Yes, I know I said that I would update quickly, but that was when I was expecting a response from the reviewers. Thank you Fire Tempest:) I don't expect a page long essay or anything – just one word 'good' or 'fun' or anything like that will let me know that you like it. Anyway, it's the last day of the holidays and I woke up and said to myself 'why on earth have you not written any more of that story?' so I decided to stop being so lazy and actually write a chapter :). Sorry!

Chapter 8 – Explanations

Harry kept walking. He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep going for long but he had to get to somewhere no one else would see or hear what was going on.

"Harry!"

'Just keep walking,' he thought. He sped up. Not so much that people would notice, but enough that he would move quicker through the crowd and away from his stalker.

"Harry!"

He was nearly at a corridor. It wasn't used very often and further down the corridor was a room that no one had used for a long time. Of course, people wouldn't think it odd for him to go down the corridor and even if someone did, they knew better than to ask. He turned the corner and walked briskly down it to the room. Draco was still behind him. He opened the door.

"In." A simple command that Draco would not have been able to disobey, even if he had wanted to. "What do you want?"

"I… I'm not sure. I think I…" He was cut off.

"So if you don't know what you want, why are you wasting my time?" Harry demanded.

"I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry! I'm sorry about all the bad things that I said and did to you and I'm sorry about all the things that happened to you that weren't my fault at all. I'm sorry that I'm 'wasting your time' and all, but I can't help it! I just need to be around you and I need you or I'll…" A look of horror flashed over Draco's face. "Forget I said that. Forget I said any of it. I shouldn't have come here. I've got to go."

His voice was almost as rushed as he himself was in trying to get out of the room. Harry's seeker reflexes mixed with his training, however, caught Draco's arm before he could leave and threw him towards the back of the room. He then shut the door and locked it with a small wave of his hand and smirked at the other boy.

"You didn't really think that I was going to let you go that easily, did you?" He looked at the boy sobbing in the corner. "Pathetic. Just like your father."

"My father?" Draco looked up. Maybe there was something. "I remember something. I heard it back at the manor. He mentioned you to some other death eater but it wasn't like how I had expected. He was saying that he didn't like you but… it didn't make any sense. Oh shit! I haven't told him you're my mate yet!"

Harry simply raised an eyebrow but he was thinking very fast. So Draco hadn't known? He hadn't expected many death eaters to tell their children but Lucius Malfoy… oh well. What was all this about mentioning him? Saying he didn't like him? Who was that other death eater? Why hadn't he reported Lucius… unless they had been working on a plan together?

"Firstly, Draco, I'm not your mate yet and technically never will be unless we perform a bonding ceremony, which is incredibly unlikely. You have to tell me exactly what he told you to do. Was it to owl him when you found your potential or when you found your mate?You need to tell me exactly, as this is veryimportant Draco. Second, what was Lu… your father saying about me when you over heard him and this other death eater? I'll have to know his name, too. Thirdly… oh fuck! I have to go. You will tell me later about all this. Do you understand?" He waited for Draco's mute nod before rushing through the door, which immediately unlocked and opened for him.

He wasn't quite sure why he was in such a hurry to meet with Professor McGonnagol. He just knew that he had to create a good impression with his teachers. Ok, so there had been that little dispute with Dumbledore but the old man had deserved it. This meeting was important.

He woke up, groaned, looked around and then shouted at his alarm clock.

"Stupid bloody thing's broken! I'm awake already! I'm getting up, you stupid thing! I thought that you were meant to sense that or something."

"Yeah, you're awake and, through your shouting, I reckon half the castle is too. Yeesh! Someone definitely isn't a morn—"

"Why are you here Malfoy? How did you get into my room?" came a bored drawl from the bed that Draco thought sounded scarily like his own.

Harry's voice may have sounded bored but he was actually anything but. What was up with the portrait? Why had it let… his thoughts were interrupted, but since Draco was telling him the answer to what he was wondering, he supposed that he could forgive him… this once.

"Well when I came up here last week, you said the password to get in here and so I came in to find you. If you didn't want me here then you should have changed the…" he decided not to finish when he saw the scowl on Harry's face.

"Don't you dare tell me what I should or shouldn't do." Draco was shocked to see Harry's eyes start swirling and turning jet back, two pieces of coal instead of the usual emeralds. "So you came in here to… what? Watch me sleep? You're sick, Malfoy. Really sick."

Draco looked down, gathering the strength he needed to say what he was about to. Veela were meant to be strong. They were meant to be the dominant ones. They were meant to… it wasn't meant to happen like this. No. You're just getting yourself into a state. You have to be calm. Calm and relaxed. You'll be fine. Harry was watching him, gradually getting more and more amused.

"I won't let you—," he began. He shook his head and gulped down some air.

"You won't let me what? Sleep?" Harry offered, laughing.

Draco glared at him and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Awww, don't be like that. You're no fun that way." Harry had risen out of bed and was running his finger along Draco's bottom lip. He smirked when he saw the veela's eyes darken with lust but was shocked when those eyes snapped shut and the face jerked away from him.

"I won't let you. I won't let you do this me. I deserve more than this. I've been nothing but nice to you this year. I've never… I've never really hurt you. Besides, you told me to find you later but I was busy yesterday with homework so I came here today. I deserve more. I'm a Malfoy. I'm better than this. I won't let you. It shouldn't be like this. I won't. I won't let you. Won't let you. You can't." Something in the back of Draco's mind was telling him that Malfoys shouldn't mubble but he was beyond the point of caring. the last several sentences sounds like he's babbling or trying to convince himself of something or speaking to himself in an undertone. You may want to put some mindset characterisation, like that he was mumbling this to himself or something of that sort. This better?

"Oh but Draco?" Harry said, feigning innocence and dejection. "What won't you let me do? I thought that this was what you wanted. Wasn't it? Me? Us? Together?"

"I… but I thought… I mean I… of course I do, but that's not what I meant. I don't understand you, Harry. I know that you've been through a lot, but I have no idea what it is. I know that you've been hurt, badly… but that's no excuse for the way you've treated me. I know that you've known about this for less than a week, and that more than four of those days were spent unconscious, but I do have feelings you know. Deep feelings." He shook his head and wished away the tears. He wouldn't cry. Not in front of Harry. Not now.

"You confuse me. Half the time I think that maybe you do like me but then afterwards you squash that little bit of hope that I have as if it were a fly. I want to think that you just need time to work things out in your head but every time I see you it makes me think that it's less and less possible. I used to think that being part veela was great. I thought it was amazing: I would be able to get anyone I wanted. I was a fool. There's only one person I want. One thing in the whole wide world that I would wish for and you know what? I can't have it. I can't have you." He was so close to tears and yet would not let them fall. He could not show weakness. He had to stay strong.

Harry watched as Draco left and felt. He wasn't sure what he felt, nor why he felt but he felt. Trying to rid himself of this feeling, he carried on getting ready for his classes.

"Granger!"

Hermione spun around to see to most unlikely person running towards her.

"Malfoy?" she asked with a mix of shock and confusion. "What are youdoing…?" So strange that she had never had a good look at his eyes before. So swirly and sweet, so… "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened to me!"

"No, I'm sorry. I forgot to… don't worry. Um… so I've noticed that you're being nice to Ha… Potter." He cursed himself for his little slip. "You sat next to him in defence class last Tuesday."

"Yes… what's it to you, Malfoy?" This was very odd. Why should Malfoy care about that, of all people? Didn't he hate Harry? Unless… her eyes widened. "You like him don't you?" she asked with disbelief. "You like him. You like him. That is just too weird, even for you Malfoy. Does he know? Oh god, this is freaky. Really, really freaky. Oh god! I'm going to miss NEWT Arithmancy! You're going to miss NEWT Arithmancy! We have to go. We have NEWT Arithmancy! We're going to miss it! Oh no!"

Her voice grew squeekier and squeekier and more and more panicked as she continued through her rant. To be honest, Draco thought that she was going to explode, or at least make him deaf, which wouldn't be good, as he wanted to be able to hear… nope. Stop. Don't think about that. Think about this crazy rant this crazy girl is on.

'Woah,' thought Draco. 'That girl is seriously weird. As in weirder than I thought. Calm down girl!' The last part he said out loud.

"But we're going…" Hermione's voice was still very squeeky.

"Yes, we might miss the very beginning of NEWT Arithmancy and we will definitely miss the very beginning of it unless you SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!! Sorry for shouting." Draco sniffed airily.

"And you think I'm weird." With that, she turned and sped down to her class, (A.N. 3 guesses what it is) leaving Draco wondering how much of his thoughts he had said.

NEWT Transfiguration passed by uneventfully for Harry. Well, as uneventfully as a NEWT Transfiguration class could go for him with Ronald Weasley in the class, anyway. Such a shame that Seamus wasn't here too. That would have been so much fun. As it was, he only had to wait until 9:50 tomorrow before NEWT DADA.

Harry had been waiting for a time to start paying Ron back for what he had done to Hermione and now seemed like the perfect opportunity. Once again, he was sitting at the back of the classroom. Neither Hermione nor Malfoy were in this class (A.N. No, they were in NEWT Arithmancy. We know!!!!!) so he didn't have any allies but McGonnagol had seemed agreeable when he had seen her the day before.

By the end of class, Weasley had received a week's worth of detentions and had lost 60 points for Griffindor. He was sure that the rest of the house would not have been happy about the point loss, although Weasley would probably blame it on him, something which was confirmed when he heard Weasley say 'Bloody git! The bastard lost us 60 bloody points!' as they walked out of the classroom. Harry could still hear the cries of anger as the red head walked up the next corridor, this time complaining about the long walk to NEWT Divination and how useless it really was.

Potions again. Oh joy. He really needed to talk to Snape. Unfortunately, none of his potions lessons were right before Break, Lunch or Dinner. They were actually all either first or second lesson. Luckily, it was History of Magic next so he could talk to Snape after Potions and then skip History.

When the lesson ended, Harry took longer than usual to pack up his things and after shooing Draco away and making sure that he was the last one left, he made his way to the front of the classroom.

"Potter! What…" Snape stopped himself and asked politely, "Yes, Mr. Potter?"

Harry smirked and leaned back casually on one of the front desks. "You must really hate me now. Don't you." It wasn't a question.

"Why? Why do you say that?" Snape was genuinely confused.

"Well, you hated my father and then he went and saved your life which made you indebted to him so you hated him even more. Then he died, and you didn't get to pay back the debt and so it carried on to me, as did your hatred. After that, I saved your life, which means that you are doubly indebted, so I'm guessing that you really hate me." Snape watched as Harry's arms flew all over the place as he explained his theory before blinking at him.

"Firstly, Mr. Potter, when have you ever saved my life? Secondly, I saved your life many times in your first year here; and thirdly I have a class standing outside waiting for me."

"Very well, Snape, but don't expect this to be over. I'll see you at lunch. Understood?" Harry growled threateningly before turning on his heel and walking out of the door.

History of Magic was a useful rest. Weasley wasn't in there, so he didn't have too much to worry about but he cast a shielding charm just in case that would bounce any spells back at the caster and would wake him up if any such event should occur. Luckily, it didn't and he was able to get a good 80-minute's sleep.

Draco had been thinking. All the way through History he had actually been thinking. It was a miracle that his brain had continued to function. Mind you, the frequent breaks for Harry-staring couldn't have had anything to do with that, could they? Of course not! Anyway, he had decided that he would follow Harry throughout lunch and would not allow the raven-haired boy out of his sight once to make sure that they would be able to get some time alone together.

It wasn't that great an idea… ok, it was an absolutely rubbish idea but at least it was an idea and so when the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson he started putting the plan into action.

He was quite surprised when Harry, instead of turning towards the great hall or his own set of rooms, set off in the direction of the dungeons. He followed at a small distance back, treading softly, hiding whenever he thought that Harry might possibly turn around and was pleased to see that Harry didn't seem to be able to tell that he was there.

They went down to the Potions room and Draco heard Harry's voice and… was that Snape? They disappeared into the lab and Draco ran to the door which, for some reason, had not been shut.

"Come in, Draco," came the oh-so-sexy voice of Harry.

Draco's eyes widened but he obediently stepped into the room that the other two men were in. Harry snickered at seeing this and simply explained that it had been incredibly obvious that he had been following him the entire way.

After a brief discussion about whether or not Draco should be allowed to hear the conversation they were about to have, ending up with Severus glaring at Harry in defeat, Harry put up the silencing wards and stepped into the centre of the room, telling Draco not to interrupt anything.

Harry told them about how Severus had been a spy for Dumbledore and had been found out by his grandfather (who ever that was) and locked in the dungeons in 'the place where his grandfather inhabited'. Harry had found out a few days later who he was actually the grandson of and started learning all of his spells. Draco's mind swam with all of this new information. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Surely Harry wasn't saying that… no! It couldn't be! It all made sense. This, Harry's questioning, Harry's fears, his reaction, what he had heard in the manor that time, Harry's reaction to that. It was like he had a checklist in his head and he was ticking them all off. He wanted to say something but remembered that he had been forbidden to earlier on. He then realised why. After sorting through all of these thoughts, which surprisingly enough had only taken a few seconds, he sat down and continued to listen to the rest of what Harry was saying.

He assumed that this was what Harry had come to talk to Severus about, as the Professor sat up and started to take notice at this point. He explained how he had been shocked when he found out about his teacher being a prisoner. It was the summer holidays and the Professor had been on leave from the order for a while and so no one had known.

After leaving his grandfather's presence to explore where he was, Harry had looked at the dungeons simply out of curiosity and had not expected anyone he knew to be there. Apparently, Harry had felt that Severus could have been of some use. He realised that life wasn't just black and white and that was very useful in a world where Harry's Grandfather was considered as evil. Harry ordered Severus' release under certain conditions such as him being given the Cðnfutes Potion so that he would not speak about his capture. At this point, Severus snorted and declared that he had known that there had to have been some reason for him knowing about it in class.

After this, they all left the room and went their separate ways, Draco's wonderful idea that he had come up with forgotten.

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tbc

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