This summer was unusual mind-numbing for Draco even though it wasn't much different than any other summer. He was bored with the usual routine and even when his parents did have something for him to do, it was boring like shopping or meeting various pureblood girls. The only person he had seen that he could tolerate the company of was Pansy Parkinson and those meetings were strictly monitored by his mother. Maybe this summer was different; he missed someone he never thought he'd miss. His new beau, Harry Potter.

He would spend of his alone time wandering around the garden thinking about Harry and what their relationship would be like in the next school year and waiting for Hedwig (who bit him every time she saw him) to deliver his letters. The only thing that made him feel bad was that he was constantly lying to Harry about what his father was up to him. The guilt of this was starting to eat away at Draco's spirit; in his drawer was a letter he wrote to help ease his conscious, but never sent.

'Harry, I'm so sorry, but I deeply regret to say that I've been lying to you in our letters. I have not seen or heard any information on the Death Eaters or Voldemort from my father. Nor have I actually been listening out for anything. I think it was very unfair of you to ask me to do such a thing. This is something we should talk about in person. I hope you can forgive me.

-Draco

It was raining that day, so Draco couldn't go out into the garden; he just sat in his room, staring out the window at the rain. He was bored and he knew there was no way Hedwig was going to arrive with a letter and that just made him sad.

"Draco, darling, what are you up to?" Narcissa asked, walking into his room. Draco was sitting on the window sill; he glanced over his shoulder at his mother. "Were you expecting another letter from Pansy today?"

"Sure mother," Draco intoned. Narcissa walked over and placed her hands on his shoulder. He scowled as she leaned in and kissed his cheek, then used her spit to wipe her lipstick off his cheek. "That was gross," he mumbled, scrubbing the spit off of his cheek and Narcissa chuckled and hugged him close. His sadness melted away as he leaned into his mother's hug; it made him think that everything.

"Make sure you wash up for dinner, Draco," she said, releasing him.

"I'm actually not feeling very hungry, mother and I'm going to go to sleep early."

"Again? This is the third night in a row. Your father and I are starting to worry."

"I'm fine really. Just tired, I guess."

"I'll send a house elf to check your temperature, because I think you're getting sick."

"It's really not necessary mom, I mean it." Draco leaned up and kissed his mother's cheek before lying down on his bed. Narcissa walked over and kissed her son's cheek before leaving the room. Draco slowly closed his eyes and attempted to go to sleep; in hopes he would see Harry in his dreams. There was a scratching sound at the window that woke Draco up. When he looked over, he saw Hedwig clawing at the window and hooting in distress. With a quick scan of the room, he ran to the window and opened it up. "Listen to me, you shitty bird, you can come in and I'll even dry you off if, and only if, you don't bite me." Hedwig shook her feathers and climbed onto Draco's arm. He carried her to the empty cage in his room and sat her inside; he grabbed a towel from his laundry basket and lightly rubs it across her feathers. Draco looked down at her leg and noticed a little piece of parchment and pulled it off.

"Is this what you came to bring me?" Draco asks, opening it up. The ink was running, but still legible.

'Draco, its Hermione. Harry just left his aunt and uncles house and is coming to a special location that I can't reveal to you in case Hedwig is intercepted. He has been pining for you, so I set up a meeting for you two. I drew a small map to where you two will be meeting on the back. If you want to see him try to get out.

-Hermione

Draco blinked and flipped the paper over; he wasn't supposed to use magic outside of school, so he took the towel and lightly rubbed the back of the paper. A map slowly revealed itself as he cleaned it. His heart leaped as he thought of seeing Harry, but he was faced with the unfortunate task of trying to sneak out without being able to use magic. Just then, the house elf my mom promised to send came in and walked over to him.

"Master, I is coming to check on you. Master's mother is saying you is sick?" she babbled, holding up a potion.

"Don't worry about that. I need you to make a magical double of me to sleep in my bed in case my parents come in to check on me. Fetch my broom as well. I'm sneaking out and you cannot, under any circumstances tell my parents." The house elf looked mortified and began to shape.

"Master wants me to lie to Master's father? Master's father and mother will be angry with me." Draco snatched the House Elf up by its ears and glared at it.

"If you don't do this then…I'll give you one of my shirts and you'll have to leave us forever! You'll be shamed and you'll never get another master, I'll make sure off it!" The house elf began to sob as Draco shouted at it.

"Please, I is begging you, Master! I will do this for you, Master!" It shouted and Draco dropped it to the ground. It scurried away and Draco turned to Hedwig, who was picking at her damp feathers.

"You're free to leave whenever you choose, but I'm going to cover the cage, so that my parent won't see it." Hedwig looked at the window then continued to pick at her feathers; Draco rolled his eyes as the house elf came back in holding his broom.

"I is bringing the Master his broom. I is making him a double now?" The elf was shaking as Draco snatched the broom from his hand. Draco walked to the open window and set the broom beside it.

"Do it now!" It jumped as it pointed his finger at Draco. In a flash of light, there were two Dracos; the clone slumped to the floor. "Can't you make it seem like its breathing?" Draco asked as he dragged the clone to his bed and placed it in.

"I-I can't give it life, Master." Draco rolled his eyes and covered the clone.

"I guess if my parents don't see it, it won't matter if it's breathing or not. You're dismissed and remember to keep quiet." The house elf shivered violently as he backed out of the room. Draco grabbed the broom; when he flew he remembered to turn around and shut the window behind him. With the wind and the rain, it was hard for him to decipher the running ink of the map, but managed to make it to the small village that was marked on the map.

Guess I'm on my own from here. The village was asleep. There were no sounds and the only light was from the dimly light street lights. Draco wished he had the peace of mind to bring a cloak with him as he covered his head with his arms. He didn't know how far he was going to walk or if Harry was even waiting for him, but he was going to try.

Suddenly, Draco was yanked into an alley by his waist. Draco swung his elbow up and hit what he felt was someone's jaw and there was a grunt of pain. He followed up with an elbow to the stomach, which caused the person to let him go. When Draco whipped around, he saw no one behind him, just an empty alley.

"Draco, it's me," Harry said, tearing off his invisibility cloak and staring up at him. Draco just stared down at Harry as he rubbed his jaw. "I think you may have broken it." Draco ran over and threw himself into Harry's arm; he curled up into ball and buried his face into his chest. "Draco, why won't you look at me?" Harry asks, as he struggled with Draco to make him look at him, but Draco kept his face in Harry's shirt.

"Because, if I open my eyes. I'm afraid it'll be a dream." Harry hugged him tighter and lifted up Draco's chin; he still had his eyes clamped shut. He leaned in and pressed his lips against Draco's. Draco slowly opened his eyes as he kissed back. He stared at Harry's wet and tousled black hair, his pale skin was scarred and dirty. Draco lightly ran his fingers across Harry's cheek and felt his cold skin. "You look exhausted." Draco said, pulling away from Harry.

"A lot has happened, but I shouldn't talk about that."

"Why not?" I told you all about my father's imaginary meetings, you can certainly spare me a few details of what's been going on in your life.

"People might hear. I don't want people knowing where I am or what's going on right now." Draco sighed and turned around so that his back was facing Harry, then he leaned back, resting his head on Harry's shoulder, which was still draped with his cloak. "I missed you. And I know we just kinda started this relationship, but I really did miss you."

"It happens," Draco says, lightly running his fingers across Harry's hand, "I missed you too. My parents almost found one of your letters, so, as far as they know, I'm dating Pansy Parkinson." Harry chuckled, wrapping his arms around Draco's waist and burying his face in his shoulder. "Maybe you should go get some rest?"

"I've gotten plenty of rest. It's all I've been able to do. I just want to sit here with you." Draco leaned back and kissed the tip of Harry's ear.

They two sat there in the alley for hours. They didn't care about the rain. They laughed about it. Harry explained muggle astrology to Draco as they stared up at the starry sky; Draco didn't really care, but he pretended to be interested for Harry's sake. Draco would tell Harry a few things about what it was like for him growing up (since Harry didn't particularly want to talk about this).

"How long have we been sitting here?" Harry asked, after Draco stopped talking about his childhood.

"Do you have somewhere to be?"

"I should get back to my safe house. Hermione is covering for me, but I can't be too sure if Ron or Mrs. Weasley will push past her to check on me." Draco sighed and stood up as Harry threw his invisibility cloak over himself.

"Will I see you again? Before school, I mean."

"I hope so," Harry answered, uncovering his face slightly. Draco leaned forward and kissed Harry. The kiss was soft and warm; it made Draco's heart flutter.

"Draco!" a voice shouted, breaking the kiss abruptly. Harry covered his face again as Draco looked toward the opening of the alleyway.

"Father…" Draco gasped, staring in Lucius fiery grey eyes, "How did you find me?" Lucius stomped over to Draco, causing Draco to stumble away from him.

"The better question is what are you doing sneaking out?" Lucius shouted, grabbing Draco's arm, causing him to wince. "Having a house elf create a clone of you? Did you think your mother and I were born yesterday? You've worried her to death! What do you have to say for yourself?" Draco didn't know what to say, he just stared blankly at the spot where Harry was standing, not knowing if he was still standing there or not.

Harry stared through his cloak as Draco's father shouted at him; Draco was just staring back at him, his grey eyes looked sad and hurt. It pained Harry to see Draco dragged off by his screaming father. He so badly wanted to rip off his cloak and be the hero to Draco's damsel. Harry knew how bad of an idea that was; Lucius was a Death Eater and, in a heartbeat, would turn Harry in to Voldemort. He felt sick for getting Draco into to trouble and would find a way to apologize to him.

The flight back to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters seemed longer than his flight to the town. Harry thought of all the horrible things Lucius would do to Draco once they got back home. He wouldn't use Cruciatus Curse on his own son would he? Harry shook his head. Lucius won't do that. From what Draco told me, his mother would never let him. Although Harry didn't know Draco's mother, Narcissa, he felt that should would protect Draco from his father's wrath and he shouldn't worry.

Harry was cautious when climbing back through the window to his room; he didn't want to slip and hurt himself, alerting everyone. He pulled his cloak off and laid it against his Firebolt. He sighed in relief.

"Hello Harry." Harry whipped around to see Ron sitting on his bed and Hermione on the far side of the room near the door.

"Ron?"

"I'm sorry, Harry. He pushed past me!" Hermione shouted.

"Where did you go running off to? You could have been killed! Everyone's going through all this trouble trying to keep you safe and you go flying when there's dementors' flying about! What were you thinking?" Ron shouted. You need to tell him the truth. He's your best friend. He deserves to know that you're dating his worst enemy. He's your friend; he'll accept you no matter what.

"You're right, Ron. I'm sorry. I just really wanted to fly on my own for once. I guess I'm a little stir-crazy since I was cooped up at the Dursley's. I'm sorry," Harry says, instinctually. Ron glared at him and then looked at Hermione, who was leaning against the door.

"You two are keeping secrets and I deserve to know!" Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. He does deserve to know. This is not the time to have Ron angry at you. You need him on your side. Harry sighed and opened his trunk; he pulled out the stack of letters from Draco.

"You do deserve to know and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but when I show you, you have to promise you won't tell anyone! Got it?" Ron nodded in confusion as Harry clutched the letters to his chest. You're breaking your promise to Draco. He'll never forgive, Harry thought handing the letters to Ron. What he doesn't know won't hurt him right? Harry thought as Ron read through the letters, getting more and more frantic as he progressed through the stack.

"Harry what?" Ron shouted, waving the last letter. "How did this happen? When did this happen? Why did this happen? And why him? Why Draco Malfoy?"

"Guess I have a lot of explaining to do."