Disclaimer: All is under the dominion of JKR. Gods preserve her and all who sail in her.

…

Harry settled down on the couch in the gentle ambience of a green lava lamp and sighed with a semblance of content. The pain in his head was gone, numbed into submission with alcohol and muggle medicine. He wouldn't let Draco come anywhere near his head with a wand. He didn't trust the treacherous sticks any more.

"It's getting late," he began, turning to where Draco sat, his eyes constantly flickering to the lava lamp. "You should go if you're planning to find a hotel that isn't completely booked for the night."

Draco lounged easily in a stiff armchair a safe distance away from Harry, his blonde hair falling in smooth waves over his shoulders. Despite the family resemblance, though, he looked very little like his father. There was none of the pedigree self-assuredness in his demeanour, no honour of ancient blood to make him arrogant. He reminded Harry of someone he had known a long time ago. He had the same haunted look as a wise lycanthrope once wore.

"I want to talk to you, Harry." His voice sounded hollow and tired. Harry bit his lip.

"You didn't seem to want to talk when I was asking the questions."

"You scratch my back," Draco sniffed, "maybe I'll scratch yours."

"Very business like." Harry inhaled deeply and stretched his legs under the coffee table, enjoying being able to move without pain. He wasn't sure he wanted to answer Draco's questions.

"Tell me," Draco forged ahead, narrowing his eyes to slits of interrogative silver. "Tell me about these blackouts."

"Don't give me that look," Harry looked away, at the bare floorboards, before he caught the familiarity in his own tone and glanced back, his eyes wide. Had Draco noticed? He shrugged to himself. It was no big deal. One slip in the façade. Just one little drop of the barriers. "The blackouts," he stated flatly.

"Tell me."

"Why should I?" He sounded childish, but Harry didn't care. "Tell me, Draco Malfoy, why it's any of your regal business?" There was a silence. The tension seemed to stretch between them, like a live wire pulled taut. Harry remembered how electric Draco's touch had felt and sighed. "All right," he conceded.

"All right what?" Draco sounded startled.

"All right," Harry repeated without looking up at him. "I'll scratch your back. I'll tell you about the blackouts." He kept his eyes trained carefully on the floor, lit eerie green by the lava lamp. He didn't want any rebel spark of that electricity leaping between them. He didn't want to meet Draco's gaze. "But I don't know much."

"So tell me," Draco began, sounding pensive, "what do you see?"

"See?" Harry jerked, fighting to keep from looking up. "How do you know I see anything?"

"Harry," the voice came softly. "You keep your eyes glued open for the entire thing. You don't even blink."

Harry shuddered at the thought. He didn't want to picture his own livid green eyes, wide and staring blankly. "So I see things." He closed his eyes momentarily, hunching his shoulders. "I'm not crazy, Malfoy."

"That remains to be seen." The lazy drawl sounded so much like a certain ex-professor's that Harry felt almost sick. "Don't stall. You need to be frank with me."

"Oh, why the hell should I?" Harry finally looked up, and was immediately caught and pierced by the intensity of Draco's silver glare. "If you must know," he continued weakly, "I see things from the past. My past." He gathered himself up on the couch, as if drawing his reserves of strength together. Malfoy's gaze felt like it was boring him through. "And if you must know, you started it."

"I?" Draco's eldritch gaze faltered – he blinked – and failed. "What do you mean?"

"Not completely," Harry hastened to correct himself. "But since you came, it comes so much more frequently."

"And what," Draco began, his voice sounding much smaller and less confident than it had before. "What did you see last time? When I mentioned Sn- when I mentioned him."

Harry twisted his hands together and looked down at his lap. "I saw…"

"Well?"

He could only remember snatches of what he had seen. It had seemed so real at the time, as if he had been plunged back into his past, back to school again. Now it felt like nothing more than a dream, slipping through his fingers as fast as he tried to capture it. Like quicksilver, when he tried to snatch a piece of a memory, it would fade away, chasing itself around his head.

"I don't remember what I saw." It was only partially a lie – Harry had forgotten most of it almost immediately. What he remembered just didn't bear repeating.

He wasn't sure if Draco believed him or not, but he kept his head bowed, dark hair falling over his face and hiding it from view.

"All right, then." Harry heard Draco stand up, the armchair's old wooden skeleton creaking noisily. Quiet footsteps padded across the room.

"Wait," Harry started up, leaping to follow him. "Where are you going?"

"Exactly where you told me to go." Draco turned his head, turbulent eyes striking Harry dumb. "A hotel."

"Are… are you sure?" Harry faltered, biting his lip. Couldn't he ever make up his mind? "You could stay here tonight if you like."

"I don't want to be any trouble, Harry," Draco unfurled his cloak and fastened it around his shoulders. "If it's any consolation," he turned to look Harry squarely in the eye. Harry shivered. He could read nothing in those mysterious silver irises. "If it's anything at all to you; I feel the same way. About this second chance, I mean. I don't want to ruin this chance to get to know you again."

Harry stared at Draco, unsure. Could it be true? "Sometimes I wonder if you're secretly a woman."

"What?"

"With the mood swings and all." He attempted a smile.

Draco grinned uncertainly. "That's unbelievably sexist, Potter." He gave a short bark of a laugh. "And," he added, "you know for a fact that I'm not a woman."

Harry felt the blood rush to his face, his cheeks burning. He laid the backs of his hands against them as Draco squared his shoulders. "Are you sure about this?"

"My mind is perfectly set." Draco allowed him a ghost of a smile. "Good bye, Harry. I'll see you again." Harry opened his mouth to ask him why he even cared about Harry's blackouts, but before he could utter a syllable Draco disappeared with a deafening crack.

…

Author's Note:

Wow. It feels odd not to be be in constant correspondence with you guys (aka posting a chapter a day). I sort of miss the immediacy.

Oh well.

Thank you, as ever, to my loyal reviewers. What on earth would I do without you?

I will try to post a new chapter tomorrow, but, as ever, I can't promise anything. Right after I've put this one up on the site, I'm departing upstairs to bed with the laptop and as long as I'm not interrupted too early I might be able to churn out half a chapter or so, which would put me almost back on track.

Thanks, everyone!

Jen

xox