~ There's only us, there's only this
                                                                                                    Forget regret or life is yours to miss ~

            Harry slowly opened his eyes the next morning just as the sun was warming the sky. He turned his face towards the window and watched the rain splatter against the glass and run down in little rivers. He was feeling extremely cozy; lying in a warm bed with his head tucked under Draco's chin and their arms holding each other loosely.

Harry tilted his head up to look at Draco's face. His usually carefully styled hair was softly framing his pale cheeks with silvery, blond wisps and his pink lips were slightly parted as he breathed softly onto Harry's hair. Harry smiled and lightly kissed Draco's collarbone.

Draco shifted beneath him, raising his arms above his head as he stretched luxuriously. He opened his eyes and squinted down at Harry.

"What are you doing awake this early?" he yawned.

"I don't know."

"Well, why don't you go make me breakfast?" Draco said sleepily, closing his eyes again.

"Alright, I will," Harry answered cheerfully. "And I'll bring it to you in bed."

"Whatever makes you happy," Draco mumbled. "I'll have an omelette."

Harry gave him a quick peck on the cheek, grabbed his glasses, and bounced off the bed and out of the room. Draco smiled to himself and drifted off back to sleep.

Harry entered the kitchen, oiled a frying pan and placed it on the burner. He collected plates and utensils, setting them up on a tray with a single red rose that he took from a vase on the kitchen table. He smiled at the flower and hummed to himself as he went to the fridge to get out the ingredients for the omelette. He grabbed cheese, mushrooms, onions, and red peppers before noticing that the egg carton was completely empty.

"Shit!" Harry cursed under his breath, straightening up and slamming the fridge door. He looked over at the tray with the flower on it and frowned in disappointment.

"I'll just have to go buy some," he thought to himself. He started down the hall to the bedroom to get his wand so that he could summon the Ministry guards to accompany him outside.

"This is stupid!" he thought, stopping mid-stride. "I think I can manage to walk to the market and back on my own."

Harry stood in the doorway of his bedroom, watching Draco's sleeping form while chewing worriedly on his bottom lip.

"If I go and come back really quick he won't even know I was gone," he decided.

He quietly entered the room, slipped on his jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed his wand, and returned to the kitchen.

"Maybe I should leave a note..." he thought guiltily, while tying up his shoes and wrapping his cloak around him.

In the end he decided to just leave out the empty egg carton for Draco to see in case he woke up. Harry slipped his wand under his shirt and quickly left. The front door closed behind him with a click as he went out alone for the first time in over a year.

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            Draco suddenly woke to the smell of burning oil and groaned as he draped an arm over his eyes.

"You'd better not be burning my breakfast, Harry!" he shouted.

When there was no answer, he lifted his arm and looked out the open doorway.

"Harry?"

Draco sat up, a sudden feeling of foreboding coming over him.

"Harry, answer me!" he tried again.

Silence.

Draco leapt out of bed, threw on his black trousers from the floor and ran to the kitchen. There was a frying pan smoking on the stove with a layer of blackened oil burning on the bottom. Draco quickly turned off the heat and removed it to the sink.

"Harry?" he called, looking into the living room and finding it empty. Panic building, he ran around the entire apartment, looking everywhere, including the deck and the outside hallway.

Draco closed the door and leaned against it, running his hands through his hair in helplessness.

"Harry...where are you?" he asked aloud, feeling lost.

He walked back to the kitchen and suddenly spied the telephone on the wall. He quickly strode over and pushed 'the Weasleys' on speed-dial.

"Hello?" a groggy male voice answered on the other end.

"Have you seen, Harry?" Draco asked, pacing back and forth.

"Draco?" Ron asked, still half-asleep.

"Yeah"

"Harry? No..." Ron suddenly sat up in bed. "Why? Is he missing?"

"He said he was going to make me breakfast and when I got up he was gone...and there was a pan burning on the stove..." he trailed off.

"Oh, God..." Ron paled.

Hermione stirred in the bed beside him and blinked her eyes open.

"I don't know what to do," Draco said desperately.

"Um...have you called the Ministry guards yet?"

"No...I'll do that now."

"Good...alright, you call them and we'll be right over," Ron said, getting out of bed and searching for some clothes.

"Thanks, Ron." Draco hung up the phone.

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            Ron barely registered the fact that that was the first time Draco had ever called him by his first name.

"What is it Ron?" Hermione asked, fully awake and watching him frantically throw on yesterdays clothes from the floor.

"That was Draco on the phone," he paused and looked over at her. "Harry is missing."

Hermione gasped and put her hands over her mouth.

"What...how..." Hermione spluttered.

"I told him we'd be right over. He sounded really shook up on the phone."

Hermione sprang into action and soon the two of them were on their way.

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            Draco threw the pillows on the bed aside as he searched for his wand, he saw it tucked in the corner and quickly grabbed it before turning towards the door. Stopping suddenly he looked back towards the bed with a puzzled expression.

"Harry's wand is gone," he frowned.

Just then the doorbell rang and Draco, half-hoping it was Harry, sprinted down the hall with his wand in hand. He threw open the door to see Ron and Hermione standing there in rain soaked cloaks.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Ron asked hopefully.

"No." Draco led the way into the kitchen.

Hermione patted his shoulder before the three of them settled down around the table.

"Have you called the Ministry?" Hermione asked.

"Not yet, but I noticed something strange - Harry's wand is missing, too."

"Where does he usually keep it?"

"Under his pillow, with mine."

"Maybe he took it with him this morning," Ron put in.

"I don't think he would've taken it to make me breakfast," Draco answered, rubbing his eyes. "Besides, I know he didn't because I saw him leave the bedroom without it."

"So...you were in there when someone took it?" Hermione pondered aloud.

"I must have been..."

"So, whoever took Harry came and got his wand quietly enough so as not to wake you?" Ron asked in disbelief. "That doesn't sound like a Death Eater."

"Death Eaters can't get in here," Draco interjected. "Dumbledore has this place magically secured."

"Why would they take his wand?" Ron puzzled.

"How would they know where he kept it?" Hermione frowned.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes before Hermione suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked over at Draco.

"What if Harry took his wand?"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, glancing up.

"Did you check to see if his shoes or cloak were gone too?" she asked.

Realization suddenly dawned on the other two men.

"You think Harry went out on his own?" Ron asked slowly.

"Exactly," Hermione answered, standing up.

"But that would be against Dumbledore's orders," Ron said incredulously.

"Oh, and Harry's never broken the rules before," Hermione quipped sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

Draco stood up and walked to the front door, followed closely by Ron and Hermione.

"I can't believe it..." Draco said hollowly. "His stuff is gone."

"I knew it!" she crowed.

"I can't believe that stupid git!" Ron said. "Where would he go? Especially without telling you?"

"I don't know, he said he was going to make me breakf-" Draco stopped and clapped a hand to his forehead.

"What is it?" Hermione asked in alarm.

Draco didn't answer. He turned and walked back to the kitchen, looking around the cluttered counters, before his eyes suddenly fell on the empty egg carton. He  quickly walked over and picked it up.

"He went out for eggs?" Ron noted in amusement. "I can't believe that idiot risked his life to make you breakfast."

Draco stared at the carton quietly.

"It's not your fault, Draco." Hermione watched him carefully. "You know Harry was just itching to go out anyway, it was just a matter of time before he did."

Draco stayed silent.

Hermione and Ron glanced at each other.

"Do you want us to stay with you while you wait for, Harry?" Ron asked tentatively.

"No, that's okay." Draco looked up and smiled tiredly. "Thanks for coming over, and I'm sorry I made you worry over nothing."

"Well, you didn't know that Harry was just being thick," Ron smiled.

"We still don't know that he's safe, I mean, he is still out alone," Hermione stated.

"If he's not back within the hour I'll call you," Draco said, leading the way to the front door.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other uncertainly before following. They didn't want to go before Harry got back, nor did they want to leave Draco alone.

"Please call us as soon as Harry gets back or...or for any reason," Hermione rushed.

"Don't be too hard on him," Ron added. "You know how he gets when he wants to do something, nothing can get in his way."

Draco pretended to smile as he said goodbye and shut the door. Then he walked to the kitchen, sat in a chair and rested his head in his hands, his blond hair falling around his face.

"I can't protect him all the time..." he thought miserably. "One day I'll wake up to find him gone and he won't ever be coming back."

Draco sat there for awhile until he had come to a decision. "If I have to live without him eventually, then I might as well start now."

         Just then the sound of the front door opening made Draco jump and look up.

"Draco?" Harry's voice echoed down the hallway.

Draco closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Harry," he said under his breath.

He rose out of the chair and took a deep, steadying breath. A flash of pain flickered across his handsome face before he replaced it with a mask of coldness and waited for Harry to come in.