After classes the next day, Draco met Harry in the Entrance Hall, as usual. It was a convenient, neutral territory and since it was inside, they didn't have to freeze their arses off waiting for each other. Draco had long since decided that, while he loved being a Slytherin, the whole House system wasn't exactly designed to encourage inter-House relationships. Were they in the same House, not only would they have the guarantee of being in all the same classes (at least, the ones they both took), but they would also share a common room, eat at the same table, and even sleep in the same room. As it was, they had become rather adept at finding empty classrooms – especially now that winter had come. The Marauder's Map certainly helped with that, though Draco somehow doubted that that's what Fred and George had had in mind when they gave to Harry.

But the sneaking around was beginning to get irritating. Draco was getting sick of not even being able to sit down in a comfortable chair – classrooms simply were not designed for comfortable snogging. And anyways, he was Draco Malfoy; he could do whatever he bloody well felt like – which included not having to sneak around just to see his boyfriend. So this morning he had decided that he was taking Harry up to his room and the other Slytherins could just piss off.

Harry greeted him with a kiss, looking much more cheerful than usual. He had mentioned something last night about Ron seeming just a little more tolerant of Draco after hearing all that about Sirius Black. Not that Ron liked Draco, mind you, but he seemed to have decided that Harry was having a hard enough time of it without being harassed about his choice of boyfriends.

Draco grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him off in the direction of the dungeons.

"Where are we going?" Harry protested. "You haven't even looked at the Map yet."

Draco looked over his shoulder. "Slytherin common room."

Harry pulled his hand back, freezing in his place. "What?"

Draco turned around to face him. "Slytherin common room. I'm sick of sneaking around. Now come on."

"What about the other Slytherins?" Harry asked without budging.

Draco shrugged. "What about them?"

"Won't they, you know, mind?"

"Who cares? Now are you coming or aren't you?" Harry looked at him for a moment and Draco rolled his eyes. "I promise not to let them eat you. That's my job. Happy now?"

Harry hesitated for another moment before sighing and moving to follow him. Draco led him down to the dungeons, halting before the small "S" carved in the wall to mark the hidden door that lead to the Slytherin common room and turning to Harry.

"I'm not telling you the password."

"What? Why not?"

Draco sighed. "Because, the other Slytherins will be pissed enough that I'm bringing you in here at all; you're not even supposed to know where our common room is. And you'd better not go telling your friends where it is, either."

"I thought you didn't care what the other Slytherins thought… And how do you know we don't all already know where your common room is? It's on the Marauder's Map, isn't it?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and don't listen." Harry sighed, folding his arms and waiting patiently while Draco leaned close to the door and whispered, "Veratas."

The door slid open and Draco grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him through it. Everyone in the room turned to look at them, eyes widening when they realized whom Draco had with him. Draco just rolled his eyes and pulled Harry in the direction of his dormitory. Adrian Pucey, a Slytherin Prefect, got up from his chair before they had gotten more than halfway across the room and cut them off.

"What do you think you're doing, bringing him down here?"

Draco glared at him. "Oh, sod off Pucey. I don't need a nanny."

Pucey didn't move. "You can't bring him in here."

"Funny. I thought I just did. Now move, unless you want my Father to hear about this."

He could see Pucey fighting with himself, caught between getting Harry out of the common room and not getting in trouble with one of the most powerful wizards in the world. But self-preservation apparently won out, because he moved out of the way, watching Harry suspiciously until they had both vanished upstairs.

By the time they made it to Draco's dormitory, Harry was beginning to get more than a little out of breath.

"How can they make you climb all that just to get to your dormitory?" he panted.

Draco smirked at him, pleased that he wasn't even winded. "Snape says it's good exercise. And the prefects get lower rooms, so maybe they think it'll help motivate us to be good students."

Harry blinked. "Prefects get their own rooms?"

Draco nodded, flopping down on his bed. "Slytherin ones do, anyways. I think I remember something about it technically being against the rules. But we're Slytherins."

Harry made a face at him, sitting down next to him on the bed.

"The view's nice though."

Harry snorted. "The view's nice," he repeated mockingly.

Draco shrugged defensively. "Well it is. If you like, we can even climb up to the top of the tower. It's nice up there."

"Just let me catch my breath first."

Draco stretched out on the bed, kicking off his shoes. Harry grinned, leaning over him to caress his face, staring down into his eyes. Draco smiled, reaching up to pull Harry's head down into a kiss. Harry ran his fingers down Draco's chest, pushing aside his robes and slipping his fingers beneath Draco's shirt. His mouth moved from Draco's lips down to his throat, sucking and licking as he went. And now Harry's fingers were pushing up his shirt, caressing his chest… And somehow he was on top of Draco now, his hips pressing into Draco's groin, and his mouth was on Draco's chest, licking and teasing at his nipple and oh god, Draco was in heaven… He moaned, arching into Harry's wonderful, wonderful mouth, wanting more, needing more.

For a moment it occurred to Draco that he probably didn't want any of his roommates finding them like this and that this was undoubtedly a very bad idea, but he really didn't care anymore. If they didn't like it, that was their problem. Just as long as Harry kept doing whatever it was he was doing with his mouth, nothing else really mattered…

Suddenly, Harry pulled back. Draco gave an annoyed whimper, pouting at him in the hopes that he'd go back to what he'd been doing.

"…I'm not sure this is a good idea, Draco…"

"Why not?" That had come out a little whinier than he'd intended, but he wasn't in a mood to really care.

"Well… what if someone comes in and… sees us?" he asked, blushing a little.

"Then they see us? Look, I know we haven't had sex ed. yet, but while I don't know about your Gryffindor friends, us Slytherins are pretty sharp. I think they've figured out the birds and the bees by now, okay?"

"I… still don't…"

Draco sighed. "Oh fine. Just promise you'll make it up for me big time over Christmas break."

Harry looked relieved. "Promise."

Draco rolled his eyes, sitting up. He loved Harry dearly and wouldn't change him for the world, but sometimes the whole "Gryffindor honor" thing really got on his nerves. Like now – no self-respecting Slytherin would have given two hoots whether anyone caught them or not. Well, not unless they wanted to get caught, but that was different.

Draco slipped his arms around Harry's waist, resting his head on his shoulder. He could feel Harry's hair against his cheek.

"Come on… I'd better at least start my homework or Hermione'll skin me when I get back," Harry said, pulling away from him.

Suppressing the twinge of possessiveness he felt hearing Harry mention Hermione's name, Draco got up. It suddenly occurred to him that perhaps the reason Harry had stopped wasn't because he was worried about getting caught, but because he was getting tired of Draco. Which was stupid and crazy and one look into Harry's adoring eyes should have put all his worries to rest, but he couldn't get the thought out of his head.

Draco found a quill and they set about finishing their homework. By dinnertime, neither of them was really hungry, so Draco suggested just skipping dinner and just getting something later. After a moment of hesitation, Harry agreed.

By the time they'd finished their homework, it was well past dinnertime.

"I'm hungry. Let's go get some dinner."

"Where?" Harry asked. "Dinner's over."

"In the kitchens."

"Huh?"

Draco rolled. "The kitchens. You know, where the house elves make our meals."

Harry blinked at him in surprise. "You know where the kitchens are?"

"Of course. I'm a Slytherin," Draco said as if this explained everything.

Harry just shrugged and followed him down the stairs to the common room. It was easier going down than coming up, and Harry wasn't more than a little flushed by the time they reached the bottom. Though dinner was over, but it was still early enough that no one had gone up to bed yet and the common room was packed. Once again, everyone turned to stare at them when they entered the common room, but this time no one said anything.

Once out of the common room, Draco led Harry down the corridor towards the stairs leading up to the Entrance Hall, stopping in front of a green tapestry depicting a wizard fighting with some type of dragon. Draco knew he should probably be able to recognize the dragon, but he honestly couldn't muster his father's enthusiasm about the beasts.

"Serpent's nails," he said to the wizard.

The wizard ignored him, absorbed in dodging a burst of bright red and yellow fire rippling across the cloth from the dragon's mouth.

"Serpent's nails," Draco snapped again.

"Give me min– oh…" The wizard looked suddenly nervous as he realized who was talking to him. "Uh, Mr. Malfoy… I, er, didn't see you… Very sorry, I'll just be–" He was cut as another burst of flame shot out from the dragon's mouth, washing over him and leaving him rather singed. He let out a long string of words that no painting hanging in a school should be allowed to know and pointed his want at the dragon, shouting "Stupefy!" The dragon stilled, falling in a heap to the bottom of the tapestry, it's tail dangling over the green and silver border, lost outside the confines of the tapestry. Looking rather pleased with himself, the wizard turned back to Draco. "What was it you wanted, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Serpent's nails," Draco said for the third time. The wizard's skin turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, thanks to the limited number of colors available in the cloth of the tapestry.

"Oh… right…"

The outline of a door appeared around the tapestry, swinging inwards to reveal a dark passageway. Draco pulled Harry through just as the dragon began to stir again, leaving the wizard and dragon to their eternal battle.

The door shut behind them with an audible thud, leaving them in pitch-blackness. If only this passage were just a little less well used, it might have been a perfect meeting place for them. Of course, there was the issue of the limited air supply, as Draco had discovered when he, Vincent, and Gregory had tried to skip class by hiding here in his first year. Gregory had passed out and Draco had had to convince Vincent to stop panicking long enough to drag Gregory out. Ever since then, both Gregory and Vincent had refused to use this passage, preferring to go up to the Entrance Hall and then back down the other stairs, which lead to the kitchens and – the Hufflepuff common room.

"Draco…?"

"What, scared of the dark, Potter?"

"No," Draco could tell from his voice that he was blushing. Harry did that a lot. "But it's sort of… dark."

Draco smirked, though he knew Harry couldn't see him. "That is what it's usually like when there's no light." But he took pity on Harry, lifting his wand and saying in an imperious tone, "Lumos!"

Light flared from the tip of his wand, illuminating the passage in a burst of blinding white light. The walls of the passage were bare stone, gray and rough though the floors had been worn smooth by millions of pairs of feet walking over them throughout the centuries. For all that none of the rest of the school seemed to know about the passage, it was rather heavily trafficked by Slytherins looking for snacks and Hufflepuffs looking for their Potions classrooms.

It was also surprisingly short passage – just long enough to pass under the main stairway in the Entrance Hall.

Draco pushed open the wooden panel at the end of the passage, muttering "Nox" as they entered the hallway leading to the kitchens. The painting swung closed behind them, the young mermaid in it casting a flirtatious glance at Draco. She had taken a liking pretty much the first time she saw him, helping him out on various occasions, and ever since she'd covered for him that time he'd cut class by not telling Snape, Draco had tried to be nice to her. And after he'd established that he truly didn't find her attractive and that it had nothing to do with her looks and everything to do with his own sexuality, Draco had become rather friendly with her. She was actually the first person he'd come out to. So Draco gave her his usual, equally flirtatious smile.

"Is that… Harry Potter?" she asked, nodding towards Harry. "Hmmm… He's fine…" She giggled, blushing a little, and then pouting. "But he never comes down here. We've all felt so unloved."

Harry blushed a little. "Er… I…"

"He'll be coming down here much more often from now on, lovely."

"You haven't been down here lately, either." She gave him a hurt look.

"I've been busy. Now we–"

"Busy? With him, I'll wager." She gave a fake sob. "How could you?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Later. Unless you want me starving to death?" The mermaid smiled sweetly at him, giggling softly. "Come on Harry." He found Harry's hand again, pulling him down the corridor.

"Who was that?"

"What? Oh, the mermaid." Draco shrugged. "A friend."

Harry frowned at him. "You call your friends 'lovely'?"

Draco glance at Harry, wondering if he'd heard a hint of jealously in his voice. "Harry? She's a painting. Please don't tell me you're jealous of a painting."

"Er…" Harry was blushing again. Draco decided that it was a very good thing he thought Harry looked hot when he was blushing and stuttering. And he really liked that Harry was jealous, even if it was just because of a painting.

Draco slipped his arm around Harry's waist, nuzzling his ear. "Trust me," he whispered. "I'm not interested in dating paintings."

"Mmm?"

"Especially when I have such a wonderful, real boy dating me."

Harry's reply was cut off when Draco pulled away from him, replaced with a startled "What?"

"Shush," Draco muttered, waving at him to be quiet. They had come to a painting of a gigantic silver bowl of fruit. Draco reached out, lightly tickling the green pear. The painting opened to reveal an enormous, high-ceilinged room – exactly the same size and shape as the Great Hall directly above it. There were four long tables positioned precisely below the House tables in the Great Hall. The usual chaos of brass pots and pans were heaped in a disorderly fashion around the stone walls and a cheery fire still burned in the great, brick fireplace at the other end of the room. At least a hundred little house elves in their Hogwarts uniforms – tea towels tied like togas – were standing around the kitchens, taking a quick break before beginning to prepare breakfast. They all looked up and, seeing Draco, fell into a respectful silence.

One of them hurried over to Draco, politely looking down at the floor as he asked, "What is master wanting?"

Draco glanced at Harry, who shrugged.

"Soup, then."

The house elf nodded and scurried off while Draco led Harry over to one of the tables – Slytherin, which happened to be closest to the door.

"So, where were we?" Draco asked after they'd sat down. "Ah yes, I was explaining to you that I don't date paintings."

"I know, but…"

Draco sighed patiently. "In case you hadn't noticed, Harry, not only is she a painting – which would make a relationship rather difficult – but she's also female. And just in case you haven't picked up on this yet, I don't like girls. Never have, never will."

"Not at all?"

Draco glanced at him, surprised. "Nope. Not one bit. I can stand them as friends – well, a few of them anyway. Actually, only Pansy… and maybe Tracey… oh, and then there's that second year, Sophie… she's all right. But no, I've never been attracted to girls. Why, have you?"

Harry's blush deepened. "…er…"

"The appropriate answer is 'not since the day I met you, Draco.'"

"Well… actually…"

"Harry!"

"I was going to say that I actually haven't really thought about much of anything but you since we met," said Harry quickly.

Draco grinned at him. "Nice save."

Harry smiled back, slipping his arm around Draco's waist and resting his head against his shoulder. "Well, you and Voldemort–"

"Harry," Draco said warningly.

"–and Ron, and Hermione–"

"I thought you said you hadn't thought about any girls!"

"Not like that – Hermione's my friend."

"Oh, so it's okay to stare at her arse if she's your friend, hmm?"

"I do not stare at her arse," Harry protested.

"Oh, so you stare at her tits?"

"No! I don't stare at her at all. She's just my friend, and an important part of my life as a friend."

"And you've never once been attracted to her?"

Harry shook his head. "Never."

"Are you sure?"

Instead of answering, Harry caught Draco's lips in a passionate kiss, his hands at Draco's waist. Draco moved his own hands to Harry's head, twining his fingers in the boy's messy, raven locks. "Positive," Harry gasped against Draco's mouth when Draco finally released him from the kiss.

"Good," Draco murmured, gazing intently into his sparkling green eyes, brushing his thumb over Harry's moist, slightly parted lips. Harry smiled, his eyes flickering briefly from Draco's to the table.

"…er… I think dinner's here."

Draco sighed, dropping his finger when he saw dinner was indeed on the table: two steaming bowls of soup, along with two mugs, and a loaf of fresh bread. The house elf was standing patiently on the other side of the table, waiting in case Harry or Draco wanted something else.

Draco lifted the mug, taking a sip. Butterbeer. He'd tried to get the house elves to give him firewhiskey during his first year, but they'd refused, despite his insistence that his parents didn't mind – his mother had never much cared what he drank and his father was never paying enough attention to notice. At this point, he'd pretty much given up on getting any firewhiskey at Hogwarts until he was at least 16, if then. But butterbeer was an acceptable substitute – much better than the pumpkin juice they'd tried to give him at first.

Draco then turned his attention to his soup. Chicken soup with squash, onions, mushrooms, and some green, leafy things floating around. Probably parsley or something. The chicken was cut into neat, square chunks that were only just barely small enough to be acceptable, and everything else looked fine. Until he noticed a bright orange chunk of what could only be carrot.

He glanced up at the house elf in irritation. "What's this carrot doing in my soup? I thought I already told you to take them out."

"We is very sorry, master. We'll bring master a new bowl right now," the house elf said in a very apologetic voice.

"No, don't bother. Just be more thorough in the future."

"Master is being very nice," the house elf said, looking very relieved.

Draco snorted, fishing the offending chunk of carrot out of the soup and carefully placing it on the plate beneath his bowl. He glanced over at Harry, who was trying hard not to snicker as he ate his soup. "What?"

"Nothing. I should have known you're an obsessively picky eater."

"I'm not picky. I just have a very delicate pallet," Draco informed him defensively.

Harry snorted rolling his eyes. "You're a picky eater."

Draco shook his head. "Well, what should I expect coming from someone raised by such horrid muggles. I suppose you've learned to eat just about anything."

The brief flash of emotion in Harry's eyes was the only indication that Draco had hit just a little close to home. But Harry quickly masked it, cutting himself a slice of bread. "Just about – I'm still working on Hagrid's cooking, though."

Draco laughed, but knew better than to continue the joke. Harry could make fun of Hagrid or any of his other friends, Draco couldn't. Just like Draco would happily make fun of Vincent and Gregory, but wouldn't tolerate Harry doing so.

So instead, Draco had some more of the soup and moved his other hand to Harry's. Harry squeezed his hand, smiling as Draco ran his fingers over Harry's palm. Suddenly, he glanced over at their joined hands, then up at Draco.

"You're left-handed?"

Draco laughed. "When I want to be. Of course, my mother made sure I learned to do pretty much everything with my right hand too."

"Oh."

Draco smiled and went back to his soup.

A/N: Sorry this took so long. There are two reasons for that:
1. I was having trouble with another of my stories and was focusing on that one instead of this one.
2. This chapter is about three times as long as most of the others, and therefore took longer to write.

Trekkie-54: Did I forget to respond to your review of chapter 13? If so, sorry. Nope, they don't know about Sirius yet, and I think his reaction to Draco (when they finally meet) should be... interesting :P Starn-n-moons91: Thanks, and here's your cookie ;D ...must go fix the typos... Kashiaga: Thanks
Orange: You get thanked whether or not you review, because not only do you edit the stories, but you also put up with me asking you to go look things up in the books 'cause I can't find my copy, and asking you stupid, random questions that have nothing to do with the fanfic, but without which I would be incapable of writing this. So thanks :D

And if I ever forget to respond to anyone's I'm very, very sorry and will rectify this as soon as I notice/it is brought to my attention.