"That house-elf Dinella said you come here a lot," Harry probed tentatively. Draco sighed, and then gave a little nod that bobbed Harry's chin.

"It's quiet," he said. "They leave me in peace. It's easy to make them happy, you just eat what they give you and then you're their best friend." He rubbed his eyes with the heal of his hand and let out a frustrated growl. "But even that back-fired, didn't it? It's turned me into a tub of lard."

"Hey," said Harry sternly. "That's rubbish, don't talk like that."

Draco sighed, like Harry was extremely stupid. It was kind of a relief to feel a little bit of his old personality rear up. "You heard those girls; at least before I was hot. Now I'm just pudgy." Harry felt him sneer against his neck and shudder as his tears threatened to spring forth again.

"Um," said Harry, not sure if he was going to regret this, but he figured Draco had already been clinging to him for a good twenty minutes, so he must at least been a little bit open to some kind closeness. "No offence, I guess you were okay before, but you were kind of, well, hard looking I guess. You looked like you might cut anyone who got anywhere near you."

"I was thin," Draco said, as if Harry was insulting him by beating around the bush.

"You were skinny," said Harry, emboldened by a flare of anger at the idea he was only saying this to be patronising. "Your clothes hung off you, you looked like eating was beneath you."

"What?" sniffed Draco, a hint of anger equally evident in his voice. "And it's better to be chubby? People don't like chubby they like slim. Eating your feelings isn't attractive Potter."

Harry considered what he wanted to say for a moment or two, not wanting to stick his foot in it. The truth was there was nothing wrong with the way Draco had looked before, he knew that, and he also knew a lot of people found slimness to be attractive. He was just working from his personal preferences, but he felt like he wanted, needed, to explain how he felt.

"I know what it's like to starve, Draco," he began.

The other boy stilled in his arms. "Huh?" he said. He probably hadn't been expecting the conversation to turn like that.

"I know," Harry sighed. "What it's like to be so hungry that it gives you cramps, that it makes you cry."

Draco lifted his head and frowned at Harry, their faces mere inches apart. His skin was looking more like its usual milky-paleness again. "What are you talking about?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

Harry chewed his lip, but only looked away briefly. "My aunt and uncle would punish me all the time by locking me in my...room." He almost said cupboard, but that was a story for another day. "They'd do that for days at a time during the holidays, and quite often they'd 'forget' to feed me."

Draco stared at him in confusion. "Why would they do that?"

Harry shrugged. "They hated me," he said. "Mostly because I had magic. That's not the point though, the point is I don't personally think there's anything attractive about looking like you need a decent meal. For me in particular, I hate it when I get too skinny." He poked his ribs to illustrate the point.

Draco didn't seem to have noticed that they were still hugging, either that, or (Harry hoped) he was finding it as reassuring as he was. He just leaned back a little so he could look at Harry's body, but he kept his arms holding onto his waist. "But you're the Saviour, the Chosen One," Draco said with a small shake of his head. "It doesn't matter what you do, people will always love you."

Harry barked out a laugh. "You want to bet on that? You remember all that crap the Prophet published about me over the years, about being a liar and a fraud?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "That was before you stopped You-Know-Who, you'll never have to worry about that again now you're a hero." He dropped his eyes and sneered. "I'm a villain and now all anyone has to do is just look at me to see that I'm greedy and selfish."

"I give the Prophet less than a year," Harry told him stubbornly. "Before they start writing drivel about me again. They'll get bored and want to find a new scandal. And as for what people see when they look at you." He baulked, feeling a little embarrassed, but he figured what the hell. "I think they'll see a boy that's become a man. They'll see someone strong, someone new."

"They'll see a failure," Draco argued.

"They'll see someone who's not given up the fight," Harry shot back.

They held each other's fierce gazes for a moment, and then Draco swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did. "Is that what you see?" he asked.