Yeah, it's been ages. I'm sorry.

Interestingly, I attempted to give up coffee for Lent. Made it nearly a month but then a particularly stressful week made me take up the mug once more. Drama, argh. I mean... 8 hour rehearsal on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday then the actual productions on Thursday and Friday. I was tired by the end of it.

I won't be updating any time this week, unfortunately, because I'm being dragged off on holiday on a narrowboat down on the Avon Ring... for pretty much the whole of next week... pity me, I beg you!

Cathrin Malfoy - I'm not stopping! I was just pausing!

Dragenphly -please make up your mind whether you hate them all or not. It's getting rather confusing for me.

Jacobim... meh. I'll squee atyou and hope you're satisfied.

It's a small world, people...

"Come on!" Lupin called as he led the class across the grass. "We'll never get done if you lag like this! Get a move on!"

"It's last lesson! Nobody's awake!" Ron complained as he trudged along beside Hermione, who yawned widely.

"This is very important, Ron. It'll give you the best idea of how well you're doing. Mocks are vital part of the NEWT course. Now if you don't hurry up we won't get finished. Honestly, get moving!"

Harry stifled a yawn to spite Ron and staggered down the path to Hagrid's hut. The giant lumbered out of the Forest as they approached.

"Afternoon, Professor Lupin!" he greeted jovially. "Just settin' up the –"

"Yes thank you Hagrid." Lupin said loudly. He turned to the tired class, beaming. "Right. A practical not unlike an obstacle course. You did something similar to this at the end of third year, but obviously the creatures and curses in this one are much more vicious and wider spread. This time, I'll put you in pairs and you'll be given a card. This card will show you the route you have to take across the grounds. You'll come across various obstacles on your way. If you both get to the end unscathed, you get more marks than if I have to rescue you halfway through. Send up red sparks if you need help."

"Do we choose our own pairs, Professor?" Terry Boot asked. Lupin smiled at him.

"No. I've paired you all with opposite sexes, to make your chances as high as possible."

"What chances?"

"Of making it to the end, of course. Now, let's see… here we go!" he produced a piece of parchment with a flourish and began reading off names. "Terry Boot and Ellie Moon. Draco Malfoy and Hannah Abbott. Blaise Zabini and Lisa Turpin. James Antares and Hermione Granger. Ron Weasley and Padma Patil."

Harry gave Draco a desperate look, which was returned with a shrug as Draco moved over to a terrified-looking Hannah. Scowling at the Slytherin, Harry drew his wand and stood next to Hermione, who looked as pleased as he was. Then again, at least he didn't have to partner the person he had taken to the Yule Ball, unlike Ron. Served the git right.

"James?"

He was snapped out his reverie by Lupin waving a card in front of his face. He took it and peered at the line snaking across it.

"We start by Hagrid's hut and follow the yellow line to the greenhouses, then take the blue line up to the edge of the Forest."

"I can read, you know," Hermione snapped, snatching the card from him. He growled and restrained from hexing her.

"Start as soon as you're ready." Lupin called as he handed the rest of the cards out. Hermione flashed a glare at him.

"I want to get a good mark for this. If you mess up, I'll make your life hell," she snarled, and marched over to Hagrid's hut, peering at the yellow lines and began the course.

Draco watched with some amusement as Granger ordered Harry around, half the time getting it wrong and being saved at the last minute by Harry, only to blame him for not seeing it before. He grinned to himself and glanced at Hannah. She was staring at him, wide-eyed.

"I won't bite," he said acidly, and stalked over to the greenhouses to begin the course. Following the green line towards the Forest edge, he checked Hannah as she scuttled along behind him. "Keep your eyes open. The spell or creature could come from any direction." He warned, and she whipped her head around as a response. Rolling his eyes, he walked along the green line. A sudden movement to his left made him stop dead. Holding a hand out to still Hannah, he cast an Invisibility spell on the two of them and peered into the Forest.

With unexpected force, a Saccharin came bounding out, heading straight for them. Draco raised his wand as it hurtled towards them.

"Abscindo."

It yowled in pain as its wings were sliced off. Draco took down the Invisibility spell and grabbed Hannah, pulling her along to line. He stopped in his tracks as a piercing scream ripped through the air.

Harry yelped as a sharp pain lanced through his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Winded, he stared up at the clouds as he tried to get his breath back and block out the pain in his mid-section. Suddenly Hermione's face swam into view.

"James!"

"I'm fine, just sort out the curse," he said weakly, taking deep breaths. When she didn't do anything, he moved his hands down to his stomach, and was puzzled to find that his stomach was wet and sticky. Raising his hands to his eyes to see what the liquid was, he choked as the blood-stained digits dripped onto his face. Struggling to sit up, he saw Lupin running towards him, horror obvious on his face. With a whimper, he wrapped his hands around the hilt of the knife sticking out of his stomach and yanked it out sharply. The pain washed over him and he lost consciousness.

"Draco! Get over here!"

Draco sprinted over to where Harry was lying on the floor, having just ripped a knife from his gut and succeeded in spraying everyone nearby with blood. Lupin was knelt beside him and casting various spells, looking frantic.

"Is this not an obstacle?" Draco asked, and he shook his head violently.

"Nothing of the sort. It looks like something else, and no healing spells are getting through. Nothing's working. He'll be dead before we get him to Madame Pomfrey." He suddenly stopped waving his wand and stared into Draco's eyes. The Slytherin was shocked by the desperation he could see there.

"You'll have to stun the others." Draco said quietly, taking off his gloves and folding his hands over Harry's stomach. Lupin nodded. As he focused on the magic, he saw a flash of red light as Lupin knocked out the other students. With a forceful push he shoved Life back into Harry, expelling the hexes and curses riddled on the knife and transferred into Harry's flesh, burning white magic through his body until it was clean and healed. Harry jerked on the floor, rising up onto his shoulder blades and gasping for breath with a hacking cough.

"Harry?" Draco asked anxiously. Deep blue eyes flashed open.

"What happened?"

"We need to go up to Dumbledore. I'll explain to him at the same time. Can you stand?"

Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands.

"I don't feel particularly well."

"Hardly surprising," Draco replied wryly, and slid one under Harry's knees, the other under his shoulders. "Work with me."

Harry shifted as Draco lifted him and clung to his boyfriend as they began the trip back up to school, passing the prone bodies of their classmates, Lupin following in their wake.

"Why is it always me?"

"It's not actually. It's me this time."

"Then why did I get stabbed?"

"Because the knife was charmed to attack the person with the strongest magic. They didn't know at that point that you had extra powers, too. They thought it was just me. Were you not listening when Dumbledore explained?"

"I was busy falling asleep."

"Why does that not surprise me?"

"And I missed dinner."

"So?"

"That's a bad thing."

"Is all you do in life eat and sleep?"

"Yes. Now, if you would stop talking, I might be able to indulge in the latter of those small luxuries, since we can't use spells to induce fatigue any more."

Draco sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around Harry as the Gryffindor shifted across his pillow to bury his head into Draco's chest under the sheets. The Slytherin closed his eyes and pressed his lips to Harry's hair, glad that he had turned the lights out before retiring to bed.

"Part of the NEWT course involves learning wandless and non-verbal magic. You shall be taught an element of this in each lesson, bar Potions, but not on any substantial level – just to help defend yourselves should the need arise. We're going to start non-verbal spells now, and begin with something simple – I think that Accio would be suitable." Flitwick said from his stack of books two weeks later. Draco yawned widely and stretched. Harry poked him in the ribs as they were exposed.

"Now, non-verbal magic requires a relative amount of concentration and mind power. Therefore, not everyone in this class will manage to produce non-verbal spells. So, everyone stand up and go to the far side of the room, wands out."

Harry stood stiffly, his spine cracking in aproximately thirteen different places,and walked slowly over to the far side of the room, where Hermione looked ready to burst with excitement. Draco yawned again.

"Wand out, and Accio a cushion. In silence."

Harry took his wand out and pointed it at the stacks of cushions on the opposite wall, not thinking of anything at all. Because, of course, he could already perform non-verbal magic. He glanced at the rest of the class. A few had their mouths clamped shut tightly to refrain from cheating and whispering the spell, which a couple had done. Ron was going purple with the effort, and so far all Hermione had managed was for a cushion to crawl about a foot along the wooden floor before it stopped in defeat.

Typically though, after ten minutes she managed to get it soaring towards her. Harry formed the spell in his mind.

Accio cushion.

A single cushion shot through the air and landed neatly in his outstretched left hand. He spared a glance at Hermione, who was giving him her most evil look, and smiled innocently at her. Another cushion flew towards them to Draco. Ron went green.

"Oh, we really shouldn't be amused by stuff like that." Harry said through under his breath as he waved at Ron.

"But they only exist for our amusement, so it's fine." Draco replied equally quietly, and Banished his cushion back over to the far wall. Harry was about to copy him, when his creative streak made an appearance and persuaded him instead to make it hit Hermione on the ever-bushy head. Feigning innocence, he tried to school his features in a look of fierce concentration as he glared at the unmoving cushions. It was at that point that Flitwick seemed to become aware of the hissing that was gradually getting louder as the students got more impatient and began whispering the incantation.

"Right then, line up and we'll see how each of you has done, shall we?" he said, rubbing his hands together. He sent the few cushions that had made it to their side of the room back to the stacks and ushered them into an orderly queue. Zabini was at the front. "Go on then, let's see what you can do."

Zabini struck a rather amusing pose and seemed to be concentrating a bit too hard on the stubborn cushions. One of them fell from the top of a pile, but Harry decided it probably just gravity.

Hermione, of course, managed to get it come floating over gently – more of a Wingardium Leviosa than Accio, but Flitwick still applauded anyway. Of course, he was simply dumbstruck when Draco performed a perfect Accio and Banished it with equal adeptness.

"Mr. Antares?"

Playing out the random mood he had found himself in at the beginning of the day, Harry formed a completely different charm in his mind.

Every last cushion in the room leapt into the air, executing an intricate dance over their heads while Flitwick attempted to get them back down again. Half the class dissolved into laughter, half gave him acidic looks in spitting imitations of Hermione. She herself looked rather pleased that he hadn't produced a decent Accio.

"Mr. Antares, what spell did you cast?" Flitwick squeaked desperately. Harry blinked owlishly.

"Accio, sir." He said blankly. Draco snorted.

"Allow me, sir." He offered pompously, and pointed his wand at the cushions. A split second before he cast the spell, Harry realised that his hand was bare. "Finite Incantatem!"

The cushions fell immediately to the floor with gentle thumps, as did Morag McDougal's robes.

Chaos reigned as every single spell in the room was cancelled out. Hermione's hair exploded in a mass of frizz; Terry Boot's hair went from brown to blond; Draco's vision blurred as his vision-altering charm was stopped; and the torches in the brackets on the wall went out with a puff.

In the darkness, Draco felt for Harry. His hands felt someone at least four inches shorter.

"Sorry," he said quickly and was about to move on when someone grabbed his sleeve.

"It's me, idiot! You've taken out Dumbledore's disguise!"

Sure enough, Harry Potter's voice was hissing at him, barely audible over the shrieks of the other students. Draco choked.

"I can't have! It would defy the Fidelius!"

"Well it's bloody hell happened, all right? Now either recast it or get me out of here!"

"We'd better go." Draco replied fervently. He took Harry's hand, summoned their belongings and made for the door, away from the squealing people and a rather irate Flitwick. He quickly cast an Invisibility Charm over Harry and opened the door. Light flooded into the classroom, and the rest of the class turned to stare at him, including Flitwick.

"Malfoy! Get back here and sort it out!" he howled.

"Sorry sir, I need to go to the Hospital Wing!" Draco called as they sped down the corridor. Harry led the way to Dumbledore's office, Draco listening for Harry's footsteps since he couldn't see him. They skidded to a halt beside the gargoyle.

"Acid Pops!"

The gargoyle leapt aside and they sped through, running up the stairs in their hurry.

"Hello Mr. Malfoy. How may I help you?" Dumbledore asked from where he sat behind his desk. Draco removed the Cloaking spell and Dumbledore's eyes immediately darkened. He stood and moved around the desk, taking out his wand and running it over the now much shorter Harry Potter, complete with scar and bright green eyes. Draco found himself squinting at the scrawny boy, wondering how on earth he could be the same as James. Especially when he was wearing too-long robes which pooled on the floor.

"Mr. Malfoy, your powers are expanding. You overrode all the charms I personally cast on Harry. However, I do believe that the one person who could do the same happens to be Harry, so hopefully if you were to cast the charm this time it should be unbreakable." Dumbledore said after a while.

"But how come he was able to cast it before, whenever it started running out? Why couldn't he have just done that in the classroom?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"I was renewing the charm, not casting it." Draco snapped irritably. "There is an immense difference, you know. Did you not get an OWL in Charms?"

Harry stared at Draco in shock. So did Dumbledore.

"Don't you think that was a little uncalled for, Mr Malfoy?" he said slowly. Draco looked at Harry and made a strangled noise. Harry was looking at him through unfocused eyes, but the sadness there was evident.

"Harry, I –"

"Just cast the charm." Harry said quietly, looking at the floor. Draco hesitated before turning to Dumbledore.

"Picture James in your mind, and say the incantation – Integer Effigio."

Draco took out his wand, held it in his un-gloved hand and pointing it at Harry with a shaking arm.

"Integer Effigio." He whispered. There was a flash of pale blue light, which faded to reveal James Antares, still staring at the floor. He sighed and hoisted his bag over his head.

"Thank you Headmaster," he said softly, and left without another glance at Draco, who was watching despondently. The Slytherin turned to Dumbledore as the door clicked shut softly.

"I think I just messed up." He said numbly. Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"I suggest that you correct your mistake. It would not do either of you any good to be moping around the castle for the rest of the day. Plus, I do believe that your powers are more stable when in close proximity. In his current state, Harry could easily override the restricting charms and unleash unwanted magic. Go. Apologise and hope he accepts."

Draco nodded morosely and pulled on his glove, casting the vision charm before leaving.

Harry started in shock as Draco appeared with a puff of smoke beside him. He was confused until he saw Draco take his hand away from the bracelet on his wrist.

"What do you want?" he asked shortly, turning back to stare out across the grounds in the midday sun. Students were wandering over the grass during the lunch break, a few practising on the Quidditch pitch.

"To apologise, say I was completely out of line and that I'll make it up to you in whatever way you choose?" Draco suggested quietly. He moved to wrap his arms around Harry's waist but the Gryffindor jerked away, deep blue eyes flashing angrily.

"Just leave me alone," he snarled, and smacked Draco's hesitant hand away, storming back down the Astronomy Tower steps. Draco growled at himself and sat down dejectedly on the parapet, scrubbing his hands through his hair in exhaustion.

I am extremely pleased with myself. I have another chapter written, waiting to be beta'ed... but it's still written!

Comments very welcome and much appreciated.

smokey

is dreading next week...