Welcome Back [Harry/Closed]

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco had awoken that morning with a jolt. He had a horrible nightmare that invovled Harry and Ginny getting married and them thanking him for causing it. It was a disgusting thought that he would be the cause of something like that to happen. Especially since he hated them both dearly. He climbed out of bed and did his morning ritual of showering, getting dressed, and so on. He could hear his mother's light voice calling him to breakfast. Draco really wasn't in the mood for food, but he didn't need his mother worrying about him being sick if he didn't eat.

So he went down the stairs of the Manor swiftly and walked to the smaller of the few dining rooms. There he ate breakfast, and he wondered why his father wasn't there. Lucius had been jumpy and not around all summer. It was almost as if something was going on, and he had planning to do. Draco didn't question it though. He knew better. Once everyone was done eating and ready to go, they headed off to the train station and then Draco boarded the Hogwarts Express.

When Draco got to Hogwarts, he walked through the entrance hall alone. He sent Crabbe and Goyle off to the Great Hall by themselves because they were getting rather irritating and whiny since they were hungry. Draco was worried though. What would he say to Harry when he saw him? After all, he did try to pull that little stunt on him during the summer and he had been caught. He promised revenge, but it still felt awkward. But he held his head high anyway. He wouldn't let some halfblood Gryffindor Potter bother him. No way.

[Harry Potter]

The ride to the train station was no less frazzled than every year proceeding it. Everytime they made it out of the driveway, one or more of the Hogwarts-bound passengers would yelp that they forgot something and then it was back to the burrow. This happened a grand total of six times before they were finally on the road.

The train ride went smoothly (although to be fair, any train ride that occurs after last year's train ride with the dementors would be considered smoothly no matter what happened) and soon enough, they were strolling through the double doors of Hogwarts. Harry sighed in content. He was home.

The content was short lived, however, as he spotted a pale blond head attached to a boy wearing slytherin robes up ahead. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville all looked concerned when Harry waved them ahead. They clearly thought he was going to do something stupid and wind up with a detention before the welcome feast even began. "Just save me a seat" he repeated before altering course and heading straight for Malfoy.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco didn't notice Harry at first, because he was too busy trying to think of what to say to him. What exactly do you say to a guy that you hate, pranked, and then got outsmarted? He had never been in this situation before in his entire life. After he saw that Crabbe and Goyle were gone, he noticed Harry with his group of loser friends.

Draco eyed them for awhile, seeing if they were looking at him. They didn't seem to be at the moment. And Harry wasn't standing there snogging Ginny, much to his delight. But then Draco saw Harry look at him then wave his friends off. This was it. He had to face Potter sooner or later. And he was not a coward. He kept his head high and smirked when Harry approached him.

"Look who it is. Saint Scarhead himself. Enjoy your summer?" Draco said with a tone that obviously said he didn't care about his summer, and was just here to mock him.

[Harry Potter]

Harry leveled Draco with a ice-cold, glaciar-like stare, though his tone was actually civil when he spoke. "It was alright. I didn't fall in love with it or anything though." Harry was going to wait a bit before outright mentioning the prank letter, but that didn't mean he couldn't make hints about it and watch Malfoy squirm. It was a priveledge he never really had since, as unfair as it was, Malfoy always seemed to gain the upper hand in a fight.

"I escpecially liked sending letters to all my friends and getting letters back. I'm sure you got plenty of letters, Malfoy...you're always claiming how popular you are...any letters particularly stand out in your mind?"

[Draco Malfoy]

Harry had gotten his wish, because Draco was feeling rather awkward all of a sudden. Here he thought that despite his embarassment, he'd be fine, but he was going to squirm like crazy as long as Harry continued to talk about that letter. Even when Harry said 'love' Draco's face flushed a little bit. But he kept his ground. Draco was good at concealing his emotions, but sometimes they just came out. For the most part, his heart was on his sleeve.

"No...no letters in particular. I got a few from Blaise, Theodore, Astoria, Daphne, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy. But none of them were worthy of standing out to me," said Draco cooly. Though he was going to lose it if Harry taunted him anymore.

[Harry Potter]

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Really? How interesting." He was already tired of Malfoy's presence and just wanted to leave but he had to take advantage of this rare oppurtunity to hold somehting over the other boy's head. If the roles were reversed, Malfoy wouldn't waste any time in doing so, that was for sure.

"So" he continued lazily, rubbing one ear like he told Ginny he would do in the letter. "Are you ready for the quidditch season this year?"

ooc; wow that was short. and bad. sry

[Draco Malfoy]

Quietly, Draco took a deep breath, and figured that if he stalled Harry long enough he'd get bored and he would go away. After all, Harry wouldn't want to miss the feast. That's when he could get the big announcement that Draco already knew about. He nodded slowly.

He then blushed a bit when Harry started rubbing his ear like the letter said. There he goes again. Making everything awkward for Draco. Draco then says hesitantly, "I don't think we'll have to worry about Quidditch this year. But perhaps the she-weasel will join soon, hmm?"

He couldn't believe he brought up Ginny, but oh well. And he knew that there may not be Quidditch this year. But that was still undetermined. Because even his father said he wasn't sure if it would be kept. Since the tournament was so big, but everyone would miss the Quidditch games too much. So either way Draco was okay with it.

ooc: It's fine. As long as I get something to work with.

[Harry Potter]

Harry was so shocked by Malfoy's statement that he stopped rubbing his ear and forgot to try and keep Malfoy on edge. His arm dropped to one side. "What are you going on about now" he asked with a touch of frustration to his voice. Could this have anything to do with the huge surprise that all of the Weasleys aside from the twins, Ron and Ginny had kept hinting at over the summer?

The comment about Ginny reminded him that he was supposed to be doing everything possible to get Malfoy to be the first one to mention the prank letter but his focus was thrown off. He couldn't think of a single thing to say or do to get things back on track.

[Draco Malfoy]

A taunting smirk formed across Draco's face as he calmed down. So it was true then? The Weasleys didn't even say anything to Harry about the Triwizard tournament. Besides, in his mind he was sure Arthur Weasley was so low down in the Ministry that he probably didn't know about it, himself. He shrugged and then said in a taunting tone, "Oh, so no one has told you? Ha. Of course not. I doubt those weasels even know it themselves."

Draco shrugged and then said, "You really should've asked your girlfriend about that one. Perhaps her good-for-nothing father knows what it is." It wasn't until he said it did he realize what he said. There he went again, bringing up Ginny and Harry possibly dating. It was like he couldn't stop embarassing himself. He cursed in his head at himself. This was not good.

[Harry Potter]

Harry ground his teeth together. He was going to launch into a long winded defense of the Weasleys but Malfoy continued talking and Harry found an easy way right back into the upper hand of this conversation. It was too simple. It was like Malfoy had planned it this way and said it on purpose, though Harry knew he hadn't.

"Why would you assume Ginny's my girlfriend, Malfoy? Something you read maybe?" He leaned against the wall closest to him, cool and composed, completely opposite of his behavior less then three minutes ago. Now it seemed that Draco was struggling. Their conversation was like a ping pong match, back and forth, back and forth.

[Draco Malfoy]

Draco felt the colour leave his face again. He couldn't believe he led himself into that trap again. It was like his mind hated him and wanted Harry to get back at him. But that wasn't true at all. The last thing Draco wanted was Harry to win this. He may have figured out his little prank, but he wasn't going to get the satisfaction of making him squirm as well.

Draco wanted to glare at Harry for acting so cool and collected while he, himself, was squirming around looking for a way out of this. He then said hastily "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. That's not the point, Potter. I don't see why it matters how I found out about you and the Weaslette." He looked over his shoulder every so often, hoping a teacher would come by and drag them off to the feast, so he wouldn't have to deal with Harry.