A/N: As promised at the end of Stormy Gray Eyes, another story from me. It is currently at 14 chapters with much more to go. Enjoy!

Summary: Instead of getting cursed by Draco in Myrtle's bathroom, Harry suggests they talk. Surprisingly, Draco agrees. However, their budding friendship cannot be known for obvious reasons. Draco creates a magical pocket that allows Harry and Draco to converse without anyone knowing. Follow the two as their friendship blossoms and changes into something more.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I'm not JK Rowling so these are not my characters. I'm just using them for fun :). This story takes place briefly through sixth and seventh year before moving on to eighth year and since it's a Drarry story, it doesn't quite follow how Deathly Hallows ended.

Harry stared across the Great Hall, wondering for what seemed like the thousandth time, what was wrong with Draco. Ever since the beginning of sixth year, Harry had been watching Draco, especially after what he witnessed in Diagon Alley and when Draco had stunned him and broken his nose. At first, he suspected that Draco was up to no good, as usual, but now, as the year went on, he knew he was up to something, but he could also see the toll it was taking on him. It made Harry feel sorry for him which was definitely a foreign feeling.

The year had been rather strange. Harry had secret lessons with Dumbledore and the more and more he learned, the more scared he became of his role in the war. He also sensed that Dumbledore was hiding something from him, which wasn't anything abnormal, but this time it seemed much more worrisome than usual. Harry noticed that Dumbledore's hand was rather black and that he had a ring on that he hadn't seen before.

Harry went back to watching Draco. He used to try and hide it, but lately he seemed to not care if anyone saw him staring. He really needed to know what was going on with him. He watched as Pansy continued to babble at Draco, whom was staring down at his plate, pushing his food around, and not hearing a word she said. Finally, Draco appeared to growl almost before he got up from the table and stormed from the Great Hall. Harry watched him for just a moment before he mumbled some excuse and followed after him. He maintained visual on him, but didn't get so close as to get caught.

He watched curiously as Draco made his way to Myrtle's bathroom. Made sense, no one ever used that bathroom. He watched as Draco entered. He waited for a moment before he followed him in there. He was being very reckless. He had no idea what Draco was going through and had no idea what to expect when he happened upon him.

Harry walked in carefully, placing his wand at his side, ready to bring it up if needed. He glanced around, trying to see where Draco was. He heard water running so he turned to look at the sinks and his eyes met teary gray eyes in the mirror. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Harry wanted to say something, anything, but he was at a loss for words once he saw the tortured look and the tears streaming down his nemesis's cheeks.

Harry stepped in further, letting the door close behind him. Draco continued to stare at him, but then his eyes narrowed and he whipped around, flinging a curse in Harry's direction. Harry threw up a shield and rolled out of the way, taking cover behind a wall. Curses continued flying towards him and Harry moved around, trying to avoid being hit.

"Malfoy! Please!" Harry called out, nearly begging.

Draco came around the corner and pointed his wand at Harry. He was breathing heavily and Harry pointed his wand at Draco in defense. "What in the hell are you doing in here?" Draco demanded angrily.

Harry gulped. "I just want to talk to you," he said quietly.

A look of surprise passed over Draco's features, but immediately, he looked suspicious. "You're lying," he said darkly.

Harry shook his head. He gulped again and took a deep breath. He let his wand drop to his side and then he placed it into his pocket, showing how serious he was. "I want to talk to you," he repeated, honesty bleeding in his words and apparent in his eyes.

Draco faltered, and dropped his wand ever so slightly. "Why?" he questioned quietly.

"I can see that you're dealing with an enormous task that you don't want to deal with. I can see what it's doing to you. I just want you to be able to talk to someone about it. I want to help you," Harry replied.

Draco's bottom lip quivered. How could Harry know him so well? "Why? So you can take whatever I tell you back to Dumbledore?" he demanded, bringing his wand up again and right under Harry's chin.

Harry's insides were twisting and turning in nervousness, but he maintained his outward cool and didn't shudder at the wand that was nearly jabbing him in the neck. "No, I want to just be here, for you. Besides, Dumbledore has a way of knowing things even when you've hidden it. Whatever you're dealing with, he probably knows already," Harry replied quietly, smiling slightly.

Draco's eyes searched his, checking for any dishonesty in them. He saw none. Draco dropped his wand and hung his head. "There is so much…." he trailed off, running a hand through his hair, and stepping back.

Outside, they could hear what sounded like a stampede. Someone must have taken note of the fact that Harry had chased after Draco and knew that the two must have been getting into trouble. Harry frowned, but looked at Draco.

"Forgive me for this, but meet me down at the lake as soon as you can," Harry said as he flicked his wand at Draco's cheek. Draco cried out and reached up for his cheek, blood coming away on his fingers. He glared at Harry and was about to retaliate when Harry turned the wand on himself and cast the same spell. They had identical cuts and now bruised cheeks. Draco smiled slightly at the brilliance of what Harry had just done. They cast a few more well placed "injuries" on themselves before Harry made his way towards the door, the stampeding coming much louder now. "As soon as you can," Harry said once more before he ran through the door and met the throng of students and Snape leading the charge. He clutched at his cheek as he ran past them all. Draco ran out soon after, heading in the same direction, but then splitting off to take another path to the lake. Snape and the students who had come along, stared after the two in surprise. Snape peeked into the bathroom and saw the mess that the two had made in their fight. He narrowed his gaze, cursing his unbreakable vow, and how he needed to hand out detention to the two.

XXXX

Harry arrived first at the lake. He settled beneath a willow that was far enough away from any prying eyes. He hoped that Draco would show. He seemed like he was going to talk to him, but maybe he had changed his mind between their pretend fight and fleeing the bathroom.

Harry sighed and leaned against the willow. He stared out across the lake, wondering what he was going to do once he knew everything he needed to know about destroying Voldemort. There was no doubt in his mind that it was going to be a lot harder than anything else he had dealt with.

After about ten minutes, Harry heard crunching sounds to his right. He turned and saw Draco walking towards him, his head down. Harry smiled slightly, pleased that Draco had decided to come. Harry scrambled up and faced him. Draco looked up at him and Harry winced. "You look awful and I imagine I look awful too," he commented quietly.

Draco smiled slightly and then winced when it pulled at the cut on his cheek. Harry waved his wand, mending the cut so that it was still there, but not nearly as obvious nor sore. Draco did the same for him. They both sat down against the tree. They left their other "injuries" so that people would still think that they had fought.

"I won't say this ever again, but that was brilliant thinking on your part," Draco commented as he gestured to his face.

Harry laughed and shrugged. "Well, I figured that you'd want to keep up with pretenses that we still hate each other and if we had come out of there unscathed, there would be many questions flung our way," he replied.

Draco nodded. "What makes you think I don't still hate you?"

Harry shrugged again. "Maybe you do and that's fine, but it doesn't mean that you still don't need to talk to someone about whatever is bothering you," he pointed out.

Draco sighed and looked out across the lake. "I do want to talk to someone, but I'm so angry about what I have to do, knowing that it's wrong, but unable to do a damn thing about it," he said quietly.

Harry turned to face him a bit more. "What do you have to do?" he asked.

Draco frowned, but turned to face him more as well. "I have to fix a cabinet so that Death Eaters can get into the castle and I have to kill Dumbledore," he whispered, his shame quite evident.

Harry felt his stomach drop and his heart start to pound. He wasn't expecting that at all and he wasn't expecting Draco to give it up so willingly. "Um, wow…." was all he could say. Harry turned away from Draco and looked out over the lake, biting his lip.

"You wanted to know! Dammit! I shouldn't have told you! Merlin, I am so stupid! Now you have every reason to go off and tell Dumbledore and the aurors and anyone else who cares to know! My life was already ruined so I might as well spend it in Azkaban!" Draco exclaimed. He stood up and started to walk away.

Harry scrambled up and jogged up to step into Draco's path. "Malfoy, wait," he said. Draco glared at him, but made no move to get around him.

"I'm sorry. I just had so many different scenarios in my head as to what you were up to and those two were not any of them. I'm sorry. Come back over here and we can talk about this," he soothed.

Draco hung his head and nodded. He turned and went back over to the tree and plopped down, looking weary and tired. Harry sat down next to him. "He's punishing my father," Draco whispered.

"Who?" Harry asked, although he knew the answer without Draco needing to say it.

"The Dark Lord, of course," Draco snarled, not at Harry though.

"Because your father failed to get the prophecy," Harry said, also knowing why his father was being punished.

"Yes. A stupid prophecy that everyone already knew regardless. He thought it would hold some amazing secret as to what would protect him, but it basically just told him that you were the one who was going to kill him," Draco said bitterly.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.." Harry repeated the prophecy that he had heard last year.

Draco stared at him, a chill running through him. "So that means….." he trailed off, unable to voice what it meant. He may not like Harry, but the idea of him dying, did not sit well with him.

"One of us will die," Harry finished the thought for him.

Draco bit his lip and looked away. "We're both between a rock and a hard place," he commented.

Harry chuckled quietly. "Yes, we are. What are you going to do?"

"Fix the cabinet, kill Dumbledore. That's the only thing I can do. Voldemort will kill me and my parents if I don't succeed. I see no way around this. What are you going to do?"

"Honestly, I'm probably going to die," Harry said matter-of-factly.

Draco jerked his head back to look at him. He narrowed his gaze. "You don't have to die," he insisted.

"And you don't have to kill Dumbledore or fix the cabinet," Harry countered.

Draco and Harry stared at each other intently. "I have no choice," they both said at the same time.

They both sighed and turned away from each other. They sat in companionable silence for another half an hour. Somehow, in their brief conversation, a barrier that had been put in place between them since day one of Hogwarts began to crumble away. They were both puppets for the same man, both being used in different ways.

"I think Dumbledore knows," Harry whispered, breaking the silence.

"Snape knows," Draco replied.

They sat for a bit longer in silence. "We should probably head back," Harry commented as he stood. He held out his hand to Draco who stared at it for a moment, before he took it and allowed Harry to help him up.

"Yeah, we should," Draco replied. He shifted his weight, glancing back up at the castle. He didn't want to leave Harry's presence. He found that being around him and talking to him made him feel better. He didn't want to lose out on this connection that they had made.

Harry started to head towards the castle, but then hesitated, turning back to Draco. "Listen, Malfoy, I am glad that you talked to me today and I want you to know that you're safe with me and if you'd like, well, I know I'd like it if….." Harry trailed off, struggling to form the words, suddenly nervous about what Draco would say in response.

"What, Potter?" Draco asked hopefully, already knowing what Harry was struggling to ask because he couldn't remotely form the words himself.

Harry took a deep breath and spoke again. "Can we talk again?" he asked finally.

Draco wanted to smile broadly, but he had to maintain his cool. He smiled slightly and nodded. "I would like that," he said quietly.

Harry nodded, smiling more broadly than Draco. "Great. Excellent."

Draco chuckled quietly. "I have an idea, but I'll owl it to you. I'll see you around, Potter, probably in detention." He walked past Harry, heading up towards the castle. He stopped a few feet away and turned to look at him again. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

"You're welcome," Harry said back. Maybe the year had just gotten more interesting.