Chapter 5:

When Harry got home Dudley wasn't home, leaving him with a sick, jealous reminder of where he was and where Harry wasn't. "Draco and I were friends FIRST!" The statement Dudley made echoed in the back of Harry's head, but he shook it off and told himself it didn't mean anything.

Dudley wasn't the one who had met and spent the day with the most incredible girl in the world. He was.

That seemed to satisfy his inner insecurities and he swiftly went to the kitchen to help prepare dinner.

To his stomachs regret, there was no dinner. No grilled chicken, cooling on the stove, no boiling water ready for potatoes, no wafting smell of warming garlic bread.

"Where's dinner?" Harry asked as Petunia and Vernon were sitting at the table, hands folded on the table looking extremely serious.

"Dinner isn't for another hour boy." Vernon stated.

"I assume Dudley is still at the Malfoy's?" Harry asked, trying to ignore the sinking feeling growing in the bottom of his belly.

"Of course." Petunia snarled. "He's spending the night over there so do not be fiddling with any of his belongings." She exclaimed, in her mind sure that Harry would anyway.

"S-spending the night?" Harry stumbled over his words, looking astonished and rather taken aback.

"Yes, yes. Get out of my sight, boy! We're in the middle of something" Vernon sneered, curling the edges of his mouth. With a defeated look Harry meekly crept out of the kitchen, yet not before catching Petunia's watchful eye. She held a confident and mocking glare, knowing full well that being in this position bothered him.

He began to slink to the loneliness of his too-cramped cupboard but never made it. There was an enormous BANG and the ever-so-plump Dudley came barging through the door as though his pants were on fire.

"Mummy!" He called with a ferocious scowl on his face, not seeing Harry. "Where is he, where is the little freak?" Dudley called, plainly hopping mad.

"I'm right here you bumbling idiot!" Harry shouted. "What've you come to gloat?" Harry spat out with resentment.

"Hardly." Dudley shouted. "Draco…" he started out in a booming voice. "Insists," he hissed, breaking with a dramatic pause throughout the sentence. "That you…" His breathing was heavy. "Join us." He finished letting out a giant breath. Harry's bored eyes flew open in astonishment

"H-he what?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"Don't make me say it again." Dudley growled.

"Right." Harry said with a grin that could not be wiped off by any eraser. "I'm off then." His stride was full of confidence and he knew that one day with Dudley couldn't change Draco's mind about him.

"You are absolutely not going anywhere." Petunia said, with her skeletal jaw clenched tightly.

"But why?" Harry whined, wanting nothing more than to go with Dudley.

"Because…because you have already spent the whole day with your friends. That's privilege enough." Harry could tell she only party believed this, only wanting to make up a further excuse for Dudley to be with Draco without Harry.

"Petunia…" Vernon touched her shoulder with a beefy hand. "It would really do good to get this bratty boy out of our hair for the rest of tonight while we decide the…uh. You know."

Petunia sighed, knowing Vernon was right. "Harry you mustn't be a disturbance." Her voice sounded weary and heavy and for the first time since he could remember, Harry pitied her. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand Dudley's whining and constant need to be pleased. She actually did a very good job of it.

"Thank you." He said politely and paused to look them both in the eye, and then rushed to the door.

"Ready Dudley?" He said, scorning him with a jeer.

"As I'll ever be." Dudley said disappointedly, tightly hugging his jacket around himself.

Harry found himself for the second time, staring at the glittering precious belongings the Malfoys had decorating their house, only wishing he could live in such a palace.

The only change he saw, was his parents who would currently occupying the living room, watching the news.

"Draco," His father drawled. "Why don't you take your friends…" Harry saw his father eye him, giving him a look over. "…To you're game room. You can watch the television in there." For only the second time Harry glanced at Draco's mother, who was lounging on a love sofa, flipping through the daily paper. She looked very classy, in Harry's opinion.

"Right, Father." Draco said in an assumed agreement. "This way, duffers." Draco smirked confidently, staring right at Harry when he made his comment.

The three of them clambered up the long, elegant stairs making a sharp first right into an enormously inviting room.

"We can play video games if you like." Draco offered, while taking a seat on a black leather couch seated in front of a TV, which had many game systems hanging by cords from it.

"No." Dudley said sorely. Draco looked a bit offended at Dudley.

"Well we can see what's on the telly." He moved to grab the remote.

"No." Dudley said, with even more force and resentment.

Draco was beginning to get frustrated. "We can get on the computer, there's some fun games-"

"I don't want to." Dudley complained, and cross his arms.
"Well, we could always just go to bed early, right now in fact." Draco spit out sarcastically. "Is that what you want Dudley?" He asked tauntingly.

"Not at all." Dudley said with ease.
"Then why don't you tell us all, what exactly you…" he said, poking Dudley. "…Want to do."

"I want HIM to go home." Dudley shouted, pointing at Harry.

"Too bad Dursley, I wanted him to come. He stays. Period." Draco said harshly.

"Why did you want him to come anyway?" Dudley's eyes narrowed.

Draco paused, not know the answer to the question himself.

"I figured it would be more fun with three instead of two." He shrugged.

"Two's company three's a-, what's that saying?" Dudley asked, trying to think of it.

"Three's a crowd." Harry said, taking a seat next to Draco on the couch.

"Oh well you feel the same as I do huh?" Dudley asked, twisting Harry's words around.

"Well yes, of course." Harry nodded, startling Draco.

"Then why did you come over in the first place?" Dudley asked, sitting on a squishy looking armchair.

"What are you talking about? I meant for you to go home." Harry and Draco both burst out giggling, and Draco couldn't resist giving Harry a high-five.

"Damn, you're cunning Potter." Draco said, letting the rest of his giggles wane.

"I try." He smiled cutely, trying to look innocent.

"You're anything but cunning." Dudley snarled.

"Well he already proved you wrong." Draco said with a scoff.

"Shut up." Dudley said. "Let's play video games." He tried weakly to change the subject.

"Only a minute ago you didn't want to." Draco said, sounding like a scolding mother. "Are we avoiding the subject?" Draco smirked, his mouth drawn tightly to one side of his mouth.

"Of course not." Dudley snapped quickly.

"Then why are you so quick to change the subject?" Harry joined in.

"I'm not doing anything of the sort." He defied. "Let's just stop talking about it." He writhed under their piercing gazes.

"Look, you're doing it again." Draco indicated.

"Am not." Dudley yelled.

"Do you have some sort of problem with Harry and I being friends?" He ridiculed, knowing full well that Dudley did. Draco put his arm over Harry's head, resting on his shoulder.

"Harry and I are great buds," said Draco. "Right, Harry?" He looked over to Harry who had suddenly gone a few different shades of red.

"Right." He swallowed.

"I bet you are." Dudley said acidly.

"Now Dudley why would you say that?" Draco questioned.

"You and him are more than friends. I can tell." Dudley said simply. Draco nearly choked on his own spit, coughing, but managed to regain his composure.

"You really think so Dudley?" Malfoy looked skeptical.

"Yes." He said swiftly and firmly.

"I think the paranoia is getting to your head." Harry said, looking unimpressed by Dudley's performance. "You don't even have anything to back that up." Harry shrugged Malfoy's hand off, feeling instead of relaxed, uncomfortable.

"I think," Draco started to say. "You're just disappointed that your cousin would ever beat you at anything." His words hurt Dudley's ears.

"Am not!" He shouted insolently.

"I think that you can't stand to see him be better than you, to see him have friends when you yourself have none." Draco growled.

"That isn't true at all!" whimpered Dudley.

"Then just shut up about it okay?" Draco roared with intimidation, gnashing his teeth together.

"Ok, fine." Dudley wailed, on the verge of tears or anger or something worse.

"Good." Draco said self-assured with a smug smile on his face.

Harry smiled at Draco, looking up to him a bit. That was great how he just silenced Dudley like that; he never could've done something like that. It was rather…brave.

After a few moments of nobody saying anything, Draco looking bored, and Harry half-falling asleep, Dudley spoke.

"I want to go to bed. You both are hideously boring." He said in a very pompous voice.

"Fine then, duffer." He said, by using the word he had previously. It sounded so much nicer when he was only using it to describe Dudley.

"Let's go to my room, it's downstairs. You must remember Potter." Harry nearly colored again knowing full well that yes, he did remember where Draco's room was, and it was rather embarrassing to hear.

"I remember." He said in a bashful voice.

"I bet you look back fondly on that memory, freak" Dudley said with glee.

"I bet he does too." Draco said, laughing.

"Hey! What ever happened to you sticking up for me?" Harry asked, bordering on furious.

"I only speak the truth." Draco said, grinning at Harry with a friendly air.

"Oh you're asking for it Draco Malfoy," said Harry his joviality showing.

"Asking for what, exactly?" Malfoy pronounced snobbishly.

"You know." Harry said, running down the stairs ahead of the two.

Behind Draco nobody saw Dudley mouth 'you know' to himself, travestying Harry's words.

They went down a hall directly under the stairs, so familiar to Harry. This was about the time they had earlier sent Dudley away.

Draco opened the recognizable door with a creak. "My parents are probably in bed, we need to be quiet." He warned. "Unless you're suicidal." He said, sounding ridiculously offhand.

Draco walked to a box that was supposed to look like a treasure chest, surely something of Malfoy's from his childhood days, and pulled out a great big blue sleeping bag.

"Dudley." Draco said. "You will get the sleeping bag and the nice soft plush carpet." Draco unceremoniously dropped the overly stuffed sleeping bag to the floor, which actually did look rather soft, Harry noted.

"Where will Harry sleep then?" Dudley glanced around, searching for another sleeping bag or some blankets.

"In my bed of course." Draco said, trying not to blush as he realized how good it sounded out loud. Harry gulped nervously and loudly at this, and removed his glasses.

"Sounds great Malfoy," Harry said in the most frightened voice Draco had ever heard in his life.

"If you don't want to that's fine of course…" Draco said quickly, eyes lowering.

"No it's perfectly fine." Harry agreed, trying to make Draco happy.

"How come he gets the bed?" Dudley whined, dropping to a sitting position on his makeshift bed.

"Because I wouldn't want you rolling over and squashing me in my sleep now, would I?" Draco asked, unafraid of insulting the colossal boy.

"…And we can't have both of you dolts sleeping on the floor." Draco said simply.

Dudley nodded, surprised that Draco had an actual reason.

"Let me just change into my pajamas quickly. Harry I might have an extra pair for you, but none that would fit you Dudley…" he trailed off, searching his multiple closets for something suitable for Potter.

Dudley looked upset.

"Here." He said, brandishing a pair of green plaid cotton pants and a white wife-beater that Harry thought was a bit see-through. He handed the hangers to Harry and buried himself back in his closet.

"Go on Potter, hurry up and change so I don't see anything." Instead of sounding disgusted Draco actually sounded quite filled with anticipation.

"Right."

He stripped out of his black shirt and pale-tan jeans and he put on the clothes Malfoy had handed him, swearing he could see Draco peeking once or twice and then busying himself again.

Draco came out of the closet wearing baggy long silk pajamas bottom. They were black. His top was simply a red t-shirt that looked like it could fit a ten year old, being stretched so taut over Draco's chest. It made him uncomfortable.

"Do you normally wear clothes that don't fit?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Not usually, but this is a special occasion." Draco teased back, grinning a toothy grin at him.

"You are such a smart ass." Harry muttered as he pulled back the soft and inviting looking covers.

"So kind of you to notice my ass Potter." Draco hopped on to the bed before Harry could finish pulling the blankets back.

"You only wish, Malfoy." Harry said fiercely, trying to push Draco off the bed.

"Would you two kindly cut out the flirting in front of me." Dudley said in an especially distraught voice.  Harry and Draco fell silent and Harry withdrew the arm that was currently on Malfoy.

"Thank you." Dudley lay down, curled up in his sleeping bad and pulled one of the corners over so he was hidden from view.

Harry looked at Draco and mouthed to him "He's screwy." Harry made circular motions around his own head with his finger, and Draco guffawed, holding on to his mouth to prevent the laughter from escaping, but failed.

"Would you like me to sleep in the other room?" Dudley asked, scathingly as he sat up, bag falling from him. "Or perhaps I should go home. How would you like that? Never had much time alone did you?" Dudley's face was in a grimace.

"Of course not." Draco said, still maintaining control of the situation. "Why are you being so silly all of a sudden?"

"Me?" Dudley sounded astounded. "You think I'm the one being silly? What about you?" He pointed at Draco. "Clearly I was mistaken the first time I met you."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Draco asked, feeling more and more panicked by the moment, yet regain outward composer.

"I remember someone who hated my stupid, pathetic cousin. I remember someone who got in a fight with him the first night he met him. You both just so quickly forgot about that didn't you?" There was a guilty silence between Draco and Harry.

"Didn't you?" Dudley said with more force.

"Shut up, do you want to wake my parents?" Draco hissed, silencing Dudley.

"You both are a pair of faggots. That's all you are. You disgust me." Dudley stood up, and dragging his sleeping bag behind him, opened the door.

"Have a good nights sleep." Dudley said mockingly.

The door shut behind him with a barely audible click, leaving Harry and Draco to stare at each other in wonder.

"I apologize on his behalf Draco." Harry murmured, still in awe at the guts Dudley had displayed.

"Don't worry about it Potter, you could tell he's only jealous." Draco smirked at Harry. "I'm sure I can convince him with my stunning good looks and suave demeanor to forget all about his silly little ideas." Draco emphasized his self-indulgence with a hand running through his startling blonde hair, and he winked at Harry.

"You flatter yourself." Harry opposed.

"Maybe." Draco shrugged, and finally pulled back the blankets to squeeze himself down in them. Harry quickly followed suit. The lights dimmed as Draco sat up to turn a knob on the wall. Harry watched Draco as the lights became weaker and weaker until nothing but the moonlight shone across his white face.

"You're so pale, you know that?" Harry said, grabbing on to a pillow and put it under his head.

"I prefer to looked at myself as fair-skinned." Draco said, and Harry chuckled stuffing the other pillow in Draco's face, eliciting a grumble from him.

"Don't hate me because I'm beautiful Potter." Draco said as he pulled himself out of the pillows reach, and ducked away from Harry's second swing. Harry laughed and swung again, having rather bad aim from taking off his glasses.

"Where did you learn to aim Potter?" Draco asked, asking for trouble.

"I don't have my glasses on you git, my vision has been awry all day because of you and your meddling." Harry held the pillow up as a shield, but soon lowered it having realized Draco wasn't planning an attack on him."

"Meddling is what I do best, Potter." Draco said, matter-of-factly and quite proudly.

"I should've known." Harry murmured, and lay down and closed his eyes. Draco frowned. He mourned the loss of the sparkling green eyes, but after thinking it, regretted it, and turned to face the opposite direction.

There was a pause as the silence of night crept in, much like an early morning sunrise. Harry's breathing was steady near him, and Draco tried to close his eyes. He was uncommonly restless and didn't like the itch he had to roll to his other side again.

"Are you tired?" Draco whispered, and shivered for it had suddenly gotten notably chilly.

"A bit." Harry replied curtly and silently. "You?"

"Not at all." Draco complained, curling himself together more. He frowned.

"What did you do today?" Harry asked, and taking this as an invitation, Draco turned to face him. Harry's eyes were back open, and Draco couldn't help but notice how bright they were without the cover of his glasses.

"Sat around with your oaf of a cousin all day…" Draco said icily. "He couldn't stop talking about you either, and how wrenched he thought you were."

"Typical Dudley." Harry said with a smirk, propping his head up with his left hand. "I hope he isn't jealous, like you said." He said wistfully. "It's not like he has anything to be jealous of." Draco chuckled nervously, knowing that surely there was.

"Yeah, Potter. You're not spectacular." Draco teased and Harry moved to hit him on the arm lightly.

"Take that back." Harry demanded, smile firmly on his face.

"Or you'll beat me up?" asked Draco, mockingly.

"Yeah. I'll slam you so hard you won't be able to walk." Harry said, and Draco's face turned a brilliant shade of red, that he could only hope Harry didn't see. He nearly laughed but held it in and decided to ignore what Harry had just said.

"Fine, fine. You really are spectacular. I worship the ground you walk on, for I am an inferior human being, unlike you, Potter, who is a god. How is that?"

Harry nearly doubled over with repressed laughter. "I should've recorded that for blackmail."

"Yet you didn't. You aren't nearly as cunning as I originally hoped you would be." Draco smirked, trying his best to sound disappointed.

Harry sighed, letting out the air remaining from his outburst. "It's not like you to misjudge someone so easily, Malfoy." Draco chuckled with a shrug.

"You misjudged me," said Draco, having a good point. Harry's cheerful, playful face fell and he frowned a bit.

"Sorry." Draco said, ducking his face to look the other way. He rolled on his back, staring at his ceiling covered in posters, pictures and stripes of green and silver. He thought it suited the room the moment he put it up. There was a pause and Draco knew it was time to go to sleep and stop worrying about Harry. He grabbed a piece of green bedspread and curled it up against him and closed his eyes.

"Malfoy." Came a questioning voice, and Draco's eyes flew open again.

"Yes?" He asked, while trying to sound annoyed instead of curious.

"Do you…ever…" Harry stuttered. "Well I mean…" Harry's hands were busy fiddling with one of the silky sheets.

"Spit it out already." Draco demanded. "I want to go to sleep." He whined.

"Well nevermind then. Just go to sleep," said Harry, sounding a bit put-off.

"No, tell me," commanded Draco. "Please Harry? It's late, I'm just a bit grumpy that's all." Draco was now laying on his stomach, a little too close to Harry for his comfort, and staring at him with the cold blue-gray eyes Harry always stared at.

"Do you ever think about girls?" Harry asked silently, wanting to close his eyes again, as not to have to look into Draco's probing face.

"What!?" Draco nearly screeched with his eyebrows raised in total surprised.

"You heard me." Harry glared at the boy lying next to him.

"Girls?" Draco seemed stunned. "Girls?" he asked again.

"Yes, girls. The female species, the opposite sex, you know the ones with-"

"Please Potter, do not force me to indulge in what you have to say about girls. And yes, of course I think about girls you twit." Draco seemed irritable. "I'm a seventeen-year-old boy for god's sake."

"Oh." Harry said, sounding edgy again.

 "What about them?" Draco asked, falling back into their conversation.

"I dunno," said Harry shyly.

"Like I believe that!" Draco whined skeptically. "What happened?" asked Draco.

"I met one today." Harry said, only after the fact realizing how ridiculous it sounded.

"What an accomplishment." Draco rolled his eyes sardonically.

"She was…amazing." Harry breathed, eyes darkening and half-lidded. "…And beautiful, and funny, and everything else." Draco's stomach clenched, and he felt somewhat sick.

"Oh, really?" Draco asked in a small voice, trying to sound as interested as he could, being as ill as he felt.

"Yeah. But the problem is I think she's in love with someone else." Harry's head rose to look Draco in the eyes, searching for advice.

"Then too bad for you." Draco said harshly in the roughest voice Harry had heard come from the boy. He gaped at Draco's rude behavior. "If she's in love with someone else there's nothing you can do about it." Draco quickly recovered. "Love is…love is forever, Potter. You can't make someone love you; you can't fall in and out of love at will. It's impossible. Love runs deep in your veins," he said, poking at Harry's chest. "And there isn't anything you can do to stop it."

Harry nodded sullenly, wishing Draco didn't have to be so cold to him when letting him down.

"Look, take my advice. Forget about her. Find someone else, someone who is just as funny and smart and attractive. There are a lot of amazing people in the world if you would just look."

Looking at his striking body silhouetted by the moonlight Harry said, "You're amazing." He pointed out.

"I already knew that, Potter." Draco said, turned again to his back. "Besides, that's different." He squirmed, trying to get comfortable again.

"What's different?" Harry asked, not understanding what Draco meant.

"Oh, Harry you're such a pinhead." Draco closed his eyes again, planning on going to sleep.

"No, what's different?" Harry asked, shaking Malfoy roughly.

Draco's eyes flew open, cold and hard.

"Do you ever think about boys, Potter?" He asked overtly.

"What? What do you mean?"  Harry looked shocked.

"I mean exactly what I say." Draco looked expectant.

"Well, no, not- not really." Harry suddenly grew flustered and kept looking away from Draco's eyes.

"My point exactly. That's how it's different." Once more, Draco turned from Harry's scrutinizing gaze.

"-But." Harry tried to protest, lifting a hand up with a gesture.

"Just, go to sleep." Draco pleaded, already feeling strangely vulnerable. He hoped that the subject would soon drop so he didn't say any more.

"Fine." Harry said in a huff, unkindly yanking the covers up as hard as he could, and curled up under them.

"You really aren't that amazing." Harry sneered.

"Now he comes to his senses," said Draco, remaining unfazed by the comment.

"God, what is wrong with you?" Harry sat up again, very irritated.

"What do you mean what is wrong with me?" Draco snapped back.

"You-…you-…you…" Harry tried to speak.

"I-I-I, what Potter? Just because you can't rile me up with a few meaningless comments? You're the one that needs some fixing." Draco scorned.

"Me? You're the one that isn't telling me anything, confusing me with you're rubbish mind-games." Harry locked gazes with Malfoy, determined not to budge.

There was a pause as Harry waited, anticipating what Draco was going to bark out next.

"That's what I like about you…" Draco murmured.

"What?" Harry's face turned from anger to bewilderment.

"You're never one to back down, to let me win. You have such a spirit." Draco looked tired. "It's so…attractive." He spit out, not meaning to. Both pairs of eyes in the room flew wide open, stunned.

"I mean-that didn't come out like I intended too! Harry…" Draco wailed.

"You…you just called me attractive." Harry said accusingly, pointing at Draco. He still looked appalled.

"I didn't mean to-" Draco started to say, but Harry wasn't finished.

"Dudley was right." Harry reveled. "You were right. He is jealous. He's jealous because you like me!" He squealed out, nearly standing up on the bed now.

"That's a ridiculous notion. I was only saying how it suited you, that's all. What's there to like anyways?" Draco was hurt, confused and angry with himself, all at the same time.

"What do you mean, what's there to like? There's plenty to like, I'll have you know."

"You'll have me know? Now you're the one hitting on me!" Draco accused.

"I'm not hitting on you!" Harry protested.

"Earlier you said I was amazing." Draco smirked, knowing he had Harry there. Harry flushed a deep red, knowing there was no way to deny it. "At least I was polite about it and didn't look into the comment like you, ya moron." Draco said with a harsh glare at Harry, grabbing a fistful of blanket. "Friends are allowed to say what they think about each other right?" Draco never let his eyes waver or leave Harry.

"I…suppose you're right." He admitted, defeated.

"Good. Now that we have that mess settled, I would like to get more than five hours of sleep tonight, thank you very much." The barrier of pride was back, and Harry knew there was no way he would be able to get Draco to open up and talk to him again this evening.

"Okay." He agreed, a bit downcast and unsettled.

Malfoy was asleep in a matter of minutes, abandoning Harry to his own thoughts. He wondered suddenly, if Malfoy ever thought about boys, but never got the chance to ask him.