Yes, another Hurt/Comfot Fic. Sigh.

Enjoy :P

What defines invisibility? Simply not being seen or noticed as a physical being, or does it go deeper than that? If I'm hiding something, if I've got something that I've been forced to hide, wouldn't that something be invisible? I know it's there, but nobody else does. It doesn't exist to the outside world. Is it invisible? Or am I - the person who's hiding it - invisible?

I, Malfoy, have been seen and watched all my life.

I, Draco, have never been noticed. Am I invisible?

We make up the same physical being, and share the same appearance. Even so, Draco and Malfoy are two very different people.

I, Malfoy, am cold and unforgiving, the perfect clone of my father. I idolize him and wish to be like him when I grow up. I hate Potter and his mudblood friend, along with that stupid Weasel. I'm the mask Draco wears. I'm angry at the world for forcing me into this.

I, Draco, am shy and caring. I'm the little boy that just wants some friends. I'm jealous of the way Harry, Hermione and Ron can be themselves and laugh openly, warmly. I'm angry at the world for forcing me away.

Over the years, I've learnt to hide Draco, there's no place for him. I must live up to the world's expectations. Every so often, he'll bubble up to the surface and I'll have to hide him again. It's not that I want to, just that I have to. I've told myself time and time again that one day, many, many years from now, I'll meet somebody who'll look deeper than Malfoy and find Draco. When that person comes along, no matter who it is, I've promised myself that I'd let them in. I'd hide Malfoy and show them Draco and I'd be happy. I've told myself this tale to keep me going, but I know it'll never happen. Nobody cares enough to see Draco – to look through Malfoy and his heartless mask.

We're the same person. We share thoughts and feelings, but the world won't allow us to merge. I know Draco is the real me. And one day I hope he'll be bold enough to form Draco Malfoy, instead of Draco and Malfoy.

.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.o.o.O.

I'm walking along the corridors of Hogwarts and can feel the disapproving glares I get from most of the students. Every once in a while I'll walk past somebody from my own house and they'll flash a trademark smirk, Slytherin's equivalent of a decent greeting. I feel chills run down my spine and throw a greasy smirk back.

I have Potions next, where Snape will praise me for my affinity for his subject. I don't want his praise. I don't care for his empty promises to protect me from 'The Dark Lord' – a fool who believes in pure-blood wizards when he's a half-blood himself.

I finally reach the dungeons and see Harry already at his seat. I feel a pang of jealousy as he smiles at something Ron said, no doubt about me. I can't remember the last time I smiled, genuinely smiled. My stomach knots painfully in longing.

The lesson passes uneventfully and I toss a snide comment Potter's way along with the trademark Malfoy Smirk, just to keep up this charade.

This was our last lesson of the day but I really don't feel like going back to the dorms so I set out for the owlry. Not a lot of students go there this time of day and the flutter of feathers helps me relax.

I notice somebody has beaten me to it. There's a dark figure sitting in the window sill with its head leaning against the frame. I watch the shape for a while and decide not to bother it. I head for my usual spot and sit in silence. I must have fallen asleep because the next time I open my eyes it is pitch dark outside and the dark figure from this afternoon is still there, but now stands stroking the feathers of a beautiful snowy owl. I watch for a while and eventually the shape turns to me.

"I see you're finally awake." It's Potter. He's been in the owlry since this afternoon.

"What are you doing here?" I snap back, immediately putting on my Malfoy Mask. "Here to mock me for sleeping in a bird nest, Potter?"

He chuckles. Freaking chuckles!

"I'm not you Malfoy. I thought you might need some help getting around the teacher's on your way back to your common room so I stayed with Hedwig a bit."

"Oh, right, like you're an expert at dodging teachers, Perfect Little Potter."

"I'm no expert but I am pretty good at it, nobody knows that though so I'll trust you to keep it a secret." He's smiling know. Flat out smiling. "Come on then, or do you want to stay a bit longer?"

I'm a bit disgruntled by this. He's – allegedly – stayed to take me to my dorm and to dodge teachers and prefects on the way. How the bloody hell does he plan to do that? Instantly I'm curious.

"Out with it then Potter, what makes you so good?" There was fake malice in my voice.

I watched as he pulled a silvery cloak out of his pocket and walked over to me. He wrapped the cloak around the both of us and deemed this sufficient to leave the room with.

"So Potter, you just dodge detention by wrapping a cloak around yourself and thinking people can't see you? How thick can you get?" The Malfoy part of me couldn't resist.

"Well, yes. But this cloak is rather special. There's only one person that can see us and that's Dumbledore. Well, I think he can. He's a mysterious man."

True to his word, McGonagall walked right past us and didn't even glance in our direction. I was gaping and the malicious Malfoy part of me was slowly sizzling away.

"No need to look so shocked. Don't judge so quickly Malfoy. You might be pleasantly surprised if you just dig a bit deeper. It's an Invisibility Cloak. My dad left it for me." I didn't respond, mainly because I didn't know how to.

We walked on in silence for a while when I realized something.

"How the hell do you know where the Slytherin common rooms are? None of the other houses do." Draco had asked this question. There was no scorn in my words, only curiosity. He must have noticed this because his answer was more open than normal.

"Er – stuff happened in our second year. Involving – er – Polyjuice Potion and a few Slytherin students. Let's leave it at that."

A few more moment passed as I thought this over. I was startled out of my daze when I noticed us taking a wrong turn if we were going to my dorm.

"Would you mind if we went past the kitchens? Dinner's already over and I'm starved." He was asking but had already decided for me.

"Ok, but do you even know where they are?" Seriously, his knowledge of Hogwarts was starting to scare me.

"I've missed dinner a few times so Dobby showed me where they are." Simple as that. Not.

"So our old house elf works in Hogwarts kitchens now?" A nod. "Oh, ok. How is he?" Crap, Draco had surfaced again.

Instead of the response I was expecting – mainly screaming about how that was none of my business after the way I had treated him – Harry only sent me a quizzical look before stopping dead in his tracks and turning to one of the paintings on the wall. Not long after a loud CRACK! sounded and a little grey creature appeared in front of us.

"Oh! Harry Potter, is that you? I can't see you." I recognized Dobby immediately. He looked well. His scars had faded and for once he wasn't covered in bandages. I was glad when Harry helped free him. Father never treated him right.

The cloak fell from us and Dobby's eyes widened comically when he recognized me.

"No! Dobby won't let Draco Malfoy hurt Harry Potter! No! Dobby won't!" he flung himself between Harry and I and raised his arms as if to cast a spell. My gut twisted and felt the strange urge to cry. How had I managed to leave such an impression upon the house elf?

"Don't Dobby. I trust him." Now I felt my eyes widen even more than Dobby's. What! Harry Potter trusted me, Malfoy? "I've told you before to give people a chance."

The little grey elf immediately backed off but still kept an eye on me.

"We missed dinner again. Are there any leftovers?" Harry asked.

"Of course Harry Potter! Dobby will bring some for you now!" And with another CRACK! he disappeared.

I was still in complete shock from what had been said only seconds before. I stared at the brunette before me, eyes larger than a house elf's. When Dobby returned with two empty plates I became skeptical of his sanity. Before I could question it though Harry thanked him and he vanished again. Soon, the cloak was around us and we were headed in an unknown direction. We came across a statue of a man who looked to be holing a large bowl of fruit.

"Wait here a sec." Harry said before disappearing behind the ugly piece of rock. He came back out and dragged me into a little alcove he had apparently opened. In it there was a small table with two chairs. He motioned for me to sit down as he placed an empty plate before me. With a tap of his wand on each plate a full meal appeared out of nowhere.

"How-" I started.

"Just eat" he cut me off.

I was still utterly confused but decided to drop it and follow his instructions. Suddenly I was ravenous. We munched in silence as I mulled over all I had learned in the past hour.

"Why?" I couldn't stop myself from asking. I was met with another quizzical look. "I mean, why did you tell Dobby you trust me?"

"Because I do. I trust you." These words were spoken truthfully without a single doubt.

"But why? How can you trust me? Not even my own 'friends' trust me." Sad, but true.

"There's a lot you hide from your 'friends'. There's a lot people don't see because you hide it away. I trust the part of you that's hidden."

"Oh, right, and of course The Great Harry Potter can see through me then?" The words were oozing sarcasm.

"Parts of you, yeah. You done yet?" Huh? I nodded a bit. I couldn't eat anymore after that remark.

He stood and we walked out of the alcove, leaving the plates there. The cloak was around us again and soon we reached the Slytherin common rooms. He left me at the portrait and left. I watched him disappear through a painting of some old wizard. Where the hell did he go? How did he know all the back ways of Hogwarts?

A million questions were buzzing around in my head as I went to bed and when I woke the next morning they were still there.

A few weeks later I found myself in the owlry again after a very, very, very long day. I had dished out more insults than usual and had been scowling all day, even at my fellow Slytherins. I still had a heap of questions I wanted to ask Harry but hadn't had the opportunity to. I decided that as soon as I could, I'd ask him all I wanted to ask and he'd answer me whether he wanted to or not.

I watched the sun set and listened to the ruffle of feathers in the owlry behind me. I didn't even hear the door open or notice the shape that plunked down next to me.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the voice that suddenly appeared next to me. He smiled at my shock and waited patiently for an answer.

"What did you mean you could see through parts of me? And that you trusted the part of me that I had hidden? And how did you know about the corridor behind the painting and the alcove behind the statue and where the kitchens were and where all those other hidden corridors we passed through are?" I was out of breath by the end of this and saw with great horror that Harry Potter was laughing at me. Just flat out, clutch-your-sides laughing. I felt an embarrassed blush creeping up my neck onto my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh. It's just – you're the first person to actually ask me such honest questions. Give me a minute." He carried on laughing for a bit and then finally calmed down enough to answer my inquisition.

"Let's start at the easy ones. I know about most of the secret passages and alcoves in Hogwarts because I have a map. It's a rather special map that was given to me in third year. It's come in handy on more than one occasion and I've made it my goal to have the map memorized. I'm about halfway there." He shifted a bit on his spot as if a bit uncomfortable to answer the next part of my questions.

"When you insult someone - especially Ron, Hermione and I – you fumble. You look uncomfortable. The insults you do throw my way have no bite, no malice. They're fake. I noticed at the beginning of this year. Small things have changed. When we play Quidditch, you no longer try to yank me off my broom. You play a fair game." A small smile danced across his face. "It's more fun that way, and you've come closer to winning like that. When you play, I can see you enjoy it now."

I was horrified. Harry Potter was calling me on my bluff, he was pointing out my weaknesses and he was bound to use them against me.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Yes, good one Draco, shift the blame. "Are you stalking me or something!"

He titled his head to the side as if waiting for me to continue. My breathing was becoming harder and my vision was blurring. This could not be happening. He was going to use his new-found knowledge to destroy me, to completely rip off my Malfoy Mask and shatter my defenses. No, I could not let that happen. Nononono. This will not happen. I won't allow it. Even if I do want to take down the defenses, it'll be on my time, not his.

"Are you all right? You look a bit pale." I was startled out of my rant by his voice. "Hey, Malfoy, you really don't look too well."

I stood up, trying to get away from him. I'd deal with this issue a bit later, for now I had to figure out what why I felt so weird.

Clearly, I shouldn't have stood up because next thing I knew the world was pith black.

I was having a marvelous nap when two shrill voices pierced my conscious.

"Oh yes dear, not to worry. He should wake up soon enough."

"But what's wrong with him? Are you sure he's ok? He was with Potter after all. What if he's been hexed?"

"Mr. Potter wouldn't hex him and then bring him to the infirmary. Besides, if he were hexed I'd know by now."

"But Madam Pomfrey, what happened?"

"It was most likely stress or the heat that got to him. Not to worry dears, he'll wake up soon. Now off you go. You wouldn't want to miss dinner."

I heard footsteps and decided that I didn't want to wake up quite yet so I drifted off again.

A short while later, or what felt like a short while to me, voices disrupted my sleep again and this time I thought I'd better wake up and see what all the fuss was about.

"Are you sure he's all right?"

"Yes dear, he's fine."

"But it's been almost six hours. Shouldn't he have woken up by now?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes, but I assure you he'll wake up soon."

It was at this point I decided to open my eyes and ask: "What's all this about?" Or I meant to ask that but it came as more of a 'Hwa a thi abbott?'. Needless to say, I was highly embarrassed by inability to speak.

"Oh good! You're up! Now, take it slow. What's the last thing you remember dear?" I recognized Madam Pomfrey as she invaded my field of vision.

I racked my brains, trying to recollect what had happened. Why was I in the infirmary? And then it all came flooding back.

Potter and me in the owlry. Potter 'seeing' through me. Me angry at Potter. And then a cold something or other hitting me on the head. I sat bolt upright. My vision swam again but I managed to stay upright.

"You! You hit me over the head!" I glared at Potter when I saw him in the room. He stared at me bewildered and then burst out laughing. Madam Pomfrey looked just as confused as I felt.

"No, that's not it. If I've understood correctly, you were angry at me for some reason. Add that to the heat and your body didn't react well. When you stood up you swayed a bit before falling over." He gasped out after getting his laughter under control, though there were still bursts of giggles in between sentences.

"But- something hard- I-" He was lying to get out of trouble with Pomfrey. I knew it but didn't want to sound like a fool in front of her. She wouldn't believe me anyway.

"Well, I'll leave you two to sort out your issues." And with that she was gone, leaving me and my attacker alone together.

"Liar." I muttered.

"What?" His eyes were wide again.

"You're lying. I know you hit me over the head with something."

"No, I absolutely did not. Search my memories if you want. I did not hit you over the head. Ever."

"Hmpf." He sighed at that and sat down next to me on my bed.

"Why were you so outraged in the first place?" He asked without looking at me.

"Because." I didn't want to give him any ideas if he didn't already plan to use my weakness against me.

Very, very suddenly, I found his face next to mine and I could feel his breath on my cheek.

"Tell me." The words were a whisper but I felt them through my entire body. I could do nothing but babble out my speculations.

"Well, now that you know all that stuff about me, there's no doubt you'll tell the world and ridicule me. Draco Malfoy, unwilling to throw insults. Draco Malfoy, playing fair. Draco Malfoy, jealous of Harry Potter." Shit. As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. He hadn't mentioned noticing the jealous part. Shit shit shit!

"I won't." The words were simple and honest. He meant it.

"What do you mean you won't! This is your chance, you can pay me back for all these years where I've gotten you in trouble and made fun of you!"

"Yeah, it is. But I still won't."

"Mr. Potter! It's time for you to go to your dormitories. Mr. Malfoy, I suggest you stay for the night." Madam Pomfrey's voice shattered the bubble we were in and Harry stood up immediately.

"If you want to talk, I'll be all ears." And he left.

I had a lot to mull over that night but still found myself drifting off to sleep, only to dream of me and Potter talking. As if we were friends. As if he'd accept Draco, not laugh at Malfoy for hiding Draco. In my dreams alone.

The next few months passed uneventfully. I was let out of the infirmary next morning and of course Parkinson, Zabini, Crabbe and Goyle all had questions about what had happened. I told them I was in the owlry, sending a letter to Father when everything went black. I woke in the infirmary a few hours later. Potter didn't mess with my story and things went back to normal. I was avoiding the owlry at all costs, afraid I might run into him there. I avoided him like the plague and he didn't push it.

It was a particularly cold Saturday morning when I got a letter from Father. He told me to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays because he and Mother had plans. They were going to some lame convention. I didn't particularly mind and asked who else was staying from Slytherin. None of the students from out year were staying but a few younger students were. I think all in all about 10 people would be here over Christmas.

Soon, the holidays arrived and the train to London was packed with students, more than any year before. I decided to go to the owlry, surely Potter wouldn't be there now. He'd be seeing Hermione and Ron off, I'd heard both of them were going home for the holidays.

I arrived in the tower and was delighted to find it was completely empty. No Harry in sight. I sat on the window sill with my legs hanging over the outside and sighed contentedly. I watched snow fall onto my lap and after a while enough snow had gathered for me to build a mini-snowman.

I must have sat there for hours before I heard a loud rumble behind me. I turned to see the wall push back and move so as to create a passage way. Out of this newly developed hole in the wall came a panting Harry Potter. He doubled over as he muttered a spell and the passage closed. He stumbled to the nearest ledge and sat down on the sill. He didn't seem to notice me as I just stared on wide-eyed.

When his breathing finally evened out he turned his head and finally noticed me. A broad grin smacked itself onto his face.

"What's up?" He was still slightly winded but straightened and turned to look out the window.

"N-nothing."

"How you been?"

"Uhm, ok I guess."

"How long have you been sitting here?" He asked as he noticed the snowmen on my lap. Yes, men.

"I don't know. Since about 9 I guess." His eyes widened comically at this.

"It's almost one. You missed lunch."

"Huh." I turned back to the view from the tower.

"Do you want me to leave?" I didn't answer, mainly because I wasn't sure. I wanted to talk to him but wasn't sure how. He took my silence as a 'no' and cam to sit next to me again.

We sat like that for a while and I eventually broke the silence.

"Why didn't you tell on me?"

"You mean the whole fainting thing?" I nodded. "Because it's your business." That made sense, but I still didn't quite understand. Silence fell over us again.

"Your lips are blue." He said as he reached a hand forward to touch them, as if to warm them. I didn't flinch when his fingers brushed my lips but I felt my body stiffen. His warmth lingered on my lips for a few moments and I saw that he kept looking at them.

"I like you." The words were almost silent but I heard them nonetheless. He stood to leave but I grabbed his wrist before I could stop myself. He wavered but sat down again.

Again, there was silence.

I turned to him again and just watched him for a while as he sat, looking rather uncomfortable.

"I-" How to put this? "I'm…comfortable when I'm around you, like I can talk to you. I don't feel like that around anyone else." He turned to me at this and a small smile stretched across his lips. He was waiting for me to say more.

"I want-" I couldn't say it. I just couldn't. I didn't even know what I wanted to say. I shifted uncomfortably and looked away again.

"Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me next week?" I whipped my head around at the question and stared on, mouth hanging open.

"What?"

"You know, so we could hang out and get to know each other. I want to know you, Draco."

I could do nothing but nod stupidly at this, and soon I found I didn't have to do anything else as I felt warmth again. Harry's hands came up to rest on my cheeks and his lips brushed ever so lightly against my own. When I didn't fight it, he pressed in harder. I brought my hands to his chest and grabbed at the material there. He pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my waist. I gasped at the sudden movement and he took full advantage as he ran his tongue over my blue lips and sneaked into my mouth.

When we finally pulled apart both of us were out of breath. He smiled again and rested his forehead on mine.

"Your lips aren't blue anymore."

I couldn't help but smile at that too, suddenly feeling much less invisible.

FINALLY IT'S DONE!

Thinking : Write about Hogsmeade trip or No write about Hagsmeade trip...?

Uhm, Review? I'll send you cookies :D