Harry was beginning his very last year at Hogwarts. He had been made if he wanted to start auror training. Harry didn't particularly want to do it, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because 'mione would've made him anyway, and he would have majorly let down Ron, who was dead set on becoming an Auror. So he went, and Harry sat in a train car with his two best friends.
"I don't get why we had to go back, mate; it's not like there is anything more to learn. Not in the field we are going into, at least."
Hermione scoffed at Ron's mini-rant.
"We could barely even count our last year as an education, Ron. We didn't even get to do our NEWTs."
Ron rolled his eyes and unwrapped one of the chocolate frogs he had bought off the trolley, putting the whole thing in his mouth.
"Aye loo'! I got you 'arry!"
He showed Harry the card, his mouth full of chocolatey marshmallow.
"Nice, mate."
Harry gave an awkward thumbs-up. He hated seeing his face on a shiny purple card as if people should look up to him.
"Close your mouth, Ronald! Honestly, are you five?"
Hermione scolded and probably would have hit him with the book she was holding if she wasn't on the other side of the cart.
"Oo, Mione, come give me a kiss."
Ron reached out for her and closed his eyes, laughing with his mouth wide open. Harry watched Hermione retreat, disgustedly laughing.
"Excuse me!"
The words rang through the cart as they all fell silent. They looked over at the cart door, where a tall Draco Malfoy stood, clearing his throat.
"There is quite literally no other seat available on this entire train, seeing as everyone in the other carts is practically sitting on each other's laps. So I am going to sit here. Thanks."
He sat down, pointedly making eye contact with all of them.
"You can stop staring now." He held his head high.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, extremely bewildered. Ron shot Draco a distasteful look, and Hermione scowled at him. Harry returned to staring out the window, and Draco sat beside the door.
Harry stared out the window for most of the ride, watching the trees pass. At some point during the trip, Hermione had gone to sit by Ron and was now asleep on his shoulder. Ron had his head tipped back and was snoring softly. Draco had also gotten up at some point, Harry noticed, because he was now in his new school uniform. It was black, as always, but the part that was usually the student’s house color was a dark gray.
Upon further inspection, Harry also noticed that Malfoy’s hair was now to his shoulders and ever so slightly pink—like pink that you wouldn’t be able to see unless you were really looking, and Harry definitely was. He only realized this when Draco looked up from whatever he was reading and caught him staring. Harry quickly looked away. Draco raised a sly eyebrow and slowly returned to reading.
Harry decided to change into his robes after that, hoping Malfoy would think that was why he was staring- and not that he was studying his hair.
On his way to the bathroom, seven people approached Harry and asked for his autograph. Harry politely said he was not doing signatures for any of them, but he just wanted to scream at them. Who cares if they are only like eleven? They should know better than to ask someone actively trying to get to the loo for their signature.
“Excuse me?”
A small boy walked up to Harry on his way back to his cart, looking cautious. He had mousy brown hair that Harry thought was quite long for a boy’s, and he had it up in a ponytail with a small blue hair elastic.
“Sorry, I’m not doing any signatures.”
Harry regretted saying that after he saw the boy’s expression change from worried to anxious.
“I-“ He began before stopping. He looked a little embarrassed. Had Harry done that?
“I was just wondering if you knew where the loo was..”
He said quietly. Harry felt somewhat embarrassed at this point.
“Oh- er..”
He pointed toward the way he had come and now realized the boy was holding his first-year robes in one hand and a muggle CD player in the other, playing something into his ears. This kid was muggle-born; he probably didn’t even know who he was, let alone want his autograph, and honestly, it felt nice.
“Right, thanks!”
He ran off toward the loo, his ponytail swishing behind him. Harry watched him run off for a second before returning to his cart.
When he returned, Hermione and Ron were awake, but Hermione was back in her seat, and Ron’s face was red. Malfoy was still reading his book.
“Did- what happened?”
Harry whispered to Ron when he sat down. Ron had started fiddling with his thumbs, and Hermione was now reading the book she had been holding earlier.
“Well, when we woke up, we saw that you were gone, and Malfoy was being so silent—we forgot he was there.“ Ron stopped for a second, seemingly having flashbacks. And we started making out,” he whispered. “Like full-on sloppy French, mate…”
Ron put his hands over his face, which was still very red. Harry looked over to Hermione, who Harry realized was much redder than usual.
“Malfoy didn’t even say anything for a solid five minutes, Harry- and then he cleared his throat, and Hermione sprang away from me so fast I thought she had turned into a squirrel. Then you walked in, which saved us a lot of awkwardness.”
Malfoy hadn’t seemed very phased when Harry walked in; did he not care? Did he really not care about them kissing? Did he want to save them the embarrassment of me walking in on them? That couldn’t have been it. No.
“Sorry mate, that seems-“ Harry tried to think of the appropriate word. “Embarrassing.”
“Yeah, whatever, it’s all good; your robes look nice, mate.” Ron looked Harry up and down. “So McGonagall is actually making us wear gray on our robes instead of red? That is so lame.”
“I think the red looked terrible on you anyway.”
They all turned to look at Malfoy, who was still looking down at his book reading.
“Err… Thanks for the input, Malfoy.” Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before sitting back in his seat beside Ron.
Ron stared out the window, thinking, while Hermione read. Harry took the chance to ask Draco about his hair.
“Malfoy?” Harry paused, and Draco looked up; Harry froze for a second, “Is your hair, er.. pink? Not that it looks bad, I was just, just wondering.”
He chuckled, closing his book and crossing his leg over the other. “Yeah, yeah, my hair’s a little pink. I went to Andromeda’s, and Teddy convinced me to dye my hair with this muggle drink.” He laughed to himself, “You like it Potter? I think I look dashing, don’t you?” He did an imaginary hair flip and smirked.
Harry made a choking-coughing kind of sound and nodded. Ron and Hermione turned their heads to look at him, concerned, before returning to their things.
“Yeah!- Yeah, you- it looks great!” Harry cleared his throat when Draco just laughed at him.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Malfoy. Come on.” Harry crossed his arms and looked out the window, “I didn’t know you visited Teddy and Dromeda much.”
“Yeah, apparently more than you do. Teddy loves you, you know that? You’re all he talked about while I was there.”
Harry sighed. “Yeah, I know. I need to see them more often. I get so caught up in…”
“Life? I know how it is, Potter.” Harry looked over at him, and Ron stood up.
“I’m gonna change.” He pointed his thumb toward the door.
Hermione hopped up. “I’ll come too; we’re almost there.” She put her book in her bag and took out her robes, along with Ron’s. They walked out of the compartment together, sliding the door open and shut quietly.
“I’m sorry, by the way,” Draco whispered, still looking at Harry. “For everything.” Harry made a confused expression, looking over at him.
“Be more specific, Malfoy.”
“For bullying you, for going out of my way to make your life a living hell, for not thanking you for testifying at my trial, for literally everything I did in the past. I genuinely am sorry, Potter.” Harry just stared for a second, mouth slightly agape.
“Er—Malfoy, I don’t—" He paused. “Thank you for apologizing. It means a lot.” The apology slightly took him aback, but he was more surprised that Draco Malfoy had a tongue piercing.
They stared at each other momentarily before Draco spoke up again.
“Thank you for testifying for me and my mother; it got us out of trouble.” Harry nodded, smiling.
“Thank you for letting me use your wand. You saved us there, Malfoy.” Draco smiled back. The train stopped, announcing their arrival, and Ron and Hermione walked back in wearing their school robes.