CHAPTER FOUR - BLAISE'S PLAN

It didn't take very long to implement his plan. In fact, it might have been the easiest thing that Blaise had ever done, and that was saying something.

The first step was talking to Pansy the next morning at breakfast. He had gotten up unusually early just to catch her at her weakest point of the day, before her first cup of coffee. He planted the seed with just a couple of comments, and embedded them deep in her subconscious. He would make her think it was her idea.

"Have you ever thought about how cute a triad would be? I wonder if anyone in our year will end up in a multiple contract by our graduation from Hogwarts. My bet is on the Weasley twins and either Angelina Johnson or Alicia Spinnet. What do you think?"

And with just four sentences, Blaise sealed three fates.

(Immediately after breakfast, Pansy would owl her parents and demand a contract. They were surprised to say the least on who the contract would bind together.)

The second step was making Draco realise that he liked Pansy as well. He knew that Draco already had a pre-existing crush on Harry, so that front wouldn't be an issue. It was bringing him around to the idea that Harry and Pansy could come as a package deal, that they could form a triad together and not have to sacrifice their friendships or form separate—and unhappy—relationships. This step would be a little harder. That same morning, Draco sat down next to Blaise in a huff. He reached for a slice of toast and ended up with a slap to his hand for his troubles.

"What in the blazes was that for?" admonished Draco as he held his slapped hand quite dramatically. It was a Draco level of drama, which could get out of hand if not addressed as soon as possible. Blaise never played into his drama, unlike Harry or Pansy who fed into it without realising half of the time.

"Listen up, you clueless prat. You like Harry," he saw Draco's face go red, then completely drain as he snapped his head to look up at Blaise. Blaise held his hand up for Draco to pause whatever he was going to try and say next. "Don't even try to deny that you don't like him, it's obvious and you've been obsessed with him since we were tiny First years. You know this is true. Now I want you to think hard, and be critical about it, okay? What are you going to do about Harry's infatuation with Pansy if you like him so much?"

Draco regained the color in his face and started to reach for the toast again slowly, as if to not disturb a sleeping dragon.

Blaise continued, "Now as I see it, there's two or three ways this can go down, and only one favorable outcome to all three of you."

Draco looked curious as he loaded his plate and paused on Blaise's last sentence.

"What do you mean 'only one favorable outcome' for the three of us?"

"Well, it's obvious, isn't it? You should form a triad."

Draco blinked owlishly. He turned the thought over in his head, swirled the word triad around in his mouth, and finally decided that it wasn't a bad idea.

"The problem is, does Pansy even like me? Or along that same vein, does Harry even like me back?"

And so the third and final step began in Blaise's master plan, as Harry overheard his name on his journey to the Slytherin house table for a late breakfast. Blaise had timed everything perfectly, from his first question to Pansy that morning, to arranging it with Theo Nott to have Harry wake a little later than usual to have a later breakfast. Harry would rush to the Great Hall for his morning meal, but in his rush to the table he would overhear something that would change his life.

"You like me?" asked Harry, standing frozen behind Draco.

Draco whipped his head around and turned a bright shade of beet red once again that morning. Harry looked like he was about to pass out, whether from having not eaten that morning or from what he had just overheard.

"Erm-I, um, I mean, yes?" Draco looked like he wanted to cry, he looked around to see if anyone was seeing what was happening at the Slytherin breakfast table.

"Wow, Draco, what an eloquent way to put it." Blaise silently laughed at his best friends' faces. One of bewilderment and the other of pure embarrassment. Slytherin's weren't ones for public confrontation, but Harry couldn't help himself.

"Are you sure?"

Harry sat down next to Draco, looking curious rather than shocked. Draco looked like he could keel over any second.

"Yes? I mean, yes I'm quite sure," he said regaining his confidence as his face turned back to its usual color. "I've liked you for a very long time."

Harry blushed and coyly looked down the table and saw Pansy in her own world, furiously writing on an already marked over piece of parchment, probably a first draft of an essay. Draco followed Harry's gaze down the table. He was feeling better about the situation already, and placed his hand gingerly on Harry's knee underneath the table.

Harry slowly tore his eyes away from Pansy and instead turned them to the slender hand on his right knee.

"Don't worry, Harry. I like Pansy too." Harry's bright green eyes looked into his soul at that comment, searching for any hint of a lie. When he didn't find what he was looking for he turned to his plate and started filling it with breakfast goods.

"So what are we going to do then?" Harry sounded like he was on the verge of crying. Draco squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I've got a plan."

Blaise smirked. He picked up an apple on his way out of the Great Hall to get his bookbag for their first class of the day, double Potions.

Easy as pie, he thought to himself.