Chapter Twenty-Two

Have I described the layout of the observation tower yet? I think I did, but just to refresh your memories, it was open air with no roof, cutout arches of stone over the Parapets, and in the center, a long, wide wooden bench of sorts, which students could pay out upon, supine, watch the stars and do their assignments. It was that bench which I laid myself down upon, having been backed up there by the gentle persuasions of Draco's arms and mouth. We lingered in sharing kisses in vocal silence for a good long while and I began to feel unfamiliar emotions rising up in me. I let my arms drop away from him as he hovered over me, looking into my eyes, seeing, I knew not what, the sadness slowly melting away from his features. I gave him just a tiny smile then, because I was nervous, and he kissed it softly before sitting down beside me. I stayed on my back because I didn't honestly believe I had the strength to sit upright at that moment.

"Why are you letting me do this Harry?" His words and his eyes seemed so far away just then. "Aren't you going with Ginny Weasley?"

"She broke up with me."

"What? Why?" His voice was so musical just then.

"I guess I'm not the great and powerful Harry Potter anymore." I didn't think he'd know the allusion to The Wizard of Oz; it was an old Muggle movie after all. But by my way of thinking just then, it fit pretty well.

"She's an idiot." And he leaned over to kiss me again. Each time he did it, overtly unbidden as it was by me, it gave me pause and I needed to close my eyes to just feel the butterflies it brought me. I ran my fingers across the back of his neck to keep him close to me, and sank into the rising passions of his mouth and its insistence. I was unwilling to let him go for many minutes.

"Thanks." I knew my voice sounded more like a whisper than anything else, but it was just the way it needed to be said.

"But why are you doing this with me Harry?"

"Totally selfish reasons Draco." I sighed and looked back up at the stars. "Kissing you that is. It feels amazing." I saw no need not to be honest with him right then.

"And the other stuff?"

"You're my friend Draco, and I don't define you by the things that you were forced to do, or the things that have been done to you. Others might, and that would be their loss. But as you have said to me, we have so much more in common than any differences, at least in terms of how we have been misused. If you can forgive me what I have done in the past and how I thought of you, and treated you, then how can I not be as equally altruistic?"

"You talk far too much like Dumbledore Harry."

"We spent a great deal of time together."

"I envy you that, he was a great man, and I know he wanted to help me. I wish I could have trusted him more."

"He knew the good in you Draco, he was very wise. Like he knew the good in Severus when I don't think the man even knew himself."

"Do you still talk to him Harry?"

"Who? Dumbledore? Yeah, I guess so." When I got sad, especially at the house, over the summer, I would tell him about what I was doing, and remember him. It just seemed kind of natural. I didn't think anyone would have thought about doing that.

"I don't talk to anybody."

"Well now you can talk to me Draco." I reached up a hand and ran it down his back, feeling him shiver. He was only wearing his shirt; I still had my warmer jumper on from the flying of the afternoon. But I wasn't really sure if the temperature had much to do with his reaction.

"What do you want to do now Harry?"

"It's probably getting close to curfew, we should think about heading back to our dorms."

"I don't want to be alone just yet." He shivered.

"But you're cold Draco, we should go back inside."

"The cold doesn't matter." But it did, now that the sun was down there was a real chill in the air, and I was feeling it even through the jumper. I took his hand, and his fingers were icy.

"Do you trust me Draco?"

"Silly question." Okay, I admit it was kind of silly, after everything we'd shared over the previous twenty-four ish hours.

"We can go back to Snape's rooms, but I need to go back to my dorm to fetch something first. Will you wait for me there?" He nodded, and helped me to sit and then stand. Face to face we shared another long embrace, which had the feeling of a lifeline more than passion right then.

I locked the door behind us as we came off the rampart and pocketed the key to return to the professor later. I kept a tight hold on Draco's hand as we descended the tower, till almost the bottom step, when he pulled it away gently. An unspoken look between us signaled the pact and the fear, and I headed off to my dorm as quickly as I could without looking suspicious. Draco went off in the opposite direction, back down to the dungeon area, to wait for me, I hoped.

I never mentioned it to Draco, but I was quite certain that Professor Sinistra had been in the classroom below us, the whole time we had been in the tower, waiting, not eavesdropping, just to make certain that we both emerged whole and well from our 'talk'. She never asked me what happened, I never offered. But she did insist that I keep the key, should I ever need to return to the tower for any reason.

I know I probably looked shaken as I came up the stairs from the portrait hole into the common room, I felt shaken at least, and the fact that Hermione followed me to my dorm was probably the tip off.

"You can't be up here you know?"

"Give it a rest Harry, what's going on?" She was always a direct girl, and I loved her for that. Ron was my friend and all, but Hermione was the one to tell me the truth, and call me on my mistakes.

"I can't really tell you Hermione." I was going through my trunk at the time, looking for my invisibility cloak. If I was going to be out late I knew I would need it, to get both Draco and I back to our dorms without being discovered.

"What's wrong with Draco?" My god she was a smart girl.

"I'm sorry Hermione, I just can't tell you, it would be breaking a promise." I knew she would understand that.

"Is he okay?" And I knew that she would be the one to be concerned.

"I don't know yet Hermione, I hope he will be."

"You're going back out to find him?" As we had been talking I had retrieved the cloak and had begun wrapping it around me.

"I have to Hermione."

"Of course you do Harry." She wasn't being snide, or sarcastic. I reached out for her hand, took it and kissed it quickly.

"I knew you'd understand Hermione. I promise, I'll tell you everything as soon as I can."

Her smile was beatific, and she squeezed my hand, the one that was still holding hers.

"I trust you Harry. And I know that you will come to me if you need help."

"You're always my first choice Hermione."

"Just promise me that it's nothing sinister."

"I promise Hermione, it's a personal thing, nothing earth shattering or dangerous. Just something I have to do." I couldn't mention Voldemort's name in front of her, even though he was at the root of everything, again. He was dead, finally dead this time, and I intended to leave it that way. Whatever might happen with the child, I would leave that for the future. Right then there was only one person to save; though I didn't know that saving him would be saving myself too.

She drew the curtains around my bed, something I had forgotten to do, and shoed me away. With a smile, I whispered a 'thanks' to her, for always having my back and then I pulled the cloak over my head and headed back down the steps to go through the common room.

"All right Harry, have a good rest!" Hermione called out to the nothingness where I should have been, getting ready for bed.

"What's happened with Harry then?" I heard Ron ask her as I hit the first step down, back to the portrait hole. I stopped.

"Apparently he and Draco found some sort of amulet when they were packing up Snape's room." Wow, she was good. I listened to the rest of her story. "Seems the Ministry wanted to find it rather quickly so Professor Sinistra needed to know what box they'd packed it into with some urgency."

"More Dark Magic?" I could see Ron's eyebrows rise, and his eyes widen. I understood the fear that came with those words.

"No, no, something that Snape had borrowed from the Ministry and never returned. Harry promised me that it was nothing sinister at all."

"So where is he then?"

"It was a long day, he thought he'd just turn in. I'm sure he'll tell you all about it in the morning Ron."

She looked to where I was standing, even though she couldn't see me. I nodded another thanks at her, not that she could see it either, and left the tower.