When all lights were extinguished there was still one found to be lit.
Harry was lying in his bed looking at the piece of parchment in front of him with a furrow in his brow. The Marauder's Map was held so close to him that his nose was brushing the ink that formed the corridors and classrooms of Hogwarts. But, even with his face this close to the map, he couldn't find the one person he wanted to see. He had spent so long trying to find him, but he just never seemed to show up on the map. Draco always seemed to disappear...
Harry's eyes widened. There, seventh floor. He was PACING-in the middle of the night just- "Hang on!" Harry whisper/yelled at the map.
Draco's dot just disappeared.
Harry stared at the spot where his dot had been. He needed to talk to the other boy-Harry truly had no idea what the sectrumsempra curse was supposed to do.
"Ron?" Harry asked quietly to the four poster bed next to his.
"Wha?" Ron asked his voice thick with sleep. "Wha time is it?" he asked as he sat up in bed, his hand rubbed over his blue eyes.
"Why would someone disappear from the map on the seventh floor?" Harry asked, ignoring Ron's questions.
"Bloody hell Harry! You woke me up at...MIDNIGHT to ask about the bloody map?"
"Yeah," Harry said with a shrug, "people can't just disa-"
"It's the room of requirement, now go back to sleep," Ron said, and uttered curses at Harry as he lay back down, and within moments his loud snoring filled the dorm again.
While Ron turned back to his dreams Harry turned back to the Map.
Of course, he thought. HE of all people should know that the Room of Requirement doesn't turn up on the Map. The springs beneath Harry squeaked as he swung himself out of bed to grab his Invisibility Cloak.
With the Invisibility Cloak over top of him, his wand in his right hand, and Map illuminated in his left he set out, successfully avoiding three teachers, and Peeves.
He paused where the entrance of the Room was. What was he actually supposed to say to Draco? He hadn't thought it all the way through yet, his plan was something along the lines of it will just work out, and Draco would understand him. He sighed and paced in front of the tapestry.
I need to see Draco Malfoy. I need to see Draco Malfoy. I need to see Draco Malfoy. He thought, desperately, three times in a row, and to his immense surprise, a wrought iron door appeared from the brick of the wall.
Harry cast a quick look at the map, cleared it, and opened the door.
It was strangely quiet, and strikingly familiar. He didn't really know what to expect, he truly had no idea WHY Draco came here, but he had assumed it was for comfort. Not for the fact that he needed to find, or hide something, as the rows upon rows of junk would suggest. It seemed...ironic...to him that this was the room he would find Draco in. It was the exact room where he had hid the Prince's book after-well after what happened in the bathroom-which he had come to talk about.
Harry wandered the rows, and dead ends, for a good half an hour before he heard even the slightest suggestion that he wasn't the only living thing in the room.
It was the faint chirping of a bird.
Harry hurried down the row which he thought it had come from. He was put back on course by the squeak of door hinges. He quickly backtracked and turned into a long row, which soon opened up into a sort of clearing
That's where he saw him. Harry's pace quickened.
Draco Malfoy was standing in front of a Vanishing Cabinet, Harry realized, remembering the one he had seen over the summer in Borgin and Burke's.
Draco stopped what he was doing and stood stock still. Was he paranoid, or did he just hear footsteps? Draco dug his wand from his pocket and turned on his heel.
"Who's there?" he called out, in a sharp tone.
Harry stopped. Draco wasn't THAT stupid-oh, the Invisibility Cloak. Harry pulled the cloak from his body, keeping his wand in his pocket.
"Potter?!" Draco choked out, his bloodshot eyes wide, and the grayish skin around his mouth stretched. "How'd you find me?" he demanded.
"I just knew," Harry said with a shrug, as though it HADN'T taken him WEEKS to find out where Draco was going.
"What?!" Draco's wand hand lowered to his side, but his eyes were still alert.
"I'm sorry," Harry began, the words tumbling from his mouth. "I had no idea-believe me-that spell I-it was just something I came across. I didn't know it was going to hurt you."
"You came here to APOLOGIZE! Draco raised his voice, making sure that Harry understood the incredibility of the situation at hand.
"Uh...yeah," Harry said, backing away from his outgoing manner, he thought Draco was going to appreciate this, but he seemed...mad. Maybe he WAS wrong about him; there was only one way to find out. "I don't believe in abusive relationships. Even between us," he said, timidly.
He had suspicions for a while now; this was the real test though. Draco had always, in a way, looked up to him...well...jealous was more the word. He had known that Draco talked about him when Dobby first came to visit him. He had talked about all the greatness he had heard about Harry, and Harry was pretty sure it wasn't Lucius Malfoy praising him. But Harry hadn't realized any return feelings; that is until this year.
"Look you're going through something, right now that I don't think a quarter of this school could handle. And I don't really know how well you're doing; it becomes hard to be responsible, and try to keep a secret, doesn't it? Honestly-I would have never thought you could have handled becoming a Death Eater-not this young. But you're doing it. And I know that with your dad gone your mum is probably a real wreck-you think that no one cares, don't you?" Harry asked, seeing it for the first time in the deadened look in his usually bright blue eyes. "Draco," he paused. The name felt foreign on his tongue, he was only used to hearing it in his thoughts. "I care."
The only sign that Draco was caught off guard by his statement was a flicker of life in his dull eyes. But his mind was racing. Harry Potter-the Boy Who Lived-was confessing his care and affection (dare he say love just yet?) for him, something he thought he would only imagine.
Before he could even think about it Draco was in Harry's arms. His body was touching Harry's, and his lips were on Harry's.
Harry had kissed Ginny before, and he had thought it felt right, but now he knew he was wrong. Oh so very wrong.
Draco pushed Harry against the side of a pile of rubbish, their wands, along with the cloak and the Map lay forgotten on the ground.
Harry's back was pushed uncomfortably against the corner of something, but he didn't care, as long as Draco was there.
"At least someone does," Draco muttered, as a response to Harry's last comment. His face was centimeters away from Harry's. Harry shivered; Draco's breath was so warm against his cold skin.
Harry lifted a hand to Draco's face, and pushed a stray lock of white/blonde hair from his blue eye.
Harry slowly smiled, "I will always care."