There's only us now

~•*•~

Harry Potter

~•*•~

Harry raced through the halls, fixing his tie and overall panicking. He'd woken up late, missed breakfast, and was late to potions.

And no, he never did finish his homework. But he also never got ready for bed last night, but he woke up in his pjs so anything was possible.

Anything, except Malfoy getting Harry ready for bed the night before. Even though Harry couldn't think of a better explanation. 

Harry straightened his tie a final time before knocking on the classroom door. After what felt like an eternity, Professor Slughorn opened the door, but stood in the way of Harry's entrance.

"Mr. Potter, Why are you late" 

"I overslept" the words came out harsher than Harry had intended. He nearly winced as Professor Slughorn's face took on a disapproving look. Harry waited for his punishment, points taken from Gryffindor, maybe detention, but it never came. Instead, Slughorn simply moved out of the way, allowing Harry in. Harry tried to school his face from the surprise he felt but he had never been very good at that. 

Harry's eyes darted around the room, searching for somewhere to sit. Almost every seat was taken, except for the one next to Malfoy. 

'Of course,' Harry thought, 'of course it had to be Malfoy.'

 Harry trudged over to the seat, cursing his luck and his friends for not waking him up. After Harry got settled, he had to keep himself from staring at Malfoy. Maybe it was the fact that he had somehow been ready for bed when he was sure he hadn't been the night before. Maybe it was the way Malfoy's hair seemed to sparkle even in the dim light of the potions room. Harry didnt know.

  15 minutes later, Slughorn finally released the class to work on the potion. Malfoy took off instantly. So Harry watched as students busied themselves, collecting ingredients, reading instructions, stirring potions. Everyone was doing something, everyone except for Harry, of course. 

 Almost as soon as he left, Malfoy returned with 3 vials. Each containing an ingredient that Harry couldn't name if he tried. And he did try.

  Malfoy clicked his tongue against his teeth, drawing Harry's attention. The blonde was seemingly inspecting Harry with that calculating gaze that Harry had to assume was pre-programed into all Slytherins. 

"What?" Harry asked, slightly exasperated as he fought the urge to smooth his hair under the blondes gaze. 

"Nothing, Potter," Malfoy stated with a smirk "Nothing at all" 

 With that, Malfoy began studying the instructions, glancing at their materials as he read. Harry tried to look at the page but Malfoy pulled it from his view, holding it close to his chest.

"You are not taking charge on this, Potter" Malfoy hissed.

"Why not? Because you can't possibly work with the chosen one" Harry spat the words. He hated the nickname almost as much as he hated Malfoy. Harry watched as something flickered in Malfoy's gaze. (Concern? not possible, maybe pity.) But it left as soon as it came and Harry thought he'd imagined it.

 "No, Potter, because you are not good at potions and I'm not failing because of you." Harry almost asked how he could possibly know his skill level. The only thing that stopped him was the memories from the previous night that flooded his brain. 

Malfoy sitting on Harry's bed, correcting his work. Continuing to help when Harry still didn't get it. The way his chewed his lip and furrowed his brows as he concentrated.  

  Harry shook the memory from his head. He held the retort he wanted to say in. Instead Harry just nodded, moving back from Malfoy. He hadn't even realized how close he'd been, face barely an inch from Malfoy's.  

Harry was around the same height as Malfoy now. He'd grown a few inches since the war, which put him just a hair taller than the Slytherin. It wasn't that noticeable but it made Harry feel just a bit better.

 Malfoy seemed to be surprised by Harry's response. Harry had surprised himself aswell. He wanted to fight, give in to old habits and the familiar territory between them. But he also wanted as much of a normal year as possible. 

 Harry watched as Malfoy added a dark green liquid into the potion, stirring twice- wait, maybe it was 3 times. This is why Harry was bad at potions. He never paid much attention to the details, he never had to. Hermione often did it for him. But Hermione was busy with Ron, as she so often was these days. Harry cast a glare at his friends, to caught up in their own little world to notice his predicament. 

So Harry went back to watching Malfoy.  He watched as Malfoy's eyebrows knit together and chewed his lip. He watched as the boy double checked the instructions. He watched as Malfoy let out an exasperated sigh, pinching his eyes shut, and raking a hand through his platinum hair. Malfoy's hand was pale with pink knuckles and long, elegant fingers. Harry had to stop himself from asking if Malfoy played piano. 

 But then Malfoy looked at him. Harry forced his eyes to look somewhere, anywhere else. His face burned and Harry was positive that if he looked in a mirror, his cheeks would be pink. Because of course he had just been caught staring at Draco Malfoy again. He waited for Malfoy to tease him as he had the night before. 

But the snarky remark never came. 

So Harry let his gaze return to his partner, who had gone back to work. Maybe it was the now pink potion reflecting off his pale skin, but Harry swore that Malfoy was blushing.

His breath caught at the thought. Malfoy blushing was not something Harry had ever seen. And, if it were really happening, it would have supposedly been caused by him. Harry shook the thought out of his head. Both of afraid of what it meant, and what he felt. 

The rest of the class went on without any issue. The whole rest of the day went smoothly, actually. But even after hours had passed and night was quickly approaching, Harry couldn't stop thinking about Malfoy blushing.

Actually, he was so distracted, that he ended up in the great hall. He hated being in the great hall for more than one reason, but he had followed Ron and Hermione in without thinking. Harry thought about turning around, making an excuse about needing to study, or not wanting to intrude, but he had already come this far. So instead he sat down across from his friends. 

Harry had eaten, just not in the great hall. Sometimes in the library, occasionally his room, but more often than not he was in Mcgnagall's office, discussing his future or setting up meetings. 

But now Harry just sat and ate. No expectation of an interview, no pang of regret after a particularly difficult discussion about his career as an auror. Harry let Hermione and Ron talk for a while, nodding and responding when necessary.,He had no interest in actually talking until he remembered how he had started his day. 

Harry put his fork down, suddenly overcome with nerves. He stared at his plate.

"So, why did neither of you wake me up this morning" 

He glanced up to see a shocked Hermione and a blushing Ron. Harry brought his head up, his gaze flickering between the two as he waited for a response. Seconds turned to minutes as the trio stared at eachother. 

The silence finally broke when Hermione's hand came up and smacked Ron. Ron let out a grunt as he rubbed his forehead.

Harry glanced over at Hermione, waiting for an explanation. But then he noticed Hermione was also blushing and he put two and two together. 

He pinched his nose as he leaned on the table, trying to get the image of what his best friends had been doing this morning out of his head. Hermione opened her mouth to explain but Harry raised a hand to stop her. 

"No, dont tell me, I'd rather not know." Harry said, a scowl on his face. Ron's blush deepened and Hermione wouldn't meet his eyes.

Merlin, He really needed to stop asking questions.

~•*•~

Draco Malfoy

~•*•~

  Draco had been having an overall boring conversation with his friends when a crack sounded through the great hall. They all turned their head slowly to the source of the noise, revealing a blushing Granger and Weasley rubbing his forehead. Draco didnt care much for the situation until it dawned on him that the two were sitting on the same side, something they rarely did anymore, and Granger was staring at someone. 

  A bubble of excitement rose in Draco's chest that he pushed down as he turned his head to the other side of the table. He fought a smile when he saw him.

  Harry potter had finally shown up to dinner. 

But confusion over took Draco's happiness-No, not happiness, amusement- as he took in the scene infront of him. 

 Potter was pinching the bridge of his nose, his expression anything but happy (maybe disgust? Draco couldn't tell). Draco watched as potter raised a hand and said

"No, dont tell me, I'd rather not know."

 Draco put the pieces together and almost burst into laughter at his revelation. If he was right, Weasley and Granger had not woken their friend up this morning. Draco could guess at what they were doing instead based off the expressions on the golden trio's faces. Draco hadn't woken him up either, but Draco also wasn't his friend. It definitely wasn't because he didn't want to be in the room when Potter realized that he was in his pajamas. 

 A voice pulled Draco from his thoughts and he whipped his head to the speaker. Pansy sat with a confused expression staring at Draco. Actually, all his friends were staring at him with similar expressions. Apparently not everyone had been as entranced with the golden trio as he had. No, he hadn't been entranced. He was just bored. Definitely. 

"What?" Draco asked, despite knowing the answer. His friends stared for a moment longer before Blaise spoke up. 

"You seemed really interested in Potter"

Draco's mouth dropped open. He was about to deny it when Mattheo cut him off

"Some might say you looked happy to see him, Draco." 

Draco tossed him a glare and Mattheo put his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't say I agreed, I just said that the look on your face could be interpreted that way"

"I didnt have a look on my face, Mattheo" Draco scowled, shoving some roasted potatoes into his mouth. His friends glanced at eachother again before changing the topic of conversation. 

No one forgot about it though. Bringing it up quietly when they thought Draco wasn't paying attention. Unfortunately, Draco was paying attention. He forced himself to not get defensive, as that could fuel the fire. Draco tried desperately to pull his thoughts away from the chosen one, but it was a losing battle. He felt eyes on him and Draco assumed his friends had asked him something, but when he looked up everyone was engaged in their own conversations.

Draco's brow furrowed as he wondered who was watching. Deep down, he knew the answer. He expected it, looked forward to it even, though he would never admit it.

 His gaze eventually found the watcher as he made eye contact with Harry potter. Heat bloomed in his chest. Potter had been staring again, Draco had caught him again. A smile tried to creep its way onto Draco's face, the corners of his mouth threatening to lift.

Maybe, just maybe, Draco enjoyed having the golden boy's attention. Just a little.