"Wood is posting the results," Harry said quietly, gaze completely focused as he looked to where Wood was trying to sneak the results onto the board without being seen. "I give it five seconds before he's swarmed."

"Well? Get over there, then." Draco smiled and nudged Harry over towards the board. Harry only stayed behind for a second longer before he was launching himself off the chair and straight to the board. Ron was right behind him and Hermione was sighing from her own seat.

"Honestly, these boys. Is Quidditch all you care about?"

"Yes, obviously," he drawled, rolling his eyes at her. "Can't you tell? It's a primal desire of all boys everywhere, to ride a broomstick professionally."

"Awful," Hermione tsked, looking to be holding in a smile. "I give it five seconds before Harry starts cheering about how you both made the team."

"Draco! Draco, you're on the team!"

"I'm what?" Draco frowned and stood, making his way over to the board as well.

"Told you," Hermione called out after him, Draco ignoring her as he walked over to where he was listed under Chasers.

"You're in," Harry beamed, hugging him tightly with a laugh. "Reserve Chaser!"

"I'm…" Draco frowned, feeling something twist in his stomach. "I'm a Chaser."

"Of course. You had one of the best tryouts," Harry pulled back, smile slipping. "Dray? Hey, you okay?"

"I… I'm fine. Really. Just… I've never played anything but Seeker." Draco felt hands in his before Harry was pulling him away from the board where people were starting to gather.

"Are you okay? You tend to get… You get like this when something changes."

Draco couldn't help his smile. "I'll be fine, Harry. Really. What will this really change?"

"Dunno, but you've probably already thought up a million bad things," Harry huffed, staring at Draco for a moment before leaning in to swiftly kiss his cheek. "Change doesn't have to be bad."

"Harry," Draco huffed, turning away from him. "Are you going to do that whenever you feel like it?"

"Probably, yeah." Harry tugged on their hands, Draco seeing his grin. "I'll try not to make you uncomfortable with my 'boundless affection,' though."

"I'm not uncomfortable." It was just a bit startling, was all.

"It's okay." Harry leaned against him before shooting up. "Oh! We should write to your mom! She'll want to know you got a different position this year."

"You're right, she will. Father may be disappointed, though." Draco smiled at Harry. "Seeker is always a much more prideful position."

"He won't be disappointed," Harry smiled, pulling Draco along to grab their bags before leaving the common room. "He's proud of you no matter what. Even I can tell that."

"Maybe." Draco picked up his own bag, following after Harry. "Where are we going?"

"Well, first I figure we can go see Hyperion and tell him the good news." Honestly. Leave it to Harry to befriend what was no doubt the Grim. "Then we can write some letters and go mail them to your mom."

"Why not just write while we're out there?" There was a moment where Harry paused to think before pulling him along again.

"That works."

The two made their way down to the edge of the forest where Hyperion was waiting for them, Draco already summoning a bowl of water for him before shivering. "Wind is starting to pick up."

"It's not even Halloween yet and it's already getting colder," Harry huffed, pulling his robes tighter around him as he crouched down to pull Hyperion into a hug. "Hey, boy. How are you doing?" Hyperion whined, and looked as though he were shivering.

"I suppose the cold is getting to him through that ragged fur, as well." Let's see… Draco knew a warming charm or two he could use for now.

"Yeah…" Oh, no. Harry had on his 'Savior' face. "So, uh, hey, Hogwarts- Hogwarts is pretty big, right? A lot of rooms? And stuff?"

"Y… Yes. Why do you ask?" Draco asked him with narrowed eyes. He wouldn't dare.

"Well- I mean, if there are a lot of rooms and a few of them won't be used or anything, it couldn't hurt if we just sort of… borrowed one. Right?"

"Borrowed a classroom. What are you proposing we do, with said borrowed classroom?" There was a long silence before Draco watched Harry hug Hyperion closer. "No," he said firmly. "No."

"But Dray." Harry whined, shivering along with Hyperion as another gust of wind went through. "Look at how cold it's getting! We can't leave him out here to die!"

"Harry, he is not going to die, he's got fur!"

"You said it yourself! His fur is all ragged!" Harry turned big, watery eyes on him and oh. Oh, no. "Please, Dray?"

"Oh… Oh…! Fine!" Draco huffed, crossing his arms. "I don't suppose you have your cloak?"

"Always," Harry grinned. "Actually, considering that this is us and we're, well, us, I started thinking ahead." Harry dug around in his backpack before pulling out the cloak and bloody hell. He just walked around with an invisibility cloak in his bag?

"You know how to think ahead?" Draco nudged him. "How are we going to do this, then?"

"Good question." Harry looked down to Hyperion and finally threw the cloak over him. "Okay. We just hide him like that and let him follow us into the castle."

"How do you know he's going to follow us, Harry? He's a dog." The other only pouted and held his hand out, beaming after a moment.

"Nope, still there. You're forgetting, Hyperion is a smart dog."

"Or a Grim. Or an animagus," Draco huffed, following along after them.

"He's not the Grim, Draco." That they knew of. "And if he was an animagus then we'd probably realize it by now- Who would he even be?"

Draco shrugged. "Sirius Black? Peter Pettigrew? Anyone else that doesn't like you?"

"Peter Pettigrew was one of my dad's friends, right?" There was a quiet growling and oh, boy, that was a lot more terrifying when Draco couldn't see where it was coming from. "Easy, boy."

Draco nodded, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible. "Wormtail. Which classroom do you believe he should be hidden in?"

"Well, you see, he behaves so well so I thought that maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have to stay in a classroom."

"Those are the only empty rooms within the castle, Harry, where else will he stay?"

"Well." The word was drawn out in a cute little manner- Oh, no. "Maybe he can stay with us?"

"No," Draco told him. "No! In our dorm room, Harry? It won't be so easy to hide him from our four other dorm mates!"

"Well- I mean- We can maybe tell them and they'd probably help? Dray, he'd be so lonely. And what if one of the teachers found him!"

"What if one of the teachers finds him in our dorm, Harry!" Draco shook his head. "No. No, I won't do it."

"Okay- That's okay! We can just blame it all on me if he ever gets found out." There was a quiet whine, Harry quickly pressing his hand down against what looked like thin air, but was probably Hyperion's back. "Please, Dray?"

Draco crossed his arms, looking away from Harry. "Even if we were to attempt this, which we shouldn't, how do you plan to get him up there safely?"

"We just… go slow, you know? Make sure he's by our sides, be careful on the steps, and try to make it look like we're not sneaking an invisible dog up into the tower."

"Right. Because it's just that easy. And if someone stops to speak with us?"

"You charm them and I keep going. You can catch up later."

"This is a terrible idea, you know."

"That's not a no, though." Harry gave a truly pathetic pout that put a great deal of his previous ones to shame. "Please, Dray?"

Draco thought about it. "What's in it for me?"

"Well." Harry moved to throw his arms around Draco's shoulders and lean against him and oh, alright. He was suddenly a lot closer. "What do you want?"

Draco felt himself flush, even as he looked away. "You're creative."

"I try to be." Harry's lips brushed against his jaw as he leaned forward and Draco had to focus very hard on not saying anything stupid. "How about you keep thinking about it while you help me, and then I'll make it up to you however you want."

"Fine. Okay. Fine. Let's get this over with. You won't stop pestering me unless we do!" There was some kind of noise from Hyperion, Draco willing to let it go as Harry patted at 'thin air' again.

"Great! Alright, Hyperion, you have to be quiet, okay? This is very important and we cannot get caught." The dog, from under the cloak, gave a soft whine, but other than that stayed remarkably quiet. "Okay. Let's go."

::

"You could have said no." Ron was staring at Hyperion with something akin to horror. Hyperion was only quietly wagging his tail from where he was sitting on Harry's bed. "You could have told him no."

"I… I was temporarily Imperiused." While Thomas and Harry shot him confused looks, Ron, Finnigan, and Longbottom looked unimpressed.

"Right. By the dog or Harry?" Ugh. When did Longbottom get so sassy?

"I will have you know that I very well was mind controlled. You say no to him."

"It's not that hard to say no to him," Finnigan scoffed, looking to where Harry was cooing over Hyperion and nuzzling against him. "I just don't want to, usually. I mean- He never really asks for anything, does he?"

Draco laughed at that. "Maybe not from you." That had Ron snorting and shaking his head, looking a bit better about the monster that had taken over the dorm room.

"I mean- I guess if he doesn't cause trouble or try to kill us in the middle of the night then it's okay."

"You hear that, Harry?"

"I told you there was nothing to worry about," Harry pointed out, looking relieved anyways. "And don't worry. Hyperion is a giant softy. His name was Snuffles-"

"Until Harry realized that the name was completely and utterly awful in every way."

"It got great reactions out of you," Harry snickered, Hyperion looking like he was laughing with the brat. Draco should throw them both out. Draco sat on his own bed with a huff, crossing his arms and facing away from Harry.

It was probably seven seconds before he felt Harry sit down next to him and squirm up to his side, hand gripping his sleeve as he reached up to kiss Draco's cheek. "Think of what you want?"

"Harry," Draco hissed, firmly not looking at him.

"Wha- What? What'd I say?"

"Just- Just forget it. Nothing."

"Okay." Harry gave him a little nudge. "I mean, I won't forget it, but I'll drop it. Now, come on and pet Hyperion. He's fluffy."

"No. I'm fine." There was a little huff beside him, Harry standing up and then swiftly kissing Draco's cheek. "Harry!"

"Bye, love you, gonna go steal some food for Hyperion!"

Harry left the dorm, leaving Draco sitting there. "I hate him."

"No, you don't."

"Pretty sure it's the opposite, mate."

"Didn't know they changed the meaning of the word love."

"Shut up, the lot of you!" There was the sound of claws against the floor and Draco looked down to see Hyperion had moved and was now gently touching his nose to Draco's knee. Draco frowned, staring down at the dog before gently petting his head.

"I thought you hated dogs." Ron was frowning at him. "Every time you see Fang you basically run away screaming in terror."

"I do not!" He pouted at Ron. "I just… Don't have good experiences with particularly large canines."

"You seem fine with that one," Finnigan nodded at Hyperion. "He probably can't even bark, I bet." Hyperion stiffened before looking to Draco and then to Finnigan.

Draco stood, arms crossed. "He can too. Sounds like thunder right above you! And he's different. He's Harry's."

"Ah, so you have to play nice with the boyfriend's pet. Got it, got it. And I mean, come on? Thunder-" As Finnigan spoke, Hyperion moved in front of Draco and Draco knew the second he was about to bark and Merlin. Even the dog was a Gryffindor, it seemed. Draco turned slightly to brace himself just as the dog gave a couple loud barks, Draco setting a hand on his back.

"We should have named you Godric." Hyperion seemed pleased as could be at Finnigan's swearing and the boys' loud complaining.

"Bloody hell, we're not going to keep him a secret for long if he stays that loud all the time!"

"He didn't until you went and insulted him!"

"I just said he couldn't bark!"

"Proved that wrong, didn't he," Longbottom snorted. "I like him. I mean, it'll be good to have an extra guard if Sirius Black breaks in or something."

Draco opened his mouth to retort before the dog… The dog started laughing? "And what are you laughing at?"

Ron snorted. "What if the dog is Sirius Black?" The laughter stopped, thank Merlin. Such a weird noise.

"Right. Obviously. The dog that was cuddling with Harry is Sirius Black." Thomas seemed to hardly get the words out through his laughter. "Pretty sure he won't get past the Dementors, even if he did manage to look like a dog."

"Well… He did once, already," Draco pointed out. That had the boys going quiet for a moment, Thomas finally shrugging.

"So what. Lots of people break out of jail sometimes. They always catch them."

"Yeah, but… It's Azkaban," Finnigan said softly. "Mum's told me stories about the place. Right nasty, it is. Half the inmates don't even sleep they're so scared and… empty."

"If they receive the Kiss," Draco nodded. "There's… Nothing left." Hyperion whined softly from Draco's feet. Even animals knew to fear Dementors, no doubt.

"It's not just a prison," Ron sighed. "It's like- It's bad. I mean, even the ones that aren't Kissed go crazy."

"If not entirely insane, they lose any and all reason to live." Draco glanced up at them before looking back down at Hyperion. "I've an aunt in Azkaban. Mad as they come."

"Sounds bad," Thomas muttered, Draco watching Hyperion whine softly and look over to Longbottom, the teen looking a little more withdrawn. Why- Oh. Right. Draco remained silent, stroking Hyperion's fur and trying to keep his hands from shaking. No matter what, there was still so much that the Malfoys and the Blacks alike had to pay for.

The door opened and Harry appeared like the sunshine he was, rambling away with a plate of food before pausing, squinting, and looking at the others. "Why does it seem like I just missed a serious conversation?"

Draco smiled at him. "Nothing. What did you get for him, then? Spoiling him?"

"Thought that was your job." Harry set the plate down next to Hyperion, patting the top of his head before standing back up and emptying his pockets. "Also got us some snacks."

"Harry, this is probably enough for the entire house," Draco couldn't help but laugh.

"I mean, it's also a bribe to win everyone's favor so I can protect Hyperion," Harry said in a dead, even tone, smirk quirking his lips as he grabbed a pumpkin pastry.

"Yeah, yeah," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "The mutt can stay. I guess. Right, fellas?"

"As long as he doesn't bark like that again and wake me up," Finnigan complained, him and Thomas both grabbing a bunch of snacks. "Then, yeah. The mutt is fine."

Draco smiled at Harry, taking his hand in his own. "There you go, see?"

"The snacks helped," Harry huffed, smiling anyways as he squeezed Draco's hand back. "Thanks, Dray."

"Well, after he just hugged and squeezed the poor mutt to death-"

"I did not!" There was a little huff of a noise from Hyperion, the dog looking at Draco before turning away as if to say 'Us? Show affection? Please.' Draco couldn't help but smile, scratching the poor mutt's ears. Hyperion tilted his head into it at once, Harry choking on a laugh.

"I see you two finally reached a truce, then." Harry kissed Draco's cheek, ruffled Hyperion's fur, and then headed over towards where one of his sketchbooks was lying on the bed.

"I suppose he's not so bad," Draco hummed, gesturing to Harry's bed. "Go on, up there, then. You can sleep there." Hyperion sat and stared at him, looking between Harry and the bed.

"Maybe he was a pet and wasn't allowed on the bed," Ron called out. "Go on, boy, it's not like Harry ever sleeps in his bed."

"Go on," Draco said again. "Get up." It took a while, but Hyperion finally jumped up onto the bed and flopped down with an exhausted air around him. Poor thing had been outside for far too long, probably. Draco sat on his own bed, looking to Harry. "Going to draw him, then?"

"It'd be a wasted opportunity if I didn't," Harry said, quite seriously, as he crawled onto his bed and poked at Hyperion's cheek with his pencil. "Don't move too much, okay?" The dog yawned, though didn't seem to see any point in moving. Draco only reached for his bag.

"Right. Now, to write a letter, which I was going to do before you distracted me." Instead of being repentant, Harry only grinned brightly and went to work at sketching Hyperion. Now, let's see…

Dear Mother,

All seems to be well so far, this year. A small number of the other students are worried for Harry's safety, what with everything, but I have confidence that this year will turn out significantly better than the last two. I may even dare say that - aside from Quidditch-related incidents - we may never see the inside of the hospital ward!

Speaking of Quidditch, you may be interested to know that this year, I will not be playing as a Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Instead, I tried out this year as a Chaser… And I made reserves, yet again. Not quite as glamorous as a starting position, but much better than not playing at all.

Any advice towards Harry for his first Hogsmeade visit? I very much intend on perusing Honeyduke's Sweets Shop, having heard so much about it.

Your little dragon,

Draco Malfoy

P.S. Any tips for caring for those of the canine breed? Asking for a friend.