"So," Malfoy sat down on his bed and stared at Potter intently, "How do you like your new room?"
"Bit dark, isn't it?"
The exchanges between the two were terribly awkward, they'd never been in such close proximity for such a long time before. Harry was constantly on edge, worried that he was going to get attacked by Malfoy. Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle were also meant to be showing Harry around, but they'd appointed Draco as the leader. Harry was in the process of taking items out of his trunk when he heard Malfoy's voice break the silence.
"Potter?" His voice shook slightly, he was trying to hide it but Harry knew he was nervous.
Harry hummed in response so Draco knew he was listening as he continued unpacking.
"Can you look at me?" Harry complied, not wanting to anger the boy, "I- I just want to say sorry. I've been a complete and utter arsehole. And since we're going to have most, if not all, of our classes together and we're sleeping in the same room AND you're now in Slytherin," He took a deep breath, "I think we should be friends."
To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. Millions of thoughts were whizzing around his head, what if this is a trap, what if he takes advantage of me, what if he-
"Only if you're okay with it though. I won't force you to be my friend and I won't hold a grudge for another 4 to 5 years if you say no,"
He was smiling but Harry knew he was still worried. The thoughts of what might happen to him if he said yes were still screaming out in his head, but he'd never made logical decisions in the past, so why start now? He was going to agree but not without putting up a fight.
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why do you want to be my friend?"
He faltered for a second and looked down at his hands before looking back at Harry, "I guess you're actually kinda nice and an okay person to be around."
Kinda nice.
Okay person.
Harry smiled. He couldn't stop the grin creeping onto his face as he kept repeating what Malfoy had said in his mind. Kinda nice. Okay person. Such simple words might've offended anyone else, but to Harry it was like getting praise from the Queen.
He pretended to be deep in thought, stroking his imaginary beard comically. Obviously he was going to say yes to Malfoy, but he had to lead him on a bit.
"I'm not sure. I think I need time to think. I'll get back to you in a few days, possibly a week. Okay?"
The nervous smile fell from Draco's face and he had the same look of sadness as he did when Harry rejected him the first time. He quickly plastered a new (fake) smile on his face and nodded politely at Harry.
"Yes, that's fine. I-"
"Only joking! Of course I'll be your friend, you twat."
"I swear to Merlin, I was about to go to the common room and cry to Blaise, you complete and utter arse."
"You know you love it." He blew a kiss at Draco as he saw a pillow rapidly shooting towards his face, "You love it!"
Harry sat with the Slytherins, picking bits of food off of his plate and absentmindedly putting it in his mouth. He hadn't eaten much, all of the Slytherins could see that, but they didn't want to overstep any lines by bringing it up. Malfoy and Zabini had been putting extra food onto Harry's plate and trying to make him eat it but it was to no use.
Malfoy sighed exhaustedly, "Come on Potter."
"What?"
"Don't what me, eat your food right now."
Harry shied away from Malfoy and looked glumly at his plate. It had been less than a day since Harry had joined Slytherin but Draco had already noticed how little the chosen one ate.
"I'm not hungry."
Exasperated, Draco sighed and stared into the other boy's eyes. He didn't care about Potter at all, no way, he just didn't want a death on his conscience if Potter died from starvation.
"Why? Are you ill? Or do you just starve yourself for fun?"
Harry winced at the harsh voice as he grabbed a few grapes and popped them in his mouth. Contrary to popular belief, Snape actually cared about his students, so rather than feed his house the sugary junk the other students were fed, he provided fresh fruit, porridge, eggs, and toast.
Not wanting to push himself too far, he ate about 10 grapes before setting the rest of them down on his plate. Malfoy looked at him in disbelief, watching the raven haired boy wrap his arm around his stomach uncomfortably.
He knew it wasn't enough. Draco would just complain about it, tell him to eat more, he would be pressured into eating more and then he would throw up all over Malfoy, completely ruining the truce they had made.
"You need to eat more than just grapes." He said, looking suspiciously at Harry. Seeing that the boy was not willing to cooperate, he had to think of a new tactic. "Potter," He said firmly, "You are going to eat more or I will either take you to the infirmary or I will tell Professor Snape."
Harry just laughed mockingly, "Take me to Poppy, I go to see her at least once a week, I'm like a permanent patient, she loves me."
Draco was losing his temper. His father always said that was one of his worst traits. He got angry very easily and lashed out at people. However, he didn't want to scare away his new housemate after just one day, so he kept it together and took a deep breath.
"Look, Potter, I'm going to take you to Snape right now, and then you're going to be forced to eat-"
"Do it. I dare you. He can't force me."
Groaning frustratedly, Malfoy stood up and dragged Harry out of the hall by his wrist. He wasn't actually going to tell Snape anything unless it was concerning, he just wanted Harry to eat something.
They walked not far from the Great Hall and sat on the cold stone floor, Draco dragging Harry down with him. Their eyes met for a few seconds before Draco looked away, his cheeks on fire. He recomposed himself and stared at the boy who lived.
"Why won't you eat? I genuinely don't understand, you've eaten 10 grapes. Most children would eat as much as they could possibly cram inside themselves, yet you barely touch anything."
The boy remained silent, looking down at his lap.
He couldn't tell anyone.
It was the rules.
He couldn't tell anyone.
It wasn't allowed.
He-
A hand gripped underneath his chin, pulling his head up so he was looking at Malfoy. The same soft hands wiped under his eyes; his breathing hitched as the cold hands came into contact with his cheeks.
"It's okay, Harry. You can tell me."
"I never knew Slytherin's could be so caring." The boy giggled weakly through his tears.
"Harry." He narrowed his eyes.
"Okay. I - uh," Harry took a deep breath, "You can't tell anyone, okay?" He waited for Draco's nod before he continued, "I - My aunt and uncle-" He stopped again, trying to calm himself down, "Food is a privilege. My aunt and uncle told me I didn't deserve that privilege."
Draco didn't know what he was hearing.
"What?"
"They gave me food just to keep me alive. They weren't completely useless, they didn't want me dead. I guess I agree with them."
"Excuse me? You agree with them? How?"
"I mean... I'm pathetic. I'm an orphan. I'm a fucking disappointment. I'm pretty useless. I don't deserve to eat nice things."
Malfoy stared at him in disbelief.
"Is that what you think or is that what they told you?"
The raven haired boy's silence answered his question.
"What else did they do?"
Harry shook his head at Malfoy, he couldn't tell him that. The blonde told him it was okay, he wouldn't tell the muggles what Harry had told him.
"They... Petunia wasn't that bad. She shouts at me, gives me a few slaps here and there, maybe a frying pan around the head if I do something bad. Dudley kicks the shit out of me. All the time. Usually his friends get in on the action, a few punches each. Vernon..." Harry let out a sob, clamping a hand over his mouth to stop himself, "He likes to use his fists and a belt. And he doesn't just hit me. He comes into my room-"
He couldn't take it anymore. Just mentioning their names made him vividly remember everything that happened, the memories flooding back into his head.
Arms wrapped around him, enveloping him in a tight hug. A soft voice spoke into his ear as he melted into the boy's touch.
"I won't let them do anything to you ever again."