"Harry, can I talk to you?" Harry's stomach turned over. He'd been dreading this. According to Ron and Hermione, Ginny wanted to discuss 'feelings' with him. Ever since the battle ended they had been a couple but he knew Ginny wanted a worded conformation.

"S'pose," he replied, grudgingly. This was something he really didn't want to do in the slightest. He stood up and followed Ginny to a more secluded area. They both sat down and Ginny held his hands in hers. Merlin, Harry thought to himself as he groaned inwardly. He lent across and tried to silence her with a kiss, which she returned for a few moments before pulling away.

"We need to spend more time together," she said softly. Harry felt a little guilty. "I can't remember the last time we actually spent the afternoon for just us."

"Sorry," he murmured. "It's just, the project for transfiguration eats up all of my time." Ginny laughed weakly.

"Yeah, spending that much time with Malfoy seems like a drag." Harry thought for a moment.

"It's not so bad," he replied with a shrug. Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Seriously!" he exclaimed. Ginny was about to reply when the bell rang for the next lesson. It was another free lesson and Harry got up to go to the usual place he spent his spare time. Ginny looked up at him.

"Sorry, Gin. I've got to see Malfoy again," he explained apologetically.

"Well if you'd rather spend your spare time with Malfoy instead of me then I suppose that's okay," she said spitefully. He felt guilty and gave her a brief smile. He lent to kiss her goodbye but she moved away and left him standing there foolishly. He rubbed his head, feeling embarrassed. He left the common room quickly.

When he entered the classroom the embarrassment and guilt still tinged his mood. Malfoy was already there and scowling but he hadn't started work. Harry grumpily sat down at a chair. Malfoy looked up at him inquisitively. Harry looked at him, held his gaze for a moment before letting out a sigh and raking a hand through his hair. Malfoy had snapped at him when they last met up and he regretted coming. For once he would have preferred being grilled by Ginny.

"What's up, Potter?" Malfoy asked him after a few moments of silence. Harry stared down at the table.

"I thought we weren't friends, Malfoy," he spat at him. He heard Malfoy grumble, obviously put out at being denied the opportunity to make fun of him.

"Alright then, Saint Potter -"

"Don't call me that!" Harry snapped, bristling at the use of an old nickname.

"Tell me what's wrong then!" Harry looked inquisitively up at Malfoy. He looked genuinely interested.

"Ginny wants to talk about our relationship," he answered with a groan. The corner of Malfoy's mouth twitched up slightly.

"So?" Harry let out an exasperated sigh.

"So," he mimicked Malfoy's tone, "Girls get scary when they want to talk about 'feelings'." Malfoy smirked at him and Harry threw the blond a dirty look. Malfoy walked around to stand in front of Harry. He placed his hands on the table in front of him. Harry looked up at him.

"You're scared of talking about relationships with a girl a year younger than you but you don't bat an eyelid fighting the most powerful wizard of all time who is set out to kill you." Harry saw Malfoy's badly hidden delight in that statement.

"Shut up, Malfoy! At least I didn't have to put up with Pansy." It was Harry's turn to smirk, remembering the way Malfoy was constantly hounded by the girl.

"Girls are a pain. They always want to talk. I'd much rather spend time with guys."

"Here, here," Harry agreed.

After their agreement, Harry found Malfoy was a lot friendlier towards him. He found their conversation drifted to and from subjects, often veering back to how annoying girls were because that seemed to be a topic they could both agree on. By the time he got back to his dorm, he felt much better about the world and almost felt happier now that he and Malfoy were back to tolerating each other.

That night, Harry lay in his bed and thought about the time he'd spent with Malfoy. A thought crossed his mind that it was slightly strange for Malfoy to be so 'anti-girls'. He seemed to be as interested in them as himself but he'd made it quite clear he thought they were annoying and petty and he'd prefer them if they were more like boys in the way that nothing mattered. With boys, feelings weren't spoken and they just got on with life. Also, it was easier to tell with a boy what was wrong with them. Harry remembered on several occasions when Ginny or Hermione were cold with him and it took him ages to work out why. At least boys told you what they thought of you.

On the other hand, Harry thought, it was quite nice to think that things mattered and had a meaning. When he kissed Ginny it seemed to mean a lot more to her than it did to him and in some ways that was a good thing. Also, with girls, he was able to take charge. With a boy, he would have to fight for leadership. Harry soon cut these ponderings short as an image of him and Malfoy flashed into his mind. He shook his head, turned over and settled down. Within a matter of minutes he was asleep.

Harry found that over the next week he had very little time to spare. Each teacher had given the eighth years a massive amount of homework and even saving the wizarding world, and also the Muggle world, did not slacken his load. He also had to put up with doing the paired assignment which meant that even his free lessons were spent working. Harry voiced these grumbles over lunch and found that the others had equally less free time.

"How do you have time to do that?" Harry exclaimed as the others arranged yet another trip to Hogsmeade.

"Why don't you?" came Ron's reply. "We still manage to have time free and we're doing all of the same work as you." Harry thought for a second and realised that he seemed to spend a lot more time on the paired project than anyone else. Even Hermione didn't have Ron working all of the time and that was a big feat.

"Malfoy does have to get high marks," Hermione stated as an explanation to why they spent so much time on the project.

"Maybe he just likes spending time with you, Harry. Come to think of it, you don't seem that bothered either," Seamus interjected unhelpfully. They all groaned at his idea of a joke. Harry was about to defend Malfoy by saying that he wasn't that bad to spend time with but after running the sentence over his brain, he decided against it. It just sounded too weird.

"I'm just trying to do as much work as possible when he's in a good mood," Harry said instead, and it was mostly true.

Days passed and both the Slytherin and the Gryffindor began to almost look forward to the free lessons they spent together. They were on time with their work and actually enjoyed each other's company. Maybe it was the way they had both been through so much that allowed them to get along or maybe they simply realised that the other was actually not as selfish and arrogant as they believed them to be.

Draco awoke with a start. The room was light and an annoyingly loud buzzing noise filled his ears. After a few moments, when he had woken up properly, he turned his head to the side and almost leapt out of bed when he saw the time. His brain then registered that the annoying noise was in fact the alarm on his bedside table. He stared at it in disbelief.

"Are you going to turn that thing off or just stare at it all day?" Draco looked around at Blaise. He grinned widely back at him.

"Why do you look so pleased?" Draco grumbled as he leant over and silenced the clock.

"Because, Draco, I slept a whole night without you waking me up." It then struck him. He'd actually been asleep in order for the alarm to wake him up. He hadn't had a nightmare last night.

"That's weird," he said blandly.

"'That's weird!' You slept a whole night! That's brilliant!" Draco shrugged, Blaise seemed much happier about this than him. Draco still felt as sluggish and tired as he usually did in the morning but he did find that it was easier to join in with the other Slytherins' conversations at breakfast. Some people even commented that he seemed to be in a better mood lately. Pansy didn't say anything but he wasn't surprised. She wouldn't notice if her hair was on fire, he thought crudely.

That night, Draco found it much easier to get to sleep. Usually he was so tired he would fall asleep in the common room and had to be woken up by Blaise in order to go to bed. Then, in bed, he would lie there tossing and turning for hours worrying about having a nightmare. When he finally fell asleep it was restless and he would then go on to wake up in the early hours of the morning after a horrible dream. He'd tried everything. He'd taken dreamless sleep potion for a few weeks until it was taken away from him with the warning that it would interrupt his natural sleeping patterns and the dreams would just come back as soon as he stopped taking it. Draco had argued and grumbled but they wouldn't let him use the potion again.

For the first time in years without the use of any potions he fell asleep without any trouble and before midnight. He was awoken again by his alarm in the morning. Draco was confused but pleased. He was glad he'd slept well but until now, he hadn't gone two nights in a row without his bad dreams in a long time. He wondered why. Nothing had changed; he hadn't taken anything or done anything differently. Maybe he'd just began to recover after the war so the dreams had lessoned.

I know magical folk probably don't wake up with with aid of an alarm clock but if you have any knowledge/theories of other methods let me know.