New Things, New Interests.

It was the last night before Draco would go back to Hogwarts to study his fourth year.

He was lying in bed, waiting for sleep to catch up to his tired body, chatting with Dobby.

He missed Alec even though it had been just a couple of hours since they'd last seen each other, before Draco had come home from France.

More and more, Draco found his mind traveling back to the world cup, thinking over all the details, getting more and more mixed up on what he was feeling.

- Dobby, is it okay to like boys? - he suddenly asked, watching the moon shine a bit brighter through the stars scattered in the night sky.

- Oh, master Draco, Dobby thinks so. Why should things such as names matter when someone loves another? Dobby thinks that when you love something, there are no limits, you just love. Why is master Draco asking such a thing? - Dobby put another log in the fireplace.

- Because I think that I may like boys. I'm not sure. It's so confusing. - Draco groaned.

- No need to worry, if it's true, it will come around. - Dobby smiled toothily at Draco, pulling a blanket over him. - Good night, master Draco. -

- Good night, Dob. - Draco yawned and let sleep take over him, dreaming of Alec and Harry, mixed up with that ugly feeling in his chest when Krum was talking to Alec, slipping back into walking through muggle Paris full of good-looking boys.

Narcissa insisted on taking him to the train, there seemed to be more people than usual.

- What's going on? Why are there so many people? - Draco turned to Narcissa.

- Hogwarts is holding a triwizard tournament this year so those who already know of it want to see more of what is happening. - She looked down at Draco lovingly, cupping his cheek. - And for the first time, every mother's heart can be calm because only witches and wizards of age can sign up for it. -

- Oh, so we will finally meet kids from other schools? That sounds cool. - Draco gripped Narcissa's hand in his.

- I hope that you will have fun. I put a small bottle of calming draught in your bag but Alec assured me that you are sleeping a lot better. -

Memories of how almost every night over summer he had ended up with Alec sleeping in his bed, their hands always locked together, flashed in his mind and a pink tint spread over his cheeks.

- He's a really good friend. Thank you, mum, for hiring him back then. -

- Oh, I knew that you would like him. I am glad that you could build a friendship. Oh, the train is about to leave, now go on, but promise me to write to me, okay? And stay safe. - Narcissa placed a soft kiss on Draco's forehead before letting him go.

On the train, Draco trailed down the corridor until he spotted Blaise and Pansy sitting together and chatting.

- Can I join? - Draco stopped by the door.

Both heads turned to look at him, both faces were split with big smiles.

- Do you really have to ask? - Blase laughed until Pansy snatched his hand and pulled him into sitting down next to them.

- Did you hear about the tournament? - Blase's eyes lit up, he leaned closer to Draco while Pansy put away Draco's trunk.

- I can't wait to meet all the hot boys! Just imagine, Beauxbatons, all the hot french boys! And those accents! And then all the Durmstrang boys! - Pansy went on, some weird sparkle going off in her eyes.

- Did you know that Krum went to Durmstrang? He will probably attend the tournament too! - Blase clasped his hands in his lap.

- I can't wait to meet him! - Pansy almost squealed.

- He's a pretty big ass. - Draco growled before he could stop himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

That weird burning feeling was back. Maybe he should go see Madam Pomfrey or at least tell his mother or Alec. But he dismissed such a thing right away.

Both Blaise and Pansy were gaping at him, then Pansy turned around, with her ready-to-introgarate face on.

- Tell us what we have missed. When did you meet him and how do you know that? -

- Yes, I would love to hear some details too! - Blase sat up straighter.

- There is nothing much to tell. I went to the world cup with Alec, Father got me two tickets in the top booth. After the game, all the players came up to meet all the ministers and so on. He was there. End of story. - Draco looked out of the window, his voice flat.

- You are not telling us something. What is it? - Pansy went on.

- Did you talk? - Blase jumped in too.

- No, we didn't. He eyed me like something he didn't like and then eyed Alec up and down. Even daring to pull him aside and ask him to ditch me and go "party" with him instead. - Draco couldn't hide the venom in his voice, the burning spreading in his chest just from thinking about it all again.

Pansy and Blaise looked at each other for a moment before Pansy drew in a breath and turned to talk to Draco.

- And that makes him an ass? - Pansy asked carefully, something glinting in her eyes.

- Yes. What are you on about? - Draco furrowed his brows.

- Nothing, nothing. - Pansy threw her hair back.

- So, how was France? We went to Italy! - And so the conversation was over, Blase going on and on about Italy and Pansy telling them about her wild trip, both hearing all the details about Draco's summer and his first experience of going to the beach.

After hours of chatting so carelessly Draco felt a lot better, he even managed to eat something when the trolley lady passed their compartment.

They didn't need to wait long for news, just that evening during the feast the triwizard tournament was announced and just weeks after, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive.

Draco wanted to groan about all the reactions new students caused, what was so special about them all?

But instead of riling them up, he let Pansy and Blaise go on and on about them, throwing in a couple of comments of his own.

The next morning a surprise came, he had just sat down and poured himself some tea, dropping a couple drops of calming draught in it, when someone sat down next to him.

And it wouldn't have been anything special but this someone was sitting way too close, making Draco tense up right away.

He turned around with a scowl and froze.

Krum was sitting next to him.

- Gud Morning. - He grumbled, pouring himself a drink and looking around for something he would like to eat.

- Morning. - Draco grumbled back.

They stayed silent for a couple of minutes, Draco sipping his tea and Krum shoveling bacon into his mouth.

- Would you mind not sitting so close to me? - Draco couldn't take it anymore, turning to face him again.

- Oh? Sorry. - He moved a bit. - How is Alec? -

- Why would you care? -

- Are you always such a bitch? - Krum glared at him, making Draco shoot a glare of his own.

They stayed like that for a bit but then Draco just let out a long breath, turning back to his breakfast.

- Why do you dislike me so much? - Krum asked in a much calmer voice.

- I… - Draco huffed a breath.

- Is it because of Alec? I didn't mean to upset you. Or him. He's just a really nice guy, wanted to make some friends. - Krum shrugged, finishing his breakfast.

- Alec is my friend. - Draco mumbled.

- Okay, I respect that. Maybe we can be friends. - with that Krum stood up and walked away.

After a week Draco had gotten used to Krum, he found the guy quite interesting and they had a lot to chat about.

And he found out that he didn't really mind how close Krum always sat down next to him, always some parts of their bodies brushing together.

It reminded him of Alec, making him daydream about what Alec was doing alone, back in France.

Then came the night when Champions were drawn and without a surprise, Krum was the first one.

Draco clapped him on the shoulder, earning a little flash of emotion in Krum's eyes before he walked off.

Fleur Delacour was chosen second and then came Cederic Diggory from Hufflepuff.

Draco met Harry's eyes across the Hall and saw him with a big grin splitting his face in two and clapping like mad, Hermione next to him was just shaking her head with an amused smile.

Draco furrowed his brows but went back to listening to what Dumbledore was telling them about the tournament.

Later, when Draco was making his way back to his dorm, he saw Cederic and Harry hugging.

Acid-like stinging flared through his chest at the sight but he just brushed it away, writing it off as being simply tired.

But over the next couple of days he saw it more and more, soon the acid-like flare had nestled in his chest to stay.

Simple looks, touches of hands, random hugs.

It all continued as if hunting Draco.

What were Harry and Cederic getting at?

Draco tried not to think about it but it constantly came to his mind, not leaving him alone.

He was walking back from the library, it was already late and he was tired, had been studying for hours, when he heard someone call his name - he turned around and saw the wide grin spreading over the caller's face.

Draco let his bag drop down and he flung himself forward.

- Dobby! - Draco breathed out, holding the house elf close as if in a hug but not really.

- My young master, Draco! Dobby is so happy that he finally catught you! Dobby has wonderful news! Come, please. - And just like that Dobby was pulling him down one corridor, making Draco's bag fly into his hand with just one flick of his fingers.

He stopped at the painting of a fruit bowl and tickled the pear, making it swing open, revealing majestic kitchens full of house elves.

Draco was taken aback, all he could do was stare for a moment, all the house elves' eyes turned to him.

- Hello. - He waved lamely.

Every house elf chimed back their greeting, starting to fuss around Draco, pulling him to a chair by the fire, getting him tea and cakes to eat.

- Wow, Dob, are you, like, working here? - Draco couldn't stop looking around the kitchens, he had never seen so many house elves in one place.

And all of them dressed decently with something similar to Hogwarts uniforms, all of them looking happy without any harm.

- Yes! Headmaster agreed for Dobby to work here, and he is even paying Dobby a salary! And Dobby has sundays off! - Dobby's eyes were shining. - Headmaster is so kind to Dobby, he wanted Dobby to have at least a week off in a month and pay more but it would be too much. -

- Wow, Dob, that is amazing! - Draco sipped his tea, listening to Dobby tell him all about how he was doing, forgetting all about his own problems for a moment.

Then he told Dobby all about how he was doing in school and all about the weird feeling of seeing Harry together with Cedric.

Dobby even volunteered to spy on Cedric for him but Draco just shook his head, saying that it wasn't necessary.

Then they simply talked about everything that came to mind for hours.

In the end Draco had drunk a full pot of tea, eated more than he had in days and felt calm.

It was already midnight by the time Dobby led Draco back down to his dorm room, promising to come by the next evening and saying that Draco could come down to the kitchens whenever he wished.

Soon the first task came, Draco had agreed to sit with Harry and Remus, bringing Blaise and Pansy with him, giving them bored looks whenever they murmured some insult about Gryffindors.

- Hi, where's Harry? - Draco sat down next to Remus, looking around, trying to spot Harry who wasn't there.

Even Granger and Weasley were already in the stands, but no Harry.

- He'll be here any minute. Ah, here he comes. - Remus smiled.

Harry came running up to the stands with a weird grin spread over his lips, making Draco frown, but when he stopped right in front of Draco he still scooted over to make space for him, letting their hands brush together.

- Where were you? - Draco hissed but before Harry could answer the task had started.

A big sleeping Dragon was hovering over its eggs, the champions needed to get a golden egg.

Draco's heart squeezed upon seeing how frantically the Dragon tried to save its eggs and when one of the champions smashed half her eggs he wanted to scream with the Dragon in agony.

He tried to say something about that to Harry but he wasn't listening, he had all eyes on Cedric and when Cedric was pulled away back to safety, he didn't even wait and ran straight down to the tents.

Draco sat there watching him go, feeling thick sadness pooling inside him.

Draco slipped away before anyone could stop him and walked down the side of the forest, deep in his mind.

Shouting pulled him back to reality, when he looked up he noticed that he had come to the dragon camp.

He knew that he should just turn around but he wanted to see.

He could hear the dragon whose eggs were smashed crying out loud.

Something just pulled him toward the gate, he saw the dragon being put to sleep, sad cries still escaping them.

- She's heartbroken. - Draco heard himself saying aloud, earning attention from the dragon tamers.

Before anyone could say anything to him, Draco crossed the path to the sleeping dragon and placed a hand on its forehead, letting his fingers slide up and down.

Little cries stopped almost at once, the dragon finally calming down in its sleep, holding the remains of her eggs close under her wing.

- You know that she could roast you right there, don't you? - Someone stopped behind him but Draco didn't pull his hand away, there was something relaxing in patting a dragon.

His heart felt less heavy.

- You should have helped her. Shouldn't have let them smack her eggs. - a sudden anger flared in his chest and he wanted to shoot at anyone who would listen, he wanted to wake the heartbroken dragon and let her flame her way through anyone whose fault it was that her eggs were broken.

- I know. - sadness in their tone made Draco look up just to find that he was talking to Charlie Weasley, who looked just as heartbroken as the dragon sleeping at their feet.

Draco looked back down to the sleeping dragon; he sat down, kept patting her.

In a second she shifted, making Charlie pull out his wand, but she just pushed her snout into Draco's lap, pushing her head against his stomach and stilling once again in deep sleep.

Charlie let out a surprised sigh but Draco just wrapped his hands around the dragon, patting her with feather-light touches.

Charlie watched them for a moment before sitting down himself, resting his back against the high fence behind them, simply watching the scene before him.

Draco didn't know how long he stayed with the dragon but when Charlie finally spoke it was already getting dark outside.

- You know, you are not so bad. Come, we need to get you back to the castle before it gets too dark. - Charlie stood up, walking to Draco, slowly lifting the sleeping dragon's head off of Draco.

Draco stood up and stretched, he felt sleepy but calm.

Charlie led him back to the castle in silence but before Draco could go in, he stopped him.

- Don't tell anyone about this. We shouldn't have let you. Hope you understand that. - Charlie searched Draco's eyes.

- Sure. Take care of her. - Draco spun on his heel and walked inside, the feast was going on but Draco didn't feel like facing all the people so he just walked down to his room and got into bed, slowly falling asleep.

He woke up a couple of hours later, Dobby was sitting on his bed, watching him with a small basket in his lap.

- Dobby brought master Draco some food since he missed dinner. Alec made Dobby promise that he will make sure that master Draco eats. - Dobby smiled his toothy grin at Draco.

Draco stretched a bit before sitting up and taking the basket, starting to eat.

Dobby started to tell him about his day and Draco was glad, he didn't really feel like talking.

But after Dobby had finished, words just started to pour out of him, he told Dobby everything about that day and how he felt, ending up crying and hugging Dobby close.

- Maybe Master Draco should just talk to Harry Potter? -

- Probably. Thank you, Dob. - Draco murmured, already falling back asleep.

Draco and Harry went back to how they were, spending time together when possible, chatting and reading muggle comics.

But something was off, more and more often Harry would be late to their hangouts or cancel them.

It was Saturday, Draco walked from the library to the fifth floor where he and Harry usually met up in a comfortable alcove.

He was excited to meet Harry, he had read something really interesting in the library and couldn't wait to tell him all about it.

Just a couple more steps and Draco would be there, turn the corner and… And Draco stopped like he had run into a wall.

Harry was indeed in their spot but he wasn't alone.

He was pressed against one of the walls, his hands around Cedric while Cedric's hands were around him.

His hair was all messed up, his glasses tilted to one side while his lips were connected to Cedric's.

They were kissing.

Something inside Draco dropped and shattered.

He couldn't breathe.

He felt like he would be sick any moment.

Draco turned around and ran, ran however fast he could.

He didn't see where he was running to and he didn't care, he just needed to get away.

Everything was foggy and his head was dizzy, he needed air, he needed… he needed…

What did he need?

To get away, outside or simply away.

His chest hurt and he had no idea if that was from what he saw or from running.

Sunlight hit his face, just a bit more and he would be outside, he would be free.

But a strong arm grabbed him, pulling him back.

Draco wanted to scream and fight but he simply didn't have any strength left in him.

So he let himself be dragged away and sit down.

This someone who had pulled him back cupped his face in their hands, making him look up.

Draco blinked a couple times and saw Remus' worried eyes watching him.

- Draco, what happened? - He asked in such a gentle tone that tears sprung in Draco's eyes.

Realization dawned on him, making it all ache even more.

- Harry… - Draco choked out; something flickered in Remus eyes, he looked behind him, Draco followed his gaze and saw Sirius standing there with his arms crossed over his chest but with somehow a worried, sad look in his eyes. Remus turned back to look at Draco. - He was kissing him. In our spot. It was our place. And he was there with him. -

Draco broke down, tears streaming down his cheeks.

Remus looked back at Sirius before gently wiping away Draco's tears.

Draco didn't know what got into him but he leaned against Remus' chest, hiding his face in the soft sweater.

Remus held him until Draco calmed down.

Just as suddenly Draco had let himself lean against Remus, he pulled back, his face stone cold, all emotions wiped away.

- I need to do homework. - He said in a strange voice that didn't sound like him at all, pushing himself upright, wiping away non-existent dust from his jeans.

- Draco. - Remus tried but Draco just shook his head and walked away, his head held high.

Once again, Draco had pushed all his emotions down, locking them away and walking around stone cold.