Part 2. I was begged for a kiss-scene, so here it is, in all its sappy-sweet glory. ^-^

A miniscule puff of smoke drifted up past his head, pulling a small laugh from his lips. Draco looked down at the tiny silver dragon that lay curled on his pillow, "Pii, as much as I hate to admit it, you're cute."

The little statuette was no more than two inches from nose to the base of its tail, with a small loop in it's back from which a delicate silver chain was strung. It had been a gift for his sixteenth birthday two weeks before, and had come as quite a surprise.

It wasn't actually receiving a gift that was a surprise; it had been the person to give it to him that had come as a shock. His parents had forgotten him. His 'friends' had forgotten him. But Harry Potter, of all people, had given him a gift.

Potter. They hated each other. They had been rivals since their first day, over five years ago. And yet…the boy had given him a gift. Not only that, but Pii looked to be quite an expensive little trinket.

Naturally Draco had been quite suspicious of the tiny bundle of green tissue paper Potter had presented to him. A trick? Or a joke? Against his better judgements he had opened it, and immediately fell in love with the tiny bit of silver shaped like a dragon.

Potter had said it was 'alive,' which wasn't far from the truth; it had been enchanted to move as a real dragon would, and to recognize its owner. Fifty Galleons was a modest estimate of the price.

Draco scratched the top of the dragon's head gently, causing it to make a noise between a purr and a squeak. They were alone in the dorm; the only condition in which Draco would verbally speak to Pii. "I don't understand him, Pii. He hates me for more than five years, now he gives me a present. Makes no sense." He shook his head, picking up the dragon and replacing it about his neck, "Come on then, time for lunch."

~*~

He was beginning to regret ever listening to Fred. Any information or assistance from the Weasley twins was not to be completely trusted. He'd given Malfoy a gift; a token of his affection, if it could be called such.  It was impossible to think that such passionate feelings-even those of animosity-would not eventually turn to other more positive (though confusing) feelings.

A simple crush-surely that's all it amounted to, right?  It wasn't so much the face that he fancied a boy that bothered him. It was the fact that her perhaps fancied Malfoy that disturbed him. And yet he had spent 73 Galleons on a birthday gift for the boy. True, he had more than enough money hidden away in his Gringotts vault, but 73 Galleons was enough to hurt his wallet for the time being.

Harry sighed. Certainly it wasn't the smartest thing he'd ever done. Since his birthday Malfoy had completely ignored Harry. He wouldn't admit it, even to Ron, but he rather missed Malfoy's attentions, even if they were less than friendly. Bad attention was better than no attention, and he wanted that attention back.

Even being picked on would have been better than being ignored. He wears it though, doesn't he?  Harry could see the bump of the necklace under Malfoy's robes, and it sent pleasant warmth through his veins. Even if he hates me, he likes my gift.

"Harry? Oi, Harry! Class is over. Do you plan on sitting here for tomorrow, or are you coming to lunch?" Brown eyes framed by bright red hair scowled down at Harry, "I know the class is boring, but you gotta wake up sometime."

Harry shook his head, "Sorry, Ron. Wasn't paying attention, I guess. Go ahead without me, I'll be on in a minute." Though it was quite normal to catch at least three or four students sleeping through History of Magic at any given time, Harry had not been one of them today. Rather, his mind had been whirling at a thousand thoughts per minute, almost all of them focusing on a certain Slytherin.

It's more than a bit of a crush, isn't it? How could this have happened? Harry picked himself up, gathering his things, and shuffled off towards the Great Hall.

Most of the school was already seated, and Harry was quite sure that Ron was on at least his second plate as he slid into the seat between his two best friends.

"Harry, are you feeling alright? You've been looking a bit out of sorts lately."

He turned to give Hermione a fake smile, "Fine, 'Mione. Just a bit preoccupied. Have you noticed Malfoy lately? He's been ignoring us for quite a while."

"And good riddance to him. That stupid ferret can keep to himself, thanks. Maybe he'll slip on some of the slime in those dungeons and die."

"Ron! Be nice. I'm sure the dungeons aren't nearly as slimy as you say."

Had he been paying attention Harry would have laughed at Hermione's comment. As it was, he was currently much more interested in staring across the Hall at the Slytherin in question. Malfoy was slowly lifting small bites of food to his mouth, ignoring the rest of his House. Occasionally his left hand would steal up to the neck of his robes to finger a delicate silver chain hidden there.

Is that...the dragon? It must be. He wears it every day…doesn't he? Maybe its just some other necklace I've never noticed… The more Harry thought about it, the more upset he became. He lifted a bit of chicken to his lips, but didn't taste a thing. For two weeks Malfoy had completely ignored him.

He had to do something.

~*~

Draco watched curiously as Harry suddenly pushed away from the Gryffindor table and quickly made his way out of the Great Hall. For the few minutes Harry had been at lunch Draco had been able to feel his piercing green gaze on himself, though he refused to look up.

I've been a right prat, haven't I? Not that I haven't been for the last five and a half years… he abandoned any further attempts at eating for his thoughts, ignoring Pansy when she tried to force him to eat something from the other side of the table.  Stupid girl. Doesn't she know there are more important things than food? Draco mumbled a quick 'Excuse me' before removing himself from the table and stalking through the same door Harry had just exited.

I almost feel bad…almost. I never told him to give me a gift, the stupid thing. Once again Draco's hand stole up to the silver chain, this time pulling the tiny dragon from its hiding place in his robes. "What do you think, Pii? Should we talk to him?"

The little dragon squeaked at him, swishing its tail in a manner that Draco had come to learn that meant Pii was pleased.

"Well then, where do you think he might be?" He held Pii in the palm of his hand, looking at it intensely as if it were speaking to him. "The Quidditch pitch, you think? Sounds good." Over the years Draco has found the Gryffindor flying expertly over the pitch several times when he had just gone out to do the same thing.

Allowing Pii to dangle freely from his neck Draco set out towards the Quidditch pitch. "I have no idea why I'm doing this, Pii. What's the point in it? He pushed past the enormous double doors that lead outside the castle, blinking at the sudden invasion of light on his senses.

"What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, Potter, how lovely to see you again. Terribly sorry I've been ignoring you for the last few weeks, but I'm sure you've liked it better that way anyway, haven't you?'" He passed by the lake, a bit amused at the giant squid waving a tentacle in greeting at him from near the shore. "I'm sure that would go over well. 'By the way, thanks for the gift. I quite like it'." Draco scoffed, kicking a bit of dirt in the path.

"Really? You like it?"

Draco spun around, instantly covering the tiny dragon with his hand. "Potter? What are you doing out here?"

Harry shrugged eloquently, "I'm allowed to be out here too, Malfoy." He clasped his hands behind his back, "Did…do you really like it?"

Draco's guard went up though he let go of the tiny dragon. "I…why did you do it, Potter?"

Harry smiled faintly; Draco had asked the exact same question two weeks ago, and had not gotten a straight answer. "Why shouldn't I have? It was your birthday, wasn't it?" He found his way to a near-by tree and leaned casually against it.

Draco frowned, "Well, yes, but…I thought you hated me? That would be like Snape giving you a gift." His nerves were on edge, but he kept his demeanor calm, collected. "So why in Merlin's name did you buy me such an expensive gift? Or anything, for that matter?"

"…I don't hate you."

"What do you mean you don't hate me? Of course you hate me. You've always hated me, remember?"

"I've never hated you, Malfoy. I hate the way you've treated my friends and myself. I hate the way you've made me miserable since the day we met because I'm 'The Boy Who Lived' and you're on the other side. But I've never hated you."

Draco lifted a hand once again to lovingly stroke the top of Pii's head. "I do like it." A word of thanks hung on his lips, though they were quite hesitant to pass. "So then, if you don't hate me…"

A sad smile played across Harry's lips, "You don't know, do you?" Hesitantly he moved forward to place a trembling hand on Draco's upper arm. "I know you hate me; I've come to accept that. But I though maybe even you deserve some happiness on your birthday. My own was quite depressing, they always are. So I hoped I could make yours a little better than that."

The blonde looked down at the hand resting on his arm. He could feel his heart climb up into his throat, and he allowed his features to soften just a bit. "You have friends, don't you? Granger and Weasley, and all the other Gryffindors…Aren't they supposed to care?"

"Aren't your parents supposed to care?"

Draco was a bit taken aback by Harry's almost flippant reply. Yes. Parents were supposed to care…"Go to hell, Potter."

Harry ignored him, reaching up to gently clasp the dragon hanging from the silver chain. "What's it's name?"

The Slytherin heavily considered whether or not to tell Harry. Really, it was none of his business…"Pii."

"P? It's name is a letter?" Harry grinned at the little dragon, allowing his mind to make all sorts of meanings from just a tiny bit of information.

"Not P. Pii. P-i-i." He spelled it out, scowling as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We vacationed in Japan last summer. Dreadfully boring; there are almost none of our kind there…I was stuck watching that Muggle box all day, in a language that I didn't know."

"'Muggle box'? You mean a telly?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Whatever. Either way, I picked up a bit of the language from context…" he shrugged. He was better than lying than most, and he knew it. The story hadn't been entirely a lie…he actually had been dragged to Japan the previous summer, and had spent most of his days there glued to the Muggle box, watching the shows. It was a bit like looking at a wizarding picture; most of the things he watched had obviously been drawn or painted by someone, then made to move and talk and interact. There had been shows with real people in them; real Muggles doing…Muggle things…but he had found the drawn ones to usually be a bit more interesting.

Harry nodded absently, listening more to the actual sound of Draco's voice rather than what was being said. Suddenly he looked up, startling emerald eyes shining, "You know, I believe this is the first civil conversation we've ever had."

 "Don't be ridiculous, Potter. We had a perfectly fine conversation when we first met, back in Daigon Alley the first time." A slow heat crept into Draco's cheeks at the thought of that day so many years ago when he'd met a lovely little boy his age, the first one he thought he might actually be able to be real friends with.

"We did no such thing, You were rather rude, and you insulted Hagrid. Hardly a good start."

A pained, wistful look swam slowly across gray eyes, "We could have been friends…"

"Could we?" Harry released his gently hold on Pii, placing both hands on Draco's shoulders. Thick black lashes came down to conceal gem-like eyes as his voice lowered to a choked whisper, "…Can we?"

"I suppose...it's never too late to try…" Guided by instinct rather then conscious or logic, Draco slid an arm around the Gryffindor's waist, pulling his closer. He fits… Slowly he lowered his lips to meet Harry's, deathly afraid, yet blissfully calm.

This had been quite unplanned. All he'd wanted to do was…what? Talk to Harry? Yes, but more than that, perhaps…? Despite the early February chill Draco felt himself melt as Harry immediately met his lips with a gentle passion. He gathered the slightly smaller boy in his arms, head spinning through hundreds of thoughts at once.

When they finally found a lack of proper oxygen to be rather hindering the two boys separated, leaning heir foreheads against the other. Heavy breath passed between them, appearing in white puffs of mixed warm air. Draco pulled back a bit, then began to chuckle softly.

"What? What did I do?"

"Your hair…It's whiter than mine."

Harry looked around, bewildered. A heavy snow was falling around them, coating everything in a blanket of shining white. He too began to laugh, "We didn't even notice…"

"Hey, Potter?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you." He leaned in to claim another kiss, "For everything."

Owari.

Yeah, the ending sucked hard-core. Sorry about that. ^^:

-=Keiran=-