Weeks were passing by like days as things with Draco progressed. Blaise was attached to him like there were no other people in existence. Pansy had grown oddly apart from them and instead spent her time with the other Slytherin girls. Harry had stayed away from him as well; the looks that he occasionally sent Draco in the halls were inquiring as to what had happened. Surprisingly, Draco found a strong need to go and speak to the boy. It could never happen, however, because of Blaise always being there.

Draco knew he was falling apart. Nothing much mattered to him anymore. He allowed himself to undergo whatever Blaise fancied doing at the times he wanted it; he'd even gotten deep enough into it that he returned the affection. He knew he felt nothing for the boy; pleasure was becoming his only source of comfort and distraction.

Though there was one thing he noticed on a day he'd been paying closer attention to the students around him. While sitting at the Slytherin table, with Blaise sitting right beside him, he became aware of the interested glances being sent his way. He noticed the pointing and whispering and giggling coming from all directions. He noticed... that most of them were talking and whispering about him . That they thought Blaise and himself were a couple. The entire school thought he was a bloody queer.

Humiliation seemed to wash over him at that moment. He suddenly felt himself go cold, his stomach twisting about uneasily. He grabbed for his silverware, his hands shaking.

"Hey, are you alright?" Blaise asked, turning to him. He watched as Draco attempted a bite of food. Draco shook his head, swallowing the bite as if he were trying to get a rock down his throat.

"What's the matter?" Blaise leaned over to kiss lightly at Draco's neck. It was what he did to try and calm the pale Slytherin down. It helped.

Draco, despite having just been ashamed of knowing people thought him a queer, tilted his head in the opposite direction of Blaise's lips to allow him more access. His mind was wiped clean of his worries and sudden sickness, and he instead savored the familiar source of comfort. He made a quiet, humming sound low in his throat.

"Get a fucking room," someone snapped from across the table. Draco didn't hear them.

"Shut your bloody hole!" Blaise retorted loudly, after pulling away from Draco. As soon as that was said, Draco pulled the boy close to hurriedly lock their lips. Blaise let out a quiet moan, not seeming to mind the sudden attention from everyone else either.

Without really knowing it, Draco began to feel much more at ease.

That was how things were now. Except today Blaise wasn't with him. Draco wanted to go to the first Hogsmeade trip of the year; Blaise didn't, and he amazingly allowed Draco to part from him.

Draco was walking through the small town with his heavy Slytherin cloak and scarf wrapped around him. It was one of the chilly days in October; snow was covering the ground in thick layers. Draco was alone, and he felt depressed rather than overjoyed that he was.

"Hey... look! It's that boy!"

"Yeah... the one who...oh..."

"Uh-huh... I heard he kisses other boys..."

Draco's eyes moved toward the place the whispers were coming from. It looked like a group of little second years, but he knew students that young weren't allowed in Hogsmeade. They must've been bloody Hufflepuffs; they probably didn't know what the hell they were talking about. Eyes narrowed at them, which caused them to jump and hurry off.

Before he knew where he had been heading, Draco ended up at the entrance of the Three Broomsticks. It smelled of butterbeer, and he knew all too well that it would be best if he just left. The place was bound to be crowded with gossiping students, and he really didn't want any of that. But then again... butterbeer did sound nice. He was freezing and browsing around the shops alone wasn't appealing to him.

So, without giving himself much time to decide, he pushed the door open and made his way inside the large pub with a small flurry of snowflakes. The sounds of dozens of chattering visitors greeted his ears. The smell of drinks and various other goods wafted from every direction. He made his way over to the bar and ordered himself two butterbeers, not bothering to scan the room for people he knew.

He'd completely forgotten the other reason as to why it would've been best to stay away from here. The effects of drinking more than two mugs of butterbeer had the same effect as Firewhiskey would on him. Past experiences verified that, but he really couldn't help it.

An hour went by without his notice; he'd been watching the people in the room talk and get up to go join their other friends. He watched as they got up to leave, sometimes laughing, and also when people came inside, looking like they'd been freezing outside. All the while, he took swallows of his butterbeer, and was now on his fourth mug.

He wasn't thinking of much, just enjoying the taste of each swallow he took. The room slowly began to grow blurry around him. Blaise wasn't even on his mind anymore, let alone the small problem of being known as the first male in a gay relationship; the first Hogwarts had ever seen.

For once, he actually felt relaxed.

After pushing the last empty mug away from him, he moved to stand. As soon as he did, the room swayed around him. He grabbed onto the edge of the bar quickly to keep himself from tipping over. The relaxed feeling stayed, however.

Slowly, after waiting a few more minutes, he started making his way across the room. He grabbed onto the edges of the tables in order to steady himself as he made his way through.

After what seemed like fifteen minutes spent just trying to walk without tripping over, he arrived at the door and swung it open. He heard a dull thudding noise.

"Ow..." Someone groaned, brining a hand up to massage their forehead.

Draco blinked once or twice to clear his vision and to get accustomed to being outside again. It was still snowing, and it was still blurry, but Draco made the person out. Harry was standing in front of him.

"Sorry, Potter," he said softly. He spoke while trying to keep the slur out of his tone. The boy looked up at him, startled.

"What're you doing here?"

"Wanted to be here."

"By yourself?"

"Yes."

Draco took a small step forward, so that he'd be further from the door and closer to Harry. He nearly lost his footing, but managed to not tip over by grabbing quickly onto the boy's shoulder.

Harry watched him cautiously. "Are you feeling okay?" He asked, eyes narrowing curiously.

"Mhm," Draco replied. "I've been thinking about you lately." He leaned forward so that he could lean more against Harry; he was feeling unusually drowsy.

"Have you?" Harry replied with the same curious stare. He instantly assumed that Draco had to be drunk. He could tell by his peculiar behavior; it was different from his usual, and his words were a lot more drawn out.

"Yeah," Draco answered.

The Slytherin propelled himself forward all of a sudden, bringing Harry into what the boy thought was a hug, but only ending up as them both stumbling and tripping back into the snow.

"Malfoy!" Harry exclaimed, surprised, "What are you doing?"

"I don't know," was the soft reply. Draco was laying on top of him, his head buried against his chest in what looked like a very comfortable position for him. "You're warm."

"Ok... please get up," Harry said uneasily.

"I don't want to," Draco retorted stubbornly.

"Please? People could see us, you know."

"I don't care."

With a slightly irritated sound, and with impatience toward the drunken boy on top of him, who was still refusing to get up, Harry grabbed a handful of snow and began shaping it into a ball above his head.

A moment later, he smashed it on top of Draco's head, coating his blonde hair with wet snow. Draco lifted his head up quickly, glaring down at Harry angrily. "Why'd you do that?"

Before the boy answered, he shoved Draco roughly off of him. The Slytherin found himself laying on his back in the snow, his eyes closed. He was getting a headache now, which was steadily growing as he thought of why Harry was treating him like this.

The Gryffindor stood up, gazing down at him. "You should get back to school."

Draco opened his eyes, his face tinged a light pink from the cold and from the snow dripping down his face. He gazed unblinkingly back up at Harry. "I don't want to."

"You shouldn't be here when you're like this."

"Like what?" Draco asked softly.

"Like..." Harry paused to think for a second or two, "Like... you've been drinking?"

Draco shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to. I don't feel well enough to go back to school though."

"So you're just going to stay out here?"

"You can help me."

"Why would you want my help? Where's Blaise?"

Draco frowned. "I don't want help from him. I'm glad he's not here." He crossed his arms over his chest, much like a child would do when refusing to do something.

"So he's at Hogwarts?" Harry questioned tentatively. He began to take a step closer to Draco, so that he could lean down and grab his arm. "I haven't seen you both apart since the last time... well, since the last time we talked."

"Yeah," Draco said shortly.

As Harry tugged Draco upward, and allowed him to position an arm around him for support, he listened for more of a response. There was none. Draco rested his head against Harry's shoulder and closed his eyes, looking as if he were falling asleep.

"Draco?" Harry asked quietly, shaking him a bit.

"What?" Draco mumbled.

"You could help me by walking a bit yourself."

Draco did, though it wasn't much of a help at all. Harry felt like he was dragging the boy across the ground. He sighed; he hadn't been planning on doing this on his trip to Hogsmeade. He'd been planning to meet up with a few of the Gryffindors to buy a few things. He'd have to make up an excuse as to why he hadn't made it.

"Potter?" Draco asked suddenly. Harry was surprised that he hadn't been sleeping.

"What?"

"You called me Draco just a few minutes ago. Did you know that?"

Harry's gaze met his feet then. He actually hadn't known that; it must have just slipped out. "So?" Harry replied hesitantly.

"So, we never call eachother by our first names."

"Well, maybe we should start."

Harry couldn't believe he just said that. It seemed to make Draco happy, however, because he stepped in front of Harry all of a sudden, wrapping his free arm around the boy's waist to bring him into another one of his familiar hugs.

"What is it now?" Harry asked, exasperated.

"Nothing," Draco muttered, "I just need to ask you something."

"That really isn't nothin..." Harry started. Draco interrupted before he could finish.

"Do you think we can quit the plan with me and Blaise? I don't like it much. He won't leave me alone, and..." Draco stopped. He didn't appear as though he was going to finish. He buried his face against Harry's shoulder again. "Oh god, I just don't like him doing things to me. It isn't right... I didn't think it was going to be like this..."

Harry stood there quite still, not knowing exactly what to say or do. Comforting Draco wasn't his stronger suit, and it was awkward considering they hadn't spoken to eachother for weeks. Harry thought the boy had changed his mind about that plan, and that he was actually with Blaise. They'd seemed pretty attached.

"It's okay..." Harry mumbled, patting Draco's back gently. "You don't have to if you don't want to. We can think of something else."

"Like what?" Draco sniffed, sounding like he was about to cry. "He's going to bloody kill me if I stop doing what he wants."

"Listen. I can make sure he doesn't do anything else to you."

"How?"

Harry didn't really know how. But he wanted to say something that would make the Slytherin feel better. He somehow felt guilty that things had resulted to this; to Draco going off alone, getting drunk for reasons he wasn't quite sure of, and then coming to Harry to express his problems. After all, that plan was supposed to have been helping Draco.

"I'll think of a way," Harry answered surely.

"Thank you," Draco whispered, sounding thoroughly grateful. He believed fully that Harry was going to do something for him; something to stop Blaise.

And Harry wasn't expecting any more thanks from Draco, but it was provided anyway. The boy drew back from his shoulder in a move that made Harry think he was going to back away, but he instead leaned forward. Harry's thought his first reaction would be to push the boy further away, but he instead closed his eyes as if expecting the worst. When nothing happened, he opened one eye and saw Draco smirking at him.

"I knew it," Draco said quietly, "You do like boys."

Before Harry could open his mouth to retort, or to possibly think about the way Draco was throwing the same words back at him, Draco closed the distance between them.

The kiss was tentative, as if Harry couldn't decide if he wanted to return it or not. He faintly noticed how soft Draco's lips were, and how they tasted of the butterbeer the boy must've been drinking earlier. Although, before Harry could fully decide if he wanted to use his arms to push the boy away, Draco pulled away first.

His eyes were still closed. "That was nice." A small smile played across his face before he opened his eyes. Harry was standing stone still, his gaze moving below him as to not look at Draco. He knew that Draco wasn't in his right mind, and that he probably didn't know what exactly he was doing...

But that didn't explain why he just allowed that to happen. Harry bit his lip and waited until Draco was resting his head against him again, wearing that slightly sleepy expression.

Neither of them said anything on the way back to Hogwarts. Draco didn't even object to being led all the way back to the Slytherin common room. No one seemed to be around.

When Harry had made sure the boy was safely back inside, to where Draco would go up to his dorm to rest, he headed back to his own common room. A hand was brought up to cover his eyes, disbelief written on his face. "God, what's happening?" He whispered to himself, distressed.And as much as he tried, he never found an answer to that question.