chapter three

                                    

                                          
For weeks, Malfoy avoided Harry at all costs. During breakfast, If he saw Harry sitting at the front of the table, he would take the long way around all of the tables, just  to be as far away from him as he possibly could. In class, he would take the seat furthest away from him, in the halls he would walk into the first classroom available so he wouldn't  have to pass him.
                          
Hermione noticed these changes in Malfoy's behavior. Harry's behavior, too.  It was almost like he was depressed. He'd take one look at Malfoy and turn his head, fiddling with his hands nervously until he was out of sight.  Nothing that the two of them did went past her.
                          
When she went to Ron about it, he shrugged her off, "why are you so worried about Malfoy?" he had asked, "who cares what he does. You're starting to sound a bit like Harry."
                          
This aggravated her more than it should have. 
                          
So she took a different approach, going straight to Harry. She waited until Ron had left for bed to bring it up of course, he would have thought it was petty or narrow-minded.
                          
"Harry, is there anything that's been bugging you, specifically anything about Malfoy?" she sat across from him in the chairs by the fireplace
                          
"What? No!" he said a little too quickly, "I'm fine." he added, pretending to copy something from the book in his lap.
                          
"Seriously, Harry. What happened? You can trust me." she placed a hand on his knee, making him flinch. "I'm going to start guessing, if you don't tell me."
                          
"Listen, I was wrong, about Malfoy. Okay? I accused him and he got mad, he showed me his arm and I was wrong okay. Go ahead and tell me, 'I told you so'. I don't care. I shouldn't have spent so much time following him around. For the last time, I was wrong." he got up and left before she could say anything to him.
                          
It must have convinced her because the next morning she tried apologizing. Harry brushed her off and stared at Malfoy from across the room. He looked awful, sleep and food deprived, his hair wasn't the usual perfect, slicked back beauty that it normally was, instead it look as if he had been tossing and turning all night. 
                          
For a moment Harry felt sorry for him, but that was before Malfoy had caught him staring. Instead of breaking the eye contact, Malfoy stayed fixed on Harry's green eyes. 
                          
Harry took a deep breath and smiled weakly, Malfoy scowled and looked down at his plate. 
                          
"I can help you make up for wrongly accusing him, if that's what you're trying to do." Hermione whispered in his ear.
                          
"I, uh. It's okay, he wouldn't accept it, he doesn't care." Harry replied. He hated lying to her, but it was too late at this point. His only problem now was if he was actually right and Malfoy was a death eater. How was he going to explain that to her. But that was for future Harry to worry about.
                          
Malfoy got up and left, he debated about going after him, but he was still slightly embarrassed about what had happened last time. So he refrained. 
                          
It was hard for Harry to concentrate in any of his classes that day, his mind was on Malfoy. He needed to talk to him about what had happened. Just to clear things up and get them back to the way they were before. 
                          
The perfect opportunity arose after the last class had finished and they were all on their way to dinner. Malfoy was in the hallway, alone, so Harry broke off of the group of Gryffindor he was in and strode over to him.
                          
He didn't even look up as he approached. He began to wonder if something was wrong. 
                          
"Um, Malfoy?"
                          
"Leave me alone." he snapped, or tried to snap. His voice was weak and strained. 
                          
"Are you okay?" Harry stood in front of him. He still hadn't looked up.
                          
"Why would you care? Shouldn't you be happy to see me like this? Go away. I don't need your sympathy." he brought a shaky hand through his hair. "I'm fine. Everything is fine." he brought his head up from his chest, avoiding Harry's eyes.
                          
He took a step away from the wall, toppling over into Harry. He let out a surprised gasp and caught Malfoy before he hit the floor. His eyes fluttered closed. Oh shit, what was he going to do now.
                          
Harry picked up his legs and took him to the first place he could think of, the room of requirement.
                          
It gave them a room with two separate beds, a small window overlooking the lake between them. Harry dropped him on the bed and watched as his chest rose and then fell. And soon he was also asleep, sitting up on the bed across from him. It hadn't even crossed his mind what he was going to tell Hermione.
                          
: : :
                          
It took Harry a moment to realize where he had fallen asleep when he woke the next morning. He was slightly confused when he was Malfoy, but remembered his encounter the night prior. 
                          
Malfoy still slept and he didn't want to just leave him, he wanted to be there when he woke up, to talk to him about what had happened.
                          
He stood and brushed the strands of hair out of his face. It was so soft. He pulled away quickly as Malfoy took a sharp breath in through his mouth, "potter? What are you doing?"
                          
"I, uh. You fainted. So I, uh, took you here and, let you sleep."
                          
Malfoy rolled over and stretched over the whole bed. "Why?" he asked. He opened his eyes and looked up at Harry.
                          
"I'm not really sure why, but-"
                          
"Thank you."
                          
"What?"
                          
"I said, 'thank you'. God potter, get your ears checked."
                          
"I know what you said, I was just a little surprised that you would thank me." 
                          
"I'm not as heartless as you think. Now leave so I can get some sleep, unless you want to stare at me some more." he pulled the blanket over his head and harry took this as an indication that their conversation was over, so he left the room to go and find Ron.
                          
Something about the way they had spoken was different. Friendlier, like they had known each other their whole lives, or as if they were family. He couldn't exactly think of what it was though. It made him feel great, like how he had felt when he had won his first Quidditch match. He hoped things could continue this way between the two of them.