A/N: Once more, thanks to theghostinside and superioritycomplex144, as well as to vampire5596, Insomiak and my sister. Also, I'm really, really sorry that this chapter is so terribly short, I'll promise to hurry with the next one to make up for it (:

Ten days after his talk with Ginny Harry was slowly growing a bit tired of spending time with his girlfriend. He still cared for her -and if he hadn't known Hermione probably would've thought her the single most wonderful girl in the entire world- but he had barely seen anyone else since the redhead had expressed her dissatisfaction with him visiting Draco several times a week. Once, he had managed to meet up with Neville and Seamus for a butterbeer, Hermione had come over for tea twice (still, she stayed only for half an hour, since Ron was obviously still furious), but apart from that, all his time was spent with the ginger. And although he did not want to follow thoughts of that kind, he did not only start to long for a bit of solitude but also for the presence of a particular boy he had caught himself thinking of a bit too often during the past days.

He wondered when exactly he had allowed Draco Malfoy to take up such great space in his life.

It concerned him slightly, but in the end he gave up and found himself on the steps of Malfoy Manor once more. However, what worried him even more was that his girlfriend didn't know about it. Admittedly, he hadn't really lied to her, but hadn't told her the truth either; just that he was busy, and thus not able to visit Luna with her that afternoon. He would've liked to see the blonde girl again, but he figured he'd just invite her over another time. At that moment, Draco was more important.

Thus, he rang the bell and waited, willing his heartbeat to slow down. Why it had sped up anyway, he didn't know, but before he had time to contemplate, the door opened, revealing a house-elf instead of the fair-haired boy who usually greeted him. For a second, fear crept up in him, as he was reminded of the one other occasion where he was welcomed in a similar manner, but the feeling was washed away when the obviously surprised elf just stepped aside when recognising the brunet.

'Master Draco is currently in the salon, if you would like to join him.'

Harry nodded and thanked him before rushing past. By now, he knew his way around the house, which was why getting to said room took only about a minute.

He took a second to collect himself, before practically bursting in, catching the blonde by surprise.

'What are you doing here?'

'Ah, I would have hoped you'd be a bit happier to see me', the ex-Gryffindor answered in a playful tone; although he couldn't deny that there was a certain portion of truth in the statement. Deep down, he was worried that maybe the other would be mad for him not turning up for more than a week.

However, instead of shouting, sneering or insulting him, the former Death-eater stared at him for a moment, before replying in a tone which was far less playful than it should have been, 'Actually, I am.'

A smile split Harry's face in two, while his heart sped up once more. 'Yeah, me too.'

His host motioned for him to sit down, and they sat in comfortable silence for a minute, before the brunet asked what he had been on his mind since he had arrived: 'Why are you here? I thought you hated the salon.'

One moment, he looked thoughtful, before slowly responding, 'I do. But sometimes…sometimes it feels right to be here after all. Since I don't want to forget about everything I've been through.'

'You don't?'
He thought for a moment before replying, 'Although the war's definitely been the worst time of my life, it still changed me so much, and for the better, I think, that I don't want to just erase it from my memory. And even though this is going to sound terrible, if all this wouldn't have happened, we probably would never have overcome our differences.' And if the Golden Boy wasn't completely mistaken, his cheeks were tinted slightly pink.

'I'm glad about that, too…but I can't agree with you about the first bit. Not ever.'

'And here comes your hero complex again', the other said, smirking almost teasingly.

'Well, can't change that, I'm afraid.'

'It's good then that I've decided to give up trying, isn't it?'
A smile followed before Harry finally remembered that he had something completely different to say as well. 'By the way, I'm really sorry for not coming over so long. You see, Ginny was complaining about me spending too little time with her and well…I couldn't really tell her off', he chuckled, and it sounded a bit nervous, even to his own ears.

'It's okay, I understand.'
'That's it?'
'What did you expect me to do?', Draco looked at him in bewilderment.

'I don't know. Something about me being a git, or how you didn't miss me anyway, I suppose.'

'Well…the first thing is true to an extend, but since you are obviously aware of it, pointing it out isn't really necessary-'
'Which doesn't stop you most of the time, though.'

'You have no idea, Harry, how often I'd like to say it and don't. Anyway, I just figured that you wanted to put some distance between the two of us again, since we have spent a lot of time together before.'

The brunet was stunned. There was barely emotion in the other's voice and somehow, him being so nonchalant about it didn't quite fit.

'Nah, not at all. I enjoy spending time here, but well, I couldn't really turn her down…you know how she is', he quickly replied, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

'Actually, I don't. At least not more than that she's got ginger hair, is your best friend's sister and that I probably wouldn't like her very much. But that I know only because she's a Weasley. You don't really talk about her much.'

The raven-haired boy was surprised, to say at least, but when thinking back, he noticed that he really did not talk a lot about his girlfriend. Probably it was because talking about her with the other male did feel kind of inappropriate, although he was not able to figure out why that was. There just was the feeling that mixing these two worlds, the one with Draco and the one with Ginny in it, wouldn't lead to something good for all parties.

'She's really pretty and no matter how much it pains me, slightly taller than me', he started, feeling slightly uneasy, 'Also, she's incredibly sweet, caring and clever. And she's quite brave; helped fighting Death-eaters and stuff.' To his horror, it became hard after that. Surely, he knew how Ginny drank her tea (with milk and an insane amount of sugar), but that information hardly mattered. Luckily, the blonde choose not to note how trivial his chatter quickly became, but the realisation struck Harry hard, though. Apparently, he didn't know the ginger enough to talk about her for more than five minutes.

When he finally stopped rambling, he lifted his gaze up, fully expecting to see Draco looking somewhat amused about his obvious failure to talk about his own bloody girlfriend, but instead his host was looking almost thoughtful. However, what was even more surprising than the other not making fun of him (because although they had buried the hatchet now, he still enjoyed that immensely) was that, sitting there, he looked positively…beautiful.

There was no other way of describing it.

His collar had fallen open, revealing a pale neck and just the hint of a collarbone, while the warm light radiating from the fireplace illuminated him in the most exquisite manner, making his skin look like porcelain, his silver eyes shine and glitter. One single strand of his silky-looking hair had fallen into his face, a long, elegant finger rested on lips, which looked as if the boy had just chewed on them: Slightly wet and rose-tinted.

However, the most stunning thing was the look in the Draco's eyes, which was solely fixed on Harry and so intense he could almost feel it burn through him.

He blinked, half hoping, half fearing that the image would vanish, but it was in vain; his throat tightened and went dry, so when he tried to speak, no word came out. The only thing he could do was continue to stare at the fair-haired wizard in front of him. Luckily, he did not have enough strength left to move, otherwise he surely would've reached out and brushed the tress of platinum-blonde hair from his forehead, maybe even risen and sat next to the other, seeing if he could count the white-tipped eyelashes.

The spell was broken when Draco started to speak, looking as if he didn't quite know if it was the right thing to do, 'I…I think you should be going.'

The line felt like a direct hit to the stomach.

'Have I done anything wrong?', he asked a bit shaky.

'What?'

'Because you want me to leave; there's got to be something I did, right?'

'No, not at all', the other looked almost a bit amused and Harry didn't understand a thing, 'The thing is just, you said you had a date with your girlfriend in about…five minutes, and I suppose you don't want to be late, do you?'

The brunet couldn't remember a time when he had felt more stupid than in this very moment. He had mentioned meeting up with Ginny later about twenty minutes ago and still, he had just forgotten about it.

'Oh…right.'

'Don't tell me you've forgotten.' The blonde boy's look grew more amused by the second.

'I won't tell you, then.' He got up awkwardly, almost knocking over the chair he had been sitting in in the process, 'I suppose I'll see you, right?'

'Fine with me', the former Death-eater half-smiled, 'Just…when do you think you'll drop by again?'

The sudden interest surprised him, usually Draco never asked when he'd come back. There was a strange flutter in his chest when he thought that it sounded as if the other wanted him to come back as soon as possible.

'Well, I don't think I'll be able to make it tomorrow, but maybe the day afterwards. I at least hope so.' Harry tried to give him a reassuring smile, but it turned out just the tiniest bit desperate.

'And…will you tell her where you're going? Or are you going to lie again?'

Of course, the raven-haired wizard had noticed when he told the other, that he hadn't liked that the brunet hadn't told his girlfriend where he was going, but he hadn't known it was bothering him that much.

'I'll tell her. After all, she cannot expect that I give you up all together, right?'

And the half-smile on Draco's lips turned into a full one.