Chapter Text
Draco stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, regretting most of his life decisions. The sun had long since sunk beneath the horizon, leaving only the moon’s faint glow illuminating the crooked trees, casting long shadows on the forest floor.
Pansy smirked. “Too chicken?”
Draco shivered as he heard a howl from deep in the woods. “Absolutely not.” He stammered a bit on his last word as another howl broke the silence, seeming a little louder, a little closer than the last- or was that simply his imagination?
Pansy was leaning against a tree, grinning lazily. Draco hated how much she was enjoying this. He’d had a little too much butterbeer that evening, and, on a massive sugar high, taken up one of Pansy’s insane dares.
“Just walk to that willow tree.” She had nudged him playfully. “It’s not that far into the Forbidden Forest.” Draco had been hesitant, so she had added, “I’ll do your homework for the week- no, the month! But if you get there and chicken out, I get to dare you to do something. And you have to accept.”
So there he was, standing on the very edge of the Forbidden Forest, with what was possibly a werewolf (probably not, but there was a chance!) growing nearer, and Pansy on his tail.
He wished he’d never told Pansy about his fear of the forest, which had developed after his venture there in first year with Potter. Ever since Draco was a child, he hadn’t liked forests and the dark- too much that could be hidden- so both combined didn’t sit well with him.
Pansy checked her watch, and Draco realized her thrill was fading, leaving only impatience. “So, are you going to do this or not?” She asked.
“I-” Draco stuttered, “I can’t.” He wasn’t a quitter. However, if this went on any longer, Pansy might laugh about it with Blaise and Crabbe and Goyle, and god forbid the whole school find out about it. He’d be a laughingstock, and he could only imagine what would happened if Potter found out too. He’d never hear the end of it from the golden boy and his friends. Draco’s thoughts were spiraling now. He thought of his father, his disappointment at his only son, who couldn’t even bully Potter right.
Before he could retreat into his memories, Pansy snapped him out of it by snapping her fingers in front of his face. “Hello? Draco?”
“What is it, Pansy?” Draco sighed. He needed to keep his emotions under control.
“I said, I have a dare for you.” Pansy smiled smugly.
“Well, it can’t be any worse than going into the forbidden forest.” Draco conceded. “Just get on with it, it’s freezing out here.” Draco wrapped his jumper tighter around himself.
“First, we have to make a binding contract.” Pansy stuck her hand out.
“A binding contract?” Draco snorted. “Who are you, a magical lawyer? The Malfoy's stick to their word.” Although Draco was beginning to get a tad suspicious about this whole affair, tiredness clouded his mind and he stuck his hand out, holding Pansy’s.
Pansy muttered a few words under her breath that Draco couldn’t quite catch. It was over before he knew it, and they shook on it.
“Now let’s head to the common room.” Pansy nodded and flung one end of her green scarf around her shoulder. Draco noticed for the first time that her face was reddening with the cold, and wondered just what had been so important to her, to make her stay out in the bitter winter weather.
They walked back to the common room in silence. It was fairly uneventful, they did have to dodge Mrs. Norris twice, but Filch was presumably busy with other students. Once they had whispered the password and entered the dorm room, Draco collapsed in front of the fire flickering in the fireplace.
“So, what’s the dare? Do I have to make out with Blaise? You’ve used that one too much before, Pansy. I hope you’ve come up with some new material.”
For a second, tense silence fell over them, Draco bracing himself for the answer.
Eventually, Pansy spoke with a smile tugging at her lips. “You have to ask Potter to the Yule ball. And he can’t know it was a dare!” Pansy added quickly, before leaning back in the chair with a self-satisfying smile.
Draco just sat there for a moment. “You must be out of your mind.”
Pansy shrugged, growing more smug by the minute.
“Asking Potter? My arch nemesis? To a dance?”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic, Draco. Sure, you’ll embarrass yourself to no end, but it’ll be fun. Watching you, at least. I wouldn’t want to be you.”
“I’m not doing it!” Draco threw his hands up in the air. “There’s no way.”
“It’s out of your control now.” Pansy responded calmly. “If you go back on your word now, well… let’s just say nothing good will come out of it.” She stood up and waved as she disappeared into the girls dormitory, her voice faint as she called back, “Good luck!”
...
Draco woke up grumpy. He stumbled out of bed, flipping Goyle the bird when the great lump tried to talk to him, and somehow even managed to put on his robes with an air of annoyance.
He couldn’t believe that Pansy had tricked him. The Mayfoy’s were never fooled. He shivered as he opened the common room door, starting to walk to the dining hall. He couldn’t help but feel like he had disgraced the entire Slytherin house. Weren’t Slytherins supposed to be cunning?
Being tricked into asking out his enemy was the least Slytherin thing that could happen. In fact, it sounded like something a Gryffindor would do. He shuddered.
And he had to make Harry agree, too! How was he supposed to do that? Dracos fists were clenched by the time he reached the Great Hall.
He sat down at his table.
“Why are you in such a bad mood today, Draco?” Blaise asked.
Draco didn’t listen, just scanned the crowd for Potter. He found him immediately, laughing and talking with his friends.
Draco had to admit, he didn’t look as bad when he was laughing. Draco never got to see Harry laughing, because they were always glaring at each other.
Harry looked over and locked eyes with Draco. Instead of looking away or sneering, Draco gave a curt nod, forced his mouth to not-frown, and turned to Blaise. “Oh, no reason.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Harry’s expression change from annoyance to confusion. He ignored him, and dismissed his urge to sneak another glance at the boy with the lightning scar.
...
Draco watched as Harry’s potion turned a bubbling green. The other boy threw in a stalk of some orange plant desperately, that Draco couldn’t recognize and he was sure wasn’t supposed to be in that potion.
That was the last straw for Draco. He got up, ignoring Crabbe’s protests, and stalked over to Harry’s table. The black - haired boy jumped and spun around when Draco cleared his throat.
“What do you want, Malfoy?” Harry sighed. For the first time, Draco noticed bags underneath his normally bright emerald eyes.
“I’m getting tired of watching you mess up this potion.” Draco crossed his arms. “Move over, I could make this potion in my sleep.” That was about as civil as Draco could be towards Potter, but he thought he was doing quite well so far. Better to ease Potter into it anyways, not start being nice to him all at once. He would probably drop dead in shock.
Potter stumbled to the side and Draco started fixing the mess that Potter had made of his potion. He chopped, stirred, and mixed rapidly. Thankfully, the rest of the class was too busy with their own potions to bother wondering why Malfoy and Potter were working together.
“Here.” Draco held out a bottle full of sparkling purple liquid stiffly. “You pour, I stir.”
“What-” Potter seemed to be at a loss for words. “What about Crabbe?”
Draco’s tag-along was staring dumbly at the potion, which had sat for much too long and was now growing what looked like tentacles.
“He’ll survive,” Draco waved his hand dismissively. “You, however, would not without my help. I saw Weasley and Granger have decided to work together, leaving you alone. So,” He shrugged, “I decided to help out of the kindness of my heart. Now. If you don’t pour it soon, the entire potion will curdle, and all my hard work will go to waste.”
“O- okay.” Potter tipped the bottle much too fast, and Draco had to clasp his hand over the other boy’s.
“Like this.” Draco’s voice was softer as he steadied Potter’s hand. It was warm, and Draco, despite himself, let his hand linger for a moment longer than he should have. Just because of the warmth, Draco told himself sharply. Nothing else.
Draco had barely finished when Snape called the students to the front of the class to give him their potions. All of the students seemed to snap out of their stupor, amd Harry and Draco got quite a few stares from the other students.
Especially Weasley and Granger.
They weren’t even trying to hide their disbelief as they stared at Draco. It seemed like the entire class’s eyes were on him as he carried Harry and his potion up to Snape. Snape stared down his hooked nose at him, before deciding it wasn’t worth the effort and snatching their potion.
After gathering his things, he strode over to Potter, who was still scrambling to gather his things, a slightly frantic look in his eyes. Weasley and Granger were waiting by the door, not quite within earshot.
“Good job today.” Draco winced at the clearly awkward conversation starter.
“Thank you?” Potter looked more confused than ever. He had finished gathering his books and stood with them in his arms, looking up at Draco like Draco had three heads.
“Look,” Draco grabbed Potter’s arm and pulled him to the side, “I just wanted to apologize.”
“What?” Potter was fully bewildered now.
“In my first year, when I said I wanted to become friends, I really meant it.” It was a painful truth. Draco had desperately wanted to become friends with Harry Potter, so much that he had messed it up spectacularly. “Of course I messed it up, but seeing you in danger reminded me that life is short, right?”
Potter nodded. Draco had no idea where he was pulling this acting skill from, but he was quite impressed with himself. He supposed the best lies were always imbedded with truth.
Or maybe the best lies aren’t lies at all-
Draco cut that thought off before it could grow.
“I’d like a second chance.” Draco stuck his hand out.
Potter hesitated, and Draco’s heart skipped a beat. Who knew what Pansy had in store for him.
But then Harry grasped his hand and shook. “Okay. I guess?”
“Don’t expect for me to go all sappy on you again, Potter.” Draco withdrew his hand quickly, and Potter laughed.
He actually laughed. It was short, and Harry seemed just as surprised as Draco, but it was a laugh.
Draco was oddly happy as he walked out of the potions room, and he couldn’t quite explain why.