When Draco came to, he immediately recognized where he was before he even opened his eyes. The infirmary was becoming very familiar. He opened his eyes, and found Harry asleep in a chair by his bedside. A smile tugged at his mouth, before the pain behind his eyes hit him. He sat up with a groan and covered his eyes with his hand.

"Draco?" Harry murmured sleepily as he was slowly roused from sleep.

"I'm alright." He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"McGonagall told me what you tried. Did it work?"

He experimentally called up the memory he had freed, and it appeared easily behind his eyes. He grinned and squinted at Harry.

"I only got one memory out, but I figured out how to do it."

"That's fantastic! What memory?"

"The, um… The time we made eye contact when we got to Hogwarts."

"Ah, yeah. I remember it. You looked so terrified!"

They both chuckled.

"I was. I didn't expect anyone to want me there."

"Are you going to try again?"

"Of course."

"McGonagall said you passed out. Are you sure you're okay?"

Draco nodded.

"I think the painful part is over."

"Excellent."

Without another word, Draco pulled Harry's face down by the back of the neck and kissed him.

The next day, Draco was at the Pensieve again after all his classes. He rushed through the mirror room, into his mind, to the affected memories. He reached in and started the long process of reacquainting himself with his initial relationship with Harry.

He saw himself eating alone in the library at the beginning of the year, speaking to no one, saying nothing when he was shoved and knocked down in the halls… Then, Harry helping him up, picking up his books and handing them to him. Distrust at first, confusion. He didn't think Harry would be the one to bully, but he definitely didn't expect him to reach out to him.

He saw several other fleeting instances of Harry helping him out, asking him how he's doing, finding excuses to talk to him. Finally, a scene of Draco sitting on the docks, looking out over the still water of the Black Lake. Harry approached alone.

"Mind if I join you?"

He watched himself look up at Harry in confusion.

"Why?"

"I just wanted to talk…"

Harry sat not a foot from him, and Draco wouldn't look at him. As he watched, he felt himself enveloped in the memory, watching as a third party but also experiencing his original thoughts and feelings.

"It took a lot of guts to come back to school."

"Are you saying I shouldn't have?"

"No! I'm… I guess I'm saying, I respect your bravery."

Draco scoffed.

"Why are you really talking to me?"

Harry sighed.

"Are you so self-isolated, you can't accept any form of kindness?"

"I'm not self-isolated. And I don't…" Deserve kindness. Draco swallowed. "You're the last person I'd expect kindness from."

"Hm. Yeah, I guess that only makes sense. We did hate each other."

"Did?"

"Do you still hate me?" Harry asked quietly. Draco considered this, glancing at the brunette.

"No. I guess not. Do you?"

"You were never my enemy, Draco." He felt his throat tighten at the sound of his first name.

"No? Then what was I?"

"Doesn't matter. What does matter is what do you want to be now?"

Draco appraised the Gryffindor sitting with him, and suddenly felt very candid. His words came out quietly.

"I don't want to be at odds with the world anymore. It's… Tiring." Harry snorted.

"Yeah, I know how that feels…" Draco looked at him, not sure if he meant it.

"But my situation stands – the friends I thought I had don't want me anymore. I'm not even sure I want me." He looked over the edge at the inky darkness of the water.

"Well, I don't know if you could ever call me a friend, but… Why don't we start with allies?" Now, Draco snorted. He gave Harry a disbelieving look.

"You want me as an ally?"

Harry's returning expression and body language was very demure, almost uncomfortable, but he nodded.

"Why?"

Harry looked out over the lake, swallowing before he spoke.

"Well, I'd rather have allies than enemies. I've about had enough enemies for a lifetime."

Draco followed his gaze.

"Yeah, I know how that feels…" He echoed Harry's earlier words.

"So… Allies?" Harry stood and offered Draco his hand. The blonde looked at his hand, at his face, then hesitantly let Harry pull him up.

"Sure…" They shook hands. Both third-person Draco and memory Draco both acutely noticed how Harry's hand seemed to linger in his.

The memory faded, and the bubble floated away. He pulled another one out.

He saw glimpses of Harry, across classrooms, in passing down the halls, in the library, and every instance was accompanied by the unwelcome memory of their hands. Draco wanted to believe he couldn't let it go because it was the first physical contact he had made that wasn't malicious, toward himself or the other person. But then Harry found him eating in the library.

"Draco." He looked up from his meal, surprised to see the Gryffindor there. "I…" He cleared his throat. "I've been talking with the others, and, um…" Draco raised his eyebrows expectantly as Harry paused. "You're welcome to eat with us. That is, if you want to. Eating alone seems rather… Lonely." The Slytherin leaned back in his chair and appraised Harry's fidgety demeanor.

"You… Want me… To eat with Gryffindor?" Harry nodded silently. "Having you as an ally is one thing, but I doubt the others will be crazy enough to tolerate me, Harry."

His heart almost stopped. He accidentally called Harry by his first time for the first time. He didn't mean to, it just slipped out. He felt (and watched) his face flame, his mouth opened and closed as he miserably failed at trying to cover it up. Harry also noticed, and a flush of his own blossomed in his cheeks. Merlin, could they not have just one normal conversation without fumbling their words and acting like idiots?

"I, um…" Glossing over the fact that he'd just called him Harry… "I made the others promise to be kind, or at least silent."

"And they'll just do what you say?"

"They're my friends." Harry answered, seemingly confused by Draco's question. After a moment of silence, Draco finally responded.

"Fine. Couldn't be worse than sitting with Slytherin."

Draco put on a front of nonchalance as he followed Harry. Eyes everywhere followed him, and silence fell where he passed, but he eventually made it to where Harry and the gang were sitting.

They both sat, and everyone resumed eating in silence.

"Harry…" Ron began.

"Ron! Please. He's cool, trust me. Just… Relax. Eat your fifteen helpings and shut up."

Ron scowled at Draco, who wouldn't touch his food. They sat in tense silence for a few minutes before Draco gathered the nerve to speak. He cleared his throat.

"I… Don't mean to impose. And I… I know I've been… Rather terrible in the past. I guess…" He braced himself. "An apology is due." His face twisted up at the word like he was eating a lemon.

Hermione shot Harry a look, and Ron dropped his food to lean his elbows on the table.

"Go on." Ron invited. Draco almost choked swallowing his pride, but he knew he had to.

"I'm…" Other Gryffindors were leaning in to hear, and he felt his cheeks flaming. "I'm… Sorry." A few jaws dropped. "I was a git." He added quietly. He wished the floor would open up and swallow him. But the fewer enemies he had, the better off he was in the long run.

The Gryffindors leaning in eased back, and Ron glanced at Harry, then back at Draco.

"Alright. It's a good start." Ron resumed eating, a little more peacefully than before. Draco glanced at Harry, who was nodding encouragingly.

The memory faded and floated away. He grabbed another one.

He was in Hogsmeade, reluctantly sitting with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dean, Seamus, and a Ravenclaw Seamus was seeing at the time. He wasn't sure how Harry had convinced him to come with, but here they were. Everyone but Harry and he were sipping their butterbeers. He was having nothing, but as the others continued drinking, they got sillier and sillier. He was watching with bemusement, partly to distract himself from the stares he was getting from the other customers at the Hog's Head.

"Who am I?" Ron dipped his chin into his butterbeer, and came up with a foam beard. He assumed a low-born accent and said, "All monsters is animals, Harry!"

The others laughed. Draco knew he was imitating Hagrid, but he said nothing. Ron leaned over to kiss Hermione, who leaned away, giggling and protesting.

"Gross! Ronald!" But all of them were giggling hysterically as Ron held her face close enough to his to get the foam on her. He eventually let up and wiped both of their faces with a napkin before genuinely kissing her. Draco was mildly disgusted, so he turned his attention to Harry, who was just as quick to give them their privacy. They ended up looking at each other, suddenly aware that they were the only two at the table not in a relationship. An awkwardness pervaded the atmosphere, and in an attempt to break it, Harry said jokingly,

"I guess it's just you and me, eh?" He seemed so unsure of how Draco would receive this, and his uncomfortable manner created such a ridiculous picture that Draco couldn't help but laugh. Just a small chuckle at first, but Harry's immediate response of shock added to the comical situation, and Draco helplessly tumbled headlong into full-blown, throaty laughter.

Silence fell on the table as all the people in attendance watched in amazement as Draco completely lost it to hysterics. He covered his face in his hands as he tried to compose himself, but soon Harry was laughing with him. The laughter spread until the entire table was in an uproar. This was the first time Draco experienced camaraderie.

The memory faded and he selected another one. He was getting impatient, but at the same time, he was fascinated.

The next memory he saw began with Hermione, oddly enough. She was speaking to Draco alone in an empty stairwell.

"Look, I know Slytherin doesn't… Isn't home anymore, to you. But Harry trusts you." Draco looked at her sharply. "He does. And… If he sees something in you the rest of us don't see, it must be there. We all trust him, so… I trust you." Draco looked back out the window. "And you're always welcome at the Gryffindor table."

He nodded, and awkwardly left, as the conversation seemed to have ended. At the bottom of the stairwell, who should he run into but the Chosen One himself.

"Draco!"

"Hey, Harry, I, er… Was just talking to Hermione."

"Oh yeah? What about?"

"Doesn't matter. What's up?"

"Oh, I was just… Looking for you."

"Well, you found me."

Harry nodded, but said nothing. The same silence fell on the two of them.

"So… I guess… We're kind of like… Friends, now. Right?" Harry mused.

"I guess. Huh. Weird."

"What, having a friend? Or having me as a friend?" Harry grinned at him sheepishly.

"Both, I guess."

"Well, I much prefer us being friends, honestly."

"It's not so bad, I guess."

They both chuckled.

"So, do you wanna… Hang out?" Harry offered.

Draco considered this. Hang out? With Harry Potter? Alone? The thought put a knot in Draco's stomach. Not quite fear, more like… Trepidation. A gut-twisting hesitancy that Draco had never experienced.

"Um… Sure. What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I dunno… We could… Go to the library?"

This didn't sound like a plan in and of itself, but he agreed anyway.

"Yeah, alright."

They made their way to the nearly empty library, and were wandering through the aisles when Harry spoke up.

"I feel… Like there's something I need to say to you."

"What's that?" Draco didn't look up from the book he picked up to skim.

"I'm… Not sure." Harry gave a frustrated sigh, intriguing Draco from his book. He looked up to see the Gryffindor wringing his hands and shifting his weight uneasily.

"Well, something's got you vexed."

"I know! And I don't know. Something is… Changing. About me. Since we started talking." Strangely enough, Draco knew exactly the feeling Harry was talking about.

"Yeah, I feel it too. I mean, this whole dynamic between us is new to both of us, but…"

"Yes, that, and…?"

"And…" Draco felt the and in the back of his mind. "And." He said it again, more to himself. He had been feeling a similar – if not the same – thing, but had had as little luck describing it as Harry now seemed to have.

"Yeah. Can you think what it might be?"

Draco closed his book and shelved it. He leaned against the shelf, contemplating.

"I mean… I guess, I feel grateful. You came to me in the first place, after all." Harry nodded. "I would still be alone and miserable if you hadn't."

"Right." Harry rubbed one temple with his fingers. "My dreams have changed. Have yours?" Draco realized his had.

"Yes, actually. I usually have… Pretty similar dreams, but now they're… Different."

"Yeah, me too."

"Weird."

"Tell me about it."

They stood in silence for a moment. Draco felt the same knot twisting in his stomach. He tried to brush it off, but he couldn't deny that what Harry was saying was making sense… As much as it wasn't making sense.

"Well… What are your dreams about now?"

Draco flushed, unsure why.

"I'm… Not sure. They're…"

"Better."

"Yes, I suppose."

"And you can't make anything out, but it's…"

"Nice."

"Yes!"

Draco suddenly felt like wringing his hands and fidgeting. Something was itching at the back of his mind – the same thing, he suspected, that was itching at Harry's mind.

"We… Have some kind of… Effect on each other." Draco observed.

"It would seem so." Harry began beating his forehead softly against a shelf. "I… Can't find the words. It just seems like we're…"

"Kind of… Unexpectedly compatible?"

"Compatible! Yes! I mean… No, it's more than that, it's like…" More? Draco felt his throat tighten. "It's like we're the same."

That was the last thing Draco was expecting to hear from him, but when he heard it, it… Almost made sense. In a strange way.

"And that first day, on the dock, when we…" Harry lifted his head and looked at Draco. He knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You felt… A sort of… Connection?"

"Yes. Did you?"

Draco nodded. He wasn't willing to say it out loud, but a kind of shock had passed between them when they shook hands. They both must've felt it.

"So you know what I'm talking about." Draco nodded again, looking anywhere but Harry's eyes. "The more I talk to you, the more I understand you. In a way I never had before, because I didn't take the time to get to know you."

"I'm not sure I agree about us being the same, but I…" Draco cleared his throat. "I understand you now, better than I ever thought I would. And you make sense. Somehow."

"Exactly. You make sense to me, as a person."

"So… What does it mean?"

"That's what's vexing me. When we…" He lifted a hand, palm up. Draco knew what he wanted him to do, but the tightening in his stomach was almost forcing him to double over. He reached out a hand and pressed his palm to Harry's. "There it is again! What is that?"

Draco felt it, too.

"It's like… I'm grounded in the present. Anchored."

"Yes! Does this happen with anyone else?"

Draco finally looked up into Harry's eyes. He shook his head solemnly. Somewhere in his head, the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. Too late, he realized he was locked in eye contact with the Gryffindor. His mouth went dry, and he saw Harry swallow.

"Kind of… Intense." He whispered. "Why? What is it about you?" Harry frowned at the blond, studying his face as if it held the answers.

Draco had to get out of this hand-eye contact trap somehow. It was pulling him in, and he wasn't sure he wanted to follow where it led.

"We…" Draco cleared his throat. "We should… Probably get back…"

Harry wasn't willing to let it go that easily, though. The answer had assembled itself in Draco's brain, but he wasn't going to pick it up and look at it. Not here, not now.

"You don't wanna find out what this is? Is your mouth dry, too?"

Draco swallowed, and with tremendous effort, tore his hand out of Harry's. The effect was instantaneous. The light in Harry's eyes died, and Draco felt a little piece of him leave with the other.

"I have to go." He said lamely.

"Wait, Draco!" Harry called after him, but he was already gone.

The memory faded. Draco pulled out another one and opened it.

Draco found his way onto the roof of the Great Hall to be completely alone. Of course he knew what was going on, how could Harry not? Maybe he just didn't want to. Maybe he was just so dense that he still thought he was straight. Idiot. The experience was much stronger and more potent than Draco had ever encountered before, but it was, inexorably, attraction.

He was slicing the situation every way he could think of, but only one answer solved the whole puzzle. They were completely into each other. A cold breeze cut through him and he shivered, but he refused to leave the roof. Harry would never find him here – hopefully he wouldn't look for him. Suddenly, he had an idea. If he could find Hermione… Maybe their common ground would allow him to hint to her the situation they found themselves in, and she could break the news to Harry.

Finding her wasn't easy, but he figured a bookworm like her could be found in the library even on break. Eventually, he spotted her unruly curls hunched over an enormous book. He cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Draco! Hey, come sit." He took the seat across from her and she frowned. "You look rumpled. I've never seen you rumpled."

"Yes, well, I seem to find myself in a predicament…"

"Oh? Something I can help with?" She closed her book.

"I'm hoping so."

"Well? What's this predicament?"

Draco tried to assemble his thoughts to form a coherent sentence that would help her understand.

"Harry and I…" He stared up at her expectant face.

"Yes?"

"We… Seem to find ourselves… Unduly attracted to each other." He uttered in a whisper. Hermione paused, then lowered her feet from the chair to lean forward.

"You're…?"

"Gay, yes, apparently. I think? I don't know, I just…"

"Whoa, okay, start from the beginning." He took a deep breath and launched into his story in a hushed tone.

"We had a conversation… Earlier today, in here actually… About how we both seem affected by each other, and how we… Share some kind of connection. Harry couldn't figure it out, but… Hermione, he asked me if my mouth was dry, too, and it was."

"Oh. Oh dear."

"Yeah. So. I'm not sure how we ended up here, but—"

"Hermione, have you seen a certain blond git? The map—"

The Gryffindor in question rounded the corner and froze upon the scene. Draco stood, ready to bolt, but Hermione extended a staying hand toward him.

"No, I'll leave." And then, quietly, to Draco, "I think this is something you need to tell him yourself."

"No! Hermione! Where-!" He sighed in exasperation as she excused herself with her book.

"What was that about? I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Draco cursed Granger under his breath, but it looked like this was happening now.

"Yeah. Er, about that…"

"I've been thinking, and I think maybe Voldemort's influence on us both—" Draco winced, but interrupted Harry before he could continue.

"Potter! You're overthinking this."

"What? Have you figured it out?"

"I… Have." He swallowed and shifted uncomfortably.

"Well? I've never felt this before, have you?"

"Never so intensely. Look, Harry…" He paused, making sure the brunette was listening. "I think… We… Fancy each other."

The statement hung in the air heavily as Harry absorbed it. He began to object, but he stopped himself. The Gryffindor truly seemed to be contemplating this, turning the idea over and over in his head. Draco could almost see the steam rising from his ears. Eventually, he gave a soft 'hm.' He pursed his lips and nodded.

"Okay."

And with that, he seized Draco by the front of his blazer and slammed their mouths together. Harry hadn't been lying, their first kiss was rough. But it was also wonderful, like a deep breath after surfacing from underwater.