They were let out early today for the party in the Great Hall. Decorations still had to be put up, food prepared, and last-minute costumes made. Draco didn't intend to make an appearance. What would be the use? To stand in the corner of the room, alone, and drink spiked punch? He could do that just fine on his own. No holiday needed.

He walked out of the Great Hall, past a large jack-o-lantern. The nippy autumn wind bit at his skin and the leaves blew in spirals around him. He spotted Harry against a tree by the lake. Draco took a seat next to him.

"You aren't at the party Potter,"

"Neither are you,"

"I have no one to enjoy it with," They didn't look at each other. The lake was seemingly more interesting.

"Are your house mates still sore with you?"

"Yes... that's why I've quit the team," Harry looked at him.

"You quit because they're mad at you?" he asked incredulously.

Draco sighed, "That's partly it. The... the only reason I've ever flown is because my father told me to," It'd be all right to tell Potter a little bit. Show his human side for once. Besides, with Potter's damned loyalty, who would he tell? "This is just an excuse that I could say aloud,"

"So... you never wanted to fly?"

"No... truth be told, I'm scared of heights," the confession came quietly. Harry looked at him quizzically for a moment, but he didn't meet the gaze. After a moment, Harry nodded and looked back to the lake.

"I'm afraid to be alone," That's an understandable fear, Draco thought. He had that one also. But Harry has more friends and mentors than he could want. So many so that he could probably share with someone. How did he figure that he would ever be alone? Maybe Draco misunderstood the statement . . .

"But you're always off on your own,"

"I know," Harry stood and brushed himself off. "See you around, Malfoy,"

Draco watched Harry walk back into the castle. That was one confusing young man who just walked away, he thought.


His peers were chatting lightheartedly as the large group of seventh years walked to Hogsmeade. The frost-covered grass and dry leaves crunched under his feet as he walked. Draco broke off from everyone else once they were in the outskirts of the small town. He walked over to a building with peeling paint, and a sign that read 'Jewelry,' but was missing the first 'e' and the 'y' was half-off.

A bell jingled merrily overhead as he walked in. A musky incense filled his nose at once. It made him dizzy and a little queasy. It clouded the thinking part of his mind. Kind of like the incense in the Trelawney's room did. There was no one behind the counter, but that didn't worry him. Draco's silver eyes scanned the dusty racks of jewelry. The products themselves were polished, but as for the rest of the store...

Draco had been taught since his first trip to a store not to touch anything that he didn't intend to buy. He didn't lift his hands to feel the silver necklaces. As well, he showed absolutely no interest in him, lest some pesky storekeeper tried to talk him into something. But that one necklace in the back... the small oval-cut emerald, no bigger than his thumbnail,hanging from a thick silver chain. It was beautiful. It reminded him of something, or someone, but the aroma in the place was driving his mind crazy. There was a tag attached to it. It was handwritten. Draco wondered what it said.

"It's an energy necklace," said a croaky voice in his ear. It took all the restraint he had not to jump. He raised an eyebrow.

"Ah... How does it work?" Perfect, Draco, show no interest. Daddy would be proud, he thought wryly. He almost laughed.

The small lady limped up next to him. Her hair was a mousy, gray mess on the top of her head. She was at least a foot shorter than Draco.

"You grasp onto the emerald–like this–and focus on it, and it alone. You can use it to magnify your magic, or to heal yourself. But just brushing by it or accidentally touching it won't give you energy,"

Draco reached out his hand and took the necklace from her. Well, that did it, he'd have to buy it now. He studied the tag. It said what the woman had already told him. Draco still couldn't get over the fact that the necklace had caught his attention. The other things in the store just weren't the same.

"I'll take it,"

"Good," Draco shuddered. That atrocious voice!

She took the necklace back from him gently. He followed her to the cluttered little counter by the door. Why was he buying that necklace? He really couldn't say. It wasn't as if he hadn't boughten things on impulse before. And Lord knows he had the money for it. But why? She had asked him a question... he blinked.

"Pardon?"

"Do you want it wrapped, dear? For the lovely girl I'm sure will be receiving this for a present come Christmas time," she gave him a wink. Draco held back another shudder. Yes, a girl this Christmas. The thought itself was laughable. He didn't dwell on it.

"Sure, wrap it," he was lost to his hazy, incense-induced thoughts while she wrapped the present. Red wrapping paper. Lovely. How Gryffindor.

He paid her and left the store. Her voice was making the hairs on the back of his neck and arms stand on end. Draco turned the corner to go back to the school and ran straight into someone. They were both thrown to the frosty ground. Draco stood and brushed himself off. He checked his pocket and found that the little package was still safe.

He looked down at the ground and almost smirked at the boy he had knocked over. He stooped down and picked up a pair of glasses that had fallen from the force of the collision. Draco held his other hand out to help up Harry, who accepted it.

"Lose your glasses Potter?"

"Looks like it," he mumbled. Draco placed them in Harry's hand. Their fingertips brushed. Draco shuddered again. Harry put his glasses back on and blinked as the world came back into focus. "Thanks Malfoy,"

"No problem... which direction are you headed?" he asked. Again, he showed no interest. Harry wasn't something in a store that he could buy, but the habit stuck with Draco.

Harry looked back the direction he had come from. Hermione and Ron were walking into a store, their hands clasped tightly. It seemed to Draco that they didn't even notice Harry's absence. "Away from them,"

"They annoying you?" Draco asked.

"Ignoring me is more like it... They suggest a 'friendly day in Hogsmeade, just the three of us' and they end up snogging for fifteen minutes on a bench," Draco snorted in laughter. Harry glared at him half- heartedly. Draco shrugged as if to say 'what else did you expect from me?'

"Which way are you going?"

Draco looked both ways, then shrugged. "Pick a direction."

For everyone reading between the lines: Tell me which way we are going.

"The school,"

He nodded, "Mind if I walk with you?"

Harry raised an eyebrow, "First you knock me to the ground and then you expect me to let you walk with me?" Draco heard the sarcasm quite clearly. It takes a sarcastic person to know one.

"Well if you don't want me to..."

Harry interrupted him with a laugh. "Come on Malfoy,"

They walked in a comfortable silence along the path to Hogwarts. A snowy white owl Draco didn't recognize flew toward them, and landed on Harry's shoulder. Harry stopped to relieve her of her burden and Draco stopped also. Harry opened the letter and started reading. Draco respectedHarry's privacy and didn't look over his shoulder. Instead, he watched the owl. After a few moments she got up and flew onto his shoulder. Draco stroked her feathers absentmindedly. The white feathers reminded him of that cat he had owned once...

Harry sighed and put the letter into his pocket. He looked up at Draco and Hedwig. "She likes you,"

Draco nodded, "Yeah... yeah, she does..." he was still out of it. The incense was gone, sure, but his memories were as good a distraction as anything. He convinced the owl to fly off again. "What's her name?" Draco asked. They had started walking again.

"Hedwig,"

"I've heard that name somewhere before..."

"I found it in A History of Magic," Draco made a noise of acknowledgment and nothing more. Harry looked at him oddly. "Malfoy, do you have a pet?"

Draco swallowed, "No,"

"Have you ever had one?"

He nodded, "When I was younger, a kitten..."

"What happened to her?" Harry asked quietly. Draco could have cursed him then and there. Leave it to Harry to ask the questions that Draco didn't want voiced.

"She-she died..." Harry made a noise, as if to say 'well I knew that part,' but he said nothing else. Draco continued. "She was white, and I hadn't named her yet. I was only six when she found me, and she died the next day,"

"How did she die?" Harry whispered it this time.

Draco's hands had found their way to his arms somehow. They were making an X across his chest. "My father killed her. Said the only pet a Malfoy could have would be an owl,"

"...Did you get an owl after that?"

"No... they won't come near me, they never have–until today. Your owl is the first to come near me," he said in a confused voice. "It's almost ironic,"

Harry nodded, "It is ironic." They walked in silence until they were in the castle. They were about to part, without saying another word, when Harry stopped him. "Hey Malfoy!"

Draco turned to him, "Yes?"

"Do... do cats still like you?"

"...I really don't know. I haven't gone near another one since that day,"

Harry nodded, "Thanks. Bye Malfoy," he walked up a staircase to Draco's left.

"Bye Potter," he mumbled. Harry had once again left a very confused Draco in his wake.


Please review!

Note: Edited on 12/16/04 for grammar, spelling and punctuation. A few things may be different from the original version, but nothing drastic.

:-:silver-sunn101:-: