Harry thought about that duel for the rest of the day. He knew Malfoy had shown real skill even before his wand started cooperating again, but he had never expected it to feel like… that. It had been a challenge unlike anything he faced from his classmates so far, even when he dueled with his friends on Friday evenings before dinner. The Gryffindor was almost certain that if they had been allowed to continue he would have lost. Malfoy fought with the determination of Ron, the talent and passion of Harry himself, and the quick logic and resourcefulness of Hermione. Even his classmates had hinted they noticed something similar during their discussion. It was, quite frankly, stunning.
After being thoroughly lost in Transfiguration that afternoon, Harry really thought he needed to start taking his studies more seriously if he wanted to succeed as an Auror. He had been putting the vast majority of his time into dueling practices, Quidditch, and his Defense Against the Dark Arts course. Though it was clearly benefiting the rest of the school, and to some extent himself, it was quite apparent after the morning's events that he wasn't progressing as much as he could be. The Slytherin had inspired a feeling of discontent in Harry, who realized how quickly he had allowed himself to sink into complacency. He had stopped pushing himself, and needed to start again.
When he casually told his friends he was going to go study in between Transfiguration and Charms, Ron groaned and said he personally intended to spend a few hours on the Quidditch pitch. As Hermione hurried off to Ancient Runes, Ron headed to the common room to change into his flying gear and recruit someone to help him practice. Harry waved a goodbye and headed off in the other direction down the corridors.
It wasn't until he was halfway there that he realized his feet weren't taking him to the library. Instead, he was on the way down to the basement. He allowed himself to continue, and waited for a quiet moment to reveal the secret door to the hidden room; it might be a nice place to study, Harry figured, although rather dimly lit. When he got inside, however, he noticed he wasn't the only one who thought so.
When Harry first saw the blond boy sitting at the little wooden table, he closed the door quickly and immediately felt compelled to ask the other boy if he was ok. The Slytherin, however, looked up slowly from the papers he had strewn about the table next to a lantern for added light, and Harry understood that Draco was working, not injured.
"Hey," Harry said in greeting, suddenly uncomfortable as he felt he was intruding. "Er- I was going to study here, but- sorry- I'll go."
"Don't be ridiculous, Potter," Malfoy scoffed, shuffling parchment and ink around to clear half the table. He gestured at the chair diagonally across from him, and Harry sat down before beginning to unpack his bag.
"Your burns alright?" Draco asked distantly, referring to their earlier duel.
Harry smiled a little at the memory of having a fireball shot at him, and said, "Yeah. Perfectly fine."
Malfoy nodded and turned back to his parchment, twirling his quill a few times around while he thought. Harry opened his Transfiguration book to try to find the section on changing clothes to household items, in hopes it would clarify some of the lesson he had just failed to understand. He could certainly see how such a skill would be necessary for an Auror, and even remembered his first encounter with Professor Slughorn; the old man had disguised himself as a chair by transfiguring his robe.
"Page 473, if you're after what we're learning now," the voice across from him suggested.
Harry looked back up and adjusted his glasses, surprised. "I didn't know you were still taking Transfiguration."
The other boy looked unimpressed, "Almost like I'm here to learn."
Harry frowned in response to the sarcasm, "Well, sorry I didn't realize you were the reincarnation of Rowena Ravenclaw."
Draco rolled his eyes and looked back down at his work with a small smile. Harry returned to his textbook and flipped to the page Malfoy had suggested. Sure enough, it was the beginning of a section titled, Garments to Furnishings.
"Thanks," he mumbled, without moving his eyes from the page as he began to read. He thought he heard something like a shrug from across the table in reply.
To Harry's relief, the textbook was really rather informative. In fact, he thought he ought to use books more often, really. It was never something he had regularly done, as he hadn't ever felt drawn to books the way Hermione seemed to. He was kicking himself for his stupidity now, though, as he realized how useful they all could have been. To be fair, Harry thought, when your life is constantly in danger reading falls rather low on the list of priorities.
After finishing the page that explained how best results were produced by following the main seam of the article of clothing before pulling up and around yourself in the general shape of the desired object, Harry thought he might give it a try. He hesitated, though, not really wanting to attempt to turn his cloak into the wizarding equivalent of a beanbag chair while there was someone around to witness it. Draco looked up with a rather condescending expression at Harry as the Gryffindor continued his internal debate.
"What?" Harry asked with a touch of defensiveness.
"Quit fidgeting around," the Slytherin sounded exasperated. "If you want to practice, just do it."
The dark-haired boy cringed slightly as a light blush rose in his cheeks from having been called out. "Right…" he said, as he slowly got up and walked over to the empty space in the middle of the room.
Malfoy was facing his direction, but wasn't looking up from his work. Anxiously, Harry thought carefully about the seams of his robe, and traced them with his wand. He then focused precisely on imagining them expanding out into a sort of floppy spherical shape, and rotated his wand around his body in a circular fashion. With a faint whoosh, the robe expanded and sealed itself around Harry's body. Well, more precisely, all of Harry's body except his head and feet. He felt it close around his ankles and over his shoulders, and the shape of it made his knees bend as his legs tucked in, causing him to fall backwards. Thankfully, his fall was padded by the way the back of his robe had expanded. Less fortunately, though, it had not gone unnoticed.
The Slytherin looked up as he heard Harry fall, wearing an expression that made it clear he intended to say something sarcastic or insulting. As soon as he made eye contact with the Gryffindor, though, the expression fell away. Instead, Draco suddenly laughed louder than Harry thought he had ever heard him laugh in his life. It was a strange sight, and Malfoy himself seemed as though he wasn't quite familiar with laughing so hard, but couldn't help it. Tears almost came to the blond's eyes as he continued to look over Harry's transformation, which resembled a beanbag with a head and little feet.
Harry at first burned with embarrassment, but soon became so amused by the other boy's laugh and the realization of how his transfiguration attempt must look that he started laughing as well. The two laughed so much they both had to focus on controlling their breathing after a minute or two. Malfoy seemed as though he didn't quite know what to say next, as if his main concern was focusing on not bursting out laughing again. Harry, when he settled down, came to a rather inconvenient realization.
"Er… Malfoy?" he said hesitantly, though still with a trace of amusement in his voice.
"If you think I'm going to agree to never bring this up again," the Slytherin responded jokingly, "you're dead wrong."
"Actually…" Harry cringed as he admitted the issue, "I'm… I don't know how to reverse this."
The self-control Draco had managed to maintain during their brief exchange immediately fell away again and he laughed; this time he found it even funnier that Harry had turned himself into a sack with a head without even knowing how to undo it. Despite his laughter, he quickly got up and walked around the table to where Harry sat on the floor.
"I don't think even I can come up with something sarcastic enough to do this justice," the Slytherin said as he regained his breath.
Harry would have been frustrated about having been laughed at if it weren't for two things. The first was, of course, that he had undeniably earned it with his ridiculous transfiguration and his lack of foresight. The second was how unfamiliarly bright the grey eyes looking down at him seemed to be. Harry had never seen Draco looking so… happy? Or… genuine?
"Whatever…" Harry looked away and grumbled back at the blond. As he did, Malfoy flicked his wand in a series of motions that caused Harry's robe to quickly unfold itself and shrink back to its original shape. The Gryffindor got up from the ground and dusted himself off before facing the other boy properly.
"Thanks," he said, feeling slightly awkward, but grinning despite it.
"I'd say don't mention it, but I know you won't anyway," the blond teased in reply.
They both returned to their small table, and as Draco got back to scribbling away at his parchment, Harry made a point of reading the following pages on reversing the transformations. It wasn't long until the 4 o'clock bell sounded through the castle and Harry realized just how quickly two hours had passed. He found it odd, as he had never been able to study for quite so long without feeling as though he were dying of boredom or losing focus. After a few moments of reflection, the Gryffindor closed his book at the same time as Malfoy began rolling up his parchment.
"You have a 4:30 class?" the Slytherin asked.
"Charms," Harry nodded. "You?"
"Ancient Runes. With Hufflepuff." The last part of the statement was spoken with a bit of relief hidden in it, and Harry noticed without taking the time to wonder why.
They both packed their bags, then headed out the door and down the corridor. They hesitated awkwardly as they approached the top of the staircase on the second floor, both needing to go in opposite directions. The growing numbers of people who seemed to be watching them curiously didn't exactly make the interaction feel any more natural. Harry noticed that Draco seemed equally aware of the eyes on them, and before they turned away from each other he had an idea.
"Hey, Malfoy," he suggested. "How about we throw them off?"
True to his typical careful guard, the blond's only reaction was the brief flash of interest in his otherwise dark eyes. Harry noticed, though, and knew the other boy was in agreement.
"Fine, Potter!" Malfoy yelled venomously, taking quite a few steps back from Harry as he spoke loudly. "I should have known you'd be too thick to understand!"
Harry put on his best angry expression to imitate the extraordinarily convincing look he was being given by the Slytherin.
"Whatever, Malfoy!" he shot back even louder, trying not to be too entertained by the shock on their audience's expressions. "That's the last time I help you, then!"
Malfoy gripped his wand, which Harry took as a suggestion. In return, the Gryffindor took out his own and held it by his side as Draco replied, "Yeah, some help you are!"
They both shot harmless disarming spells at each other, which collided in the air and flew off in random directions. As they glared at each other, a student who had been watching was hit by one of them and her wand flew up into the air. She let out a little yelp, and Malfoy took the opportunity to turn on their spectators instead.
"That's what you get when you don't mind your own business," Draco growled at her before whipping around and continuing down the corridor to class.
Harry frowned and made sure to shoot a dirty look at Malfoy's back before hurrying off to class himself. It wasn't until he had turned around a few corners and was out of sight that he allowed himself to smile.
AN: A just-for-fun chapter! I laughed so hard when I imagined Harry's transfiguration fail and just had to write something about it. Leave reviews or DM me if there's anything you're dying to see happen! Love you guys ^~^