Tears of a Dragon

(Harry\'s POV)

I really don\'t know what possessed me to ask Malfoy to join our team. It must have been a lapse in my sanity, or maybe he was right. Maybe I *had* been hit with a bludger. But I\'d just seen him as got up to leave and I wanted him to join in...to maybe be happy.

Malfoy turned out to be a bloody brillant stratigist. He seemed to realize though that none of *our* team would listen to him so he went through me...sugesting plans but giving me a look like \'do it or I\'ll curse you.\'

By the end I was cold and wet, but grinning from ear to ear. I caught Malfoys eye as we moved back into the castle and he seemed to almost smile slightly before it was gone...though I could be wrong. It might have been a grimice.

Something had happened that morning, I know something had, but whatever it was he hid it well. He was the same Malfoy, the same annoying sod that he\'d been the last four years. Only he was diffrent....I couldn\'t put my finger on it.

\"Eh...good job Malfoy don\'t think we could have won without you.\" I found myself saying, punching him lightly in the arm. Friendly comrades in arms nothing more...

He reacts not quite in the way I thought though, turning on me like a rabid dog, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a snear. \"You bloody touch me again Potter and I\'ll curse you so bad you\'ll wish Voldemort had his hands on you.\"

Malfoy pulled his robes about his small frame and turning stalked into the castle leaving me there with what I knew was a stunned expression on my face.

Another Gryffindor snorted. \"Thats what you get for trying to be nice to a Malfoy.\" He told me.

\"Yes.\" I agree though I didn\'t really. There had been more then anger in those blue-grey eyes. There had been a touch of something more...something more akin to fear.

I didn\'t see Malfoy at the Christmas dinner...I made a point to look. I cursed myself afterwards. What was I doing looking for Malfoy? What would I strike up a conversation? He\'d be lible to spit in my face. I found myself picking at my food though and kept glancing at the door to the Great Hall...kept wondering what he was doing right now while we all ate....why had he turned on me like that?

It was more then our usual ammosity. Snide barbs and remarks I could understand but outright threats. Never had it come to that before.

The invisability cloak got pulled out for the first time in months. I don\'t know what possessed me to try and find him, but I couldn\'t sleep until I knew that he was okay.

I didn\'t know what had changed that perception, but I\'d gone from hoping he was cursed to caring about his welfare in one day. Maybe it was because this morning he\'d looked a lot like I felt sometimes when I thought no one was around to notice. Like he was stuck in a hopeless situation and he knew that he\'d never escape until he was dead.

I felt that way sometimes. Expecally after last year, knowing someon was out to kill you was never helpful for ones dreams.

I wondered what Draco dreamed of....

It\'s always the last place you look of course. For Draco that was the Astronomy tower, tucked firmly into one of the observation seats. The moon was full tonight and I briefly thought of my old DADA teacher Remus Lupin, gave a small prayer that he was save on this night and that maybe Sirius was with him.

The stray thought only distracted me for a moment and my mind went back to the creature before me.

Yes, I think creature but not in a cruel way, more like one thinks of Unicorns and Fairys. The way they seem to be eternally beautiful, something to look at but never touch. Malfoy, Draco, was like that. A creature you could look at from a distance but never get close to.

The moonlight touched his pale blonde hair making it gleam. It lookd etreal and my hands twisted on the cloak pulled around me wanting to touch the strands that looked so soft. His hand moved to his face and I realized he was wiping tears from some unknown pain that only here in the Astromy tower he felt comfortable releasing.

It bought up a protective surge within me. Wanting to move and hold him. Wipe way the tears and assure him that everything would be alright.

Like down at the pitch that morning, I didn\'t. Just stood there watching his silent torture, trying to control my breathing so he wouldn\'t hear me standing there beneith my cloak.

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(Draco\'s POV)

The tears came hot and heavy as I sat in the seat of the tower....I promised myself it would be the
last tears that were shed for this mornings torture. I only allowed myself to shed so many tears
you see, ration them for the next time. And there would always be a next time.

I brushed at my cheeks as I stare at the full moon, glassy and silent in its observation of me. It
held no condensation in its gaze and I was grateful for its silent company. I hated the nights of the
new moon, no light just darkness. It was like the sky could swallow you whole on those nights.

I\'d always had a tiny secret fear of the dark. I\'m not sure where it came from but I prefered some
kind of light in the night. It made me sleep with the curtains open back at the manor. On the new
moon nights I\'d always lay awake unable to sleep. The fear had diminished since I\'d come to
Hogwarts but it never actually went away. I held my wand close to me most nights....there was no
moonlight in the Slytherin dungeons.

Getting to my feet, I smoothed my robes that had wrinkled slightly from sitting so long and once
more brushed at the wetness on my cheeks, obliterating the last traces of my weakness. And that\'s
what it was, a weakness, just like the fear of the dark. Either one could be used against me if given
the chance....so I make sure neither is known. After all who would look up to a boy that let his
father do the things I let my father do to me...no one. And as much as I want to blame him for the
pain, I can\'t entirely....

I gather up my books that had sat untouched next to the window seat. I\'d told Snape that I needed
to do an Astronmy assignment, lies all lies....but I was good at those. It also gave me a note
incase Filch had managed to catch me about at this hour. Clutching the books to my c I m I moved
towards the door only to hear the unmistakable sound of footsteps....

Looking about there was no one of course but I still have to look....it\'s odd and I narrow my eyes
slightly. There is nothing I hate more then being watched when I don\'t know it. It leaves one open
to to many vunerable situations. Of course the sound has stopped now, but then if you were spying
on someone you wouldn\'t give yourself away now would you?

My mind wanders back to third year and a certain Gryffindor that had surprised me in Hogemede. I
had known an invisibility cloak when I\'d seen one, even if it had never been actually proven that
Potter actually had one. I knew he did, he knew he did....that was all that mattered.

I moved quickly to the door blocking the only way out of the room, pulling out my wand as I
went. \"You might as well come out...I\'ve heard you...\" I say quietly...deadly like I was feeling at
that moment. I wasn\'t sure what I was going to do with my wand, just that I was incessed.

He must have known I was serious because there was a rustling and Potter appeared, cloak in
hand...HA! I knew it! Take that! I was right all along....

\"Tell me one good reason I shouldn\'t hex you where you stand.\" I hear myself say. His words make
me pause and blink in surprise. It was definally not what I expected to hear.

\"Because I was worried about you.\"

[TBC]