SEVENTEEN THIS BETTER BE GOOD

     "Draco, Draco!" Xander called as he rushed through the crowds of students trying to pass from class to class. He had seen the shock of the white-blond hair against the assortment of the crowd and he knew it was just who he had been looking for. He hadn't spoken to Draco since he left the hospital wing and if Xander was being honest, he felt horribly guilty for leaving, but it wasn't like Draco had told him to stay. Xander wished he had, but he couldn't change the past.

"What do you want, Sakai?" the boy groaned as he turned around, his hand gripping his book bag as he motioned for Pansy and Blaise to continue walking, leaving just the two of them in the midst of the hallway.

"I wanted to ask how you were doing, I haven't seen you since... yeah," Xander did his best to explain, but even he didn't know what his true intentions were. He didn't have anything in particular that he wanted to say, he just wanted to be saying something to Draco. Merlin, he had a problem. If Diana were here, she would tell him to stay the hell away from Draco and she would be right. However, she wasn't here which meant she couldn't tell Xander that he was being stupid.  "Sorry, I'm sure you wouldn't wanna talk about it, but uh, yeah, I'll go. See you in class--"

"Xander," Draco stopped him before he could fully walk away, reaching his hand out to grab Xander by the wrist and pull him to face the blond again. As soon as he had the boy's attention, he let go like the mere grace of their skin meeting had burned him. "I'm quite all right, thanks to Snape and... and to you, I suppose. You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

The boy froze, knowing that he certainly had told someone and he could not lie to save him life. Woefully he nodded, then explained, "Just Diana, mainly because I was freaking out over the whole thing, but that's it! I swear!"

Draco sneered at the mention of Diana which Xander found to be quite a rude response, immediately tensing up and preparing to defend his friend at all costs. However, Draco seemed to bite his tongue and refrain from saying his piece on Diana's "kind" for the sake of Xander. That was more than he could say for a few months ago, so Xander was glad that no action had to be taken because he would defend Diana until his very last breath.

"I suppose... that's fine," Draco sighed, "Is that all you wanted to ask? I do have class you know."

"Uh, uh, yeah," he nodded, "Yeah, that's all. I just... I imagine it was lonely in the hospital wing and I wanted you to know that I was worried about you." Oh, Merlin, could he have said anything gayer? He was as transparent as a fucking ghost right now.

The blond seemed taken aback by this and he went to say something, before he glanced down and something caught his eye. Before Xander knew what was happening, Draco had reached out and pulled the necklace from Xander's mum out of where it was tucked and was observing it, "This is new. A gift?"

"More like an inheritance," Xander let slip, his brain was not functioning properly considering the lack of distance between him and Draco. He did have enough function to pull the necklace out of the boy's hands and tuck it back into the place, "My mum gave it to me, she's..."

"Dying? Yeah, my mum told me," Draco said, seemingly realizing his mistake when he finished the sentence as if this was something he wasn't supposed to know, "Uh, sorry, uh, when she quit her job at the ministry, word kind of traveled. You know how it does in the wizarding world."

"Yeah," he sighed, not really keen on discussing his dying, probably dead, mother with Draco Malfoy. However, as far as Xander knew she wasn't dead yet. "It's fine, that you know. It's not like it's a secret, I suppose."

Draco looked awkward, like he wasn't sure what to say, but it was hard to find something to say when you had such a curious history between the two of them. He wondered if Draco would choose to be human and have emotions in this situation, but Xander wasn't really counting on it. He was working on not getting his hopes up with Draco, but it was hard not to since Xander was such a fool.

"It's odd," Draco said and Xander couldn't help but wonder where he was going with this, "seeing you without a smile on your face. Normally, it's annoying but now... well, now I kind of miss it. I'm sorry about your mother, Xander. I really am."

"Thanks," Xander muttered and the boy was walking away before anything else could be said. The boy was frankly a little bit in awe considering Draco Malfoy just said he missed Xander's smile. He was utterly convinced that he was hallucinating because there was no way those words just left his mouth. He really shouldn't think too much about it and now certainly wasn't the time as he rushed off to Transfiguration where he already knew McGonagall was going to chew him out for being late.

His mind was still reeling as he entered the classroom, the large doors shutting behind him as he ran to his shared desk with Diana and the girl was already looking at him wildly as if to ask where he had been. Class hadn't started yet, thank God, but he had cut it close enough to get a sharp, chastising glare from the professor. She was a little soft for Xander though, because she had been made aware of the situation with his mother and Xander knew it was bad, but he might as well use that to his advantage as he shot a sheepish smile her way.

"Where were you? You were almost late," Diana whispered, trying not to interrupt the lesson that was beginning because neither of them wanted to get in trouble at the moment.

"It's a long story, you know I'll tell you later," Xander whispered in return, attempting to pay attention to the lesson. If he was being honest, his mind was running rampant as he contemplated the many things from that interaction with Draco that were driving him utterly crazy. His wrist still hummed with warmth where Draco had grabbed onto him and it was ridiculous how much he had enjoyed that conversation despite the sore subjects they actually discussed. He was losing his mind and the worst part was that he was completely aware of such a thing and he couldn't even stop it even if he wanted to.

"You're blushing like hell, this better be good," Diana muttered.

Xander just laughed quietly to himself, biting his nails as he paid attention to the lesson. He was a fool and he knew it.

this chapter is so short I'm sorry please don't kill me here's a soft draco and xander moment to make up for it though so yay