"Dobby, I have one last job for you," Draco said as he tightened his Slytherin-green tie around his neck.
"Yes sir?" Dobby bowed, keeping his eyes to the ground.
"I want you to stop Harry from boarding the train today, maybe if he's delayed enough I can get that diary back before he gets his hands on it."
"Yes sir…but how do I stop him?" Dobby lifted himself up now, giving his master's son a confused look.
"By any means necessary Dobby, I allow you full control of your magic to do so."
"Full control?" Dobby squeaked, he had never been allowed full control of his magic before.
"Yes, well, dont go about killing muggles or causing public disturbances, just make sure he doesnt get on that train." Draco finally looked down to the house elf whose knees had already begun trembling.
"Dobby please, this is the last thing I will ask of you I promise." Draco softened his tone, he knew the elf would not be able to resist such a pleading order.
"Dobby will stop Harry Potter from getting on the train sir, you can trust Dobby with this!" The elf gave one last determined look to Draco before apparting away. Draco sighed as he looked back at his reflection. He had narrowly been allowed to attend Hogwarts again this year, but at one cost. He must not interact with Harry Potter.
Draco felt his heart painfully ache in his chest. He needed to stop his fathers plan before Harry got to Hogwarts, then when he had, he would have to decide his loyalties from then on. With the Dark Lord trying to make his return to his former power, his father had been reminded of the promises that he made all those years ago, and now he was planning on keeping them.
Draco took in a calming deep breath to stop the burning prickle of tears. One year it had taken, one year for him to become irrevocably attached to Harry. Now that attachment was coming with a price, a price of loyalty and honour.
The price of family.
"Draco, are you ready to go my dear?" His mother softly knocked on the door, her pale porcelain face giving him a soft smile.
"Yes mother, I am ready." Draco nodded, giving his reflection one last look over before leaning down and grabbing his bag. This could be the last time that he would be allowed back at the manor, perhaps even the last time that his mother would look at him so softly.
"What is troubling you dear?" His mother softly caressed the side of his face, she had always favoured her son, he was her pride and joy. Draco thought how much longer that would last.
"Nothing mother, just eager to see my friends is all," he replied, hoping she wouldn't catch the lie. She gave him a small frown but decided not to press further and let him walk past her towards the front doors.
"Your Father got caught up with a meeting and can't see you off unfortunately," his mother said as she linked her arm with Dracos.
"You'll be good this year won't you?" his mother murmured, her eyes darkened with concern. Draco had been so distant since Lucius had warned Draco about that Potter. No, there had been a distance since the day that the Dark Lord had been confirmed as no dead. Quickly that obsession had returned to her husband. An obsession that nearly destroyed them all those years ago. She wanted nothing but to stop that inevitably from happening.
But the inevitable could not be avoided.
"Yes mother, I will be good." Draco sighed, he looked away from his mother. But she caught the deception, she had survived the Black household after all.
"Draco…" she began, however she found that she didn't know how to finish what she wanted to say. Her son had matured so much over the holidays, and she was afraid what that maturity would bring. She could no longer control him the way she could before. He was too smart for that now.
"Can we go now?" Draco said, walking past her into the foyer.
She nodded, gracefully catching up to him. "Yes of course."
Draco sat himself into a currently empty compartment. He had gone through great pains to make sure that he did not run into any one of Harry's friends—when he had caught a glimpse of red hair, he quickly dodged them by jumping into this compartment.
Draco sighed into the palm of his hand, his elbow resting on the window sill, and looked out at the unmoving scenery. Draco was quietly keeping an ear out for any familiar voices, a charm ready to lock the door at the flick of his wand.
"Have you seen Harry and Ron?" a voice asked that Draco instantly recognised.
"No, I haven't, they were meant to follow after me and mum, I don't remember seeing them though." Draco could hear the concern in this new voice that he could not recognise. He held his breath as they walked closer to the door, the charm to lock it on the tip of his tongue, but Hermione and her companion simply walked by and Draco was able to relax.
"Dobby did it then," Draco murmured to himself. Harry was not on the train which meant he had time.
Time to find that diary before it was too late.
"I don't get it, why is it suddenly closed off?" Ron questioned as he dabbed the scrape on his elbow with his sleeve. The fall that Ron and he had taken had left them bruised but more so confused. Ron said he had never heard of the wall closing to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. More so, it shouldn't close at all until after eleven am.
"We're screwed Harry, it's eleven now!" Ron cried out, giving his watch a stressed out look.
Harry pressed his hand against the wall, trying to will it give way, to let them through. But it was to no use, the wall would not open for them.
Elf magic was much more clever than a twelve year olds' will.
The wall did not give way and Ron watched as the minute hand on his watch slowly moved to one past eleven. They had missed the train.
"What are we going to do? Mum is not going to believe us that the wall wouldn't open for us, she is going to be fuming." Ron collapsed onto his trolley, Hedwig hooted at the disturbance, she was trying to fix the feathers that had been rumbled in her fall.
"Ron, don't give up, surely there is another way to get there?" Harry paced around their trolleys, gathering weird looks from muggles just trying to catch their morning subway.
Then the lightbulb went off in his head.
"Wait, Ron, didn't you mention some time ago that your dad was working on a muggle car…a car that could fly?"
Ron looked up, his face widening with realisation.
"Yeah…yeah we could go catch the Knight Bus to the Burrow, get the car and fly to Hogwarts! Oh Harry, you're a genius!" Ron whooped, jumping up, his distressed state gone.
"Well let's get going then, we've gotta catch up with that train!"
The boys couldn't shrink their trunks unless they were to be done in for underage magic so they had to drag them behind them back out of the station. Harry had never caught the Knight Bus before, but he knew that all you had to do was raise your wand on the street and it would arrive.
"You got change on you right?" Ron murmured as he lifted his wand to flag down the Knight Bus.
Harry nodded, patting his pocket where his coin pouch lay. "Yeah don't worry, Remus gave me some candy money."
They only had to wait a few moments until the Knight Bus arrived, in all its three decker glory. The exterior of the bus looked much like any other bus in London, except for the purple paint job that desperately needed to be renewed and the particular smell of tobacco that wafted off of it.
The bus door opened with a hiss, Harry and Ron watched on with awe as the bus lowered and a spindly man stepped out, his goatee the least astonishing thing about him. The man quickly made his introductions as he loaded the bus with the boys' trunks.
"Two students, aye? Miss the train did ya? The bus don' go to Hogwarts but it can go to Hogsmeade. Sounds about right to ya two?"
Harry and Ron both gave each other a look that said all. How stupid were they thinking they would need to ride a flying car to school? When in fact they could just take the Knight Bus the whole way? Harry nodded, confirming this. The man finished loading their trunks then turned to them, his hand out.
"Eleven sickles for a ticket, for thirteen ya get a hot chocolate, and for fifteen a hot water bottle and a toothbrush, any colour ya wan'."
"Uh, just the tickets please," Harry said, handing enough money for the two of them.
Stanley, as he had introduced himself before, quickly counted the coins. Once the amount was confirmed he turned and boarded the bus, leaving the doors open for the boys to board.
"This might become an overnight trip, so get comfortable boys."
They quickly found some seats to sit on. The interior of the bus, contrary to the exterior, was nothing like a muggle bus. The bus was much larger than it had appeared from the outside. With seats that extended from one end to the other and rows of beds that were chained to the floor. Harry gave the beds a worry glance, they didn't look very stable enough to sleep in.
As soon as Harry and Ron sat, the bus took off, Stanley sat at the passenger seat next to the driver. Harry then did a double take, the driver was ordinary enough, old with glasses that made his eyes look bigger than they were. However, the head hanging from the driver's mirror is what caught Harry's attention. The head with its decaying hair swung around and sent a crooked smile to Harry. Harry shivered and looked away. Suddenly he thought he'd much rather take a flying car to school.
"Was kind of looking forward to taking Dad's car," Ron mumbled, staring out the window as the bus took off at an alarming rate. Harry became very thankful for the seatbelt.
"Yeah, but imagine the howler you would've gotten when she found out," Harry replied, however he too was looking forward to it too.
Ron shivered as he imagined it. "Yeah you're right about that one."
Harry and Ron jostled along with the bus as it zipped through traffic, shrinking and elongating at will to get past muggle cars that honked their way through busy London city.
"Why can't they see us?" Harry asked Stanley, who was reading the Daily Prophet. Something about Ministry raids flashing on the cover.
"Them! Don' listen properly, do they? Don' look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don't!" Stanley mocked, not once looking away from his paper.
Harry didn't ask Stanley any more questions after that and made quiet conversation with Ron. They wondered what greetings they would get when they arrived at school. Would they get in trouble for taking the bus instead of going back to their parents? Harry wished he knew what the outcome of their choice would be, but that would have to wait now.
"I really don't want to sleep in those beds tonight," Ron whispered, looking at the beds with a foreboding look.
"It will be fine Ron, hopefully…" Harry too looked at them with apprehension.
After a while the conversation drifted to a close and they watched as the scenery changed from the city to country. Along the way they had picked up and dropped off a few passengers; Harry kept his head down the entire time. It wouldn't be good to get noticed here in this place, who knew what the papers would come up with.
When the horizon drifted from an orange to a bruised purple, Harry could feel the driftness of sleep over take him. He began nodding off in his seat and Ron shook him awake. Stanley had said they wouldn't be in Hogsmeade until the morning. They should probably get as much sleep as they can.
Harry nodded and made his way to a bed, climbing onto it with tense muscles. The beds, although chained to the floor, still swayed with the movement of the bus and Harry knew that he would fall off the bed in his sleep.
"This is going to be a long night," Harry groaned, flopping down onto the middle of the bed, praying to Merlin that he wouldn't awaken with his head hitting the floor.
Ron sighed, flopping onto his bed too. "Better get as much sleep as we can than."
They were the only overnight passengers for the night which meant no snoring or sleep talking strangers disturbing the quiet of the bus. After Harry got used to the swaying, he found that he quite liked the lulling of it, and soon passed out into a peaceful sleep.
Draco did not have an invisibility cloak of his own like Harry, but the Malfoy name could do much. Draco, who had very cunningly over the summer, managed to acquire himself such a rarity. This cloak however, was nothing like Harrys, it didn't work very well during the day, as light penetrated through the material and made him visible. But it would work well enough for him at night. That was the only time when he needed to use it after all.
Draco knew that the Diary had been planted with the Weasleys, however which Weasley? He wasn't sure. He knew Ron, the twins, and his younger sister who he had just learned about, were there that day. Ron was not there during the feast, which meant he would be with Harry. Draco just had to hope that Ron didn't have the diary and one of the other present Weasleys did. He knew would not be able to go up to the girl's dormitories due to the nature of his sex, but a tricky little spell he had found at home in his fathers personal library would fix that problem.
The feast ended, where throughout Draco kept finding himself looking to the Gryffindor table, a carefully concealed worried Hermione smiled with a newly sorted Ginny Weasley. Everyone began to make their way to their houses, the passwords given to them by the house leaders. Draco kept an ear out for the Gryffindor password; that clumsy second year, the one that kept losing his toad last year was mumbling it under his breath as walked towards his house. Draco just managed to catch it and felt triumph wash through him.
Phase one of that plan was complete. The password had been obtained and now it was time to commence phase two.
The castle dimmed with the dying light. Candles flickering to life in the halls. Draco waited in anticipation for midnight to come. For this is when he would break into Gryffindor Tower. After mimicking tiredness with Pansy and Blaise, Draco waited wide awake in his bed for the clock to strike twelve.
Draco looked down to his watch, finally the time had arrived. Quickly but silently, Draco collected his cloak and slipped out of the room. He was still dressed in his pyjamas and had not put on his shoes to conceal the sound of his walking. Draco kept his ears and eyes alert for Mrs Norris and Filch. He knew that the cloak would not get him past Mrs Norris practised standard of catching sneaking children.
Gryffindor Tower seemed as far away as ever as he made his way to it. His heart incrementally climbed up his throat the closer he got and when he finally made it to the portrait of the Fat Lady he forgot how to use his voice. The password he had not forgotten, it was right there on the tip of tongue.
Just say it Draco! Wattlebird, wattlebird, wattlebird!
Harry then floated into his mind, those bright, sensitive green eyes crinkling as they smiled at him, his hair as messy as ever, his hands softly holding his.
You can do it Draco, Harry whispered.
Draco took a deep breath of determination and finally found his voice again.
"Wattlebird," Draco whispered, the Fat Lady did not react, her snoring echoing in the halls.
Draco cleared his throat and brought his hand up, he tapped on the portrait hoping that this would wake the Fat Lady.
The Fat Lady did indeed wake up, with a snortling start. She looked around, not seeing anyone of the sort and was just about to fall back asleep when the password found her painted ear.
"Wattlebird," it said. The Fat Lady looked around but found no one that she could see. However, the enchantments laid upon her activated. The password had been said, she was to open now.
"Very rude of you to not show your face," she sniffed, but she opened anyways. Hoping she wasn't letting anything ominous into Gryffindor house.
Draco gave a silent sigh of relief and stepped through the hole into the common room of Gryffindor house. As he stepped in, he quickly looked around to see if anyone was left in the common room but found relief when there seemed to be no one. Draco gave himself a moment to take in Gryffindor Tower. The room melted together with gold and maroon, the fire still blazing with a flickering light, couches and tables strewn about with no orderly manner. This felt much more homely than the Slytherin common room did.
Draco finished his appraisal of the room and quickly made way to the boy's dormitories; if it was anything like Slytherins, then the boys would be on the left and the girls on the right. Walking up the first step successfully meant that he was correct. Draco silently rushed up the steps, his sock covered feet barely making any sound against the wooden floor.
Draco walked down the hallway of the boys dormitories, keeping an eye out for the fourth year's room. He passed the second year room and had an itch to enter it, but knew better and continued on down. Finally he came to the fourth year's room where Fred and George Weasley were hopefully sleeping. Draco whispered a charm that would ensure the door opened silently and then turned the handle with bated breath.
The door opened soundlessly as he had hoped, he tiptoed into the room, snoring the only reply to his sneaking. His eyes searched the room and it only took a moment to find who he was looking for. He wasn't sure who the first twin was that he searched, but the search came up empty and with a heavy feeling in his gut he moved onto the next sibling. His searching left him empty handed.
Draco sighed quietly, he would have to move on to his next target. The female sibling, Ginny. He readjusted his cloak over his head and checked his watch as he left the room, he had a fifteen minute window before Filch would be making his rounds past this tower, he hurried on to the girls dormitories. The thing with wizards is that they can make any charm that they wish if they put their minds to it, and luckily some wizard long ago wanted the knack to effortlessly change their gender. The charm was advanced and Draco had to practise quite a bit before he could pull it off enough to trick the castle, but now he was confident that he could pull off the spell.
He had to speak the charm out loud as he casted it, for he wasn't good enough at his to whisper it at that point in time. Femina Genus Transforma Draco chanted. The words were simple yes, but it was the intricate flicking of the wand that made the charm difficult. Draco swished his wand up and down with sharp precise movements, then in a clockwise circular motion, Draco had to continuously chant the words until he completed his wand work. Finally, after a finalising cross motion Draco could feel the transformative charm over take his body.
Draco felt uncomfortable prickles flood through his body, then the transformation was complete.
He placed one foot on the stairs and took in a breath to see if the castle would react to him. The castle did not. Draco sighed in relief and made his way upwards. Rushing quickly as he could only hold the spell for ten minutes. He could feel his magic already draining, his muscles already feeling sluggish. But he soldiered onward. The first year's girls room wasn't hard to find as it was the first door in the hallway. He whispered the same charm again to ensure a quiet opening and turned the handle.
With a quick readjustment of his cloak Draco scanned the room for the somewhat familiar ginger. He had to go around the beds and check the identities of the girls before he found Ginny, but eventually he did and commenced his search. He searched in all the right places. Her trunk (which wasn't charmed locked unlike the twins) and underneath her bed. He moved on to her bedside table and the drawers which came up empty. The only place where he thought to look next was under her pillow.
Draco anxiously stood next to Ginny, staring down at the sleeping girl, her freckles making her skin look more pale in the moonlit room. She was breathing evenly which meant she was still in deep sleep. A quick hand slipping under her pillow wouldn't wake her up right… right?
Draco held his resolve firmly, he only had five minutes now before the spell broke and he didn't have enough energy in him to pull the spell again to get down those stairs. With a shaking hand he slowly slithered it under her pillow, feeling like he was violating a most sacrament rule, but his heart skipped a beat when his hand met something solid. He wrapped his fingers around it carefully and with the slowest of motion pulled the object out.
Ginny whined and rolled over as Draco pulled the black book out. He quickly pulled back, slipping his hand under the cloak. Ginny's eyes fluttered open and she looked around briefly, but finding nothing she let them close again, falling into a dreamless sleep once again. Draco rushed out of the room and down the stairs. He didn't dare another look back before he found himself securely back in his dormitory. The diary pressed tightly against his chest.
His transformation had worn off and he crawled under the cover of his bed to shield from prying eyes and looked down to the diary with a lit wand. The black leather cover had no words upon it, it seemed harmless just like his father had said it would. He opened the diary out of curiosity. He had no clue what the diary entailed, all he knew was that it was the key to causing havoc at the school. To put his friends in danger.
The diary however contained no words, the pages ominously blank. Draco turned the pages with a gentle touch, trying to find any words, but none could be found. He shut the diary with a slam when he heard a snort echo through the room. But then realised it was just Crabbe snoring and breathed out a sigh of relief. He felt the drawings of exhaustion then and decided that he would examine the diary more closely tomorrow, for now he needed sleep.
He tucked the diary into his trunk which was securely spelled with wards to protect against snoopers and curious dorm mates. He settled into bed and drifted into a fitful sleep. The soft hiss of a snake disturbing the quiet of his dreams.
When Harry awoke to Ron shaking him awake, there was no longer the lull of the bed moving which meant that they must have gotten to their stop. Stanley was already helping drag their trunks out of the bus and Harry quickly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he attempted to wake up. Ron had that jittery air of excitement about him, he knew he was about to be the talk of the school when they showed up to the gates with sheepish smiles on their faces.
"What time is it?" Harry asked, yawning.
"It's half past seven, we'll make it just in time for breakfast," Ron replied, stepping away to give Harry some space.
"Better get going then, we have to walk all the way up to the castle." Harry hopped off the bed and gave Stanley a polite nod. He nodded back, a toothpick occupying his mouth.
"Be al'righ fellas?" Stanley asked, fixing them up with their trunks. Harry nodded, he picked up his trunk with one hand, he then kneeled down to Hedwig's cage and opened it. She hooted softly in thanks and hopped out, stretching her wings before taking flight into the air.
"You know where to go," Harry said to her. She turned and landed on Harry's arm and gave a genle nipp at his finger, which Harry took as a sign that she understood. Harry took the last crumbs of owl treats out of his pocket and fed them to her before she flew off in the direction of the castle, to finally get a well deserved rest in the owlery.
"Best be off then, thank you so much Stanley!" Ron hiked up his trunk and gave one last nod to Stanley before walking up the road towards Hogsmeade.
Harry too gave one last smile and nod and followed after the excited Ron. The cool autumn breeze dried the sweat that soon began to pool on their foreheads as they began trudging up towards Hogwarts. They skirted past Hogsmeade, walking through the bordering forest instead to avoid the eyes of inquisitive and meddling adults. Then it was time to go up the steep hill that Hogwarts lay upon.
Their energy soon began to drain and conversation lulled. Their hot breaths condensed in the morning air but the sun felt hotter than ever, beating down on them relentlessly. They had to take breaks every few hundred metres, their arms burning with effort, their lungs heaving with exertion. Harry suddenly wished he had spent more of his summer working out instead of lazing around.
Finally, oh finally, they made it to the crest of the hill where the large looming gates of Hogwarts overlooked their exhausted physiques. They flopped onto the ground, giving up on keeping all pretences. The gates opened then for them and they scrambled to their feet, their faces still flushed but at least they had their breathing under control now. They collected their trunks and stumbled past the gates, Harry squinted as the sun shined into his eyes and found a charging figure heading towards them. Ron noticed too that there was someone heading towards him then a curse slipped out from under his breath.
"Harry, it's Snape," Ron hissed, Harry squinted again and found that Ron was correct. A seething Professor Snape was charging towards them with all the flourish that the Potions professor possessed. Harry and Ron stopped in their tracks and began to prepare themselves for the harsh talking they were about to receive from Professor Snape.
"Come with me, you two," Snape sneered when he got close enough to be heard. The boys gulped and nodded, picking up their trunks and following the fuming professor. Professor Snape did not speak any more words to them as they walked the last leg back to the castle. Classes had not begun yet and a small crowd had formed around the entrance to the castle.
"Step aside, please," Snape spat, taking no time to pretend to be nice to the students, they jumped back as if stung and Harry ducked his head down with embarrassment colouring his cheeks.
Snape gave the stink eye to any lingering students as they made their way to Dumbldedore's office. They stopped at the gargoyle and Snape eyed their trunks that they were still dragging along with them. With a flick of his wand their trunks were gone and Harry felt a rush of anxiety. His invisibility cloak was in his trunk and he didn't want Snape finding it.
"Rest assured Harry, I have sent your trunks to the house elves," Snape sighed, some of the venom leaving his voice as he seemed to calm down. Snape spoke the password which was treacle tart and the gargoyle moved away revealing the spiral staircase.
Snape went down first, his footsteps echoing against the cobblestone walls. Harry and Ron followed with hearts pounding in their throats and adrenaline rushing through their veins. They weren't sure what was awaiting them in Dumbledore's office; whether or not there was to be a punishment involved. But Harry knew that surely they couldn't be in much trouble right? It's not like they outwardly broke rules like they had done last year.
Snape rapped his knuckles against the door, his shoulders taught with a tension that Harry could feel in the air. That soft wise voice of Dumbledore came through the door. "Come in," he rasped. Snape opened the door and walked in first with his two guilty students following behind.
This was Harry's first time visiting Dumbledore's office, and he was fascinated by it. He couldn't help the roaming of his eyes over the still moving portraits and the amounts of old things that Harry didn't think that he would ever be able to name.
Snape cleared his throat as Dumbledore turned around from his position of looking out his window. His golden phoenix, Hawks, cawed at them from his perch by Dumbledore's desk.
"Welcome Harry and Ron, sit please." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled from within their half moon spectacles. Harry and Ron hurried to sit in the two chairs facing Dumbledore's desk, they kept their eyes down to their feet, suddenly feeling all the guilt that they should be.
"Now would one of you boys care to explain?" Dumbledore began.
Harry and Ron looked at each other and Ron gave an almost unnoticeable shrug. Harry then realised that it was up to him to explain what had happened at the train station. He had run what had happened over and over in his mind, and the only explanation that he could come up with was Dobby the elf. However, how did he explain that an elf had possibly closed the gate to the station. He sounded mad.
"Sir, the gate to the platform, it closed off when we tried to go through. We promise you, you can go to any muggle that was there," Harry began, hoping that Snape—who was leering from the corner—wouldn't try and discredit him.
"Then why did you not go back to your parents, why smuggle your way into Hogwarts?" Snape barked out, but Dumbledore raised his hand to quieten him.
"That's quite enough Severus, let's begin by saying that I'm glad that you two are safe. But this is an example that I don't want you two setting for your fellow classmates, for this you must be punished."
Harry and Ron's heads fell. "For the next two weeks Harry, you are to help Professor Snape with his potions preparations, Ron you will be assigned to Professor Sprout."
Ron's shoulders sagged in relief, being assigned to help Professor Sprout at the end of the day was barely a punishment at all. Harry on the other hand was already dreading his detentions. Harry remembered last year's detentions with Snape, which overall had not been horrible, but this time he would be assisting Snape with potions preparations. He shivered with the thought.
"That will be all boys, you have classes to attend, here are your timetables."
Harry and Ron quickly took their timetables and rushed off to their dorms where they changed out of their casual clothes and into their uniforms. They then half ran to their first class of the day Transfiguration with Slytherin. Harry now had the thought that Draco would be in that class and his heart pounded against his chest.
"Let's hope Professor McGonagall doesn't chew us out," Ron sighed, readjusting his shoulder bag.
"I'm sure it will be fine."
They finally made it to their classroom and Harry opened the door softly, hoping that the class wasn't in the middle of a lecture from McGonagall, but his luck was not on his side and the class dead silent turned as Harry peaked his head around the door.
"Ah, Mr Potter, nice of you to join us," Professor McGonagall huffed. Harry smiled with a sheepish smile and fully walked into the classroom, whispers exploded as Ron followed and Harry looked around for Hermione who was giving them both a relieved look.
"Take your seats boys, you've interrupted my class for long enough."
Harry quickly sat at the two vacant seats next to Hermione, pulling out his supplies and solely focusing his attention on McGonagall. McGonagall recommenced her lecture about second years and the extra responsibilities when he felt someone watching him. His eyes wandered and soon they met a grey pair that he had missed so much.
Harry's face burst into a smile as he looked at Draco, the boy blushed slightly and smiled lightly back before quickly looking away, setting an emotionless mask back on his face as that boy Blaise gave him a weird look. Harry felt relief rush through him so quickly that he almost felt breathless. Draco had responded to him, which meant he couldn't be mad at him as he thought.
Now he just needed to talk to Draco; he desperately wanted to hear his voice again.
Draco, from the corner of his eye, watched Harry, relieved that he looked well and okay and finally allowed his shoulders to relax. Blaise gave him an interesting side look, but he ignored him. His questions could be answered later.
First he had some explanations to give to Harry, with a couple of half lies and half truths, first he just had to hear Harry's voice again.