Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters within! It's all J.K. Rowling's! It is quite fun to mess around with their brains though.

Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP (disregards other books)

Pairing: Draco/Harry

Warnings: Possible language, violence, a bit of a depressed Harry, OOC-ness, some romance, some fluff, some angst (just for fun), AU (nothing from book six or beyond)

A/N: I took a look at the outline I had set for this way back when I started it and the better part of it no longer made sense to me. Curse my horrible shorthanded jot notes. At any rate, I spent a good amount of time rehashing it out, and hopefully it's somewhat like my original intensions, and maybe even better. Hopefully there's nothing quite like it out there. Also want to thank those who added this story to their favourites since the last upload. It brought a smile to my face!

Beautiful in the Moonlight – Chapter 04

Draco Malfoy wasn't quite sure what to make of his experience with Potter's friends. He wasn't dead, so that was positive, but a small part of him wished he was. Those darn Gryffindors were bound to leak his obsession with the great Harry Potter to the rest of the school. Draco gave himself twenty hours before he felt the need to jump off the Astronomy Tower to his gruesome and untimely death.

Pansy couldn't have been more gleeful. Upon arriving back at his compartment on the train Draco caught a flash of raven as Potter dashed out the door at top speed, presumably to get away from Pansy, that psychotic bitch of a girl. Pansy proceeded to ask him endless questions for the rest of the trip. Draco himself couldn't believe Granger and Weasley had actually agreed to help him woo Potter. Well Granger had anyway, and that meant Weasley did by default. In the next few days Granger would deliver to Draco a list of Potter's favourite things, with the promise of death should he choose to break Potter's heart. Codswallup if you asked him!

After his rather stressful day Draco wanted nothing more than to whine and rant at his mother about how horrendous his life was. Why on Earth had she brought him into this shameful, awful, cruel world? Since his mother wasn't around and he'd done nothing but rant to her all last night he settled for writing his father. Before he knew it, a scroll the size of an essay for Severus Snape was tied to his trusty owl and on its way to Azkaban. Sighing dramatically Draco flopped back on his bed, gracefully mind you, and fell asleep.

Lucius was in the process of detangling the left side of his head of hair when a guard snapped at him through the bars of his dank cell,

"Malfoy, you've got mail."

To Lucius's astonishment a thick scroll bounced off the wall behind him hit him on the head and landed in his lap. Mail? For him? And was that his son's seal he spotted? Oh happy day! His wonderful son had written him. And a long one at that! Perhaps all hope was not lost! But wait, Draco was most likely not pleased at his predicament. Lucius suddenly became afraid at what hateful words might be held within the paper in his hands. With much trepidation Lucius unrolled the scroll and prepared to read his son's words.

"…"

After finishing, Lucius's eyes squinted and he reread the scroll twice more just to make sure. He wasn't insane. The scroll held not even one word about him past the scribbled 'Dear Father' at the top left. Not an inquiry to how he was. No 'I miss you'. Not even a single word of hate! In fact, the entire bloody scroll was about none other than Harry bloody Potter!

A passing guard noticed Lucius's very uncharacteristic posture and prodded at him through the bars with a stick,

"Malfoy, you dead yet?"

Lucius suddenly grasped his head with both hands and banged it furiously against the wall,

"Why, why, why, why, whyyyyyyyy?" he yelled at no one in particular and kicked his feet up and down wildly.

The guard jumped back and scurried down the hall. Azkaban really did turn people into loonies…

Sure enough, as promised, with the morning owl delivery a list arrived from none other than Hermione Granger. Draco lifted his eyes to look at the Gryffindor table across the hall. Unfortunately Potter's back was to him, but he could see Granger, who looked rather proud of herself and Weasley who looked like he had a stick shoved up his butt. Before Draco could say Fizzing Whizbee Pansy practically ripped the list from his hands, eyes scanning it quickly.

"Give that back you whore!" Draco hissed at her, reaching across the table to no avail. Pansy merely pushed him back with one arm while holding the paper away with her other.

"Oh Draco, calm down. It's not like you'd make any proper use of this list. As your official guide in true love, I expect you to entrust all of this information to me!"

"What are you rambling on about woman; I don't recall making you my guide in anything! And it's not TRUE love, just love! There's nothing true about it!" Draco spoke loudly, attracting the attention of some of his neighbours.

"Quiet Draco dear, or did you want everyone to know about your crush on Potter?"

Draco paled hissing, "Malfoy's don't get crushes!" and looked around but his classmates now seemed far more interested in the food on their plates. As Pansy began listing off various things, the colour blue, rain, something about music, while Greg and Vince listened attentively, Draco's focus moved elsewhere, to the back of Potter's head to be precise. Potter looked decidedly slouched today and from what Draco could see of his plate he wasn't eating much either. An indiscernible worried feeling overcame him, but Draco scrunched up his face at that. Bollocks! Malfoy's don't worry, especially not about little black haired scarheads, no matter how desirable they may be. When Pansy whacked him hard on the head he looked around to see a brilliant orange and blue spotted lily.

"What is this supposed to be?"

Pansy's eyes rolled at the question. Draco certainly was daft when he wanted to be.

"It's a flower...obviously. I didn't realize you were dumb AND blind."

"Idiot, I know it's a flower, but what is it for?"

"It's a lily, Draco. They're Potter's favourite. I transfigured it from my fork. Look! He's leaving, go catch up to him, and do try to call him by his first name!" Pansy shoved the flower into Draco's hands and turned him in the right direction. Draco nearly crushed the flower. He walked unevenly towards the door of the Great Hall, his arms straight at his sides, Pansy but two feet behind him. Draco willed himself to calm down, took a deep breath, pushed through the doors, and strode over to Potter.

"Potter!" Draco winced, "H-! Har-...Potter!" Fuck it but he couldn't say it.

Pansy just covered her face at this pitiful display.

To everyone's surprised Potter didn't do much else but look up at him. Even Granger had seemed slightly shocked, eyes widening comically. Ron appeared to have suffocated. Draco merely turned his head up high and practically shoved the deteriorating lily in Potter's face.

"...What...is this?"

"Ugh, Potter are you a complete idiot, it's a flower, a lily to be exact."

"...Why?"

Pansy scowled from behind Draco and muttered a swift, 'men'.

Severus had thought this year at Hogwarts might actually have proven to be mildly less than disappointing. After all, Potter wasn't taking potions this year, and less Potter was typically enough to brighten up his day. Severus briefly acknowledged that the Slytherin table seemed rather rambunctious for this early in the morning but focused on eating his sausages instead. However, when he stepped out of the Great Hall that morning to see Draco holding a flower at arm's length out to a very confused Potter, he knew that this year would undeniably be his worst year at Hogwarts yet. And that included that time James Potter and his blubbering friends hung him upside down with his knickers exposed to the world.

With a loud, "Potter! Detention!" and "Fifteen points from Gryffindor!" just because he could, Severus turned swiftly on his heels, robes billowing outward and marched down to his dungeons to inhale fumes. Nothing but a bit of chemical influence to numb the brain, and prayers be with the student that got in his way today.

Not a day in and Harry already had detention with Snape. On top of that he wasn't even quite sure why. Leave it to the combination of Malfoy and Snape to destroy his first day back at Hogwarts. After Snape stormed away, Malfoy had practically shoved the stupid flower in Harry's hands and hobbled off at a brisk pace like some kind of drunken fool. Hermione and Ron shared a strange glance before Hermione had practically dragged Ron down the hall saying something along the lines of 'time for class!' Never mind that Harry knew Ron had a free period. Harry, not sure he wanted to know what the hell was wrong with the world, settled on taking his free period to do some more reading and sat down in the back corner of the library.

He pulled out Advanced Potion Making then decided to browse and see what else he could find in the library today. Walking down the shelves with actual curiosity, for the first time Harry noticed there were quite a few books that interested him. He read off some of the titles, Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions... Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes...The Handbook of Hippogriff Psychology. Briefly Harry was reminded of Buckbeak, his thoughts quickly traveling once more to Sirius. He pushed those thoughts to the side for now and continued on. Harry suddenly understood how Hermione could spend days holed up here just reading.

Reaching the section on curses Harry pulled a ratty looking Curses and Counter-curses off of the shelf and flipped through it quickly. He decided it could prove useful and headed back to his table. Stopping briefly at the end of the medical section he grabbed a book titled, Common Magical Ailments and Affliction at the last second. Madam Pomfrey's knowledge of magical healing had always fascinated him. He wondered briefly at how a wizard became a healer and if that was a path he might be able to take.

Sitting heavily Harry realised how impossible that was; he'd be dead long before he could start a career. It was pointless to think about the future when he didn't have one. Harry resigned himself to the fact that he didn't have time for useless knowledge and pushed the book roughly away from him, instead choosing to read about curses. His time was better spent looking for things to save the world. Even on the off chance he lived past his 17th birthday, everyone expected him to become an auror anyway.

Harry tucked his hands in his pockets and came across something soft and silky. Oh yes! The lily. He pulled it out and turned it gently in his hands. It was really very pitiful looking. The stem was cracked, it was missing a few petals, and those still on it were a crumpled mess. What on earth had Malfoy been thinking? He lightly fingered one of the remaining petals. It was soft to the touch and reminded him of spring and Hedwig's feathers. Malfoy's face had been priceless this morning, flushed and scrunched up like he'd never seen. And, Harry thought, lilies were one of his favourite things. A soft smile appeared on his face as he gazed at the flower. Placing it back in his pocket carefully, so as not to disturb what remained of it, Harry decided that perhaps he could spend a little bit of his time reading about healing. It would prove useful in battle anyway; perhaps he could actually save someone's life for once instead of getting everyone killed.

Pansy had never seen Draco looking more disgraceful in her life. He rested over his desk with his arms wrapped around his head. His hair stuck out in every direction from all of the scrunching. His robes were a wrinkled mess. His face was an unusual mesh of splotchy reds and greys. Even his tie was crooked! Draco Malfoy looked like everything a Malfoy was not. Even Professor Babbling seemed a bit thrown off by his lack of attention in her class. Usually Draco was one of her best students, taking pride in besting the others in the class. He excelled at interpreting even the most complicated of ancient runes. But today, the first, and last time, mind you, she had called on him, Draco merely let out an indescribable groaning sound and shifted slightly in his seat.

Pansy, not willing to watch her friend suffer further, leant close and whispered in his ear,

"Draco, that wasn't near as bad as it could have been,"

Draco groaned again and turned his head slightly away.

"In fact, I think it went quite well!"

Draco didn't move.

"Although you were rather awkward,"

Draco flinched slightly at being referred to as awkward.

"...and you royally fucked up his name too of course."

There was a small twitch of the arms.

"But really Draco, you're being too hard on yourself. Potter didn't even move to curse you!"

Draco merely gripped his head more fiercely.

"That's progress if you ask me."

Draco clearly thought otherwise.

Noticing her words weren't having any kind of positive effect, Pansy decided to give up for the time being. Draco could wallow himself away for a few days and then his Slytherin instincts to get what he wanted would kick in once more. And maybe then he'd stop acting so completely and utterly deplorable. Pansy knew he'd thank her later for pushing him in the right direction. For all of the Malfoy family's wealth and prowess, they were completely useless when it came to sensitive things like love. Pansy pulled out the list Granger had sent and folded it neatly. Leaning over one final time Pansy tucked the paper into a pocket in Draco's robes.

"Look over that list and don't lose it. If you want to get anywhere with Potter, you'll need to know these things," Pansy spoke sensibly.

Draco as per usual offered no recognition other than to groan in agony once more while pulling out several chunks of his white blond locks of hair.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Gotta say I love writing from Snape's POV. He's so cynical and humorous. Alan Rickman's expressions in the movie are just perfect too. Review please if you can, would love to hear what you think