Three months. Nearly three months since Draco Malfoy accidentally found out his true feelings for Harry Potter, thanks to the teamwork of Professor Flitwick and Blaise Zabini, and was now doing nothing else but avoiding the Gryffindor's presence.

He did so because he of course knew that there was no way of his feelings to be ever returned, and it simply hurt him to see the loathing in those sparkling green eyes whenever they met his own.

"Oh, come on, Drac", Blaise said, giving him a gentle poke with his ellbow, "you shouldn't be like this all the time."

"Be like what exactly, Zabini?" Draco spat and looked at him furiously. If it hadn't been to Blaise and his too-big-wizarding-powers, he probably wouldn't be in this damn situation and could still go out with girls instead of lurking around in the Slytherin common room, trying to free his mind of Potter.

"Pathetic", Blaise answered, grinning broadly and added: "... and melodramatic, if you really want to know."

The blonde simply glared at him. "I'm not", he stated, "neither the one nor the other."

His best friend threw himself on the chair next to him. "Well, if you say so", Blaise said and glanced quickly through the room. "What about dating Carol Flannigan?" he asked, pointing at the dark blonde girl who just had thrown a seductive smile at them.

Draco blinked. "Wha--?"

Blaise shrugged. "You haven't been out for a while. There are some rumours about you, having gone soft and not wanting those fancy one-night-stands any more." He watched Draco intendly, who began to move around uneasily on his chair. "That's not good for your reputation, you know."

"Things changed", Draco finally said and gave his best to look anywhere but into Blaise' eyes.

The dark haired lifted one eye brow. "Obviously." He pursed his lips and lay a finger on his chin. "Since the Charm of Realization, if I remember correctly."

Draco blushed and looked at the floor. "Charm of Realization?" he repeated weakly and tried hard to sound innocent, "umm... I don't think I know which charm you mean."

A typical jaw-breaking grin flashed over Blaise' face and he couldn't stop himself from choking a bit. "Holy shit, I never thought that I'd have the pleasure of seeing you lie that bad!" He giggled even harder and nearly fell of his chair. "What has gotten into you lately? You're behaving a bit out-of-yourself."

Draco merely grunted and looked away.

Blaise rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a baby! Tell me what you realized!"

"I'm not a baby", Draco said angrily, "and don't call me like that or you are going to regret it!"

Blaise's eyes started to sparkle happily and he gave him another poke. "That is more like you! Now, come on, tell me!"

Draco sighed, knowing that he had no other choice than telling him his terrible secret and living on with the loss of his best friend and being sure of being thought of as the

weirdest person at Hogwarts (next to Dumbledore, though) - falling in love with Harry Potter, really! He sighed again. "I'm in love."

"Ah", said Blaise delighted, "and who is the lucky one that finally managed to win the cold heart of our ice prince?"

Draco burried his face in his hands so that he could avoid Blaise' gaze proclaiming this. "Potter", he whispered.

Blaise blinked. "Sorry? Must have got it wrong.. it sounded oddly like..."

"Yeah, you were right." Draco gathered his courage together and forced himself to look into Blaise' eyes. "It's Potter. You made me realize that I unfortunately do not hate... but kind of... love him." He swallowed hard and pressed his lips together.

"Are you joking?" came the shocked sounding voice of Blaise, "or are you being serious?"

Draco smiled lopsidedly. "I'm serious. Seriously."

Silence fell between then, but then suddenly Blaise spoke once again. "Well, this one you won't get so easily, I guess", he simply stated.

Dracos eyes widened. "You.. you're not going to avoid me? Or anything? I mean...", he looked around, a desperate look on his face, "it's Potter!"

"True", Blaise answered, shifting around in his chair to find a more comfortable position, "but he sure got his charms. And I always thought that there is something strange going on between you two... All this rivalry..." He shrugged. "If he would be a girl and in Slytherin..."

"Yeah, well, he isn't", Draco snarled, coming back to his usual tone, "so don't annoy me with stupid whens or ifs."

Blaise gave a small laugh. "So, what's your plan?"

"My plan?" Draco repeated, totally confused, "what do you mean by "plan"?"

"How you're gonna get him!"

Draco stared at him for a moment, then he started to laugh his head off. "You're kidding, are you?" he asked between two snorts of laughter, "you can't be serious! I mean -

he disgusts me! He loathes me! He would probably start a stepdance on my graveyard, if he had the chance to!"

Blaise shook his head reluctantly. "No", he said firmly, "he would not. And I don't think that it is so farfetched that he has some feelings for you, too. He just doesn't know."

Draco let out a final snort. "Sure", he said sarcastically, "I'm just going to tell him that he's madly in love with me and everything will be fine. FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, USE YOUR BRAINS, ZABINI!"

"I do", the other answered calmly, "unlike you, I think. How about putting the Charm of Realization on himself? A strong one. Not the weak one that Weasley gave him... If he returns your feelings, you will soon notice. And if he doesn't.. well, no harm done!"

To his astonishment, Draco found himself thinking that Blaise was probably right. Maybe - although he didn't really think of that as being possible - Potter felt the same for him and just needed a little hint to see clearly. Well, it was definitely worth a try.