True Friends
By: Craw/Brad

Disclaimer: I just spent the weekend at a friends house and now am typing this when I should be watching my little brother. Does it sound like I own any part of Harry Potter? If I did I wouldn't need to watch my brother, I could hire someone else to.

Author's Notes: It has come to my attention that some of the characters might be slightly OOC. Please forgive me this. It is my first HP fic.

Chapter Five

Ten minutes later found our odd group sitting in the Headmaster's office. The Potions Master and DADA Professor were sitting side by side on my right. On my left, holding my hand and looking at me with worried eye, sat the savior of the wizarding world. Behind the person I had spent the last four years dreaming of, with whimpering sounds coming from his misshapen lips, cowered Ronald Weasley. Across from me, his eyes unreadable, sat Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts and only wizard that Voldemort ever feared.

"Mr. Malfoy, would you like to tell us what happened today?" asked said great wizard.

"I would rather not, but if you insist," I added a sigh to pull off the act of nonchalantness. There was a very short list of people that I would let see me worried, and three of the people in the room didn't make it. "We were in the middle of eating a late lunch when Mr. Weasley came in and started insulting us. I invited him to take it out to the hall, and this is the outcome." I finished by gesturing to the large black thing.

The Headmaster turned his eyes to Harry, "Is this true?" he asked. "Or rather I should ask, what is your take on the events the occurred?"

"Like Drake said," I raised an eyebrow at the nickname and Harry blushed a small bit. "We were eating lunch and Ron showed up. He just started insulting us, unprovoked. If you remember, Ron and I haven't been on the best of terms since the end of last year," Dumbledore nodded and waved him on. "So it wasn't a huge surprise when he started... saying what he did. Anyway, Drake asked him to step out into the hall and then told Dobby not to let me out until he came back.. He left and then a few minutes later I heard Ron screaming. Then he let me out and we came here."

"So," Dumbledore said slowly. "I am safe in saying this whole thing came about because Draco felt the need to defend Harry's honor?"

"Um..." Harry said, "When you say it like that it sounds so childish. Really, it wasn't just my honor he was standing up for."

"Would you care to enlighten us Potter?" The potions master sneered.

"Sev," I said softly, looking down at my hands. Because of this action, I missed the look of shocked horror that crossed his face followed by a small curving of his lips as my godfather let his newfound information settle. I also missed the renewed twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes and the soft glance that Harry sent my way. I did however see the significant glance shared by my caretaker and a certain gold eyed wolf when I said, "You would have done the same."

"Be that as it may," the Headmaster said, "this is an unfortunate incident and must be dealt with the same as any other fight. Mr. Malfoy, you will be serving detention with Professor Snape for the next two weeks. I will be giving Mr. Weasley the same." This last brought a smile to my soul, if not my face. "Oh," He said as an afterthought. "I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to turn him back now. We wouldn't want the other children to see him like this."

"Yes sir," I replied with a sigh. I had wanted to leave him like this honestly, I made sure to throw a little pouting glance at Harry before I gracefully got up and turned on the monstrosity behind his seat. I mermered the counter curse softly so no one could hear, and the whole room watched with a morbid curiosity as the legs receded and the skin tone of one Ronald Weasley returned to normal.

The first thing to come out of the boys lips was, "Headmaster, You can't be serious!" He gave off the firm feeling that he would have continued if it weren't for Dumbledore's hand raised in silence.

"I am perfectly serious. You got into a fight, you will serve the detentions." he said in a voice that left little room for argument.

Weasley then did something that reveled a whole new level of stupidity on his part. He turned on Harry and said, "This is all your fault, you fucking poof!" in a quite menacing voice.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but our potions master beat him to the punch. "That will be another week of detentions Mr. Weasley." He smirked.

"It is getting late gentlemen. I will see you all at dinner." At this obvious dismissal, the remainder of us in the room turned to leave. Harry looked stunned. I guess he was a little stunned over my head of house standing up for him.

Once the stone gargoyle had jumped back into place, my guardian turned toward me and said, "That was an impressive bit of transfiguration, Draco." The gleam in his eye told me that he knew perfectly well that I hadn't used any sort of transfiguration since I left school last summer. "Fifty points to Slytherin."

The small smile on Lupin's lips told me that he was on equal footing with Severus on this, and had no qualms. I would have to have a talk with the werewolf soon, I decided as I noted the way that he would steal peeks at Sev's neither regions as he followed the taller man down the hall. I had a sneaking suspicion that the darker man was putting a little more swing in his hips than was strictly necessary for walking.

~*X*~

Harry and I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around in his rooms. Being Headboy certainly had it's perks. The Boy Who Lived was also the Boy Who Had His Own Bathroom. Along with a private dorm and common room, he also had a bathtub to rival the one in the prefect's bathroom.

We talked about mundane things such as what classes we would be taking and what the likelihood of Professor Snape and Lupin hooking up would be. Apparently, Harry and Sev had come to some kind of truce at the end of the previous year. He also seemed to be quite happy at the thought of them getting together. Somethings we didn't breach, didn't dare even think of. Friends, family, and summer never entered the talk and neither of us minded in the least. We didn't talk about our relationship or the kiss either. I had just accepted that it was something good happening. Something I didn't know how to stop and wouldn't have even if I had.

An hour before dinner I told the slightly shorter boy that I had to go. I really needed to shower, the lake water wasn't doing my hair any good. Though I would never have told him that.

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" he asked as I started to open the door.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine," I replied with a smile. It was nice that someone was worried about me. "I'll meet you in the Entrance Hall ten minutes before dinner." I said as I closed the door behind me.

The long walk to the dungeon seemed longer than ever. Where as the Headboy and girl got their own hallway, the prefects have to stay in a room off of their house common room. As a seventh year prefect, I had the choice of rooms. I had picked one off the main set of rooms. Mine was, in fact, under the majority of the Slytherin dorms. It was a big room with it's own bathroom. I only had a small shower stall, but it was much better than showering with the rest of my house.

The entrance to my room was guarded by a statue of Antonius the Sly. After the feast last night I was given the option of using a password or a key. While magical keys were better at keeping people out, there could only be a handful of copies, and they had to be made at the same time as the original, or be made by the original creator. I had been given one key, Sev another, and I imagine that the headmaster had a copy as well.

With magical keys, only when the insignia matched with the magic it had been infused with would open the door. I had opted for this because it was the only way to ensure that nobody got into the room without my ok. Apparently the Headmaster had anticipated my decision, because no sooner had the words left my mouth than Sev dropped a silver ring with the signet of a dragon into my hand.

I stood now in front of Antonius and pushed the ring into the small indentation on his left forearm. The statue then stood up, revealing a small door. I had to remove a few of my own personal wards before the door would open. It's only paranoia if your suspicions aren't justified.

~*X*~

I had just replaced the wards on my door when I was cornered by my old dorm mates. "Draco," said Blaise in the soft voice that had caused many a girl to swoon. "We heave been looking for you."

"Blaise, that isn't really my problem." I said as I turned. "Are you here to beat me bloody or just to threaten me?"

"Neither," Vince said. "We wanted to talk to you about your decisions."

"We didn't tell you last year because we thought you agreed with your father, but we changed sides around Christmas." Greg continued. A lot of people got the wrong idea of the two larger Slytherins. They were neither stupid or mean. In truth, they just didn't have the patience to sit down and study. "We didn't go public with our beliefs because, quite simply, it isn't that we believe in their cause."

"Then what do you believe in?" I yelled. "If you don't agree with them then it's just a waste of time to pretend to." I was getting rather fed up with the group of house mates before me.

"We believe in Potter." Vince said. "We are Slytherins and we all know that this side is going to win. The Dark Lord's people are driven by hate and a love of dominance. Potter's keeps going out of shear need of survival, and if there is one thing that the Boy Who Lived is good at, that is surviving." I had to step back when the large boy started talking. Vincent Crabbe is in the habit of moving his hand a lot when he talked. It was a habit that, as of yet, I hadn't been able to break.

"We wanted to offer our services if you were still interested in them." Blaise said with a sly grin. "We will, of course, provide them for mutual benefit rather than what your father used to pay us."

"Mutual benefit?" I asked incredulity. I could definitely see the benefits on my part, but what would they get?

"We can be the most loyal followers of the light, but they still won't trust us because we're snakes. You have somehow caught the ear of the signal most powerful person on our side." Blaise supplied, his grin becoming a smirk.

"We don't know much more about the Order," Greg picked up, "than what they told us when we joined and what they think they said in a code that the slow brutes wouldn't catch, but we have figured that the chosen of the Phoenix's is their leader. We suspect that the chosen is none other than your new best friend."

"Really?" That would explain why the Headmaster had let me get off so lightly. "I guess I'll take you up on that offer, safety in numbers and all that shit." I said with a small smirk. "If you're ready, I'll even let you have the honor of walking with me to the Great Hall."

"I don't know, it might ruin my reputation to be seen with the Slytherin Sex God. People might get the wrong idea." Blaise said as he threw an arm around my shoulders.

"Sorry to disappoint you Zabini," I replied as I shrugged off his arm. "but I have my eyes set on a certain raven haired lion. I plan on putting all of my energy into chasing that sweet piece of arse." We were almost to the stairs leading out of the dungeons now.

"Your saying I missed my chance? Woe is me!" Greg intoned. At the last he threw his hand over his eyes and faked a swoon.

As we got closer to the Entrance Hall, we all schooled our faces to the mask we were expected to wear. Both Greg's and Vince's faces became hard, mean, and slightly lost. Blaise's smirk changed from slightly happy to I-just-got-shagged-and-there-is-nothing-you-can-do-about-it. My own face lost every trace of emotion and my smirk clearly said that I was better than every one else.

"Draco!" Harry called from across the hall once we had entered it. Our talks had stayed away from friends and the summer, but I had mentioned that I feared my house mates would do something drastic. After years of studying the green eyed Gryffindor, I knew that fear and panic were rising in him, thought I doubt anyone else did.

I walked toward him and the other three followed. "Harry," I said in a cool voice. Not cold, but unfriendly to let people know I hadn't changed too much. "Have you seen the list?" I asked, letting my gaze wash over the hall.

"Yeah," he sounded rather downtrodden. "It's appearers that when I said no to Slytherin in first year, it wasn't good enough."

"Said no in first year?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah... The Sorting Hat said I would have done well there." he said looking at his feet.

"Lets go see this list." I said trying to change the topic to one that was a little less awkward for the Headboy.

Once we got to the other side of the room I saw:

Seventh Years

Team One:

Blaise Zabini
Pansy Parkinson
Neville Longbottom
Justin Finch-Fletchley
Ronald Weasley

Dean Thomas
Gregory Goyal
Hannah Abbott

Team Leader: Mc Gonagall

Team Two:

Millicent Bulstrode
Pamila Patil
Parvati Patil
Morag MacDougal
Alexzander Perry
Victoria Moon
Ernie Macmillman
Lisa Turpin

Team Leader: Flitwick

Team Three:

Kitiara Amothus
Thodore Nott
Semus Finninigan
Lavender Brown
Ashley Gunthar
Lizbeth Smith
Mandy Brocklehurst
Theran Astinus

Team Leader: Sprout

Team Four:

Hermione Granger
Silvara Keneth
Vincent Crabbe
Terry Boot
Sally-Anne Perks
Harry Potter
Susan Bones
Draco Malfoy

Team Leader: Snape

"I wonder how they chose teams." I said softly. The teams were unbalanced. The only one we need to worry about beating us in anything was Team One.

"We picked them out of a hat." Snape stated in a forlorn voice from behind me. I turned to see my godfather standing behind our group. "Draco, we need to talk. Come to my rooms before you go to bed tonight." He said wearily.

"What's wrong Sev?" I asked. As I did this my mask slipped a little and a fraction of the worry I felt fell through. It was enough though, to let every one that knew me know that I really cared.

"Nothing much Draco. I just got back from a visit I rather not have made. I'll tell you about that later." He replied with true caring leaking through his own mask.

If it had been any one but Severus Snape I would have pushed the topic because I'm a curious guy, but because this was my only real family, I let it rest. "Ok." I said with a small smile

"Professor, Draco," Greg said as more people entered the hall.One of the first things Sev said every year to the first year Slytherin's was that you could be as touchy feely as you wanted, in the common room. In public, we all had our roles to play.

"Thank you, Mr. Goyal. I am proud to know that so many of my students know how this war is going to end." He said with a nod and then entered the hall.

"Shall we go and eat?" I asked my ragtag group and we made our way behind the Potions Master.

~TBC~

A/N: I spent about a half hour looking up names of the people in their year and then making up enough to even up the teams. I can honestly say that the list was the hardest part of this chapter.