How do you make a group of Gryffindors and Slytherins friends?
Easy answer: you don't.
I woke up like any other morning. Ron rolled me onto the floor, I bruised my hip, and Draco was just a teeny-tiny bit kinder to me.
The plan for the day was to meet up with Zambini and Parkinson, at Hogsmede. Draco and I really wanted them to get along, so we were going to split off into groups of two; one of each. It would also give us an opportunity to sort things out without our friends being suspicious.
I've never put much thought into my clothes before, but I felt like this mattered more for some reason.
I had a striped, red jumper and a plain green one laid on my bed. They both looked fine, but I just couldn't decide. Ron tapped my shoulder.
"What are you doing?" He signed, while looking at the two shirts.
I sighed, "Trying to figure out which jumper to wear."
He raised an eyebrow, "Why does it matter? Obviously the red one, the green one looks sickly." I nodded, then I felt a tap on my other arm.
It was Draco, he appeared to have been watching our encounter. "Merlin no, you look awful in red, plus green matches your eyes."
I slid on the green one, and Draco turned back to his bed. Ron looked hurt, "Hey, I'm your best mate here. Why'd you go with him?"
"No offense, but you have the fashion sense of a snail."
He groaned, "First a teaspoon, now a snail... I can't stand you both sometimes."
"Oh no you don't, you love us."
"Sadly, I have to agree." He continued getting ready.
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"There you boys are, we're already late. Come on!" Hermione tapped her foot at the bottom of the stairs in the entrance hall.
"Look, I'm sorry... this one took forever to get ready," Ron pointed at me.
"Huh, that's a first," she gave me the side-eye, "Well now that you're fine let's get going. I don't want a pack of Slytherins to show us up."
We started out the door, "They really aren't that bad you know," I said in what I hoped was a convincing manner.
"Mate, you haven't even met his friends yet. They could be total pillocks, for all you know," he retorted.
"Actually, I talked to them on the train before school started." They both looked at me skeptically, "What? I walked into the wrong compartment and bam! They knew sign language, of course, I had some questions."
Hermione rolled her eyes, "I'm surprised that hasn't gotten you killed yet."
"Believe me, so am I." I saw the three snakes up ahead, perched by the back entrance to town. I waved to them, only Draco waved back. "See," I chuckled nervously, "they're all fine."
Ron scoffed, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Both Ron and Hermione seemed to be looking everywhere but ahead of them. This was going to go terribly.
Draco caught my eye, and I noticed my pace speed up just a little bit. I halted in front of the three of them; my friends stopped just behind that. We stood there just for a minute; I suddenly had nothing to say.
Parkinson piped up first, "Well, as lovely as this has been, I need to go holiday shopping so shall we split off?"
Finally, the lump in my throat dissipated. I signed and spoke at the same time, "Yeah I was thinking we could go in pairs. Since Hermione and Parkinson are girls they could go off and since Draco and I are are already friends we could too. That would just leave you two," I pointed to Zambini and Ron.
Hermione shot me a look, "Absolutely not! Knowing you two, you're bound to be kidnapped if you go off on your own. You go with Parkinson, and I'll go with Malfoy. That way you both have someone who can be aware of your surroundings."
"I second that," Parkinson chimed in. At least they agreed on something. Even if that something was to be as far away from each other as possible.
"I... guess that does make sense," I looked over to Draco. He had a strange look in his eye, but in the end he just shrugged.
"Well, let's go on then. Lots to buy," Draco waved us along.
I looked back over to him, "Shall we meet up at the Hogs Head ?"
"Why can't we go to Three Broomsticks?" Ron asked, distancing himself from Blaise.
Draco shifted and indicated to Parkinson, she rolled her eyes. "He isn't necessarily allowed in there..."
"Oh, uh... sure," his eyes roamed anywhere but us.
Draco moved over to my side, the others caught in an awkward stance. "Are you sure I have to go off with Granger? I need to talk to you about... you know," he looked around awkwardly.
"She's not that bad, honest. And we can meet up tomorrow like normal. I promise I'm not avoiding it, it just feels a little different."
He laughed, "Tell me about it. I... it's just a lot to take in. Please, just, don't ignore me after this," his feet shuffled the ground as he walked.
I reached out to touch his arm, "Trust me, I won't."
"Thank you, Harry." He turned to Hermione who glanced at us then quickly looked away. "Well, then let's be off Granger."
"Ladies first, Malfoy."
"Very funny," he rolled his eyes and they were off.
Parkinson grabbed my upper arm harshly. "We need to talk," She leaned over and pecked Blaise on the cheek, "We'll be back soon."
He smiled towards her, "Please don't take too long." Ron nodded in agreement from a meter away.
"Boys," she mumbled closely as we walked out of the back gate.
"What did you need to ask?" We walked towards a small bookshop, I'll probably get Hermione's gift here.
"Keep your voice down," I made the note, "You truly are the daftest person in the world."
I was slightly offended, "What does that mean?"
"You can't just have a private conversation in front of a bunch of people who know sign language. I think Weasley was the only one lost in that little encounter."
Shit, today really wasn't going as planned. "What did you see?"
"Just the end bit, and I told Blaise to stop as well. Granger seemed quite nosy; it's very like her." She stuck her chin out a little and examined a shelf on potions theory.
She wasn't wrong, but I still felt a bit offended on behalf of my friend. "Listen, Parkinson, can't you guys try to get along?"
She tsked and turned to walk up the stairs. "Please, I have to give you three some major credit, the whole defeating Voldemort thing and all. But, I'm not required to like you. I only tolerate you because of the fact that Draco never bloody shuts up about you."
"What?" She laughed at my stunned expression.
Her hair bounced as she shook her head. "You really are stupid. He's literally obsessed, I just don't know why though."
Funnily enough, I think I knew the reason. "Yeah, weird... are you going to ask anything or...?"
She tapped her chin and stuck a book in her bag. "About your conversation? No, but I want to know what on Earth you have done to my best friend."
I blanched before averting my eyes. "Technically I did nothing. Why would you think I did something to him?" I picked up a book on wizarding politics for Hermione and went to pay for it.
"I may not stalk him, like some people," she pointed to me, "But, I do know he's been acting differently since he met with you last night."
We paid for our books and went down to the sports shop for Ron and Blaise. "First of all, I do not stalk him. Secondly, nothing happened, so he's just being weird all on his own. Lastly, he didn't seem any different just a few minutes ago."
She rolled her eyes and tightened her cloak around her neck. "You don't notice a lot in life, and you definitely used to stalk him."
"I had my reasons." Holding open the door for her, I caught her laugh.
"Sure, you did. Anyway, I won't press it, but whatever it is keep doing it. He's been a right prat since school started, and you finally smacked some sense into his thick skull."
That seemed strange to point out. Draco had always been so awful to me, so I hadn't really noticed that he was worse now than after the war. "He was nice to me. I wonder why?"
"Exactly my point, there's something going on and I just want you to know that if you keep this up, then I'll have to add something else to my thank you list."
I sent her a look, "Thank you list?"
"Oh, it's a list of everyone that has done something of value in my life. Do you not have one?"
I readjusted my scarf in the warm shop, "No, must be a Slytherin thing."
"Just like how Quidditch is a Gryffindor thing." She caught my eye before going to my side, "And Potter, call me Pansy. Now hurry up and buy something already, so we can get something to eat!"