The following morning, Draco actually made it to breakfast, never having gone to bed the night before. He arrived early enough that only a handful of students were there, sipping coffee and sleepily buttering toast. Only a pair of third years sat at the Slytherin table, and Draco made sure to given them plenty of room, sitting at the very end of the table nearest the doors. He poured a cup of coffee and held it with both hands, savoring the warmth.

"What a wonderful surprise, Draco!"

He groaned inwardly. Of course the Lovegood girl would be an early riser, even on the weekend. Without invitation, she dropped into the seat beside him and reached for some cereal and the pitcher of orange juice.

"Uh...this is the Slytherin table."

"Oh yes, it is," she said conversationally. "Were you unsure? It's been an awfully long time since I've seen you here. I suspect forgetting which table is which is to be expected."

"No, it's not that, it's just..."

"You're wondering why I'm not at the Ravenclaw table?"

"Well...yeah."

"Harry asked me to keep an eye on you." Draco choked on his coffee, scalding his throat. "Found his way into my dormitory before the sun rose just to ask. Gave my dorm mates a right scare. But they didn't seem to mind once they realized it was Harry. I suppose being famous can have that effect."

Wiping the coffee from his lip, Draco struggled to find his voice. "What do you mean, Potter asked you to keep an eye on me?"

She took a long drink from her glass. "Oh, he apparently found out that you've been being attacked in the corridors between lessons." He shot her a wide-eyed look as she took a bite of cereal. "I would have told him that you could take care of yourself, but it really seemed that you can't if these attack are still happening. So, here I am. Granted, I probably would have sat with you this morning regardless, seeing as how rare it is that you come to meals, but Harry's concern had me planning on seeking you out after my cereal instead of hunting for dandelions."

"Dandelions?" Draco asked, sidetracked. "Lovegood, it's almost November."

"Well, they are weeds, and weeds have a natural survivability even in the colder months. And if you're comfortable, you're more than welcome to call me 'Luna'."

"Uhm...sure thing...Luna."

Draco watched her eat her way through her cereal as he sipped his coffee, not really seeing her. He couldn't believe Potter, sicking a skinny little Ravenclaw to act as his bodyguard. Technically, Draco could believe it, but the audacity of it was utterly mortifying. He downed the rest of his cup and set it on the table hard.

Luna smiled. "It won't do to be angry with Harry, Draco. He's just that way. Besides, if you truly want, I can leave you be and report the attacks myself. I hadn't already only because I made the unfortunate assumption that you were handling it."

"You are not going to report me."

Her smile grew. "Then it seems that we'll be spending the day together! Come, I believe I saw a patch of healthy grass beyond the lake. Have you your cloak? There's a chill in the air."

Draco looked up at Luna as she stood, her hand out and waiting for him. He had grown accustomed to her presence in the past several weeks, but never had they spent time together on the weekends, nor for any extended period of time. It was a daunting thought, to be in the company of another for hours at a time. Draco hadn't inflicted himself on anyone in so long, he wasn't sure he was up to it.

"Luna, I don't think-"

"I'm sure you don't sometimes," she said mildly. "But I hope you're not worried about being entertaining on my account. We needn't even talk if you'd prefer. I'd just like some company, Harry's request or not."

Draco tried to glare at her, hating Harry Potter. But he hadn't anything planned for the day anyway, and Draco found himself ten minutes later crouched over helping Luna Lovegood search for dandelions in the frosty grass.

"What do you even need dandelions for?" he asked as he searched half-heartedly. There was no way anything survived the recent draft that blew in.

"I'm in need of a new rosary."

Draco looked up, surprised. "You're religious?"

"Oh, no," she said, laughing lightly. "But my mother was, and having a rosary makes me feel as though she's closer."

"Oh."

"It's okay to ask questions." Luna looked up from her search and smiled at him. "Friends are allowed to ask questions."

Friends? Draco felt the coffee bubble in his stomach as fresh nausea washed over him. "We can't be friends," he said thickly, trying not to vomit.

"Now why not?"

"What? I..." He closed his eyes. "I kept you as a prisoner in my cellar, Luna. We can't be friends."

"Oh, Draco."

A small hand fell on his arm, and Draco opened his eyes to find Luna standing right beside him, a bright smile filling her face. His queasiness increased.

"There is a fine beauty in forgiveness, and I forgave you the moment I saw your face the first time you came down there."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I suppose it doesn't. But forgiveness doesn't have to make sense. Sometimes it just...is." Her wide eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you feeling alright? You look as though you swallowed something foul."

"No, I don't feel alright," he said. "I can't...I can't stay here."

He pulled away from her and began to limp toward the castle, hating himself more than ever.

"Draco Malfoy, you stop right there."

She didn't raise her voice or even necessarily sound stern, but something in Luna's voice commanded him. Draco stopped walking and looked over his shoulder. She closed the gap and stood right in front of him, easily a whole head shorter than he but making him feel incredibly small. Draco's gaze fell.

"You might not see it, but you are worthy of forgiveness."

Draco gasped slightly as he suppressed an unexpected sob. "No. It's...it's not right. It's impossible."

Luna cleared her throat, and Draco raised his eyes to meet hers. She wasn't smiling anymore, but Draco somehow felt that smiling just part of who she was, how she carried herself. He could feel her kindness.

"Nothing is impossible, you know," she said, and she nodded toward the ground at their feet. Draco looked down and gave a choking laugh.

It was a damned dandelion.

"I still can't see how you survive every lesson with Malfoy," Ron was saying as he, Harry, and Hermione descended into the dungeons.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Ron, can't you tell that he's changed this year?"

"Not as loud, I'll give you, but I bet he's still the same spoiled, conniving piece of work he's always been."

"Even if he is, it's a new time. We're supposed to be moving past all that."

"What d'you mean, 'even if'?" Ron asked. "There's no way he's changed after all that Death Eater business."

"Harry?" Hermione stopped in front of the classroom door, blocking him and Ron from entering. "You talk to him, yes?"

"Yeah..."

She made an impatient sound. "Could you please tell Ronald over here that sometimes, people can change, even if he can't?"

"I too can change!" Ron started heatedly.

"He's really alright," Harry said, interrupting. Ron stop mid-tirade to stare at him.

"Malfoy?" he asked, doubtful. "Draco Malfoy, Death-Eater-at-sixteen Malfoy? Tried-to-kill-Dumbledore-himself Malfoy? 'Alright'?"

Harry shrugged. "He's been through a lot. Things change. To be honest, I don't think he ever really wanted to go as Dark as he did. I reckon that was more his dad."

Ron's mouth opened and closed a few times, eyes wide with disbelief, but Hermione looked thoughtful.

"That would explain a lot."

Ron rounded on her. "How can you honestly be listening to this?"

"Come on, Ron, you don't remember his face when we were caught by those Snatchers last year?"

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Look," Harry said, cutting across Hermione as she opened her mouth to retort. "Let's not get into it here, okay? The lesson is about to start."

He reached past Hermione and opened the door, leading the way into the classroom. He broke away from Ron and Hermione, who had already struck up a whispered argument, and made his way over to his desk. Malfoy was already sitting there, reading a book. Seeing the Potions textbook lying on the desk closed, Harry leaned closer upon sitting, curious. It looked like a novel.

"I didn't know you liked to read."

For the first time that term, Malfoy didn't start at Harry's voice. Instead, he raised his head and faced Harry without prompting. Harry could have grinned at the progress but settled for studying the deep bags under Malfoy's pale eyes.

"I used to read a lot," Malfoy said after a second. "Now that I...uh...have more time, I thought I'd pick it back up."

"Cool. What're you reading now?"

"Why'd you tell Luna to follow me?"

Harry groaned. Of course Luna wouldn't have been discreet. "I didn't tell her to follow you. I asked her to check on you."

"Think I need checking up on?" In a strange way, Harry was glad to hear some of the old sneer in Malfoy's voice.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but Slughorn chose that moment to begin the lesson.

"Morning, morning," he said. "We've been doing a lot of notes lately, hmm? I think it's time we did something a bit more practical, what do you all think?"

There was a general murmur of agreement. Slughorn grinned and disappeared into his office. He returned a moment later pushing three large cauldrons on a cart. Strange and strong smells filled the room, simultaneously singeing and caressing Harry's nose. He fought a sneeze.

"These are three very different poisons," Slughorn said. "Your assignment today is to identify the poison and the ingredient or ingredients that make it poisonous, as well as craft an antidote for each."

Harry's mouth fell open. No way that was possible in just two hours.

"And begin!"

At Slughorn's words, the class was in motion. Hermione was the first to the cauldrons, followed by the table of Ravenclaws, then the Hufflepuffs. Ron remained in his seat and shared a panicked look with Harry from across the room. There was no way two hours was enough time to not only figure out what the poisons were, but to concoct three separate antidotes correctly.

Malfoy, however, seemed relaxed.

"This is impossible," Harry said.

Malfoy shook his head. "Not if you know what you're doing."

"Okay, this is definitely impossible."

A strangled chuckle came from Malfoy's throat, causing both he and Harry to look at each other in mild alarm. Harry grinned, realizing the Malfoy actually tried to laugh at him, but Malfoy just frowned and made his way up to the cauldrons to collect a sample of each poison. When he returned, Harry had his textbook propped open to the chapter that outlined poisons.

"You ought to turn to the ingredients detail," Malfoy said, setting the vials up on the small burner kit Slughorn had passed out.

"Why not the poisons chapter?"

"Because we already know they're poisons, we don't need to identify if they're poisonous or not. What we need is to find out what ingredients catalyze together."

"Er...come again?"

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "All these years, I thought I was just being a prat calling you bad at Potions. Turns out, you actually have no idea what you're doing?"

"Er..."

"Nevermind. Here."

Malfoy leaned over, reaching for Harry's open textbook across the desk. His arm grazed Harry's, and their sides pressed together briefly as Malfoy pulled the book closer. Several layers of clothing separated them from truly touching, but Harry felt the contact as though seared. An odd whooping sensation befell his stomach, and he could only blink, frozen, as Malfoy searched the textbook with his side still against Harry's.

"Here we are," Malfoy said, dropping the book back onto the desk. He bent over, searching the text for something. "Catalysts are right here."

He pointed to a section on the page and straightened up to look at Harry.

"If you-" Malfoy cut off as his eyes met Harry's, barely a foot between them with their hips touching. Harry swallowed and saw Malfoy do the same before speaking again, his voice a half-octave lower. "If you can read through these, I'll test the poisons. When I find something that...that catalyzes, you can tell me what the poison's ingredient is."

"Right."

Neither one of them moved right away, but it was Malfoy who broke their contact first, stepping away to head toward the storage room. Harry watched him leave. For some reason, he was breathing heavier than usual.

"Oi, you alright?"

Harry started, but it was just Ron returning from the storeroom himself with an armload of ingredients.

"Yeah, just..." Harry trailed off, eyes drifting back over to where Malfoy had disappeared into the storeroom.

Ron scowled. "Malfoy giving you trouble?"

"What? No, nothing like that. Just wondering how the hell we're supposed to get all this done in one lesson."

"No bloody idea," Ron said, face relaxing. "I'm just glad I have Hermione to do all the...ah...I mean, to help me out."

Harry shove Ron good naturedly and moved to sit down as he walked away. He ought to read some of the catalysts, whatever those were.

When Malfoy returned, it only took them nearing three-quarters of an hour to find out what each poison was, much to Harry's shock. Malfoy had dropped in seemingly random ingredients to each vial and waited for it to react or not, then Harry used the textbook to find out what each test ingredient was paired with as a catalyst. After finding the key ingredient for each vial, it took Malfoy mere minutes to find and write out the poisons names, clearly and carefully labeling the vials.

"Right, so now we just have to make the antidotes."

Harry looked down at the vials. Prohibis Spiritum, Baneberry, and Blood-duct. "Alright, easy enough, right?"

Malfoy nodded. "Easy enough. You work on Baneberry, it's the simplest."

"Trying to say something, Malfoy?" Harry asked with a smirk.

Malfoy eyed him. His lips twitched. "Just that your record doesn't leave me wanting you to brew up an antidote for me anytime soon."

Harry chuckled and turned to his start his antidote. He found the recipe and saw that Malfoy was right - it was almost comically simple. Just a powderized bezoar boiled in oak sap and moss oil. He turned to see the recipes for Prohibis Spiritum and Blood-duct. They were equally as simple, if requiring a few more ingredients and steps. With a glance at the clock, Harry had to admit that it made sense. Just over an hour remained. Slughorn wouldn't have actually assigned something impossible.

They worked in silence for some time before Harry spoke.

"I don't think you need looking after," he said. He saw Malfoy stiffen slightly but otherwise continue as though Harry hadn't spoken. "In truth, it's because I know you don't need looking after that I asked Luna to check on you."

A hiss came from Malfoy's lips, and Harry turned to find Malfoy squeezing his left hand. A few blood drops sat on the table next to his discarded knife.

Without thinking on it, Harry grabbed Malfoy's hands. They were shaking. Harry pulled the hands closer and gently pried Malfoy's right hand away. Blood lined the palm.

The cut was along all four of Malfoy's fingers, slicing downward but hardly deep. Harry sighed with relief. He could fix this. He pulled out his wand and aimed it at the wounds.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy asked through his teeth, though he didn't pull his hand away.

"Episkey." The four cuts instantly sealed, cutting off the lazy flow of blood that had begun to fill Malfoy's hand. Harry began siphoning the blood away then, lifting his eyes to meet Malfoy's. "While I was away last year, this came in handy."

Malfoy stood still, hand cradled in Harry's, as the blood was removed. The shaking didn't stop as Harry dropped Malfoy's left hand and moved onto the right one to continue Vanishing the blood. When he had cleared it all away, Harry didn't let go and kept his eyes trained on their hands.

"Things change, Malfoy," he said quietly, remembering Hermione's words from earlier. "And I'm sick of seeing so much pain. You didn't ask for everything that happened to you, and you shouldn't have to pay for it."

Harry sighed and looked up, and he was surprised to find Malfoy's pale eyes looking directly at him, wide and confused. He swallowed and made to pull his hand back, but Harry held firm.

"I'm serious."

Malfoy closed his eyes as he turned away, and Harry let him go. "I know you are," he whispered.

Time seemed to crawl by as the class brewed their antidotes. With ten minutes remaining, Slughorn swept the room, inspecting their work and giving out marks. When the bell rang, Malfoy cleared his throat, calling Harry's attention.

"I...I appreciate the sentiment," Malfoy said. "Even if it is unjustified and foolhardy."

"You could just say 'thank you' and not let it keep happening."

Malfoy smiled sadly. "Maybe."

It wasn't a 'yes,' but Harry felt triumph thunder in his chest. It was a good start.