Harry met him in class fifteen minutes later. He wore an expression that hid his happiness; Draco noticed it. The boy took a seat beside him. The Slytherin had chosen one near the back, much unlike the spot he normally took at the very front.

"What did Dumbledore say?" Draco asked.

"He said that he thinks what we're doing is best for now, and he'll see what he can do to help. He also switched your schedule to match mine, and requested another bed for our dorm."

"That's quite a bit," Draco commented lightly, "Was it even hard to persuade him?"

Harry gave a small smile. "I explained what was going on and it convinced him right away. He seems to understand everything that goes on."

A voice sounded from the door suddenly, and Draco and Harry both glanced over to see Ron coming in with Hermione. He was giving them a dirty look. "Oh, it looks as though our spots are taken. Let's go somewhere else."

"Shove off, Weasley. He didn't mean anything by this morning," Draco shot back at him.

"Don't talk to me, Malfoy," Ron threatened. He shouldered his bag and began walking to the front of the classroom. "C'mon, 'Mione."

She followed, though turned quickly around when Ron's back turned. She mouthed her apologies to Harry as she motioned helplessly toward the redhead. Harry gave a small nod in return, looking rather miserable about how his friend was acting.

As Ron and Hermione took their seats at the front, the rest of the class began filing in. The Gryffindors didn't react too surprised at seeing Draco sitting beside Harry (though some looked at his distrustfully), but the Slytherins definitely reacted.

"What? You're on Potter's side?" Blaise exclaimed as he entered the room and spotted Draco. "So that's what this morning was about?" He stared disbelievingly at him.

Even Pansy and the others stopped, looking taken aback. Pansy was watching him with confusion written all over her face. "You are?"

"None of you tried helping me," Draco said dully.

"You've never accepted my help!" Pansy cried.

"Because I know that the only thing you all care about is keeping me on the dark side! Why don't you ask Blaise why I hate my father?" Draco narrowed his eyes at her. He eventually looked away, however, when the glares from his housemates were becoming too unnerving.

"I can't believe that you've turned against us," Theodore muttered on his way past. The group of Slytherins were following Blaise to his seat to ask him all about what had happened. Draco knew the boy was going to lie to them.

"Prissy little nancy boy," Millicent whispered in a taunting voice. She'd passed by with Pansy, who was gazing at him with a horribly betrayed expression.

Draco tried ignoring the jeering and insults as a few more were thrown his way, but it wasn't working. No matter how hard he glared and directed his angry frown onto he desk, he could feel his eyes beginning to burn.

"Ignore them," Harry whispered. He noticed Draco's hands clenching in his lap. "They're just trying to get a rise out of you."

Draco stayed silent until a minute or so later. "Blaise is just like me..." he said quietly, "They aren't even bringing anything up about him." Draco lifted a hand and wiped at one of his eyes, trying to do it so no one would notice.

"It's only because you're no on their side... they're just angry," Harry tried comforting him. "It's not your fault. They don't know what's happened to you."

Draco hid his head in his arms as they rested on the desk. "I didn't want this to bloody happen," he muttered miserably.

Harry lifted a hand to rest on Draco's back, but he instantly drew it back when he saw some Slytherins still watching them. He wished there was something he could do to help and calm the boy down, because he somehow thought that his words of comfort weren't enough.

"Don't worry. Things will be fixed soon, alright?" Harry tried again anyway. He heard the boy sniff and not show any sign of hearing him or not.

Snape entered the room a moment later, and it ceased the snide comments coming from the Slytherins so abruptly that it was like they'd never started. It also helped in getting Draco to look up from his arms, and instead to think of other things. Though Harry still noticed that the boy looked oddly distant during the lecture on potions.

Harry eventually began to lose his train of thought in class as well, and he started thinking back to the times Draco had looked for comfort in being close. Harry wished he had given those feelings, or at least the actions, back to the boy; he knew that it would've helped.

Classes were the same each day after that. The Slytherins insulted, teased, and threatened Draco to a point where he was beginning to call it a usual routine. The Gryffindors had gotten used to his presence in the dorm and common room; most of them steered clear of speaking to him, however. There was news that Dumbledore informed the Ministry to try harder in searching for the Death Eaters. There was an obvious difference in how close Blaise chose to get to Draco in the hallways. Everything was changing.

Although, he had to admit that life was moving fairly well for him . Despite the fact that his entire house hated him, and that everyone else felt sorry for him, he felt safer than anytime before. He wasn't worried about his father, even though he was sure that Blaise was keeping in touch with him. He was sure that his father knew all about his new alliance with Harry Potter.

And Harry... he was something else.

Draco still couldn't find himself to sleep at night. He had his own bed and the like, but it ceased to help when he woke up to the sounds of snoring again. And he knew he didn't want to cause an uproar like the last time Harry's dorm mates found him sleeping beside the boy. Ron and Harry had just made up, once Ron had decided that there was no way he'd be able to get Draco to leave.

And tonight was one of the nights where Draco found himself tossing and turning, not being able to fall back asleep. He bit his lip and glanced over at Harry's bed; the boy was sleeping quietly.

Silently, and knowing that he'd been doing a good job of keeping his hands to himself so far... he made his way over to the Gryffindor's bed. After standing there for a minute or so, he leaned over and shook Harry's shoulder. "Harry, get up." He whispered.

The boy groaned and turned the other way. This was something Draco wasn't having an easy time with; how could the school's hero be such a heavy sleeper?

"Harry!" Draco said more urgently.

This seemed to sink into the boy's brain, because Harry blinked his eyes slowly open to gaze up at Draco. He looked annoyed. "What?"

"I can't sleep."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Harry grumbled.

"I don't know. I was hoping you'd be able to tell me what to do." Draco stood up straight again, frowning down at Harry.

"What's keeping you up?" Harry asked, eyes half closing.

"Weasley."

"Oh."

There was a small moment of silence before Harry shifted around and repositioned himself on his bed. He let out a silent yawn as he pushed the covers off of himself, looking as though he was going to get up.

"Okay, fine," Harry said tiredly.

Draco gave the boy an odd look, confused. "Fine what?"

"You can sleep with me," he replied, sounding partially awake, "But only if you go to sleep quickly."

"Oh," Draco said softly. He lifted a hand to rub distractedly at the back of his neck. "I guess that'll help."

Draco stood there, suddenly feeling uneasy about having gotten up to get help from Harry. There was no doubt that he liked the boy's idea, but it had been a week or so since the last time he'd been this close to Harry. And the boy didn't mind?

"Hurry up!" Harry whispered hurriedly. He was staring impatiently up at the Slytherin.

Without thinking more on it, Draco climbed onto the bed, careful not to bump into the boy. He then slipped beneath the covers, resting his head on the furthest end of the pillow. "Thanks," Draco said quietly, not knowing what else to say. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything at all.

Harry merely turned onto his side, facing Draco, and closed his eyes again. It looked like he'd fallen straight back to sleep. The Slytherin layed there quite still, eyes still open. He could feel the boy's soft breathing near his neck, and the definite increase in warmth. It sent his head into that foggy state, where nearly everything felt different.

Three or four minutes went by, then all of a sudden he felt a pair of arms wrap around his lower waist. A head buried into the crook of his neck, and he felt the breathing against his bare skin. Draco breathing hitched, beginning to wonder if he was dreaming. However, judging by how his body was reacting, he supposed he wasn't.

"Harry? What are you doing?" He spoke shakily.

There was no response from the other boy, besides a small sleepy sound coming from low in his throat.

The boy had pulled himself flush against the Slytherin, and it caused Draco to tightly shut his eyes. "Okay... sleeping... I am going to sleep..." Draco whispered silently to himself. He knew he must've looked crazy talking to himself, but it was his only attempt to stay calm, and no one was awake anyway.

It seemed to be working, until Harry moved against him again, sending another shiver straight through Draco. His eyes opened hesitantly. He knew the boy was only doing this because... well, because he was sleeping and completely out of it. Harry didn't know that it was driving Draco up the wall, and the urge to touch the Gryffindor was overwhelming now.

His mind was agreeing with that urge, so it was soon telling him to do it. He couldn't help himself.

So, very slowly, he turned onto his side, as to not wake Harry up. One of his arms, which were caught between the embrace Harry had him in, pressed lightly against the boy's chest. He closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, as if watching would make things difficult. His hand began to move little by little down to Harry's waist.

He could feel his breathing quickening, and as his hand reached Harry's waistline, it tentatively inched beneath his shirt.

Harry let out a small humming sound against Draco's neck, causing the boy to pause in what he was doing and hold his breath. When he was sure that Harry wasn't waking, he continued to move his hand beneath his shirt, tracing his fingers gently over the boy's bare skin.

Draco moved so that his face was resting against the top of Harry's head. He took in the scent of his hair, not surprised that he found himself liking it. His hand began moving softly up and down the boy's chest, then moved around toward his back. Harry moved again; arching slightly upward.

A leg suddenly pushed forward, between both of Draco's, so that it was curled around him. Draco just about jerked away, his eyes opening quickly. But the other boy still didn't show any sign of waking. He was beginning to think that maybe the boy was dreaming. Draco swallowed heavily, aware of his rapidly growing arousal.

His hand began to pull out from beneath Harry's shirt, until he heard the boy mutter a few words, his voice sounding fairly desperate. "...don't stop... please..."

Draco froze. His head moved away from resting atop Harry's. He tried getting a glance of the boy's face, to see if he was okay... and he saw that the boy looked perfectly fine, though he wore a troubled expression.

Draco thought he'd try and help that, so instead of moving his hand out from beneath Harry's shirt, he moved it up again. He went higher, and hesitated before he brushed his fingers over the small, pink rises of skin. It leisurely turned into a small, circular movement, and caused Harry to shift restlessly against him and give a small groan of approval.

This only assisted in turning Draco on even more, and he knew that he was going to have to stop. If he didn't, he'd end up doing something he certainly didn't want to do without Harry's consent. Even if he was telling himself that this was consent enough... and that the boy wasn't pulling away or responding badly.

But still, all of this just didn't feel right. It felt as though he were taking advantage of Harry. So, very reluctantly, he pulled his hand out from beneath the boy's shirt again.

"... Draco?" He heard Harry whisper with a slight whine, "Keep going..."

That had startled Draco into stopping his movements again. Draco? He thought the boy had woken up. Though when he glanced at the boy's face, his eyes were still closed.

Draco made no other move, but then tried scooting as far away as he could with Harry's arms wrapped around him. He felt the boy resisting; he felt Harry trying to keep him close. It was making Draco start to panic.

At that moment, Harry shifted about and turned one more time, making Draco realize that something was pressing against his leg.

"Oh god..." Draco moaned. He shut his eyes. He could feel himself growing hot.

Harry began to mutter again. "Keep going... please..." Draco felt one of Harry's arms slip off of him, and he gradually opened his eyes to see what had happened. The Gryffindor let out a low moan a second later.

Draco glimpsed downward. "Oh hell," he whispered, trying to keep back a moan of his own.

Harry's hand had traveled down to where a most apparent erection was. With a start, Draco pushed himself away from the Gryffindor, judging badly with the distance and ending up on the floor. He let out a groan, but this time out of the pain that shot up his back.

"Bloody hell," Draco hissed softly. It was more for the fact that he'd made something like that happen, and that he still happened to have his own... business to take care of. He knew he should've gone along and resisted those bloody urges.

Just as he had fallen, a sharp breath was heard above him, followed by the sound of someone sitting straight up in their bed. "What happened?" They'd heard Draco fall on the floor; it was Harry. He sounded startled and breathless.

Draco stayed silent. When he saw that the boy wasn't laying back down, and that he'd fallen into a period of silence, he pulled himself off from the floor, trying hurriedly to cover up his lower half in the dark. It worked. And he saw Harry instantly do the same when he spotted Draco standing.

"Draco?" The boy asked, sounding anxious. "What're you doing?"

"I...er... I fell on the floor."

"Oh," Harry said shortly. "Okay... well, maybe you should try your bed again."

Draco nodded, and as the boy settled once more beneath his covers, Draco watched him until he found his eyes drifting downward again.

Before he went back to bed, he made his way carefully into the bathroom.