I don't own Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, or any of that stuff.

Just a note before we continue. Thank you much much much to the people who have reviewed thus far. You guys have been so great! I was so nervous about putting up my first story so thank you! Now... on with the story!

Harry heated up some left over mash potatoes that he had made earlier in the week. He put the bowl on the table between himself and Draco. His silent companion was all ready digging into the steak. Harry spooned some mash potatoes onto his plate before he dug into his steak as well. The marinade he had put on the steak gave it a spicy flavor that Harry loved to savor in his mouth. He sipped on his brandy and glanced up at his companion across the table. Draco was staring at his plate and had stopped eating.

"Hair in your mashed potatoes?" asked Harry casually. Draco didn't react. "Draco?"

"What?" Draco said suddenly and snapping out of his trance.

"I just asked if there was a hair in your mashed potatoes."

"What?"

"You were staring at your plate. You looked more like you were in a trance."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to just zone out like that. I was just... thinking."

"You all right?"

"I've never told anyone what happened in Romania. You're the first person I've ever told."

"Oh... I... I didn't know."

"How could you have known?" Harry sipped his brandy and considered his next move.

"Have you heard about Hermione?"

"No, I haven't. Last I ever heard about her, she was mourning Ron understandably and was looking to get an apprenticeship... somewhere."

"Yeah, well, things didn't quite work out the way everyone had hoped they would."

"What do you mean?"

"After you left there were some remaining allies of Voldemort that Hermione and were hunting down. One day I was feeling ill. I was tired of all the fighting. So Hermione let me stay behind on one trip. It was a simple thing. A simple, stupid little low level wizard hiding out in the countryside near Voldemort's family house."

"What happened?"

"We found her two days later wandering around the countryside. He had used the crucio curse on her." Draco winced when he heard the name of one of the unforgivable curses. "She's living in St. Mungo's right now. I go and see her once a month. Every month I hope that she's gotten better, that she'll be back to her old self."

"But she never is. Nothing is ever the same again. And you feel responsible every day for not being there. You think that there was something you could have done. And maybe you could have done something, and maybe I would be visiting you in St. Mungo's right now or visiting your grave. It's the uncertainty that kills you."

"Eats away at me like acid. I wish every night that I had gone. Every morning I wake up and remember... everything."

"I was supposed to go home to see my parents the night before they died. I know the territory." Harry nodded slowly. Draco filled his glass and then Harry's glass.

"A toast," his gray eyed companion said lifting his glass, "to missed opportunities, to regrets, to mistakes, to pitfalls, and last but not least to uncertainty."

"To those we lost, and to those who made it through." They clicked their glasses together and then took deep gulps from their glasses.

"Well, this explains a little clearer why you have kept away from the magic world. I knew that Ron's death was enough to give you doubts. But it was the incident with Hermione that ended those doubts." Harry thought he should be insulted, but he wasn't. Draco wasn't saying any of this with any hint of malice or mockery. He was saying it simply and clearly, like a statement of fact. In truth, that's all it was.

"You should be proud."

"Why?"

"You have figured out the great mystery behind why Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Golden Child, the defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, has chosen a simple life waiting tables when he could have had any position in Hogwarts or the Magical Ministry... or any thing else he could have ever wanted. No one understands. Except maybe Dumbledore, and you." Draco looked up at Harry with a slightly dumbfounded look on his face. "You figured it out after all." Draco nodded. Yet still he was surprised that Harry had entrusted him with this piece of information.

Harry stood and took their plates to the sink. Draco watched Harry's quiet movements with an attention that he didn't give to just anyone. In his eyes Harry had a grace and beauty that few men possessed. His movements were careful and considered. His manner was calm and gentle which seemed to cause a calming effect on everyone around him. His eyes saw everything and gave everything a value. He had the look of a man who had learned the hard way the value and stopping to enjoy everything for what it was.

When Harry turned back to the table he caught Draco watching him.

"Like what you see?" he teased. Draco was still entranced by Harry and at first didn't even react to what Harry had said. "Draco?"

"Sorry," Draco said blinking. "I was just..."

"In a trance again. Really Draco, you should pay more attention. Someone might sneak up on you."

"You're right Harry. Someone might." Just like you snuck up on my heart, Draco thought to himself. He sighed and drank the rest of the brandy in his glass down as quickly as he could.

"You all right Draco?" said Harry with an air of concern at seeing this.

"I'm fine. I just need some sleep."

"Turn in early if you like. We've opened enough wounds for tonight." Draco nodded thoughtfully.

"Good night Harry. Thank you."

"For what?"

"For dinner. For the room. For listening." He hesitated over what to say next. "For allowing me into your life now." Now if only I could be in your heart.

"It's nothing." Harry walked to Draco and kissed Draco on the forehead. Draco was shocked at what Harry had just done. "I'm happy to help you."

"Harry... I..."

"What? What is it?"

"I..."

"Draco, you can tell me anything."

"I know." I'm just not sure I can tell you this.

"Maybe you just need time. And time is one thing that I have a lot of. Don't worry. You don't have to tell me tonight. Let me help you up to bed." Draco sighed with relief at Harry's suggestion. He was drunk enough that he was unsure on his feet, let alone going up a narrow set of stairs. Harry put an arm around Draco's waist and slowly guided him up the stairs to the guest room. Draco thought that once put in his room Harry would retreat, but Harry followed him into the room. Draco sat with a heavy sigh onto the bed. Harry kneeled before him and gently removed Draco's shoes from his feet.

"You don't have..." Draco started, but his voice trailed off as he watched the moonlight playing on Harry's soft features.

"I want to," said Harry with a simple smile. Draco let Harry pull his shirt over his head and he shivered with the contact of his bare skin and the cold air. "Stand up," Harry said calmly.

"Why?" Draco said in a sleepy and slightly drunk voice.

"Do like sleeping in your pants?" Draco stood and let Harry take his pants off. Then he watched as Harry pulled down the covers on the bed. Draco laid down on the bed and felt almost like a child being tucked in by his mother as Harry gently tucked him into bed. Before Harry could leave, Draco caught his wrist.

"Would you stay?" he asked in a voice that sounded a little more afraid than he had intended. "Please, I'm afraid of the nightmares."

"I could cast a charm or mix you a potion."

"I don't want that. I don't want magic to help me, it will only keep me from ending this." Harry nodded in understanding. "Just... just stay until I fall asleep? Please?"

"All right, I'll stay." Harry walked to the other side of the bed and laid down on top of the covers next to Draco. Draco turned on his side away from Harry. Maybe it was a dream, but he could swear he felt Harry shift and then felt Harry's arm go around his waist just before he fell asleep.