They stayed there, just enjoying the solitude, for another couple hours before deciding to leave. They stood at the door, both wondering how to approach this goodbye. The events and closeness they had just experienced deemed a handshake too informal, yet a hug seemed too intimate. Malfoy finally stuck out his hand. Harry gave him one of his own and they smiled at each other.
"Why don't…" Harry hesitated, obviously lost in his thoughts, "I mean, we can't exactly talk in front of everyone else. How about we meet here once in awhile, just to keep this up?" He looked hopeful.
"I think it would work. Sunday morning after breakfast?"
Harry nodded and they both left. Harry headed down to the kitchens since they had missed dinner. He begged a plate from one of the house elves and watched them while he ate it. His thoughts were consumed with how he would break the news about the end of his and Malfoy's feud to his friends. They had been feuding since they had first arrived and the mere idea that it could be over in just one incident would be too much for his friends to handle. He handed his plate back to the elf, thanked him and made his way back to his common area. He waved his friends concerns away and went straight to bed.
It took Malfoy a little longer than normal to get back to his common area. Even after the healing spell and the salve, he was still ginger from the spell's effects. He waved away his friend's concerns and straightened his spine. He made himself walk as normal as possible up to his room before succumbing to the pain. He changed into his pajamas and lay in bed. He tried to fall asleep but it eluded him. Thoughts of the raven haired boy filled his head. His attempts to befriend him had finally succeeded and with that friendship came liberation from all the hardship he knew he would have to face if he continued on the path he was forced to walk. Even though he had often insisted so, he never hated Potter. The hurt and confusion over the rejection in their first year had caused him to make stupid decisions in an effort to pretend that it hadn't affected him at all.
And then the Dark Lord had come back. Threats towards everyone he loved had caused him to accept the one mission he never wanted in the first place. His father had lost favor with the Dark Lord and his life hung by a thread. If he wanted the ones he loved to live, he would have to kill the one person who had kept his hopes alive. Despite all his attempts to dissuade him, Dumbledore continued his efforts to try to bring Draco to his side. He frequently brought him in for one-on-one heart to hearts, discussing how things were at home, whether he was getting along well at school, how he was feeling. Despite how rotten he had been, Dumbledore thought he could be redeemed. The mere thought of having to kill the man who he looked up to and respected nauseated Draco and was one small piece of what caused his decision to accept Harry's offer.
Thinking of that offer filled Draco with hope for the future. He couldn't deny that Harry had what it took to take down the Dark Lord. History was too damning to deny it and only fools denied the truth. Draco was no fool. He also wasn't going to deny what that offer meant for him. A freedom from the chains his family, the Dark Lord and even being in his House had put upon him, the chance to redeem himself for the horrendous acts that he had already done, the choice to decide what his future could be, and the chance to become who he wanted to be and not what everyone else expected to be. In the enclosed quarters of his bed, Draco broke free of the disguise that he had placed upon himself. The cold, emotionless, dark mask that being a Malfoy and Death Eater required of him was slowly removed. The parts of him that he kept locked away slowly came forward to replace it. For the first time in a long time, Draco smiled with genuine happiness.
The next morning, the boys sat at their respective tables and fought the urge to look at each other. Each time they caught the other staring, they smiled quickly and immediately looked away. Both found it difficult to focus on what was going on when they were lost in their own thoughts of each other.
"Harry, you've barely touched your breakfast. You'll make yourself sick if you don't eat." Hermione placed her hand on his arm.
"Sorry, Mom. Just a little distracted this morning." He smiled at her and took a large bite of his eggs for effect.
"I'm not being a mom." She sputtered a little flustered. "What has you so distracted anyways?"
"Just thinking about life. How one decision can affect someone's entire life. What it means to forgive and what it takes for it to happen. How our choices affect everyone else around us."
Ron looked up from his meal in shock. "That's some deep thinking, Harry. What made you start?"
"Start thinking?" Harry laughed. "I've always thought. You just never asked what I was thinking about."
"I guess that's true. But we're Gryffindors. We're doers not thinkers."
"Why can't we be both? Hermione is a thinker and she's in Gryffindor as well. I get that all our Houses have our separate qualities that we are known for but have you thought that maybe there's more to us than just those qualities? We all have qualities of the different Houses but the Sorting Hat put us in the Houses that we are most like. We don't intermingle much either. So how are we to know that a Slytherin isn't compassionate and brave? How do we know that a Ravenclaw isn't passionate or that they can't act before they think? And how about us Gryffindors? Hermione is booksmart, like the Ravenclaws, she can be sly and cunning like a Slytherin, and she cares deeply about her friends and family like a Hufflepuff. But it's her willpower, her determination to fight for what's right, her fearlessness and her bravery that makes her a Gryffindor." He looked at Hermione who was deep in thought and nodding in agreement. "We're no different than everyone else here except that the Sorting Hat saw a little more of one quality in us than another. Even those who are in Slytherin. They value their friends and are willing to fight for them. Some of the value knowledge as much as even Hermione does. Yes, some of them side with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named but they do it with the same single-minded determination in which our side follows Dumbledore and I. Just think about that."
He took a deep breath after the unintended speech and returned to his food. Somewhere in the middle of it, more than just his two best friends decided to listen in and caused everyone around him to take a good hard look at the other tables. Breakfast that morning gave more than just food for their bodies; it gave them food for thought. Harry decided to sneak a glance at Draco and he found him staring at him intently. He smiled quickly. His appetite came back with a vengeance and as he was eating he though Sunday just couldn't get there soon enough. There was so much he wanted to talk to Draco about.