Thank you - Drarry

Chapter 2

The following few days of classes, Harry fell back into the routine that was school. Before the war, Ron would almost always sit next to Harry in class, but now he would always be found next to Hermione. The couple would pass notes back and forth and Hermione would help him every now and then with the assignments. Harry was way too happy for them to care about sitting alone. His two best friends finally finding each other was one of the few good things to come out of the big mess that was last year. So instead, Harry usually sat next to Neville... or Parvati, or Dean, or Seamus, or whoever ended up next to him.

One morning, a few days into classes, Harry found himself late to his morning potions class. Ron had left early to go and have breakfast with Hermione and Harry had decided to sleep just a little bit longer, which had turned into more than a little bit, and now he was running down the stairs towards the dungeons. He made it to the classroom door and took a few breaths to collect himself before walking in. Right away Harry was happy that Professor Slughorn was now the potions teacher, and not Snape. Slughorn had always liked him, and simply smiled when he saw Harry and mentioned for him to sit down before he continued to speak of the importance of not adding to much yellowroot to a memory potion. Snape on the other hand would have taken 20 points within seconds of Harry walking through the door.

As the attention turned away from Harry and back to the front of the room, he looked around for an empty seat. Ron and Hermione sat at the front of the room with Dean and Seamus on the other end of the table. Ron gave Harry an apologetic smile before he turned his attention back to the Professor. Harry kept looking and very soon realized that the only available spot was the one next to Draco Malfoy.

Harry quickly walked over and sat down on the empty chair on Malfoy's right and put his quill, ink and some parchment on the table. Slughorn left the topic of yellowroot in memory potion and continued explaining the different effect's batwings can give to different potions that include yellowroot. Harry really tried to listen and take notes but continued to get distracted by the boy next to him. Malfoy's chair was placed slightly in front of his, so Harry was basically looking at him when he was trying to look at Professor Slughorn. This made it easy to observe the Slytherin without making it too obvious. Harry had noticed how Malfoy usually sat alone in class. Occasionally he was accompanied by Pansy or Blaise, but usually the chair next to him was empty. This was something Harry could add to the list of things that had changed about Draco Malfoy. In the past the boy had always made sure to be surrounded by a group of friends.

When Harry now looked at him, he noticed the dark circles under his eyes, his messy hair and clothes and how he seemed even paler than usual, which was really something since the blond boy had always been as pale as recently fallen snow.

The thought caught him by surprise. Since when did he compare Malfoy's skin to "recently fallen snow"? But as Harry struggled with that though, he continued to notice these small details about his childhood nemesis. Things that he had never been able to look long enough to see before. Things like how his hair, although messy, seemed to shine, how his nose was actually quite cute. He noticed how his eyes looked like the moon in a black and white photograph and that his lips looked really soft...

Again, Harry was taken aback by his own train of though. Why was he thinking about these things? Harry forced himself to listen to Professor Slughorn, but when the lecture part of the class was over, and they started working on the potion Harry found it to be much more complicated to not look at the boy working alongside him. Professor Slughorn had asked them to work in pairs, so the two of them were working together, using Malfoy's cauldron since Harry had forgotten his in his rush to get ready. They had Harry's book between them and spoke only when necessary. But when their hands accidentally brushed against each other as one added an ingredient and the other stirred, Harry was overly aware of his skin and where it had brushed against Malfoy's.

When all the groups had finished their potion Professor Slughorn walked around the room to look at them all. Harry and Malfoy got excellent remarks on their potion and after a few questions about the potion and about Harry's summer, the Professor gave Harry a pat on the shoulder before moving on to the next table. They started cleaning up their things. Malfoy vanishing the potion with a flick of his wand before lifting his cauldron of the table. Their table was empty and clean of ingredients and tools within a minute and the two boys sat in silence once again while they watched Professor Slughorn move from potion to potion, stopping at every table to chat for a little bit. Harry dipped his quill in ink and finished his notes from the lecture from the beginning of class, as well as a few things he came to think about when brewing the potion.

"Hey Potter..."

Harry looked up, shocked that Malfoy was addressing him directly. Not once in the past few days since school started had Harry heard Malfoy say more than two words unless he had too. Much less said Harrys name.

"Malfoy?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say. He simply looked at the boy next to him. He noticed the fear in the boy's grey eyes and the hesitation before he spoke.

"I never got a chance before... but I wanted to thank you". Malfoys voice was barely a whisper and shifted slightly in his chair. His eyes would only meet Harrys for the split of a second before they looked away, focusing on anything but him.

Harry felt confused. "For what?"

A few seconds passed before Malfoy answered him. Then Malfoys grey eyes found Harry's green and held them when he said, "For helping me with the Ministry... for saving me! Had it not been for you I would have ended up in Azkaban with my father..." He trailed off, eyes filled with fear at the thought of almost going to Azkaban, which Harry totally understood. He knew what the dementors did to a person. He had witnessed it first hand with Sirius.

Harry wasn't sure how to respond, but before he had a chance to, Malfoy stood up, thanked Harry again and then left the classroom. Harry hadn't even noticed that the class had ended, having been too distracted by the conversation. But as he looked around, he noticed everyone packing up and Ron standing by the door, Hermione's hand in his, waiting for him. He quickly packed up the last his things and joined his friends to the next class. His conversation with Malfoy playing over and over in his head for the rest of the day.