After they had calmed the horses down, Draco Malfoy began to speak again. "I always liked looking up at the stars. They always seemed so cold, and peaceful."

"Woulda figured they'd look lonely," Harry said gently, not having seen any stars at all in his cupboard beneath the stairs.

"I was lonely too, I think - not that i realized it at the time." Draco Malfoy said, nudging his horse a bit to get it moving faster. "So it seemed pretty normal to me." Draco shook his head, "There aren't many purebloods that have close siblings, so... It just seemed normal, to be alone most of the time."

"You got the better half of the bargain, I think." Harry said with a gleamingly bitter smile.

"It was nearing the end of october," Harry began, "When I started to talk with Nearly Headless Nick, who was upset that he couldn't join the Headless Hunt."

"Whyever not?" Draco Malfoy asked, the demand laced through the question - though, Harry didn't mind. He'd said he'd tell, and so he did.

"He hadn't completely lost his head, you see."

"Oh, bother." Draco Malfoy said, in that slow drawl that signified some level of sympathy.

"Exactly. So I asked if there was anything I could do to help..."

"You would, Harry Potter, you would." Draco Malfoy growled, in a voice that sounded almost chagrined.

"He invited me to his 500th Deathday Party, said he wanted me to spread the word on how scary he was."

"So, he wanted you to lie?"

"Well, stitch the truth a bit bigger than life, really." Harry said, shifting uncomfortably as lying often did to him.

"And you agreed?"

"Well, I wanted to help out." Harry said, "Plus, who's ever heard of a Gryffindor turning down a party?"

"Well, describe it!" Draco Malfoy demanded, his face breaking out in an irrepressible grin.

"Tons of food, all rotting of course, and ghosts and ghosts everywhere! All the Hogwarts Host, and piles more besides. I've no idea how they all managed to fit together without merging!" Harry babbled excitedly. "It was all great fun until we met Moaning Myrtle again."

"Oh, she's a drip, isn't she?" Draco drawled.

"Yeah, so when we noticed she was going to go around the entire party after us, we said goodbye to Nick and the Head of the Headless Host, and were headed back to the Great Hall for dinner. Except..."

"What?" Draco Malfoy asked, his grey eyes disturbingly bright.

"The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened. Enemies of the Heir beware." Harry said, in a voice full of ashes. "We didn't... didn't know."

"Oh, right..." Draco Malfoy said, "Traumatic, that."

"For Filch? definitely. He loves his cat more than anything in the world."

As there wasn't much Draco Malfoy could say to that, they rode on in silence, through moor gradually turning solid beneath their horses' hooves.

[a/n: so sorry this is so slow! will try to do better about this. meantime, review please!]