~ Chapter Five : A Life Of Crime ~

Dungeon

Harry and Draco stood side by side in front of a bubbling cauldron arguing just as fiercely as they always had over the correct way to prepare ingredients. Draco was insisting that the beetles should be crushed, whereas Harry was adamant that they should be added to the potion whole. Anyone watching the exchange would have sworn that the two of them were still in opposing houses, still bitter enemies.

Three weeks had passed since the re-sorting ceremony had taken place. Harry and Draco were becoming friends, but it was a long and arduous process that often involved a lot of yelling.

Harry had found, much to his surprise, that Potions was actually enjoyable now that he was in Snape's house. Snape still wasn't exactly nice, but he had stopped picking on Harry incessantly and while he hadn't awarded Harry any house points, he hadn't taken any away either.

Snape arrived before them but neither boy appeared to notice.

"I'm telling you Draco, if you crush them, the potion will explode!"

"And I'm telling you Harry, if you drop them in whole, the potion will explode!"

"For once," Snape said dryly, cutting into their 'discussion'. "Mr Potter is correct. The beetles must be added whole."

The argument stopped abruptly, the beetles were added whole with no problems and Snape swept away.

"Teacher's pet," Draco muttered darkly.

Harry burst out laughing. "One time he admits I'm right and suddenly I'm his pet? I think you're mistaking me for you."

"Hey!" Draco said indignantly. "I'm not his pet."

Harry said nothing but merely smiled knowingly which seemed to annoy the blonde boy even more but he didn't respond.

They worked in silence for several minutes more until Draco realised that the store cupboard that housed the potion ingredients was free from students. Thinking quickly, Draco reached for a stirrer and 'accidentally' swept half the Billywig stings off the desk and onto the floor. Of course they were useless once they were tainted by the dirty floor. Ignoring Harry's dirty look, Draco wandered into the store cupboard, humming to himself softly.

Draco found the Billywig stings easily but he acted as if he couldn't find them as he searched for the Polyjuice Potion ingredients they needed. They had most of the ingredients, but they still needed knotgrass and powdered bicorn horn. Draco found a small vial of the bicorn horn on a top shelf. He pocketed it and grabbed the Billywig stings. The knotgrass they could find in the forbidden forest. Draco was reluctant to steal that too because both ingredients missing could tip Snape off as to which potion the students stealing his ingredients were planning to brew. There weren't many potions that involved the knotgrass/powdered bicorn horn combination.

Draco returned to Harry and added the appropriate number of Billywig stings to their potion. Harry stirred it carefully and watched as it turned to correct shade of lilac.

"Took you long enough," Harry commented.

"Couldn't find the ingredient we needed," Draco replied vaguely, hoping that Harry would catch the reference to the powdered bicorn horn.

It appeared Harry had not when he replied. "What are you talking about? They're always on the mid - oh."

"Yes, oh," Draco returned lightly.

Herb Garden

Later that afternoon, after Potions with the Gryffindors, the Slytherins had Herbology with the Ravenclaws. Hermione was working closely with Professor Sprout but she kept watching Harry and Draco closely.

Harry glanced over at the nearby forest. "Tonight?"

"We need it by this weekend or the potion is useless," Draco replied softly as he pulled up a weed.

"We have a free period in the morning, we can sleep in," Harry said, digging his trowel back into the earth.

"How far do you think we'll have to go?" Draco asked with a shiver. He really wasn't fond of the forest. A detention in first year with Hagrid had seen to that.

"Not far. Knotgrass likes sunlight and if we go too deep it gets too dark and damp for it to survive," Harry said informatively.

"Aren't we just full of it today," Draco commented, sounding a little irritated.

"Hey, can I help it if my regular Friday night study session with Ron and Hermione is paying off?" Harry asked with a grin. "You know, you're welcome to join us anytime."

"Yeah, sure. Like I'd join the Weasel and the Mu-" Draco's mouth closed abruptly as he saw the look in Harry's eyes. The last time Harry had that look in his eye (just over a week ago) Draco had ended up with a black eye, which Madam Pomfrey had refused to heal with magic.

"I may be a Slytherin now but they are still my friends," Harry said tersely.

Draco grimaced. He'd have to apologise now or Harry would sulk all night and they really needed that knotgrass. He watched as the dark haired boy attacked the herb garden viciously with his trowel.

"I'm sorry, alright," Draco said hastily, before Harry could damage too many plants. Actually, Draco was surprised that Professor Sprout didn't have knotgrass growing in this garden, but he'd been over every inch of it, on the off chance that it might be lurking somewhere but had had no such luck.

Harry glanced up and wiped sweat from his brow on his sleeve. His gaze softened as he saw the pained expression on Draco's face. "It's okay. I know it's more of a habit now but could you please try to stop it. Their names are Ron and Hermione."

"Sure, Ron and Hermione," Draco parroted back dutifully.

"Hi Harry," Hermione said cheerfully as she appeared beside them. "Hi Draco," she said, her voice faltering a bit as she said his name.

"Granger," Draco said a tad edgily as Harry smiled at Hermione.

"Now Draco," Harry said with eyes sparkling and a teasing grin. "I know you know her first name, you just said it."

"Hermione," Draco said grudgingly, not looking up from his weeding.

"So, how are you guys?" Hermione asked, glancing between the two of them.

Draco merely grunted. Harry smiled affectionately down at him and answered for the both of them. "We're fine. Oh, that reminds me. Did you ever find anything out about those gold sparks?"

Draco looked up, interested in spite of himself. His eyes narrowed as Hermione flushed and her eyes darted around the garden before landing back on Harry's.

"Uh, no, not really," she said before quickly changing the subject. "Ron isn't having much fun in Hufflepuff. Apparently they're a rather boring lot. He's itching for some sort of adventure. Of course, I told him not to go looking for trouble. I mean, sure we've had a lot of fun adventures but at the time they were happening it was not fun at all."

"Adventures?" Draco asked curiously.

"Yeah," Hermione said, smiling at him. "I know you thought we were a rather boring lot but Harry, Ron and I have had more than our fair share of danger and rule-breaking."

"Rule-breaking? You?" Draco snorted incredulously.

"Yes me," Hermione said, mock-indignantly.

"What sorts of things did you do?" Draco asked. Harry stood back and watched the two of them have a real conversation for the first time ever.

"Well, we smuggled a dragon out of the country in first year. In our third year, we smuggled a hippogriff and a wanted criminal out of Hogwarts. Wow, we've done a lot of smuggling. Perhaps we should go into business," Hermione suggested lightly, grinning at Harry.

"What on earth would we smuggle, Hermione?" Harry asked, going along with her joke.

"I can't think of anything," Hermione eventually replied after a moment's reflection.

"Oh please, come on Gr-Hermione. Use that brain of yours," Draco said scathingly. Harry tried to glare at him but his heart wasn't in it.

"Uh, I really don't know what you're getting at Draco," Hermione said, looking baffled.

"What is the one thing that students here would pay through the nose for?" Draco asked rhetorically. "Potions. There are a variety of specialist potions that a few enterprising Slytherins used to provide to students before they got re-sorted and their operation was disrupted."

"What types of potions?" Hermione asked, fascinated.

"Well, the most popular one is, of course, Veritaserum," Draco replied dryly.

"Well done, chaps," Professor Sprout called out across the garden to her class. "A good day's work. Now get cleaned up for dinner."

Slytherin Common Room

Shortly after 2am Harry and Draco, dressed entirely in black muggle clothing, crept across the common room to the exit.

Before they left the relative safety of the common room, Harry pulled out the Marauder's Map and his wand. With a tap and a whispered 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good', the map revealed that the path to the entrance hall was clear. Harry stuffed the map in his pocket and they left the common room.

They crept along the corridor, sticking to the shadows as much as possible. Harry followed Draco, trying not to look down at Draco's arse. It was a difficult task and Harry had to keep dragging his eyes away.

A few metres on Draco stopped suddenly. Harry, not quite concentrating on where they were going, walked right into him. They both stood as still as statues straining to hear something. Harry could hear faint footsteps coming towards them. Draco grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him quickly behind a statue. They both pressed themselves back into the inky shadows trying to control their breathing so it wasn't so loud.

The person came into view. It was Professor Snape. They both held their breath as he came into view. Harry's heart was thudding wildly and so was Draco's. Harry knew this because the blonde boy was pressing his back against Harry's chest. Harry closed his eyes briefly. It was heaven and hell being so close to Draco.

Eventually the danger passed as Professor Snape headed downstairs towards the dungeons. Draco stayed where he was for a moment (Just in case Snape comes back, he told himself) before he pushed away from Harry and they continued on their way.

Once outside, they ran across the grounds, past Hagrid's cottage, towards the forest. On the edge of the forest, Draco hesitated.

"Draco?" Harry enquired softly.

"Are you sure this is the only way to get the knotgrass?" Draco asked just as softly, his grey eyes shining with uncertainty.

"Are you scared?" Harry asked incredulously. He would not have thought that was possible.

"No!" Draco replied defiantly, his eyes now flashing with anger. "Don't project your own feelings of fear onto me. I am just concerned about.about.oh shut up. Let's get this over and done with."

Draco stalked off into the forest with Harry trailing behind him. Draco was mentally chastising himself as they walked through the forest. I'm an idiot, he told himself unceremoniously. I am not worried about Harry's safety, he can take care of himself.

"Drac, here's some Alihotsy, the knotgrass shouldn't be too far away from it," Harry called to him softly.

A protest at being called by the nickname rose and died unsaid on Draco's lips. It surprised him to realise that he didn't mind Harry shortening his name. If it had been anyone else he would have hexed them by now. Draco walked back to where Harry was searching among the multitude of plants that grew in the forest.

"Aha," Harry said triumphantly. "Here it is."

Draco watched as Harry took a pair of scissors and a plastic bag out of his pocket. Harry cut two handfuls of grass and shoved them into the plastic bag. He pocketed the scissors and stood up. He glanced over at Draco who was leaning against a thick tree trunk.

"Why are you even here?" Harry asked curiously.

Draco looked confused. "What?"

"Well, I've done all the work. Why are you here?" Harry said with a smile.

"Hey, I got the powdered bicorn horn, now it's your turn to get an ingredient," Draco said indignantly. "I'm just here for moral support."

"Well, thank you," Harry said mockingly. "Your presence has been a great comfort to me."

"I'm glad I could be of service," Draco replied with a smirk and a small bow. "Come on, let's get out of here."

They grinned at each other for a moment before sprinting out of the forest.

-to be continued