"Come on, Draco. You can't just sit here by yourself," Harry said as he tugged on Draco's arm and dragged him into the middle of the room.

They were in the eighth year common room, in the middle of a party to celebrate the end of the NEWTS. There was drinking, dancing and plenty of food. But so far, Draco had taken no part of it. Despite the fact that it was almost the end of the year, he was still uncomfortable being the only Slytherin in the eighth year and he tried to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

That had pretty much been his strategy all year, to stay out of everyone's way, be as quiet as possible and focus on his work. Not that his classmates had let him be. There had been taunts, insults, attacks even. He'd quietly borne them all, never retaliating or attempting to defend himself even until Harry decided that things had gone far enough and told everyone to back off.

Draco had been surprised and very grateful, but he hadn't expected Harry to turn around and offer his friendship. "I should have done this back in first year," Harry had said. "I might have spared us both a lot of aggravation."

They had been friends all year and now it was almost over. They would each go their own way pretty soon, a fact that was breaking Draco's heart. He didn't know when he'd fallen in love with Harry, but he had. He'd fallen hard. He knew Harry couldn't possibly love him back and he'd made his peace with that.

But the end of the school year meant that Harry would no longer come knock on his door first thing in the morning so they could go down to breakfast together. They would no longer be partners in Potions, they wouldn't sit together in History of Magic and spend the entire hour passing notes while Hermione glared at them from across the room and Ron stared wistfully.

No more studying together in the library or going flying afterwards, no more walks to Hogsmeade and definitely no more staying up half the night just to talk...Draco's heart ached at the thought of all that he was going to lose. No wonder he didn't feel like partying.

But Harry wouldn't take no for an answer. He dragged Draco into the middle of the room which had been turned into a dance floor. He put his arms around Draco's neck and said, "Dance with me."

He sounded shy almost. Draco felt his heart flip over at the way Harry was looking at him. But it couldn't be...Harry couldn't possibly...Harry reached up and kissed him before he got any further with that thought.

And suddenly they were holding each other tight and kissing passionately, just like all the other couples around them. "I love you," Draco whispered before he could stop himself, words which only made Harry hold him tighter.

"Show me," Harry said as he dragged Draco up the stairs and into his room.

And Draco did. He spent hours showing Harry just how much he loved him and Harry responded word for word and touch for touch.

They fell asleep in each others arms that night and woke up to a whole new life...