Chapter 3 of Friends In Unexpected Places

WIP

3/?

Warnings: A little bit of cutest stuff in this chapter. Be warned. The H/D fluff may get to your head.

Authors Note:

Excuse the use of "space" when talking about Harry's cupboard. I just simply couldn't keep using cupboard and it's definitely not a room. ^_^;;;

Also, excuse the childish insults like "freak, stupid head, etc." this story just doesn't seem fitting for cursing insults *shrug*

Harry woke up the next morning to the sounds of the dishes being washed; the sound of silverware clanking and crashing was all through the house. He rubbed his sleep-sore eyes, and moved to put his glasses on, searching with his left hand. Instead, he found nothing.

                "Where are my-" And then he remembered. They fell off a few night's earlier, in Dudley's room. There was no way he would be allowed back up there. He'd have to sneak. He opened the cupboard door, wincing at the light hit his eyes. Remembering his previous 'successful' attempts as sneaking, he removed his woolen socks, throwing them fiercely into a heap in the corner.

"Hah!" he said to himself. "This time I'm prepared." He stood up. "Too bad I wasn't last time, because then I would've never met that absolute brat Draco Malfoy. Honestly, what kind of a name is Draco anyway? A dumb one, that's for sure" Only then did he begin to hear himself, and stopped his babbling. Harry took a deep breath.

"You're talking to yourself Harry. Get a grip." He crouched under the door, and stepped out silently. Under the ruckus, nobody had even heard the open of the cupboard door. He shut it in one quick movement and proceeded to the stairs, tip-toeing all the way.

The stairs creaked under his every footstep, and he held tightly to the railing trying to distribute his weight. He remembered bitterly "I wouldn't even be having to put myself in this situation if it weren't for Malfoy."

As he reached the last step, he paused, and listened for the beeping noises of Dudley's GameStationX, a new fixation his cousin had accumulated. There were surprisingly none. Harry shrugged and smiled at his luck. He strolled down the hall, peering into each room, checking for his cousin, but he was nowhere to be found.

Harry opened Dudley's door slowly, making sure he wasn't caught. When he stepped inside he saw nothing but the gadgets Dudley possessed, and the great green couch. His glasses were nowhere in sight. Baffled, yet optimistic, Harry stepped in further, looking under and around the couch, between the seat cushions. Nothing. He panicked. What would the Dursley's say about his missing glasses? He gulped. They wouldn't be the tiniest bit pleased if they had to go to the eye doctor and get him another pair. They always hated spending money on him, and when necessary they spent as little as possibly. He'd probably get a worse kind than he had before, because Aunt Petunia would tell him that he wasn't responsible enough to wear nice ones.

"Dear God, what's with my luck lately?" Harry's hands buried themselves in his hair, tearing at it in frustration "Did I do something wrong? Was I not nice enough to Dudley, didn't set the table enough?" Harry sat down on the floor, panting, utterly depleted.

"It's probably time for breakfast," He told himself in a quiet defeated voice. It was his own fault he didn't have his glasses anyway. He could've stayed in his cupboard, he could've been more careful, he could've…well he could've done a lot of things. But no, he chose to be with Draco, someone who causes too much trouble.

"Yeah, that's right," He mumbled to himself. "Ever since he showed up everything's gone haywire." Harry left Dudley's room with a frown on his face.

The moment he stepped into the kitchen, his face contorted. What was going on? Petunia was doing the dishes in a bigger hurry than he had ever seen her before; she was rushing around, putting plates away as fast as she could, and leaving others out on the counter. Vernon was shining the wooden table with what looked like Pine-sol, checking his wristwatch every few scrubs. Harry gaped.

His shoes made a squeaking sound as he shifted his weight, still in awe at the work the Dursley's were putting into…whatever they were doing.

"Get out of here boy." Vernon shouted as he heard his shoes on the tile. "You're ruining the clean floor." He shook a rag at Harry. "Unless you plan on joining in of course…" Vernon said and a wild grin quickly adorned his plump face.

Harry gulped. "I'll pass, thanks." He said, nearly stuttering. "What's this all about?" He asked carefully, hoping not to tread on their toes.

"Don't you know, Harry?" Petunia said, in between short huffs of breath. "The Malfoy's are coming to talk about buying the business." Harry nodded.

"Yeah, I already knew about that. But where's Dudley?" He looked around, seeing if he could find Dudley running around setting the table, or getting out the vacuum from the living room closet.

"At the Malfoy's." Aunt Petunia said, looking awfully annoyed.

"Go away boy. You're to stay in your cupboard until we tell you to come out." Vernon said gruffly, giving Harry an evil stare, which let Harry know he wasn't to argue. So Draco didn't want him to come after all. Harry made a face, clenched his fists at his sides, and stomped out of the kitchen.

It didn't matter anyway. If he went he probably would just end up beaten into a bloody mess by Draco and Dudley. He would be nice and safe in his cupboard, scratch free. He would be alone.

Harry opened the door roughly, climbing in, and promptly slamming the door.

Dudley lay on the silky soft carpet, laughing himself into incoherence, clutching at his sides.

"Look at me," Draco said, wobbling the glasses on his face. "I'm Harry Potter-" He couldn't seem to finish what he was going to say about Harry when they both started cracking up again.

"Haha-oh man." Dudley said, wiping a few tears out of his eyes. "So you just pocketed those before you left?" He asked.

"Yep. Sure did." Draco said. "I knew it would piss Potter off to no end when he found that they were missing." They sat in the middle of the Malfoy's Great Room, sunlight streaming from the windows that nearly covered up the entire right wall. There was a throw rug in the middle, with a white leather couch and glass coffee table right behind them. A fireplace lay unused in the corner. It was already a boiling hot summer, who needed a fireplace?

There was a pause of silence as Dudley and Draco began to settle down from their rambunctious high, and they began to realize how empty and huge the house was beginning to seem. TV hardly seemed fitting to do in such an exciting house, yet despite that, they still couldn't figure out what to do. All they had done the past 15 minutes was play with Harry's glasses, insulting themselves as they pretended to be the boy.

"Speaking of Harry…" Dudley began, looking rather uncomfortable. "Why didn't you invite him along?" he questioned. Draco shrugged.

"I didn't know he was allowed. Plus, my father didn't seem to care for him, regardless of the praise I lavished, and wasted by the way, on that stupid git."

Dudley nodded with an "Oh." He began tracing the carpet's pattern with his finger.

As seconds ticked away neither could stand the silence. Draco sat with his arms crossed, looking like he was thinking.

As soon as he couldn't stand the silence any longer they looked up at each other at the same time, both with same thought in mind. "You could just call him, and invited him over now." Dudley suggested, shrugging lightly as if they usually asked Harry over.

Draco grinned widely, and they both scrambled up to get to the nearest phone.

 "Of course the only reason we're doing this is so we can have a punch bag to play with when he comes, right?" Draco grabbed the phone, pulling at the cord.

"Of course." Dudley said while crossing his arms and leaning over a table next to Draco.

"Punch in your number Dursley." Draco said holding out the phone as far as if could go on its cord. He swiftly did so; miraculously not forgetting any numbers, and watched as Draco pulled the starch white phone to his ear.

"Hello?"
                "Hi Petunia." Draco paused.
                "Yes, this is Draco."

"No, there isn't any problem at all." Draco shifted his weight.

"I was merely wondering if Harry would like to join us."

Draco rolled his eyes "Yes, really."

"Yes, I am positively sure."

"Alright, thank you."

"Goodbye."

The phone was hung up with a short click and Draco beamed.

"He's coming."

Harry knocked on the door to the enormous house. He was still feeling a bit faint for he had gotten up from the floor of his cupboard too fast, and didn't give himself enough time to recover as he ran out of the door. Harry was grateful that Draco had called, had actually thought of him. He knew being in his dark and ghastly cupboard by himself was much worse than messing with only God knows what he could find in the Malfoy house. Even if Draco was the biggest prat he had ever met in his life…Besides Dudley. Well they were both-.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted as the door swung open. It not quite took both Dudley and Draco to open the huge door, because it was so heavy.

"Potter. So glad you could make it." Harry noticed that Draco wore his sinister smile again, so much of a change from the smile he flashed Harry's way the previous morning. He also noticed the cold way Draco's pale fingers curled around the door, as if wanting to strangle it. Harry fancied Draco wanted to strangle him instead.

Dudley tried his best to mimic Draco's stare, but he was not nearly as threatening, in Harry's opinion.

"Me too, Malfoy." Harry said, trying to act calmly as he reached out his hand to shake Malfoys. This was the first contact between the two that Harry had initiated and he felt rather queasy as Draco squeezed Harry's hand in his own. Draco's hand was warm instead of cold, as Harry would imagine everything about Draco. He drew back as if Draco's hand had burned him.

"Come on in." Draco motioned for Harry to step inside.

Their house was as much, maybe even more than Harry expected. There was gold and silver and maroon in nearly every corner of their house. He could pick out something sparkling or glass on every table, like the gold bowl of candy, or shimmering vase with a single rose held in it. There were chandeliers in almost every room, gold and glittering.

"How do you like it Potter?" Draco asked, all but sarcastic, as he took notice of Harry's wandering gaze.

"It's alright." Harry tried to put on a face of indifference and shrugged. Yet, inside he smiled widely as he saw how much this comment bothered Draco, as his face scrunched up in unease.

"It's a fucking palace compared to you're house Potter." Draco's eyes narrowed.

Dudley spoke for the first time as he said, "Hey! It's my house too you know." Harry thought Dudley looked extremely silly with his hands on his hips.

"So what's there to do around here, Malfoy?" Harry asked, as if daring to let him know just how much there was to do around here.

"Well…" Draco brainstormed. "We could go in the backyard, there's plenty to do out there."

Harry shrugged and nodded. "You in fatty?"

Dudley nodded too. "All for it, freak."

Draco led them outside, which was nothing short of the inside of his mansion. Their backyard was as large as a park, play things on one side, and an enormous rose garden on the other. There was a pack of dirt and sand where a huge oak tree grew, and if Harry looked high enough through the branches, he could see a room-sized tree house. Spread out on the grass to the right, was a giant trampoline.

Harry grinned, thinking about how much fun he could have in this backyard alone. Sleep in the tree house, bounce on the trampoline, run and roll through the soft green grass…He only wished he had the privilege.

"There's two hammocks over there, tied between those trees." Draco stated, leading them to a cool spot in the shade, near the rose garden.

Dudley instantly sat himself down in one, nearly touching the ground with his huge weight.

"I guess were sharing one, eh Potter?" Draco laughed at Harry's anxious expression.

"Don't worry, I don't bite…hard." Draco sat down in a fit of giggles. "I've always wanted to say that." Draco patted a spot next to him on the swinging net.

"Have a seat Potter." Harry cautiously followed through.

"So what have you mates been up too in the past day?" Draco asked, making conversation.

"He's been sleeping all the bloody time." Dudley said.

Draco tried his best to look appalled at Harry when he was only inches away from him.

"Silly, you'll miss out on the best things in life if you sleep all the time"

Harry scoffed.

"Best things in life? I look forward to making breakfast in the mornings. I look forward to mowing the lawn. That's what I call the best things in my life."

"I take it the swine over here doesn't treat you too well." Draco rested his head back, letting the welcomed breeze play with his hair.

"That's only the half of it." Harry complained. It was kind of nice though, to be able to get the thoughts off his chest he had been holding in for years, because frankly he didn't have anyone to tell them too.

                "I know what you mean." Draco grimaced.

                "Oh be quiet, you wouldn't know the half of it." Harry snapped. "Look at you with your huge mansion, beautiful backyard. God only knows what else you own."

                A brief look of miserable gloom passed over Draco's face, but if you blinked, you missed it.
                "Yeah, but all I've got for company are my parents and the empty space in the house; the dust mites. My parents are never home anyway." Draco closed his eyes and put his arms behind his head.

                "I'm always alone." He said wistfully.

                It was in that moment when Harry saw Draco in a different light, something other than the cynical, moody, character he always was; something much more: A person no different from himself. Sure Draco had material things, but would Harry's life really be made complete by video games and trampolines? He understood Draco, and Draco understood him.

                "I'm alone too…" Harry said quietly.

                The only response to greet him was the hum of the breeze.

                Harry noticed Dudley was drifting off to sleep.

                "Dudley, wake up, or you'll miss out on all the best things in life." He laughed as Draco nudged him with his elbow, and he heard a faint chuckle from Draco too.

                "Let's go inside." Draco said, standing out of the hammock. Just as Draco's weight shifted, Harry's did too and Harry ended up nearly flying off the hammock as it twirled and twisted around, only nearly though.

                Draco caught the wrist of Harry's right arm while Harry's left hand managed to catch some net.

                "Thanks buddy." Harry said, using Draco's leverage to stand up.

                Harry dusted himself off as dust began collecting where his shoes had kicked up dirt.

                "Let's go inside, eh Dudley?" Draco asked, having to shake the lump awake.

                Dudley only coped with half the trouble Harry and Draco did, Dudley barley twisted the hammock up, but not before he could solidly plant his two feet on the ground. As they were walking in towards the house Draco whispered to Harry, "I would've laughed so hard if the great brute fell flat on his bum." Harry chuckled and Draco giggled as well, and Dudley looks back at them with a fierce face.

                "Stop talking behind my back." He growled, shaking a fist at them. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you two were acting like the two best buds in the whole world," he said, dejectedly.

                Harry caught Draco's eye and shrugged. Draco smiled and did the same. It took all of both of their strength to hold in the laughter that was threatening to burst. Harry couldn't remember the last time he had laughed in the presence of the Dursleys. It was only fake laughs like when Vernon told his Japanese golfer joke or something silly like that.

                The opened the glass double doors and paused, looking for a direction to go in.

                "We can always go check out my room…" Draco offered. Harry nodded and began to follow him down the hall, and Dudley trailed behind.

Harry only just noticed how hungry he was as Draco's stomach began to growl.

"Dudley," Draco shouted with authority.

"Yup?" Dudley asked, falling into step with Draco.

"You know the kitchen?" Dudley nodded. "Go get us some coffee cake." He commanded. "It's on top of the refrigerator in a box."

Dudley swiftly nodded, and took off in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe you're trusting him with food." Harry shook his head, berating Draco.

"I can't either." Draco said with a smile at Harry, loving their private joke.

They stepped into Draco's room. It was lavishly decorated, ribbons of green and silver everywhere Harry looked.

The bed was wide with a velvety looking comforter, the pillow a different shade of green. His walls were covered with photos of his friends, articles about his favorite sports teams, and posters of his favorite supermodels. His silky drapes were white and silver, and completed the room nicely.

"I take it green and silver are your favorite colors."

Draco shrugged. "It's really that obvious?" He asked, chuckling.

"Definitely obvious." Harry took a seat on Draco's bed, feeling the bedspread with his fingertips.

After letting Draco stare at him for a minute Harry broke the pause of silence.

"Ten bucks says Fathead gets lost." Draco laughed, and sat down close to Harry. He immediately recognized the change in environment. The air seemed closer, more private when it was just the two of them. It was then that Draco started thinking funny.

"You know Potter, you're different." Draco said, not knowing himself what he quite meant.

"Different?" Harry said, teasingly, leaning closer to Draco.

"Yeah, like…" Draco tried to collect his thoughts.

"Like…?" Harry coaxed, folding his hands innocently under his head and rested it on Draco's shoulder.

"Like when I," Draco paused, studying Harry carefully. "Look into your eyes…" He said, making Harry let out a bark of laughter. Draco too, laughed.

"No really, Harry, I'm serious." The smile from his amusement lingered on his flushed face. "I look into your eyes and I see someone really…courageous, and tough. Someone amazing and goofy all wrapped into one kinda." Draco blushed, realizing how incredibly sappy and stupid he sounded.

Harry smiled and made a noise of comfort.

"You know what I see when I look into your eyes Draco?" he asked, a little too seductively.

Draco swiftly noticed how hot Harry's breath was on his and when he turned his head just a little, they were almost bumping noses. Draco's own eyes went wide, but only Harry could see this.

"What?" He choked out, a lump caught in his throat.

"Straight to the back of your head." Harry said perfectly seriously, still smiling. Draco's jaw dropped.

Harry started laughing incredibly hard at his own joke, and at the expression on Draco's face

"Don't you see-" He laughed, throwing his head back, and landed on the bed on his back. "Don't you see the look…on your face." His breath came in spurts, along with laughter.

"That was below the belt Potter." Draco said, mockingly angry. He was secretly glad that Harry had said that, to break whatever spell he was under. Who notices their friend's breath? Maybe the heat of summer had finally gotten to him.

"Now were even!" Harry said with glee, sticking out his tongue.

"Not quite." Draco said with a growl and crawled up from the bottom over the bed, hands on either sides of Harry, successfully pining him.

"So Draco, you have me right where you want me. What are you going to do now?" Harry asked, with a serious tone, sounding something like a news reporter. 'You've just won the lottery, what are you going to do now?'

"Well first, I'm going to do this…" Draco started as he brushed Harry's side with his finger, eliciting a yelp from the boy underneath him.

"Unlucky really, that you remembered how ticklish I am." Harry said preparing himself for Draco's attack.

"Truly." Draco said, with teasing agreement. He smiled. "This is going to be fun." He said, just before he grabbed at Harry, tickling his sides, his back, his neck, loving the way Harry would toss and roll everywhere, giggling madly. Harry would occasionally thrust up, touching their chest together, which only further spurred Draco on. Harry's laughter was incessant and soon, Draco was following Harry's example, and lost himself in the case of the giggles.

Together, as one big HarryDraco mess, they fell back on the bed, panting like dogs.

Draco was again reminded how nice Harry's breath felt against his cheek.

'Stop it Draco.' He tried telling himself, but it only felt natural to nuzzle into Harry's neck.

"I'm tired," Harry said with a pout, and Draco drew his head back to laugh. Harry's head was once again inches from his own.

"Me too." Draco's hair fell from behind his ears to prickle Harry on the nose. He laughed again, pawing at it.

"You must have sensitive nerve endings Potter." Draco said, sounding very scientific, and a bit dirty minded at the same time.
"Guess I do." He said, uncaring.
"Mm." Draco made a noise of agreement, not being able to ignore the pull that was drawing his eyes to stare at Harry's face.
This time, it was Harry's turn to go wide-eyed.

                Harry squirmed as Draco's hand was on his stomach; he was trying not to laugh. Only after he held something up, did Harry realize that Malfoy was merely going through his own pockets.

"Here." Draco said holding out Harry's black-rimmed glasses.

"YOU HAD THEM!" Harry exploded, with a burst of strength tried to get up, failing to remember Draco was on top of him.
                "I was planning on giving them back, obviously." Draco said.
                "How should I know?" Harry said, through his grinded teeth.
                "Because what would I do with a silly pair of round glasses?" Draco said cheerfully, trying to lighten up the mood again.

There was a pause as Harry settled down. "Well I don't know…" Harry whispered, almost shyly. "You and Dudley might've put them on and pretended to be me and say ridiculous things.

Draco blushed with guilt. "Of course not."

"Okay." Harry said, sounding childish, and lay back down. He closed his eyes.

Draco felt another pang of what must be summer fever (or something), and resisted the urge to reach out to Harry, to run his fingers along Harry's pretty lips, which were currently slightly pursed.

"Wanna take a nap Draco?" Harry asked sweetly, sounding seemingly innocent, yet Draco's thoughts were anything but.

"Dudley must be coming back with that coffee cake shortly…" Draco said remorsefully. He liked it when it was just he and Harry. Harry was so much more interesting than Dudley. Harry didn't follow him around like a dog, or copy his every move. Harry was so much more than that…

"He probably ate it all plus half the food in your house." Harry said with a light laugh. Draco murmured an agreement.

Harry sighed and turned his head to the side, trying to get comfortable. While watching him longing quickly filled Draco, threatening to burst him. It was also threatening to have Draco do something he really shouldn't…

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and Draco almost jumped out of his skin.

"Dear Lord, that scared the crap out of me." Draco panted, regaining his breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. He looked back down at Harry who was in a similar state of shock. It was a very unpleasant awakening but Draco was relieved. The feelings inside him almost spilled over a few seconds ago, he really didn't want to think of what would've happened. Panic crowded him as he thought about Harry never wanting to see him again, never wanting to talk to him again.

 They both slowly got up and headed to answer the door, not even bothering to find Dudley. An awkward silence packed its way between them like a wall, and they did not speak as they made their way to the door.

As Harry predicted, Dudley was waiting by the door, his face covered in cake and who knows what else.

                "I uh, got lost." Dudley made up lamely.

                "Sure thing pig…" Draco said, as he swung the door open.

Standing there was a very flushed and happy Petunia. She was beaming. They obviously had come to an agreement on the business.

'Drat,' came ringing in Harry's mind.

"Hello Draco dear, how are you?" Petunia greeted.
                "Just fine Mad' am." Draco replied smoothly, impressing Harry

                "Harry wasn't trouble was he?" She asked sweetly, yet you could hear the underlying bitter tones in her voice.

                "Not at all, Mrs. Dursley." Draco flashed her a glittering smile. "Please do allow him to come back soon," Draco said as more of a statement, than a question.

                "Of course." She forced the answer out. Her hand reached to Dudley's

                "Time to go home Diddly-kins. Harry" She glared at him

Harry longed to stay as he was nearly pulled out the door by Petunia. "The Malfoy's already placed a huge burden on themselves by inviting you over, let's go." She looked into Harry's eyes sternly.

Harry looked back at Draco as best he could by avoiding Petunia's arm on the back of his shirt.

He sulked as he was pushed and pulled down the Malfoy's walkway, on his way home. Home. It sounded so…dull. There wasn't anybody at home to talk to. Here there was…
                "Potter." Draco called back, as Harry was dragged halfway down the walkway.

"Hold on." Harry shouted, grabbing Petunia's arm and freeing himself of her cold grip. "Be right back." He told her as he jogged lightly back to the door.

"Yea?" He said, trying to play cool, when his heart was pounding in his chest. He brushed back his hair with his right hand, letting it linger in the curly strands and he noticed Draco looking at it.

"You want to…come over another day?" Draco asked, feeling incredibly awkward.

Harry smirked. "Ah, so now you like me?" He asked, accusingly.

Draco shrugged, smiling as well. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

Harry gave Draco a critical stare. "Maybe you do." He said in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Only maybe." Draco said, always loving their battle of words.

"Probably you do." Harry's smile grew wider, trying to hold in his laughter.

"Probably." Draco admitted, shrugging.

"Good." Harry said, and turned around.

He quickly started running back to Petunia, hoping for a light scolding instead of a stronger one. Yet for some reason, the thought didn't bother him any longer.

A/N: Middle is kind of rushed, because I did the beginning and the end before the middle. The middle was kind of a filler…it didn't really work as planned. I'll probably add more to this chapter later but it's already so long!