Disclaimer: I think we've got the message by now, JKR owns these characters, not me
A/N: I apologise again to everyone for the delay. Thanks as usual to my Beta Natalya and my lovely Harry
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Plan
Harry's eyes scanned the Slytherin table as he entered the Great Hall for breakfast, searching intently for a flash of platinum blonde. He spotted Crabbe and Goyle looking oddly alone opposite Zabini and Nott, but there was no sign of Draco.
He fought to keep the disappointment off of his face, but he could feel it sinking into his stomach like a lead weight.
Ron wasn't there yet, but he found Hermione sitting at their usual place at the Gryffindor table with a heavy textbook propped against the milk jug. He sat down heavily next to her and reached for the nearest box of cereal.
His mind was still full of the incident in the owlery. Draco's reaction had puzzled him, and he couldn't understand what he had done wrong, but even more worrying than that, he couldn't understand what had made him go to the owlery in the first place.
Desperate to make sense of his actions, Harry thought back to his dream. He'd woken up... the intoxicating thought came back to him. His Draco.
The thought still conjured up those unexplainable feelings, but rather than the single-minded clarity that had come to him earlier, the words left a deepening well of confusion in their wake.
It was a while before he realised that Hermione had shut her book and turned to look at him. Annoyed, Harry tried unsuccessfully to ignore her, but after a minute he couldn't stand it.
"What?" He asked sharply.
Hermione flinched slightly, startled by the look on his face. Harry felt a sharp stab of guilt, followed by a wave of irritation. He hadn't meant to sound so harsh with Hermione, but why was she looking at him like that?
Suddenly furious, Harry stood up and left the Great Hall.
Swiftly making up his mind, he took the shortest route he knew to the Room of Requirement. He really needed something to break.
It was a coward's way out, Draco knew, but he needed to think. So when Crabbe and Goyle came to wake him up, he'd mumbled something about a stomach ache, and told them to go away.
That had been half an hour ago, but Draco was still no nearer to coming up with a working plan to repair the damage he'd done.
Nauseating "what if" thoughts kept floating to the surface of his mind.
What if Harry thought he'd been leading him on? That he didn't like him? That he'd deliberately tried to hurt him?
The thought caused an unbearable pain inside of Draco.
That was bound to be what Harry was thinking. After Draco had spent the last five years making himself an enemy to the Gryffindor, how could he not think that?
But then again, there was the fact that he'd been in the owlery in the first place. He had been watching Draco. He'd almost kissed him.
And he'd seemed different. Draco had watched him for a long time and knew every detail of the brunette's face. There had been something strange, a subtle change that had seemed to turn him into an entirely different being, while still being exactly the same Harry. But, try as he might, he couldn't pinpoint exactly where the change had taken place.
Filing this new discovery in his head for later, Draco turned his thoughts back to his mission. He could feel a small bubble of hope rising.
He might be able to salvage this situation, but he needed to know for sure how Harry felt about him. And for that he needed to get Harry alone again.
That would be a piece of cake.
HPDM
Harry collapsed into his favourite armchair in the Gryffindor common room, letting the warmth of the fire thaw him out.
His outburst in the Room of Requirement and an extra-long quidditch practice had left him feeling more or less back to normal, if a bit drained, but he still couldn't quite shake the feelings of guilt that plagued him when he thought about the look on Hermione's face at breakfast.
He had decided to skip double Herbology that morning, resolving to apologise to her at break, but she hadn't been in their usual corner of the courtyard or, to his and Ron's surprise, in the library.
"So what d'you think's up with Hermione?" Ron's voice intruded on his thoughts. "She's been acting pretty strange today." Ron snorted. "Stranger than normal I mean."
Harry felt another twinge from his conscience. He hadn't told Ron about what had happened at breakfast.
He watched the smile fade from Ron's face, and a worried frown replace it.
"D'you reckon we should look for her? I mean, she's not really herself today is she? What if she got lost or something?"
"Come on Ron, I bet she's just in the library. She'll be back soon-"
"I'm going to look for her." Ron stated, clearly not having listened to a word Harry had said.
Harry sighed.
"Alright, just give me a minute to get the Cloak." It was an hour till curfew, but the fewer questions asked by teachers the better, especially with Ron in this state.
Leaving Ron fidgeting by the portrait, Harry dashed up to the stairs to the boy's dorm.
He threw the door open, seeing a startled Neville look up from the book he was reading.
"Harry! Are you OK? Hedwig flew in a moment ago, she left a note on your bed."
"Thanks Neville. Good book?" Harry asked absently, already rummaging through his trunk for the Cloak.
"It's not bad, my Nan got it for me as a present. All about deep sea plants."
"Yeah, great." Harry mumbled distractedly. Finding a corner of the Cloak, he pulled it out and hastily stuffed it into the pocket of his robes. After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the note as well and all but flew back down the stairs.
He skidded to a halt in front of the portrait and swore loudly, causing a burst of gasps and giggles to erupt from a nearby group of first year girls.
Ron had already gone.
At some point amid a steady stream of foul language, Harry's mind became aware of the crumpled note, still clutched tightly in his hand. Glancing at it, he was shocked to recognise Hermione's neat handwriting.
Unfolding the scrap of parchment, Harry started to read.
Harry,
I have something important to tell you. Meet me in the charms classroom at eight o'clock this evening.
Hermione.
Harry checked clock above the fireplace. It was ten past eight.
He glanced around, but the first years had lost interest in him, and no one else was looking his way.
Quietly, he pushed open the portrait door and slipped out into the corridor.
Five minutes and three flight's of stairs later, he was panting outside the Charms classroom. He leaned against the door to catch his breath, and was shocked when it swung open silently, throwing him head-first into the room. He landed, painfully, on his knees.
He felt the presence of another person by his side in an instant."Are you alright Harry?" There was a strange note of worry in the familiar drawl.
He froze, his deeply ingrained prejudice warring with his new, powerful instincts. He didn't know whether to draw his wand or throw his arms around the other boy.
He got up slowly, wincing slightly as his knees protested at the movement, and turned to look into the mercury eyes.
"Malfoy. What are you doing here? Where's Hermione?"
Another unfamiliar look flashed across that pale face. Uncertainty.
"She's...not here."
Draco tried again, his voice stronger. "She won't be joining us."
A tendril of suspicion uncurled in Harry's mind.
"What have you done to her Malfoy? Where is she?"
Draco raised a shoulder in an elegant half-shrug.
"Knowing her, the library. Or maybe your common room. She didn't tell me."
The feeling of unease deepened. Why would Hermione tell Malfoy where she was going? Something definitely wasn't right.
Draco continued, relaxing slightly.
"Clever girl, Hermione. This was actually her idea-"
"Wait, what?" For a moment Harry thought his mind was playing tricks on him.
Draco flashed him a grin. He seemed totally at ease now. "Yeah, she's helped me out a lot recently." He drawled. "She's alright I guess, once you get to know her."
Harry sat down on a desk, his head in his hands. Nothing about this situation was making any sense. Hermione. And Malfoy. Working together. To bring him here.
"Why?"
"Excuse me?"
"Why?" Harry repeated. "Why did you bring me here? What do you want?"
There was a profound silence. Harry took his hands away from his face to find Draco's mere centimetres away. The blonde's eyes held his, the silver shimmering with an inner fire.
Infinitely slowly, Draco brought his face closer to Harry's, until he could feel the Slytherin's breath on his skin.
"You."
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A/N: Phew. Hopefully you guys won't have as long to wait for chapter 5. Firebolt broomsticks for those who review!