A/N: I'm still in such utter shock that you people seem to like this story so much. Sorry for the delay in the update, but it's been rather hectic lately with my cousin's wedding over the weekend and lots of things going on at Uni. In the future I hope to update every 3-5 days, regularly, like clockwork almost! Look for more notes at the bottom! And enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: Malachi (my wonderful muse) has decided that I am actually J. K. Rowling in disguise, and thusly do own all of the Harry Potterverse. I tried to convince him that if JKR were leading a double life, she'd hardly choose to be going to my university and working at its bookstore. He refuses to believe me. However, I really don't own HP, and no harm is intended with this work of fiction. It is meant for entertainment only.

Chapter 2

He awoke to a pounding on the door that made the pounding in his head ten times worse. Harry groaned and rolled over in bed, fumbling for his glasses on the nightstand. "What?" he managed to croak at the door as he cradled his pounding skull against the pillows.

The door creaked open and Snape slid into the room. "Good morning, Mr. Potter," he smirked wickedly.

"I don't see what's so good about it," Harry mumbled as he cracked open an eye to look at his professor.

Snape was, again, dressed in a black t-shirt and matching silk pajama bottoms. He chuckled softly (though the sound was actually quite loud to Harry). "Draco is downstairs waiting... he said something about shopping?"

Harry glared (or, at least, attempted to) at that questioningly raised eyebrow. "He's taking me shopping for my birthday present... I need new clothes..."

"Well, you shouldn't keep him waiting. Come on down, breakfast is ready." Snape crossed the room to Harry's bedside and held out a phial full of a pale blue liquid. He smirked again at Harry. "It's a hangover remedy." Snape chuckled as Harry quickly unstoppered the phial and downed its contents. "Now, come downstairs while breakfast is still fresh... and before Draco eats it all."

Harry smiled and sat up in bed as Snape headed for the door. "Thanks," he called after the Potions Master as the man glided from the room. He climbed out of bed and grabbed his shirt from the day before, tugging it on as he exited the bedroom.

He entered the kitchen and sank down into the nearest chair. The potion Snape had given him made the headache and dizziness go away, but Harry was still exhausted from the day before. "Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Harry glared at Draco, who was smirking in that incredibly sexy yet unbearably annoying way. "In about three hours, when I am fully awake, I'll have a witty reply to that." Across the table from him, Snape snorted. Harry then began to pile some pancakes, bacon, and eggs on his plate. Snape poured Harry his cup of tea before refreshing Draco's and his own. "You know, professor, I could definitely get used to waking up to such a wonderful breakfast. This is even better than breakfast at Hogwart's!"

Snape smirked wickedly, "Indeed, Mr. Potter. However, once the school term starts again, I'm afraid you'll simply have to settle for whatever the house-elves make, as I will not be bringing you breakfast in Gryffindor Tower."

Draco snickered, and Harry blushed lightly. "I wouldn't expect you to, sir. I was merely complimenting the chef for his readily apparent skills in the kitchen and lamenting the fact that I will have to give this up in a month."

"Well, you could always move in with him when school starts again and demand he make you breakfast every morning."

Snape glared at Draco and Harry threw a small bit of pancake at the blonde boy. "Actually," Harry paused in thought, "that idea has merit." Harry grinned mischievously at his potions professor.

Again, Snape snorted. "As if I'd actually allow a Gryffindor like you to muck up my rooms with your very presence? I think not. No, Mr. Potter, I'm afraid you'll simply have to learn to live without seeing my charming face right across the table from you at breakfast, and you'll have to re-adjust to the quality of the school food."

Harry felt himself blush again, not quite able to figure out why. "You said it yourself though, professor. I'm much more Slytherin than I used to be."

"And until I can truly say that you are a Slytherin I'll have none of your Gryffindor-ity traipsing about my chambers! I get enough of that when Minerva pops in for a visit." Harry grinned and Draco chuckled.

Harry and Draco strolled at a rather leisurely pace through Diagon Alley. They were coming up on Madam Malkin's, but Draco tugged Harry past the shop. "I thought we were going clothes shopping, Dray..."

Draco snorted, "Madam Malkin's isn't the only clothing shop in Diagon Alley, Harry. Haven't you ever just wandered through this place? It goes on for quite a while."

Harry nudged Draco lightly, "Of course I haven't wandered through the Alley, Draco. Remember, for the longest time I had this rather insane megalomaniac after me, so it wasn't safe for me to be in such a public place for too long."

"Aw, ickle Harrykins wasn't allowed?"

Harry laughed and shoved Draco playfully as they continued down the Alley. It wasn't long before they came upon a shop called "The Classically Modern Wizard", and Draco veered inside. Harry followed closely, and whispered to his companion once they were inside, "Isn't this place a bit too modern for such a traditional wizard such as yourself?"

"Of course not, Harry. It may be a shop with rather modern tastes, but the clothes still have a rather classic and traditional feel to them."

He nodded in response to Draco as a sales clerk approached them. "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy. How can I help you today?"

"Good morning, Drecan," Draco smiled charmingly. "My friend Harry here needs a new wardrobe."

"Very good, sir. What kind of robes are you interested in?"

Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Draco beat him to it. "Well, he'll need at least four new Hogwart's robes, Gryffindor House; three plain work robes; a new summer cloak, as well as a winter one. Then we'll need some every day sort of robes, and at least two sets of dress robes. Also, we'll need shoes, shirts, and pants to match with the robes." Harry gaped at Draco. Did he really need that many robes? And all those clothes to go with them?

Drecan nodded and turned to Harry, "If you'll follow me, sir, I'll take your measurements and then we'll pick out materials and styles." Drecan ushered Harry over to a work area and began taking measurements.

Time for Harry seemed to fly by in a blur. Before he knew it, he and Draco were leaving the shop, armed with an entirely new wizarding wardrobe for Harry (nicely shrunken and tucked away in their pockets). The summer cloak was a pale charcoal with silver lining; the winter cloak was pitch black with a deep emerald lining. For every day wear, Harry had gone with three styles of robes: Mandarin style, an open robe style that looked rather casual, and robes nearly exactly like Snape's (he'd found that the style looked rather good on him, and it was very comfortable). The Mandarin style robes were sleeveless to allow a greater range of movement. He bought three of those – a deep emerald green with a matte silver long sleeved shirt and charcoal pants; a pale sort of grayish blue with a navy blue shirt and navy pants; and a dark metallic silver with a black shirt and black pants. In the Snapey robes (as Harry jokingly called them), he ended up with robes in black, dark forest green, and deep scarlet, with white shirts and black pants. Finally, for the "casual Friday" look (that reference went entirely over Draco's head), he picked out tan, rose (but not a girly rose, more like a dusky sunset type rose), and navy, and those would work well with the other pants and shirts he'd already picked out.

Draco led Harry out of Diagon Alley and into Muggle London. Draco kept hold of Harry's hand so that they wouldn't be separated, as Harry was absolutely enthralled with the city (and was prone to wandering off) and Draco seemed to know exactly where they were going.

They quickly reached their destination (a little too quickly for Harry, he was quite enjoying looking around the city), which turned out to be a rather dingy looking store called "Pandora's". The windows had what appeared to be an impenetrable layer of dust over them, and were blacked out. The sign above the door, which proclaimed this establishment to be Pandora's, was dimly lit and the paint on it was peeling. Harry looked at Draco quite skeptically. "This is where we're shopping?" Draco simply nodded and pulled him quickly inside the shop.

The inside of the shop was well lit and full of the most interesting clothes Harry had ever seen. At the very back of the store was a counter with a lone register on it, and behind the counter sat a girl with deep red and bright blue hair. She looked up as they approached, and grinned broadly. "Dray, luv, so good to see you!"

Draco smiled handsomely and nodded his head, "Hello, Dora. How've you been?"

"Oh, s'alright, pet. Not much goin' on 'round here, but tha's to be expected." The girl turned to Harry, and looked him over. "What'd ya bring me to play with, Dray?"

"This is my friend, Harry. He's in desperate need of a new wardrobe, Pandora."

Harry held out his hand to Pandora, "Nice to meet you."

She shook his hand and stared deeply into his eyes, "Harry, is it? Good to meet you, too, luv." Pandora continued to stare at him, and it rather unnerved Harry. "Are you sure you haven't been here before, luv? I could swear I've seen you before."

Harry flushed, slightly embarrassed by his fame still. "Oh, sorry. I'm Harry Potter. I thought you'd realized."

Pandora looked at him curiously, then grinned at Draco, "I think he fancies himself famous, Dray. Perhaps he's got delusions of grandeur."

Draco laughed, "No, unfortunately he not delusional, Dora. He actually is rather famous, at least in my world."

"Oh! One of your wand-waving friends, then?"

Draco nodded and Harry stared at him in shock. "She's a Muggle, Draco?" Draco nodded again, and Pandora laughed. "A Malfoy is friends with a Muggle???" Harry was utterly shocked. "The world must be ending," he said in a rather flat and emotionless voice.

Draco shoved Harry lightly, "Oh, lay off, Harry. Just because I'm a Malfoy doesn't make me a prat." Harry glowered. "Alright, it does make me a prat. But that doesn't mean I can't overcome my heritage, right?"

"Y'see, Dray may be a wizard, and I may be a Muggle, but we have been united by fashion." Pandora grinned. "He shares my rather unique style." Draco nodded. "So, let's quit the chatting, boys, and get to work. Harry, luv, you'll look so good when we're done with you."

And then Harry was whisked away again, ushered over to racks with different styles and colors of clothing on them, then shoved into dressing rooms. It felt like the whole process was taking hours, but Harry didn't actually mind. He rather liked the clothes that they were having him try on.

In the end, Harry had more clothes than he'd ever owned before in his entire life. He left the shop wearing tighter fitting black denim jeans, black leather boots, and a tight white tank top that had the anarchy circled "A" printed in black on the back.

"Tera, Dray! Tera, Harry! Come back soon, boys!" They waved goodbye to Pandora as they left her shop and tiredly headed towards the Leaky Cauldron to floo back to Grimmauld Place.

Harry collapsed on the couch in his living room as they returned from their daylong excursion shopping. Draco flopped down next to him. "Well," said a voice from behind them, "I assume the two of you had a productive day?"

"Yeah," Harry glanced briefly at Snape, "got a lot done. Right, Dray?" Draco merely grunted in assent, and Harry snorted. "Very eloquent, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco snickered, "I think that should have been Uncle Severus' line."

Snape arched his eyebrow and uttered his all-purpose answer, "Indeed." When it appeared that the two young men on the couch weren't going to be any more forthcoming with details of their day, Snape folded his arms over his chest. "If you two are done lounging around, I decided to be rather considerate, for some odd reason, and fixed dinner for the three of us."

The two teens perked up at the sound of food and dragged themselves off the couch to follow Snape into the kitchen. On the table was a huge bowl of angel hair pasta, complete with marinara sauce, ravioli, a big bowl of tossed salad with a bottle of vinegar dressing beside it, and a plate full of freshly cooked garlic bread.

The three sat down and enjoyed a rather quiet dinner. Snape observed the two teens most of the time, instead of joining in their conversation. Harry glanced up a time or two and caught Snape staring at him, which caused him to blush lightly (though he couldn't quite figure out why). Little did Harry know that Snape was greatly enjoying Harry's new look.

Perhaps there's hope for the Slytherin in him yet, the Potions Master pondered.

A/N: Firstly, I apologize for the brevity of this chapter. The next one should be longer. Secondly -- Woo! As of posting this chapter, I've got 42 reviews! (cackles insanely) I love you all so much! It is really encouraging to be getting such a strong response to my writing, and I thank you all so SO much! Hopefully I'll get you all chapter three by this weekend. Possibly sooner, depending on how much homework I have this week. Uni isn't all fun and games, you know. Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 1! Much thanks and love to: Earendil'sgirl, SweetPea-Fairy, Tigris T Draconis, sesshyluver03, cdkobasiuk, Lazuline, mon, Layce74, tree potter, Jess the Great, garnetfirefly, darkanglefrmhell, Dark Catalyst, & celestial light.

Earendil - This is a slightly dark!harry fic... not incredibly dark. He's just finally learning to show his true self, and not just the mask he projects to everyone.

Tigris – I'm flattered... also, I know how you feel about not trusting writers after only one chapter being posted. Have no fear, most of my stories end up overly long because I tend to try to take my time and develop ideas to their full potential. And yes, Malachi is my muse... specifically my slash muse. He is honored to be amongst my other muses like Alanni (the general HP muse), and Jaina (the uber-muse... a goddess amongst my muses). Thanks for the encouragement, and I hope this chapter was quite acceptable.

cdk – glad you're still with me. And Snape makes me all tingly, too. Just in general. Though I am rather proud of my own humble portrayal of the snarky git. Hehe.

Tree potter - the romance between Harry and Sev will probably progress slowly at first. They're not simply going to hop into bed together. That would be rather out of character for both of them. They'll take their time, but it will be interesting once it happens.

Jess – Alas, "savoir" is one of the pitfalls of being dyslexic and completely fluent in French, and also having a beta who is also dyslexic (but not as adept in French). However, it appears to be the only mistake that we didn't catch, so thanks for pointing it out. Know what's amusing? Even though English is my first language, whenever I'm really tired (which I'm usually tired when I write), my mind completely lapses into French. I'll start speaking it, and think I'm speaking English until all my friends stare at me like I'm crazy. I'll also write French words that are either the translation of the English or remarkably close in spelling to the English word, and not notice. Wow, this is a really long note to you. Hehe. Anyways, glad to have caught your interest. Hope you enjoy the rest of the story as it unfolds.

DC – I'm incredibly flattered. I actually started writing fanfiction more often than I had previously because it has helped me improve my writing style drastically. I write every day, and I try to challenge myself with fics (like writing slash when I've never written it before, and trying to keep people as canon as possible), and I find that it has helped my writing beyond what words can express.

Sorry to have babbled on so much in my replies to some of the reviews. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed chapter one (numbered as two by FFN), and I sincerely hope that this chapter was worth the wait. Coming up in chapter three – Skip ahead to mid-august, enter Dumbledore with an explanation of the key, and then we get to the start of school! Hope to see you guys again next chapter! And I really do appreciate reviews! –Aiko (and Malachi).