A Winter Wish

Wednesday, December 22

Draco groaned. He could still feel the pain in his back from the fall yesterday. The blonde tried to massage it but gave up once he realized that it's not the same compared to when someone else does it for you.

'Maybe I can convince Harry to…' Draco blinked. "No, never!" He frowned. "And since when is it 'Harry' and not 'Potter'?" The boy shook his head and stood up from where he sat in the Slytherin common room. He stretched his arms and his back before leaving the dungeons.

'Potter's been acting awfully strange lately. And since he's the only other person I know that stayed over the holidays, I have to talk to him or else I'll go mad from boredom.' Draco sighed and stepped out of the entrance hall into the cool December air. He briefly thought about going flying again but the sore in his back made him decide against it. So the Slytherin thought it best if he simply walked around. And so he did. He walked past by the lake, by Hagrid's hut, by the Quidditch pitch, all the way to the gardens.

"Not very inviting, is it?" Draco scoffed, taking notice of the bare trees and the snow-covered ground where flowers were supposed to bloom. "Then again…it is the dead of winter…" Draco sighed and brushed some snow off a bench, leaning against the school walls. He sat down and drew his knees up, wrapping his arms around them in a vague effort to keep warm.

'This is stupid. Why am I sitting outside on this freezing seat when I can just go inside and warm up by a fire?' Despite the numbing feeling he was getting on his rear, Draco stayed outside, seemingly enjoying the bitter air against his cheeks. He turned his head to the side, resting it against his knees and watched his breath dance in the air. It was enchanting. 'It looks free…free to go whatever way it desires…'

Draco's head snapped back up, his attention caught by a figure not too far from where he sat.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

Draco relaxed a bit. "Careful Potter. I'm beginning to think you're stalking me."

Harry smiled slightly. "Not likely. I was just walking around and when I turned this corner, there you were. I was nearly as startled as you."

Draco scoffed but didn't say anything more. In a very un-Malfoy-esque move, Draco rested his head back on his knees and continued to watch his breath, not caring about the presence of his so-called 'rival'.

Moments later, from the corner of his eye, Draco could still see the Gryffindor boy standing in front of him. The way the boy was moving back and forth, Draco assumed that Harry was unsure whether to stay or to leave him in peace. Draco rolled his eyes and exhaled.

"Are you going to sit down or is that a little dance you do when you have to use the restroom?"

Harry stopped moving for a moment before Draco could hear the crunching of the snow under the green-eyed boy's feet draw nearer. With a sigh, Harry sat down next to Draco.

No longer watching his breath, Draco shifted his eyes to the other boy. "What are you doing out here?"

Harry frowned. "I should be asking you the same question."

"I didn't mean it like that. I meant it from genuine curiosity."

"That's a first."

"Ugh. Fine. Never mind." Draco rolled his eyes.

A faint smile played upon Harry's lips. "Well, I didn't have anything else to do so I began to wander inside the castle. Then Peeves decided it would be fun to follow me and throw things at me for no apparent reason so I went outside to try to get away from him. I was walking around for a bit and then I found myself here." He looked at Draco. "What about you?"

"I just wanted to get outside. And since I didn't feel like flying after my little fall yesterday, I decided it would be safer if I walked."

Harry's eyes were wide. "You're hurt? I knew I should have taken you to see Madame Pomfrey-"

"It's nothing I can't handle. Why so worried, Potter? If I'm hurt, that's one enemy off your list to worry about."

Harry was quiet. "Draco…if I wanted you hurt, I wouldn't have pulled you out of the lake…"

"Really? I thought it was just apart of your hero complex." Draco snapped. He didn't know why he said it. He was actually very grateful that Harry saved him. He really didn't feel like dying at such a young age.

Harry looked away to the ground and bowed his head. "You make it seem like it's such a bad thing to want to help people."

Draco groaned and leaned back against the wall, looking up at the gray cloud-filled sky. "Well I guess I wouldn't think so if I were a hoity-toity Gryffindor."

The black-haired boy glared at the blonde. Draco didn't need to see it. He could feel it against his skin. "Well it's better than being a stuck-up, spoiled brat of a Slytherin!" Harry abruptly stood and began to walk away.

Draco looked at Harry's retreating figure and began to panic. He didn't understand why but before he could even think about it, he called out to the other boy. "Harry, wait!"

The other boy paused and turned to look at the gray-eyed boy, crossing his arms over his chest. He cocked an eyebrow in question.

"I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean that." Draco frowned inwardly. 'Of course I meant that! I hate those poncy Gryffindors, right?' He shook his head and looked back up at Harry, his eyes pleading with the other to come back.

Harry dropped his arms and sighed. He returned back to his seat next to the Slytherin. "You're such a jerk sometimes…" Draco heard the boy whisper on his way back.

"I know…it was how I was raised…"

Harry scoffed. "Everyone blames it on how they were raised. It's everyone else's fault rather than their own."

"Well, dear noble man," Draco growled sarcastically. "Enlighten me. How were you raised to turn out to be such the little hero?"

Harry spun to sit face to face with Draco, anger and annoyance in green eyes. "I lived with a family that hated me. My cousin and his friends would beat me up at school, my uncle forced me to do incredible chores for a person of my size and my aunt, my only relative that has the same blood running through their veins as mine, she forced me to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs not much larger than a bathroom stall for eleven years. Tell me, Draco. Did I grow up in a way you expected The Golden Boy to?"

Draco stared at Harry, shock in his gray pools. He was sincerely surprised and infinitely stunned. He had always assumed that he grew up in a home that adored him for being The-Boy-Who-Lived. He had never even imagined that he grew up in a home where the people hated him. "I…I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Harry sat back and sighed. "Not many people do..."

Both boys were silent for a moment. Draco was mulling over this newfound information and while also wondering what Potter was thinking about. He glanced over the other's face. Anyone would assume that Harry wasn't feeling anything at all the way his face seemed expressionless. But when Draco looked into Harry's downcast eyes, he could see the sorrow built up from the life that he had to endure. Draco could only imagine what other things his so-called "family" did to him before he came to Hogwarts.

Draco sighed. "…If it would make you feel any better, I could tell you how my life isn't all that it's cracked up to be..."

Harry turned his head, curiosity emitting from his face.

The blonde released his arms from around his legs, placing his left arm in his lap and letting his right arm lay limp beside him. Rather than looking at the other boy, Draco stared outward at the snow. "I know everyone probably assumes that I was spoiled from the very beginning. That I got whatever I wanted when I wanted." He chuckled to himself. "And for the most part, I did. If I wanted the best broom on the market, I got it. If I wanted the entire collection of chocolate frogs, I got it." The smile faded from his face. "But I only did it because I was expected to. My parents always took pride in having the best of the best. They expected me to want the same, especially my father. So he forced it into my brain that the best wizards are pureblooded, powerful, and have the top scores in the their class. Anything else was beneath me. So I upheld that attitude because I had to." Draco dropped his gaze to his knees. "It's hard to do your best when you do it all for a man who could care less…He didn't care about me because I was his son. He only cared about me because I was his heir."

Draco looked back up at the snow, not really seeing it. "Since school started, my father took the opportunity to teach me the dark arts when the holidays came around. He wanted me to be powerful. Probably so I could be a follower of the Dark Lord. But whenever I got a spell wrong, he punished me. Had me beaten until I was covered in bruises." Draco scoffed. "He couldn't even do it himself. He had someone do it for him. He wouldn't heal it nor would he let me heal myself. He would lock me in a dark room if I complained or if I simply annoyed him. He wouldn't let me out until I was calm or until he felt like releasing me. Sometimes he forgot that I was there and my mother would have to get me. She's the only one that really cared for me, even as remote as it was…"

The blonde shook his head. "Anyway. When it was time for me to receive the dark mark, I refused and so my father threw me into the lake." He looked at the Gryffindor. "And that's where you came in." Draco shrugged. "Not as tragic as your tale, of course, but I feel it gives me the right to complain."

"You never wanted to be apart of the Death Eaters?" Harry asked, leaning forward to look into Draco's face.

The Slytherin shook his head. "I never understood why anyone would choose to become so powerful only to be a minion. If anything, I would want to be the one on top giving the orders. Anything else would be shameful from what I've been taught."

"Because you want the best of the best and anything else is beneath you."

"Exactly."

"So that means you would have joined if you could have been the leader."

Draco shook his head again before looking back up at the sky. He exhaled. "Honestly, Potter, not all Slytherins are evil. Like I said, I never really wanted to join in the first place, leader or not. Sure, I think Muggles are pathetic and Mudbloods aren't that much better but that doesn't mean I want to kill them off or corral them like a herd of sheep. I would much rather play Quidditch all day long than kill another person."

Harry chuckled. "Careful, Draco. You're starting to sound like a Gryffindor."

"Ugh. Don't make me gag."

"I'm sorry."

Draco looked at Harry. "It was a joke, Potter. I wasn't really going to gag."

"No, not that. I mean…about your family. Sure, my family's not great but they're just relatives. To have your own parents do that to you…it's awful."

"Well, thank you for reminding me how awful my life is."

"I didn't mean it like that."

Draco groaned. "All this conversation has served is the reminder of how crummy life is. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to wallow in self-pity alone." He wrapped his arms back around his legs and laid his head upon his knees, looking away from the other boy.

"Draco, I…"

Draco didn't respond. He went back to staring at his breath, dancing in the cool air. He heard a sigh escape from the green-eyed boy's lips before he stood and headed towards the exit. Draco closed his eyes and sighed.

"Hey Draco!"

The blonde growled. "Dammit, Potter. I thought I told you-"

A sudden chill rushed down Draco's spine as soon as the snow made contact with his head.

Draco stared on in surprise. He looked at Harry who had a grin on his face and another snowball in his hand. "Potter, don't you dare-"

Too late. Harry threw the other ball at the boy. "Potter, you're dead!"

Draco jumped up and picked up some snow. He packed it in and threw it at Harry. Harry ducked right before he could get his. "Haha! You missed! And I thought Malfoys were supposed to be the best of the best!" He placed a hand over his stomach and bent over in laughter.

"I'll show you!" Draco formed another snowball and hurled it at his opponent. This time, he hit Harry square in the chest. It was Draco's turn to laugh. That is, until he was struck by another snowball, courtesy Harry Potter.

Harry blew a raspberry before ducking around the corner. "Come back here, you coward! Take it like a man!" Harry's arm shot out as he threw another snowball from around the corner. Draco dodged it and ran after Harry, armed with a snowball in each hand. When he rounded the corner, Harry apparently had his own idea as he waited around the corner with two snowballs in his hands. Both looked at each other's hands, then at each other's faces. Four snowballs flew across the air, each hitting their target.

Harry laughed and began to run away, bending down to scoop up some snow along the way so he could toss someback atDraco who followed behind him.The Slytherin, not wanting to be outdone, scooped up some snow as he ran and tossed it at the other boy.Both boys were laughing hard now, as snowballs fired from one boy to the other. They ran past the Quidditch pitch, past the entrance to the school, and past Hagrid's hut.

Feeling how the snow was beginning to numb his hands, Draco, with a growl, charged at Harry, knocking the unsuspecting boy down the hill. Both boys tumbled through the snow, their robes flying and their limbs flailing. When they came to a stop, it was Draco who landed on top. He straddled the other boy, a smile on his face and a final snowball in his hand.

"I win." With a smirk, Draco smashed the snow against the top of Harry's head. And so Harry wouldn't retaliate, the Slytherin took hold of the other boy's wrists and pinned them to the ground.

Both boys began laughing all over again. Draco had to admit. Harry did pull him out of him somber mood and into his now gleeful state. He never knew he could have so much fun, let alone with Harry Potter himself.

Once their laughter died down, Draco looked down at Harry. The boy's cheeks were flushed from all of the running and all the laughing. His hair was flung wildly about him and his eyes were shining in mirth, mirroring the smile on his lips. Draco's own smile faded away as he stared at the boy beneath him. 'He's beautiful…'

Without really realizing what he was doing, Draco released Harry's right wrist and brushed away the strands of hair in Harry's eyes. He glanced at the famous scar and lightly traced it with the tips of his fingers before trailing down his cheek. He cradled the cheek in his hand and slowly began to lean down. He was vaguely aware of how Harry, too, began to lean up. They were inches apart, Draco not really acknowledging what would happen when they met but knowing how much he wanted to. He watched as Harry slowly shut his eyes before slowly shutting his own.

"Ack! Cold!"

Draco's eyes shot open as Harry's back arched up so that his chest was sticking up.

"Up!" Harry practically squealed, softly pushing Draco off of him. "Cold!"

Draco sat up, a little hazy as to what just happened and what was just about to happen. He sat back, still straddling Harry, but allowing the boy to sit up so that he was no longer lying in the snow. Draco glanced at Harry's robes and noticed that they were soaked from thesnow that melted from Harry's body warmth.Draco shook his head and stood up. "Come on, Potter. Before you catch a cold." He held out a hand to the other boy.

Harry took hold of the hand and Draco pulled the boy up out of the snow. When he saw at how ridiculous Harry looked in his snow-covered robes with his hair strewn about him, he couldn't help but laugh. He heard Harry begin to laugh alongside him as he glanced down at his robes. Draco then looked down at his own robes and saw that he was also snow-covered and he could only imagine what his hair looked like. With the final traces of his laughter, he began to brush himself off before looking at Harry who apparently had the same idea.

They stood there, staring at each other for a moment. And without another word, they both began to climb back up the hill as they made their way back into the school.

Author's Notes/Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Harry Potter. And if you think I do, then you're just plain silly.

So. Nearly two years and this is what you get. Heh...sorry about that. But now that the ball is rolling again, I don't think it'll take me another two years to get the next chapter. If it did, I'd be highly disappointed in myself. Okay. About the chapter.

Since within those two years, the fifth book came out, this is probably considered AU-ish. But not really cause it does take place in their time frame. I don't know. All you need to know is that all that stuff before the fifth book happened. Yeah. Ummm...sigh. If only Draco leaned in a little further, a little sooner. Too bad. But what's going on there? That was kinda unusual for these two, dontcha think? We'll see.