The rest of the week the couple didn't see each other, not once, unless of course you count the times in the hallway where they would yell insults to one another, and nasty ones at that...or trip each other... or attempt beat each other up.

On Monday morning, the first thing Harry saw was a tiny piece of parchment under his plate stating to meet at the same time, same place, and he hid it with an instant smile. Harry had almost forgot about their secret corner or the forest isolated from the world, and it was a yearn to be satisfied at the thought of going back there. 

The week continued to dread on slowly, almost that of a snail, and Harry and Draco found themselves itching to see each other again.  

It was the morning of Thursday when Harry had Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons with Dolores Umbridge and Ravenclaw house, and he felt his stomach turn at the thought of it. 

As the professor walked into the room, plain, boring books distributed themselves, and as they did, Harry was in deep thought about this years Quidditch team and how he would have to face a certain Slytherin without laughing like an idiot. After being so used to flying alone with Draco and laughing freely, he would have to figure out how to conceal himself. 

Ron snapped him out of his trance. "So we aren't going to be using magic?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. What? No magic? "Mr. Weasley, that will be highly unnecessary. What's the use of learning defensive spells if we aren't going to be using them." Her voice set Harry's teeth on edge. 

"And how will we be able to defend ourselves," Hermione cut in, and Harry could tell from the look in her eyes that she was outraged. The way her jaw clenched and fingers moved into a fist, nails digging in the skin only finalized it.  

"My dear, who would want to attack children," Umbridge squeaked back, and Harry's jaw clenched, too.

"Oh I don't know, maybe Lord Voldemort," he bit with anger flared in his eyes. He hated her. He hated her and it wasn't even the end of the first week. 

"Students, I know a certain Dark wizard has been said to rise once more, but it. is. a. lie."

"He is here. I saw it! I fought him, I'm the one who saw Cedric Diggory get killed-"

"Cedric Diggory'a death was a tragic accident," she bit back. Harry's stomach acid found a new way to make him sick. How dare she?

"That's a lie. He was murdered! How could you be so stup-"

"That's enough," she shouted in such a rage, the veins on the side of her neck stood out. But then she visibly relaxed, which Harry hated even more. "Mr. Potter. I will be seeing you Friday night in detention," she said with a laugh that sent a chill down Harry's spine. 

Harry put his head on the desk, wishing Draco was next to him; to defend him or otherwise. But why would he? He's a Slytherin, and Harry's a Gryffindor. 

----------------------------------------------

Harry nor Draco were in the Great Hall on Friday night, but for two completely different reasons, and halfway through his detention, Harry realized he should have told Draco he wasn't to be there.

Shit... Draco's going to throw a fit.

Harry spent the entire rest of his lines thinking of where he should of been: with Draco, sitting by the water, talking about their summer vacation; that and how he was going to tame his tempered ferret when he got his hands on him. 

He made note to cover his bleeding hand from him as well.

-----------------------------------------------

Draco sat on a trunk of a tree checking the time on a pocket watch his father had given to him.

8:38

We were supposed to meet at 5 o' clock right, Draco thought. 

He waited, his tailbone growing numb to the log he sat on, and waited, a lump in his throat, and waited whilst twiddling his thumbs, and waited, a frown growing larger and larger as time ticked, and waited and waited, checking his clock every two or three minutes until it was 11:32 and the sun had been asleep for hours. 

The bugs had bit him furiously, his shoes were covered in dirt from kicking it all over the place. Dozens of rocks were now sunk to the bottom of the black lake from when Draco took a break at 9:13 to throw them in the water out of frustration.

At about 9:49 he realized that Harry wasn't coming, but for some reason he stayed anyway. He grew upset and he once again felt the unnerving ache his heart didn't know it would feel again.

Maybe father was right about trusting people.

------------------------------------------------

Hours later, the blonde found himself on the black leather couch of the Slytherin Common Room, groggy. He tried to register how or why he had got there when he realized the chain of his pocket watch was still laced around his wrist, leaving a clock the size of his palm to rest within his closed hand.

Harry didn't come. He stood me up.

The room rang empty and silent, surprisingly, it being a Saturday. He couldn't tell what time of day it was. He lived in a dungeon with no sense of time. He could always check his watch, however he felt it be too much effort. 

He swallowed and buried his head deeper into the cushion it was laying on, and the second he shut his eyes, Pansy strode through the door as if she owned the place. 

"There you are," she exclaimed, Draco's eyes shooting towards her.

"Here I am," he flattened his lips to her and then continued frowning.

"Well, I've been looking for you. I thought you'd at least make it to breakfast by now. Talk to me about last night. You've crashed on the couch, been there for hours. I didn't want to wake you. Either that's really good or really bad." Her mouth seemed to moved forever, and Draco found himself not listening to her words. He felt distant. "But you seem mopey so I take it-" 

"He didn't show up. I've been stood up by Harry 'Stupid Head" Potter," Draco bit his lip. 

"You seem really upset about it. Surely it's just one date," Pansy reasoned. 

"But it was the first one of the whole year, you know. He seemed really excited about it, but obviously not since he didn't even bother to come to it," he said quietly and rolled over so he lay on his back, eyes staring at the ceiling. "Maybe it's just because I haven't seen him all summer. He looks... sad, I guess. Yeah. Really sad. And he had the dementor attack on him. The trial. No one believes him either."

"Maybe he has a lot on his mind," she suggested, sitting on the couch across from him. 

"Well obviously." Draco crossed his arms over his chest. "I hate that look he has on his face. He's not himself. I don't know what's wrong, but he's not acting like himself."

"He wasn't at dinner, by the way," she spoke softly. "Maybe he went to the wrong place?" 

Draco shook his head. "He knows."

"Maybe something came up," Pansy thought out loud.

"Nothing could have come up, Pansy," Draco growled. "We live at school, he doesn't have a family... well he has his aunt and uncle, but I imagine it's not the same. Maybe something happened with them?" But then Draco scoffed. "Father was right," he said under his breath, "I shouldn't trust him."

"What," Pansy's eyes widened. "Your father knows about him?" Her heart raced and she sat up in anticipation, leaning her elbows on her knees. "You're still alive?"

"Relax, Pans," he turned his head to look at her, and he ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek before speaking. "He doesn't know about him. He noticed I was obsessing over a 'girl' and he had some few choice words about it. And of course he reminded me about the Malfoy Role and what not to do, meaning don't fall for anybody or anything because they'll just end up hurting you in the end anyway."

"Draco," Pansy sat back in anger, pinching her nose, "Why didn't you tell me he was poisoning your head again?"

"Poisoning my head?"

"We've worked so hard," she scoffed, "Me and Blaise, to get you to be a normal person. You've finally broken out of your shell-"

"I don't have a shell," he bit.

"Your 'mask,' then! And you met Harry and you were doing so well and your stupid father came and ruined it all, again, by putting all this crap in your head about trusting people, loving people."

Draco paused a bit. "You know if he heard you say that-"

"I don't care! I don't!  You shouldn't either! Stop being afraid to not listen to him. He's an arse. And don't you think for one second you can't trust Harry. I don't know him well, but I do know that he's not a Slytherin, like you. He's not vindictive, he's not a snob, he doesn't betray people. You, being his god damned boyfriend, should know that!"

"He was supposed to be in Slytherin," Draco smiled shyly at the memory. When Harry spilled the beans, his mouth dropped and he didn't believe it for three dates following.

"See, don't you think for one second you don't care for him, it being love or not."

"Pansy," Draco strained in almost fear, "What if I do start to... you know?"

"Love him?" She opened her mouth to argue it ,but then she closed it and thought. Love. Draco loving something. Caring was already crazy within itself, but loving. That was going to be a completely different story. "I... I really don't know."

"I've never... loved. It just sounds... scary, I guess?" 

"I see what you mean."

"It's just... I don't know when it'll happen. If it'll happen. If I'm already there, or if I will never get there."

"It's hard to tell. All I know is that you're happy with him. You've changed. Finally. You've been a cold hearted bastard since you were eight. You get to be a angsty teenager and you actually open up rather than not."

"I was not a cold heart bastard when I was eight!"

"I threw a snowball at you and you hexed me!"

"It was self defense!"

"No, it was a jerk move!" 

Draco rolled his eyes in response. "Whatever... I'm still pissed off at him, though, changed me or not." 

"That's justified. He ditched you!"

"I know! That arse!" Draco sat up. 

"You should talk to him about it."

"Not looking like this. Who knows when I'll be able to see him, anyway."

"Too bad." Before Draco could say anything, a hand forcefully grabbed his wrist and he was dragged out the door without a chance to think about it. 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What about my hair," he complained as they made their way outside the Common Room. "Pansy! Where are we going?"

"Relax, would you! It's noon and everyone's outside, except for one person." She continued pulling him throughout half the school until they reached a familiar hallway. They stopped outside of a broomstick cupboard door, the same door, in fac,t where he first met with Harry this year. "Have fun!"

She left him standing in the middle of the hallway, calling her name. He stood there with a confused expression on his face, and he immediately started fixing his hair.

What he didn't hear was the door opening behind him.

"Leave it, it looks cute like that."

Draco turned around to see no one behind him but a vacant doorway. Suddenly, a force pulled on his arm and he was locked inside of the small cubical.

"What the hell! Who's there," Draco furrowed his eyebrows, his eyes going wild. He put on his defensive mask and backed towards the wall.

"What is it with you and walls?" Draco didn't answer, him looking around the room fiercely. "Ugh, calm down, would you? It's just me," Harry laughed, lifting the hood of his invisibility cloak. Draco, although relieved, glared at Harry as he pulled off the rest of his cloak. 

"Where the hell were you last night," he bit.

"I'm sorry-"

"I'm really pissed off at you."

"I know! And that's completely justified. I was just so mad, I forgot to tell you."

"You better have been saving the world again, Harry Potter, or I swear I will-"

"Umbridge gave me detention. It was completely unavoidable and I know I'm a terrible boyfriend for not telling you. Like I said, I got angry."

"I'm angry now and I'm here!"

"Because Pansy dragged you here. If she would have told you I was waiting for you-"

"She spoke to you and didn't tell me," Draco growled. 

"Yes," Harry said. "She caught me after breakfast and told me you were upset. I had to see you so she went to get you, you lazy arse. Sleeping all morning." 

Draco punched his arm. "I waited until midnight for you."

"Why are you so dramatic," Harry almost laughed. Even if they were fighting, he still found Draco adorable and loved being with him. "It was one date."

"I am not dramatic!" He pressed his hand to his chest, over acting everything just in the fact that he missed Harry, and he really wasn't all too mad anymore. Maybe it was his face that put him off.

"Don't you dare argue with me on this one, Draco Malfoy," Harry couldn't hold back a smile. "You are completely dramatic, do not even disagree."

"Oh, so what if I am?"

"I love it, so no need to worry." Harry kissed his cheek.

"I just wanted to catch up with my boyfriend and go flying with him, since you know I haven't seen him all summer. Or maybe I miss him in the fact that he could've died at any moment since a dementor somehow made it into a muggle suburb and found out where he lived!"

"Oh, come on, you're still on about that?"

"Yes, I am!"

"At least you believe me, that there was a dementor, I mean." Harry crossed his arms and his tone dropped a small amount. 

"Of course," Draco dropped. "Why wouldn't I believe you?"

"Not a lot of people do," he said.

"Well, a lot of people are stupid."

Harry couldn't help but kiss him straight on the lips, capturing Draco's own so lovingly. Finally someone believes him. 

"I've told all my friends I have detention today," Harry whispered as they released, not wanting to move away from his body. "Just so I can hang out with you."

"My my, Harry Potter. Detention and lying to all your friends. You're starting off the year smoothly, aren't you," Draco joked, pecking his lips.

Harry snorted, and bumped their noses together. "Do you know what I want to do all day?"

"What do you want to do," Draco looked deep into his eyes, as if what he was saying was the most important thing in the world.

"I want to walk, hand in hand," he laced their fingers together, "All the way to the forest with you. And I want to kiss you and talk to you and hear all about those horrible, gruesome months away from you." 

"Sounds amazing, but... Are you mad! Walk around holding hand across Hogwarts. I know you're an idiot and all but I didn't think you were that big of an idiot."

"I'm not an idiot," Harry exclaimed, stepping back from his embrace. "We most certainly can hold hands in front of the entire student body." 

"Harry-" Before Draco could say anything else, Harry had picked his invisibility cloak off the floor and threw it over the both of them, grabbing his hand tightly. "Oh!"

"See; you're the idiot."

Draco whacked him upside the head, only to recieve a laugh in return. 

----------------------------------------

Just as promised, they reached the forest walking with their palms connected in front of the whole student body- although they didn't know it; however it's not as if the gait wasn't dangerous. They had to remain silent the whole time, for students were practically everywhere. And trust me when I say they had to cover their mouths to keep from laughing when Harry tripped on a branch right in the middle of them all.

"That wasn't there before," Harry claimed in a whisper, leaving Draco to bite his fist in hopes to not laugh.

They reached their own little world and Draco hung the invisibility cloak on a branch leaving him to turn to a beaming Harry.

"What," he asked, trying to keep back a smile, but Harry kept grinning and grinning as if it was his only form of breath. "What?"

"Nothing," he said, his cheeks burning, but he didn't stop.

"What," Draco bit again. "Is there something on my face?"

"Yes, actually," he frowned in all seriousness.

Draco's eyes went wide. "What is it?" He started wiping his eyes and the corners of his mouth, feeling nothing but his clear skin. Harry started laughing really hard, not able to stop, and he started pointing at Draco's face. "Harry, answer me!" He couldn't, and his giggles rang louder. Draco grabbed his hand and held onto it with force. "Harry Potter! Tell me."

"Eyes," Harry said between his obnoxious chuckles. "And a nose."

Draco opened his mouth to answer back angrily, but then he comprehended what Harry had held and he shut his mouth a result. Harry just laughed harder at him, and then Draco broke into a smile.

"You're such a pain in the arse," Draco exclaimed, dropping Harry's hand, which, it's not like he noticed, for he was clutching his stomach and trying to maintain his balance. Picking Harry up and draping him over his shoulder, Draco carried him deeper into the field, a place he missed too much. With hearing the sound that made his heart rush, it being Harry's laugh, he slung him back over, and held him like a bride, letting his feet hit the floor, and he dipped him towards the ground, kissing him enough for his head to spin.

Harry, laughing at first, calmed to the familiar voltage that he and Draco shared, and he put a limp hand on Draco's cheek, feeling Draco's hands on his lower back and neck. He moaned to him openly.

When they released, their eyes locked and hearts raced. They gasped for breath, however Harry couldn't because of the sight of Draco's eyes and the heat of his arms wrapped around him.

"I missed you last night," Draco said softly, "Even though you're a pain in the arse."

"I have to be," Harry said when he remembered to breathe, "It's my job."

"I know it is," Draco inhaled and exhaled deeply. "It's my job to annoy you, too."

He released his arms from behind Harry's body and Harry free fell until just before he hit the ground, when Draco grabbed his arm and kept him from it.

"Hey!" Harry flashed at him, eyes lit.

"Like I said: it's my job," he smirked and pulled Harry up to a standing position. Harry just leaned into him and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing him. His chin fit into his shoulder, and he smiled yet again, Draco feeling it. "Why do you keep smiling? I'm starting to think you have some crazy mastermind plan or something."

"Mastermind plan? To do what?"

"Kill me? Break my heart?"

"Break you heart? That's too sinister. What would be my motive? Oh, I know," Harry looked at him with a smirk, changing his voice to one of a snob, a.k.a Draco Malfoy: "I hate you enough and you didn't shake my hand in first year. That and I'm totally jealous of your fame and stupid scar on your forehead that gets you everything you want. Oh and maybe that you competed in the Triwizard Tournament, lucky bastard, but wait now my hearts beating too fast. You must have poisoned me."

"Hey," Draco shouted, but Harry cut him off.

"I'm not cruel enough for that," Harry joked.

"Shut up." Harry started laughing again, and Draco wanted to hug him tighter just so he could keep hearing it. "Why are you so giggly today?"

"Maybe because I haven't laughed all summer, haven't seen you."

"Haven't laughed all summer," Draco frowned. "That's a crime. Come on, you've had to