I do not own Harry Potter
An uncomfortable silence had descended on the room. Harry and Draco were glaring at each other as Hermione impatiently waited for an answer.
Harry crossed his arms when Hermione started tapping her foot and snarled, "Malfoy, if you want my help I need hers."
Draco made a noise of annoyance before he finally huffed and said, "Fine! If you must know Granger," he stopped here, as if saying her name would make him vomit, he swallowed hard then continued, "In a moment of complete stupidity, I sought Potter out."
The look on Draco's face after saying this made Hermione roll her eyes, "And?"
"And what?" snarled Draco coming closer to her.
"Why are you here Malfoy?" seethed Hermione moving closer to him.
Harry watched them standoff, both glaring at each other inches apart. He had seen these two go head to head many times but now he could tell Malfoy was holding back. Normally he would have insulted Hermione by now and Harry realized something had changed in the Slytherin. In true Harry fashion, he decided to spare Malfoy the embarrassment and said, "He asked for my help Hermione. Voldemort is going to make him take the Mark and he doesn't want to."
Draco flinched at the name of the Dark Lord and turned to Harry in surprise, while Hermione's eyes widened as she processed what Harry just said. Draco moved away from her and sat down in the living room chair.
"But… he's just a kid?" Hermione said exasperatedly.
Draco was on his feet instantly and stormed over to Hermione angrily. Harry moved to stand in front of her just as fast and pushed against Draco's chest to keep him back. Even Harry was a little annoyed, what was it with witches and this word?
"Hermione, he's no more a kid than I am," snapped Harry as he turned to her, eyes blazing.
She shook her head and said, "No, that's not what I meant. I know you're not a kid, Harry, I mean even if I thought that I would just have to look at you to see that you're obviously not a child." Hermione blushed profusely when she realized what she just said. Shaking her head again she turned back to Draco and said, "I didn't mean it like that, Malfoy. I just meant that Voldemort has grown wizards, that don't have a trace on their wand and don't spend a the whole year at school…it just doesn't make any sense."
"You're right, I never really thought about it that way. Did they tell you why they wanted you to take the Mark?" asked Harry.
Draco jerked his head to the side and snorted, "To prove the Malfoy's were worthy. It's a punishment for what happened with my father at the Department of Mysteries."
Hermione noticed that Harry instantly started rubbing the back of his neck before he turned and left the room. Draco shot her a confused look but Harry was back in a minute with a bottle of vodka.
"Harry…" said Hermione sympathetically, but all that did was set Harry's anguished gaze on her. He simply held his hand out to stop her lecture and started chugging straight from the bottle.
Draco decided to get back on track with the conversation, ignoring what was obviously going on with Harry. "Look, I need to get my mother out of that house, away from Him, and I need to do it quickly. Potter here insisted you would be able to help, so Granger, any brilliant ideas?"
Hermione looked at Draco incredulously, "Let me get this straight. Not only do you want us to help you, but also you expect us to rescue your mother? Why can't she just leave and go somewhere else? Or better yet why can't she help you and then you can both go somewhere else!"
"Hermione," chided Harry, surprised by her anger.
"What? I don't give a damn about Malfoy Harry! I care about you! And you're obviously in need of a little help yourself right now. Why should I waste my time on Malfoy? Do you think he would do the same for us if the roles were reversed?"
Harry frowned, knowing she was right, but still he gave his word…
"Why don't we just tell Professor Dumbledore and he can help Malfoy?"
"No," snapped Harry, "If you don't want to help then fine, Hermione, but I gave Malfoy," Harry stopped and forced out his next words painfully, "Draco my word. End of story."
Draco looked at Harry curiously while Hermione recovered from her shock. "So you're going to help him even after all the horrible things he's done to us?"
"Yes."
Hermione closed her eyes and sighed in frustration. She should have known Harry would do this. He was too good for his own sake. "Fine. If you insist on helping him, then I'll help you. But I'm only doing this because of you, Harry."
Harry grinned and moved closer to her to pull her into a hug. Hermione blushed prettily as she wrapped her hands around his naked back. She couldn't help but notice Harry seemed so much taller than the last time she hugged him and pulled back to tell him, "I think you've gotten taller since I last saw you."
He flashed her a mischievous grin before stepping away and facing Draco, "Alright, now that it's settled that we're going to help you, I would really like to get some sleep."
"Yes, it is quite late," said Hermione looking at the clock that indicated it was 3:15 in the morning.
"We're going to have to all bunk in my room. Otherwise my …family…will have a fit," said Harry as he moved to the stairs with Hermione's bag over his shoulder.
Hermione and an uncomfortable Draco followed him to his room. Once the door was closed behind him Draco looked around in shock. "I thought you were supposed to be spoiled Potter?"
Harry chuckled darkly and replied, "This is spoiled compared to living in a cupboard under the stairs."
Draco and Hermione both whipped their heads to look at Harry, completely shocked by that statement, but he only shrugged and started tidying his room up.
Deciding now was not the time, Hermione asked, "Harry, where do they keep the linens?"
"In the hall closet next to the bathroom," replied Harry and Hermione went to go get them. She came back and shooed Harry out of the way so she could set up a makeshift bed on the floor. Once she was done, she turned to them and said, "That will have to do for tonight. We can figure out something better tomorrow. Malfoy, you get the floor."
"What? I most certainly will not sleep on the floor!" huffed Draco.
"Yes you will! I'm not sleeping on the floor nor am I sharing the bed with you!"
Draco scrunched up his face in disgust at that thought then turned his back on her, mumbling angrily under his breath. He whipped off his shirt and started unbuttoning his pants when Hermione shrieked, "Malfoy!"
He turned around his pants open in the front and his chest completely naked, "What Granger? You don't expect me to sleep in my clothes do you?"
Harry didn't particularly like the way Hermione's eyes were drawn to Draco's abdomen so he simply glared at Draco before turning Hermione around and pulling back the covers for her and said, "Come on Hermione, you need to get some sleep."
She smiled at him and toed her shoes off before looking at him tentatively biting her lip.
"What is it?" he asked smiling at her.
"Can you just turn around for a minute so I can take my jumper off?"
Harry's eyes widened but he nodded and turned his back to her so she could do just that. He heard her get into the bed and turned around to see her with the covers up to her neck. He felt Draco move behind him and turned to see him bundle up in the blankets on the floor. There wasn't much room left for him to move around so he just sat on the edge of the bed. After a few minutes Hermione asked, "Harry aren't you going to go to sleep?"
"No, I'll stay up and keep an eye on things."
"Harry, you need to get some rest too. Are you worried about Malfoy doing something?"
"I can hear you, you know!"
Harry chuckled and said, "It is strange to have him here, isn't it?"
Hermione laughed and said, "I don't think there's anything normal about tonight, that's for sure."
Draco huffed and sat up, turning around to face them, "Look, if I promise I won't try and kill you both in your sleep will you shut up?"
They both seemed to consider his words and he rolled his eyes and said, "I was just joking but fine if it makes you happy… I swear that I will not try and kill Harry Potter or Hermione Granger in their sleep, so mote it be."
There was a flash of light around Malfoy and Harry and Hermione both looked at him incredulously. "How… Why… How did you do that? Harry, I thought you had his wand!"
"I do…"
"Malfoy rolled his eyes and said, "It's called Magic for a reason you imbeciles."
"But you don't have a wand!" replied Hermione, sitting straight up in bed now. Draco couldn't help but check her out. She had a fitted pink camisole on that showed her surprisingly ample breasts. Harry turned to see what had Malfoy looking quite like that and practically stopped breathing from shock.
"Hermione," said Harry huskily.
She turned to look at him with a question in her eyes, why did he sound like that? She looked back at Draco to see him eying her much the same way, which made her scoot further back on the bed.
Harry's inner Gryffindor came out and he moved to shield Hermione from Draco's view as he cleared his throat and got back to whatever it was they were talking about… "Right. Well, now that we know Malfoy isn't going to try and kill us, I guess I could rest for a bit."
Draco plopped back down and turned his back to them again, while Harry toed his shoes off and slid his jeans off. He turned back to the bed, both wands in his hand and asked, "Are you sure you don't mind sharing with me Hermione? I could sleep on the floor too."
"Nonsense Harry, it's your bed and you're my best friend. Just get in so I can get some sleep."
"Yes Ma'am," teased Harry as he crawled into bed, sliding the hand that was holding the wands under his pillow. It was a small bed so it was impossible not to touch Hermione. He felt her turn away from him and snuggle up, jumping when her bum accidently bumped his.
"Sorry," whispered Hermione mortified.
"It's fine," replied Harry, trying to remind himself that this was his best friend, and that he couldn't do things that he would normally do in bed with a girl.
"Good night, Harry."
"Night Hermione," he whispered back.
"Will you two lovebirds shut up!" snapped Draco.