A/N: I don't to say really. Apart from thank you and enjoy!

Chapter 8 - Festive spirit

Ron grabbed his case and passed a gift to Hermione. It was wrapped beautifully in a green paper and a golden ribbon around it. Hermione's smile grew and she kisses Ron. Harry left them to say goodbye and went down into the common room. Malfoy had already said goodbye to his friends and Blaise give him a wink and a a nudge when he saw Harry walk in. Harry pretended not to notice but he wondered why he had done it.

Once everyone had gone, Harry joined Hermione at the table to speak about their plans.

"I'm meeting up with Malfoy later today, he wanted to speak about his troubles."

"Ah, that's nice of you."

"Yeah, I told him I know how he felt and he began to trust me I think. I really do hope I can help him."

"I'm sure you will be able to."

"Also, I may have bought him a gift. Because, you know, he has no family and it might cheer him up."

"I'm not sure, but I suppose he'll appreciate it."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Three o'clock rolled around and Harry made his way to the common room. He had been with Hagrid and Hermione before he came up to talk with Draco. The room was empty apart from Draco and he sat in front of him.

"Hi, how are you?" Harry asked.

"To be honest, I've been struggling. I've not slept very well."

"Oh really, neither have I, why not?"

"I'm not sure I'm ready to tell you. If that's OK?"

"Yeah, yeah. That's fine. So what do you wanna talk about?"

"Well I'm not sure, what do you think?"

"How about you're thoughts about eighth year so far?"

They spoke about school and it was really comforting to Draco as he felt that someone was listening to him for once. His father never cared about him and his mother couldn't do much for him either. He knew doing this with Harry would really help him.

When dinner came around, Harry walked down to the hall with Draco and offered him to sit with him and Hermione.

"Im not sure, I don't think Hermione would be too pleased."

"She won't mind, she knows that I'm helping you, remember?"

"Oh yeah, urm, yeah I'll join you thank you."

They went and sat down with Hermione and they spoke as if they had always been friends with Malfoy. Afterwards they walked back to the common room together and Malfoy was pleased that he wasn't so alone during the Christmas time like he usually felt.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Every day at 15:00, Harry and Malfoy met up and spoke to attempt to help him. They became closer friends and didn't mind being around each other. The more they spoke, the better Malfoy felt and his worries didn't bother him as much however he noticed his dreams were getting worse and worse and he came to the conclusion that he had to tell Harry about them.

It was 1 week before Christmas and they met up like usual. Before Harry had spoken, he noticed Malfoy's eyes were red and he had wet cheeks.

"Malfoy? Merlín, are you OK? What's happened?"

"I'm fine, it's just... Its what I'm going to tell you."

He sniffled and Harry sat beside him, holding his shoulder for support.

"I... I've been having... *sniffle*... nightmares about..."

"Is it the war?"

Malfoy nodded.

"Come on." He held him closer. "I know what you're feeling. I've been having them aswell."

"I know, that's why I wanted to talk to you. I've not slept well since... well since I opened up to you about my life."

Harry wanted to cry about it all but he knew he had to stay strong to comfort Draco.

"I'm here for you. I'll help you through them. In fact, I'll sleep down here with you tonight."

"Are you sure? You don't have to."

"No, really, I'm happy to."

Harry calmed Malfoy down and they sat side by side for the next hour. Malfoy felt that same feeling of comfort he had when he heard Harry's voice in charms class a few weeks ago. However this time he didn't mind it and moved closer to Harry for warmth and comfort.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Night fell and they lay on the opposite sofas and closed their eyes. Harry was woken up by screams of terror.

"Please... No! Don't!"

"Draco? Draco!" Harry shook his shoulders until he woke up.

Sobbing and shaking, he leapt at Harry and held him tightly on his arms.

"Oh thank Merlin."

"It OK, I'm here, you're safe."

Harry didn't realise it affected Draco so badly, almost as bad as his own.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Morning."

"Morning, did you manage to get any more sleep?"

"No, I couldn't, I never can after I have one."

"Oh, sorry. I just didn't want you to suffer from the dream."

"No, no. I can't thank you enough. I hate to experience them and you stoped me from seeing it for too long."

"OK, that's alright."

"Also, did you call me Draco last night?"

"Yeah. I think I did, sorry."

"No that's alright, Harry."