"Potter? Are you here?" Draco listened quietly for a reply, but when he heard none he stopped for a moment to cross this corridor off his list with the Muggle pencil he'd found floating the day before. He walked back up the staircase away from the water and went down the corridor, checking tapestries as he went. He found a hidden staircase that only led up, called out for Potter again, waited, wrote the corridor's location down and crossed it off the list. He'd been doing this since he'd run away from the group he'd sent out to Madam Hooch and his boat. When he was certain he'd thoroughly checked this part of the castle he would try to call his boat back to him. For now he had more corridors to look through. Eventually, he considered the possibility that he may have to go down a level to the flooded area of the castle, but hoped he would find Potter before then.

"Potter?" he called, "No? Ok then." He crossed another corridor off his list. The next one he found had stairs leading down, though again they were flooded part way. This stairwell wouldn't even get him down below the ceiling of the lower floor so he went back up, trying not to feel defeated.

Draco found a Professor's quarters, but he wasn't sure who they belonged to, and made a note on his paper so he could come back and sleep in a real bed later instead of in a classroom. He thought it might be nearing lunch time by the time he found the next staircase down. This one was behind a portrait with no password. It was also flooded partway down but got him below the level of the ceiling by a few feet.

"Potter? You down here?"

Draco sighed when no response came a moment later, and muttered something to himself as he wrote the corridor down and crossed it off the list. He had just turned to go back up the narrow stairwell when he heard a noise. He strained to listen but couldn't tell exactly what he was hearing. "Potter?" he called out, louder this time.

"Who's there?" came a distant voice back to him.

Draco couldn't help the excitement from bubbling up in him. He'd found someone else!

"Draco Malfoy! Who are you? Where are you?"

"Draco? It's Harry!"

"I'm in a hidden stairwell that was behind a portrait!" Draco called. "Can you find it on your end?"

"Just a minute!"

It was hard to hear him and Draco strained to hear if there were any sounds of movement or splashing.

"Is it this one?" Harry called. His voice was louder.

"I think so!" Draco said. "Here!"

It was long moments before Draco could hear the sound of Harry struggling through the water, and he cast a Lumos Maxima to cast light as far as he could down the corridor, which twisted and turned. Finally Harry came into view.

"Here," Draco said, holding out his hand as far as he could from the stairs without falling into the water. "Was Professor Snape with you?"

Harry reached for it and allowed the Slytherin to drag him the last foot to the stone steps.

"He was. We got separated. I don't know how long ago."

"What happened?" Draco cast an air drying charm at Harry followed by a warmth charm. Every student in the school knew these now. It was the first thing the staff taught them all when they'd gathered to call roll the first night of the flood.

Harry shivered despite being mostly dry now. Draco sent the spells at him again and then again at his hair.

"He came after me the night of the flood and found me. He had a boat. The next morning we broke back into the school but the only level we could reach was flooded. We've been in classrooms on top of tables stacked on each other since. But a Kappa or something got in to us... I don't know. We got separated in a corridor. He was fighting it and told me to keep going."

"You just left him there?"

Harry just stared at the blond boy, not sure of what to say. Now that he was dry and finally out of the water, it seemed a cowardly thing to do. He had wanted to stay, but the man had told him to go on without him. While Harry was feeling sorry for himself and his actions, Draco was taking in his appearance though. His face was dirty, his hair was a tangled mess, and his skin was starting to get the look of hanging off of him. There were dark circles under his eyes that gave them the look of being sunken into his face, but he was pale aside from that.

"You look like hell."

"I'm sick," Harry admitted, voice shaky. "And I haven't eaten since the day of the flood. No, wait, we found an apple, but that was it."

"Here." Draco opened the book bag he'd been carrying with him. It still had several pieces of fruit inside and other things he'd found since he'd come back into the castle. Dry books and bits of parchment, and an extra shirt.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, accepting the banana which was severely bruised from riding around in the bag.

"Yes. I had breakfast this morning."

Harry tried to peel the banana but it was only mashing in his attempt to do so because his fingers were shaking. Draco took it from him without a word, opened it, and handed it back to him.

"There's only a few people still missing," Draco told him as he began to eat. "And you and Professor Snape are two of them."

"Hermione?" Harry asked. "The Weasleys?"

"They're all fine," Draco said. "Ron was stranded for a few days but he was rescued the other day."

"So- if you're here..." Harry said, trying to work through his jumbled thoughts, "there's a path to everybody else?"

"I don't know if there is or not. I left a few days ago to look for you by boat."

"For me?"

"That's what I said isn't it Potter?" Draco snarked.

"I just- I wasn't sure why."

"You came after me in the Dungeons. Now I've returned the favor."

"Thank you," Harry said, still shivering. Draco sent the warming spell at him again, but it didn't seem to do any good.

Harry finished his banana, though he looked like he had trouble doing so.

"You want more?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, but I can't. My stomach isn't used to food."

"What are we going to do about Professor Snape?" Draco asked.

"I can't go back into the water right now," Harry said. "It's too deep to walk and it took the last of what I had to swim to you. There's a table I was on right outside the hidden corridor."

"I can't go either," Draco said.

"Maybe if I can just rest," Harry said, lying back on the stairs as though they were a comfortable enough place to fall asleep.

"Not here Potter," Draco said. "I found a Professor's quarters earlier."

"With a blanket?" Harry asked.

"Of course."

Draco stood up and didn't wait to be asked to help. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him up and helped him up the stairs to the next floor. It was cold up here too, but not like it had been down in the flooded stairwell.

"This way."

"Wait, we have to find a way to leave a note for Professor Snape," Harry said. "If he goes to that stairwell he'll know we're up that one."

"I'll do it in a few minutes," Draco promised. He led Harry to the Professor's quarters he'd blasted the door open to earlier and led him inside. The bed was big and had several blankets on it.

"I'm not tucking you in," Draco said as Harry laid down weakly on it, but Harry waved him away.

"Just find Professor Snape," Harry said quietly, closing his eyes and curling in on himself.

Draco turned to leave but stopped and watched Harry for a moment. He really did look terrible. Draco wondered for a moment how much longer the boy would have lasted if he hadn't found him. Despite what he'd said, Draco walked back to the bed and threw one of the heavy blankets over Harry's shivering body.

Eyes still closed Harry said, "I thought you said you wouldn't."

Draco startled because he'd thought the Gryffindor had passed out the moment he'd closed his eyes.

"If the Boy-Who-Lived dies they'll think I did it," Draco said.

"Your father would be happy."

Draco wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Instead he turned and left Harry to go back to the flooded stairwell. He'd tried so long in so many different ways to please his father in any way he could and never succeeded. Now, when his father wanted him to join the Death Eaters... told him in fact that the only way to please him was to do so, Draco had carried the fear of that future with him as well as the disgrace and knowledge he was a disappointment for not doing so. But saving people from the tower, and saving stranded students from remote parts of the castle... breaking rules and running away from safety for something that wasn't all for himself... he didn't feel like a disappointment. He certainly would be to his father, but he felt pleased with himself. "Maybe I don't care what my father thinks anymore," he said out loud, quietly at first, and then again, "I don't care what my father thinks anymore." The second time he said it, it really began to cement in place. He didn't need to be hungry for that attention anymore if he didn't want it. He felt pleased with who he was and what he was doing for the first time in his life, and for now this felt good enough. And good enough was an exciting possibility.