"So your genius plan to make Potter want to become friends with you was to petrify him, break his nose, cover him with an invisibility cloak, and leave him in a locked train compartment where he'd be frozen there in pain on the train ride back to Kings Cross?" Pansy shook her head. "Draco, I know making friends isn't your strong suit, but that's just pathetic."

It was nearly 2 in the morning, but Draco and Pansy were still seated in the Slytherin common room, talking about what had happened on the train. Blaise was with them at one point, too, but after Draco had made it clear that he wasn't going to reveal his special mission to either him or Pansy, he had made a dramatic exit. Pansy had to pull Draco back by the tail of his robes to prevent a fight from breaking out.

"Mind you Pansy, I was in a pretty shit mood to begin with," Draco snapped. "Hold on, why do you have parchment out? Classes haven't even started yet!"

"It's for you," said Pansy.

"Excuse you?"

"It's for you," Pansy repeated. "To help you make friends with Potter."

"Fuck this," Draco spat, standing up.

"Draco, wait!" Pansy grabbed Draco's hand to pull him back down onto the couch. "Listen to me! You don't have a choice in the matter! What your father says is law! You know that!"

Draco fell silent and played with his thumbs.

"Thank you." Pansy unrolled the parchment. "Now, I was doing some reading in the library, and...well, you know how Potter was raised by Muggles, right? So, wouldn't it make sense to get to know him with 20 Questions? Something a bit close to home?"

"What's 20 Questions?"

"Oh, right. Of course you don't know. Well, 20 Questions is simple enough. You just go back and forth and ask questions and answer them. For example-" Pansy turned to face Draco. "Who was your favourite Defense Against the Dark Arts professor that we've had so far?"

"Lockhart," said Draco instantly.

Pansy looked at him with a smile.

"What? He was funny!"

"Are you sure that was the only reason?" Pansy asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Draco hit her arm.

"Okay, okay, fine! Mine was Moody!"

"Barty Crouch Jr," Draco corrected. "And why?"

"We learned the unforgivable curses," she said simply.

"Of course," Draco muttered under his breath.

"It's your turn now," said Pansy. "Ask me a question."

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Could you have picked a duller question? No wonder you were stuck with Crabbe and Goyle for friends for the first three years of your life," said Pansy exasperatedly.

"That's not a colour."

"Fine. It's green."

"Mine's red."

"Red? How...Gryffindor."

"Not a Gryffindor red. More like a deep, blood red."

Pansy ignored him. "Red. Red. Bet Potter will love that."

"I've had enough!"

"Draco, come back here!"

***

"No, no, no."

Draco was sitting in his dormitory surrounded by crumpled up pieces of parchment. He had decided to send Potter an anonymous letter in order to get him to meet him in the broom closet, where he would lock them in. Oh, and he would have to disarm Potter and take his wand too. He didn't want to get hexed into oblivion. There was just one flaw; he couldn't get the letter just right. Everything he wrote came out sounding like a threat. Draco personally didn't see anything wrong with that, but Pansy took one look at what he had written and told him that he was "even worse than she thought." That had lessened Draco's spirits a bit.

"Draco, addressing him as 'Potter' is a dead giveaway."

Draco groaned and ripped the letter into quarters. "So what? You expect me to call him Harry? Because sorry to break it to you,but that is not happening."

"Do you want this to succeed or not?"

Draco didn't say anything, but just grabbed his quill. "Harry," he spat, writing the name on the parchment. "Meet me in the broom closet by the defense against the dark arts room at 8 PM."

"Um, Draco? Doesn't that sound a little...suspicious?"

"Potter's as oblivious as it gets," said Draco shortly. He pointed his wand at the paper, erasing the angry ink blots. "He'd come if he was invited by The Dark Lord himself." He folded the parchment and sealed it shut. "Solum," he said, facing his eagle owl, "deliver this to Potter tomorrow morning at breakfast." He proceeded to tie the letter to Solum's leg, before the bird flew off to the Owlery. Normally Draco wouldn't allow him to leave his dormitory, but he didn't bother stopping him.

"Draco? I forgot to ask, why did you smack my hand away when I tried to touch your robes on the train?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Draco said simply.

"Bullshit." said Pansy. "Come on, you can tell me. I'm your best friend."

"Get out."

"Are you hiding something?"

"I said, get out."

"Do you have the Dark M-"

"I SAID GET OUT, PANSY!"

Pansy stood there for a moment, shaking slightly, before turning away silently and ran back to her dormitory, tears rushing down her cheeks.

What she didn't know is that the moment the door closed, Draco Malfoy had broken down too.