Drarry Potions AU

Chapter Six

The Day Before. . .

"Hello, Harry," Pansy said casually, sitting down at the library table he was studying at.

Harry looked up, startled. "Uh," he said dumbly, shooting her a confused expression. "Did you just call me Harry?"

Of course she did; you heard her, the afterthought in his head answered. The question you should have asked was why.

"I'm here with a white flag waving," Pansy claimed, still acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary.

Harry was no Hermione, but he wasn't daft enough not to be suspicious of Malfoy's cronies. He glared at her, looking for any sign that she was pulling some trick.

"About what?" he asked finally.

"I have a question about Draco."

Harry felt hot all of a sudden. Hot. That's exactly the word he'd use to describe his supposed school nemesis.

"Why don't you just ask him?" Harry suggested, confused. "You don't even like me." And I'm almost positive you find him as attractive as I do, he finished in his head.

"Because he doesn't know about it, Potter," Pansy said like it should be obvious.

It, Harry observed. How very specific.

"Well, get on with it, I suppose---what's your question?" Why not? probably would've been a better question.

"So yesterday at breakfast I slipped Draco a love potion," Pansy started.

"You what?" Harry hissed, trying to keep his voice down because the librarian had already berated him one too many times before.

"Just shut up and listen," Pansy ordered. "The thing is, he was supposed to fall in love with you---"

"What?!" Harry said again, and this time he did earn a "Shhh, Mr. Potter!" and a stern look from Madam Pince.

"---but he just acted normal all day," Pansy continued like nothing had happened. "Blaise and I thought it was something wrong with the potion, like maybe one of the ingredients expired. But then we tried it on a second year today and she's following you around everywhere." Pansy nodded to someone at another table past his shoulder. He turned to look and she immediately lit up and waved. "She used to hate you, which is why we chose her. So it can't be the potion."

"So . . . what is it you want from me?" Harry asked cautiously.

"I just wanted to know if there was anything you noticed about Draco yesterday---anything that might hint that the potion was working."

Harry thought back to when Draco had bumped his shoulder in the corridor. . . Nothing unusual there.

He was about to give his answer when he remembered that it wasn't only in the corridor that he and Draco had run into one another.

"Well . . . we talked in here yesterday," he started slowly. Pansy scooted to sit on the very tip of her seat as he continued. "It was banter mostly---and some Malfoy-esque complaints about leaving him alone. But nothing other than that."

Pansy snorted, nodding like she expected that. "Sounds like Draco. He's such a drama queen."

Harry resisted the urge to snort himself and retort, "Have you looked in the mirror recently?"

"Did it sound flirty at all?" Pansy wondered.

Harry thought about that for a moment. Flirty. Merlin, what he'd give for Malfoy to actually flirt with him instead of spit in his face. (Metaphorically speaking.) (Mostly.)

"No," Harry decided. "It was more like he just needed to get something off his chest and I just happened to be there."

This was starting to feel more like an interrogation than a friendly peace meeting for Pansy to pull a trick on her best friend. Harry was starting to feel annoyed---partially because Pansy was grilling him with questions he wasn't completely sure how to answer, or wasn't completely sure he wanted to answer. And also because Hermione was supposed to be here now to help him study. It was her idea, after all. (Of course it was; Harry hated studying.)

"That does sound like Draco," Pansy said again.

And then Hermione was there, rushing through a "sorry I'm late" greeting as she set down some textbooks, but then stopped short when she saw Pansy.

"What's she doing here?"

"It's nothing, 'Mione," Harry assured, but she was obviously far from truly believing that.

"Don't worry, I was just going," Pansy told her, standing. "Thanks for the info, Potter. I have everything I need."

Harry decided it was best not to question her evil smirk as she strode out of the library.