thirteenth lotus leaf

On Fridays, classes were free after Potions. Draco took his first-year books and went to the library. He wanted to refresh his knowledge. After all, he hadn't memorized like Hermione.

"Draco," a boy stopped by slapping his hands on the table.

"What is it, Potter?" He continued reading his book.

"Harry."

"What?"

Now he was looking at the boy with ruby eyes.
"Why don't you call me Harry?"

"Never mind, what do you want?" The boy pouted a little.

"I got a letter from Hagrid at breakfast, he's inviting us to his hut."

"So?" Draco raised one eyebrow now.

"Do you want to come?" The boy was looking at him with no sign of being discouraged. Draco really couldn't expect less. He had confronted Snape in the previous lesson. He took a deep breath.

"I don't think so," he averted his eyes, he didn't want to look into those puppy-like eyes again.

"But why, Ron is coming to" now there was even sadness in Potter's voice. But he didn't seem to give up anytime soon.

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Is Hermione coming too?"

The boy shrugged. "I can ask."
It was quite surprising how far the Golden Trio was from being a trio before they became a trio. Draco took another book from the pile of books.

"You'd better ask," Harry's face lit up. He was nodding rapidly. Draco tried to bury his head in his book.

"Okay, I'll ask and come to get you right away."

He ran out of the library. Draco couldn't say anything. His efforts to stay away from the stupid Potter had been crushed by his own will. He muttered, hoping he wouldn't get involved in anything.

When Potter came back, he had moved on to another book

Before he could turn the page to the next chapter of 'Theories of Magic' by Adalbert Waffling, the chair in front of him was pulled back. The girl with fluffy hair was looking at him.

"Hello, Draco,"
"Hello, Hermione,"
The girl smiled softly. Potter beside her was fidgeting with a strange excitement.

"Shall we go?"

Draco got up and as they walked out into the garden, Weasley was waiting for them at the door.

"What took you so long?" Then he noticed the girl. He wrinkled his face a little.

"I thought you were just going to call Malfoy," he made a gesture to turn his head away so the girl couldn't see. At least he thought it was a kind thing to do for a Weasley. It must be difficult to have manners for a Weasley.

"If Draco didn't come, Hermione wouldn't come," Potter had no subtlety either. Hermione frowned. The stupid Gryffindors.

"At least I wanted to have a friend with me."

"Hey, what about us?" Weasley complained a little angrily.

Draco snorted. "Are we acquainted?"

"Come on, mate," Weasley complained a bit angrily. Hermione smiled amusedly. But Potter, was he sulking again?

As they approached the Forbidden Forest, he was discussing the books he had read in the library with Hermione. It was somewhat reassuring that at least one of them had a brain. He couldn't even communicate with these idiots, especially Weasley. He still had a grudge against the boy, and he couldn't help it.

When they arrived at a small wooden house, Harry knocked on the door. There was a few barks and scratches. Draco couldn't help but flinch. Then Hagrid's voice boomed:
"Fang, get back!"

The door creaked open. "Just a minute," Hagrid said, "Get back, Fang."

He let the children in, struggling to hold the boarhound by its collar. Draco tried not to wrinkle his nose at the decoration. The fact that he no longer cared about pure-blood status didn't make him appreciate beauty either.

"Don't stand there like strangers," he said, putting cookies on a plate. Draco was going to skip the cookies.

"These are my friends," he said, looking at Draco carefully.

"Ron, Draco, Hermione,"

Hagrid looked at Ron first. "Another Weasley," he said, "I've spent half my life chasing your twins out of the forest." Draco was glad he hadn't taken any cookies. Potter was barely biting into one. All three of them were pretending to like the cookies.

Hagrid then turned to Draco. His eyebrows rose.

"And a Malfoy," Fang lunged at Draco, and Draco forced Potter to switch places.

"Malfoys were definitely calmer, but they had a lot of trouble with your mother's side," Hagrid looked out the window at Hogwarts. He seemed to be talking about the other professors.

"And Hermione, your eyes are like sparks of knowledge," Hagrid's coal-black eyes softened with affection. Draco would have been disgusted by this before. And when he said your mother's side, he was mostly referring to Draco's mother who argued with Professor Binns about history, his crazy aunt in Azkaban, and his jester cousin Sirius, who was also in Azkaban.

Hagrid was now talking about Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris. This amused them all. Harry also didn't forget to mention Snape. He seemed to believe that Snape hated him. Draco agreed, but Snape hated Potter not because of himself, but because of what he represented. But he had to see Lily in him too. He started talking about Weasley and his brother Charlie. Dragons? Was he kidding? For the first time, Draco felt like he could actually like a Weasley.

Harry took a piece of paper and was now scanning it. Draco leaned in to see what he was looking at.

"LATEST NEWS ON THE GRINGOTTS ROBBERY"
Investigations have shown that the Gringotts robbery, which took place on July 31st, was carried out by unidentified dark wizards or witches.

Gringotts goblins have stated in a statement today that nothing was stolen, and that the safe in question had already been emptied earlier that day.

Later today, a Gringotts goblin spokesperson said, "We are not going to say what was in the safe. So for your own safety, you'd better mind your own business."

"Hagrid!" said Potter. "The Gringotts robbery happened on my birthday! Maybe they robbed it while we were right there!"

There was no doubt about it anymore, his round glasses definitely missed Harry's eyes now, but he offered another cookie. Harry read the news again. Draco was also very surprised, something was definitely going on. That was the end of the matter.

Draco had hoped that Potter would leave him alone in the morning, but his dreams were shattered. He was going to his two-way duel with the Gryffindors. Potter and Weasley had approached him as if they didn't care about Zabini and Parkinson. While Blaise remained expressionless, Pansy didn't spare her judging glances. Draco pretended to join the conversation, acting more like Potter and Weasley, who were chatting. Then they saw the banner in front of them:

-Gryffindors and Slytherins will take the flying lesson together -

Harry turned to Draco excitedly.
"This is great, we'll be practicing flying on broomsticks together!" Then suddenly, the boy's face turned pale.
It was as if something had clicked in his head. Draco chuckled.
"Are you worried that you'll make a fool of yourself in front of me because you've never ridden a broom before, Potter?"

Harry's cheeks were turning red. He pretended to fix his crooked collar. They entered the classroom. After his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he looked at Potter.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll look great on a broom," Draco grinned childishly. The boy was shocked and frozen in place. Weasley was looking at them strangely.

Taking advantage of this, Draco sat next to Pansy and Blaise, who had already taken a seat. Then he turned around.

"I'll be better than you anyway," he stuck out his tongue playfully.

He was just teasing the boy. Potter didn't seem offended at all. He returned the tongue-out gesture while Weasley helped him pull up an empty seat.
Draco didn't enjoy flying as much anymore. When he was younger and had no friends, he would fly alone (he hadn't met Blaise until the ball, Pansy didn't like flying, and his other two big friends didn't know how to play). He had almost crashed into the spinning blades of a Muggle vehicle. It wasn't a lie, he had been terrified and hadn't told his mother about it for six months. But he had overcome it. Now, he couldn't fly without imagining Crabbe's face as he fell into the flames, his scream ringing in his ears, and his hand reaching out to him. Even though it didn't itch, he scratched his arm automatically. He had been doing it a lot lately when he was nervous.

On Thursday morning at breakfast, he had watched Hermione hopelessly reading Quidditch Through the Ages. He wanted to give her a tip, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was neither a Hufflepuff nor her friend. He realized he had even forgotten the chocolate his mother had sent him with an owl.

At half past three, he went out to the garden reluctantly. Blaise had gone to Theo. Crabble and Gregory were arguing about how to hide sweets from him. Pansy was standing to his right, discussing a new hair conditioner she had just been introduced to by Daphne, ignoring her attempts at conversation. If Draco hadn't been so bored, he would have gladly joined them.

Madam Hooch arrived. Everyone was crowding around a broomstick. Soon, they heard the shout, "UP!"
Potter summoned his broom immediately, just like he had done before. The broom hit Weasley in the face. Potter laughed, Draco to, without realizing it.
"Both of you, shut up," he scolded, with a hint of hidden amusement.

Daphne mounted her broom in one go, followed by Blaise. Now they were both trying to show 'very angry Pansy ' and 'seemed determined to get revenge Theo' , who wasn't taking his eyes off the broom.
Draco couldn't understand why Daphne didn't join the Quidditch team. He hadn't noticed it at all in the first lesson.

Potter was now looking at him with raised eyebrows. Draco felt a desire to show off. Without a word, he summoned his broom.
Potter and Weasley looked at him in surprise. Potter smiled in defeat. Draco chuckled inwardly. In reality, the boy was better than him, he had a natural talent, but he didn't know that yet.

Looking around, he saw that Hermione was still struggling. Draco caught Hermione's attention and simply said, "Imagine." The girl smiled immediately and tried to summon the broom again. She managed on the second try. Draco gave her a thumbs up.

Madam Hooch checked everyone's grip. She looked at Draco's grip without saying anything and moved on, it was just perfect. Draco was now starting to really enjoy this time travel. His chest swelled involuntarily.

Madam Hooch explained how to take off, and before she could blow her whistle, Longbottom soared off the ground. Draco thought of something else. He started to feel sorry for the boy. He wanted to make a list of Longbottom's clumsiness and help him with everything. He was turning into a Hufflepuff, he was sure. Draco turned his head away, knowing what would happen next.

Madam Hooch was now taking Longbottom to the infirmary. A warning was passed on to them as well. They were not allowed to touch the broomsticks. Draco didn't laugh, so none of the Slytherins laughed either. Some of them smirked sarcastically, while others didn't seem to care.

He heard Pansy mutter, "Fat coward."

At that moment, he saw something on the ground that caught his attention. It was Longbottom's ball. He reached out and picked it up. He turned it over and examined it. If he gave this ball to the boy, maybe he could gain his trust.

"Give that back, Malfoy!"