Disclaimer: JKR owns all HP characters and settings etc. They are not my dollies, I simply stole them and played with them for a short while. Only the plot belongs to me.
Rated: M for language and some sexual situations.
Warnings: There will be slash/ malexmale/ yaoi/ whatever you want to call it. Basically, if you are a homophobe, I don't advise reading this story. Also, for some, there may be unbearable amounts of fluffy relationship stuff that may induce vomiting and/or blindness. Have a nice day.

Post-DH but NOT epilogue compliant. There may be some spoilers.

I am SO sorry to everyone who I've kept waiting for this update! I've had some personal things going on which affected my ability to write a little. Hopefully it's sorted, or on the way to being sorted though. As a gift, I've got 5 chapters for you all to read.

I'd like to thank everyone that has stuck with this story so far and not given up on this, despite the lack of updates.. =S I'd also like to say a HUGE thankyou to those of you who reviewed while I wasn't writing. Your comments brought a smile to my face and encouraged me to start writing again; I'm really grateful to you 3

Harry rose early on Saturday morning and wrote a letter to Kreacher, instructing him to retrieve Draco's wand from the attic and get the school's eagle owl to bring it back to Hogwarts the same day. He still hadn't quite found it within him to replace Hedwig; and he was beginning to wonder if he ever would. He hurried out to the Owlery, head bowed against the chilly wind of the last day of October, and tied his letter to the leg of one of the school's owls, watching it fly off into the distance.

He headed slowly back up to the castle to join Ron and Hermione for breakfast, unwinding the Gryffindor scarf from his neck as he entered the Great Hall. He sat down with them and pulled some bacon and sausages on to his plate as he listened to their discussion about what they were doing to do once they headed into Hogsmeade after the meal, to celebrate Halloween. Harry wasn't going with them for three reasons. One; he knew Ron had something planned for Hermione and he didn't want to get in the way of the romantic couple. Two; he had enough trouble coping with the stares from the students under the teacher's watchful eyes; it would be much worse when almost the whole school was packed into the village with nobody to make sure he wasn't constantly bothered. The villagers were often worse than the pupils, and there were still journalists lurking around. Thirdly, he had fallen behind on his homework again and needed the time to catch up. He had lost much of his focus for lessons during the war and had trouble concentrating while his teachers tried to communicate the 'theory of a spell' to the class. It wasn't something that bothered him, he'd often had trouble focusing during theory lessons, but it was starting to affect his homework and performance, so he figured he'd better stay behind and use the extra time to refresh his memory of the work he'd recently been studying.

Breakfast finished; he meandered slowly to the front doors with his friends, and after convincing Hermione that, no, he didn't want to come with them and, yes, he would be perfectly fine on his own; he saw them off and headed up to his room to begin the boring task of working through his essays for that week.

Around an hour into his failing study – he'd written three paragraphs – he was interrupted by the eagle owl he'd sent off that morning tapping on the window. He grinned and opened it, allowing the bird to hop inside and untying the long package before it flew off up to the Owlery again.

Just as he was tucking the package into the drawer of his desk, the door opened and in strolled Draco, his head buried in a book. He glanced up and nodded to Harry before putting the book down.

"You were up early this morning."

"Yeah, I err… Had to write a letter." Briefly wondering why he didn't tell Draco about his wand, Harry continued. "You busy? I need your advice for this Transfiguration essay."

Draco leaned over the desk, brushing Harry's shoulder as he did so and Harry shivered as he caught that scent again, the scent that was entirely, inexplicably, Draco Malfoy. He breathed in deeply without noticing, as the blond scrutinised his scribbling.

Draco turned his aristocratic head and raised and elegant eyebrow. "This is all you've done?"

Harry scowled. "Yeah."

"How long did it take you?"

He blushed and muttered, "An hour."

Draco smirked. "You need a break. You'll never write anything decent if you've been sitting here for an hour already, writing rubbish." He straightened and looked down at Harry. "Seeker's only game. The wind's perfect for flying."

Harry grinned. He hadn't ridden his broom in a long time. "Sounds great."

They walked together down to the grounds, each holding their broom as though it was a fifth limb they never wished to be parted from. Raiding the school's Quidditch supply closet, they found a snitch and settled on a spot from which to take off. Placing the snitch on the ground and immobilising it, they both stood an equal distance away and mounted their brooms. Harry freed the snitch with his wand and they both counted thirty seconds before taking off in search of it.

The joy Harry felt from being back on his broom was immense. He hadn't realised just how much he'd missed sailing through the sky; his hair whipping his face, until this moment. An unstoppable grin spread across his face as he and Draco circled the skies in search of the small golden ball; polishing their flying skills, practising old stunts and yelling playful insults and slurs to each other about their diminishing skills and quality of flying.

They played until their fingers became numb and stiff, the wind chilling them past endurance and they landed after six rounds of the game; Harry winning four of them, though Draco argued that at least two of those wins had been pure luck and he had been 'distracted'. By what, Harry failed to receive an answer, and was smirking triumphantly. Walking back to their room to warm up, shower and change for the Halloween feast, they laughed and joked happily with each other as though they had been friends for years.

Once they had both taken hot showers and changed into fresh clothing, they sat next to the newly lit fire, talking passionately about Quidditch. As they were considered 'ex-students' who were only returning for a revision year, neither boy was allowed to play for his house team, a rule which they both found deeply unfair. Draco had also lost his status as a Prefect, which didn't bother him much, as he still got all of the perks - such as people hurriedly clearing out of the way for him whenever he walked down corridors – but with none of the responsibility.

"The only thing I really miss about being a Prefect," He confided in Harry, "Is being able to take House Points away from Gryffindor."

Harry kicked his shin off-handily and Draco smirked.

His gaze falling on the drawer of his desk as he looked out the window at the dark sky, Harry suddenly remembered what was inside. He stood up and pulled out the package that had arrived that morning, handing it over to Draco wordlessly.

"What's this?" Draco looked up at him in confusion as he sat back down.

"Just open it. It's not cursed, I promise."

Draco threw him a look and neatly opened the long package, his eyes widening in recognition as his old wand rolled out into his hand. "My wand?"

Harry nodded. "You were complaining about your new one not working as well as that one had, and I remembered I still had it at home, so…"

"You kept it?" Draco's eyes were focused on his wand as he held it up to the firelight to inspect it, a small smile on his face.

"Well… I didn't really think much about it. It worked fine for me when I tried to use it and there's no sense in throwing away a perfectly good wand." Harry smiled a little. "I'm just glad I could give it back to you."

Draco looked at him. "Thankyou." Their gazes met and both boys found themselves lost in green and grey pools as the resulting silence continued endlessly. For the briefest moment, Harry could almost feel the lips from his fantasy the day before on his own as the firelight cast flickering shadows over both their faces. He swallowed and Draco blinked.

"We should get down to the feast. It will have started by now."

Harry nodded and stood, pulling himself out of the dreamy atmosphere that appeared to have engulfed him. Draco pocketed his old wand and opened the door for Harry graciously, and followed him out. They began a polite exchange on the way down; each trying to shrug off the strange atmosphere that had landed over them in the room.

Upon arriving in the Great Hall, they looked at each other uncertainly before Harry asked, "Are… Are you sitting with us?"

Draco looked at him. "I'm still not very comfortable being around them."

"You're comfortable around me."

"You're one person. I know I could easily take you out in a duel if you attacked me."

Harry threw him a mock-dirty look. "It's been two months Draco. Look," He gestured around the Great Hall; "Practically nobody's sitting at their proper house tables; if you're worried about the other Slytherins seeing you at the Gryffindor table."

Draco scowled. "It isn't about that. I'm just not comfortable with all the judgement that passes over me."

"You think you're the only one who's being judged? How do you think I feel? I'm looked up to as this big war-hero. What do you think will people say if they knew I relied on your help to get my homework to an acceptable level?"

Draco smirked. "Well, you aren't exactly the academic type."

"So you'll sit with me at the Gryffindor table and we'll be judged together?" Harry asked, a grin spreading across his face.

The blond rolled his eyes. "If that's what it takes to get you to shut up, then yes, fine."

They strolled over together to the long house tables and sat in amongst the group of ex-seventh years who seemed to have congregated there. After a few mistrustful looks at Draco and receiving warning glances from Harry in return, everything settled down, plates were piled high and conversations resumed. Harry chatted happily with Hermione and Ron; Draco answered anything Hermione asked him a little stiffly and never instigated a conversation himself, but no arguments were started. Ron refrained from speaking directly to the blond and the other students ignored Draco for the most part, only throwing him suspicious glances when Harry wasn't looking.

Around eleven o'clock when all students were sufficiently full and becoming tired, the feast ended and everyone traipsed off to bed; Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco walking slowly at the back of the huge crowd as they moved off to bed. Once they reached the third floor, Harry bid Ron and Hermione goodnight and headed off with Draco to their room.

"See? It wasn't that bad," Harry teased Draco playfully as they got inside, "Nobody tried to bite your head off, or curse you."

"They wanted to though."

"That's just because you're a prat, not because of who you are. Wait, that doesn't make sense..." A mixture of good food and tiredness had got to Harry, addling his thinking processes slightly.

"Not much of what you say makes sense, Harry."

Harry chose to ignore the insult, he was in too good a mood to argue with Draco. He yawned, covering his mouth as he did so.

"Listen, Harry. I wanted to thank you again for my wand. Not many wizards would have kept the wand of their greatest enemy in one piece."

Harry smiled. "Don't get so full of yourself. Voldemort was my biggest enemy, not you. But you're welcome anyway."

Draco returned the smile. "In the morning, I'll help you with that Transfiguration essay."

Harry's eyes widened as he pulled on his pyjamas. "Damn. I forgot about that. Thanks Draco." He removed his glasses and climbed into bed, Draco doing the same on the other side of the room; both boys too tired to stay up and talk tonight. They could always do it another night.