Disclaimer – Miss JK Rowling owns the whole HP universe, I own naught.

********

The next morning Harry's eyes flew open. It was Sunday morning and still early by the sounds of it. The sun had come up, and cast a chilly light through the windows. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and reached for his glasses. The world came into sharp focus and he lay back down on his soft pillows.

All of a sudden, he remembered the scene from last night. Oh my god - had he actually said that he thought Draco Malfoy was beautiful? To his face? Not directly, but nevertheless, I know – was quite an obvious choice of words that fell into agreement with Malfoy's previous sentence.

' Veela are exceptionally beautiful people.'

' I know.'

He let out a soft groan.

I know??!!

What the hell had possessed him to come out with that? As if his life were not complicated enough! He'd never live this down. Of course Malfoy was going to tell everyone. He would probably say 'Potter made a move on me'.

Harry winced at such horrendous possibilities. Why couldn't he have kept his mouth shut? Just like Malfoy had said the other day in the corridor. What had come over him?

He had wanted to get some fresh air and gone out into the grounds. As he had rounded the corner, he saw Malfoy. Malfoy had then walked a few steps closer and they had stood there, looking at one another. Harry couldn't even begin to understand the root of why he had continued to stand there. But for the briefest moment in so many months, Harry didn't feel so alone.

Malfoy had been looking at Harry with an enigmatic expression. Harry had expected to see the open hostility oozing from Malfoy's silvery eyes, but last night, there didn't seem to be so much of that, as it was replaced by something else that Harry could not describe.

It was strange just even saying a few words to Malfoy without anger and irritation flaring up. Harry could have talked to him for longer last night, wanted to talk to him for longer, had Zabini not returned at that moment.

He couldn't understand it and dared not speak his thoughts to anyone. He was horrified enough for all their reactions. It was Malfoy, his father was Lucius! and Harry had finally cracked. That had to be it, he reasoned. Plus, it was only recently that Harry had noticed the beauty that Malfoy possessed. Aesthetically he was very pleasing to look at. Malfoy no longer looked like a young boy. He had matured into a young man. But so what if he had discovered that Malfoy was good looking? That didn't explain his strange attraction to the boy… I am not shallow, Harry thought indignantly. But why am I being weird? Because Malfoy is good looking? Am I that pathetic? Apparently he was.

Harry felt a quiver of dread at the prospect of seeing the silver-eyed Slytherin today. He knew he would have to face him sooner or later. He wondered if there was a slim chance that Malfoy could have been really drunk (somehow) last night and wouldn't remember the conversation. Yeah right, like that would happen, and life is that good.

Harry got out of bed; a fresh resolve settling in. He was going to act completely normal. Like it didn't matter and that he went around all the time telling boys he thought they were good looking. Boys? Good looking? Harry shook his head. He liked girls, I mean ok there had only been the one, but he thought he liked girls. Of course he had never felt so physically drawn to anyone like he had to Malfoy last night. And he guessed that is what was called attraction, and of all the people in the world – it had to be Malfoy.

I'm sick. This is some perverse effect of my hatred towards Malfoy.

He showered and dressed and ran downstairs to gulp breakfast. He sped out of the Great Hall before he saw any sign of Malfoy. Ron was just coming down the staircase when he saw Harry, and looked at him in surprise.

' I woke up early and thought I'd go and see Hagrid,' Harry said quickly.

'Oh right,' Ron said.' Tell him I said hi.'

'Will do,' he turned around just as a group of Slytherin's were coming out of the door that led down to the Dungeons. Harry didn't wait around to see if Malfoy was one of them.

He spent the next few hours helping Hagrid feed some Flobberworms. He was grateful that it wasn't those damn Blast-Ended Screwts that Hagrid seemed so fond of.

' So had a good time at the dance 'arry?'

'Uhh yeah thanks Hagrid. You?'

'Yeah, give me a couple of drinks and I'm merry,' he laughed and easily picked up a Flobberworm, placing it into a pen. Hagrid had looked quite merry last night, and danced with most of the female teachers. Harry teased him, saying that would Olympe mind?

Hagrid's eyes twinkled,' oh she knows that I'm only havin a bit of fun. Wish she was 'ere last night though,' he sighed heavily.' Never mind, I'm seeing her soon enough.'

Harry smiled and fetched some more lettuces for the creatures to eat. The hours sped quickly thankfully and he made his way back to school for lunch.

He was approaching the Great Hall when he bumped straight into Malfoy. His initial reaction was to say sorry, but he stopped himself and bit his tongue, meeting Malfoy's hoary gaze.

'Potter.'

Harry took in a small breath and looked directly back into those glittering eyes.

'Now where are you rushing off to?' Malfoy smirked slightly.' No running in the hallways, you know that. I could give you detention for that you know,' he shook his head, teasingly clicking his tongue.

Here we go, Harry thought. He's going to have a great big old laugh isn't he? He probably would give Harry detention, just to spite him. It would be the kind of thing Malfoy would do.

'Harry?'

Malfoy and Harry both turned their heads at the third voice.

'Cho,' Harry said.' Ummmmm err……' he cleared his throat, 'hi.'

Cho smiled, though it looked strained, ' you left this behind in the library.'

She handed Harry back an inkbottle.

'It had your name on it so……'

He took it clutching it in his hand.

 ' Thanks. I didn't even realise I left it.'

He shifted slightly on his feet and dropped his eyes for a moment.

'Yeah…..' she continued, pushing her dark silky hair back. ' Did you have a good time at the dance last night?'

' Uhhh yeah thanks. You?' Harry said, feeling horribly ill at ease.

' Yes it was nice.' She looked at him. 'Well…….' she trailed off, glancing down the corridor.

'Yeah,' Harry said following her gaze, ' ok well see you then.'

She nodded, 'bye,' and walked into the Great Hall.

Harry stood for a moment and then realised that Malfoy had gone. He looked around and felt strangely disappointed.

*********

Draco had walked away feeling confused and angry. He couldn't figure it out, but he was feeling…………….. no, he shook his head furiously. Stupid Cho. It was so obvious that Potter was still into her. He had that whole strained awkward thing going on. He still liked her. Sure she was pretty, very pretty even. But Potter had said Draco was beautiful. Did he think Cho was beautiful too? Draco's eyes narrowed, or was Potter one of those sick people who thought everyone was beautiful? Well Potter had dated Chang for half a second hadn't he? Draco felt a sickening prickle inside of him as he went towards the Slytherin table.

He sat down, glowering in his chair. How dare Potter ignore him? They had been talking……..or could have been talking. But noooooo, as soon as Cho had came along, Potter's attentions had turned elsewhere. Draco caught sight of the dark-haired boy coming in and looked away swiftly. What was it to him if Potter still liked Cho or not? Who cared? And why was he getting wound up? Idiot could do what he liked. Draco knew he was better looking than Cho.

*********

The next day, Harry was sitting in Charms. Everyone had their own desk and on it, laid a blank piece of parchment.  Professor Flitwick stood on his make shift pedestal of books.

' Today in class, we will be testing your control over your wand. According to the syllabus, we should cover particular charms using wand control by the end of the second term,' he gave a small squeaky laugh.

He cleared his throat and picked up his wand. 'So now we are going to do a little exercise. You all the see the blank parchment in front of you?' He looked over the affirmative nods and carried on,' I want you all to take your wands in your hands,' the students complied. ' Now all of you close your eyes and clear your minds.'

There were a few hushed giggles and whispers and he waited till all eyes were closed.' Do not open your eyes till I say so.'

He cleared his throat. 'Now think of the first image that comes into your head,' he paused,' hold it….hold it,' he repeated.' Now utter these words with your wand at the count of three. Picturam Pingit! One… two… three!'

Simultaneously the word echoed through the class. 'Okay,' came Professor Flitwick's small delighted voice, ' now open your eyes and see what image you have created!'

Harry opened his eyes and immediately sucked in an appalled gasp. His mouth gaped wide open and he blinked at his parchment disbelievingly. It was a lovely picture; there was no doubt about that. Black and white, shaded in charcoal it seemed. It was of a persons face. A very beautiful face in fact.

Harry swallowed with difficulty - it was Malfoy. Oh no………..

That was Malfoy's face!

Harry looked down at the face looking up at him. It wore a small smile that was playing upon its perfectly formed lips. The piercing eyes looking deeply intense and vivid. They seemed to be staring directly up at Harry from beyond the flat parchment. The hair was dancing gently around the face in silky strands, as if standing outside with a cool breeze ruffling it.

Malfoy looked relaxed with a mischievous glint in his eye, and that slightly haughty expression that Harry knew so well. Harry sat shocked. It would have been different if his image were of Malfoy sneering or being a prat, but this was………Harry shifted nervously in his seat, as if Malfoy was looking at someone that he was intimate with. The teasing, knowing light in his eyes, the soft smile. Harry couldn't believe he had produced it. What is wrong with me?

Professor Flitwick gave a small cough as he looked out to the class.

' You can all revel in your masterpieces later. Now for the rest of the lesson I want you to get on with some more small charms from the textbook. If you are having any trouble then please put your hand up.'

The class continued to work through the lesson and Harry quickly folded the picture and slid it into his bag. He couldn't let anyone see this.

The lesson ended and they all packed away.

'Hey Harry,' Hermione called out as her and Ron came up to him.

'Lets see what was yours came out as?'

Harry looked away as he slung his bag over his shoulder, ' er…' he said, 'it didn't come out so good. I threw it away.'

'Oh,' Hermione sounded disappointed, 'never mind. At least you know what to practise.'

Ron showed Harry his, 'it's Hermione,' he laughed,' doing homework!'

Hermione gave him a cross look, 'but look how cute you look doing it,' Ron said lovingly, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

She smiled, 'mine is of Ron and I when we went skating over Christmas on the lake. I thought of that this morning.'

Harry listened silently. Why couldn't he have thought of an innocent, harmless image like that? He stifled a sigh.

Later on that evening, he was sitting on his bed with the curtains drawn around. He finally had the opportunity to be alone, and it was only now that he dared to take out the picture. He opened it up and smoothed it across his pillow. How on earth had he produced this? It just wasn't feasible; it should be horribly incomprehensible in fact, for him to even begin to be thinking about Malfoy in this manner.

He looked down at the 2D image. It looked like they were sharing a special secret just between themselves. Harry rested his head on his hand and gazed thoughtfully at the parchment. He spent long moments just looking at it. Finally he got up and opened up his trunk, which stood at the foot of the bed, and hid the picture underneath his invisibility cloak.

There it remained for three days, with an anxious Harry opening it every now and again to see if it was still there. This is ridiculous, he thought. He was worried that some one might accidentally come across it, someone might see it. He could always put a locking spell on his trunk, but that seemed a bit extreme. He was getting all wound up over a picture?

But he couldn't bear the thought of anyone discovering it. What would he say? Worse still, what if Malfoy found out? He had to get rid of it, but he didn't have the heart to throw it away. He couldn't bring himself to. He considered his other option. He could give it to Malfoy. Not personally of course, but anonymously leave it for him or something.

He got an envelope and tucked the picture into it neatly after taking a last look. He'd like it, Harry decided. What was there not to like? Malfoy was vain enough that it would appeal to his already swollen persona. He sealed the envelope and wrote on the front ' Draco Malfoy'. He stared at it for a moment and then got out his wand.

'Erade,' the letters disappeared and he re-wrote the name in block letters and put it into his bag.

The next morning in Potions, he purposefully chose the seat behind Malfoy. He quickly eyed the position of the Slytherin's bag. It was underneath the bench and slightly open. The mouth gaping down towards the floor. Malfoy had already got out his things for the lesson, so he shouldn't be reaching for his bag till he needed to pack away.

As the lesson was ending, Harry accidentally on purpose dropped his wand on the floor. Under the guise of picking it up, he muttered the Banishing charm; sending the manila envelope from his bag, into Malfoy's open one. It worked and he straightened up on his chair.

'All right,' Professor Snape said. ' Read chapters ten through to fourteen in preparation for the next lesson. You are dismissed,' he waved his hand and turned back to his notes.

The pupils started to pack away. Harry muttered, 'Cadoum,' with his wand, lifting it discreetly by his side.

It caused a vial upon the window shelf, near Malfoy's elbow, to topple over. It contained distilled water and the contents poured on the floor.

'Damn,' Harry heard Malfoy mumble.

Everyone started to walk out of the classroom and Harry followed Ron and Hermione into the corridor. They were a few paces in front of him, when he dropped his bag onto the floor. Ron turned around.

'It's ok,' Harry said. ' You go on, I'll catch you up.'

Hermione nodded and her and Ron walked down the corridor out of sight. Professor Snape came out of the classroom, his knee bumping into Harry's shoulder.

'Potter,' Snape cast a cold sweeping look across Harry's hunched figure and walked past, his robes billowing out behind him.

Harry waited till he was gone and straightened up. He carefully looked around the door. The pale Slytherin was mopping up the last drabs of liquid.

'Come on,' Harry urged him.

Finally, Malfoy picked up his bag and started to put in his parchment and quill, when he obviously found the envelope. He took it out and looked at it curiously. Harry quickly jerked his head back as Malfoy glanced around suspiciously. Harry waited a few seconds and then peered round again. The blond boy was still holding the envelope between his slim fingers.

He turned it over, and with a slightly mystified expression on his face, looked like he was assessing the writing. He then slowly tore a tiny corner of the envelope and pushed his index finger in, splitting up the seal. He extracted the crisp parchment carefully and opened it up. Harry bit his lip anxiously, waiting for Malfoy's reaction. There was none at first. The Slytherin's gaze ran over the picture, as if he wasn't sure what to make of it. Harry swallowed nervously. Just then Malfoy's face broke into a small quizzical smile and Harry sighed with relief. It made him smile, Harry felt a tingle of delight at the thought. He couldn't deal with the feelings of why just yet, but all that mattered is that Malfoy liked it.

Over the next few days, Harry was sure that the Slytherin suspected that the picture was from him. Whenever he looked up from the dining table, Malfoy's eyes were already watching him. The blonde's expression was inscrutable and his gaze was always direct and unwavering. They hadn't spoken, but Harry often could feel the silver eyes burning into him. On more than one occasion he felt the heat spreading across his face, as Malfoy continued to unabashedly stare at him. Harry couldn't believe that no one had noticed. He couldn't believe he was feeling this way.

He didn't know what was happening, but now whenever the silver-eyed Slytherin was near him, he could feel the air crackle with electricity. He wasn't sure what he wanted exactly; only that this was not normal behaviour for someone he spent the better half of six years hating.

But Malfoy was also not acting the same way he used to either. Gone were the immature insults and the cackles of laughter. Malfoy seemed unmistakeably quieter than he had ever been in all the years Harry had shared with him. For the first time Harry wandered what Malfoy's holidays had been like. His father's imprisonment had obviously had a profound affect on him.

Harry cursed himself for his idiotic behaviour. I have to get over this quickly. It would only be a matter of time before Ron and Hermione noticed, and he hated to think of what perfectly made up excuse he could tell them. They would never understand, he couldn't even begin to understand it himself.

Tuesday evening, he was hurrying down to the dining hall with Ron. The Gryffindor tower being on the seventh floor was no minor feat for the students getting down to the ground floor. Ron was a few floors ahead of him and Harry sped up, sharply turning the corner. He ran bang into an armful of books. The books tumbled around his feet, as he froze to see Malfoy in front of him. They looked at each other for a moment, and then Malfoy calmly bent down to pick up the books.

Harry bent down too helping, 'sorry,' he said embarrassed. I'm embarrassed? In front of Malfoy?

Malfoy shook his head and laughed quietly under his breath, as he piled the books back up again. Harry offered the last book and the Slytherin reached for it.

'Harry?' Ron's voice echoed from several staircases below.                   

'Coming!' Harry called out, his eyes not moving from the face in front of him.

His lips then turned, into a wide and sincere smile, he couldn't help it. It had escaped from him before he could pull it back. It was as if his genuine smiles were wasting away somewhere deep and dark inside of him. They hadn't surfaced for a while now. Perhaps they needed little excuse to emerge, after being forgotten for so long. His smile faded quickly, however.

What came over him next was so abrupt; he couldn't decipher it into any kind of coherent thought. Everything seemed to instantaneously dissolve around him, all except the blond boy standing before him. Harry was acutely aware of his heart thumping in his chest. Malfoy watched him quietly with a bemused expression. Harry swallowed and suddenly felt weak with desire. He just didn't want to fight it any longer. Wanted to give into whatever need he was feeling and go along with it.

Just do it.

Malfoy's eyes looked so soft. Like solid silver slowly melting into a whirlpool of shimmering liquid. Harry felt like he could have spent hours just gazing into the molten pools. Oh no….

He drew in a shaky breath and in an unexpected moment of clarity, he leaned in closer and pressed a gentle but firm kiss upon Malfoy's lips. The Slytherin's eyes widened in astonishment as Harry's eyes closed and he pressed his lips once again against Malfoy's soft, surprised mouth, kissing him slowly. Harry let out an involuntary soft sigh as he leaned back, opening his eyes.

Malfoy looked stunned, and

Everything

Swiftly came flooding back into harsh techni-colour reality.

Harry gulped, quickly coming to his senses, absolutely mortified at what he had just done. He looked frantically around and then back at Malfoy, who hadn't moved and was still looking shocked. Harry hurriedly stood up, trembling.

'Oh my god, I'm so sorry,' he said aghast, ' I should…I should go.' He finished haltingly, his body quivering.

Malfoy hadn't uttered a word and Harry felt himself shaking as he raced down the stairs, his breath catching in his throat.  What have I done?