"Potter?"

The tickle of the husky voice in my ear roused me awake. I glanced down at the arm draped over my middle, my stomach knotting pleasurable as it tightened around me.

I twisted my body round so that I was facing him. My heart fluttered as warm grey eyes looked sleepily into mine, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Hello," I whispered, our faces merely inches apart on the shared pillow.

Draco pulled me to him so that our bodies were pressed firmly against one another. I was very aware that he was topless and felt a wave of heat rush to my cheeks.

Chuckling, he kissed my forehead, and I sighed pleasurably at how wonderful his cool lips felt against my hot skin.

"I'm glad you stayed, Potter," he said quietly, his fingers caressing my face.

"Me too," I smiled coyly, feeling suddenly so ridiculously shy. It was strange not to be hissing and swearing at him. "But I better go before Pomfrey catches me. I'm in enough trouble as it is."

"Snape didn't go too hard on you, did he?" he asked, actually looking genuinely concerned.

"Let's just say that nearly killing your classmates is frowned upon at Hogwarts."

Draco's face fell almost at once, and I realised the significance of what I had just said as our eyes simultaneously glanced down to his exposed forearm. Without thinking, I lightly brushed my fingertips over the cruel black image that scarred his translucent white skin. He shivered; the sound of the steady beat of his heart accelerating under my touch.

"We can get help, Draco," I whispered shakily, "we can go to Dumble-"

"No!" he hissed sharply, his face twisting in anger as he snatched his arm away from me. "You need to stay out of this."

"But surely Snape or Pomfrey-"

"I'm not discussing this with you, Potter," he sniped, clenching his jaw so tight that a small muscle visibly pulsed beneath his skin.

I was filled with a familiar frustration; one that made me want to shake him by the shoulders and scream in his face.

"Draco, you are being so bloody... arggghh!" I could not think of a good enough word to describe just how infuriated he made me feel.

"And how exactly do you think you make me feel?" he argued, as a pink tinge rose to his cheeks. "When I'm around you I never know whether I want to hex you or bloody kiss you!"

"Well, you did a good job of trying the former just last night!" I bellowed, forgetting I was supposed to be keeping quiet. "The fucking Cruciatus Curse?! Really, Draco?! At least I didn't know what my curse did!"

"I would never have done it!" He spluttered, sitting up so that the covers fell, revealing his bare torso. "I didn't really want to hurt you... not that much, anyway." He added when I gave an incredulous bark of laughter.

"Yeah, well you know what?" I spat, my shaking hands curling into fists as I too sat up to face him. "That feeling is fucking mutual!"

I could feel my face getting hot with anger. My heart was racing and my breaths shallow and uneven. The energy in the bed was so immense, that it did not even surprise me when Draco grabbed the back of my head and forced his lips upon mine, kissing me angrily.

"WHAT IN MERLIN'S BEARD IS GOING ON IN HERE?!"

Draco and I breathlessly sprang apart as Madam Pomfrey yanked open the curtains, looking utterly furious.

"I was- uh, just seeing if he was going to be okay," I stammered, clambering quickly off the bed as my cheeks flamed.

"What did I tell you last night, Miss Potter?" she seethed angrily. "No visitors! Mr Malfoy does not need you waltzing in here and delaying his recovery! Is it not enough that it was your carelessness that put him in here in the first place?! Professor Snape is going to be livid when I inform him of-"

"It's my fault, miss," Draco cut in. "I asked her to stay. Please, she didn't know what she was doing and she's already in enough trouble with Professor Snape as it is."

I blinked at him in surprise. I had never in my life heard him stand up for me like this. He had always taken great pleasure in seeing me get told off.

Madam Pomfrey sighed heavily, giving a dismissive wave of her hand. "Very well, I suppose I could do without the hassle of having an expulsion on my conscience. You have five minutes to say goodbye, Miss Potter, and then I do not want to see you back here again! Five minutes!"

She spun on her heel and left, the curtains swinging closed behind her as she shook her head, muttering 'Teenagers!' under her breath.

"Draco," I said turning to him at once, "thank-"

"Tomorrow," he said, brusquely cutting me off. "I'll be out of here by then. Spend the day with me."

My eyes widened, startled by the intensity of his tone. "To do what?"

"I don't care, I just want to be with you, Potter. For one day - just you and me, without all of this..." he waved an arm as though searching for a word, "...crap surrounding us."

"But it'll be a Monday, what about classes?"

Something flickered in his eyes and he frowned slightly. "You've never minded breaking the rules before. Break them tomorrow, break them for me."

The desperation in his voice troubled me, as was the look in his eyes. But suddenly the thought of spending a whole day just being with Draco sounded so tempting that I could not say no.

"Okay," I nodded, a smile twitching at my lips. "Tomorrow. I'll wait for you in the Entrance Hall after breakfast."

"Good. Now go before you get in trouble."

As I turned to pick up my Invisibility Cloak off the floor, I felt cool fingers curl around my wrist. I looked back at him curiously.

"Promise me you'll be there?" he asked, his eyes intense and pleading.

"I promise, Draco," I answered with as much sincerity as I could. "I'll be there. I want to be there."

And, as I made my way back to the Gryffindor Tower, I tried to ignore the uneasy feeling beginning to stir in the pit of my stomach as I recalled the troubled look in Draco's eyes.

*****

I was greeted by a stony-faced Hermione, who was sitting up in bed with arms crossly folded over her chest.

"Where have you been?" She hissed, being careful not to wake our dorm mates. It was still early, and no one was up yet.

"I- I just thought I'd take a night-time walk."

"At four o'clock in the morning?!"

"Yeah, well," I shrugged, not really knowing how to respond to that. Good god, it was like sharing a dormitory with Professor McGonagall.

"Is it true?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Is what true?" I asked, trying to hide my impatience as I pulled back my covers on my bed and crawled in without bothering to get undressed. I was still tired, and I just wanted to close my eyes and think about Draco.

"Everyone's saying you tried to kill Malfoy." Her voice was stern but full of scepticism.

"Uh... not exactly." This was tricky, I did not know how much to tell her. I should probably leave out the part about spending the night lying in bed with a Death Eater.

I did not think Hermione would approve.

"Oh? So, something did happen with Malfoy, then?" she persevered, raising her eyebrows.

"Look," I sighed impatiently, trying not to roll my eyes. "We had a little bit of a tussle, that was all, and he's perfectly fine now."

"What kind of a tussle?" Hermione barked, her eyes getting narrower. "Are we talking magic or fists?"

"It was just this teeny tiny spell," I said, shrugging as though it was no big deal. "And in my defence, I didn't know what it did. I still think Snape was way too harsh giving me a detention every Saturday until the end of term though. I'm going to miss Quidditch!"

"What?!" she shrieked in horror, no longer caring about not waking anyone. "You used an unknown spell on another person?! Etta! How could you?! Even if it was Malfoy, you should never have done that!"

Annoyed grunts filled the room around us.

"I know! I know!" I cried; I did not need her reminding me of what I had done to Draco. I felt shit as it was.

"It was that book wasn't it? The Half-Blood-Prince?!" Hermione seethed. "I told you to be careful, didn't I? I told you!"

I ignored her, angrily slumping down under my covers. She was ruining my mood, my mood which had started off so bright when I had woken up in Draco's arms.

Butterflies fluttered in my stomach just by the mere thought of the white-blond haired Slytherin. I could not wait to see him again, to spend the entire day together, hopefully making up for all the time we had wasted bickering.

For it was soon to be the end of our sixth year.

And the next day was going to be Monday 30th June 1997.

A date that would long be burned into my memory as one of the worst days of my life.

*****