Chapter 4- Look at the Speck

The weekend was over before Harry had time to stop and think about anything. This meant Monday came at a surprising speed and to Harry it felt like it was only yesterday that he was sat in Dumbledore's office talking about what was to happen that very evening, but it was 4 days ago now.

Harry hadn't seen much of Draco over the weekend, they had both been busy with their own friends and Harry had a ton of homework to catch up on which Hermione had made him do.

Nothing had therefore happened over the last 2 days but that didn't stop Harry wondering why the hell he cared. Usually if he didn't see Draco for two days running it was a blessing but now he felt kind of lost without him, it was just as if he...he...MISSED him.

Harry began to chuckle to himself when he thought this on Sunday night in the Library with Hermione and Ron. They both looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head

"Share the joke Harry" Ron smiled, leaning over to try and read what Harry had found so funny in his book he was bent over.

Still laughing Harry looked up

"Sorry, what Ron?"

"You're laughing, what's funny?"

"Oh, I uh- was just remembering something Seamus said to me yesterday" he lied

"What did he say?"

"Oh, you were there Ron, don't you remember? He said- uh-"

Harry looked around for a way out of the situation. He looked at the front of his book and had an idea

"Oh would you look...it's the wrong book! I'll just go and get the right one. Be right back guys!"

Harry grabbed his bag and his pile of books and hurried over to the furthest isle he could find that was empty.

Hermione looked on after him as he ran though the library

"He's been reading the same page in that book for the last 2 hours, surely he would have noticed it was the wrong one before now!"

"Hey! And he never told me what was funny!" Ron added, scowling in the direction Harry had run.

Harry shoved the books back onto the shelf in any random order and stuck his head round the side to see if Hermione and Ron were still looking for him.

He could only see Ron and he had his head stuck back in his Quidditch book. Harry took a deep breath and pelted for the doors. He got outside the library and kept running until he reached the Fat Lady. He leant against the wall, catching his breath before going inside. He had to do his best to avoid MORE questions.

Running away from people was becoming more regular. This was getting ridiculous. But what could he do? He'd have to ride it out, either that or go to Malfoy and tell him what was bothering him and have him laugh in his face and go and tell the whole school he was-

Nope...the first one sounded good. Very good. He could do this, it was just a matter of will power...

Draco lay on his bed with the curtains drawn staring up at the ceiling and thinking about that evenings first training session.

He was kind of excited, he was going to be learning about all kinds of things he would be able to do once he knew how and he wondered just how MUCH more powerful he was.

Blaise stuck his head in through is drapes to ask to borrow his Transfiguration notes, Draco just threw them at him muttering something about Privacy and lay back on his bed, still deep in thought.

Somehow his thoughts turned to Harry.

Bah, stupid Harry.

Draco made the firm decision he was just going to ignore him totally. If he couldn't be unforgivably nasty to him or too nice without resulting in suspicion then he would pick the option in the middle. Indifference. Nada, nothing!

"Brilliant plan Draco, Merlin I outdo myself time and time again, I should be some kind of..."

His thoughts were promptly distracted once again by Blaise

"Er...Draco what the hell is THIS?!"

With a heavy sigh Draco shoved his head through the curtains surrounding his so called solitude and scowled. That is, until he saw what Blaise was holding.

"I mean, I knew you hated him and all, but really. You think this is taking it a little too far?"

Draco stared at the piece of parchment which had his random lines about Harry being bad. Luckily Blaise hadn't picked up on the fact he had been calling him Harry until he noticed and changed it to Potter at the last minute.

"I uh- my Dad, um- Owled me and told me to write some lines about Har-Potter and how much I hate him. He noticed I had been a bit slack with my uh- taunting of late" Draco made up a lame excuse, grabbed the bit of parchment and shoved it behind him onto the bed.

"Oh, ok. You know, I would have thought you'd have come up with something better than "Potter is Bad" though Draco" Blaise replied giving him a funny look and going back to copying his notes.

"My heart wasn't in it" he lied. "It sure as hell WAS"

Harry stood outside the potions classroom waiting for someone else to turn up. He had been sitting inside to begin with but it had begun to disturb him somewhat because Snape was busy in his back cupboard organizing it, and decided that outside alone, was MUCH better than inside with Snape.

Draco arrived a short time later and he glided straight past Harry without even looking at him slumped against the wall in his weekend clothes, his jeans dipped down slightly to reveal his hip and a bit of his torso. OK so maybe he caught a glimpse from the corner of his eye but Harry didn't notice and assumed Draco was being his usual pompous self.

Harry followed Draco into the room and found him sat lazily on a desk at the front, waiting for Snape.

"Hey Malfoy"

No reply.

"Hello? Malfoy?"

Still no reply. Harry started waving his hand in front of Draco's face to get him to pay attention. Draco just snatched his wrist and jerked him forward hissing "fuck off" as he let him free.

Harry rubbed his wrist and wondered what the hell had crawled up his arse to get him so cranky when Lupin entered and greeted Harry with a warm smile.

"Hullo Harry" Lupin nodded and his gaze turned to Draco "and Draco" he added before going into the back cupboard to find Snape.

Draco ignored him, just like he had Harry and continued to stare at the front of the classroom.

"What the hell is up with you?" Harry snarled at the back of his head, noting how soft his hair looked at that moment. No, he was supposed to be angry! He snapped his eyes away from his hair and leaned round to look at his face. That didn't help much, Draco had a calm look on his face, completely content and he looked so totally edible Harry had to restrain himself from leaning that little bit further and kissing him. Little did Harry know he was hiding his complete and utter shock because Harry had got so close he could feel his breath on his cheek and it was beginning to drive him insane.

Draco shuffled his table sideways to get away from Harry's glare and the wonderful feeling of breath on his face and eyes raking over every inch of his cheek.

"Just keep ignoring him, you're doing fine...DON'T look at him. If you do, you're lost."

Harry raised an eyebrow and shuffled closer, not quite done with smelling the wonderful smell of shampoo and something sweet that Draco held.

"You're IGNORING me Malfoy?"

"I'm TRYING to, yes. But if you keep insisting on shoving your face in my personal space its going to much more difficult. Ever heard of boundaries Potter?"

Harry shuffled back slightly, realizing he'd inched a little TOO close. He leaned back on another desk and flashed Draco a winning smile.

"Now, why would you want to do that?"

"The same reason I've been TRYING to do it for the last 5 years"

Harry just nodded. Draco's thought his face would start to scream LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE! If he blushed anymore and so quickly controlled himself and concentrated on the front of the classroom again.

Harry sighed and got up. He walked to the front of the room and began to fiddle with things on Snape's desk, much to Draco's annoyance because now he was standing right in front of the speck on the wall that he was staring at.

Bloody Potter.

He shifted his attention to a speck higher up on the wall, not before catching sight of Harry yawning and stretching his arms above his head making his shirt ride up. He then tilted his head to the side and ran a hand down the back of his neck, cracking it quietly.

Draco was nearly drooling.

"No, look at the speck! Interesting speck! Speck, speck, speck...oh Merlin is he ruffling his hair? Sweet Jesus, he is."

Luckily, just before Draco pounced on Harry there came raised voices from Snape's store cupboard. Harry dropped the pencils he was piling up and went in to defend Lupin, if he needed it.

Draco quickly followed ready to defend Snape.

"You were always an interfering know it all Lupin, why I listened to Dumbledore I'll never know!"

"Hey, I tried to cut you some slack!"

"Yeah, by attempting to bite my head off!"

"I did NOT, you're over exaggerating"

"But you WOULD have, given half a chance"

"Of COURSE I would have! I'm a werewolf! I'm not myself, I cant control-"

"You shouldn't be teaching at this school Lupin, you're a danger to all its pupils and staff and besides which, you are using up my Wolfsbane like there's no tomorrow!"

"Excuse me to interrupt here, but aren't we supposed to be learning? Forgive me if I was mistaken..." Draco cut in, wanting to get this over and done with so he could get away from Harry as fast as possible. He could have sworn he was exhibitioning himself on purpose.

Lupin and Snape looked at the two boys and felt instantly guilty, they were there for them, not to argue about their pasts.

Lupin was the first to speak

"We're sorry Draco. You're perfectly right. Shall we get started?"

"Ooh, please! Lets!" Draco grinned sarcastically and Snape smirked as Lupin exited the room to join Harry and Draco.

The session went surprisingly smoothly. As expected a few rows broke out between Snape and Lupin about the correct ways to cast certain spells and whatnot but other than that everything went according to plan.

Draco was having a VERY hard time ignoring Harry, mainly because a lot of the time Harry understood a lot better than Draco did and they had to revert to casting the spell together for him to get a good idea. Unfortunately for Draco this meant touching.

Snape and Lupin had told them that if they wanted to cast an extremely strong and powerful spell they could cast the spell together. Lupin had told them to hold hands but all three snorted in disgust and decided it would be much more appropriate if Harry just put his hand on Draco's shoulder.

Harry was trying to show Draco how to cast a Patronus. His Patronus could be strong anyway without the help of another strong wizard and Harry was wondering how it could get any more effective!

Draco was struggling to cast anything other than a small silver puff of smoke, much to Harry's amusement. So, to help him out he rested his hand gently on his shoulder from behind.

"Have you got you're happy memory?" Harry asked quietly, again basking in the gorgeous smell of Draco.

Draco was equally put on edge due to Harry's closeness and the hand on his shoulder was sending shivers down his left side.

"If you can call it happy. I think 'Decidedly Pleased' would be a better description...but anyhoo..."

"No Malfoy, this is why its not working! It has to be a happy memory"

"It may surprise you to hear this Potter, because you seem to think you're the only one with a bad home life, but I don't have a great deal of happy memories and you're starting to irritate me!"

"There must be SOMETHING!"

"Well if there is I cant think of it!"

Harry sighed "Make something up, pretend its real. But I'm having a hard time believing you don't have ONE happy memory"

"Why is this suddenly on my "bad memories" list?"

"Shut up and think..."

Draco thought. What would make him happiest right now?

Harry's hand began to fidget on his shoulder, and Draco could feel the soft movement though his shirt. He shut his eyes and enjoyed the feeling, pretending Harry was willingly making Draco feel like this.

Harry had begun to cast his own Patronus and without thinking Draco copied his movements, forgetting he didn't yet have a happy memory. He couldn't let him think he wasn't able to think any happy thoughts right at that moment so he began to cast the spell and hope it worked with the extra help from Harry.

Draco opened his eyes just when a shock of white light shot from both of their wands. He gasped and staggered backwards into Harry because of the force and grabbed the hem of his shirt for support. Harry still had his hand on Draco's shoulder and held him up, they watched as Harry's Stag and a very, very faint outline...of...of...was that a MAN?

Harry gasped and took his hand away from Draco.

"What the hell was that?!" he said, staring at Draco suspiciously

"My Patronus, I guess..."

"But...Dra-uh, Malfoy...that was a man! All Patronus' are animals of some sort"

"It would appear Draco's is not though Harry" Lupin interrupted, "you have to understand, nothing will be much of a surprise with you two"

Draco looked smug, a look with Harry really wanted to beat off of his face. It was ruining the perfect face he had and annoying him immensely.

Harry shook his hand that had been on Draco's shoulder instead. It was tingling from the magic and he wanted to get rid of the urge to place it back on Draco's shoulder.

"I think I've had enough of Patronus' for today" Harry grumbled, rubbing his hand with the other and sitting back on another desk.

Training really took it out of them. Both boys had been at it for nearly 3 hours when Snape finally drew the lesson to an end. They had learnt a whole variety of new spells, hexes, charms and defense spells, and Lupin had even begun to touch on things they could do which involved a great deal of magic. What excited them the most was the prospect of learning wandless magic and apparition, which wasn't meant to be learnt until they were 'of age' but Snape had said it would be a vital aid to them in the future.

It took much longer than expected to go though everything planned for that night however because the professors kept getting into minor disputes about things and it took one of the two boys, who were ignoring each other as much as was possible, to break them up.

As Harry and Draco exited the classroom, they could hear another argument break out, but neither bothered to stop it this time. Instead, Harry grabbed Draco by his arm as he left, turning him to face him

"What is it Potter, I want to go to bed if its any trouble..."

"Look Draco can we call a truce?" Harry was determined for he and Draco to at least be on talking terms. He didn't like ignoring him much because that meant he couldn't admire him from a distance as much without being so obvious. And besides...surely partners needed to be talking to each other to be able to work together successfully.

Draco snorted at the question, but one look at Harry's pleading face and he couldn't bring himself to say no.

"Damn Harry, where the hell did he learn to look at people like that? Makes me feel all guilty for even CONSIDERING saying something nasty"

"I- well.."

"Come on Draco, surely 5 years worth of making each others lives hell has been enough. Isn't it time to just give up?" Harry reasoned. He stole a look back at the classroom door where the arguing could still be heard wafting though "I don't want to end up like them"

"What?!" Draco exclaimed "I thought you loved your precious Werewolf!"

"Lupin has been one of the best teachers I've had, he's like family to me, but I didn't mean it like that. I meant I didn't want to be arguing with you about a stupid school grudge when we're in our thirties!"

"I doubt very much Snape is in his thirties!" Draco mumbled, almost to himself

"Draco! Just promise me you'll consider it?"

Draco had to admit he had a point. And this 'Ignore him' malarkey was driving him insane, he needed to be able to have him close by. Honestly, looking at specks on the wall weren't nearly as interesting as watching Harry work on magic, or just merely watching Harry!

"Alright Harry" Draco sighed "I suppose you're right"

Harry smiled, he was pleased. He and Draco worked well together and he was surprised at how well they got on when they had to.

"Friends then?" Harry smiled holding out his hand

Draco hesitated. Was this a big mistake? He didn't want to acknowledge his feelings for Harry but he had to admit they were still there, as strong as ever and the thought that he would be on friendly terms with him was worrying.

What if he couldn't control himself?

"No don't be silly, Malfoy's always have control..."

What if something happened?

Harry had begun to look nervous so Draco pushed all his worries aside and took his hand in a firm grip and shook.

They grinned at each other before Draco had another worry.

"I cant tell the Slytherins Harry" he said as he lowered his hand back to his side "Most of them are Death Eaters in training, and think I am too. If they found out I was friends with you who knows what would happen"

"Its OK Draco" Harry smiled "I wasn't planning on tell my housemates either, you know what Ron's like and I cant be dealing with him right now"

"Yeah, the Weasel does have a short temper"

"It doesn't mean you can insult my friends and get away with it"

"Worth a try though right?"

They began to make their way back to their own dorms, chatting about the training and enjoying each others company, no matter how short lived it was. They parted quickly and Harry spent the rest of his journey up to Gyriffindor tower, deep in thought about his 'feelings' or whatever they were, for Draco.

Maybe, he thought, if they were friends he would stop feeling like this. Maybe this is what he really wanted?

Harry smiled at that thought, relieved he had figured out what it was he was feeling. Relieved at the fact he didn't like Draco like he thought he did.

He ignored the feeling that he was completely, totally, and utterly...WRONG!

Random pencils in a place where they use QUILLS! Aren't I smart? And I put electric lights in the last chapter....Anybody notice that?

Meh well, while I'm at it I might as well advertise my other Fic which ISNT actually here coz I have written it joint with Slytherin Snakes so its on her list of fics. Its called Fluffy Thongs and BBQ Tongs. Don't ask about the title, I was hyper and it evolved. In fact, pretty much the entire Fic came about from being hyper...hmmm....SNAPEFEST!!!!!!!

Oh and i posted a new fic called Black Balloon...reactions so far are "Im nearly crying" and "WOW!" so...tell me what you all think.

Anyhoo, review! PWEASE! I will love everyone forever if you do! Tell me if the man Patronus thing was weird, coz I have an idea about it sooooo obvious but if that's just totally wrong let me know and I'll change it to something else.

What's this about meat vision? I'm intrigued...

Next chapter: I skip the next few months in a couple of paragraphs, they're friends...for the moment winks, training explained, Lucius comes back with a plan and so does Voldie poos, Alex and Willow...well...you'll have to wait and see... I'm not saying anything else....mwahahahaha! ROLL ON NEXT SATURDAY!