Discalimer: Nope, I own nothing.
"-and Harry even said he liked Mother."
"Draco, will you please remain silent, this will only take a minute!"
Harry snorted as Snape carefully measured several strands of Draco's dark hair before dropping them into the small cauldron bubbling on the table and stirring vigorously. Draco had spent the last fifteen minutes relaying every detail Harry had told him about his experience at Malfoy Manor, and Snape clearly had no interest.
"I'm glad you liked Mother, Harry. Some people find her a bit cold, but-"
"Draco!" Snape said warningly.
"Just wait 'till you meet the Dursleys." Harry began mischievously, winking at Draco, who sniggered as a muscle began to tic on Snape's forehead. "They'll probably have you sleeping back in the cupboard under the stairs if they find out who you really are!"
Draco looked confused, and Harry winced. He hadn't meant to say anything about the cupboard, he didn't need anyone's pity.
"What are you talking about?" Snape asked, and Harry sighed.
"Never mind."
Snape stopped stirring the cauldron and fixed Harry with an unwavering stare which told him he wasn't going anywhere until he had the truth.
"They had me sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs until I started going to Hogwarts. I know it sounds bad, but it wasn't really." Harry muttered.
"You slept in a cupboard?" Draco asked incredulously.
"Don't say it like that." Harry said uncomfortably "It wasn't that bad." He repeated.
"Mr Potter, as much as I detest you, I have to disagree." Snape interrupted, "A cupboard is no place for a child. Why didn't you have a proper bedroom?"
Harry looked up in surprise. Snape's face eyes were glittering in the same way they might if Neville had just exploded a cauldron, and his lips were tight and angry-looking.
"The Dursleys didn't like me much." Harry shrugged
"And so they made you sleep in a cupboard." Snape said slowly, setting down a ladle and giving Harry his full attention.
"There was room for a mattress. It wasn't so bad." Harry said defensively. "I didn't mind." he lied.
Immediately Snape glowered. "I know when I am being lied to, Mr Potter."
Harry shuffled and looked at his feet. He didn't feel comfortable talking about this to Snape of all people. He didn't care if the Dursleys got into trouble; he knew how they had treated him wasn't right, but he also knew that if even if they were punished for his upbringing he would still be sent to live with them every summer. Why make things harder on himself? They certainly wouldn't thank him for snitching on them.
After another moment of silence, Snape spoke again.
"If you won't talk about the matter, there is little I can do."
Harry opened his mouth to say that he was perfectly fine, thank you, but Snape held up a hand and cut him off.
"You can deny there is a problem, Potter, but my instincts tell me otherwise. Do remember, however, that Draco's housemates show loyalty to me in particular for my discretion. And despite popular opinion, I do not offer it to Slytherins alone – although others are less likely to ask for it." Snape locked eyes with him for a second, and Harry dropped his eyes to the floor, mouth slightly open in shock. Why was Snape suddenly being so nice?
"Sev helps a lot of kids with problems at home." Draco said quietly, as they left the room later. He frowned a little. "You know, you could tell me things too. I wouldn't tell anyone."
"There's nothing to tell." Harry said firmly, trying not to look guilty.
Draco looked at him skeptically, but let the matter slide.
After a few moments of walking through the empty corridors without speaking, Harry felt Draco's fingers lacing into his own.
It was the first time they had touched in that way since the ball the previous night, and Harry was hard pressed not to show his relief. Christmas day had seemed far too good to be true, and he'd begun to wonder if he'd imagined it all. He glanced at Draco, and felt a wave of happiness course through him when he saw he was smiling softly at the ground as they walked.
…ooo000ooo…
"Draco?"
A testy looking third year Slytherin was at his elbow.
"Piss off." Harry replied, the harsh answer coming to his lips rather easily after all these months of being Draco. He was hunched back over his Arithmancy homework, as he'd really been struggling with his class work, even with Draco meeting him for study sessions. Arithmancy was just too difficult to pick up when he'd missed the entire third year course, and Draco was hard pressed tutoring him in what he had missed, and at the same time to learn the fourth year material alongside Harry. Draco was having to use Harry's class notes, and the arrangement was not working. Harry didn't know how he was supposed to take good notes when he didn't understand most of what the professor was saying. Indeed, Professor Vector had noticed his shoddy work, which was saying something for the distant teacher who preferred to largely ignore her class while she lectured. He'd been hoping to catch up over the holidays, but classes would be starting in a few days and he had barely made any progress at all.
"Malfoy, there's someone out in the corridor asking for you!" This time it was a different boy, and he sounded so irritated that Harry huffed and forced himself to his feet, leaving his homework strewn across the table.
"What is it?" He drawled lazily, approaching and leaning against the common room entrance.
"Harry?"
Harry choked, his hand flying to his chest in shock as his godfather suddenly stepped into view, looking back at him looking worried and angry.
"Not here!" someone hissed, and Harry's eyes landed on Draco, who was standing behind Sirius looking upset "I tried to tell him Harry, but-"
"Quiet you!" Sirius snapped "Harry, can we talk?"
Harry looked over his shoulder. The other Slytherins weren't looking to see who was there for him, but they could look over at any moment.
Sirius looked as wild as ever, his jaw covered with stubble and his eyes wide with emotion, but his now close cropped hair and cleaner skin made it hard for anyone to identify him with the ruffian in the Daily Prophet who went by the name of Sirius Black.
"Not here." Harry repeated Draco's words, averting his eyes to the floor. Why was Sirius here? Was he here to shout at Harry because of what he had told him in the letter? Cleary someone had told him that he and Draco had switched bodies.
"Let's go to the Room of Requirement." Draco said, sounding relieved. "Harry, I tried to tell him I'd bring you to him if he just waited, but-"
There was a loud bark, and Draco jumped as Sirius gave him a warning growl, now in his animagus form.
The rest of the walk was in silence.
Who told him? Harry fumed, then he bit his lip. More importantly, how is he going to react? He doesn't look happy, but its not as bad as it could be...
For Sirius looked far calmer than Harry had ever envisioned him. He had snapped at Draco a few times, but although there had been anger in his dark expression, Harry couldn't yet tell if it was directed at him or not.
It seemed to take hours rather than minutes to reach the seventh floor from the dungeons. Harry couldn't help feeling more and more agitated as Sirius trotted along ahead of them without looking back, his back stiff and his tail giving an twitch every minute or so. Draco was walking fast to try to keep up, and Harry followed them blindly, wondering if Sirius had permission from the headmaster to be at the school. He doubted it.
By time they reached the Room of Requirement, Harry was feeling substantially more apprehensive, and he darted inside after Draco while Sirius, back in his human form, held the door open for them.
The room had transformed into a sort of living room, although with a garishly Gryffindor scarlet and yellow colour scheme – it was almost like a small version of the common room. The space that Harry would usually expect a television to be in inside a muggle home was filled by a large fireplace with a cheerily crackling fire which exuded a warmth which was most welcome in the Scottish winter. Looking around Harry had mixed feelings of nostalgia for Gryffindor, and an oncoming headache at the thought of returning to such a bright place after months of being enveloped in cool Slytherin colors. Despite how fond Draco seemed of wearing Harry's old house scarf, the room had clearly been summoned by Sirius.
"Well, sit down then." Sirius said, gesturing at Harry who had been gazing at the room for the last few moments. He blinked stupidly and moved to sit in a squashy red arm chair. Sirius took the two seater sofa opposite him, while Draco sequestered himself in another armchair closer to the fire, facing the other two but a little further away.
Harry sat uncomfortable while Sirius looked him over, his mouth slightly downturned.
"Well kiddo, when were you going to tell me?"
Harry looked at his shoes, but the waiting silence demanded a reply. "I had a lot going on. I didn't want to tell anyone anything."
"Why?"
Harry looked up at the broken tone, and was struck to the core with a sudden deep shame as Sirius stared back at him, wide eyes filled with pain.
"Harry, I'm a wanted criminal. I can't be with you, but I've tried to help you and be there for you as much as I can-"
Harry closed his eyes, willfully fighting off the unexpected tears which threatened. "Sirius-" he cut in "It's nothing you've done, I'm just- just used to doing things alone. And – and I know you hate dark wizards…" he tailed off, wondering if he should have mentioned his original misgivings concerning Sirius.
"And you thought I wouldn't support you?" Sirius demanded, looking more upset "Did you realize that Dumbledore told me about this, that I knew already?"
"No, I –"
"He means right from the start, Harry." Draco cut in quietly, "When they first found out about-"
Harry felt sick. This whole time, Sirus had known…
"Shut up." Sirius snapped, "Harry-"
"Hang on," Harry said, stricken at his tone, looking from Draco's expression – as if he had been slapped – to Sirius "You do have a problem then? With Draco?"
Sirius gestured dismissively "That's not important right now."
"No," Harry said, aware that his voice was unnaturally high "it is important. To me."
He didn't look over at Draco, who was trying to catch his eye. He fixed his eyes on Sirius, who was now looking uncomfortable.
"I don't have a problem with you being gay, Harry." Sirius said "I'd be lying if I said I hadn't dabbled in that sort of thing when I was younger," he paused for an awkward roguish grin which seemed very out of place in the current atmosphere. "It didn't take much to understand, from your letter, that you and him are involved, but - well I grew up in his sort of family-"
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed, suddenly vehement "Draco is like you – he's different from his family, he's not Dark-"
"Harry, you don't need to fight my battles-" Draco began, then fell silent at a glare from Sirius.
"Stop it!" Harry said to his godfather, begin to feel quite distraught. He'd worried about Sirius reacting like this, yes, but he hadn't actually thought-
"Look, kiddo." Sirus sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger "you're not going to like what I'm going to say – either of you. But hear me out."
"I understand you two are probably mad for each other. And that's alright – but Harry, I care about you and don't want your heart getting broken."
"Draco won't-"
"Listen!" barked Sirius, then settled down again. "I've been where you are – not with a Slytherin," he growled the word like it was a curse "but regardless, it didn't end well. I've been in a lot of relationships, Harry, and I've seen my friends go through them too. I saw how they ended. Some worked, some didn't. But this-" he looked between Harry and Draco, a wretched expression on his face, "it can't last."
Before both boys could begin to protest he continued. "You boys have nothing in common. You're only together because you're in a high pressure situation – Harry, apart from all this other rubbish, you've just realized you might be gay, and Draco is the only one you're inclined to trust enough to test this out on. Even if this relationship was based on something more solid – say a friendship, or a similar background, it can't work. Is Draco going to give up his family for you?" he paused for the words to sink in "Are you going to fight with Ron and Hermione for ever?" He looked at Harry for a long moment, and Harry tried to formulate an answer which encapsulated all of his disappointment and indignation. Before he had got his tongue around the words he needed to say, Sirius started talking again.
"Best give it up now, before this damages Draco's relationship with his parents, or yours with your friends Harry. When this does end, it'll be messy."
"He doesn't know." Draco's voice cut through the tension like a knife, with a marveling air as if he was just realizing something. "Harry – he doesn't realize that we're, that –"
Harry stared at Draco, who was trying to communicate something to him with his eyes.
"What?" Sirius demanded.
Draco huffed impatiently, then frowned as he tried to pick his words carefully. "Harry – tell him we can't really turn back."
"What?" Sirius demanded, now looking very confused and apprehensive, while Harry stared at Draco uncomprehendingly. "What do you mean, you can't turn back? As soon as Snivellus makes the cure-"
Sirius was still talking, but to Harry it was just background noise as he realized what Draco had been trying to convey to him.
Whatever Dumbledore had told his godfather, he hadn't told him the full story. Either he had left it to Harry to tell, or he had never gotten around to it – Harry could well imagine Sirius storming off prematurely, thinking he had heard the worst. Maybe Dumbledore had chickened out of telling the full story, perhaps he had sensed that Sirius would go absolutely ballistic if he knew.
Whatever the reason, Sirius didn't realize that Harry was really Draco Malfoy.
"I-." Harry stopped, throat dry. "Sirius, this isn't a temporary body switch."
Sirius frowned. "Well…no. I know that. It was meant to be permanent, right? I think that was the gist of it. But Snape-"
"Were you paying attention when Professor Dumbledore explained things?" Harry said bluntly
Sirius looked sheepish. "Well…I was a little upset at the time. But I think I got most of it." He paused, then looked embarrassed. "I may have rushed off to go and see you." He immediately spotted the resignation on Harry's face. "What did I miss? I tried to go and visit you, but they stopped me, said it was too dangerous. But I figured if there was anything more, they would have-"
"Sirius, this isn't a body switch at all. It's a glamour that stopped working."
Silence. Sirius looked lost, confusion written all over his face as he tried to figure it out.
"I was swapped by Lucius Malfoy with Draco as a baby – I won't go into details, I'll leave that to the Headmaster - but long story short, he wasn't able to get his son back. He had to leave the glamours on." Harry ploughed ahead, eyes tightly shut as if he could ward off Sirius's oncoming reaction. "He obliviated himself so that he would forget – he couldn't live knowing he had Harry Potter instead of his real son. So no one knew. The glamours began to fade off this summer."
He opened his eyes. Sirius's eyes were bugging out.
"Sirius, I've been Draco Malfoy all along. I just never knew it."
…ooo000ooo…
"Harry. Harry!" Draco broke into a run before Harry could get too far ahead. He made a grab for his arm, but was roughly shaken off.
He stopped abruptly, feeling as if Harry had socked him in the gut. "You're not- "he said, his voice strained "you're not listening to him, are you? About – us?"
Harry stopped, pivoting on his heel. Draco was shaken by the devastation in his eyes, Harry was trembling slightly. He had just opened his mouth when several people barrelled around the corner.
"Harry!" Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas chorused. The group consisted of fourth year Gryffindors – Hermione, Ron and the other boys from the dorm, who were rallying around Draco's shoulder's eyeing 'Draco Malfoy' suspiciously, who only Ron and Hermione were hovering uncertainly beside.
"Are you coming to dinner?" Hermione said, frowning. Draco hesitated, looking at Harry.
"Is 'ol ferret features giving you trouble?" Finnigan carried on obliviously, clapping a hand on Draco's shoulder.
Hermione's sharp eye were darting between the two frozen figures, and suddenly Neville piped up "Malfoy? Are you alright? You look strange."
Harry seemed to shake himself out of his stupor, though as he seemed to come to life, tears were quite obviously brimming on his pale eyelashes. "Going – practice." He muttered. "Snitch." His eyes settled on Draco before whipping around and fleeing down the corridor.
"Weird bloke." Finnigan noted. "Hey Harry-!"
But Draco was already on Harry's tail, Ron and Hermione right behind him if the sounds of clattering shoes were anything to go by.
"What's wrong with Harry?" Hermione demanded
"What did you do?!"
Draco ignored Ron and hissed at Hermione "Go away. He's upset because his godfather can't accept that he's actually the spawn of evil."
"Harry's not-" Ron began furiously.
"Oh really?" Draco snapped back venomously, halting for a moment to glare at them both. "Well maybe you should go to the Room of Requirement and straighten that out with Black while I try and pick up the pieces!"
"Padfoot – did he really - ?" Ron looked shocked
"We should be going to see Harry, not you!" Hermione said angrily
"Well you're not coming!" Draco retorted, turning and continuing the chase. Behind him, he heard Ron saying "Actually I'd like to speak to Sirius. He'd better not have-"
But the words faded into the distance as Draco raced down the stairs.
...ooo000ooo...
Draco had to search the skies before he could even attempt to catch Harry.
His Nimbus 2001 was as brilliant as ever, but it was no match for a Firebolt. In his grief, Harry had taken his usual broom instead of the Nimbus, and Draco had a hard time of it spotting the distant blurred dot in the sky, which was pointed towards the stratosphere and fast fading.
Angling his broom and shooting off, Draco prayed fervently that Harry would slow down before he succumbed to the thin air that he would soon be exposed to up there. He didn't fancy his chances at catching a dead weight from so high up.
The air was freezing, and it only got worse as he zoomed higher, his eyes fixed on that blurred figure which thankfully seemed to be growing larger. The wind scraped at his cheeks endlessly like icy sandpaper, and his face and fingers were numb.
"Harry!" he croaked out hoarsely, though he was still nowhere near enough to be heard.
Up ahead though, Harry turned and Draco could see the shape of his face now, though a fine drizzle was now beginning to soak him though and his glasses fast became a nuisance.
Harry was approaching him, and Draco pulled up a little so that they didn't crash into one another. He could barely see at all now, and the air around him was frigid, the stormy clouds only a short distance away.
"Can we go down?" Draco croaked when Harry came closer. "I can't see."
The Harry-figure nodded shakily, and they began to descend slowly together.
"Give Black a chance to think." Draco said as soon as he was a comfortable distance away from the thunderous-looking clouds. "He was shocked, anyone would be. We were."
"He hates me." Harry whispered, and Draco struggled to catch it as the wind blew his voice away.
"No he doesn't. He didn't say a word. He just sat there, you don't know what he was feeling, apart from being really, really surprised."
Harry didn't reply, but merely sped up slightly, more angled towards the ground.
"Are we okay?" Draco shouted after him, wiping his sleeve over his glasses and finding it did nothing for his vision.
Below him, Harry slowed up, and what Draco got to his side, he felt Harry's freezing hand gripping his own over the broom handle.
"I don't care about what he said!" Harry said angrily, his voice raw. "I hope you didn't listen to that rubbish. He knows nothing about us."
Draco felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest.
"Well at least we learnt one thing today." He said, peering foggily in Harry's direction as they landed
"What's that?"
"There's definitely an 'us'. I'd been wondering since Christmas day."
Getting off his broom, he took off his glasses and did his best to wipe them properly on his robes. When he looked back up, Harry still looked miserable, but he was smiling weakly.
"Me too. I don't know what to call it."
Draco shrugged.
"Well that's alright then." Harry said, sounding overly weary, but satisfied.
"Harry!"
Harry closed his eyes. "Hermione." He sighed, though she was still some distance away, running towards them.
"Do you want me to head them off?" Draco asked, beginning to feel better already.
"No." Harry turned to face the oncoming pair.
Hermione skidded to a halt, Ron jogging after her arrived second. She bit her lip, looking nervously at Harry.
"I know you probably want space Harry, but we just wanted to let you know Sirius isn't angry at you."
"He's not?" Harry looked up, eyes clinging to hers like a drowning man.
"No." She said, although she looked a bit guilty.
"He didn't say anything other than he needed to think, mate." Ron cut in, his voice stormy
"He said he'd had a huge shock and he needed to think." Hermione echoed.
"But he didn't say he wasn't angry?. Harry finished, resigned.
"He sounded upset – shocked. That's all, Harry. Don't jump to conclusions." Hermione said gently.
"She's right." Draco nudged Harry's hand, to show he'd hold it if the others weren't there. "You could be getting all worked up for nothing. Let's go in."
After a moment, Harry nodded, and they all began to move back up to the castle.
Draco was gratified when Ron dropped behind the others, gesturing at him to do the same and muttered "Don't tell Harry, but I got Sirius a good one on the nose." He mimed the action "Just to speed up his 'thinking'."
Draco smirked in satisfaction. "Granger must have hit the roof."
"Actually," Ron said ruefully "I should have held back. If I had, she would have got to him first. Bastard would have deserved it."
So, just so you don't mention it in the reviews, yes I know there's probably typos all over this chapter. I wrote it and posted it immediately. Something about the timing and JAA-NE's review combined made me want to put it up NOW! I'll go over it and tidy up tomorrow. Got work at 4am, and it's 10pm right now, so I'm going to bed. Night!