Disclaimer: Anything that you recognise does not belong to me; it belongs to the very talented J.K. Rowling. Lucky her! I am doing this purely to see if I can, I am not making any money off of this what so ever. Unlucky me!

Also, I have read a lot of stories on this site, so if anything is familiar, it is not on purpose… Could you simply take it as an homage?

AN: Yana5, neither do I!

Harry, Ron and Hermione were already seated when Draco, Crabbe and Goyle walked into the Great Hall for the welcoming feast, giving Hermione ample time to answer her earlier questions. Yes, Draco Malfoy had gotten taller, at least 20 centimetres taller if she wasn't mistaken. His physical appearance had changed as well, he was sleeker, and he had a face that would make angels weep.

"I told you he'd changed!" Hermione whispered to her two friends digging Ron in the ribs with her elbow.

"Ow, Mione, watch it! What are you talking about anyway?" Ron asked rubbing his side.

"Malfoy! Look at him! He looks like he's almost a different person!" Hermione was shocked.

"You know Hermione, you might be right. He might be taller or something." Harry said with a shrug.

He looked back toward the front of the Hall to the teacher's table. He was happy to see that Remus was looking better than he had been the last time he saw him. Remus had become a kind of surrogate God father in the two years since Sirius had died, and Harry often worried that if Remus wasn't given the opportunities to enable him to take care of himself he would lose him too and be alone in the world.

Draco sat down at the Slytherin table in a seat that enabled him to look across the Great Hall and observe the three friends that had suddenly become very important to him. Pinning them with a steely gaze his mind was working overtime, which of the golden trio was his mate? Pansy Parkinson watched Draco and misinterpreting his look for one of malevolence decided to comment, with a small smile lighting her face.

"Well, well, Draco, getting started a bit early aren't we?"

"What are you talking about Pansy?"

"Usually you wait until the second day of school to kill Potter, but the frown your wearing looks like it would kill at fifty paces"

"Pans, shut up would you? I have had a trying day."

It was a sign of how much power Draco had within the Slytherin house when he was obeyed by Pansy without further comment. She gave him a reproachful look from beneath pouty eyelashes but did not pursue the subject. Suddenly the doors of the Great Hall burst open and Professor McGonagall entered with two lines of first years following her, Draco watched with the rest of Slytherin as the new first years walked by, but tuned out what happened afterwards, only clapping when he noticed the rest of the table clapping. The rest of the time Draco watched the Gryffindor table, trying to determine which person was supposed to be his mate. He was quite annoyed, for years he had acted as if he hated the three Gryffindors, keeping with the image of being nasty and a Death Eaters son. Truth be told, he had no intention of shackling himself to the Dark Lord, but there was no way he was letting anyone know that, he'd seen how bad his father had been after some meetings and that was when he'd done everything that Voldemort had asked. How roughed up would Lucius have been if his son was seen opposing the cause? He could even be killed and there was no way Draco was going to lose a parent, his mother's death had been hard on him and that had been a natural deterioration, to lose his father to a murderer would be one hundred times worse.

In truth, Draco actually admired the three Gryffindors. That Hermione had succeeded as much as she had when she hadn't even known of her gifts til she was eleven never stopped to amaze him. The fact that Ron and his family persisted in their beliefs regardless of the size of the rewards impressed him, despite the fact that he had always been taught to weigh the rewards against the consequences and the work required. And finally Harry. That Harry had faced such huge obstacles and adversaries placed in his young life and emerged triumphant time and time again had everyone in the wizarding world in awe and Draco was definitely part of the wizarding world, he just would never admit it aloud.

"Draco!" he felt an elbow hit his rib. Looking up he saw Blaise looking at him in confusion.

"Draco, the food has been on the table for the last five minutes, are you going to eat at all tonight?" Blaise asked.

Draco shook his head and with a rueful grimace he started to eat.

Harry thought idly that there was just something about the welcoming feast at Hogwarts that made it better than any other feast throughout the school year. He didn't know if it was that the food was better, but he didn't think so, if it was that there was no worries weighing on him at the beginning of the year or if it was being able to see all his friends again. He thought it was a combination of the last two factors, it was great being among his school mates again, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Seamus and Dean, they were like his extended family and it felt wonderful to be among them again. Harry felt safe to be back at Hogwarts as well, after the events of the summer he felt conflicted about a great number of things and Hogwarts had come to represent a sanctuary to him. He knew that no where was really safe, but with being under the care of the teachers, Dumbledore, Snape, McGonagall, Remus, some of the most powerful wizards alive, he felt at ease.

It was also wonderful to not have to worry about whether his groceries would last anymore, after that first trip to the store Harry had felt too uneasy to venture out again. He had been exposed to muggle violence for the first time in his life and he hadn't known what to do, Voldemort was easy, he wanted to take over the world, he was bad, he had to be stopped. But an innocent shop owner had been killed because someone wanted money… That did not make sense to Harry, how much money was a human life worth? Harry didn't know, but it was worth more than what would have been found in Mark's cash register.

Noticing that the feast had finished and the rest of the school was moving to the dormitories, the Gryffindor first years following their Head Girl, Hermione Granger, he moved too, following the crowd. Reaching the Gryffindor tower Harry went up to the seventh year boys dorm room and went to bed, his dreams full of death and blood and violence.

The next morning found Harry in a very bad mood and headed towards the dungeons for his first potions class of the year. Sitting down at the back of the class he rested his head in his hands, trying to work up the energy to be attentive in Snape's class. The dreams he'd had last night had left him feeling drained and listless and not in the mood to concentrate, when the doors banged open he lifted his head with a jerk, watching Professor Snape stride into the class.

"Today we will be seeing what you have retained; I want you all to brew this potion"

And with that he rapped his wand on the black board and the potion ingredients and method appeared on the board. Snape obviously wasn't in a good mood either. Harry sighed and started to assemble his ingredients in front of him, as he did so he looked around the class seeing who was there; it was a small class this year, only him and Hermione from Gryffindor, one Hufflepuff, three Ravenclaws and two Slytherins.

"Potter! What are you doing!" Snape snapped, startling Harry out of his reverie. "That ingredient is not part of the potion! Are you trying to kill us all with the explosion you would have created when you added that ingredient?"

Harry looked down and groaned, he had wormwood in his hands, an ingredient that was definitely not on the board.

"Come down the front boy, so I can keep and eye on you. Sit next to Mr Malfoy, hopefully he will be able to stop you from any catastrophic accidents" Snape whirled around and walked to the front of the room where Draco was seated and indicated the seat he wanted Harry to move to. Harry stifled his groan and moved his stuff.

"Potter, I'm warning you, you mess up my grade point average and I will…" Draco trailed off again, as he had on the train, eyes widening.

Draco was stunned, that wonderful scent that he had smelt yesterday, the most incredible scent he had ever smelled, it was like all his favourite foods, flowers and memory scents all rolled into one, was back. And this time he knew exactly where it was coming from, his heart gave a leap and the yearning ache inside of him ceased, Draco Malfoy had found his mate. The person who was his soul mate was Harry Potter. Shaking his head, Draco gave a start

"I… I will,"

"Yes, Malfoy? Do what?" Harry asked, patience running thin.

"Oh forget it; let's just get this over with. Try not to stuff up!" Draco spent the rest of the class in silence; he needed time to think about this.