The corner of Harry’s mouth quirked, figuring that to be an excellent point.<br/>"Let me know if there’s anything I<span style="font-style: italic">can</span>do," he encouraged, wanting to be able to meet Malfoy halfway. He knew he was asking a great deal – something which had only become that much more comprehensive when Malfoy had urged to stay at the Manor during the initial tests – and though Harry was working on correcting that on a professional level, he personally wanted to be of help, too.<br/>His mind stalled, taking too much notice of how Malfoy took his tea.<br/>"Hopefully, I’m better at answering questions than a cursed jewelry box."<br/>The addition came with another smile, his eyes darting back up to meet Malfoy’s. He then made a little face after a moment of consideration as if wanting to retract that statement, not sure that Malfoy would actually agree with that. "If not about this, then about something else."<br/>Harry didn’t mean to sound conceited, but he wasn’t blind to the unspoken trade-off of their interaction either. He felt certain Malfoy wouldn’t even have considered his case had he not been scientifically interested in the practical matters of the issue. Harry didn’t think he was wrong in assuming he was Malfoy’s best if not only chance of getting to ground his theories in reality.<br/>Wanting to take the edge off the interaction, Harry smile widened, an unspoken punctuation to a still-open invitation.<br/>"What’re you having for breakfast?" he instead asked, preemptively looking to avoid once again helping himself to something Malfoy didn’t stock. It wasn’t that he had actively waited for Malfoy to eat, and yet that suddenly felt like the way the cards had played out.