DISCLAIMER: If you've ever heard of it before, I don't own it, so don't sue me.

A/N I'm so so so sorry! It's been a month since I've updated, hasn't it? Sorry! I'm hoping to make updates quicker from now on, so no more month long waits! I hope you like this chapter, and I'm sorry about last chapter… I was half asleep when I wrote it and am currently regretting it, but oh well. This one's better, I swear. Enjoy and leave a review!

Hermione, to put it mildly, was suspicious. She watched as Harry and Draco were transported to King's Cross Station.

Ok, she did have to admit that she had pushed for interhouse relationships, but perhaps Harry was taking it a bit too far. Harry trusted Draco, as in really trusted him, like a friend. She wouldn't have believed it had you told her, she would have told you to head over to St. Mungos, but, well, she had seen it, and she wasn't sure that she liked it.

When Harry had showed up at the Order with Malfoy in tow, it hadn't been a problem, simply because Harry had taken everything Draco said with a grain of salt, and had treated him with the proper amount of distance.

But over the couple of months between then and now, things had changed. Harry had distanced himself from Ron, not her as much, but definitely Ron. Harry had stared spending more and more time alone with Draco, and less with them. And it scared her.

Something was happening between the two, that much she was sure of. It was almost as if they could communicate in some way that was deeper than speech, the two of them seemed so comfortable around each other. Something was happening, and she wanted to know what, and when Hermione wants something, she always gets it.

Draco had always wondered what it was like to apparate, and now that he was doing it, he could honestly say that it wasn't at all what'd he'd expected. That was to say that he had expected something. Apparating turned out to be being in one place, seeing a momentary flash of blackness, then appearing in another place. That other place was also something he was wondering about.

Mrs.Weasley had told Harry and him that they would be sent to a bathroom in Kingscross station. She hadn't specified where in the bathroom. Needless to say, when Draco found himself lying on the floor looking up into two stunningly beautiful green eyes, he was rather shocked.

"Hello Harry…" he said faintly, his mind on more important matters, namely how amazingly good it felt to be lying underneath Harry.

Harry's shining eyes widened in shock at his position, but to his credit did nothing to change it.

"It looks like that apparation worked…" Harry said weakly, and Draco had a feeling that Harry's mind was flying through the same thoughts that his was.

"Yep. We really should go meet the order's agent who's supposed to be picking us up," Draco suggested, though his voice made it obvious that he didn't really mean it, and that he was perfectly ok with where he was. Unfortunately, Harry decided that he was right.

Harry eased himself up off of Draco, then offered the other boy a hand to help him up. Draco accepted, and the two of them headed out into the chaos of King's cross Station, their hands still clasped together.

It wasn't until the two boys spotted Kingsley waiting for them at the border between platform 9 and 10 that they realized they were holding hands. Harry quickly dropped Draco's hand. Two sixteen year old boys definitely didn't hold hands, even if they were friends.

"Harry! Malfoy! Quickly come over here…" Kingsley's voice was jittery and nervous, which were two qualities that were very rarely heard in the brave auror. The boys quickened their pace.

"Hurry boys, get through the barrier, and I'll be right behind you."

They both rushed through the enchanted wall, followed by Kingsley.

"Let's get both of you onto the train. Harry, theirs a special compartment for you and your friends from the order at the back of the train, it's got some extra security features. Dumbledore doesn't want to take any chances, especially since we know that the deatheater's are planning an attack for today. Go on Harry," Harry nodded, and headed onto the train. Kingsley turned to Draco.

"Malfoy. It's your time to prove your allegiance to the order. We've been keeping you safe up until now, but from now on you'll have to take care of yourself. You must watch the movements of all the other Slytherins, and every Monday you will report to Professor Snape on everything that you've learned. Good luck." And with that, Kingsley turned around, leaving Draco completely alone.

Harry was sitting in the back of the train, thinking hard about the last couple of months.

His friendship with Draco had developed, from a deal made out of desperation from them both, to an almost solid thing. The memories of fights that had happened between them seemed unreal, as if they were a dream that was about to be forgotten. Five going on six years of hatred had been dissolved in a matter of months.

Harry could feel a headache coming. It wasn't that he didn't like being friends with Draco, on the contrary, he couldn't imagine giving it up now that he had it. He depended on Draco, and vice-versa. The magical bond that they shared only made things stronger.

And then there was how he felt when they touched. It was nothing like touching Ron, or Hermione. The closest comparison he could come up with was Cho, and even that didn't seem to be on the same level. There was a certain intimacy between him and Draco, and Harry couldn't explain it, and it scared him.

The rest of the kids from the order should have been getting there soon, but Harry figured he had a second or two.

(Draco?) Harry sent out the thought as a question.

(I can't talk now, I'm with all the Slytherins, and I'm supposed to be spying on them. Talk later?)

Harry sighed. Things were going to be so different now that they were back with their classmates. Draco would go back to being a Slytherin, even if it was only an act, and Harry would go back to being a Gryffindor.

Harry was still lost in his thoughts when Hermione slipped into the compartment, a look of determination dominating her features.

"Harry, we need to talk," She said, her voice solid.

"About what?" Harry asked, though he was fairly sure he already knew the answer.

"Draco. Harry, do you realize that it's been over a month since we've talked? About anything! And it's been longer than that since you and Ron have had one of those talks about Quidditch? And do you know how much time you've spent with Draco?"

At first, Harry was rather taken aback at Hermione's outburst. Then his mind began to wrap around what she'd said.

"I'm sorry Hermione… It's just that… Well Draco's needed me these last couple of months. Things'll be different now, Draco will go back to being a Slytherin, and we'll barely see him anymore…" Harry trailed off. We'll barley see him anymore…

"I suppose you're right," Hermione said, her voice more sympathetic than before, "So long as you promise that if you ever need anything, you'll tell me. We're friends, and friends stick together."

"I know Hermione. And I promise. Where's Ron and the others?"

"They should be here any second now. Harry, I have one question…" Hermione looked nervous, but continued anyways. "Can you still do that…Legimancy?"

"Yes. I can. But now I can… Well I can control it more, I can block out emotions that I don't want to feel, and I can direct the power more. And to be honest, it's all because of Draco," Harry said boldly. And it was true in a way, for soon after he had learned of his ability to communicate with Draco telepathically, he had found that the hold on his powers was much tighter.

"Oh, well that's good. I've been doing some reading on legimancy, and I found out that it can be very dangerous when not controlled properly. Actually Harry, you should read up on it too, there are loads of fascinating things to know on the subject…"

At that point, habit took over, and Harry blocked out Hermione's excited drabble about the reading she'd been doing. Harry was smiling to himself as happy memories flooded back to him. He might as well have been back at the common room listening to Hermione try to talk them into reading 'Hogwarts, A history'.

Slowly, the compartment began to fill up. Ron and Ginny arrived, then Neville and Luna, Angelina and Katie… Soon most the DA was packed into the room, which seemed to expand to fit their needs. Harry focused his energies in the way that let him see magic, and sure enough the whole compartment was layered with it. Harry smiled; trust Dumbledore to make things as safe as possible! In Harry's mind, though, it wasn't himself that he was worried about; it was Draco… what if the Slytherins found out what side he was really on?

"Hi Harry! Have a good summer?" Harry was jerked out of his worried thoughts by Collin Creevey's nervous voice, followed in quick succession by a click and a flash.

"Hello Collin," Harry said in a resigned voice, "My summer was great, how about yours?"

"Great, Harry! Talk to you later?" Harry smiled and nodded. Yes, things were getting back to normal. What would life be without Collin and his camera?

Somehow, though, even through all this normality, Harry couldn't seem to get his mind off of Draco… in fact, it was almost a physical pain. Come to think of it, it was a physical pain! Harry settled deeper into his corner of the compartment, concentrating on the bond between him and Malfoy, and found that it was… almost thinner and more worn…

It made sense, he supposed, that since they were farther apart, the bond would be stretched out, but there was one thing that he couldn't explain. The bond was sapping his magic to keep itself stable… at it hurt! He would have to talk to Dumbledore about his, because while Harry was powerful, he couldn't keep feeding power like this.

"Harry?" Ron was approaching him, his posture nervous.

"Yes Ron?" Harry asked, following Ron's gaze as his eyes twitched off to the side. Harry resisted the urge to laugh, seeing that Hermione was sitting, watching Ron carefully, having obviously forced Ron to come talk to Harry.

"Er… The Chudley Cannons have been doing well this year, have you seen?" Yes, this was definitely Hermione's idea.

"Have they? I haven't had a chance to check out the standings, would you fill me in on the season so far?" Harry said, smiling warmly at his best friend. Ron, still looking uncomfortable, took a seat next to Harry.

"So did the Canons beat Ireland like you thought they would?" Harry prompted; know that Ron was fully capable of giving a play by play verbal show of the game.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? It was a great game! You see, it started out pretty, even, you know, Ireland's chasers are pretty good, but then their keeper got hit with a bludger, and that must have got their spirits down or something, because the Canons started to pull ahead about half way through…" Ron then proceeded to tell Harry all about the game, the season, and then the two of them got into a conversation about strategy, taking Harry's mind almost completely off of his worries for Draco, but the one thing that neither of them noticed was Hermione, smiling contentedly in the from the other side of the compartment.

Yes, Hermione was very pleased with her work, and happy to see her two best friends together again.

A/N Review, won't you?