White. It was blinding white, just like the pain that had coursed through him when Voldermort struck him that he came to, before it lessened and his eyes somehow still with his glasses over them, strained to take in his surroundings as he sat up with a groan.

All around him in the blankness, he could hear trains whistling away, travelling in and out of whatever destination he seemed to be stuck in. It seemed rather familiar to him at the same time, at least to a point. Where in the hell was he?

Pulling himself to his feet, he went to move one way, but then moved the other as he spotted something in the distance. Looking under a nearby bench, he was startled to see the rather shrivelled up form of the man he'd just been fighting in the woods outside Hogwarts, his figure trembling and twitching like a run over animal.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you, Harry."

Flinching a little, Harry rose in confusion at the voice before turning, his eyebrows drawing in confusion at what he saw. Before him stood Draco Malfoy, only it was not the Draco he'd just seen along with his father. This Draco didn't look exhausted and homicidal and wasn't clad in black, but rather in white and carried himself like it was anyone's business.

His hair wasn't dirty, his eyes were no longer dark and stormy and something about him made Harry's formally still heart feel like it was working again, his chest hurting the longer he just stood there in shock before Draco spoke again.

"Surprised to see me, I'm guessing?" The blond tilted his head to the side. "Honestly Potter, sometimes I wonder just how many things still shock you. I told you that you wouldn't know what to do with yourself as soon as you saw me."

"Excuse me?" Harry finally piped up, but shut his mouth again when Draco came closer, eyes downcast to where Volermort lied. "Is he-"

"No, not yet, but this part of him will. Soon enough. Good going there to get him to do that, hopefully your friends can finish the rest, should you decide not to go back."

"I have a choice?" He had to ask, more out of reassurance than curiosity.

"Of course you bloody do, you git." Draco turned to him, snorting. "Only you of all people would ask if you had a choice when presented with one. Christ."

"Malfoy, I don't understand what the fuck's going on here." Harry had to voice finally, eyes glaring at him. "As for 2 minutes ago, you were fighting /for/ him."

"I am? Shit. Of course I am. Father must have convinced me." Draco sat on another bench, sans rotting flesh being and shook his head. "Harry, you have to realize by now that you are seeing me for a reason."

"Clearly." Harry conceded, but still remained at large as to why and Draco was just watching him carefully, as if he could explode at any moment, despite being, well, dead.

"I thought that since I was here that the spells wore off. They had to have, for me to be here."

"What spells?" Harry didn't mean to mark an acustory note in his voice, but it came out more aggressive than intended. "What spells do you mean, Malfoy?"

"The memory charms." He had to take in a breath when Draco's eyes met his. It seemed so familiar, the pain in them, only it wasn't the same type of pain as he saw in the other, darker Draco's eyes.

This kind of pain seemed more like heartache than heartbreak when looking at him now versus when he was alive. It left him quite sad actually, despite their interactions in the past and now, the curiosity was all too great.

Harry, still suspicious of course, sat down gingerly beside him, eyes still watching. "Tell me about these memory charms, Draco. What do you mean when you said they had to have been broken?"

Draco sat himself up, eyes equally not leaving him as he spoke. "First of all, you aren't going to like this, so if you punch me, just try to remember that this was your idea, okay?"

"My idea?"

"To convince Hermoine to use Obliviate and Oclomento on us both to forget each other and our relationship, as you didn't want to have your boyfriend killed for your actions."

"W-What?" Harry was thunderstruck. "Draco, I don't get- what in the hell are you playing at?"

"Let me finish, alright? It's as embarrassing for me as it is surprising for you." Draco in a moment of hesitation, took his hand and Harry would be damned if he even /tried/ to explain the feelings that rushed through him at that.

It brought him back to how he had felt the summer before Ginny broke up with him amicably to be with Dean Thomas, her first crush and boyfriend. The way it felt to hold her against him, her head against his chest and how if he looked down into the fiery depths of her red hair, he could have sworn he almost saw some blonde strands…

He snapped out of his daze when Draco squeezed his hand again and he turned back to see the Slytherian looking quite hopeful. "You're remembering. I know that look, you seem to go into the far reaches of your mind when you don't know how to deal with something."

"Remembering what though?" It came out in a whisper, his eyes blinking as he tried to process everything at once.

"Us." Draco finally admitted with a sigh. "You're remembering us."

"Us?" Harry looked at their joined hands and despite one side of him immediately wanting him to let go and stop giving into whatever delusion Draco was attempting to pull him into, the other half was screaming at him to listen. "What do you mean by "us", Draco?"

"When we met, you and I were not enemies. Not completely." Draco somehow managed to smile and it made Harry's whole brain light up to his confusion. "We were in fact the complete opposite and had been for years. I'll tell you what Potter, you broke me down faster than my father using one of his belts on me when I was a child, despite the hell I gave you."

Harry's eyes drifted to behind Lucius to see Malfoy loitering above him on the top of the stairs leading to the upper section of Flourish & Blotts and, while making sure none of the Weasley's saw him, sneaked up the other side to stand near him. "Why do you hate me?"

He almost made him laugh seeing 13 year old Malfoy jump. Turning, the blonde looked suspiciously panicked before covering it over with disdain. Weird. "Potter. I've never heard such a stupid question. Living with Muggles and now Weasleys isn't helping your mind whatsoever, I can see that."

"Is it because of him, that you hate me Malfoy?" Harry, ever the one for a challenge, stepped forward and that nervousness came over Draco's features again. "Or do you just hate me out of pure spite? Because surprisingly, I don't return it just yet and just wanted to know."

Draco, looking quite flustered, spluttered for a bit, but soon was called by his father to come down. Both watching each other warily, both left to return to the bottom floor where Lucius was just finishing up talking to Arthur Weasley before bidding him farewell, Draco's eyes never leaving him as they walked out of the shop, Harry's heart still beating faster than a Snitch.