Disclaimer: JKR owns the two sexy little minxes named Draco and Harry. I have a computer, a dog and a boyfriend called Simon. There is a difference.

…

Harry tried to open his eyes. They felt as if they were gummed together. His head was throbbing. He prised his lids apart and squinted into the darkness. He was grateful Draco hadn't turned the lights on.

"Harry?"

He grimaced, pain lancing through his head. "Draco?" He whispered.

"Yes." There was a silence. Harry waited for inevitable questions. They didn't come. Instead: "I found some muggle medication. Painkillers."

He turned his head. He was lying on the couch, a blur that was Draco crouched beside him. He was holding out a coloured box for Harry to take. Harry groaned.

"I'd honestly rather have some alcohol." He blinked, trying to focus on Draco's face. "Where are my glasses?"

"They're here." Draco put the box of painkillers down on the table and picked up something next to them, holding it out to Harry.

Harry tried to reach for his glasses, but his arms felt like lead. He managed to take the spectacles from Malfoy's hand with clumsy fingers and jammed them onto his face. "Thanks."

Draco came into a much sharper focus as he blinked determinedly at him. There seemed to be something wrong with the aristocratic features, as if he was an oil painting that the artist had carelessly brushed against. Harry frowned, tried to blink away the distortion.

"What is it, Potter?" The coldness in his voice was tangible, undercut by a half-hidden alarm. "What's wrong? Why are you staring at my face like that?"

Harry closed his eyes and pushed himself up into a sitting position. The world lurched sickeningly. He clamped a hand over his mouth and squeezed his eyes tighter still.

When the nausea subsided, Harry opened his eyes. It was getting darker much more quickly now. He could barely make out any more than indistinct shapes in the room. He caught the gleam of Malfoy's eye as he turned his head. "Are you sure," he croaked, "we can't have the light on?"

"Your choice," Draco drawled, his voice disturbingly close. "I can see perfectly."

"What's wrong with your eyes, anyway?" Harry leant forward, squinting into Draco's face. It looked perfectly normal now, no trace of the strange blur from before. Draco recoiled slightly.

"My eyes are better than yours, at least, Potter. Turn the light on if you wish." He leaned back across the coffee table, almost merging with the darkness.

Harry stood up shakily, turning his back on Malfoy. Under any other circumstances, he would have found it rude that Draco didn't feel helpful enough to go and flip on the lightswitch for an ill person – was he ill? – but now it gave him time to think without unwittingly betraying anything to the other man. He didn't like his rival being able to see in the dark when he was effectively blind.

"Draco," he said, slowly making his way along the wall. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Ask away."

Harry steadied himself against the wall, pausing for a moment. He didn't look back. "What are you doing here?"

"I, Potter," came the deliberate reply, "or, should I say, Harry, am sitting on the coffee table."

Harry restrained himself from another angry retort. He sighed. "Draco, don't brush me off like that. Tell me. I have a right to know."

There was a long silence, filled only by the sighing of the wind against the window panes, punctuated by the distant hoot of the concussed owl. Harry breathed in darkness, waiting for a reply.

"Potter."

Harry started as Draco's breath ghosted across the skin of his neck, closer now than before. The hairs at the nape of his neck rose and he shuddered.

"What am I doing here?"

The breath on his neck was hot. Harry closed his eyes. He felt as if ice was threading through his veins. He had felt cold for a long time.

"Why are you so afraid, Harry?" Draco's long fingers curled around his upper arm, the touch tingling under Harry's t-shirt. "There's a new note of wariness in your voice that wasn't there before."

The throbbing in Harry's head renewed itself. "I'm not afraid of you, Malfoy," he said with as much bravery as he could muster. "I just want to know why you're here. Why won't you tell me?"

"You're not afraid of me?" Draco asked softly, ignoring the question. "I think you should be. My name," his voice swelled with Slytherin pride, "is Draco Malfoy."

Harry closed his eyes and clenched his fists, the pain in his head increasing. Draco hadn't been like this before. He had been almost ashamed to own to the name Malfoy. Was that a sharp twinge where his faded scar still hid under his hair? He couldn't be afraid. He wasn't afraid. "I'm not afraid of you," he repeated. "I know who you are. You're Draco Malfoy. I'm not afraid of you." He swallowed, then went on. He could still feel the hot, threatening breaths on his neck. "I faced down Voldemort-"

Agony seared red hot through his scar, and Harry cried out in pain. He sunk to his knees, clapping his hands across his forehead. No! He rocked back and forth, cradling his head in his hands, Malfoy forgotten. It throbbed, each wave sending diminishing flares of pain through his head.

But he's dead! He's dead

Harry whimpered, the pain in his head lessening slowly. As the roar of blood in his ears died, he became increasingly aware of Draco's presence beside him.

He turned his head.

Draco was knelt beside him, a cascade of pale hair distinguishing him from the darkness and hiding his shadowed face. He was as motionless as a statue. Harry shivered. The only part of him that felt warm was his scar, which burned with pain.

"Malfoy."

Draco looked up, a refraction of the day's last light catching his deathly pale face. "Yes?"

"Could you please get me those painkillers, and a glass of water?"

Draco nodded and Harry closed his eyes again, dimly hearing the 'accio' charm being uttered beside him.

"Thank you."

"I told you, Harry," Draco's voice sounded more gentle than he had heard it in over half a decade. "Any time."

…

Author's Note:

Thanks again for the reviews, guys. You're really inspiring. Keep 'em coming, I love to read them.

Just a small warning, though – I may not be able to post a chapter a day any more. I'll still try, but now the homework is coming thick and fast and this fanfic is taking up quite a bit of time. I don't want to get ejected from my courses, or lose my band or my friends. I almost didn't make it today, and I'm sacrificing homework time for it.

I'll try to make it no more than a single day that goes by without a chapter, but things out of my control may occur. I love you all, and will continue to try and update for you. 'Kay? Groovy.

Also – just a small plug – November approaches, as does NaNoWriMo. If anyone reading this does NaNo, they'll realise what's involved. For those who don't, NaNo is a month-long writing challenge that I've taken part in and won unfailingly since 2003. I'm hoping to do the same this year. To 'win' is to write 50,000 original words in the month of November. This fanfic is an amazingly good warm up! But if this fic is still going by then (gods, I hope not), I probably won't be able to write it.

But come on – one chapter a day for 31 days? Eek!

If you want to know more (I may be flattering myself and the pull of 50k there), feel free to email me. Hell, email me anyway! I like hearing from people. :)

Jen

xox