Title: Walk Along a Spiral

Author: Princess-Meru

Chapter Title: Chapter 4 – Learning To Deal

Beta: Nimeneth

Disclaimer: The original story is by J.K. Rowling. All character, location, and spell rights belong to her and all publishers involved in getting Harry Potter around the world.

Author's Note: Hey, sorry for the lack of posting. I had to go to a funeral yesterday so I'm a little out of it. I'll continue posting though. no worries.

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Although Harry and Malfoy tried, dropping old rivalries was proving to be more difficult than Harry had imagined. The next morning Harry woke up to find Malfoy leaning over him, his hand in the shape of a fist. Later, when Harry tried to order the house elves to move into a separate wing (with a kitchen of course) and to stop working, they refused to do so without Malfoy's orders, and Harry had to hold a wand to Malfoy's head, causing the elves to riot.

"You were asking for it," the blond said, grinning from ear to ear.

Harry held an ice pack to his eye. "Shut up, Malfoy."

Malfoy laughed. "I can heal that for you."

"No magic," Harry mumbled as he moved it to his lip "You really need to get rid of them."

"Then who will cook and clean for me?" Malfoy said in a whining tone.

"I'll cook and clean, and we can hire a maid," Harry grimaced as the cold touched his neck.

"Let me help you." Malfoy leaned forward, and Harry inched back. "The muggle way." The blond leaned over, took a bandage, the ice pack, and the Neosporin. "When you say that you want to hire a maid, you mean a witch, right?"

"No, a muggle. That way we'll be a bit more careful about magic," Harry grumbled.

"Lift your arm," Malfoy waved a bandage "Don't give me that look, just lift it. I'll let you clean our wing and cook, under the supervision of a house elf on the first day. The house elves will live in the rest of the mansion, and will maintain it in our absence. Is that okay with you?" Harry nodded meekly. "Good boy, all done."

"Um…" Harry inspected the bandages.

"I didn't poison them. Be a good boy while I go to work. Tilly!" the little house elf appeared. "I want you to instruct Potty in the ways of cleaning. Give him a tour of the east wing and do what he says until I return. Make sure he cleans everything properly."

"Yes, master. Come along, Master Potty."

"Hold it," Harry turned around and faced Malfoy "What exactly do you do for a living?"

Malfoy winked, which made Harry sick. "Wouldn't you like to know?" There was a loud crack and Malfoy was gone.

Harry peaked around the corner of the stairs when he heard the crack of an apparition and giggled. He hadn't been this excited since he had won the house cup for the first time. "Harry." Tilly tugged on Harry's shirt. "Master Draco will not like this."

"Sh," Harry held a finger to his lips "He's here."

Harry discovered right away that Malfoy had snuck a healing spell into his bandages, so he was feeling very little remorse for the clean up job he had done. He was sure that the first thing that Malfoy would notice is that he wouldn't be able to apparate into the house. The second thing would probably be that the coat rack wouldn't be eager to take his coat. The raven-haired boy bit down on his lip in antici-

"POTTER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY HOUSE?"

Harry stepped out from behind the stairs and held out a hand. "Hello Mr. Malfoy, may I take your coat?"

"What… have… you… done…?"

"De-magiced the house." Harry pretended to file his nails "I meant what I said."

"And so did I!" Malfoy pinned him against the wall. "You had a real problem with following rules, but I thought you had sorted that out. This is my house, and you are my guest."

"No, I'm your roommate," Harry laughed nervously.

"No, you're a guest, because if you were permanently living with me, I wouldn't hesitate to hex you into next Tuesday," as he was saying this, his face was inching closer and closer to his rival's until all Harry could see was silver.

"Damnit Malfoy!" Harry pushed the blond off him "We're not getting anywhere by doing this. I kept the magic on the paintings, so you'll if the magic does wear off. Now stop being such a pain in the arse."

Malfoy jerked and recomposed himself. "First my house elves-"

"But I'm working in their place!" Harry interjected.

"Then my magic..."

"I'll put in electricity. You'd never know the difference."

Malfoy looked like he was about to yell again, but he just inhaled and walked away.

"Harry, I don't think Master Draco liked it."

"I don't think so either." Harry plopped down on the ground "What should I do?"

"Harry Potter is asking Tilly for advice?"

Harry gave Tilly a weak smile. "Yea. What do you do when Malfoy gets mad at you?"

"Usually Tilly will punish herself, and then Tilly will work very hard to receive more orders from Master." She gripped at the edge of her pillowcase nervously.

"How about something more sensible?" Harry sighed and walked towards the kitchen.

Although Harry wasn't happy with Malfoy, Harry himself was definitely at a fault. Although he hated to admit it, Malfoy was housing him out of what little good will the ex-death eater had. Harry never heard officially from the ministry about what had happened to the boy, only that he had disappeared halfway through the year, only to become Hogwarts' errand boy at graduation. Now Malfoy was being ordered to house his most hated rival, which he was sure Malfoy protested with all his might. The best way to prove that everything would work out was to finish the work.

"Hey Tilly, where is the kitchen?"

Harry carried out a serving platter, nose in the air, ignoring the fact that he was wearing a frilly smock and his face was covered in ingredients. He put down the platter on the shortened table and then sat down across from Malfoy. He could tell that Malfoy was trying extremely hard not to laugh at him.

The Boy Who Lived sighed. "You go ahead and start eating."

"It's not poisoned?" Malfoy sniffed at the tray, not lifting the lid.

Harry smirked. "I was tempted, but Tilly hounded me through the kitchen." He began tapping his feet. He just wished this were over.

"At least I know she follows instructions." Malfoy lifted the lid "This looks…."

"I wanted to say I'm sorry," Harry blurted out "It was wrong of me to assume that I could just renovate your house like that. It's your space and I let my anger get in the way of my responsibilities as your guest…"

"Room mate," Malfoy interrupted.

Emerald eyes met silver ones. "What?"

"Room mate." A small smile interrupted Malfoy's sarcastic face. "You and I are angry, temporary, blood lusting room mates." Harry emitted a dry laugh. "And until we find out what in bloody hell is wrong with our world, we're stuck with each other, so let's start over." He shoved out a hand "I'm Draco Malfoy, and once you've wiped your hands on the napkin, I can shake your hand and learn your name."

Harry laughed, rubbed the napkin around his hands until they appeared clean, and then thrust his hand into Malfoy's "I'm Harry Potter, and that food must look really good for you to be so happy."

"Yeah, you'd make a great house elf." Malfoy winked.

Harry laughed. "I'll settle for a maid."

"You're hired."

"Hey, Malfoy, do I get paid?"

"No, but we get to talk on a first name basis." The blond winked again, and Harry realized that this might be tolerable.