Harry finds the diary at breakfast on the first morning of his summer vacation, but no one asks about it, so he keeps it hidden under his pillows for a while. He's really glad to finally have something new to focus his attention on, and he starts diving into the wonderful language. At first, he wishes the paragraphs were written in his own awkward, uncomfortable dialect, but then he's so happy that he goes with it, translating the diary himself from the point of view of a Malfoy.

Even though Harry had only worked one shift on the grounds staff for the summer, he's found a job in the kitchens. He's at work and mopping the floor when the first of his friends shows up.

He'd been rather irritated to learn that half of his summer were going to be spent working, not with his friends, but it had worked out in his favor, even so. Roddy had a cousin who works in the kitchens, and says it's only him and one other person working in the kitchen at that time of day.

Harry really, really hates breaking the news to Mandy that he'll be working in the kitchen all summer, but he's too grateful for the work to argue. At least he's not training as a prefect, like he'd wanted.

"So we're having a party tomorrow night," Will says, and Harry rolls his eyes. "You should come. You're the only one of us who's not going to be here."

Hogwarts is crowded with excited students when they first arrive. All of the boys are wearing the most obnoxious colors they can find, while the girls are all wearing scowls and dark colors that blend into the world around them. It's like no time has passed at all, and the two of them run into each other in the common room, sliding along the wall like it's the floor.

"Peregrine, do you have an antidote to glue?" Harry asks.

"It's from the Dark Arts. I don't use it on a regular basis," Draco replies with his usual sneer, and it takes Harry a moment to realize that Hermione was leaning against the wall, watching them both with a frown.

"You're not going to that party, are you?" he asks instead.

"Why would I want to?" Draco replies.

"Because I can't imagine why they'd want to see me in that condition," Harry replies, trying to make eye contact with Draco. The man just keeps a laser-like gaze fixed on the floor.

"Missed you," Draco says warmly as Harry kisses him.

Harry hesitates for just a moment, wondering how he's going to be able to tell Draco how he feels, how he feels like he should tell him, how he loves him, but he just kisses him again, and then opens his mouth, more insistently.

"I missed you, too," Draco says. Harry blushes furiously, because he'd expected to be back in a few minutes, and his dad is already in bed.

Harry doesn't want to be anything but himself, and it would seem too obvious to ask Draco to stay, because the real Draco loves being called "honey" and "dear" and "sweetheart". He just has to be himself.

A/N: Apparently people weren't paying enough attention to what happened in this chapter.

I am not so very good at plotting, so all of the little cliffhangers in this chapter are entirely accidental, and the entire thought that Harry's friends are trying to prepare Draco for his first romantic relationship is an utter invention.

A/N2: The bot wrote its' own A/N.