First of all, sorry for the late update, but as I said previously, I've had a really annoying writer's block.
I assume you've all heard about Cory, and I wasn't sure whether or not to update while we're going through this... But I found that writing helps me think of something else, and I really hope that you will enjoy this chapter.

Draco woke up the next morning by the sounds of the guys from his dormitory getting ready for breakfast. Instead of getting up and revealing to the presences that he was not sleeping, he kept his eyes closed and listened to the noises and little sounds that emanated from the room.

„Why bother making your bed every day?" he heard Blaise Zabini's voice mumble. Someone scoffed before the crumbling noise of linen and duvet being fixed reached Draco's ear.

„None of your business," another voice said, and Draco recognised the tone as Theodore Nott. He listened as footsteps walked across the room and faded as they reached the stairs.

„Oi! You can't just leave!" Blaise said and the sound of quick footsteps following the previous ones filled up the dormitory. He could feel the floor bouncing as the boy ran past his bed. Suddenly everything went quiet. He knew he was not alone in the room yet, though, for he could still hear someone breathing softly, almost inaudible. Then someone dropped or threw something hollow and solid at the ground with a thump before the quiet reigned once again. Another person left the room then without a word, but the silent breathing did not disappear.

„For how long are you planning on pretending to be asleep?" Kurt's voice sounded. Draco let out a tired moan.

„Shh," he said through his teeth. „Sleeping."

„Right," Kurt murmured, a measure of amusement colouring his voice. „I'm going to leave for breakfast, but I don't suppose you'll be joining me?" Draco shook his head against his pillow and frowned as he felt his hair getting electric, sticking to his linen. „See you later, then," Kurt said. Draco let out a faint 'yeah' in response.

Only a few minutes after his friend had left, he sighed in submission, deciding on joining him anyway, and slowly removed the warm and comfortable duvet from his body, trying to adjust to the cold bit after bit. At last he sat up. His skin wrinkled around his temples as he massaged them and took a deep breath. He had never felt this weary before, yet he was not exactly tired. His eyes were stinging with exhaustion but he could not get himself to go back to sleep. Another minute with Lord Voldemort trying to get through his mind would be insufferable. His mind was far from clear, and for a good five minutes he just sat on his bed, staring into the empty room without actually seeing it.

Kurt entered the Great Hall and quickly found a spot by the Slytherin table where he could sit somewhat alone. In front of him and a bit away, though still reachable, were plates with fried, scrambled and boiled eggs placed, alongside different plates filled with bacon, kippers, sausages and toast. There were also bowls with corn flakes and porridge. Jugs with orange and apple juice were spread across the table, and Kurt reached out to grab a piece of toast.

„You should really eat more," a voice said before the person belonging to it sat down beside Kurt.

„I thought you were sleeping," Kurt said and smirked. He turned to face Draco and only just now realised how tired he seemed. He was looking as if he wasn't entirely awake yet, and he was slightly dark under his eyes. „You look like crap," Kurt mumbled, studying Draco's face further.

„Wow, thank you," he said and cursed under his breath, when he couldn't hold back a small chuckle. „I didn't sleep very well." He made a motion with his hand as to dismiss the subject. Kurt made a small nod in response.

Kurt and Draco were walking towards their double Charms class with the Ravenclaws Monday morning. They had just passed a small hallway leading to a cupboard, when Urquhart - the captain of the Slytherin Quidditch Team - ran up to Draco's side and slowed down to follow his and Kurt's pace.

„There's Quidditch practice tomorrow, Draco," Urquhart said, letting an exhausted breath from running escape his lips. „On the field at 6pm." Draco frowned and moved his gaze to stare at his fellow Quidditch player.

„I thought Gryffindor was using the field tomorrow?" He said. He could've sworn he had heard a student talk about it last week.

„Yeah, but Snape gave us permission to let us practice because we haven't really had the opportunity yet. Gryffindor has trained since day one practically."

„Why is it again we haven't done the same?" Draco sneered. „We won't win the Quidditch Cup if you keep ignoring the team, Urquhart." He felt the annoyance build up inside his stomach, and was grateful for the hand Kurt put on his arm. He knew that Kurt did it to hold him back even if nothing happened, but it was soothing and calming to know that someone was there to even care about what he did or did not do to others and himself.

„Watch your tone, Malfoy," Urquhart said, though the intimidation in his voice couldn't even be compared to Draco's. For a bit they just stood and watched each other, letting their eyes and inner animals do the talking and roaring. It was Kurt's mild voice that brought them both back to reality.

„Draco. We have to go to class," he said and slowly removed his grip on his friend's arm.

„6pm," Urquhart said and swiftly ran up to his group of friends, leaving them to themselves.

Kurt heard Draco mumble „Idiot," under his breath, but decided to ignore it. While they had been talking, the other students had passed them. They took a few steps, trying to catch up with the others, before a shooting pain erupted in Draco's head. He suppressed a scream, but was forced to bend over in hurt. He pressed his hands against the cold floor and his face was scrunched up in pain.

„Draco!" Kurt said, practically throwing himself to the ground, only to place his hands unhelpfully on Draco's arm and shoulder, trying to support him. „What's happening?" he asked, his voice shaky with concern. But Draco wasn't even seeing Kurt.

Darkness had filled his mind, blocking his sight. A very short glimpse of a boy appeared before his eyes. A boy with dark hair and green eyes and… Black hair, green eyes and a lightning scar on his forehead. Potter. Behind him a snake was slithering between some rocks.

The darkness returned. He didn't need much more than that image to know that Voldemort was using Legilimency, trying to get through the barriers his mind had set up. Why would he do it now? Snape had said that he would only attempt when Draco was asleep. He wouldn't gain anything from getting through his mind by day. The darkness dissolved a few seconds later, and the pain in his head with it. If Voldemort had managed to get through an image of Harry now, would he be able to do it again tonight?

He only now felt Kurt's hand on his shoulder and arm and gingerly got up.

„What just happened?" Kurt asked, and Draco turned his head to give him a vague smirk.

„Never mind that," Draco said. Kurt removed his hands from Draco and raised his left eyebrow.

„You can't say that after something like this suddenly happens," he said sharply.

„It's just..." Draco began, but sighed instead of continuing as he thought about it. What is it 'just'? „It's just a side-effect from Vita Reali," he lied and shrugged as if it was no big deal.

„Draco..."

„I'm serious, don't think about it," he added before Kurt could say more. He placed his hand on Kurt's arm and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring look.

„Are you sure?"

„I'm sure." He couldn't help but let a quiet chuckle out. „You worry too much. Come on." he removed his hand and started walking towards the other students, Kurt following him after a few seconds.

They were standing by the classroom-door, waiting for some Slytherins to go inside, when someone brushed their shoulder against Kurt's. Before he could even get the chance to react, a gentle voice whispered two words right besides his head.

„Hi, you." Despite the fact that it was merely a whisper and that he hadn't really heard the voice that much, Kurt instantly knew who it belonged it. He turned just in time to see Blaine Anderson with his adorable curly hair and bowtie pass him. A smirk played on his lips, and they linked gazes for a second before Blaine continued on, into the classroom. Adorable, he thought, and felt a blush immediately appear. The corners of Kurt's mouth went up without him even noticing it, and his eyes followed the boy until he had placed himself besides a girl with long, dark blonde hair.

A girl.

That was when the thought hit him. And the hitting wasn't expected at all, so the mix between confusion about thinking it and the surprisingly devastating thought in itself banged way too hard on the door leading into his mind. He tried to suppress it - maybe if he didn't think the actual words, it would disappear. And it really was a stupid thought anyway, wasn't it? Why would he care about that?

But after he had been caught looking at Blaine by Blaine through most of the class, the thought broke through the door and spread into every corner of his mind. What if he's straight?

That day Harry woke up and knew that today was the day. Today was the day for him to find a way as to confront Draco and make him talk. It was impossible for him to wait much longer.

He got out of bed and put on his robes, and went down to the common room to wait for Ron to join him. He looked at the noticeboard and spotted a paper that apparently had only recently been put up. It was the dates for the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year.

„Ready?" he heard Ron say, still a few steps up the stairs.

„Yup," Harry answered and walked up to him. „Are you going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

„Are you kidding? I'm running out of Hiccough Sweets and Sugar Quills – I need to go to Zonko's stat." Harry smiled vaguely at his friend and nodded in response, leading the way to the exit.

„What about you?" Ron asked. When Harry hesitated, he continued, „Mate, you can't not go, Hermione will drag me into Tomes and Scrolls and Scrivenshaft's, I need you."

„We'll see," Harry said and earned a deep sigh from Ron.

Together they walked towards the Great Hall for breakfast. A few moments later, Hermione joined them, followed by Ginny. There was a welcomed silence for a few minutes as they all grabbed some food and quietly ate it, keeping their thoughts to themselves.

The last class was a double Transfiguration class with the Slytherins. Hermione had followed Ginny to her class, telling the boys she'd catch up with them later, so of course Harry and Ron arrived late for the class. The only table available was one in the back row, and they hurriedly sat down, receiving a look from Professor McGonagall that made them wish they hadn't turned up at all. On Ron's right hand was Seamus and Dean seated, both of them currently trying to get the attention of Neville – who was placed in front of Ron and Harry besides Hermione. Harry looked to his left and immediately felt his throat constrict. Malfoy. He was four feet away from Draco, only the width of the narrow aisle separating them.

He wasn't sure whether Draco hadn't noticed- or if he was just ignoring Harry (which he had done ever since their "encounter" in the cupboard), but something told him he should believe in the latter. He only realised he might've looked at Draco for a bit too long, when he felt Ron's stare heavy on his neck. He straightened up and moved his gaze towards Professor McGonagall.

„Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, come to my desk," she said, and the expression in her eyes was very much that of annoyance. Harry and Ron exchanged nervous looks before getting up from their seats. Harry felt extremely self-conscious as he passed Draco's table and walked up to Professor McGonagall. He had expected her to be cross at them and giving them detention for being late, but instead she gave them both a box. As Harry took it in his arms, he felt it tilt from side to side, as if something was rolling around inside it.

„Give each student a puffskein, bring back the boxes, take one yourselves and go back to your seats," she commanded. Harry nodded his agreement and opened the lid on his box. A bunch of spherical, small, custard-coloured fur-balls were placed in it, all of them emitting low humming noises. Harry walked up to a table and let the students grab a puffskein.

His stomach knotted painfully when he was only a few feet away from Draco. He discretely eyed his table and only now noticed his friend. He recognised him as Finn Hudson's half brother; Kurt, which made him relax slightly. He had talked to Finn before, and knew that he was a great guy. A small voice inside of Harry whispered hopefully, maybe Kurt is, too. He went to give Neville a puffskein before turning to Draco's table. Kurt was the first one to grab one and he made a soft sound of amusement as the animal hummed in pleasure and stuck out its tongue to lick his wrist. Harry let his look fall upon Draco, tension blooming in his stomach as he subconsciously hoped for their eyes to meet. Draco reached into the box and just as he wrapped his hand around one of the puffskeins, he looked up and locked gazes with Harry. For a second his mouth quirked and it looked like he was about to say something, but then he lowered his gaze, leaving Harry with a profound sense of immobility. Draco then took back his fist, now a fluffy ball inside it and scooted an inch closer to Kurt on his chair. Harry let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding before attempting the seemingly impossible task of walking back to Professor McGonagall's desk.

He put the box on her desk, grabbed a puffskein himself and went back to his table, joining Ron.

„Now," Professor McGonagall said, gaining everyone's full attention just by the one word. „I've put a spell on them so they can't use their tongue in order to search for food, so don't worry about that- Oh, Mr. Longbottom, pull yourself together, they only eat the bogies of sleeping wizards," she gave Neville who was holding a hand over his nose an exhausted stare and continued, „Now, use the vanishing spell on them. I expect you to be able to perform them perfectly by now." There was scrambling around the classroom as they got out their wands. „And then I want you to use Coniuro Retrorsum on them to conjure them back."

„Bloody hell," Harry heard Ron mumble, „I never really learned the vanishing spell last year." Harry loosed a quick smile at Ron, before pointing his wand at the puffskein in front of him.

„Evanesco," he mumbled, making the fluffy puffskein disappear. Besides him, Ron succeeded in doing the same after his third attempt. He allowed himself to steal a glance at Draco's table, where they had accomplished the same as Harry and Ron.

„Coniuro Retrorsum!" Ron said – or rather yelled – pointing his wand where the puffskein had been only moments ago. Nothing happened. Harry heard Kurt murmuringthe spell, and turned his head just in time to hear a pop and see his puffskein appear in mid air, softly landing in his palm, humming with enjoyment. He returned his focus to his own table just before Draco let out an amazed „wow".

„Coniuro Retrorsum," Harry said, flicking his wand like he had seen Kurt do and widened his eyes in surprise as his puffskein appeared with a small pop on his table.

„How did you do that?" Ron queried, poking Harry's animal with his wand, as if to make sure it was real. Harry shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, although he couldn't help but feel an amount of pride sweep though him.

Suddenly his heart quickened and he felt like his blood was singing as he unexpectedly came up with an idea as to how to talk to Draco again. It might not work, it might not be the best one, but it was at least an idea. Detention. He wasn't exactly sure of how he was going to somehow involve them both in this, but he had a feeling he had to think fast if he were to act on it today.

Draco felt Harry's look upon him from time to time through the entire Transfiguration class, but had done his best to ignore it. He had been seconds away from coming with a snide remark when he had met Harry's eyes before, when he had grabbed a puffskein, but had managed to hold it back, unsure of what Harry might say if he was provoked.

Draco was used to speaking his mind, and found himself having to put a lot of effort into not coming with cunning comments whenever a Gryffindor would fail doing the spell properly.

He constantly heard Ron Weasley yell out the spell, and either nothing would happen or the puffskein would appear for half a second before vanishing again. Kurt had managed to do it on his first try and was now doing his best to teach Draco how to do it, as he had some trouble focusing on the fluffy, little, mustard-coloured ball.

„Draco," Kurt's voice said somewhere beside him. He had turned to watch Ron try for the sixth time. „Draco," the voice said a bit firmer. The red-haired boy still hadn't managed to conjure it back, and Draco returned his attention to Kurt.

„What?" he asked.

„Come on, focus and try again." Kurt gave Draco a slightly suspicious look, but then gestured for him to give the spell a go.

„Coniuro Retrorsum," Draco mumbled, flicking his wand. It seemed like the puffskein was about to appear – the air where it had recently been became blurry and foggy. But a shrill scream cut through the classroom and Draco lost all concentration. He turned to the source of the scream, and saw Ron's puffskein had appeared. But it wasn't fluffy and joyful like all the others. Its fur had turned almost spikey, as if it had been electrocuted, and its tongue was sticking out of its mouth. The squeal it was emanating made a throbbing pain build up behind Draco's eyes, and his gut was clenching as if he had been struck. For a few seconds he forgot to breathe. The puffskein was obviously suffering from Ron's failed spell.

Some students were shouting for Professor McGonagall or Ron to do something, some were covering their ears and clenching their eyes while others were scrunching up their faces in pain.

Draco was the only one who felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. Watching the animal suffer reminded him too much about his own powers to do the exact same thing to other people. He turned around so he couldn't see the puffskein any longer, and found himself blinking away tears.

„Do something," he whispered, although he knew not even Kurt could hear it from all the noise.

In the vibration of the floor, he felt footsteps approach Harry and Ron's table and a voice shouted something he didn't quite catch, and all noise except for the agonising cry of the puffskein instantly ceased.

„Make it stop," he said and instantly felt a couple of looks burning into the back of his neck. He could've sworn Professor McGonagall uttered a spell, and the screaming stopped for half a second before it continued. „Make it stop," said Draco, a bit louder now, and carefully turned around again. He was staring at the puffskein, but it was clear to him Harry was resting his gaze upon him.

„Quiet, Mr Malfoy," Professor McGonagall said. „Mr Weasley, what did you do?" But Ron had his fingers in both his ears, so he didn't notice McGonagall addressing him. The squealing continued, but it seemed to Draco as if no one noticed it anymore. He felt as if his pulse had tripled, his heart pounding as hard as if he was running up the side of a mountain. She flicked her wand at it, but still nothing happened. Draco's vision slowly began to darken, and he had a feeling he was about to be sick.

„Make it stop!" His voice was strained and on the verge of tears. He got up while covering his ears with his palms. He felt Kurt place a hand on his left shoulder, but couldn't focus on it long enough to hold back another outburst. „Do something!"

Professor McGonagall picked up the mustard-coloured ball, a shocked flare burning in her eyes as she gave Draco a quick glance, and walked out of the classroom murmuring something about Grubbly-Plank.

As Professor McGonagall continued down the hallway, the squealing slowly faded, and a blur removed itself from Draco's mind and vision. He realised half the class was looking away in fear and the other half was staring curiously at him. He sat down and felt Kurt lose his grip on him.

He sat for a long moment just staring into the air without seeing anything clearly, letting all his senses focus on the warmth from Kurt's hand on his shoulder. The other students started talking to each other instead of staring at Draco, and as they did, Kurt let his hand slip away and mumbled, „Are you okay?" Draco turned to face his friend.

„I don't know—I, er," he began, but Kurt made a hand gesture to show him to stop talking.

„We'll talk later," he said and smiled gently at Draco, who didn't remember ever feeling more grateful for anything. Draco noticed McGonagall had entered the classroom again, and the moment she cleared her throat to speak, he heard Harry's voice beside him.

„What was that about, Malfoy?" His voice was slick with badly hidden ridicule and Draco sighed before looking to his right. Bright green eyes met blue and for a second or so they just sat and stared. Draco knew that somewhere in the room McGonagall was talking, but everything he could hear was his own breathing. Harry was the first to break the apparent silence. „You would think you've had past experience with something like this." Draco felt the irritation and anger bubble up inside him, just waiting for the moment to get out. But he knew he couldn't act on it. Not in class.

Harry really disliked being this unpleasant, but he had to provoke Draco.

„Shut up, Potter," Draco sneered.

„I swear I remember you saying you do have experience with this…" Harry said, and regretting it immediately as he saw Draco's eyes flare with build-up fury.

„I said, shut up." He had raised his voice, and McGonagall shushed them and gave them an extra glance before continuing her monologue.

„Or maybe I dreamed it," Harry said and raised his voice also, earning a „Quiet down there!" by McGonagall.

„You don't know what you're talking about!" Draco practically shouted, grabbing the edge of his chair so hard his knuckles were turning white.

„You two!" McGonagall said, but both Draco and Harry had shut out the outside. Draco didn't even notice Kurt telling him to shut it, and Harry didn't notice Ron poking him repeatedly in the side to get his attention.

„You have no right—" Draco started, but McGonagall was now wandering down to where they were sitting, everyone's eyes following her.

„Mr Malfoy and Mr Potter," she said. Harry reluctantly looked up at her, and felt himself cringe under her stare. Draco was still looking at Harry, feeling his whole body burning with frustration.

„No right to—" Draco mumbled under his breath, but McGonagall cut him off.

„Detention to both of you, and now keep quiet." Harry's heart started racing uncontrollably after the words had escaped her lips, and even though he was pretty sure Draco would curse or punch him as soon as they left the classroom, he couldn't help but feel some pride in achieving what he had wanted. He would soon get a chance to talk to Draco. Alone.

Reviews are much appreciated, and thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. If anyone have any suggestions - feel free to tell me (I could really need the inspiration!) Thank you!