A/N: And it's chapter seven. At the end of chapter six, Draco told Harry to meet him for some "unfinished business," and you were probably left wondering why Draco forgave Harry so easily. I hope this chapter helps to clear that up. Read away!

Disclaimer: Willow Rosenburg will continue to be in the story, so from now on, just assume that I've said Joss Whedon owns the character Willow at the beginning of each chapter, just like I told you to assume I told you everything else was J.K. Rowling's. There will be no more disclaimers until further notice (if I decide to add someone or something else).

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Chapter Seven

"I don't care what you want, I just want mine

Get up, force it to fit, confined inside"

"Believe," Breaking Benjamin

Draco sat in the armchair he had blown a hole in the night before, staring at the flames flickering in the fireplace. It didn't matter how close summer was; Draco was always cold. He'd been especially cold when he'd seen Potter with... her... at Hogsmeade. But Potter was going to be with him tonight. Not that he really cared. They would just do what they always did, then go their separate ways until next time. That was how the deal worked. So simple. Until Potter had fucked it up. Yes, Potter had messed everything up, and now nothing would be the same. But they were still seeing each other tonight. Potter wasn't going to be with that... that Gryffindor. And Draco could still insult Potter's house because, first of all, the deal didn't change their opinions about each other, and, second of all, Potter wasn't really a typical Gryffindor. Draco had found there was something different about Potter; he wasn't the saint everyone insisted he was. Potter could have very well been in Slytherin. But he wasn't entirely a Slytherin, either. It was all so confusing.

But Draco didn't want to be confused. He hated being confused. A Malfoy was never supposed to be confused. Ironically enough, the only person that really confused him was Potter. And Potter was the person Draco was meeting up with every night to have mind-blowing sex with. And that was confusing, damnit. No, Draco couldn't be confused about the situation. He couldn't worry about it yet. He wouldn't ponder the many questions that made up Potter until the end of the school year came and he was forced to. But what was there to consider? Absolutely nothing. And that was a lie. And Draco hated lies. But he hated confusion, too. So he had to pick his poison, and he chose lies; lies allowed you to believe you were in control. And a Malfoy was always in control. So many rules. They came to him like a mental reflex.

Of course, knowing the rules didn't mean he had to follow them. After all, his father had told him quite clearly that he'd be disowned if he was ever caught "in an intimate relationship with another boy." So he wouldn't get caught. Not that he really cared about being disowned by his father. He hated his father. And his grandparents had left him plenty in their will; he'd inherit the moment he graduated from Hogwarts. So why didn't he just tell his father he was gay? Because he was lying to himself, and he was going to continue to do so until the confusion went away, damnit.

Draco frowned, looking around him. It was too quiet. He looked up at the clock, seeing it was only half past nine. Damn. He still had a half an hour before he could fuck Potter. And he would fuck him. He'd fuck him like there was no tomorrow because he deserved it. And because if Potter was satisfied, he wouldn't go off and do something stupid again. And Draco would do this all for Potter because he wanted to forget about the confusion and the lies. Ultimately, it wasn't about what Potter wanted; it was all about Draco. Right. So Potter could just go to hell with his damned questions and morals, because Draco only cared about getting what was his.

Potter's morals. Did Potter even have any morals? Yes, unfortunately, he did. Too bad. Potter had the potential to be extremely evil. Sure, Potter was positively wicked sometimes, but eventually his morality kicked in and he had to pretend to be the Golden Boy again until he was tired of it. And the switching back and forth was beginning to take its toll on Draco. How many more times would Potter about face until he was permanently stuck one way or the other? It just added to the confusion Draco hated. It made Draco feel differently about the world, too, and he didn't like that at all. A Malfoy knew his place in the world at all times. Except Draco didn't. Where was his place? It couldn't be alongside his father; he'd kill himself. He'd put up with seventeen years of misery, and he wasn't about to deal with any more.

But if his place wasn't with his father, with his family, then where was it? If he wasn't with his father, then he wasn't with the Death Eaters, either; he hated everything his father was, which meant he'd never be able to truly accept the Dark Mark. But he didn't belong on the side of the Light, either; he hated the apparent good guys' ridiculously strong sense of morality. Which was why Potter's shifting of attitudes annoyed him so much. Why couldn't people just accept that there was no "black" or "white?" There was only dull, never-ending gray. Which was why he had to remain distanced from Potter. Potter would choose the Light because he had to, and everyone believed Draco would choose the Dark. But he wouldn't, because he didn't like to do what everyone assumed was "only natural." It made him seem stereotypical. And Draco hated stereotypes. Did Potter feel the same way? Did he find everyone's quiet but unbearably loud insisting that he join the Light completely bothersome? Potter wouldn't choose the Dark; it had ruined his life. But so had the Light, in a way. He'd never had the option to choose. Neither had Draco. Maybe they'd be two people stuck in the gray area forever.

But they wouldn't be stuck together, because Draco wouldn't ask Potter what he thought about everything, and judging from the way he ran out on him the day before, Potter would never question Draco's beliefs.

And all of Draco's thinking led to greater confusion. Damnit. Why couldn't he have presented the deal to someone else? Someone less... difficult? Because at the time, Draco had thought Potter was the least confusing person he could have chosen; they were enemies. It had been simple. Except now it wasn't, and Draco was beginning to find fighting with Potter tiresome. Not that he didn't enjoy the sparring.It made him feel closer to being alive than he'd ever felt before. Except for when he was having sex. Usually. Occasionally his bloody confusion and Potter's goddamned sense of returning and retreating morality got in the way.

Which was exactly why the deal ended when school was over. Right? Right. Because neither of them would have the time, nor would they want to have the time, to continue to see each other. And even if, for some insane reason, they did continue to meet up occasionally, it would eventually become very difficult and they'd end up even more miserable than they already were. Not that Potter would ever really admit he was miserable. Some day the wizarding world would force them to decide which way they wanted to go in life. How could you choose a side? Life wasn't a fork in the road. It was a dark tunnel that branched out into many different directions, and then those branches separated into more, and then they also separated, and so on until there was no turning back. You couldn't just decide to be on one particular side; you had to make your way there. Even if you woke up one morning and said, "I think I'll be on the Dark side," or something like that, you'd still have to catch up with yourself...

Draco shook his head to clear it. All of thedifferentbrancheswere making him dizzy. When everything came down to it, Potter and Draco would go their separate ways when they left Hogwarts because what they had wouldn't be able to survive. So Draco would give Harry what he wanted without giving away any of himself, and Draco would take what he wanted. What he needed. He wouldn't care, wouldn't allow himself to care, if Potter had a sudden outburst of morality. He'd just move on. Find someone else.

Looking up at the clock again, Draco saw it was time for him to meet Potter. And, rising to his feet, Draco forced himself to believe that everything he had just told himself in the past half hour was true.

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A/N: Okay, okay. I know this chapter was very short. I know this chapter had no sex. But, hey, there will definitely be sex next chapter. And that's sex between Draco and Harry, by the way. I'm not sure about the length, though. It will most likely be longer than this one. I only like to give enough to get my point across. I didn't think this one was quite as choppy as chapter three, but I know lots of you are probably still angry. Don't worry, I will update very soon so you're not stuck with a short chapter.