Getting along is ... easy?

Harry can't help himself.

After their conversation in the infirmary, he was constantly reminded of Malfoy everywhere he went.

During breakfast, he found himself reaching for the green apples, just to see if the hype surrounding them was justified. After all, Malfoy was eating at least one of them every day. He'd usually chop them up and throw the slices in a bowl of porridge or eat them as a midday snack. Harry had noticed that while Malfoy is usually seen eating a whole apple, the Slytherin must prefer slices, since every time both are available he chooses the ones that have already been cut. These observations were definitely made because eating habits can tell you a lot about someone's personality-

The same thing happened when the blonde received yet another box of fancy French chocolates presumably from his mother. Harry suspects that the other student is just ordering them for himself under the guise of his mother sending them, since Sirius told him that Narcissa never really had a sweet tooth. They had grown up together after all, surely her taste couldn't have changed that much in the last 20-odd years, right? Needless to say, he bribed Remus, who persuaded Sirius into buying some for the both of them.

They weren't as sweet as he expected.

Even during Quidditch practice, Harry found himself hovering in the air, trying to remember how Malfoy usually goes for the Snitch, purely out of strategic reasons... of course. They could stop him from catching the snitch if they knew how he searches for it in the first place. It's the only reason why he is thinking about it so intensely, recalling just how the Slytherin wore his uniform and where he placed his hands on the broom. Grip placement and body language tell you a lot about a players technique, it is quite important to know.

Eventually, he even found himself drawn to the blonde during class. Observing how he interacted with his peers, obviously just to see if the hierarchy mentioned by Malfoy was actually a thing. It was quite weird to think of him as a person who has his own "Hermione" and "Ron" , somehow he never really thought about Malfoy's friends before. He didn't get distracted by Malfoy's smiles, which were actually sincere smiles, not just smirks - not even by the way the Slytherins blonde and silky hair became fluffier after he ran his hand through it... not much anyway.

Harry did observe, that Slytherins tend to travel in groups. Even if they were late for class, they were always in a group of two or more.

Maybe there was some truth to it after all?

As time went on, it became increasingly difficult for Draco to pretend that Potter wasn't constantly gazing- eh staring at him. He was even teased by his friends that Potter was as obsessed with him as he was with the Gryffindork, which to clarify, he was NEVER obsessed with him in the first place and still isn't!

The past few days, on the other hand, had felt a little off. Draco had noticed that Potter started eating green apples not just once but on several occasions, while he usually preferred a breakfast with toast, eggs and some sort of fruit. While he had been drilled to eat balanced meals with enough vegetables and fruit, Potter usually ate how he felt. Given his choices in food you would think he was hiding a toddler beneath the table. He was quite childlike when it comes to food.

Never apples, though, he has never seen Potter eat a green apple before.

During potions, the Gryffindor tends to either not pay attention or doodle little dogs or snirches on his parchment, so how come he was actually paying attention to Severus these days? What's even weirder, though, is that whenever he doesn't pay attention to him, he pays attention to Draco. In the beginning he was sure that it was just his imagination, but Potter seemingly didn't mind whenever their eyes met for a moment...so instead of looking away like it is proper to do when caught staring, he just continued to stare with those sparkly green eyes.

For the love of Salazar, he couldn't understand why.

Was there something stuck in his hair? Something on his face? Did he tie his tie in a strange way? Quickly stealing Blaise's mirror he started to go through a mental check list to sort through his appearance. He refuses to give Potter a chance to mock him for something as trivial as a tidy appearance. Running his hand through his hair with trepidation caused his friends to tease him about though. He likes to take care of his appearance, so do they! Luckily enough, Blaise shifts the focus to Pansy's poor attempt of self-cut bangs, but Pansy gives as good as she gets, soon enough they were talking about Blaise's attempt to paint his nails.

During all that, Draco's mind kept replaying the scene of Potter eating green apples. Eventually he became so fed up with it that he asked the elves to whip up a treacle tart for him after dinner, sort of like a dessert. He had, of course, previously eaten some that Dobby had made for him when he was not yet a student at Hogwarts so it's been a little while. They hadn't been that good though, but maybe Hogwarts treacle tart was some special kind of pastry?

It wasn't, it tasted just like the one Dobby used to make.

He really tried his best to ignore Potter's weird behaviors, and he did so succesfully for a long time. Which is what he tells himself to feel better about the fact that potter has been constantly on his mind. That is until he comes across a group of shaken first-years in the common room. After a bit of coaxing, they finally tell him that the golden Boy of Gryffindor had just cornered them a little while earlier to interrograte them why they were walking in groups and not by themselves.

"We--we didn't know what to do!"

"We tried to get away like you told us! But he's so much taller than us...and stronger"

"-and he killed you-know-who once"

"nobody of the older years was around- i-it'was just us"

Rubbing his temple, Draco tries his utmost hardest not to show how annoyed he actually is. Not even Potter could be this stupid, right? Wrong, obviously he could be this ignorant about such a sensitives subject. "Stop this messy blabbering, you are Slytherins not Hufflepuffs. You should compose yourself and forget about this incident. I will personally take care of it, so you should not speak of it any more. I will know if you do, now hurry along."

Nodding quickly, the little ones hurriedly make their way to the dorms, relieved they could go back to their rooms.

"By Salazar, why is he such an ignorant fool- ugh"

Harry was about to try a new flavour from the box of pralines that Sirius had sent him a little while ago, when a little origami bird flutters over and lands innocently on top the praline he is currently holding in his hand. "I wanted to eat that..." Glancing around, he frowns and furrows his brows, intending to just burn this one like he had done before.

Letters like this usually meant confessions or fan-letters, which he's not particularly interested in.

He did hesitate, though, because a functional origami bird was something new. Something that must have taken a lot of mafical finesse- it is a rather posh gesture compared to it's predessesors. Most of the time it's just a letter or piece of paper that is being levitated to him. Posh, beautfiul and created by powerful or tricky magic- this couldn't be Malfoy's... right?
It wings had fluttered.

Hermione and his dads would throw a fit if they knew he had opened it without casting a diagnostic spell to check for dark curses or love potions, it had simply slipped his mind as soon as he figured out that Malfoy might have sent it to him. Ever since that one instance, they had been rather adamant to make sure his post is safe for him to read, even after the headmaster had assured them he would tighten the wards.

Potter,

You shall meet me at the Quidditch field stands after curfew.
I do not tolerate your lateness nor your friends. We shall both come alone.

Insincerely,
Prince