DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. 'Sides, you'd get more blood out of a turnip then you would money out of me! HA!

AUTHORS NOTE: I want to apologize for the mistakes made in some chapters. I have removed the parenthetical reminders and replaced the bloops with the names that should have gone there. They were just there as place holders and completely slipped my mind. Sorry. Should be a professional ditz!

SUMMARY: Harry feels like he's in hell, Draco's living through a nightmare. Can they help each other before it's too late to save either one?

FROM THE LAST CH. Then one day he seemed to have woken up and decided to be his old self again, the transformation was that quick. He laughed, played, ate enthusiastically, and even bloody well whistled in the shower. It was as if he'd become a different person all over again, or forgotten that there was a reason to be upset in the first place.

Tainting the Innocent

Chapter Nine

Harry and Ron had spent the last two days comforting Hermione; Death Eaters had attacked safe-houses where the families of muggle borns were being kept. She'd finally received a letter from her parents, however, and was enthusiastically writing back and forth. It had been a close thing, Hermione coming back to Hogwarts this year. Her parents had been horrified by their daughter being so far away when times were dangerous enough for them to be put in protective custody. Dumbledore had convinced them, though, that school was the safest place in the world for the muggle borns to be. Some muggle parents still refused, and now had magic tutors in hiding with them.

Effects of the war were still comparatively small. Death Eaters made a few random attacks meant more to spread fear than strategically spread their influence. This couldn't last forever, though, and everyone was tensely waiting for something big. Order members scurried around the globe trying to sniff out Dark activity, but it was mostly false alarms. Everyone knew that Voldemort was playing with the Order and struggled to figure out why.

After tearing Hermione away from the owlery, the three friends headed towards Hagrid's hut and Care of Magical Creatures. They had been studying giants, thanks to Gwamp, and were to review discerning heath by the quality of a toenail. The Hufflepuffs were scared witless being this close to something that could bite their heads off, but persevered because that's what Hufflepuffs do.

Class began with Gwamp petting Hermione on the head for a few moments. He'd become quite fond of her the year before and had tried to follow her around campus like a faithful dog at the beginning of the term. His great size prevented that quite a bit, however, and one day he'd begun tearing down the school during a temper tantrum. Dumbledore and Hagrid had their hands full that day trying to calm an enraged giant, even if he is a small one. Everyone, not just Slytherin, teased her mercilessly about her new "boyfriend". All of it, except from the Slytherins, was done in a good natured and playful manor. Hermione took it like a trooper and treated Gwamp like a pet. Funny thing was, he did the exact same with her.

"Alright, Gwamp, that'll be enough," Hagrid boomed up to his half brother. "She'll not be goin' anywhere for the next hour."

"My 'Mione, Hagger," the little giant whined, stamping a massive foot and almost crushing Dean Thomas.

"Yes, yes, yes. She's your 'Mione', but right now she's gotta learn somethin', so hands off!" It wasn't pretty, watching a fully-grown giant pout…not pretty at all.

Looking down at the dirty, smelly, calloused appendage, Harry decided he'd much prefer battling evil psychopaths to this any day.

Silently, Draco strode down the corridor, naturally melting into the shadows to keep from being discovered. His dorm room had felt suffocating and the walls had begun to close in on him. He swiftly fled the dungeons, aimlessly walking to ease the ache in his chest. He still hadn't heard from his mother and fear was almost boiling out of him. The horrible things that could have happened to her danced around his mind, keeping him awake at night and inattentive in class.

She'd had to convince the Ministry that neither of the two remaining Malfoys had ever served Voldemort; renouncing her husband and ridiculing that lunatic had become a way of life for the poor woman over the past summer. Both Lucius and Voldemort would view such self-preservation as a betrayal. Never having been a particularly powerful witch, Narcissa had been useless to the Dark Lord as a follower, but served him as the faithful wife of his most trusted Death Eater. Black bloodlines were among the most pure in the wizarding world, making her the perfect mate for an ambitious Lucius Malfoy.

Now his fragile, gentle mother was missing and most likely at the mercy of the Death Eaters and their crazed leader. The very idea chilled his blood and kept him up at night, pacing the deserted halls of Hogwarts. He was not so caught up in his fears that the sounds of someone approaching from behind him went undetected; years of training prevented such an amateur slip-up. Stilling his movement and slowing his breathing, he waited like a predator in the dark for whoever it was disturbing his solitude.

Harry's stomach rumbled again. The persistent hunger had given him a midnight wakeup call and he'd decided to drop by the kitchens. With the invisibility cloak draped over his body, he was hurrying down towards the first floor. Hogwarts at night creeped many people out, what with the moaning ghosts and eerie play of moonlight, but Harry felt more at ease now than when the halls bustled with students. Times like these, he could pretend he was just another hungry teenage wizard on the prowl for food and not the Harry Potter. Statues and shadows expected nothing from him, and that was a great comfort.

He was just coming up on a statue of a wizened old wizard when a hand shot out and fisted in the cloak. Harry gave an undignified squawk of distress and struggled against his assailant. It was frightening how silent this person was, their breathing just barely audible. His legs were kicked out from under him and he slammed belly down onto the floor. The person manhandling him straddled him and wrenched his arms behind his back before the cloak was pulled away from his face.

"What the…Potter?" Harry's eyes widened at the voice above him and dread curled in his belly. He reluctantly turned his head to glare up into they shocked gray eyes of Draco Malfoy.

"Well I'm not a house elf. Get off of me, Malfoy." He bucked upwards to dislodge the other boy, but that only earned him a cuff to the back of the head.

"Now why should I do that, Potter? Hmm? I've caught you wandering around after curfew. Hidden under an invisibility cloak at that, so your motives are no doubt criminal."

"That's bullshit and you know it, Malfoy! And what about you? You're out after curfew too." Draco snorted derisively as he painfully pulled Harry up by his arms.

"In case it's slipped your pathetic mind, Potter, I am a prefect. I'm making my obligatory rounds." This seemed to stump Harry for a moment as he searched for something else to keep himself out of trouble.

"Wait, prefect rounds stop at twelve and it's almost three in the morning. There's no way you'd be doing rounds now!" Harry's back was to Draco so he didn't see the other's eyes squint in consternation. Considering what else Gryffindor had to offer other than Granger, people often forgot that Harry was quite intelligent. Another excuse came to him in a flash and Draco settled his features into a furious glare.

"Whatever, fine!" Draco spun him around angrily and shoved him backwards. "I was looking for a house elf. I'm hungry and intended to procure some food."

Harry looked shocked for a moment. "Oh," he said. "Well, why didn't you just go to the kitchens?"

"Kitchens," Draco asked, a baffled look crossing his face.

"Yeah, they're on the first floor. Didn't you know that?" When the other boy shook his head, Harry realized they were actually being civil to each other. He decided to play along if it would keep him out of detention. "I was headed there myself. You want to come with? Here," Harry said, holding part of the invisibility cloak out to Draco. "We'll get there faster if we don't have to worry about someone seeing us." Draco's face adopted a suspicious expression, but he nodded his head anyways. Having taken this route, he couldn't very well skip out, now could he?

The two of them walked together in awkward silence for a few minutes, making sure that they were as far apart as possible while still being covered by the cloak. "So," Harry said. "How'd you know I was there? No one except Madeye Moody has before."

"Your stomach rumbled," Draco stated simply. Harry blushed at the fact that something so small had given him away.

"Oh," he replied, and the both of them remained quiet until they reached the base of the great stairs.

"Were exactly are these kitchens, Potter," Draco asked.

"Over here, behind the door by the stairs." They continued on to the painting of a fruit basket.

"Are you sure the password will work? How often is it changed?"

"No passwords," Harry said as he reached for the pear and gave it a tickle. The piece of fruit chuckled and the painting swung open.

"You've got to be kidding me. Who, in the name of Merlin, came up with tickling a pear?"

"My guess would be Dumbledore," Harry replied with a laugh, pulling off the cloak and climbing through the portal.

"You know, you're probably right." Draco followed and they were instantly swarmed by house elves. "Oh my gosh, I had no idea there were so many."

"Mr. Harry Potter, sir, what can we get you," a dignified female asked. A dozen others parroted the question before Harry got his voice to rise above the sound.

"Anything on hand would be nice. Malfoy?"

"Same goes, but may I ask for some tea as well?" Many squeaky voices chorused that that would be fine and the two boys were seated at a small wooden table with rough-hewn benches. Enough food was piled in front of them to last Crabbe and Goyle a week with gigantic mugs of steaming sweet tea. They ate until their clothes grew tight across their bellies, ignoring each other unless a desired item was out of reach. The house elves encouraged this gorging by replacing food as fast as it disappeared. There were many squeaky protests when they finally pushed away from the table and stumbled towards the portal.

"Have you had your fill, Mr. Harry Potter, Mr. Draco Malfoy? There is much more we could give you," the head elf said, hopping with excitement at the prospect of serving the two of them even more. The both of them went green with the thought of more food and shook their heads enthusiastically.

"No thank you, Gribbles. You've given us more than enough. Thanks anyways," Harry said right before lumbering out of the kitchens.

"Bloody hell," Draco groaned as he fell back against the wall, hands on his knees. "I don't think I've ever eaten that much in my entire life!"

"Know what you mean," Harry said, using the opposite wall for support. "I feel about ready to burst…or maybe puke."

Draco's head snapped up at that and a scowl fell into place once more. "Vomit on me, Potter, and I'll hex you into oblivion. My shoes alone probably cost more than your muggle family makes in a month."

"Didn't say I was going to puke, you prat; only that I felt like it. Big difference." He pushed off the wall and began walking away. "I'm going back to bed now, too stuffed to argue with you. Have a horrible Saturday, ferret."

"Don't forget your cloak, scarhead," Draco called out, throwing the wadded up material at Harry's stomach as he turned around. He smirked at the satisfying "Ompf," and started back towards the dungeons, ignoring the muttered threats on his life coming from the disgruntled Gryffindor.

The question of how Draco Malfoy had moved so silently during their scuffle and discerned his location with a rumbling stomach kept Harry awake for quite a while until sleep finally came. He dreamed of being stalked in the night by a slivery beam of moonlight.

2nd AUTHORS NOTE: Hey, would it still be slash if I turned one of the guys into a girl? Not for this one, but a humor fic I'm writing. Just wondering.