"I don't know!" Draco jumped as Harry leapt up angrily, causing his chair to topple over behind him, and walked over to sit down heavily on the sofa, visibly fuming. Draco sat in stunned silence for a moment and watched Harry breathing heavily, arms crossed. It was their third potions session together, and Harry had been working on some questions that Draco had put together. They weren't particularly difficult, but Draco got the feeling they weren't the reason for the sudden outburst. He spoke tentatively.

"Uuh, Harry, are you-"

"No, I'm not bloody alright." His voice was bitter and loud in the small room. "I'm failing potions, I can't even wrap my head around the simplest concepts because I'm so stupid, and everyone in the school hates me because of something I didn't do. Not that that even matters, seeing as I'm going to be eaten by a dirty great dragon in two weeks time!"

"I- Dragons? You never told me it was dragons!"

"Yeah, well, it is. They're going to put me in a ring, I suppose, and watch me get burned alive for their amusement. Guess that'll give your Slytherins a laugh, at least." He laughed mirthlessly. "Give the whole school a laugh. Merlin, Ron'll be in hysterics. Did I mention that, by the way? My 'best friend' hates me. For something I didn't do."

Draco stood up and walked over to the sofa, sat down by Harry, and ran a hand through his hair. Dragons. That was bad. He had noticed Harry's increasing moodiness and stress in the build-up to the first task, and now, with barely a week to go, he couldn't even imagine what he must be going through.

Manimi had, by this point, heard the commotion and snaked over from where she had been coiled in Draco's schoolbag asleep. She rose up onto Harry's lap and brought her head up to look at him. He hissed something at her in parseltongue. The language was unlike any other Draco had heard and, as always, it had him transfixed. It seemed to wrap itself around the listener, to pull and push, ebb and flow around and inside the mind of the beholder. Despite himself, Draco was distracted from Harry's shocking news by the conversation he was witnessing, and found himself watching Harry's lips as he hissed softly, the anger gone from his voice. There was something alluring in the way he spoke, the strange patterns of his voice and the language he spoke, and the softness in his gaze as he listened to Manimi's reply.

"Draco? Are you okay?"

A matching set of green eyes were turned to him, as boy and snake looked at him. They had clearly finished their conversation, but he hadn't noticed it end. He must have been staring at Harry. He blinked and looked away, hating his face for going red.

"What did Manimi say?"

Harry shrugged. "She calmed me down. She's good at that." He smiled at the snake, who pushed her head against his as she often did with Draco. It was her way of showing affection. Draco tried not to feel jealous. Harry continued. "I'm sorry for going a bit mental there. It's just, I've been a bit stressed recently."

"Really?" Said Draco, sarcastically, turning to sit cross-legged on the sofa, "I hadn't noticed. You seemed pretty zen to me."

"Ha ha." Harry leant back and clasped his hands over his head. Manimi slinked onto Draco's lap and coiled herself into her usual 'pile'. He stroked along her scaly back absent-mindedly.

"You're not stupid, Harry. You're very talented. Just because you're struggling with potions doesn't define your overall ability, and anyway, it would be hard for anyone to do well in any subject if they were in your position. Even I would have trouble concentrating."

Harry looked at him. "You know, that's almost exactly what Manimi told me a minute ago."

"Well, she's right." Draco thought for a moment, thinking of what he could do to take Harry's mind off of things. Then he had an idea. "Come with me. We're going flying."

"What? We can't!"

"We can, actually. There are spare brooms in my dorm, I'll go get them."

"It's freezing outside, and dark, and it's curfew in twenty minutes."

"Go get your cloak, we can sneak in afterwards." Draco had removed Manimi from his lap and was already making his way to the door. He paused and looked back at Harry. "Come on, mate. You need it."

0o0oHarry0o0o

"Remind me again why I'm doing this."

Draco turned to look at him. "Because you are a stressed emotional wreck and flying always calms you down. You're probably partially stressed because of the lack of Quidditch, now I come to think of it."

Harry cocked his head to the side. "How did you know that flying calms me down?"

"Because it's obvious."

"You are so similar to Manimi. You guys are weirdly... intuitive."

Draco looked at him with a funny expression. "Thanks. Shall we?"

They stood away from the lake, not as far away as the Whomping Willow, but far enough from the castle that they wouldn't be seen in the darkness. On the lake, they could make out the Durmstrang ship in the darkness, a few of its windows illuminated by faint yellow light. Draco was the first to take off, his Nimbus 2001 streaking through the air and his hair pulled free from its neat style by the wind. Harry heard him give a bark of laughter as he climbed into the night air. Grudgingly, he gave up the pretense of not wanting to go flying as he watched Draco, feeling the sky practically pulling him upwards, anleapted onto his Firebolt. The wind rushed through him as he rolled upwards into the darkness, and he gave a whoop of laughter. Up here, he was weightless. The worries and misgivings, the angry stares, and terror of the tasks, were all whipped away by the rushing and left, forgotten, on the ground below.

After he got over the initial rush of flying again, he circled back to where Draco sat hovering on his own Nimbus 2001, watching Harry with a big grin on his face.

"Let's race!" Harry cried.

"How?"

"Follow me."

Harry sped through the air and hovered over a tree that stood apart from the others at the edge of the forest, Draco hot on his tail.

"See that tree over there? The dead one? Away from the edge of the forest?"

"Uh huh?"

"Race to that tree and back?"

Draco raised an eyebrow. "You have a faster broom, Potter. It isn't exactly fair."

"Fine, I'll give you a head start. On three?"

On Harry's count, Draco sped off, and after half a second Harry followed, leaning low over the broom, and realising how much he had missed the icy fingers of the wind in his hair, and the thrill of the speed. Draco was about twenty meters in front of Harry, but he was gaining. As they reached the old tree, Draco made a turn and began to head back. Harry, however, thought that making a wide loop turn would slow him down and pulled the handle of his broom sharply upwards. As he began to ascend into a loop-the-loop, he twisted around so that he was no longer upside down and bent over his broom, now gaining fast on Draco.

He passed over the home tree a split second before Draco, shouting triumphantly and punching the air above his head. Draco pouted, but Harry could tell he was biting back a smile.

"You cheat, Potter! your broom's faster than mine and you barely gave me a head start!"

"You're just a sore loser, Malfoy. I won fair and square."

"That's a lie and you know it. But I'll let you think that if it helps you sleep at night." They paused for a minute, then Draco looked upwards. "How far up d'you reckon we can fly?"

"Towards the sky? I dunno. Let's see?"

Together, they flew upwards until they were high above the castle, and the Durmstrang ship looked like an inkblot on the lake. Harry felt adrenaline pump through his veins as he looked down from the giddying height. Draco hovered next to him.

"Want to go higher?"

"Uh, actually," Harry said with a shaky laugh, "I think I'm fine here. Bit high up."

Draco laughed. "You're scared of heights?"

"No!" Harry exclaimed. "But there's only so much one can take... we are really high up."

Silence and the sound of wind washed around them. Then Draco said, in a hushed voice; "Harry? Harry, look at the stars."

Harry, who had been looking down at the castle, turned his gaze upwards. A vast blackness stretched around them in every direction, the crescent moon a mere sliver, crisp and clear-cut, and scattered like glitter through the darkness were the stars. Harry had never seen so many. Here, away from the light pollution, high in the thin air above the castle, they were so many and perfectly clear and bright. He looked at Draco, who was staring up at the sky as if transfixed. The moonlight and starlight played on his pale skin; illuminating him and making him look almost silver. His hair shone, and the hollows of his cheekbones stood in dark contrast against his hair. Harry's breath caught in his throat.

He looked beautiful.

Harry shook himself and cleared his throat. Those weren't thoughts he should be having. His mind scrambled for something else to distract him, to stop him from thinking about Draco. His face flushed red and he tried (and failed) not to look at Draco. He needed to break the spell, and to get away from the sky that was casting it. And then an idea came to him, and a wry smile came to his face.

"Hey, Draco?"

"Yeah?" Draco turned to him slowly, as if he had to pull himself away from the view.

"What would you do if I... Fell!" Harry yelled the last word and went into a steep dive, vertical and spiralling towards the ground with terrifying speed. Draco screamed behind him, and Harry stifled a laugh. The wind seemed almost to rip at his skin and Harry's fingers were turning blue as he gripped the broom's handle. He waited until the last minute before pulling up, only thirty meters or so away from the ground. He was panting from the drop, adrenaline making him shaky.

"Harry!" Draco sped towards him, stopping less than a foot away from him. "What the hell was that!"

"You scream like a girl," Harry laughed.

Draco didn't laugh. "You nearly gave me a heart attack, I'm not surprised I screamed."

Harry grinned, but when he saw that Draco still looked a little haggard, he relented.

"Sorry for scaring you Draco. It was just a joke."

Draco looked like he was about to say something, but then changed his mind, and shook his head a little. "Just, don't do that again, okay?"

They stayed in the air for another twenty minutes or so, but when they noticed that Draco's hands had turned purple with cold, they decided to call it a night. Under the invisibility cloak, with brooms clutched to their chests, they made their way back to the castle.

0o0oDraco0o0o

"Thanks, Draco. You were right, I did need that."

They stood outside the Slytherin common room, Harry having walked Draco there under the invisibility cloak so that he wouldn't be caught. Draco shivered a little, still feeling the lingering effects of the cold air, even in the well-heated castle.

"No worries. But if we do that again, remind me to bring my gloves."

Harry grinned. "I bet your gloves are made of silk. I'm right, aren't I? Wait, I am? Oh, Merlin, I can't believe it. Draco Malfoy has silken gloves for his royal hands- stop hitting me!"

The first thing Draco did when he got into the common room was to go straight to the bathroom and – after locking the door and placing a silencing charm – run himself a hot bath with all his favourite oils and a potion for relaxation. It might be eleven o'clock, but he didn't care.

0o0oHarry0o0o

"Where have you been? I was really worried about you!" Hermione threw down the book she had been reading (after dog-earing her page) and walked over, arms crossed.

"I told you I was going on a walk, remember?"

"No one goes on a walk in the dark for over two hours, Harry!" She looked at him, upset, then turned and retrieved her book from her armchair. "I'm going to bed."

"Hermione, I'm sorry," but she was gone before he had the chance to explain. He would have to talk to her in the morning.

Harry sat up for a long time after she left, cross-legged in front of the fire. He was thinking about Draco. On the one hand, his friends hated him, and he could be a stuck up prick. On the other hand, he was funny, and easy going, and was going out of his way to help Harry with potions, and to cheer him up when he felt like giving in. And what did it matter if his friends hated him, really? Ron had deserted him, the other boys didn't trust him, and Hermione... Well, Hermione was just Hermione.

So, he's a friend, said the voice in his head. What's so confusing about that?

It's confusing because he's not just a friend. It's different. It's complicated.

And it was different. Harry didn't look at Hermione and catch his breath, despite how pretty she was. He didn't find himself fascinated by Ron. It wasn't how he felt about Cho, despite the similarities. No, this was something else entirely. And he didn't know what.

0o0oDraco0o0o

Unknown to Harry, Draco was having a similar dilemma in his Dorm. He had got out of the bath at midnight, and mercifully his dorm-mates had gone to sleep early for once. Now he sat on his bed, sketching Harry flying. It wasn't turning out right: he couldn't get it to look like him, and his expression was all wrong. Frustrated, he threw the sketchbook down and slumped across his pillows sleepily, narrowly missing Manimi who was coiled next to him.

Why does he have to be so hard to draw? Ponce.

"I don't like it when you and Harry talk Parseltongue. Know why, Manimi? Because I like it too much, and I get all... caught up in him, in Harry, when he speaks it. I know that doesn't make any sense, but neither does anything right now." He sighed. Then, in a voice that was almost a whisper, added, "I don't think I can be gay. I think as a matter of survival I need to be straight. The other Slytherins, apart, possibly, from Blaise, would kill me, my father would definitely kill me, and I'm not exaggerating, he might actually kill me," Draco wiped his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't know, Manimi. Maybe this is a phase. But it isn't normal to notice other guys like this, and I don't understand what to do." He stopped and took several shuddering breaths, trying to keep himself together.

When sleep did find Draco, it was ragged like tired breathing, and filled with the half-formed pain of flashbacks. He got up the next day feeling more tired than when he went to bed.