The war was over. Life was…okay for Draco. His father was in Azkaban, no one trusted him, but at least he still had his mother. In the months following the Final Battle, Draco had felt searing guilt whenever he thought back to the crumbling ruins of Hogwarts that he had inadvertently caused. His mother had tried to comfort him, but nothing can erase his history. After weeks on barely any sleep, Draco sent out a single owl with a signed parchment for half of the Malfoy fortune. A mere day later, McGonagall came to visit him herself. As soon as Draco let her past the wards, he was enveloped in a warm hug. Taking a deep breath he didn't know he needed, Draco breathed in the scent of the castle he could smell on the elder witch. Tears sprung to his eyes without consent and he hesitantly returned the hug with the same fierceness as McGonagall.

After a moment of silence, she whispered in his ear, "Hogwarts will always be your home."

Before another word could be said she was already turning away with a tight smile, eyes glimmering slightly. With practiced ease, McGonagall reigned in her emotions again and turned to Draco with her familiar disciplinary expression. She thrust an envelope into his hands, one with a very recognizable stamp holding it shut. He remembered when the letter came with the morning owls just a few years ago. Now it felt a lifetime away. His 11-year-old self had been so excited, he had been filled with elation beyond his wildest dreams when he saw the crest on the stamp. That same feeling was bubbling up in him once again. McGonagall cleared her throat before speaking once more.

"I look forward to seeing you on September first, ."

Draco could only nod dumbly in reply. Looking at him once more, McGonagall made her way out of the wards before disapparating on the spot.

Thanks to a very generous anonymous donation, Hogwarts was able to be repaired before the new school year had started. Now it was January. The initial excitement had started to wear off for Draco, but every day still felt like a pleasant dream. While much of the school was still untrustworthy of him, his Slytherin housemates were behind him. And if that wasn't enough to deter any antagonistic action towards the blonde, a stern glare from the Deputy Headmistress usually did the trick. So, everything was okay for Draco. It would be great—if it wasn't for that damned Potter

He was staring at him again. Draco could feel the other's blazing green eyes burning a hole through the back of his head. If Draco was a Gryffindor, he would have turned around by now and shot a stinging hex at the other boy. But Draco was a Slytherin, a snake. And snakes knew when to lie in wait, knowing an opportunity to strike will come. For now, Draco took the opportunity to challengingly stare back at Potter. The boy had already pushed his dinner away and seemed to be ignoring the male weasel's incessant chattering in favor of continuing to gaze at Draco. He saw the female Weasley sitting further down the table. It seems the two had parted ways romantically soon after the war ended. Draco sneered at the dark-haired boy. Bloody Potter. He seemed to have relaxed since the war ended; Draco noticed it the first time he laid eyes on him back in September. He was much more laid-back now, deciding to take the scenic route for now.

Draco scoffed under his breath before turning back to his own uneaten meal. He thought back the letter his mother had sent him that morning. She wrote to him every week now since Lucius wasn't there to scold her for coddling the boy. One section had stuck around in his head and refused to leave.

It's already January and nothing exciting has happened at Hogwarts. That's a first for you, isn't it? Doesn't something fantastic or terrifying usually happen? It must be a boring year for you, Little Dragon…

Ignoring the childhood nickname with practiced ease, Draco instead focused his attention on one particular word. Boring. Was he bored? He didn't think so, but the more he thought about he realized he might not be in a pleasant dream, but an unending one. Frowning slightly, Draco stood up quickly from the table—attracting the attention of his year-mates around him.

A light touch on his arm made Draco look down, grey eyes already filled with slight exasperation. He tampered if down quickly. There was no point taking out his annoying on anyone other than Potter.

It was Pansy, her dark eyes looking over his face worriedly as she asked, "Are you feeling alright, Draco?"

He gave her a small smile. It was nice to be reminded that not everyone hated him. His eyes flitted to Potter's for a second as he answered, "I'm fine, just tired. I'm just going to go to bed early."

The worry in Pansy's eyes didn't diminish with his explanation but she did ease the grip off his sleeve. Taking that as an exit opportunity, Draco made his way between the tables filled with food before finally making his ways out of the door of the Great Hall. He was halfway to the Slytherin dorms when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"How bored are you?"

He stopped and pivoted to face the person who has been giving him a consistent headache. It was Potter, of course. His posture gave off a relaxed, confident sort of air—fitting for someone who just recently defeated a dark lord. His hair was as untamed as ever, looking so messy it looked intentional. What drew the blonde-haired wizard's attention the most was the other boy's eyes. They were their usual ethereal green but now there was something else behind them. Something almost mischievous—one that filled Draco with a sense of terrible foreboding.

Those eyes were a wake-up call that brought Draco back to the present. He thought back to the question and his face twisted up in annoyed confusion. Did Potter learn Legilimency over break?

"What the bloody hell do you mean by that, Potter?" Draco asked heatedly, wanting the interaction to be over with already.

"I know you've seen me watching you but I had to make sure I was completely right. You're bored out of your mind here, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not."

Yes, he was. Even if nothing outrageous was happening, Draco used to have his rivalry with Potter to fall back on. This year, up until recently, Draco had no interaction at all with the green-eyed wizard. Potter had kept his distance so he had kept his. Because of this, most of Draco's days were spent studying or conversing with his fellow Slytherins. While a nice reprieve from wartime, life was missing that spark it used to have.

Potter was right, his mother was right. He was so. Bloody. Bored. The boy on his mind seemed to sense the resignation in the other's thoughts because he forged on with a quick breath.

"I have a...proposition for you." Potter seemed to have a hard time choosing the right word, and in the end, he still looked dissatisfied with his choice. Draco waited with an inkling of suspicion, willing to at least hear what he came to say. Staring at the wall, Potter seemed to figure out what he came there to talk about.

"I have been utterly bored. Deathly bored, since we've been back at Hogwarts. Everything has been too...normal, I hate to say. I just want something to happen. And I'd be willing to do anything at this point," at that point, Potter looked back to meet Draco's stone-grey eyes. Suddenly, an absolutely wicked grin began to overtake Potter's face—bringing back memories of the Weasley twins days at Hogwarts.

"Want to pull a prank with me? If we play our cards right, we can extend it to the end of the school year. What I'm suggesting is a bit jarring—but that's the point, isn't it? What I want, Draco, is for us to pretend to be together, and mess around with the rest of the Hogwarts' occupants until we graduate."

The longer Potter went through his monologue, the more confidence he seemed to gain, and the faster he talked—betraying the obvious nervousness the boy was trying to hide. Draco, however, was frozen in place like he was just petrified by a Basilisk. And did Potter just call him Draco? Since the fair-haired wizard was in no condition to stop him, Potter forged on.

"I know it's crazy and sounds out of the blue, but that's why it would work so well. I was thinking one day about Ginny and me, and how things didn't work out. I was wondering, 'is there anyone at Hogwarts right for me?' At least Hermione and Ron had each other."

At the last sentence, a buried sadness in Potter seemed to spring forth. Draco's breath caught at just how lonely the other boy looked in that moment, standing in front of him with his shoulders slightly hunched, a sorrowful look on his face. Draco waited again as the dark-haired teen gathered himself.

"So I thought to myself, 'who could be the most outrageous person I could date right now?' And that's obviously you Malfoy." Potter laughed as he said this.

"And as soon as you popped into my head, the overwhelming boredom had come back once again. So I thought, 'what would Fred and George have done?'" Potter sent another sad smile towards Draco at the mention of Fred before it cooled back into a hopeful look.

"And you know the rest. I watched you for a while to see if you were bored enough to even go for it, and now here we are. So what do you say, Draco? Want to put on a real show?"

Potter was practically out of breath by the end of his diatribe. A sly look tried to overtake Potter's hopeful expression, but Draco could still see the anxiety layered behind it as well. And so, Draco did the only thing that seemed to fit the situation.

He ran away.

A/N:

Unedited

Hello again! I just posted a story earlier this week (Tom Riddle gets drugged in it—check it out) but this plot bunny wouldnt leave me alone. This chapter is only the introduction with two other chapters planned out. If this gets enough positive feedback I'll come back and do a thorough edit. Until then, it will just stay a long plot bunny. Fave, follow, or leave a review if you enjoy!