Draco heard footsteps chasing him and Harry behind them. Oh he would not let those Gryffindorks ruining his plan to investigate the Invisibility Cloak. With his hand still on Harry's left arm, he stopped at the Grand Staircase landing then turned around.
"Have you not anything else to do other than tailing Potter all time?" Draco seethed.
"What are you doing with Harry, Malfoy?" Hermione gave him scrutinizing look.
"None of your business," Draco replied in agitate.
"Get your hand off of him, Malfoy!" Ron barked.
It was then Draco realized that he had been holding Harry since they were at the courtyard. He almost let go but stopped himself, unwilling to give Weasley satisfaction.
"Harry, let's go to the training. It's not too late yet," Hermione commanded.
"Why don't you just go without him? Or are you the two lost puppies without your shepherd?" Draco asked mockingly.
"Shut up, Malfoy. It's Harry's training, not ours. Not that you need to know anyway," Hermione glared at him. Draco raised his eyebrow at that.
"Oh, forgive me for I didn't know that Potter is the Holy Mighty Knight, Protector of the innocents, Warrior of the Light, the sole Savior of the Wizarding World that he is the onlywizard who is capable of fighting against the Devil," Draco gave Hermione and Ron hostile look.
"He was the chosen one," Hermione said in defense. Who she was defending, Draco didn't know. But Draco noted how she didn't question how he knew about Harry's training.
"The Chosen One," Draco laughed unpleasantly. "What a pity excuse. All of you selfishly decided to put the burden of war on a sixteen year-old shoulder while the whole adults of Wizarding World securing their sorry arses in warm beds and choose to be ignorant to the logic in their excuse."
"Wh—what…" Hermione seemed lost for words. Good.
"Um, Malfoy…I think—" Harry was trying to say something but Draco cut him.
"Come on, Potter," Draco glanced at Harry and continued their walk toward the Gryffindor Tower. He thanked Merlin that the other two Gryffindors were not following them anymore. He released his grip on Harry then.
There was an awkward silence during their trip through the Great Staircase. Draco broke the silence with his murmur, "Bloody hell. If Mother heard me saying arses, I'd say goodbye to sweets supplies for a month," Draco murmured sullenly. And he noticed that Harry glanced at him and was trying to hold his laugh. Draco flushed.
"Thank you," Harry said in small voice. Draco flushed even more. He rarely had people thanked him that sincere.
Stupid Potter for making him blush. Malfoys didn't blush!
~o~
They tried the Invisibility Cloak in the Room of Requirement. They requested blocks of walls to divide the Room into four secluded spaces. Each time, one person covered his body with the cloak and the other tried to sense the other's magic signature on separate space. They still could sense each other.
"Then why we couldn't sense each other that night?" Harry asked in wonder. The two of them sat on the cold floor and leant against cold wall side by side. Dignity be damned. Draco had too much things in his head at that moment to care about sitting against dusty floor and wall. Salazar, and he must have lost his mind if he was sitting close beside Potter, having civilized conversation.
"Why were you wearing the cloak that night?" Draco asked instead.
"I…was planning to take a walk after visiting Professor Slughorn. Didn't want to get caught by Prefects and Filch," Harry told him.
"I get it you often take a walk around the castle after curfew?" Draco gave him disapproving glance from the corner of his eyes. He was, after all, a Prefect.
"It's nice to have your time alone and get away from all the voices and unwanted companies," Harry whispered.
"You could just stay in your bed and close all the curtains and lock yourself inside, entertain yourself with magazines or cards," Draco sighed. There went his chance to free his mother from the manor. But then again, even if the Invisibility Cloak can cover his magic, there was no way he could hide the Dark Mark on his forearm from the Dark Lord. The powerful dark wizard would still be able to detect his presence through it.
"The walks helped me. I have nightmares. So, tiring myself helps me sleep better, no energy left for nightmares," Harry told him.
"Did it always work?" Draco asked, curious. He, too, sometimes had nightmares.
"Not really," Harry sighed. Now he sounded tired. "I think it has to do with Voldemort. He's channeling his head with mine. Maybe that's why Snape wanted me to learn the Occlumency."
Ah! Yes, Draco remembered Severus said that.
"So, you mean, you can see what the Dark Lord see…or doing?" Draco's heart was beating fast in anticipation. If Potter could see what Dark Lord see and do, then…then he could monitor his mother's condition through Potter!
"Yeah, sort of. He seems aware of it, too, but I think sometimes he slipped. Unintentionally sent images to my head," Harry turned his face to see Draco. "You seem…interested about this."
"I…Potter, he has my mother," Draco told the bespectacled boy, hoping he would understand without him having to explain what he intended to say.
"Ahh…" Harry nodded. "You want to know how is she. I'm sorry, Malfoy, but I didn't see her in my nigh—dreams," Harry said. It didn't go unnoticed by Draco how Harry changed his word of nightmare to dreams, and he was grateful for that. "But I hope I will never see her in my dreams because usually the dreams were…unpleasant."
Draco nodded at him, understood the meaning. Yes, he would rather Potter not, too.
"So, is that why you always look horrible in the morning? Nightmares and trainings?" Draco casted Tempus and let Harry know that it was half hour past curfew. Draco had no problem with that because tonight was his schedule for his Prefect duty. "It's almost ten, Potter."
"Right," Harry replied but made no movement to leave the Room. "You think your mother will be okay?"
Draco thought for a moment. The Dark Lord wouldn't make thoughtless actions, and especially to the host of the residence he was currently occupying.
"Yes, I think she'll be fine for a while. She's clever. She knows how to stay low on his radar."
"'For a while'?" Harry turned his body so he was facing Draco properly.
Yes, for a while. Until Draco fulfilled his task with the Vanishing Cabinet on time. Draco wondered was it all right to tell Potter about that. Did Potter see his Dark Mark when he was in the hospital wing?
"Let's call it a night, Potter," Draco decided to ignore Harry's question. "You must go back to your dorm –in your Invisibility Cloak— and I have a duty to perform."
"Oh, right. You're Prefect," Harry rose on his feet and followed Draco toward the exit.
~o~
The next day, Draco sought an advice from Severus about he and Harry's situation.
"There must be something strong that had blocked your senses of each other," Severus said.
"There has never been anything peculiar on that hallway. We've been walking there the whole time so we must have sensed it if there's something there," Draco told his godfather.
"Indeed. So it's only between you and Potter then," Severus tilted his head a little. "Perhaps, Potter didn't want you to sense him, therefore he blocked it?"
"Uncle Sev, you don't sound convinced by your own guess," Draco squinted his eyes. Severus gave him bored look. "…Right. He wouldn't know how to control the bond until someone taught him how."
"The house, perhaps, then?" Severus turned his body and giving Draco his back. Draco knew this gesture. Severus was hiding something from him.
"Uncle Sev? You have information I need to know?" Draco folded his arms on his chest. He waited for a minute until he heard Severus sighed. The older wizard knew how stubborn Draco was. He wouldn't stop nagging on him until the teen got his answer.
"It appears that Potter had given Dumbledore permission to use the house. Perhaps that bothered the house, or Potter, thus the house is focusing its ward in protecting itself from the strangers currently residing inside. Either it's the house act of defense, or Potter commanded the house to do so."
"But what does it to do with the bond?" Draco asked, trying to find the logic in it. "The bond that the ward created was temporarily ignoring me?"
"Potter is still learning in mastering the house, is he not? He doesn't know yet how to divide the ward's magic to perform more than one tasks. Therefore, he put his hands off of the house's protection and gave the whole ward the grant to protect the house as it wishes. This means the bond between you and Potter was likely drawn back to Grimmauld Place to be used by the ward."
"Huh? That's a possible thing?" Draco was bewildered by the info he had received. Being the only Malfoy heir, since the beginning Draco had been taught about wards control and how to divide it to secure a number of regions of the Malfoy Estate. So, he thought it was a common knowledge for every wizard. Besides, The Malfoy manor was warded with a great degree of magic built by his pureblood ancestors. So he didn't have to focus the whole ward on only one task because each divided part of the ward was already powerful enough.
"I advise you to talk to Potter about it and transfer your knowledge about this specific ward controlling to him. The bond between you and Potter is beneficial to your current situation, Draco." Severus patted Draco's shoulder. "Do not lose it yet."
His godfather was right. Draco should find Potter soon.