"You're staring again."
Draco snapped his gaze away from the Gryffindor table so fast it looked painful. His spoon clattered into his half-eaten porridge. "I wasn't." Pansy arched a perfectly sculpted brow. "Draco, you've been watching him since the Goblet staff hid name out like it had indigestion. It's getting creepy.
Draco scoffed, but his fingers twitched reslessly on the tablecloth. "Please, I'm just trying to figure out how he did it. That smug little...git. He didn't even put his name in? Right."
"Uh-huh.." Pansy said, popping a grape into her mouth and chewing slowly. "And the way your eyes follow him across the hall? That's definitely investigative, not at all obsessive or...personal."
Dracos face flushed. "Shut up, Pansy."
She leaned in, her voice dropping to a wisper laced either mischief. "You know, if you're so desperate to ruin him. Why not use the way he looks at you to your advantage."
Draco blinked. "The way he looks at me?"
"Oh, don't act like you haven't noticed. You catch him off guard, Draco. He stares, then he looks away like he's been caught doing something dirty."
Draco's mouth went dry. "So?"
"So," She said, swirling the stem of her Goblet. "You flirt with him. Lure him in, make him think you're into him. Boys like Potter don't think with their brains. He'll be so distracted playing boyfriend with you that he'll slip up in the tournament. And if he gets hurt...well, you didn't cast a single hex or spell. You only smiled."
Draco considered her words, something sharm and hungry sparking behind his eyes. "You think it will work?"
"Oh, I know it will" Pansy smirked. "But, you have to commit."
Later that day, between classes, Draco loitered in the corridor just outside the charms classroom, pretending to study a scroll. He didn't have charms today, but he knew who did. The moment he saw messy black hair appear around the corner, his chest tightened.
"Okay.." He said to himself. "Just smilr. Don't sneer, don't hex him, just smile." He mumbled
Harry walked by, deep in conversation with Ron and Harmonie. As they passed, Draco locked eyes with him and smiled. It wasn't mocking. It wasn't cruel. It was...soft. courious.
Harry faltered mid-sentence, nearly tripping over his own feet. Ron shot a suspicious glance over his shoulder. Hermonie didn't notice.
Draco turned, heels clicking on the stone floor, disappearing down the corridors before Harry could react.
Later that evening, Pansy handed a folded scrap of parchment to Draco. "Send this," she whispered, her eyes glittering. "Anonymous, of course."
Draco read the short message:
"You're more than they say you are. I see it, I wonder if you'd let someone show you?"
Draco rolled his eyes."This is stupidly dramatic," Pansy grinned. "Exactly, he'll eat it up,"
Draco sighed, and after a long moment, he slipped it into his pocket. That night, with careful precision and no return name, he tucked the note into Harry's defense book when no one was looking.
The next morning, Harry Potter was visibly unsettled at breakfast. He kept glancing around the call, the note folded in his hand like a secret. His eyes passed over every table, except the slytherins.
Draco caught the moment he looked over, thought, just once. So Draco smiled again. Longer, this time. Pansy sipped her tea, smug as ever. "Oh, he's hooked."
Draco didn't answer. His pulse was in his throat. The feeling of power was addictive. But beneath it, something else coiled like smoke in his chest.
Interest. Real, dangerous interest.