Disclaimer: I do not own HP.

HPHPHPHP

It had been two weeks since Harry had been to the Ministry and found out about their plan to wed him and Draco. His birthday had been the week before and after the small party the Weasly's had thrown for him, Mr. Weasly had taken Harry to the Ministry for him to take the apparation test, which he had passed. While at the Ministry, they had run into Avius, who had asked if he had come to a decision. Harry said no. After that, Harry had to explain about Draco.

"If you decide to help him, you two could stay in the twin's room for the remainder of the summer since they have an apartment above the shop."

"I'm still not sure what I should do. I want to help him, but Malfoy seemed sincere when he said that he'd rather have death, and I don't want to go against his wishes."

Mr. Weasly looked at Harry closely. "Sometimes it's better to go against someone's wishes, Harry. You and Malfoy have been at odds for quite a long time, and he may think that you will use this as an excuse to get revenge. If you were to accept, you might be able to put the past behind you and become friends."

Harry nodded. "I still need to think about it. Are you sure that having Malfoy around won't be a bother to you and Mrs. Weasly?"

"Of course it won't."

Now Harry stood in the Minister's office, waiting for Avius to show up with Draco. He only had to wait a few minutes before they appeared, along with Ministry officials and Aurors. Draco looked as though he hadn't been able to get much sleep in the last two weeks, and Harry wished that he had been quicker to come to a decision.

"I would like to speak to Malfoy alone," he said quietly, his tone saying that he wouldn't accept argument.

The group hesitated, but then left. Harry looked at Draco for a moment before sighing. The blonde looked just as arrogant as he did the last time, despite the black circles under his eyes and the slightly messed up hair. Unlike the last time, however, Harry could see the fear in his eyes. When Draco spoke, though, it was just as it always was: calm, collected, and arrogant. "What's your decision, Potter? Going to play Mr. Hero once again? Or are you going to actually show some guts and have me killed?"
Harry glared at him. "You said it yourself; you'd rather die then spend ten years with me. I have no reason to go against that."

Draco's eyes widened and Harry saw that the fear in them had increased. "So why didn't you tell them to kill me?" Though he tried to keep his voice calm, a slight tremble showed up in it.

"I needed to ask you something first."

Draco waited for Harry to say something else, but when he didn't, he said, "What?"

Harry was still silent, as if thinking about it, and then he answered. "If it were anybody but me, would you choose life or death? And tell the truth."

Draco thought about it for a moment before saying, "Life."

Harry nodded. "I thought so." He then let the group back in.

"So? Your decision?"

Harry didn't say anything for a moment; instead, he stared at Draco sadly. When he opened his mouth to speak, Draco beat him to it. "I want to live, Potter. You have them kill me, and you might as well be called my murderer."

"Harry nodded slightly. "Good. I had hoped you would say that, I didn't want to appear like I was going against your wishes when I said I would agree."

Draco looked shocked, to say the least. Harry gave him a slight smile. "Can I help it if I don't want to be the cause of somebody's death?"

Draco glared at him. "You set me up! You no-good-lying-asshole!"

"What can I say?" Harry said, grinning. "I have some Slytherin qualities in me. Luckily, the Weasly's said we can stay there for the rest of the summer. Fred and George moved out, so there's an extra room."

One of the Ministry officials was rummaging through some papers on the desk, and handed some of them to Harry for signing.

"The Weasly's? We have to stay at the Weasly's?"

"Yes...unless you want to stay at my muggle relative's house, who will lock us in my room and refuse to feed us."

Draco didn't say anything else, so Harry assumed that Draco consented to the Weasly's. He sat down in front of the desk, read the papers, and then signed them. The man took them and handed them to Draco, who did the same. Immediately, the papers started to glow, and then a thin silver thread rose from out of the papers. Each end of the thread wrapped around one of both boys' wrists, and then disappeared.

"There," Avius said. "Everything is done. The string keeps you within a ten food radius of each other. Mr. Potter, you're to make sure that Mr. Malfoy doesn't do anything to endanger himself or anyone else."

Harry nodded, and then looked at Draco. "We better go."

HPHPHPHP

"You're too nice for your own good," Ron said after Harry explained what was going on to him, Hermione, and Ginny. Draco was sitting next to Harry on the loveseat, looking bored.

"I couldn't just let him die."

"Yes, you could. It would've been easy. Just a simple, "No, I won't marry him."

Harry smiled at Ron. "This is me were talking about. Whenever someone needs help, I'm obligated to do something."

"You could have saved the world by letting him die."

"Ron, calm down," Hermione said. "Harry did the right thing."

"We're not talking about right and wrong. We're talking about Harry being an idiot."

"They're pretty much the same thing in this case," Harry said. "I agree that saving Malfoy wasn't the smartest thing to do, but it was what I knew was right. We all know that when I think something is right, I usually act like an idiot."

"But it's Malfoy. The slimy, arrogant..."

"I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about me like I'm not here," Draco interrupted.

"That's another thing. How are we going to be able to talk like usual if he's always around?"

"We'll thing of something, Ron."

"Ron just sighed and leaned against the back of his chair. Hermione gave him an apologetic look before turning to Harry and Draco. "So," she said. "Which one of you will be the wife?"

Ron and Ginny laughed while the two boys sat there in shock. Then, in unison, said, "He is!"

"What?" Draco said, looking aghast. "I cannot be wife. I'm a Malfoy, and Malfoy's are never submissive."

Harry laughed lightly. "But you're so feminine. The dress would look great on you."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "He would look good in a white dress. But he'd need diamond earrings and a matching necklace."
"Don't forget matching high heeled shoes," Ginny put in.

"And makeup!" Ron added. "Lots of makeup."

During this, Draco had shrunk into the couch, trying to become invisible. When the group finally calmed down, Draco said, "I need to go to Malfoy Manor to get a few clothes. I refuse to do with the five outfits I have."

Harry looked at him and nodded, slightly surprised that Draco didn't say anything about them teasing him. "Alright. As long as it doesn't take too long."

"It won't. We'll be back by lunch."

They apperated to the Malfoy grounds. The manor was huge, more then half the size of Hogwarts. Though it was centuries old, it was in perfect condition, as though it had just been built. The grounds were beautiful. It looked like a large garden with different kinds of exotic and foreign flowers, trees, and bushes, all recently tended to.

Draco led him up the stone steps and into the house, which was breathtaking. The house was furnished with the most elegant and expensive furniture and paintings that Harry had ever seen.

"My rooms are on the second floor," Draco said as he walked towards the stairs.

Harry, who had stopped walking to look at his surroundings, ran to catch up. "Rooms?"

"Yes, rooms."
"As in, more the one?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes. I have a bedroom, a bathroom, two closets, a guest room, a library/study, a parlor, and a small kitchen where my house elf gives me breakfast and lunch since my family only ate dinner together...speaking of house elves, I cannot allow any future wife of mine to go without his own house elf. I'll have to have one of the manors elves serve you."

"I already have a house elf, and I don't even have a need for him."

Draco shot him a look. "Kreacher? That old thing? I don't think so." He clapped his hands twice and a house elf appeared. "Potter, meet your new servant, Zinkie."

"Like I said, I don't have any need for house elves. If I did, Kreacher wouldn't be working in Hogwarts."

"Trust me; you'll need Zinkie when we graduate, unless you can get dressed for any occasion at a moments notice."

"Harry looked at him. "Why would I need to be able to do that?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I get sudden urges to do things: shopping, parties, get togethers..."

"What's the difference between a party and a get together?"

"Draco's voice was exasperated when he answered. "A get together only has close friends and family, Potter. A party involves more people: friends, family, acquaintances, even people you can't stand. Get togethers are more for entertainment on any days, while parties are thrown on major occasions and are sometimes used to become more familiar with people higher up on the social scale to gain more influence."

"Oh. Okay."

They reached the second floor and Draco lead him through the Halls. Finally, they reached Draco's rooms. Walking in, Harry's mouth dropped open. What Draco called his rooms were more like a large apartment. They stood in the parlor. Unlike the parts of the manor that Harry had just seen, it didn't have expensive furnishings or paintings. Comfortable chairs and couches sat in the room, there was a large fireplace, and all of the paintings on the walls were of Draco, his family, and his friends.

"You can hand out in here if you want," Draco said. "My bedroom is that way if you need me fore anything." He pointed to a door to his right, and then left through it, leaving Harry there.

"After standing there for a moment, he started to look at the pictures. Most of them were of Draco and Blaise Zabini, their arms wrapped around each other, both smiling.

Who would've thought that Malfoy and Zabini were lovers, Harry thought. He continued to look at the pictures. After a few moments, he went to look at the pictures that sat on top of the fire place and his mouth dropped open once again, this time in shock rather then amazement. The pictures were of him, Ron, and Hermione together in classrooms, by the lake, and in the halls. Some of them Harry could tell were from first year. There were three of them that were just of him in the events of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The picture in the very center of the fireplace caught his attention the most, however. It was of him during the summer before his fifth year, when he was sitting in one of the swings in the park at night, just before the dementors attacked him and Dudley.

One by one, he grabbed the pictures, leaving the one of him on the swing for last. Finally, he carried them to Draco's room.

HPHPHPHP

Draco was pointing out outfits for his own house elf, Valer, to pack when Harry came stomping into the room and threw something, or several somethings, onto the bed.

"What the hell are these, Malfoy!" Harry yelled, his eyes flashing.

Draco glanced at the bed, his face went ghostly white as his eyes snapped back to Harry, who's arms were behind his back, as though refraining himself from punching Draco.

When he didn't speak, Harry came closer, anger showing clearly on his face. "Answer me, Malfoy," his tone was cold and calm.

Draco hesitated for only a second thinking. He knew he couldn't tell Harry the whole truth, so he gave only half of it. "Father forced me to keep an eye on you." That was the lie. "He says that the only way to defeat an enemy is to know how their mind works, what they like, and what they hate. They only way I could do that was if I were to follow you."

The truth was that Draco had always envied the special bond that Harry shared with Ron and Hermione. Never had he seen anything or anyone quite like them, willing to give up their lives in a moment for one another, but he would never admit that to anyone.

Harry threw another photo on the bed and Draco looked at it. IT was the one with Harry on the swing.

"So you're telling me that your father forced you to follow me to the Dursley's?"

It was then that Draco saw passed the anger in Harry and saw the anguish. It wasn't so much that Draco had followed Harry as it was that Draco had seen him with his relatives. "I'm sorry, Potter. If I had known how bad they treated you, I would have refused, no matter the consequences. I guess I had always thought like Snape had and figured that your relatives treated you like a celebrity."

Harry nodded. "Most people do." His anger was diminishing quickly, but was being replaced by sadness and pain. "They think 'Who would treat the Boy-Who-Lived like a slave?' They believe what they want to believe, and they want to believe that I'm the perfect human with the perfect life." He sighed before forcing himself to smile. "How much longer is it going to take you to finish packing?"

"I just started on this closet," he motioned to the door beside them. "And I still have the other one, so be patient."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked into the closet. It was almost as big as the room. "You have two closets this size?"

"Yes."

"How much clothes does one guy need?"

Draco smirked. "I have to have something for every occasion and any urges I have."

HPHPHPHP

This turned out to be longer then I had though it would. Once I started writing this chapter, I couldn't stop until just the right moment. I kept telling myself, one more page, and that's it, and soon it was this far. I have to learn to go listen to my head. Now my wrists are killing me since I didn't even take a break. Well, I hope you liked it. Review!