Chapter Nine:

Your Guardian Angel

A/N: I just realized all my chapter numbers are messed up! I'll fix it when I finish the fic and re-write the entire thing for editing purposes. For now, I'll just get it back on track. Anyways, review and enjoy! =)

Your Guardian Angel - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

When I see your smile/Tears run down my face/I can't replace.

And now that I'm strong I have figured out,/How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul.

And I know I'll find deep inside me,/I can be the One.

I will never let you fall/I'll stand up for you forever.

I'll be there for you through it all/Even if saving you sends me to Heaven

It's okay. It's okay. It's okay/And seasons are changing,

And waves are crashing/And stars are falling all for us.

Days grow longer and nights grow shorter/I can show you I'll be the one.

*

It was nearly impossible for Draco to slip away the next day. Hermione wanted to spend some quality time with Ginny, given her sour mood ever since her and 'Harry's' encounter. So Ron made it his personal duty to stick by his best friends side from breakfast to dinner, he literally even followed him to the bathroom.

Now as they sat watching Seamus and Dean have a friendly row over a game of Exploding Snap, Draco was fidgeting. He was due to be in the Room of Requirments anytime soon. It was already passed nine! He had been waiting all week for this interaction, whether or not he liked to admit it. He had to think of something.

Just as he thought that, someone else thought of something for him. "Whose up for sneaking out for a little Night Qudditch?"

"I don't know about tonight guys..."

"We're not gonna be able to for much longer...winter's a-coming,"

"Seamus, it's only September still," Ron said disbelievingly, although he was right. After Halloween, they wouldn't be able to have anymore late night Qudditch matches.

"C'mon....c'mon c'mon c'mon c'mon," Dean and Seamus chimed together.

"Alright, I'm in!" The redhead smirked broadly, he turned towards Harry who currently had a lopsided exprsesion. "You in?"

"Not tonight," Draco looked put off, but really he was nearly vibrating with nervous energy inside. He didn't know a simple meeting with Potter could ever make him feel this way. But after living a week with his multitudes of nightmares, dreams, experiences, and his body that Draco found himself admiring on more than one occasion, the thoughts of excitement didn't surprise him as much.

Ron reviewed him momentarily and then sighed, he turned to the smirking other two Gryffindor boys. "Alright, lets go! Mate, can we borrow your Invisibility Cloak?" he turned to Draco, Draco looked at him with an open mouth.

'Harry has a...oh shite, where is it if he has it?!' Draco panicked, but he kept cool on the exterior. "Er, sure...ah, but keep your voice down would you?" he looked around suspiciously, hoping that it wasn't a secret all Gryffindor shared. And thankfully, Ron looked apologetic which meant that it wasn't.

"You don't have to get it, I'll grab it. Thanks again," he winked and bounded up the stairs to their dormitory, Draco sighed with relief. Ten minutes later, he was left to his own devices and curiously wondering where Potter would have gotten such a rare item. It didn't matter, not now at least. What mattered was getting down to the Room of Requirments and speaking with Harry. He had it all planned out, he knew what he wanted to share with the boy who was once his mortal enemy.

Ever since he was having Harry's nightmares, he began to understand him so much. He felt as though he knew the brunette better than any other person in the world, including the annoying Weasel. Draco smirked about this, for some reason it gave him pride to know so much but it also pained him. He found himself oddly wishing that Harry hadn't gone through what he did. Voldemort, the Dursleys, the murder, the rape...it was all too terrible for one human being to comprehend.

Once he made it there, he was surprised that Harry hadn't arrived yet. It was Draco's turn to make the room; it was expansive and lined with windows that looked onto the Fall evening of the Hogwarts Grounds. There were pillars, mirrors, couches and armchairs through-out the room and two mantle-places unlit. Draco smiled to himself, he enjoyed the hardwood decor.

So he sat himself down on one of the couches facing the largest window, he rested against its arm on the left-hand side feeling the sharp pain in his ribs still. Madame Pomfrey had explained that it would take quite awhile to set, and that the only thing that could help the pain was the Reliever Potions, which Draco found this body oddly ammuned to.

"Wow, nice room," Harry whispered as he had stepped in quietly, making Draco jump lightly in his seat. He looked over at Harry and suddenly found himself standing, despite the discomfort in his physical body.

They looked at each other, at their own bodies. But mostly, they were holding the others gaze. They were locked into each other as Draco approached the boy still standing in the doorway. "Harry..." he began softly, quietly, barely a whisper. And suddenly all of the words he had planned slipped away as if wind had just breezed through his mind.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked gently, he took a step closer leaving them only a meter apart. The moon shone in and lit their features oddly.

"Harry," Draco began again, this time stronger and with more determination. He had to say it before he lost the nerve. He was a Malfoy afterall, and they did not scare away from what they watned. "You are so incrediably brave," he said this while looking into Harry's eyes with pure admiration.

Harry was taken aback, his own temporary silver eyes widened as he gasped lightly. 'Did I just hear Draco Malfoy say that...to me?' he honestly thought his ears were lying to him. "Could you...repeat that please?" he choked out finally. Obviously his disbelief was heard in his words, for this made Draco belt out a small chuckle.

"Oh Harry," he stepped forward once more. "You are so bloody brave. I cannot imagine going through what you have gone through and coming out ontop...how you managed to still be so - intact and sane, is a mystery to me," he was smiling crookedly now and Harry found himself unable to breath.

For some reason, Draco saying these things to him made a sense of happiness jolt through his usually cold mind. "Me? Brave?" Harry whispered, finally breaking the silence where Draco stared at him and he stared incredulously back. Finally, a blush crept to his face and he looked away, he looked anywhere but at the boy, himself, in front of him. "Y-you're brave. I mean...your Father...you stood up to him,"

"Did I? When?!" Draco suddenly became panicked, he sounded strained and this made Harry looked at him with a reassuring smile. Draco relaxed visibly.

"You would refuse to say what the lesson learned was sometimes. Those were the worst nights of sleep I have ever had in my entire life. I cannot believe you actually refused to say it sometimes. Now that is brave, and you were only a little boy," Harry's voice had dropped down so quietly that Draco had to lean in to keep hearing the words, he figured that the Gryffindor felt bad bringing up his past.

"I guess everybody has demons,"

"Yeah, can you honestly say that everybody has been through....what we've been through?" Harry was now staring absently at Draco's pale hands, he was playing with their fingers. This was a habit he had picked up in the past week, Draco followed his line of vision. For some reason, he felt smug that Harry Potter was playing with his body - even if his mind was controlling it as well.

"We?" Draco finally responded, Harry blushed a deeper crimson and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "No no, do not get me wrong, Potter. I like it when you refer to us..." he allowed his sentence to trail off, realizing what it was he was admitting to when he himself was just beginning to admit to it. After spending seven days in the boys body and nightmares, he couldn't help but feel attracted to him.

"C-could you call me Harry? You, erm..said it before, and I..kinda prefer when you call me Harry," he was stuttering almost constantly, he had become so much more nervous than he expected himself to be. This was Malfoy for goodness sake! But this was also Draco. The boy he had felt being whipped, beaten, put down, brought up, he had felt his body, he had seen him naked now, he had experienced the way the rest of the school looked up at him. Suddenly, Harry came to the realization that it wasn't Malfoy to him any longer, it was Draco.

"Of course." Draco said firmly, he gave a small smile, "Harry," with that he lead the way over to the couch he had been previously sitting in. He took his time resting back into his place, his body still ached all over.

Harry saw this pain and immediately felt terrible, he then looked at all the optional seats in the room. 'Where do I sit?' he wondered, but his body had already taken him to awkwardly sit at the other end of the couch from Ma-Draco. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What ever for?" came Draco's strained response, changing positions often made it difficult to breathe.

"For you having to feel that pain. I - I should've warned you. I didn't know it'd hurt you that much...I mean...I'm used to it. I guess I kinda just forget sometimes," Harry was blushing again, this time he found something outside of the window rather interesting as he trained his eyes on it. He didn't dare look at the boy staring back at him. It was too strange, talking to Draco but looking at himself.

"Forget? How could you forget this bleeding pain? It is absolute hell!" Draco groaned, he honestly didn't believe what he was hearing. And then he realized something. "If I feel like this much shite right now...how much did it hurt..how much did it all hurt?" he swallowed heavily, fearing what Harry's reaction would be.

Instead, the boy didn't move or seem to flinch or react whatsoever. "I didn't feel anything," he spoke monotonely.

"I..." Draco stopped himself before he began, observing himself through different eyes closely. He had never seen his body, his face and eyes, so distraught. "How much did it hurt, inside?" he urged. For some reason, he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about Harry suddenly, and for an even odder reason he wanted to make it all go away. He wanted to relieve him of everything that had ever hurt him.

~'Cause you're my, you're my, my/My true love, my whole heart.

Please don't throw that away/'Cause I'm here for you.

Please don't walk away and/Please tell me you'll stay.

Stay. ~

"I-I don't feel...please, can't we talk about something else?" Harry begged, he pleaded and his voice sounded more strained than Draco felt.

"I will tell you, if you would tell me,"

Harry considered this for a moment but shook his head. "Tell me what, persey? I've seen it all. I've felt it all just like you must have felt my pain too," he grimaced at the mere thought of those terrible nightmares, and their after effects.

"Trust me, I still feel it. I will still feel it for the rest of my life," Draco made a small choking noise after he had uttered these words, 'Did I just say that? Oh to hell with it, it is blatantly obvious that you like him. That you care for him. After this week, it would be impossible not to,'

Harry had grown silent by these words, but in the moonlit Draco could see that he was smiling out of the corner of his mouth. He had made him smile, by two sentences he had made Harry truly smile and with raw emotion. Draco felt his heart melt triumphantly.

"Plus, there are somethings that I am certain I do not dream about. Like where my Father really is,"

"Lucius?!" Harry snapped to full attention at that point, he turned anxiously towards his own body with dilated pupils. "Tell me! Where's Lucius? I need to talk to that bastard...that fucking sonofa..."

"I cannot. Even if you tell me everything, I still cannot tell you where Lucius is...what has happened to him. Not yet, at least. Just like how you cannot tell me everything yet. Earn that trust, I will tell you. Promise," Draco felt an urge to tell Harry, to spill everything that had happened that fateful night the Dark Lord fell. It wasn't just Harry's life who turned upside down then. Evenso, he knew it would be too ridiculously dangerous to discuss those events - what if Harry went and told? What would end up happening to him?

A long silence passed. Harry was digesting many things he hadn't expected to hear during their meeting that night. Draco enjoyed the silence, he gave him time to collect himself as well. "So, anything you need to tell me?"

"Not really. No post or anything like that. Got all your homework finished up...and you have an unbelievable amount of free-time...I envy you," Harry joked, adding a little bit of light to the situation.

"I envy myself too...does Granger and the Weasel honestly crowd you that much?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "You have no bloody idea! Don't get me wrong, I freaking love those guys but...fuck, they can be a real pain in the arse when I wanna spend sometime by myself. I usually have to do my homework in the Astronomy Tower at like midnight to do it right," he groaned. They both shared a laugh, and it felt rather nice to be laughing together.

They continued very much the same way for awhile, bantering back and forth about one anothers friends and the situations they had been thrust into that week. "And the Weaselette?!"

"Urgh...please...don't remind me about her!" Harry sunk lower into the couch, he could hardly breath from all the laughter.

"She kissed me! Kissed me!" Draco shivered, he wasn't feeling as much of the pain anymore.

"She did?! She never just kisses me..." Harry was dumbfounded.

"Well I pushed her off," he muttered in response.

"Good, I would've too...and Pansy - she tried...Lord she tried, at least three times...I avoided being in the room with her as much as possible,"

"It is rather difficult to shake her off, is it not?" Draco drawled, shaking his head lightly as brown fringe covered the lightning scar.

"Especially during meals," Harry shivered at the memories of Pansy constantly attempting to woe him in.

"Cannot keep down your food?"

"Not in the least," Harry grinned. He couldn't find himself believing that he was actually enjoying this conversation, even though it was his own voice he heard responding to him. This made it still rather awkward, and for times like this he did wish he was in his own body. He also wished that Draco didn't feel that constant pain he wasn't used to.

"So have you figured out my fear?" questioned Draco curiously - that was the whole point of this thing, right?

"Oh right, erm...I haven't really given it as much thought as I'd ought to....I'd like to...think some more," Harry blushed, of course he had ideas but he wasn't exactly sure on them yet.

Draco snorted lightly at this, he smiled and Harry found it looked awkward on his own face. "Very well. I have a guess, however," he grinned as Harry turned his attention back to his 'very interesting hands' and nodded. "Is it...your Uncle?"

Harry swallowed visibly, he immediately paled and his palms were becoming sweaty. His mind began screaming at him with memories that he pushed down, his eyes were getting watery. "No, shut up," he growled under a low breath to himself.

And then suddenly, Draco was very close to his side. His arm was draped around his shoulders, his head was lying lightly on his chest. Harry's eyes widened and he looked down at himself, unebelieving towards what was happening. "It's okay," muttered the other boy, he embraced him like Harry had never felt a hug before.

Harry hugged back quietly.

They sat like that for a long time before Harry finally shifted away from the other boy, when he did Draco yawned. "Tired?" he asked with a smirk, Draco nodded. "Well, it's best we're off anyway. Don't want people to wonder where their Prince has gone to," Harry teased, standing up and stretching before extending his hand - he understood how much his body ached when he moved positions from sitting, standing and lying.

Draco blushed and took the offered hand, he slowly wobbled to a stand. "Yes, it would be tragic if everybody's dearest Golden Boy were to disappear..." he grumbled, though Harry could tell from the tone it was still playful. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"Can you make it up t-"

"Of course I can. Have I not been walking around this bleeding too large of a castle all week?" Draco snapped, he hadn't meant for it to sound harsh but now that he and Harry weren't laughing together, or embracing one another, the physical pain was beginning to come back with a harsh bite. "Sorry, I just-"

"I understand," Harry nodded dumbly. "I guess I'll see you around," and with that, Harry shoved his hands into his pockets and started towards the door.

'Oh shite, I forgot to tell him about Pomfrey and Lupin...' "Pot-Harry, wait up!" Draco called, limping quickly over to the door. And as soon as Harry turned around, he had this empty, sorrowful look in those silver pools. Those were Draco's eyes, and the fact that those certain emotions were coming out of them felt too...familiar. Draco shivered and instead of telling Harry what he knew he should've, he reached out and pulled the other boy close towards him.

Harry gasped lightly in surprise as he felt his very own lips touch together with Draco's. It was hard, but soft all at the sametime. Both of their mouths were slightly open, caressing one anothers. Harry felt the dryness of his own lips hit the softness of Draco's, he would much rather be feeling it from the other side of things. Come to think of it, he was kissing himself technically speaking...Harry pushed away gently, not wanting to hurt Draco.

"Sorry...I, did not mean to do that," Draco admitted, looking bashfully down at the ground suddenly and dropping his arms to his sides.

"Don't be. I liked it. But...it's kinda weird - kissing yourself and all? Dontcha think?" and with that, Harry left Draco with an open mouth and a very confused thought in his head.

"Did Harry just say that he...liked it?"

*

Use me as you will/Pull my strings just for a thrill

And I know I'll be okay/Though my skise are turning gray.

wI will never let you fall/I'll stand up for you forever.

I'll be there for you through it all/Even if saving you send me to Heaven.