A few weeks passed after the nasty incident in the hall. Because really, Harry didn't enjoy being snogged by a person he loathed. Okay, so Malfoy was an extremely good kisser, and maybe he had a nice body and arse – that didn't mean Harry liked the bloke! Lust! It was lust, never like, and definitely not love.

Back to the matter at hand, school was about to start in a few days – surprisingly Harry had survived his month of hell – so of course the next thing to do was buy all their new books and supplies. Dumbledore had regretfully informed Harry he was too busy to venture out of the castle, let alone take both of the boys shopping. Harry had then been told he would find out who their chaperone would be the day of the trip – which was today – and after arriving at the meeting point, he was not very pleased.

"You, along with Draco, are going to accompany me to Diagon Alley, I expect you to be ready at exactly – "

"Excuse me, question." Harry held up his hand, inwardly cackling in joy, knowing he was annoying Snape to no end.

Snape glared with obvious loathing. It wasn't the glare he reserved for his classes, the one that clearly said to all, 'You had better watch your back and not screw up your Potions or else you'll be serving a month's detention with Filch in the Forbidden Forest.' No, this glare was the one Harry was used to, the 'You're lucky Dumbledore has such a liking for you or else I would use your body parts as ingredients in my Potions, damn Gryffindor kiss up' glare.

Okay, maybe Harry had added the last part, but that was pretty much the glare he was receiving at the moment. He slowly smiled. Snape was so easy to annoy.

"What is it, Potter?" The voice quavered with suppressed irritancy.

Harry's smile grew as he shrugged. "Why are you taking us?" he asked innocently, after all, Snape wasn't the kind of person who would do something like this willingly, there had to be someone else behind it.

A glare sent him into another bout of mental laughter and Snape seemed to be put out. "If you must know, I am being somewhat punished for "kidnapping" you from your home," he muttered.

The Gryffindor smirked and Snape immediately glared and whirled around with a hiss. "Noon, Potter, I expect you at noon!"

What's with him and leaving at noon? Harry shook his head. Oh well, I guess this is a good opportunity to get my supplies for this year, even if it is with Snape. He began to walk back toward his dorm to wait out their departure time, he could probably find something to amuse himself with.

It was at that moment that he remembered exactly who he was taking this little "fieldtrip" with and he groaned.

"Malfoy is going to ruin my fucking day!"

--- --- ---

Apparating was not a fun experience, or at least that's what Harry believed. He fell to his knees as they landed and swooned upon standing up. Malfoy sniggered openly and Harry glared darkly at him, both readying for a battle of words. Before they could begin to argue though, Snape snapped his fingers impatiently, effectively catching their attention and saving himself from further angst.

"Go off and do whatever it is you do," he waved them away, "I will return at a quarter to three, be here." He turned and promptly left them, robes billowing behind him.

The two students remained in silence for a moment longer before Draco cleared his throat and sneered at the Gryffindor. "I suppose you want me to walk with you and hold your hand?" His sneer turned into a confident smirk. "We wouldn't want you to get lost now, Potter."

Harry scoffed, "As if I want your hands on any part of my body. I already told you, Malfoy, stay away from me and I won't hex you." He started walking down the street, Draco doing the same and keeping in step with him. Harry shot him an odd look from the corner of his eye. He doesn't really expect to go shopping with me does he?

He began to open his mouth to question the blond but Draco decided to part from the other boy at that moment. "We'll meet up later, Potter," he said as he began walking away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Harry found himself protesting, it wasn't that he wanted the blond's company – anything but – he just didn't want to explain his disappearance to Snape.

A familiar smirk graced the pale boy's face. "Knockturn Alley." He arched his brows suggestively. "Want to come?"

"No." Harry turned away with a huff, he didn't need to be dealing with Malfoy this early in the day, let him explain himself to Snape when the professor came to pick them up.

He soon fell into a sort of daze, window shopping lazily and mentally checking off what he would need to purchase. It felt a bit off, wandering around here without some overprotective person being with him, it seemed he always had someone hovering over him as he shopped. But now that he thought about it…it felt kind of invigorating.

"Harry! Harry, is that you?"

I spoke too soon. He winced as he turned at the familiar voice calling him. His sour expression quickly morphed into a bright smile. "Hermione!" He opened his arms as the witch ran up and gave him a hug.

She smiled at him. "I didn't think I would see you until school began."

"Are you here with your parents?" He smiled in return.

"Yes, I had to practically beg them to bring me early, I wanted to buy all my school books and supplies of course, but there were some books I've had my eye on for a while," she chattered happily, "what are you doing here?"

He smiled sheepishly as he replied, "I'm here with Snape and Malfoy." He chuckled at her astonished expression.

Hermione stared at him with her mouth open in astonishment. "Slytherins? Those Slytherins, Harry? What's going on? You're obviously staying at the castle, has something happened?"

"Calm down!" Harry laughed. "There's nothing wrong with the Order if that's what you're thinking, and yes I'm staying at Hogwarts for the last month."

She crossed her arms and glared at him. "I think there are some things you need to tell me, Harry."

"Merlin, I have so much to tell you, I haven't had the time to write you guys. Have you seen Ron lately? Written him?" He asked as he glanced around at the shops once more.

"Not since the beginning of break." She admitted, taking off her gloves and pocketing them. "But he spoke of you so often that I thought you two had been writing each other. Why, what's happened?" she asked worriedly.

Harry waved off her worry with a grin. "Nothing important," he shrugged, "just some…personal problems."

"Well that's important!" Hermione protested. "What have we told you about keeping secrets?"

He shrugged again. "I don't know," he mumbled, chastised.

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "Tell us, Harry, if you feel like jumping from the Astronomy Tower I want to know ahead of time so that I can set out my funeral robes." She smiled jokingly.

"I didn't know you were so eager to have me gone." Harry laughed. "I'm sorry for not writing sooner though, next time I promise I will. And I'll be sure to tell you of all my woes."

"Alright, now tell me what's happened." She linked arms with him as they continued walking.

Harry chuckled nervously. "Do you happen to have any books focusing on Veela?" He winced as he waited for her reaction.

She groaned and rolled her eyes skyward. "Harry, what have you done now?"

"It's not like I have a choice in the matter," he said, frowning at the thought. He continued in and unhappy mutter, "But I've recently found out that I'm some stupid Veela's soul mate."

"Well that's wonderful!" Hermione beamed, ever the girl, sighing over any hint of romance. "Who is she?"

"He," Harry put stress on the word with a grimace, "is a prat who should have been drowned at birth."

Brown eyes widened immediately. "Malfoy? I thought he was a pureblood!"

Harry smiled. "Wow, you got it on the first go." He congratulated.

"Well it wasn't that hard with the way you described him, only one person could fit that description." She paled at a sudden thought. "Unless it's the elder Malfoy?" she asked hesitantly.

"No!" Harry shook his head vehemently. "Hell no, I would most definitely kill myself if that were the case. No, I'm stuck with his spawn. Draco fucking Malfoy, can you not see the irony in that?" he demanded, temper working up. "We're rivals for five years and then suddenly, poof, we're meant to spend the rest of our lives together!"

Hermione tried to shush him as people started whispering and looking their way but Harry continued on.

"I mean, I should have seen it! It's so cliché, two enemies forced to love each other as soul mates! A fine line indeed!" Harry sighed and shook his head, calming slightly. "I don't know what to do, Hermione, I can't just sit back on this one. Malfoy is a prick who lives to see me suffer. How can I spend my life with that?"

"You shouldn't have to," Hermione agreed. "I'm going to help you of course, Harry, but I'm warning you now, there might not be any way to change this."

Harry nodded. "I know, I'm not getting my hopes up, but if there's anyone that can crack this, it's you." He smiled.

The witch flushed. "Stop buttering me up or I might have to hex you." She winked. "You know I have my eye on Ron."

"Of course, how could I forget?" He teased, "Every time you're in his presence you get these starry eyes and you – "

"Harry James Potter, you shut your mouth this instant!" She smacked him over the head.

He winced and rubbed his head dramatically. "You wound me," he whimpered. "Ow, really, you probably killed a hundred brain cells in that smack alone."

"It will be the first of many; it's my ingenious plan to take over the world, one brain cell at a time." Hermione chuckled.

"I'm sure – "

"Mudblood and Potter, I never expected to see you two together," an icy voice murmured.

Harry recognized the voice immediately and scowled as he turned. "What do you want, Malfoy, I thought you said you were going to stay in Knockturn Alley," he accused, seeing Draco lounging beside a lamppost.

The Veela slowly stepped closer to the pair, eyes flashing subtly, but Hermione saw the signs of a tantrum about to start and strived to rectify the situation before it got out of control.

"Actually, Harry, I'd better be off, all that shopping to do and whatnot." She smiled and shot a furtive glance toward the blond. "I'll see you when school starts, alright?"

There was a confused frown, Harry was sadly not as bright as his friend when it came to reading people's moods. "But I thought we were going to buy supplies together..."

Hermione smiled reassuringly. "Well you have Malfoy now, so you're all set."

"Malfoy?" Harry gaped in protest. "I don't want to shop with him!" Why is she abandoning me!

Draco sidled up next to him and leered at Hermione as he crossed his arms over his chest threateningly. "Leave us." His eyes flashed again with his whisper.

The witch seemed uncertain about leaving her friend to his enemy but after hearing the low growl, jumped into action, lest she find herself without her head or something else just as important. "Bye, Harry!" Hermione waved over her shoulder as she hurriedly left, she didn't know much about Veelas yet, but she knew when to leave an unbound mate alone.

Harry watched her leave in a state of shock. What had happened? One minute they had been talking, joking, and then in the next Malfoy shows up and she turns tail and runs! He turned a glare onto the blond. He did something, I know it!

"What did you do to her?" he demanded with a scowl.

Draco regarded the Gryffindor in a bored manner and sighed as his attention wavered. "I told her to leave," he replied uncaringly. "I didn't like her spending time with you, you're mine."

"Oh fuck off, Malfoy! Are you serious?" Harry cried in outrage. "I don't belong to you like some fucking trophy to be won. I'm my own person and you'll be lucky if I decide to spare the time of day for you!"

I can't deal with him anymore! Merlin, it's no wonder we've fought so much during the years. Spending all this unwanted time with him is tearing at my nerves.

Harry stormed away from the Slytherin, intent on buying his supplies and then waiting for Snape. The day could not end any worse.

How wrong he would end up being.