Life line

one

The Hogwarts express sped through the country side as Draco Malfoy walked up and down the train looking for a free carriage.

'I knew I shouldn't have come back' he mumbled to himself, 'it starts with me not being to find a seat on the train and ends with me not talking to anyone all year'

It was safe to say he was not in a good mood.

He walked past a carriage and looking inside, he saw a sleeping Potter who had stretched himself across one side of the seats.

Contemplating between sharing with Potter or three very excited Hufflepuff girls, he sighed and entered Potters compartment.

Quietly, not to wake Potter up, he reached into his bag and got out his drawing pad. He had begun drawing over the summer as a way to try and distract him from life.

Draco wasn't surprised when he began to sketch the boy sleeping across from him.

He had never really had a chance to look at Potter close up, he was quite cute if Draco was honest with himself. His messy hair, his scar and it was fair to say that Potter had become more built over the summer.

Draco resisted the urge to lean forward and run his hands through his hair. He shut his eyes, concentrated on his breathing ad pushed any thoughts of cute Potter out of his mind

Suddenly Potter stirred, muttering in is sleep as he moved around bringing his hands to his face as if he was shielding himself from something or someone. Draco's eyes snapped open, alarmed by Potters sudden movements.

Potters voice started raise and before Draco knew what was going on he was screaming and thrashing violently. Draco quickly cast a silencing spell around the compartment as not to frighten the first years and crouched next to Potter.

He started to stroke Potters hair, whispering in his ear gently. After a couple of minutes his thrashing seemed to calm down, and soon Potter was back to mumbling and turned over and continued sleeping.

Draco sat back down, slightly alarmed by the event that had just happened. He felt a sense of pride, he was able to calm him down. He helped him, and Draco was proud of himself, because he knew what it was like to wake up from a nightmare by yourself

By the time Potter had woken up Draco was long gone, he had made a quick escape after he had made sure Potter had fallen back into a deep sleep. He wanted to stay. He wanted to see Potter, watch him sleep, and just daydream about what could be.

But he was to scared. He couldn't handle Potter waking up and looking at him with disgust that he had to share an compartment with him.

Draco was one of the first off the train when it pulled into Hogwarts, he tried to rush off to avoid any sympathetic looks from the others that he had nobody to talk to.

Suddenly he was roughly pulled to one side, he tried to jerk away trying to push them away until he saw who it was.

'Pansy' he said questioningly 'and Blaise?' He added

'In the flesh' Pansy said smiling at him

'I - I didn't think you two were coming back?' He asked

'We weren't' Blaise said, 'well I wasn't until Pansy convinced me, she called me about 2 weeks ago begging me to come back'

'Why?' Draco asked

'Well, we couldn't leave you here all on your own now could we?' Pansy said

Draco was amazed, blinking the tears away quickly he lunged himself at Pansy hugging her

'Thank you' he whispered

She lifted his chin smiling, 'no problem, eh friends stick together' she said adamantly

Draco pulled away, smiling at his 2 friends.

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all.

Harry stepped off the train almost last, to avoid talking to people. He saw Ron and Hermione cautiously walking up and down the platform looking for him. He smiled softly and headed towards them.

Hermione saw him first and ran towards him, basically leaping into his arms with a bone crushing hug

'Mione' Harry complained 'I saw you like 6 hours ago'

'I know, I know' she said swatting him, 'but I worry'

'You good?' Ron questioned

'Yeah' Harry said in reply, 'I'm all good'

Pushing thoughts of his nightmare down deep and the soft voice that brought him back

As Harry stepped into the Great Hall, he almost felt a weight lift off his shoulders. All the awful memories of the war still flooded back to him, but he was home.

He was where he felt most safe and with his two best friends by his side maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all