Sorry for the slight delay, I had a double update on my Gundam Wing fic and was deluged with homework and such, so it's been difficult trying to update my fics!

Enjoy!

Chapter 21: The Morning After

Draco had never felt so warm and comfortable as he did then. Burrowed deep within a cocoon of silk blankets, snuggled up perfectly against the lean body next to him as someone finger-combed his hair.

'Hold on...'

His sleep fogged mind slowly clicked into place. He was in a nice bed with another person and said person was playing with -his- hair. And, even better, he found that he didn't really care when all his mental alarm bells should have been going off as he hexed the person into oblivion.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Draco mumbled.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" Harry's apologetic voice replied somewhere above his left ear and his hand stilled.

"Maybe," he opened his eyes and found Harry propped up on his elbow, looking like he had been awake for a while. "But keep going, it feels wonderful."

He smiled and continued what he had been doing. If Draco had been a cat, he thought he would be purring right about now as he stretched languidly under his arm. "We're going to have to get up soon if you want to get breakfast before our classes."

"Ugh, let's just blow off everything. I don't want to get up," Draco moaned, turning his face into his pillow.

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I really don't want to either-"

"-But-."

"-but- I haven't been to classes since Monday and I can't afford to miss anymore," he finished, getting serious.

"We'll tell them you had a relapse, Madam Pomfrey released you too early, or you just weren't ready to face Weasley after being hexed halfway across the room and severely- may I repeat- SEVERELY injured by the red-haired demon?" Draco replied convincingly, showing enough of his hidden face to reveal an equally convincing pouty lower lip.

"You come up with plausible excuses way too easily," Harry remarked dryly. "However, as plausible as they may be for -you-, they won't work for me."

He rolled over onto his back with an exaggerated sigh. "Well, since you must, I might as well go too. It's not fun to skip without someone with you."

"I'm honored by your generous sacrifice," he snickered and dropped a soft kiss on Draco's lips.

"Oh, you think you're so smooth. Pour on the sarcasm then skillfully detour whiplash by being sweet and charming," Draco said amusedly, reaching up from out under the covers and pulling Harry back down for a much more intense lip lock.

"It worked, didn't it?" Harry grinned, then wriggled out of the bed before the blonde could get a better grip and throttle him.

"You are such a bloody prat, you know that?" Draco asked, annoyed, as he slid out after him.

"Of course," he smirked, sorting through the various articles of rumpled clothing to find all of his belongs and starting to get dressed. Draco was just about to turn to the nightstand and get their wands when Harry stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Last night was really...I don't know if there's a word to describe it."

"I know what you mean." Suddenly, Draco gave him an enticing smile. "Just wait until Valentine's Day."

They finally made it to the Great Hall after a frequently interrupted trek from the Room of Requirement, managing to arrive with enough time to grab something to eat before breakfast was over. Harry and Draco parted ways at the door and Harry headed over to where Ginny sat with Neville and Dean.

"Good morning, Ginny," Harry grinned, sliding into a seat in front of her and instantly reaching out for a plate of sausages. "Neville, Dean."

Dean gave him an uncomfortable look before scooting down towards Seamus a few feet away. The Irish Gryffindor glared over at them as if they were owl droppings coated on the bottom of his shoe.

"Oh, honestly, those two are idiots," Neville frowned. "I'm beginning to see why you don't stay in our dormitory anymore, Harry. I'm about half tempted to start sleeping in the common room myself, so I don't have to hear them complain. I'd take Dobby over Seamus and Ron any day, Dean's the worse because he just goes along with them so they don't take the mickey out on him like they do me for not agreeing with them."

"And you might want to pull up your collar a bit, that hickey is quite impressive," Ginny smirked, raising an eyebrow suggestively as Harry turned a delicate shade of pink and pulled at his shirt collar. "No wonder you're having a good morning."

"Uh, yes, well-" he coughed lightly. "Hand me some of that toast and jam, please."

The redhead snickered and obliged. "Speaking of my insufferable prat of a brother, Neville, where is he? He wasn't at dinner last night, and now he's not here for breakfast," said Ginny curiously.

Harry paused in spreading the jam on his toast. It was true. He didn't recall seeing Ron at all last night after Madam Pomfrey released him from the hospital wing, and he definitely would have remembered seeing him if Ron had been at dinner.

"He was in our room last night, complained of his stomach hurting or something," Neville shrugged. "He was going to skip over dinner and lie in. His bed curtains were shut when we got back, so we just assumed he went to the hospital wing or to sleep and left it alone."

"If he went to Madam Pomfrey, I must have just missed him then," Harry replied, thoughtful. "I'm sorry you've had to put up with his and Seamus' rubbish. I actually got into it with Seamus in the library last night, so I thought it better to avoid our dorm for another night to let things blow over."

"Yeah, he did seem pretty worked up about something, so it's probably best that you didn't," Neville agreed affably. "Wish I would've been there to see what set him off, he was swearing so badly the mirror on his dresser told him to watch his language."

"He was just lucky Draco showed up and intervened, or HE would've been the one in the hospital wing for a few days," Harry muttered darkly, stabbing his jam-covered knife into his pile of scrambled eggs.

"I'm sure Draco took care of more than that," Ginny remarked, her Cheshire Cat smirk spreading.

"And you," Harry pointed at her emphatically with his toast. "You need to keep your nose out of my -very- personal life. You got all you're ever going to know or see at Christmas."

"Oh ho, says you," she shot back cryptically and Neville chuckled.

He blushed again. "A very strong gut feeling tells me I need to write your brothers and see what new experiment they're concocting. And make Kreacher search everyone for Extendable Ears whenever they come into Grimmauld Place."

"You act like you can't trust me or something," Ginny scoffed, pretending to be offended.

"When you're related to Fred and George and mischief and mayhem are involved, then no, I don't," Harry replied dryly, instinctively covering his head as the female Weasley waved her wand and her bacon started attacking him in a good imitation of her infamous Bat Bogey hex.

"Ginny, have you seen Ron this morning?"

The bacon fell limp back onto the table and Harry raised his head to see Hermione standing behind Ginny, her face lined with worry.

"I just told them that he said he was sick last night," Neville offered helpfully.

"Yes, he told me that too. I checked the hospital wing and your rooms, but he wasn't there," Hermione sighed. "He was supposed to get with me in the common room before breakfast so we could discuss the prefects' meeting later this morning, but he never showed up."

"He seems to be vanishing rather often lately," Harry commented thoughtfully, Scourgifying bacon grease off his robes.

"You're not one to talk," she said loftily. "You've disappeared several times yourself."

"Yeah, but by now everyone knows I go to the Room of Requirement because it's usually after a hard lesson with Professor Snape or Professor Malfoy," he responded casually. "Obviously, Ron doesn't tell you where -he's- going, now does he?"

Hermione puffed up in frustrated indignation. "Well- I- No, not really," she admitted, deflating visibly.

"Come on now, this is -Ron- we're talking about," Ginny laughed, instantly breaking the sedate mood. "He's probably off skulking around trying to form a secret coalition group to break up Harry and Draco and convert Harry back to the Light side. The B.U.H.A.D Group of Bloody Great Prats, with Seamus as his right-hand man. All it'll take is a good Howler from our mum telling him to stop being an idiot and he'll straighten up quick."

"Maybe," Hermione replied unconvincingly, walking off with a frown still shadowing her features.

Harry suddenly didn't feel very hungry anymore. "I'll see you guys later, I need to talk to Professor Snape about the work I missed before Potions starts," he pushed his plate away and got up, walking out of the Great Hall and heading down the stone staircase into the dungeons.

After a check showed that the Potions master wasn't in his classroom, Harry went to his office further down the hall and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Professor Snape was at his desk with a cobweb-covered, thick book opened in front of him with an expression of deep contemplation set on his face. He moved his hand to shut it, but left it alone when he saw it was only Harry.

"Class isn't for another twenty minutes, Potter," he remarked idly.

Harry closed the door behind him. "Yes, I know that," he said, feeling more than knowing that the powerful shields had renewed themselves behind him as he went to sit down. "I found a few books last night in the library that I thought might be useful, do you think I can keep them in here?"

"If that wasn't a loaded question, I don't know what is," Snape replied wryly, leaning back in his chair. "You -did- check them out I hope."

"Of course I did! Draco and I convinced Madam Pince that they were resources for a project for his mum, so she let us take them," Harry sighed, reaching into his bag and pulling out a handful of dice-sized cubes. He unshrunk the books back to their normal size. "I already have ninety nine percent of the school thinking I'm in league with Voldemort thanks to Witch Weekly, the last thing I need is to be seen reading books like these."

"That's understandable," his lip curled slightly in disgust as he scanned over the titles. "You may leave them here if you wish, for now. We won't have time after our lesson, but later I'll show you a concealment charm that will make them look like different books. Though you as the spell caster will still be able to read the original material."

"Excellent. Thank you, Professor," Harry said, rising as the Potions master got up and they headed out into the corridor towards Snape's classroom.

A low buzzing of conversation struck as they turned the corner, everyone was grouped up in clumps talking lowly to each other and glancing at the austere form of Professor McGonagall waiting patiently at the group's front.

"Good morning Serverus, Harry," she greeted stiffly. "If you don't mind, I would like a word with Mister Potter before your start your class."

"Certainly." Snape opened the door to his room and shot Harry a glance of shared suspicion before entering after the rest of the students, Ron and Hermione noticeably lagging behind to eavesdrop on the conversation. Draco looked extremely apprehensive.

Professor McGonagall waited until the door was completely shut before speaking. She leveled Harry with a heavy, stern frown that drew her eyebrows sharply together at the bridge of her nose. "I have been receiving several complaints from your House mates recently that have raised some concern."

"When don't they have something to complain about, Professor?" Harry replied, barely reigning in his sarcasm.

"This is not a matter to be taken lightly," Professor McGonagall reprimanded grimly. "If I have another complaint about you not returning to your dormitory, having hostile relations with your fellow Gryffindors, or conducting in suspicious activity, I will be forced to take this to the Headmaster and punish you accordingly."

He stepped back as if she had slapped him, anger burning his eyes. "Dumbledore knows about my -occasional- use of the Room of Requirement and hasn't said anything against it. And I am most definitely not apologizing for caring about Draco or giving the support to Slytherins who don't want to be Death Eaters that they need right now. But if I'm going to get in trouble just because Ron, Hermione, Seamus, and everyone else don't like who I'm with or what I've had to do to prepare myself for saving THEIR skins from Voldemort, then they can just fuck off for all I care," Harry lashed out furiously. "I didn't ask for this, I don't want this. If they're having such a problem, I can quit right now and be on my way."

Professor McGonagall's frown thinned into an almost nonexistent line. "I'm afraid that -is- what is going to happen if you do not straighten up and act properly, Mister Potter. I will be forced to remove you from Gryffindor House and into isolated chambers if you continue to be a volatile threat to the students. With times such as they are, any discrepancies will -not- be tolerated."

"I want to speak with Dumbledore."

Harry's mind was reeling. Sure, he had been having problems with Ron and the others and had expected it, but this? Getting him expelled from his own House?

They just went -too- far.

(dun dun dun) What will happen now? Heh.

Reviews are greatly appreciated!