The Ugly Truth 〚drarry〛

truth #2

September 5

Truth #2: "No, I don't mind, go right ahead."

It was the fourth day of school, and Draco found himself relieved that the excitement was finally dying down. The students were always so jittery and excited on the first few days, it was a nightmare trying to teach effectively. He did get through it, though, and he had to admit that his classes this semester weren't half bad. He had two classes with freshmen, one with juniors, and one with seniors. Freshmen weren't half bad, and they were easy to intimidate, so at least half of his day was peaceful. The others were a different story, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

It was currently 10:37, an exact minute before the end of the period, and Draco was technically still teaching, but all the kids were already packing up their books. Instead of continuing with the lesson for the one minute he had left, he simply sighed. "Get out of my sight, kids," he said to the class, and 31 chairs squeaked against the floor as they all got up.

The freshmen practically streamed through the class, rushing to get out, while Draco sat at his desk and rubbed his forehead. He felt weirdly drowsy, like he could fall asleep any minute. On their way out, a few kids said "Bye, Mr Malfoy," and he didn't have the energy to say anything back, so he just smiled at them tiredly.

When everyone was gone and the bell for third period rang, Draco sighed rather dramatically and got up from his seat. He yawned for probably the seventh time and quickly made his way to the staff room, dodging the many students in the hallway. God, he should have become a university professor instead of a high school teacher; at least the kids would pay attention, and at least they wouldn't smell so fucking bad.

He reached the staff room after walking down many hallways and even a flight of stairs, and he could honestly say that he was relieved. The minute he walked in, he went straight for the coffee machine, and tapped his foot as he waited for it to finish after requesting a coffee with only one milk. When it finished, he grabbed it, slumped in one of the many chairs, and drank it like it came straight from heaven.

The staff room was relatively empty, save for a few teachers who were chatting amongst themselves quietly. Most of the seats were empty. Draco sat quite a few seats away from the group, as he didn't feel like socializing today. Not that he ever did, really; he was rather introverted, and preferred a close group of tightly-knit friends to a huge group of people he was just friendly with.

He didn't mind, of course, it was his choice to be like that. It served him well, too. He didn't need to fake smiles or act friendly in front of staff members; instead, he just chose to stay out of everyone's way. The few friends he had consisted of Hermione, Pansy the art teacher, and Theodore the politics teacher. He didn't see them very often though, as they all had their schedules, but he found that he genuinely enjoyed their company.

He heard the staff door open, and glanced up to see who it was before slightly choking on his coffee. Mr Potter came in to the room, wearing a white button-up shirt and a tie. The top button was unbuttoned and his navy tie was slightly loosened, giving him the perfect casually formal look that matched his hair. Draco knew that a lot of his students thought he was the hottest teacher at Hogwarts Academy, and he didn't need to catch up on the gossip to know that he probably had competition now. Obviously he didn't plan on pursing Potter in any way, friendship-wise or other; he wasn't one for friends, and the man was married if he somehow developed a crush. But no doubt about it, this Potter guy was attractive, and if anything, it slightly intimidated Draco.

Fearing that he was staring for too long, he glanced away and continued sipping his coffee. He heard the machine running and assumed that he wasn't the only exhausted staff member today. He sipped his coffee lightly, leaning his elbows on the table. The collar of his shirt lightly pressed into his neck, and he felt a sudden urge to just take off his shirt, lie down on the couch, and go to sleep right there. But of course, he was at work, and in about 70 minutes he'd have to teach a bunch of rowdy juniors. What a joy.

The chair beside him squeaked unexpectedly, and Draco jumped lightly, his head instantly whipping to his right side to see the source. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't Mr Potter, smiling down at him.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asked, biting his lip awkwardly. "I don't exactly want to join that discussion," he said, nodded his head towards the group of teachers probably gossiping at the edge of the staff table.

Draco swallowed his surprise and nodded. "No, I don't mind, go right ahead," he said, forcing himself to smile in order to appear friendlier than he probably was.

Potter sat down in the chair, folding his legs the second his butt hit the chair. He took a rather large swig of coffee and sighed in what appeared to be relief. Draco tried not to look at him; instead he looked straight ahead, focusing instead on the bitter taste of the coffee in his mouth.

"So... how was your first day?" Potter said, and Draco found himself confused. The man was trying to initiate a conversation? That was nice, he supposed, but he wasn't really in the mood for small talk, even if it was with this interesting new staff member.

"Fine," he replied, trying to brush Potter off, before he realized that he probably sounded like a complete and utter douchebag. He wasn't even trying to hide his disinterest. He didn't know why he cared about sounding like a douchebag, because he probably was.

"Sometimes, I hate kids, though," he added, not wanting to sound as rude as he thought he did. Teaching can be hard sometimes, and it's this Potter guy's first week; Draco should at least make an effort to be polite.

"Really? I love kids," Potter replied, and Draco snorted.

"Seriously? They're smelly, they're rude, and they always try to piss you off for no reason other than to fuel their own amusement," Draco said, wincing when he realized he was ranting. "Sorry. I'm being rude."

Potter didn't reply right away, and when Draco glanced at him, he found that he was smiling. "No, you're really not. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, right?" When he smiled, his eyes crinkled a lot at the corners. Looking at him, really looking at him, Draco could see small freckles sprinkled across his cheeks and nose, so small they're almost unnoticeable.

"Yeah," he replied, not knowing what to say. He looked back down at his coffee.

"Why did you want to teach, then, if kids are smelly and rude?" Potter questioned, and Draco felt like he should have been annoyed, but he wasn't.

"Some of them aren't. Some kids are so smart and wise and ambitious. It's the ones that throw their lives away that I can't stand. Or the ones that get a kick out of pissing teachers off," he said, and he realized that it sounded more personal than he intended it to be. Small talk, he told himself, this is just small talk. Nothing to be afraid of.

Potter hummed. "That's admirable," he said, and Draco felt his nose twitch at that. Him, Draco Malfoy, admirable? Hot, maybe, intelligent, yes, but admirable? That's new. "I started teaching because I love high school kids. They remind me of myself, a lot of them."

Draco sipped his coffee several times before finding he had run out. He frowned at the empty mug. Potter noticed.

"You want me to get you more?"

Draco glanced at him, then at the clock, which read 11:29. "Nah, thanks for offering though. I should get back to class." He stood up and tucked his chair in. He was about to walk away before reminding himself of his manners. "Thanks, by the way, for the chat. It was a pleasure," he said, inwardly grimacing at his use of the word pleasure. Potter didn't seem to notice.

"No need to thank me, I enjoyed it. Good luck with your smelly kids," he lightly joked, smiling at Draco with his slightly crooked teeth and chapped lips. Draco found himself smiling back as he put his mug in the sink. He left the staff room then, paying no attention to the group of teachers that was still gossiping after all this time, or to Potter, who was staring down at his coffee as Draco left.

Potter seemed tolerable, Draco thought as he walked back to his class. He seemed tolerable.