Rating: R
Pairing: HP/DM
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all the characters belong to J.K. Rowling; I do not own any of it.
A/N: An old one-shot from back in 2004, written when I was 'Tiny Pipe' of only 19 autumns ... XP But it is one of my personal favourites among the one-shots I have written and was a great deal of fun to work with. I have recently begun to revisit my old stories and giving them a new proofreading, because I was not too good at doing that in my teens and early twenties. :P I have only corrected the mistakes, though, and left the story in its original state since it is part of my evolution as a writer. I hope you'll enjoy it! ;)

Christmas at the Burrow

Classes ended at four thirty that afternoon, and everyone was really happy to get away from the books and ink and quills. Why they had to stuff all the worst subjects into the same day and make every single lesson a double one, no-one seemed to know. Sometimes it seemed to Harry that Professor Dumbledore took his own strange opinion of humour a little bit too serious.

He turned the corner in the fourth floor corridor and headed for Gryffindor tower. There would be at least another five or six dull hours yet until he'd see Draco again. Funny how nothing seemed tolerable anymore; their secret meetings were all he cared for nowadays. Homework lay in piles in his dorm, but he never cared for doing it—did not really care if he failed his classes. What was a D, anyway? At least it was not a T. Good thing he had not had to take an OWL in Occlumency! To his surprise, he had managed to score an Outstanding in both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration last year. He had even got an E in Potions somehow.

His fellow Gryffindors were slouching in the common room sofas and armchairs when he stepped through the portrait hole only five minutes later. Most of them were trying to concentrate on their homework, but many seemed confused about the tasks given to them.

Hermione shot up from her armchair as he entered the common room and started to drag him back towards the portrait hole. He tried to fight her off, but she was very persistent—and incredibly strong for a girl of sixteen. "Hermione, what are you doing? I need to do my homework—"

"No, not yet you don't," she protested, and pulled him out of the portrait once more. "You're coming with me to the library."

"Library? But what—"

"Ssssh! Do you want them to hear you?"

A small group of first-years just passed them in the corridor below Gryffindor Tower.

Harry lowered his voice to a whisper. "What are you talking about, Hermione? What exactly is it that they can't hear?"

"Not here. I'll explain later."

The library was quite empty for being only four forty-five in the afternoon, and Hermione nudged him into the farthest corner. There, she plucked down a thick book from the nearest shelf and pretended to look something up. Harry waited impatiently for her to explain what this was all about. Checked his watch. The thing about doing homework had not really been true; most of all he wanted to get back to his dorm and take out the Marauder's Map. Hopefully Draco would be somewhere secluded, alone, and he would be able to steal another secret meeting before nightfall.

"Think anyone's watching us?" Hermione asked anxiously.

Harry did a quick survey of the library. "Nope. Now will you please tell me what this is all about? I really need to do my homework."

Hermione lowered the book. "Voldemort has attacked St Mungo's," she whispered conspiratorially.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? And what am I supposed to do about that? I have Potions for tomorrow."

"So do I, Harry, but I wish you'd be a bit more serious about this. Don't you see? He's trying to strip the wizard community of all their necessities, to weaken us. If we don't have Healers, there's no means for us to heal, Harry. If Voldemort chooses to strike and St Mungo's not available to us, we're as good as dead."

Harry cast a glance at his watch again. "Was that all? I really need to go …"

He rose from the chair. Hermione watched him incredulously. "Harry, don't you care about this at all?" she asked reproachfully.

"Of course I care, but there's really nothing that I can do about it. Leave it to the Order, they'll sort things out."

And with those words, he hurried back to Gryffindor Tower. He realised that there would be no chance of him speaking to Draco before dinner, so he decided to actually have a go at his Potions homework. Hopefully, there would be treacle pudding for dessert.

At 11:30, Harry snuck out of Gryffindor Tower and headed for the dungeons where the Slytherin dormitories were located. He had brought his Dad's old invisibility cloak. He knew the password, so it was not hard for him to get inside. Draco was sitting in his favourite corner of the huge sofa by the fire, alone. All his fellow Slytherins had obviously gone to bed. Harry stalked up to the sofa and poked the blonde's shoulder. Draco spun around. "Who's there?" he demanded harshly.

Harry pulled the cloak off his body. "It's just me, baby. Came to visit."

Draco loosened up and leaned back. They had been seeing each other secretly for eight months now, and they both got a kick out of the sneaking. The last few months, since they started their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they had quite frequently been spending the night together in their respective dormitories, using Harry's invisibility cloak and a few spells to prevent people from noticing. Neither of them had said anything about a sleepover this particular night, but Harry had known that Draco would be delighted by a little surprise.

"Bloody menace!" Draco was saying now. "You love to scare me half out of my wits, don't you?!"

Harry smiled mischievously. "'Course I do, Malfie. It's my favourite way of killing time."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" the Slytherin asked, and glanced around the common room to make sure that no-one had come out of their dorms. "I thought we said Snape's office, 1:30?"

Harry leaned in closer and stole a kiss from Draco. "I wanted to see you, and I couldn't wait any longer. Just took a chance you'd be alone and came down here. I wanted to hear about your plans for the holidays."

"The holidays?" the blonde echoed. "Why? It's over two months till Christmas. D'you want me to stay here with you? I could do that. Won't be any fun with my family, anyway, just the usual stiff dinner followed by expensive artefacts in would-be-cheery gift wrappers and the same bloody speech about a pure-blood's responsibilities in the wizarding world again. Probably have more fun with you, Potty."

"Probably will," Harry agreed, closing his hand on Draco's, playing with his pale, slender fingers.

The Slytherin sighed with resignation. "I've never known what it's like to have a real family. A warm and gentle one, you know. Mine is just cold and … power thirsting."

This was the perfect time for Harry to present his brilliant idea to his lover. "Well," he said, "now you're going to learn how it feels."

Draco turned to look at him with knitted eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Harry kept playing with the pale boy's fingers. "Well, we're all going back to Ron's for Christmas, and when I thought about Mrs. Weasley's lovely mince pies I remembered what you told me last week. About your parents, I mean. And then it struck me, you can come too. I'll just tell Ron I'm bringing someone. They won't mind."

Draco sat up straighter on the sofa, suddenly tense and awestruck. "But the Weasleys will hardly let a Malfoy into their home …"

"That's the best part, baby: They won't know they're letting in a Malfoy."

The Slytherin burst out into nervous laughter. "You don't think they'll recognise me with my very Malfoyish blond hair?! Really, Harry, you must've hit your head or something. Won't know …"

"No, you don't understand! They won't know you're a Malfoy because you won't look like a Malfoy."

His lover looked at him as if he were mad. "I don't get it. How are we going to pull that off?"

Harry smiled slyly, and said, "With a little help from Polyjuice Potion."

"Polyjuice Potion? What's that?"

"It's a forbidden potion, makes you turn into another person for an hour. It's what Crouch's son used to become Moody two years ago."

"Oh. But how are we going to make it if it's forbidden?"

"Easy. We've already made it once, Ron, Hermione and me, to … well, to spy on you, actually. To find out if you were the heir of Slytherin."

"What?!"

"Anyway," Harry quickly went on, "we'll whip up enough potion to last you over the holidays—I know Hermione's still got the recipe. I'll nick the piece of parchment from her bag, and you will have to get us a few items from Snape's private storage."

Draco leaned in closer to Harry, trying to tease a kiss out of him. Their noses were only an inch away from each other. "And who exactly will I be? That imbecile Longbottom, maybe?"

Harry had thought this through, as well. Sneering, he said, "Tell you what. How about we go to Hogsmeade together and pick out the most gorgeous-looking non-Hogwarts girl? She'll have to have silver hair like yours, of course. Isn't the next Hogsmeade visit scheduled for mid-November? All we need is my cloak and a Silencing Spell."

Draco looked more than pleased by the idea. "Sounds terrific," he whispered, and their lips met in a tongue-tying kiss of passion.

That morning had been a close call. They had totally lost themselves in … well, themselves … and the spell that Draco had put on the curtains in his four-poster had worn off in the early hours of dawn. They had also slept in, completely oblivious of their being at school and the compulsion to attend classes. When Draco had missed first period, Blaise had come to check if he was still in the dorm. And what should he find if not a snoring, fast asleep Malfoy? Fortunately, Harry was still draped in the invisibility cloak, but unfortunately Blaise noticed that there was something else between the sheets … "Who's that in bed with you?" he had asked with a sly grin, as if very proud that one of his housemates had scored.

Draco had only been half-awake at the moment. "Wha— ? In bed with me? But there's no-one in bed with me—look!" And he had pulled the covers away. Sure, Harry had been securely under the cloak, but Draco had not. Five minutes later, the whole school knew that he slept in the nude.

Harry had hurried off to Transfiguration and slumped down beside Ron, his raven hair even more tousled than usual. "Where've you been?" Ron had asked. "You weren't in bed this morning, and it didn't look like you'd slept in it at all, then you weren't in class …"

"Er, I was … studying in the library … got really late last night, and I guess I must've fallen asleep. What did I miss this morning?"

That night, the three of them were sitting by the fire in the common room, all focused on their astronomy homework. Harry decided that it was the best time to break the news. "So, Ron … d'you think your mother would object if I brought someone for Christmas?"

Ron dropped his quill and Hermione gasped loudly. "Wha— Bring someone? Who?" Ron wondered.

"Are you and Cho back together?" Hermione nudged excitedly.

Harry winced at the mentioning of Cho's name. "I don't think you can get back together with someone you haven't actually got together with in the first place."

"So, if it isn't Cho, then who is it?" she pressed on.

"Just someone I met in Hogsmeade … She's really brilliant. You'll like her. So, d'you reckon she can come?"

Ron stared at him for a few seconds, then he said, "D'I, I … I'll send Mum a note with Pigwidgeon right away."

"Cheers, mate."

Ron got up and hurried out of the portrait hole.

Across from him, Hermione was regarding him with slight suspicion. "Harry … is there anything you haven't told us? That you haven't told me?"

Harry gave her a blank look. "What d'you mean?"

"Well, I just thought … You've been acting so strange lately, you've been so depressed and absent-minded ever since Sirius … and now all of a sudden you want to bring some strange girl you've only just met along for Christmas? Isn't that a bit odd, even for you?"

Harry was silent for a moment. "Well, it's not like I just met her, it's just … It's complicated."

He could not even try to begin to explain everything to her. She would never understand.

Hermione seemed to be thinking his words over for a long, long time. Then she sighed deeply, and said, "Isn't it always nowadays?"

He did not know if this was her way of telling him that she did not get him anymore, but it nevertheless made him sad.

While the Slytherins were at dinner, Harry and Draco rendezvoused in Draco's dorm to plan the making of the Polyjuice Potion. They had to find a location that no-one ever came to—Moaning Myrtles bathroom was out of the question since Hermione still visited her on a regular basis—and they also had to make a preliminary schedule for putting in all the ingredients at the exact right time, and who of them would do it.

Draco withdrew a few items from the pocket of his Hogwarts robes. The special ingredients from Snape's private storage cabinets. "So, did they buy it?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, yeah, they bought it alright! You should have seen their faces! Ron's gone up to the owlery to send a message for his Mum. Now all we have to do is come up with a name for you. Hermione gave me a really hard time when I couldn't even tell her the name of my 'girlfriend.'"

"How about Joz, then?" the blonde suggested.

"Joss?"

"Yeah, with a Z. I've always liked that name. It's something I would like to call my daughter in the future."

"So you want children, then, Drakie? That's so non-Malfoy of you," Harry teased.

They laughed heartily.

Later that night, they had found the perfect place to put their secret cauldron; in an old broom closet deep down in the dungeons that looked as if it had not been used for a century. They were adding the first few ingredients to the potion.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Draco said in a dreamy voice.

"Neither can I, but I know I couldn't stand going through Christmas without you, and travelling to the Manor by Floo powder is too risky."

"Yes, my father might kill you if you show up at the wrong time."

Harry kissed him tenderly. "You're gonna love the Weasleys, they're the best family there is. Makes you feel like you're their own son."

"Or daughter," Draco put in, and they both laughed at the irony of that scene. "So, what of this potion? How long will it last me?"

"An hour. But if you keep taking a swig once every hour, the effect should last. We're making enough for three whole weeks right now, so there really shouldn't be a problem."

"And you don't think that will look suspicious to them?"

"Nah. We'll tell them you have this really rare lung disease, and that you have to take your potion regularly to keep it at bay. Without it, you wouldn't be able to breathe."

Draco put his slender arms around Harry's waist and pulled them closer together; Harry could feel his erection pressing against him. "Sounds dangerous …," the blonde was whispering sensuously, his lips only millimeters from Harry's.

Harry, instantly aroused by this obvious invitation, responded by nibbling at Draco's bared neck. "Well, I like it dangerous," he said hoarsely, biting down and eliciting a half-suppressed cry from the Slytherin. He would leave marks, but he did not care; he loved it when Draco screamed with pleasure, and he always went to extreme extents to please his lover. "Silencia," he croaked, uttering the Advanced Silencing Spell in case anyone should pass outside the door.

Few of their classmates knew about the Silencia Spell; they had only ever heard of Silencio, a spell which made all creatures mute. The Silencia Spell, however, created a kind of invisible bubble around the people who used it. People outside of the bubble could hear nothing at all, while every single sound was still very audible inside the bubble.

Harry had become quite skilled with Silencia by now, and he only needed to think 'Draco' to make the bubble spring up around them, even if they were in a crowded room separated from each other by twenty feet. They could sit in the Great Hall at breakfast, and Harry would think of Draco and use the Silencia Spell, and they could talk freely without anyone else overhearing their conversation. When he wanted the bubble to go away, he just said Audiblia Totilae.

Harry felt Draco's hands tugging at his trousers and let out a low grunt. The Slytherin fumbled for a few seconds, his tongue still deep in Harry's hungry mouth, and eventually he succeeded to unbutton them. Draco's silk shirt was torn open with a quickly muttered spell as the Gryffindor's trousers slid to his feet, and too eager to wait any longer he pulled the blonde down onto the floor, intending to tear off his trousers and boxers and push inside him immediately. But Draco stopped him.

"No," he whispered hoarsely, "this time I want to be on top."

Harry obliged, too desperate for release to refuse his lover this, and with an anticipating tremor, he let Draco take full control. One breathtaking moment later, Draco pushed inside him, gentle at first, but then he began to move faster and more determinedly, and Harry shrieked with pleasure, bucking beneath the blonde, loving the touch of his strong, muscular arms. "Don't you … think it's … bloody … exciting?" Draco was emitting, two syllables a thrust.

"Haaaah … wha'?" Harry expelled, almost too euphoric and lost in his own pleasure to be conscious enough to answer the Slytherin.

"This … deal with … the Burrow … Doesn't it … turn you fucking on?"

"Yeah, it—Aaaaaah!" There was no stopping it. The world around them—the old, dirty broom cupboard—faded away and left nothing but a white-hot, searing explosion of pleasure that completely melted Harry's bones and left him numb and weak-kneed. "Bloody … brilliant," he panted, kissing Draco's shoulder. "You're beautiful, too fucking beautiful …"

The blonde collapsed on top of him, shaking his head vigorously. "No, you are, Harry. You have the real beauty—I just have the looks."

Two days later, Ron got a reply from his Mum, and the three of them gathered in a corner of the Gryffindor Tower to read it. "She says she'll be delighted to have another guest over," Ron told them after skimming the letter through, "especially if she's someone dear to Harry." Ron made a wry face. "Yuck, she makes it sound so romantic …"

Harry rose from his chair. "Well, that's love, Ron," he joked. "Better go send an owl to Joz."

"Joss? So that's her name, then?" Hermione prodded straight-forwardly.

"Yeah. With a Z."

They watched him as he left through the portrait hole, heading for the owlery. Yeah, right. Had they followed him, they would have noticed that his steps led straight to the Slytherin common room.

Hogsmeade visit came, and the Polyjuice Potion was near completion. All they needed was to cut a lock of hair off a pretty girl. Harry bagged his invisibility cloak and prepared himself to leave together with Ron and Hermione. He was supposed to recall leaving something behind halfway to Hogsmeade and turn back to a specific point where he would wait for Draco.

Draco stood beside Filch and observed the passing students with an expression of self-righteous authority. He had told Filch that he wanted to look over the procedure as a representative for the Prefects, because no-one would find that suspicious about Draco Malfoy; it was just the kind of stunt he would pull. As Harry made to pass, he hissed, "Finally made the list, Potter?"

Harry almost forgot to retort with a low, hatefilled tone of voice; he almost said, "Right you are, Dracums!", with a broad smile. But that would have seemed suspicious, now wouldn't it? So instead, he said, "Bugger off, Malfoy, you know I've been on that list for three years now."

The smug smile on Draco's thin lips actually made Harry's heart skip a beat. "Never heard of anyone else having their permission slip signed by a murderer," he mocked, and Harry could see the reluctance glimmer in his pale silver eyes.

"Oh, really?" Harry said. "I thought your father signed your permission slip, but I guess I must've been mistaken."

"You're clear, Potter," Filch grunted beside Malfoy, and Harry went out into the crisp Autumn day. The weather was perfect, and the yellow-orange-red-brown of falling leaves spiralling through the light breeze was magnificent.

"Having trouble with Malfoy again, Harry?" Ron asked in an angry tone as he joined them.

"Yeah, but don't mind him. He never gives me a break in front of others."

The others engaged in a few moments' silent shock, and Harry realised what he had just said. Bugger! Why did he say that? Now they were bound to put two and two together!

"What d'you mean, 'in front of others?'" Ron asked. "He's a friend of yours, now?!"

"What?" Harry expelled indignantly, hoping that he would be able to act angry enough to make them forget about that thoughtless comment of his. "A friend of mine?! Are you out of it, Ron?! That was just mocking him, I didn't mean it literally! I would never set foot anywhere near that snotty Malfoy of my own accord!"

It seemed as if his act was believable, because Ron's ears turned crimson and Hermione gave a nervous laugh. "Of course not," she said, "why would you?"

Lying to his best friends was the hardest and most painful thing he had ever done in his entire life, but he could not tell them the truth; they would hate him. Sleeping with the enemy was even worse than being friends with them. It was a deadly sin.

Thirty minutes later, he was standing alone on the point of their secret rendezvous and spotted Draco come stalking further down the road. When he was close enough, and Harry had made sure that there was no-one else around, he pulled off the invisibility cloak and revealed himself to his lover. "You didn't mind me saying that about your father, did you?" he asked anxiously. Not because he was in any way worried about Lucius Malfoy's reputation—that was the last thing on his mind—but because he was worried that Draco might have been offended by his smug remark.

Draco was smiling, covering them both in the cloak. "No, no, it was just an act," he assured the Gryffindor. "Believe me, I have lost all the faith that I once had in my father, so don't work yourself up about it. I really don't care anymore. Now let's go into Hogsmeade and shop for blondes!"

Laughing, they began their unusual date at a light stroll. As they drew nearer to the wizarding village, Harry uttered the Silencia Spell. Without having to worry about being overheard, they surveyed the streets and alleys until they found what they were seeking. A quite tall, very pretty girl with silver blonde hair and startlingly blue eyes. She was not a Hogwarts student, which made her the perfect target. They slipped into a dark corner of an alley and made sure that no-one was anywhere near; Draco stepped out from under the cloak and went to get the hair from the girl. It only took him twenty minutes to charm her enough to come close enough to cut off a strand of silver hair.

Euphoric about their obvious victory, they treaded the road back to Hogwarts to spend the rest of the day alone. Their fellow students would stay in the village as long as possible, so they would pretty much have the whole school to themselves. All first- and second-years were in a special Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the Great Hall all day, an attempt to prepare them for the war. Poor chaps.

And so the Christmas holidays drew nearer, and both Harry and Draco got more anxious to go to the Burrow—their first real holiday together. They would be spending a week at the Weasleys' place and then go back to school for the last week of free time and just spend it together, alone. No students at all had signed up to stay at the school over the holidays—except for Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. Draco told everyone that he was coming back for the last week because his parents had very urgent business to tend to and that they did not want him around then. Harry claimed that he needed to be alone to contemplate the prophecy that said that Harry must either kill Voldemort or be killed; he needed to think of a strategy in case he ever got in a second duel with the Dark Lord.

Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed to believe him, but they let him be. They seemed to think that he wanted to go back to Hogwarts only so he could sneak Joz into the school to spend a whole week with her in his dorm. And that was partly true, of course, because he did intend to sneak someone into his dorm … And in a sense, that person was Joz.

Then the day came. Harry helped Draco to conjure up a few sets of female clothing—only in the finest fabrics, of course; the blonde still wanted to maintain his Malfoy standard—and supported him when he took his first swig of the dreadful Polyjuice Potion. Draco whimpered. "Ah! Does it have to be so painful?" He held his hands to his stomach during the transformation, and Harry recognised the inevitable melting and bubbling of shape-shifting tissue. "I know it hurts, baby," he comforted, "but it will soon be over. And think about it; now we can be together for a whole week, like a real couple."

The prospect of their first holiday together seemed to strengthen Draco. He nodded determinedly. While his face was still changing from the unmistakable aristocracy of a Malfoy male into the softer, more rounded forms of a veela-like female, he croaked, "You're right. If this is what it takes to be with you, it is definitely worth every painful sip."

Hermione stared at them with wide-open, disbelieving eyes when they arrived at the fireplace that would take them to the Burrow. She apparantly had not expected Harry to actually have company; she must have thought that Joz was a mere figment of his imagination. "Ha … Harry," she breathed, out of breath with amazement, "she is beautiful!"

Ron was drop-jawed at the sight of Draco's alter ego. "Harry! She's a veela!" he whispered in awe.

Harry grinned rather smugly, almost in a Malfoy-worthy manner. "Well, I like to think of her more like a serpent," he stated simply.

"A serpent?!" Ron echoed in disbelief. "Why on Earth would you want to see her as a serpent?!"

Harry looked at 'Joz.' "Because she makes me speak in tongues," he said lovingly.

Draco blushed crimson.

A humongous wave of green flames suddenly sprouted up in the fireplace, and a podgy shape came out of the fire. Mrs. Weasley came towards them. "Ronald! Hermione! How are you, dears? And Harry! Look at how handsome you are in that shirt! Ron, why aren't you wearing that jumper I sent you last week?"

Ron squirmed with embarrassment. "Mum …", he said warningly.

"Oh, never mind," Mrs. Weasley went on, and then she spotted the new Draco among them. "And you must be Joz! I have heard so much about you! Come here, don't be shy, dear, you are most welcome in our home, even if it isn't much for the world. Have you travelled by Floo powder before?"

"Ye-yes I have," Draco stuttered nervously, and gazed down at his now much smaller, slimmer feet. He was wearing an emerald green knee-long skirt, white leggings, a pink-and-white-striped jumper, and a silver necklace with a serpent. Maybe not so smart considering that they were trying to hide the fact that he was a Slytherin, but Harry wanted him to maintain a certain Slytherinish air because it appealed to him. That was why he had chosen the green-and-white combination—together with some typically girlish pink …

"Oooh, now, don't be shy, you're amongst family now, Joz dear!" Mrs. Weasley said, giving Draco a quick hug. The blonde gave Harry a terrified look. Harry mimicked the words, "Don't lose your act!" and the blonde immediately nodded. "Silly me, of course you have travelled by Floo powder before—you're a witch!" Mrs. Weasley laughed heartily, and to Harry's surprise so did Draco/Joz.

He had practiced speaking in a higher, girly voice for months now, and it actually sounded believable. "I have never visited other wizards and witches outside of Hogsmeade before," he said in an excited note. "I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am that you're letting me stay with you for a whole week, no-one's ever done that for me before. And it means a lot to me to be with Harry."

Mrs. Weasley seemed immensely touched by Draco's words and hugged him again, harder this time. "That's all right, dear, you are always welcome at our house, remember that. Come on, everyone! Time to leave, hurry up! Ron, you go first. Hermione, follow close behind, okay?" She directed them out of the Hogwarts fire and into the Burrow—home.

Harry felt harmonious and carefree in the Weasley home, and the genuine warmth and closeness of their family always made his heart swell. He could sense that Draco had the same feeling. Even though they did not have much money and the rooms of their house were small, they always treated their guests to the most luxurious food and the best beds. Anything to make you feel at home. At first, everyone seemed really unaccustomed to Harry's having a 'girlfriend,' but eventually they came around and started to talk to Joz.

"Haven't you gone to any wizarding school, Joz?" Hermione asked interestedly.

"Oh, no!" Draco protested squeakily. "My parents are very poor, and they've never had the money to send me to school. Although I always dreamt of going to Hogwarts, of course … Everything I know has been passed on from my father."

"But if you're so poor, how come you have such expensive clothes?" Ginny asked suspiciously. She was turning out really bright at fifteen, and Harry realised that she had stumbled upon the only noticeable flaw in their scheme.

But Draco seemed to have thought about that possibility, because he instantly turned to Harry with a loving smile. "Harry bought them for me. He wanted me to look my best when he invited me over for Christmas."

"That's so romantic!" Hermione exclaimed and clapped her hands together.

"Oh, quit it already!" muttered Ron grumpily.

It all went well until the night came and everyone was getting ready to retire. Nobody questioned the fact that Joz took her breathing potion once every hour, which relieved them both. It had worried them because of the incident in their fourth year when Mr. Crouch's son had impersonated Mad-Eye Moody for a whole school year without being busted. Harry was just about to change into his pajamas when Joz stormed into the room. Fortunately, Ron had not come upstairs yet. "Harry!" Draco was half-saying half-hissing with his usual voice and made Harry jump. "They want me to share a room with Hermione and Ginny!"

Harry frowned. "Yeah? So? What's the problem?"

Draco looked exasperated. "Harry, I won't be able to take my potion once every hour during the night—I wouldn't be able to get any sleep. What if they wake up before me in the morning and see me lying there? Harry, they will know who I am!"

Harry suddenly realised that there was another major flaw in their plan. "You're right," he said thoughtfully. "Okay, take my cloak with you and hide it beneath your pillow. When they're asleep you put a Silencing Spell on yourself and sneak out to Ron's room. I'll be awake waiting for you. All right?"

The Slytherin nodded, still looking extremely worried. When he was about to leave, he hesitated. Then he gave Harry a quick kiss. "Goodnight, then," he whispered, and hurried off.

Hardly an hour later, lying awake in the darkness in Ron's room, he heard the door creak open and knew that his lover was coming. Before even taking the cloak off, Draco muttered, "Audiblia Totilae," and a warm, invisible nothingness snuggled down beside Harry, pressing closer to him, seeking comfort. Harry pulled the cloak off the blonde's body. He still had not turned back, and it was very weird to find himself with his arms around a girl when all he had ever wanted was to be found in the perfection of Draco Malfoy. "I'm scared," Draco whispered, pressing ever closer.

Harry held him tightly, waiting for him to go on.

"I realised today … that I have nothing. Nothing. My parents … they never cared for me, all they wanted for me was to become another killing machine. You know? They never gave me any love. They just made me bitter and filled with hatred. The Weasleys have everything. I envy Ron that. Hell, I even envy you, Harry. At least your Aunt and Uncle showed you some kind of feelings."

Harry kissed the blonde's shoulder. It was not as broad and muscular as usual. Weird. "You have me," he said.

"You are all I have, Harry. You are the only one who … well, that I can be myself with. Without inhibitions."

"I know, baby. I know."

"Will you leave me?"

Harry stiffened. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, will you always be there for me when I need you? Or will you leave me just like they left me? You're all I have …"

He was silent for a while. "No, I won't leave you. Not ever."

Draco gently nibbled at Harry's earlobe. "Make love to me, Harry."

Their lips met in a tender, cautious kiss. But as he moved his hands over Draco's body he got even more aware of the differences between this girl-body and his usual, muscular body, and somehow it did not turn him on. "I … I can't. I'm sorry, Dracums, but I can't. Being with a girl just doesn't appeal to me, believe it or not. Is it okay if I just hold you until you fall asleep?"

The blonde sighed happily. "That's more than okay, Harry. I'm really sleepy …"

And he watched as his shape-shifted lover fell into deep, careless sleep.

The following morning, they woke hours before anyone else, which was really lucky for them considering that Draco was back to his normal self. They stole out into the garden and walked down to the bench by the pond, where they sat down holding hands. Draco withdrew the bottle of Polyjuice Potion from the inside pocket of his overcloak, and with a wry face, he took a deep swig. Gasping with pain, his body started to change back into the form of Joz. "Flip, I hope I won't ever have to do anything like this again!" he stated disgustedly.

"You won't, I promise," Harry reassured in a low voice. "Now you better practice your female voice again before anyone else wakes up."

Christmas morning was wonderful. When Draco found a small pile of parcels at the foot of his bed, he actually began to cry silently. When Harry asked him what was wrong, he just said, "They care about me, Harry. No-one's ever cared about me before, not even my parents. I've even got a small parcel from Ron."

Harry raised his right eyebrow. "Really? That's not bad. Did you see the two packages from me?" he asked teasingly.

"Yes, they're lovely. I like your friends, Harry. You're happy to have them."

Harry gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "I know."

On the last day of their week-long stay, they all sat in the kitchen eating an enormous feast. It was so delicious that everyone ate too much and fell bloated into armchairs and sofas afterwards. Harry sighed happily, holding his hands to his stomach, thinking about the good times they had had during the holidays. When he looked at Draco, he saw a new happiness glitter in his pale, silvery eyes, and it made him all warm and cozy inside. This week had meant a lot to Draco, and Harry was glad that he had been able to give it to him. It must have been the best Christmas gift ever.

But wait a minute … Silver? Should not he have blue eyes now?

Harry jerked out of the armchair and pointed his wand at himself. "Silencia!" he said urgently. Hermione looked at him with knitted brows. "What are you doing?" she wondered, being the only one else at school who knew the Advanced Silencing Spell. He only shook his head, then thought hard of Draco, and said, "Your eyes are grey!"

Joz startled. "What?"

"Your eyes are grey—you're turning back! You need to take the potion now!" Then, after saying this, aware that several of the Weasleys were beginning to look suspisciously at him for persistently but mutely moving his lips, he uttered, "Audiblia Totilae."

Across from him, Joz—now with a clearly Malfoyish, aristocratic nose—hurried to take a deep swallow of potion, and the second later she threw her hands to her stomach and bent over in pain. "Aaaah!"

Harry shot up from his armchair anew, acting on a dangerous impulse. "Dra—! Drank it too late, did you?" he said, saving his arse at the last second. It would not be so smart to call him Dracums right now, not when everything had gone so smoothly this whole week. Kneeling beside his lover, he put his right arm around his arched back and took his hand in his left. "Are you all right?"

"Can't … breathe," Draco hissed, and Harry knew that this was just part of the act.

He started rubbing Draco's back as if giving him a lung massage or something. Kissed his long silver blonde hair. "Is that better?"

"Yes. Thank you, Harry."

When they got up from the floor, everyone was looking at them with distinct fright, but also with bafflement. It appeared that not one of them had actually believed that Harry was serious about this Joz-person, but now it dawned on them that he really was. This was the first time he began to realise it, himself, actually. Uncomfortable with their stares, he cleared his throat. "I better take her home," he said, then he escorted Draco to the fireplace. He apologized for scaring them, and for having to leave so soon, but was very swift to take a good handful of Floo powder and throw it into the fire. Then they stepped into it together, and yelled, "Hogwarts!"

Back at school, Draco was still hurting because of the severity of the potion. Harry was expecting to find his face in an ugly grimace of pain, but was surprised to see him smiling. "This was the best holiday ever, Harry. Thank you."

And then he threw himself around the Gryffindor's neck.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, it means a lot to me! =D I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it all those years ago. It was a lot of fun working on certain scenes, hehe. X3 I hope you'll have a lovely day/evening, and please let me know what you think of it. :3 Constructive criticism is always welcome, too. Love, Pipe.

WIP status updates for current stories/chapters are available on my profile page. Twitter: HaadogeiPipe.

Revised & updated 12-16-2015