A/N: I've put of doing this for more than two days, but my goal is to have this chapter out by my birthday!!! So here we go!

Disclaimer: Blah blah not mine blah blah

Chapter 3

Harry trudged into the Great Hall and sat heavily down at the Gryffindor table. He didn't bother lowering his voice as he vocally cursed Malfoy (without magic) for ruining his morning, and only the loud 'thud' of his book bag hitting the floor interrupted him. Viciously, the disgruntled boy broke off from his verbal barrage and grabbed a muffin. Without preamble, he roughly tore a chunk out of it with his teeth. Harry knew he was acting savagely, but he didn't care.

Next on his breakfast hit list was sausage, which Harry showed no mercy to. He was lucky that he was mostly alone for this display of Neanderthal consumption of food; it would have frightened nearly everyone out of their wits to see him behaving this way. As it was, the few people who were there had their food stopped between the table and their mouths, staring agape at the spectacle. All but one person, seated at the Slytherin table. He looked on with a spark of amusement reminiscent of Dumbledore's in his eyes.

After mauling more of his breakfast than he ate, Harry left the Great Hall, sneering at the Slytherin table on the way out. Malfoy stared benignly back. This only served to fuel Harry's mood and his scowl deepened.

"Hey Harry, watch out!" Before he knew what hit him, Harry had run headlong into Hermione.

"Second time today," he muttered, and moved to go around her. He almost made it, but found that Ron was in his way.

"Harry, mate, what's the matter?" Ron asked with some concern. Harry seemed preoccupied and more than a little pissed off.

Harry said something too low for Ron to hear, and ended his mini-rant with "stupid Malfoy." Ron gave him a knowing look.

"You know, you could try and give him a chance. It would save you a headache."

"And Harry, you know he isn't exactly evil. He fought for our side after all," Hermione added.

"That just means he's not evil. I still think that he's the sneaky bastard we came to know over the years."

"Can you prove that, Harry?" Hermione asked gently.

"Yes," Harry replied without hesitation. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"I met him in the bathroom yesterday morning."

Ron's eye opened wide and he grinned. "Ooooooh reeeeeally now?" Harry gave his best friend a disgusted look, as if to call him a pervert.

"Yes. And he acted as if it were two years ago. Sneers, insults, haughtiness… It was the Malfoy we've known."

"Hmm." Ron's expression had mellowed from a grin to an amused smile. Hermione merely looked thoughtful.

"Well mate," Ron said, "it sounds like he really hates you."

"Or he really likes you," Hermione interjected. Harry's mouth fell open.

"You're joking, right? Please say you're joking," he choked out. Hermione shrugged.

"Dunno." She gave him a mischievous smile. "Would you mind if he did?" Harry spluttered.

"Yes!" He stared at his two best friends as if they had both grown two extra heads apiece. Ron laughed loudly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's kidding. Or way off base at least."

"Better be…" Harry mumbled, moving to leave.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked. Harry looked back, no stopping his stride.

"Library."

"Oh." Hermione gave him an approving look. "Well we were going to ask if you wanted to come to Hogsmeade with us…" Harry shook his head.

"Sorry, too much homework."

"Becoming an Auror is going to take all the fun out of you, mate!" Ron called to Harry, who stuck his tongue out in response. Ron grinned and slipped his arm through Hermione's, much to her surprise. Harry smiled and felt his mood lift slightly. He was so glad that Ron had been more cheerful lately, and he knew that it had a lot to do with the fact that he had received a letter saying that Bill had woken from his coma and was on the path to recovery.

Finally Harry felt that things were going back to normal, that things were starting to feel right again.

"All except Malfoy, damn him." As soon as he spoke, Harry's mood fell again. He had been happy with the status quo, and Malfoy had upset the balance. Also, it disturbed him that everything seemed to come back to the blonde-haired Slytherin lately. Harry gritted his teeth and forced himself to stop thinking of him.

After all, he had homework to do.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The trip to the library was uneventful, Harry knew the castle well enough from his experiences in previous years that he could navigate the back passages with his eyes shut. Harry, Ron and Hermione were all proud to say that they had been through and seen more of Hogwarts than all of the students and some of the faculty. Therefore, ducking into an adjacent hallway when he saw someone coming did not serve to get him lost, as it would have to most any other student.

Once Harry reached the library, he slipped in as quietly as possible, hoping to go unnoticed by the few people who were there. It was nearly deserted, much to his relief; it was a Hogsmeade weekend and the only ones there were a few first and second years and the odd Ravenclaw studying for NEWTS. Half-smiling to himself, Harry made his way over to a remote section of the library and set his things down, intending on getting to work.

He pulled out his potions textbook, hoping that it would cease to be written in Greek and reveal its secrets to him. Harry's most difficult subject was potions, that was no secret, but it wasn't for lack of aptitude. He certainly had the makings of a fine potion brewer, not a master though, but it was the archaic language that the instructions were written in that always threw him. At first, his frustration with not understanding his own language coupled with Snape's overt dislike of him had put him off the entire subject. For five years, in fact. But with Hermione's help in unraveling the mysteries of the lyrical language of potions, he had managed to not only surprise himself with his potential, but also earn the grudging respect of the potions master.

Snape and Harry still had their disagreements, those were the stuff of Hogwarts horror stories (much like how his and Malfoy's rivalry was the stuff of Hogwarts legend), but Snape refrained from finding excuses to dock points from Gryffindor, and Harry refrained from finding excuses to provoke him. All in all, it made for a relatively peaceful sixth year… until the war finally broke out in full force.

Harry set his textbook aside and leaned back in his chair, running the end of his quill over his upper lip thoughtfully. In retrospect, the war had been relatively short, but brutal. It had only lasted about two months; two months that seemed to age everyone involved by two years. Harry, who had never had the opportunity to experience a carefree childhood, felt the role of an adult thrust upon him when he was eleven, and the responsibilities only increased with the war.

Harry's eyes turned melancholy, and he leaned further back in his chair, tipping it onto the rear two legs. There had been so many casualties of war, so many innocent lives lost. Most of the students had been spared – they stayed at Hogwarts for the duration, along with as many others that would flee their homes for the safety of the school grounds. Dumbledore had cordoned off a section of the school for the refugees to live in, and tried to keep life as normal as possible. Classes had continued, and the Headmaster made a point not to let the war interfere with life if he could possibly help it. Hogwarts had been a safe haven.

But there had been those who were too stubborn to flee in the face of the Dark Lord. Percy Weasley had been one of them. Stubborn to the end, not even having made amends with his family. A fact that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley regretted deeply.

There were also the families of the Muggle-born students, that couldn't be helped. Many died at the cruel hands of Voldemort before he was stopped. Hermione was lucky, she didn't lose her family, but she came close. Hermione had convinced her parents to relocate to the States for a while, about a week before Death Eaters attacked the Muggles in that neighborhood. It had been unnerving for her, and she had spent a lot of time not speaking; reflecting on the predicament.

Harry had felt for her, it had been her first time dealing with the happenings of war on a personal level. Something like that always had been and always would be very difficult to come to terms with. Fortunately, her family was safe and she only had the 'what if' thoughts to deal with. Those, while painful in their own right, are never as bad as dealing with an actual loss.

"Excuse me?" Harry was startled from his wandering thoughts by the sound of a small, timid female voice in front of him. He opened his eyes and leaned the chair forward until it was sitting normally on the floor again. He was met with the sight of two girls shyly standing on the other side of his table, fidgeting slightly.

"Can I help you?" Harry asked politely. The girl on the left, a Ravenclaw second year, blushed slightly and the girl on the right, a Hufflepuff first year, giggled. Harry waited quietly for the girls to recover their wits. He was being infinitely patient, thinking that he knew what they were there about, but tolerating it. For the moment.

"Yes, well…" the Ravenclaw began, but didn't continue. The Hufflepuff took this as her cue to jump in.

"We have a favor to ask of you," she said softly. Harry raised an eyebrow and unconsciously his hand drifted over to his ring and began fiddling with it.

"Oh? How can I be of assistance?" Harry decided to play dumb, even though he figured that they were going to ask him about where he'd gotten his ring, like every other person who'd talked to him lately had done. He was greatly surprised.

"Well, we'd heard about you and Draco Malfoy… seeing each other, and… well, we came to ask you to stop."

"Yes, it's… well, some of us think that it's not fair. The two best looking guys in school being taken, and by each other. No one else has a chance." The Ravenclaw found her voice again. Harry looked from one to the other incredulously.

"What?"

"And… you and Draco Malfoy never got along very well anyway. Is this just some kind of fling? Because… lots of us are really sad about this… and…" the words trailed off and the girls stood there waiting for a response. Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm not having this conversation…" He put his face in his hands and shook his head. After a few seconds, he looked up again. "Listen girls, I think you have some facts incorrect. First off, I'm not seeing Malfoy. I don't even like the guy. Secondly, no matter what you think, people shouldn't ask someone not to see someone else because 'it isn't fair.' That in itself isn't fair to those involved, if they're happy together. Not that Malfoy and I are. Happy or together." Harry made a face that looked vaguely disgusted. The girls looked ashamed. "So while I'm happy to say that your efforts were unnecessary, please think before you do something like this again, okay?"

The girls nodded, and turned to flee. Harry let them, to save them a bit of embarrassment.

'To think… people think that Malfoy and I…' He shuddered. "UGH."

Harry reached again for his potions textbook, thinking that he'd done enough idle thinking for the day, and tried to lose himself in the world of magic turned matter.

He didn't get very far, however, before he was interrupted yet again by another set of voices. These, however, weren't directed at him, he just happened to catch the conversation. It was a pair of Slytherin girls, and Harry's interest was piqued when he heard his name mentioned.

"So what do you think is going on with Draco and Potter?"

"I'm not sure. They have the matching rings, but their attitudes…"

"You heard about that, too?"

"Yeah. Two hour ago, in front of the Great Hall. Potter practically blew up at Draco for no reason. And I heard from a good source that yesterday they were in a bathroom together."

Silence. Harry grimly thought that he could hear one of the girls grinning.

""No, get your mind out of the gutter. They were fighting."

"Just like old times, eh?"

"Yeah, but there's something off about it."

"I think that the rumors are true."

"They're dating? Maybe. You think they're shagging yet?"

"Well if they're not, then they will be soon."

"What about the fighting, though?"

"A cover. I think they don't want anyone to know that they're together."

"Pretty flimsy cover. Sure, it would have worked last year, but Draco's changed."

"Yeah."

A short silence followed in which a disgruntled Harry gathered his things and started to leave. He couldn't take listening to the inane gossip about himself and his worst enemy any more.

"You'd think that Draco would have better taste than a Gryffindor."

"Potter's hot though. I'd want him…"

Harry bit back the urge to scream and made his escape as quickly as possible.

"I'll just do my damn homework in the dorm," he fumed, practically marching through the halls, the conversation he overheard running through his mind. The only coherent response he could think of to the speculation was 'How dare they?'

Harry thought that by now he'd be used to his being talked about due to his fame, but paparazzi and nosy reporters had nothing on gossipy teenage girls.

"Mr. Potter." At the sound of his name being spoken by a familiar yet unwelcome voice, Harry looked up from the stone floor where his gaze had been riveted.

"Professor Snape…" Harry bit his lower lip and his left hand automatically went over to play with the ring on his right hand, an occurrence that was rapidly becoming a nervous habit.

"Lucky I ran into you." Snape looked less than amused.

"Sir?"

"I wanted to inform you that your detention is to be served after the holidays have ended." Snape smiled. Respect or no, he still savored every opportunity to give detention to the Golden Boy of Hogwarts.

Harry nodded. Snape inclined his head and left Harry, his robes swirling in the patented Snape way. Harry slumped against a wall and wished for the thousandth time that his life could be simpler.

"Did you know that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy are dating?"

"Yes, I'd heard! It's disappointing… but you know, it's kind of hot. They're just so good looking."

"Yeah… Do you think that they'd let people watch them make out?"

"I don't know…"

Harry listened with a deepening despair as more people walked past talking about his and Draco's nonexistent relationship. There had to be something that he could do to quell the burgeoning rumors, all he had to do was think about it. A strategy was what he needed… maybe Hermione could help.

Harry straightened up and squared his shoulders. He was going to walk to the Gryffindor common room with as much dignity as he could muster. First he would do his homework and wait for Ron and Hermione to come back from Hogsmeade. Then the planning could begin.

After-chapter noteage: Okay, I think I lied. Christmas isn't this chapter, but it was getting to be towards the two-week mark since I last updated, and it was starting to bug me. So I cut it a tad short. That, and yesterday was my birthday, and I'd promised myself that I'd update on my birthday. Missed by a few hours… oops. (Because of this lateness, this chapter is un-beta-ed. Apologies for any mistakes.) But yes, I turned 21! Everyone celebrate with me!!!

As a gift… you can review!!! I would love you forever, and give you a chapter by next Wednesday, hopefully! The more reviews, the happier Lizzie is. The happier Lizzie is, the more she feels like writing!

Oh, I have a C2!! Everyone should subscribe!! It's all about Harry and Draco slash fiction, and because I'm insanely picky about what I'll read, everything there will be of high quality. At least in my eyes. ...JOIN!!!

Anyone know where I can find an entry-level phlebotomy job? I'm quitting my job at the end of October (I'm just tired of my boss… he's a jerk) and while that will give me more writing time, I need a means of supporting myself. Seriously, if it's a guaranteed job, I will move anywhere in the country.

I miss my brother…

Next Chapter: Christmas approaches… I promise!