THE FRIENDSHIP OF RIVALRY

Notes:

Please note that this chapter has two separate viewpoints: one from Draco and one from Remus.

Sorry that the chapter is a bit late, but I had to do some editing work for some university students. I must say that if anyone says that you can't get withdrawal from not writing… then I think they just haven't experienced it yet. I was practically drooling at the idea of a free night where I can just relax and write my own stories!

Anyway, here is the next chapter and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

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"

"Speech"

~Parseltongue~

-"flashback"-

Chapter 21: Dates and Kidnappings (Draco / Remus)

Draco could see that Harry was riling himself up with his thoughts, so he did the only thing he could think of (well it did have a little payback mixed in) and dragged the brunet close to him in order to kiss him senseless. They were boyfriends now after all…weren't they? Draco pulled back to look into shocked emerald-colored eyes. "This might be the worst possible time to ask this…but does this mean that we're together?"

The brunet blinked a few times before a giant smile crossed his face and he crushed Draco against him. "Yes Draco, this means that we are together." His face became slightly worried and the blond could practically see the wheels turning in his head. "That is…if you want to be with a wreck like me."

The hopeful expression nudged at his heart, but he looked at his new boyfriend and partner sternly. "If you ever call yourself a wreck or unlucky ever again, then I will personally make sure that you regret it. You are not a wreck and you are not unlucky. Leave the past in the past where it belongs and focus on the future or I might just have to read up on creative ways to change your way of thinking."

The blush that spread across the brunet's cheeks made Draco smile and he pulled him close once more. This time the kiss was slow and they took their time exploring each other's mouths. Draco licked Harry's lip as a silent bid for entry and the brunet opened his mouth without a fight.

Their tongues dueled and he was surprised when Harry allowed his tongue to slightly overcome the brunet's. There were no terms like dominant and subordinate in their relationship and both men instinctively knew this. Their relationship would depend on their moods and Draco took the lead in order to show Harry that he was so much more than what the world's 'savior' imagined himself to be.

Someone cleared their throat and Draco realized that Salazar Slytherin was still watching them, so he dragged Harry off in search of a private room. He knew that he would later be freaking out about the fact that they were in the Slytherin founder's quarters, but for now (and hopefully for however long they lived) Harry was the most important being in existence and he knew that he would worry about all the other stuff later.

Draco thought that finding a completely private room would be easy, but each room had multiple portraits and by the time they reached the tenth room, Draco realized that there was something majorly wrong. Harry just laughed and pressed close to him before whispering something to him. "Remember that Salazar Slytherin was a parselmouth and that he had to protect his rooms with a simple password in order to ensure that no one but his family got in."

Draco gave Harry a look and was about to go into a speech about unfairness when he remembered that he was also able to speak parseltongue now. A satisfied smirk crossed his face and he glanced to the side. ~ Open for me as I command you and show me your secrets. ~

A blank wall slid to the one side and Draco grinned as he saw a huge bed within the room. No pictures or portraits lined the wall, but in their place, a colorful; wooded scenery could be found on a canvas that spanned the entire length of the one wall in the huge room.

Draco's mouth threatened to drop open as he took in the size of the room, but he decided that he would have enough time to admire the décor later. It was either house elves or magic that kept the place clean and dust free and Draco silently approved. He dragged Harry over to the bed and pulled him down next to him. He knew instinctively that nothing would happen since their relationship was still extremely new (as in just a few minutes old), so he just pulled the brunet close and kissed him again.

In a way, it felt like they were trying to make up for lost time and both Draco and Harry froze with their chests heaving as they realized, after a long and heated make-out session, that they had almost started to undress each other. They glanced at each other at the same time, but both broke out in laughter as they recognized the mirrored expressions of fright.

Both of them had been afraid that they had overstepped some invisible line and they relaxed in each other's arms as the events of the day played through their minds. Draco couldn't believe that Harry had practically kissed him senseless in front of the entire school.

Harry suddenly yawned and Draco smiled before pulling the smaller man down to snuggle into his side. It wasn't long before soft breathing filled the room and the blonde found himself trying to sort through the night after kissing the other man's forehead in thought. Most of it was hazy and Draco cringed slightly when he remembered that Harry had spoken about a date.

The brunet would probably blame himself for not feeding Draco as he had promised when he woke up and the blonde found that he couldn't and wouldn't allow it. With a snap of his fingers, a soft pop sounded in the room and Draco looked down at an elf from his house. He wouldn't be breaking rules since he wasn't a student anymore.

"Go to the tower that resides within these quarters and make sure that the food is preserved with a spell." The elf nodded before bowing and then disappearing. Draco shifted down to pull Harry even deeper into his arms. He also felt tired due to the long and stressful day so instead of watching Harry sleep as he would have liked, Draco closed his eyes and fell asleep. Both men slept deeply and peacefully for the rest of the night, unaware of the panic that was occurring within the rest of the castle at that very moment.

Remus Lupin (After the reveal in the Great Hall)

Remus found himself silently chuckling as he sat in his office. Harry and Draco had shocked all of them when they had kissed in front of the entire school and he had been pleasantly surprised at the way they had handled the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

He hadn't been surprised when most of the opposition came from Gryffindor though. The lions tended to speak before they think and Remus cringed slightly as he remembered Severus' words after he had apologized. But he knew that the only way to make up for it was to start doing the opposite by thinking before he spoke instead.

He was startled out of his musings by a soft knock on the door. He called out and a Hufflepuff student entered. He recognized the student as one of the students in his fifth-year class, but he felt a slight shiver run down his spine. Most people wouldn't even notice, but his wolf could sense that there was clearly something wrong with the boy.

He had tried to shake it off numerous times after the first class, but his wolf instincts always screamed out that the boy was a threat. Remus straightened slightly and tried to act the same as he would with any other student. "Good morning Wayne. Is there something I can help you with?"

The student nodded and pointedly looked at the open chair that stood on the other side of his desk. The werewolf nodded and pushed his own chair slightly back as if he was trying to get comfortable for a pleasant chat. "Was there anything specific you wanted to talk about?" Wayne nodded and started fidgeting as if he was nervous, but Moony could see through the act.

He chose to act like he didn't know of course. "It's alright, you can ask me anything. You don't have to be nervous." The student nodded and looked straight into the DADA Professor's eyes. Remus almost found himself scrambling to pull up his shields at the direct look, but he succeeded in squishing the action.

"You seem to know Harry Potter well from what I remember. I… I just wanted to know your relationship with him. Just for interest sake. I won't tell other people." The request sounded strange to Remus, but it wasn't strange that the student was probably looking for more information on the idol of the Wizarding world.

With his wolf still screaming that the boy was a threat, Remus found himself only giving the minimum information that could easily be found if the boy had chosen to read through old newspapers instead of asking him. "I was friends with his father so I look out for him in his place. Not that he needs someone to look out for him anymore. He's turned into a fine young man."

Remus looked closely at the boy as he nodded. The student seemed to realize that that was the only information he would be getting, so he stood up and slightly bowed to the werewolf. "Thank you for the information. It's probably common knowledge, but I wanted to be sure of my facts."

The Professor could only nod as a growl mentally deafened him. He cast a detection spell to make sure that the student had really left and then followed it with a silence spell when it came back positive. A long howl tore through the office and he did nothing to hold it back.

Over the years his inner wolf had become stronger and if it hadn't been for the unfortunate fact that he had to lock himself away once a month (along with the Ministry's prejudice against werewolves) then Remus would actually enjoy being a wolf.

The extra senses were perks he hadn't really accepted until it aided in saving his life quite a few times. He didn't feel comfortable that it was a student that had him losing control of his wolf at the school and in the day no less, but he fully agreed with Moony. Something was just not right with Wayne Wright and every instinct was screaming that the boy was up to something bad.

He decided to tell Harry and Draco when he saw them during the day and returned to his desk before removing the spells. First, he had a whole lot of essays to mark if he wanted to spend some time with Severus. He had been extremely surprised when the potions master had sent him a letter asking whether he would like to have a drink with him once they were both done with their duties.

Remus had immediately accepted of course and the thought now brought a grin to his face. He started marking the papers with renewed vigor and it was hours later before he allowed himself to sit back with a frown. He was finally done with the papers, but his entire body felt strange.

He usually had enough energy to make his rounds of the school, three times after marking twice as much work, but something seemed to be dragging on his body and its senses. A slightly sweet smell tickled his nose and he bolted upright. That smell reminded him of the only potion that could sufficiently knock out a werewolf for two days.

He quickly stood up and covered his mouth and nose even though he knew that it was useless. If he could smell the potion, it meant that it had been in his office for at least a couple of hours already. The potion was odorless until it activated, which usually took about five hours to happen. Remus couldn't understand how anyone could have smuggled it in without him knowing until he remembered his earlier visit from the Hufflepuff student and the way his instincts had been screaming.

Dread curled in his stomach and he shakily managed to keep himself upright until he rounded his desk. He couldn't see anything until his legs finally gave out and he was forced to sink to the floor. He caught something reflecting a glare of candlelight and glanced up to see two small potion bottles that seemed to have been stuck to the inner corner of his desk, with a sticking charm.

He felt sick as he realized that the dosage was enough to put him out for a week, if not two and he scrambled back to the other side of his desk as fast as his erratically slowing body would allow him. He yanked open one of his cupboards and grimaced when he saw that he only had one bezoar left.

He knew that it wouldn't completely negate the effects of the fumes, but it would at least help to lessen the time that he would stay in a coma. He reached for his wand and sent out a Patronus to Severus. He didn't know what they intended to do with him, but the youth's earlier question indicated that it was something to do with Harry.

He felt a slight surge as his Patronus disappeared after relaying his message and Remus hastily scrawled a note with instructions for Severus as well as orders for Harry and Draco. His fingers felt numb by the time he had finished and he had barely wrapped the letter around his wand and placed it among the papers on his desk before his entire body collapsed into his chair.

Moony sleepily growled at his and Remus sighed in agreement. He knew that he could have used the time he wrote the letter, to exit his rooms and find help, but the chances of running into the student that had drugged him, was very high and the end result would have meant that he would be unable to warn anyone. He hoped that Severus would be able to reach him quick enough, but his hope dwindled as he saw a boy in Hufflepuff robes come into his office as his vision started to fade.

Soon he only had the function of his ears left and he was surprised to find that his sense of hearing hadn't been fading at all. He could hear several pairs of feet enter the room and he realized that there were now four other people in his office. The fact that Hogwarts still wasn't safe even after the war, made him mentally shudder.

He knew that they were probably after Harry and it made him feel relieved when he remembered that both Harry and Draco had been trained as Aurors. It was probably one of the reasons why they had targeted him instead of the wizard that had defeated Voldemort. Remus knew that the potion that they had given him, was counted as a closely guarded secret in certain werewolf clans and he couldn't help but mentally smile at the thought that his soon-to-be kidnappers probably didn't know that he could hear everything they were saying.

"Why don't we just kidnap Potter and get it over with while we're here? It will spare us so much time." The sound of a smack echoed through the room and Remus would have rolled his eyes if he could. Wayne, who had evidently been the one to smack the other boy, spoke. "Because, Brian, Draco is toying with him at the moment."

Remus wanted to rant when he heard this. Was Draco in on the whole thing? Was he actually using Harry? A warning growl filled his mind and he silently yelped as Moony 'bit' him. "What the hell was that for? It's Draco you should be getting angry at, not me!" But he knew why the wolf had stopped his thoughts.

The words had clearly been spoken by a boy that seemed mentally unstable and even he had seen how Harry and Draco look at each other. No one could fake the looks that Draco gave the brunet when he thought the man wasn't looking. Remus sighed and continued to listen. The least he could do is gather information.

"Draco will probably bring him to us when he learns that we are helping him to get rid of his enemies and it's like casting two simultaneous hexes with one wand. He will learn that we are helping him and we get revenge on both the Ministry and the so-called Boy-Who-Lived. For now, I would advise against touching Potter. Draco will want him as a slave if we can't get him to see things our way. In fact, it would be better if he's uncooperative. Then we can turn him into a mindless puppet that can do our bidding."

The sound of ruffling clothes indicated that someone was taking something from their pocket. "It's a good thing that the wards around Hogwarts are full of holes. Otherwise, we might not have been able to use this portkey." Murmurs of agreement filled the room as they stepped closer to the spot where Remus lay. "What are we going to do with the werewolf while we wait?"

The question had been running through the werewolves mind as he lay there and he suddenly found that he didn't want to know." Wayne, who seemed to be the leader of the group, sighed. "He will be out for about a week so we won't be doing anything to him. He is also a dark creature so, despite his connection to Potter, he could maybe be persuaded to join our cause."

Remus inwardly sagged in relief at the knowledge that they won't be doing anything to him. He wanted to shout that he would never join their cause, but if Severus was unable to find him before the week ended, he might use that idea and position to not only stay alive but to also save Draco or Harry if they were captured.

The sound of a door blasting open, shocked the students into action and they grabbed onto each other and activated the portkey just as familiar steps echoed outside the office and the second door shared the same fate as the first. Remus had just enough time to hear Severus call out his name in alarm before he was assaulted with an array of dizzying sensations. He landed hard on the ground and as his head hit the floor with a hard smack, he knew no more.

Thank you for reading this fanfic and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.