Happy birthday my darling Arianna Banana! I hope you enjoy this birthday present!
"Ew," Pansy said suddenly.
Draco lifted his head to see what had disgusted his long-time best friend.
"What?" he asked, not seeing anything out of the ordinary in their school courtyard.
"Scholarship student," Pansy said, wrinkling her nose and pointing to the other side of the courtyard. Draco eyed the boy she was pointing at skeptically. He was wearing the same uniform everyone else in the yard was wearing.
"How can you tell?" he asked. The boy was certainly new, yes, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was a scholarship student.
"His bag," Pansy stated, her tone making it clear that she thought the answer should have been obvious. "It was obviously purchased at a secondhand store." The pug-nosed girl looked revolted at the mere thought. Draco rolled his eyes and set his head down on the stone table, where he had been attempting to take a nap before classes began.
"How did a scholarship student even land a spot here?" Draco raised his head again as they were joined by Blaise. The dark-skinned boy slammed his bag down on the spot where Draco's head had been seconds before. "The tests are impossibly hard."
"Maybe for you," Draco remarked. Blaise narrowed his eyes.
"Well, we can't all be boy-geniuses," he said with a bitter edge to his voice.
"Genii," Draco corrected off-handedly. Blaise full out glared at the blond-haired boy.
"Boys, let's not start that argument again," Pansy said wearily. Once they got started, Draco and Blaise could debate the English language for hours. "Do you know anything about this scholarship student?" she asked Blaise, who had a reputation around the school for knowing everything that happened within Hogwarts Academy's walls.
"Not much," Blaise said with a frown. "His name is Harry Potter and he's an orphan that was recently emancipated. Used to stay at Privet orphanage and went to the public school until this year." Blaise sneered faintly as he used the word public.
The bell rang and Draco let out a groan. The bell signified that another year had officially begun at Hogwarts Academy, one of the highest ranked private schools in the country.
Draco, Pansy, and Blaise were all students at the renowned Hogwarts Academy. Pansy and Blaise had attended since they were eleven while Draco had transferred when he was thirteen from a boarding school in France. The entrance exams to Hogwarts Academy became increasingly difficult as the years went by, so the amount of transfers decreased as the students got older. A transfer in fifth form was nearly unheard of.
Trailing behind his friends, Draco glanced back at the transfer student known as Harry Potter. He had the feeling that there was more to Harry Potter than what met the eye.
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Despite seeing Potter in every class, it was a couple of weeks into the term when Draco finally got the chance to talk to the boy. Pansy and Blaise were refusing to speak to Draco for some unknown reason—though Draco assumed it was because he had been invited as a VIP guest to the Greengrass Christmas Ball while Pansy and Blaise were still awaiting their invitations. Their refusal to speak to him left Draco without a partner for their Citizenship project.
"No partner, Malfoy?" Draco raised an eyebrow as Harry approached him.
"You know my name?" He was faintly surprised. The dark-haired boy crossed his arms awkwardly.
"Of course I know your name," he said smugly. "I think everyone knows your name at this school seeing as they won't shut up about you. Personally, I can't see what's so fascinating."
"I suspect it has something to do with the boy-genius thing," Draco remarked dully. Harry rolled his eyes.
"Oh, please, like that means anything," he said. "Anyone can seem like a boy-genius if they surround themselves with people that aren't as smart as them. How do you think I landed a spot here?"
Draco chuckled.
"I thought that was because of the near perfect entrance exam scores you're rumored to have," he said.
"Nearer to perfect than any of the others attempting it," Harry replied. "But still nowhere near perfect. Like I said, it's easy to be seen as a genius to others that lack your abilities."
"Be careful," Draco warned with a smirk. "If your ego gets any bigger, you may have to challenge Sheldon Cooper for the world record."
Harry laughed at that and started placing his books in his bag as the bell rang.
"I'll see you around to work on the project," he informed Draco.
"Need my number?" Draco asked offhandedly. Harry smirked.
"I know where to find you," he said.
"How?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow. Harry's smirk grew.
"I have my ways," he replied. "See you around."
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Draco hadn't been expecting Harry to actually come to his dorm room. Normally he refused to let anyone into his room unless their names were Pansy or Blaise.
Draco raised his head at the sharp rapid knocking on his door.
"Penny! Penny! Penny!"
Draco rolled his eyes but smiled as he recognized that voice. Apparently Hogwarts Academy's scholarship student was a full out dork. The blond-haired boy slid off his bed to go open the door.
"If you're looking for Penny, you've got the wrong room," Draco said as he opened the door to let Harry in. "I'd try across the Pond."
"Too far," Harry yawned. "Why would I waste money on a plane ticket when I have a blond to annoy right here?"
Draco rolled his eyes.
"I believe I'm supposed to be the one doing the knocking," he said. "I'm the boy-genius after all."
"Like you'd ever do something as uncivilized as that," Harry chuckled.
"As what?" Draco asked. "Knocking?" Harry shook his head.
"Being annoying," he said. "I can't really see it."
Draco chuckled and gestured for Harry to sit down at his desk.
"I can be annoying," he protested light-heartedly. "Just ask Pansy or Blaise."
Harry wrinkled his nose.
"I think the only way they'd talk to me is if I soaked myself and the room in bleach," he informed Draco. "Scholarship student, remember?"
"Or maybe it's because of your total lack of style," Draco pointed out, remembering some of Pansy's brutal comments about the styles of Hogwarts Academy's students.
"We wear uniforms," Harry protested. "I don't need a sense of style."
"And that is what separates you peasants from us nobles," Draco sniffed mockingly. "At least we nobles understand that a sense of style is always required."
Harry looked like he wasn't sure to be amused or insulted.
"Did you just call me a peasant?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Come on," Draco said, getting up from his bed again. "Follow me."
"For what?" Harry asked. "Are you going to take me shopping? Because if you are, I should warn you that I do all my shopping online."
"Somehow I'm not surprised," Draco muttered under his breath and then feigned an innocent look when Harry looked at him questioningly. Harry sighed but stood up to follow Draco out of the dorm room and down the hallway to a different room.
"Please tell me you don't have an entire dorm room dedicated to your clothes," Harry quipped.
"Of course not," Draco said, unlocking the door. "Only half of it is mine. The other half is Pansy's."
Harry snorted in amusement but followed Draco inside the small dorm room-turned-closet.
"So what are we doing exactly?" he asked, looking around.
"Finding you a sense of style so I no longer have to talk to a mere peasant," Draco replied, rummaging through a rack of clothes. "As Pansy would say, the ugly duckling is becoming a swan."
"But I like ducks," Harry sighed. "They're adorable and swans are vicious creatures. Whenever I go to the park, they decide to chase me to steal my snacks. One actually bit me."
"Only you," Draco chuckled and pulled a shirt off the rack. "Now try this on."
An hour later, there was a large pile of clothes lying next to Harry. Draco was still trying to find something that would fit Harry's 'style.' Harry had figured out within the first ten minutes that Draco was trying to procrastinate on starting their project.
"What do you think of this?" Harry asked, finally deciding to take matters into his own hands.
Draco glanced back quickly before turning his attention back to the clothes rack. Within seconds, he was whirling around to face Harry. The dark-haired boy was leaning against the wall with his white shirt unbuttoned and Draco's favorite tie hanging loosely around his neck (though Draco wasn't sure if that particular tie had been picked on purpose).
"Err—" he muttered, lost for words. His hands were suddenly very sweaty.
"I think the tie brings out the color in my eyes," Harry said with a smirk. "What do you think?"
Draco thought that Potter knew exactly what he was thinking.
"You're a dork," Draco managed to scoff. "What are you doing?"
Harry shrugged.
"I just thought there were better ways to procrastinate," he said slowly. "Ways that we can both enjoy, if the rumors surrounding the resident boy-genius are correct."
The rumors were definitely correct, for once. With four large steps, Draco had crossed the room and slammed his lips against Harry's, pushing the dark-haired boy against the wall. Draco tugged on the tie as Harry's hands fisted his hair.
As Draco pulled away to grab a breath and gray eyes met bright green, he determined that he definitely loved this method of procrastination.
It didn't matter that Pansy would catch them in ten minutes and force them to go back to Draco's room. It didn't matter that Draco would be forced to suffer through Blaise's bad innuendos.
He would definitely keep procrastinating this way as long as Harry allowed him to. After all, boy-geniuses had to stick together.