A/n: Beware of the warnings. Tread further at own risk. And I'm not even kidding.

We must never be apart

Harry's eyes fluttered open. Draco was looking at him intensively, but Harry wasn't startled. He was used to it by now. Harry often fell asleep after sex, but Draco didn't. Harry didn't really know what the slytherin did in the Room of Requirement while he was asleep, but when he was waking up, Draco was always there, lying by his side and looking at him.

Harry didn't say anything. He was just looking back at Draco with a small smile, squinting and trying to adjust to the light. When he was quite finished with his snuffling and yawning, he turned around and reached for his glasses that were on the bedside table.

He was just putting them on when he heard Draco speak softly "¿Qué horas son, mi corazón?"

Harry faced Draco again. "What?" he asked frowning.

"What time is it?" Draco translated smiling a bit sadly.

"Oh..." Harry said, and turned to the bedside table once more. He picked up his watch and looked at the time. "Dinner will be over in 15 minutes" he admitted reluctantly.

Harry kept staring at the watch and neither of the boys said anything for a while. Draco was supposed to be leaving Hogwarts that night after dinner. He had gotten a letter from his mother requesting him to come home for the weekend. Draco had managed to convince Dumbledore to allow him to make this trip by confiding in him and telling him about his mother's condition.

When Draco didn't say or do anything, Harry finally turned around to look at him.

Draco was lying on his back, observing him again. "I don't really want to go" he admitted with a quiet voice. Harry didn't know what to say.

"I just left her there, with the only company of house elves, when I came to Hogwarts this year" Draco continued. "That was over three months ago. And now I'm feeling..." his voice trailed off.

"Guilty?" Harry tried to help.

Draco rubbed his eyes with his hands tiredly. "Well, that too, I suppose. But actually I was about to say 'scared'." He removed his hands and looked at Harry again. "Scared about what I'll find when I get there" Draco said and shrugged sadly.

The boys laid on the bed, in silence, for a moment longer. Finally Draco got to his feet with a sigh. He started picking up his clothes that had been scattered all over the room. Harry laid on his back, and just watched as Draco moved around the room, dressing as he went.

Soon Draco was finished. He let his gaze go over the room, making sure he hadn't forgotten anything. Finally his eyes landed on Harry.

The gryffindor was still lying on the bed. He was naked, his body in a total state of relaxation. His manhood was lying softly against his thigh and he was gazing right back at the slytherin. Harry's eyes were filled with such melancholy and vulnerability, that Draco felt like his chest was about to collapse.

'I love you.'

He didn't want to leave.

"Why don't we make a deal?" Draco started, his voice a bit hoarse. "You don't move a muscle while I'm gone and I'll come right back up here when I return."

A small smile broke through the sadness Harry was feeling. "You want me to lie here for two days?" he asked softly.

Draco moved to lean against one of the posts at the foot of the bed. "No, I guess that's a bit over the top" he admitted. He ran a nervous hand through his blond hair. "Just don't... I won't be gone for long. Don't..." The slytherin was having troubles saying what he wanted to say.

Harry got up from the bed slowly, and went to stand in front of Draco.

"I'm sorry I made you loose your trust in me" the gryffindor said after a moment of silence, choosing his words carefully. "But I'm not going anywhere this time. I promise." A small smile formed on his lips. "I'll be waiting for you."

'I love you.'

Draco nodded his head, looking at Harry in the eyes. Then he put his hand on the side of Harry's face, stroking his cheek with his thump. He leaned forward to kiss the gryffindor deeply, passionately and deliberately. He didn't dare to pull Harry's naked body against his own. If he were to do that, he'd never get out of the room in time.

So he pulled back instead.

'I love you.'

He reluctantly let go of Harry's face and walked to the door.

"Bye" Harry called out.

Draco looked back at the door. "Goodbye" he whispered before disappearing. It's funny how beautiful people look when they're walking out the door.

Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. His gaze was wandering around the room, lingering for only a moment on the spot where Draco always sat with the slytherins. He had been gone for a day now.

It was embarrassing how much he wished Draco to be back already. It wasn't even like they spent all their time together. Sometimes it would take a couple of nights before they'd get a chance to meet in the Room of Requirement. But even then, they would see each other in the hallways or during lessons. It was somehow unnerving to know that if he were to have a sudden need to see the slytherin, it couldn't be arranged.

Harry sighed deeply. He was acting like he was missing a friggin' limb!

He looked across the table where Ron and Hermione were sitting. He had blown it, hadn't he? He had made a mistake in not telling them. He should have been honest with them from the beginning, instead of pushing them away. Now, he had gotten what he had wanted. Ron and Hermione had stopped asking him questions about... well, about anything.

Harry watched as Ron kept whispering something into Hermione's ear, making the girl blush.

"Ron!" she exclaimed punching his shoulder, and then turned her attention to the High Table. The whole school had been called to the Great Hall to hear Dumbledore's announcement. Everybody was there already, except for the headmaster himself.

Ron looked at her turned back, contemplating. Suddenly, Hermione yelped quite loudly and squirmed spectacularly on the bench. She sent a murderous glare towards the read-head. The gryffindors closest to her giggled a bit and she focused on the High Table once more with a huff.

Harry knew she wasn't really upset with Ron, though. Apparently, so did Ron who glanced across the table at Harry and winked mischievously. Harry just chuckled at his friends' antics.

Dumbledore had finally entered the room. He stood at the middle of the staff table and cleared his throat, making the student body fall quiet. He looked over the four tables sadly before he began.

"Unfortunately, I have a grave announcement to make this Saturday night" he said with a worn-out voice. "A student of this school, Draco Malfoy, has been killed in some unclear circumstances..."

Dumbledore must have continued with his announcement since his lips were still moving, but Harry heard no more. He found himself in a place he didn't recognize where his body kept falling, and the sound of the sea was screaming in his ears. Harry, Harry, Harry...

"Harry!" Harry snapped back to present time and the voices of the Great Hall came back to him. Students were already pouring out.

"Harry. Ron and I have to go take care of the first-years" Hermione said to him hurriedly. "We'll see you in the Common Room."

Harry just kept staring at her, not understanding anything she was saying. Not understanding anything at all. Hermione frowned at him, her eyes searching his, but in the end she just pressed her lips together and went to help Ron with the first-years, leaving Harry to stare dumbly at her retreating back.

'Dumbledore!'

Harry looked frantically to the staff table. Dumbledore was still there, talking intently with Snape. Harry scrambled to his feet and rushed through the opposite stream of students towards the old wizard.

"Dumbledore, please, sir!" Harry called out to him.

The headmaster looked at him with concern and steered him a bit aside from the other teachers. "What is it, my boy?" he asked the panting gryffindor.

It was as if Harry had lost the ability to speak. He kept opening his mouth, but only gasps were coming out. Finally Harry scrunched his eyes closed, concentrating on what he wanted to say. "What... what happened?" he asked, his voice cracking.

Dumbledore looked at him seriously, as in weighing what to tell him.

"Please sir, was... Voldemort?" Now he was concentrating only to prevent the anxious tears from falling from his eyes.

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "The Dark Mark was found hovering above the Malfoy Manor" he said.

'No...'

Dumbledore looked at Harry's face, distorted in pain, with worry. "The circumstances are still unclear, but it is likely this was a Death Eaters' internal dispute" he tried to comfort the distressed boy. "It didn't have anything to do with you, Harry."

The headmaster waited patiently for Harry's reply, but when none came, he put his wrinkled hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"You better go back to your Common Room now, Harry" Dumbledore said gently.

In a daze, Harry turned from the headmaster and started walking between the long tables towards the door. There was nobody else left. He was halfway past the tables when he started to run. He ran through the door of the Great Hall, through the Entrance Hall and the main oak doors. He ran once again on the road leading to the gates of Hogwarts.

He couldn't breath, but he kept running. He ran faster and longer on the snowy road then he had ever ran before. It was like Death was on his heels, and in a way it was. He knew that if he would stop or slow down, it would catch him, and he couldn't bear it.

Just then he lost his footing and fell hard on his knees, still sliding on the slippery road. It was like all the weight of the world came crashing on him, and he let out a desperate cry.

It was snowing. Had it been snowing all along, or had it started snowing while he had been lying here, that Harry didn't know. He was out of tears, he had been squeezed dry and now he was lying inertly on his back, on a snowy road leading from the castle to the gates.

His mind was blank. All thoughts had come and gone and now he was left there numb. He turned his head a bit to the side, blinking his eyes. He couldn't really feel his face anymore. His tears and snot had frozen on his face and snowflakes had clung to his lashes. He looked at the blond boy standing over him.

'Harry, get up' Draco said to him. Harry didn't say anything.

Annoyed, Draco crouched next to Harry. 'You're going to catch death' he said reproachfully, but the sides of his mouth were twitching up a bit. '...And then it'll be hell on earth for everyone you love' he continued more seriously.

Harry swallowed with great difficulty. "There is no-one left for me to love" he croaked. He doubted his voice would carry over the wind, but Draco heard him nevertheless.

'That's not even true' the blonde said with conviction. 'Now, come on, I'll walk you.' Draco stood up and started walking towards the castle.

Slowly, Harry got on his feet and he followed the blond boy. He had never been very good at disobeying Draco direct requests.

At the castle, Draco held the door open for Harry, but didn't come in himself. 'Ron and Hermione are probably waiting for you in the Common Room' he said, leaning against the door, preventing it from closing. 'You better go get your Invisibility Cloak that you hid behind that statue on the second floor, if you don't want to deal with them.'

Harry nodded his head dumbly.

'I'll see you' Draco said. Harry nodded again, turned around and started walking up the stairs. He had climbed about a dozen of steps when he glanced over his shoulder. The door was closed.

Title of the chapter from Ava Adore by Smashing Pumpkins

'¿Qué horas son, mi corazón?' from Me gustas tù by Manu Chao. It means 'What time is it, my love?' (corazón heart)

'It's funny how beautiful people look when they're walking out the door.' From the movie Velvet Goldmine, directed by Todd Haynes.

To WhiteDragonPriestezz: You're right, I did like to know that. Well, bet you hate me now.