Gilded Soul

Harry stood under the tree looking out over the wide expanse of frozen lake before him. He marveled at how it seemed so long ago that he had rescued Draco from this very place, but it couldn’t have been more then a month before. So much had changed since then.

The visions Voldemort sent him while he slept were getting worse. The maze he entered with Draco was a helpful reprieve from watching families tortured, abducted and killed right before his eyes. So far no one he knew was at the monsters mercy, but it still pained him to hear their cries. He knew that the time would come soon enough, that he would have to deal with Voldemort directly, and he held that notion in the back of his heart at all times. Was he strong enough to sacrifice himself for a world that had always treated him poorly? If it came down to it, would he put his own life on the line?

Yes.

Not because he had a hero complex, or because he wanted fame and fortune, but because it was the right thing to do. Sacrifice one to save many. It only made sense. What was his singular sixteen-year-old life worth in the grand scheme of things? He didn’t have a family, or very many friends. He didn’t have love.

Or did he?

His feeling for Draco had gotten more confusing then ever over the past few weeks. From hatred to pity to distrust to caring to… what did he feel for him now?

He was no doubt attracted to the beautiful Slytherin, though he had never had a leaning toward the male persuasion, it was an easy feeling for his to discern. It wasn’t like he had felt with Cho, but it had a similar flavor. It was much more powerful however. There had always been a tension between them, and recently Harry had started to wonder if it had always been this. This heat that made him blush like an idiot.

The one thing he was completely uncertain of was Draco’s feelings. Sometimes he seemed to feel the same, then there was the feeling he got sometimes that made it seem like he just wanted to be buddies. Then there was what happened in Divination earlier, when he just shut him out completely.

“Arg!” Harry shouted aloud, entirely frustrated and confused.

“It does no good to shout at the air. It never listens.” Came a thick unmistakable drawl.

Harry turned around to find himself looking at the blonde Slytherin as he slinked up the slope to stand beside him. Draco leaned into him resting his right shoulder against Harry’s left. “I’m sorry I suck.” He muttered.

Harry chuckled, feeling another piece fall into the Malfoy puzzle. Draco made him laugh, and in these times, Harry rarely even smiled. Not since Sirius. Not since the prophecy. Even tricky evil mazes seemed lighter and brighter when Draco was with him.

“What was your tarot question?” Harry asked.

Draco smirked, “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Harry laughed again. “Well then never mind.”

Draco reached into his pocked and pulled out a small basket about the size of his thumb. “Hungry?”

Harry looked confused. “For a cracker? What is that?”

Draco laughed and enlarged it with his wand, and with another spell unfurled a blanket on the ground. “I wanted to come out here and make nice, but I was starving.” He said while gesturing at the lavish picnic setting he just created in the snow.

Harry’s heart skipped a beat as he looked into Draco’s bright silver eyes. After a quick warming charm, the boys sat down and ate the sandwiches and hot apple cider Draco had drummed up from the kitchens. Harry knew that the road ahead was going to be rough, but it would be nice to have someone to love him for him, if he lived through the war, but could he dare to hope for that with Draco?

--

The boys were finishing their dinner when a dot appeared on the horizon. They sat and waited until the approaching figure revealed itself to be Hermione. She hurried over to the boys, with a mangy orange cat in tow.

Draco watched Harry’s reaction closely as the Gryffindor glared menacingly at the approaching pair. Slightly confused at first he realized one Hermione sat down, that his glare was for the cat, not for his friend. A piece clicked in his brain and Draco shuddered. “You remember being a bunny.”

Harry and Hermione both looked at Draco, the first with embarrassment and the second with confusion. “You said he couldn’t understand us, that he didn’t respond when you asked him to this morning.” Hermione blubbered.

“Harry?” Draco narrowed his eyes menacingly at the boy he had just been sharing a nice meal with.

Harry looked everywhere he could not to meet the now cold gray eyes. “Erm. I remember it. I remember all of it.”

Draco sighed and held his head in his hands. “So what now?”

Harry shrugged.

“But I… I” Draco stammered, completely embarrassed.

“Harry, I’m so sorry!” Hermione interrupted. “I should have thought about Crookshanks.” She was on the verge of tear and both boys reached over to put a hand on her knee, and grazed each other’s hands in the process.

Feeling the spark light up again, Draco pulled back immediately, still not sure if he should trust the tarot reading. He didn’t know what to make of it. Part of him thought he should just disregard the reading as bullocks, but the first two were so accurate. From what he could tell, the reading was basically telling him that there was potential with Harry, but that he would somehow foul it all up. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be, he was a Malfoy after all.

--

Harry followed the well-trod path through the forest and into the maze of hedges. He hoped that the passage he had opened in bunny form was still open, and was relieved to find it so. He took a seat on the ground near the opening and waited for Draco to join him. He was soon rewarded for his patience, as Draco’s lithe form cautiously approached the opening.

“Took you long enough.” Harry sighed with a smile.

Draco rolled his eyes and offered his hand to Harry. As he accepted, the spark ignited between them once again, only this time neither boy let go, and Draco easily pulled Harry to his feet. They stood there holding hands for a moment longer then was necessary, but it went unnoticed.

“I suppose we move along then?” Harry suggested as he gestured to the newly opened maze.

Draco shrugged, but started walking toward a new fork in the path. “You seem to have a better sense of direction in this thing. Which way?”

Without a word Harry took the path leading right with Draco in close step behind him.

“How do you do that?” Draco asked, coming up to walk on Harry’s left side.

“Do what?”

“Know which way to go, without even thinking about it?” Draco replied.

Harry laughed. “We don’t know if I’m right yet.”

“True, but you’ve done this a dozen times now, and so far you always make the correct choice.” Draco thought about this and nodded, believing it to be wholly true. Even when Draco was the one to decide, he had based his decisions on Harry’s actions.

Harry tried to smile, but was finding it hard to come up with a reply. “I can just… feel the right path.”

Harry turned around to face Draco who had just stopped in the middle of the path at hearing his answer. “What do you mean you can feel it?”

Harry leaned against the thick shrubbery of the wall beside him and shrugged. “It’s a little hard to explain. When I’m here, I can feel this pull towards whatever is at the center. It’s like I’m… connected to it somehow.”

“What is it? At the center, I mean? Can you tell?”

Harry shook his head. “No. I can just feel a familiar energy moving me forward. It’s a little unnerving to say the least.”

Draco smiled. “At least I’m not the only one you creep out.”

Harry laughed mockingly and jabbed Draco playfully in the gut, which he realized with too much pleasure, was firm and smooth under his robes. Harry shook his head to clear away further thoughts of what Draco looked like under his robes. Doubting the Slytherin would be interested in what he was thinking, Harry instead started back to walking along the path.

--

Draco followed behind Harry for what seemed like hours, making turns here and there, but mostly following a narrow path between what looked like the same stretch of hedges on either side of them. Draco looked back at one point and saw that the path seemed to go on for miles behind them.

While they plodded along, Draco’s mind shifted to other things. Most of which involved the trim form of the Gryffindor walking ahead of him. Draco tried to recall any gay relationship he could in the wizarding world, but came up with nothing substantial. Every once in awhile Witch Weekly would spread gossip about a witch or wizard who hadn’t dated in awhile, but it was usually proved false soon enough. His father had even told him once that Dumbledore was rumored to be of “that persuasion” he had recalled him saying.

He knew his family would find it disgraceful if they knew the thoughts that plagued his mind. Thoughts of moaning and flesh and piercing green eyes filled his head almost every time he looked at his unlikely paramour. He knew the main reasoning his parents would be opposed was based on the fact that Draco was the sole Malfoy heir. If Draco didn’t reproduce, then the Malfoy line would end with him. It was a large responsibility, and one he knew he couldn’t overlook too easily.

Draco was pulled from his thoughts abruptly as he crashed into Harry, who had for some unknown reason stopped. Before Draco could make a snide comment however, he could feel Harry shuddering with fear, and instinctively snaked his arms around Harry’s waist in order to comfort him.

Peering over Harry’s shoulder he saw what would probably be a vision from one of Harry’s nightmares. Standing in the entrance way to another large clearing was Sirius Black.

--