I Don't Care

Chapter 6

The whole day, Draco watched Harry like a hawk. Harry didn't say or do anything that would give Draco any indication that he would see him tonight. At least Harry was eating, and Draco took that as a win.

At 7:30, Draco was nervously bouncing his leg, waiting to see if Harry would show up. They weren't scheduled to meet until 8, but Draco was too anxious to sit in his room any longer. Instead, he began collecting ingredients, trying to find something to occupy his time.

Imagine his surprise when he heard the door open five minutes later while he was grabbing ingredients from the closet. Draco rushed out, almost tripping over his feet.

Harry greeted him with a raised eyebrow and a faint look of concern.

"Alright there Malfoy?"

"You're early."

"Not early enough apparently. How long have you been here?"

"About five minutes."

"Oh."

Draco watched as Harry toed the ground with his scuffed up sneakers and looked anywhere that wasn't Draco.

"I really am sorry Potter," Draco began quietly. "Talking to you like that has yielded successful results in the past. I didn't even think that it would remind you of Snape. My intention believe it or not was not to upset you, I was trying to help."

"Look Malfoy, we have a very complicated relationship. I don't respond well to being yelled at at all. It's one thing if we're going at each other, but it's another when I'm trying to learn something. That doesn't work for me.

It brings up too many memories and too much trauma. I don't know what we're getting at, but if we're moving past this rivalry and you feel the need to help me with my classes, you can't do it like that."

"Okay, that's fair. What potion do you want to start with?"

"Something simple."

Draco's new approach was doing a demonstration and having Harry following along. It seemed to work better, and Harry has finally let his shoulders drop.

"Thank you."

"I told you I'd help you," Draco brushed off, carefully bottling the potions.

"No, I mean for apologizing. And the chocolates and flowers."

"You seemed to really like flowers, and I wanted to show you that I meant it. Words are empty promises."

"I do. Really like flowers, I mean. No one's ever bought me any," Harry replied quietly.

"I hope the chocolates are up to your standards. They're my favorites."

"I haven't tried any yet, but I'm looking forward to them."

"If you don't mind my asking, where did you go yesterday?"

"Why, were you looking?"

"Yes actually. I checked everywhere, and made it to a window in time to see you disapparate."

"I went to see my parents. I just needed to go somewhere and talk. I was there for hours. Cleaned up their graves. It was nice to go, before Halloween. A lot of people try to wait and meet me. I always try to stagger when I go but there's always someone there."

"I'm sorry. If you ever need a death eater to scare people off, let me know," Draco joked, but the joke fell flat.

"I would never do that to you. There's no need to also put you into an uncomfortable position."

"It shouldn't happen to you either," Draco replied with a sigh. "We're done for today. Good job Potter. Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Goodnight Malfoy."