Rarely Pure and Never Simple

Chapter 3

A/N: Hiii, and thanks for reading this! I hope you're excited for the third chapter, so here you go! Enjoy :)
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Summary of this chapter:
In which first dates are had, feelings are confessed, kisses are initiated, and Muggle clothing is worn.
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"I can't believe you actually have a date with Potter," Pansy said for what must surely have been the sixteen-billionth time that week; Draco wished he had thought to keep track.

"Um," Draco raised one eyebrow impatiently, "I think what you mean to say is 'I can't believe Potter is lucky enough to have a date with Draco'."

"I don't think that's what I actually meant though," Pansy smirked, and Draco threw a sock at her, wishing it was a dirty one.

"Well he definitely thinks so," Draco sniffed, combing his hair for what surely must have been the seventy-third time that day; he wished he had thought to keep track of that one as well. "You should have seen how excited he was when he tracked me down to tell me about the Muggle shop he picked for us."

"Has he really never been clothes shopping before?" Blaise asked incredulously, for what surely must have been the seventeenth time in the last hour; Draco didn't really care about keeping track of that one, to be honest.

Draco turned an impatient gaze on the other boy. "I've already told you a hundred times, no."

"Well, I mean, that makes sense and I definitely believe it," Blaise shrugged, "considering the fact that I do have eyeballs and have seen the clothes he wears. Still, though...to be eighteen and never actually own your own clothing? I don't know if it'll ever make sense to me, no matter how many times I hear it."

"Maybe you could get him a haircut too, while you're out," Pansy suggested, reapplying her lipstick in the mirror Draco was meant to be getting ready in after rudely nudging him to the side. "I mean, if you're meant to start dating and start appearing in public together, I think you should go for the full-on makeover and at least make him someone you would want to be seen in public with."

"His hair is fine," Draco defended, surprised to find that he actually preferred Harry's hair the way it was—long and unkempt, wild and unmanageable. It gave him an intense, almost casually dangerous sort of air, a sort of careless disregard for his attractiveness that was somehow even more attractive to Draco than extreme fastidiousness in a person. Draco liked how it made him seem as though he honestly could not care what other people thought of him or his appearance, a strangely attractive quality, especially for someone like Draco to find in any way appealing, considering how much of his time he spent worrying about what others thought of his appearance. A small smile curved his lips as he remembered the look on Potter's face when Draco had confessed to finding his hair pretty. It had been such an endearing, almost innocent sort of wonder, as though the boy had never imagined anything like that ever being said to him. It had the annoying effect of making Draco want to find other things to compliment him about, just to bring that pleased expression back to his face.

At Draco's words, a strange look crossed Blaise's face, and he sat up to peer at Draco in silence.

"So what's the whole plan for the day?" he said finally, still looking at Draco oddly, and Draco decided that combing his hair for the seventy-fourth time was much more preferable than looking at Blaise's weird face.

"Well, I'm not actually sure," Draco admitted, elbowing Pansy out of the way so he could fix his hair and adjust his clothing. Draco had borrowed some of Blaise's Muggle clothing that they had picked out together from the entire wardrobe-full that Blaise had purchased the previous summer when he decided to go through a rebellious phase against his mother's strict new husband, who was such an old-fashioned pureblood that even Draco had pitied Blaise, and the blond had grown up with Lucius Malfoy, for fuck's sake. Blaise had chosen a pair of black, almost painfully tight trousers for Draco, as well as a long-sleeved storm-grey shirt, the fabric soft and clingy and making Draco feel uncomfortable even though he liked the look of it on his lean—lean, not skinny, lean—frame. The blond was used to loose-fitting robes and clothing with multiple buttons, and this new tight buttonless Muggle clothing still felt odd to him.