RAVENCLAW!

9. Christmas

The next four weeks passed by in a rush and suddenly the holidays arrived. Most of the students left and Christmas Eve came.
When Harry entered the great hall he was greeted by a great feast. In order to make the tables look less empty only the seats near the teachers table were set.
Due to the feast rule Harry couldn't sit with the Weasleys and Hermione, so he sat down next to Malfoy. At first he kind of expected the other boy to insult him and push him away but the blonde only shortly looked up and then turned his gaze back to his empty plate again. Cho had taken the train back home the day before so he had no one to talk to. This made him think of something.

He had a plan! Over Christmas he would get Malfoy to talk to him! And he would start with it right now!
Finally everyone who stayed for Christmas was seated and Dumbledore stood up to greet them with one of his weird speeches and open the feast.

While he piled some potatoes onto his plate Harry made his first move:
Smalltalk.

"So, why aren't you spending Christmas with your family?"

"That's none of you business, Scarface!"

snapped the pureblood.

Okay, this was gonna be hard.
Seemed like he had to take it very slow at first. He waited with the next attempt until dessert. In the meantime he thought about what he could say without offending the silent boy.
Finally he had an idea.

"I've realised your flying is pretty good. Do you like Quidditch?"

Malfoy looked up in surprise. He didn't answer immediately. When he nodded eventually it filled Harry with joy. Okay, he already achieved something. Now he had to keep talking before the other one closed up again.

"Me as well. It looked fascinating how the players soared over the sky at the match. Must feel so much greater than having to fly in a height less than your own body height."

A small smirk appeared on Malfoy's face shortly.

"What is it? What are you smirking at?"

"Well it isn't exactly less than your body height, tiny as you are."

The smirk was now plastered to his face, big and bright.

"Ha, ha, very funny, Malfoy. But seriously, when are we going to learn some exciting stuff?"

"Well, I know a lot of this stuff already."

Great, now he was really talking. More than Harry had expected actually.

"Could you maybe show me?"

Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"And risk that you'll beat me in the seeker tryouts next September?"

They kept talking about Quidditch and by the time they were send up to bed Harry had found out that Malfoy's favorite team were the Falmouth Falcons and that he already owned a broomstick, a Comet Two Ninety - but he would get a new one as soon as he got a place on the quidditch team.

They stood up and when they reached the doors of the great hall somebody called for Harry. He turned around to find Hermione and Ron catching up with them.

"Um,...Malfoy. Would it bother you to walk to the tower alone. I..."

He prodded his head towards his two friends. All he received was a shrug before the blonde set off. Actually he felt a bit bad for leaving him alone.

"Hi, guys! Enjoyed the feast?"

Both bluntly ignored the question.

"What the bloody hell were you talking to Malfoy about, mate? And since when do you two talk at all?"