DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter.

Harry bounded down the dormitory stairs into the bright, sun-drenched Gryffindor common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting by the stone arch doorway. He smiled and gave them a wave as his jumped the last step to meet them.

"Well, you're certainly chipper this morning" Hermione pointed out with a raise of her eyebrow. She hugged her text books to her chest as the trio exited out to the maze of staircases.

"Just had a good night's sleep is all" he replied with a grin.

Ron rolled his bloodshot eyes. "You've been like this for two weeks. No one has that many good nights." He stifled a yawn. "Pretty annoying, really. I hate morning people."

Harry laughed and nudged the redhead who only grumbled back. The raven haired boy glanced thoughtfully into space. He really had been feeling more upbeat than usual when he woke up, and he was pretty sure he knew the reason why.

My dreams…

The mysterious voice that had first talked to him not that long ago in his dreams had become a little chattier recently. It seemed to fill him with an almost giddy kind of excitement.

He promised I would get to see him soon…he said he was going to stop chasing me.

It actually made him look forward to falling asleep now. Usually he would dread it, as those are the times when he felt the most vulnerable. He had no control over his dreams or what they would be about…and they had a tendency to be unpleasant and downright frightening. These bright, white-washed dreams were a nice change.

"Oof!"

Harry gasped, the wind knocked out of him as the entire side of a student's body collided into his chest.

"Hey! Caref- "

Shocked silver eyes flashed in the reflection of circular lenses. They quickly narrowed.

Malfoy sneered. "Walk much, Potter?" He gave Harry a glace over before gliding past into the dining hall.

"S-Sorry" Harry managed to breathe after the black flowing robes.

Bubbling cheerfulness was quickly replaced by twisting, wrenching pain in his gut. The skin on his chest that had taken Malfoy's impact was tingling slightly. His heart was fluttering.

"So rude" Hermione said with a sigh, shaking her head. Harry just grimaced and continued into the chatter-filled hall toward the familiar Gryffindor faces.

The Slytherin blonde scoffed at the eggs and bacon on his plate. The sight and smell were making him sick. His stomach, which had only moments before been begging to be fed, now churned uncomfortably. Trying to look elsewhere only resulted in constantly being drawn to the back of that familiar, despised mass of messy black hair. The blonde's light grey eyes narrowed, burning a hole of hatred through his skull. For a moment he thought he saw his rival's shoulders hunch in a shiver before turning slightly to glance out of the corner of those bright green eyes. Draco forced himself to hold eye contact, staring, glaring unwaveringly trying to make Potter feel as uncomfortable as possible. Everyone around the two seemed to disappear as he held that moment, focusing only on Potter, watching the boy wince but somehow unable to look away. It was this small sense of satisfaction of holding a bit of power over Potter that kept Draco sane. The grasp was broken though, after what had seemed like several minutes, as Harry's eyes quickly dropped the floor and turned to face his plate again. Draco frowned and let his eyes fall unhappily to his own. He shoved away his food with a scoff and a frustrated clang against the surrounding plates.

"The eggs say something offensive about your hair?"

Draco flicked his eyes up to glare at Blaise's grin. A swing of his leg over the Slytherin bench spun his body to leave. Blaise stood up.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Not hungry anymore" Draco mumbled as he stalked off.

Blaise jogged after him, following the length of the green and silver table and out the Great Hall doors. As soon as wandering students seemed to disappear, Blaise grabbed the crook of Draco's arm and swung him around.

"Draco-"

The blonde quickly shoved him back,

"Stop shadowing me everywhere, Blaise" he growled into his friend's face, "You're really starting to piss me off."

A slight pout emerged from Blaise's lips. "Well excuse me for caring."

"You never have before. Why now?"

Blaise just bit his lip, staring back in silence.

"Fine."

As Draco turned to storm off again, Blaise's hand instinctively reached out toward him.

"I just…"

The annoyed Slytherin pivoted again and crossed his arms with a huff. His eyebrow raised in wait. Blaise looked around before stepping closer.

"I'm just worried that your head may be in the wrong place" he replied in a hushed tone.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, just the way you've been acting, especially when you see…"

Draco's eyes suddenly grew very cold. A quiet cough escaped from Blaise's throat.

"You know what I'm getting at then. I just…want to make sure your head is in the right place, not wandering off to thoughts it has no business in thinking about."

Steel eyes flashed. "How dare you. To even suggest that I…"

Draco's mouth opened and closed, stolen of words. With a final glare he decided the best reply was none at all and left his worried friend behind, stalking toward the Slytherin dungeon entrance. In his mind flooded a thousand thoughts, pressing against his skull. The headache that had formed only made Draco furious.

Blaise was right…he thought with a wince, I have no business even considering thoughts of this.

If only I had the power to stop them…