Let the Darkness Take You

There had been deep-felt apologies in the letter for Harry's troubles with his friends. There had been many questions as to if there was anybody helping him with it. And if so, who was it?

When Harry wrote back, it was very carefully. Even with Dudley being a Muggle, he had to be extra careful to not let too much about his situation slip. So, he decided to say that, yes, there was somebody helping him. But no, he couldn't say who it was, just in case the letter was intercepted. Otherwise, he just talked about things of irrelevance. Things that could always take Harry's mind off of depressing thoughts.… In other words, Quidditch. He explained Quidditch to Dudley in a very detailed letter. Harry was sure that Dudley would enjoy that.

After sending his letter with Hedwig, Harry made his way down to the Quidditch pitch for the evening practice, that Katie had called on Saturday. Just as he was about to mount his broom, someone called his name.

"Harry! Wait a moment!"

The black hair boy turned to see Ron Weasley running towards him. He looked at his former friend suspiciously until they were just a few feet from each other, and Ron was trying to catch his breath from his fast sprint.

"I just wanted to you know... that I'm sorry for almost getting you kicked off the team on Saturday. You really are a great player. We could never afford to lose you. And... A man shouldn't do that to his best mate."

Ron was almost looking hopeful about this last sentence. It was as if he was saying, ‘let's be friends again.' "Right," Harry began slowly. "Best mates don't do that to each other." Ron's face lit up and he slapped Harry on the back.

"I really am sorry about everything, though. I've been acting like a right prat."

"You don't really have to tell me that. I know." Ron turned slightly red in the face and ears and looked at his feet.

"I know it probably can't be the same after all this... but do you think you'd want to play chess with me later? We can talk things over, hopefully start new again?"

"Er... sure, I suppose we could."

"Great!" Ron exclaimed. "Well, we better get in the air then. We don't want Katie yelling at us. How about in the Common room after dinner?"

"Okay."

Before anything else was said, Ron had smiled broadly and took off into the air. Harry stared dumbly after him for a few moments before taking off himself. Maybe it was all his imagination. Maybe everybody actually did hate him now. It might not be another plot of Voldemort's to get him. It just didn't make sense.

All through practice, Harry watched Ron closely, and had the intense feeling of somebody watching him. None of the other players were paying attention to him. He was sure of that. The feeling had started as soon as he had walked out of the castle but now it just seemed more prominent. He began to feel a little uneasy about it, so he was glad when Katie called them in after Harry had caught the snitch for the fourth time.

"Good practice, everybody! We'll meet every other day from now on. First game is against Ravenclaw a week after Halloween. Their team will be easy to beat this year, but that doesn't mean we don't have to give it our all. So no slacking!"

Harry walked back to the castle alone as everybody went to the showers. He planned to take one in the castle. That…that feeling was still there. He just knew that somebody's eyes were boring into the back of his head. Every once in a while, he would stop and look around, but seeing nothing, would continue to walk again. He knew he looked stupid looking around all the time, but there was somebody... By the time he was on the fourth floor of the castle, he set off into a run, becoming extremely paranoid at this point. As he turned a corner and started running up a flight of stairs, he crashed into an invisible wall and flew onto his back, hitting his head. Footsteps started approaching and he knew no more.

***

The man watched, amused, as Harry Potter looked around his surroundings suspiciously. He cursed as the boy took off in a dead sprint. This would make it harder to do now. Somehow, he kept up and turned the corner just after his quarry and placed an invisible shield on the fifth step. The boy crashed into it and flew down onto the floor, hitting his head. The emerald eyes stayed open for a few seconds, and he just started to walk towards the boy when they closed into unconsciousness.

He knelt beside the younger man and looked pleased onto his work, as blood started to seep out from his head. "Perfect," he whispered. The man took down the shield so nobody else would meet this unlucky fate and then started to collect the blood into his wand. It would come in quite handy. He sat Harry Potter into a sitting position, his head rolling about on his shoulders and cleaned the blood from his hair as well.

He knew that this wouldn't be enough blood. With an injury like this, taking more wouldn't hurt. The boy had already lost so much. A pocketknife was withdrawn from his cloak pocket and he slashed a cut over a scar in the crook of the boy's elbow. He collected all the blood he needed and cast a spell on the boy for the man's future needs. He walked swiftly away from the scene of the crime. There was a potion waiting to be made.

***

Harry slowly made his way back to consciousness. There were whispers next to him but he didn't bother to open his eyes. He knew it would cause too much pain. A groan escaped his lips as he tilted his head to the side and the whispers stopped.

"Harry?" a voice asked cautiously. "Are you awake?"

"Don't talk so loud," he grumbled. "I've got a splitting headache."

"As you should," said another voice that sounded suspiciously like Professor Snape's.

Harry cautiously opened his eyes and found everything to be blurry. He blinked several times but couldn't get it to go away. "Your glasses," replied the first voice and then cold metal was placed in his hands. He slid them on and Draco Malfoy's face came into view. If Harry would have had the energy, he would have done a double take. His face looked worried.… Draco Malfoy was worried. And Snape looked worried, as well.

"And why should I have a splitting headache? Did I fall off my broom again?"

"No... You fell down the stairs, as far as we can tell," said Malfoy.

"What? I don't reme..." Harry thought hard, which made his head ache even more. But then it came to him. Quidditch practice. The person watching him. Harry running through the halls. The invisible wall. Nothingness. Then, Draco Malfoy and Professor Snape.

"Oh. There.... there was an invisible wall. It knocked me down the stairs because I was running. I fell down the stairs because I ran into it."

"And why were you running in the hallways?" Malfoy gave Snape a withering look as if to say, ‘why is that important?' Either Snape didn't notice or chose to ignore the younger Slytherin.

"Er... somebody was following me, watching me. From the moment I stepped outside of the castle there was somebody watching me. I think I got a little paranoid by the time I started to run."

"Obviously, it was for good reason," said Malfoy.

"It could be that a reckless student put up an invisible shield of some sort for a joke, or someone could have been following you and put it up... It is suspicious." Snape changed the subject. "Do you know who has been here every day to see you?"

"Er... I dunno. You two?"

"Well, yes, but that's not all. Ron Weasley and Sirius Black. Both of them have been going out of their minds with worry over you."

"Huh? Sirius is worried about me?"

Snape gave Harry a calculating look. "And you're not wondering about Weasley?"

"As a matter of fact, I am wondering about him. He wanted to play chess with me after practice. He apologised for being a huge prat all term. I don't know what to make out of any of it."

"Try not to. He hasn't been back here for three days at least...." Harry shot up in bed.

"Three days?" Harry exclaimed. "How long have I been unconscious?"

"A week and two days," replied Draco. "You really did a number on your head. And you lost a lot of blood. Although when Weasley found you, he said that there was no blood on the floor. It had been cleaned up."

"Cleaned up? Why would anybody clean up my blood and then just leave me there?"

"That's what we were wondering. I'm guessing that somebody deliberately did it. I don't think a student did that as a joke," said Malfoy, sending a raised eyebrow at Snape.

"Don't give me that. I'm just thinking up all possible explanations," Snape scowled.

"Potter! You're up. Professor Snape, Mr. Malfoy, I'll have to ask you two to leave. I need to see to my patient," Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled over. Snape quickly changed topics when he saw Madame Pomfrey bustle over to them.

"We'll talk more about your assignments that you missed at a later time, Potter. As I said before, Draco will be tutoring you. Merlin knows you have needed an extra tutoring session anyhow for quite some time," Snape sneered. Draco sent Harry a withering glare, which Harry returned. Madam Pomfrey ‘tsked' at their behaviour and started shooing them with her hands. Harry scowled at Snape's back as Madam Pomfrey saw the two to the door and then came bustling back to Harry to give him a variety of potions.

She seemed to be indifferent to his presence. Either she wasn't under the spell or she was just too busy to care either way. He was a patient that she needed to take care of. Once she had left Harry to himself, he began to wonder about Ron and Sirius. Of all people, why had they been here? Why did Malfoy look worried about him? Did he actually care? There had never been any signs to show that he did. So, Harry would just keep assuming that the hate was still there. It had to be. After all, people didn't just change over night.

Immediately after thinking this, Harry remembered that Draco had said that he didn't completely hate Harry; Draco had said that he only disliked the Gryffindor. Harry groaned at this memory. It made things more complicated.

"Harry Potter."

Harry looked all around but found that nobody was in the room. He sunk down into his blankets and moved his eyes around the room suspiciously.

"I'm not in the room."

"Where and who are you?" Harry spoke aloud.

"All you need to know is that I'm a follower of the Dark Lord. You have noticed that nobody likes you anymore?"

"Yes. What have you done?"

A loud laugh resounded in his head. "Me? I have not done anything. They have begun to hate you of their own free will, Potter. Don't you see? You're not wanted by them. The side of the Light has shunned you. They are pushing you away."

"No, they aren't. They don't know what they're doing." By now, Harry realised that the voice was in his head, and stopped speaking aloud so as not to draw the nurse to his bed.

"Oh, I assure you... they do. Why don't you come where your powers will be put to good use? Where the people will accept you for who you are?"

Harry scoffed. "Yeah? And where would that be?"

"Come join the Dark Lord. He will take you in, train you, and show you the respect that you deserve."

"No, he wouldn't. He'd kill me if I ever went to him."

"He's willing to let you live if you join him. Just think about it, Harry... all the power you could have. You'd be his right-hand man. Together, you two could conquer all."

"I'm not power hungry. All I want is to be rid of Voldemort."

"That's not how everybody else sees you. They think that you're the next Dark Lord in the making. You're a Parselmouth, just like Voldemort. You made up ‘crack-pot' stories about the third task. You do know that people still think you killed the Diggory boy? His parents blame you. If they had the chance, they'd kill you. They want revenge on you. Why not make it so that you're not so vulnerable?. The Dark Lord will offer you protection; give you enough knowledge so that you will be able to defend yourself in dire situations."

"Leave me alone! I will never join him!"

"Oh, I'll leave you alone for now. But you'll hear more from me, Potter. You can take my word on that. I'll make you see what's right. You'll see."

Before Harry could reply, he heard an odd noise in his head and he knew that the connection was cut. He gripped his blankets tightly when he realised that he was shaking. He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, seething at the audacity that Death Eater had to enter his brain and speak to him. Through his anger, Harry realized his eyelids were beginning to droop. Before he fell asleep, he slipped his glasses off and placed them on the bedside table. No sooner had he done this, he was asleep.

*~An open field was surrounding him. Many different varieties of flowers were placed growing here and there. The wind blew gently, causing the grass and stems of the flowers to bend and sway. It blew through his cloak, wrapping his body in the warmth, tickling his nose with the gentle fragrance of the earth. The sun shone brightly down and Harry turned his face up and closed his eyes, taking in every ounce of heat that he could get.

He breathed in deeply and started forward, careful not to tread on the many flowers. A beautiful purple flower with big petals caught his eye and he picked it. The name of the flower eluded him, but he didn't care. He brought it to his nose and took in the heavenly fragrance.

The young man began to walk again, his destination unknown, but it didn't matter because something was telling him to just walk forward. Finally, after what seemed like hours, a small winding river came into view. The water was clear and fish could be seen swimming about aimlessly. Harry stood next to the water's edge and waited. For what, he didn't know, but it was what he was supposed to do. So, he waited.

A whirlpool started before his very eyes. It grew bigger and bigger until the water was starting to lap near Harry's feet. He stepped back in alarm but found that he couldn't run away quick enough. So, he stopped and waited patiently for the water to get him. It finally touched his toes and his body was pulled into the whirlpool. There was darkness all around him and he spun, not even feeling wet. Even though every rule in the book told him that he should be drowning right now, he wasn't. He had never felt more alive. With arms outstretched, he continued to spin until at long last, the ground came upon him and he landed very gently.

Harry opened his eyes to find that he was in the same place where as he had started, but it was very different. Now, it was cloudy,. There were no more flowers, no more grass. All that was left was dirt and rocks. The once purple flower in his hand had turned a grey colour with brown tinting the edges. It was wilting sadly in his hand. He frowned and let it go. He watched in amazement as it took to the wind and floated slowly to the ground in circles, dropping with a decidedly final blow.

"Didn't I tell you? It will get you. Just let the darkness take you, Harry Potter. There is no escaping. You will run, but you'll grow tired and give up. You'll feel alive when it first gets you. You'll feel like you're spinning and like you'll never stop. It's a wonderful feeling, Harry."

"But what about when I finally stop? What then? Will everything be dead with no colour? Will there be nothing alive? Will I be alive? Look at this place! I have spun and I stopped and now everything's dead."

"This is how everything will be if you don't accept it. There is no winning when you're on the Light side. Just let it take you..."~*

Harry woke up panting and sweating profusely. "No. No. I won't let it take me. I can't let it take me."

A gentle hand ran through his hair and somebody started to make soothing noises. Harry reached blindly for his glasses and slid them on. His godfather's face came into focus. "Sirius?" he asked hoarsely.

"Bad dream?"

"Yes. Sirius... what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you. You were injured, remember?"

"But... but you hate me. Why are you here? To make it harder for me?"

"No. I don't want to make it harder for you. You need somebody to be here for you. I know that you have nobody."

"But you never cared before."

"I do. I'm sorry, Harry. I don't know what came over me."

"Then... you don't hate me?"

Something crossed Sirius's eyes and he winced. "Let's just not speak about this right now. Okay? Are you feeling all right? Pomfrey said you'd be fine, but I'd like to hear it for myself."

"I'm feeling fine. A headache is all. I don't know what happened, though."

".... Neither do I. Nobody does."

Sirius continued to silently comfort Harry by running his hand through his hair. Harry watched his godfather as Sirius stared out the window. He felt tears prickling his eyes. Was this real? Did Sirius actually care about him? As much as Harry denied it to himself and to Sirius, he did need the older man. Badly. And he didn't hate him. He loved him. Probably as much as he would have loved his own father, had he lived. A tear slipped out and fell down his cheek and he threw himself around his godfather's neck, almost knocking over his chair in the process.

A startled grunt emitted from Sirius's throat but he slowly started to return the hug. Harry let silent tears run down his face. The only reason Sirius realized that his godson was crying was because of when he felt wetness that permeated his robes, so, because of this, Sirius squeezed Harry harder to him. "Sirius. I didn't mean it. I do need you. And I don't hate you.... I need you." The last part came out in a sob. Sirius then lay Harry back onto his bed. There was something in his pale blue eyes again that Harry couldn't decipher. They looked troubled. Like Sirius wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

"I know you do. I'm sorry, Harry. I have to go right now. Just please... stay away from it." He squeezed the smaller hand in his and left the infirmary, leaving a very confused boy behind. Stay away from what?

***

Harry got out of the infirmary the next day. He spent his free time looking for Sirius. The man had been absent from class and nobody seemed to know where he was. Harry was getting slightly worried, and a growing urgency to speak with him about what his parting words had meant. No matter what explanation Harry put to them, it didn't make sense. After dinner, he finally gave up hope of finding his godfather. He was sadly walking back to the Gryffindor tower when he was roughly pulled into a classroom. He was about to give a cry of surprise when a hand covered his mouth.

"Keep quiet, Potter!"

He was released and he turned to see Draco Malfoy. "Merlin, Malfoy. You could have gone about that a better way. You nearly gave me a heart attack." The Slytherin smirked evilly.

"That was the point. I'm allowed to have a little fun, aren't I?" he added innocently. Harry pushed the other boy so that he hit the wall, and then sat down in a chair.

"What did you so rudely pull me in here for?"

"We have Hogsmeade tomorrow since it's Halloween."

"And?"

"And since you don't have anybody to go with, I was wondering if you'd come with me?"

"But we aren't allowed to be seen with each other."

"I know that," he replied impatiently. "That is what your Invisibility Cloak is used for. So that one of us isn't seen." He looked at Harry with puppy dog eyes, that made Harry snort in laughter.

"Draco Malfoy is giving me the puppy dog eyes? I think I've died. I take it you want to wear it?"

"Could I? I've always wanted to be invisible!"

"Malfoy... I don't trust you to be invisible."

"I promise I'll be good," he replied with a look that clearly stated, ‘I'm lying.'

".... I don't think so. I don't want to be seen tomorrow. I'll wear it." Malfoy opened his mouth to protest but Harry had stood up and quickly put his hand over his mouth. "No, I don't want to hear it. Against my better judgment, I'll let you borrow it afterwards. Okay?"

"Fine," he mumbled against Harry's hand and then bit it.

"Ow!"

"Never do that again. When I want to speak, you let me speak," he said haughtily.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, young Master Draco."

"Oh, I love that. Keep calling me that from now on."

"I don't think so. You can get a house elf for that, I think."

"No, mum wouldn't let me bring one. She said that there are plenty here at Hogwarts. But then they told me that I couldn't have one to myself in first year! Can you believe that?"

"God, you are so spoiled."

"I resent that." The blond pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Rictusempra!"

Harry doubled over laughing. Malfoy had sent the tickling charm at him. "Serves you right," Malfoy threw over his shoulder as he started for the door. But Harry lunged for him, still laughing and tackled him to the floor. "Hey! You big hippogriff! Get off me!" yelled Draco. Struggling and trying to get all the strength that he had left, Harry reached for Malfoy's wand hand, which was still holding his wand and pointed the wand at his chest.

"Ric.... rictusempra!" he sputtered out.

The effect was instantaneous. Malfoy started laughing as soon as the spell was off of Harry's lips. Harry rolled by Malfoy's side. "Counter curse, Malfoy!" he said between bouts of laughter. To Harry's surprise, the other boy did point his wand at him. Draco said the counter curse, which he then performed it on himself. Harry was the first to finally stop laughing. He sat up and stared at Malfoy who had his eyes closed and with a broad smile was plastered onto on his face. A subdued laugh was emerging from him that sounded like he was truly having a good time. Harry couldn't help but smile at the picture before him.

It was at that moment that Malfoy finally opened his eyes and they made eye contact. Emerald and silver were both sparkling with happiness as they smiled at each other. "You're staring, Potter," Malfoy said softly.

"I am.... I like hearing you laugh. It's much better than the snide remarks."

"Give me some more reasons to laugh and I'll gladly do it for you."

"I'll do that, Draco."

Draco sat up and looked down at his robes. "I'll get you back for this, you know. This floor is filthy."

***

Harry awoke the next morning very excited for the day ahead of him. Draco Malfoy would be waiting for him in the Three Broomsticks; after having a butterbeer, they would go shopping at Zonko's and Honeydukes, then wherever they felt like going from there. As Harry ate breakfast in the Great Hall, he looked around at all the people. When he and Ron made eye contact, the red hair boy glared at him. That was something that was thoroughly confusing him. Ever since he had been released from Madam Pomfrey's care, Ron had been back to the way that he had been all year. Except this time, it was with more malevolence than before. Harry really didn't know what to make of it.

As students got up to go, Draco caught Harry's eye and gave him a meaningful look. Harry flashed him his Invisibility cloak, which was currently hidden beneath his cloak. Draco nodded slightly and walked to the doors. Harry deliberately waited until the line to get out of the castle had dwindled down to the last people and left under the cover of the Invisibility Cloak. The wind was bitingly cold and the clouds overhead threatened either rain or snow. It was certainly cold enough for it. Harry was lucky because he had two cloaks on, both of which were extremely warm. He ran through the small crowds of students, eager to get into the warm pub and drink from a tankard of butterbeer.

Just as he was about to enter, a head of blonde hair caught his eye and he turned to catch Draco walking into an alley between Honeydukes and Zonko's. Without a second thought, he turned and ran quietly to where the other boy had disappeared to. It was dark in the alley but the light from the sky bounced off of Draco's light hair and gave him away. He was speaking with somebody that Harry wasn't able to see. It looked as though the person was just behind Zonko's. As quietly as he could, he crept closer to the pair.

"... go. I have somebody that I need to meet at the Three Broomsticks. I won't be speaking to you later. I hope that's understood," Draco was saying. Harry wondered what he had said before.

"Draco, you don't know what you're getting into by denying this. You know what will happen."

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't care! I don't want what you have! I want what I want. And I won't give it up to follow him."

"Tell me, son. What is it that you want? What is more important than your own family?"

"Nothing that concerns you. Things are just starting to go the way I want them to and I'm not going to mess it up. Just leave me be. I won't be returning home this Christmas or summer. I've already arranged for another place to stay."

Hands reached out and grabbed Draco's shoulders roughly.

"You are my son and you will obey me!" the man roared as quietly as he could. Draco shrugged out of his grasp.

"I will not. Good-bye, Lucius. This is where we part. You are no longer my father."

As if in slow motion, Harry saw Draco start to turn around as a wand was being drawn by Lucius Malfoy. Before he could he even think of the consequences, Harry ran in-between the wand and Draco.

"Crucio!"

Harry fell to the ground in pain. He bit his lip to keep from screaming because he knew that the senior Malfoy was not able to see him. The curse was lifted off of him after what seemed like an eternity. He looked up to see Lucius Malfoy, looking at his wand in confusion. He had no idea what had happened. It had probably looked like the curse had just stopped in mid-air. But Draco had a look on his face that showed he knew what had happened. He lunged at his father and tackled him to the ground.

"Get out of here!" he spat out. "Before I go to tell Dumbledore that there is a Death Eater in Hogsmeade."

Lucius didn't need any further encouragement. He Disapparated, which caused Draco to drop to the ground. Harry finally let out a long moan of pain from beneath his cloak, unable to hold it in anymore. "Why did you do that?" Draco asked, looking around for the invisible Harry Potter. "Where are you?" Harry pushed his hand out of the cloak, as that was all he could manage to do. Draco scrambled over on his hands and knees to him and threw the cloak from over him. He looked up the alley and then pulled Harry behind the building so that nobody could see them.

"You're some kind of an idiot, aren't you?"

"I think so."

"Are you all right?"

"Well... I've been better."

Draco smiled sadly and took a corner of his cloak to wipe off the cold sweat that had formed on Harry's face. "What made you do that?"

"I don't know. I saw him raise his wand when you turned your back. It seemed only fair for him to put it on someone who was suspecting it. I didn't even think."

"No, I'll give you that. Harry... I was expecting it."

"I don't care. Nobody deserves that pain."

"That includes you, you prat."

"Draco... Can I ask you... what is it that you don't want to give up? What's going right in your life?"

"Oh! You heard that?" Draco exclaimed, going slightly red.

"Yes. I heard from when you said you had to meet somebody in the Three Broomsticks."

"Oh," he said again. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine. I didn't really expect an answer anyhow."

"Thank you."

"No problem. I know how you just love it when I push things."

"No. I mean, thank you for taking the curse for me. None of my Slytherin friends would have ever done that."

"Oh! You're welcome. Just call me thick. I'm a Gryffindor for a reason, you know."

Draco chuckled softly. "You can say that again. Look, do you want me to just pick up some bottles of butterbeer and we can take them back to the castle? I fixed up our classroom the past couple nights. I think you'll like it."

"Yes. I have a pounding headache. That sounds perfect."

Draco stood as Harry sat up and then put his arm around Harry and helped him to stand. He swayed a bit and leaned against the Slytherin. "Do you think you can walk on your own?"

"Yes. I'm just a little dizzy. It'll pass. Oh, sweet Merlin. He packs a lot of punch in that curse, doesn't he?"

"He's had a lot of target practice at home," he replied grimly. Harry looked sharply at him.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. But I'd rather not talk about it."

Harry nodded and then stood on his own. Draco picked up the Invisibility Cloak and wrapped it gently about Harry's shoulders. Harry bit his bottom lip as Draco brought his arms around the back of his neck and lifted up the hood up. Draco dropped his hands on Harry's invisible shoulders, and stared into the space where Harry's face was. "Are you sure you're alright to go now, Harry?" he asked quietly.

Harry nodded but then realised that Draco couldn't see him. "Yes. I'll be fine," he whispered.

"Okay. Let's go then." Draco dropped his hands from his shoulders, leaving Harry cold in the wind. The two quickly went into the pub and picked up plenty of bottles of butterbeer and then made their way slowly back to the castle. When they got to ‘their' classroom on the third floor, Draco stopped and told Harry to wait, who was still under the cloak. The Slytherin went in and could be heard muttering spells to light the torches and the candles to light the room. He came back out and looked around excitably.

"Give me your hand."

Harry obliged and offered his hand. Draco took it and took a guess as to where Harry's eyes were and covered them and then pulled him into the room. He pulled the cloak off the Gryffindor and uncovered his eyes. Harry's mouth dropped open at the sight of the room. It looked completely different. There was plush, black carpeting, a couch in scarlet coverings and two chairs in dark silver. There was a table left to study at and two chairs. The windows had fake frost on them so that it was impossible to see inside and were draped by scarlet curtains. There was even a fireplace that Harry had never noticed near the couch and chairs.

Harry had to do a double take. There was even a large four-poster bed in silver hangings. A bed! Beside him, Draco chuckled. "It's just in case you don't want to sleep in Gryffindor tower. Severus helped me out with all of this. There are charms outside the door so nobody else will try to come in here. They'll remember something they have to do and turn around. Kind of like Muggle repelling charms. There's also a silencing charm so nobody hears us talking. Come in here whenever you want. The password will be, gryferin."

"Gryferin?" Harry asked smiling but Draco just shrugged.

"Nobody would ever guess it. It's a combination of Gryffindor and Slytherin. Who would have thought? A Gryffindor and a Slytherin... friends?"

"Yeah, who would've thought?" Harry replied softly. "Why did you do this?"

"I don't know. I figured you would need a place to go if things ever become really bad with your housemates. And I was sick of coming to a plain old classroom every time we met."

Harry felt the overwhelming need to thank Draco in more than words. To... simply hug him. Just to touch him in that manner would be satisfying. But they were friends. Him and Ron always settled with patting each other on the back. He didn't know how Draco was. So, he settled for squeezing his hand.

"Thank you, Draco. This means a lot."

"You're welcome. It's a beginning anyway for me to pay you back for helping me out today."

"You don't have to pay me back." Harry flopped down on the couch and winced as his headache became slightly worse. "What made you decide on these colours?"

"Well, one Gryffindor colour, one Slytherin. I would have had gold, you know, silver and gold. But gold couches? I don't think so. So scarlet was the next best thing."

"I wouldn't have minded just green and silver. They're good colours."

"I'm sick of them. It's nice to have a slight change."

The two spent the rest of the day sitting in their room, drinking butterbeer and eating the food that Dobby had brought halfway through the day. After dinner, both boys decided that it was time to go back to their respective common rooms. Harry tucked the Invisibility Cloak under his robes, said good-bye to Draco and hurried to Gryffindor tower, where he went straight to his dorm. When he opened the door, it was to find Ron, Seamus, and Dean sitting in a circle on the floor discussing something quietly.

"Oh... hey, guys," Harry said awkwardly.

The three boys glared up at him and then looked at each other and nodded. They all stood up and faced Harry. "How was your day, Potter?" asked Seamus, in a not-too-friendly manner.

"It was okay," he said slowly. "Why do you ask, Seamus?"

"Just wondering. Well, we just thought that this would be a whole lot more fun if you had been having a good day."