Monday was not, in fact, better. Harry refused to speak to Draco unless it had to do with their lab. For the next week, Harry was treating Draco as if he didn't exist.

Draco was becoming moodier than usual, and as a result, his teammates were being severely overworked. When the second week of Draco being ignored was coming to an end, Blaise had had it with all of the angst.

"Potter!"

"Come to hit me in the head again Zabini?"

"No. Go talk to Malfoy before he kills someone! The team can't take it anymore, he's running us to the ground!"

"That sounds like a problem that doesn't concern me, with me not being on the team and all."

"Blaise leave him alone!," Draco snapped, storming down the hallway.

"Good luck Zabini."

"Fuck you Potter!," he spat.

"Oh you'd love that wouldn't you? You're not my type."

"I don't know what you saw in him Draco," Harry overheard Blaise say as he was walking away.

"It was what he saw in me," came the quiet reply.

Harry didn't have time to dwell on it. He had a shift to work, and the Friday night rush would require all of his focus.

He was doing well and actually in a pleasant mood, until he heard Zabini before he saw him. Harry had never moved so quickly as when he ran into the kitchen to hide.

"Are you alright Harry?"

"Seamus you have to cover that table for me. I refuse to serve them."

"Alright mate but I'm keeping any tips to myself."

"I don't care, I'm staying far away from them."

When Harry thought the coast was clear, he made his way to the bathroom, bumping into someone on the way there.

"I'm so sor- Potter?"

"Malfoy."

"This is where you work?"

"Yes. If you'll excuse me."

When Harry came back out of the bathroom, there wasn't a football player in sight. Exhaling a sigh of relief, he dropped his head against the wall and closed his eyes.

The rest of his shift passed by in a panicked blur, and he rushed home as quickly as possible. Only then did he check his phone and see he had missed a message.

Draco: I'm sorry.

Harry: thank you

Harry fell asleep, wondering why Malfoy would do that for him, and what kind of angle he was trying to play at.

Monday brought a rather unfortunate announcement in Harry's case. Professor Snape truly was out to get him it seemed.

"Your first term project is to create a lab experiment of your own. You'll be utilizing the scientific method and conducting at least three trials. There are a set of structured due dates for each aspect of your project. Every Friday there will be at least one portion of the project due.

I implore that you keep detailed notes as once the second term comes around, you and your partner will be performing the experiment of another group. Your grade depends on whether or not the other group can replicate your success based solely off of your lab, and your own ability to replicate the findings of another group."

"Of course it's due on Friday," Harry muttered.

"Problem Mr. Potter?"

"Of course not sir."

"Good. Get started."

"So... what do you want to do?," Draco asked.

"I don't care, you pick."

"Potter this isn't going to work if we can't work together."

"Okay, what are you interested in then Malfoy?"

"I don't know. I think bacteria is neat."

"Okay," Harry said slowly. "We could culture different types of bacteria. We can choose gram-negative and gram-positive, and test them effectiveness of antibiotics?"

"That's very bold of you to do. If you can pull it off I'll be quite impressed," Snape commented. "I want a finalized idea by tomorrow."

"Well fuck me sideways," Harry murmured.

Draco laughed loudly, and attempted to cover it up by coughing.

"Mr. Malfoy control yourself!"

"Of course sir, my apologies."

His laughter made Harry grin, so it was worth the glare that he was receiving.

"When do you want to work on this?," Draco asked at the end of the period.

"We'll see how much we can get done in study hall I suppose and go from there."

"Okay."

"I'll rent out a study room so we don't get kicked out of the library."

"I'll see you then."

Draco left the room thinking they had made progress, but once we was outside of the room number Harry had texted him, he froze. The door opened and Harry greeted him with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I do want to pass this class with top marks, and you're clearly the most capable."

"Right. Sorry."

Draco sat awkwardly while Harry began taking notes. Huffing, Harry put the pencil down and leaned back with his arms crossed.

"Speak."

"Pardon?"

"You clearly have something on your mind, and if you're distracted we'll be getting nowhere. So, speak."

"I'm sorry."

"For?"

"For making you think that Weasley was right about me. I'm sorry for proving him right. I didn't mean it in the way that you interpreted it, but the intention doesn't matter, the interpretation does.

I was just excited that you could be on the team. I don't have friends, not really. You've met Blaise obviously. Our fathers are business associates and we've grown up together. It's not like I have much opportunity to make other friends. Everyone wants to be my friend, that sounds conceited as fuck bloody hell, to get close to my father.

Blaise likes being the only one because he thinks it will get him somewhere. What did he even say to you?"

"Begged me to talk to you again because you're 'running the team to the ground.' As if I take orders from bullies," Harry scoffed.

"Is your head alright? I shouldn't have left you-"

"I passed out because I was tired Draco. It happens sometimes if I lie down for too long."

"That doesn't sound healthy."

"I'm sure it isn't. Thank you for Friday by the way. You didn't have to do that."

"I know what they're like, and you don't deserve that."

"I need to apologize too."

"No you don't-"

"Let me talk yeah? I've had to do a lot of proving myself this past year, and it's made me very defensive. I didn't mean to snap at you like that, but to be fair you snapped at me first.

It's not that I don't want to play, I think it would be cool. I just need to focus on supporting myself you know? Falling asleep in the nurse's office isn't the best way to function," Harry continued with a snort.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed. Are we... are we alright?"

"Yeah Draco we're alright. Let's move back into this project yeah?"

"Yeah," Draco replied with a grin.