'Oh, very funny.'
'I just thought that we were-'
'What? Friends? We're not friends.'
'I was going to say 'in this together' but fine, have it your way.'
Draco blinked at Harry. Was it his imagination, or did Harry look very slightly as if his feelings had been hurt? So what? he thought to himself, and then, more contritely, well…
'We can't be in anything together,' he pointed out, slightly less disagreeably. 'First time I saw you yesterday, I stabbed you. I think that about rules out some kind of Batman and Robin type relationship.'
'Look, Malfoy, my point was not that you should have hung around long enough to give into your homicidal urges regarding me. My point was that you should have let us in on your little plan. Do you think Sirius would have prevented you from asking Snape for help?
He'd have written to him for you, pulled all his Ministry strings; Lupin could have given you Willpower charms…'
'Or they could have wound up chaining me up in the dungeon with the torture instruments.' Like my father would have done.
'You just don't know who to trust, do you?'
'I don't trust myself,' said Draco shortly. 'That's the point.'
' Well, I trust you,' said Harry, scowled, and looked as if he were about to add 'so there', but was restraining himself.
'And that's a stupid thing to do,' said Draco flatly.
'I'm not the one who does stupid things. That's your department.'
Draco crossed his arms and glared at Harry. 'I do not do stupid things.'
'Oh, I don't know. First you insist on keeping an object you know perfectly well is a Talisman of Purest Evil. Then you don't tell anyone that the sword is giving you nightmares or that it's telling you to kill your friends. Then you tell off Lupin when he's trying to help you, snap at Sirius, and go stomping off into the night with your demon sword and try to feed yourself to a large and angry group of dragons. What were you planning on doing for an encore?
Standing on a hilltop during a lightning storm wearing a wet suit of armor and yelling 'All gods are bastards!' at the top of your lungs?'
Draco burst out laughing and the angry tension between them, which had been spiraling upwards rapidly, broke.
Harry smiled grudgingly.
'That was actually pretty funny, Potter. And here I always thought you had the sense of humor of a wet bowl of tapioca.'
'So you admit you can be wrong.'
Draco looked at Harry.
Harry looked back with steady unwavering green eyes.
'Okay,' said Draco. 'Sometimes I'm wrong. Of course,' he added, 'about as often as the sky turns green and the Earth starts revolving backwards, but, you know…'
'I'll take that as a full admission of guilt, apology included. Now, it's your turn to do something for me.'
'Oh yeah? What?'
'Tell me something about Snape,' said Harry, rather unexpectedly.
'Something…bad. So that when he's glaring at me in Potions with his greasy little eyes, I can think to myself, 'right, mate, go ahead and glare, but I know that you're actually a pool shark down at the Three Broomsticks where you make everyone call you 'Jimbo.' '
Draco spluttered with laughter. 'Potter! You sound like me!'
'Not at all. Come on, Malfoy, spill. You were in his house. You must know something. Does he torture small animals? Does he keep pictures of Professor McGonagall under his pillow? Does he dress up like a woman when nobody's around?'
Draco grinned. 'Snape? A transvestite? With that nose?'
'Come on, Malfoy, there's gotta be something.'
'Well,' Draco allowed, 'I did hear him singing 'Hooked On A Feeling' in the shower.'
'You're kidding.'
'He actually sounded pretty good. He hit the high notes and everything.'
Harry frowned. 'That's not really what I had in mind.'
'I'm not sure I can do better.'
'Make something up,' Harry suggested.
Draco looked at him darkly.
'Oh, right. You don't lie. Have you always been like that or is this part of the whole New and Improved Draco Malfoy thing?'
Draco yawned and reached out for an extra pillow. 'Don't worry, Potter,' he said, putting it behind his head.
