Much had changed in a short time for Harry Potter, and it would again. McGonagall refused to allow Harry's exile from Gryffindor common room to continue. Luckily with the near death experience done, most of Gryffindor no longer hassled Harry. He wasn't sure if it was because in their eyes he'd gotten what he deserved or if they finally understood he never put his name in the cup in the first place. It didn't really matter, most people were still avoiding him and that was the best thing for all involved.
Harry had found a new hobby in the meantime, Sirius and Molly had taken to writing him daily and Harry had had to try to find things to remember to tell them. Both letters inevitably landed in a tone somewhere between monotonous and dreary but Harry tried his best to throw something of interest in each one. They both kept threatening to make an appearance and Harry felt as though he had to go to new lengths every few days to keep them away. 'Any day now Dumbledore will find that loophole,' had become Harry's new catchphrase making an appearance in almost every letter.
He was writing one of these letters when one of the most elegant owls Harry had ever seen flew through the library window. Harry paused staring at its sleek feathers, and fierce talons. It held out its leg, a letter was tied to it with a bright ribbon and Harry gently untied it.
Mr Harry James Potter,
You are formally invited to a friendly flying competition this evening meet in the clock tower courtyard at sundown. Bring your best broom and your best moves.
Yours
A Friend
Harry rolled his eyes but couldn't keep from smiling. This wasn't how he had expected Draco to beg him to go flying but he had to appreciate the effort. Harry had shot him down the last several times on account that winter had made its quick arrival at Hogwarts whether Malfoy would acknowledge it or not.
Harry watched as the owl waited for his reply, hastily he scribbled a yes on the back before tying the letter back on with the ribbon. The owl promptly flew back out the window and Harry sighed. He silently collected his things, taking the new books on magical creatures he had signed out with him and leaving the ones he was returning. He would have to start preparing now if he wanted to make it to the courtyard for sundown it was in less than an hour.
Neville was working on a potions essay with Dean and Seamus so Harry wasn't surprised when he opened the door to find only Ron in the boys dorm. He moved to his trunk taking out several pairs of trousers and draping them over the heater along with a few different tops he could layer. He was in the middle of changing out of his clothes from the day into his warm, fly ready clothes when Ron spoke up.
"Heya Harry, what uh… What are you up to?"
Harry shrugged, "Gonna go for a walk, maybe visit Hagrid."
"Oh, you know if you don't want to go alone I could join you."
Harry pulled on his first layer of trousers and raised an eyebrow at him. "Honestly I'd prefer to go alone."
Ron's ears turned red, he nodded turning back to his textbook, "Yes that makes perfect sense... Can I just say something?"
Harry sighed, "You've been just saying a lot of things, why stop now?"
Ron nodded, sitting up properly, "I deserve that. I know I deserve that, I've been a dick. I think that is a fitting title. I wanted to apologize, if I've been so bad Malfoy seems like better company I must've been really bad."
Harry pulled a long sleeve over his head to give himself time to think of a response.
"You know he isn't that bad once you get to know him."
Ron rolled his eyes, "It has nothing to do with the fact that he's fit?"
Harry blushed and forcefully continued pulling on his layers, "He was the only person who believed me. He offered to help, he was a lot of help actually. It has nothing to do with looks."
Ron gave him a look, "But you like him?"
Harry could feel his face burning, "He's nice to me. He's making an effort. He's changing for the better. What else does he need to do to prove he's a good friend?"
Ron shrugged, "I don't understand it mate, but if he's proven himself to you what is there for me to say."
Harry had pulled over his final jumper and let out a sigh, "You know if I gave Malfoy a second chance it's only fair I give you one."
Ron broke into a smile Harry had only seen on a few rare occassions, "You sure?"
Harry shrugged, "Yeah fuck it. I gotta go now but maybe tomorrow we can study together or something?"
Ron nodded, "Sounds good to me."
He gave a nod to Ron and left pulling on his toque before he walked out of the dormitory.
By the time he reached the courtyard Harry was sweltering, he hadn't quite thought through his winter prep. Getting outside gave Harry a moment to think, the cold wind giving him relief. Draco wasn't there yet, the yard looked abandoned and Harry sat on the bench at the farthest side from the castle.
The conversation with Ron was already gnawing at Harry, regret picking away at every choice he had made. He should have been nicer, more open, should have explained himself more, then suddenly he would shift, he shouldn't have spoken with Ron at all, he should have never agreed to a second chance, he was setting himself up to be hurt again.
Harry was deep in his own head when a pair of hands suddenly grabbed him, he was pulled to the ground and in a panic he threw out his left arm colliding with skin and bone.
The cry of pain cut through to Harry and he stopped, it was Draco. The boy was clearly exaggerating grabbing at his jaw. "Potter that is a mean left hook."
Harry moved his hand looking at the place of impact, it was fine, probably wouldn't even bruise. Draco gave him a smirk, "What if I had actually attacked you? That punch wouldn't have stopped a child."
Harry glowered at him, "That's what I have a wand for?"
Draco laughed, "To take care of all the child attacks, oh Harry."
Harry blushed, "Shut up!" He stood up brushing snow off of his robes when he noticed Draco was staring at him. "What?"
Draco looked him over, "Is something bothering you?"
"H-How did you know?" Harry crossed his arms, this was a bit of a first.
"I don't know, something about the way you looked before you punched me in the jaw. You seem a bit... tense?" Draco patted the bench and Harry reluctantly sat down. He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk about his feelings.
"Well I mean someone is trying to kill me."
"That is true that would make someone tense, but besides that."
Harry sighed looking through the stone architecture of the courtyard, watching the spiders crawling up to their webs in the corners and the leaves as the wind pushed them idly. "Ron talked to me today… I agreed to hangout with him tomorrow."
"Oh,"
The silence was crushing, and for a moment Harry felt like he had fallen from his dream world back to reality. He wasn't just talking to the flyer, he was talking to Malfoy.
"I don't know if I made the right choice… But I thought if I gave you a second chance and it went so well, maybe- I'm going to stop you right there Potter."
Harry couldn't move for a moment, he'd never thought about Malfoy suddenly leaving but for a moment Harry was sure it was all over.
Draco stood moving in front of Harry and crouching until they were eye to eye. "Does this mean I now have to hang out with this neanderthal?"
"What? No! I- Why would I make you hang out with him?" Harry was blushing for a lot of different reasons but the main one was Draco's hand on his leg. Draco shrugged, "We almost always hang out with your one other friend. You could see my worry."
Harry laughed, mostly out of relief, "No I think it'll take a while until I start hanging out with Ron enough that that would become a problem."
Draco openly laughed, "Oh thank the gods because I would suffer slight torture for you Potter but being subjected to the preaching of a Weasley. Well let's just say I'm not there yet."
Harry felt a touch of relief and sighed, "I-I don't even know if I'm ready to forgive him."
Draco stopped for a moment, suddenly moving back to his seat next to Harry. He kept his eyes locked with Harry, "Oh you don't have to. Quite frankly I never will."
The sun was setting and Harry had to sit with those thoughts for a while, "I don't think I know what you mean."
"Well, you don't have to completely cut him out of your life- Ronald that is. However the actions he has chosen over these past few months are in my opinion unforgivable. With friends like these I tend to keep them at an arms length- Nott for instance said several rather unforgivable things about my family several years back. I don't cut Theo out of my life, mostly because that is a far bigger hassle than tolerating him. We are on relatively good terms but I don't feel the need to tell him much of anything personal. Now if he was in trouble I would try to help him- but there would be a lot of limitations to the amount of help I would be willing to give. Now if Pansy was in trouble I would drop everything to help her, there are almost no lengths I wouldn't go to."
Draco had begun pacing somewhere around "Ronald" and Harry felt as though he was in a trance watching Malfoy go back and forth across a length a little wider than the bench.
"I didn't quite think of it that way."
Draco smiled, "I hadn't expected you to. You're a bit of an all or none type of person, a wonderful decision maker, Potter you are a person who gets things done and I quite fancy that. However if you took a moment to look at your options you might make choices that benefit you far more."
Harry shrugged, "Whatever Mr Perfect I'm sick of all this talking. Let's go!" He stood up moving towards the bridge, Malfoy moved to follow and suddenly Harry was off. A small urge in him to be better than Malfoy still lived and yes Malfoy could somehow think of a solution for everything including Harry's dwindling social life, but at least Harry could beat him to the Quidditch pitch.
He could hear Draco racing after him, this was fun, beating Malfoy was fun, getting tackled to the ground slightly less fun. Harry was attempting to recover, while Draco dragged him into the shadows of the Quidditch pitch. "What-" Draco grabbed Harry's mouth so hard it hurt. His eyes were wide clearly panicking, he pushed Harry down to the ground. "Shut up, look at the forest line." Malfoy was whispering, he had flattened his body to the frozen grass. Harry tried to focus on the trees and as he squinted he noticed two figures. They were slowly walking, looking into the forest maybe?
"It's Karkarov," Harry whispered.
"And Krum, you think he's telling him the next task?" Draco was so quiet Harry had to press against him to hear.
"At least how to solve the egg."
"Asshole."
They waited as the figures walked across and up the hill headed towards the docks. It took a minute or so before Harry was brave enough to sit up. Harry sighed, "I keep forgetting that we aren't the only people sneaking around at night."
Draco let out a soft laugh, "It's a good thing I can never forget."
They were more careful Harry, quite consciously so. They flew over the forest, making sure to stay far out of the view of the castle. When walking back Harry made sure to see Draco off to the dungeons and travelled to Gryffindor tower snuggly in his invisibility cloak.
Harry sat by the dying fire of his common room, Hogwarts had ears he couldn't let himself forget those ears. The school was drowning in the politics of the war, someone was just waiting to kill him and most of all he could see the figures in the woods. They stood in the setting sun, leaving Harry only with the grim reminder that he was not alone in his midnight schemes.
