Pansy shook her head. "No, I don't like that one. The last one was better."
"They literally look exactly the same Pansy. How can you have better or worse black shirts?"
"And that's exactly why you don't have a girlfriend, Blaise. Try the next one Draco!"
He nodded. "Yes Ma'am. As you wish." Draco didn't want to say anything, but if he were to be honest, he would admit that he could not see a difference between the shirts either. They were just plain, black shirts. "Oh fuck," he then suddenly thought, "what if Harry doesn't like it. It must be too plain. Oh no... Oh no it's gonna be awful. Shit."
"Are you okay Draco?" Pansy was looking at him as if he was a hurt puppy and it made him bloody nervous. He didn't say that out loud now, did he?
"You know what guys?," Draco then rather decided to say, "I don't think it'll really matter right? Let's be honest. We all know Harry Potter only owns one shirt. So I should be fine with just a plain black shirt."
Blaise nodded convinced:"Yes, that makes sense... cool. Can somebody help me with my homework now please?" But the young Parkinson wasn't like that at all. She was seemingly very upset about that statement indeed.
"DRACO MALFOY! You are not gonna wear a plain shirt for your first date with Potter. You don't want him to directly run away from you, do you?"

"Oh come on hun, you know he wouldn't do that. We all saw Potter's face in the Great Hall yesterday didn't we? He's so falling for Draco. Definitely."
"DO NOT CALL ME HUN!", Pansy blasted out, kicked Zabini' s hand off of her shoulder, where it had rested for the last few minutes, and ran off to the girl's dorm.
"What's wrong with her now?," asked Blaise, more to himself than to Draco in that matter. In confusion the young Malfoy shook his head"I dunno, maybe she doesn't like you calling her hun."
"Whatever,"said Blaise now,"At least she kinda helped you pick out the right black shirt for your date with Potter,right mate?" He chuckled.

But before Draco could even think to answer the question, someone else involved themself in the conversation. A boy that was sat in another corner of the common room listened to everything the three friends had said before. "Oh come on Zabini, you don't really believe that Malfoy would care about a date, do you? We all know that Malfoys so-called-dates, are only hookups. Why don't you just call it that? 'What should Malfoy wear to his sex with Potter?' Now that sounds more honest, doesn't it? And oh Malfoy, just a little piece of advice from me, to you. I don't think what clothes you'll be wearing will really matter to Potter. Will you not be without any clothes most of the times anyways?" While the boy was talking, Draco felt his cheeks starting to burn. He was embarrassed. But it wasn't only that. He felt a feeling crawling up inside of him. Anger and furiousness. He really wanted to punch the guy in the face. And so he did. And it felt so good. Draco saw the world stop around himself and punched the boy, who turned out to be a 4th grader with horrible fighting skills. And while Draco was punching that guy, he felt how his anger changed into something else. Deep satisfaction. When he heard the boy's nose crack, he stopped hitting him and just started laughing. His hand was bleeding but the blonde ignored it, so much emotion was floating through him at that very moment. "Do not ever say that I don't mean it with Harry, alright? Because I do. I really do",he whispered in the bloody boy's ear. And then he left, smiling. And he realized the very true fact about his feelings for the chosen one.

*****

For a few days now everyone seemed to notice that there was something going on with Draco Malfoy. He was walking through the corridors, sometimes even hopping, and he seemed to be in the happiest mood he had ever been in. Basically ever since he was born. Even Harry Potter noticed that ... and the rest of Gryffindor as well of course. "Bloody hell Harry, that blondie really likes you, eh? Hasn't ever looked happier or even better in his life ... still needs some improvement though... not everyone can be perfect...,"the redhead hesitated for a moment",like me." He looked very satisfied with himself for a moment.
"Oh shut up Ronald. He seems to be really nice! Well ... not literally... but you can see he truly cares about Harry."
"But he's a fuckboy! Always keep that in mind Hermione", Harry added, just to get to be a part of the conversation, even though he wasn't sure about that fact about Malfoy anymore. He'd seen the Slytherin walk through Hogwarts the last days. And just like everyone else he realized how Draco had stopped forcing everyone around. It was nearly as if the boy has had a transformation. From devil to angel or something like that. He even got Crabbe and Goyle to stop beating the Hufflepuffs up.
"Don't say that Harry. You yourself know that that isn't true. He stopped being like that. Malfoy obviously likes you. He really wants you, as it seems. You have to tell him the truth."
"No, he does not!", Dean Thomas was about to climb into the common room and he already started joining the conversation.
"A bet is a bet, you should really try to understand that Hermione."

The girl made a mad face and then shook her head in disbelieve. It seemed as if she couldn't believe herself what she was about to say.
"Alright then, Potter," she started,"I'll pretend as if you did nothing wrong at all from now on. You can handle the consequences yourself. And I'll stop trying to talk you out of it... deal?"

"Deal."