DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Harry Potter series and I am not profiting from writing this story in any way. No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Well hello again everyone! If you've read any of my other stories, you might expect this to be another Remus/ Sirius story. Well guess what; YOU'RE WRONG! I decided to try to break out of my comfort zone and try out another slash shipping. It's one of my new favorites and plenty of other peoples as well; Harry/Draco. Yummy. This is only the first chapter and I'm not exactly sure how long this story is going to be. I just started writing and this is what came out. ITS UNBETA'D! So beware of a few mistakes here and there. I would REALLLLLLLLY appreciate some feed-back so that I know whether or not I'm any good at breaking away from RL/SB yet. Remember, this is only chapter one, so the story might not make incredibly too much sense at first, but I wanted to see some reader reactions before putting the whole thing out there. I'll post the next chapter after I get a few reviews on this one. Enjoy!

WARNING: Again, it's unbeta'd, so there might be a few mistakes. I believe there may be some mild cursing as well. Rating for possible stuff in later chapters.

Ch 1.
Saturdays by the Lake

Harry Potter hadn't been able to sleep very well, so he decided to abandon the attempt and head down to breakfast. Upon entering the Great Hall, he saw that the only other early risers were a few Ravenclaws and his least favorite person in the entire student body; Draco Malfoy. Harry thought he detected a bit of anguish in the Slytherin's expression as he read a note that had just been delivered. He immediately changed his mind and headed out the great oak doors leading to the outside instead.

Draco Malfoy was a tough and unemotional person. He had been told from infancy that crying was a sign of weakness and only the foolish wore their hearts on their sleeve. He learned early on that this was indeed true, but sometimes it was just simpler to let it all out once in a while. He'd had a very hard summer, what with his father's imprisonment and the severe repercussions he and his mother had received because of it. As if losing his father wasn't hard enough, he had been required to join ranks with the Dark Lord in order to help pay off his father's debt to the Dark side. His mother, Narcissa, had begged and pleaded with the Dark Lord to have mercy on her son, but Voldemort only laughed and tortured her until Draco got in the way off his wand and took the brunt of the rest of the Crucio spells for his mother.

His mission was on the brink of impossible. All the other Death Eaters had been forbidden from aiding Draco in his mission, making him feel even more lost and confused. He had no idea how he was supposed to pull off such a huge feat when the Dark Lord hadn't even been able to achieve it so far! He knew this was his punishment, his father's punishment. He was sure he would fail this mission, and he would be killed for his failure. He was being used as an example, a means of showing everyone else what happened when you fucked up under his command. He had accepted the mission, not that he had any other choice, knowing full well he'd be dead by the end of his sixth year at Hogwarts. However, he wasn't going to go out without a fight. No matter how impossible this mission seemed, he was going to try his hardest to complete it before his time was up.

Draco always woke up early. He's never really been one to sleep in, and he knew his mother always sent him a letter with the early post. He'd arrive at the near empty Great Hall just to get his letters from the early post owls and leave soon after. He usually had no desire to eat, so he wouldn't bother grabbing anything to eat.

Now Draco had been very strong with his death sentence of a mission so far. He had not complained or cried or reacted really in any way. His mother had been far more upset then he was about the whole situation. Ever since the beginning of the school year, Narcissa would write to her son everyday to make sure he was doing ok and ask him how the mission was coming along. She usually wouldn't include any kind of words of comfort or reassurance; letting Draco know she was worried sick would only make things harder for him. However, this particular letter included a lot more emotion than any of the other;

'Dear Draco,

How are you doing, son? Is everything going ok with your schooling? Severus has told me that you're doing wonderful in your N.E.W.T. potions class. I'm very glad to hear that.

Have you had any luck so far with your current – situation?

I'm so very worried about you. I know Severus is watching over you, but he says you've been pushing him away. I insist that you allow him to help you, Draco. He can help you so much! No one will ever know and you'll be able to get it all done and over with quickly.

I fear that if you fail, you will be killed. I cannot handle losing you and your father. If I am not killed as a result of your failure as well, I will surely see to it myself. I cannot go on living without you and your father. I beg you Draco; you must succeed in this mission. Do whatever you must do, but please just get it done.

I love you very much, Draco. I know I don't really tell you that very often, but I hope you know I do. Please be careful and watch your back; you never know who could be watching. Have a good day.

Your mother,

Narcissa Anne Malfoy'

Draco had walked quickly out of the Great Hall after reading the letter and headed outside for some fresh air. He did not know why, but that letter had highly upset him. Not only was his own life resting on the outcome of this mission, but his mother's as well. He did not doubt his mother's words even for a second. He knew all too well that she would take her own life if Draco and his father both were to be taken away from her.

He tried to will away the burning behind his eyes, but as he walked slowly out towards the lake, he couldn't stop the warm, salty tears from sliding down his pale and smooth cheeks. He had been so strong, so confident, but his mother's words had successfully punctured his solid façade.

It was drizzling and quite cold outside. It was typical weather for the middle of September in Europe. Harry was sitting with his back leaning against his favorite beech tree, staring out over the slightly disturbed surface of the lake. The leaves of the beech tree rustled lightly as a soft gust of wind blew through, making Harry shiver slightly. He wasn't wearing a coat or his school robes; it was early on a Saturday morning.

It had been three months since he lost his godfather, but the wound was still fresh and a heavy flow of heart break and pain still oozed from it. Harry hadn't had a decent night's sleep the entire summer holidays, his dreams marred by the ever-playing scene of Sirius falling through that damned veil.

Harry tried to tell himself it wasn't his fault, and that he couldn't have stopped it if he tried, but it just wasn't working. The guilt of being stupid enough to believe in Voldemort's false vision ate away at him no matter what he tried to tell himself. Ron and Hermione constantly reminded him that he had no way of 

knowing the vision was false, and that he was only trying to help Sirius. Harry couldn't help but disagree; if he would have learned Occlumency properly he would never have seen that vision in the first place. He would never have been lured to the Ministry if he would have checked more thoroughly for Sirius at Grimmauld Place before dragging all of his friends into severe danger. Everything pointed to Harry making a mistake, Harry not doing what he was told to, Harry being foolish.

He wiped his eyes slowly as the rain started to fall more heavily. It was nearing the time when most of the other Hogwarts students would be waking up. He didn't want Ron and Hermione knowing he was still going out to the lake to cry over Sirius, so he stood up and brushed the dirt-turned mud away from his clothes. He turned to walk back to the castle and walked right into someone, knocking them over backwards.

Draco didn't even care that it was near freezing and the icy rain was beginning to pour even harder down on him. He just wanted some time to think, some peace to lose himself in. This had been successfully ruined by running head-on into Harry fucking Potter.

"Oh crap, sorry!" Harry said as he instinctively held his hand out to help the person up. It took a few seconds to register who it was that was grasping his hand and pulling themselves up.

Draco fell backwards into the squishy and cold muddy grass, cursing as he felt the water seep through his thin robes. He didn't even think about what he was doing when he took Harry's offered hand and pulled himself up. He quickly regretted his actions as he saw again who it was that had run into him.

"Geez, Potter; why don't you watch where you're going next time?" Draco snapped as he tried to wipe the smeared mud off of his expensive and now-ruined robes. The bloody Boy-Who-Lived was as blind as a bat, apparently.

Harry jerked his hand away from Draco, a look of sheer disgust on his face. What was Malfoy doing walking out in the rain this early on a Saturday morning? Wouldn't he disintegrate if his pure-blooded body got wet or something?

"Why don't you watch where you're going, Malfoy? It helps to look up while walking," Harry said in a acid-like voice before moving around the soggy Slytherin and walking back towards the castle. He tried not to think too much about the tear stained trails on the other boy's cheeks; apparently Harry wasn't the only one who went to the lake to cry at ungodly hours of the morning.

Draco noticed that the Gryffindor's eyes looked a little bloodshot, and his voice sounded a little more thick than usual. So Potter had been crying; who cares? The mudblood loving fool deserved whatever pain he was going through.

Draco leaned heavily against the same tree Harry had been leaning against before, watching Harry walk back towards the castle with his hands in his pockets and his head hanging low. He really did look quite miserable.

"At least your father isn't in jail and your mother under constant fear of being tortured or killed," Draco said out loud in a low hiss. Then with a pang in his stomach he remembered Harry didn't have any parents. He felt slightly guilty before reminding himself that he didn't care about how Potter felt, nor did he care that his parents were dead.

No one deserves to lose their parents…

Sod off, who cares if Potter is crying over his dead mummy and daddy.

You're crying over your soon-to-be dead mummy and daddy.

Draco kicked out hard at the tree trunk, cursing angrily as a sharp pain tore up his leg. "Fuck!"

"Draco? Are you alright?" Pansy Parkinson was walking towards him and the tree carrying a Daily Prophet in her hands and looking worn out.

"I'm fine, Pansy. What are you doing out here?" Draco asked in an annoyed voice as he tried to pull his robes closer to his cold body.

Pansy frowned and she pulled her cloak off and handed it to Draco; she had a sweater on, she was perfectly warm. "I should ask you the same. It's freezing out here," she said as she folded up the paper and stuffed it into the pocket of her robes.

"I just came out here to think is all, not that it's any of your damn business," Draco snapped as he looked out over the lake at nothing in particular.

Pansy sighed and moved so that she was leaning on the tree beside Draco. "Look, Draco; I know you're worried about your mother, but you can't let it get to you so easily. She'll be fine as long as you stay focused on what you're supposed to do. You have enough on your plate without worrying about your mother's safety as well."

Draco let out a deep sigh before pushing himself away from the tree and walking closer to the lake, his arms crossed and Pansy's cloak hanging loose around his shoulders. "I only agreed to do any of it for her, Pansy. How could I not worry? I'm scared of what He'll do to her after...after I've failed," Draco said quietly as he blinked away the tears again.

Pansy walked forward and placed a hand gently on Draco's shoulder. "You're not going to fail, you can't think that way! Draco, please don't give up already. You must try at least," Pansy pleaded in a whisper.

Draco pulled away from Pansy and started to walk back towards the castle. "I am trying, Pansy, but I know it's not good enough. I won't trick myself into thinking everything will be ok, because it won't be. Be prepared to attend my funeral at the end of this year, eh? Don't forget to bury me next to my mother and father."

Pansy didn't quite know what to say or do, so she just stood there and watched Draco walk away, feeling less confident in her friend than even he seemed to be himself.

Meanwhile, Harry had decided to give breakfast a try. The Great Hall was still mostly empty and fairly quiet. Harry had about ten minutes of peace before he spotted Hermione entering the Great Hall.

"Harry, are you ok? You look upset," Hermione said as she sat down across from Harry at the Gryffindor table.

Harry looked up from pushing around his plate full of bacon and eggs and shrugged lightly. "I'm fine," he said quietly. He looked anything but fine.

Hermione sat her fork down and studied Harry's expression. Harry was so used to Hermione's calculating stare that he wasn't remotely surprised when she said, "You've been crying, Harry…"

Harry sighed deeply and ran a hand through his messy black hair, abandoning the food on his plate. "I said I'm fine, Hermione."

"Harry, you're obviously ups- "

Harry slammed his fist on the table, upsetting a jar of marmalade and making a few students jump in surprise. "Damn it, Hermione, just leave it alone! Please…" Harry stood up and made his way out of the Great Hall, not bothering to return Ron's lazy wave as he passed him at the door.

"What's his problem?" Ron asked as he sat down beside Hermione and pulled some food towards him.

"Sirius…" Hermione said quietly as she unfolded her newly arrived Daily Prophet and disappeared behind it.

Harry was heading back outside, determined to find some peace so he could just think. Apparently fate wasn't on his side, because for the second time he ran right into Draco Malfoy as he walked out the great oak doors.

"What is wrong with you, Potter!? Can't you walk without knocking someone over for at least an hour?" Draco yelled from his position on the ground in front of Harry.

Harry didn't bother holding his hand out to Malfoy this time, but merely frowned down at the Slytherin. "Sorry," he muttered quietly before trying to step around the other boy.

Draco scoffed and attempted to pull himself up from the floor, which wasn't as easy as it sounded with all the water and mud from the rain. "Oh fine, don't help me up; you've only knocked me over twice today," Draco said in an angry mutter as he finally managed to stand steady on his feet.

Harry pretended like he hadn't heard and kept walking, only vaguely registering that it was still raining fairly hard outside.

DHDHDHDH

Another drizzly Saturday morning found Harry leaning against the beech tree, staring out over the lake and turning a small sliver of a mirror over in his hands. It was earlier this time, and Harry hadn't bothered to try the Great Hall first, instead making his way straight to his favorite spot by the lake.

Draco had had a horrible nightmare. He woke up soaked in cold sweat and wrapped up in his sheets as if he'd been thrashing around. It was hot and stuffy in the Slytherin dorms, so he decided he wanted some fresh air. He had discovered that the beech tree by the lake was a great place to think. It was usually very quiet and deserted. However, he wasn't so lucky this morning. As he walked towards the tree, he could see somebody sitting with their back against the tree, the dull sunlight flashing off of what looked like a piece of a mirror held in the person's hand. A shock of untidy black hair revealed that it was the exact person that Draco had no desire to see whatsoever.

"Are you staring at yourself in the mirror, Potter? Did your face break it?" Draco said with a slight smirk. He was glancing out over the lake, trying to ignore the way Potter was glaring at him.

"It's not a mirror," Harry said quietly not looking up at Malfoy, as he turned the mirror over in his hands again.

"Really? I thought that pieces of reflective glass were known as mirrors. Pardon my mistake," Draco said in a sarcastic drawl.

Harry let out a frustrated breath. "It's not a normal mirror. It was a two-way."

Draco turned and studied Harry with narrowed eyes. "A two-way? What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he looked up at Draco. "It means that there were two of these mirrors and they could be used to communicate with each other, not that it's any of your damn business," Harry snapped.

Draco smirked as he looked down at the shiny little sliver of mirror. "Language, Potter. That's a fairly rare bit of magic there. Where'd you get it?"

Harry glared at Draco. Since when had they become civil enough towards each other to have a normal conversation without cursing each other into oblivion? "My godfather gave it to me. It belonged to my father," Harry said quietly, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

"Did it work?"

"I've never used it, but I'm assuming it did at one point. He and my father made them while they were at Hogwarts and used them to talk to each other while in separate detentions." It was like Harry had no control over his mouth and whatever fell out of it.

"They made them? That must have been some extremely difficult magic. Can I see it?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at Draco, looking at him as though he was crazy. "What?"

"Oh come on Potter, I'm not going to hurt it, I just want to see it," Draco said as he walked closer to Harry.

Harry shrugged. "Well it's just a broken mirror now, there's nothing special about it." He held the small sliver of mirror out to the blond boy.

Draco frowned as he took the piece of mirror from Harry and looked it over. "Why is it broken?" he asked as he turned the sliver over in his fingers. He could detect a few letters on the back of the broken surface as if it had been written on when it was still whole.

Harry scowled and used a stick to dig in the mud around the tree. "I broke it on accident. It wasn't working and I got angry." Harry was quite the blabber mouth today.

Draco raised an eyebrow at the black haired boy. "Why wasn't it working?" Draco might have been pushing it with all the questions but he was genuinely curious about the little mirror.

"He had the other mirror when he…" Harry cleared his throat and tried to look the other direction, the feeling of great discomfort intensifying.

Draco felt his cheeks flush a little bit as he handed the mirror back to Harry. "What a shame; it's a great idea." Draco crossed his arms as he leaned back against the tree, staring out over the lake.

Harry flipped the mirror over and over again, not really caring nor realizing that Draco was still standing there beside him.

"Why were you spying on me on the train?" Draco asked quietly, not looking down at Harry still.

Harry was slightly shocked by this question. What on earth was he supposed to say? "I was curious why you didn't show up for prefect duty. I suppose asking why you stomped on my face and broke my nose would be redundant," Harry said in a stiff voice.\

"You were spying, Potter, what did you expect?" Draco snorted as he kicked at a rock in the moist earth.

"I expected to stay well hidden and not get caught, but we both know how well that worked," Harry said dryly.

Draco couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter. He tried to cover it up, but there was no hiding it now. "Who found you?" Draco asked out of curiosity. So he felt slightly guilty about what he did; he had been extremely pissed.

Harry raised an eyebrow as he looked up at Draco. Did he really just laugh? "One of the Aurors guarding Hogwarts found me. Excuse me, but why are you acting like you give a shit?" Harry asked as if it were a throw away question.

Draco smirked down at Harry and shrugged. "Who said I gave a shit, Potter? I was just wondering how you managed to get yourself out of such an awkward situation."

Harry laughed and put the sliver of mirror back into his pocket, making sure the edge couldn't stab him through his pants. "See I have people who actually care about me, Malfoy. They were wondering where I'd gotten to, so they came looking for me. I know it's hard to believe bu- "

"Shut up, Potter. Your sarcasm stopped being funny twenty words ago. The Boy Who Lived is saved again, big surprise," Draco sneered.

Harry rolled his eyes and made to stand up. "Hey, you're the one who asked so don't get pissy with me. Sorry to cut this lovely conversation short, but I have other things I'd rather be doing, like waltzing with a blast-ended skrewt," Harry said with a smirk as he waved at Draco and started to walk back towards the castle. Draco's quiet snicker and reluctant smile didn't go unseen, and Harry felt like he had accomplished something miraculous; he uncovered Draco's long lost sense of humor.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Please let me know how I did with this new idea. I appreciate any and all reviews, so please leave some love! (Or hate, whatever you feel about it) Ciao!