How to Save a Life

Harry lay in his bed, wide awake, listening to the soft snores of his room mates. The other three boys had been asleep for sometime but Harry could only toss and turn in futile effort to drift off.

Harry thought how strange it was not having Ron in the dormitory with him; but as Head Boy, Ron had been given his own room. He was worried that things were still strained between him and his friend. They had barely seen each other since boarding the train that morning and conversation had been limited. Harry felt lost without Ron and Hermione; they had been close during their previous years at Hogwarts, but their shared experiences this last year had left them closer than ever. Or so Harry had thought, but he was starting to thing that they were drifting apart. Now that his two friends were in a relationship, the dynamic of their group was changed forever. Not that Harry begrudged the other two their happiness – no one had been more pleased than he was when they finally got together. But he just couldn’t escape the feeling that he was losing them.

He hadn’t mentioned his run in with Ginny to anyone, he was still having a hard time believing that she could behave like that, so full of hate. She had avoided him at the welcome feast, sat as far down the table away from him as she could and Harry had felt relieved. Although he and Ginny weren’t together at the moment, he knew everyone (including Ginny) thought it was only a matter of time till they were back on again. After all, Harry had only broken up with her to protect her during the war. So now Voldemort was gone, there was nothing to keep them apart. Except that there was and Harry was painfully aware of it.

A quick look at his watch told Harry it was nearly 1am and he still felt nowhere near ready to sleep. Kicking the covers from off his body, he fished in his trunk and grabbed his invisibility cloak and the Marauders map. He couldn’t sleep and it was driving him crazy just lying there looking at the curtains on his bed - he was going to go for a walk.

He eased himself quietly out of the dormitory and down into the common room. Once he had passed through the portrait hole, he threw the cloak on over his head and extracted the map from his pocket.

“I solemnly swear I am up to no good”

He felt a jolt of sadness run through him as he was hit by the realisation that this was his last link to his father. With the death of Remus in the final battle, the last of the Marauders had died and with it, Harry’s connection to his parents. This tattered piece of parchment and the cloak were all he had left now.

Before Harry could become lost in sad memories, he was jolted from his self pity by a sight that caused his breath to catch in his throat. As his eyes travelled over the plan of Hogwarts he caught sight of the dot labelled ‘Draco Malfoy’ and it was in the Astronomy Tower!

What the hell was Malfoy doing there? It was the last place that Harry would have expected to find him; it was certainly one of the last places that he wished to be himself. And yet, despite this, in no time at all Harry found himself climbing the stairs up to the tower with a twisting sensation in the pit of his stomach.

Harry slipped through the door, his cloak firmly in place. He looked round for familiar blonde head but it took a moment before he could locate him. Malfoy was sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, his knees bent with his arms wrapped tightly round them.

He just sat and stared in to thin air, his eyes wide and unseeing. Harry just gaped, he didn’t know what he had expected to find when he had come here, but this was most certainly not it. There was something so very unsettling about seeing Malfoy like this, so vulnerable.

Suddenly Malfoy was climbing to his feet, dusting down his clothing and smoothing out his robes. Harry smiled at this, even in moments of despair; Malfoy could still find time to care about his appearance.

“Bastard”

Harry froze at this; did Malfoy know he was here? Who else would he be talking to? Before he could think any further, Malfoy had smashed his fist into the wall of the tower shouting in fury as he did so.

“Fucking bastard!”

Harry was torn, he wanted to stay and find out more about his rival but he felt like he was intruding on what Malfoy obviously thought was a private moment. However his mind was made up for him as, cradling his now injured hand, Malfoy made for the exit and left the tower.

Harry hurried down the staircase after him and as he got to the bottom he found Malfoy had stopped and was now leaning his forehead against the wall of the corridor, his shoulders slumped and his injured hand hanging limply at his side.

Something about the forlorn picture he made caught at Harry’s heart. Malfoy looked broken and it was not in Harry to walk away from anyone in this kind of misery, whoever they might be.

He slowly walked closer to the distressed boy, reaching out a tentative hand to touch him shoulder, to offer what support he could. Before his hand made contact he stopped himself. Giving himself a mental kick – This was Malfoy, what was he thinking? He would probably hex him as soon as he knew Harry was there.

“You may as well take that cloak off Potter, I know you’re there!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco hadn’t been able to sleep that night. He had gone to bed but had simply lain there wide awake, his mind racing. He was worried, he had known that things would not be easy coming back here but it seemed that he had drastically underestimated the animosity.

Pansy was another problem; Draco had worried that she had returned to school too early after leaving St Mungo’s, but the girl had been insistent. It had been a difficult day for all of them, but Pansy was so fragile to start with, that Draco was not sure how much more she would be able to handle. Despite her denials, Draco knew that she had been shaken by the run in with the ‘She-Weasel’ on the train, so shaken in fact, that she had allowed Harry Potter to take care of her.

And that in itself was a funny thing; Pansy had been close to Draco in her level of hatred for Potter in previous years, but all it had taken was one moment of chivalry and she was converted. Draco should have felt betrayed by his best friend’s defection to the enemy, except that he now admitted to himself that Potter wasn’t the enemy and in all probability never had been. Besides, if Draco was going to get Potter for himself, and he was determined that he would, then it was necessary to have Pansy firmly on his side.

Bored of lying on his back with nothing to look at but the canopy on his bed; Draco kicked off his sheets, got out of bed and shrugged on his cloak over his pyjamas. A quick listen told him that Blaise and Theodore were fast asleep, so he slipped out of the door, though the common room and out into the dungeons.

He hadn’t given any thought to where he was heading, he simply wandered around lost in his thoughts. He was brought to a shuddering halt when he realised where he had ended up, raising his eyes to look up the stairway to the Astronomy Tower he felt a shiver run through his body.

As if in a trance, he made his way up the flight of stairs and pushed open the door at the top, his hand shaking as he did so. The instant Draco entered the room he was transported back to that night. He could see Dumbledore, weak and disarmed, offering him help and protection. And he had been going to accept too; he had been lowering his wand ready to throw himself on the mercy of the elder wizard. For just a split second Draco had been overwhelmed with relief and then it had been gone, as quickly as it came. With two little words, Professor Snape had snatched it all away from him, condemned him to his fate.

Draco leant against the wall and slid down in onto the floor, his chest heaving with the deep breaths he was taking to calm himself. He realised now that he was angry with his Godfather, more so than he was with his parents, with the ministry or even with Voldemort. Draco had looked up to Snape, revered him almost as much as he did his father and now he felt let down. Not because the Professor had been on the other side all along, but because he had never extended the chance to Draco. He ignored the small voice that told him he would have likely betrayed the potions master to his father, choosing instead to wallow in his sense of betrayal.

Punching the wall had been a bad idea, Draco realised this as he cradled his throbbing hand and saw the blood on his knuckles. Despite this, he felt better. He had released a lot of tension and anger that he hadn’t even realised existed until now. He had been crazy to come to this room though; nothing good would come of it, all it had done was stir up disturbing memories. All Draco knew was that he had to get out of there.

He ran quickly down the staircase, anxious to put as much distance between him and the memories as possible. Exiting the tower, Draco walked a few short steps, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. Pausing to catch his breath; he leaned his head against the wall, feeling the cool wall soothe his aching head. All the while cursing his mother for making him return to this place.

When he heard the noise behind him his heart sank. He had virtually beaten it into his friends how dangerous it was for them to be walking about alone, yet here he was alone and, he realised with a sinking feeling, unarmed. He had left his wand back in the dorm room.

A quick look out of the corner of his eyes revealed no one anywhere in the corridor, but Draco knew what he had heard and it was like he could almost feel another presence. He shrugged; he must be losing his touch, unless there was an invisible man behind him!

Something in his brain clicked at this, who else would be wandering the halls of Hogwarts at night under the cover of invisibility. Taking a shot, Draco spoke.

“You may as well take that cloak off Potter, I know you’re there!”

He heard a sharp intake of breath at this and turned round. He was rewarded with the sight of Harry Potter appearing out of thin air, a sheepish look on his face.

“Still following me Potter? I thought you got that out of your system 6th year!” Draco smirked.

“I just...are you ok?”

Draco was amazed, Harry Potter was asking him if he was ok and judging from the look of concern on his face, he actually meant it. Draco could see why Pansy had been so easily converted, in a weak moment if felt like those green eyes could see right into your soul.

Draco shook himself mentally; it wouldn’t do to go baring his soul to Potter. It was bad enough that the boy had caught him in a moment of weakness and Draco was rather concerned about just how long Potter had been there. Had he been up in the tower with him? How much had he seen?

Seeing Potter’s eyes rest on his damaged hand, Draco huffed and promptly hid it behind his back.

“I’m fine Potter, thank you for your concern.” For the life of him, Draco could not keep the sneer out of his voice.

He saw the other boy flinch slightly at his words and felt a pull in his stomach as Potter shook his head and turned to walk away.

“Whatever Malfoy, you really shouldn’t be wandering around by yourself though, it’s not safe.”

“Potter” Draco couldn’t stop the word escaping his lips; he didn’t want the moment to end so soon.

The dark haired boy stopped and turned to face Draco, one eyebrow raised in question.

“Thank you!”

“What for Malfoy?” Potter asked confusion evident in his green eyes.

Draco scowled,

“You’re actually going to make me say it aren’t you?”

Draco watched as a smile played around the edges of Potter's lips and he felt an overwhelming desire to kiss him. Repressing that urge he continued to speak.

"For helping Pansy on the train, for speaking up for my mother when you really didn’t have to and for saving me from that fire.”

“I just did what anyone else would have done.”

Draco shook his head and smiled pityingly at his one time rival.

“Most people would have left me to die Potter, most people still would, and you had more reason than most to want to leave me there. But you didn’t, so thank you.”

Feeling suddenly embarrassed at having bared his soul to Harry Potter of all people; Draco inclined his head in acknowledgement of the other boy, and then turned to leave. As he walked away he heard Potters voice follow him down the hallway.

“Just watch your back Malfoy!”

And Draco smiled, his first real smile that day, because he knew it wasn’t a threat. Harry Potter was concerned about him and that made him feel warm inside in a way that Draco couldn’t ever remember feeling before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry stood and watched Malfoy as he walked away, unable to quite believe what had just happened. He had half expected to be hexed into oblivion for stalking the blonde boy, but what he had got was heartfelt thanks instead.

Usually Harry hated people expressing gratitude to him, it made him feel uncomfortable. But for some reason, Malfoy’s speech just left him feeling content for the first time in a long time. Harry shook his head and wondered if hell had frozen over and people had just forgotten to tell him, because he and Draco Malfoy had just had a civilised conversation.