A/N: Still kind of a short chapter, and once again, I left everyone hanging. After this chapter, things are going to start getting alittle odd for dear old Harry. I'm not sure how, so I can't give away much, but it's going to happen, change is afoot. The question is, is Harry ready?

Hermione made her way back to the Gryffindor tower quickly. There, she paced the common room and finally settled down to work on some Astronomy homework that wasn't due for two weeks.

Ginny spotted her sitting alone and came over to chat, but when Hermione said nothing, she left in a huff, stomping all the way up to her room. Seamus and Dean tried talking to her as well but the only thing she said was,"Where's Ron? Have any of you seen him this evening?"

Finally deciding that her homework wasn't going to get done today, she shut the book and took to pacing the room again. She decided, after a good 20 minutes, that it was time to tell Ron what was going on. She had a feeling that Harry could be in trouble, and who better to help her help Harry than his bestfriend? She just hoped that Ron wouldn't fly off the handle and listen for once, that way she could tell him everything, instead of him hearing only part of the story and then going off to pound Malfoy into a pulp.

She saw flaming red hair enter the portrait hole and she knew Ron had finally entered the tower for the night. She ran through the chairs and jumped in front of him,"Ron, we need to talk."

He looked at her through narrowed eyes and crossed his arms,"So, all of a sudden, you want to talk to me?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"It's important. I-I, I've promised Harry that I wouldn't tell you what we've been doing, but I can't anymore. I'm worried about him, about this whole thing and I need your help." She blurted all in one breath.

His features softened,"Let's go sit down then."

Once seated, Hermione told him the whole story, watching his facial expressions change from time to time. Once Hermione was finished her story, he scratched his head and leaned forward,"Ok, so Malfoy is under the influence of Essence of Aphrodite, and Harry has been alone, with him, trying to fix this?"

"Yes."

"Is he a nutter?" Ron asked.

"It looks that way."

Both were quiet, the noises in the common room seemed to be background noise as the two were lost in their own thoughts. Ron shifted in his chair, pained expression playing across his face, he finally asked what was bothering him,"Does," he cleared his throat,"does Harry love him?"

Hermione's eyes grew wide, she sighed not really knowing what to say,"I don't know."

-

Both boys stood staring at eachother in the dim prefects bathroom clutching their towels. Finally, Harry moved forward,"We should turn the showers on, and make sure the windows are closed."

Draco shook his head and moved to the opposite end of the room and began to turn on the showers that Harry hadn't reached yet. He hadn't voiced his opinion that much on this matter, but he felt that this wasn't going to work. It didn't seem like a logical plan to him. Sure, Hermione was a very smart person, some would even call her clever, all of which Draco would never admit to, but he wasn't sure if this was one of her best ideas.

He watched Harry turn on the last of the showers, and stood there, waiting for him to walk back over to him. He did,"I-I guess we should change, only way it's really going to work." Harry said pushing up his glasses as they were starting to fall down his face.

Harry gathered his towel and pair of shorts, and entered a empty bathroom stall. Draco followed suit, once changed, they met up with eachother again. Silence followed as the pair continued to stair at eachother. Draco tried not to watch him, he was half naked for gods sakes. The oil was kicking in full force, hormones were kicking in with it. Sweat was beginning to gather on Harry's chest, and Draco wanted to lick it off of him. He shook his head. He had to get this off of his mind. He was here to stop this.

Harry noticed Draco looking at him, so he quickly searched his mind for something that would break his concentration,"We are probably going to be here awhile," he said,"maybe we should over over here and sit down." he said motioning to a corner close to a shower. Draco nodded and the both went the corner and sat.

They sat side by side, legs almost touching, until Draco suddenly stood,"I forgot, I have something for us, might help pass the time." he said walking over to a shelf that was situated beside the sinks. Draco got into a bag that Harry hadn't noticed early and pulled out two bottles of something, he walked back to Harry and handed him a bottle.

Harry studied it for a moment,"Butterbeer? How on earth?"

"I keep a supply in my room. Never know when I might get thirsty for something other than pumpkin juice." Draco opened his bottle and took a sip. "Go on, drink it. It's ok, I promise." he smiled lightly offering reassurance.

Reluctantly, Harry opened his bottle of butterbeer, and tasted it slowly. He knew, that in his current state, Draco was likely to do anything to get Harry, but he didn't think, that he would actually harm him in anway. It was just Hermione's warnings that had him completely paranoid.

"See, I told you it was fine."

"Yeah, you did." Harry said, tension seeming to leave him now.

The minutes ticked away slowly. The showers were doing their work though, because both boys were sweating profusely. Harry's always messy hair clung to his forehead, and sometimes fell into his eyes, and any atempt to clear it away was useless.

Draco's hair was no longer light and bouncy, but limp and quite damp, as if he had just gotten out of the shower.

Several empty butterbeer bottles littered the floor around them. Draco apparently brought just about his entire private stash. Whether it was the extreme heat that was starting to acculmulate in the room, or the extreme amounts of butterbeer the two had drunk, they seemed to be more loose, less likely to worry about what the other would think, Draco started the conversation.

"You know, this whole oil thing has changed everything."

"How so?" Harry asked confused.

"You and I. We're not the same anymore. Nothing is the same."

"Well, after this is all over, everything can go back to how it was. We can be enemies again, hate eachother, curse eachother in the hallway."

"That's not what I mean," he said with a heavy sigh.

Harry leaned closer to Draco,"then what do you mean?"

Draco stood and paced for a moment before stopping,"I'm not sure, but it's all different. Everything is."

Harry sat down the current bottle of butterbeer,"And."

"I'm falling to pieces and I don't want to."

Harry shook his head slightly,"What are you talking about?"