A/N: HAPPY UPCOMING NEW YEAR! At first, I wanted to upload this at midnight January 1st, but I wasn't sure if I would have internet, since we're going to Finland, so there you go. I'm sorry for taking so long, though perhaps, a break is good for me. I wish to everyone for their year to be better than the last, and to achieve all that you hope to achieve. Besides that, I wish you everything that people usually wish, and also...wait for it...wait...

HAPPY UPCOMING BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, my birthday is on January 1st, so please wish me a happy birthday (don't do it if you don't want to...*pouts* spoilsport).

And, to those of you who are catholic, merry Christmas! Here is my gift to all:

You better watch out

And hide in a hole

I'll reach down your throat

And swallow your soul

Voldemort is coming to town

I'm making a list

Of people I hate

When Dumbledore died

I thought it was great

Voldemort is coming to town

I'll sneak in when you're sleeping

And draw d*cks on your face

And if you say my name outloud

I will steal your birthday cake, OH!

No, I'm not the one who thought of this, but I love it! LOL

And also, to whoever wrote the Remus-tutor review, your idea is very valid, and it actually led me to question why JKR didn't do it...I mean, I get that she wanted Remus to have a hard life, but if you look at it like that, it makes no sense. Whoever you are, congrats on uncovering another HP plothole. Enjoy!

The days that followed after the debacle in the Room of Requirement found Harry not speaking to Draco and ignoring the blond's attempts at reconciliation. Truthfully, Harry felt a little guilty, as Draco clearly wanted to be friends with him just for the sake of being friends, and not for personal gain, but he was really fed up with the boy that had made his life just that bit more difficult. Really, where Snape couldn't be blamed because he had a compulsion on him, Draco was a git on his own, and Harry had checked him and found nothing. Not a single spell or potion that could excuse his behaviour. Because, while Draco was nice to everyone in Harry's presence, Harry had heard him make derogatory comments to half-bloods, blood traitors and muggleborns when he thought he wasn't looking. Of course, Harry wasn't going to permanently sever ties with him, but it felt good to torture him while he seemed to pose no danger.

Right now, in fact, Harry was hurrying through a corridor, looking desperately for a secret passage in which to hide, Draco's desperate yells echoing from behind him. He quickened his pace and ran up another staircase, hiding behind a suit of armor before Draco spotted him. Draco's lucky that everyone is at dinner. It would be rather un-Slytherin-like for him to let someone see us arguing. He stifled a laugh at that thought as he watched Draco ascend the staircase after him and look around, looking for a place to hide, slowly inching out from behind the suit.

Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Draco spotted Harry and ran in his direction. Harry quickly turned on his heel and bolted away down another corridor, noticing how it seemed to grow darker with each step. Finally, he reached the end, only to find himself standing in front of a door. Not hesitating any longer, he grabbed the handle and shook it vigorously, but the door didn't open.

"Alohomora!"

Harry ran through the now open door and stopped in his tracks as he realised exactly what corridor he had just entered. Draco ran in beside him and stopped in front of him, panting, wiping sweat from his face.

"Harry! Please stop running from me, I swear, I didn't mean-"

"Draco."

"Huh?"

"Shut up," said Harry while looking up at the large three headed dog that was rising up behind Draco. How anyone in their right mind would name this Fluffy...Well, I guess Hagrid always was a little crazy.

Draco looked at Harry, confused... Until a roar reverberated through the room, causing Draco to scream and flatten himself against the back wall, staring up at Fluffy with terror in his eyes.

"Harry, what is this?!"

Harry glanced sideways at Draco and pushed him out as his mind quickly formulated a plan. He conjured a whistle, as it was the smallest and therefore the easiest to conjure, and started whistling softly without any real tune, but for Fluffy it was apparently enough. The monster's eyelids started drooping, and soon a loud crash echoed through the room as Fluffy fell down on the floor and started snoring peacefully.

Harry cast a spell at the dog to make sure that it wouldn't wake up for the next five minutes, walked out and closed the door, exhaling in relief and putting a hand on his chest to calm his racing heart just as Professor McGonagall came running round the corner.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, what happened - what are you even doing here?"

From the corner of his eye, Harry saw Draco opening his mouth to say something and stepped on his foot subtly, earning himself a silent glare.

"I'm sorry, Professor. We were just going down to dinner, and we must have gotten a bit lost."

"A bit? Do you even know where you are?"

Harry schooled his expression into a mask of innocence and asked:

"At Hogwarts?"

McGonagall looked like she wanted to slap her forehead exasperatedly, but apparently refrained from doing so. She took a deep breath.

"Which floor are you on, Mr. Potter?"

"The third floor? But...No way! We're on the third-floor corridor! But that thing that Dumbledore talked about is going to kill us! Run!"

Harry grabbed Draco's arm and tore off down the corridor and up a flight of stairs, stopping at the end and yelling:

"Professor, what are you waiting for? Run!"

McGonagall shook her head, a smile playing at the corner of her lips, as if she knew what Harry was doing, but had no way of proving it.

"Do not worry, Mr. Potter, the thing, as you so delicately described it, will not kill you. However, you shouldn't take any chances, so off you go, and I will see about providing all first-years with a map, so we can hopefully prevent further such incidents from occurring."

Understanding the implied dismissal, Harry nodded and, with a cheerful, 'Thanks, Professor! You really are the best', trotted off happily, still dragging Draco after him, not stopping until they were safe in the Slytherin common room. Once there, Harry let go of Draco, made himself comfortable on a nearby armchair and opened his mouth:

"I forgive you, Draco. However, please do not shove your nose into my business like that ever again. I do have personal boundaries, you know."

Harry's tone was polite, but with a steely note, if you looked close enough. He knew that he was overreacting; after all, all Draco had done was be curious, something that Harry could understand and relate to, but he couldn't help it; the blond just had this way about him of pissing him off, and Harry suspected that seven years of mutual hatred had only contributed to it.

Draco looked down, shame evident in his features. Serves you right, Malfoy.

"I'm sorry, Harry. But why won't you tell me things? Aren't we best friends?"

No, we are not.

"Yes, we are. I just can't...I, erm, I'm under a Vow," Harry invented wildly on the spot, "yes, um, an Unbreakable Vow. I...Maybe I will get permission to tell you later, ok?"

Draco's face brightened, but his eyes were filled with sympathy.

"I'm so sorry for you, but it's nice to know that my best friend isn't voluntarily hiding things from me."

Yeah, bet it is, Malfoy.

"So, um..."

Draco shifted in his seat awkwardly.

"Can I help you with whatever you have to do? You don't have to tell me anything to break the vow, but you could, I dunno, find some loophole? How strict was the wording, anyway?"

Harry considered. What I am doing is secret, and if it got back to Dumbledore...But I don't need to tell him anything. If I just word it correctly...

"Say, Draco," Harry began uncertainly. "If you had to capture someone in a few hours at only a moment's notice, but you could plan until you got the signal, what would you do?"

"You have to capture someone?"

Draco noticed his mistake immediately and backtracked.

"I'm sorry, don't answer that. It could violate the Vow."

"No, it's ok," Harry assured him. "The wording wasn't very strict. And yes, I have to capture someone. I expect you'll find out who soon enough."

Draco scratched his forehead.

"Well, it depends on the wizard - or witch, but generally, the most logical way is to set up a web of charms that could be triggered by something that person does and then tie the charms to that person, so that when they do something that they always do, the trap will go off. For example, if a person likes to say the word 'crikes', then you can put a variation of the Incarcerous and Stupefy charms on them and set them to be triggered by that word. Then all you have to do is put another trigger on them that could be tied to you and when it's time, you just say the password and..."

Draco trailed off. Harry nodded slowly. That could work...I just need to go to the library and check a few things... He raised his eyes determinedly to look at Draco and said:

"This is a good idea, Draco. I presume your parents taught you it?"

Draco shook his head, his blond hair falling into his eyes.

"I had a tutor since I was five. My parents couldn't be bothered to waste their time on me unless they needed me for something."

His tutor was probably bloody good, if he could conjure a snake in his second year. There was something that bothered Harry, though. He sounds as if his parents neglected him...Suddenly, Harry was filled with sympathy. He knew exactly how it felt to be ignored constantly. Not that this excuses him, though. I was raised by the Dursleys, and look how I turned out.

Indeed, despite having been very modest for most of his life, in the last few months Harry had come to be proud of himself and how he was - not egotistically so, but happy with who he was. He certainly wasn't perfect, but he didn't want to go back to who he was before the time-travel-thingy either.

Harry decided to ignore Draco's home life for now, knowing that that was what he would have wanted if someone brought up his.

"Thank you for the idea, Draco. I will look it up in the library tomorrow, but for now, why don't we go down to dinner? I'm starving."

Draco fixed Harry with a stare.

"What about the third-floor corridor? I wonder what that thing was."

Harry sighed. He's not going to give up, is he?

"Well, I think it was a three-headed dog."

Draco rolled his eyes.

"I know that, Captain Obvious. You clearly knew how to stop it. How?"

Harry squirmed.

"I, er, read about it in a book. It's called a Hellhound, and it can be put to sleep by music."

Draco narrowed his eyes.

"Ok. You're right, let's go eat, I'm hungry as well."

Draco's stomach rumbled, causing him to blush and backing up his statement. Harry got up and followed Draco up to the Great Hall, knowing that they would talk more about Fluffy after dinner. Sometimes, it really bugged him, how nosy Draco was.

A/N: Again, happy New Year, everyone, and happy birthday to me! I was thinking of putting the dates at the beggining of each chapter, what do you think of that? As always, let me know in the reveiws.

Toodles,

Lady Vulpes.