"What's he doing here?"

As soon as they'd stepped into the common room, Ron's voice sounded from where the couch was situated in front of the fireplace. He was standing up, staring at Malfoy with narrowed eyes; his attention had obviously been taken away from his homework.

Draco scowled. "None of your fuc..."

"He's in need of a bit of help at the moment!" Harry interrupted quickly. He shot Draco a warning look.

"Help? Why? No one cares!" Ron exclaimed. He seemed to have decided to ignore Draco completely then. He'd walked up to Harry, gesturing with his hands to express the things he couldn't quite say.

"I said I would help him," Harry said, shrugging.

"What? Have you gone mad!" Ron motioned toward Draco, "He's Malfoy. So what if he needs help? He always has!"

"Excuse me, Weas..." Draco objected angrily.

"Just trust me on this!" Harry responded loudly, blocking out Draco's comment before it was finished. He was trying his best to prevent an argument from breaking out. Both Draco and Ron were back to glaring eachother down. Harry only wished that everything could go smoothly for once, even if he knew his best friend wasn't likely to accept his newfound kindness.

"So he's staying here then?" Ron asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, until things are sorted out," Harry replied, eying his friend cautiously. "Can you do me a favor and keep this between us and no one else outside of this house?"

There was a long moment of silence, in which Harry thought Ron would explode, but the boy loosened his clenched fists and went back over to the couch. "Fine, but I don't see how keeping him here will do anything. He could go stay with bloody Snape or something." He fell back onto the cushions and roughly grabbed his quill to continue his essay.

As Harry turned back to Draco, he heard Ron mutter something quietly from where he was sitting. I knew he shouldn't have gotten interested in his problems in the first place..."

Harry ignored it. Instead he steered a very annoyed Draco up to his dorm.

"Well that was nice!" Draco exclaimed sarcastically, once they were in the dorm and the door was closed behind them.

"Like you were?" Harry questioned.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yes, but you were going to say something."

Draco glared. "I hate him, that's why. He acted like I've gone and contaminated Gryffindor by my very presence!"

"You haven't always been our friend, Malfoy. I'm not sure if you really are now."

"Oh, right. I've insulted all of you for 'oh-so-long' and its effect was deep, I'm sure."

Harry shook his head, making his way over to his trunk to drape his cloak over it. He sat down on the edge of his bed, rubbing at his forehead tiredly. "Ok, so have you decided on if you're going to meals or not? It's going to be dinner soon."

"No, I don't want to go. Not yet, at least." Draco seemed to calm down as he followed Harry over to the bed and sat down beside him. "Can you bring me back something?"

"I guess," Harry said.

"Thank you." Draco grinned. "And what about sleeping arrangements? Have you decided if you're going to sleep in your bed or not?"

"I don't know," Harry replied, "I don't think so, actually."

"You don't think what?"

"That I will sleep in my bed. I can sleep with Ron, since the floor is too hard and he has no intentions of doing anything to me." Harry's face turned red again, and he looked to the side to prevent Draco from noticing. When they seemed to fall silent for a minute or two, Harry spoke up again. "Well, I better be off to dinner now."

Harry began to stand up, but Draco lifted a hand and tugged him back down before he was halfway done. "No, wait..." The Slytherin said quietly; his arms quickly wrapped around Harry's waist. "I want you to stay with me tonight. I'll feel awkward."

Harry instantly tried pushing Draco's hands off, but he was holding onto him rather tightly. Draco's face was pressed against Harry's front; he could feel the boy's soft breathing.

"I'll feel more awkward being near you. And besides, Ron's bed is right next to mine. Nothing is going to happen to you," Harry tried to sound reassuring.

"I don't care. I don't see why you'd share with Weasley rather than me."

"There are plenty of reasons."

"Name them," Draco demanded. He lifted his head to look up at Harry, his eyes narrowed. Harry glanced back at him nervously, still idly tugging at Draco's fingers to get them to unhook from around him.

"Well... for one, you'll be in my bed. Two, he's my friend, and he'll understand why I can't sleep in my bed." As Harry spoke, he noticed Draco rest his head against him again, and that he was lifting his legs up onto the bed. "Hey, wha-" He quipped hurriedly.

"Continue!" Draco said sharply. Harry did, becoming increasingly aware that this wasn't a position he wanted to be caught in with Malfoy if someone decided to walk in.

"Three... people will think something is going on between us, because it isn't right to share beds."

"Yeah, but you'd share one with Weasley."

"That's different."

"Sure it is."

"OK, four... you're..." Harry's words drifted off as Draco continued what he had been doing. He scooted up so that his legs were beneath him. He began to crawl his way onto Harry's lap. "... this is exactly why!" Harry shouted, alarmed.

Harry's arms pushed against Draco's chest so abruptly that the boy fell backward and took him along as well. The boy's arms didn't seem to have let go from around his waist, and so as Draco fell flat on his back onto the floor, Harry fell right on top of him. Draco let out a groan.

"Bloody hell, Potter..." Draco had his eyes shut tightly as if his head had hit the floor. Yet still his arms stayed. Harry was trying to tug himself away from the Slytherin, but it wasn't working too well.

"Ok, can you let go of me now?" Harry said, exasperated. Being held up against Draco like he was wasn't serving him well at all. He could feel that warm feeling returning, and in a very different place than before. His face started heating up, and as Draco's low moans caused by his aching head continued, so did Harry's wanting to escape. "Please," Harry begged.

Draco finally let go and lifted one of his arms to rub at the back of his head. "You didn't have to push me," he complained. Harry was making his way frantically to stand, not bothering to assist Draco in getting up himself. He hadn't even heard the boy's complaint; he was too busy forcing himself to think of other things.

After a bit, Draco noticed Harry wasn't paying attention to him. He propped himself up on his elbows, staring over that boy, who was now pacing in front of his bed. "What's wrong with you?" Draco questioned in keen interest.

"Nothing," Harry snapped back quickly.

"Oh?" Draco replied, sounding doubtful. A smirk slowly began to spread across his face. "You know, it's not bad if you were liking..."

"I wasn't liking anything!" Harry countered back. He turned to glare at Draco. "You were climbing all over me. I can't help you if you keep on doing this, you know!"

Draco didn't seem to care very much about his behavior. "Please," he mimicked. "That was a little desperate, don't you think? You were the one that pushed me."

"Oh god," Harry muttered, putting a hand over his face. "Just shut up. I'm going to dinner, and I'll be back soon. If the others come back from Hogsmeade and come in here, just... well... I'll have Ron tell them if he's still going to be down in the common."

Harry left before Draco could get another word in.

Draco stared amusedly at the door for a few more minutes, picturing Harry's reaction to the situation repeatedly in his mind. He lifted himself up from the floor soon after, making himself comfortable on the Gryffindor's bed. He had to admit that he felt a little uneasy sitting alone in the dorm that belonged to four boys excluding Harry, and no one was here to watch him to see if he was still safe. He closed his eyes, turning to lay on his side to see if he could sleep it off.

Silence seemed to last for over twenty minutes, and then he heard loud talking coming from down in the common room. A few seconds later, he started to hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and the talking was growing increasingly louder.

Draco froze, hoping that nothing was going the happen. Weasley had to have told whomever this was that he was up here, and that Harry was only off at dinner and that he'd be back soon. He didn't want to get attacked by a group of unsuspecting Gryffindors. Probably disruptive ones, it sounded like.

He turned onto his other side just as the door opened, so that his back was facing them. Surprisingly, the door opened quietly. The voices stopped, and he didn't dare to move.

"Wow, he really is up here," one of them said in a whisper.

"Great, just what we need. Bloody Malfoy in our tower. I wonder what drove Harry to actually help this git. What'd he ever do to help us?"

"SHH! He could be awake, for all we know!"

Draco heard shuffling, and the sounds of trunks being opened and things being put inside. He shut his eyes when he heard one moving near him, so that he could pretend to be asleep if they happened to check.

"Oh, he's sleeping," one said. It was the same boy who had declared him a git. He had an Irish accent. Draco supposed it was that Finnegan boy.

"Let him. I'm sure Harry would flip out if we did something to disrupt him," another mumbled. When Draco heard Finnegan move away, he let one eye open just barely so that he was able to peek at them. He glimpsed at the others, who looked to be the Longbottom and Thomas boy. There was more shuffling and he shut his eyes again.

"What do you suppose we could do to him if we wanted?" Seamus asked.

"How about turning his hair another color?" Dean suggested.

"Nah, too boring."

"We should just beat him up," Neville said softly. He sounded very serious.

The other two laughed. "Yeah, but that wouldn't work when he got to waking up."

There was more shuffling and then suddenly the sound of a door opening and slamming shut sounded around the room. Draco jumped, but didn't make another move in hope that they didn't realize he was awake. They thankfully didn't.

"I am really irritated with Harry right now!" They newcomer shouted. Draco didn't have to guess twice to know that it was Weasley. The boy made his way to the bed beside Harry's to throw his rolled up piece of parchment and quill on the bed. "Bringing him here and expecting us to be okay with it!"

"Ron, calm yourself," Seamus said cautiously. "You could wake him."

"I could bloody tear him apart right now!"

"Who, Harry or Malfoy?"

"Malfoy! But Harry, telling me to keep this hushed up! Do you know he'll be sleeping in here tonight? I wonder if Dumbledore knows about this!"

"I don't think you should tell the headmaster if Harry's hasn't yet," Neville added helpfully.

"That's what Hermione said!" Ron said furiously. There was a light 'thump' sound of someone sitting down on their bed.

"Well, Hermione tends to be right about things," Seamus indicated.

"Not about this! She says to trust Harry about this decision. She didn't even seem mad about it. I don't understand."

"I don't think we're the people you should be talking to, mate," Dean chipped in.

They all stopped talking, though there was an angry sound coming from where Ron was sitting. Finally, after all the stirring and putting away of things had ended, they decided to go to dinner.

"Alright, let's go. We can give this reptile a rest while we go and get some food," Seamus said in an optimistic tone. There were consents and eventually Draco heard all of them leave the room. Once they did, he opened his eyes and turned to lay on his back. A heavy sigh was let loose.

He definitely hated the lot of them.