Summary: "Why the hell did you kiss me, Malfoy?" Harry spluttered. Malfoy smirked, "You talk way too much, Potter."

Rating: PG-13. Can't be worse than that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to the wonderfully talented JK Rowling.

Author's Note: My friend from school gave me this adorable picture from the internet, and it inspired me to write this fic. The picture is of a kiss - you'll know it when you read it! Every single time I look at the picture, a broad smile brightens my face. Hope this fic does the same for you!
"We'll be working with puffskiens today," Hagrid announced, motioning to the crates that were sitting in front of the Slytherin/Gryffindor seventh year class. Everyone groaned and began to mutter with their neighbour. Hagrid waited patiently for silence. It came quickly. "You'll be working with a partner.... so get into pairs."

There was scrambling as everyone fought to pair up with friends. Harry looked toward Ron and Hermione, only to find they were working together today. Ever since they had started dating back in December, they did everything together. Harry pretended not to care and looked around for someone to work with. It seemed as thought everyone had a partner. Except....

"Well... Harry, I guess you'll have to be with Malfoy," Hagrid said, spotting the slight problem. Malfoy was the only person without a partner. Harry glanced over at the Slytherin. Malfoy was sitting with his legs crossed, surveying the scene before him with very little interest. This was the most irritating thing about Malfoy. He always seemed bored. In fact, it never failed. If Malfoy was bored, the world was right. He was always calm and collected. And Harry hated that.

As he got to his feet and made his way over to his rival, Harry couldn't help but wonder where this had all begun. When was it that Harry had truly realized how annoying Malfoy could be? It had been on the Hogwarts Express, practically seven years ago, when Malfoy had offered to be Harry's friend. In doing so, he'd also managed to insult Ron, and Harry had been quick to turn him down.

As he set his eyes on the blonde boy in front of him, he couldn't help but sneer. And Malfoy, being Malfoy, sneered back.

"Care to sit down?" he drawled, setting his silver eyes on Harry, "or are you going to stand there all day?" Harry rolled his eyes and sat. Then he put his hand into the crate which Hagrid had set beside him, and pulled out the puffskien. It was a biege colour, with brown spots scattered over its back.

"Hello," Harry muttered, patting it lightly on the head and setting it on the ground. Malfoy did nothing.

"All right. The first thing to do's to name them. Pick a name.... any name," Hagrid instructed. Harry looked down at the creature, and tried to think of something. Only one thing came to mind. Fatty. Why, Harry had no idea. But it seemed to fit. The puffskien was extremely large.

"You're going to be Fatty," Harry said, without even bothering to consult Malfoy. If the other boy was bothered by this, he certainly didn't show it. He simply glanced at Fatty and then looked back to Hagrid.

"After you've done that, you can give it some of the food I left in the crate for you." Harry dragged the crate closer to him and peered into it. Inside was a cob of corn, as well as a long stick of bread. He reached in and pulled the contents out, laying them in front of Fatty.

"There you go," Harry said, patting the creature on the head again. It creeped over to the food and began to eat.

"Puffskiens can be very territorial. Once you've given them their food, don't try to take it away until they've finished. I want you to study the puffskien when it's done, and watch where it heads to. Then you can set up a bed for it." Hagrid really sounded like an expert, but Harry felt good about the creatures being so easy to handle. Perhaps it was because Neville had been burnt by the chimaera Hagrid had brought the class before. It was certainly a change of pace.

Fatty took off along the grass, though not very quickly. It seemed all the flab weighed it down. Harry found this particularly cute, and he couldn't help but laugh when the puffskien fell forward onto its face. He reached into the crate to pull out the stuff for the bed and Malfoy finally spoke.

"Perhaps I would like to do something. Have you even bothered to ask?" he demanded. Harry knew he hadn't but he wasn't going to admit it.

"Well if you want to do something, why don't you simply ask? I would have let you feed him."

"Yes, and you didn't even ask me if I liked its name."

"I didn't think you particularly cared...." Harry said, "but if it means so much to you, why don't you and the puffskien go get married?" It was very stupid to say, but he was starting to get annoyed. Malfoy always played life with riddles. He was silent one moment, then bursting the next. It drove Harry up the wall.

"You're the one who's taking such good care of it.... I'd just like to get good marks once in a while..... something you know nothing about, of course." Malfoy had hit a spot. It was a well known fact that Harry hadn't won Head Boy because Malfoy had beat him in every class. And Harry didn't like to be reminded of it. For some reason, Harry just couldn't hold himself back. He pulled his fist back and let it connect with Malfoy's sneering mouth.

Not smart. Malfoy retaliated right away. His fist shot out and caught Harry in the jaw. Harry let out a howl of anger and leaped on to Malfoy, hitting him square in the eye with his hand. Malfoy shouted out in pain and kneed Harry hard in the groin. This was not smart either. Harry, having the upperhand (since he was on top), pulled Malfoy's head forward and let it fall back roughly on the ground. Both boys had gone slightly deaf and couldn't hear the commotion around them.

But they both noticed Hagrid ripping them apart and setting them back on their feet. Hagrid looked as angry as he had been back in fourth year when Karkaroff had insulted Dumbledore. Harry's hand flew to his throat at the memory.

"I have had it up to here with you two," Hagrid said holding his hand high in the air. "You both receive detention, which you will serve with me on Saturday afternoon in the greenhouses. Two o'clock. Don't be late if you know what's good for you."

Malfoy simply turned around and walked over to Crabbe and Goyle, who were just as silent as everyone else in the class. Harry scooped up Fatty and marched away from Hagrid. Ron and Hermione hurried over to him.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Hermione spluttered. Harry started at Hermione's swear, but struggled not to answer rudely.

"He just made me mad." Ron was trying to look as stern as Hermione, not nearly succeeding. When Hermione had hurried over to stop her puffskien from jumping into the lake, Ron hit Harry in the shoulder with his hand.

"Good going, mate." They shared a secret smile, which was quickly forgotten when the bell rang for the end of class. Harry set off for the school with Hermione and Ron, not at all looking forward to having to skip a whole day of Hogsmeade for detention with Malfoy.

*

"You're going to be weeding in the gardens today," Hagrid said, handing Harry and Malfoy a pair of gloves each. "I don't want to see a single one left when I come to inspect later. No magic, either." Well, duh, Harry thought. Hagrid walked away, grumbling.

Harry kneeled on the ground and set to work pulling the weeds out of the ground without the gloves. He was used to garden work, after having to do so much when he was with the Dursleys. Malfoy was obviously not.

"I cannot believe I have to weed some stupid garden. Don't they have house- elves for this sort of thing?" Malfoy muttered, kneeling next to Harry, slipping the gloves on and beginning to pull some weeds out.

"We wouldn't be here if you hadn't started that fight," Harry muttered back.

"I started the fight?" Malfoy thundered, ripping out a whole plant, rather than just the weed. "You're the one who hit me."

"After you made that crack about being Head Boy."

"I did nothing of the sort," Malfoy said. Harry snorted and continued weeding.

"Maybe if you weren't so rotten I wouldn't have hit you."

"I'm only rotten to you."

"I know...." Harry said, "but that still makes you rotten. But then I guess your whole family's like that."

"What do you know about my family?" Malfoy said, straightening his cloak.

"A lot more than you think."

"Don't you assume stuff about me.... because I can go right back at you and do the same."

"Go ahead.... everyone does it anyway," Harry said. "You think just because you're Head Boy you can boss people around. Well I'm still a Prefect and you can't boss me around. You know how annoying you are?" Suddenly, he was on his feet. Malfoy rised to his feet gracefully, carefully watching Harry's every move. "You prance around the school like you own it. You think just because the Slytherins like you, everyone else does too. Which, by the way, they don't."

"Shut up, Potter," Malfoy said, but Harry ignored him, continuing his rant.

"In Potions, you always try to make me out as a prat --"

"Because you are --"

"And then you insult my friends and classmates and prance around some more. You're so frustratingly oblivious to the world around you. Only your pretty little life matters. You don't even see the horror that's sitting right in front of you. And of course there's Crabbe and Goyle, who trail after you like sick puppies. And I hate how you --"

Malfoy seized Harry's shoulders and pulled him forward. Harry braced himself for the attack, but soon found he was being kissed by him. The blonde even managed to sneak some tongue in there. Harry was so shocked, he couldn't even properly enjoy it. His eyes were wide open, his cheeks flushed. Malfoy was certainly a talented kisser.

It ended as abruptly as it had begun. The silence was palpable. Even the flies seemed to have stopped buzzing. Harry tried to process thought, but found it extremely difficult. He could still taste Malfoy on his mouth, and he knew he had enjoyed the kiss very much. Of course, that was a scary thought. That he had actually enjoyed his rival kissing him. Suddenly, the full of impact of what had just happened hit him.

"Why the hell did you kiss me, Malfoy?" Harry spluttered. He found it very difficult to function properly. His body was trying to respond to what his mind had realized. That Draco Malfoy had kissed him in the middle of detention.

"You talk way too much, Potter," Malfoy said, the familiar smirk on his face. "Must you use your mouth for talking? You can do so much better with it." He stepped forward again and pressed his lips lightly to Harry's. This time, Harry responded. His hands found Malfoy's silky soft hair, and Harry could feel Malfoy's hands on his face and the small of his back. For some reason, none of this seemed wrong. Like this was exactly what life had in store for these two boys right at that moment.

And who's to argue life? After a few more minutes, Harry pulled away, body still reacting to Malfoy's kisses.

"Well..." he muttered, staring into the silvery colour of Malfoy's eyes. Malfoy stepped further away, a smile on his face. Not a smirk, a smile. And Harry found himself smiling back. "What do we do now?" The smile vanished.

"Forget this ever happened."

"What? Why?" Harry demanded.

"The school is never going to accept this. I don't even think I can. This was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. I'm kind of sorry I did it." Once again, the bastard was calm as anything. Harry felt like hitting him again. He was actually hurt by Malfoy's words.

"Okay... fine. But could you just stop directing your insults to Ron and Hermione? You can fight with me all you want.... but just don't fight with them. Leave them alone for the next two months left of school." Malfoy looked at Harry. He shook his head.

"I can't. That would be so not like me." Harry's eyes narrowed, and he stared down at his dirt covered hands a moment before casting his eyes to Malfoy's again.

"Fine. Forget it." The rest of the detention was served in silence.

*

"Put away your notes and lets start on the potion," Snape muttered, opening up his own textbook. He told them all the page number and began reading the ingredients of the potion. "Armadillo bile. Lace wings, which you should add right after the armadillo bile -- not ten minutes after, Longbottom. Bat eyes. Shrivelfig --"

"Better get someone to cut up Malfoy's. We all know how useless he is when it comes to that," Ron said, loudly and clearly. All eyes in the room turned to Malfoy's reaction. The blonde was staring at Ron with a look of intense scrutiny. Everyone was quite surprised when he looked back down at his textbook without a word.

From his spot next to Ron, Harry couldn't help but grin.

(fin)

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