Chapter Text
Draco and Harry are not friends, everyone knows that.
In fact, they have always seemed to be quite the opposite. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy would either be far away from each other or way too close to each other, the latter one meaning they would be shouting insults at each other’s faces or fist fighting. Maybe both.
The point is: Draco and Harry are not friends, therefore there is no plausible reason for them to be leaning against the wall near the cafeteria’s door, talking amicably about whatever the fuck they’re talking about.
Harry is saying something, gesturing widely as he always does, and Draco is nodding along, offering a comment here and there. No trace of anger in their faces. No trace that either of them has been or will be punched in the face.
The sight is wild , so excuse Hermione for needing a second to just blink at it. And blink at it again. And once more for good measure. Maybe she needs glasses? Maybe the project she just did for the chemistry class messed with her brain? Maybe she’s going insane?
Then Blaise Zabini is right next to her looking just as confused as she is and her hopes of the whole thing being just a trick of her eyes get considerably slimmer. She holds onto that hope, however, because all the alternatives seem way less reasonable.
“Are you seeing that too?” She asks the boy, eyes incapable of leaving the scene that is still playing in front of them. Malfoy says something. Harry laughs. Harry laughs.
“I think I am” Zabini answers her, his own eyes glued to the pair that still hasn’t notice them staring. “Is it possible we’re both hallucinating?”
“I’m not sure” She answers honestly.
Zabini hums. A second later Pansy Parkinson is next to the boy, followed by Theodore Nott. They are both just as stunned as Hermione and Zabini.
“What the fuck?” Hermione hears Pansy exclaim a bit too loudly but not loud enough to attract the attention of the boys responsible for all of their mental breakdowns.
Ron is not so subtle.
“ What the fuck?! ”
That grabs Draco’s and Harry’s attention.
They at least have the decency of looking mildly embarrassed when their gazes meet their respective’s friends before they turn to each other again. Harry says something none of them can hear, Draco shrugs helplessly and says another thing none of them can hear, and then they continue their conversation with nothing but gestures and looks.
It’s the weirdest thing Hermione has ever seen and she’s seen a lot of weird things with how much she hangs out with Fred and George when she stays at Ron’s.
“And we’re sure we’re not hallucinating?” She hears Zabini muttering next to her.
“At this point, I’m not sure about anything” She answers. Zabini hums again.
Ron is the first to lose it, as it was to be expected. He marches forward, abandoning their little bubble of denial to go demand answers straight from the source. The source doesn’t seem too happy to comply, both eyeing Ron with different intensities of frowns on their faces.
“ Harry James Potter” Ron practically screams when he finally gets there, loud enough that everyone still inside the denial bubble can hear it. “ What the bloody fuck are you doing?!”
Bursting the bubble hurts, but Hermione really wants to hear that answer and she’s sure that the other boys wouldn’t talk as loudly as Ron for her to continue watching from afar. Well, at least she doesn’t think Malfoy would but honestly what does she really know?
She’s not the only one that decides to abandon hopes of it all being a lie and soon the two boys are surrounded by all their very stunned friends. They do the thing again in which they look at each other and Hermione just. She literally has no words.
“Well” Harry begins, tearing his eyes away from Malfoy and turning to Ron. “I” He pauses for a second as if waiting for something to happen so he doesn’t have to keep talking. Nothing does. He eyes Malfoy. Malfoy shrugs. Harry sighs. He ponders for a second before taking a deep breath and eyeing him with more confidence than he had before. “Well I, Ronald Bilius Weasley , was just having a conversation”
They all pause. Malfoy snorts.
“His middle name is Bilius?” He teases.
“Weird right?” Harry answers, eyes going back to Malfoy. “But you can’t make fun of him for that, your name is literally Draco”
“Shut the fuck up Potter” Malfoy answers but the words lack the deadly venom they usually carry. It’s quite the opposite really. They sound like friendly banter.
Hermione can feel her brain screaming. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy really are speaking to each other that normally. They really are, she’s really seeing this, she-
“What the fuck” It’s her that says it this time.
“Yeah, what the fuck” Pansy Parkinson backs her up, eyeing Malfoy as if he’s gone insane. Maybe he has, who knows. “Draco, dear, I want answers. I want answers right now ”
Malfoy, the absolute prat, has the audacity to shrug.
“Potter followed me to the bathroom and we talked,” Draco says as if that explains anything.
“Hey, I didn’t fucking follow you! ” Harry argues.
“No, I think you did” Malfoy argues back, mouth curving up into a playful smirk “You’re very stalkerish, I wouldn’t put this past you”
“I am not!” Harry tries to defend himself.
“You kinda are,” Hermione says automatically because they’ve had this conversation many times before.
“Thank you, Granger,” Draco Malfoy tells her before turning back to Potter with the same smirk still on “See? Even your friend agrees and she’s smart, she would know”
Draco Malfoy just called her smart.
“What the fuck” She says again.
“Yeah, I don’t need to deal with this” Theodore Nott suddenly exclaims. He turns to Zabini and Parkinson “When you guys figure whatever the fuck is going on you can call me. My brain cannot handle this much stress, I literally have a test today”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Theo” Draco frowns at his friend. “Potter just told you what’s going on, we were having a conversation”
“And there’s absolutely nothing you might want to add to that, Draco?” Nott says, eyeing Draco as if he’s insane. Again, maybe he is. “Like, I don’t know, why the fuck were you having a conversation with Harry bloody Potter of all people?!”
He seems on the verge of a mental breakdown. Hermione can relate, especially when Harry and Malfoy look at each other again.
“We bonded in the bathroom” Harry finally says.
“Ew, don’t say it like that” Draco complains “It sounds weird”
“And I’m done” Theodore exclaims.
“Theo don’t go!” Draco calls after him but the boy just ignores it. “We didn’t even have lunch!”
The pleas are left unanswered and Theodore Nott walks away from their sight. Hermione is tempted to follow, she really is, but she still has a job here.
“Is this going to be a common thing now?” She asks.
The question seems to stun the boys a little and yeah, that’s justice for you. See how they like a taste of their own medicine.
It’s Harry’s turn to shrug as Malfoy looks over to him and it dawns on Hermione that they also don’t really know what the hell is going on. Harry even seems a bit anxious about the answer. Good Lord.
“We’ll see” Malfoy finally says, playing safe.
There’s more to the answer, they all know. There’s more to that whole entire interaction. But honestly? Hermione is quite done with that for now. Besides, Ron has been quiet for way too long and in situations like this all that means is that he’ll just combust if left unattended.
“Cool,” She says. “Lunch?”
“Uh” Harry blinks. “Sure?”
“Cool” She says again and walks inside the cafeteria, dragging Ron along with her.
“Uh, well” She hears Harry from behind her “See you guys around? Or something?”
“Bye Potter” And that’s Draco Malfoy again.
“Yeah, bye”
Hermione hears Harry’s footsteps approaching and a quiet We should go get Theo from behind her before she allows her mind to let go of whatever the hell just happened and focus on the lunch for the day.
“Not a word,” She says as soon as she senses Harry catching up “I’m processing this. We’ll talk later”
Harry, knowing what’s good for him, complies.
“And how was your day today, Draco?” Lupin asks gently.
Draco lets out a sigh, eyes fixed on the ceiling, head resting on a very soft cushion. In the beginning, he was very adamant about sitting properly for no other reason than an irrational fear that his father would barge in and scold him again. Now, after Mr.Lupin made it clear in subtle and not-so-subtle ways that Lucius Malfoy would not be barging in like a madman, Draco allows himself to lay down comfortably on the couch. He even takes his shoes off, feet covered only by his black socks.
“Something interesting happened today actually,” He tells Lupin.
Draco fidgets with his fingers, a new habit he picked on to fight the urge to...do other things. His father doesn’t like it much, saying it makes him look like a ‘pathetic anxious weakling’. Draco is trying very hard not to listen to his father that much, honestly.
“And what was it?” Lupin encourages when he senses he’s lost Draco to his thoughts. The boy blushes a bit but swallows down the apology.
“You’ll probably hear all about it when you get home” He tells Lupin, who frowns.
“Did Harry-?” He starts, but Draco cuts him off.
“Nothing bad” He says quickly, mildly weirded out by how fast he jumped to save Harry’s ass of all asses.
Don’t think about Potter’s ass, his mind hisses at him. He frowns at the thought, once again weirded out by his own behavior.
“Your face tells me a different story” Lupin adds, now also frowning a bit.
“Sorry” He says and yeah, no way he would explain that tangent to Potter’s dad. Draco shakes his head, clearing his thoughts, and goes back to what he was saying. “But really, nothing bad. We just talked.”
“Oh” Lupin says, sounding very surprised. Draco can’t blame him. “And how did that go?”
“I saw a girl looking at me weird today” He begins, a bit hesitant. Opening up was never something that came naturally to him, but he feels kinda good when he does it so he’s always trying to be as honest as possible in his sessions with Mr. Lupin. “Not like, mean weird.” He clarifies “More like...pity weird. You know”
“I know” Lupin nods.
“Yeah” Draco nods back. “So, I saw that and that...That made me feel like shit.” He admits.
He can see Lupin smiling at him from the corner of his eye and he knows the man’s proud he’s talking about his feelings like that. Honestly, Draco is kinda proud too.
“That made feel like shit” He repeats “So I ditched class and went to freak out in the bathroom no one uses.”
“Freak out…?” Lupin asks carefully.
“Not that bad,” Draco says quickly, hand going to his left arm as a reflex. He feels his cheeks heating up and tries to swallow the lump in his throat back down. “I just needed some space from everyone. Nothing more.”
“Okay” Lupin sounds relieved. Draco isn’t sure how to feel about that. “And then?”
“Then Potter also went to the bathroom,” He tells, lips curving up just a bit at the memory. “He swears he wasn’t following me or anything and I kinda believe him to be honest.” He gives Lupin a look “Don’t tell him that” He warns even though he knows the man won’t.
“I won’t” Lupin confirms. It’s nice to hear.
“Good” Draco huffs but there’s no real annoyance there “Anyway, Potter also got there and he asked me if I needed anything or if I wanted to talk and I told him no because I was still mad at him” He fidgets with his fingers again “And then he told me about how he was. After his parents died”
That shocks Lupin. Draco can tell even though the man does a pretty good job at hiding it.
“He did?” He asks. Draco nods.
“Said that if he knows my worst low I’m allowed to know his too” The boy recalls. “And then we just kinda talked for a bit, about nothing in particular”
“Oh?”
“Yeah” Draco shrugs “I don’t even know either to be honest. It felt right at the moment. I guess sob stories bring people together or something” He lets out another sigh, but his lips curl up again. “Our friends were totally shocked to see us talking. It was funny. I thought Weasley was going to have a stroke”
“That sounds like Ron” Lupin chuckles a bit.
“Yeah” Draco agrees “My friends weren’t much better, either. But they took it kinda nicely, I think. Blaise said that my life’s mine and I can do whatever the hell I want with it”
“And Pansy?” Lupin asks, recalling her from other sessions.
“She thinks I’m being stupid” He says.
“And Theo?”
“Also thinks I’m being stupid. I think Blaise agrees with them, he just didn’t admit it”
“And how about you?” Draco eyes the man as he speaks, taking in that look he always gets whenever he asks his important questions. “Do you think you’re being stupid?”
Draco pauses.
His reflex answer is yes . His thought-out answer is I don’t know. Neither sounds good to him.
“I think my relationship with Potter is difficult” He answers instead. “You of all people would know”
“I would” Lupin agrees “But that doesn’t answer the question”
Damn him.
Draco sighs again, eyes finding that same spot in the ceiling from earlier. He searches his mind for an answer he knows is not there because (one) he really doesn’t know and (two) he really doesn’t want to think about it.
Draco sighs again.
He didn’t lie. His and Potter’s relationship is difficult.
They’ve hated each other for so long it seems weird to let it go, to let that amicability between them go beyond what they’ve accomplished earlier that day. Their hatred for each other is their comfort zone, a zone they had been violently ripped from by miscalculated bad decisions. Neither of them wanted to be where they are now, but Draco can’t not think about how, maybe, it’s a good thing they’re there.
Is this going to be a common thing now? Granger had asked, and Potter had let him answer her as if that control was 100% in his hands. And then he’d said We’ll see because he couldn’t bring himself to say a yes or a no.
In the span of the last few weeks, a lot of things Draco thought would never happen did. Maybe that was a sign. A sign for change.
“No” He answers Lupin “I don’t think I’m being stupid”
Lupin smiles at him. Draco smiles back.
Harry doesn’t talk much to Malfoy after the day they sort of make amends.
Sure, they both had their fun with their friends’ reactions, and sure, Harry doesn’t feel the urge to curse Malfoy and all his descendants whenever their eyes cross paths in the hallway. In fact, they now nod at each other in greeting, which is...different. Nice. Whatever.
Point is, things change, but they don’t change . Malfoy still isn’t his friend and they still don’t go out of their own respective ways to talk to each other. They don’t hate each other anymore but they also don’t like each other. At least, Harry doesn’t think Malfoy likes him.
He kinda likes Malfoy. Kinda.
Sure, he’s still a stuck-up prat that dresses way too fancy for high school but he’s also way more human than Harry ever gave him credit for. He’s got some cool stories and he’s actually kinda funny when his humor doesn’t consist in making fun of Harry or his friends. A cool guy, overall.
It’s strange to think of Malfoy like that, Harry thinks. Ron and Hermione very much agree with that sentiment, both still weirded out by what they deemed ‘The Malfoy Incident 2: Electric Boogaloo’
(The Malfoy Incident was already taken as a title and none of them liked to talk about that one)
So yeah. Things are different but they’re not that different. Yet.
The big change comes with loud thunders, a lot of water, and the sad flashback of leaving his umbrella on his desk. Ron and Hermione already left because Friday is date night, Sirius is at work, so is Remus. Harry decides to get ahead of his homework one day and the universe decides he needs to be punished for it. It would be comical if it wasn’t that tragic.
So, when Malfoy arrives at the school entrance, Harry’s already there, staring out in the rain with longing eyes.
“What are you doing?” Malfoy asks. The tone is confused and mildly judgemental but is nowhere close to how it used to sound. It makes Harry feel weird so he tries not to think about it.
“I forgot my umbrella” He tells the other boy, eyes still staring out in the rain like he can wish it to stop “And Sirius gave me a ride here.”
“So you’re stuck” Malfoy clarifies.
“I’m stuck” Harry agrees.
“...You want a ride?”
Harry turns around so fast his head would’ve gone flying away if it wasn’t stuck to his neck. Malfoy takes a step back at the action, clearly startled, but he doesn’t say anything and only frowns. It takes a second for Harry to figure the boy’s waiting on an answer.
“For real?” He asks. His voice comes out way too shocked, he can tell, because Malfoy actually looks a bit offended.
“I offered, didn’t I?” He snarks but, again, is nowhere near how they used to be. Harry still doesn’t want to think about it. “You want it or not?”
“Yeah” Harry answers before his head even catches up.
The answer surprises them both. Malfoy recovers first
“Let’s go them” He tells Harry, opening his umbrella. Harry doesn’t need to be told twice.
The umbrella is barely big enough to fit them both and Harry can feel some droplets hitting his back as they walk towards the parking lot but he’s not complaining. Malfoy guides them to his car and holds the umbrella so Harry can get in before moving to the driver’s side to get in himself. He closes the umbrella and the door quickly, throwing the wet object and his backpack on the back seat.
“Oh, that’s cold” Malfoy murmurs to himself, running a hand through his slightly wet hair before turning to Harry “Where do you live again?”
“Uh, couple of streets that way” Harry points “Grimmauld street”
Draco hums in acknowledgment and starts the car, not offering anything else.
They ride in silence. A few minutes later Harry recognizes his street. He opens the backpack, looking for his keys, and is hit with another flashback of taking them out of the bag the night before and not putting them back in.
“Oh no” He says instinctively. Malfoy eyes him, already frowning.
“What?” The blond asks, suspicious (and maybe a little worried too, but Harry may be imagining that one)
Harry considers his options. He can just say some bullshit, get off the car when they arrive at his house, and just sit on the porch to wait until either Remus or Sirius gets back. The problem with that is if Malfoy decides to wait until he gets inside to leave and then he’ll have to explain why he’s out on the porch instead of inside the house and also why he lied about what the ‘oh no’ meant.
Too much work.
“I don’t have my keys” He answers honestly, offering a sheepish smile to the other boy.
Malfoy stops the car. Harry swallows.
“You don’t have your keys,” He says
“Yeah” Harry agrees.
“And I’m guessing there’s no one home”
“Nope”
Malfoy takes in a deep breath and, honestly, Harry feels kinda sorry for him. This situation was already weird enough before, no need for Harry to go and make it weirder. Still, he decides to just wait for the verdict, not too keen on being out in the rain.
“Well” Malfoy finally says, not looking at Harry yet “I didn’t want to go home anyway” He turns to the boy again “You hungry?”
So things could get weirder. Huh.
“...What?” Harry frowns.
“You hungry?” Malfoy repeats as if the problem really had been Harry not hearing him right.
“...Kinda?” Harry answers.
“Good” Malfoy starts the car again “We’re going to McDonald’s”
Even weirder then. Okay.
“...We are?” Harry’s frown deepens.
“We are” Malfoy answers. “I’m sad and I’m tired, I deserve some fries”
And, honestly, Harry can’t really argue with that.
That’s how he ends up in a McDonalds’ parking lot, eating fries inside Draco Malfoy’s car and talking with said Draco Malfoy about how much of a bitch their substitute English teacher was.
“And she hated me so much!” Harry exclaimed, gesturing wildly “One time, I sneezed and she sent me to detention. A sneeze!”
Malfoy laughs and it sounds nicer than remembers it sounding. Probably because it isn’t an ‘I’m making fun of you and everyone you love’ type laugh anymore.. Harry doesn’t put much thought into it.
“I think I remember that” Malfoy comments, putting a fry in his mouth “Umbridge really had it out for you. Best week of my life”
“Ha ha ha” Harry rolls his eyes, but there’s an easy smile on his lips. “You say that because she fucking loved you, you prat.” He takes a sip of his coke “No idea how you managed that, by the way”
The smile on Malfoy’s face dimmers and suddenly Harry feels bad for bringing that up, even though he’s not sure what exactly he brought up.
“She’s friends with my father” Malfoy explains. He shrugs, trying to seem unaffected, but Harry can see the way his eyes no longer hold that carefreeness they had a moment before. “I would be in lots of trouble if she didn’t like me”
And the thing is, Harry isn’t sure of his relationship with Malfoy right now. He’s pretty sure eating McDonald’s and talking shit qualifies as a friend activity, but he’s afraid to ask and lose whatever the hell they have going on because Harry likes whatever the hell they have going on.
Either way, he still feels anger rushing through his body at the sight of Draco that sad over his father, especially with how fine he was a second before, and that anger is enough to open his mouth before he even thinks about it.
“Your father is a douche,” Harry says, words carrying on all the anger he feels so they sound more like a snarl.
Draco looks at him, eyes widened in surprise, mouth partially open. They stare at each other for what feels like ages but is no longer than a few seconds until Draco’s mouth shifts into a smile. Small and tight-lipped, but still a smile.
“Yeah” Draco says “He is totally a douche”
Harry smiles back and they go back to talking shit and eating McDonald’s.