We May Just Have Something Here

Draco awoke groggy eyed, his usually perfect hair splayed all over his face. He groaned and reached over blindly to turn off his screaming alarm.

He hadn't gotten very much sleep last night with Potter banging and moaning the whole time. And then his thoughts had kept him up even later.

He stayed in bed for five more minutes before he sensed that if he didn't get up now he never would. He got slowly to his feet, muscles sore from the fighting of the previous night. Shuffling across the room, he opened the door and began his descent.

Class was the very last place Draco wanted to be going to at the moment; at least he would have something intriguing to tell Blaise. He knew for sure that he would be interested in a nightmare had by The Boy Who Lived and that served as his motivation to get up and get dressed.

When Draco reached the bottom of the staircase he was met with the sight of a very tousle-haired someone fast asleep on the Gryffindor couch.

Draco cocked his head to the side; Potter really was a fool then. There he was, lying on the couch in plain sight of someone he knew hated him, someone he had actually fought with not a few hours before. The things Draco could do to Potter right then- the possibilities were endless.

The ideas chased themselves around in Draco's mind for a few moments, simple, rather stupid hexes really, but then he decided he really was too old for those sorts of juvenile pranks, although a good Leg-locker jinx could produce a good laugh every now and again.

To be truthful, he was really too old to be fighting with Potter at all (or at least the way they fought with each other), but it always seemed inevitable. Sure, Potter's angry, about-to-explode face still gave him a chuckle, but Draco was of age now and certainly his father would look down upon him for such childish practical jokes.

He could almost see his father's frowning face, staring at him through that curtain of blond hair.

"You used that on him, Draco?" he could hear Lucius say, "Why not use the Cruciatus Curse? Perfect opportunity, he's sleeping, no one else around. Nobody would know. Just cast it and watch him suffer."

Draco shuddered and let go of his wand, which he had been subconsciously clutching inside his robe pocket. He could do it right now, he could cast the Cruciatus Curse and watch Potter squirm and whither around, screaming in agony… or could he? Perhaps if he were angry enough he could, but he didn't know if he had that much hatred for Potter, to be able to do it without any real motives.

Casting the Cruciatus wasn't something you could do just because you had the knowledge of how to do it. You had to want to do it, you had to want to hear someone scream, end their lives in the most painful way you could, and Draco didn't know if he really wanted that for anyone and that, strangely enough, scared him.

What if he didn't have what it takes to become a Death Eater, what if he couldn't live up to what was expected of him? He might be able to deal with his father, but he certainly couldn't deal with the Dark Lord. No one could.

Draco turned away from Potter, wanting to do something to get his mind off of things and then realized with a start how much time he had spent just staring at Scarhead.

He headed towards the bathroom. Once inside it he took a moment to truly look around. As much as he hated the fact that the room was half Potter's, he couldn't deny its superiority. He was especially impressed, after he shed his clothing and made his way to the showers, to find that each of the five taps held a different expensive soap imported from France. It was the exact soap he and his parents used at the manor. He selected his favorite smell (the one the girls always told him they liked) and turned the tap. Stepping under the hot jet of water made Draco feel instantly relaxed although, to his immense displeasure, the water couldn't turn his brain off.

In a few months time his father would be out of prison- the dementers were already leaving one by one to join the Dark Lord. When Lucius Malfoy was out, Draco would be expected to take the Dark Mark and follow in his father's footsteps. He would of course be taking the Mark but it was strange knowing that in just a short while he would officially become an enemy of the boy sleeping just outside.

He was ultimately taking the Mark to please his father and to ensure his own safety. He wasn't in it for any of the Dark Lord's ideas. Draco actually thought The Dark Lord was a bit insane. If he could manage to give Potter a bloody lip, then why couldn't one of the most powerful wizards in all of history catch Potter and kill him?

The fact that catching a seventeen-year-old was the very core of all of You-Know-Who's plans annoyed Draco to no end. He couldn't understand why his father looked up to a man who had such mad notions. Well, perhaps he could see why his father had begun to follow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, before all of the crap with Potter. Back then, the Dark Lord had wanted to rid the wizarding race of mudblood filth. Now that was something Draco could understand.

He hated all of the muggle grime tainting his race, his people. What if the wizards died out because of all the mixed blood? He couldn't bear the thought, but the Dark Lord had lost sight of that seventeen years ago.

All of this was the very reason he hated Harry Potter.

Potter was a fierce advocate of muggles and mudbloods alike and was himself a half-blood. He supported all of Dumbledore's stupid ideals, and had befriended a family of one of the most noted blood-traitors, ever. Everything about The Golden Boy made Draco cringe.

He was also (even if he didn't like to admit it), somewhat intimidated by Potter. Potter gave Draco a run for his money on the Quidditch field and also wasn't very easy to bully. He still remembered the first time Potter had physically hit him, that day on the pitch; he'd been with both Weasley twins. Yes, Draco remembered that well.

Draco much preferred the reactions he got from most people when he insulted them. They usually got quiet and walked away, acknowledging Draco's superiority, but not Harry Potter. With an insult to Potter, Draco usually got detention and a black eye, but it was all worth it of course.

Draco never would've believed he'd be stuck in a room with Potter. This year was supposed to be the ultimate year. The year when Draco would have run of the school and as many girls as he wanted and be worshiped by the Slytherins, but no, Potter had to come in and ruin everything, like always.

When Dumbledore had contacted Draco's mother about the Head Boy situation, Narcissa had come to Hogwarts in an instant. Privately, she had explained to Draco the advantage that he now held for his father. She had made him agree to obey the rules and listen to the Headmaster. Acquiescing to his mother's request, he did as she asked. It had of course made him angry and had made him feel used, but Draco was a good boy and he always did as his mummy told him. His own submissiveness made him feel stupid and sick.

Draco rolled his eyes. There was no use in dwelling on things he knew he could not change. He was stuck with You-Know-Who, he was stuck with taking the Dark Mark, and he was stuck sharing a room with Potter. There was nothing for it.

Draco sighed and continued lathering up; he hadn't been expecting someone else to want to wash up too.

"Good morning," said an all-too-hated voice behind him. Draco jumped at least a foot in the air. Harry Potter was standing there stark naked.

Harry awoke feeling quite sore. Not only had there been the fight from the previous night, but he had also been lying on the couch at a very odd angle and regretted not returning to bed.

He rubbed his eyes and stared around. The room was much too bright and he assumed that the light had been what had awoken him.

Looking at his watch Harry realized it was time for him to get up anyway. He didn't feel like going to class and he sat on the couch rubbing his neck for a few moments, thinking seriously about skiving off.

"It would never do to cut classes on the second day of them, Harry," he imagined Hermione saying to him sternly. Harry rolled his eyes; even his imaginary Hermione was a pain.

He got to his feet and did a few toe touches to straighten out his back. He could hear the sound of running water coming from the bathroom and groaned. Malfoy had beaten him to the showers.

Harry sighed heavily and sat back down, how long was Malfoy going to take? He glanced at his watch again and knew that if he wanted to smell okay for the rest of the day, he was going to have to shower, but he was not going in there. He would wait it out.

A minute passed, and then five minutes passed, and then ten minutes, and when fifteen minutes had passed Harry, feeling disgruntled because Ron had been right, jumped up from the couch and sprinted to the bathroom door. He had roughly 20 minutes to get ready if he wanted breakfast.

The room was filled with steam as was expected and Harry stripped down quickly, throwing his clothes in a messy pile next to Malfoy's, which were neatly folded.

He entered the shower region and could see Malfoy standing with his back turned, completely naked. Harry, to his own annoyance, couldn't help noticing that Malfoy was very fit; perhaps this was the reason he had heard Malfoy got more action than any other boy in their year. For a second he self-consciously wondered what his body looked like.

Malfoy seemed to be enjoying his shower and hadn't noticed Harry come in.

"Good morning." Harry said loudly, announcing his company. He almost burst out laughing when Malfoy jumped a foot in the air and spun around wildly.

Malfoy's eyes immediately narrowed as he looked at Harry.

"What do you want?" he spat angrily.

"A shower," Harry replied moving over to another tap as far from Malfoy as he could get. He felt oddly insecure, as if being in the shower with the blond was somehow giving him something to use against him. He'd never felt like that in front of any of his dorm mates in the Gryffindor showers.

Malfoy rolled his eyes and started washing again, but Harry threw a quick glance at him to make sure he wasn't looking. To his surprise he noticed that Malfoy's usually disgustingly proud posture was slumped a bit, as if he were embarrassed or nervous.

Harry disregarded this and, feeling strangely embarrassed himself, chose a tap that claimed to have soap that smelled like a mixture of vanilla and some other more masculine scent, the combination was actually quite nice.

"Couldn't you have waited?" Malfoy asked from across the room.

"No," Harry said, keeping his eyes firmly on the wall in front of him. He began covering his own body with soap. "It's almost time to go to class. I tried waiting, but apparently you take hour long showers."

Malfoy rolled his eyes again and ignored him, but for the rest of the shower he made little sounds of annoyance and threw Harry quite a few disgruntled glances which he successfully ignored.

Once they were both done with their showers they fought for a moment over a towel they had grabbed at the same time.

"Merlin, just take it!" Harry said after a few moments of pointless tugging. He let the towel go and watched with satisfaction as Malfoy stumbled back.

The blond sneered and wrapped the towel around his hips and then strutted over to the sink to brush his teeth and do his hair. He pushed intentionally into Harry on the way over. Harry clenched his fist to keep from hitting the Ferret.

Harry was at his own sink for a total of five minutes. He brushed his teeth and shook the water out of his hair with his hands and then turned to leave and get dressed. Malfoy was leaning very close to the mirror, examining his hair meticulously.

Harry eyed him for a moment. How could anyone care that much about what they looked like?

"Is there something you want?" Malfoy asked Harry, looking at him from the mirror.

Harry didn't even open his mouth to respond; he simply gave a half tired look of annoyance and left the room to get dressed. Was this the way every morning was going to be? He hoped not.

It didn't take him long to pull on his uniform and then he was grabbing his books and going down the stairs once again. Malfoy was only just heading up to his room and Harry thanked Merlin that he wouldn't have to walk down to breakfast with him.

The Great Hall was buzzing with activity. The many students that were sitting at the four house tables were still catching up with each other after a whole summer apart.

Many of them were rubbing their eyes or yawing. Most of the boys looked tousled, as if they had gotten up and ready within a few short minutes and most of the girls looked a bit more undone then they would usually be looking. Everything seemed to be going at its usual pace for the second day of the school year, but there were two students who were conspicuous because of their absence: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.

If you were a student at Hogwarts and you weren't deaf or blind then you would be able to guess why these two boys were missing.

Everyone had heard Dumbledore announce the Head Boys at the feast and had now had a whole day to talk it over. Naturally, because of the way news traveled at Hogwarts, almost the entire school had acquired the knowledge that Head students shared a room. It was knowledge that hadn't been very common before simply because no one had really cared that much, but when Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy were the new Head Boys then everyone took notice.

What new entertaining rows and arguments would there be to witness in the corridors, what would happen between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins now that both their leaders would be at each other's throats constantly? Surely nothing good, but undoubtedly enjoyable.

The buzz around school had even reached some of the teacher's ears who were wary about the whole situation rater than excited or intrigued, or at least most of them were.

If at that moment you looked at Dumbledore, who was eating his bacon, you would be able to see the tiniest of smiles gracing his wise face as he watched Harry finally entering the Hall shortly followed by Draco.

Haughty expressions on their faces, they took their saved seats with their friends and began to eat. Draco went into a very loud rant about the awful morning and night he had had while Harry exchanged dark looks and quiet words with only Ron and Hermione. It was obvious that the boys first time in their room together hadn't been enjoyable for either of them, but Dumbledore continued to smile.

Professor McGonagall however, who was sitting on Dumbledore's right side, was frowning as she stared at Harry and Draco.

"Albus?" she asked firmly.

"Yes, Minerva?" answered Dumbledore, turning to face her politely.

"Are you looking at the same boys that I am looking at?"

"Assuming that you are referring to Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy, then yes I am," he replied happily.

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Then what on earth are you smiling about?" she asked quite seriously. "Look at them Albus- they are obviously unhappy and I can't even begin to imagine what they will be like after the first week is over."

Dumbledore continued to smile happily. "Oh, I know they're unhappy and I know that they will be for quite a while."

McGonagall raised both eyebrows now. "And you're pleased with that?" she asked in a tone near incredulousness.

"No, of course not," Dumbledore said, but didn't say anything other than that.

McGonagall began to become visibly irritated, her nose flaring a bit. "Albus, you know perfectly well how I feel about this. I haven't thought it was a good idea from the beginning. Honestly, putting two boys who belong to one of the biggest school rivalries since-" she shot a quick glance at Snape who was sitting on Dumbledore's left side "… it simply cannot lead to anything good."

"Ah, but you are not looking at the situation with the same view as I am," said Dumbledore serenely. "And forgive me for correcting you, but I did not choose Harry and Draco."

McGonagall blew air from her nose in an impatient manner. "This isn't the Goblet of Fire we're talking about! You know good and well that you can ultimately decide the Head Students! The emblem just makes a suggestion and wasn't used for years before you!"

Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall with something akin to fairness, as though contemplating her. "Yes that is true," he said, "although there hasn't been a Headmaster or Mistress in years that went against the emblem's decision when it was used. It does, after all, pick the best students in the year."

McGonagall was still having none of it. "Perhaps it's malfunctioned this year," she said simply. "I cannot see the point of this, Albus. Why put the Prefects through all the arguments they're bound to have? Why do this to the boys themselves? This is Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy for Merlin's sake. Have you not watched them for the past six years? How I ask you, how can anything good come of this?"

Dumbledore's smile faded a bit. "I have watched them for the past six year and I can understand why your first instinct would be to never allow those two boys to be stuck inside a room together, I can see why you would want me to choose someone else to take on the major responsibility of being head Boy, but I must choose to act upon my instinct that tells me that this is best. I do believe, strongly in fact, that something very good may come of this."

McGonagall shook her head and picked up her fork although she did not begin eating. "I just don't have a very good feeling about it. I would say more, but given where we are right now I'll refrain, but I will say this: some of the reason this makes me wary has nothing to do with school rivalry," and then with one last meaningful look she finally lifted some food to her mouth.

Dumbledore was now looking serious. "Yes, it is wise not to discuss that here, but I'm going to assume I know what you're talking about and say that I have given it a great deal of thought and I have come to the conclusion that-"

"Ahem."

Dumbledore turned to his left where Snape was sitting sipping some coffee. He put down his mug and turned a bit to face Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Severus?" said Dumbledore.

"Please forgive me Headmaster but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Normally I would leave this between the both of you, but on this I feel a need to comment."

"Please do, Severus. This is as much your business as it is ours," said Dumbledore with a nod of his head, indicating that he wished Snape to continue.

"I must say that I agree with Minerva on this topic. As you both are aware, my classes are taught with both the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. I witness the relationship between Potter and Malfoy weekly and-"

"Don't you see, Albus?" McGonagall interrupted, "We see them in corridors and at Quidditch, but Severus sees them together on a weekly bases for full class periods and he knows how they behave- am I correct Severus?"

Snape gave a jerky nod of his head and a strained smile. "Yes that is true, but I was just about to say that I have already taught their class this week and when I entered the dungeons I was greeted by Potter lunging at Malfoy. They are already resorting to physical violence. Headmaster, do you think it advisable to allow this to continue?"

Dumbledore's brow furrowed and he looked down at his plate in thought. Snape continued.

"Forgive me sir but I only expect it to grow worse as the year progresses and, please excuse my bluntness, but I cannot think it anything but foolish to keep them as Head Boy. Perhaps if one of them were removed," here Snape threw a very quick glance in Harry's direction, "and replaced with another student, things would be much better off."

Dumbledore gave a small sigh and looked up at the ceiling. "I can see your point," he said, "but once again I must act upon my instinct. That is not to say that I don't value your advice, I value it greatly, from both of you, but…" he trailed off as his eyes traveled back down to stare once again at Harry and Draco.

"Alright," said McGonagall sitting up even straighter then usual. "Let us put everything we've mentioned before aside. These are not just any students, this is not just some Gryffindor seventh year nor just some Slytherin seventh year. Being that he is in my house I happen to know that Potter is somewhat of a leader in Gryffindor, he has a great amount of influence over the lot of them and judging by what I've seen I would say that Malfoy is much the same in Slytherin." She looked at Snape.

"Yes, I would say that about Draco," he said. "He does have a lot of influence over his peers." McGonagall nodded curtly and then went on.

"Don't you see Albus? This is not just about the two of them. If relations between them grow worse, then relations between Gryffindor and Slytherin will surely grow worse as well and isn't house unity something you are always stressing?"

Dumbledore smiled again "Funnily enough," he said, "house unity is precisely why I wish them to remain the Head Boys."

Snape and McGonagall both raised skeptical eyebrows. "What?" asked McGonagall.

Dumbledore looked at both of them. "Imagine what could happen if Harry and Draco were to become friends- or more realistically, friendly acquaintances- now I know that you both feel that this is rather unlikely," said Dumbledore because Snape and McGonagall had just made noises of disbelief, "but the Headship has been known to bring students together before, why even Harry's own parents began seeing each other while they were Head Boy and Girl and everyone knew how much Lily… disliked James."

"We are dealing with something rather different here," Snape cut in rather harshly. "That was between a Head Boy and Girl who were both of the same house, and the dislike was only coming from one of them. What we are dealing with between Potter and Draco is not a romantic case involving unrequited love; these are two competitive teen boys who will stop at nothing to one up each other. Friendship of any kind between them is highly, highly unlikely, and then to top it all off there's what you were discussing earlier." Snape lowered his voice considerably. "I am not accusing Draco of anything, Headmaster, but he is the son of Lucius Malfoy and well… I'm just saying that… anything is possible. I know very well how the Dark Lord works and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he tried to use Draco in some way to get to Potter."

"Nor would I," agreed Dumbledore seriously. "I have taken this into account and I will be keeping a very sharp eye on both boys. I expect that you will both do the same?"

"Of course," McGonagall and Snape said in unison. Dumbledore nodded.

"I know that this may prove fruitless," he said reasonably, "and if I begin to see that there can be no progress made between Harry and Draco, and they are still fighting of course, then I will take the necessary action and appoint new students. I do want to wait though, at the very least a few months-"

"But, Albus," McGonagall interjected, "how on earth could two new students take over after half the year is gone!"

"I have high faith that we will not need to result to that, but if Harry and Draco are not getting the job done then that is what will have to happen."

"Forgive me once again, but couldn't all of this be avoided if two new students were appointed now?" asked Snape.

McGonagall looked expectantly at Dumbledore who had gone back to staring at his two students. He sighed quietly.

"I know I cannot convince you now," he began, "but hopefully, if things go the way I think they will, then you will both begin to see why I am letting this whole thing carry on. There are better times to discus this, away from listening ears; perhaps I can interest you in a visit to my office later this evening?"

Both Snape and McGonagall nodded.

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