There was something that woke Harry up quite suddenly. He knew it was morning, but didn't feel like it at all. Something felt... different.

No one was up and about, rousing up the rest of them for breakfast. There were no tired complaints floating from Neville's bed. There was no late snoring come from Ron. It was silent, and it was the silence that made Harry stir from sleep and open his eyes.

At once, he spotted Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Dean staring at him from over by his bed. Seamus had on the look he always wore when he knew he was right; he was holding onto the bedpost as he gawked. Dean and Neville looked lost and not knowing what to think, and Ron... he looked shocked. His mouth was open and he appeared as though he wanted to say something but couldn't, for the sake of holding in the dinner from last night.

Harry blinked, staring back at them as if expecting them to tell him something was on his face. He started to stretch his arms over his head, "What's wro..." That's when he noticed.

They were standing by his empty bed. And he could feel the slow and steady fall of breathing against his side.

Harry tilted his head to the right to glance at whatever was beside him, dreading somewhat to see who it was. And he'd only moved his head a little bit before he was met with Draco's. His eyes were closed and he was sleeping peacefully. Draco's arm was draped across his middle; the boy's chest was pressed up against him as if he'd taking a liking to holding him while he slept. How had he not noticed this?

"Harry, what the hell is going on?" Ron finally asked. His face was turning an angry red again; his expression was hoping that this was all a misunderstanding or something of the sort.

Harry began to slowly move away from the other boy. The Slytherin remained sleeping beside him, even when a very cautious Harry was pushing his arm off his waist.

"I... um..." Harry started to mutter, sounding remarkably uneasy. The mere thought of knowing Draco might've been sleeping beside him the entire night made him swallow heavily. He closed his eyes. "I... don't know how he got here. He was in my bed... I swear."

"Looks like he wanted to try and see what sleeping with the famous Harry Potter was like," Seamus commented teasingly, seeming to come out of his state of shock to smirk at him.

Harry sent an anxious look Seamus' way, trying to let him know that it wasn't good to joke right now. He was continuing to move away at a pace that was making Ron even more agitated.

Before Harry or any of the others could think to stop him, Ron stamped over to the sleeping Malfoy and flung his arm the rest of the way off of Harry. "Wake up, you bloody pervert! You sick, demented, evil little gi..."

"Ron!" Harry said loudly, moving backward quickly. "It's okay. I'm sure he"

"No, he's trying to bloody take advantage or you or kill you in your sleep!" Ron said as he turned to Harry, sounding slightly hysterical.

By then, Draco had risen out of his slumber and was glancing tiredly around. "Hey, what's goi..."

"You!" Ron yelled. "You slimy git!"

Ron rushed forward before Draco could protest and jerked the surprised Slytherin up by an arm. He shoved him roughly onto the bed, causing the others to jump back, their attention definitely peaked.

As Harry struggled to stand before anything happened, Draco curled up and covered his head with his arms. It looked as though Ron was going to hit him, and since he was that startled out of sleeping, it left him with none of his calm or cool composure. "I didn't do anything!" Draco said loudly, his voice muffled because of his face being hidden.

Ron glared furiously down at him. "You violated Harry, you bastard. What do you think you're doing!"

"I didn't touch him, Weasley! I swear that I didn't do anything!" Draco exclaimed, sounding afraid. "I just couldn't sleep!"

"So you decided to go join Harry!" Ron demanded.

"Ron! Please!" Harry said loudly, pushing himself between Draco, who was still cowering on the bed, and Ron, who was still hovering over the boy.

"But..." Ron started heatedly.

"He really didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure!" Harry said assumingly. Draco hesitantly drew his arms away as Harry started talking.

"Harry, are you bloody kidding me?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

"You know that the only reason he's here is because he needs help, Ron! And you're not doing anything to help out!" Harry's eyes narrowed slightly, trying to get it across to his best friend that he wasn't going to take any more of this.

"Fine! I won't try and help you ever again! You know that Malfoy wouldn't just do that with no reason behind it!" Ron stood there with hands clenched tightly at his sides, his breathing shallow. When Harry didn't respond, but kept his narrowed gaze on him, he turned around and slammed his way out of the common room.

"I don't think that went well," Neville mumbled.

The three that had been standing as an audience started moving away to go change into their robes for classes. Harry stood there quietly, not knowing what to say or think about what just happened. He hadn't expected Ron to get that angry at him.

Though he hadn't expected Draco to be beside him when he woke up either.

He turned around to look at the boy. Draco was still sitting on the bed with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. He knew that he did something wrong. "I'm sorry," Draco muttered softly.

"Why couldn't you have stayed on my bed? You were fighting me for it and then you suddenly want the floor?"

"No, I just couldn't sleep and you wouldn't wake up..."

"Why does being with me help that?" Harry asked desperately, looking at Draco for an answer. He was distressed that he was losing a friend's support over this. The Slytherin stayed quiet. "Please, tell me! I don't get why it is that you like being so close to me! I don't get why you have to be touching me all the time!"

"I just..."

"Because we are boys, you know that, and I'm not like you! And you're not supposed to be like this with me because we've been enemies!" Harry began pacing about in front of Draco, forgetting the fact that the others were close by. "Were enemies, I mean! I don't know!"

"It just makes me feel better, alright!" Draco suddenly shouted. "I don't know why I like you! I'm just more comfortable around you! I feel safe!" He pushed himself off of the bed and stood staring intently at Harry. He felt unsure on what he'd just said, or why he'd said it. Harry appeared a bit startled.

Neville, Seamus, and Dean, who had all heard the outburst, finished changing quickly and rushed out of the room with a few quiet goodbyes. Harry turned his gaze to watch them as they left.

"We should get going too," Harry said, his voice barely audible.

Draco stared at him, looking hurt. Maybe he'd been expecting a response, or maybe it was just that, hence it was breaking him down to this. He shouldn't have been so cowardly when confronted by Weasley. He shouldn't have gone down to sleep beside Harry to begin with... this entire thing was a bad idea.

"Okay," he replied softly. He began to slowly walk around the Gryffindor, over to where the shirt from yesterday was lying on the floor. He pulled it over his head, and then waited until Harry was ready to go before he followed him out.

"Where did you go yesterday?" Blaise snapped. Draco had joined them at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for breakfast. He'd walked in a few minutes after Harry in order to keep what they were doing a secret for a while.

"I was in the library again," Draco said quietly. He tried not to grimace.

"I looked in the library."

"You didn't look hard enough."

Blaise glared at him while viciously buttering a piece of toast. Draco didn't notice, but he could tell that the boy was mad. He supposed the surprise he'd given him yesterday gave him a lot of time to think of how to respond to the situation. More hostility seemed to be his conclusion.

"I just wanted to let you know," Blaise said through gritted teeth, "That I wrote to your father and told him what happened."

Draco stayed quiet. His eyes remained locked on the bowls and plates of food as he served himself some eggs and sausage. A horrible sinking feeling started in his stomach.

"I don't think he was too mad about you being with me though. He said to do whatever I needed to keep you with us." Blaise continued as if it were an everyday topic. Draco looked across the table to see that Pansy was watching him distractedly. He frowned.

"And so... I really can't stop what I'm doing. Your father can't either. It's what you have to do, Draco. Just..."

"SHUT UP, ZABINI!" Draco shouted. He glared icily at the boy before standing up, which caused the bench to slide away from the table. He grabbed his plate and walked away, noting that the boy looked surprised once again. Though it was quickly replaced by a scowl when he started stabbing his food again.

Draco caught Harry's eye from across the hall. The entire table of Gryffindors had looked up when he'd screamed at Blaise, but none of them gave him the usual hateful look. They all knew what was going on, and Draco wondered how the hell it had gotten around so fast. He hoped it didn't spread any further.

"Hello, Pansy," he said in forced casualty. He took a seat across from her, ignoring the looks her friends gave him. "How are things with you?"

"They're alright," she answered uncertainly. "And for you?"

"Fine."

She bit her lip. "Really? You've been really... well, you've just been different lately."

"It's nothing. Let's not talk about it."

"Please, maybe if you do talk about it..."

"I don't want to," he said sharply.

Another glance sent her way made him notice that she was looking hurt and worried, just like the evening before. He was beginning to think that telling her might help him... but then the idea that her and Blaise had been working together before came flooding back.

Pansy stayed quiet for the rest of breakfast, sometimes taking quick glances between Draco and Blaise to see the cold glances being exchanged. She knew something was wrong, and she knew that Draco wasn't going to tell her anything.

After he was done eating his small meal, he made his way out of the Great Hall before everyone else. He'd ignored his house in the time left over, not even in the mood to get into a normal conversation about classes or Quidditch. He waited outside the large double doors instead, hoping that Harry would come out before the rest of them.

Yet he never did. Blaise came out instead, and he looked furious.

"Draco, you're not supposed to draw attention like that."

Draco merely glared at him, not wanting to talk.

"So..." Blaise began, "You were lying to me."

"About what?" Draco asked darkly.

"About your father doing that to you. It was just a cry for attention, wasn't it?"

"No." Draco gritted his teeth, willing himself not to do anything stupid. If the boy was foolish enough to not have believed him then, then he wasn't worth his time. Joking about rape wasn't something that he did, and it was obvious that Blaise didn't even care.

"Yes, you were."

"No, actually, I wasn't," Draco defended coolly.

Blaise took a sudden step forward, pushing against Draco's shoulders so his back hit the wall. Draco instinctively reached out to try shoving the boy away. It worked, but the boy came back and snatched his shirt before he was able to get back into the Great Hall. "You were, and if you don't stop ignoring me, I'll have to force you to listen!"

"Did you even listen to me before?" Draco hissed as he whipped back around to face the other boy. "I'm not going to follow anyone if you don't stop doing this. Being a bastard won't make me become one with you."

This seemed to anger Blaise more, and before Draco could pull away, he felt a hand take a fistful of his hair and pull his head roughly back. Draco let out a sharp breath of air before his hands quickly lifted to tug at Blaises' own.

"Let go," Draco said shakily.

"No," Blaise said shortly. He began pulling Draco the opposite way, to what looked like the hallway that led to the Slytherin dungeons.

"LET GO OF ME!" Draco yelled angrily. The way the boy was holding him hurt like hell, and it was slowly starting to sting, and he also wasn't able to turn his head as he was led down the hallway.

"I will when I'm bloody ready!" Blaise countered bitterly.

Then, rather than Draco trying one more time to get the boy to stop, someone else did it for him. Blaise was pushed violently aside, which caused him to let go of Draco's hair. He was then pushed onto the floor, and as Draco massaged his head tenderly, he noticed it was Harry that had been the one to stop the Slytherin.

"Potter?" Blaise said, startled. The fall hadn't bothered him nearly as much as seeing who his attacker was. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Don't touch Malfoy like again," Harry threatened. He had drawn out his wand and was pointing it at Blaises' chest. "If you do, I'll curse you. I promise you that."

Blaise glanced at Draco to perhaps find out what was going on, but Draco was looking just as surprised as him. And even though it was a relief to see that Harry was helping him when he said he would, Draco had been expecting to be dragged away where he couldn't stop Blaise anymore.

"What we do is none of your business!" Blaise growled.

"Well it is now," Harry replied warningly. "Now get the hell away from him and don't think of trying that again."

Slowly, but eventually, Blaise pulled himself up from the floor, all the while staring at Harry strangely. As he passed Draco, the same look was given to him, and Draco remained silent until the boy disappeared into the Great Hall.

Once he was gone, Harry put his wand away. "Don't go off alone unless I can see you," he said lightly. His eyes were on the floor.

"Thank you," Draco said faintly.

Harry finally glanced up at him, and Draco noticed then that the boy looked wary of something. He looked wary of... him.

"Listen, Potter, I'm sorry about his morning. I won't do it again."

Harry sighed, "Don't worry about it. Ron was the only problem."

Draco fell quiet then, his planned apologies vanishing. Harry gently cleared his throat. "I'm going to go talk to Dumbledore about what's going on. I'll meet you in Potions in a few minutes, and if you run into Blaise again, run or use your wand. Though I don't think he'll be bothering you."

Before Draco could say anything, Harry headed back into the Great Hall to speak to the Headmaster.