Chapter Five: Que lejos estas de mi (pardon a lack of accents...)

"Potter, if you're not going to listen then please at least close that gaping hole of a mouth," Professor Snape said acidly, bent so his face was closer to the Boy-with-the-Wandering-Mind.

"Sorry Professor," Harry said, his face blushing. Draco hated seeing Harry blush, which was quite the opposite from their last few years together- back then he would have given anything to humiliate the Golden Boy. Now, however, it just reminded him that Harry was in a touchable body- or rather, a physical body that could be touched.

"Two points from Gryffindor for acting obstinately cheeky, Potter," Snape said coldly, and Harry sat back in his chair and acted like a sullen adolescent faced with injustice. "Now as I was saying, the Draught of Death can be very near deadly if brewed wrong, as can most potions, so I will be choosing groups for the sake of preventing catastrophes, although I'm not going to let anybody test the potion, and we will act out certain precautions to make sure that no small samples make their way out of this class room- we don't need students keeling over in the deepest sleep.

"However, I'm not sure if there exists a Potions student that can prevent a catastrophe from occurring with Longbottom…" Snape paused to let a few Slytherins titter on their side of the room, while Neville slumped in his seat and looked down, redder than Harry had been.

Draco would have laughed at that comment.

After Potions Harry walked with Hermione in the corridor, waiting for the right moment to tell her about having seen Malfoy repetitively in his dreams- but he wouldn't say it like that. That sounded a bit too… Surprisingly, it was Hermione that stopped Harry and decided to prod Harry in to telling her.

"Is something wrong, Harry? You've been acting incredibly strange lately and I know you don't like to talk about what's wrong and you bottle up your emotions but that's not good for you and I care about you and so does Ron and"-

"Hermione, don't worry. I plan on telling you…well, almost everything." Hermione still had her mouth open as if ready to keep letting the words spill forth, but Harry guided her into an empty classroom for the sake of keeping out unwelcome listeners.

"So, what's wrong, Harry?"

"Well, it has to do with Malfoy," Harry saw Hermione's eyes open and then become full of concern. "Malfoy and those other students that have gone missing. Most- well maybe all of them- are alive I think."

"But how do you"-

"I think Malfoy has been visiting me in my dreams."

This statement was met by a long silence, in which Hermione looked at Harry with raised eyebrows and Harry tried to keep eye contact with Hermione, knowing how strange that sounded. "…Oh," Hermione replied, not quite sure what else to say.

"…Yes."

"Since when?"

"Since the first day we were here; do you remember on the train, when I said I had a dream where Malfoy was asking for my help?"

Hermione looked dubious. "Harry, I've read many stories where people are plagued by guilt, which leads to them having recurring dreams…"

Harry was starting to get irritated by the fact that Hermione didn't believe him, not completely realizing that he was asking a lot of a girl highly skeptical in things otherworldly. "Hermione, I'm rather sure that this Malfoy isn't a figment of my imagination. I mean"- But Harry realized that he didn't really have any proof he could give to this girl that needed all the facts spread out on a page in front of her.

Draco was growing increasingly restless, despising his inability to add his own comments to this conversation that wasn't going at all how he needed it to go. He cursed Granger and the fact that she didn't believe Harry could see a ghost… He knew he had no right to, for he probably wouldn't believe it himself, but it felt good to get angry.

"Actually," Harry said, looking up to meet Hermione's eyes, "I didn't know about the missing people when I first dreamt of Malfoy. And before we got on the train, I remember feeling as if somebody had called my name, when it didn't really sound like somebody had called my name, and I think that was Malfoy, too."

Hermione's eyebrows were knitted together as she tried to mull over this information. After a long pause, she finally took a seat at one of the desks and looked up at Harry. "So…you think Malfoy is now some kind of…of earthbound spirit?"

Harry shrugged. "I guess so- he doesn't know if he's dead or not, and last night he told me he'd seen Crabbe and Goyle and Zabini alive."

Hermione looked off thoughtfully again before answering. "So, if- and I emphasize the if- Malfoy is alive and he's wandering around as a spirit and speaking with you in your dreams, what does it all mean? Why did you tell me?"

Harry smiled at Hermione. "You have a wonderfully logical way of thinking, and can reason well- I just overlooked the fact that as such you might be slightly skeptical when hearing that I'm conversing with a ghost that only I can see."

Hermione gave a small giggle as she stood up. "I thank you for the compliment, I suppose. Is this all I have to reason my way through?"

"Well, Malfoy said that it seemed Crabbe and Goyle were torturing Zabini, and Malfoy said that- that he didn't want to be a Death Eater."

Harry thought Hermione would be as surprised by the news as he was, but Hermione merely nodded. "Yes, I figured he would make that decision- after all, Slytherins tend to fight for the winning side, don't they?" Harry only shrugged. "Is that all then?"

"Er, yes, I suppose so. What do you reckon from it all?" Hermione shrugged, saying that she would think it over. "Thanks, Hermione," Harry said earnestly, "for believing what I say even if you have your doubts."

"Don't thank me Harry- what else would I do- shun you and call you a crackpot?" Harry gave a weak laugh and together they walked out of the classroom.

That night, Harry lay in bed listening to rain rap against the window as he tried to do his work. He knew it was fruitless, but he wasn't particularly rushed to do it, seeing as he was only trying to get ahead now. Hermione would be proud.

Draco stood by and waited for Harry to do something, disliking the fact that he was at this boy's mercy. He'd watched as Harry and Hermione conversed in hushed voices about the blonde-haired boy, trying to solve what they could of the puzzle. They'd made mistakes and misinterpreted some statements Draco had made, which annoyed the sort-of-there boy to no point; he hadn't been conditioned to stay quiet in a conversation.

He'd be giving Harry a list of places where they went wrong when he went to sleep. That was another thing- why in all the seven hells did he have to wait for the boy to be asleep? It just wasn't fair… Draco relaxed in these feelings of anger, loving that they made him, well, feel.

Finally Harry was falling asleep, and Draco waited semi-patiently for the boy to fully slip into some sort of unconsciousness. "Potter, you and Granger are starting to look in all the wrong places," he started, speaking in a reprimanding tone as if correcting a little boy.

"You were there, Malfoy?"

"Of course," he replied. "I'm always there."

"That…that's a little creepy. Always?"

"Well mostly. Oh, please, Potter- don't flatter yourself into thinking that I…watch you when you"-

"Right. So where did we go wrong?"

"Well, I made a list…"

A/N: Well, what did you think? I'm sorry if this was a long time in coming- or did it just feel like an incredibly long time to me? Annnyways, I hope it wasenjoyed, and if anybody sees anythingthat they feel should be altered or whatever...just, youknow, dropme a review.

They're soup for my soul. (nods)

And thanks much for the reviews!

Jasper the talking cow: I'm glad I was funny! I liked making a mockery! hehe...

Slayergirl: I think you with SO much profusion.

And...thank you thank you thank you! New livejournal, by the way: ojurasoji