AN: Hello everyone! I'm back with two more chapters! That's right, two! My first several chapters are quite short, so I decided to post them two at a time until we get to the longer ones. So...enjoy!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3 Ultimatum

"But sir, I…" The rest of Harry's sentence was cut off by Dumbledore.

"Harry, I assure you Mr. Malfoy is the best match for you. If the two of you try to set aside your past rivalry, I'm sure you'll find the situation much more tolerable." His blue eyes twinkled behind the half-moon spectacles, a slight smile twitching his mouth upward.

Harry sighed. "There's nothing I can do to change this, to change your mind?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Harry, however you may come to me if you have any problems. As I am sure you have noticed, your new room is just a short distance away. Now, off you go. Enjoy your weekend!"

"…Thank you, sir. Goodbye." Harry mumbled sullenly before heading out of the office.

Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter a good match!? How was that possible? Maybe someone messed with their questionnaires. Maybe Malfoy put inaccurate answers on purpose just to mess with whoever got paired with him. But something like that wouldn't have gotten past Dumbledore, would it?

Harry didn't have much time to think, as he had already completed the short walk back to him room. He scowled, but went in to get ready for breakfast. The sooner he got to the Great Hall, the sooner he could talk to Ron and Hermione. Of course then he'd have to tell them everything…. He groaned at the thought of their reactions.

"What's the matter, Potter, miss me already?" Malfoy had apparently just woken up, and first on his priority list, it seemed, was to annoy the hell out of Harry.

"No, just wishing you would stay asleep forever. Either that or never speak to me or come near me again."

"Aw, is that any way to treat the soon-to-be father of your child?"

"You're not ever touching me, Malfoy. The Ministry can go to hell!"

The blonde had stood from the bed and had begun to walk towards Harry. Since Harry was trying his hardest to ignore his infuriating roommate and control his temper at the same time, he didn't see the Slytherin move in behind him.

"You" Harry jumped at the unexpected proximity of the voice, "might not care what the Ministry will do to us if we don't cooperate, being the Golden Boy and all, but I sure as hell don't want to find out!" He suddenly lunged for Harry, grabbing his wrists and pushing him against the wall, face first.

'This seems like it might become a habit.' Harry thought wildly. This was the second time Malfoy had trapped him against the wall in less than 24 hours.

Malfoy continued his rant in a fierce whisper. "I have already gotten on Voldemort's hit list by failing to kill Dumbledore. I can't afford to go against the Ministry as well. So whether you like it or not, we are going to fuck until you get pregnant. After that, we don't have to speak to each other, but you will cooperate!"

"B-back off Malfoy!" Harry struggled against the blonde's hold.

"I'll let you go when you tell me you understand me and agree to cooperate!"

Harry's mind was working furiously. How could he get out of this? "You can't hold me here all day, so you might as well just let me go now."

That, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. In a blur of motion, Harry felt himself spin around before his back hit the wall. Malfoy was staring down at Harry, and the look on his face said 'I will hold you here as long as it takes.'

As they stared each other down, Harry thought he saw a flicker of – fear? – in Malfoy's grey eyes. Was he really afraid of what the Ministry might do to him? Either way, he needed to get out of there, so he tried for a compromise.

"I'll…try to…see if we can find a way to make this work out okay for both of us."

Malfoy gave him a 'you better' look before slowly releasing his wrists and backing away.

*********************************************************************************

When Harry finally got to the Great Hall, a lot of people had already finished eating and left. Ron and Hermione were still there though, looking around anxiously. When they spotted him heading towards the table he saw relief in their faces. He plopped down next to Ron and grabbed some food quickly, before it all disappeared, even though he didn't really have much of an appetite at the moment.

"Harry! Are you okay? What took you so long? Where is your new room? Who'd you get paired with? Why aren't you eating?" Hermione cried all in one breath.

"Geeze, Hermione, give him a second! And remember to breathe," said Ron.

After a few moments of silence, they both gave him an expectant look, and he swallowed the piece of toast he'd been chewing, nervously. "Well, er, you'll never guess…"

"Come on, mate, out with it! Is she pretty, nice, tolerable, horrible…let's hear it!" Ron chipped in.

"I guess maybe there's something I should tell you guys first, I…"

"Oh my God, Harry! What happened to your wrist?" Hermione narrowed her eyes at the injury, as if it had personally insulted her.

"I'll get to that part, just hold on a-"

"Did your partner do that to you? Blimey, Harry, is she one of those muscle women or something?" asked Ron.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, because there are so many muscle women at Hogwarts!"

"You never know! It could be hard to tell under the school robes…"

Harry was flicking his eyes back and forth between them as they argued, wondering how he'd ever manage to break the news when they were like this.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Draco Malfoy chose that moment to stroll into the Great Hall, heading straight for the trio. Harry clenched his fists. Why couldn't he just leave Harry alone? It was bad enough they had to share a room now.

"What do you want Malfoy?" Ron growled.

The Slytherin smirked. "I do hope the two of you are trying to convince him to cooperate."

"Cooperate with what?"

He looked at Harry. "You didn't tell them yet?" Harry shook his head, and was surprised when Malfoy only said, "See if you can convince him," and then walked away.

Hermione turned to Harry. "What was he talking about?"

Harry took a deep breath and said, "He's the one I got paired with."

*********************************************************************************

An hour had passed, and the trio had moved their conversation to Ron and Hermione's new room near the library. Harry explained everything from the beginning, only leaving out a few embarrassing and personal details. To Harry's relief, his friends were very supportive and understanding, though still quite surprised. They were hurt that Harry didn't tell them what was going on all along, but forgave him.

In terms of the 'Malfoy Situation', the two had radically different opinions. On the one hand, Ron was adamant that Harry find a way out of this.

"I mean seriously, mate, if it were anybody else, well anybody else that was also not in Slytherin, then I'd say give it a try. But this is Malfoy."

"I know, Ron, but Dumbledore insists that there is no way out of this. Merlin, I'm going to have his baby?" Harry hid his head in his hands and tried to forget the thought, but it wouldn't go no matter what he did.

Hermione had a slightly more positive opinion; at least it was positive according to her. "Dumbledore said the two of you were compatible, right? So maybe if you just get to know each other a little bit you'll realize that it isn't so bad!" It was just like Hermione to conclude it would be okay if Dumbledore said so.

They were all quiet for a moment. The silence was broken by the grumbling of Ron's stomach. Harry and Hermione exchanged an amused glance and Ron said, "Hey, I can't help it! I'm hungry!"

So they headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry hadn't really seen anyone at breakfast since he arrived so late, so at lunch he caught up with everyone. He found out that Dean and Seamus were paired, as well as Neville and Susan Bones from Hufflepuff, Lavender and a Ravenclaw Harry didn't know, and Parvati and Theodore Nott from Slytherin. Most seemed at least okay with their partners. Whenever anyone asked Harry who his partner was, he avoided answering. He knew it would get out eventually, but….

**********************************************************************************

After lunch the trio went to the library to do homework, and later returned to the Great Hall for dinner. When they finished eating they went their separate ways. One of the requirements outlined in 'The Pamphlet' was a daily session of time spent alone in the room with ones' partner after dinner, lasting at least two hours. Depending on how long it took the students to eat, that generally didn't leave much time between 'Bonding Time' and curfew. They were even allowed to ask house elves to bring them library books so they could stay in their rooms.

And so Harry made his way back to the room he shared with Malfoy. As soon as he walked in, the blonde started talking.

"Here's the deal, Potter. You can ignore me all week, and I will leave you alone. I don't care as long as we meet the Ministry's deadline. So, do you want to get it over with now, or wait until the last minute?"

It took Harry a moment to recover from his surprise before he said "I'm not kissing you, Malfoy."

"Fine, have it your way. The Ministry people will be here Saturday morning, so Friday night it is." And with that he turned away and completely ignored Harry as promised.

'This isn't so bad.' Harry thought. Until Friday, of course.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OOOOO, next chapter, quick! Go!