Not this again

Ch. 3

Harry woke up to the sounds of birds chirping as the sun beams mercilessly tickled his eyelids. He woke up with a groan. He really should've changed before going to bed. As he slowly sat up he nearly yelped when he saw Malfoy at the kitchen table, reading over what looked like documents. He was wearing glasses too, with a nice white button up shirt with equally nicer black trousers.

After a faint small conversational exchange, and a goodmorning that made Harry feel all weird again, Harry took a shower outside in the wild. Turns out that the ministry has provided them with portable showers and toilets... which was interesting. Though Harry tried not to question it too much as he showered in the middle of the forest, with a magical shower head raining down on him.

Once he changed clothes wearing comfortable sweatpants and hoodie as he ruffled his hair with a towel and entered the tent again, Malfoy still in the same spot, reading.

Harry cleared his throat, unsure on how to make his presence known.

Malfoy looked at him from above his glasses "You're back"

Harry hummed sitting down "Yeah, showering in the forest is sure an experience"

To Harry's disappointment Malfoy didn't crack a smile but instead hummed back "It wasn't ideal" he agreed, flipping a page.

Harry just nodded awkwardly, staring at Malfoy reading before clearing his throat "Yeah I'm sure it wasn't ideal, you must have felt shy with all the birds watching" Harry said with a grin, excited for the retort Malfoy had for him.

Once again disappointment flooded Harry when he met with Malfoy's cold stare. Harry felt himself swallow.

Malfoy frowned and looked up at Harry's still wet hair "Be careful these are ministry documents, we don't want them getting wet" he said ignoring Harry's comment.

Harry just nodded, whispering a small wandless charm to make his hair puffy and dry as usual and went back to staring awkwardly at Malfoy reading. He knew Malfoy was cold, that's how he always was even when they first got assigned to this task, but the playful banter they shared on the first night here was something Harry actually enjoyed participating in.

Though Harry decided to ignore it and instead focus his attention to the real reason he was here "What do they say?"

There was a pause in silence.

Malfoy sighs "From what I've read, we are supposed to watch the house for activity or 4 days from our tent in the confines of the imperturbable charm" he flips a page "We detail everything that happen in those 3 days- if anything does" another page flipped "Then if nothing really happens, we take the house ourselves, try and find out any charms or secrets and go from there." He puts the documents on the table "Seems easy enough for you right?"

Harry nodded, running fingers through his hair whilst picking up the documents with the other and flipping through them mindlessly. "Yeah, it seems fair," he said, biting his lip with some thought "So it's just a month of living like this.?"

Malfoy nodded, brushing some dust off the table as if he was purposely avoiding eye contact "Yes, They've provided us with basic essentials that'll last through the month, I assure you this will all be over soon"

The lack of eye contact, and overly formal language made Harry feel stupid, was the Malfoy he was chatting back to last night a figment of his imagination? It was like a completely different person was in front of him, devoid of any emotion.

Harry's thoughts where disturbed as Malfoy stood up and cleared his throat "Now if you'll excuse me I'll start observing, feel free to look through the documents as long as you put them back neatly and I'll-" Malfoy finally looked at him, a small pause of silence "I'll see you around"