Chapter 3
At six o'clock that evening they stood in front of Number 4, Private Drive.
-"Like I said, what's happening here will not be spilled to anyone! Understood?" Draco nodded and rolled his eyes.
-"What are you afraid of?" They walked towards the front door. Harry paused some seconds at the door step, wondering whether or not he should knock.
-"Well, go on then!" Draco snapped impatiently. Harry opened the door, and they got inside.
-"Who's there?" A high pitched voice yelled.
-"It's only me, Aunt Petunia. What a happy surprise!" A very thin lady showed up in the hallway.
-"YOU!" She screamed at the image of Harry, who did his best to smile. –"What are you doing here, you filthy freak? I thought you were an adult to your standards."
-"Oh, have you forgotten? My birthday isn't until next month..." Harry looked quite vulnerable when he faced his aunt. 'How can anybody act like this to their nephew?' Draco wondered. –"Anyway. Petunia, this is Draco Malfoy. Malfoy this is my aunt Petunia Dursley."
-"What is he doing here?" She asked and narrowed her eyes.
-"He is chased by Voldemort, and this is the only place he will be safe. So he'll stay here. You can relax, though; we'll spend as much time away as possible." Harry patiently informed.
-"So he's one of you?" Her voice dripped with disgust.
-"Yes, I am." Draco answered proudly. Petunias lips became only slices, and she went into the kitchen without another word.
-"My room is upstairs. Just bring your things there."
-"Is she always like that?" Draco wondered.
-"Mostly she just ignores me. I guess we startled her." Harry said and shrugged. They went upstairs, cleaned the floor for all of Dudley's old things and conjured a bed for Draco.
-"I'm bored, what do we do now?" Draco asked.
-"'Dunno," Harry muttered. -"Usually I spend time with some friends, but I guess you won't be too interested in muggle friends. Sometimes I take a walk, or maybe I do some homework." Draco sighted.
-"Who would've thought that it's this boring to live with the-Boy-Who-Won't-Die," Draco muttered. Harry just gave him a nasty glare. They went quiet for a while.
–"If you're hungry we can go downtown and buy some food. I wouldn't depend on getting food here."
-"Okay, we can do that."
10 minutes later they were on their way downtown. Harry seemed quite happy to be home, despite his horrible family. He kept talking about everything and nothing.
-"In that house I met Louis for the first time. This guy named Joe held a big party and...well, there we met." He said pointing at a square house. Draco didn't mind Harry talking. It was better than total silence, at least.
-"You were on a party!" Draco said fascinated.
-"'Course I was." Harry said, rolling his eyes. Harry brought Draco to a place he'd often been with Tony, Louis and David. They took a menu each, and studied it.
-"What's that?" Draco asked, wrinkling his nose.
-"That's a hamburger. If you haven't tasted it before, you should try it. I'm loovin' it!"
At that moment Draco heard a voice from the door: -"Hey sugar!" He saw Harry turn around with a smirk on his face. 'That's a new look', he thought.
-"Louis," Harry answered in quite a smugly tone.
The boy Harry talked to was very cute. He had brown eyes, brown hair and a very amused look on his face.
-"I didn't know I'd meet you here," he said, walked towards Harry and put his hands around his waist. Harry leaned over and kissed him gently. 'What the hell! Harry fucking Potter is kissing a guy right in front of me.'
-"But what a pleasant surprise!" Harry stated.
-"I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming. I did not just see Harry fucking Potter kiss another guy!"
-"Didn't know I was in your dreams, Malfoy. Gee, I know I'm sexy but..." Louis sniggered softly.
-"Still the same old lovable you." He stated.
-"Louis, this is Draco Malfoy. He's a student at my school. Malfoy, this is Louis." Draco shook Louis' hand quickly. Louis surveyed him slightly, and put his arm around Harry again.
-"So babe, want to party on Saturday?" Louis asked. Harry wrinkled his perfect nose and gave Draco a quick glance.
-"I dunno yet. Where is it?"
-"Thomas Smith. And don't you dare say no. I've been waiting for you all year! You never turn a party down!"
-"You've been waiting for me!" Harry asked and smiled amused. Louis just rolled his eyes. –"We just got here an hour ago, and I'm not sure if Malfoy want to come. I'll call you Friday, tomorrow that is."
-"Yeah... Well, what are you doing here anyway?"
-"You know my aunt, Lou. Like she will feed the both of us!" Louis laughed softly at the thought.
-"So, he's actually living with you!"
-"Yeah, it's complicated. You don't really want to know the whole story."
-"But baby, I thought it was you and me!" Harry smirked.
-"Then I guess you'll just have to share me."
Draco watched the scene in bewilderment. He still hadn't settled that he wasn't dreaming.
-"What will you order, Malfoy?" Harry asked him.
-"I'll try that hambugger- thingy." Louis sent him an astonished look.
-"And I'll take a cheeseburger." Harry said to the girl that worked there. They settled by the window.
-"You don't know what a hamburger is?" Louis asked, still astonished. –"Which planet are you from?"
-"I'm from Mars, but I normally don't set a foot into places like this. Where I eat, there's one waiter to each, and nothing cost less then-"
-"Translated: Spoiled brat," Harry cut in, afraid that Draco would tell the sum in galleons. Draco just rolled his eyes.
-"Anyway, I have to go buy some drinks. I'll come over later." Louis said.
-"Oki, see you." Louis gave Harry a kiss on his neck, and hurried out of the place.
-"So, are you keen on a party?" Harry asked when their food came.
-"Yeah, then we'll at least have something to do," Draco muttered. –"Oh, but I didn't bring my dressrobes!" Harry started laughing and Draco stared at him.
-"Believe me; no one will use dressrobes at this party! And if it's the Thomas I know that throws the party, the less clothes the better. People never keep their clothes on to long anyway." Just as Draco thought he couldn't get more shocked over Golden Boy, Harry took a package of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one of them. Draco felt like a goldfish that had been totally oblivious over this boy. Draco used to think he knew everything about Harry Potter, oh how wrong was he? His mouth had fallen open, but Draco didn't seem to notice, and Harry smirked.
-"You look like an albino goldfish, Malfoy, it's not very flattering." Draco clasped his mouth shut at once, but did not look less shocked.
-"If you tell anybody about this holiday, I'll curse you into oblivion and afterwards I'll curse your balls off. Got that?" Draco looked ugly at him.
-"I'd like to see you try,"
-"No, you wouldn't," he replied seriously. –"Come on, blondy. Lets eat!" Draco's experience with burgers went both ways. Of course it tasted very good, but what a horrible way to eat it! It was impossible to eat and look decent at the same time.
When they were finished, Louis returned with another guy and some bottles. This guy had black hair and wore almost just black clothes.
-"Hi Harry. So good to see you. Louis has been sulking all year!" Harry greeted David, and sniggered to Louis:
-"Oh, a little in love, are we?"
-"Oh, a little smug, are we?" Louis replied pouting.
-"Indeed, it's good to have you back. What are these rumours I hear? Do Harry-partyboy-Potter say 'no' to a party? You never say 'no' to a party!" The last sentence was said in an accusing voice. Draco nearly laughed at the 'Harry partyboy Potter' reference. That sounded just…awkward.
-"Oh... David, this is Draco Malfoy. Malfoy, this is David." Draco barely nodded arrogantly to him.
-"Are you one of Harry's friends?" David asked.
-"We attend the same school." Draco made it quite clear that they were not friends.
-"And you're keeping Harry from a party! No one ever can keep Harry from a party!"
-"Don't make it sound like we have something!" Harry said warningly. –"The only thing we have is hatred for each other and amazing sex." Draco made a disgusted face.
-"Don't make me sick, Scarhead!" Harry just kept talking like he hadn't heard that statement.
-"I can't let him stay with the Mu- the Dursleys either, can I? They're not particularly nice."
-"Duh… You can bring him. As in; take him with you..." Harry rolled his eyes.
-"I don't want to bring him!" He said childishly.
-"And we don't want to go without you, so I'm afraid you either have to bring him or leave him with your family." Louis said in a voice that ended all discussion.
-"Don't you dare leave me with those... those disgusting creatures!" Draco said, with narrowed eyes.
-"And what makes you think I'll bring you?" Harry asked venomously. The sudden tension in the air made Louis and David keep quiet. –"You live in my house, Malfoy. My words are rules! Can you relate to that?" Draco looked like someone had slapped him. Hard.
-"You two get a kick out of fighting, don't you?" David said, and both heads turned towards him. With the two murderous boys looking at him, David suddenly became very much occupied with his fingers.
-"I'll bring you if you follow my rules," Harry said and studied Draco's tightened jaws, and watched him snare slightly. –"If you don't want to cooperate, I'll just leave you at home." It was quite amusing to have Malfoy cornered up like this, and Harry smirked slightly at Malfoy's proud, yet defeated, look.
-"Now Louis, go buy something to drink for us too!" Louis and David ran quickly.
-"Well, Malfoy. Do you have any muggle-clothes with you?" Harry asked after a minute of uncomfortable silence. Malfoy sent him a dirty glance, but answered:
-"I've got this outfit and one other. I never really cared about muggle-clothes." Harry studied Draco's clothes. Very nice clothes, but a little to stiff for a party, indeed.
-"This outfit is okay, but it might be too stiff for a party. Don't get me wrong, they look good, but I don't think they would fit in at this kind of party." Malfoy nodded.
-"If the other outfit's not right either, you'll just borrow something of me. I went shopping last summer, so my closet is full." They went quiet again.
-"Then, care to explain to me why you're acting so... un-Golden-Boy-ish?" Harry wrinkled his nose.
-"Well, this is how I used to act before I started at Hogwarts. I guess I just tried to adapt to the people I met there, and suddenly I had created an image there, being totally different then I used to be and still is. When I'm not with them, that is."
-"But why don't you just act like this at school too? I mean, it's their problem if they can't handle you like this." Again, Harry made a grimace.
-"I can't change now. Besides, some expect me to become a new dark lord. If I suddenly change to this, they'll believe I've changed side or something. Isn't that stupid? You're either light or dark, never something in the middle. If you use dark magic, you're dark. Nobody care why you used it." Malfoy nodded.
-"Dark magic is addictive. If you use it once, you might get tempted to use it twice or more. That's why people think like that. It's quite like drugs."
-"Yeah, I guess they're right," Harry answered and thought about his attempt at Crucio at Bellatrix. He hadn't really gotten a need to use dark magic after that, but it was true that he would use it when he met her again. He'd imagined the situation several times. –"Maybe we should get going," he said. They got up, and started tossing towards Number 4.
-"What do you want to do tonight, then?" Harry asked, while they walked.
-"I still don't know," Draco answered.
-"Maybe we should get some homework out of the way. I have to read some of the schoolbooks from earlier years too. I feel like I've forgotten everything. So I have quite much to do this summer."
-"Yeah, I guess we can do some homework." Draco muttered. They reached the house, and tried to sneak in as unnoticed as possible, but unfortunately:
-"Dudders, is that you?" A male voice roared.
'Damn', Harry muttered, before he answered: -"No, Uncle Vernon, It's your nephew."
-"What the hell are you doing home!" The voice roared, and a huge man turned up in the hallway. He pointed a plumb finger at Draco, who made a disgusted face. –"And who's that?"
-"I'm home because it's holiday, and this is Draco Malfoy." Harry said impatiently.
-"What's he doing here?" The man asked, and turned redder and redder each second.
-"Will he have an apoplectic shock?" Draco asked frightened. Harry smiled slightly.
-"He's a…friend of mine and he's living with me for the summer. We share my room, and I expect you to treat him like a guest."
-"In your room! Oh my God, you're -... I don't want this abnormality in my house!" Vernon gasped. He misunderstood Harry's hesitating, but this suited Harry fine.
-"If you behave, we'll behave. So if you don't want us kissing in front of the house, turn around and leave us now. I'm so sick of your constant roaring!" The horrid man had now lost his entire facial colour.
-"You filthy little-," but then his voice stopped, with a motion of Harry's wrist. Harry grabbed his hand and dragged Draco up the stairs.
-"Okay... And that was about..?" Draco asked surprised.
-"That was my uncle, Vernon, and No, we're not related! He's quite homophobic, and I thought that if he believed we're together, he'll treat us much better. In fear of us kissing in the front yard."
-"What about asking me first!" Draco asked irritated. He did not like to be treated like he wasn't there.
-"I hadn't really planned it! I just said what popped into my head." Draco was very aware that Harry was still holding his hand, cuddling it. –"Now he's so afraid of us kissing that he might treat us like human beings." Harry took a minor step closer to him. Draco immediately tensed. Was Potter flirting with him? Then Harry let go of his hand, took a book out from under his pillow and lay down on his bed. He studied the cover slightly before he opened it.
-"Isn't it quite un-Gryffindor-ish of you to pretend you're someone you're not?" Draco asked.
-"Yeah, I guess. The Sorting Hat did want to put me in Slytherin, after all, but that's a secret."
-"Really? Never would've thought that. How did you end up in Gryffindor then?"
-"I just asked to be placed anywhere but Slytherin. After all, it's your choices that make you who you are, not your abilities."
-"I think it's quite cowardly," Draco stated. He was very bored at the moment, then what was more amusing then a discussion? Harry turned his head and looked at him.
-"What? To ask to join Gryffindor instead?"
-"No, to act like someone you're not."
-"I'm not cowardly!" Harry declared.
-"Just admit it; you're so frightened of how people will react that you act like a dork instead of your true self! The Dark Lord's not scary, but people's opinions..." Draco mocked.
-"That's not how it is!"
-"Then how is it?" Draco asked. –"Will you tell me that?" The same tension as at the restaurant filled the air.
-"I give people hope by not acting like a rebellious teenager!" Harry said even before he knew he'd say that.
-"Oh, you're being noble! Of course! You're sacrificing yourself for others! That is the most pathetic excuse I've ever heard, Potter! You don't really believe that yourself!" Harry sighted loudly.
-"If I act like I don't care, of course people will lose hope! They depend on me saving the fucking world. I don't want them to lose faith."
-"If you didn't act like you're gonna save the world all the time, maybe people would've learned to only depend on themselves. Maybe they would've cared to learn how to defend themselves. Ever thought of that?" Harry got a thoughtful expression on his face.
-"I admit you have a point, but honestly; you're not the one to talk about masks."
-"We're not talking about me, Potter. We're talking about you." Draco said firmly.
-"I just don't think you're the one to talk. You're like the king of masks!" Draco made a grimace.
-"Not really. After all, you noticed that I wear a mask, and I didn't notice that you wore one."
-"Indicating?" Harry asked arrogantly.
-"Indicating that I'm just the prince of masks while you're the king, and since I'm under you I am the one to talk." Draco replied just as arrogantly. –"If you drop all masks this year, I'll drop mine. That is a challenge, Potter!" Something in Draco's eyes made Harry narrow his eyes, and say:
-"Deal!" An answer he later would regret. They held each other's glances for a while, before they started doing their homework. –"You can't know for sure that I'm the king of masks while you're only the prince; maybe I'm just more attentive then you are." Draco smirked.
-"Doesn't matter, you still took the bet."
Draco started reading his Ancient Runes book, a course he'd chosen mainly to avoid Harry, but somehow he couldn't concentrate. He had always thought he knew everything about the raven-haired boy that currently had his face screwed up in a concentrating grimace. Draco had always thought Harry was a stuck up, thick headed Gryffindor. That he'd thought himself above the Malfoy name, and that this had been the reason he'd declined Draco's friendship back in first year. Harry licked his lips unconsciously and reached after the cigarette package that lay on his desk. He lit a cigarette, took a deep breath and sent two rings from between his lips. They floated out in the air before they vanished into nothing... Suddenly two emerald orbs looked back at him.
-"Erm... I don't have a bogeyman in my nose or anything?" Harry asked unsure. Draco woke from his trance.
-"What?"
-"A bogeyman... You know; a bugbear, bogey, whatever..." Draco made a disgusted face when he understood what Potter was talking about. –"So it's not decorating my nose?"
-"No, why would it?"
-"Because you stared at me. I thought maybe there was something very wrong with my looks."
-"I didn't stare at you!" Draco denied strongly, though he was very aware he had been doing exactly that.
-"Yup, you did!"
-"And besides, there's always been something very wrong with your looks." He added with a smirk, and turned the conversation smoothly. This, however, gave him a book in his head.
-"My face is close to perfection!" Harry declared.
-"If you're looking at a goat," Draco mumbled and rubbed his head where the book had hit. Quicker then Draco could say don't straddle me, Harry was over him and held him firmly to his bed. He smirked slightly and Draco could trace the excitement in his eyes.
-"You're just jealous," Harry stated, and Draco saw him up closely for the first time in years. Harry's eyes really were a brilliant shade of green, and they sparkled in the dim light.
-"Jealous, my arse!" Draco said firmly, and looked obstinately up at him. Harry's grip was too hard to loosen right now. Potter's skin was truly beautiful. Nearly as spotless as Draco's, but it was slightly more bronze.
-"And no matter how hard you try to deny it, you looked at me, and you know it!"
'Damn', Harry wasn't so easy to trick. In many ways he actually reminded him of the other Slytherins. Harry changed his grip for a second and Draco rolled him easily around. Then he smirked in triumph. Harry pouted towards him, and Draco noticed that he actually was quite cute when he did that. Sitting like this, with Potter in a firm grip underneath him, Draco suddenly wondered what would happen if he kissed him. After all, Harry's lips were very kissable. Harry looked challenging up at him just like he had read his mind. Quickly Draco rolled of him, and Harry stuck his tongue out at him.
-"Don't stick your tongue at me, or else I'll bite it and suck at it," Draco threatened. Harry smiled surprised and made a stupid sound. –"Did you just giggle?" Draco asked bewildered. Now he'd heard that too, Harry Potter world saviour, giggling.
-"No!" Harry quickly insisted.
-"You did too!" Draco laughed.
-"Did not!" Harry squealed.