Authors Note: I know, it's been forever. For those of you who were reading this before and have come back, THANK YOU! I've hit a bit of a rough patch recently and am only now starting to pull everything back together. This chapter was a long time in coming and this is the fifth (that's right, FIFTH) version of it. And as long as my computer continues to work (did I mention my hard drive died, that's why I lost version four) I will continue this story to the best of my ability, wherever it may lead me. I also realized my changes in time and Point of View were really confusing in the last chapter so I changed it here. When a the Point of View changes (or time has passed) you with see - in the space between paragraphs, it's very unoriginal, I know. If anyone has a better way of accomplishing this please let me know. I'm going to go back into the previous chapter and repeat the process so that it's easier to understand.

Chapter Two: Learning to Feel

Harry awoke suddenly once again, his breath ragged and heart pounding in his ears drowning out the sounds of the night. He looked around the empty hospital wing in earnest, but nothing, no one, was there. He pushed the palm of his hand into his forehead, out of habit, before he realized it didn't hurt. He pulled his hand away and looked at it, marveling at the fact that his head didn't ache. He had just woken from his second vision of the night, wondering why his Occlumency shields had failed, knowing he had raised them before sleep this time. But this vision was different from the others, for one there was no pain and for another it hadn't been about Voldemort.

For a long moment he sat in confusion, unable to grasp the implications. Then, as suddenly as he awoke a memory surfaced that shocked him to his feet, where he stood gasping for breath once again, eyes watering against the sudden pressure.

He turned his burning eyes across the isle of beds to the tall windows opposite him. There was no color in the sky yet, but he knew where he had to go well enough to navigate there in the dark. He walked to the window and opened it, shimmying onto the ledge and swinging his legs to hang over the other side before slipping silently out. His feet touched down silently on the damp grass and he turned to look back at the window. He sighed, knowing the headache he would have when it came time to tell Dumbledore the truth, but he turned away from the wall instead of retreating back inside and headed resolutely toward the distant darkness of the forest he was forbidden to enter.

-

It had been three days since the incident in Potions in which Harry Potter had been injured. Three days since he had kissed Draco Malfoy in a late night tryst in the Hospital Wing. Three days since anyone had seen him.

No one was worried. No one that is, but that selfsame Draco Malfoy who had been the last one to see him. The morning after Harry and Draco's little rendezvous Madame Pomfrey awoke to an empty Hospital Wing, not an unusual event by any means, especially considering the patient, and come breakfast when no Harry Potter appeared everyone simply assumed Pomfrey had not released him. Draco, calm and collected as ever, left the Slytherin table with all the dignity of his upbringing and headed for the Hospital Wing before classes. He pushed open the heavy doors and discovered, absolutely nothing on the other side, only empty beds and the fluttering drapes of an open window.

And Draco was worried, very worried. No one else seemed to notice the disappearance, a fact that upset Draco more than he was comfortable with. He had even been so bold as to ask the Headmaster if he'd seen him lately, as the two passed in the hallway. Dumbledore had tilted his head at an angle and looked at Draco over his glasses and replied, "and just why would you be looking for our young Mr. Potter, Draco?"

Dinner the third night after his disappearance was like dinner any other night for everyone but a certain blonde Slytherin. Draco's unease was palpable. Years of training kept him from shifting endlessly in his seat but failed to stop his gaze from lingering on the empty seat across the hall that should not have been empty. Draco clenched and unclenched his jaw and pushed his food around his plate. His stomach rolled unpleasantly from hunger, but he resisted its pull.

A half an hour into dinner the doors to the Great Hall opened and a chill breeze swept across the stones and howled in the rafters above the heads of the students. The hall fell silent. Sounds echoed off the stone floor outside the hall, footfalls and hoof beats. A figure emerged into the silent hall, the missing Harry, splattered with mud and grime. His face was impassive and his green eyes blank and hollow. He didn't limp, despite his recent injury, but he did seem to walk slower as though a great burden weighed his steps. He moved into the hall and toward his usual spot at the Gryffindor table, silent save for his echoing footfalls. He sat beside Hermione, as he would on any other occasion, and pulled the nearest serving plate toward himself and began to eat, steadfastly ignoring the many stares from around the hall through years of practice.

Another figure entered the hall then, only after Harry had seated himself, having remained in the shadows of the entrance up until this point. He was a centaur, older than any the students had seen before. His coat was a deep dark brown and dotted with spots of gray, the hair on his legs and tail was long and gray, swishing stiffly as he walked. The skin of his chest and face was aged hard and rugged. The hair on his head fell below his waist in waves of silver and his eyes were brown, dark and wise. He was splattered in mud as well, but his gait was lively as he approached Dumbledore at the head table.

"Dumbledore." He intoned, voice deep and rich, no sign of age had touched him here, it was as smooth and supple as the day he reached adulthood.

"Azre." Dumbledore replied as he stood. Azre's size was only made apparent then. Even on the raised platform the headmaster appeared childlike before the great centaur. "Long has it been since a great elder of the centaur race stood in these halls, what brings you here great one?"

Azre made an unpleasant face at Dumbledore's words, his upper lip curled in mockery of a smile. "Formality be damned, let ceremony and pomp be left to the young who have time to waste on such insubstantial things. Speak, you and I, Dumbledore. In private." The great centaur turned without waiting for a response and moved back toward the door. His eyes moved over the Slytherin table briefly, and it seemed to Draco that they rested on him for a moment longer than anyone else.

Before leaving the hall completely Azre turned and looked at Harry. Harry lifted his head and their eyes met. The Gryfindor nodded, solemnly, and went back to his dinner.

After the hall was empty of centaur and headmaster a swell of noise rose from the students. Even the Slytherin's talked unabashedly about what they had seen. No one tried to ask Harry, years of experience told them they'd get no answers from that front until Harry wanted them too.

Draco's confused but relieved gaze didn't waver from the soft black hair of the boy across the hall. Harry kept his head down to avoid the stares he was receiving from half the student body but Draco wished he'd look up just once. He was shocked to realize just how much he'd missed those eyes and craved the green, whether full of life or hard as stone at this point Draco didn't care.

Another half an hour passed, and the gossip slowly waned from excited chatter to quieter conversation. Draco glanced around the hall once before returning his gaze to the object of his affection. Despite Harry's seeming determination to eat he hadn't actually consumed that much. He didn't push his food around his plate, but his bites where miniscule, to give the allusion of eating without actually accomplishing all that much of it. Draco marveled at this. If Harry had sullenly pushed his food about he'd have half the table pouring food into his lap and asking what was wrong, this careful mockery of eating was fooling them, but not him. Draco sighed and stood, and as he left the hall he didn't notice the sharp eyes that lifted to watch him leave. He didn't notice as the hall quieted once again as Harry rose, and he didn't notice that Harry was following him.

-

Relief flooded through me so violently when he finally stood to leave that it took me a moment to regain my bearings enough to follow. No one knew I was following, they just thought I was leaving, so I was uninterrupted as I ghosted into the halls and traced his steps. Draco was preoccupied, he walked with his head down, watching his own feet and trusting them to know the way. His blonde hair fell over his forehead and into his view but he left it there.

Now that I had followed him I didn't know quite what to do. I wanted to pin him against the nearest wall and ravage him, I wanted to hold him close and cry, I wanted…

I shake my head and speed up to catch him. I'm surprised he doesn't hear me following as I no longer try to hide the sound of my footsteps. When I'm close enough I reach forward and wrap my fingers around his wrist. My skin is darker then his, and in the moment before he turns I marvel at the two colors side by side as heat shoots up my arm and makes me dizzy.

A moment later he's turned and we're looking into each other's eyes. I see relief in his eyes a moment before his arms come around me.

-

They stood there for a long moment, Draco's breath was ragged and he clutched at the slightly smaller teen in his arms. "How could you?" Draco demanded softly, voice slightly ragged. For a moment even he didn't know what he was talking about, "How could you just disappear to Merlin knows where, for Merlin fucking knows how long? I was so worried."

As the words left Draco's mouth he cringed, wondering where they came from and knowing they revealed too much. Harry didn't seem to mind though, he smiled widely at the emotion in Draco's words and pushed that smile into the soft skin of Draco's neck, letting him feel the curve of his lips.

Harry murmured a soft apology and kissed the neck before him. Draco shuttered and smiled, tilting his own head further away to allow Harry the room to do what he wanted to the tender flesh under his lips. Harry smiled wider and kissed and nipped at the creamy skin, causing it to pink pleasantly and Draco to moan very quietly.

Noise from the hall behind Harry caused them to part, scowling at the intruding sound, knowing they'd have company in a few moments. Harry took Draco's hand and led him to a nearby painting, the woman in it's glossy depths winked at them and swung open, revealing a passage Draco had never seen before but Harry knew well.

The passage curved and twisted for several minutes before ending abruptly. They appeared back in the entrance hall, there was no door or portrait that hid the passage they had just exited and Draco wondered how he'd never noticed it before. He turned to look at it only to find it gone and when he looked back at Harry the other boy was laughing at his expression.

Before they could decide where to go from there, or before Harry could start pulling him along again. They heard again the sound of hoof beats against stone. Azre appeared from the corridor to their left, alone and irritated. His tail swished back and forth in agitation as he scowled at nothing and moved toward the exit. He didn't look at them as he approached and Draco wondered of the old centaur realized he wasn't alone in the hallway.

"You will come to me again, young human, if it happens again?" Azre's voice seemed to swallow the silence.

Harry nodded, "I said I would."

Azre stopped before them and looked down at them. Even Draco, who was several inches taller than Harry, didn't reach his bellybutton, and so they craned their necks to look into his face. He looked from one teen to the other, ignoring their joined hands, and focused his gaze on the two. "Remember Harry."

"I will."

He steadied his gaze on Draco alone after that. "Be careful, young one. The stars spell danger for you both. Be ready." Azre turned and left before Draco had time to question his words. He turned imploringly to Harry, who was watching him in silence.

"Come on, we have a lot to talk about I think." Harry relied to his look. At this moment a strangled rumble broke the silence from Draco's midsection. He blushed hotly as Harry smiled at him embarrassment. "Yeah, definitely the kitchens." Harry got out between chuckles as he began to lead Draco by the hand he hadn't let go of.

-

Draco sat on the long wooden bench and watched as Harry walked deeper into the kitchens in search of a house elf. Harry seemed to know the kitchens well, Draco thought, as he navigated toward between large shelves and larger stoves. It was, however, Draco's first time here and he admitted to himself it was bigger than he expected.

Before he could begin to contemplate the intricacies of the table beneath his restless fingers Harry returned with two drinks. A house elf followed with a tray of food that he set on the table in front of Draco before scurrying away. Harry sat on the bench opposite him and held out one of the glasses.

"Alright," Harry said after Draco took a sip, "Where to begin."

"How about when you skipped out of the Hospital Wing." Draco relied with a bit more vinegar than he intended.

Harry seemed pleased that Draco had cared about his disappearance so much. "Sorry about that, really." Harry paused and breathed in deeply, "Out of curiosity, did anyone else seem to care I was gone?" When Draco shook his head no, feeling pleased at the second apology, Harry sighed. "Thought not. Okay, so my little Houdini act…"

Harry looked away for a moment in thought, when he turned back he stared hard at Draco for a long moment, as though to assess him. Harry must have found what he was looking for because he began again almost immediately.

"When you came to the Hospital Wing I wasn't asleep, in fact I had just woken up. The reason I was awake was because I had a vision."

Draco look skeptical, and Harry once again replied to his look, "I know, I'm useless at Divination, but these aren't natural visions." Harry sighed, "I think I'm going about this explanation all wrong." He shook his head, "Okay, so the scar on my forehead connects me to Voldemort, most people know that, or assume that, or whatever. It's true, I'm afraid, and when he feels particularly strong or potent emotions he can pull me into visions. They're always of him, of what he's doing at the moment. I'm always looking through his eyes, they're horrible because a lot of the time I get pulled in when he's torturing someone."

The look on his face said just how horrible they were and forgetting the food Draco reached his hand across the tabletop and took Harry's hand in his. They had the same calluses, Draco observed, Seeker calluses.

After another deep breath Harry continued. "It wasn't long before Voldemort figured out about them, then he figured out how to send me false ones. People died because of those." Harry's throat closed and Draco's grip on his hand tightened. "I learned to tell the difference over time though. Voldemort knew I saw visions of him but he didn't know what they were like. When Voldemort sends me false ones they're always from an outside perspective. When I'm in an actual vision I don't actually see Voldemort because I'm inside him, but in a false one I do. Anyway, these visions used to keep me up, they only really come when I'm asleep so for a long time before I learned to block them I would go days without sleeping. I'd wonder the halls, or the grounds. Eventually I started wondering the forest."

Draco expression became almost murderous and Harry nodded, "Yeah, I know how stupid that was. And thinking back on it, it was a form of self-destruction, both not sleeping and going into that forest. I became really familiar with it and its inhabitants though. I started to make friends with some of the centaurs, most of them got along well with me. All but Bane, really. I didn't meet Azre for a long time and when I did I didn't know how important he was to the herd I was visiting. I don't really remember our first meeting, it had been four days since I slept and I was kind of out of sorts." Harry smiled humorlessly. "Apparently I impressed him because the next time I went out he was waiting for me. I asked him once what impressed him so much and he said I was a fireball, whatever that means."

Draco laughed at the image, and Harry smiled a real smile at him.

"As you probably noticed Azre isn't like the normal centaurs we meet around here. Apparently, the older you get the more down to Earth you get. Azre hates people who talk in riddles it irritates him to no end. He thinks if you have something to say you should just say it. So we got along just fine and eventually I started telling him about the visions. It was hard not to, since they were the reason I was in the forest instead of my bed. Azre said I have vision because I'm a seer. That the connection with Voldemort only sets them off because I have the ability for real visions but not the capacity. He says that the reason I've never had a true one, without Voldemort's influence, is because I don't feel enough."

Draco made a face at this that caused Harry to smile brightly at him. "I know, that's what I said." Draco couldn't help the burst of laughter that forced its way out of him and it took the two of them several minutes to calm down enough to continue talking. "Anyway…" Harry started, holding the last syllable and making Draco chuckle again. "He explained that he meant I spent too much time being Harry Potter, the-boy-who-lived, and not enough time being me. I spent every minute of every day hiding my true feelings and letting people see what they wanted to see, what they expected to see. He said it had been so long since I had just been myself that my emotions were stunted. He said the type of seer I am relies on emotions and the reason Voldemort was the only one causing them was because of the two of us he was the only one who experienced true emotions because I didn't let myself feel them anymore."

Harry took a deep breath. "After you left the Hospital Wing three nights ago I went to sleep and had another vision. I had a true vision, a real one that was all me." Green eyes locked onto shocked gray, "I had my first real vision, because for the first time in a long time, I let myself feel. I felt because of you, I felt for you."

I always thought it funny that "embarrassment" sounds like it means that someone is "bare assed." It's "bare-assed-ment" which, consequently, would be embarrassing.

I made this difference between Harry's real and false visions up, I wanted a way for him to tell them apart that I could explain to Draco.

A/N: Just so everyone knows I don't know where the hell that came from. Like I said in the first A/N this is the 5th version of this chapter and I don't know what happened. The other one's where all "Harry and Draco get to know each other, and a little snogging" There was no second vision, or Azre, I don't have even a notion of where he came from, though I think I know where I might be going bringing him in. I didn't know how to write a centaur like the ones in the books so Azre's a little different, but I call it artistic freedom. It was kind of funny because I wrote that whole scene in the great hall first (the chapter started at the whole "it had been three days since" thing) and realized I had no idea where or why Harry had disappeared. Anyway. I like seeing this story take me places, so I'm going to keep going. Thanks to everyone (if anyone) who has come back to this story after my absence and welcome to all the new readers.

Cheers and review!