get some

5

The punch to the face that Harry had taken kept him calm and steady for a whole week. He didn't tell Ron or Hermione about it; for him it was a secret that he was holding to him, almost like a talisman that enabled him to muddle through his lessons and get around the stares and whispering of the students by thinking hard about the fact it was OK, there was at least one person who wouldn't let him get away with murder. If there was one, soon there might be more.

The current one person however, was giving Harry a whole new set of issues to deal with, namely because in the week that followed the punching incident, Harry noticed that Draco kept watching him.

It wasn't in the old malevolent way, which Harry would have welcomed; there were no scowls or glares but nevertheless it was a little unnerving. The gaze was calm and curious, and often tempered with amusement, a small smile that sometimes looked a little wistful playing on the Slytherins lips.

Harry didn't understand the looks, not at all. As far as he could tell, Draco didn't look at anyone else like that, with a strange mix of interest and longing. Harry wasn't alone in his observations, after a few days Ron asked him in a worried voice why Malfoy was watching him, and Harry had to say he didn't know.

There was something else about Malfoy that Harry didn't understand either: the fact that it was obvious that Harry knew that Draco was watching him, but he didn't seem to mind at all. Harry would turn around in lessons, or at dinner, or in the library, raise his eyebrows and mouth 'what?' and Draco would just shrug and carry on looking. Even when Ron caught him looking Draco would stare back completely unabashed and Ron would finally turn away, sending a bewildered look in Harry's direction.

All in all, Draco didn't seem to care about a lot these days. Harry did some watching of his own, and noticed there had been a marked change in the Slytherin since the war. Before, he could easily have called Draco a coward without a moment of hesitation, but now...

Harry clearly recalled the look on Draco's face when he had pulled him to him by his tie after punching him; a mix of anger, a little contempt, excitement, but not a shred of fear or doubt. The same went in classes; Draco would answer back, get in trouble, get detentions and he wouldn't even bat an eyelid. He didn't seem proud of it, or take it all as a joke; he would just shrug and continue doodling on his parchment. Draco had to know that after everything he did every Professor in the building would be watching his every move but he didn't make any effort to keep his nose clean.

Lying on his back on his bed with the Marauder's map held in his hands, Harry contemplated going to see Draco and ask him what the hell he was doing. It was dinnertime and everyone else was in the Great Hall but Draco, it appeared, wasn't among them. Harry's eyes scanned the dots across the map, searching for the Slytherin and finally found him by the edge of the lake, all by himself. Perfect.

Knowing Draco was alone drove Harry to get up and make the decision to talk to him. He just couldn't shake the feeling that Draco held answers for him, that the blonde enigma was the key to getting through all this.

"Surely you shouldn't be out here alone? I'll bet there's people here that would still like to get their hands on you."

Draco heard the voice behind him and turned to see Harry Potter sauntering down the grassy bank towards him.

"Let them," Draco said indifferently with a slight shrug, turning back towards the lake. He had half been expecting Potter to come and find him at some point but hadn't pinned any hopes on it.