Draco had never been more astonished in his life...he stared as Harry turned to him and held out his hand. There was a challenge in his eyes that he knew Draco would not be able to ignore. And he's right, damn him! Not to mention the fact that I rather like the idea of dancing with him, Draco thought as he took the outstretched hand and pulled himself gracefully to his feet. Harry smiled brightly at Romilda and led Draco to the dance floor while she stared at them...she looked absolutely gobsmacked, as anyone who had gone to school with Draco and Harry would be. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were supposed to be rivals...they were supposed to insult each other, fight, call each other names and get all competitive around each other. They were most certainly not supposed to be dancing together.

Harry led Draco to the dance floor wondering at his own courage...Had he really asked Malfoy to dance with him? And Malfoy had agreed? It was all a bit surreal. He'd done it in an attempt to get rid of Romilda, but he was honest enough to admit that he did want to dance with the man, if only as a ruse to get a bit closer to him. Harry had to admit that their conversation had intrigued him, it had left him feeling like he wanted to get to know Malfoy better...so why not?

Neither of them said anything until Harry stopped on the edge of the dance floor, looked Draco in the eye and said, "Will you dance with me, Malfoy?" And this time there was no challenge, just a flicker of vulnerability in his eyes that made Draco say yes without thinking. "But I will insist on leading, Potter, I know you can't dance."

"Lead if you want, Malfoy, but I just might surprise you," Harry said with a smirk as deliberately led Draco to the middle of the dance floor where everyone would see them. Then he put his arms around Draco's neck and smiled. "Lead away," he said.

Draco put his arms around Harry's waist and just stood there for a moment, looking at him as if he expected him to bolt. Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Malfoy. Now are you going to dance with me or not?"

"Do you know what you're doing, Potter?" Draco said as they began to dance, keeping time with the slow and the rather sensuous number that the band was playing.

Harry didn't answer.

"I know that you only asked me to dance because you wanted to get rid of that bint, but people are starting to notice and if we continue like this any longer, we'll make the front page...pictures, speculation, the works. Surely you don't want that."

"No I don't. But I do want to dance with you and I don't care what anyone has to say about it," Harry said defiantly. "Unless it bothers you, of course."

"I don't care what anyone says about me either, but I don't understand why you would want to dance with me."

Harry sighed. "I always come to these functions, sit morosely in the corner and refuse to dance with anyone because I'm so sick of people fawning all over me. Talking to you was refreshing, alright, and I figured I could use a break from the gloom. And what better way to break through the gloom than to dance with a good-looking man?"

Draco arched an eyebrow. "You think I'm good-looking?"

I think you're gorgeous, Harry thought. "Definitely good-looking," he said with a smirk, as he glanced at the man in question, taking in the white-blond hair which looked like spun silk, the silver-grey eyes, glittering with challenge, the handsome and damn near aristocratic face and that deliciously sexy body and he couldn't help the wave of desire that went through him. Absolutely gorgeous.

"Well, you're not so bad yourself," Draco said as he very deliberately trailed his eyes down the length of Harry's body chuckling when Harry blushed in response. "Not bad at all," he said as he found himself admiring the dark hair that was still messy, but somehow elegant at the same time, the dazzling green eyes, the strong line of that jaw and that face that Draco had always found beautiful and the strong, well muscled frame and that feeling of suppressed strength and raw power that Harry always gave out and Draco could no longer deny that he was seriously attracted to this man and he had absolutely no idea what to do about it...other than dance. So he did.

Harry seemed to have sensed the direction of his thoughts. "Let's just enjoy the moment yeah?" he said.

Draco nodded and then he relaxed and they got talking again. They were well aware of all the people who were looking at them, the whispers going around the room and the flashes of the cameras going off every now and then, but they ignored it all, choosing to focus on each other instead.

"You were right, Potter, you're a much better dancer than you used to be."

"I took lessons. Ginny made me."

"She didn't want you embarrassing her, huh?"

"Something like that."

"So why did the two of you split up?"

"There wasn't any one thing. It just wasn't working. There was no spark, no passion...it was boring almost."

"So who ended it?"

"I wanted to, but I was too much of a coward to bring it up even. And I had no idea how she felt. We'd both been pretending to be happy...And then one evening she said that she wanted out. I was so relieved, I almost did cartwheels around the room."

Draco chuckled. "Now there's an image," he said.

Harry smiled. "It was such a relief when it was all over."

"And now she's with Blaise..." Draco said. "I thought Blaise was pulling my leg when he told me."

"I know. It was a shock to me too when I heard, but they're really good together."

"And now they're getting married."

"Yeah," Harry said, sounding a bit dejected. "I'm happy for her, but I can't help wondering why I have to be the only one who's unlucky."

Draco didn't say anything to that. He knew full well what it was like to be single, particularly when you quite desperately want a family, as Harry so clearly did.

"How long is it since you were on a date?" he said softly.

"A couple of years now," Harry said.

"Why?"

"Because every single person that I went out with, man or woman wanted to be with 'Harry Potter, the saviour' rather than me. They all had this image of me that they'd built up from everything they'd read in the papers, most of it bullshit and they tended to assume that they already knew everything about me and...there was just too much hero-worship there and it pretty much eliminated the possibility of anything real."

Draco listened in silence.

"I hate being alone," Harry said under his breath, almost as if he was talking to himself.

"I can imagine," Draco said softly.

"How do you deal with it?" Harry asked.

"I haven't had to deal with it since Scorpius was born. Having a baby to take care of tends to put all other thoughts and needs out of your mind."

"Hmmm..."

They danced in silence for a while. Then the song ended and they were both a little too preoccupied to want to dance anymore, so they got off the dance floor and saw all the people, their friends included who were looking at them with open curiosity.

"I don't much feel like talking to anyone right now," Harry said.

"Me neither. Let's get out of here," Draco said and they quickly made their way to the exit. They walked out of the huge main doors and they were accosted by a barrage questions from the reporters waiting outside.

"Bloody vultures!" Harry said as he dragged Draco off to the nearest Apparition point and Disapparated.

Draco was completely disoriented when they landed in a quiet corner of a village street. He waited to catch his breath and then he looked inquiringly at Harry.

"Sorry," Harry said. "I just wanted a word with you before you left."

"Sure. Where are we, Potter?"

"Godric's Hollow. I live here."

"This was where your parents..."

"Yeah," Harry said as he led them to small bench at the end of the street and sat down. It was very quiet save for the occasional hooting of an owl. The moon was out and the entire street was bathed in moonlight. The entire scene looked like it had been drawn from a children's story book.

"This is beautiful," Draco said.

"I know."

"What did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to apologise, actually."

"What for?"

"For making you front page news. You're going to be getting a lot of attention in the next few days."

"Probably a bunch of Howlers too," Draco said wryly.

Harry winced. "Yeah, sorry."

"It's okay, Potter. I told you already. I don't care."

"Good...I'm glad," Harry said and he looked at the street and ran a hand through his hair in a nervous gesture that Draco was very familiar with. Harry had brought Draco here on impulse, because he couldn't stomach the thought of Draco leaving without some kind of an assurance that they would meet again...soon. Harry realised that what he really wanted was to date this man beside him. He wanted to get to know him. He was intrigued by the man that Draco had become and he was more than a little attracted to him. He wanted to ask him out, but he was nervous...

Draco watched Harry as he continued to sit there in silence, fidgeting with his robe.

"What did you really want to say, Potter?" he asked gently.

"I had fun tonight," Harry said hesitantly.

"Me too."

Harry smiled at that. It was a tentative smile that looked rather endearing. Draco had a sudden desire to gather Harry into his arms and kiss that smile. Maybe one day. If I get very very lucky, he thought as he waited for Harry to speak.

"I...was wondering if maybe I could take you out to dinner sometime," Harry said.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Draco said, as he arched his eyebrows in a gesture that Harry was starting to find rather attractive.

"Yes."

Draco was very surprised. It was something he very much wanted, but he was rather taken aback by the fact that Harry had actually gone ahead and asked him. "Okay," he said. "Tell me the time and place and I'll be there."

Harry smiled, looking a bit relieved and they sat there looking at each other and wondering what the hell they were doing. But neither of them could deny that strange as it was, it felt right, somehow.

...

A/N: So what did you think?