THE FRIENDSHIP OF RIVALRY

Notes:

Disclaimer - I do not own the setting of Harry Potter or any of the characters; those are the property of J.K. Rowling. I have however added a few new names, given that this story is centered on the time after Harry and Draco have graduated. The plot is entirely mine.

This story is a male x male slash so please don't read it if you don't like to read these types of fanfics. For those who do not know, male x male slash is when the story is told around the relationship of two boys or guys, meaning this is a gay fanfic settled around the main characters of the story.

Key:

"Thoughts"/"Telepathy" - Yeah I know it's weird. I intended to make telepathy bold, but it would probably confuse everyone if I were to change it now since not many read the pre-text.

"Speech"

~Parseltongue~

-"flashback"-

Chapter 18: Kits and caretakers (Draco)

Draco could feel a slight ache in his arm and shoulder as he woke the next day, but Harry looked so relaxed in his arms that he didn't dare to move. He tried and failed to keep the smug smile from forming at the idea that he had actually been able to get Harry to sleep in his arms.

Frankly, he was glad that they would be able to take on their original forms today. All of the Gryffindors and most of the Slytherins, (excluding Jean and Theo of course) really needed a wake-up call if they were going to stop more dark lords from appearing. Not everything would be solved so easily though, but it would lessen the bullying and enable students to make friends whom they could trust.

Draco hadn't been too happy about the idea at first, but Harry mentioned a lot of things that have been happening in their world over the years and Draco had been shocked to find that most problems stemmed from the fact that Slytherins were seen as evil and Gryffindors were seen as good.

-Flashback of Harry speaking-

Harry and Draco had been studying together (In a free period, a few hours before the confrontation between Severus and Remus). They weren't really able to keep their attention on their books due to the lack of sleep and this led to them talking about the problems within Hogwarts instead.

-"…Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, on the other hand, are able to mostly blend in and hide their schemes in the shadow of the other two houses. Just because people tend to think that Ravenclaws mostly study and Hufflepuffs are too loyal to do anything bad, this doesn't mean that they aren't dangerous. Ravenclaws could come up with elaborate schemes to take over the Wizarding world without fighting if they wanted to and Hufflepuffs could actually choose which causes they were loyal to."

Draco had been surprised that although he was a Slytherin, he had neglected to think that way. "In fact, Hufflepuffs can decide that they are only loyal to those in their house instead of the school and this means that they can already count as an army on its own. Both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have strong witches and wizards in their ranks and they easily hide them because people simply assume that strong light wizards are placed in Gryffindor and any evil or strong dark wizards are placed in Slytherin."-

-End of Flashback-

It had actually opened Draco's eyes quite a bit. People tended to punish those who are and have been in Slytherin, much more harshly than they would punish anyone from the other houses and the label of 'possible dark lord' was given to any and all students in the Slytherin house even if they were just trying to get good academic grades.

Draco glanced down at Harry again, but he let out a silent gasp when he realized that the other boy was awake. He knew that he had been broadcasting all of his emotions on his face and he tried to pull his mask back on, but Harry shook his head and laid his head on Draco's chest before softly murmuring.

"You don't have to hide behind a mask in front of me you know? I always read the emotion in your eyes." Draco absentmindedly dragged Harry closer to him and he allowed the emotions to take over his face once again.

It was much harder to consciously reveal his emotions than it was to hide them, but Draco found that it helped a lot when he just relaxed. He glanced towards Harry's bed and chuckled when he saw Cyan cuddled up with Blaine and Leah. The Dreq slightly opened his eyes before sliding them closed again and cuddling closer to the other two.

He felt Harry following his gaze and he instinctively knew that Harry was smiling when he spoke. "It seems like we are going to have to switch beds from now on." Draco felt his heart beat fast at the thought of having Harry in his bed every night and he blushed when he heard the smug chuckle that escaped from the other boy.

Harry burrowed closer to him and hugged their bodies together. "We should probably get up. We still need to tell Jean and Theo about our plans today." Draco groaned in response and trapped Harry against his body instead.

"I don't want to get up and you can't make me now go back to sleep. We can skip classes today and talk to them tonight." To put action with words, Draco subtly grabbed his wand and pointed it at Harry with a smirk while pinning him. Harry just shook his head in amusement. Draco felt happy to know that Harry actually trusted him enough to point his wand at him despite their past.

What he didn't count on was the fact that Harry would have a trick up his sleeve and he only had a moment to bask in his triumph before Harry disarmed him from his wand with a wandless spell and threw him off the bed. Draco landed on the floor and when he scrambled to get up; he found that he was tangled up in his blanket.

Harry landed on top of him and pinned his hands while laughing. "You know, if you didn't want to get up, you could have just told me, but you forgot one thing. The sooner we can tell Jean and Theo, the sooner we can reveal ourselves in the Great Hall and then we will be able to do what we want."

Draco sighed and closed his eyes. He really wanted to see Harry in his original form again, but he was afraid that they might go back to their old lives again when that happened. The mission and their forms wouldn't tie them together anymore and although Harry had kissed him, he was unsure whether the other man would even want a relationship.

Harry seemed to be able to follow his thoughts and Draco was startled when he felt the boy's lips against his own. It was a chaste kiss that ended too fast in his opinion but he didn't mind. What really mattered were the words Harry spoke after the kiss.

"To be honest Draco, I won't be able to go back to how we were in the past even when we return to our original forms. I care about you too much and I don't want whatever is between us to end. I want to surprise you with something tonight and I won't be able to set it up if we spend the day in bed. We have a lot of things we need to do before the day is over, but I promise you that tonight will be worth it."

Draco felt his breath catch and he nodded. Harry got off of him and untangled him from the bedding. His mind ran a hundred miles per hour as he tried to figure out what Harry could have planned. When he got out of the shower Harry teased him that he could practically see his brain smoking from all the thinking, but even when he asked the man for hints it was ignored.

Draco had to admit that the man had really given him a reason to finish up in record time and it wasn't long before they had cornered Jean and Theo in the common room. A few silent spells ensured that they would not be bothered or overheard and Draco smirked when the two men looked like they had been found out during one of their pranks.

He left the talking to Harry and settled back to see how the two boys would react, but before they could speak, Jean put up a hand to silence them before he spoke. "If this is about the true identities that we suspect you are hiding, then you don't need to say anything. We already figured it out."

Draco and Harry felt worry course through them at the admission and they both tensed, but Theo and Jean just laughed. "Theo and I both knew who you were the moment we met you. You might not have had you original forms but you are our idols and we have been a little obsessive over the two of you in the past. Besides, we personally saw your mannerisms while at school so even though we didn't approach you, we knew you quite well. It did throw us for a loop to see the two of you willingly working together though."

Draco looked at Harry while Harry looked back. It didn't sit well with either of them that they had stalkers without knowing it. Draco usually knew about the people who followed him, but both Jean and Theo had stayed under both their radars. He wished that he could drag Harry back to the room to talk about the new information, but he didn't want Jean and Theo to know that they had rattled them so he slightly pushed Harry behind him and crossed his arms over his chest while glaring at them in a true Malfoy fashion.

The only way out of the current situation would be to play it cool. "Good, if you know who we are then you also must know what we came here to talk to you about." He slapped on the famous Malfoy arrogance for extra measure and the two men looked at each other before looking back at Draco and Harry sheepishly.

Theo threw an arm over his friend's shoulder before he spoke. "Sorry, we don't know why you came to see us. Jean comes over a bit too strong sometimes with the way he says things. We didn't stalk you while you were at school or anything; we just took notice when you did things out of character. We usually observe a lot of things when we want to prank someone and it ended up becoming a skill. Since everyone's focus was mostly on you, we learned to read you as well and this meant that we always had a prank planned when things went from bad to worse."

Jean tried to interrupt, but Theo silenced him with a shake of his head before continuing. "Most people focused on the two of you during school and we realized that you acted specific ways when something was about to happen or has happened. We would wait a day or two until your latest escapade reached us, then we would strike."

Both boys grimaced and Draco could see that they were wondering whether it was a good thing that they had admitted to doing the things they did. They didn't catch the smile that was exchanged between Draco and Harry. The two pranksters would make great allies.

The boys tried to keep the hope out of their eyes as the silence stretched, but Draco saw them nonetheless. He was pretty sure that Harry had also recognized it, but he wasn't taking any chances. The problem now was that they had to test the boys once more before allowing them to pass through.

Harry looked at him and Draco nodded his confirmation. He knew what Harry actually wanted to know. Jean and Theo were good students, but they didn't exactly know what drove them during their pranks. The few they knew about were harmless and the pranks always happened when people needed to lighten up or laugh.

The possibility that a few darker pranks could have been pulled in secret, weren't ruled out, since the victims of the pranks would probably never reveal themselves unless they absolutely needed to and all the teachers, including Madam Pomfrey, were forced to keep the information secret when they had to use a counter-curse or medicine.

Draco turned to the two jokesters and smiled. "So if you had to prank someone who has been bullied, how would you go about it?" He knew that they could try to form their answer around either light or dark magic and due to the fact that it is Draco who is speaking to them, there was a good chance that they might choose dark as an answer. He was happy to see that Jean and Theo instantly grimaced, but they looked at each other before turning their gazes back to Draco and Jean looked him straight in the eye as he spoke.

"We refuse to prank someone who has been bullied unless it can cheer them up. We do a lot of research on the people we prank, firstly to find out whether our pranks would harm them mentally or physically and secondly to find out what the best prank would be. When we come across someone who has been bullied, we change our targets to the bullies instead, but even then we do extensive research to find out why the bully is acting like that. Some people bully because they are or were being bullied in turn."

Draco nodded and he could see with relief that Harry was smiling. It was really nice to see the boy so happy, but he turned back to the pranksters before he could get the urge to kiss him again. "Well, you passed the test. The story of why we are really here will have to wait until after our announcement and I hope we can count on the two of you to help us."

Both Jean and Theo nodded eagerly, but Theo had a thoughtful expression on his face. "So what is it that you actually want us to do? Did you have some specific entertainment in mind while you revealed yourselves?" Draco smirked at this. If there was one thing that the snakes in Slytherin could pick up easily on, it would be a little thing called opportunity.

Their house thrived on social connections and viewpoints and both pranksters could see that they could gain quite a few things by helping and being part of the revealing. Draco looked at Harry who smiled and then nodded. He contemplated how to use the offer and an idea started to form.

"Would you be able to spread the news that something very interesting is going to happen this morning? It would work a lot better for everyone to be present in the Great Hall for the announcement instead of people hearing it from each other. Alternate stories spread too easily that way."

Jean and Theo agreed at Draco's words and Harry sighed. "You can spread the word through owls or prank letters but don't go too overboard. I know it's hard since there are so many imbeciles in this school, but please keep your better pranks for when they are needed. Most people will probably show up because they think you have some grand prank planned, but you will have to disillusion yourselves in order to keep the teachers from trying to stop you. We all know how they are."

Jean thought for a moment before he spoke. "We have a new invention that would be very helpful for sending the news to everyone and I think I have an idea for how we can make your reveal very interesting." He turned to Harry. "Would you mind if we used one of those muggle box tricks?" Harry grinned and shook his head.

"No I don't mind if we use one of those for the reveal, in fact, that's a brilliant idea! Do you already had the box or will you transfigure it?"

Theo laughed. "We already have the box. Jean might be a pureblood but he has an interest in muggle magic since they can do it without having magic. It took him a year to learn all the tricks and most of the students at Hogwarts will probably be able to recognize it, they just wouldn't know what we would do with it."

Draco smirked. "Well if it's flashy then maybe it won't be so bad if we used it. You must just make sure to make it big enough. Now there is one thing that we kind of forgot about. There were confused looks all around him and he sighed. "How are we going to keep the teachers from stopping the magic show? We can't tie them up somewhere."

Harry nudged Draco before speaking. "Draco and I will be able to place a shield charm that will keep the teachers seated once they are in their seats. This means that we need to reveal the show, only after all the teachers have sat down. This will be our farewell prank. What do you think?" The pranksters grinned widely.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Jean and Theo raced back to their bedroom to get everything ready and Harry turned to Draco and took his hand before dragging him out of the castle until they were near the forbidden forest. This confused Draco until he saw that they were following Filch.

He understood that Harry didn't want anything dangerous near the castle and so he followed him silently. Filch walked until he was just inside the Forbidden Forest and they were both shocked when they saw a little fox kit running towards the old squib. It was freaky to see the man smile when nobody was being tortured, but it was nice to see that the lonely man had found another companion. Draco felt slightly bad about the fact that the students were the reason that the squib never fit in, but it was nice to see that something else cared for him again.

It was clear that Filch had rescued and adopted the little kit and Draco had to hold back a snickered when he saw the little animal being pampered. The fox ate its food before numbly scampering into the old man's hands and lying down to sleep. Filch placed his cloak on the ground next to a tree and sat on it before leaning back. Harry and Draco saw a female fox sitting just outside the den where the little kit had run and it wasn't long before she also curled up next to the old man's leg.

Draco knew that she had seen them, but didn't deem them a threat and he nodded to her before placing a shield spell around the burrow to allow only the foxes inside and out and another one over the three sleeping forms. The first spell was hidden to avoid detection in order to ensure the safety of both foxes, while the other would bread as soon as the three forms separated.

It wasn't a good idea to fall asleep in the Forbidden Forest, but he let them be. They were safe enough. He knew that Harry was looking at him strangely, but when he wanted to make a stinging retort, he saw that Harry wasn't trying to keep himself from laughing, instead, he was looking at him in awe and Draco felt his cheeks become warm at the stare.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Draco whispered softly as they walked back to the castle. Harry's eyes were slightly shimmering as he took his hand and they mostly walked in silence until Harry found his voice to speak.

"That was a nice thing to do back there. I must say, I'm shocked that I didn't think about it during school though. I have a slight hero complex (Draco snorted at this and Harry glared at him before he continued), but I completely forgot that Filch is the way he is for a reason. Everyone ignores him and hates him even though he's just doing his job. Yes, he might be cruel, but that's probably because no one gave him the chance to make friends. Maybe we can…?"

But Draco shook his head. "It's too late to try and fix the pain that hundreds of students have inflicted over time. Leave him to his life, he's happy now. He won't like you if you put him in the spotlight." Harry nodded sadly as they reached the Great Hall. A spinning gadget boomeranged across the room towards them and Harry easily caught it.

It was a note from Jean and Theo that everything was placed and ready. It directed them to the side door that led to the Great Hall and they readied themselves for the reveal. They peaked out and cast a charm on the tables so that no one left their seats prematurely.

They saw Jean wink to them and steeled themselves as the show began. A myriad of colors filled the hall and both teachers and students tried to get up, but couldn't (All the teachers except Severus and Remus, that is). The light dimmed and a box was revealed.

Thank you for reading this fanfic, sorry this chapter took so long. I was struggling to figure out which content I wanted where…