Crunch.
Draco cast a short, stern glance in the direction of his study partner before returning to his essay.
Crunchcrunchcrunch.
Draco stopped what he was doing and let out a loud, irritated breath, glaring angrily at Harry, who paid him absolutely no attention.
Crunchcrunch—"mmmmm"—crunch. Slurp.
Draco stared disbelievingly at the man he had begun to think might be his friend, who had obviously just been setting him up for this. Harry was now not only munching obnoxiously, but making obscene noises of contentment and sucking salt off his fingers.
Suddenly, Harry seemed to notice the eyes attempting to burn through his forehead.
"Wha'?" He asked stupidly, his mouth full of half-chewed crisps, his lips slick with grease. Draco couldn't decide if he wanted to lick that salty oil off his face or punch it off. The table was small enough that he could easily do either. Or both.
"Do you mind?" Draco asked coldly.
Harry swallowed his mouthful and licked his lips, looking a little lost. "Er, mind what?"
Draco huffed. "Crunching like that. Some of us are actually studying."
Harry looked too amused for his own good. "Seriously? That's what's got you huffing and puffing at me?"
"I am not huffing and puffing!—"
Harry snorted. "You are! You're like the big bad wolf!" Draco only looked at him strangely. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "I guess that's just a Muggle thing." He popped another crisp into his mouth and began to chomp happily.
The look Draco shot him could have frozen a Yeti.
Harry stopped chewing. Draco watched him suspiciously, afraid the prat would continue to munch if he looked away. It appeared Harry was sucking on the chip until it softened. The longer Draco stared, the more exasperated Harry's expression became. When he finally swallowed with no more than a quiet gulping sound, Draco looked pointedly at the bag of crisps sitting at Harry's elbow.
"All right, all right," Harry muttered, rolling the crinkly plastic up and placing it under the table with his book bag. "Don't get your panties in a twist."
Draco sneered at him, but Harry just busied himself with his work.
After watching him for a few extra minutes, just to be sure, Draco bent his head back to his essay and attempted to remember exactly how it was his thesis even made sense.
But he couldn't. It was too quiet now. And he couldn't quite seem to get the image of Harry slowly pulling his fingers from his mouth out of his mind.
Since the start of the year and the subsequent beginning of their unlikely friendship, Harry had become increasingly fixed on eating constantly. In the last month, Draco didn't think he had seen Harry once without some sort of food in his mouth—whether it was candy or snacks or gum.
Quite frankly, it was obnoxious. Harry seemed to have an entirely impossible metabolism, though that perhaps came from hours of solitary flying rather than any bizarre trick of genetics or magic, and an insatiable appetite for loud, greasy, salty food.
It was also incredibly distracting. Draco often found himself staring at Harry's mouth as he licked his lips or his fingers or whatever bizarre Muggle treat he was eating this time. He often wondered what his lips would taste like, especially after he had eaten strange combinations of things. He had even had a few embarrassing dreams about the subject. This was particularly inconvenient, because he really quite liked being friends with the idiot, and he didn't really want to risk that by letting slip his unfortunate attraction to Harry.
Draco shook his head violently to clear it. It wouldn't do to be thinking about this while near Harry. The boy had an unnatural ability to make people tell him secrets without even trying.
As Draco finally managed to focus once more on what he was supposed to be writing about, there was a loud, cracking CRUNCH from across the table.
He stilled.
He stilled as angrily as he possibly could.
He slowly, slowly raised his head to look at Harry.
Who had his lips clamped around a bright red lolly and was looking almost appropriately abashed.
"Sorry," he mumbled apologetically around the candy. He pulled it out slowly, sucking on it to delicately to keep the smashed bits of the now-mangled lollipop from landing on his own essay. "I can never manage to lick all the way to the center."
Draco was angry. Or at least he wanted to be. Something about the remorseful look on Harry's face and the way the lolly had stained his lips made a little bit of Draco's irritation melt away.
He sighed, exasperated with both himself and with Harry.
Harry seemed to sense his weakness.
"Hey Draco, d'you think you could help me out with this Potions essay? I'm not sure I understand the difference between moonstone and lavender," he asked, the lollipop back in his mouth and his eyes wide and innocent and so green.
Draco looked at him gravely. "Harry, I think you need to stop eating so much. I know you used to be smarter than this. I think those Muggle sweets may be killing your brain cells."
Harry grinned lopsidedly around his lollipop. "Maybe I'm just playing dumb so you can feel better about yourself."
Malfoy snorted. "Says the one who spent a good six years insulting me."
Harry snorted right back, incredulously. "Says the one who spent a good six years insulting and tormentingme and my friends!" His face turned pensive. "You're right though. I don't think I would play dumb just to make you feel better. It must be something else. I'm probably playing dumb so I can hang out with you more," he said dreamily, staring at a spot somewhere above Draco's left shoulder.
Draco felt his heart accelerate. "Why would you do that?" he asked, as nonchalantly as possible.
Harry grinned around the lolly again. "Not sure, really. But it might be related to why I've been eating around you so much." He pulled the lolly out part way before pushing it in again suggestively.
Draco's breath hitched and he could tell he was blushing. A small, embarrassed smile fought its way to the surface of his face.
Even though he was a month younger and two inches shorter, something about the way Harry's grin softened as he reached out to twist his fingers into Draco's made Draco feel like he was fourteen again and on the verge of his first kiss.
Harry pulled the thoroughly mutilated lolly from his mouth and leaned in to capture Draco's lips.
Draco hummed happily into the kiss, which was short and sweet and chaste. Harry's lips were still salty from the crisps, and Draco couldn't help but lick at them quickly as they pulled apart.
Harry grinned at him again. "Wanna go snog in the back aisles?" he asked breathlessly.
"God yes," Draco breathed. He wanted to see if the inside of Harry's mouth was as sweet as his lips were salty.
Never letting go of Draco's hand, Harry stood up and headed towards the back of the library, Draco in tow. As they went, he stuck the lollipop back in his mouth and crunched through the last bits of hard candy.
Somehow, Draco didn't mind so much.