CHAPTER 2

The locker room where the meeting would be held was as packed as he expected. Additional chairs and stools were there to accommodate not only the players but all team management and assistants. He decided perhaps it was better he didn't venture all the way into the room, so he stood to the side right next to the door and dared to glance around the room.

It didn't take long to find them, the centre of attention as always. Laughing and jeering, prodding people with their elbows. It was so easy to both love them and hate them all at the same time. "Yeah but her knickers were red!" Harry was exclaiming, apparently retelling a grand story of their trip to Austria. "Yeah so was her arse by the time we were done with her." Blaise chimed in with a laugh. The people gathered around them laughed and reached for high fives but Draco felt like the floor beneath him was sinking away. Even more so as Harry looked over, and pinned him right to the wall with that fiery green gaze. Draco felt himself stop breathing, fuck, he felt his whole heart stop for a moment, everything around him went silent and it took every ounce of strength within him to hold that gaze. It felt like he looked at him forever; and then.. and then.. he just looked away. He went back to talking and laughing as though Draco didn't exist, as though he wasn't standing over there with his insides imploding in on itself.

"Ok guys let's get this thing started!" The lead coach said as he entered into the room, making Draco near jump out of his skin. "Settle down, settle down." He said with a wave of his arms trying to get the ever so boisterous players to shut up. This of course was a welcomed distraction for Draco. "Alright," he said as the room quieted. "First things first. Welcome back Potter, welcome back Zabini I hope your training camp went well." They both simply nodded, but Blaise dragged his thumb over his lips in a kind of lewd way that showed it went well in more ways than one. Draco wanted to deck him.

"Secondly, I don't usually address tabloid gossip but a memo came down from up top in reference to a scandal ran in this morning's paper. Apparently the seeker for the national team was caught fucking the team's towel boy." At this lewd announcement Draco resolutely kept his eyes forward, stone faced and focused on the wall right behind the coach's head. Some of the players hooted and howled immaturely while others simply laughed and shook their heads. "In light of this revelation the Quidditch administration has issued a couple rules. There is to be no sexual fraternizing between, players and staff, towel boys included." Some of the players groaned and glanced at Draco as though they intended to have a romp or two with him and were now oh so disappointed that they were not permitted to do so. (As if.) "Any staff found being involved with same team players will be fired and any players found doing the same will be suspended until further notice without pay or game play." He flipped the page on his clipboard.

"But.." Alex Abernathy spoke up sounding both hesitant and worried. "What if.. you're already in.. a relationship?" he asked making the entire locker room roll their eyes. As if they didn't all know him and Mikel James had been together for the past year. Even though it was kept out of the tabloids and not flaunted around the locker room it was common knowledge. So what would happen to them? "Well, provided that you're willing to fill out forms releasing the team from any liability in relation to your relationship then its fine. I'll get together with you two after the meeting to sort out the new paperwork." They seemed relieved at that and Alex gently nudged Mikel's shoulder which was the only affection they allowed each other when in the locker room. "Anyway, moving on.."

The rest of the meeting was a blur to Draco. He felt so incredibly stupid just standing there. He was pretty sure neither Harry nor Blaise spared him a single glance and it made him feel like complete dirt. They used him. They fucking used him. He felt his throat tightening and his eyes prickle but he refused, absolutely refused to break down before he got home. When the meeting was called to an end Draco was the first one out the door. The team would get together for an official training tomorrow and he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He didn't want to see them, not now, not ever again. Those fucking two faced bastards. He had a right to go straight to the bloody press and get them both suspended for the rest of their careers. He sniffled as he tossed the floo power into the lobby fireplace. He hated them both so much. Even as he stepped into the fireplace with tears running down his flushed cheeks he murmured in a broken voice. "I hate them, I hate them, I hate them.."

By the time he got home it was only 1:30PM but he didn't feel like doing anything. He kicked off his shoes, fell face first on to the couch and began crying. He hated himself almost as much as he hated those two.

Draco hadn't realized he had fallen asleep until he woke up with his eyes feeling swollen and sandy. He hated crying before bed, in the earlier parts of his two months of confused and hurt purgatory he had done a lot of crying himself to sleep. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands and figured if he was going to make a complete ass of himself, he might as well do so in his bed. It was already dark outside so he didn't even bother looking at the clock for the time. He just dragged on her pajama bottoms and crawled into his bed.

The next time he awoke it was still dark outside, the the clock next to told him it was 5:16AM. He groaned and rubbed his face into the pillow. He needed to be at the training grounds, at least half an hour before the players, which meant he needed to get out of bed right away. He sat up and dragged his hand through his already ruffled blond hair and began preparing for the day. Damn it all, he felt worse than he did yesterday. His stomach felt heavy like he was about to throw up any moment, his hands were clammy and shaky. The stress must be giving him some kind of flu, but staying home, even sick on the first day of the season was out of the question. He felt his stomach lurch as he stood and the room swam around him. He shook his head to clear it and groaned depressingly as he went on with his morning routine with his head as foggy as though he were still asleep.

He wasn't sure if it was just because he was feeling under the weather, but when he stepped out side the icy cold wind hitting his face made him pull his jacket closer to his cheeks. It was definitely fall, this day was going to be horrid he could already tell.

When he arrived there were only a few players there already getting into their gear. "Morning.." he muttered with a sniffle.

"Jeez Mafloy!" Adam McCoy exclaimed upon seeing him. "You look like shite."

Draco rolled his eyes and scowled at him. "Thanks a lot McCoy, same to you." He dropped his bag into his small designated locker and got to work. He went into his zone then, laying out note pads, pens, towels, water bottles and a few protein bars for each player. They would do the practical side of training first, write down some player arrangements and then do the physical of it later on in the day. The practical was the most excruciatingly boring part; especially when all Draco wanted to do was curl up in a ball at home, in his bed and sleep for the rest of the year. He went to the front of the room to make sure there were enough markers for the white board when the doors banged open. As though his head didn't hurt enough, he heard the voices of the last two people he wanted to see today. "You know you like it, Potter." Blaise was saying to Harry brushing his shoulder against his with a gentle nudge giving him that radiant white smile and a seductive wink. He'd hoped they had collectively gotten hit by a bus. Just his luck he supposed.

"Fuck me.." Harry said softly. But the room was so small that his voice carried all the way to Draco. The lewd words made his fingers fumble around the box causing it to fall making all the markers scatter across the floor. Draco swore under his breath and fell to his hands and knees to collect the scattered objects.

It wasn't under he came face to feet with, what he guessed were Harry's trainers had he realized that he had went full circle. 'Just great..' he thought. How ironic that he found himself at the feet of the great Harry Potter. He probably had people falling to their knees before him all the time, but what made it even worse for Draco was that Harry just happened to be one of the people who essentially fucked him and left him high and dry. He didn't dare look up and make eye contact. He simply reached for the marker that was at the tip of Harry's shoe and was inches from getting it before the foot moved, covered it and then kicked the marker half way across the room. "Watch it, Malfoy." Harry said in a cold voice before stepping around Draco, walking away and finding a seat near the front of the room. What the hell had he done to deserve this?

Draco felt smaller than a spec of dirt. It wasn't a misunderstanding. It was all a big joke. It was as though they were back in school all over again. He felt the tears well up in his eyes but he swallowed thickly to make sure they didn't spill over. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction to see him cry. He didn't care where Blaise was this point. He picked up the marker and was happy when the doors banged open and a flood of players came in allowing Draco to get lost in the crowd. He put the box on the ledge of the white board and hurried to the back of the room. He felt as though he wanted to throw up, the whole room was spinning and he felt as though he couldn't breathe. He leaned against the row of lockers near the showers and banged his head against it once. "Snap out of it, Malfoy." He muttered firmly to himself. "You're stronger than this." He resolutely wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Took a deep calming breath and walked back to the main locker room taking his usual place near the door. He was done being 'hurt, forlorn' Malfoy. He settled on just being plain, fucking angry and an angry Malfoy was a dangerous Malfoy.

Hopefully this picks up more in the 3rd Chapter. I already have it plotted in my head so I went back and added a lot more content to this chapter. Reviews are appreciated.

V.V