Slytherin's Touch

Chapter 3: Friends

The next day, Harleyn wakes up to the sound of running water. She groans snuggling further into the covers to block out the noise when suddenly the event yesterday came rushing back to her.

She jerks up and looks around the room, yep, this was definitely not her dorm. She moves to stand up when suddenly, the bathroom door opens. Revealing Draco Malfoy, naked, with only a towel to cover his modesty.

Shrieking, she dives back under the covers. "Malfoy, what are you doing here?!"

Draco raised his brow. "Well last time I checked, this was my room, Potter"

Harleyn comes out of the covers to glare at him before immediately closing her eyes shut after she gets a glimpse of his nakedness. "Well that doesn't explain why you're not wearing anything!"

Draco huffs, "Excuse me for forgetting my uniform when I'm not used to having someone else in my room, who I literally saved from freezing to death" He snapped, making Harleyn grow sheepish for her actions. "Mind explaining to why you were sleeping the hallways?"

"It's a long story"

Draco sighed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of her "Tell me about that later, for now hurry up and bathe, we only have an hour before breakfast" He said before disappearing into his walking-in-closet, leaving the Gryffindor in her thoughts.

Harleyn sighed, running her fingers though her hair. Malfoy was right, she needed to bathe and think things out. She looks around the room and spots her luggage on the other side of the bed. Getting up, she moves to her luggage and makes a mental note to organize it later. After a while of digging through her messy suit case, she finally finds a clean set of her uniform.

Harleyn groaned, that reminds her she still needed to find somewhere to stay. after all she couldn't possibly return to the Gryffindor Tower, they'd just kick her out again.

But she'll think about that later, for now she needed to get bathe and... find out the use of these things. She thought to herself as she entered and stared at the inside of Malfoy's bathroom.

After going to the struggle of looking through each and every one of the bottles, she finally finishes bathing and goes to on to put on her uniform before leaving the bathroom.

"Why do you have so much hair products?" She asked Draco, who was busy styling his hair.

"Well I for one like taking care of my hair, so what's wrong with that?"

Harleyn blinks before shrugging. "Nothing really" She moves to her luggage and begins her search for her tie.

Draco took notice of this and pulls out a red tie from his desk "Hey, Potter, looking for this?" He offers the tie to her.

Harleyn turn around and spots her tie in his hand "How did you-?"

"I found it yesterday on the ground a few feet away from you, must have fallen out when you were walking" He explains as she pulls her tie from his hand.

"Thanks, Malfoy" Harleyn stands up and begins her daily struggle of tying her necktie properly around her neck.

Draco frowns at this. "Here let me" Without waiting for her response, he takes the necktie from her and begins to tie it neatly around her neck

Harleyn cleared her throat, her cheeks turning a light red. "Thanks" She says after he finished, pulling her tie under her vest as she looked away from him, unused to his closeness.

Draco noticed her uneasiness and steps away from her. "It's nothing but now that we've dressed and we still have some time before breakfast, do mind telling me why you were sleeping in the hallways last night?"

Harleyn bites her lips. "To be honest, I don't even know what happened last night when I got there I just saw them throwing out my stuff, when I asked them why, they just told me that they didn't want me there"

She clenched her hands into fists. "And I don't understand why they did that, they were my friends and they abandoned me just because of a stupid tournament that I never wanted to join!" Harleyn cried out, tears welling in her eyes.

Draco frowns, those Gryffindors were traitors, he'll never understand why they'd abandon her something so little as that. Then he decided to make a risky move on Harleyn, he steps closer to her and pulls her into a tight hug "It's okay Potter, just let it all out"

That was the last straw for Harleyn, she wraps her arms tightly around him and buries her face to his shoulder as she lets out loud sobs. They remained in that position until finally Harleyn's tears dried up. "I want you to listen to me okay? Their abandonment of you is not your fault, so don't blame yourself Harleyn"

"You deserve much better than this" Draco releases her from his embrace to look her in the eye. "You deserve to have friends that will be loyal to you, be with you through all the ups and downs you'll face and I want to be that friend"

"I know that you probably don't trust me because of our history but I'm willing to try to be friends with you, if you'll let me" He adds, after sensing the doubt going through her mind.

Harleyn was silent for a moment, weighing her options before nodding. "Okay, I want to try to be friends with you too, Mal-Draco, looks like I need to get used to calling you that"

Draco chuckles and takes a step back, "Let's make this official them, Harleyn" He reaches out his hand to her. "Friends?"

This time Harleyn takes his hand. "Friends"

~~~~~

First Posted -  March 2, 2019
Updated - August 8, 2022