Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Feathers and Fireballs

Chapter Thirty-Five

Maybe talking to Malfoy wasn't such a terrible idea, but that didn't mean that Harry was inclined to just walk up to him and ask to speak with him. Not in front of other people, where Malfoy could, theoretically, humiliate him.

And Harry wasn't even sure that it wasn't such a terrible idea, but… he was many things, but a coward had never been one. So it was that, after his weekly session with Narcissa, he asked her to deliver a message to her son.

"To Draco?" Narcissa's eyebrows went up. "Of course I will, but I find myself curious as to what you'd like to speak to him about."

Harry shrugged. "He asked to talk to me a few days ago," he said. He looked down at his hands. "He seemed upset about something, and I… wasn't inclined to talk to anyone outside of Regulus, Severus, and yourself. But… I guess it couldn't hurt to talk to him, right?"

Narcissa studied him for a moment, then nodded. "I think it would be good for you, to have friends your age again."

Harry flinched. He'd had perfectly good friends his own age, before he'd killed them in Diagon Alley. "Yeah," he muttered, because he knew that wasn't what Narcissa meant.

"Harry," Narcissa started, and then fell silent. There was a long pause, and then she said, "I'll let him know that you'd like to speak with him. Did you have any particular time in mind?"

Harry shrugged. "It isn't like I'm busy," he said. He hesitated, then added, "And I don't know what he's doing here, so he might be more busy than I am. Just… whenever he's free, I guess."

Narcissa laughed quietly. "You might see him later today, then," she said. Her voice took on a lightly teasing lilt. "You know, he was rather obsessed with you after you turned down his friendship when you were in your first year. Once you extend your metaphorical hand, you might find it hard to shake him."

Harry just looked at her, one eyebrow raising as he did his best to imitate one of Severus' most unamused expressions. "You really think I'd have a hard time getting my mates to see to it that he leaves me alone if I need to?"

Narcissa raised a hand to her lips and let out a sound that could only be described as a giggle. "Harry, darling, you're not nearly as intimidating as Severus." She ruffled his hair, then stood. "I'll be off, then. I'll make sure to deliver your message to Draco, okay?"

"Thanks, Narcissa," Harry said. He escorted her to the door, then closed and locked it behind her.

Neither Regulus nor Severus were in the manor that day, and Harry was always more careful when they were gone. Not because anybody tested the wards, not for a very long time, but because he worried anyway.

He found one of the novels that he was in the middle of and settled on the couch with Salazar, and started to read. He'd mostly finished the story when there was a tapping on the door, an almost timid sound.

Harry looked up, eyes narrowed, and grabbed his wand from his holster. It probably wasn't anybody coming to hurt him, but… he crept to the door and asked, "Who's there?"

"Draco Malfoy," came the clear response. "Mother said that you were willing to speak with me when I had time, and I thought that I should come before you changed your mind, or before I… lost my nerve." The last was slightly less clear, like he'd muttered it.

Harry exhaled sharply, then unlocked the door and opened it. "Come in," he said, slightly less than gracious.

Malfoy hesitated before crossing the threshold. "If now isn't a good time," he started.

Harry drew in a deep breath and forced himself to let it out slowly. "No, it's fine," he said. He backed up a step. It wasn't like he couldn't take Malfoy if it came to that, after all. And he had Salazar, who was alert and hissing threateningly in Malfoy's general direction. "~Stop that,~" he said absently as he closed the door behind Malfoy.

"~You're very tense,~" Salazar protested. "~I could bite him for you, if you'd like.~"

"~I would not like,~" Harry said sharply. He settled on the couch once more and drew his legs up, settling his feet near Salazar's coiled body. Salazar immediately slithered forward to pool in Harry's lap, as much of him as would fit. His weight was comforting, and the bulk of his body was between Harry and Malfoy.

"You have a basilisk," Malfoy said, his silver eyes wide with surprise. He didn't sit, but instead remained standing in the center of the room. "I hadn't realized that was what it was."

"He," Harry corrected. "Salazar is a he, and yes, he's a variety of basilisk. He's getting big, but I think he's close to as large as he's going to get." Harry ran his fingers over Salazar's crest. "What did you want to talk about, Malfoy?"

Malfoy clasped his hands behind his back and visibly steeled himself. "I wanted to… to…" Malfoy let out an irritated huff of air. "I wanted to thank you."

"To… thank me?" Harry's eyes widened. "For what?" What could he have done that merited Malfoy's thanks?

"You…" Malfoy let out another huff of air. "You don't know all of this, but things… changed, after you disappeared. There were things that my lord had planned for our sixth year, but you weren't at Hogwarts and nobody knew what had happened to you, and so everything was… put on hold. It was strange, and nobody really knew… anything. And then our seventh year started, and you were still gone, and the Dark Lord gave me tasks that I had no chance of completing."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What tasks were those?" This was the most he'd learned about the war since he'd come to Black Manor, and if Malfoy was willing to tell him about it…

"There were two of them," Malfoy said. "Getting a large group of Death Eaters into Hogwarts, and killing… killing Dumbledore. The first was impossible. I'd managed to get one Death Eater in and out before, but… one isn't a large force. And the second?" Malfoy laughed, the sound bitter. "The Dark Lord himself hadn't managed to kill Dumbledore, so how could I succeed?"

Harry swallowed. "And of course Voldemort wouldn't have been merciful if you failed," he said. Because Voldemort was many things, but Harry knew that merciful wasn't one of them, no matter how kind he was to Harry. "I'm… sorry." He didn't know what else to say.

But Malfoy just shrugged. "It doesn't matter," he said. "I don't know what you said or did, but towards the end of the school year, I received word that I was to stop my attempts and wait for further instructions. And then I was brought here after the end of the school year, where I was told…" Malfoy stopped talking and laughed. "Well, it sounds ridiculous, so I'd rather not speak of it. But the Dark Lord told me that it was you who pointed out that he needed to find another way, which means that you saved my life. So… thank you."

Harry stared at him. Harry… had saved Malfoy's life, and he hadn't even known it. The very idea… had he saved anyone else? He hadn't even realized that Voldemort had been planning on killing Dumbledore, but of course he was. It made sense, didn't it? "You're welcome," he said slowly. He looked down at his hands, which were still petting Salazar, then back up at Malfoy. "It wasn't what I'd intended, but I'm glad to have helped."

"I just thought that you deserved to know," Malfoy said into the silence that fell between them. "I suppose I'll be going, then."

Harry hesitated, then when Malfoy's hand was on the door to his suite, Harry called, "Wait!" and then winced and bit his lip.

Malfoy paused, though, and turned back around. "Yes?"

Harry swallowed. "You…" He took a deep breath. "Are you… busy? Right now, I mean?"

Malfoy took a step back into the sitting room. "Not at all," he said. "I waited until I had a few hours free to come and see you."

Harry looked down at Salazar again. "You could…" He swallowed again, his throat dry. "You could sit, and we could… talk? Maybe?" Merlin, he was always so awkward with people, and the past two years hadn't helped him with that at all.

Malfoy came further into the room and settled in one of the chairs. "I'd like that," he said. "What would you like to talk about?"

Harry opened his mouth, then shrugged, a little helplessly. What could he talk about? Everything he knew about the outside world was essentially two years out of date. He didn't even keep up with the news, so…

"Shall I tell you about the fantastic defense teachers you missed in your absence?" Malfoy… no, Draco asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. "First we had Severus, which… well, I'm sure you know how that turned out. I'm sure he would have been fantastic, but he disappeared less than halfway through the school year, and then we got this old hag, and I do mean a literal hag. I can't even remember her name at this point…"

Harry let Draco's voice wash over him, and as he did so, he started to relax, until he was laughing, protesting the outlandish description of one of the exercises that Draco was describing. And when Draco left, which he did only when Regulus came back from wherever he'd been, Harry thought that maybe he might have made a friend of the other boy.

Well, that wasn't quite right, was it? Draco was a Hogwarts graduate, now. Harry supposed that made him a man more than a boy, and wasn't that a strange thought? For that matter…

Harry was a legal adult, too, or would be soon. He didn't actually know the wizarding age of majority. That was an even stranger thought, one that Harry didn't quite know what to do with. So he ignored it in favor of cuddling with Regulus and peppering him with questions about his adventure, most of which Regulus dodged, likely in the interest of not worrying Harry.

Part of Harry worried about that, because he didn't want Regulus to be doing anything dangerous, but the rest of him was just pleased that Regulus was as capable as he was.

ooOOooOOoo

Three days later, Harry was dealing with an excess of energy outside once more, flinging himself gleefully through the air on his broomstick, his wings out once again. He almost wanted to try flying with just his wings, but thought that he might give either Severus or Regulus a small heart attack if he didn't warn them first, and if he warned them, then there was a chance they'd say something silly like, "Maybe we should wait and get you a Veela instructor."

Harry thought it was easier to just stay on his broomstick, no matter how boring it was when neither one of them would fly with him. Which they wouldn't when he was in the kind of mood he was in.

And then he spotted that same bright, shiny blonde hair that he'd seen a few days ago headed out to him, and this time, Draco had a broomstick in hand, and something closed within his other.

"Potter," Draco called up to him once he was within shouting distance.

Harry hesitated, then dove down to speak to him. "What's up?" he asked. He nodded at Draco's broom. "Looking to do some flying?" He couldn't disguise his glee at the thought. Draco had never been much of a challenge, Seeker-wise, but he was decent on a broomstick. And, if nothing else, it would be less boring than flying by himself.

"I was thinking about it," Draco said. He opened his other hand, revealing a Snitch that fluttered its wings madly at Harry. "Care to make it a bit more interesting?"

Harry didn't hesitate. "Absolutely," he said. He nodded towards Regulus, who had stood when Draco had approached, his book abandoned on the conjured blanket. "Give it to Regulus, then join me in the air. He can let it go for us."

"Did I agree to do that?" Regulus wondered aloud, even as he came forward to take the Snitch.

Severus abandoned his book as well, and watched them both. "Please don't kill yourselves up there," he said with a small sigh. "I'd hate to explain it to the Dark Lord, and to your parents, Mr. Malfoy."

"We'll be fine, " Harry said dismissively, and took to the air once more.

Draco followed him, and moments later, Regulus called out that he'd released the Snitch, and the two of them had better be careful as they careened around the pitch.

It was the most fun Harry'd had in a very long time, and even though Draco called foul about the fact that he'd caught the Snitch with his feathers instead of his hands, Harry didn't regret a bit of it.