Harry woke up early the next morning. He'd only had a few hours sleep, what with the nightmares, but he couldn't doze off again, so he decided to head out to the quidditch pitch for a quick fly before the day began. The three other boys were still sound asleep as he left, so he scribbled a little note for Ron, leaving it on his bedside table, in case his friend woke up and couldn't find him.
The sun was just rising and there was a chill in the air as Harry reached the pitch. He felt the familiar excitement as he pulled out his broom and took off. He felt as if he flew forever, the wind whipping at his hair and stinging his cheeks, eyes watering. Up in the clouds, he forgot about the war, about his friends, about his sadness and worry. It was magical.
Too soon it was time to land, he only had 40 mins before breakfast began and he desperately needed a shower, what with the mud and sweat etched into his skin after hours of flying. He made his way back to the eighth year dormitories, getting very lost a number of time along the way and so consequently, when he finally reached his destination, there was only 15 before breakfast started, and he was going to be late. Bursting into the common room, he bumped into Ron and Hermione, who were anxiously standing at the door.
'Harry!', Hermione half yelled as he walked into her.
'What?', Harry asked slightly sheepishly.
'We were worried, you can't just take off whenever you feel like it, what if-'
'Hermione', he interrupted her sharply, 'I'm 18 years old, I can go for an early fly if I want to, you don't need to worry about me all the time'. He'd said it a little too harshly than he meant, and Hermione eyes filled with tears.
'I'm sorry Harry, it's just, you know, I couldn't face it if- if we...', she trailed off, looking very close to the edge.
Ron put an arm around her comfortingly. 'We just don't want to lose you again mate, once was enough. You've not been yourself lately. You can't be mad at us for caring'.
Harry sighed, ashamed of himself. He knew his friends only wanted what was best for him.
'No, I'm sorry. Couldn't sleep'.
Ron nodded sympathetically, understanding.
'Well, hurry up, we're going to be late for breakfasts'.
'Nah you go on', Harry said, 'collect my timetable if I'm late?'.
'No, we'll wait, won't we Ron'.
Ron nodded again, but his grumbling stomach gave him away. He winced at Harry. 'Alright then, we'll see you down there?'
'Yeah', Harry said with a half grin.
With that his friends exited from the door he'd just come from, and he rushed off down to his room so he could get showered and ready as fast as possible.
Malfoy was still in the room, and he spun slowly as Harry burst in. The carefree, happy mood he was in after his morning flight plummeted dramatically. Malfoy was the last person he wanted to spend his morning with. He'd clearly just left the shower, his hair still wet, a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Water droplets trailed lazily down his chest. Harry involuntarily gaped at the sight of him, couldn't help but trace the trail of a droplet that slid easily down his stomach. He seemed to be sculpted out of marble, the definition of his torso and arms was incredible, but his skin looked much softer than stone, smooth and silky and Harry found himself wondering what it would feel like under his hands. Since when did he wonder about feeling up other guys? He definitely couldn't be attracted to Malfoy could he? He shook his head roughly to get the infuriating blonde out of his head. Malfoy was watching this whole performance with an evil smirk, clearly enjoying seeing Harry floundering.
'Gasping like a fish out of water isn't a good look on you Potter, close your mouth'.
Harry blushed a deep Crimson. 'I'm not, I wasn't-' he stuttered.
'Don't tell me you weren't looking Potter'.
'Piss off', Harry muttered darkly, storming over to his chest of drawers to grab out a towel for his shower. He just wanted to get out of this room and away from Malfoy, it was making his head spin and he didn't like it.
'Potter you're going to be late for breakfast', Draco noted blandly as Harry struggled to pull out everything he needed as quickly as he could.
'Well I can't go down to breakfast like this can i, in case you hadn't noticed I'm covered in mud. I'll just have to shower fast and then-'
'Scourgify' Malfoy said, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry felt an oddly warm tingle over his whole body, making him shiver, and when he looked down, the mud was gone and his skin felt a lot cleaner than it had done a moment before. Even his hair felt silky.
'Hey!', he shouted in surprise, glaring at Malfoy
'There you go Potter, you do remember you're a wizard don't you? There are spells like this for a reason. It's useful in more ways than one.' He winked slyly at the confused boy, making Harry blush deeply again.
'What's that supposed to mean', he snapped.
'Wouldn't you like to know', Malfoy said.
Harry groaned. Malfoy was infuriating, he hated him so much. They fell into a silence whilst Malfoy spelled on his clothes and collected his books, Harry standing awkwardly, not yet having changed, but not being able to move to do it, his thoughts were too addled.
'Right, well I'm off, see you Potter'. He made his way to the door briskly, not glancing back at Harry.
'Wait', Harry called suddenly, not quite sure what he was doing. Malfoy spun abruptly, raising an eyebrow at him in question.
'I um, could you, er could you please-'
'Spit it out Potter'. Harry blushed again.
'Well, I don't know the way to be great hall. I keep getting lost...'
He didn't want to spend any more time with Malfoy, but the fact of the matter is he had absolutely no clue where he was going. He definitely didn't like asking Malfoy for help
'Fine, I'll walk you', said Malfoy, sighing dramatically and rolling his eyes, 'but for Merlins sake, hurry up, we're going to be late'.
Harry looked at him sheepishly, then set about getting ready.
Draco felt extremely smug as he lead the way down to the great hall. He was definitely succeeding in his plans to mess with Potter's head, chuckling silently to himself as he glanced behind at the boy who was frowning hard at the floor. Even if Harry still hated him, at least they were on speaking terms, at least Draco got something from Harry. Actually, speaking terms might have been stretching it, because neither of them had uttered a word since leaving the dorm. Draco decided to step up to the plate.
'So Potter, you get nightmares?'
Harry looked at him, startled at both the question, and the fact that Draco was asking him about himself in the first place.
'Um, I guess', he mumbled.
'Mmm', Draco hummed, 'I do, occasionally'
'Really?', Harry said, looking shocked.
'I lived through the war to you know', Draco snapped, a bit angrily.
'Sorry, just, I didn't think anything fazed you...or that you actually had feelings', he mumbled as an afterthought, not really expecting to hear it.
Draco did, however, hear it and was quite sting. But to Harry's defence, he hadn't really shown him anything but hatred and indifference, so why should he know any better?
'There's a lot you don't know about me', he said. Oh if only you knew, he thought to himself.
'Sorry if I woke you last night', Harry said, gazing at his feet in shame.
'No matter', Draco said, 'you normally take dreamless sleep?'
'Something like that', Harry mumbled. What was that supposed to mean?
'A different potion then?', Malfoy asked, not willing to give it up.
'Jeez Malfoy, it's none of your business, leave it alone!'
Malfoy narrowed his eyes at Harry's outburst, why was he so edgy now days.
'I was only curious', he spat through gritted teeth.
'Well don't be, it's not like we're friends or anything', Harry nearly shouted back at him. I'm well aware, Draco thought sorrowfully. Harry was getting very angry from nowhere, too defensive for Draco's liking, something was clearly wrong.
'Tell me Potter', he demanded.
'Piss off Malfoy', Harry said.
They'd come to a halt at the top of the stairs leading down to the entrance for the great hall. Harry spun on his heel, making to storm off away from Malfoy, but being the absolute disaster that he was, he'd forgotten where they were standing. Harry slipped, and almost fell head first down the steep flight of steps. Draco moved quickly, grabbing Harry's wrist and tugging him back before he could fall. This brought Harry crashing back into his chest, Draco almost hugging him, they were chest to chest. Harry looked a bit shaky, and still angry.
'Merlin Potter, don't you ever pay attention to where you're going? Just relax, I got you'. His tone was mocking, more than he'd planned it to sound.
He felt Harry stiffen at their touch and his voice, pulling away quickly as if Draco had burned him.
'Just leave me alone Malfoy', he spat viciously, before turning again, this time managing to get down the steps without nearly killing himself.
Malfoy already missed the warmth of Harry's body against his, even for those few very short seconds. Merlin, he was in deep, and it didn't look like there was anyway he was going to get out.