A/N: A LOT happens in this chapter… and some of it you might not be very happy about. I, uh, hope my Blaise-love doesn't drive the hardcore H/D-ers away. I swear you'll like where this fic goes, and Blaise is necessary for getting us there. Plus, you know, he's hot… in all his fictional playa glory.

-oOoOo-

Chapter Five:

Justice & Desirable No. 1

The third morning began better than the last, mostly because Blaise hadn't made the grave error of confusing Pansy's bed head with Potter's untamable mop. He stayed away from tempting jet-black locks entirely, at least until he could see the face under said hair.

He sat next to Potter at breakfast. Granger, Longbottom, and Draco made up the rest of the early risers.

"Good morning, all," he said cheerily, fetching a large cup of very black coffee. "How did everyone sleep?"

Draco did not deign to answer, but then he never did before he had his daily intake of caffeine. Longbottom didn't have anything to say either, but this was not surprising, as Longbottom hated Blaise for being a slimy Slytherin who was rather proficient at the Imperius Curse.

Potter, however, was a joy as always. "Fine. How did you sleep?"

"Oh, just fine. I had very nice dreams." He winked at Harry, hoping the poor oblivious (and oh-so delicious) boy would catch on. He didn't.

"That's nice."

"Yes, Hero, it is nice. And may I say, you have very talented hands in my dreams."

Granger choked on her tea. Potter turned to his friend. "Are you all right, Hermione?"

"Fine," she gasped. She gave Blaise a look. It said, 'What the hell are you up to? If it hurts Harry I will disembowel you with a paper cut hex. Imagine how long that would take, Zabini, imagine.' Blaise held back a shiver of fear, and grinned disarmingly. If anything, this only made the look speak more violently.

Blaise was saved, if one could call it that, by the arrival of the Minister of Magic and what looked like every Auror from the Auror Department.

Draco looked hunted, and closed his eyes. Probably hoping this was all a terrible dream.

"You're a difficult wizard to find, Mr. Potter," said the Minister, smiling wryly at Harry.

Harry smiled too, as if the sudden infestation of Ministry officials was a happy occasion, and stood to shake the Minister's hand.

"Minister Shacklebolt," he said, his smile getting wider. Granger too looked pleased to see the very large, very intimidating man. "It's good to see you."

"It's Interim Minister, Mr. Potter. I've not been elected."

"Not yet," said Harry, making it clear who he'd be voting for. Blaise shook his head. The boy needed a Slytherin helping hand if this was how he played political matters.

Shacklebolt smiled briefly, and said, "I'm afraid though, that we're here on official business."

"Oh?" Harry said, his eyes quickly flicking to Draco, who was pretending he was invisible. It was working, if only a little, because the Minister and the Aurors were utterly taken with Harry.

"The Ministry has been in shambles, and we've only gotten to this now. I'm sorry to put you though it again, Harry, but we need to get an official statement from you about the final battle, as well as everyone else who was at Hogwarts that night."

"Oh, I see. Well, most of the members of the DA are here—which, I guess you knew, or you wouldn't have brought the whole Auror department with you." Harry chuckled.

"Yes, they knew," said Shacklebolt. "It's a two bird, one stone sort of day, you see Potter. They're here to do a little recruiting as well. Between yourself and Longbottom you turned out one hell of an army, and we'd be glad to have any of you working with the Aurors."

Longbottom ducked his head, hiding a blush, and Harry flashed a bright smile. "That's fantastic, sir. I'm sure you'll have more than one person who's interested."

"I'm very glad to hear that. Auror Williamson here," Shacklebolt gestured to a very attractive, if Blaise said so himself, man with very long sandy hair tied back in a ponytail. The man grinned easily at Harry. "He'll be taking your statement, Potter."

"Right now?" Harry asked apprehensively.

"If you're done with breakfast," Williamson said. "I need to speak with you, as well as Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger."

"Well, Ron's still asleep," said Harry. "Hey, Blaise, Drake, could you two get Ron and let everyone else know what's going on?"

Oh, Potter was clever. Blaise took back everything he'd ever said about the boy being oblivious.

"Sure," Blaise said, smiling easily. Draco was only slightly shaky on his feet, and they both escaped the Great Hall without anyone suddenly wanting to arrest Draco.

They got a hall away from the Entrance Hall, until Draco said, "I—I need to sit down."

Having no where to sit, Blaise pushed him against a wall and Draco slid down it. His friend was white.

"Are you okay?"

"Do you think its possible none of them knew who I was?" asked Draco.

"They can't have." Blaise smiled. "Potter's kind of sneaky, isn't he?"

Draco laughed, relief and disbelief clear. "I know. Where has he been hiding that?"

"What do we do now? We need to hide you… at least until Potter works his Chosen One magic."

"What are you talking about?"

"He got you out of there, Draco. He doesn't want you going to Azkaban, you twit. So until he makes things nice with the Minister (and how the hell does Potter know the Minister, anyway?) we need to make sure none of the Aurors wise up and decide to cart you off to Azkaban."

"He's not going to do anything for me, Blaise. Even if we did call a truce last night, that doesn't make us friends, and I've given him no reason to stick his neck out for me."

Blaise shook his head. "It's Potter. The mere fact that he wanted to call a truce… well, we've both seen how he protects his friends, and I think he counts you among that circle, for whatever daft reason he's got in his head. Be grateful for it, Draco."

Draco wasn't buying, but it hardly mattered.

Blaise woke Weasley and informed everyone of the Aurors presence, wanting to take statements and recruiting. It didn't take him long to herd them all out, and then he reset the password to the Den.

If anyone went looking for Draco, that would slow them down, and when they did get in… well, Draco wouldn't hide anywhere they'd expect him to, would he?

-oOoOo-

While the members of the DA, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were happy to assist the Aurors in their investigation, they were not happy to have to relive the battle or the past year.

Auror Williamson and the rest collected memories of the battle, and other key events, in order to get a clear picture. They were attempting to get a full and unbiased account (and what is more unbiased than an unaltered memory?) of the battle to use in the prosecution of Death Eaters and other loyal followers of Voldemort.

Even Blaise, Pansy, and Theo were questioned, and their memories of what happened after they were led out of the school with the other Slytherins were requested and given.

By the afternoon, everyone had been questioned except for Harry, who was still away somewhere with Auror Williamson and Minister Shacklebolt.

The group of emotionally drained students was congregated in the Great Hall, listlessly eating a late lunch. The house-elves had made an arrangement of comfort foods, with ice cream for dessert, but no one was talking much as they were all lost in remembered terror and still fresh grief.

It was understood that there would be no work done today.

At three, Harry hurried into the Great Hall and over to Blaise.

"Blaise, where's Draco?"

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

"They want to talk to him. I swear, I swear I won't let them take him, but they need to talk to him."

Blaise knew Harry believed what he said, but he didn't trust the Aurors. He looked to Theo and Pansy, who didn't know any more than he did what to do.

"He's in the seventh year dorm in Slytherin," Blaise said. "You'd best keep your word, Hero."

Harry nodded and hurried away, unaware of the concerned looks he was garnering.

-oOoOo-

Harry couldn't quite believe Draco had been allowed to go alone into the flooded dormitory. The Snakes were very protective of each other, and after Harry had nearly drowned, he was surprised they would let any one of them go down alone.

But there Draco was, Bubble Head Charm in place, floating over a bed and entertaining himself by making bubbles and popping them with well aimed sparks.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"The Minister and Auror Williamson want to talk to you."

Draco just looked at him for a moment, debating. "Are they going to arrest me?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I've made sure of it."

He'd demanded it, actually. Both Narcissa and Draco Malfoy would go free, or he would cause such a stink in the press… He'd made it clear that if it weren't for Narcissa and Draco he would have been unable to defeat Voldemort, and that's all there was to it. Sure, Draco's involvement was due entirely to chance, but still. Harry felt it counted, because so many of his own so-called victories relied entirely on chance and luck.

Teddy Lupin weighed heavily on his mind during the negotiations. Narcissa and Draco were Teddy's family, and that little boy had already had too much family taken from him. Harry wouldn't let Azkaban take any more—even if they were Malfoy's.

Draco didn't look like he believed him.

"Draco, I swear. You're not going anywhere."

Draco bit his lip, looking hunted. "All right."

-oOoOo-

Pansy let out a sigh of relief when Draco entered the Great Hall two hours later, accompanied by Potter, the Minister, and Auror Williamson.

Draco allowed her to hug him and pat his hair. He looked shocked and relieved in equal measure, as though an enormous weight had been taken away and he was left reeling by the lightened load.

The Minister cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the gathered students. "I want to thank you all for your assistance today. I know several of you were able to give us information we did not have before, and thanks to you the guilty parties will not be able to avoid just punishment."

There were weary smiles from some students.

"I'd like to thank the three of you personally," he said, addressing the Slytherins, "for assisting the younger students that night, and Apparating them to safety."

Mrs. Zabini hadn't been happy at the sudden influx of terrified children in the middle of the night, and even less so that her son had offered up their mansion as a temporary safe house, but at the time there wasn't anything she could do about it, other than scold Blaise, and she'd been gracious enough in the morning when she'd washed the green face mask away.

Pansy snorted at the dropped jaws of her classmates, and Blaise turned up his nose and said, "What? It's not like we were going to join old Snake Face, and we certainly weren't going to leave a bunch of first and second years to be blindly led to him."

Still gaping, and Theo said, "And Draco led Crabbe and Goyle away so we could do it without the Death Eaters knowing where the children were going."

"Huh," said Weasley. "That was cool of you, Malfoy."

"I am the epitome of cool, Weasley."

"Yes it was very cool," said Shacklebolt grinning slyly. "A plot worthy of my former House."

And just like that, Pansy liked the new Minister. Having a Slytherin was certainly better than having a Hufflepuff (Fudge) or a Gryffindor (Scrimgauer) in the office.

"Not much of a plot," Draco admitted. "Crabbe and Goyle are idiots. Were idiots."

Whatever Draco said about them, she knew he missed Vince and Greg as they once were, before the Dark Lord had corrupted them with Dark Magic, and so she hugged him again. He leaned his head on her shoulder wearily.

"I'll not take up any more of your time today," said Shacklebolt. "I and the Auror department thank you again, and we hope to see some of you in the Auror training program."

Potter shook the Minister's hand. "Thank you, Minister."

"Think nothing of it, Harry. I hope you all have an enjoyable summer."

-oOoOo-

Harry felt wiped out. Memories assailed him, and all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and try to forget this day and all the thoughts and feelings it had dredged up.

Hermione noticed. "Harry, are you feeling all right?"

"Not really. Though I don't think anyone is."

"No, I suppose not." The rest of their friends looked just as down and tired as Harry felt. "Maybe you should go see Teddy," she suggested. "That always makes you feel better."

Just thinking about the little boy with turquoise hair nearly brought a smile to his face. "Actually, yeah. I think I'll do that."

"Say hello to Mrs. Tonks for me, Harry," said Ron.

"Tonks?" said Draco. "Are you going to see my Aunt Andie?"

"Yeah, I want to see my godson."

"I—do you—could I come with you?" he asked almost hesitantly. "I'd like to see my mother."

"Sure," Harry smiled.

The journey to Andromeda Tonks's house was quiet. Harry rang the bell, and Andromeda answered.

"Harry, Draco," she said, looking between them like someone waiting for the punchline. "What a strange yet pleasant surprise."

"I'm sorry to just show up like this—" said Harry.

"Mum!" Draco pushed his way inside and all but threw himself at his mother.

"Darling, what is wrong?" Narcissa said, wrapping the blond up in her arms, looking terribly worried.

Andromeda smiled wryly. "Well, come on in, Harry. Clearly there's no need to stand on ceremony."

"It's been a rough day," Harry explained.

"Well, we'd best leave them to it," she said. Narcissa was still trying to get something coherent out of her son, who'd buried his face in her neck. Andromeda led Harry to the living room, where Teddy was in a play pen. The little boy squealed when he saw Harry, and waved his arms around.

Harry, who was better at this now after having a bit of practice, picked Teddy up. He already felt better. Happier.

"He recognizes you," Andromeda said.

Teddy made this all the more evident by scrunching up his face and changing his hair to match Harry's. Harry laughed, and the baby did too. "I love it when he does that."

"Since when are you and my nephew friendly?" asked Andromeda curiously. "I didn't think the two of you got on at all."

Harry shrugged. "We've called a truce. The Aurors were at Hogwarts today. They wanted a full picture of the battle."

"Ah," she said. "I see."

Harry squeezed Teddy a bit. Andromeda, he thought, liked to pretend the battle had never happened. The loss of her husband and daughter in the same year had hit her hard. She poured all her love into Teddy, just like Harry.

"Draco was cleared today. I think he's just relieved."

She looked surprised for a moment. "That's wonderful," she said quietly.

"They'll want to talk to Mrs. Malfoy, but I think she'll be fine too," he said.

"Harry, that's… that's wonderful. I don't think I could bear the loss of my sister as well." Andromeda looked as if she'd been granted a wish she hadn't dared hope for. "Harry, will you excuse me, I need to…"

"Of course."

Harry politely ignored the cries of relief and jubilation going on in the other room, and gave Teddy a rattle to wave around. Teddy bonked him repeatedly on the nose. Harry didn't mind. "You're so much like your mum already, aren't you?"

Teddy squealed in agreement. "Let's just hope you get a bit of grace from your dad, eh?"

Eventually the others joined him in the living room, neither Narcissa nor Andromeda bothering to hide the fact that they'd been crying.

"Mr. Potter, my family owes you another debt," said Narcissa, wiping her eyes.

"I didn't do anything."

The three of them together scoffed, though Draco alone looked annoyed. "You're a dear boy," she said.

Andromeda insisted that the boys stay for dinner. "We should have something special," she said. "And champagne."

So they did. It was an unexpectedly pleasant dinner for Harry. The Black sisters had welcomed him into the fold of their family so entirely that it almost felt like he was sitting down to dinner with the Weasley's, though this group was much more dignified and proper.

-oOoOo-

Draco and Potter left his Aunt Andie's house and prepared to Apparate back to Hogwarts. Draco couldn't believe what the day had wrought. Cleared in the eyes of the Ministry, both himself and his mother. It was more than he could have hoped for.

And he hadn't even lied. It was extraordinary. He'd been all but certain at the beginning of the day that he'd be led away in shackles by the Aurors, but here he was, a bit buzzed from the champagne and he'd just had a delicious dinner with his family (excepting his father) and Harry Potter, of all people. And he was free.

"Lets go to Hogsmeade first," he said.

Potter shrugged. "All right."

They Apparated to the Hogs Head, where Draco ordered three crates of Butterbeer and several bottles of firewhiskey from the surly barkeep.

"What's all this for?" Potter asked.

"I feel like a bit of a party."

Potter grinned, and cast levitation charms on the crates. "I think we could all use a party."

The liquor was greeted with cheers from everyone when Draco and Potter arrived at the Den.

"Yes, yes," said Draco. "I got it for everyone. I'm feeling wildly generous today. And yes, before you ask, I am trying to buy your admiration with alcohol."

This garnered laughs from everyone, and after several drinks Dean Thomas suggested that they all go swimming in the flooded dungeons.

-oOoOo-

Pansy was having quite a lot of fun. Lavender Brown knew nearly as much about fashion and makeup as she did, and the two girls were in a duel to the death over who knew more beauty tricks. Parvati Patil kept firing potential hair and skin woes at the two girls, and they were tied neck and neck.

Parvati eventually drew a blank. "I can't think of anything else to ask."

"Ah well," said Pansy. "Good show, Brown."

"And you, Parkinson." The girls smiled.

"I think we need a tie-breaker," said Pansy.

"What do you suggest?"

"Makeovers."

"Oooh," said Parvati. "But who?"

"Granger, obviously. Extra points if you can tame her hair."

"Oh, and Luna," said Lavender.

Parvati cackled evilly. Pansy was rather impressed a Gryffindor could pull off such a laugh.

It was the work of a moment to lure Lovegood into their clutches, but Granger was a bit harder to snag.

"Oh, come on, Granger," said Pansy. "Come play with the girls."

Pansy was making an effort here. She and Granger hated each other on sheer principle, there was no real reason for it; they just rubbed each other the wrong way.

"What are you going to do?" she asked warily.

"A little makeup, nothing too major," Pansy assured. "And something with your hair."

Granger sniffed. "Good luck with the hair."

"Do you know Queenie Greengrass?" asked Pansy. The other girl nodded. "Her hair is just like yours."

"But it always looks so pretty!" Hermione said, and then looked chagrined that she'd admitted to noticing such a thing.

"Yes, it does. And I help her fix it every morning."

Granger wavered. "Really?"

Pansy smirked wickedly. "Step into my parlor."

"Said the spider to the fly," Granger returned, but went along with the other girls anyway.

-oOoOo-

Blaise shook his head as he watched Pansy gleefully grab Hermione Granger's hand and drag her off to the girl's dormitory. "It must be very chilly in Hell tonight," he mused.

Ron Weasley had just demolished Terry Boot in chess and was calling for another challenger.

Theo slid into the empty seat and raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, fresh meat," said Weasley.

"Theo here has never been beaten," said Blaise. "He's the undisputed champion of Slytherin."

Seamus Finnigan plopped himself down beside Blaise on the sofa. "Ah, but Ronald is the undisputed champion of Gryffindor."

"Finally," said Ron, "I have some decent competition."

"Oi!" Seamus protested, "I almost had you that one time."

"Sometimes," Ron said conversationally to Theo, "I like to let people get ahead, make them think they have a chance of winning, just before I crush them."

"Oooh," said Blaise. "I think he just insulted you, Irish."

"Aye, Ron's a right bastard."

-oOoOo-

Harry didn't really like this game.

"I never… um… snogged under the Quidditch stands," said Hannah Abbot.

Harry drank. Beside him, Draco cackled.

"I never lusted after someone else's girl or boyfriend," said Draco.

Harry drank. Draco cackled again.

-oOoOo-

Ron looked up from his very intense chess match with Theo Nott into the face of an angel.

"Hi," the angel said nervously.

Ron, without taking his eyes off the vision before him, tipped his queen over. "You win, mate."

He took Hermione's hand and pulled her away to someplace private.

-oOoOo-

The water in the upper dungeons was a perfect four and a half feet deep. The more sober of the group set off some water purification charms, and made the torchlight a little brighter.

The girls shrieked at the cold, but a few warming charms later they were fine and cutting through the water like mermaids.

Blaise watched for a bit, admiring all the skin, and conjured a beach ball.

"Oh, good one," said Dean Thomas, as Ginny Weasley jumped around and batted it to one of the Patils.

"You lecherous beast," said Blaise. "That one's taken, isn't she?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Dean.

Blaise grinned. "I'll cover the other end, shall I?"

Dean laughed. "If he'll let you, I'll be much obliged."

Blaise didn't think that would be a problem. He wandered over to the 'other end' who was propped up on a wall near Draco, who was tittering at the green eyed boy.

"You're mean," Harry pouted.

This only made Draco laugh harder.

"You boys going swimming?" Blaise asked.

Harry wrinkled his nose. "M'drunk. Sort of. Don't want to drown again. Potion is nasty."

"I've got just the thing." Blaise wandered to the stairs near the water and conjured two smallish rowboats. "Let's have a race."

Harry grinned. "I'm in."

He climbed gingerly into the boat, and Blaise followed. Draco and Theo took the other. The girls helpfully pushed them past their beach ball game, and Harry giggled as the boats knocked into each other and the wall.

The upper dungeon corridor was a long one, spanning at least half a length of a Quidditch Pitch. "First one to the wall wins," said Blaise.

"Wait!" said Harry. "How do we row?"

"We're wizards, you fuckwit," said Draco. "We use propulsion charms."

"Oh, how does that work, then?"

"Watch and learn, little Gryffindor," purred Blaise. Harry blushed. Oh yes, Blaise thought, this wasn't going to be a problem at all.

Theo counted down from three, and Draco and Blaise pointed their wands to the water directly behind the boats, and they were off. It was hard to steer, so it was a bit more like playing bumper boats than a real race. But they were all laughing, and some of the girls were cheering.

"Oh, shit!" yelled Harry.

They were at the wall, somehow Potter had the sense to cast a cushioning charm, even in his inebriated state, and they safely bounced off the wall instead of crashing and being horribly injured.

"Fuck, that was close," Theo said, which of course set the other boys off laughing again.

-oOoOo-

Potter was very amusing when he was drunk. Draco had made certain that the 'I Never' game was particularly harsh for the Boy Wonder, and soon the others had joined in on the fun, saying things like, "I never defeated a Dark Lord," and obvious speculation into the extent of Potter and Girl Weasley's physical relationship.

It had taken Harry forever to figure out that they were picking on him.

To Draco's delight Potter and the Weaslette hadn't progressed past heavy petting. Potter had objected loudly to the teasing, citing that they'd only dated for a few weeks, and that he 'respects Ginny' and 'won't treat her like a slag'.

Draco began to suspect Blaise was right about Potter having hidden potential, because that was denial talking if he ever heard it.

The boat race was fun as well, and while they had tied, Draco would swear up and down that he and Theo had won by an inch. He had an image to maintain, after all, no matter the spirit of House Unity that had descended upon the students.

Draco could not recall having more fun at Hogwarts. No, clearly nothing could top drunken boat races in the upper dungeon corridor.

And then he saw it.

He turned back to look at the other boat, and all the hilarity of the moment died away. Blaise had a hand in Harry's hair, and he was kissing him.

A pit opened up in Draco's stomach, and he watched in horrified fascination as Potter relaxed into the kiss, parted his lips and their tongues touched.

It wasn't right. It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

Draco raised his wand and cast a spell. He watched with grim satisfaction as Potter and Blaise flailed for balance, just before the boat capsized and dumped them in the water. He should have known better though, nothing deterred Blaise when he was getting what he wanted. Blaise tugged on Potter's t-shirt, and pulled him under the overturned boat, hiding them from view.

-oOoOo-

He was kissing a boy.

He was kissing a boy, and he liked it.

Blaise's tongue mapped out Harry's molars, and his hands crept under his shirt. Correction, he really liked it.

It was dark under the overturned boat, and their breaths and gasps echoed loudly in the confined space.

It was very different than kissing Ginny. Then there had always been an awareness of her fragility and her curves, and a sense that he had to be careful with her. There was none of that here. He could bite Blaise's lip, be rough with his hands, and pull their hips together. It only seemed to egg Blaise on.

The wall, and the edge of the boat collided with Harry's shoulders, and he liked that it hurt a little. Blaise worked his thigh in between Harry's, and he gasped at the sensation of the other boy's thigh rubbing against his cock, and Blaise's hard at his hip.

Already he'd gotten as far with Blaise as he'd ever gotten with Ginny.

Blaise pulled his mouth away. "Are you okay with this, Hero?" he panted.

Harry nodded; he couldn't speak, and pulled Blaise back with a hand at his neck.

-oOoOo-

Draco stormed towards the Den, anger and hurt bubbling under his skin. Theo was with him, but he hadn't said anything about Draco's obvious turn in temperament.

"You're jealous?" Theo asked.

"Yes."

"Do you really want Blaise back?" he asked.

Draco wondered if Theo was just giving him an out. Either he wanted Blaise back, or he wanted Potter, which was worse because it was embarrassing. There was no point in lying to Theo, though, and he would keep anything Draco said to himself.

"No, I don't want Blaise."

There was a beat of silence. "I see."

This feeling about Potter didn't feel new. It felt a bit like rejection had at eleven, when Potter hadn't thought Draco was good enough to be his friend. But this was sharper, and hit somewhere above his stomach. Some part of him thought of Potter as his. He hadn't felt this way when Potter had been with Girl Weasley, and she'd been able to call Potter hers, so why when it was Blaise did it feel this way? Why did it hurt?

Because Blaise is a boy, a voice supplied. Blaise is a Slytherin. Blaise is actual competition. That's what makes it different.

He wanted Potter, and he'd realized it too late. Blaise had gotten there first.

-oOoOo-

A/N: Review? Please? Maybe?