A/N: My first fic in the Potter universe. And subsequently my first bit of Potterslash. Reviews are begged for two reasons: (1) I want to know if it's remotely in character and (2) I want to know if I should keep writing. I know, I demand a lot...

WARNING: This *is* a slash piece. As in future chapters (if they exist) will contain Harry/Draco. As in MALE/MALE. Flames will be laughed at and used to keep me warm through the last bit of the Canadian winter. DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. Never have never will. JK Rowling is a bloody genius. Thanks you *bows*

Now on with the fic!





Draco Malfoy had adopted a mantra many many years ago. Granted, it had changed, altered with time, but the gist of it had alway remained the same.

Before Draco could walk his father - or so his mother told him - would tell him stories about the twisted and evil Harry Potter. The little wizard who had defeated their saviour - Voldemort. The platinum haired boy grew up hearing these stories and thus had developed his first mantra.

/Hate thy enemy./

By the time Draco was five, he had a vast collection of Harry Potter dolls. Initially, Lucius had despised the fact his heir was playing with Potter dolls. However, the elder Malfoy's protests were silenced once he found out his son was popping the heads off the dolls to see how far each head would fly across the room.

Then the blonde had received his Hogwarts letter. Lucius and Narcissa had spat for days about whether or not their son should attend the school 'run by that muggle-loving fool'. Mr. Malfoy had wanted Draco to attend Durmstrang - for obvious reasons involving the Dark Arts, but his wife had insisted that Draco go to Hogwarts because it was closer. And she was 'losing her baby boy'. Lucius eventually caved in when he realized that going to Hogwarts meant being closer to one Harry Potter.

So, Draco's father sat down on Draco's bed one night and devised with him a plan. And as a result, the xanthochroid changed his mantra.

/Befriend thy enemy./

Unbeknownst to Draco, he would meet his enemy before he'd intended to. He'd hardly giving the dishevelled boy in Madam Malkin's robe shop a second thought until he met up with him again. With the Weasley boy in tow.

Why the Malfoy's hated the Weasley's - and vice versa - the real reason shall never be known. The two families may have at one time, had reasonable reason to despise the other. But generations of hatred and torment had caused the reason to become blurry. Draco knew he hated the Weasley's because his father did; and that was as good a reason as any. *And* the clumsy little red-head had beaten him to Potter - another very good reason.

What the little Malfoy did not count on was the messy haired boy's refusal in his hand of friendship. Was he *that* transparent?

The sorting ceremony came and went and - as expected - the eleven year old Malfoy was sorted into Slytherin. Potter, Weasley and a variety of other Mudbloods had been sorted into Gryffindor. Naturally.

Draco's quill shock ever so slightly as he wrote a letter to his father informing him of Potter's refusal. Lucius did not take kindly to failure, and although he'd never physically harmed Draco (yet) the boy knew nothing good would become of this.

The next morning as the mail was delivered, the nervous Slytherin kept an eye out for his owl. Zeus flew promptly over to Draco, waited for his letter to be untied, and soared back out of sight. To his great surprise - and delight - his father had not expected the boy's friendship to come so easily. Instead, Draco was given a new set of instruction and he altered his mantra.

/Know thy enemy./

Follow Potter, learn more about the boy than even the boy knew about himself. It wasn't hard. And the xanthochroid discovered what made the boy tick.

So for six years Draco had stayed true to his mantra. Although, one night while he was lying in bed, scratching nervously at the Dark Mark that had been burned unwillingly to his arm, he found his mantra had changed.

/Stalk thy enemy/.

He couldn't pinpoint the time when /Know thy enemy/ had shifted to /Stalk thy enemy/ but Malfoy guessed it would have been before their fifth year ended.

For some obscured reason, Potter's presence had become comforting. Heavens forbid. Perhaps Draco foresaw the events of the past summer. The torture, the carnage, the Dark Mark. Or perhaps it was that Draco found his Slytherin 'companions' were no longer apt enough to deal with him. Or perhaps it was even the preconceived idea that his mantra would be changing once again. At Christmas time during his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

/Love thy enemy./







A/N: Again. Short, I know. Loved something? Hated something? Please let me know! XD