"…the altercation between the Malfoy heir and the Boy Who Lived reflects badly on the Malfoy name and calls to question their past involvement with He Who Must Not Be Named and the Death Eaters, previously assumed to be under the Imperius Curse." Lucius read from the Daily Prophet before slamming it onto Snape's desk.
Draco, still covered in cake icing, was sitting in Snape's poorly lit office, facing his father, and his back to his professor. He did not understand why everyone was making a big deal out of his little encounter with Potter.
"This is gonna be on tomorrow's paper. Do you understand the gravity of your actions and the potential severity of their consequences?" Lucius hissed through his gritted teeth.
"Since when do people take Skeeter seriously?" Draco snorted. "She only writes cheap tabloids."
"That's not the point!" Lucius barked. "Do you know how hard we worked to put the Death Eater allegations to bed? Just for you and your little dumb rivalry with Potter to jeopardize all that your mother and I worked for?"
"It's not a dumb rivalry-" Draco protested, but Lucius cut him off.
"Would you rather we end up in a cell in Azkaban like your psychopath aunt?" Lucius slammed the desk again.
Draco simply looked away, before he reluctantly answered: "No."
"Then you'll have to fix it!"
"Fix it?"
"Yes."
"How am I supposed to do that?" Draco said, before adding: "Potter hates my guts!"
"You and Potter have detention together next week," Snape simply stated.
"But-"
"I don't wanna hear it!" Lucius shut him down. "Fix it!" He says the final word and walks out of Snape's office, slamming the door behind him.
How is Draco expected to befriend his arch-nemesis? His worst enemy?
He goes back to the Slytherin dormitories where he finds both Daphne and Theodore waiting for him in the common room. Everyone else has gone to bed already.
"What happened?" Daphne asked.
"Are you getting expelled?" Theo asked.
"No, then they would have to expel Potter," Daphne said.
"And God forbid Dumbledore's favorite student gets expelled," Draco finished, before adding: "I'll tell you everything after I shower."
So, he went up to his room, grabbed a towel and a change of clothes before heading to the showers. He spends a good ten minutes just taking dried cake icing out of his hair. Then once he's done showering, he steps out and examines his picture in the mirror. He notices some light bruises.
"Bloody hell," he mutters to himself, as he looks for more.
He puts on his pajama, and heads back to the common room where Theo and Daphne were still waiting. When he walked into the common room, both their heads turned towards him. He walked and sat at the couch across from them. The second he sat down, they bombarded him with questions:
"What happened?"
"Who started it?"
"Did you actually push Potter to the cake?"
"No, I heard from Zabini that Potter pushed him into the cake?"
"Do you want me to tell you what happened or not?" Draco interrupted their food of questions. The both stopped, and attentively listened. Draco told them the story in excruciating detail. They seemed to enjoy hearing all the details, and he seemed to enjoy having their attention.
"You're totally obsessed with him." Daphne said once Draco was done.
"How could you say that?" Draco protested.
"You totally are, mate." Theo agreed with Daphne, "you're like: Potter this, Potter that all the time."
"I'm not obsessed with him."
"When he got Nimbus 2000-"
"We heard about it for two whole months before it was-"
"The Troll, and how he should've been expelled but instead-"
"He got points for Gryffindor!" Theo faked rage, imitating Draco.
"And then for a whole summer it was how Dumbledore rigged the House Cup-"
"Because Potter picked a rock! Big deal!" Theo seemed to be enjoying making impressions of him.
"And then it was the whole Slytherin heir thing,"
"And then the dementor,"
"And now the Triwizard tourna-"
"Okay! Okay! Okay!" Draco cut them off, "I get it!"
He's not obsessed with Potter. He's just passionate about hating him.
"So," Daphne said after a minute of silence, "what are you gonna do?"
"I don't know," Draco admitted.
"You know, Potter isn't too bad," Daphne said to the wrong audience.
"How could you say that?" Draco said, appalled. "Theo?" Draco turned for support.
"I don't really know him." Theo shrugged.
"I do," Daphne said, "I sit next to him in Herbology sometimes. He's nice, and also…" Daphne stopped, and blushed a little.
"Also what, Daphne?" Draco urged her, visibly annoyed.
"He's kinda cute."
"How could you say that?" Draco said, again.
"What?" Daphne protested, "it's true."
"So what? Do you have a crush on him now?" Draco said, mockingly.
"Isn't he with Granger?" Theo asked.
"No, and no." Daphne said.
"How do you know that?" Draco demanded.
"Draco," Daphne said, "Potter is clearly…" She stopped.
"Clearly what?" Draco urged her.
"Nevermind."
"Are you sure he's not with Granger?" Theo asked again.
"I'm sure." Daphne confirmed.
As Daphne and Theo continued to discuss the love life of Potter, then Granger, and then the whole fucking school, Draco was considering his options.
