The Advantages of Persistence

by Bizarre Dreamer

H/D Draco has decided that after two years of a truce, a war, and an entirely too oblivious Gryffindor, he's going to go for what he really wants in his life; Harry Potter. Harry really just wanted a normal year at Hogwarts, but Malfoy asking to be his friend is likely to complicate that a bit. A/U Where Dumbledore, Fred, & Snape live, along with some others.

4. Chapter 4

He might be loath to admit it, but Harry was coming to rather enjoy the time he spent with Malfoy. He'd been dedicating so much of his time to the other boy that he'd felt the need that weekend to spend some time with his other friends. As such, he was currently sitting out by the lake with Hermione, Neville, Ron, Ginny, and Luna as they discussed current assignments. They were all enjoying relaxing a bit when Hermione brought the subject of Potions up.

"How's the Potions essay going, Harry?" she asked him curiously. They all knew that he had been working closely with Malfoy for about two weeks at that point. It wasn't as though they had tried to keep it a secret, and so practically everyone knew that he was spending a rather large chunk of his time with the Slytherin.

He smirked lightly at her, flopping down completely so he was lying flat in the grass, "Finished."

That seemed to get everyone else's attention, because the quiet conversation that Ginny and Luna had been having seemed to stop as well. "You mean to tell me that you've actually finished a Potions essay three days before it was due?" Hermione asked him incredulously.

"Sure did. I finished it early yesterday evening, right before dinner. Draco's just looking it over for me before I turn it in," he explained, waving a hand slightly in dismissal.

"Are you sure you're Harry Potter?" Ginny asked him curiously, "Because there were at least two things in that sentence that point to you being someone else Polyjuiced to look like him."

Hermione shook her head, "No no, there were definitely three things there that make it impossible for this imposter to be Harry."

Ron, who had been silent up until that point decided that this was the best place to join the conversation. He might have made some semblance of peace with the ferret, but no one else needed to know that. "Yeah, I counted three too. Firstly, he finished an assignment before dinner, when he never used to do homework until after dinner when left to his own devices. Then he called Malfoy by his first name."

"And then," Ginny continued on, "is the implication that you're trusting said Malfoy with looking over your homework."

"Oh come on guys," Neville said, patting Harry's head lightly as the boy tried to push his hand away, "I think it's still Harry. A Harry courting the cliffs of insanity, perhaps, but Harry all the same."

"Gee guys, thanks ever so much for that glowing vote of confidence. Shouldn't you all just be happy that I'm doing my school work rather than nit picking who's looking it over?" Harry grumbled discontentedly. He preferred it when his friends had still been too shocked by the arrangement to really comment one way or another about it. Now that they seemed to be coming to terms with it, though, it was more than likely going to become a new favorite topic. He was beginning to think he should have taken Malfoy up on that weekend study session instead.

He was proven right about it being the new favorite topic later that afternoon when he was playing Ron at chess in the common room, and losing horridly. "So how is studying going with the ferret going?"

"Not you too, Ron!" Harry said before having a rook viciously attack one of Ron's pawns. "First Hermione, then that whole incident by the lake. It's not fair for you guys to gang up on me like this!"

Ron just grinned at him, "Oh come on mate, it's not as though any of us were actually being mean about it. I actually think it's kind of good for both of you. And your grades. But really, are the study sessions going well? I mean, I imagine they must be if you've actually got your Potions essay done this early, but I haven't actually asked before, so I thought maybe I should..."

He watched his friend quietly for a moment, trying to gauge the red head's sincerity. It seemed like Ron really was adjusting to it, and neither he nor Malfoy had even been rude to each other since the study sessions had started. "They're going well, really well actually. For the first time I can remember I actually understand some of the information Snape pours out during class, and it's got me keeping up a lot better than I would normally be able to. And Draco's making a ton of progress in Defense too, so that's been good." Harry honestly wasn't sure when he'd switched over from calling him Malfoy to calling him Draco, but it was probably a good thing since he'd started calling Harry by his first name quite a while before. He decided that he wouldn't be too concerned about the change in the way they addressed each other because it just didn't seem like a big deal.

"I knew when he turned out not to be completely evil that the day would come when I would have to be nice to the prat," Ron said, heaving an overly dramatic sigh. "Well, as long as being friends with him makes you happy, I don't see why it should make a difference who he is. He really has been a lot better since we came back this year, even compared to how he was during the war. It's sort of nice not to have to worry as much about being cursed in the halls over something stupid."

Harry nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you're right on that. I certainly don't miss those days. We don't even really argue when we study. I mean, we've had a couple of small disagreements, but nothing like I sort of thought we'd be. I thought when he first brought it up that the whole thing would end in disaster since we used to argue so much, but we just sort of...solve our issues easily. I dunno."

"Doesn't sound like a bad thing," Ron commented, moving his queen across the board, "Checkmate. Anyways, I really do think it's great that you two can get along without hexing each other constantly. I think we were all a bit worried about that and the arguments we feared would happen with the two of you spending so much time together. We were all pleasantly surprised by how you're handling it. Except for Seamus, but that's only because he lost two galleons to me over you guys having an epic fallout within the first week."

"I should probably be concerned that you're making bets about this, but it's better than the chaos I was worried about," Harry told him thoughtfully. Ron was the person in his life he had been most worried about adjusting to having Draco around, so if his best friend could handle it, then he really shouldn't be worried about what anyone else seemed to think.

The next day Draco resolved to corner Harry about possible changes that could benefit the entire school. He was relatively sure that it was going to come down to having the other boy pull rank with his hero status to get anyone to really pay attention to the two of them, but he was certain Harry would go along with it if he spent a little time convincing him of why it was such a good idea. He noticed as he crawled sleepily out of bed that the curtains to the dark haired boys bed were already open and the bed abandoned. He'd observed that Harry was sometimes waking up a bit earlier than normal. Draco thought if he hurried through his morning routine he might be able to catch him early at breakfast before everyone else began crowding around their table.

He managed to finish in record time, and hurried down the steps from the dorm room. He was almost half way through the common room when he realized that Harry hadn't headed to breakfast early after all. Instead it seemed as though the boy was working on something with his head bent over a book and a piece of parchment that he was scratching away at with a quill right next to him.

Draco's brow twitched and furrowed as he made his way over to his friend. "Harry, what on earth are you working on at this ungodly hour?"

His head jerked up as he nearly fell out of his chair, "Shit Draco! Way to scare the crap out of me. Are you sneaking up on everyone today, or am I just special?"

"I was hardly sneaking. Honestly, I made a lot of noise. It's not my fault you were so terribly focused on whatever that is that you didn't hear me coming over here," Draco muttered, leaning over to try and see what Harry was working on. "Way to avoid the question, Wonder Boy. Really, what are you working on so diligently at this time of the morning?"

Draco ignored the way Harry rolled his eyes at him and dropped his head rather loudly onto the table as he murmured, "You're going to think it's stupid."

"And this would be a new occurrence in what way? Honestly, Harry, just tell me. It can't be that bad," Draco told him, sliding into the seat across from him and staring at the mop of unruly black hair.

It took a moment, but finally the head of hair lifted and Draco was confronted with green eyes and a small frown, "I didn't say it was bad, just stupid. I was talking to Professor Camden and Headmistress McGonagall a few days ago about studying to be an animagus, so I've been spending my extra time looking into it."

It was ambitious, Draco thought, but that wasn't a bad thing. Actually, it was a pretty damned impressive venture if Harry was serious about it, and he would have to be. If he wasn't, a transformation could go horribly wrong; there were more than a few things that could easily go wrong with the process and it wasn't an easy road to take. He realized that Harry was still watching him and waiting for what he seemed to think would be a negative reaction. Instead, Draco graced him with an honest smile, "I don't think it's stupid; quite the opposite really. Have you told anyone else you were considering this?"

A shake of dark hair was his response as Harry tapped the end of his quill against his lips. "It's not that I don't think I should or anything, it's just that I wanted to be really sure before I actually told anyone. I think that Hermione will insist that I wait at least until after the school year to start studying it, but I don't really want to. I think it would be better to start here where I have both McGonagall and Camden within reach if I have questions. I've thought about it a lot since my third year when I found out my dad and his friends were animagi, but that's not really the reason I started looking into it so seriously."

That his father had been an animagus had been mentioned to Draco before, but only in passing. It would be another connection to his father, Draco was sure, but if that wasn't the real motivating factor, he certainly wanted to know what actually had been. He was also a little more than simply pleased by the fact that Harry had chosen to divulge the information to him before he shared it with any of his other friends.

"Well," Draco said softly, "What is the reason that you want to learn this so badly?"

The other boy fidgeted for a few seconds, looking vaguely uncertain, before he started speaking, "Honestly, I'm not sure what made it such a prominent thought in my mind again when I hadn't really thought of it in a while, but I know the moment when I started to think I might actually be able to pull it off. We were working on that healing potion last week, and it occurred to me that if I could actually manage to learn Potions that there wasn't any reason that I couldn't do this too." Harry stopped speaking for a moment, flushing darkly, though Draco couldn't really see a reason for that sort of reaction. "So, I guess you sort of gave me the confidence in my abilities that I needed to decide that I could do it."

Oh. Well, that might account for the blush. Draco tried to keep his smile from looking too smug at the announcement, but had no idea how well he'd actually done it. "I'm glad I could be of service. I think it's great. Maybe I'll look into it too. If nothing else, I can always help you study." Draco stood up, gently putting a spare piece of parchment in between the open pages of the book in front of his friend and closing it gently, "Now then, you can continue that later. People are going to start coming down for breakfast any minute. We should head to the Great Hall before Weasley gets up and beats us there. There'll be nothing left with the way he eats."

Harry chuckled softly as he nodded, gathering up his things and stuffing them into his bag before getting up and following Draco out of the common room. "If I do manage it...what do you think I'll end up as? Everything I've read says that you can influence the change to a certain extent with intent of what you want to use it for, but they all agree that ultimately your magic chooses the form."

"Well, I highly doubt you'd end up as something even relatively normal or mundane. There's always a small chance you could end up with a magical creature as your form, but that's rare even by animagus standards. Honestly, I'm not sure. Certainly nothing tame, either," Draco said, making sure to add a teasing tone into his voice for the last sentence.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Nothing tame?" Harry said, half glaring at the blond boy with a pout etched across his face.

Draco laughed openly at the look on his face, and they had to stop for a moment as he was bent nearly double in his mirth. When he finally calmed down he straightened up and was met with a rather bemused look from Harry. "I promise I wasn't insinuating anything horrible. I can totally see you coming out of this as, like, the Gryffindor lion or something. Totally cliché, sure, but it sort of fits with you, doesn't it?"

Bumping his shoulder as they walked into the Great Hall, Harry said, "Haha, very funny. It could certainly be worse than a lion though. I could end up as something cute and furry like a rabbit." He wrinkled his nose in disgust, "I mean, could you imagine? I would live in shame."

Draco snorted, shaking his head as they sat side by side at their table, "Of all of the animals in the world, I hardly think you'd be suited to a rabbit of all things. A squirrel, maybe, but certainly not a rabbit."

Another glare got directed his way by green eyes for that jibe, but Draco just smiled serenely back at him. "Ugh, fine, we're totally dropping this discussion for now. Just because I told you doesn't mean I'm ready to tell anyone else. I want to be sure about it before that... Anyways, why were you up and about so early this morning?"

"Hm, I was hoping to catch you once I realized you were awake, actually," Draco admitted confidently. If there was one place in the world he was certain Harry loved, it was Hogwarts, so he felt better and better about what he had been planning to bring up. Harry was watching him closely, one brow raised in question. "I was thinking about House separation the other day."

He'd been fairly sure that he had Harry's full attention a moment before, but if it was possible he was under even more scrutiny from him. "What about it?" he asked Draco uncertainly.

"It's just, well; did you notice how everyone at our table has finally started to interact despite boundaries that we used to have based on our Houses? There was no separation at all like there has been even though we've all been sharing a table and dorms. Once they realized that we really were friends, it was like it didn't matter. Weasley is even being amiable. I passed Greg and Finnegan in the library yesterday," he admitted excitedly. It was odd to find that he was so invested in something that four years before he would have been avidly opposing. "What if there was a way to do that for the younger years too?"

Harry hummed softly, picking at his food thoughtfully for a couple of minutes before he responded, "You're right about that. I mean, I know we grew up with a really strong separation of Houses and that in a lot of ways it did seem pretty detrimental to me later on. I don't think the younger kids realize how big an effect it can have on people. It really would be nice to see if we could find a way to bring the Houses together more. It would help a lot, in the future I think. Maybe it would cut down on the fighting in the corridors."

He grinned back at Harry meeting bright green eyes excitedly, "We've certainly been intimately involved with some of those, haven't we?" The scene that ensued was what most of their friends say as they came up to the table in the Great Hall. Harry was choking slightly on a piece of toast with Draco patting him on the back rather roughly, both of them laughing loudly enough that people from other tables had turned towards them.

Granger sat down next to Harry with a perplexed look on her face, "Do I even want to know what started this little scene?"

"Honestly Granger, when you say it like that it sounds like we're up to something! We were only discussing how such strong separation between the Houses might be proving horribly detrimental and how we might be able to do something to help that," Draco told her calmly, ceasing to pat Harry's back now that the black haired boy seemed to have his breathing under control again.

"I'm not sure I want to know how that topic led to this," she said, shaking her head disapprovingly at them. "It is a rather interesting topic though. I think most of us in the higher years have considered it before. I've never thought much about what might be done about it though. There have always been other things just over the horizon that tended to take up more of my time."

Weasley muttered something from the other side of her that sounded oddly like "house elves", but didn't comment further when all it got him was a frown from his girlfriend. She dismissed him after a moment and turned back to Draco and Harry, "What did the two of you have in mind?"

Harry shrugged, looking suddenly a lot less sure of himself than he had been a few moments before, causing Draco to frown slightly. "Draco and I had only just started discussing it. We hadn't really gotten so far as all of that yet," he told her softly.

"Well you should let us know what you come up with, and if there's anything any of us can do to help," Pansy spoke up from the other side of Draco where he hadn't even noticed she'd appeared. He was a bit surprised to be hearing support from another of the Slytherin students, but honestly the Slytherins were the ones whose reputation had been harmed so much during the war so it did make some sense.

Several of the other Eighth Years around them expressed interest in helping as well, causing Harry to turn to him with raised eyebrows and say, "I guess we'll have to talk this over more later, since it's getting so much approval." Draco could only nod his agreement. He was happy that they were getting so much support from their year mates, and hoped that they got a similar show of support when they talked to others about it as well. It seemed he was right in talking to Harry about it after all.

Harry had been more than a little surprised by the interest Draco had shown not only in his side project but also with his interest in being involved in an attempt to unite the school more thoroughly. Harry had noticed the way that their year mates were becoming more integrated with each other the longer time wore on. He knew that his and Draco's sudden friendship had gone a long way to pushing them further, but he believed that it would have happened eventually with or without that friendship. He couldn't ignore the fact that he and Draco did make a rather good team with everything they had done so far, though. They were both doing better in their problem classes, and Harry thought that they had both been more relaxed than they had started the year out as.

So far it had been a much better year than Harry had thought it was going to be. He was getting better grades and aiming higher than he'd ever tried to before, which was sort of weird when he thought about it, but it seemed to really have impressed his Professors so far, and even Hermione was surprised at how much he was studying. All of that aside, there wasn't much he missed that he'd had in previous years. He missed Quidditch, of course, and the Gryffindor common room. Most of the other things he'd come to rely on at Hogwarts were still there. Dumbledore had stepped down, but he wrote occasionally. It was a case of the more things had changed for all of them; the more they had stayed the same.

Today Draco had requested using their time before dinner to discuss the House issue instead of studying. Both of them were caught up on their assignments and were even reading ahead for most of their classes, so it wasn't as though it was going to hurt their grades to take a break from all of the studying and focus on something else important. Draco, somehow, had beaten him back to the common room and was sitting at their usual table waiting for him.

He slide into the seat across from Draco and glanced down at the small pile of notes that were spread out in front of his friend. "I thought we were skipping this part of studying today?"

"We are. I was just going over some old Transfiguration notes while I was waiting for you," Draco told him, scooping the notes up together and pushing them aside. "So, House integration."

He'd realized not long after he'd started working closely with the blond during the war that there was a side of Draco that simply didn't know how to ease into things. When he was nervous or slightly uncertain but still trusted who he was talking to he had a tendency to be almost devastatingly blunt. "Yes, I was under the impression that the separation between the Houses was the concern," Harry replied, amusement laced through his voice.

Draco glowered at him for a moment before rolling his eyes, "Do you have anything helpful to contribute, or shall I tell you my own ideas first?"

"By all means," Harry said, gesturing with his hand that Draco was more than welcome to go ahead. In all honesty, Harry wasn't sure he would know where to start with this idea and he was more than a little interested to find out what Draco thought might work.

"Well, I was kind of thinking that our table was where things really started coming together for the Eighth Years, right?" Harry nodded, and Draco seemed to pick up a little steam and continued, "Maybe having everyone sit exclusively with their House-mates during meals is detrimental. We already share dormitories with our Houses, and common rooms, so having one of our most social parts of the day confined to only our own House tables might be curbing the younger children's desires to even attempt making friends outside of their own House."

He nodded, that made more than a little bit of sense to him. "It's a good point. I don't think anyone is going to be willing to obliterate the House tables altogether, though. And there would probably be a lot of confusion if you did that during the Welcome Feast, for the First Years being sorted...but the rest of the time, if the students were allowed to mingle between the tables that would certainly be encouraging, I think."

Draco beamed at him happily, looking as though he'd been given a Christmas present early. The look was a bit disarming and had Harry smiling back just as bright, even though he wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps it was simply a knee jerk reaction. "Do you think that the Headmistress would be willing to actually listen to the suggestion without simply dismissing it because it came from a student?"

"I think she'll listen, especially since we have the proof that it worked with the Eighth Years. Maybe if she sees how well our year is doing she'll give the idea more credence," Harry said feeling rather certain that she would at least be willing to hear them out. It had been one of Dumbledore's greatest wishes while he was Headmaster to have the school be more united, and maybe that would finally happen.

The two of them spent several minutes quietly thinking, or at least, that's what Harry was doing. He thought Draco might have been watching him, but he hadn't really looked up from where he was drawing random patterns on the table to see if he was right. He was trying to think of other ideas that might bring the Houses together more. The tables were a great idea, but it wasn't going to be enough on its own. There was so much unused space in the castle...maybe they could use that to their advantage.

He looked up suddenly, excitement filtering into green eyes, "What about making some place in the castle where students of all of the Houses can meet. Maybe even separate them out by Years, or something? It's not as though there isn't plenty of extra space in the castle that isn't being used."

The other boy had startled slightly at the sudden outburst but now appeared to be thinking it over. "Like common rooms that discriminate by year instead of House? The library is really the only place in the school that's actually designated where all students from all Houses can be. It would make sense to have such a thing. And maybe one or two main common rooms as well? It seems like a rather large project, but I also think it would work. We can at least bring it up. The worst thing that will happen is she says no."

Harry was sincerely hoping that it wouldn't come to that. If nothing else, maybe McGonagall would let them carry out even part of the plan with at least the main common rooms. "Especially if we volunteer the Eighth Years to do the work. Everyone did seem to want to help, didn't they? We could use that to our advantage. Some of the Seventh Years might be willing to help us out as well."

"That's a rather good idea, actually. I know that ultimately we'll need to speak to the Headmistress, but should we approach Professor Snape first, since he's technically our stand-in Head of House?" Draco asked him uncertainly.

It was a good question, actually. Professor Kinley who'd taken over the Defense class had also become the Gryffindor Head of House when McGonagall had become the Headmistress. Professor Snape had volunteered (shockingly enough) to be the stand in for the Eighth Years, claiming that he felt closer to most of them since he had worked closely with several of them during the war. As such, it had left Professor Camden who was teaching Transfiguration as the Slytherin Head of House, at least for that year.

Considering all of that, and the fact that Snape was no longer quite so horrid where Harry was concerned, Draco was probably right about approaching him first. "Yeah, we probably should. If nothing else, he can set up a meeting for us with the Headmistress, hopefully. It'll also give me a chance to annoy him, and you know how I enjoy that."

"Yes Harry, annoy the Professor we're asking for help. That seems like a splendid idea," Draco said, drawling the words out and giving Harry a look that clearly stated that he was an idiot.

He sighed, vaguely put out, "Fine, ruin all of my fun. Do you know if he has a class right now? They should all be over for the day, I think. If they are, that would give us plenty of time to catch him before dinner starts."

Draco checked the time and nodded slightly, "I don't believe he has a class at the moment. We can head down to his office now, if you want?"

"Sure, let's go before I change my mind. You do remember that I'm his least favorite student, right?" Harry asked curiously. Just because he and Professor Snape were getting along better than they usually would have didn't meant that they were actually getting along by other people's standards. Though, to be fair, since he'd started doing so much better in Potions Snape had actually looked at him with something so close to approval that if it wasn't that emotion then Harry wasn't sure what it was. They'd both also been a lot less snarky to each other so far. His new found friendship with Draco seemed to be making all sorts of relationships in the castle change for the better.

The blond boy was tugging Harry along by the sleeve of his robe, apparently half concerned that he really would try and flee for the hills. "He doesn't dislike you nearly as much as you seem to think. Besides, Longbottom is his least favorite student. Weasley might actually be his second, which would make you his third. When you think about it, that's almost high praise from him."

"Yes, because only being the third worst is an accomplishment. Sometimes I don't understand Slytherins at all," Harry told him glancing down at the fingers wrapped around his sleeve. "You know I'm not going to run off and make you do this on your own, don't you? There's really no reason to drag me down the corridors like this."

Draco barely spared a glance back at him, apparently more focused on their destination than his complaints. "Right, because the one place your Gryffindor stupidity and bravery absolutely won't fail you is in the face of Professor Snape," the sarcasm was so heavy in his voice that Harry could barely contain a chuckle. He did have a point, and since the only real objection to being dragged around that he had (which probably tells you just how often people decided to do this to him) was that he didn't like other people to see him being dragged around, he let it go. The halls were fairly well empty, and his friend was plenty nervous as it was. If dragging Harry around by his robe sleeve kept him from doing something silly like hexing a First Year, Harry would allow it.

They finally came to Professor Snape's office, where Draco stopped and knocked gingerly on the door. It was quiet for several minutes and Harry was beginning to think that they'd missed him in his office when the door opened slowly inwards. Draco carefully stuck his head through the gape the door left and was apparently ushered inside since he began walking into the room beyond, still pulling Harry along with him. Professor Snape was sitting behind his desk looking disdainfully down at a paper which he thought rather looked like an essay, which would explain the look the Potions Master was giving it.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit, Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Potter?" Professor Snape asked them without looking up from where he was writing something down on the same paper.

Harry jabbed his friend in the ribs slightly with his elbow. If he was the first one to speak, more than likely the two of them would get thrown out, and that wasn't likely to help their endeavor. Draco glared at Harry for just a moment, probably for the indignity of the motion, but moved forward until he was closer to the desk anyways. "We actually had some questions and ideas concerning integrating the Houses more, and we thought that since you are technically our 'Head of House' for the year, we should bring the ideas to you first."

Professor Snape looked up from what he was doing then, giving both of them one of his most calculating looks. "I am not certain whether I should be terrified at the mere prospect of the two of you working together on such a project..." here he paused, his eyes sweeping over the two of them again while the boys glanced at each other uncertainly. Harry thought it likely that this could be the part where the Potions Master laughed the two of them out of the office, after all. Or, as he did a moment later, Snape could do something even more unexpected. He continued, having finished his assessment, "Or if I should be proud. The two of you have come quite a long way in the last year, and it has been fascinating to watch. Well? Sit down you two."

Draco sat down in the chair he was closest to, looking rather smug about how it was going so far. Harry was still in shock though. It had sounded rather like Snape had said he was proud of the two of them. He wasn't entirely sure how many more shocks he could take this year, really. Slytherins turning out to be decent people, hated Professors being proud of him. It felt rather like Hogwarts was being turned on its ear, and maybe it was. Maybe it was time for changes to be made in such a way that incited such excitement. Harry had been moving towards the chair at a snail's pace, still half tempted to make a run for it, before finally sitting gingerly down into the chair, fidgeting uncertainly for a moment.

Dark eyes were still watching the two of them closely from across the desk as their teacher leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled in front of his chest. "I understand that the two of you have been studying together quite frequently. Kinley and Camden were both warned of your past rivalry and came to me quite concerned when they had found out you were working together so much. They seemed to think that it would not end well, though most of your other professors seemed unconcerned. I daresay your marks have improved greatly from this endeavor."

Brow furrowed, Draco stared at him, "I was unaware that anyone had made a fuss about it. It's not as though we've been cursing each other outside of Defense practice."

"It is a rather nice change, isn't it? The amount of detentions being given out for fighting in the halls has dramatically decreased over the last two years or so," Professor Snape informed them, still watching them calmly. "Our newest staff members, and even a handful of concerned Seventh and Sixth Years who had once before been caught in your cross fire have been warned rather sternly not to interfere. I would hate to see your marks drop again, and the two of you seem to be making great strides towards helping others move past the war, whether anyone notices or not. I presume this is where your ideas for more House integration come into play?"

Harry watched Draco nod thoughtfully from the corner of his eye, clearly distracted by some of the information Snape was giving them. He decided that Draco was right and he wasn't nearly so far up on Snape's most hated students list anymore. "Most of it was Draco's idea, sir. We were discussing it a bit during breakfast, and the other Eighth Years were rather supportive, even going so far as to offer to help in any way they could." Here Harry stopped to glance pointedly in Draco's direction, barely managing to catch the other boy's gaze.

He seemed to catch the hint, nodding his blond head thoughtfully before speaking. "We've got a few ideas about where to start. I started out thinking about it when I realized the difference in the Eighth Year table. Since Harry and I have started to work together for Potions and Defense and we've been spending so much time together, things at the table have been a lot more interesting. Instead of being separated by Houses when we eat, like we were doing at the beginning of the year, or even by the divide between my friends and Harry's, everyone mingles now. No one bothers keeping to themselves, and everyone's getting along a lot better without the separation. Even Weasley and I have been, well not getting along, but we've been a bit better than simply civil with each other. You have to admit that's a rather large improvement."

Snape nodded his head in agreement before gesturing his hand for Draco to continue. The grey eyed boy blinked nervously at him before continuing on, trying not to ramble too much, "We were just wondering, if we could get so much out of sitting at a mixed House table, what sort of good would it do the younger students? The separation of Houses is one of the first things that we're taught at Hogwarts, even though everyone, in theory, wants the school to be more unified, we've never really done anything to promote it." Here Draco stopped to look at Harry, who had been silent up to that point in the explanation.

He'd been trying to leave the explanations up to Draco, but looking back and forth between the two others he knew they were waiting for him to contribute. He only hoped Snape didn't think he sounded like an utter idiot. It wasn't uncommon for the Potions Professor to make him feel inadequate. Despite this, he took a deep breath before saying, "The idea is that the separation of Houses during one of the most social times of our day might be part of the reason the students stay so segregated. We thought that, excepting special occasions like the Feasts, if students were encouraged to sit with other Houses, that might go a long way towards good will between all of the Houses."

"I think, perhaps, we shall say that I am proud rather than terrified of the work you two have been doing," their professor told them, eyes glinting ever so slightly in a way Harry had never seen before. He could only assume it was a good emotion, since he was still being so calm, but it was still mildly frightening. "And did the two of you have any other ideas on the matter?"

Draco was all but preening next to him, Harry noted with amusement. Draco grinned at Snape before he said, "Well, we did have another idea. It would be a rather large project, but the Eighth Years have already said they would be more than happy to help with anything that would integrate the Houses more and Harry thought that there might be some Seventh Years happy to help with it as well. It sort of bases around the amount of unused space in the castle. This one was mostly Harry's idea, actually."

He started up the fidgeting again at being put on the spot like that, and glared halfheartedly at Draco as he started rehashing what the two of them had been talking about not too long before. "I thought that it might be nice to have common rooms that didn't discriminate on House. Maybe a main common room or two that anyone can use, and then perhaps common rooms that were separated by year, like the Eighth Years have." At Snape's raised eyebrows Harry continued on, "We did say that it would be a pretty large project, but the students could do most of the work."

Snape watched them quietly for a moment, seeming to think over the proposal before sitting up straighter in his chair. "You are correct in saying that this project would take quite a lot of work, especially considering how heavy your school work load already is. However, if you can convince the Headmistress that you are willing to put in the work, she may very well let you attempt such an ambitious plan. I approve of both ideas very much. We all know that it has always been one of Albus's greatest ambitions to see the school more united. I think he will also be most delighted to hear that there is a strong chance it will finally happen, and with initiative from the students themselves, no less. I will speak to Minerva during dinner and request a meeting for the two of you. I'm sure she will be more than willing to hear your ideas on the matter. I will come and fetch you from the common room if she is amiable to having the meeting after dinner. If not we will arrange for another time." He gestured towards the door, the motion soft, "Now I believe that dinner will be starting shortly."

It was a clear dismissal if he'd ever heard one, and it had both of them scrambling to their feet, Draco a little more gracefully than Harry. Harry nodded at Snape as Draco said, "Thank you, Professor. We appreciate it!" It didn't take them too long to exit the room after that, and the two of them continued on their path towards the Great Hall walking companionably side by side in silence for several minutes.

Finally Harry said, "Well, that went a lot better than I expected it to. He didn't throw us out until after agreeing with us and complimenting us. I'm pretty sure that is the nicest thing Snape is ever likely to say to me."

Draco chuckled, still grinning, "You're probably right on that account at least. It's not like him to give out such forthright compliments, and certainly not to students he's ever shown the slightest bit of disdain for. I think you're certainly in a league of your own where Professor Snape is concerned now Harry."

"Somehow I don't find that comforting in the least. I get the feeling that he's going to expect even more from both of us now than he did before, not that his expectations were ever low in the first place," Harry grumbled, running a hand through his hair and mussing it up even more than usual. It seemed like Snape's new found pride in him was probably going to be a mixed blessing at best. He was going to have to try even harder at Potions now that Snape seemed to almost like him, he just knew it.

Draco was laughing outright now, as they neared the Great Hall. The other boy threw an arm around Harry's shoulders, "It won't be so bad. At least you have me to help you with Potions. If even Professor Snape thinks it's a good idea, then our chances with the Headmistress seem even better than they did before. Do you think we should tell the others we've volunteered them for unknown amounts of labor for our little projects if we're allowed to go through with them?"

"Hm," Harry hummed thoughtfully, barely noticing the arm that Draco hadn't bothered to move from his shoulders. He had noticed, just a bit, that Draco was touching him rather more than Harry thought was probably normal. But he didn't mind, and it wasn't as though it was causing problems, so he hadn't seen a reason to mention it. Ron and Hermione touched him sometimes, too, so it wasn't as though it was completely new to him. "Maybe we should allude to it without telling them too much. Especially since we won't know for certain until we talk to Headmistress McGonagall."

Nodding, Draco replied, "True. There are two ways they're likely to react; general exasperation and frustration with a mildly violent reaction to having a varied increased workload this year for one. The second is they'll get excited over it and then be horridly disappointed if it gets decided against. Either way, best not to have a lynch mob or a party until we know for certain."

They got less and less stares every time the two of them entered the Great Hall together, which Harry had to admit was nice. Hardly anyone turned to look at them as they made their way towards their table and sat down near the middle. They'd taken to the seating arrangement mostly so there was plenty of room for their friends on either side of them without excluding anyone who wanted to join in from any conversations. It was just another reminder of the togetherness the friendship between the two of them had inspired in their year group.

They dropped the discussion about the project for the moment and instead talked about Draco's progress in Defense. Hermione and Ron came in moments later, followed by Blaise and Pansy, and the table filled up rather quickly from there. Neither of them mentioned their side-project during dinner, as per their agreement before hand, but they couldn't help grinning at each other from time to time.