Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy (sadly) do not belong to me. If they did...They belong to JK and the rest of her posse.

Notes: I don't have much to say, really. This is my first fanfiction ever in the history of fanfictions, so, I guess it's a start. I'd just love reveiws, and all that jazz. It'll make me want to keep writing, you know?

and Thank you thank you thank you to WakaWakaNevermore and Reb788 for your wonderful beta work. :D

"If love is like shelter, then what I must do is walk in the rain."

Many of the students went back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to finish up their seventh year—the war had made school life far too difficult for the training wizards. To the students' dismay, Headmistress McGonagall had planned a Masquerade Ball for this particular year to help students get their spirits up. No party would erase all the memories and turmoil, yet the staff felt it good enough of an idea and, as such, implemented the plan.

"I'm not going!" Yelled Draco.

"Sure you are," Blaise responded, raising an eye brow as though the idea of Draco Malfoy missing out on such a party was unthinkable.

"Am not!" The blond continued, his tone becoming harsher in annoyance.

"Yep. End of story. Get dressed and get down to the Great Hall. It's about to start in ten minutes."

The blonde Slytherin protested to Blaise's commands for at least fifteen more minutes before finally giving in to the other Slytherin. Draco yanked open his wardrobe to further show his frustration. "I'm not doing this for you!" Draco yelled to his retreating friend while he stuck his head into his many clothes.

Blaise popped his head around the corner. "I know you're not. I'm making you do this for Potter." He smirked and dashed off as a shoe came flying his way.

"Piss off!" He pulled out black and emerald dress robes. This would have to do, he thought, as he laid them on his bed. He suddenly remembered reading on the poster in Hogsmead that a mask was required. Shit. He looked around and saw a glittering mask on his side table. Blaise, that filthy git. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It was nice enough, he decided, before unbuttoning his top and throwing it to the side. A little gaudy, but for any Malfoy, it would be better to overdress than under. Once his arms were slipped into the robes and the buttons, well, buttoned up, he placed the mask on his face. In the mirror, he looked quite charming. Yes, this should quite do...

He felt on edge as he made his way through the dark halls of the school. Why was he doing this? Why had he given in to Blaise? Certainly, he had no reason to even humor the guy by pretending to pick out his dress robes for the event.

It's because you secretly want to see Potter clad in sparkling dress robes, squeaked a voice in the back of his head.

He growled as he made his way to the Great Hall. Tonight, it seemed far more intimidating than before. Music was easily heard drifting in the shadows, creeping under the cracks of the large double-doors. There was a foreboding feeling coming from area as faint light illuminated the space in front of him.

Yes. Draco fancied Potter since his third year, but he wasn't hasty to try and do anything about this growing crush. Potter is straight, and he knew it from the bottom of his heart. He was going out with the Weaselette, wasn't he? There was no way to qualm this warm feeling in his chest, nor the sinking sensation at the thought of Harry speaking sweet nothings to some one else. He would just have to live with this burning pain for as long as it would last.

Draco wiggled through the half open doors to the Great Hall—music, laughter, and chatting were amplified as soon as he stepped into the vast hall. It was brilliant. The tables were gone, and just—whoa. Through the pale lighting, he could see vines making their way up the walls, white flowers dotting them in a mixed arrangement. If one looked farther in, white dragons were guarding the edges, tastefully placed. Faerie strings caressed the walls, a perfect transition from the walls to where the starry canopy above shone beautifully.

He looked through the crowd for a moment before spotting his friends. Draco trotted over to them, at least happy there were easy to spot in such a place.

"Happy you came now, hm?" Draco was unable to see Blaise's expression from under the mask. More likely than not, it was something sarcastic. Blaise was shoulder to shoulder with Theo and someone Draco couldn't recognize.

"I suppose," Draco muttered, leaning back on a post and crossing his arms over his chest. The entire place was nice, though it was highly overrated considering this was a school event.

Blaise clapped a hand on Draco's shoulder. "Oh, please. Don't tell me you would rather be down in our room right now, with your nose stuck in a book? Hmm?" He laughed and took a sip of the drink in his hand.

"Yeah, c'mon Draco. Don't be so fuckin' down all the time," Theo grunted and laughed along with Blaise.

"Shove off, would you? I came, didn't I? I wouldn't have if Blaise here—" He poked him in the chest, "—hadn't pestered me about it." He groaned and closed his eyes, wishing he could just slip into the shadows and disappear forever. It was bad enough he hadn't wanted to come in the first place, but now they were cracking jokes at his expense?

"Hey, you also agreed to come for an unspoken reason," Blaise chimed. He leaned against the table they were closest to, eying the floating candles placed in the middle.

Draco looked up, furious. How could he have said that out loud? "Shut up," He hissed and stood away from the wall. "I-I'm getting something to drink," Draco muttered. He quickly weaved between people and away from Blaise. The man had went to far on that one.

"Oh, honestly Harry! Stop being such a selfish prat!"

Draco jumped a little from the volume of the outburst. He turned to see where it was coming from and quickly spotted a flash of long red hair and black hair only a few feet away.

"You couldn't have possibly told me you were gay, now could you?" Another outburst came and went, the words drifting off into the air of music and laughter. Though they were loud, only the people nearby looked if they even cared at all about the yelling.

Draco's eyes widened. If that was Harry being accused... He stood frigid. What should he do? Wait. Why did he even care? He didn't. That was that. He kept walking in and out around people until he finally arrived at the table where an array of drinks were being placed. Draco suddenly collided with a warm body before he could grab something to soothe his nerves.

"Fuck off, you," Draco stopped, as did the body he was pressed up against. The blonde tried to hold in a gasp as he looked down slightly into deep, emerald eyes. He couldn't break away—he knew whom those eyes belonged. Silver eyes searched emerald before Draco took off into a run towards Blaise, leaving Potter speechless on the spot.

Draco kept his eyes closed tight as he bumped and knocked people over as he hastily shot back to his friends. What the fuck just happened? Draco felt sick to his stomach; a nervous, acid-like liquid felt as if it were swimming inside his chest, pressing in against him, filling him to the brim.

"Draco, is something wrong?" Blaise laughed half-heartedly as he watched his friend almost trip as he fell against the wall again, one hand on his heart, trying to catch his breath.

The blonde Slytherin looked around as he caught himself, and stood up straight. No need to show any weakness around your friends now, Draco. You're a Malfoy. Malfoy's do not show weakness. He cleared his throat, "No, nothing is wrong. I just…ran into people I do not find inviting." Draco shrugged, and absent mindedly started to find a button on his robes quite interesting.

Blaise didn't look convinced. He turned to Theo and sniggered, punching him lightly in the shoulder, who smirked back, before approaching Draco. A hint of amusement swam in his dark eyes, "Come now, Draco. You're not telling us everythin'. I can see right through you,"- he poked Draco in the chest.-"Now, you'd better before I pull my wand out on ya," he chuckled, and Draco almost immediately noticed that Blaise was slightly off his rocker.

"Honestly Blaise, you've had a little too much to drink tonight," Draco muttered, trying to steer the conversation away from his uneasy feelings. He snatched the drink from Blaise, whom made a disgruntled noise of protest, before flicking his wand and vanishing the drink.

"You,"- Theo cut in and put a heavy hand on Draco's delicate shoulder,-"Need to loosen up a bit," he laughed and nudged the unidentified male, who laughed.

Draco was now feeling seriously out of place and seriously tired. He sighed and announced he was going up to his room. Ignoring his friends protests, he walked away from them with his head down. Now only a few meters from the large doors, Draco looked up to see the ceiling of the hall grow dark and evil with clouds. The room suddenly grew quiet as small drops of water started to wiggle their way from those clouds, but quickly resumed their chatter.

oo00oo

Draco noted it was actually raining rather harshly, as he sat at the ledge of a tall window in one of the west halls. It was dark out, very dark, but the shining silver drops of rain could easily be seen falling down and into the darkness of the grounds below. Thunder struck, and that made Draco jump out of his skin for a moment. He sighed and his thoughts drifted back to the incident in the Great Hall. Well, no. It wasn't really an incident. Draco was just making it out to be.

Lightening shattered the darkness for a moment, lighting up the entire corridor. Draco put a hand on the glass, feeling the wind beat against it madly. All the sudden, screams echoed from the direction of the Great Hall and the rushing sounds of …. water? Could be heard smashing against the cold, stone walls of the castle. What the hell was going on? Draco gasped as he noticed water leaking from behind stones in the wall, and a heavy flow of water dribbling into the corridor. What the fuck should he do? Without thinking, Draco quickly stood and ran down to the Slytherin dormitories. Which was an extremely bad idea as the water now lapped around his ankles.

"Shit!" Draco almost screamed out as he took the last step into the hallway that lead to the dorms, and fell into a pool of water that clung to him around the middle. He looked behind him and noticed a wave of water was coming towards him.

"Oh, fuc-" It was seconds before the huge body of water crashed against him, sending him flying underwater. He tried to keep his eyes open, but the pressure closed them. He flailed around wildly due to the race of the current. The sound of rushing water penetrated his eardrums, though he didn't focus on that. What he focused on was trying to get to the surface, which was quite a difficult task considering the waves were carrying him quickly down deeper into the dungeons. And who knows - the water could bring him right into a wall, and crush his head open. But he also tried to keep that out of his head.

Draco was quickly running out of air, his lungs turning tight. He needed air, and fast. Panicking, he waved his arm widely around in the water, trying to break surface.
To his luck, the water suddenly thinned out, placing him against a cold wall. He sucked in so much air - he could have sworn he was going to die in that water. Blinking, Draco took sharp breathes and looked around. He was pressed against the cold, wet wall in between two knights. And it looked to be that he was closer to the entrance of his common room than the potions room, where he had only seconds ago – previously been. He let his head fall back against the stone, and closed his eyes, slowly trying to catch his breath. As so as he did, he opened his eyes and looked around once more, and quickly regretted doing so. Only about ten feet away was an unconscious body of a student.

Not just any student, damnit. A black haired, bespectacled, lanky student.