Winter Winds and Love Affairs

The crisp chilly winter wind snapped at the windows, making the branches scrape at them for help. The wind was chilling them to the roots.

Only a solitary owl heard their pleas for help as she stirred. She opened her giant brown eyes and quickly cleaned her snow-white feathers before waking her master.

She squawked and squeaked and scratched at the cage holding her. She was hoping that the clamor would rouse her master.

He had been awake for hours now, pondering about the dream he had woken up from. Thankful for something to take his mind off of it, he got out of bed and went over to the elegant snow-white owl. "Sssshhhh. Settle down, Hedwig," he whispered to her chirps as he petted her soft feathers. The owl quieted her twitters and let her green-eyed master to rock her to sleep.

After the owl fell back asleep peacefully, he tried to sleep himself. The only visions he saw were the ones of his dream. Death, blood and darkness. Voldemort... hunting for flesh. Killing... stealing lives.

He couldn't take the visions anymore. The hauntings were not making his passing into the dream-world any easier. He decided to get up. He was not going to sleep anytime soon.

He got up out of his bed, put on some clothes other than his fleece pajamas, and quietly slipped out the portal, without anyone noticing he was gone.

He assumed nobody would be out at this hour. He walked around the grand castle, still letting the visions steal his attention. It was like he was a ghost at all the deaths he kept seeing. He could not do anything. He couldn't say anything. All he could achieve was to watch hopelessly as the lives were lost to his enemy, the demon that controlled mindless people. It was all madness.

He walked aimlessly, paying more attention to his dream than the path. He would walk through any doors involuntarily and the branches scraping at the window were like pure silence to him. This dream was overwhelming him.

He stopped at a balcony overlooking the Great Hall as he looked at the empty chairs. Not even a ghost was present. Only a few candles flickered through the darkness. The light was not closely enough to read a book by. Yet he stopped to look at the darkness and the magical candlelight. He got lost in it as he looked to the fire in hopes of warmth and inspiration. All he got was a voice. "I could get you for being out of bed after hours, Potter," it said smugly. He gave a bored look to the voice he had heard, recognizing it within an instant.

"So could I, Malfoy," he replied still gazing into the candlelight. The voice emerged with a body; a fragile, pale body that could only be seen by the soft flickering lights in the walls of the balcony. The shoulder-length white hair fell messily on his face as he tried to blow it away. "Stop with your bloody hair already. Why are you here?" he replied bitterly, without any hint of niceness in it. Draco did not reply with words, but only with a conceited smile as he twirled his hair with his finger.

"I can be anywhere I fancy, Potter. Unlike you, who doesn't have the privileges like I do," he replied. He continued playing with his hair, which was twirled around his index finger. However he was not smiling, just pondering at his hair.

"So... why are you here?" Harry asked again. Draco chose not to answer, but instead carried on playing with his hair. "Stop messing about with your bloody hair and answer me!"

"Careful, Potter. Don't want anyone catching you and tarnishing your 'good' record, do you?"

"They'll catch you as well!"

"On the contrary, they can't."

"Why?"

"How many times do I have to tell you? I have privileges that you don't have. That includes being caught. I could easily lie and get away with it. It's you who people think are mad, not me." He took a quick glance to Harry and smiled haughtily, the smile Harry saw more often than he hoped to in a lifetime.

"For one, I am not mad. For a second, you couldn't lie to save your life. Remember first year, or was it truly that long ago?"

"First year was first year, Potter. That was five years ago, and so far I have been getting away with everything. Nothing like you, who can't seem to keep his hands out of trouble."

"Well, I beg your pardon, but I have been saving people's lives the past few years. Also, trouble was not in the job description that I just had to take up." The silver eyes looked away from the hair they were concentrated on and looked to Harry. Harry felt his heart race as he looked at him. He could hear it in his head, but did not understand why that was happening. Draco's smile disappeared and continued his cold stare that Harry saw all too often.

"Why would you fancy doing this, then? If people were meant to die, why not let them die? Why do you get in the way?"

"I did not choose to be this way. I didn't choose the life of a hero. Wizards decided my fate, not me. I took no part in making this choice."

"But why do you intervene if you don't want to be doing this?"

"Because innocent lives are being lost every minute he stays alive and resurrected. There are people out there who don't deserve to die right now, and the people who do deserve death aren't getting it. Instead they are being saved and rewarded because of their delinquency, and that is not right."

"Why are you so righteous? How do you know that he's not just cleansing the world of the weak? Why are they so important that they must live?"

"Have you not listened at all? The weak are not weak. They have strong souls that not many people see. He is nothing but a menacing force that kills only for himself and for his own pleasure. His followers think that he will bring fortune and greatness, but that is all an illusion and people don't see that. They kill, steal, lie, and cheat for him, because they believe he will repay them when this is over. In reality, all he will reward them with is death or worse, everlasting grief for their deeds when they followed them." There was a long silence which swept over them like a tide of darkness. They remained silent to each other. Harry dazed into the candlelight and Draco thought of what he had heard.

"I never thought of things that way," Draco said, interrupting the silence. Harry's gaze turned away from the candlelight and started to explore the silver eyes which he thought held only a cold chill for him. But this time, a cold chill did not come, but instead, the continued racing in his heart.

"Nobody ever does, until I tell it from my view," Harry explained. "But... then again, I've only told it twice."

"I didn't know I was the third one."

"You aren't." Draco gave a baffled look at Harry as he raised one of his lightly-colored eyebrows.

"I thought you just said that you only told it twice."

"I did. The first one was to my close friends."

"And the second?"

"I'll tell you later. I'm not a mind-reader." Draco gave a quiet chuckle and gazed out into the empty hall, letting himself get lost in his thoughts. However, it was interrupted. "Why are you always so detestable towards me, Malfoy? I never understood it." Draco leaned on the balcony banister and looked down at the emptiness of the room. It was used to being the place of excitement and joy. But at night, when it was most empty, it looked like a graveyard of vacant chairs that had died over the last few hours. Draco feared to answer this question... for it would reveal a secret that he never whispered to anything. Not even in his own mind. He started to play with his hair again, hoping to change the subject. "Do you fancy answering me anytime soon? Or do fear that I'm not going to like the answer?"

"Both, actually. And even if I did tell you, I would have to kill you." Harry raised an eyebrow to him.

"Why is that?"

"I just can't. There are some things best left unanswered, Potter."

"I think this is one of the things that are best left answered, Malfoy. I might not like the answer, but then I'll know why you hate me so much. I know it's not because of the wrong handshake, or just because I thought you were just a spiteful bastard, because it has to be something else."

"There is nothing else, Potter. I hate you because you just... oh, what's that phrase? 'Rub me the wrong way'."

"That's not it. I know it isn't."

"Well I know what goes on inside this mind of mine, and I believe that is it. Everyone else may like you, but I don't."

"I know there's a different reason, Malfoy, and heaven help me if I have to sneak into Snape's potions and steal some Veritas just to figure this out."

"I can tell Snape to be expecting you just because you said that."

"And I could easily spread something about you real easily. Now, do I have to share with the whole school why you get good grades in Snape's class?" Draco stared at Harry, eyes wide with shock. "Didn't think I saw that, did you? Now tell me or I'm going to tell everyone that-"

"FINE! Fine," Draco said, putting his hands up in surrender. "You want to know why? I'll tell you. It's because I realized that I could never have you. Savvy?" Harry stared dumbfounded at Draco. He stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around, making sure he heard right. He looked for earwax or something else that would impair his hearing on his finger. When he found nothing, he spoke.

"Funny, I thought you just said that-"

"I did. And if you dare start to laugh at me, or dare to say a word-" Harry placed two fingers gently on Draco's slightly chapped lips to soothe his anxiety. Draco looked at the appendages as if there was a bee on his mouth.

"Draco, you need to shut up," Harry whispered as he took a step closer, slowly, seductively, to Draco... and another... and another. Now they were barely inches from each other. So close that a mouse could barely squeeze through their feet. Harry took his fingers off of Draco's mouth to let Draco speak.

"What are you getting at, Potter?" Malfoy questioned skeptically as he raised an eyebrow. Harry could only smile. "Fantastic. You're going to leave me asking myself if it was better to let the whole school know about that mishap between me and Snape, or confessing to you, aren't you?"

"On the contrary...."

"Oh, damn it, Potter!" Draco could not understand why Harry was playing these games. He deemed things could not get any worse, so he decided to do what he thought was the worst he could do... and let the emotions that had been swelling inside of him like a raging volcano just waiting to erupt. He took Harry in his arms and gave a fiery kiss. He let go and stood angrily, arms crossed, in front of Harry, who looked love-dazed while trying to fix the glasses that had nearly fallen off.

"Is that what you wanted? Now you can tell all of your stupid little Gryff-"

"Draco, how many times do I have to tell you to shut up?"

"I don't know! I don't know anything anymore! I don't even know why I just did that! In fact, I don't even know who I am, who you are, where I am, or-" Draco's words were interrupted by Harry kissing him, gently, sweetly, enough to stray Draco from the world he was too busy talking in and into another, full of golden silence, warmth, and impossible possibilities, where the unimaginable could be brought to life. Draco lied in Harry's arms, attaining only the love he was receiving in which he could only dream of. Harry let go slowly, taking Draco's breath with him. Inches away from his face, Draco opened his eyes to discover that this unfeasible dream had become a reality. The silver gaze was no longer like the cold harsh winter winds that still scratched at the windows restlessly. They met the emerald gape that only said what needed to be said without words. Harry brushed Draco's shoulder-length hair with his fingers, adoring the beauty that had fallen in his arms. So much of a devil, but disguised as an angel. Draco took off Harry's glasses and threw them to the floor. "You won't be needing those," were the only words Draco was able to say. Harry did not look at the glasses that had recklessly been thrown at the floor. He barely noticed they were gone. He was too busy studying the ways of Draco's splendor that he had never taken the time to notice until then.

He ignored the feelings he himself had been having for him for weeks, convincing himself that he was falling to madness. It was only until then, that the "madness" was discovered to not be as he thought. Madness could only describe the way he was before that kiss. That very kiss that brought him to Draco, the true feelings he had for him, and the "madness" of it all swallowed him.

They stared to one another for the longest moments, as if conversing by thought, not letting the rustling outside disturb their moment. Harry placed Draco back on his feet, but the stare did not break. Harry pulled Draco toward him for a close embrace, enough to hear each other's hearts racing through the moment, unable to calm themselves.

"I had a nightmare... don't leave me," Harry whispered to Draco. He looked to his new lover's face and softly stroked it with his hand. He smiled.

"Don't you worry. I won't." Draco whispered as his embrace held tighter and continued trusting the pounding heart that he heard, not wanting to depart it. He was afraid he was going to miss out on something important, like he almost did before.