1
"So he just won't talk to you?" Hermione asked as she flipped through the book she was reading. "No", Harry said in an annoyed tone. It had been a week since Draco moved in and they hadn't spoken a word to each other.
"Maybe that's for the best mate, at least you guys aren't fighting," Ron replied, focusing on playing with Hermione's hair. "I suppose so." Harry sighed. He honestly wanted to be friends with Draco.
Up the stairs, Draco was having a similar conversation with Pansy and Blaise. "So you just won't talk to him?" Draco shrugged at Blaise's comment, "there's not much to talk about honestly. I don't think we'll ever be normal friends."
"Well being afraid of being abnormal friends isn't a reason to just not be friends," Pansy said sighing at her best friend. Draco just rolled his eyes. "He's tried, but I just ignore him." That was all Pansy needed to hear. She marched downstairs and plopped on the couch by Harry.
She stuck her hand out, "Pansy. Pansy Parkinson. I'm sorry." Harry was confused but took her hand. "Harry. Harry Potter. You're forgiven." The green-eyed girl smiled brightly. "I am also sorry that Draco is a twat, but I'd like to be your guy's friend."
Hermione took her hand first, then Ron. "Nice to meet you officially Pansy." Hermione smiled sweetly.
~
So now Pansy and the golden trio hung out, and shortly after Blaise joined in. Leaving Draco plenty of opportunity to talk to the three. He had no problem talking to Ron and Hermione now.
Some would say Draco and Hermione had truthfully gotten pretty close, quickly. Still, there wasn't a word spoken between Harry and Draco. Harry quickly became alright with that fact. He tried a couple of times, in-fact right now was one of those times.
"Draco," Harry spoke softly knocking on Draco's door. After a few seconds with no response, the boy sighed. "Dinner is ready if you're hungry." He made his way back down the stairs.
Draco was hungry. So he got up slowly and walked out of the bedroom following Harry downstairs. They didn't speak but they sat and enjoyed a quiet dinner together.
Harry realized that Draco wasn't the same, and even though the two didn't speak, there were signs of civility between the two. Whenever Harry cooked, Draco thanked him by doing the dishes.
When Draco went shopping, he'd leave parchment out for Harry to write his grocery list on.
When Harry was watching a film, he'd knock three times on Draco's door, and leave Draco's favorite spot on the couch open.
They'd gotten used to the silence, just enjoying another person in the quiet presence of peace. Harry quite liked the sound of silence, so he didn't let it bother him. Draco would come around eventually, he hoped.
~
"So anything yet?" Pansy asked Harry in a hopeful voice. Harry just shook his head.
"I'm sorry, he'll come around I promise." This made Harry shrug, it didn't bother him anymore. "I go back to work tomorrow, it will be the last thing on my mind."
"Are you really going back to being an Auror Potter? You hate it." Blaise said in a distraught voice, Harry once again shrugged. "It's what is expected of me, I was never not going back. I only took time to allow Draco to get settled in."
"That's awful, you don't have to do what's expected of you anymore Harry," Hermione said bitterly, she hated that Harry and Ron went off to be Aurors. In her words, they'd chased enough bad guys for a lifetime.
"I'm excited to have my partner back mate!" Ron said cheerfully ignoring everyone else's lack of enthusiasm. "Thanks, Ron. Glad to be coming back." Harry said sadly because he genuinely wasn't glad.
~
Draco thought Harry was an idiot. How could he possibly want to go chase around mad men when he had one chasing him for over a decade of his life. He wanted to express his concern to Harry, but that meant showing he cared for him. He wasn't ready to do that.
Draco paced back and forth outside, it was almost midnight and he hadn't been to bed yet. How stupid could Harry be?
"You okay?" He heard soft words spoken behind him, he turned around quickly and pointed his wand. Before realizing it was just Harry. "Sorry." He mumbled, putting his wand away.
Harry just stared out at the trees, putting a cigarette between his teeth and lighting it. "Starting to get colder out at night, don't get sick." He said inhaling the first drag of the cigarette.
"Didn't know you smoked Potter." Draco bit, not having much to add to the conversation. Harry just continued smoking, not bothering to respond.
"Why do you do it?" Draco asked, pushing Harry's buttons. "What, smoke?" Harry asked still not looking over at Draco. The midnight breeze caused a shiver to run down both boys' spines. "No continue to talk to me even though I never respond."
This was when Harry finally looked up, he scanned Draco's face for a few seconds. Trying to figure out if this was a game, and then looked into his eyes. "You deserve to have someone that cares." Harry put it simply.
Draco merely scoffed, taking the cigarette out of Harry's mouth and taking a drag from it. "That's rubbish. I don't deserve anything. I don't even deserve to be here." He didn't mean to come off so bitter, it was just habit at this point.
"If you didn't deserve to be here Malfoy, I wouldn't have allowed you to be here. Don't think about it too much. We're not friends remember? I am not using you as a charity case. You deserve to be here as much as I do. You can drop the mask, emotions get lost in the midnight breeze. I won't tell anyone. You're safe."
For the first time in the days he's been here, Draco made eye contact with Harry. "I don't deserve any of this and you know it. I should be in Azkaban with my father. Just like you shouldn't be an Auror, because you deserve to have a better life than chasing bad guys all the time. None of this is how our lives were supposed to go. Why did you take me in? Why didn't you let me die in that fire? Why do you keep fucking saving me?!"
Harry turned away, staring back out into the trees. It took a few minutes for him to gather his thoughts. "You're worth saving Draco. I won't stop until you see that either. Now get some sleep, it's midnight."