“Um, sir?” Harry said nervously.
“Do not breathe a word, Potter,” Snape sneered at him. “I suggest you grab something quick to eat on your way to classes. You have only twenty minutes before you’re late.”
“Yes, sir,” Harry said wearily. As he grabbed an orange and some toast, he wondered if he’d just imagined Snape’s gentleness from the night before. Then there was the fact that he obviously let Harry get a little more sleep this morning, but then sneers at him for running late. The man was confusing him highly.
Harry got the message, though, that he didn’t dare bring up the fact that Snape had actually held him the night before as he fell apart. Not like Harry really wanted to talk about it anyway.
* * * * *
Harry and Draco ended up arriving at the Transfiguration classroom with only a minute to spare, their friends already in their seats waiting for class to start.
“Where were you two?” Hermione hissed at him. “We were worried when you didn’t show up for breakfast.”
“Harry had a nightmare and Sev’rus let him sleep in so then he was almost late,” Draco piped up helpfully.
Harry dropped his head to the desk with a loud thunk.
“Snape actually let you sleep in?” Pansy questioned in surprise.
“A nightmare?” Ron asked anxiously.
Harry turned his head slightly and sent a glare in Ron’s direction. This was not the time or place to discuss whether it had actually been a nightmare or a vision.
Harry turned his head in the other direction because Draco was tugging on his sleeve. Draco was looking at him worriedly. “It was okay to tell them, wasn’t it?”
“If you hadn’t, then I suppose I probably would’ve told them myself,” Harry said ruefully.
Draco was reassured but everyone else was shooting Harry worried looks. They didn’t have any more time to question him as McGonagall got class started, though.
* * * * *
“I can’t believe Snape actually let you sleep in,” Pansy said at lunchtime, resuming the conversation from that morning.
“At least you had Binns today, so it was also an easy nap day,” Blaise said with a grin.
“True,” Harry said, grinning back.
“But still, I can see Snape letting Draco sleep in, but not Harry,” Pansy said, sounding bemused still.
“It was kind of a rough night,” Harry said quietly.
“When is it not a rough night for you two?” Blaise snorted.
Harry stuck his tongue out at him. “Shut up, Blaise.”
The surrounding Slytherins were all snickering at him and his childish behavior.
“And we thought Draco was the child here,” Pansy said, amusement lacing her tone.
“But I am the child,” Draco piped up, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Sure you are,” Blaise said consolingly, his lips quirking as he tried to suppress his grin. “But you tend to act more mature than Harry does.”
“I do?” Draco asked.
Harry rolled his eyes. “Just ignore them, Draco. It doesn’t matter how old you are. Everyone should be allowed to behave like a child at least once in awhile.”
“Oh, is that why you’re so good at playing with my toys?” Draco asked innocently.
Harry flushed lightly as everyone broke out in loud laughter, attracting attention from around the hall.
Harry nudged Draco. “You’re not exactly helping me here, angel,” Harry said in rueful amusement.
“But why not? You play with me when no one else ever does. I like when you play with my toys with me,” Draco said quietly, obviously feeling a little unsure now.
Harry leaned over and kissed Draco on his forehead as he wrapped an arm around him reassuringly. “And I’m going to keep playing with you, no matter what they say,” Harry said in defiance.
Draco grinned as the others smiled at the pair of them.
Harry suddenly grinned wickedly, a mischievous glint in his emerald eyes. The others noticed and looked at him warily.
“Perhaps, Draco, we should take some of your toys over to the Slytherin common room this evening,” Harry said innocently. “I bet someone would play with you while I work on my assignments. I wouldn’t want to deny them a chance to play with toys.”
“Really?” Draco asked hopefully.
“Really,” Harry said, unable to hold back his wide grin.
“Maybe Pansy could help you with one of your puzzles or Blaise could race some of the cars with you that he helped pick out. Or I bet Crabbe and Goyle could help you build a huge block tower with your big blocks. They are a lot taller than me after all,” Harry said, smirking at the Slytherins.
They stared at Harry wide-eyed, unable at first to believe that he’d turned the tables on them so effectively, but with Draco’s obvious excitement at the idea, they all smiled ruefully.
“Will you really play with me?” Draco asked excitedly.
“Yeah, you pick out something to bring to the common room tonight and we’ll let Harry get some of his work done while we play,” Pansy answered with a smile.
“I’ve been wanting to see those cars I picked out anyway,” Blaise added.
Crabbe and Goyle simply nodded their agreement.
“You really should be a Slytherin,” Blaise said dryly to Harry.
Harry smirked at him. “I think I would have done pretty well as a Slytherin,” Harry said agreeably.
“Does that mean you can wear the Slytherin robes so we can match sometimes?” Draco asked. “I have Gryffindor robes to wear.”
Harry wasn’t the only one to begin spluttering. “Um, well, I’m not sure everyone would appreciate me wearing Slytherin robes,” he choked out.
“But I’ve got lots of robes and they’d fit you,” Draco said innocently.
