Drarry // Walk In The Moonlight

2. The Astronomy Tower

"Potter? What are you doing here?" The boy asked while putting his wand back. "I could ask you the same thing, Malfoy." Harry answered. Draco looked at him and grinned. "Well I was here first so I think it's only fair if you tell me first." Harry took a few steps closer and stood next to the blonde haired boy, looking at the Black Lake.

"I couldn't sleep." He said, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose since they slipped off when he grabbed his wand back. Draco was silent for a second, but then his grin reappeared. "Were you scared Potter?" Harry now turned his head to look at him. "You wish. Even if I were scared, I would've had a relevant reason to be, Malfoy." He snarled. "Now, why are you here?".

"Same reason." Draco simply answered, not even trying to hold on to the conversation. The moonlight was now shining directly on his face. Harry never really liked Draco, after all they had always been enemies, rivals, total opposites. But dear Merlin, the blonde was looking rather good at this very moment. Even if he hadn't been able to sleep.

"So you couldn't sleep and the first place you decided to go to is the Astronomy Tower?" Draco asked after a minute of silence. "Well you did so too, so why does it surprise you." Harry fired back. Draco shuffled around a little and then cautiously said: "What I meant is that you know what happened here. Snape told me you were here when it happened. Why would you want to be here after that.. You know."

Harry thought for a second, he understood what Draco meant and he wasn't sure why either. He answered him nonetheless. "I don't know, something about this place just makes me calm. Maybe it's the view from up here. Or the silence." And silence fell upon the two.

"Why would you want to kill Dumbledore Malfoy? I don't understand. You did so many questionable things and I never fully understood any of it." The raven haired boy said. "It's not like I had a choice. I wanted my father to be proud of me for once. Also, He Who Must Not Be Named would've ki-". "Voldemort, Draco. Say his name." Harry interrupted. Draco gulped, he still felt anxious thinking about that man. "Alright, Voldemort would've killed my parents, Potter. He would've killed me. You know how reckless he is. He didn't care if I died. Nor would he care if my parents died. I had to do it." Draco answered, his voice was trembling a little but he sucked it up. He couldn't let Harry think he was a loser. "Why didn't you tell Dumbledore." Draco looked Harry dead in the eye. Was he being serious? Or was Harry actually stupid. "Because Potter, how do you think I would've killed him if he knew what I was trying." Draco said and he turned away from Harry.

"He knew anyway. Snape told him, I saw it, in the pensieve. Snape gave me his memories just before he died to make sure that I knew what to do. Dumbledore knew since the start. He would've died anyway. It was a set up. Snape would've killed him even if you tried." Draco turned around again and looked at Harry.

Apparently he wasn't aware of everything Harry had just told him. "So it's not my fault he died?" Draco said as silent as possible, but secretly he wanted to be heard. Harry nodded. "He only had a year to live." The blond boy looked relieved. He always thought it was all his fault and he had several nightmares about it ever since it happened.

The two boys just looked out of the Tower for a while. No words were exchanged. Just looks. Until this time, Harry spoke up again. "You never really told me why you didn't tell Bellatrix it was me when they found us. You knew it was me, why didn't you tell her." Draco tried to answer but choked before he could get a word out. Harry waited patiently, in the meantime he smoothed out his creased pyjama's.

"Aunt Bella would've called Voldemort to come and you would've died. I never meant to harm nor did I ever want to kill anyone. Not even you, Potter. I meant it when I asked you to be friends that first year." Draco said, chuckling a little when he mentioned their very first encounter.

Then he proceeded: "Slytherins are portrayed as bad but I never chose to be a death eater, I did think it was cool. And as I've told you earlier, I wanted to make my father proud, but after seeing what they did I knew I could never do the same. I never chose to kill Dumbledore. When I saw you next to Bellatrix, I had a choice. I could either snitch you and your friends or I could save you." Harry knew Draco was being sincere. For the first time in eight years it felt like Draco was somewhat tolerating him. He wasn't calling him names or saying stupid things. He was just sharing a piece of himself with Harry, and he appreciated it. "Thank you for telling me." Draco just nodded at him as a sign of saying it's alright.

"I should get going now. It's pretty late and being out here made me tired." Harry lied. He wasn't tired in the slightest. He just needed to get out of this rather awkward situation. The whole 'being nice to each other' was a first in 7 years and Harry wasn't sure how to act. Draco just nodded again, he seemed a bit absent. As if he was fighting something in his head.

Harry turned to the stairs and just as he touched the first step Draco called back at him. "Potter!" Harry turned around and waited for what was about to come next. "Thank you, you know.. For not judging me." A little smile formed on Harry's lips. "There's good in every bad, but there's also bad in every good." Harry simply said and he gave Draco one last look as he turned back to the stairs leaving Draco pondering about Harry's last words. "Trying to sound philosophical now, Potter?" Draco joked. Harry didn't hear him, he was already gone. Leaving Draco up the Tower by himself once again.