The rest of the week the two didn't get a chance to see each other, except for the Friday during breakfast. Harry needed to talk to Draco, so he headed down to the Great Hall bright and early to gobble down his food. The tables began to fill and he began to get nervous as every seat but one had a student sitting on it.

Harry hadn't brought up the incident at the lake, it seemed as though Draco felt extremely uncomfortable with the subject and he didn't want to hit the wrong nerve.

Breakfast was about halfway through when the Slytherin walked in, ending Harry's worry, but it sparked back up when he studied the boy. His face was sunken in, hair a wreak, he looked completely unhealthy and sleep deprived, and that made Harry feel sick to his stomach.

He watched as Draco went to his seat, not missing a beat, his eyes filled with pain and misery. He immediately looked at his plate full of food and shoved it away as if he were to throw up. Harry kept an icy glare, hoping it would send Draco a chill to look up, and thankfully it did. He looked him in the eye, trying to send a dirty glare, but it didn't happen, couldn't happen. He was too 'under the weather' as he told himself.

Harry motioned his eyes toward the door and back to Draco twice, then cocked his head slightly, motioning them to meet outside.

"I'll meet you at charms, I forgot my books," Harry told Ron and Hermione as he left before they could protest. Even if they were to, he would have left anyway. Draco waited a few minutes before telling Pansy and Blaise he'd meet them in herbology and leaving to the hallway.

It was vacated and Draco made a choice on where to go: the stairs or outside. His decision was made as he heard the door leading to the outdoors click shut. He went with his gut and followed the echo, leading to the courtyard decorated in the overcast.

"Psstt." Draco knew that 'psstt.' He knew he went to the right place.

"Harry," Draco whispered. Harry was leaning on the cement pole, his uniform looking extensively cute and his smile very cheeky. "You do know where we are right?"

"Ermmm the place where I played exploding snaps with Ron?"

"No, you idiot. It where I and Pansy did our first part of the plan."

"Plan? That's what you called it?"

"Yes, that's what we called it. The plan to 'seduce' potter."

"Of all the clever things you've come up with, that's the best name you could think of? 'The Plan?'" Harry crossed his arms and smiled sarcastically."

"Shut it. What are we doing out here?" Draco attitude was sour but quiet, but Harry made sure to note he hadn't smiled once.

"I figured if we should talk before class it'd be in a place that meant something to us and not a stinky old broom closet." This made Draco smile very little, like a careless whisper carried by the wind, inaudible to anyone... Anyone but Harry.

"So what do you want to talk to me about? And make it quick," Draco snapped.

"Right because you wouldn't want to be late for herbology," Draco rolled his eyes and crossed his arms as Harry stood from the wall. "Anyway I was going to ask you about this weekend but something else came to mind."

"And what would that be?" Harry walked over to him, grabbing his hands softly, thumbs across his palms. Seeing the shade difference was memorizing, Draco looking as white as a blank canvas.

"Why haven't you touched food in a week. I-I've noticed," he swallowed, because the look on Draco's face was angry. "Or why you look like you haven't been sleeping at all. Or why-" Harry was cut off by Draco pressing his lips to his own. His lips were loving but still, a form of hesitation within them. Harry relaxed to them right away, letting his eyes fall and hands loosen. It wasn't long before they split apart reluctantly. "I'm fine," Draco said, as genuine as possible, but nothing about Draco this year had been genuine.

"Were you crying? After you saw the grindylow?"

"Hm?"

"You didn't... you looked really upset and I dunno if it was because of the Gryndlow or if it was because of something else. It looked like you were crying. Have I done something wrong?"

"Harry. Harry, Harry, Harry. Really, it's fine. You've done nothing wrong. I was eight when I almost drowned because of a gryndelow. It just freaked me out a bit, that's all. No I wasn't crying." The lie made him want to claw his eyes out. Gryndelow almost drowned him when he was eight... that was the dumbest lie he could have ever thought of. "You've been lovely, except the almost dying because of a devil creature part."

"I'm sorry about that," Harry said. Draco kissed him.

"Now what about this weekend," Draco immediately tried to change the subject and seeing the Gryffindor looked almost knocked out, drunk even, to the beauty of the kiss he continued, "I'm not going to Hogsmeade. Snape has been wanting to talk to me about my mother, and I think I need sleep as well."

"You're sure you don't want to go. I was hoping to meet up with you at the Three Broomsticks, like a date. We could eat behind the building, I'll bring my cloak."

"It's fine, Harry. I'll see you afterwards though?"

"Can't, Ron and Hermione and I are eating at the Three Broomsticks."

"So why would you invite me on a date there, If you would have gone out later to the exact same place?"

"Because I'm like that." Harry tightened his grip on his hands pulling on him so Draco's weight shifted into his arms.

"That is the worst excuse I've ever heard," Draco breathed into his shoulder, "but it also covers everything." They hugged for a while, enjoying each other's comfort, Draco stealing Harry's warmth and kindness.

"I think we should go to class now," Harry mumbled with dismay.

"I don't want to leave."

"You don't have to, we could stay here forever, but we wouldn't pass our exams. Wouldn't graduate. Just stay here, holding each other." Draco felt his breath tickling his ears, the pricks of Harry's hair leaving a spark on his skin.

"I'd like that better than what I have to do," Draco said thinking about his horrid task.

"Relax. I'm sure you'll ace your test today. You'll be fine." Harry said as amiable and reassuring as possible. He didn't even think about the test, but why would he care? He knows he'll refuse in the end. He'll be killed within the hour of his repelling, and he'd never be able to see him again.

Never.

That afternoon Draco received a package. A strange, disgusting package, attached a note, displaying the rules of said package, along a reminder that the clock is ticking and if Draco wasn't to move accordingly, his own time capsule would stop. Forever.

Looks like Draco will be going to Hogsmeade after all.

The Slytherin left later than anybody else, ensuring maximum safety, not even telling his friends where he was going. The air was dry, snow pouring down from the sky in a whisked flurry. It made Draco's throat burn, and the lump that was present feel even worse. He could definitely sense a virus approaching, whether it be from the snow or the dark lord himself, only a matter of time could tell.

He tried, he truly did, to find a way in from the back, but there physically was no door built to such a place. "Idiots," he thought, "how could anyone escape if one needed. What if a death eater came and...oh wait. I am a death eater."

Fantastic.

That only meant he could go in through the front entrance, where people were. It only created a bigger risk, a risk Draco didn't know if he should take, but he had no choice.

He had to use the imperious curse on someone, there was no way around it. He opened the large doors to the three broomsticks- where he would be if he had accepted the date from Harry. Oh god, Harry. What if he was in here?

Draco scanned the large crowd quickly, only to meet eyes with electrifyingly green ones through round glass frames. His entire body went numb as he turned away at lighting speed, pushing away all guilt that could surface. He'd just come up with something later. He needed to focus.

The boy slipped behind the bar, sighting his target: a poor, innocent Gryffindor he remembered from quidditch. She walked into the bathroom, and Draco quickly followed, slithering like a snake, camouflaged by the miraculous amounts of people. Shifting past the door, he found Katie Bell fixing her hair.

"You can't be in here! What are you-"

"Imperio!" Draco felt as though his brain was connected to hers, controlling it as if he was a dictator. "Take this package, don't touch anything inside of it, and deliver it to Albus Dumbledore. Don't speak to anyone, and if you get caught, don't you dare tell them it was me. Go. Now."

Immediately the girl left and Draco slipped out as well a few minutes later. Then, he ran as fast as his feet could carry him, not even feeling the floor beneath. He didn't care if his legs we numb, or he couldn't breathe. He just ran.

He reached the outskirts of the trees only to be stopped by a shriek coming from behind him. Turning around he found a poor innocent Gryffindor, hanging in the air, suspended by nothing, and four heads surrounding her, one of them being Harry Potter.

Draco paced in the hallway outside the room of requirement, not to open it, but because his mind was racing and he knew Harry had his map. Harry would find out.

Draco screwed up, big time, knowing he should have hexed that girl who was with her, whoever she was. There shouldn't of been anyone, not a witness. He shouldn't of been so careless, he should of hurt that filthy blood traitor before anything could have gone wrong. Wait...did he just say blood traitor. Damn it! All the Dark Lord talk was getting to his head, that's all. He's tired...right?

Wrong. He hadn't made that mistake of calling anyone by blood since fourth year, not even in his mind. Not since he and Harry broke up for about month. Then a sudden though occurred. What if Harry touched the necklace? God, how could he of been so stupid! He could of died! He could have killed the only person he cared about.

It was like telepathy when he heard fast footsteps down the vacated hallway. Draco chose to ignore them, but a whisper escaped the lips of the owner and Harry was there, calling his name. Draco looked up in a flinch and broke out into a sprint, thanking a lord he didn't even believe in that Harry was alive. They both collided, Draco wrapping his left arm around his lower back, right holding his head, just like what the mirror-Draco did.

"Thank god you're alive," Draco said shakily.

"Draco they think it's you! They think you poisoned her! Ron and Hermione saw you at the Three Broomsticks and they think you did it! What the hell were you doing there?"

"Shhh, not here." Draco took his hand and ran into the Room of Requirement, slamming the door shut. Harry could barely say half of a word before Draco threw his lips onto Harry's dry ones. This time, the Gryffindor didn't melt or even soften to Draco's touch, he just waited until he had his reassurance.

"What the hell were you doing at the Three Broomsticks when you specifically told me you weren't even going to Hogsmeade," Harry whisper-shouted, his face firm and angry.

"My mother," Draco said in a normal voice as realization hit Harry that they were finally alone, "owled me last minute in need for a potion for her anxiety. I had to use the loo so I went into the restaurant, and I saw you. I was going to smile or wave or acknowledge your existence in some form or another but Weasley and Granger were there, and frankly the Weasel looked like he was going to murder me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What happened?"

"Someone cursed Katie Bell," Harry said, panicked. "I dunno why."

"Maybe it was a prank?

"No," he shook his head. This is a way to serious to be a prank."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Draco said. Harry took a moment to consider it, take in that Draco was okay, that he was still safe. Face relaxing, he leant into kiss Draco passionately.

They hadn't kissed like that in a long time. It was strange, but it felt so damned good.

"I was so worried." Harry rested his forehead on Draco's, eyes closed, enjoying his company.

"Me, too. You have no idea."

"So what happened in here? It looks like someone forgot to clean up." Harry turned to examine the room, it's size compelling him.

"Guess it's just changed to storage."

"Let's go look around." Harry grasped Draco's hand, pulling them through the rows of garbage. It seemed as though the piles got taller and larger in the blonde's opinion. Harry lead him thought the labyrinth, some small talk along the way about Draco's mother who 'he was so worried for'. It seemed like hours until Harry finally gasped at an old golden mirror coated in cob webs.

"What is this?"

"The Mirror of Erised."

"The what," Draco asked, confused beyond belief.

"Desire is raised backwards. It shows what you want most, like your deepest want you could ever imagine. I was lost in first year and I found it."

"What did you see?"

"My parents. That was the first time I ever knew what they looked like, and they smiled at me as they wanted me."

"Harry, I'm sure they would have cared for you," Draco wrapped his arms around him from behind, following the image shown in the reflection he was seeing right now.

"Yeah but...you never know..." Harry frowned at the thought of his parents not wanting him, but thankfully Draco was there to kiss him on the cheek to make his heart hurt a little less.

"What do you see now?" Draco's curiosity activated as he rested his chin on his shoulder. He ignored the burn on his arm, which, for some reason, wasn't too awful.

"I see us, and my parents and they're smiling at us. Do you think they would have accepted this? You know, if they were alive?" Harry turned his head to face Draco, locking eyes.

"I think they would have wanted to be happy."

"What do you see?" Draco moved his head towards Harry's, their noses touching, closing his eyes just to sniff his intoxicating scent.

"This," he said slowly pressing his lips towards Harry, who actively responded.

They stayed there for a while, letting their tastes combine as their tongues met as if they were starving for each other, moaning in arousal. They pulled apart gasping for air, sweat barely forming on their brow.

The two decided to continue to walk until a table familiar to Draco's memory appeared. The same trinkets lay there untouched, waiting to be played with.

"I remember this. Dudley used to have one." Harry picked up the rectangle, examining it closely, "here, blow into the holes," he ordered. Draco looked at him like he was crazy but eventually blew a large puff of air into the toy, which was too much considering it sounded like nails to a chalk board. It caused Harry to laugh at him supportively.

"Merlin, what is that horrid sound!?" Draco looked at the toy in disgust, as Harry laughed.

"It's called a harmonica, it's supposed to sound pretty but I'm sure if a tornado was put inside you, you wouldn't be so pretty either!" Harry put his lips to the holes and gently let out a string of air, sounding much better, but it still wasn't the prettiest instrument on the planet. Draco grabbed the ring with the string wrapped over it and held it up so Harry could diagnose what it was.

"That is a dream catcher. It's supposed to keep away nightmares."

"Does it work," Draco asked trying not to sound so desperate, but he hadn't slept properly since before summer. "You are the muggle expert."

"I don't really know, I never had any toys growing up." That left the box with the tiny dancer inside, which Draco was most curious of.

"This is a music box. My aunt use to have one and I always played with it when she left the house. She'd kill me if she knew I'd touched it."

"What does it do?" Draco was anxious for the answer. Harry didn't say anything. Instead he picked it up and twisted a small key on the back the Slytherin didn't even know was there. It sounded as though he broke the thing before he opened it up and the dancer began to spin. A tune began to chime delicately, a pattern unrecognizable.

"Care to dance?" Harry held out his hand. Draco easily took it, standing in the proper posture as He towered over Harry. Their height difference was truly impeccable. They twisted and twirled and moved to the music, not missing a beat. As the song slowed down, Draco dipped Harry for the last time.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes," Harry said out of breath.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course."

The song ended just as the words peeled from his mouth.

"Don't."

Before Harry had time to question it, they were both on the floor kissing like crazy, leaving the question in Harry's mind unanswered: why?