Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and co. – they belong to J.K Rowling. The previous sentence is the truth, and nothing but the truth. Honest. :-)

Warning: Slash alert! This story contains slash. Slash alert!

A/N: Thanks to my lovely reviewers All-knowing Alien, Susan Potter, Sarcastic-nut, GoddessMoonLady, The Tainted Angel of Earth, OneWhoSitsWithTheTurtles, female half – breed, MidnightsRose, sernity1806 and Haunt of twilight!
I have decided to reply to reviews using the review reply function, because apparently you get punished if you reply to reviews in your update. :-)

~Chapter Ten: The real thing is always much better!~

"Harry…"

Draco whispered his name from where he was lying amidst white silky sheets.

"Harry…"

"Harry! Wake up right this instant, or I will be forced to suffocate you with my pillow!"

Feeling dazed and sleepy, Harry awoke from his particularly blissful dream.

"Huh?" he yawned. And then he went to draw breath again, and realized that a certain someone was sitting on top of him, making it hard to breathe.

"Draco, get off me!" Harry said, sitting up and making Draco, who was smaller than Harry, slide from his chest.

"Well, you weren't waking up. I was just contemplating hitting you 'round the head with my pillow… but you woke up before I had the chance," Draco grinned cheekily. Harry realized that Draco was already dressed, looking very hot in his silk shirt, which was carefully left unbuttoned at the top.

"For your information, I was having a nice dream before you rudely woke me up!"

"Yes… but the real thing is much better than dreams, don't you think?" Draco said smirking, and he lent over to Harry and kissed him.

Harry smirked back at Draco, and got out of bed.

"Why are you up so early anyways?"

"Well… Ginny came in and said we had to hurry if we wanted to get to Diagon Alley today. So I got up, and let you have a little sleep in. After all, I thought you may be tired after our little escapade last night."

Harry blushed, and opened his mouth to deny it, but something else suddenly struck him.

"Hey, did you say Ginny came in here before either of us had got up?"

Draco's smirk grew wider.

"Yeah, I guess your locking charm must have worn out."

Harry groaned and slapped his forehead with his hand.

"Great, another thing for her to tease me about."

"I don't mind," Draco said. "You look adorable when you blush."

"And I never thought I'd hear you of all people call me adorable," Harry said, and he gathered up some clothes and went into the bathroom. After dumping his clothes on the floor, Harry paused and turned back to face Draco.

"By the way Draco… Happy Birthday."

Draco beamed.

A mere hour later Draco, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Mrs Weasley were all standing in the back yard of the Leaky Cauldron, having been transported there via a portkey. Draco had no shame in accidentally (on purpose!) stumbling into Harry and falling over on him. This had caused Harry to flush pink and glare at the sniggering Draco, and Ginny to poke Harry in the ribs after he had helped Draco up.

Mrs Weasley now dug inside one of her many pockets and pulled out her wand. She tapped the corresponding bricks in the wall, and they all stepped back as an archway grew in front of them.

"Wait a moment dears!" Mrs Weasley cried as the five teenagers started to move into Diagon Alley. "I really must go and visit some people; Kingsley Shaklebolt, Elphia Doge, Hestia Jones… and I'm afraid that will take until about three o'clock this afternoon. Now, can I trust you all to stay in Diagon Alley, and not get into trouble, for five hours?"

Ron and Ginny's "Yes Mum!" were joined by the chorus of "Yes, Mrs Weasley," from Draco, Harry and Hermione.

"Good," Mrs Weasley said. She shook her finger threateningly. "Then I want you all back here at three o'clock, not a minute later!"

And with that Mrs Weasley hurried off as fast as her feet would allow. The five teenagers looked at each other.

"Sweet!" said Ginny, a grin spreading over her face. "Five hours in Diagon Alley, with no adult to take care of us!"

Draco smiled awkwardly. He had been doing his school shopping alone since his third year at Hogwarts.

"Come on, we should get to Gringotts," Hermione said. The others nodded, so they made their way through the crowd. Draco noticed the crowd was much smaller than usual; probably the knowledge of escaped Death Eaters scared shoppers away.

"Hey," Harry said lightly, falling in step with Draco. "Did you know you look rather hot with brown hair and brown eyes?"

Draco wrinkled his nose and ran a hand through his much shorter, brown hair. Mrs Weasley and Hermione had both insisted he have some glamour charms put upon him, because of the Ministry officials supposedly looking for him.

"Nah, I prefer blonde hair."

"Me too," said Harry grinning, and Draco made to slap the back of Harry's head, but Harry ducked. Draco caught Harry's arm as Harry tried to grab him, and laughed.

However, their little play-fight was stopped short, because they had just entered Gringotts and the goblins at the entrance were looking at them strangely.

"Guys, me and Ron will wait here for you; we already have our money," said Ginny. She and Ron moved over to the side, and Harry, Draco and Hermione approached a desk.

"Excuse me. I'd like to make a withdrawal, my name is Hermione Granger," Hermione said briskly to the goblin in front of them, placing her vault key on the desk.

"Right. Any other business?"

"Yes," said Harry quickly. "I'd like to make a withdrawal from Harry Potter's vault."

"You have the key?"

"Oh, yes, here's my key."

"I would also like to make a withdrawal," Draco said smoothly. "From Draco Malfoy's vault."

The goblin stared with slightly narrowed eyes at Draco.

"You're not master Malfoy."

"No, I'm his friend though. I have his key, you can even check it." Draco handed over the key and the goblin held it up to the light to examine.

"Hm, yes, this is the real key. Well, I'll have someone take you to all three vaults."

The goblin stepped down from his position behind the desk, and walked over to a cart and another goblin. Draco, Harry and Hermione followed, walking past Ron and Ginny as they did so. Draco saw that Ron was looking increasingly resentful.

"Ron's sure being quiet today," Harry said, his gaze also directed at Ron.

"Yes," Hermione said shrewdly. "Yes, I still think he's jealous of Draco, even though he apologised to you, Harry."

"Why can't he just be happy that Draco's on our side?" Harry said exasperatedly but quietly, so no nosy people overheard.

It seemed Hermione had no answer to that. Draco sighed. Poor Harry.

After a quick visit to the teenagers' vaults, they met Ron and Ginny in the Main Hall, and exited Gringotts.

"I suppose we should go to Flourish and Blotts first huh, to get the most boring things first," Ron spoke up. Hermione made a small affronted noise, but the other three laughed, and Ron gave a smile.

By the time they had purchased all their books, Ron had warmed up a lot, and even laughed at a joke Draco made, about how Hermione seemed to have bought more non-compulsory books about her subjects than compulsory books.

"I seem to remember a certain promise you made on my birthday," Harry said grinning while nudging Draco in the ribs.

"Oh?" Draco said, his eyes on the shops they were passing.

"Yes, that's right. You promised you'd buy me a present when we visited Diagon Alley. Of course, I said you didn't have to…"

"But I am," Draco said, and he suddenly smiled. "We are going into this shop!" And without further ado, he grabbed Harry's forearm, and pulled him through the doorway.

Draco looked around happily; he lived in shops like this. It had lots of sparkling chimes hanging from the ceiling, either emitting beautiful music or deafening shrieks. There were lots of displays of knick knacks, which included stationary (but out-of-the-ordinary stuff), accessories for clothing, and pretty boxes.

"Um… what are we doing in here?" Harry asked, feeling lost.

"This is a gift shop, Harry. I'm buying a gift for you."

"Some gift shop," Ginny said admiringly, who had entered with Hermione and Ron after them.

Draco let out a quiet gasp, and hurried over to a jewellery cabinet.

"Harry, look!"

Harry wandered over to Draco, and when he noticed where they were, he said,

"No way Draco! I don't do jewellery!"

"Harry," whispered Draco, his eyes upon a pair of necklaces which were crossed over each other to make an 'X'.

The two necklaces were identical, and seemed to sell as a pair. They had skinny, silver chains, and had a tear drop shaped pendant. The tear drops were sparkling jewels, a startling green colour, and were glistening in the summer sun. Draco lent forwards to read the label.

The jewels encrusted in these necklaces came from an 'Antipodean Opaleye' Dragon's scales, which are multi-coloured. This makes the jewels immensely strong and glittery. When two people who share a special friendship or bond wear these necklaces, special powers become activated within the necklace's jewel. The jewel glows brightly on one person's necklace if the other wearer is in danger. The two necklaces can be bought for forty galleons.

"Harry…" Draco started, in an imploring voice.

"What?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Could we please go halves on these necklaces, and then we could have one each? It would be each other's birthday presents!"

"Draco, I don't do jewellery! Do you realise how gay that would make me?" Harry hissed, obviously trying not to shout.

"Yes, that's part of the appeal," Draco said smugly.

"No. Nothing you can say will change my mind either."

"No even if I…" Draco lent closer to Harry, under pretence of examining the necklaces, and sucked on Harry's ear lobe. "… Try to persuade you?"

"Draco! Ron and Hermione are just over there," Harry said warningly, and Draco was pleased to note he sounded slightly breathless.

"What if I don't care?" Draco murmured, and trailed his tongue down the side of Harry's neck, stopping near his shoulder at a place he knew was Harry's weak spot.

"Draco…" Harry said, his voice losing conviction with every flick of Draco's tongue.

Draco turned around slightly so that he could see Harry's face, and captured his lips with a sweet kiss. Harry moaned quietly, and pulled away. He looked at the necklaces, and then at Draco's pleading face.

"I suppose they aren't that bad," Harry muttered while chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. "They would be useful."

"And they match your eyes," Draco said, his smile steadily growing bigger.

"Ok, we'll get them," Harry decided.

Draco was so excited that he let out a very girlish squeal and jumped onto Harry, wrapping his arms and legs around Harry's body. Harry flushed pink, but laughed despite himself.

"How obvious do you guys want to be?" asked a female voice in Draco's ear, making him start and let go of Harry.

"Um…"

"It was a rhetorical question," Ginny said smirking. "You guys are lucky Hermione and Ron are a little busy."

Draco looked over at Ron and Hermione (who were on the other side of the shop) and saw that Hermione was poring over an ancient book, talking animatedly to Ron, and that Ron was staring at Hermione, apparently not taking in a word Hermione was saying.

The three teenagers laughed, and Draco opened the cabinet and took the two necklaces out. Draco and Harry went up to the desk, and paid twenty galleons each. Ginny went over to Hermione to try and pull her away from the book while Draco and Harry put on their necklaces.

"What are you wearing?" Ron asked incredulously, his eyes on Harry's necklace.

"They are what you call necklaces, Ronald," Ginny said, her left eyebrow raised.

"Wow, I didn't think you were the jewellery type Harry," Ron sniggered.

"I'm not," Harry insisted. "It's just… um…"

"It's just that it matches his eyes so perfectly, don't you agree?" Draco said, smirking at Harry.

"Yeah…" Ron said, trying hard not to laugh. Harry groaned, and left the shop ahead of the others.

"Come on, I have to meet Oliver soon."

Draco's happy heart sunk a bit. Damn, he had forgotten about that.

"Are you still going to go?" Draco asked Harry as he caught up with the Gryffindor.

"Of course I'm going! Why wouldn't I?" Harry asked, frowning slightly.

Draco just shook his head and said, "Don't worry. I… I just don't think it's a good idea."

"What, are you jealous?" Harry asked, smirking lightly, but it disappeared when he saw Draco's flat expression. "Look, I'll be fine. He's my friend; what could possibly happen?"

Draco shrugged, and said nothing more on the subject all the way to the Leaky Cauldron.

"I don't know how long I'll be, but I'll probably just meet you in the back yard at three o'clock, ok?" Harry said, looking up the stairs that led to the rooms of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Sure," Hermione replied, and then turned to Ron. "So Ron, is there anywhere you want to go?"

"I can think of a few places," Ron said smiling, and left the Leaky Cauldron back into Diagon Alley.

"Harry!" cried someone behind Draco, and he turned, bracing himself for the worst.

Oliver Wood came bounding down the stairs, and met Harry with a big hug. Draco felt a stab of annoyance, and scowled.

"Hey Oliver! Congrats on winning the League!" Harry said, grinning widely. Oliver let go of Harry and grinned back at him.

"Thanks. It's great to see you again! My room is number four, let's go."

And without half a glance at Draco or Ginny, Harry and Oliver climbed the stairs to Oliver's room.

Draco's scowl deepened, and he sat down at the nearest table. He put his bags onto the chair beside him, crossed his arms grumpily, and directed a deadly glare at the Salt and Pepper shakers. When he realised that Ginny hadn't gone, he looked up at her.

"What are you doing?" Ginny asked.

"I'm going to sit here and wait for Harry finish having a cup of tea with Oliver," Draco said, trying hard not to sound bitter.

"I have a feeling Harry's going to stay longer than a couple of minutes," Ginny said. She sat down opposite Draco, and looked into his eyes.

"Whatever," Draco said, rolling his eyes.

"Look," Ginny said with an odd expression on her face. "Harry likes you. He won't do anything with Oliver."

"That's not what I meant!" Draco spluttered.

"Come on. Come shopping with me. I'm sure you'd have fun buying some new clothes! We could get manicures and pedicures; have our hair dyed pink…" Ginny grinned. "A girl's afternoon."

Draco raised his eyebrow, amused, and gave a tiny smile.

"All right. I just have a funny feeling that Oliver is up to something."

"Trust me, Harry knows how to defend himself," Ginny said standing up. "You can do magic now, can't you? Well, you can shrink all our bags so they can fit in our pockets, so we have free hands to carry loads more bags!"

Ginny looked so energised that Draco laughed, and nodded reluctantly.

"Ok. As long as I don't have to dye my hair pink."

"Deal."

I had sooooo much fun writing this chapter:-) Thanks to 'Fantastic Beasts and where to find them' by Newt Scamander (aka J.K Rowling) for the name 'Antipodean Opaleye' for the Dragon. Yes, it is a real dragon:-)
I've been wondering recently… there is quite a lot of jargon used on Like slash, and song-fics, and one-shots. There are some words I don't know though, like AU. What does AU mean? Is there any other jargon I should know about? I'd be glad if you tell me when you review:-) Which you are going to, 'cause you are all darlings. See you next update!
P.S. I'm going on holiday from the 18th 'till the 23rd, but I will be taking my laptop with me, so I should be able to write some of Chapter 11 while I'm away:-) Hooray for laptops!