She was huddled in her wardrobe with a Disillusionment Charm cast on herself, but she knew they were using Human Detection Charms, which she had no way to combat. It was only a matter of time.

Through the wood of the door, Katie heard her bedroom door crash open and a muffled voice bark, "Revelio!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she saw her hands succumb to the spell and become visible once again. The sounds of searching seeped through the wardrobe and echoed in her ears, and the squeak of the door hinges caused her to bury her face in her knees.

Whoever it was stared at her; she could feel it. He could see her, and she was strangely compelled to return the favour and peek at her captor.

Of course it would be Draco Malfoy.

She turned her head and looked up at him, her face still scrunched and red from crying. What she was searching for in that pale visage that bore just as much shock as hers probably did, she had no idea, but what was there was unexpected. If she didn't know any better, Katie could have sworn it was remorse.

But just as soon as they locked gazes, Draco backed away from the wardrobe and toward the hallway. He stuck his head out, but as Katie anticipated the call to his comrades that would seal her fate, it never came. Instead, he said, "This room's clear!" and left.

* * *

He sat under a tree on the bank of the lake while the victory celebration was going on. He probably felt out of place, considering nearly everyone in the school was sure what side he was on, and it wasn't theirs.

But Katie knew different.

She looked for him when she heard that he was there. After scanning the Morning After breakfast, which the survivors had taken to calling it, in vain, she had set out for the grounds. From there, he was pretty easy to spot, a blotch of silver-blond against the vivid green grass. If he'd noticed her approach, he gave no sign, and his face remained stoic when she sat on the lawn next to him, looking for that grain of something on the horizon.

"I never got to say thank you," she said hesitantly.

Draco almost flinched when she spoke, but he still stared into the distance. "Don't thank me. I almost killed you."

"I know, but this was different. Nothing compelled you to walk away from me. In fact, it was probably more dangerous for you to do it."

"Probably."

"Then why?"

Somehow, though, Katie almost didn't want to know. She'd had her theories, such as making amends for her brush with death to some wild fantasy about him truly caring about her as person. She preferred to think the best of him, because he had given her a chance at freedom. He deserved the benefit of the doubt from someone, because no one looked that lonely when they were getting it form anyone else. But when he answered, she was gobsmacked.

"You were so scared." Draco finally faced her, and Katie could see the full effect of everything that he had seen and heard and done during the war had on him. "You were scared that you were going to lose everything, and I know what that's like. I was a monster to you, like... like them. I don't want to be a monster."

And, at last, it all made sense. Why he had let her stay hidden, why he had led the Snatchers astray - it had been because he saw what he was, what he was becoming, and it scared the hell out of him. If anything, it proved one thing, and it was that underneath his haughty exterior, Draco Malfoy was a decent human being.

Katie spied his pale hand in the grass and covered it with her own. He looked at her strangely, but he didn't seem repulsed by the contact, despite the fact that she was what he had been taught to hate from the cot.

"Thank you," she said again. With a daring peck on the cheek, she stood and walked away, but just before she was out of earshot, she could have sworn she heard something.

Sure enough, it came again. "Bell! Wait!"

Stopping in her tracks, Katie listened for it again, but this time, the call was, "Katie!"

Whatever possessed her to return to the shade of that tree, Katie knew not, but when she did, she knew that it was the right thing to do. No one wanted to be alone, not even Draco. So now they both stared at the rippling waters of the lake in silence.

It was strange, sitting on the grass next to him. His answer was still processing in her brain. Before, she would never have believed him, but she could see the sincerity in his eyes when he'd told her.

There was a certain disconcertion in communing with the enemy, but was he really even that anymore?

* * *

The owl was unexpected, and Katie was in disbelief when she saw who had sent her a letter. It was from Draco.

Dear Miss Bell,

I know we're not exactly friends, but I was rather hoping that you'd meet me in Hogsmeade tomorrow. If you don't, I understand.

Sincerely,

D. M.

Why would he want to meet her? She couldn't help but be curious, but was she curious enough to go and find out? After some consideration and a large glass of wine, she decided that she was.

When she Apparated into the street in front of the Hogs Head the next morning, he was there, and their eyes met right away. His were haunted, and hers were tired. Without a word, they entered the only establishment in town that would have him.

Inside, they both ordered Butterbeers that neither of them drank, instead favouring conversation as their beverage of choice. His reasons for asking her there became apparent when he started to talk about how his father had been arrested, and he and his mother were likely next.

He desperately needed a confidante, and Katie found that she was willing to listen. That he had turned to her meant that he had tried other avenues, but none of them bore fruit. Draco was desperate for some sort of release.

Thus began the ritual. On some days, he would talk and she would listen, and on others, vice versa.

Unhealthy is what so many called it when they learnt of it. Nobody approved of Katie seeing Draco, which had evolved beyond a simple catharsis of the conscience over untouched drinks. Neither cared, though; no one else could understand. What did they know of this thing between the two of them? They hadn't seen the deepest secrets of their respective souls and still came back to hear more.

* * *

After a few years, pressure had been put on Draco to take a proper wife. He had been spending his days with Katie, but they both knew that nothing would ever come of it. They were friends; they were more than friends. There was no future for them, and both of them knew as much. Despite the baring of souls that they shared on a regular basis, their worlds were so vastly different that neither would be able to adjust properly. It had been only a matter of time before Draco would be called upon to fulfill his duty as a proper son and produce a fruitful, politically correct marriage and the corresponding heir.

But that didn't mean that the time they had couldn't be shared as usual until that day came.

* * *

Draco was getting married, and it was all over. They no longer met once a week; there were no more owls.

Katie had been surprised to receive an invitation. One could only imagine the battle that Draco had probably fought to get both his mother and bride-to-be to allow him to send it. The gesture was touching, but her last missive to him would be to politely decline to attend.

After five years, it was done. Initially forged out of mutual need, this thing of theirs, it had been like dittany on both their souls after a year in hell, but it had outlived its purpose long before. This was simply the last page in the book that was theirs and theirs alone.

* * *

She had promised herself she wouldn't do it, but she still did. Katie had heard that Draco had a son and that he would start Hogwarts that year. It had been fifteen years since she'd seen him, and the thirst to do so, if only from a distance, lingered.

Either nobody recognised her on the platform or they simply didn't notice the childless woman weaving her way through the throng. Not even Harry knew she was there, and she was standing right behind him. But that was okay. She was only there for one reason, and it wasn't to catch up with old school mates.

From across the pavement, he was there. Their eyes met, just like old times, but now, that deeply personal sharing was almost like a non-verbal spell. Katie knew that he had missed her as much as she had missed him. Her theory was confirmed when he briefly nodded to her.

Her purpose fulfilled, Katie quitted the platform, content to know that, even in the solitude of her flat, Draco would always be there, at least in her head, to listen when she needed to talk.