Christmas With Harry
Chapter 3
Draco watched as Harry walked Ron and Hermione to the train, he knew that as soon as the train was away, he would get a chance to spend time with him, well at least speak to him
Harry waved goodbye to Hermione and Ron as the train started to pull away and then started to head back to the castle, he had noticed Malfoy standing at the side of the platform as he left, he must have been saying goodbye to his gang although he had never really imagined him as the sentimental type, even with his crew
The next few days were the usual for the holidays, there weren't many people left at the school and they generally sat about reading, playing chess, went down and flied around the quiditch pitch and some of them would even go down to the library and do some studying for exams that would be coming up after the holidays. Harry had seen Draco a few times walking around the corridors looking lost, but focused on something at the same time, in some ways he actually felt sorry for Draco….erm…Malfoy, he shook his head, he never referred to Malfoy by his first name
Harry went down for breakfast one morning and out of habit from when they were looking for him, looked over to the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was sitting alone; it wasn't as if many Slytherins stayed for the holidays, what's more, he thought he had caught Malfoy sitting staring at him, but when he looked away and then back he was sitting staring at the table….it must have just been his imagination.
Draco had spent the first few days walking around, trying to get Harry to notice him, with the hope that he might actually say hi, or that he might actually pick up the courage to say something to him. A few mornings into the holiday, Draco thought that Harry had caught him staring at him, he had walked into the Great Hall at breakfast and looked over while he was staring at him, Draco shot his head down to stare at the table so fast he thought he might have got whiplash, but when he looked back up again, Harry was looking down to some Grinffindors who were left for the holidays and was heading towards them
About a week into the holidays Draco was walking down the corridor and when he turned the corner he collided straight into someone, he was thrown off guard and it took him a second to realise what had happened and who he had walked into, he had been thinking of ways he might be able to interact with Harry
Draco looked up from the floor to realise who he had collided with, ready to start his usual outburst about how people couldn't watch where they were going and they should pay more attention, then he paused…."Harry"
Harry was then thrown completely when he heard his name, Malfoy had never ever used his first name, "erm…..Malfoy" he replied a few seconds later
Draco quickly realised what he had said, "erm…erm…" he stuttered nervously, "sorry"
"Eh….don't worry about it" this was obviously a big day, now he was sure he that Malfoy had just apologised….what the hell
"I…I never realised you were there" Draco suddenly realised that this was possibly his chance
"Its fine…as I said, don't worry about it" Harry started to walk away at this point, when Draco continued
"Potter" making sure to use his second name this time, "erm…what….what exactly do people who stay for the holidays normally get up to?" Draco had no idea where he was possibly going to go with this
"They….erm" Harry wasn't entirely sure what was going on, he wasn't even convinced this was actually happening, it seemed like Malfoy was being civil, "they normally just kill the time and rest, play chess, read, study, some people go down to Hogsmeade at times"
"Oh, right,….I…erm….was just wondering, I've never stayed before" Draco had no idea what to do or say, he just felt so nervous, he expected Harry to just turn and walk away now
Harry felt sorry for Draco and without thinking opened his mouth, "well, if you want to get a coffee or that we could just chat and kill time" as soon as he said it he heard the voice in his head talking to him, what are you thinking?
Draco just stood there for a moment, he didn't know what to say, Harry had just invited him for coffee…the same person that he had spent years dreaming about and trying to pick up the courage to speak to had just asked him if he wanted to go for coffee, he definitely wasn't expecting that, in fact he wasn't sure if he was even ready for that
"You're right, was a stupid idea" Harry turned and started to walk away when Draco hadn't said anything
"No…Potter…I….I would like that, if you would like to" he wasn't quite ready to let Harry go yet, although, he still hadn't worked out what he was doing, he was so nervous to work out a plan as he went, which is what he usually did
"Cool, well I'm heading for one just now if you want to come along"
"Erm….sure" Draco followed Harry in silence through the castle to the great hall
When they got there Harry kept on walking towards the Gryffindor table, Draco paused, his head was telling him that this is a bad idea, having coffee with someone who is supposed to be your arch enemy, however he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, there weren't that many people left anyway, and he continued to follow Harry to the tables
When they sat down together the silence in the hall spread out from their seats as everyone stopped talking and just stared at them, Harry and Draco looked around and as they focused back on each other everyone continued their conversations
A house elf appeared next to Harry, "coffee sir"
"Thank you Branna" Harry replied "and one for Malfoy to please"
The house elf just looked over to Draco and then back to Harry looking very confused, "yes sir, certainly" he replied slowly, he snapped his fingers and two mugs of coffee appeared on the table in front of the two wizards
"Thank you" Harry replied as the house elf started to walk back away from the table, continuing to stare at the Slytherin enemy of Harry's
"You really do care for them don't you" Draco pointed out once the house elf was away
"Of course, the amount of work that they do goes way under appreciated by students at the school"
"But, that is what they are here to do" Draco's upbringing was always that a house elf was a slave who was there to do what there master told them
"Snape is here to teach you and look after you, but you respect him for the job he does"
"I…erm" Draco now looked deep in thought, "I never ever thought of it like that"
Harry was really starting to wonder what exactly Malfoy was up to: he had called him Harry, apologised and was now considering the role that a house elf does"
"Erm….Malfoy, is everything ok?" Harry asked cautiously
"Course, it's great, why?" Draco could see Harry was confused
"Well, you're not exactly acting your usual self"
"You mean why am I not acting like an arrogant bastard who is purely out to look after himself" Draco looked away at this point
"Well…yeah" Harry smiled, he didn't know what was up, but he decided he liked Draco this way
"Well, there's not anyone here that I need to keep up the Malfoy front for"
"The 'Malfoy' front?" Harry look questioningly at him
"Yeah….the front that I have to keep up for my father, to make sure that everyone knows I am a Malfoy and what the family is all like" Draco tried to explain
"So…what you are trying to tell me is that you are actually a nice guy who is caring, friendly and looks out for everyone" Harry smiled at him, which made Draco feel all warm inside
"Well, the people that I care about yes"
"Right….okay" Harry just looked lost, this was too much Malfoy weirdness for one day he laughed to himself
They chatted for another little while until they had finished their coffees before heading off to their own common rooms, but Draco felt great…things were definitely going to get better
Meanwhile, Harry felt a bit creeped out, he definitely wasn't expecting to ever meet the Malfoy, he just had, it was like a completely different person