Reviewers: Thank you all for your kind words, they make me want to continue with this story.

Immortal Rose: That's one for sending him to the Dursley's, I am pleased you like this idea; I plan on making it very plausible within the plot. (You won't even know I had it planned)! I plan on making Blaise into a prime character; I am seeing him as a good friend of Draco's. I'm so happy you are enjoying the story! Please have a cookie

Tati1: **screams with you** I am so happy you are happy with my ideas! It encourages me to experiment more with my writing. It will take time, but you will see it all happen. Heheheheheh **coughs** have a cookie, again! Here's to Harry torture! To the Dursley's!

Reflective Velvet: Everyone needs a Sirius bobble head doll.  You can have a Buckbeak one too. (You know you want it.)  I've snuck on before too, just don't get caught! I know Dursley's can be clichéd, so I have also integrated your idea within the story. You will like it, I promise you. Have a cookie!

Funness: Pressure is good, I thrive under it! Have another cookie. **shoves the tray at you** thanks for reviewing!

AoiHyou: Yes, they will be abuseful, there's no other way to have them. Have another cookie!

JAyih: Thank you for reviewing, I love hearing from new readers! Have a cookie!

TristaT: It will be cool to see him at the Dursley's; I am pleased with the response I am getting from this idea. Thank you for your review, have a cookie!

JiNglebellz: No ice or snow here. **sobs** At least I have internet access. =-) Have a chocolate chip cookie.

Serpentsattire: Speechless? Have a cookie.

Usernotavailable: "Oi, Moose, give the girl a drum roll!" **drum roll**

You like that? Glad you are happy with the story so far, have another cookie!

Sweet Sorrow: I don't think I have read that story before, but I might check it out now…glad you like the mind-link idea. The Dursley's will be VERY scared by the time the wizards are through with them **laughs evilly** Have a cookie!

TheSilverLady: Did you get my email last time? I might have typed the name wrong…I'm glad you like the story; please consider starting an author alert list though, in case I forget to email you, I believe it's free. Have a cookie!

Paranioain2005: I think you will like the results of Draco's trip to the Dursley's, it will be very plausible. Have a cookie, and thanks for the advice!

Wiccan PussyKat: A special warning to you: It is just as much fun to hurt Draco as it is to hurt Harry, they will both be tortured in this story! BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Ok?  I know you don't want to see him hurt, but I do! Maybe one day in the far future, I will write another version, purely pain for Harry and richness for Draco…but not this fic. More Ron, Hermione and Sirius here!

Heart and Mind: Thanks for your opinion, I found it interesting too, I can't wait to see what happens! Have a cookie; the suspense is killing me…

Hey all,

Thank you for your opinions on sending him to the Dursley's with Harry, I have positive nods and new ideas all around the table, so you will just have to wait and see what happens……I have taken into consideration all your comments, and they have given me invaluable insight into this story. Thank You!

Without further ado,

Chapter 10:  In Preparations and Confrontations

Harry blinked hard. Once, twice, then three times. He could have sworn that he was staring right at Draco's face when he had spoken, but he hadn't seen his mouth move. The other boy simply smirked at his confusion.

Are you alright, Potter?

Harry leapt backwards off the edge of the bed in surprise and fright, landing painfully on his already bruised side. He coughed nervously, before chancing a questioning thought.

Whatareyoudoingtome! Icanhearyou! How? He directed this towards Draco very fast, so it came out in a loud jumble that caused the Slytherin to wince.

You were doing it before without meaning to. Draco answered him. You don't have to think so hard about it.

Sorry, Harry thought. He took a deep calming breath before slowing his thoughts and toning down his volume. How?

I don't know. Draco's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion. We can ask Dumbledore when he wakes up.

I can't wait that long! Harry screamed in his head. YOU are in MY brain!

Draco rubbed his temples in barely concealed frustration, before yelling back at Harry. And YOU are in MINE! Do you think I like this?

You seem pretty calm about all of this! Harry threw back at him. It's probably some plot of yours to control my mind! Like Occlumency! Harry's eyes were wide and panicked by now.

 Draco's laugh echoed within Harry's mind. Come again? I am trying to do what?

Control me! For Voldemort!

Have you lost your muggle-loving mind, Potter? Draco tossed the Gryffindor one of his trademark sneers. Why the hell would I save you from Umbridge so the Dark Lord could have you? Just to make it harder for myself?

Harry blinked again, before suddenly remembering what he had seen in his vision. "You are so dead, Malfoy!"

Now it was Draco's turn to blink, before he laughed harshly, "Are you planning on murdering me, Potter?"

"Your father is!" Harry warned.

Draco was at Harry's side in a flash, snarling with a threat-filled voice. "You didn't see anything. You don't know anything. Right?"

Dumbledore shifted slightly in his seat, mumbling about lemon drops and a runaway house-elf.

Draco and Harry were too occupied with staring each other down to realize that they had automatically reverted back to thought speech.

You almost woke him up, muggle-lover!

You were the one who was screaming about your Death Eater Father! Harry objected, then after a moment's pause, added, Daddy's boy!

Not anymore, by what you tell me. The Slytherin shot back.  Draco then sighed aloud, "How mad was he?"

Harry snorted derisively, "Which one? Lucius or Voldemort?"

"Either…both…" Draco buried his head in his hands. How dead am I?

 Let's just say that if it hadn't been my life you had saved, I would have told you that if I was you I would have left me to die. Harry explained carefully.

Oh, well that makes perfect sense.

Harry took a deep breath before asking the question that had been on his mind for awhile. Why DID you do it?

For shits and giggles, I suppose. Draco answered him seriously.

"What?"

"I don't know, Potter!" Draco laughed bitterly. "You tell me, why the son of a high-ranking Death Eater, who has been brainwashed his whole life to await the rising of a dark leader, would suddenly turn away from his family and their influence to join…of all things; The Boy-Who-Lived, his mudblood and muggle-loving friends, werewolves, and paranoid aurors with CRAZY eyes!"  Draco threw his slight arms above his head in confusion. You tell me, Harry.

Harry had sat silently, in a thoughtful state of shock for Draco's entire rant. He couldn't decide what had finally snapped him out of the trance, whether it was Draco's shuddering breath at the end of his speech or the use of Harry's first name in his thoughts.

I think we need to speak with Dumbledore. Harry suggested. He will know what to do.

I've already done that. Draco's head felt heavy with apathy. He's gonna find me summer lodgings until I am eighteen.

Where? Harry asked.

"You tell me, Potter, you tell me."

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The two boys spent the next ten minutes or so in uncomfortable silence. Not even feeling familiar with their own thoughts anymore; they tried not to think of anything in particular, although Harry could have sworn he caught Draco thinking about his hair.

"Let's wake him up." Harry's voice cut through the awkwardness abruptly. "Now."

"Alright, you do it. He knows you better." Draco insisted.

"No one needs to wake me up, boys." They turned to the sound of Dumbledore's cheerful voice. "It seems that while waiting for you two to awaken, I myself have fallen asleep." His blue eyes twinkled with his own mysterious delight in the situation.

"Professor, we have a problem."

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"And now we can hear each others thoughts…" Draco mumbled finally. Harry nodded in agreement. The two had just summarized their experiences last night, from their time in Umbridge's office, to Dumbledore's waking in the chair beside their beds.

Dumbledore's face had turned grim during Harry's recount of Voldemort's gathering and the punishment of the Death Eaters. Draco had caught his eyes wandering towards Snape on another bed. Dumbledore knows about Snape…

Huh? Harry had been caught off-guard.

Oh, nothing, just thinking aloud.

You know about Snape? Sometimes Potter couldn't leave well enough alone.

Depends, how much do you know?

Dumbledore coughed politely, and the children realized they had grown silent right in the middle of a sentence.

"Professor, how much does Malfoy know about-" Harry let his eyes travel towards the Potions master's prone body.

"I suppose now is the time to be completely blunt with you two." Harry and Draco nodded simultaneously.

"Professor Snape is a spy for Lord Voldemort, he is working with me."

Harry nodded, he had already known this.

Draco, on the other hand, was more than surprised.

"He managed to fool the Dark Lord!" He exclaimed, "He fooled us all!" He turned an impressed gaze upon his Head of House. Before, where he had secretly scorned the man for being as weak as to support the Dark Lord, now he was looking at the man in a whole new light. It had been common knowledge in Slytherin house that Snape had been a Death Eater back during the reign, and most assumed, if they didn't have firsthand knowledge already, that he was once again in Voldemort's Inner Circle.

"Severus has never hesitated to sacrifice himself for what he felt was the greater good." Dumbledore smiled gently at the awestruck Draco and frowning Harry, who completely disagreed with the claim of Snape's selflessness.

"Professor, what about the mind link?" Harry interrupted, before this meeting turned into a praise-Snape fest.

"Ah, very glad you asked that question, Harry." Dumbledore cleared his throat before continuing. "Now, I have many theories about how this has come about, but I believe that the most obvious one is also the correct one. You see, I remember you asking me about the influence the Near Death experience may have had on you through Umbridge's curse."

Harry nodded, while Draco only managed to look the epitome of confusion.

Do tell, Potter.

My muggle cousin did a report on what happens to people when they nearly die, sometimes they come back with special powers and other side-effects.

Muggles, too?

They did the research.

They both looked to Dumbledore, who smiled and continued. "I believe that because Draco was the one who stopped the curse, your body recognizes him as a certain safe point, and your magic has connected to that safety point as a base of sorts. You can communicate with him to ask for help if you should ever find yourself needing it again."

"That's all fine and well, Headmaster." Draco interrupted. "But what about when I am in no position to help him?"

"My theory is that the communication works both ways, Mr. Malfoy." He paused a moment while the two boys absorbed this information.

"So, what you're saying is, if the curse was cast on Draco, I would feel it too?" Harry asked.

"We would need to test its limitations and such, but I do believe that this connection will prove very useful to your survival, for both of you." Dumbledore answered him. Harry suddenly gasped.

"So, he felt my vision!" Harry exclaimed, "That's why the pain left me, and he felt the curse!"

"I heard you, too!" Draco told him, "You asked me for help!"

"I did what!?" Harry turned to him in surprise. "I don't remember that."

"Undoubtedly, it was not a conscious decision, Harry. Your body was crying out for help the only way it knew how. Mr. Malfoy had stopped the curse once, could he do it again? And indeed, he did." Dumbledore told them.

"What about when we don't want to share our thoughts?" Draco demanded. "What if I don't want to live with him in my head?"

"Don't act like it's a picnic for me either, Malfoy." Harry growled.

"Now, there should be a way to block out unwanted thoughts, I don't see why it shouldn't be handled as if you were talking to the other person. Simply direct your thoughts somewhere else. Try it." Dumbledore sat back to watch the experiment.

Muggle- lover! Draco started.

I heard that. Harry smirked at him.

Damn.

Spoiled Brat.

Heard it! Am not! Scarface!

Come see Malfoy, the amazing white bouncing ferret!

Heard that! They shrieked in unison.

Gryffindor!

Slytherin!

Direct your pathetic thoughts elsewhere, Potter.

What kind of insult is that? Naming my house!

What was yours?

You started it!

Bad Quidditch player!

Ha! Coming from the one who has never caught the snitch, that's a laugh.

Coming from the one who falls off his broom when he sees dementors.

Coming from the one who pretended to be a dementor. Nice life goal, better than a Death Eater!

Coming from the one who likes to bow to Hippogriffs! I bet that one who bit me and ran off with Black is long dead!

For your information, he's alive and well!

How would you know?

I've seen him.

When?

Christmas holiday

Ha! That's only because you like to hang out with ex-convicts like Sirius Black!

Better him than Voldemort! And he was innocent.

I know he was, Potter, you forget I grew up with Death Eaters as Uncles.

They knew?

Of course they knew; everyone knew that Pettigrew had screwed up big time. My father wanted his head on a silver platter for the longest time. Now he just wants mine.

Sorry, didn't catch that last part?

What?

All I heard was "now he…" 'Now he' what?

None of your business, Potter.

That's it! You did it!

Did what?

You directed your thoughts somewhere else! What did you do?

I thought something I didn't want you to hear.

Let me try. What should I say?

I don't really care what you think in your spare time.

I just found out that there's a prophecy about me.

There's…what?

Ha! It worked! You'll never know! Harry laughed aloud.

"How did it go?" Dumbledore held his breath.

"It worked, we just have to think it under our breath…so to speak," Draco added with a smile.

"That's what it felt like to me too, like I was whispering to you." Harry said, "I guess it makes sense."

Dumbledore scratched his nose thoughtfully, "You know, this won't make very many people happy."

Draco and Harry were floored; Dumbledore had spoken of an undeniable truth. What would their friends think when they found out?

Ron is going to flip. Harry thought grimly. Sirius will have a fit, too.

Blaise will die. Draco frowned mentally. Imagine having Potter in my mind.

Neither heard the other's thoughts.

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"Your move, Padfoot." Remus smiled at his friend, who was caught in a queen-rook-king fork. Sirius had taken forty minutes to make a move, and in that time, Lupin had already cooked breakfast and eaten it.

"Hold on! Moony, this game takes time!" Sirius exclaimed impatiently. "You tricked me into this!"

"You only have one move, Sirius, just take it and cut your losses." Remus explained, sitting down on the couch.

Padfoot had never particularly enjoyed this game, when he and James would play chess they would usually end up throwing the pieces at each other and kicking the board across the room. Once they had decided to use the pawns as snitches, tossing them into the air on the Quidditch pitch. They had never found one of those pawns…a knock on the door startled them both from their thoughts.

"Come in." Remus said.

The door opened to reveal Dumbledore, standing with Harry and Draco, both of whom were looking as if they had just crawled out of bed after a deep sleep.

"Hey," Sirius laughed, "Sleep well?" Harry tossed him a tired smile before rubbing his eyes and running a hand through his hair.

"I had a rough night." He said sarcastically, and Sirius stopped smiling.

"How are you feeling?" He asked seriously. "Aches and pains?"

"Nothing Madam Pomfrey can't fix, I guess." Harry said, "at least I'm alive."

Sirius snorted, "Please don't say that, you scared me half to death once already."

"Sorry Sirius," Harry smiled ruefully, "Trouble just seems to follow me."

"Should have named you, Harry Trouble Potter." Remus grinned. "It has a nice ring to it."

"So does Remus Never-Gonna-Happen Lupin." Harry laughed. "I like my middle name just fine."

What is it? Draco asked him; curiosity overwhelming arrogance.

James.

Figures…Mine's Lucius. Shit…I've never told anyone that.

Harry was so surprised at Draco's confession that he burst out laughing, earning odd glances from Sirius and Remus.

"I think Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy have something they need to tell the two of you." Dumbledore suggested innocently.

"What? Have they developed the random urge to laugh at nothing in particular?"

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"You WHAT!" Sirius and Remus screamed.

"We have developed a mind-link, to put it quite bluntly. We can communicate without speaking; we can feel each other's pain and emotions." Harry said softly. "It's an after-effect from the Cruciatus Curse."

Sirius sunk onto one of the fluffy armchairs in despair. "Why did this have to happen?" Draco shrugged and made himself comfortable on another chair.

"I don't like it much either, but I don't have much choice in any matter now." He admitted carefully. "Better Harry than my father." Remus grimaced in compassion for the boy who had nowhere to turn; understanding what it felt like when you thought you had run out of options.

"What's the plan, Albus?" Sirius asked the headmaster, who smiled benignly.

"Because the school year is drawing to a close, we needed to find a place for Mr. Malfoy to stay until he can be inducted within the Order. I have contacted Arabella, and she has agreed to house the boy temporarily."

"The Order?" Harry blurted. "Draco's gonna be in the Order?"

"And so, Harry, will you."

Who's Arabella?

Hmm? Oh, Mrs. Figg? Old lady with a bunch of cats. Draco blanched. Of course, that's only her muggle disguise; she's really a squib working for the Order.

Dumbledore told me about the Order of the Phoenix.

And?

If it's against Voldemort…count me in.

"Harry?" Dumbledore asked. "What do you think?"

"Count me in."

"Excellent."

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END OF CHAPTER 10

OK, next chapter is Ron, Hermione and Blaise, with an interlude by Snape!

I know this isn't very long, but I wanted to split it here and get this out before I tackled the next big part…besides, it's late and I am tired.

Hope you liked this chapter, Umbridge torture will come in a few chapters (by a few, I mean like 5) any ideas?? Please tell me in reviews what you would like to see happen!

Please Review or I will never know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter.