Harry was huddled against the castle wall, desperately trying to keep his cigarette out of the wind so he could light it but his damned lighter wasn't working at all.

"For Merlin's sake, light, you blasted thing!"

"Need a light, Potter?"

Harry spun around to see Draco Malfoy offering him his lighter. Harry was immediately suspicious and glanced furtively about but Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen and Malfoy was putting a cigarette in his mouth.

"Well, are you going to use it or what?" Malfoy mumbled, his lips tightly holding the cigarette in his mouth, still offering the lighter to Harry.

"What are you doing out here?"

"What does it look like? Same as you, of course."

"I didn't know you smoked, or sneaked out of school in the dark to do it."

"Likewise, Potter. Unlike in your dorm, in mine there are no windows so I have no choice."

"I never smoke out of the dorm window." Harry blushed guiltily and took the lighter from Draco.

"Yeah right." Draco teased as Harry lit his cigarette and took a long drag on it, held it, and then breathed out heavily. He was visibly more relaxed already as he leaned back against the wall. He handed the lighter back to Draco who lit his own cigarette and took a drag as he pocketed his lighter.

"So, why would you offer me your lighter?"

"I could see you struggling."

"Like you care!"

There was a pause and the silence seemed to stretch on forever between them

"Potter, I wanted to tell you something."

"Mhmm?" Harry murmured, taking another drag.

"I … erm … I guess I want to say thank you."

Harry almost choked and started having a coughing fit.

Draco looked concerned and gently patted Harry on the back a couple of times. Harry looked at Draco; his eyes were wide with fear, what the hell was his plan. Harry regained some composure.

"What for?"

"Well … for setting Dobby free."

Harry's jaw dropped.

"Are you serious?!"

Draco blushed. Harry didn't know Draco could blush.

"Yes. I actually liked him and he wanted so much to be free from my father's tyranny that I'm glad he finally got his wish. Father would have been more likely to kill him than free him."

Draco looked down at his feet and puffed on his cigarette waiting for Harry's response. He knew Harry would throw it back in his face but he had to try; now he had a reason to talk to him. He wanted to make peace. He always wanted to be Harry's friend, if only he wasn't so friendly with Weasley they might have been friends from the beginning.

Harry was reeling from the revelation. He took a drag on his cigarette and held it while he mused. He breathed out gently. He would give Draco the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to be friends. It had just been unfortunate circumstances that had stopped them becoming friends to start with, and now it seemed they had some common ground.

"Erm … that's ok Malfoy … I'm glad he's happy now."

Draco looked straight at Harry. He couldn't believe his luck. Should he push it any further? It was now or never.

"Fresh start?"

Harry contemplated for a minute. This was what he wanted.

"What about our friends? They'll hate this."

"So, we pretend we still hate each other in front of everyone else."

Harry mused. Should he trust him? Why not? He took a deep breath.

"Sounds like fun." He grinned.

Draco was shell-shocked.

"Friends?"

"I guess so … friends," Harry agreed.

They flicked away the stubs of their burned out, barely smoked, cigarettes and shook hands. Then Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the packet, offering Draco another cigarette.

"You smoke even more than I thought," Draco laughed.

"I had a tough time today with that dementor on the train, alright? I'm quite tempted to stand here and smoke the whole pack."

"Hey, I was just teasing. I like that you smoke more than I thought. So do I," Draco admitted. "If you want to smoke the whole pack then just do it, you know you'll feel better after."

Harry knew this much was true, it was only a pack of ten but he wasn't really much of a chain smoker.

"Wanna stay and help me finish them? It'll be nice to have the company."

Draco smiled. Being friends was going to be wonderful.

"Sure thing."

Draco took a cigarette from the packet and lit it as Harry also took one out. Again, he offered his lighter to Harry. This time he took it without hesitation and lit his cigarette before handing it back to Draco. They smiled at one another, sat down leaning against the wall, and, surprisingly, settled easily into comfortable conversation.

They flicked away the stubs of the last of Harry's cigarettes, Harry looked at his watch. It was 9.50pm. Shit. Curfew was at 10pm. They would be in so much trouble if they were caught out here, especially surrounded by cigarette butts.

"Shit, Malfoy, it's almost curfew."

Harry stood up. Draco was reluctant to move. He found that he enjoyed Harry's company more than he thought he would.

"Come on, we ought to get inside at least. We could be expelled for being out here this late, and smoking."

"Ok, ok, I'm getting up."

Draco dragged his unwilling body up off the ground and they started walking back towards the front doors.

"Can we do this again tomorrow night?" Draco asked hopefully.

"Of course. We never finished your packet." Harry smiled.

"You surprise me, Potter."

"And why is that?"

"You smoke more than I thought. You shared your cigarettes with me. You agreed to be my friend. You plan to enjoy pretending to hate me. And most of all, we get to do this all again tomorrow."

Harry smiled at the admission. Being friends was going to be great. They were nearly at the front doors now and they only had 5 minutes to get to their dorms, it was never going to happen, they were going to need all the luck in the world to get back without getting in trouble. They walked quickly up the steps, through the front door and across the entrance hall. This was where they would have to go separate ways.

"See you tomorrow then. Don't forget we still have to pretend that we hate each other."

Harry had already started up the stairs before Draco could reply.

"Potter!"

Harry stopped and looked back at Draco.

"I've never had a friend like you. See you tomorrow."

Harry smiled inwardly at yet another admission from Draco.

"I'm glad. G'night."

They both smiled at each other before turning and running as fast as they could towards their dorms.

Harry reached the Gryffindor common room at 10.15pm and was so lucky not to have been caught. He hoped that Draco had been lucky too. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the sofa by the fireplace, both looking nervous.

"What's up guys?"

"Oh Harry, we were so worried about you! It's so late and you'd been gone so long." Hermione babbled as she ran over and hugged him.

"Did you smoke the whole bloody packet?! I thought you were only going for a quick one." Ron asked irritably.

"Err ... Yeah I did actually." Harry admitted. Ron and Hermione looked shocked.

"I had a rough day and just needed to get rid of all the stress and tension. I'm ok now though guys, honest." Harry smiled.

Ron and Hermione both looked sceptical. Harry didn't want to stand under their questioning gaze any longer.

"I'm gonna head to bed. It's getting really late." Harry turned and climbed the stairs to his dorm.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other, confused.

"Maybe he's met a girl," Ron suggested.

"Maybe," Hermione agreed.

"I guess I'll head up too. See you in the morning."

"Yeah, night Ron."

They both climbed the stairs to their respective dormitories.

Harry had changed quickly into his pyjamas and thrown himself backwards onto the bed. He was staring up at the canopy, lost in thought, when Ron walked in. He gave Harry a suspicious look, Harry didn't seem to be swooning in love but there was definitely something different going on. He changed into his pyjamas, crawled into bed and quickly forgot about Harry. His head was filled with thoughts of Hermione and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

Harry, on the other hand, lay awake for what seemed like forever thinking over his new found friendship with Draco. Harry had enjoyed his company so much. How was he going to keep it secret when he wanted tomorrow evening to be here, now? How was he going to be mean to him, even though it was agreed, when he knew Draco was changed, different somehow? Or was he? When Harry thought about it he wasn't different at all. Draco had always liked him. It was his friendship with Ron that had got in the way. What would Ron say now if he knew? He would hate Harry, probably even more than he hated Draco, because he would feel betrayed by a friend. Harry sighed. All this thinking was hurting his brain. It was getting later and later and eventually when Harry fell asleep, he dreamed. Not the usual nightmares, but a dream of a memory. A memory of the first time he had met Draco Malfoy.