Harry was sitting up in his bed, sweating, hands shaking in fear, trying to control the terror left over from his most recent nightmare.

The dormitory he shared with his best mate was dark and quiet, Ron snoring in the other bed. Harry pushed himself to his feet, trying to shake off the memory. It was too much to hope that he would still be awake…

Harry found himself walking into the eighth year Common Room anyway.

Draco Malfoy was sitting on one of the loveseats in front of the fire, reading a book by the light of a single lamp on the end table. He was the only other person there.

"Draco?" Harry asked, quietly. He didn't want to wake anyone else up.

Draco turned around, setting his book down on the table. "Harry? Are you ok?"

"I… Um. Nightmares," Harry admitted, moving to sit next to Draco on the loveseat. Draco wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders, and Harry leaned into his boyfriend's solid warmth.

"Talk to me," Harry said. "Tell me a story."

Draco chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of Harry's head. "A true one?"

"Yeah. Tell me something I don't know about. Something that happened to you."

Draco thought for a minute, then nodded. "I've got one."

"Let's hear it, then," Harry said. He already felt better, being here with Draco. The boy who, somehow, had become the most important person in the world to Harry.

"Alright," Draco said. "This was back in second year…"

o-o-o-o-o

Six Years Ago

Valentine's Day, 1993

Lockhart was an idiot.

Draco didn't care. He saw an opportunity, and he was going to take it.

He managed to ditch Crabbe and Goyle in the Great Hall before telling Pansy and Blaise that he'd left a book in the dormitory and doubling back to corner one of those ridiculous singing dwarves.

"Hey! Dwarf!" he snapped, grabbing one of the hideous things by the arm and dragging it into an empty classroom. "I need you to deliver a message."

"Alright, then," the dwarf said, frowning suspiciously. "To whom?"

Draco could tell he was blushing, and he cleared his throat, embarrassed. "Harry Potter," he whispered.

"Sorry, who now?" the dwarf asked.

"Harry Potter!" Draco spat. If he'd been blushing before, it was nothing to how red his face was now.

"Harry Potter," the dwarf repeated. "Right. What's the message?"

Draco cleared his throat again, reaching into the pocket of his robes. He handed the dwarf a crumpled piece of parchment. The dwarf gave it a critical once-over before tucking it away.

"And who is this message from?"

"Doesn't matter," Draco blurted. The last thing he needed was for his friends- or Potter himself- to find out about Draco's crush.

"Okay," the dwarf said. "I'll just be going, then."

Draco stood alone in the classroom for another minute, giving the dwarf a head start. Then he ducked out into the corridor, climbing the stairs to meet his friends.

o-o-o-o-o

Six Years Later

Spring 1999

Harry stared at his boyfriend, shocked. "That was you?" he asked. "I always thought it was Ginny!"

"Hmm," Draco said. "No. It was me- and that, by the way, was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life."

Harry laughed, rolling his eyes. "I should have known. I mean, I just feel stupid now."

"In fairness, I'd just been giving you a hard time about that diary; I was probably the last person you thought would send you a singing valentine."

Harry smiled up at Draco. "Thanks," he said sleepily.

"I didn't do anything."

"You always help," Harry said, curling into his boyfriend's side. "I love you."

Draco ran his hand through Harry's messy black hair. "I love you, too."

The two boys fell asleep like that, leaning against each other, and were only woken in the morning by the sound of the other eighth years making their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Fin.