Sorry for the delay, guys. We're graduating from high school next week and we were a bit busy with real life ^.~

We received one very interesting question last week so we decided to post it.

From Suguri Takeuchi-chan to Ron: Why do you hate Harry so much? He really did nothing to you (well expect the lolly-pop thing). Just because Harry is now in Slytherin doesn't mean he is evil and want to destroy the world. Because of that now I have lost all respect for you! :P

Ron's answer was: Why do I hate Harry? I think the more logical question would be: 'Why doesn't the whole world hate him?' He's so full of himself- it's sickening! The way he exploits his fame to control Dumbledore, our teachers, Hermione and even my parents! And don't tell me doesn't- I've been listening to this crap since I was 11- 'It's not Harry's fault' Oh, but it is! If he didn't want the whole world groveling under his feat he'd do something to stop it. And the way he flirted with MY Hermione, before he discovered he was a fairy- unforgivable! Not to mention that he has a link with He-who-must-not-be-named and he's now a Slytherin- he's you-know-who's heir! And don't even get me started on what he did to my baby sister!

Chapter ten: Jealousy…What the fuck does that mean?!

Draco and the girls arrived first at the prefect's meeting. Slowly the others started showing up too. They were a big group- 24 people. Draco was about to start the meeting, when he noticed that they were one person short. He turned to the Head Girl.

"Do you know who's missing?"

Hermione looked in her list.

"Ginny isn't here. Maybe I should go look…"

At that point the redheaded girl entered royally the room- no excuses whatsoever. She nodded to Hermione and sat next to Colin- the other sixth year Gryffindor prefect.

Hermione, who now felt ashamed for her young Weasley friend, blushed, turned to Draco and said:

"Should we commence?"

"We should. But first…5 points from Gryffindor for a prefect's tardiness." Draco wasn't one to forgive mistakes, in particular those committed by people, who were supposed to give an example.

Ginny, of course, wouldn't remain silent, especially in front of that lecherous Slytherin.

"Is this how you, snakes, treat colleagues? Not even a 15 minutes tolerance?"

"Not even a 5 minutes tolerance for one, who should give an example. And I'll advise you to stay off the insults."

Ginny turned her head, but murmured to Colin, audibly enough for the blond to hear.

"We'll see who'll smile in the end. Idiot faggot!"

Draco grabbed the edge of the table in front of him to stop himself from responding.

"In this meeting we'll make the schedule for the night rounds around the castle. Also, Hermione and I have been talking and we think that we should make a clear system on detracting points and giving out detentions."

"Yes. I'll try to explain why we need such system. With the war going on, the animosity between the Houses is even greater. That's why, to avoid prefects and Head Boy and Girl walking around and docking points from those who they don't like, we made some rules." Hermione turned expectantly to Draco, waiting for him to take over.

"To ensure you following the rules everyone will give weekly reports to either me or Hermione. But now back to the system itself. First of- for being out after curfew: 20 points and detention with either Professor McGonagall or Flitwick; for being in the forbidden forest outside of the Care for Magical Creatures class- 50 points and detention with Professor Snape. For possessing items from the list in Mr. Filch's office- the item should be confiscated and a detention with Mr. Filch should be given out." Draco stopped to take a breath.

"Who decided on that?" Ginny asked from the back of the room. "Don't you think that you should consult it with us and the teachers?"

"This is a decision of the Head Girl and Boy. We have discussed this with the Headmaster…" actually Hermione did that. "And he gave us a green light. As for consulting with you- we're not a democracy. If we were there would be no Head Girl or Boy, just prefects." The Weaslette was seriously getting on the Slytherin's nerves.

"Ha, so the teachers are not aware that you put them into hierarchy according to how grave the misdeed was- Flitwick's the nicest and Snape equals Filch as the scariest? Maybe you should include your father in the list." Ginny couldn't control herself. She hated the blond Slytherin to the core, blaming him for what happened between her and Harry, and swore that soon he'd suffer for real!

Draco smirked.

"If you think that Professor Snape isn't aware of the severeness of his punishments, you're gravely mistaken. As for my father..." Here the blonde's eyes became as hard as steel. "...I'll ask you to watch your mouth."

"Why, I thought that for a Death Eater, being scary is a compliment." Ginny looked satisfied from the reactions she got from the blond. Soon he'll be out of his skin and show his true colours. "Is there anything else you wanted us here or we can go and do something meaningful?".

Draco's knuckles turned white from the force with which he was grabbing on to the table. The bitch was trying to provoke him! He ignored her question and continued the meeting.

"Now Hermione will hand out the list with the rest of the point system and the schedules for the rounds. If you have any questions about them or something else that is bothering you- now is the moment to speek up."

Hermione walked between the perfects, expecting questions or comments. When she reached Ginny she noticed that the girl had not even opened the parchment.

"Is there a problem, Gin?" The girl asked quietly, so that Draco couldn't hear. She knew that she would have to talk to Ginny about the way she acted... and she should yell to Ron for what he said to professor Malfoy - the rumour had reached her.

"No, there is none, Hemione, it's just that it's already decided, we can't change anything, so there's no point in even looking at it right now." Ginny faked a friendly smile, but failed miserably. She didn't hate Hermione, she liked her and knew her brother fancied her. The red-head just couldn't understand why the other girl was so friendly with the snakes.

"Actually some things could be discussed and if you have a point in your objection, we'll voice it to the Headmaster and rethink it." Was the patient answer.

"No need, Herm, no need." With that Ginny glared at Draco and prepared to leave.

Draco didn't miss the look the youngest Weasley gave him. What was her problem actually? He had never directed any of his insults at her preferring to save them for her brother. Then he remembered her words when Harry was breaking up with her.

'I've heard that this Malfoy was a fairy! What if he tries to take advantage of you, while you're asleep?'

Was it possible that she blamed him for Harry being gay? That was ridiculous! But...was it?

"Ok, that's it for today. Our next meeting will be next friday at the same time. It will be though at a different location since the Trophy room isn't suited for this type of things. We'll contact you with the new location at a closer date. You may all leave now. If you want to discuss something with Hermione or me you can contact us at any time."

Pansy was barely able to control herself so as not to jump and strangle the Weasle girl. That bitch was insulting and trying to provoke her best friend! How dare she! She would have reacted immediately after the Weaslette first opened her mouth but a stern look from Draco made her stay silent. She wanted to stay with her friend and discuss what they could do to prevent something like that meeting from happening again, but she couldn't.

"I have to leave, guys. Last night I forgot something at the Hufflepuff dorms and I have to go and retrieve it."

Draco looked at her.

"Do you have someone to accompany you? If not I'll come with you."

"It's ok. Millie's waiting for me in the hallway." The girl smiled and with a wave at Hermione left the room. When she was near the door she noticed that the Weaslette was still in the room. Why was that bitch taking so long to leave?

When the Slytherin girl left Hermione went to Draco and rested her forehead on his shoulder.

"Merlin, this was tough. I certainly hope that it's not going to be so hard every time or I'll die for sure."

The blond smiled at the girl and put his hand around her shoulders in a friendly, comforting gesture.

"It was, wasn't it? I was under the impression that your friend Weasley really wanted me to curse her. I hope she doesn't make a habit out of provoking me or the meetings will sooner or later turn into a fighting ground."

Hermione winced and lightly hit the blonde's chest.

"Don't you dare. You're a grown up, how could you even think of doing this?"

Unfortunately for her a certain male red-head had just entered the room and had interpreted those words wrong.

Ron had come to pick up his sister from the prefect's meeting like they had agreed earlier. He was happy, because he was sure that he'll see Hermione there too. But he most definitely haven't expected to see her in the arms of one Draco Malfoy. His face contorted in anger and turned as red as his hair. Hearing his girl's words he, of course, took them for something entirely different than what they actually were. He took out his wand and shouted:

"Get your hands off of her, you, ferret, or I'll curse you from here to hell, where you belong!"

Draco was startled by the shout. He hadn't noticed that Ron had come into the room, nor that Ginny haven't left yet. He didn't show his surprised, however, and simply looked with a bored expression at the Weasel. His hand stayed exactly where it was.

"What do you want, Weasel?"

Ron was so angry and so shocked that he was having a hard time breathing. The curse was already on his lips, when Hermione, who saw where things were headed intervened.

She gently removed Draco's arm from her and turned to Ron.

"Ron, calm down, what the hell is wrong with you?" Hermione was definitely pissed. "You can't always jump to conclusions without thinking first. For Merlin's sake, control you animalistic instincts from time to time!"

"Animalistic! How can you say that when he was the one forcing you!" The redhead was gaping and the wand was trembling a little in his hand, still pointed at the blonde's chest.

"Forcing me?" Hermione was shocked for a moment and then laughed. "Ron, you really don't understand anything. Dray was not forcing me, we're friends." She smiled at the blond and then turned to the redhead. "As for you - we need to talk. I hear that you have done something quite stupid in your DADA class. Can you explain your behaviour?" Her voice was cold and menacing.

Weasley lowered his wand slowly. There was no anger on his face anymore, just surprise and hurt. What did his Hermione mean by saying that she was friends with the blond Slytherin (he had completely missed the second part of what the girl said)? So he wasn't forcing himself on her? She was willingly in his arms? No that was impossible! Not his girl!Malfoy had done something- the Death Eater! Him, together with Potter- the traitor. He was angry again. He took a step forward, grabbed the Ravenclaw by the hand and pulled her behind him. He raised his wand once more.

"What have you done to her, Malfoy? You'll pay for putting her under some wierd spell of yours!"

Draco, seeing where things were headed, calmly pulled his own wand out.

Hermione wasn't wasting her time either. She grabbed one of Ron's ears and pulled it.

"As I said - he did nothing to me. Now don't evade my question - explain yourself."

Before Ron could think of an answer to a question he didn't hear, Ginny entered the scene.

"Hermione, leave my brother alone. He's been in enough pain after seeing you with Potter every day, now that thing with Malfoy is... too much. Don't you realise they're faggots and probably fuck every night? And maybe they participate in orgies? How can you still be in the same room with them, not to mention the hugging thing?" The girl was practically screaming at the end.

The Slytherin, who had until now remained calm, started to loose control over his nerves when the Weaslette opened her mouth again. Even so he managed to keep his voice steady.

"You should better restrain from talking about things you understand and know nothing about."

"Look, he's reacting. That's the first sign of guilty consciousness, you know?" Ginny was eager to have her theory proved.

"Ginny, really, don't say anything else about things you're not informed of. There is nothing..." Hermione was interrupted by an out-of-his-skin Draco Malfoy.

"You've been playing with my patience for more than an hour and now you've crossed the line" The Slytherin was advancing on the girl in a predatory stance playing with the wand in his hands. "I can't believe that you've actually dated Harry and still you know so little about him. I won't tolerate you and you prejudices any longer"

Ginny refused to take a step back. On the contrary, she took her wand out but didn't point it at the blond – She played with it and with her hair and hissed at him.

"So it's Harry now? I know it's your fault for him turning queer! I'm quite sure he wasn't until coming here! You did something to him! And how dare you tell me that I don't know him?! I love him and to think that you have corrupted him... It's so painful." She sobbed, and this is when her brother finally aimed a spell towards Draco.

The blond was directing all of his attention to the female Weasely and the attack caught him unprepared. He spun around, but wasn't able to summon a shield in time and the stinging spell hit him hard in the chest, sending him flying over the room. He hit the opposite wall hard and fell to the floor. He saw Weasley coming towards him, preparing to shout another spell, and he struggled to sit up. The damage from the hit was grater than he suspected though, and he only swayed and fell down again.

Hermione, who hadn't expected Ron to attack the Slytherin was until that moment too shocked to even move. But when she saw the redhead advancing threateningly on the seemingly defenceless blond she brandished her own wand out.

"Petrificus Totalus" She yelled and Ron fell to the ground without a noise.

Hermione wasn't one to forget that she wasn't alone in the room. She turned to Ginny just in time to see her preparing to defend her brother.

"Expelliarmus" Was the second spell Hermione directed at her friends in just a minute and, after feeling the youngest Weasley's wand in her hand, relaxed a little.

She ran to Draco to evaluate the damage done. His head was bleeding - he had obviously hit the wall too hard. When she touched the wound, angry at her friends and worried for Draco, the blond flinched and made an effort to step back, away from her - he couldn't though, since the wall was just behind his back. Hermione quickly removed her hand and directed a questioning look towards him.

"What's the matter, Dray?"

"What's the matter, Dray?" was Ginny's mocking voice from the other end of the hall. "What, baby Malfoy has a boo boo?"

Hermione couldn't believe she was actually hearing this. When had Ginny become so cold-hearted? This wasn't real. Hermione glared at her and turned her head to the boy before her with a questioning look on her face.

Damn those stupid Weasleys! At any other time he would have managed to properly defend himself against the likes of them, but the lack of sleep and all the other things happening recently have taken their tall on him. And now he'd have to bare with the humiliation of being seen so week by the Gryffindors. No! He couldn't live with that. He had to protect his pride at all costs. Draco ignored Hermione's question and made to stand up again, seeking the support of the wall. He stood up and steadied himself. Damn, he must have hit that wall pretty hard. He took off the spell on the male Weasley after collecting his wand. Ron stood up quickly and seeing the hatred and the threat in the blonde's eyes he stood in front of his sister, trying to protect her with his body, if necessary.

Draco made his expression as frightening as possible, making his eyes as cold as ice and his voice as low and threatening as a hiss.

"Do you know, which is the first spell the Dark Lord asks his subjects to perform? It's the Cruciatus curse. He makes them cast it on some of the other Death Eaters to prove that they're loyal only to him. I wouldn't have a problem casting it here too." Draco knew how he sounded. But there were already rumors going around about him being a Death Eater. The once that needed to know that he wasn't, already did, so he wasn't making too much damage in the process of saving his pride. And the effect of his words was worth seeing. The two Weasleys were as white as ghosts.

"You wouldn't dare!" Ron hissed with hatred.

"Oh, wouldn't I? Wanna bet?" He showed of his most evil smirk.

The male redhead grabbed his sister's hand and they scrambled, almost running out of the room, totally forgetting about their wands who still were in Draco's and Hermione's position.

The Slytherin took a relieved breath.

"It must be hard to pretend to be a brutal killer. Is your pride that valuable that you have to distance everybody from yourself?" Hermione didn't need an answer. Instead she transfigured a chair and asked Draco to sit. Despite his act he still trembled a little and the blood from his head was still there. On the blond hair it looked really creepy.

"Sit for a moment, take a break, I'll be right back."

With that the young witch took Ron's wand from Draco's hand and after calling a house-elf and asking for a glass of water for the blond, she moved for the door. She could see the two redheads at the end of the corridor.

"Wait!" She shouted after them and ran. When they turned their heads expectantly she profited from the opportunity. The slap that followed would be visible on Ron's cheek for at least a week.

"Ronald Weasley, I don't believe you! How could you do all this? First you insult a teacher iun front of the whole class, then you attack a fellow student for no reason... What is wrong with you?"

"What is wrong with me?! What is wrong with you, Hermione! Making friends with the snakes- it's crazy! Why are you doing it? Who are you doing it for? Is someone controlling you, making you do this?" Ron didn't want to shout at the girl he loved, but he told himself strictly that sometimes the man should be strong if the woman was misbehaving.

"Why both of you talk about controlling? Ginny thinks Draco controlls Harry making him do something... I believe it's not needed to say that this is absurd. Then you say that Dray controls me. Why? Who planted such ideas in your heads? Draco is a very nice person - he's funny, intelligent, well educated. He's a real gentleman. The same goes for Blaise and Theo. Pansy is a great girl and in such a short time we've become very close friends. But the most important thing about the "snakes" is that they value friendship and are ready to throw themselves in the fire for those close to them. The same goes for us. Can't you see that this animosity is fake? We made it. It's not in our genes or something. See Harry - he was a Gryffindor for 6 years and now he's a Slytherin. That doesn't mean that now he's a dark wizard out for blood, now, does it?"

Ron stared at her. She was lost! Corrupted! In such a short time! His lovely, smart, innocent Hermione has lost herself in the illusion the snakes created to control her. In his desperation the redhead didn't even think to ask himself why would the Slytherins want to control her. Both them and Harry were evil and they wanted to steel his girl and hide her somewhere where he couldn't reach her. Oh, but they were wrong if they thought that he would give up that easily! They have underestimated him. He was going to make Hermione see how wrong she was.

"Snap out of it, Hermione. They have brainwashed you or something! Those Death Eaters in traing know nothing of friendship. The only thing they value is themselves. Didn't you hear Malfoy threatening to use the Cruciatus on us! They are evil and dangerous people! You should stay away from them" And after that Ron made his biggest mistake today. He was just desperate and afraid of losing the one he loved, but he still shouldn't have tried to order her. "I forbid you to associate with them! Stay away from the snakes! It's for your own good!"

Hermione's eyes were becoming bigger and bigger with every word she heard from Ron. At the last comment her mouth opened.

"You forbid me to associate with the Slytherins? Who do you think you are - my father, husband - even they don't or wouldn't have the right to tell me what to do! I..." She turned her head to Ginny for some support, but saw nothing but agreement with her brother's words. "I can't see you right now. Go, I don't want you before my eyes."

Hermione turned around and quickly walked back to the Trophy room. There she found a blond Slytherin with his head in his arms and a worried house-elf. The creature ran to her the moment she entered.

"Mistress, the Master didn't want any water, no anything. What to do? He in pain. Call doctor?"

Draco would have protested if he had heard the elf's word's, but he didn't. He was lost in his mind at the moment, literally. At first he had only tried to assess the damage the hit with the wall had caused him, but then he found something much more worrisome. There was a breach in his mental shields. So that's why he was so susceptible to emotions recently! When had that happened? Probably when he woke up Harry from that dream. But he had double checked at that time and he had found nothing. Maybe when they were fighting today? Yes, it must have happened then. Harry's emotions and magic were so strong after all. He couldn't fix the shields. It didn't work like that. He had to take them all down and put them up again. But that took a lot of energy and power. Could he do it in this state? He couldn't afford to walk around with a weak protection- it was even more dangerous than trying to fix it. He didn't have a choice. He concentrated even harder and started destroying and then replacing all of his protection. At the end he was so drained, that when he opened his eyes he thought he was going to pass out. He gathered himself though and finally saw a very worried and almost terrified looking Hermione, asking him something he couldn't quite understand at first.

Draco was looking at her but didn't answer her question. Hermione was on the verge of panicking. That hit on the head couldn't have caused that. Draco was a strong seventeen year old man - that type of hit couldn't weaken him this greatly. Something was off. And it was important. When Hermione saw the blonde's questioning look she repeated:

"What's wrong, Dray? Do you want me to call for Madame Pomphrey?"

"No, don't call anyone. And don't worry, Hermione. I'm fine. I just hit my head a little harder than one could expect with the weak curse the Weasel fired." Draco smiled in a way he though was reassuring.

Hermione went to the chair Draco was occupying and knelt next to it. She placed her hand on his knee and bore into his eyes.

"Draco, I'm now in Ravenclaw, remember? Please, don't try to deceive me. You look tired, dead tired. I know I'm not Pansy and we're not that close, but I was here and... I just don't like to see you hurt. Please, tell me what's going on?"

Draco wasn't one to share personal information easily. But Hermione was right- she was here. And now she was worried for him. Genuinly worried. He owed her an explanation. And besides, he was getting to know the girl and like her. She was going to be a part of the Order just as Harry and the blond was going to work with her. So why not trust her?

"I have no doubt that you know what a Seer and an empath is?"

Hermione nodded and after mere seconds, after analysing the information, gasped.

"You... you don't mean... you're both?" She was divided by worry and curiosity. Draco was both a Seer and an empath. So when she touched him, being so angry... Oh, damn. And now he seemed so weak. But it couldn't be her fault, now, could it? She saw him kissing Pansy and Blaise. The Slytherin girl was constantly on his arm or hugging him. So he had some kind of barriers. Then why did he look so vulnerable and hurt? Did something happen in the moment she was out, arguing with Ron and Ginny?

"What happened?" Was her second question. She whatched his reactions before speaking.

Draco smiled. Now that was an intelligent girl. She figured it all out in mere seconds. It would make explaining so much easier.

"I haven't been sleeping a lot lately. The consequence is that I'm very tired and I can't keep my barriers as strong as they usually are. So when I was checking if that Weasley haven't given me a concussion I accidentally found a breach in my defences. Unfortunately I use a type of barriers that can't be just easily fixed. I had to take them down and rebuild them from scratch again if I wanted them to function properly. This is a very tiring process though, and when you add the hit in the wall...that should explain my current state."

Hermione nodded. It did explain everything. Well, not everything, but she could ask Pansy if she knew why Draco hadn't been sleeping lately - she doubted Harry had anything to do with it (even though it was a nice thought).

"And you're sure you don't need anything?"

"I'll be fine. I'll just ask Severus for some potion. Or even better." Draco beckoned over the house elf, which was still there, waiting to be told it was free. "What's your name?"

"Tipsy, Master"

"Good. Then, Tipsy, I'll need you to do a couple of things for me. First go and fetch me some parchment, a quill and some ink."

The house elf disappeared and was back in mere seconds (not enough time for the quizzically looking Hermione to ask what's up).

Draco took the parchment and started writing something quickly. When he finished he gave three different notes to the elf and continued his instructions.

"Now you'll go put that parchment in the Slytherin common room on the table in front of the fire place. This goes to the announcement board. With the last one you'll go to Severus Snape's office. He'll give you two potions. Bring them back here, please." The elf popped out again.

Hermione continued watching the Slytherin with a funny expression until he gave up and explained that he had asked for his book for History of Magic (he had left it in the dorm) and the other note was an announcement for the quidditch try-outs.

The girl smiled - Harry could never be so practical - he would have forced himself to go all the way to the dungeons and do the work manually - she wasn't sure, but suspected he still made his bed in the morning. They would make a nice couple with Draco.

Soon the house elf returned with the potions, very scared.

"Master Snape be very scary. He says to Tipsy to pass a message for Master Draco. Master should be going alone next time he'll be asking for potions and he will be having to explain why he will be needing them."

Draco grimaced. Oh, well, he expected this kind of response. He could at least hope that Severus will be discreet enough and will respect his request not to tell his father.

"Thank you, Tipsy, you may go now. Oh, and I might call for you personally sometime to run some other errand for me, if you don't mind."

"Tipsy would with delight comes, Master Draco." The elf flapped enthusiastically with it's long ears and popped away.

The Slitherin drank his potions with the morose thought that that was his second headache potion for today. He had to be careful with this stuff. They were addictive if taken too often in big quantities. They still had time before class so he turned to Hermione.

"Tell me, Hermione, you and Pansy are becoming good friends right?"

"Sure, I don't think I've ever had such a close girl-friend in the magical world." Hermione smiled. Then she asked warily. "Why?"

Draco nodded approvingly.

"I'm glad that you see her that way. I've been very worried about her. Until now she was always hanging out with us guys and didn't have any good female friends. I doubt that that's very healthy for a girl her age."

"Hah, you should know, Dray, that there isn't such thing as "good female friend". But I believe that she is very close with Millicent, so I'm not the healthy breeze she's feeling."

"You're wrong. Millie is a very difficult person to get along with. And seeing that she was the only other female in our year Pansy didn't have a choice but to try and tolerate her difficult character. And there's something else that makes a true friendship between them impossible, though Pans doesn't know that. Millie's in love with her and has been for a very long time."

"Really? Poor Millie... And poor Pansy, come to think of it, it would hurt their friendship or whatever they have when she finds out." Hermione spaced out for a moment and then focused her eyes back on Draco. "So, why are you talking about this? Is there somewhere where you want to get with this conversation?" Was the slytherinish question.

Draco shrugged.

"Not particularly. Just striking up a conversation. But I must admit that I was wondering about your thoughts on the matter." The blond smirked and then added. "And, of course, I'm dying to know the purpose of the mind games that you are playing with Harry."

Hermione reflected his smirk.

"Why, are you worried for him?" She laughed and then continued. "We're just playing around with him, you know, pushing and pushing until he breaks. " The evil sound that followed was not ravenclaw at all. "You know, he has to admit at some point that he fancies you... Or maybe you'll act as the top and confess to be smitten with him."

"Please, don't get me involved in any of your plans. I don't mind you playing with him, but I'll ask you to leave me out of this. I'm really not interested."

Hermione smiled but decided to leave it at this for now. "I know that at some point you'll confess your feelings for our Harry. Now, however, I believe we have to get going to History of Magic and to Muggle studies, respectively"

The Slytherin sighed. Trying to persuade both this girl and Pansy to leave him alone would be a lost cause. He staggered when he stood up, but thanks to Hermione's fast reaction he didn't fall. It would take at least 10 to 15 minutes more for the potions to take effect. He smiled gratefully at the girl and they left the room. His hand was over the Ravenclaw's shoulders and the girl was supporting him, but to anyone who looked at them it would simply appear that they were walking while hugging.

And so it appeared to the three boys and Pansy who were just outside their classroom. Harry was relieved to see Draco since he had so much to talk to him about, but there was this clenching of his heart, when he saw the picture his friends made. They were a nice couple. Maybe they would be the perfect one, seeing that they were the smartest of their year. If only Draco wasn't gay. Harry smiled and went to them.

"Hey, what took you so long? You barely made it in time." He looked to both of them and their guilty faces. What the...?

"We were held up at the meeting." The blond Slytherin was a smooth and quick liar. Alas, Hermione wasn't.

"Hermione, what happened?" At the questioning look both his friends gave him he added. "I can tell you're not telling me the truth or at least not the whole truth from kilometres - when Hermione lies, her face becomes redder, she starts to sweat a little and smiles a lot. Honestly, if there is a worse liar than me, that's her. Now, what is it?"

"We must admit that the last hour and a half wasn't the most pleasant one. I would have expected Pansy to have already told you what a bitch your exgirlfriend was during the whole meeting."

Harry had completely forgotten that Ginny was a prefect. Damn, he should have warned Hermione and Draco to expect something. And why didn't Pansy tell him anything? Oh, yes, he was too busy looking through the stuffed tigers in the blonde's trunck.

"I'm sorry, I should have warned you - she's not quite herself lately and she was bound to say something. What did she do?"

It was Hermione's turn to explain.

"She did a lot of things. She commented on Draco's every word, talked about his father and... It wasn't nice at all. And then our dear Ronald Weasley... Next time I see him, I'll kill him!"
Harry paled visibly. Ron, what did he do there? And Hermione - he hadn't seen her that mad since... since Bellatrix killed Sirius. What was going on? What had happened?

Class was going to start any moment. If Draco didn't act quickly all of his friends were going to find out what happened. And he didn't want to worry Pansy anymore than he already had. Then an idea struck him. He knew who he could trust to help.

"Blaise, can you come here for a second." His best friend came over and the blond moved his hand from around Hermione's shoulders to the Italian boy's arm. In an inaudible whisper he quickly explained what had happened. Blaise reacted immediately. He smirked mischievously and put his arm around the blonde's waist. Draco caught on the act, smiled softly and put almost all of his wight on the slightly taller boy, sure that Blaise would be able to support him.

The door opened and the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs (with whom they were having a class) entered the classroom. Hermione waved to Nevile, who she hadn't noticed until just about now and went running for her own class which was in the corridor next to this one.

When Blaise helped Draco make himself comfortable all the while pretending to be very intimate, Harry profited and sat next to the blond. He couldn't run away from him. The black-haired boy shot the Italian a glare and then turned to the front of the classroom, pretending to listen to the ghost-professor. After a few minutes he pushed a note to Draco.

"Now will you tell me what happened between you, Ginny and Ron?"

"We simply had a slight disagreement. They thought that I was controlling Hermione and you and that I was forcing myself on both of you." Draco hated writing notes so he whispered his answer. Binns was so caught up in his lecture that he wouldn't notice even if they talked without whispering.

"They what?" Harry realised that his whisper wasn't so low so he continued barely audible. "Ok, did anything else happen? You look... shaken."

Draco wondered what to do. It wasn't that he wanted to lie to Harry, but he wasn't sure how his new house mate was going to react. The raven head had had it quiet rough these past few days so Draco wanted to spare him some stress if possible. While thinking he pushed the hair which has fallen in his eyes and was getting in the way. He realized quickly that that was a mistake. He had cleaned the blood from his hair, but the cut on his head was still visible. And, of course, Harry, who was watching him intently, noticed it immediately.

"Did you fight? What happened? How did...?" Harry was panicking. He was expecting anything but that. Well, in fact, he just hoped that it hadn't came to this. But that cut was huge. What did Ron do - bang Draco's head in the wall for ten minutes? And why would he do that? He was angry at him, not the blond... Wait, wait, wait. "When you said that they think you have "forced yourself" on Hermione and me - do you include Ron in that?"

"Well he was more concerned about Hermione's virginity not yours." The blond grimaced.

"Very funny - I'm not saying he's jelous. It's just... Ron doesn't know I'm gay. Besides you guys, Pansy, Hermione and Ginny nobody knows. And I doubt that Ginny would go around saying she turned her boyfriend gay. How did he find out? Forget it, what did he do to you?"

"The wound is entirely my fault. I didn't expect him to attack and I couldn't react fast enough." Draco wanted to ask about Ron not knowing that Harry was gay, but he knew that he wouldn't get an answer until the raven head was satisfied about his own questions.

"So he really did attack you. But it's all so stupid - he comes and attacks you only because he suspects that you sleep with Hermione. That's... well, I knew he would want to do it, but the actual act surprises me. Are you sure you're alright? You look fine now, but a couple of minutes ago you looked on the verge of fainting."

"I'm fine. I just hit my head a little too hard. But please, don't tell Pansy about that. I don't want her to worry and she will."

Harry nodded.

"Of course not."

Harry had a lot more questions, but he got distracted by Blaise whispering something into the blonde's ear. The last let out a soft laugh and held for a moment too long the hand the Italian had placed on his shoulder. Could they possibly be... flirting? Harry felt his face redden so he turned away from them and started drawing circles on his parchment.

After letting go of Blaise's hand Draco turned back to Harry.

"Say, is it true? I mean- that you haven't told Weasley that you're gay? Because he very well knew a couple of minutes ago." If he was right in what he was assuming then they were all gonna be in big trouble soon.

"I never told him - everything happened too fast - I broke up with Ginny, then you fainted, then I learned about... you know... then we talked and you had the dream... And how was I supposed to tell him - hey, Ron, I'm gay. It's stupid - it shouldn't matter anyway." Harry knew he said an unnecessary thing, but he felt like Draco was accusing him of disloyalty to his friend - it felt a little like that, too. The raven-head just needed to find himself a proper excuse in order to cover the fact, that he didn't tell Ron, because he knew of his homophobic believes and didn't want to lose him... And that would sound too girly.

Great! So judging from the redhead's behavior today the Slytherin could easily guess that Weasley was homophobic. And assuming that he already hated Harry a lot...there were troubles up ahead.

Harry saw the blond frown, but wanted to end this conversation now. He supposed that Ginny told her brother about their break up and ended up confessing this to him. Never mind, Ron couldn't hate him more than he already had.

"Leave this for now, it doesn't matter anymore, does it? Tell me instead" Harry turned to the blond to face him. "Why is there a seeker position free?"

Oh, yeah, Draco had completely forgotten about that.

"Obviously because I'm not gonna play seeker." the blond knew that this would only provoke even more questions, but...ke kind of enjoyed talking to Harry and the raven head being interested in him made Draco happy.

Harry sighed - why did the blond always make it so difficult to talk to him?

"Oh really, I never figured." Was the impatient mocking answer Harry came up with. "Why aren't you going to play seeker? You're moving to a different position or quitting quidditch at all? And why?"

"I'm the captain of the team so I'm obviously not quitting." Draco almost wanted to laugh. It was funny to irritate the ex-Gryffindor.

The brunet boy narrowed his eyes. Draco was playing with him but he wasn't going to go along. He could always find out what he wanted from Pansy.

"Oh, ok."

With that he looked at the professor and started taking notes. With the corner of his eye he watched the blonde's reaction.

Draco put his ewbol on the table and his chin in his palm, efectively hiding his smirk from Harry. He left it show in his eyes though, which now shown with amusement. So his game was discovered then? But he was one step ahead of the other. He knew that Harry would try and get the information he wanted out of the others. However even they didn't have it yet. A win. Draco didn't know why outsmarting his new room mate was this fun, but he wasn't even trying to analyse it.

Harry could see that Draco was not planning on telling him anything. He played his part well. But Harry had a trump card - a pretty nasty one, but it was sure to get some reaction - and maybe a slip?

"So tell me, did you quit your seeker position in order for me to take it and the prophecy be logical?" While listening to Binns he had come up with that - how did it never come to him till now?

Draco's reaction however wasn't the one Harry had expected. The blond took the accusation pretty seriously and their game ended there.

"Believe me, Potter- neither is my life turning around you, nor do I need to prove to someone the reliability of my prophecies." The use of Harry's last name was unintentional, but in his anger the blond Slytherin slipped.

"You know, you have an anger problem. All I'm saying is that according to your prophecy I'm in the team - and I'm not. The only way for me to be in the team and you not to be in the air is for me to be a seeker. And don't pull the accusatory face on me - you were the one who didn't want to tell me. What, don't like Slytherin talk?"

A true player could always recognize defeat and accept it graciously. And this was such a moment for Draco.

"I'm sorry, Harry. You are right. In my dream you were the Slytherin seeker. That doesn't mean though, that I've stepped down from the position so that my dream can become reality. You see the main part of the prophecy was that Weasley's going to kill you. All of the details could be changed by our present action except for the main string. So even if you decide not to join the team the attempt over your life will still happen, but at another time, under different circumstances. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I think I do. So it will be a good thing if I actually go to the tryouts and become part of the team? Because we'll know what and when it will happen?" Harry felt a little strange since he already knew he would be the new Slytherin seeker even before actually trying to win the position. But another question still waited to be answered. "Ok, if it's a secret, say so, but if it's not - why did you quit being a seeker?"

"It's not a secret but it's not something I'm proud of either." The blond boy sighed. "I'm tired, Harry. Almost to the point where I think that I won't be able to get out of my bed in the mornings. I am going to be the captain, but I can't take the strain of being a player and having to work out even outside the team's practices. That's it."

The raven-head was stunned by the confession, but not surprised. He still couldn't believe that Draco had all that energy to argue with him, to play the role of the cold Slytherin prince (even fallen from grace) and be at the top of the class. Oh, and let's not mention the lack of sleep, the dreadful things that happened to him in the summer and kept happening, the seer-empath problems and so on and so on. Harry thought he would break down, if he was in the blonde's shoes.

"I get your point. It seems that there is one thing about quidditch that is very different for us, though. For you, being a seeker is a burden... well, not a burden, but another task to complete. For me, it's a way to get off all the stress that I have in my life. So, following that logic - thank you for giving me the possibility to remain even slightly sane." Harry smiled.

Draco smiled warmly.

"I'm glad that you'll be doing something you love. I was very worried at the start of the year that I'll leave the team hanging, but now I'm sure I'm leaving it in sure hands." After that the blond completely changed the tone and the smile turned into a smirk. "I'm still the captain though and I guarantee that you won't have it easy."

Harry laughed.

"Oh, don't worry, after Oliver Wood I believe everything will be easy. And I can assure you that the only problem you'll have with me is to get me off the broom and away from the pitch."

---

Finally Binns' class was over. The moment Draco stood up, Blaise was at his side, offering his arm. The blond Slytherin was much better thanks to Severus' strong potions, but he still felt a little wobbly on his feet and didn't want to risk it. He accepted the offered support gracefully and the Slytherins left the room to go stand in the hallway and to decide how were they going to spent their study-alone hour and how were they going to do their Defence project.

Harry caught himself to be too distracted by the sight of Blaise and Draco together so he almost missed the question, directed at him.

"Malfoy gave the books to you, Potter, so he pointed you as our leader of group - a logical decision for a traitor." Goyle's voice was thick and sickening. "Let's all have our tasks and get to work."

The raven-head desided to ignore the traitor comment - it wasn't wise to get into a silly fight with a person with whom he shared a bedroom. Instead, he got right to the point.

"It's quite logical, actually. As the professor said, we'll work in two groups. We're 7. The books Professor Malfoy gave me are three - 2 on vampires and only one on veelas. So 5 people will work on vampires and 2 - on Veelas. Everyone will present a different aspect of the problem - those, who work on vampires, will divide the material available between themselves - the same goes for the others. You could choose to present the book itself - that would mean that you won't need find more books than those given to us. We cannot see Slytherin loosing points for stupidity though, so I suggest a more thorough take on the material." Harry permitted himself a smirk and continued. "If you wish, Pansy, Theo, Blaise, Draco and I will work on vampires since the information is more and more complicated. All I ask is - we should have general information on both magical races never mind our group subject. Do you agree?"

"It's fine by me." Draco nodded.

Even if Crabbe and Goyle weren't satisfied they were outnumbered so they just grumbled something along the lines of: "You better give us the book we need in the Common Room, Potter", and left before the others.

Blaise laughed.

"They strangely remind me of some kinds of monkeys."

Pansy laughed too and then turned to Harry.

"Great choice, hun. We'll now have it real easy. One of Lucius closest friends is a vampire and he was often around while Drey was growing up. We basically have our task ready."

The blond sneered.

"If you think that I'll do all the work by myself you're mistaken, Pansy. You are going to have to read the books. I'll simply put in any additional important information or concept that you're missing."

Harry realised he was looking funny at Draco, so quickly turned around and started walking towards the dungeons. So vampires were real - well, he was expecting it - after all if there were worewolves why not have their mortal enemies - the vampires... "Mortal" was a strange choice of words. And the Malfoys had a vampire-friend. Wasn't he considered a filthy half-breed and not good enough to even walk the same earth as the highly purebloods? Or was there something to that concept that Harry was missing?

"You had a vampire friend? That's great - do you think it will be him that we'll get to meet?" Harry realised he had made a mistake - again - with that question. Draco's face darkened when he spoke.

"Oh, yes! My father and his great idea to have 'guest lecturers'. Isn't he a genius?" Draco's words were dripping with irony. "Though to answer your question- yes it would probably be Nikolai that will lead the classes on vampires."

Harry was completely confused. It was reassuring, though, that he wasn't the only one. The others were eying Draco questioningly too.

"NiKolai? What is he - a Russian? And why the irony?"

"No, he's Bulgarian." Was the curt reply. "And I don't approve of my father's ideas of how to lead his classes, or at least a certain one of them, and that's 'why the irony'."

Harry almost laughed - the blond sounded a little like a rebellious teenager who wouldn't approve of anything his parents did.

"Bulgaria - so he went to Durmstrang. And you know, I think it's great we get to meet the living person - that's the only way to understand that they are neither better nor inferior to us, just the same - well, at least at the level of race. Anyone could be better than Crabbe and Goyle."

"Actually he didn't go to Durmstrang but to Hogwarts. His mother is British. He's been friends with my father since their school years. And I don't mind him, invaiting Nikolai. The thing that ticks me off is that he's planning something that concerns me, knows of my opinion very well, but still ignores it and does what he's planned anyway." Draco didn't realise how vague and confusing his explanation sounded.

And then Harry remembered Lucius mentioning something about gifts and things... Did he mean they'll be learning about...

"You can't be serious - he's going to put you in front of the class to explain what it's like to be an empath and a Seer? That's... fucked up." The raven-head felt sympathetic for the boy.

Blaise, though, found the idea interesting.

"Hey, I haven't thought about that. Oh, wouldn't it be fun, Dray? Explaining to those dim wits Crabbe, Goyle and Weasley the fact that you're almost able to read their minds and inner-most desires. I bet the Weasel will find that...inspiring." The boy laughed evilly.

The blond wasn't impressed in the least.

"I don't plan on leading a lecture about myself, thank you very much, so you can forget it."

Harry couldn't formulate it for himself at the moment, but instinctively he felt good that Draco was disagreeing on something with the Italian.

"Ok, ok, we got it. Let's first see what happens with that Nikolai guy, and then we'll think about Draco and his responsibilities as a student and a son."

They had already reached the common room and Harry saw Crabbe and Goyle talking quietly with some sixth years. When Draco and company entered they lifted their heads and Goyle yelled:

"Come on, Potter, give the book here. We don't have a whole day!"

Harry clenched his fists. How dare he... The words he was going to say were cut out by Draco's cold voice.

"If you really had wanted to get something done, you would have gone and checked the library. Maybe the fact that you don't know where it is has stopped you, or you're just stalling, not wanting to use the few brain sells that you still have functioning. Either way you should learn to speak civilly to your House mates." After saying that Draco and Blaise passed their room mates, as if they weren't their, and assumed their favorite spots around the table, nearest to the fire place.

The Italian held back for a while whispering something in his friend's ear. To Harry's surprise and anger the blond shivered and then laughed wholeheartedly.

Theo had proved himself as the most silent one - he liked to observe and rarely said or did anything. At the beginning he believed Harry to be a spy, traitor, whatever - just purposefully sent in Slytherin to control them. Now he had grown to like him and had seen how truly loyal he was to his new house and friends.

"What do you say to get those books and start working? The sooner we start, the earlier we'll finish."

Harry smiled - Nott was a nice guy. The attempt to distract him from the sight of the two Slytherins by the fire was transperent, but what's more - he had reflected his own thoughts. It was nice to know that not all Slytherins were learning maniacs (like a certain blond). With Theo everything was easy - you could be silent with him, without feeling that you are expected to lead a conversation; he was there when somebody had to to come with you from here to there (the stupid rule with a Slytherin never being alone outside the dungeons - Harry still couldn't get over it!). In short - he was the slightly better version of the slytherin Neville Longbottom... Although if he heard that, Harry could consider himself dead meat.

Now they were sitting near the fire, all of them, and were reading. Harry had learned a lot he didn't know - vampires were immortal, but other myths were "busted" - they didn't run from garlic, the sun wasn't a problem, neither was the silver. Actually they seemed quite perfect with their looks, magical abilities (there were no squib vampires), immortality, invincibility...

"I wonder why Voldemort never tried to become a vampire - that would easily solve his problem with the immortality" Harry thought aloud.

At that everybody around the table laughed. At Harry's shocked expression Pansy decided that someone had to explain to the poor boy that which to all of them was crystal clear.

"Oh, hun, he has tried. But he was promptly refused. You see- the Dark Lord is a half-blood. And vampires are much more picky than any old, magical aristocratic family about the purity of blood. They would never- and I mean really never, share their gft with someone like him.

For a moment Harry imagined Voldemort's anger at the refusal and his scar hurt, if only for mere seconds. That must have been dreadful.

"What happened after that? After they refused him? I mean, he's not one to let that go..." Harry winced at this and held his forehead for an instant.

Draco immediately noticed and put two and two together. But there was no way to ask if Harry was alright without drawing the others' attention. Instead he opted to answer the question and close the subject as fast as possible.

"It happened during his first rule as far as I know. My father has never spoken about it. Nikolai was the one, who recounted to me the little I know. Voldemort came in contact with one of the oldest vampires and actually demanded that he be turned in one too. They laughed at him. Told him that he was unworthy, weak, impure. They didn't want to have anything to do with a tainted creature like him. Actually vampires aren't this prejudicial. They don't mind befriending half-bloods and even muggleborn. But they were offended by Voldemort's blatant disrespect for their Race and the responsibilities that came with the gift of immortality. The Dark Lord was on a rampage a whole month after their refuse and his rage didn't subside for years. A lot of Death Eater died then."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment. Logical. That was the way he acted. The raven-head inhaled deeply, the headache was a lot weeker now.

"I see. Well, at least it's nice to know that somebody can oppose him. Do you know if they take any side in the war?"

"They stay neutral. They have refused him, but that doesn't mean that they'll help the Light." How very Gryffindor of the new Slytherin and how very Slytherin at the same time. He was both thinking about the war, and the light, and the good and all that crap and how to use Voldemort's disadvantage as his strength. That way of thinking wasn't so bad.

"I didn't think they will. After all they're dark to the core, right? It's just nice to know that they're not against us." Harry smiled and changed the subject - it was too dangerous to discuss such things in the common room.

"So how are we going to stucture our presentation?"

The five slytherins fell into deep conversation and soon they could be considered ready.

"Well then, I think we can say that we're done. I suggest we go and eat something. I'm starving." Draco stretched and made to stand up.

Blaise was immediately by his side, offering him once more his arm. This time Pansy didn't take on things silently.

"What's up with you, boys. At lunch the kiss and now all the touching, the whispering, the escorting. Even a blind person would see you were flirting." Pansy smirked. "What's up? Trying to start anew your love relationship?"

Blaise at least had the decency to blush, but neither of the two deemed her worthy of an answer. Harry wasn't very happy.

He couldn't even understand why he was so angry. Draco was going through a tough period, so it was good for him to be distracted with something nice for a change. Maybe it was what Blaise told him earlier - they were not for each other, it was all a mistake... My ass, why did he even bother to say all this, when he was so obviously still attracted to the blond?

Harry caught Pansy's eye and in order to escape any questions, took her hand and started talking something about the project. She didn't look happy, but decided to torment him later.

And then the strangest thing happened. They entered the Great Hall and suddenly it fell silent. All eyes were on them. Hermione looked concerned from the Ravenclaw table, but the other students…Harry hadn't felt such hate since the end of the Tournament when people thought he was the one in fault for Cedric's death. The memory overwhelmed him and combined with the headache from earlier made his legs a little shaky. Blaise automatically caught him with his other hand and now the three boys were in a strange embrace. The Hall exploded.

'Oh damn' was all Draco could thing over the waves of intense hatred, confusion and surprise, coming from every corner of the Great Hall, directed at the three of them, trying to drawn him, to make him lost himself. What he was afraid of has obviously happened. 'Oh, please, Merlin, don't let it be that bad!'

TBC

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