A/N- gah. Disclaimer still stands (unfortunately). I'm gonna make you burn a bit more- no Draco on Harry action (or vice versa) till next chapter! Believe you me, if I could do away with the plot and just have them make out for chapters on end, I would.Twould beterribly amusing…

Chapter Three- Confrontation

Harry

I wake up in an unfamiliar place. Dobby's head is looming over me. I let out an involuntary shriek.

"Dobby is sorry, sir! Dobby is only wondering what Harry Potter is doing in Dobby's bed, sir."

Dobby's bed? Why the hell did Malfoy put me in Dobby's bed?

"I don't know, Dobby. I was wondering that myself. Sorry, I'll just be going back to the common room"

"Dobby knows a shortcut, sir!"

I take the shortcut. I'll probably make use of it again in the future. I give the password, "Dumbledore Lives" to the Fat Lady.

Poor portrait. Still in denial.

I walk in to Ron and Hermione, managing to look worried about me despite their obvious… comfort… in each other. Ron shoots a glance at me.

"Malfoy," I say

"Bloody hell, Harry. That git is back?"

I nod. Hermione looks unsurprised.

"You couldn't really expect him to stay away, could you? I mean, he's safe here," she says. "By the way, Harry- while you were… hexed, I presume?"

I nod

"Ron and I managed to find a way through the spell on the goblet!" she says, smiling much like the proverbial Cheshire cat

"Well… She did most of the work…" Ron's giving her all that credit? This has got to be a first. Hermione beams at her, and I understand.

"Great! It's a Saturday, let's go!"

Hermione frowns. "Actually, Harry, there's a bit of a problem…"

I raise an eyebrow at her.

"We need a pureblood. One related in some way to Death Eaters- a child, a wife, or even a Death Eater himself- in order to break the spell. A drop of their blood."

"Well, Ron is a pureblood…" Ron looks at my remark, frowning

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly have any relations to any Death Eaters…"

I sit down.

"Then what?"

"Blimey! I've just had a brilliant notion!" Ron interjects. "Malfoy's back."

"So?" asks Hermione, not understanding yet.

"Well, this would be the perfect way for Harry to get back at him for hexing him…"

"I dunno, Ron," Hermione bites her lip, looking unsure. But I jump at the chance

"Oh, come one, 'mione! It's perfect!"

She nods, reluctantly, "Well, it's worth a try, I suppose. But if Malfoy isn't near the Trophy Room, we'll just go for the closest there. Ok?"

I've become rather vindictive since Dumbledore's death. It seems that has rubbed off on Hermione a bit.

We set off under the Invisibility Cloak (which has shown the tendency to grow to fit whatever goes under it) towards the Trophy Room, scouting for Malfoy along the way.

Malfoy

I wake up noonish, still quite tired from my relatively sleepless night. I am not very hungry, but I go to the Great Hall just the same.

I find myself wondering if Potter is still with the House Elves.

Once settled in for lunch, I glance around. Most people avoid my gaze. Several openly stare; I preen for them, noticing their nervous actions. Pansy comes in, sits down next to me.

"Draco," she simpers. "Whatever are you doing back? We thought…"

"Thought that after I failed to kill Dumbledore, I wouldn't dare show my face?"

She shakes her head

"Thought that Voldemort would have killed me?"

Pansy looks uncomfortable, but she shakes her head again.

"No- Draco- we didn't think really as to why you wouldn't be back. We just didn't expect you to… come back, in general. Much less in the middle of October…" she trails off

I understand.

I say nothing.

Finishing up my (rather small) lunch, I hitch my bag over my shoulder. Admittedly, there are no classes. But I don't plan on bothering too much with classes anymore. I'm only here because of the Minister, after all. No, the bag holds a number of… nasty surprises… for people who plan on attempting to take advantage of me.

I've become more of a target- and more wary for it- since Dumbledore's death.

I head towards the Library. I plan on researching for defense spells- Defense Against the Dark Arts was never my stronger suit, seeing as I usually concentrated on the Dark Arts themselves.

I hear a noise coming from the Trophy Room. I look inside, but noone's inside.

"Damn ghos…" I begin to say, when I see a foot.

Potter. Obviously. In his Invisibility Cloak.

I pretend to notice nothing, but I cast the Bat-Bogey Hex silently. Potter curses, and falls out from under the Cloak.

Interesting. It would seem that there are more underneath it. Weasley and Granger, I presume

I smirk, twaddle my eyebrows at them.

Approximately two seconds later, Potter's fist meets my chin.

Ouch.

A/N- ok, so it was longer! im not gonna make the chapters too long, though. the next one's gonna be really short. and then i'll start experimenting...

oh, and you'll have to wait till chapter five for the draco on harry action, and vise versa. sorry, those of you who adore slash as much as i do! (teeheehee...) but what better way to keep you reading?

of course, it IS possible to... convince me... to bring it on faster ;D. you know the procedure.