Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all other characters and/or plots and/or settings related to Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and co.

Chapter 4

Draco woke up to a whimpering sound beside him. Sighing angrily, he turned, only to find a curled up Harry trembling. Draco stared at him, shocked and unsure of what to do. He noticed a few tears streaming down Harry's face and watched in amazement and curiosity as they poured out of the boy next to him.

'Who knew the amazing-fucking-wonder-boy cried in his sleep?' he thought, and although he contemplated on laughing at the situation, laughing at his rival, he knew it wouldn't be right.

Sighing once again and feeling resigned, he scooted over a bit and stretched a hand over to Harry. He hesitated before placing his hand on the other boy's shaking shoulder and felt Harry's body tense up under his touch before feeling it unmistakably relax. He lifted an eyebrow in surprise and slowly began to withdraw his hand when the boy suddenly reached out.

Draco stiffened as he felt the other boy's warmer body coming closer to him and looked in complete shock at the other boy that was now in the process of wrapping his arms around Draco. Draco looked down at the boy, who had his head pressed against Draco's chest now.

'What the fuck is going on?' thought Draco as he stayed still, the other boy's shallow breaths on his neck now. He looked at the other boy again before closing his eyes in defeat. Trying to pry the other boy off himself would probably result in more clinging, tighter clinging possibly, and even possibly a wake up yell that Draco did not want.

So with that decided Draco slowly closed his eyes and tried to relax as much as possible, slowly drifting off into sleep and not giving much thought anymore to the boy pressed against his neck.

"What the fuck…?"

"…."

"What the fuck…."

"…."

"What the fuck…!"

Draco finally opened his eyes, only to be tugged unmercifully forwards. He stretched slightly before placing his silver eyes on Harry in angry confusion. "What?"

Harry looked at him incredulously, green eyes blazing and face framed in utter horror. "We were hugging! Did you do something to me while I was asleep? My arms… were around you…. My face was pressed against your neck!"

Draco raised an eyebrow at the near-hysterical boy in front of him. "It wasn't my fault, Potter. You were bloody crying in your sleep, I patted your shoulder, drew away, and the next thing I knew you were clinging on to me. I wanted my sleep and knew you'd probably get this hysterical if I woke you up, so I decided to let it go and try and sleep as best as I could," Draco said in a drawl, tossing the situation aside like it was an everyday thing.

Harry glared at him, the story unbelieving to his ears. He was about to say something else when the door suddenly opened and in stepped Professor Larson, shirt off, hair framing his head, baggy pajama pants riding low on his hips and one hand rubbing his eye.

"Are you two… ok?" he asked, yawning in the process and vision still hazy as he slowly began to fully wake up.

Both Harry and Draco just stared, Harry in astonishment and then awe while Draco gave a cold glare to the man standing in the room.

"So… are you two ok?" Professor Larson asked once again, his eyes now cleared up and looking at Harry's blushing face and Draco's cold gaze.

"Everything's fine, professor. Potter here just grew scared when he woke up and realized the proximity between us. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to take a shower," Draco added before getting up, dragging a blushing Harry behind him as he looked through drawers for clean clothes.

Professor Larson stared at both of them, the comment explanation Draco had given bringing up images in his mind that shouldn't be there in the first place when Draco's last comment entered him.

"Err… are you really going to take a shower with Harry right next to you?" Professor Larson asked, causing both Harry and Draco to turn to him with bewilderment before turning to each other and straining the chain that held them together as far apart as possible.

"S-Sir, isn't there another option?" Harry asked, looking from the chain to Professor Larson and then over at Draco, who was mirroring his actions.

Professor Larson looked at them both, his eyes never leaving either boy as his mind tried to think through things.

"Well, you could not take a shower until we figure out a cure…," he said, at which Draco looked at him in utter horror and was about to comment on it when he interrupted, adding his second option, "or you can just take a shower. You both play Quidditch, so I'm pretty sure you two are well acquainted with the sight of another person…."

"… but we've never bathed with another person!" Harry practically yelled.

"You wouldn't be bathing with another person… you'd just be… uncomfortably close…" Professor Larson said.

"Isn't there like a cleaning spell we can use or something?" Draco asked. He had woken up with yells and now he was not going to be able to take his regular shower, which only meant one thing – a pissy Draco.

Professor Larson contemplated for a moment before shaking his head slightly.

"So there is one!" Draco uttered, his voice covered in hope that made even Harry turn to look at him and the sudden expression in his voice.

"It's not entirely effective though, and even though it does clean you, it doesn't take the layers of dead skin off you and what-not. It will make you smell better and will take all the grime and dirt and dust off of you, but not to the microscopic level," Professor Larson said, now leaning against the door frame to the room. He gave a small smile to Harry who's eyes had been intently traveling up and down Professor Larson's body before they were shifted down to the floor while an angry Draco paced back and forth within the range available to him.

"Potter, a shower it is. I don't really care for looking at your naked form nor do you care for mine, so it should be… fine, shouldn't it?" He said, more for his assurance than Harry's. He visibly gulped before turning back to his drawer and pulling all his clothing out. "We'll just have to… be careful. Make sure we keep our distance. Yeah, that's it. Make sure to be careful. Close our eyes if need be. I mean, there are things I'd rather not see. But…"

"There is a rather large tub if you feel more comfortable half hidden under water than in a shower, Draco," Professor Larson said, softening a bit at the near-madness the student in front of him was getting himself into.

"A tub… better. Yeah, better. Come on, Potter, I don't have all day," he said, suddenly regaining himself and his cold self and walking towards the bathroom door.

"I. Don't. Want. To. Take. A. Shower. With. You." Harry said slowly, though not with anger.

"Potter, I need my bath. And you need one too, though I wouldn't be surprised if you suddenly told me you didn't bathe ever day. Come on before it gets any later," Draco said, although he was much used to staying in late on Saturdays.

"No," Harry said and refused to move, arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, since you two seem settled then, I'll be in my own room. Yell if you need anything," Professor Larson said, waving himself off and walking towards his own room.

"Come on," Draco said once Professor Larson was out of sight. "There really isn't an excuse for you not to be able to shower," Draco said before Harry interrupted.

"There is a perfect bloody excuse for not showering, Malfoy," Harry said rather shocked by the ease Draco was now taking this with.

"It's in a bath, for fucks sake, Potter. You will be half hidden. I will be half hidden. Wash yourself with the hand that's free. You've seen more in the bloody boy's locker room," Draco said, trying to reason with the boy and only thinking about his shower.

"No," Harry said.

"Potter, I will jinx you and curse you so that you're the one bathing me if you don't agree to get into that tub right now," Draco said, smirking lightly at the look of defeat on the boy's face.

"Fine," Harry said, going to his own drawers with a rather gleeful Draco behind him and taking out clothes.

"I was rather hoping you'd say no," Draco said, a mischievous smile on his face as Harry turned around with wide eyes. "I really was hoping for a back rub… and who knows what other talents those… hands could be used for…" Draco said, before laughing outright at the shocked and horrified expression on Harry's face. "Oh come on Potter, as if I'd let you touch me in the first place."

"That's not funny, Malfoy," Harry said, his eyes now narrowed and staring at Draco with what Draco could only interpret as an infinite well of hate. "No funny business in the bath."

"As if I'd try anything," Draco muttered before starting to walk into the bath when he was suddenly stopped when the boy behind him didn't continue walking.

"What?" asked Draco impatiently, dreaming already of the clear blue water all around him and cleaning away everything. He preferred showers to baths, only because the muck didn't stay in the water, but that didn't matter at the moment.

"We're going to be shirtless," Harry stated, "and how the fuck are we supposed to take off our clothing?"

Draco looked at him before his face turned into a mocking smile. "Apparently you haven't tried much," Draco said. He muttered a quick spell and stood before Harry, shirtless, shirt poofed into who-knows-where.

Harry stared at the boy when Draco muttered another spell and the shirt was back on him. "Quick basic spells that come in handy at… certain times," Draco muttered before continuing on towards the bathroom with Potter in tow behind him.

Two quick clothing-disappearing spells later and a few minutes of faucets running and bubbles (much to the delight of both) running, Harry and Draco found themselves in the shower, eyes averted from each other, and scrubbing themselves as quickly as they could with only one hand.

Once done, with eyes averted again, they both grabbed towels, dried themselves off with a spell and were fully clothed in the blink of an eye. It hadn't gone that bad, they both decided.

"Damn," Harry said for the fourth time in that minute and would have smacked his head again with a book except Professor Larson had taken it out of his hands.

"What?" Professor Larson asked, eyes curiously on the boy in front of him. Draco continued to flip through the pages, eyes remaining uncaring.

"Quidditch," Harry muttered and felt the boy beside him tense up as well and slam the book shut.

"Fucking hell," Draco said. Sure, he wasn't the best player, but he liked Quidditch and being on the team but unable to play was… well… bad.

"Bloody fucking hell," Harry said, his eyes screwed shut and eyebrows furrowed.

"Damned bloody fucking hell."

Harry glanced over to Draco who was sitting on the same couch as he was and sighed. Professor Larson, meanwhile, contemplated the situation.

"You're right, both of you won't be able to play. Your teams will just have to have try outs to find someone else to play," he said. "You both can probably fly at times though," he said at the pained expression of the black haired boy in front of him. Something in him… something in those green eyes… made him stir… made him feel something he'd never felt before. He sighed before sitting back and opening another book.

"So we can still fly then, right?" asked Draco.

"That is what I said, yes," Professor Larson said.

"Can't we even play on the matches not against each other?" Harry asked hopefully.

Professor Larson shook his head. "I'm afraid that would be impossible. Might count as an advantage or disadvantage, depending on what you would pick and would very easily be worked against you."

Harry sighed and opened the book in front of him. A few minutes later Draco picked up his head and turned to look at Harry, who hadn't turned a single page at all.

"Would you care to explain to me how this happened in the first place?" a very angry McGonagall was asking. If it hadn't been for Professor Larson and her small infatuation (which neither Harry nor Draco could believe, seeing as they had thought no one would ever gain favoritism from the cat animagus) she would have possibly been hexing them both into oblivion, or at least cursing them both enough to make them wish they'd never been born, and Professor Snape and his angry looks were not helping either.

"… it sort of was an accident…" Harry began while Draco stood beside him, cold look in place.

"If it hadn't been for Potter's…"

"Don't blame this on me! You're the one that was holding them in the…"

"You're the one that snapped them shut!"

"Who snapped the one on me!"

"Silence, both of you. I want not another word from you. Do you know what you have done? Do you know the way this affects the school. The way this could affect everything! You not only cannot play Quidditch anymore, but you've stretched out your classes, are under special circumstances, and are in a situation, which you two seem to not even fathom! You could be like this forever!" She said to the unmoving faces before her.

"Tell us something we don't know," Draco said in a not-too-courteous tone.

"Draco, you will show more respect for teachers," Professor Snape said. He was angry, as well, and was definitely not in a mood where he was going to spoil or even favor Draco. Draco looked at him coldly before turning away, glaring at the coffee table in front of him.

"We'll talk more later… I just can't… I…." Professor McGonagall turned with that thought and left the room, followed by a very angry Snape with a billowing cloak behind him that got stuck in the door as he closed it. Curses could be heard from behind the door and it seemed like the door was going to explode when the cloak was suddenly gone.

"Well, that went well," Professor Larson said before sitting down tiredly and grabbing a book from the nearest pile. "Are you two ready to go to classes tomorrow?"

"Why can't we just use the time-turner to go back in time and change this?" asked Harry, looking at the curious object in front of him.

"Because, that's set only for a day, so you could only go as far back as 24 hours, and there really aren't many made that powerful. Those that are lie in powerful hands and most have been destroyed, either ways. They were deemed unsafe by the ministry ages ago," Professor Larson said, as if stating a fact.

"Oh," was all Harry muttered before opening a book on his lap. Draco sighed and grabbed another book, opening to the page he had last left off on and reading until he felt his eyes slowly beginning to close.

"Ready to face the public?" Harry asked.

"Couldn't we just stay inside, have our lessons given to us specially…?"

Harry shrugged. "Probably, but Dumbledore ordered this and what Professor Dumbledore orders is law," he said in a tone that caused Draco to look up at him through narrowed eyes. Harry only shrugged again before walking down, book bag over one shoulder and ready with answers for the bombardment of questions he was going to get.

"Excuse me, but I'm here too," Draco said, to everyone in particular.

"I'm so sorry mate, I should have been there with you. I imagined something bad but nothing… this bad," Ron said, giving Harry a truly sympathetic glance.

"I'll do my best to look up everything I can on this," Hermione said, giving Harry a small hug and a pat on the back. "Meanwhile, try to bear it. I know it'll be hard, but we will find a cure, Harry."

"I'm not the disease, you know!" Draco yelled, though he was still being ignored.

"It's alright, you guys. We have to go now. Dumbledore still doesn't want anyone to know where we're residing and… well… yeah. I'll see you two tomorrow," Harry said, after having sat in the library for over three hours, listening to his friends' questions, remarks, comments, and exclamations and feeling a bit guilty at the attitude they were both having towards Draco.

"We'll see you around, Harry. Goodbye, Malfoy," Hermione said, giving a hug to Harry and a cold glance at Draco before retreating into the nearest bookshelf and beginning her search.

"See you later, mate. If he causes trouble, let me know. We'll teach him," Ron said. "I still can't bloody believe you're stuck with him, of all people," Ron continued before he was cut off by Harry.

"It's not so bad. Now go help Hermione, who seems like she needs help reaching for a book on the top shelf," he said, giving Ron a lop-sided smile before getting up and leaving the library, a sullen, annoyed, and confused Draco behind him.

'It's not so bad…' Draco thought, but pushed it out of his mind before it further developed into something else.

"Oh Draco, we heard and came as fast as we could," Pansy said, practically jumping onto Draco as he tried to remain upright. Pansy pulled back, a handkerchief at her eyes and giving a cold glare to Harry before continuing.

'Seriously overreacting,' thought Harry as he sighed and leaned against the stair railings, looking over at Draco's… 'friends'.

Crabbe and Goyle stood rather awkwardly in the back, both with muffins in their hands and taking bites from them every now and then. They had come forward only to say something that sounded very much like a grunt to Harry, to Draco and had stepped back once again.

Blaise, on the other hand, seemed to be the only normal one that Harry was looking at. Pansy still had her arms around Draco, who was trying to pry the arms off his neck when Blaise stepped up, whispered something to Pansy, and took her place next to Draco. They exchanged a few words, a curious glance was cast in his direction and he heard a small chuckle come out of the tanned, curly haired boy and an infuriated muffle come out of Draco when his eyes suddenly went wide.

Sure, it had been quick, but a kiss was a kiss. And that was definitely what Harry had been a witness to, a kiss. Blaise had placed his own lips centimeters away from those in front of him, before pressing them with his own and then backing off, giving a quick smile to Harry before turning around and walking downstairs with the other three trailing behind him. Harry turned to Draco, who was flushing and looking at the ground and breathing rather… hard.

Draco looked up once he had regained his breathing and with eyes that said 'don't-ask-about-it-unless-you-want-to-die', began walking up the steps.

"So you are gay," Harry commented for the third time that night to an unresponsive Draco sitting beside him, their Professor gone to go gather more books from the library.

Draco remained with his arms crossed and eyes closed, blonde hair falling over his face and black shirt clinging tightly to him.

"So what?" Draco finally said, giving Harry an annoyed look. "And you're not?"

"No, but you had seriously been against it that time we were unpacking books."

"Ever heard of lying, Potter. It might work for you sometime," Draco drawled before closing his eyes once again.

"So with Blaise then…" Harry said, unable to control himself and bored. Draco sighed angrily at the boy's continuance at the subject.

"So?"

"Nothing, I was just commenting on it. Have you ever been in a serious relationship?"

"Potter, I am not about to discuss my life, especially my love life with you."

"So Blaise did propose to you just back then."

"Propose? Potter, he did much less than propose."

"Well, you know what I mean. How interesting. Is he your first boyfriend then?"

"First of all, Potter, yes, I am bloody gay. Second of all, no, he wouldn't be my first boyfriend and third of all, before you ask, yes, I have fucked other men as well. I've been bloody gay for some time now, Blaise asked just now if I would consider going around with him, we've fooled around before but never anything serious, and that's about it. Satisfied, Potter?" Draco asked before leaning back on the couch again.

"Are you going to accept?"

"Why do you bloody care in the first place?"

"Well… you're tied to me," Harry said, before mentally slapping himself at how odd that must have sounded. "You're tied to me and I don't want to be seeing things I don't need to see," Harry stated quickly.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him before turning to look up at the ceiling. "Don't worry, Potter, we won't do anything while you're awake. Don't want to corrupt your virgin mind, now do we?"

"I'm… not a virgin…," Harry muttered silently.

Draco looked at him before looking quickly back at the ceiling. "Oh?" he asked, unable to quench the curiosity he was feeling.

"I feel it only fair you know about me," Harry said and was about to go on when Draco stopped him.

"I really don't care, Potter," Draco said. "I'm tired and we can have this conversation some other time," he said, though he was torturing his cold self on the inside.

"Oh, ok," Harry said, sounding a little bit less… joyful than before and standing up with Draco, making his way over to the bed and throwing himself on it, pulling a confused Draco once again behind him.

Draco looked over at the boy's back and sighed. "Fine, tell me about your bloody conquests," he said once he found he was unable to sleep.

"Too late," he heard a soft whisper say. Draco shrugged, containing himself, and once again slowly falling asleep.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed : )