True Friends
By: Craw/Brad

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the yummy HP boys... Sometimes, late at night, I cry about that...

Author's Note: I've had a few things to deal with with my family and my beta was grounded... Sorry. I just got it back from her today, so it's betaed now!


Chapter Six

Over each of the tables floated a number. Over Gryffindor was a one and over Slytherin a four. Harry, Vince an I made our way to the table at the end marked four as Blaise and Greg marched to the Gryffindor table with their head's held high.

My trio sat at the head of the table as I usually would and waited forever as everyone else filled in, complaining about their teams. Other students seemed reluctant to sit by us, as made blatantly clear by the number of Hufflepuffs cowering in a three foot span of bench at the foot of the table. While Sev seemed to have had good luck with his seventh year students, he seemed to have none what so ever with the younger years. I only counted five Slytherins total (myself included), and two of them were first years.

My thoughts of how much my team was lacking were interrupted by a timid Hermione Granger. "Harry?" she asked softly.

The green eyed hero tensed at my side, but when he spook, his voice was steady and strong. "What can I help you with Miss. Granger?"

"I was wondering if we could talk." she replied, glancing around. As her eyes feel on me, she added, "Alone."

"Anything that you have to say to me can be said in front of Draco and Vincent." the youth beside me said without emotion.

"Fine! If you are going to be such a prick about it, I'll just say my peace here." The bright witch whispered with anger tinging her every word. "I'm sorry about saying what I did last year. I was upset and didn't mean to sound like such a bitch. I an fine with it if you want to shag other men." At this point the table fell silent. "I really don't care if you have a thing for Malfoy or that he is a slimy bastard, just please forgive me." She finished with a pleading look.

"You know that if we do make up, Ron will" Harry started.

He was cut off by the bushy haired girl's statement of "Screw Ron."

At this point I had to intercede, "He will do no such thing." I said with a small smirk. Because of my commit, Harry turned a blinding smile towards me. This made me decide to push my luck. "If he decides to sleep with anyone, I only ask that he chooses some one with proper hygiene."

To this Vince asked, quietly so only the three of us heard, "Three hours in front of a mirror doing your hair is proper hygiene?"

"Of course it is!" I answered with a smile. Harry just laughed a little and blushed.

Already this team was looking better.

~*X*~

Once everyone had finished eating dinner, the old Headmaster stood up to begin another extremely long speech that he could have summed up in only a few sentences. "These days times are dark. That only makes it all the more clear that me must unite as a school or fall for our close-mindedness. When the founders of Hogwarts started this school they were all friends. Even as they grew apart, they still held fast to one belief; this school is a safe haven from evil.

It is a little known fact that Salazar Slytherin himself helped protect a small group of muggle-born students when the school was attacked during the holidays a year before he had his falling out with Gryffindor."

There were a few moments of silence as the school absorbed this information. Then the Headmaster went on, "I hope that everyone is happy with their teams. Classes will begin tomorrow and be taking place with your teams. Double period classes will take place with the teams under the lead of the head of House who's house would normally have it. If there are any questions, ask your team leader."

With twinkling eyes and a bright smile, he went on, "Tonight I leave it to the seventh years and the team leader to come up with a name for your team. The heads and dorms are as follows: Team One will be lead by Professor McGonagall and stay in Gryffindor tower. Team Two will stay in Ravenclaw hall with Professor Flitwick, Team Three with Professor Sprout in Hufflepuff square. Finally, Team Four will be staying in the Slytherin dungeon's and lead by Professor Snape."

There was a chorus of groans from my table as my team realized that they would have to live in the dungeons and see even more of everyones favorite potions professor. "Prefects will be given the choice of keeping their private rooms or staying with their team in the new dorms." At this I almost jumped up and did a happy dance. I got to keep my rooms! Yah! Go me! "If everyone is done with dinner, please follow your head of team to your dorms." At this point, the Headmaster sat down and the four teachers strode from the hall. Some students rose and followed them. These students were not in my team. My team-mates seemed reluctant to follow the dower man for some reason.

Seeing that these idiots might well sit there all night, I rose and followed my godfather out of the hall. As doing so, com binded with the fact that Harry, Vince, and Granger followed me out, I became our unofficial 'leader' as it were.

With the other three behind me, we quickly made our way to the wall outside the Slytherin common room. There, waiting for us, was good ol' Uncle Sev. I could tell that Severus was complaining under his breath by the bits and pieces I picked up. Key words like 'stupid hat' and 'old coot' were mumbled a few times before he noticed us standing in front of him.

"I see that your standards in company have been lowered, Draco." He said, eying Harry and the know it all.

"He's not that bad." I replied with a smirk in the raven haired teens direction. "And honestly, it might even be a step up from Pansy. You know, occasionally I would like to talk about something besides clothes and how to 'get even with Potter'."

The dark eyed man let out a snort of laughter and said with a small smile, "No doubt."

We remained quite for a few minutes until the sounds of the rest of our sorry excuse for a team could be heard coming down the stairs. Someone behind me, I'm not sure who, could have been Vince, mumbled something like "Took them bloody long enough."

"Don't retreat to your rooms Draco." Sev said as they rounded the corner at the end of the hall. "I know how much you love good theater, and this will be a show to remember." He quickly schooled his face, as did I, and we prepared for the play to begin.

~*X*~

Everyone had piled into the common room, a space that was never meant to hold such a number. While Dumbledore tried to even up the teams, he didn't take into account that there have never been an equal number of students in all the houses. Usually there are at least four more people in Hufflepuff than Slytherin per year. This simply meant that there were no open seats anywhere in the room and very little floor space.

I of course, had one of the best seats in the house. A nice cozy armchair that was a perfect distance form the fire. Coupled with Harry seated at my feet, arm unconsciously thrown around my legs, head resting on my thigh, the only thing I could have asked for in preparation for the show was a bag of popcorn.

"This team," Severus Snape, potion master, began to the frightened masses before him. "will win all of the contest put before you. I will not accept anything less than perfection of this sad attempt at a team. Few of you deserve the honor of seeing the inside of these rooms, but you will all, and I mean all, uphold the image that it represents." He sneered at the students seated around the common room.

"To make matters easier on everyone," It was obvious to everyone in the room that he meant him, "I have taken the liberty of delegating power to a prefect. If you gave any questions ask Mister Malfoy." Thought the statement surprised me, there was no reason that anyone else in the room needed to know. "If any of you dare misbehave and get caught, you will see how much of a 'slimy bastard' I can be. I want to rub it in Minerva's face that my team is better than hers, so you will put all past transgressions aside and act as a team.

"You will also all find a date for the dance." He pointedly glared at a few Hufflepuff first years that simultaneously quavered in fear. "I don't care if the only word that you speak to one another is 'will you go to the ball with me?'. You will all go to the dance, and stay well past ten."

The darker man was sitting in the armchair on the opposite side of the fire than mine, but honestly it wasn't a very big fire place. As the students broke out in whispers, I heard Sev mumble something about stupid werewolves and wining a bet. A few seconds later he went on, "I trust you can all find your own way to the dorms." in one of those soft voices that scare people more than if the person using it had been yelling.

The younger students all but ran from the room as the fifth and sixth years tried to look a little more dignified in their rush to get away form the Potions Master, thought few managed. Who am I kidding? They looked even worse than the first years that ran away. "I wonder why they look so scared." Harry said from below me.

"Apparently they don't appreciate a good show when it is given to them." I said loud enough form my favorite professor to hear. "Sorry Sev, honestly it's their loss."

"I think I might be able to live with the heart break." the older man replied dryly. "I don't know what you were expecting, really. It wouldn't be nearly as fun if at least one first year didn't start crying."

Changing the subject as Granger started to move towards us, I asked, "Do I still get to keep my rooms, or will I have to move to just off the common room?" I asked.

"That is really up to you. The head boy and other prefects will all be given the option as well. But for now," he said with a sigh, "Seventh years over here." He called and the rest of the senors moved towards us. "To get down to business, our team needs a name. I refuse to be the Head of 'Team Four' for a month." The young people around us begin to suggest names to each other in whispers. Upon hearing the name 'Huggle Bunnies', Snape said, "It better be a good name if you plan on wasting my time with it." in a menacing tone.

After a five minute argument on why 'Huggle Bunnies' was not in fact a good suggestion, which Silvara Kenneth and Susan Bones felt was a very good name, we had moved onto more... interesting options.

"What about 'Small Gods'?" asked Sally-Anne Perks.

"Do you really want to inflate Draco's ego any more by calling him a god?" Harry asked. "Oww!" he exclaimed as he got first hand experience on how someone can kick to the side. Really, that boy should think before he speaks.

"I guess not." She had the dignity to look away when I glared at her.

"OK," said Terry Boot, "I was thinking. We are here to steal the prizes from the other teams right?" he paused to see people nod. "And we are a mismatched group forced to work as a team. He paused again, and now a few people, Silvara and Sally-Anne, smile. "So, what about 'The Marauders'? That's basically what we are right?"

The end of his sentence was almost lost as both my godfather and the boy who live yelled out "NO!" I could feel that Harry was tense against my leg and by the look of Sev, so was he. "No," Harry repeated, a hunted look coming into his eyes.

Trying to change the topic quickly, I piped in with the first thing that came to mind, "'Dragons of Bad Faith'?" As I said this I began to rub small circles on Harry's back with my right hand.

Vince let out a low huff of laughter and Harry began to relax back against my leg. "Leave it to Draco to try and get the team named after him." the larger youth said irreverently.

"I kind of like it." Harry said looking up at me with a small smile. The depression hadn't quite left his eyes, but it was no longer as prominent as it was only seconds before.

I simply beamed at him, forgetting everyone else in the room. I raised my hand and ran pale fingers through his raven locks. "I was hoping that you would." I said softly.

My godfather brook me out of my reprieve with a cough. I sent him a look of thanks and nodded for every one else to go on.

"Believe it or not,"Granger said. "I like it as well. It declares to the rest of the school that we have gotten over our differences and stand united behind a strong leader." When Susan began to protest about her 'leader' commit, Granger continued, "We all know that each team will have a leader with in the team. As soon as we saw the list of Seventh Years, we all knew that it would either be Harry or Malfoy. They have decided, so we will follow." She explained logically. "Also, it will scare the other teams if they think that we have put our differences aside."

"Very good, Miss Granger." I think that Granger's mouth might have fallen open if she really took a moment to think about it. This was the first time that she had ever be praised by the potion's master. "She is right, if you stand to achieve a common goal, you will have to work together and a leader is sure to emerge. Of course it would be Draco under these conditions. He knows the area and knows how to lead a group of people that don't want to be lead." he said with a small smirk. "Potter on the other hand is a natural leader, but knows little about organization. His talent is telling people what to do in life and death situations where people don't know what is needed."

A few people smiled at his assessment of the two most powerful students in the school. It was a little know fact that while they still weren't friends by any means, Severus Snape and Harry Potter had made peace a year earlier. They had come to a mutual respect, sorry-about-seeing-your-worst-memory/being-a-prick-because-I-didn't-like-your-father like state.

"To be frank," The dark eyed man said to the small group. "I think that they will make a good team in the future. With Potter's raw charisma and Malfoy's training, they could rule the wizarding world before Fudge knew what hit him. I'm sure that they could even get away with calling it help." I smiled. I knew this was Sev's way of telling me that he was Ok with Harry and I. "Thought we can all sleep peacefully in our beds at night because we all know that the Golden Boy would never do that." To top of his statement, Sev sneered.

"Thanks," Said the green eyed Gryffindor at my feet. "Now I feel oh so loved."

When no one felt the need to reply to the youth's sarcasm, Granger asked, "So then we are agreed on 'Dragons of Bad Faith'?"

There was a chorus of "I guess" and "Fine by me" through out the circle. That having been decided, we moved on to other topics, lead by the illustrious man in black. "Miss Granger, Mister Boot, Mister Potter, and Mister Malfoy all have the option of staying in the dorms or having their own rooms. I am sorry to say that we only have four extra rooms and have managed to snag five prefects and the head boy. I leave it to you to find a way to make this work." He finished as he got up and walked over to the bookshelf lining one of the walls and pulled out a large tome. He then meandered back to his chair. Soon he had lost himself in it's pages.

Susan, Sally-Anne, and Silvara drifted off to bed and the rest of us were quite for a few moments thinking. Terry, bright boy that he was, ventured to simplify the situation. "As I see it, we need two more rooms. We can't ask someone to give up something that they deserve like their own bedroom, so all we need is two more rooms."

"You poor, poor Ravenclaw." Harry said teasingly with a small grin. "How did you ever make it to seventh year?" Turning his bright eyes on me he asked, "Draco, didn't you say this afternoon that your rooms could easily hold two people?"

"If the other person meets with my requirements, then I don't see any reason why not." I replied with a smirk.

I could see the question on the tip of Harry's tongue, but it was Granger that beat him to it, "What requirements?"

"Well," I started with a hint of laughter. "First, the other person would have to be clean. They also need to have bright green eyes and silky black hair. Next they would need to be able to keep up with me." I let them think what they would of that statement. "Also I require that they have an utterly fascinating scar. Anything I missing Harry?"

"You left out 'incredibly sexy' and 'fun'." He answered with a smile.

"Oh, I am so sorry."I said in mock embarrassment. "Wherever will I find someone to fit all of these? Harry?"

"I think it is something that we can work on together."

"Do you?"

We could have gone on like that all night, but we were interrupted by Granger. "That still leaves one prefect without a room."

"Sev?" I asked my godfather. His only reply was a lifted eyebrow as his eyes continued to follow the words on the page. "What happened to that one room on the other side of the Potions Lab?"

"It got turned into a guest room." was his only reply.

"Could we use it?" Boot asked.

"With a little remolding, I don't see why not."

"Granger, what do you think?" I asked the bushy haired teen.

"Sounds like fun." She replied with a smile. "Oh, and if we are going to work together, call me Hermione."

"If you insist, then very well. I suppose that you should call me Draco in return." I received a shining smile for Harry from this and decided that it might be worth it. "Are these arrangements ok with you Sev?"

"I was wondering if you would even bother to ask me." he replied coolly. "You of course will need another bed added to your room and I expect that everyone will want to redecorate. It will take a few hours to change Miss Granger's rooms, but otherwise I don't see any problems." He paused for a moment before continuing, "We will have to make another key for Mister Potter. You will have to escort him to and from the room until then." My godfathers smirk was almost big enough to be called a smile, almost.

"I don't have a problem with that." I said before turning and yelling, "Dobby!" at the top of my lungs.

The little house elf popped up before me. "Yes sir? What is Dobby being able to help Master Draco with?" he asked excitedly.

"Can you over see the moving of the prefects?" I asked my old caretaker. "Miss Granger's things are to go into the guest room across from the lab and Harry's need to be moved to my room. We will also need another bed in there and Hermione's rooms need to be made suitable for a prefect to live in. The other three will take the remaining rooms in my hall."

"Dobby is being honored to do such a thing for such a great wizard, Dobby is." he said with a bright smile. Then he bowed and disappeared.

That couldn't possibly be a blush darkening my cheeks. Could it? Of course not! That would be silly, Malfoy's don't blush. Seeing Harry's smile, I was forced to accept that Malfoy's might in fact blush.

~*X*~

I had walked Harry to our newly shared dorm. He was mystified with Anthonis, the ring and the many spells in place. He even went so far as to call it magnificent. I left him there to be stunted by the room and went to meet with my head of house.

"Sev?" I asked after getting no response from my knock on the door to his rooms. "You wanted to talk..." Being the total prat that I am, I had opened the door and walked in on a passionate lip lock between my DADA professor and my godfather. "Umm... I'll just come back later." I said, quickly turning to go.

"Wait!" called a high, out of breath voice from behind me. "Sorry about that Draco. I didn't mean for you to find out this way." It was Sev and this time his voice was closer to normal.

I turned around and looked at the two sitting on the couch. They looked like a couple of Hufflepuff third years. Lupin was as as red as a pissed off hippopotamus. Severus Snape on the other hand looked like someone had just told him that Dumbledore was wearing a G-string. I really couldn't help but laugh at the pair. "It's fine Sev. I know that you have had a thing for him for years. I'm happy for you." I said with a smile. I then turned on Lupin and my smile disappeared. "If you hurt him, you will curse the day that you were born." my smile quickly returned. "But as long as that doesn't happen, we're cool."

"Ok..." Lupin said, paling a little at my threat. "I should be going"

"No, you should stay." Sev said o the golden eyed man. "This will involve you as well. Wm... Draco, I don't know how to tell you this. , but..."his face was grievous and he didn't look like he could go on.

"It's ok, take your time."

"Draco,you know I love you right?" he asked as if he had just gotten an idea. "Your like the son that I'll never have and you will always have a place to stay. No matter what happens, I promise that I will be there for you."

"Sev? What's wrong? Your starting to scare me." A Slytherin like Severus Snape would never say these things unless something really bad had happened.Was he dying? Was I? Was he going to leave the country? All of these terrible things started flying through my head.

"I'm sorry Draco, but your mother... She was killed by Death Eaters last night. We believe that it was a ploy by Lucius to clear his name."

I don't know what he was expecting to see in my eyes, anger, sadness maybe? Whatever it was, judging by the look on his face a second later, I doubt that it was relief. "Sev, you had me worried! I thought you were going to tell me that you were dying." I said with a laugh.

"Are you ok?" Professor Lupin asked.

"I'm fine. There was little love lost between us and she knew the risk that she took." I said smoothly. "She could hardly stand to be in the same room as me for more than five minutes. I was the heir that was her obligation."

"Ok," The Potions Master said with a nod. He knew what I was doing, but we don't need to go into that. "This is where Remus comes in. The Headmaster has decided it would be unsafe for you to stay here over the winter holidays. Seeing how I must remain here, you will be staying with Remus and Mister Potter in London."

"I can do that." I said with a smile.

~*X*~

Twenty minutes later I walked into my dorm room. In the front room I found a cute little Gryffindor on my couch. "Come on Harry." I said as I lifted his sleeping form into my arms. I carried him into the bedroom and placed him on the bed that must have been meant for his use. It was done in red and gold. I undressed quickly and crawled into my own bed. "Goodnight."

~TBC~