Title: You and I

Author: Mage

Rating: R

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CHAPTER TWO: Deeper Then Friends

The tall figure of Harry Potter stood before the headmaster's door, looking nervous and apprehensive. His brilliant emerald eyes swept through the room in one quick motion, pausing momentarily at a jade eyed woman sitting on one of two chairs before the headmaster's desk, then moving on to the hazel eyed man standing behind her.

He held their gazes for a moment and nodded respectfully to each in turn.

"Please Harry, Draco. Come in," Albus offered, smiling at the two youths.

Draco Malfoy stepped out from behind Harry and entered the room, conveying not a single flicker of the apprehension clearly shining in the eyes of his Gryffindor counterpart. The petite Slytherin walked straight through the room towards the silver eyed man, standing behind the blue eyed woman, who was sitting stiffly before the headmaster.

"Mother. Father," he greeted plainly.

The dark eyed women gazed up at him.

"Son," she said softly, not stopping the small smile that broke forth at the sight of her young son.

The shaky smile that Draco offered was the first indication that he was as nervous as the emerald eyed Gryffindor, who had still yet to move from his place by the door. Draco tilted his head, looking at his tall father from the corner of his eye.

"Draco." The older Malfoy said as a way of greeting.

Before any more can be said and any more greetings done, the soft voice of Albus Dumbledore traveled through the room.

"Now that the two gentlemen are here, we can begin sorting through this, and your questions can finally be answered. Now, please, I implore that you approach this with open minds and hearts. And remember that you, too, were once sixteen."

The voice of Albus Dumbledore brought the attention of the four adults in the room away from the two nervous youths. When Albus finished his speech, they looked back at the two young men.

Draco had walked back to Harry's side.

James Potter, Lily Evens Potter, Lucius Malfoy, and Narcissa Black Malfoy were treated with the sight of the two figures, of their sons, standing before each other and gazing into one another's eyes. Harry was looking down at the delicate blond before him, and they watched as his lips parted to form barley heard words.

"It will all be okay. Just breathe."

Draco smiled up at the Gryffindor in turn; bring a slender hand forth to brush an ebony strand away from emerald eyes.

"Draco!"

The two boys jumped at the sudden bellow that had broken the moment between them.

Lucius Malfoy marched towards his son, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him away from the door.

Away from Harry.

"Father! You're hurting me!"

A flash of concern momentarily broke through the cold glacier of Lucius Malfoy's eyes, and he dropped his son's arm.

Draco rubbed his throbbing arm, looking up at his father fearfully. At times, his father didn't know his own strength.

Regret melted Lucius' eyes, and he reached forward to assess the damage he had done. But before he could, Harry Potter had sprung forward, after getting over his passing shock. Upon reaching the blond he took him in a one armed hug and checked the damage of Lucius' temper with the other.

"It's nothing Harry. He just grabbed me a little hard," Draco whispered weakly.

Before Harry could reply, his own father marched over to him.

"Harrison Potter," he hissed. "What the hell do you think your doing? That's a Malfoy
in your arms."

Whatever Harry's response would have been was lost as the voice of Albus Dumbledore once again filled the room.

"Please James take a set. You too, Lucius. We can not begin this if you all insist on being irrational and temperamental. We will undertake this explanation with the greatest calm and order that as adults we are capable of managing."

James and Lucius turned to look at the headmaster as they were addressed. Reluctantly they brought out their wands and spelled a chair next to each of their wives, so they could all sit down.

"Now, Harry and Draco. Would you two also like to take a seat?"

Harry glanced at the blond he still held in his arms and answered for both of them, "No, that's all right Professor. We will remain standing."

"Very well."

A tense silence filled room for a couple of moments, until the voice of Lilly Evans Potter filled the room.

"I think now we should have the explanation we were looking for," she said, gazing at the figures of her son and the young Malfoy heir in his arms. "And it seems, Albus, that this," gesturing to the two boys, "only brings forth more demands for explanations."

"Mum-"

Lily Potter put up a hand to silence her son and kept her attention on the headmaster.

"We heard that you're putting our son at risk by rooming him with a Slytherin. And a Malfoy at that. Now, we come here and see this," Lily hissed. "What have you done now, Albus? Is this another one of your foolish schemes? What spell did you cast on them? What circumstances did you force them into?"

"Lily, please stop." James Potter tried to pacify his angry wife. "I'm sure it was not Albus who cast some spell. It was most likely that Malfoy boy."

"My son would do no such thing!" The calm facade of Narcissa Black Malfoy was broken by the accusation placed upon her son, and she was now on her feet, glaring down at the two Potter's. "If anyone's under a spell it would be Draco and the caster, your son!"

"How dare you say such a thing! It is well known that Malfoy's are all evil. You all probably plotted this to get close to our son. What was your goal Malfoy? To have our son loose credibility or just to do him in all together?" James sneered.

Lucius shot to his feet upon hearing the slander on his family. "How dare we? How dare you! You have no right to call us evil, Potter. We are no more evil then you are. We do not hide behind carefully placed facades built to fool the foolish! You may pretend to be all good and holy, but you are all as conniving and power hungry as Voldemort."

"Don't you dare compare us to Voldemort!" yelled Lily. "We are nothing like him. You are the one known for groveling at his feet."

"A Malfoy bows down to no one," Lucius stated fiercely. "We are our own masters. Our family declined Voldemort the first time. He had to result to powerful ancient magic to get us to serve him. And even then we rejected his hold on us."

"I bet you're just saying that," James sneered. "Voldemort most likely sent you as a spy amongst our midst."

Albus Dumbledore saw the dangerous gleam in the eyes of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and quickly decided to intervene.

"Please. Would everyone please calm down? We are here to discuss your children, not to question loyalties."

Gradually the four bickering adults calmed down and turned their focus onto their sons once more. The two were still standing in the same place, but this time both looking at their parents in a mix of fear and anger as a result of what they had just witnessed. Like many others in the wizarding world, they were fully aware of their families' hatred for each other, and had even participated on fuelling that hatred in their early youths. Yet neither had seen it demonstrated by the adults. Neither had really known how deep that hatred ran. As children, to them it was but a game. In a way they had been sheltered by their parents. Seeing it now left the boys visibly shaken, and they clasped each other's hand tightly for support.

Their joined hands did not go unnoticed by their fathers, and if the voice of Albus Dumbledore had not sounded, there would have been a repeat of earlier arguments.

"Boys, you may now begin."

"Thank you sir." This time it was the voice of Draco Malfoy that answered him. "I know that you are all here today because you heard that Harry and I are sharing a room. Well that stupid rumor is wrong. I'm still in my old prefect room and Harry still lives up in Gryffindor tower. It is just that sometimes we like to keep each other company. We're friends now."

James's face contorted into a scowl and he made to comment, but before he could slip in a word, Draco continued.

"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I know what you're thinking. That I'm a danger to your son. That I'm only befriending him to gain his trust, to betray him to the dark. But you have to realize that I will do no such thing. I'll die before I become one of Voldemorte's little slaves," he stated fiercely.

Draco then turned to his parents. "And mother, father, Harry is no more a danger to me, than I am to him."

The boy looked around at the adults. He had his Malfoy mask firmly in place, yet his expressive eyes showed uncertainty, anger, and something else. Another emotion that seemed foreign in the eyes of one so young. Yet it was there, shinning with that spark of defiance that was constant light in Draco's eyes.

"Friends?" Narcissa gasped. "But you hate each other."

"No, mother. We've put that childish rivalry behind us. Even though at times we still drive each other crazy," Draco said, glancing up at Harry with a small teasing smile. "We are no longer enemies."

"So you're really friends?" asked James.

"Yes, sir"

The tension in the room seemed to dwindle, as the worst case scenario brought about by the earlier interaction of the two boys, was destroyed by those words.

"Yes, we are friends. Friendship is, after all, a strengthening element in a relationship."

Harry's softly spoken words broke through the adult's brief gratification and their heads shot up to look at the ebony haired Gryffindor.

"What do you mean by 'relationship'?" Lucius asked cautiously.

"Whatever one means by a relationship between two people that are in love with one another."

"You see father, Harry and I are together."

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Dedication:

This chapter is dedicated to Anya Malfoy. My first reviewer!

Thanks for showing interest. This little fic is my lab project and my experimental dip into the fanfiction world. I'm a little scared about this dip, but you have given me a little bit more courage so THANKS!!

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Silver*Scorpian*Wolf*Girl – I'm glad you found this interesting and to your liking. Don't worry this will be continued. I've finalised what's going to happen now. I've changed it a bit, but I think this new upcoming plot it better. Thanks for your review. I was jumping from joy! Hehe…