in her life, Dracaena Malfoy had absolutely nothing to say.
“No. Wait. Harry, I…”
Her lips trembled.
“That isn't… That's not what I…”
No. No, no, no! Harry, please wait! I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!
But those words never left her mouth.
Because Harry had already turned around.
And this time, he didn't look back.
“Harry?”
He kept walking.
“Harry, wait!”
She reached out, but her fingers grasped nothing but empty air.
“POTTER!”
He didn't stop.
Tears blurred her vision. Her chest tightened as the terrible truth finally settled in.
She had spent months telling Harry that she hated him.
And Harry had finally believed her.
---
Harry disappeared shortly afterward.
Nobody knew where he went. Not Ron, not Hermione, not even the professors who searched for him.
His belongings were gone. His bed was empty. His name slowly disappeared from the conversations of people who had once known him.
And Dracaena?
She returned to the places where she used to mock him, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of those messy black-haired curls and those familiar green eyes.
But Harry never came back.
She had wanted him to leave her alone.
She had wanted him to stop bothering her.
She had wanted him to understand how much she supposedly hated him.
And Harry had granted every single one of her wishes.
Only now, standing alone in the empty corridor, did Dracaena finally whisper the words she had been too proud to say.
“I don't hate you, Harry…”
Her voice broke.
“I love you.”
But the corridor remained silent.
And somewhere beyond Hogwarts, Harry Potter was beginning a new life, far away from the girl who had made him believe he was unwanted.
For the first time in years, Harry was safe.
And for the first time in her life, Dracaena Malfoy understood what it meant to lose something she could never get back.