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Harry threw his invisibility cloak over himself as he left the Gryffindor common room at eleven-thirty. Hermione had pretended that she had no idea he was sneaking out, and Ron had promised to come up with a cover story if any of the other boys woke up.
He checked the map and saw that Malfoy was making his way down to the lake, and then shoved it into his back pocket. He hurriedly walked down the stone corridors until he finally breathed in the cool evening air. He idly wondered how Malfoy managed to sneak out so often without an invisibility cloak or a map; but he just put it down to the fact that Malfoy was a Slytherin and could probably bribe his way to anything.
A smile worked it's way onto his face when he recalled the events of yesterday night, and then vanished just as promptly when he thought about Malfoy's task. He had vowed to help Malfoy, somehow. He would think of a way, he would keep his promise.
He caught sight of a figure lurking at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, by the lake, and sped up in that direction. He slipped the cloak off of his head and smiled at Malfoy.
"Hey," He said softly. Malfoy nodded to him.
"Evening, Potter." He drawled, but without his usual bite. Harry took out his wand and Malfoy followed suit.
Malfoy had slowly been getting better at the Patronus charm, and his wand had started spitting out a silvery mist. Harry thought that the only problem now was Malfoy's memory.
"Ready?" He said. He and Malfoy pointed their wands towards the lake.
"Expecto Patronum!" They yelled in unison. A large white stag shot out of Harry's wand immediatly, galloping over the water. A misty, smaller but still powerful, doe shot from Malfoy's wand. The misty forms danced over the lake together, entertwining themselves into eachother before fading into the air. Their Patronus's complimented eachother, just like Lily and James Potter's had. Harry stared at the air where they had just been in shock.
He looked over at Malfoy, who was staring, a similiar look of shock of his face. The tips of Harry's fingers ghosted over the top of Malfoy's hand, before he took it and squeezed. Malfoy squeezed back.
"I did it," He said breathlessly. "I actually did it. And it was a Doe. It was...beautiful."
"Yes, it was," Harry said, his mind racing. His parents Patroni had complimented, and they had been in love with each other deeply. Soulmates, he was sure Sirius had said once. Could their Patroni complimenting mean something? Or was it just a coincidence? He would have to find something in the library later.
"They complimented each other." Malfoy said casually, sounding as if he was talking about charms. Harry blinked at him. So Malfoy had noticed! Did he think it was just a coincidence?
"Yeah, my parents Patroni did, too." He said, in a choked voice. He swallowed back his tears. His parents were dead, they weren't coming back. Malfoy squeezed his hand.
"You must miss them," Malfoy said after a while. Harry sniffed.
"Yeah, I do. But I think it's more of the concept of parents that I miss. I can hardly remember them." The only solid memory he had of his parents was from Snape's pensieve, and that wasn't even his. The only time he remembered his mother's voice was when he faced off with a dementor, and that was her sceaming at You-Know-Who, begging him not to kill him. He didn't really have many happy memories of them.
"What about your Professor? The one who was a werewolf. Wasn't he close to your father?"
Harry bristled, "His name was Remus Lupin. And he was, why?"
Malfoy rolled his eyes, seeming not to notice Harry's brief anger. "Pensieve, Potter. Couldn't he give you some of his memories?"
"Oh," Harry said, "I had never thought of even asking him." Malfoy didn't say anything, just squeezed Harry's hand again.
"I want to show you something," He said. He took off into the forest, dragging Harry with him. They walked for ten minutes, Malfoy turning left or right occasionally. Harry thought Malfoy was just leading them randomly until Malfoy made a small "Aha," noise.
Malfoy had led him to a small stream, one side bracketed by a fallen tree. Malfoy dropped Harry's hand and swung his leg over it, and then swung his leg over and disappeared. Harry waited to hear a splash, and cocked his head when he didn't. He followed Malfoy's actions and swung a leg over it, waiting to hear laughter from below him. He didn't.
"Draco?" He called uncertainly.
"Swing your over leg over. You won't fall." Malfoy's voice said from somewhere underneath him. Taking a breath and hoping Malfoy wasn't playing a trick on him, Harry swung his over leg over a jumped.
He had expected the feel of freezing water, but instead got a mouthful of dirt.
"Ugh," He spat, spitting it out. He heard someone snicker to the left of him.
Malfoy was sitting in what looked like a small cave. It was completely hidden by the fallen tree, impossible to find unless you already knew where it was.
Harry crawled in next to Malfoy, leaning his shoulder against him, watching the water run by.
"How did you even find this place?" He asked.
"Third year, after the Buckbeak incident. Everything got so much, so I came out here and just wandered until I literally stumbled upon it. Ever since then, when everything got too much, I snuck out here." Malfoy said.
Harry chewed his lip, wondering how to ask Malfoy questions without the blond finding them offensive.
"Draco..." He started carefully, "when you say that everything gets too much, what do you mean by that?"
Malfoy glanced at him. "You can be blunt, Potter, I know you're curious. And I mean, sometimes things just get too much, everything is just too loud or bright and I need to be alone or I'll-" Malfoy cut himself off, clenching his hands in his robe. Harry softly brushed his fingers over over the hand closer to him, entwining their fingers.
"Or you'll what?" He said bluntly, like Malfoy said to be. Malfoy rested his head on Harry's shoulder. Harry gently layed his head on Malfoy's, brushing his thumb over the back of his hand.
"I'll panic. Really badly. I constantly did when I was a little child. The worst place I ever panicked was at a ministy party when I was with my parents. I was seven, and could barely string a sentence together in a room full of people. I met Blaise at that party." He added as an afterthought. "Look far back enough in The Daily Prophet and there's an article about it."
"They printed an article about you? Because you panicked at a party?"
"It was Rita Skeeter. What would you expect from her? And anyway, my father made sure that no word of my medical records got to her. He was livid." Harry tensed.
"With you?" He asked. Malfoy scoffed.
"No, with her. He wasn't angry, not really. I know you think my Father is a complete bastard, but he's not that bad. He's nice. He made sure not too take me to any more ministry parties until I said I was comfortable enough to go. He found a spell, too. It makes background noise go away, so I can only hear voices next to mine. It's useful in the Great Hall."
"I think, in a way, that I would like to meet your father someday." Harry murmured. Malfoy looked at him incredulously.
"You have met my Father, Harry. He tried to kill you on both occasions, if I recall correctly."
"No, I mean, I would've liked to meet the man you described."
Malfoy was silent for a second. "You know, when I first heard about what my Father did as a Death Eater, I thought everyone was lying. I couldn't understand why my father would do those things."
"There's light and dark in all of us, Draco. No-one is wholly good or is wholly bad." Harry said seriously.
"Why does that sound like something from my Mother's romance novels?"
Harry snorted. "It's something Sirius told me. And sappy or not, he was right. No-one can be wholly bad or wholly good."
"Even You-Know-Who?" Malfoy asked.
"Eh, maybe not old Moldy Voldie." He joked. Malfoy sniggered.
"Moldy Voldie?" He repeated. Harry grinned.
"Yeah, make a joke out him, and he becomes less scary."
"I have no idea why my Father chose to follow him in the first place. I mean, you were his biggest enemy when you were a year old. Who's mortal enemies with a baby?"
"I can't believe I never thought about it like that." Harry laughed loudly. They settled into another silence, and Harry was nodding off when he felt Malfoy nudge him.
"What?" He yawned.
"I've been thinking, Harry, about what you said about going to Dumbledore. Even if I do go to Azkaban, then my Mother would be safe."
Harry was suddenly wide awake. "You're not going to Azkaban, Draco."
"No, but listen to me. If I go to Dumbledore and he gets my Mother to safety, then Mol - You-Know-Who won't have anything to hang over me. And I won't be a Death Eater, so he wouldn't be able to track the mark if I ran."
"But you won't go to Azkaban. You're a child, Draco. You're being threatened by one of the most powerful dark wizards in history." Harry said firmly. He wouldn't let Draco go to Azkaban. The Aurors would have to go through him first.
Draco shrugged against him. "I guess you're right." He paused, "It's the reason I wanted to learn the Patronus charm. I realise that it was stupid, I wouldn't have my wand in Azkaban, but I thought it would stop my nightmares." He whispered.
Harry snaked arm around Draco and held him close. Draco leaned into his touch.
"I want you to know, Draco, that if you need anything at anytime, then you can come to me. Even if we're in the middle of a lesson, just, I don't know, throw something at me."
"And risk getting hexed by any surrounding non-Slytherins?" Draco's tone was light, but Harry could tell that it was fake.
"I'm serious. I'll deal with the Gryffindor's. Ron and Hermione wouldn't hex you. They know I'm meeting you here-" Draco tensed, "-but they don't know why. Not completely, anyway. They think I'm teaching you defence in the Room of Requirement. So it's not exactly a lie."
"Did you tell them about me not talking? Or the blanket?"
"I didn't say anything about you not talking. I asked about weighted blanket's, but didn't mention you." Harry decided to leave out that Ron had guessed immediatly why he was asking.
"And what did they say? I imagine Granger had something to say on the matter."
"Yeah, she mentioned that sometimes autistic people use them for pressure stimming." He kept his tone casual, even as Draco tensed even more. "One of Ron's brothers, Charlie, is autistic. He knew about them because Charlie had one."
"Oh," Draco said. "That's... you know." He sounded relieved.
"So you'll go to Dumbledore?"
Draco nodded. "I will. It'll save my Mother." He said it as if he was convincing himself.
"It will, Draco. Do you want me to come with you?"
Draco fiddled with his robe. "Maybe. I'll find you if I need you."
Harry pressed a chaste kiss to Draco's cheek.
"Any time you need me, find me. I'll be there." Harry assured him.
Draco nuzzled into Harry's neck. "I know you will be," He murmured.
They sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the sounds of the stream long into the night.