Sectumsempra

13

Aboard the Hogwarts express, Harry was silently praying no one would ask about Draco. He was trying to play it cool and seem like he was casual about it, but inside he felt like beginning to shake with... he didn't even know with what – nervousness, anxiousness, shyness – all of those combined.

"Have you seen Draco yet, Harry?" came the dreaded question, Ron was the one who asked it. They had arrived late at the platform and pretty much everyone had already boarded so they didn't actually meet anyone, they just had time to hurry – what wasn't very easy because of their trunks – and look for an empty compartment. Luckily they found Neville in one accompanied only by Dean and Ginny quickly joined some of her friends of her year. Harry's stomach dropped at the prospect of having this topic discussed in front of an audience – Neville and Dean seemed like a whole crowd at this moment.

Harry must have slipped his casual mask or Hermione supposed what was going on inside his mind, because she elbowed Ron discretely. For Harry's relief Dean and Neville were both distracted – reading a magazine and looking for something in his trunk causing a mess respectively – and seemed to not have heard Ron's question.

Harry shrugged. "No. I'll talk to him when we get there," he said simply hoping this would be enough to signal he didn't want to discuss this right now. Or ever.

The thing was that Harry was going nuts because of this. He didn't know how to act towards it, what he should do. Going to Draco's compartment was definitely not an option. What would he say when he got there anyway? Harry had been lucky not to bump into Draco in the hallway and be forced into saying something in front of other people, so he wouldn't walk into this scenario.

It was unnerving having no idea of how things would play out. What should he say? "Hey"? "How are you?" "How was your summer"? None of those things seemed right. "I missed you" was what he wanted to say. Not even "Hi," just "I missed you. A lot." But of course he couldn't say that in front of other people. The good part was that he knew that this awkwardness would exist all the same if he was with a girl. This has nothing to do with the person in question being a boy, it had everything to do with the fact the everyone seemed to be transported to kindergarten when it came to dating and he'd definitely be made fun of for being all silly and in love.

*

In one of the last compartments of the train, Draco almost could manage to convince himself he wasn't nervous and anxious to meet Harry and forget this topic for more than five minutes. Almost. Looking out the window he tried to let his thoughts wander freely and drift far away so that he wouldn't need to actually think about anything, but every few minutes he'd remember where he was. A train compartment. The train was the Hogwarts Express. In that same train was Harry. Harry. Draco sighed for the millionth time.

He was in a compartment with a few other Slytherins he hadn't really had much contact with. He chose a compartment with people from other years than his on purpose so that no one would bother him. At least something useful his old life brought him, he did manage to build a pretty good reputation in Slytherin so hardly any of the people in that compartment would feel like they had any aperture to talk to Draco.

*

The train arrived in Hogsmead station and Harry had already been in his school robes for more than an hour. This was a first. He planned on leaving the train as soon as it stopped and getting on one of the first carriages to the castle. He was decided that he wasn't meeting Draco when he was on his way to the castle, walking or getting his trunk out of the compartment or something like that; he knew himself well enough to know that in those situations he was bound to be clumsy and make a fool of himself.

If anyone ask me why I'm in a hurry, Harry thought when the train was almost stopping and he was standing up, I can say it's just because we're one of the first compartments and we need to hurry so we don't create a hold up. What am I thinking, no one's gonna ask me anything. Oh god, Harry Potter just shut up and get going already.