Harry sincerely hoped that the Irish boy wasn't inviting more people to join them in the library. He'd rather have him blabbing about how he was going to go bug both him and Malfoy.
Meanwhile, from across the Great Hall, a pair of gray eyes met the sight of Harry entering the room. God, how long had it taken him? Draco had arrived about an hour before anyone else, and he was left sitting here with his breakfast all alone. Well, until his other housemates arrived, that is to say. But when had he ever considered them company?
Scowling, he saw that the annoying kid from the other day was walking beside Harry. He had no right to talk to Harry; he was probably aggravating the hell out of him.
Trying to ignore it, he shifted his gaze back to his plate, which was filled with bread crusts. He absolutely detested the crusts, and preferred the actual bread. Now, if his father were here, he'd think it was a disgrace to have leftover food on the plate.
But my father is in Azkaban now, Draco thought bleakly, And I'm going to have to see him again in only a few weeks.
And after that small thought, breakfast seemed to go by much faster. He sat there quietly, nodding inattentively when someone asked him a question. Some even asked if he was feeling alright. Ha, like they really cared about how he was feeling. He also tried his best to not stare back at Harry, who was laughing cheerfully with his bloody stupid friends again.
Draco left before Harry; making sure to catch the Gryffindor's eye before he exited the hall. Once he confirmed that Harry knew he was heading towards the library, he started off, hoping Harry wouldn't be too long behind. However, he had failed to notice one certain thing when he caught Harry's eye, and that was the worried expression. As a consequence, when Harry finally came in to join him, he wished he had caught that look beforehand. He would've re-scheduled the library visit if he had known Seamus was coming.
The first thing he saw was a brown head of hair peeking through the library door. From the small table Draco had chosen; his eyes narrowed as he closed his book to watch the person. Not long after, the body of that annoying Irish boy wholly entered the library. An apprehensive Harry soon followed.
Draco glared.
"Hey Malfoy." Harry said as he walked over and set his book bag on the table. Seamus, as if no one else was here to notice, flung his bag next to Harry's, nearly hitting Draco in the head.
"Why is it with you?" Draco questioned heatedly.
Harry rolled his eyes, and was about to open his mouth to answer if Seamus hadn't quipped in his bit first. "I'm not an 'it'. If someone needs to be called an it, it's you. You've earned it, ferret." Seamus grinned, plopping down in one of the seats. Harry tentatively sat down next to him, while fidgeting and running a hand through his hair. Draco was trying not to scream out in fury.
"Go hang yourself," Draco commented dryly, before positioning his attention back onto Harry, "Now, why is it with you?"
"He wanted to join us today." Harry replied, trying to sound as casual as possible.
"Why did you let him?" Draco prodded.
"I'd thought it'd be alright… I mean, we're just working on schoolwork."
"Yeah, but why the hell does he want to do it with us? He has his own partner."
"He said that his partner was too stupid…" Harry's voice was lowering, as if to keep Seamus from hearing what he was saying. It didn't seem to be working though; Seamus was leaning in oh-so-un-stealthily to eavesdrop.
"Too stupid? You've got to be kidd--" Draco's eyes snapped to Seamus. "Yes? Would you like something?" His tone was irritated and impatient. This situation didn't appeal to him at all.
"No. Not from you. I was just wondering when the studying was going to start." The enthusiastic Gryffindor smirked, leaning back in his chair.
"We start when we say we start," Draco snapped.
"Malfoy, you don't have to get mad. It's probably not going to do anything to help." Harry looked at him, almost begging him to be nice through that one quick look. If it weren't for Draco's liking to Harry, he would've ignored it completely. But… since the circumstances were different, he listened.
"Fine."
"Good." Seamus chipped. "Let's start then."
And so, all three of them dug around in their bags to take out their ink, a quill, and their slightly worked on essays, which were due in two days. Out of all of them, Draco had written the most.
"You've certainly been the busy bee." Seamus commented, looking at Draco's essay, and how he had finished at least half of it; all in neat writing.
"And you certainly haven't." Draco countered back, taking a quick glance at Seamus' own one fourth written essay. The Gryffindor merely smiled and shook his head, as if the words hadn't effected him at all. A minute later, silence fell, and the only sounds heard were the scratching of their quills and the rustling of turning book pages.
It could only be described using one word; awkward. Harry was hoping like hell that Draco wasn't angry beyond belief, Draco was still seething over how Harry could possibly bring this dull-brain here, and Seamus was… well, he wasn't exactly finding anything awkward. He was quietly waiting for the moment he'd start his plan.
At long last, the fifteen minutes ended, and Seamus was ready and excited to figure some things out. After all, someone around here needed to get something out of these two. Smirking, he dropped his quill and placed his hands in front of him on the table. "So, how long have you two been meeting like this?"
Draco stopped short, his quill frozen in place and his eyes boring into the parchment. Harry started by shooting a 'look' in Seamus' direction. What was he up to now?
"Since the day the professor assigned us to work together, why?" Draco replied through gritted teeth. Harry glanced at the Slytherin nervously. For now, he thought it best to not speak when it wasn't needed.
"Oh, just curious. What do you guys do?" Seamus' eyes glittered mischievously.
"Nothing!" Harry suddenly shouted.
Both Draco and Seamus glanced back at Harry. Blonde eyebrows rose, while the other Gryffindor's smirk grew even wider.
"Really?" Seamus asked. His eyes snapped back onto Draco.
"We work, you idiot." Draco added; obviously aggravated.
"Oh, okay… well, that's interesting." Seamus feigned a bored sigh, and then bent down to retrieve something else from his bag. While he did so, he started up another question. "So did you guys hear about Snape's supply cabinet being raided?"
Harry was honestly glad that Seamus was changing the subject. He shook his head and glimpsed at Draco, only to see him staring intensely at his housemate. "No, I didn't. What'd they steal?" Harry asked distractedly.
"I heard that they took Veritaserum."
"Who'd want to steal that?"
Seamus looked up from his bag, staring up at Draco; dumbfounded. "Who wouldn't want the stuff?"
"I don't." Draco stated.
"Yeah, right. Even someone like you would want to use it on someone to see what they think of you, or if they like you." Seamus grinned, turning back to searching through his bag. It seemed as though there was a mountain of parchment in there.
"What the hell are you going on about?" Draco retorted.
"Oh, nothing." Seamus replied. He shot Harry a 'look', just to let him know how much he didn't much like having 'nothing' used on him.
After a few more seconds of stiff silence, Seamus finally reappeared over the top of the table, his hand clutching something unseen to the both of them. Harry was very worried by this point. Draco was completely oblivious; he was too busy wallowing in his anger towards Seamus to pay attention to any sly tricks.
"What's that you have there?" Harry questioned quietly, motioning toward Seamus' hand. It appeared to be some sort of vile, and Harry didn't exactly need to think twice about what it was.
"Oh, this?" Seamus smirked and held up what appeared to be a bottle of air. He turned it around a few times in his fingers, and both Draco and Harry detected a bit of shimmering mist. "This is--"
"Veritaserum." Draco interjected. "You do realize that you just told me that you're the one who stole it."
"Yeah, and what do you plan on doing?"
"Informing the professor."
"Malfoy, we don't have to do that. I mean… it's just one--" Harry started.
"No, we do! Do you know how long it takes to make Veritaserum? I'm surprised Snape hasn't hunted down and slaughtered him yet."
"Malfoy… please?" Harry implored.
"Why should I let someone I think is a slimy little idio--"
Suddenly, his sentence broke off when Seamus leaned across the table, thrusting the hand with the vile in it underneath Draco's nose. Draco drew back sharply, toppling backwards off of his chair. Seamus started cracking up, and Harry stood up quickly, staring down at the floor with an open mouth from across the table.
"Are you okay, Malfoy?" He asked hurriedly; though he made no move to go and help him up. He was a bit afraid of the Slytherin pouncing up to attack Seamus.
"No… I actually hurt my back rather badly." Draco commented dryly, sucking in a deep breath as he pushed himself up from the floor. Seamus snickered, and Draco's eyes dangerously fell on him. "Why the fuck did you do that, you little prick!"
Seamus did a 'tsk, tsk' sound and waved the uncapped bottle between his fingers. The bottle was completely empty now; Harry could tell.
"You just inhaled the contents of this vile, my friend." Seamus said; grinning from ear to ear. "Now, where shall I start?"
Harry swallowed, weakly collapsing back in his chair. He looked between both Draco and Seamus; whom were both in a severe staring match, as if daring each other to speak first.
Yes, this was something that could unquestionably be considered going wrong.