[a/n: Last chapter is dedicated to the guy at University who literally barricaded himself into his room for a weekend. Apparently his suitemates panicked (thinking he was quite possible dead) and called campus police. Anyway, that's Draco's reason why no one's squealed to Snape on exactly how long he's been missing (since Potter really didn't think to ask)]

Harry took a deep breath, exhaled, and then took another. "You remember our first broomstick lesson?"

"With Longbottom's rememberall? How could I forget?"

"You were really a jerk back then, you know that?"

"I suppose. Standard tactic, really. If you want to be on top, make sure someone's below you. If they aren't already, give them a push."

Potter looked at Malfoy, for a quiet moment. Then, idly, he turned and looked at the black dog, whose tail was slightly swishing in some weak semblance of a wag. "If you were really above everyone, though, you wouldn't need to, would you?" Malfoy's silence was really all the confirmation Potter needed. "You were nervous, weren't you?"

Malfoy moved quickly to the dog, ruffling his head by tugging roughly on an ear. "He doesn't know what he's talking about, does he?" The big black dog simply lifted one of his big floppy ears (the one Draco wasn't tugging on), and then shook his head.

Harry responded acidly, "Of course, Gryffindors never get nervous. Too much courage for that, and too little sense."

Draco flashed him a sudden grin, "Your Snape impression could use work. And don't let him catch you doing that, he'd be livid." More because it's you than that someone's imitating him. If there's nothing else you can say about the man, he's certainly memorable.

"Well, after I made that catch, you saw McGonagall leading me off."

"Of course... I was kippered, thinkin' you were about to get a hidin' or somethin'." Draco smirked at the memory.

"Betcha you were surprised when I came back as a Seeker, werentcha?"

"Surprised?! I was steamed, was what I was... Why else would I have challenged you to a duel? And who the hell makes a first year Seeker anyway?" Draco said, standing up and glaring at Potter.

"How was I supposed to know that? I didn't know a thing about the game, and hadn't sat a broomstick before in my life. Had I known... I would have just said no."

Draco goggled at Potter, a look that Potter found unbelievably funny. "Really? You'd have said no to playing on the team?"

Harry Potter looked at Draco like he was silly, "Of course. There was bound to be someone better, wasn't there? I didn't even know that was a skilled position! I don't know what the Prof was thinking, and I still don't!" **

Slinging an arm around Harry's shoulder, Draco smiles as if he's just won King of the World, "Merlin, you're a better lad than I thought!"

"You know I showed up to that duel at midnight, right?" Harry asked quietly, slightly - but only slightly, unnerved by Draco's rapid mood swings. At that, the black dog whipped his head around, both ears upright and swiveled to face Harry.

"And how was I supposed to know that, as even I knew better than to sneak around just for a stupid duel?" Draco said, smiling cheekily.

"We waited there for you, you know."

"We?"

"Had to have a second, you know?"

"Oh, so Weasley came along... Naive helpless Gryffindors, don't even see a trick coming before it kicks them in the arse."

"Hey! I Resent that!"

"You should. It was meant as an insult. I'd hex you, but you're wandless, and that would be unfair." Draco said this entirely straight, and then grinned. "And we all know that Slytherins are paragons of fairness and justice." They both laughed, the black dog opening his mouth and panting the entire time, in a doggy grin.

"Well, we almost got caught - by Filch of course, so we ran away. We didn't know the castle very well, and we kinda got lost. It was only when we opened the door on Fluffy that we realized we were in the third floor corridor..."

Draco blinked. That didn't make sense... Draco blinked again. That STILL didn't make ANY sense. "You got lost, and wound up in the third floor corridor? And who - or what - is a Fluffy?" Draco was very much concerned, even though this had happened in the past. Fluffies could be anywhere, after all... And Draco wasn't the type who thought every monster (or stray floating bit of magic) needed to be fought. In fact, he rather preferred running away, when that was at all reasonable.

Potter nodded, and said, "Fluffy is a three headed dog-monster, about eight times as big as your horse."

Draco responded, as anyone might, "Who the hell names a Cerberus Fluffy?!"

"Hagrid, of course." Potter said, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. "Your Snape impression is buckets better than mine, by the way." Potter shook his head wryly, and said, "It gets better. Fluffy was guarding a trapdoor... to where, we couldn't see, as it promptly tried to lunge out of the room to bite us. We ran the whole way back to the Tower."

No longer agog, Draco simply looked at Potter, and slowly, softly said, "you're mental, you know that?"

"Yup. Your story."

"When I was seven, I went out to Diagon's Alley for ice cream. My father was with me, and we had ordered three different flavors to make a green and purple and blue sundae. I ate the whole thing, and I was soo full. As the waitress was cleaning up, I told her, 'When I grow up to be the next Dark Lord, we're going to get ice cream for free every day!' " Draco's eyes studied Potter closely, surprised at Potter's lack of judgement and then surprised at himself for not giving the Gryff a little credit.

"Already plotting to be a Dark Lord, at the tender age of seven?" Potter's grin showed an alarming amount of teeth, before he started laughing. "Tell me you weren't serious."

"Oh, I was perfectly serious. I wanted to make sure every child could have ice cream. It was the perfect grandiose gesture." Draco's eyes sparkled with merriment. "And you know how much Malfoy's dote on grand gestures."

"Wow, so you do have a selfless bone in your body." Potter said, his humor deflecting his thoughts.

"Had. Such a pity the waitress had to ruin the whole thing by collapsing in tears." Draco said, his voice completely passionless, as his hands began to thread themselves in the black dog's thick and matted fur.

Harry Potter let the silence grow, knowing that Draco needed a bit of time to figure out what he wanted to say.

"I didn't really know much about the Dark Lord Position, at that point, only that it came with a lot of power. I especially didn't know about the recent Dark Lord, or the Wizarding War." Draco, in a purely calculated motion, bit his lower lip, dragging it out again over his teeth. "I didn't mean to hurt that pretty woman. At age seven, I thought I had broken the world - I had made an adult cry."

"Then what happened?" Potter asked.

"My father stood up, shielding me from the sight of her, slammed down about ten galleons (a hundred times the price of the ice cream, I'm sure), and flooed me home as quick as he could." Draco looked down at the dog's ruff, his hands threaded completely into two separate mats of hair. "That was the day I learned about war, and death, and what being a Dark Lord really means. And sure, my parents may have worked for him - worshipped him, even, maybe - but he scared the pants off everyone, friend and foe alike."

Outside the main hall, Narcissa Malfoy stood, her heart in her hands just as surely as her wand was. From her vantage, she heard a floury explosion, and then an inhuman scream, cut finely off. Boys, she thought wryly, glad no one was seriously injured.

**[a/n: I know grammar. Harry is thirteen, and rather upset. his is slipping]

[a/n: writing Draco's childhood stories is pretty hard. Anyone got good ones from being a kid? Also, in case its completely unclear, that's Snape and Mr Malfoy in the Main Hall of Malfoy Manor.]