Harry woke up in cold sweat. He had a nightmare about Ron abusing him again, and it just felt so real. Draco as promised, didn't touch him in sleep. He was sleeping peacefully, hands folded on his chest. Harry had to admit, he was cute. But he didn't like Draco the way he liked him. He didn't know how to get by now.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and got up on his feet. He stood up too fast and felt very very nauseous. He leaned on a bed pole to support himself, until the nausea left.

Then it got worse. He felt sick. Very sick. He wanted to throw up. He rushed to the bathroom and bent over the toilet just in time before all the contents of his stomach were spilling out of him.

When he felt it was over, he used a quick mouth cleaning spell to get rid of the excess sour taste. He dressed up and returned to the bedroom, to find Draco already tying his Slytherin tie over his neck as the final piece of clothing.

"Are you feeling okay?" Draco overlooked the pale and sick Harry.

"Yeah, just feeling sick. It's nothing. Thanks for your help by the way, I really feel better from what happened yesterday." Harry lowered his eyes, feeling slightly shy from saying thank you to a Slytherin. But after all, Draco did save his life and Harry owed him.

"It's no problem, thank god I decided to go for a walk that night. I don't know what would have happened to you if you weren't treated right away."

Harry smiled and navigated the topic.

"Anything I can do for you? I mean, I owe you for what you did. I don't know how to thank you."

"Well, there are a couple of things you can do."

"Well?"

"First, please stay away from Ron. If you need any protection, come to me or anyone else. Please don't keep quiet if he abuses you Harry, and don't put up with it. Second, Please break up with him, and don't go back to your dormitory if you are in there alone. Because at any moment, you might get unpleasant company. Please stay in this precise room. If you want to, I can stay here too."

Harry considered and weight his options carefully. Either he can try to fix Ron, or he could stay with Draco and maybe start a relationship with him. But he still loved Ron.

And he knew that Draco still had a crush on him and he would do his best to win Harry over to himself. But after all, now they HAD to be shipped, thanks to Hermione's slow thinking and fast blabber. So he could take a chance, it wouldn't hurt to have someone that loved him finally.

"Okay. I will stay away from him and I will try to break up. And, yeah. I would really like some support now, so it wouldn't hurt if you stayed with me.

Draco nodded and gave Harry a big friendly hug. He gave him a small peck on the cheek, which is what should be considered wrong but Harry was used to it by now and didn't really care.

"Thanks for considering. Harry your classes start earlier than mine, so you should probably go."

Harry nodded, and before he left he surprised Draco with a soft kiss on the neck. Draco really wasn't used to being kissed by Harry, as this was also the second kiss that he received from Harry in his entire life. Not counting the accidental kiss at the Yule Ball.

flashback*

"Hey Pansy, wanna go get something to eat? I'm exhausted."

"Yeah sure. And by the way, thank you for inviting me to the dance. I thought you would invite some other boy, as you are.. you know.., gay?"

"Yeah, well the only boy I like is straight as a stick and a different house. We are complete opposites and I think it's a no chance. So I decided to dance with a best friend. By the way, nice dancing it was a pleasure."

Pansy smiled and walked over to the snack table with Draco. The two got some lemonade and were laughing to some jokes when they spotted Harry and Ron walking their way. Ron was flirting with harry and Hermione was looking at him disapprovingly.

Harry spotted Draco and the two locked eye contact for a moment or two, before Harry tripped and fell forwards. Draco dashed up to catch him as a reflex, but it was a little too late. Harry fell on top of Draco, and the two were on the ground.

When Harry fell, his lips connected perfectly with Draco's. The connection lasted only a couple of seconds before the two broke apart, awkwardly and shyly getting up off the floor, as all eyes were on them.

"Sorry, you okay? This is awkward." Harry apologized, putting a hand on Draco's shoulder to stabilize him.

"Yeah." Draco breathed, looking into the emeralds one last time before Harry smiled, turned around and walked back to his friends.

"Never better." He whispered to himself, following Harry with his gaze.

"Is it... him?" Pansy asked him quietly, trying not to be overheard.

Draco nodded slowly and sighed. His first kiss with his crush was a mistake and an awkward unwanted situation.

"Wow. Well, I wouldn't say you have 'no chance'." Pansy smirked, turning around and pushing through the crowd and out to the beautifully lit garden.

"Wait! Pansy! What do you mean, not a 'no chance'? What do you mean? Hey, wait for me!" Draco rushed after Pansy, catching up with her in the garden but she still said nothing.

end of flashback*

A few minutes later, Harry was already in class. Ron was there, and he motioned Harry to come sit by him. He smiled like a good friend, and acted like the sweet boyfriend he always was. Harry thought that when there were people around him, Ron wouldn't hurt him, so he came and sat by Ron.

"Harry, where have you been? Ron and I searched every room of requirement we could think of you would be in, but you weren't. Where were you?" Hermione said from behind the two.

Ron gave Harry a dangerous look, and turned back to his work.

"Uhh.. yeah, I was there. But then I went for a walk in the forest and... yeah. Sorry I made you worry. It won't happen again."

Ron smirked and shook his head.

"Or it might..." Harry muttered to himself, swallowing hard.

"What was that?" Hermione requested to repeat.

"Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself."

Harry turned back to his work and started writing. Bad enough he had to lie to his friend who he could turn to for protection, but didn't. Even worse now, whatever he wrote made no sense because his mind was busy with fear.

"Hey Harry, you okay? You seem exhausted... wanna skip lunch and take a nap in our room? You can always catch up on food at dinner and breakfast, but sleep is hard to regain." Ron flashed a barely visible evil grin, but it was still there. That grin...

"Uhh, no thanks mate, I'm fine." Harry decided to use the word 'mate' instead of 'babe'.

"No honey, I insist. In fact, I will take you to bed whether you like it or not." Ron was slightly angry now, knowing that Harry was trying to lure out of the situation. Ron was going to punish him for that.

Harry shook his head and said every single reason he couldn't go to their room. But Ron of course knew what to do. He almost got Harry to agree and get what he wanted, but then Harry had an idea.

"Fine! Fine! I have an additional Quidditch practice, happy? There."

"Okay, well that explains your great skills." Ron commented, and actually meant it, as he fell for the excuse.

Harry thought he was off the hook, but then...

"Can I come see?"

BOOOM! Harry's plan backfired. His stomach made a triple flip and butterflies flew out of it and into his chest. His heart was smashing his rib cage and his brain went fuzzy for a second.

"Yeah, sure..." he muttered, not knowing what else to say.

Mental face palm*

"Silence please, you are preparing for a test, not mocking about." Said professor McGonnogal walking past the two boys. Harry snapped back to reality and it hit him.

He had Potions next class, and after the truce all students could sit with whoever they wanted to. Of course, worst enemies were advised to sit together to become friends. He could sit next to Draco, tell him about everything and seek for safety.

He spent the rest of the lesson counting down eternity-long seconds until class was over. Finally, the class ended and he bolted out of the room.

At the door to the class Harry spotted Draco. He stood by the door waiting for it to be opened as they arrived early. He was talking to Blaise about something, laughing over it. When he saw Harry, he gave him a friendly smile and small wave of a hand.

" Draco, can we talk?" Harry muttered nervously, fidgeting with his fingers. He barely looked up at Draco, worried he would deny. Blaise got the hint and walked over to other Slytherins to talk about other stuff.

Draco smiled at him, took his by the arm and led him a little further away from other nosy students.

"What's up?"

"Bad."

"Why? He didn't touch you, did he?"

"No. But he is planning to and I just got myself into deep trouble instead of luring out of it."

"I'm listening."

"Well you see, almost right after I arrived Ron said I didn't look so well and insisted I'd skip lunch and go to our room and take a nap. He gave me every reason to go, because I guess he wanted to 'revenge on me' for not returning to the room yesterday."

"You are not going, and that's a fact that can't and won't be changed. You are staying with me, and that's the final."

"Yeah, well. I tried to make that happen. And when I was just a hair away from giving in, I said I had additional Quidditch practice."

Draco paused for a moment, thinking of what has been said. "Well, what seems to be the problem? I think it's a good way to lure out of trouble. After all, you do have good seeker skills and additional practice would at least explain that somehow."

Harry blushed at having been complemented that for the second time today.

"Yeah, well he asked if he could come watch. I said yes because if I said no, he wouldn't believe me about The Whole additional practice thing and I would have to pay a painful price."

Draco nodded, grabbed him by the arm again and led him into the already open classroom. He dragged Harry along with him to one of the back desks and forced him to sit down next to him.

Almost all eyes were on them, and Draco got annoyed. "What? Just trying to become friends. What's wrong with that?"

"Everything" he hear a quiet voice say. He spun around, and there sat Ron. His face was flaming red from anger and disobedience.

"Harry, come here." Ron motioned the boy towards him and an empty space beside him.

Harry started slowly standing up, when Draco put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back down. Ron motioned Harry again, looking more angry now. Draco saw the hesitation in the bright emerald eyes and decided to do the right thing.

He snaked an arm from behind Harry, and around his waist. He pulled him in closer to himself and kissed his blushing cheek. Harry knew what to do, and just smiled at the touch, showing that he liked it.

Ron went up in flames. "Get your hands off my man" Ron growled, almost slamming the fist on the table but stopping in time. Professor Snape walked in and started the lesson. He suspiciously eyed the two boys sitting together and the jealous Ron, but payed no attention.

Draco pretended to pay attention to what professor Snape was saying to open the lesson and then turned back to Ron.

"Now, is he really your man?" Draco ran his hand down Harry's leg from the waist to the knee. Harry tensed up at the touch but relaxed a few moments later.

Ron's jaw fell open as he watched Harry put up with what the blond was doing. His eyes widened and his fist clutched till his knuckles turned white.

Draco grabbed a tighter hold of Harry, who was now scared for his dear life. Ron was really angry and if he found a way to get to Harry, he was a dead man and Draco had already put him one leg in the grave.

Harry scooted up a little closer to Draco for protection and got it. He was safe for now. But he still had to think of a way to get additional Quidditch practice just this one time.

Today they were brewing Amortinia. The strongest love potion in the world. They were called up to gather the ingredients from the cupboard in groups of four or six. Third group was Draco and Harry, Blaise and Pansy and Ron.

Harry sped up to the cupboard but Ron caught up with him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ron growled through gritted teeth, slightly pushing Harry from behind. Harry almost tripped and fell with his face into the edge of a desk, but held himself up.

He looked confused at Ron, and went to gather his ingredients. Ron was about to pull something else on Harry, when Draco came along and stood between the two as if he wasn't causing a big problem and obstacle for Ron.

He then waited for Harry to gather his needed things and walked side by side him to their desk. Harry was really enjoying sitting with Draco. A couple of funny remarks now and then, and nice tips on improving the way he was brewing the potion.

When everyone was finished, Professor Snape walked around to make sure all the potions were of a shiny magenta color. Then he said "please test them on the person sitting beside you, your neighbor."

Harry and Draco turned to each other at once, while Ron hesitated. He didn't have anyone to test the potion on, so he had to test it on himself. He drank it and the room was filled with the smell of his house, Christmas cookies and Harry.

Harry and Draco drank each other' potions and enjoyed the new scents. Harry sensed the smell of cinnamon, Quidditch, Ron and... Draco's cologne. That slightly confused Harry, but then he just let the blush invade his cheeks and decided for himself that the job was done.

Draco on the other hand, sensed the smell of morning dew, honey, the Potions Class and Harry's slight scent of fresh cut wood and cinnamon that just made him feel so homy.

There were no side effects, so the two boys got good marks on the potions. Draco hurried to get Harry and himself out of the classroom before Ron caught up, but failed.

Ron was already at their heels, trying to get Draco to turn around and face him like a man. Draco did so, and Ron regretted it. A tough, strong and angry Slytherin stood before him, a head taller and angrier.

"Well well, its lunch time. I believe Harry has somewhere to be?"

"Yup, we are going to the Quidditch practice." Draco wrapped his arm around Harry's waist again and got him to walk.

"Wait, how do you know?" Ron asked suspiciously.

"Because I am his opponent." Draco said, putting himself in the same mess.

Ron was left behind penetrated with shock and confusion.