What If I Told You...?

Chapter 8

Draco avoided Harry as much as possible in the next few days. Every time Draco saw Harry in the hallways he would immediately stop and walk in the opposite direction. It became apparent to everyone that Harry and Draco were not talking, but nobody knew why. Lily brought it up the second day Draco had gone to his house instead of theirs.

"What has Draco been up to?" Lily asked Harry.

"He's, er... busy," Harry answered vaguely.

"With what, exactly?" Lily questioned, her eyebrows raised.

"Stuff," Harry said, and then walked away, effectively ending the conversation.

The boys' friends had noticed they weren't talking, as well. They had tried to talk to both boys, but neither would clarify what the actual problem was. Nobody could understand what pulled the two best friends apart.

Practice was the worst. They had to communicate to play, but they refused to say more than what was needed. Their coach caught onto this but didn't comment on it; he figured the boys would sort it out on their own. He didn't want to waste precious practice time, sorting out their issues.

If practice was tense, it was nothing compared to chemistry class when their oblivious teacher, Snape, paired them together to do a project. After Snape had finished reading aloud the assigned partners, Draco had gotten up from his seat and walked over to the teacher's desk.

"Sir, is there a chance I could switch partners?" Draco asked as politely as possible.

"And why would you want to do that, Mr. Malfoy? You and Potter are close, I thought," Snape asked. He was Draco's godfather, so he knew more things than Draco would like to admit.

"We've had a... falling out," Draco said vaguely.

"A falling out? You've been best friends since you were in diapers, and you've had a falling out?" Snape asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Yes. So can I get a new partner or...?" Draco said through gritted teeth.

"No, you must work with the partner I assigned you with," Snape replied. Draco whipped around to go back to his desk and retrieve his things. He brought his things over to Harry and plopped down in the seat next to the infuriating boy. Neither of them spoke for several minutes.

"I'm surprised; teachers usually fall at your feet when you ask them for something," Harry said with a smirk; attempting to defuse the tension. Draco glared at him in response, and Harry shut his mouth, knowing he could only make things worse.

"I suppose we should split the project into two parts; you work on your part, and I on mine. That way we don't have to interact, unless necessary," Draco proposed. Harry opened his mouth to argue, but stopped short when Draco shot him another glare. Draco spent the next ten minutes splitting up the work between the both of them. Harry just sat there quietly, studying Draco carefully, with a tired expression on his face.

"D-Draco?" Harry asked tentatively.

"What?" Draco spat, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

"I am sorry," Harry said. Draco froze, holding his now still pencil hovering over the paper.

"Sorry doesn't fix everything, Potter," Draco replied coolly. Harry flinched at the use of his surname. It was obvious that Draco wasn't going to forgive him, but Harry was determined to keep trying.

Draco then went on to explain the parts of the project Harry was responsible for. Usually, Harry would argue saying it was too much work, and Draco would end up doing most of it himself. This time it seemed, it would be shared equally and they weren't interacting with one another. This thought saddened the two boys, but they worked on; not saying a single word to the other.