Chapter 7
Harry went back to the common room after his classes. He went up to his bedroom and beelined for his bed to make sure he had all of his Quidditch gear so he could get to the pitch as fast as possible later.
He huffed after he found all of his things and flopped backwards onto his bed, the wood creaking as he landed.
Harry didn’t know how long he was laying there for, but it couldn’t have been long, when Ron came stomping up the stairs.
“Alright, mate. We’re gonna have a talk. Just guy to guy.”
Harry turned his head to look at Ron who was now standing at the edge of the bed, looking nervous and red in the face even though he brought up having a conversation. Harry was confused, eyebrows pulling together to show this to Ron, who just pressed his lips together and invited himself to sit on the bed as well.
“What about?” Harry asked once Ron was sitting, pulling himself up to face his friend.
“You. And Malfoy.”
Harry felt his heart jump at the mention of Malfoy.
“Me and Malfoy? Why?”
“Mate, c’mon, don’t play dumb with me. I’m your best friend. I know when something’s up.”
“Nothing is up. What would be up between me and Malfoy?”
“You obviously like the git, Merlin knows why. I just want to talk about it.”
Harry was dumbfounded at Ron’s words. He opened his mouth to say something but then shut it again at the look Ron gave him. After a few seconds of a silent and awkward half staring contest, Harry sighed and flopped back onto his bed again.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Ron.”
“Oh come on Harry. Hermione is the one that brought it up to me, but I noticed it too. You’ve been completely obsessed with him, in a different way than usual. All of our conversations lately have to have Malfoy tied into them. You’ve been hanging out with him a lot, and whenever you come back from hanging out with him you have this stupid look on your face like you just did the most amazing thing ever.”
Harry lifted his head up swiftly to look at Ron with a glare on his face, but when he saw that Ron was completely serious he let his head drop and then rolled over to shove his face in his pillow out of embarrassment.
“I cannot have this conversation with you, Ron.”
“We are having this conversation, Harry. Whether you like it or not. So now that we both know that I know you have a big fat fucking crush on Draco Malfoy, let’s talk about your game plan.”
“What game plan?”
“Your game plan to make him fall in love with you so you can live happily ever after with a big bunch of Potter-Malfoy babies running around.”
Harry’s jaw dropped at Ron’s words, face flooding with embarrassment.
“This is not happening.” Harry muttered to himself, wishing the world would swallow him whole.
“Me and Hermione are both on board with this, by the way, so you don’t need to keep hiding it from us if you think we won’t approve. He really isn’t that bad when he’s not slinging insults all the time.”
“I already told you guys that.”
“Yes, but he apologized.”
“He what?”
“He apologized. To both me and Hermione, about all the things that he’s said. I know it doesn’t change the past, but at least now we can see he’s trying to change.”
Harry shook his head in disbelief. Draco had gone and apologized to his friends and then didn’t say anything to him about it. Ron and Hermione didn’t say anything about it either.
Harry glanced over at the clock in the room before shooting up in his bed. Ron looked at him with confusion.
“I’ve gotta go.”
“Go where? We are not done with this conversation.”
“Yes we are. I’ve gotta meet Malfoy.”
Harry scrambled off the bed, running over to his chest where all of his Quidditch gear was.
“Meeting Malfoy past curfew? What are you guys doing?”
Harry held up his broom to show Ron, before moving to run out the door, invisibility cloak wrapping around him as he went.
“Go get your man!”
Harry heard Ron yell right as he got down the stairs, face burning again as he headed toward the door of the common room and slipped out from behind the portrait.
Harry didn’t actually have to be at the pitch for a little while, but he wanted to warm up before their match. Not that he thought he’d need it in order to beat Malfoy.
He also wanted to think about what he’s going to ask Malfoy when he wins.
It didn’t cross his mind until he reached the pitch that Malfoy also got to ask him something. Harry was immediately filled with dread at the thought, steeling himself as he took off his cloak and mounted his broom. He was going to win.
“Training for the ballet, Potter?”
Harry immediately smiled when he heard Malfoy’s words. He stopped his broom, hovering as he looked down at Malfoy who was now on the pitch, broom in hand, and staring up at Harry with a smile on his face.
Harry flew down to land in front of Malfoy, pushing his hair up off his forehead.
“Hey.” Harry said, slightly out of breath.
“Hello, Potter. You’re a cheater you know.”
“What?! How am I a cheater?”
“You’re practicing!”
“I wasn’t practicing, I was warming up!”
“That the same thing in this context, Potter.”
“No it’s not, Draco.”
Upon hearing his first name come from Harry’s mouth, Malfoy closed his and glared at Harry.
“Still calling me Draco?”
“Always.”
Draco was caught off guard at that, but he shook his head after a second.
“Alright, well let's get on with this then, huh. I’ve thought of the best thing to make you do when you lose.”
“You’re not beating me, Draco.” Harry said with a laugh.
“We’ll just have to see, won’t we.”
Harry brought the snitch out of his pocket and held it between them, both of them watching as it spread its wings. Harry looked up at Malfoy,
“You ready?”
Malfoy gave him a quick nod and a smirk, watching intently as Harry let go of the snitch which immediately darted off into the sky.
Harry and Malfoy both mounted their brooms, circling the pitch side by side, playfully shoving at each other's shoulders. Eventually, Malfoy broke off from Harry’s side to scope out the pitch and Harry went higher in the air to get a better vantage point.
What Harry was trying to achieve by going higher was to see where the snitch was, but he actually ended up watching Malfoy move back and forth across the pitch. He watched as Malfoy gracefully maneuvered his broom, steering it effortlessly as he did some laps around the pitch, swerving between the goal posts.
Harry was still in the air, continuing to watch Malfoy when he saw a glint of gold over next to the Ravenclaw seating section. He watched as Malfoy whipped his head over to the exact same spot, making brief eye contact with him, before they were both darting towards where they saw the snitch.
Harry reached the stands first, gaining on the snitch as it darted up towards the sky, but Malfoy was right behind him, and soon flying right next to him. Harry spared a quick glance over at Malfoy, who, surprisingly, had a smile on his face as the wind whipped his hair around. Harry snapped his eyes back to the snitch in front of them in order to not lose focus.
It wasn’t until he was about to reach his hand out to grab the snitch when he realized he might like to see what Malfoy would make him do if he lost. He really couldn’t think of anything worse than Malfoy saying something awful and that they couldn’t be friends. His worst fear was that Malfoy would make him stop talking to him.
Harry glanced over at Malfoy who had a determined look in his eye and a grin on his face and decided that the Draco that he knows now would never do something like that. As soon as Harry made this decision, he let his broom slow just a fraction, letting Malfoy overtake him and grab the snitch in his hand.
Harry turned his broom sharply to the right, and stopped, looking at Malfoy in mock-disbelief. Malfoy had his hand with the snitch in it pumped up in the air in victory and a grin on his face.
“Eat that, Potter!” Draco said, before laughing, head tilting back. Harry was mesmerized by the way the moon glinted off of Malfoy hair and skin, the gold of the snitch in his hand shining under the light.
“Guess you won.” Harry said once Malfoy finished celebrating and they were both back on the ground, snitch safely secured in its case again.
“Oh don’t pout, Potter. I won fair and square.”
“Yeah alright, I still think you cheated.”
“You’re the one who cheated! Practicing right before our match.” Malfoy scoffed and shook his head before returning his eyes to Harry’s, the determined look was back, but this time it was directly straight at Harry.
Harry swallowed thickly, afraid of what was about to come.
“Alright. What have you got?” Harry asked, taking a deep breath.
Draco smiled,
“I want you to come sit at the Slytherin table for a few days.”
Harry’s stomach dropped at the thought of the entire Hall watching him as he walked over to the Slytherin table to go and sit next to Draco Malfoy and his friends. He looked up at the sky, hoping it would give him some strength, before looking back at Malfoy.
“Alright. But I call for a rematch. Same rules apply.”
Draco just smiled at him again, holding his hand out for Harry to shake. Harry reached out and clasped Draco’s hand in his own.
“Deal.”