A/N: It's not that I've been "busy", but I just needed some inspiration for writing this story. I hadn't been getting reviews, and I was considering just completely abandoning this story and the whole "writing fanfiction" thing. But I asked my friend if I should do that, and she said "no!" So let's give a big round of applause to Goldfish682 for making me want to actually write this chapter/story! P

Thanks for your reviews, the few people who actually did!

Disclaimer: lalala I own nothing! J. K. Rowling is the amazing, creative person who came up with these beloved characters. Actually, the only thing I own are the computer and keyboard I'm writing this with, my brain, and a few random people I came up with that are completely insignificant.

A/N: I guess, enjoy. Totally sorry for the delay.

Though still enraged about being beaten up by Draco Malfoy, Harry's life went on.

On the bright side, after being assaulted by "Draco Malfoy" (everyone from the other houses had yet to find out the true culprit), Hermione, and therefore Ron, had been paying more and more attention to Harry.

This was all fine and dandy, but revenge on Draco was on his mind. Contrary to the rest of his House, who assumed that the "tall blonde Slytherin" who attacked Hermione was Draco, Harry knew very well that it wasn't. Because at the time that Hermione was harassed, so was he. And by the actual Malfoy.

So with suppressed rage for a certain people, life at Hogwarts went on.

By the time a week after Hermione's attack rolled by, things had started to quiet down. Harry's bruise had even lessened its appearance, as did Harry's scars. He had been so preoccupied, what with a test in Potions coming up, and with having friends again, he hadn't HAD a chance to be depressed and wallow in his misery.

Nevertheless, if he was in high spirits and busy now, he probably wouldn't be when the Christmas holidays came around. Hermione and Ron and nearly the entire Gryffindor House was going home to visit with their beloved family.

Ron had even offered to take Harry home with him (A/N: not like MJ, you weirdos!) but when he owled his mom about it, her reply said that Mr. Weasley was sick and it was to be just a family gathering, and her apologies.

And here's where came the depression: Harry didn't have a loving family to go home to. He felt left out once again, but he felt angry at himself when he thought like that, because he had his best friends again. And it wasn't as though they just said "hi" and "bye" every once in a while. Ron and Hermione were off their "honeymoon phase" so they were less inattentive to the rest of the world. They had engaging conversations, gossiped (as girly as that sounds, the guys did it too), and pulled pranks with Fred and George.

He felt like a dog; they only see the present, and when you leave them to go to a party or something, while you're gone they think you'll never come back. That's what he felt like.

Unfortunately, that's what had happened to him so many times. Sirius, his parents, and then while Hagrid was at Azkaban in his first year, he thought he'd never get him back.

A week prior to most of the school's Christmas (or Hannuka/Kwanza in some cases) departure, Professor McGonagall ordered all students who were staying over the holidays to write their names on a magical list. Hermione found the list quite interesting, because as soon as you wrote your name down on the list, a list in the kitchen and in Dumbledore's office magically had your name on it, too. She wondered if she could enchant some sort of charm that would make anything she said (if she was telling a story) be written on parchment so she wouldn't have to repeat her words.

As Hermione went to the library to see if she could check out a book that would help her with this charm, he and Ron went to the list of those who were staying. Harry signed his name, and Ron and him checked out who else was staying.

"Wow, Harry, you're almost the only person here!" Ron exclaimed. Usually a lot of people went home, but this time, it seemed like a rush to get home.

"Yeah, I know! Let's see, Tiffany Malsif is staying—she's that Ravenclaw third-year we hexed that time we tried to give Malfoy that random-truth curse," Harry said. "it's a shame, really. She didn't even have any good secrets!" Harry said jokingly.

"Awh, you poor, poor man! That insufferable git Malfoy is staying, too!" Ron cried.

"Splendid." Harry said irritably, with sarcasm evident in his voice.

"Yeah. Hey, you wanna go see if Fred n' George will give you some tips and ideas for pranking him? No way you can spend a few weeks without even trying, right mate?" Ron asked.

"You bet. Last time we went to Hogsmeade I saw them go into the joke shop, and when they came out, they didn't have any money left, so I think they'll have some really embarrassing ones I can try. Maybe I can video-tape them!"

"Maybe you can what?" Ron asked, bewildered.

"A muggle thing. Never mind." Replied Harry.

They searched the castle for the twins, eventually finding them in the kitchen, trying to persuade a house-elf to give them some food.

"But come on, we're hungry!" shouted George.

In a high-pitched voice, the house-elf said, "Lunch-time will be soon! Now please leave the kitchens!".

This attracted many house-elves, and being out-numbered, Fred and George sulked out. However, they perked up when they heard what Ron and Harry were up to.

That day in Transfiguration Class was the perfect opportunity for Harry to quench his thirst for revenge. They were making belts turn into garden snakes, when Ron heard Malfoy talking quietly to his friends. He nudged Harry and jerked his head toward the Slytherin group.

"…so when I heard Potty was staying, I knew I had to do something to embarrass him. It is Potter, after all! So I jinxed his bathroom to smell like diarrhea after he leaves it, even if all he did was wash his face or something."

"How did you get into their room to do it?" asked Blaise.

"I had one of those ditzy Gryffindor girls do it. A quick make-out session and they'll do anything!"

At this, the whole group started cracking up, muffling their hysterical laughter with their hands and trying to look innocent by stirring their cauldrons blankly, while still talking.

Harry, however, had had enough.

"Inflectos Jelly!" he whispered to his wand. This spell caused the victim to have the consistency of Jello after it's been out in the sun for a while.

A few seconds after Harry said these words, Malfoy was on the floor. Nothing looked wrong with him, other than that he was on the floor. McGonagall stalked over to Malfoy, shooting accusatory glares at suspicious-looking students.

McGonagall stuck out her hand for Malfoy to grab so she could pull him up off the floor. He didn't reach for it; simply looked at it.

She reached down to take his hand in her and haul him off the floor and scold him for disrupting her class, as everyone's eyes were fixed on the situation, rather than the belts that were slithering off desks and leaving the room, hissing.

However, when she grabbed his hand, it was all mushy. Then, his pointer finger slid smoothly off the rest of his hand. It seemed to be pulled, like when you pull a piece of Silly Putty too far it thins out then breaks. Only this was more fluid. McGonagall shrieked; as did all of the girls and even some of the guys. When she dropped his hand, the flexible finger glided down Malfoy's hand, and then molded itself onto his palm.

"WHO DID THIS!" McGonagall screamed, her eyes ablaze with fury.

A few of the Slytherins pointed their fingers at Harry, and soon, many other of his enemies joined in.

Professor McGonagall rounded on him. "WHAT SORT OF THING POSSESSED YOU TO DO THIS TO A CLASSMATE!"

Harry shifted his weight on his feet, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Well, uh, I—he…"

"He just did it randomly! He's a madman!" yelled Parvati.

"No I'm not! Malfoy jinxed my bathroom to smell like sh—(he stopped himself from saying it in front of the Professor) diarrhea whenever I leave it, even if I didn't do anything! THAT was spontaneous and mean! HE'S the madman!" shouted Harry.

Professor McGonagall turned her petrifying gaze on Malfoy, but before she could speak, one of Malfoy's friends chimed in: "How would you know that he did that, Potter? Eavesdropping?" he inquired.

"Absolutely not! It was stupid of Malfoy to be talking about me when I'm RIGHT BEHIND HIM!" Harry said heatedly.

"SILENCE. This is so silly and petty! Now Mr. Malfoy, did you jinx Mr. Potter's lavatory?" The Professor asked.

Malfoy looked around the room innocently, as if he couldn't speak, so he wouldn't have to answer.

"MR. Malfoy! I have experience with this particular curse, and know very well that you can speak! Now answer, or face the consequences of your stubborn actions."

"Alright, yeah, I can talk."

"Answer. Did you jinx Mr. Potter's bathroom?"

Now it was Malfoy's turn to be uncomfortable.

"Well….yea," but he quickly started, "but—"

"ENOUGH. I have heard ENOUGH. You, Mr. Malfoy, and" she turned to Harry, "you, Mr. Potter, will serve detention with me at 9:00 tonight."

"Nine o' clock? That's pretty early. Usually they start…at like, ten." Harry thought aloud.

"You will be starting 'so early' because by the time you finish it will be at least eleven. Twelve if I start you at ten o' clock. I've got work for you boys to do. Now Mr. Zabini, please escort Mr. Malfoy to the infirmary."

"Can I have a wheelbarrow? I can't exactly carry him…"

McGonagall looked at him wearily, then pointed to a cupboard in the back of the room.

Harry groaned inaudibly, thinking: Damn Malfoy. I have detention and I won't be able to use my freaking toilet!

At 9:00 that night, Harry was right outside Professor McGonagall's door. He was hoping that he got here before Malfoy, just because, but could stall no longer, and opened the door.

Woo hoo, I am here before him! Thought Harry. Professor McGonagall wanted Harry to wait for Malfoy to get here before they started their punishment, which turned out to be cleaning the toilets in the West Wing of the school. "Seems appropriate, after all, that's what this whole dispute was about!"

However, after then minutes of waiting for Malfoy to arrive, they were both becoming impatient.

"Could he still be at the infirmary?" Harry asked.

McGonagall shook her head. "No. That curse wears off within two hours anyway, and it only takes to minutes in the infirmary to cure."

She stood up to go look through the door to see if Malfoy was on his way. He wasn't. However, a young Slytherin girl, fourth year, was striding down the hallway.

Professor McGonagall stepped outside the door, talked the girl, then came back inside.

"Mr. Potter, this young girl, Miss Sible, will be taking you up to Mr. Malfoy's room, where you will make sure he gets himself down here this instant."

"Yes, ma'am." Harry replied. Cool—I'm gonna get to see the Slytherin Common Room. I wonder what's changed since I last saw it…what am I saying? I'll get to see Malfoy's room! How exciting. Harry thought to himself, then thought of how ridiculously lame that sounded.

"Well, get a move on, it's already 9:13!"

Miss Sible, who's first name was Maria, turned out to be one of the sluts of the school. She was obviously flirting with him, giggling at him; it was almost funny. Almost. Her top was almost not there, and her capris were extremely tight so her ass stuck out.

When they got to the entrance to the common room, Maria told him to wait around the corner: she wasn't stupid enough to let him hear the password.

Grudgingly, he turned the corner, but of course strained his ears to hear the password. Didn't hear it. She called him over again, and he entered the room.

The Slytherins had gotten new armchairs, all made of black leather. Their fireplace had mounds of green and silver incense next to it, and they had black, fake snakes popping from the ceiling spontaneously. Harry wondered what enchantment got them to do that. The Gryffindor Common Room was much more boring, and Harry felt almost embarrassed of his common room. He would definitely have to make it more lively. Of course, how vain is that?

While he struggled with himself, Maria and him walked up to the boys' dormitories. Maria gave a yelp of happiness when she saw her boyfriend, who Harry didn't know. Maria waved her hand vaguely around the room, and said "Find him." And proceeded to walk down to the Common Room hand-in-hand with her boyfriend.

"Malfoy! You're late for detention! We're cleaning toilets, so we have to get a move on it!"

He got no response, so he checked all around the room. He decided to check the bathrooms. (A/N: It's like I have to go to the bathroom! That's where, like, everything is! Weird….anyway:) What he found made him want to gag, and cry.

There, leaning over the sink, bleeding, bruised, gasping for air, and visibly fatigued, was Draco Malfoy.

"M-Malfoy?"