Chapter 8­- Cheerful Discussions Over Peaceful Meals

Upstairs, Draco was lying awake in his bed. He had too much on his mind to fall asleep. 'Father wants to kill me, Voldemort wants to kill me, the Death Eaters want to kill me, the other Slytherin Death Eater children will want to kill me once they find out what I did, if they don't already know. Dumbledore doesn't trust me, Potter doesn't trust me, the rest of the Order isn't going to trust me. I have absolutely no one left.' He turned over onto his back to gaze up at nothing.

'I'm going to have to spend the rest of my school years completely secluded from contact with anyone, and I'll have to watch my back when I'm in Hogwarts. I wouldn't put it past some of the Slytherins to kill me while I'm asleep.' He sighed. 'But maybe I can do something to prove my loyalty to the Order. I hate to think it, but they are the last people that have any chance of trusting me. The key,' he thought, 'is Potter. If I can get him to trust me, everyone else will too. If I can't, then I have no hope of ever being anything in this place except for a Death Eater prisoner. Someone who needs constant guards. I need Potter to get everyone else.'

He sighed. he thought,

If he had been honest with himself, he would have realized that he didn't care whether or not anyone else trusted him, as long as Harry did. All the other members' trust would be meaningless if he didn't have Harry's friendship. He had only acknowledged the fact that he wanted Harry as a friend once, the first day he was on the train. He had been in denial since then. Of course, he had made sure he stayed close to Harry. He had made sure that Harry wouldn't forget who he was in many years to come. But not in the way he would have preferred to have. He had been his enemy instead of his best friend, his confident.

No, instead, that position had been filled by the two he really hated, the Mudblood and the Weasel. Of course, this was the cause of his resentment towards Harry. He had been denied his friendship, and he was in denial about the whole thing, while Harry really did hate him. It made him feel petty and stupid at the same time.

'Here lies the problem. How am I going to get Harry to trust me? We have been hateful towards each other for too long for him to just decide that he trusts me, and tell the rest of them that he does.' Eventually, he decided to just think about the whole thing tomorrow, and get some sleep. After about 10 straight minutes of pre-sleep meditation where he concentrated solely on his breathing and the color black in his mind, he fell asleep. He would have usually fell asleep much sooner than that, but it was harder to clear his mind on this particular night. He was soon into the light sleep that his meditating always caused, and he did not dream.

Draco woke up the next morning, almost refreshed. He dressed, and walked downstairs, seeing if anyone else was awake yet. When he walked into the living room, he saw that it was still dark. He wondered if it was always dark in this house. He also saw that it was a large house, but it had a feeling of foreboding to it. He wondered why Dumbledore had chosen this place as Headquarters. There was nothing special about it. It was quite a contradiction to their side, them being the Light. He saw something small move near one of the armchairs. He went over to it, and saw ears poking out from the side of it. He went around the chair, and saw an ugly old house elf. He recognized it as the house-elf that his father had been getting secret information from the previous year. He was aware that the thing's name was Kreacher. He had always thought the thing rather mental. Right now, it looked like it was cleaning the chair. "Kreacher." The elf stopped what it was doing and slowly turned to look at Draco.

"The Malfoy boy. I hear things about him. Very naughty things. I hear he betrayed Mr. Malfoy and the Dark Lord. I wonder if it is true, what I hear." he mumbled to himself.

"What are you doing Kreacher?" Draco asked the elf, ignoring his mumblings.

I is cleaning. I must be off to clean elsewhere." he glared at Draco for a second before scurrying off somewhere else.

Draco looked around the large, dark room. It really was a dismal house to live it. It had obviously been cleaned recently, but it kept the lingering feeling of dinginess. He lit a lamp and sagged down onto a couch. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, before dropping them to his lap and sagging down. 'How the fuck did I get myself into this situation?' He groaned, deciding he needed to take a shower and get ready for the day. He walked back upstairs to his room. He didn't know where a bathroom was, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be that hard to find one.

He grabbed some clothes from his trunk and looked down the hallway. There were about 13 doors here. He bit his lip, trying to decide whether it was wise to open every door on every floor to find the bathroom.

He soon decided that would be quite impractical. He would have to ask someone, as much as he didn't want to. He walked down one floor and to Harry's room. Quietly opening the door, he walked softly across the floor and to Harry's bed. He pondered on how best to wake him up. It would be amusing to do something such as pounce on him and scare him, but he would probably scream and wake up Order members. It wasn't a good idea to have aurors barging into Harry's room in the early morning on guard and Draco be there. That idea was ruled out. So he settled for a more practical course. He gently shook Harry, attempting to rouse him. He was obviously a heavy sleeper, because he didn't wake up. He shook him a bit harder, then a bit harder, then got annoyed. He shoved Harry out of his bed onto the floor.

"Ouch. That hurt. What'd ya do that for?" he mumbled, clearly still half asleep.

"Get up!" Draco snarled.

Upon hearing Draco's voice, Harry bolted up straight, now very alert with all signs of drowsiness forgotten. "What are you doing in here?" Harry asked suspiciously.

Draco rolled his eyes. "I missed you." he said sarcastically. Harry glared at him. Draco, again, rolled his eyes. "I need to shower. Where's the bathroom in this place?"

"Through that door in the hall." Harry answered simply.

"Oh of course, that door in the hall. How silly of me, I should have looked in there!"

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes. "The closest one is on the third floor 4th door on the right."

"Thanks." Draco responded, mostly sincerely, although old habits die hard, and he could not keep some of the usual malice from bleeding into his words. He left Harry's room and up to the 3rd floor, into the bathroom. He turned on the shower, noticing the bathroom had a overall clean appearance, although still with the sense of darkness the whole house seemed to have. He undressed and stepped into the shower, letting the water run through his hair, and was relaxed within a few minutes.

Harry lay back down on his bed, drawing the blankets back up and turning on his side. He was irritated now, as he didn't really like having Draco wake him up, especially when he pushed him out of bed. I mean, it isn't every day your 'enemy' shoves you out of your bed to wake you up to ask where the shower was. He groaned and got out of bed, giving up all illusions of sleep. He groggily went over to his trunk, pulling out a t-shirt and jeans. He dressed quickly and went downstairs. He could the water running, meaning Draco was still in the shower. He went into the kitchen, smelling something cooking.

Mrs. Weasley was making breakfast (porridge and toast) and reading the Daily Prophet. She looked up as Harry came in. "Oh hello, Harry dear. I was just reading the news. It has an article in here about Lucius." She read the article.

Death Eater Spotted in Diagon Alley

Several wizards and witches witnessed alleged Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy storming through the local pub, The Leaky Cauldron. According to eyewitnesses, he was demanding information on the location of his son, Draco Malfoy. The Ministry is currently undergoing investigation about this matter, and regret that we couldn't have been there to apprehend Mr. Malfoy.

"Well, it's a short article, considering. To think, a Death Eater got into Diagon Alley! With all those wizards and witches around, I can't see how he did it. We'll all have to be very careful when we go. It's lucky that Draco wasn't there when Lucius went looking for him. Why on earth Lucius would think Draco would be stupid enough to go to a pub when a Death Eater is after his blood is beyond me," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Of course he thinks I'm stupid, or perhaps just naïve." Draco said, arriving at the doorway of the kitchen. "I wouldn't question my father's reasoning though, I doubt it's ever very logical."

He walked over to the table and sat down. The porridge finished cooking and Mrs. Weasley took it off the stove. She scooped some into three bowls, and set toast on three small plates. She set them in front of Draco, Harry and herself. When she sat down, they began to eat. It was a bit awkward, seeing as how Draco was there, and no one was quite sure what to make of him yet, and so didn't want to say anything of importance to him.

"So, Draco, how was your summer?" Mrs. Weasley asked politely.

"Oh quite good. Let's see. Well, first off, my mother was in prison the whole time, and my father was hiding from the Ministry. That was good. My father pretty much ignored me except to remind me that I was to be a Death Eater soon, and that I would need to be properly trained. You know, the usual parental nagging. Oh, and I almost forgot. I got to save my schoolyard rival from certain death by the hands of my father, as well as almost get killed when he came to find me. Yeah, I don't see how my summer could've been better." he answered sarcastically.

Mrs. Weasley looked quite taken aback.

"If you're going to act like that while you're here, you can leave Malfoy. We don't need any more extra scum around here," Harry said.

Draco sneered. "I would think you needed me very much. But you seem to think that saving your life is not a feat worthy of gratefulness. I expect you think it is expected of anyone that comes across you being tortured to help you. I wonder, do you have any idea how close I was to leaving you there?"

Harry seemed to pale a little. "I don't think its expected of anyone, and I certainly think saving my life is worth of my eternal gratefulness, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to let you treat anyone around here like scum!"

Draco saw the logic in this but did not want to agree with Harry. "You're not going to let me treat anyone how I want to? Oh, I really don't think you can stop me. I doubt you'll be wanting me to get free. If I cannot find protection here, I know other places to seek it. And with the information I have, I doubt if you want me going to them…"

Harry snorted. "And what information is that, exactly? That you betrayed the Dark side and helped me escape to a secret location which you do not know? Yeah, I'm sure Voldemort would be elated to hear that news. He'd make you Death Eater of the Year for bringing him that kind of information, he would," Harry said sarcastically.

Draco looked momentarily thrown off. 'He's right. I have no information to give the Dark Lord if I tried to return. They'd kill me if I left.' He refused to show any sign of weakness to Harry.

"Then why's Dumbledore so insistent that I have someone watching me, making sure I don't escape?" Draco sneered.

Harry looked almost pityingly at Draco. "He obviously thought of this didn't he? He was probably trying to keep you from running off so they wouldn't kill you. He wouldn't want one of his students killed, you know."

Draco could have laughed. "Like he cares about me. I doubt he would give a shit if any of the Slytherins were killed, especially not me."

This statement irked Harry very much. "OF COURSE HE DOES! He cares about every last student in Hogwarts, and would give his own life to protect any of them. Please do not suggest otherwise!"

Draco just stared blankly at him. "Of course, how silly of me. He would of course die for us Slytherins, and he would never jeopardize one of us to save a Gryffindor like yourself. Especially not just for you." he said sarcastically. "Well, as much as I'd like to continue arguing this point with you, I think it would be rather pointless to try and make someone as naïve like yourself see the truth in what Dumbledore says," Draco said, and stood up, leaving the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley, who had wisely stayed quiet during their argument, looked at Harry, who looked stricken. "Come now, Harry dear, you don't really think what Draco said is true. He cares for all of his students deeply."

Harry looked up at her. "I know. Thanks for the breakfast, Mrs. Weasley, it was delicious." He stood up and left the room, going back up to his own, where he laid down on the bed. 'He's right isn't he? Dumbledore of course would put my life before any other student at Hogwarts. And he would put any Gryffindor's life before a Slytherin's. I suppose Malfoy is more perceptive than I thought. But then, I would probably have noticed too, if I weren't the one Dumbledore was so determined to keep safe. I wonder if he would even put my happiness or health before another's life. Maybe just a Slytherins.'

He now thought perhaps he should tell Draco that he was right, but immediately wondered if he were going mad. 'Tell Malfoy he's right? That'd be a laugh.' But he did remember that he wasn't supposed to leave Draco by himself for very long, and decided he needed to find him, as much as he didn't want to. He got off of his bed and went up to where Draco's room was. He opened the door and looked in, but Draco wasn't there. This momentarily worried him.

'Where did he go then?' He went down to the front room and looked there, but he wasn't there either. He went back up the stairs, checking all the rooms along the way, but he couldn't find him. He was getting more worried by the second. 'Oh shite. Dumbledore told me to watch him. He'll get killed for sure, and although he's a prat, I don't want him dead! If he gets killed, it'll be my fault! Well, his too. It'd be his fault for leaving wouldn't it? Unless they came and got him. What if they found a way in here! But that's impossible. Dumbledore's the Secret Keeper, and he wouldn't have given anyone the address here.'

He stopped and looked back. He had just passed a door that was ajar. He recognized as the room that held the tapestry of the pureblood wizards. He looked in the door and saw Draco studying the tapestry. 'Of course. He would be in here.' He was really relieved that he wasn't gone though. He knew he needed to leave before Draco saw him there, but he had just realized something. He stood still in shock. 'When Malfoy isn't sneering or smirking, he looks almost…inhuman…like…an angel?' He blinked, remembering his dream of the night before. He shook his head, as though trying to clear it. 'No, it couldn't have been…'

Author's Notes: I'm really very sorry. I know it's been a REALLY long time since I last updated. To me anyways. I will try not to take as long on the next chapter, but I can't make any promises, I'm afraid to say. I know this was not exactly an example of my writing at its best, but it was the best I could think of. I'm kinda at a loss as to how to make this story progress smoothly now, yunno, I don't want it to move too fast, or too slow. Anyways, constructive criticism, criticism, reviews, suggestions, 'Keep Goings!', all of them are welcome, so leave them! That's all for now. Thank you to all of my reviewers of the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed this one.