A/n: Thanks to my beta Hunter's Heir!

And because I completely spaced last chapter, this one's dedicated to StarGirlPotter! I completely spaced last chapter! My bad, but here's the dedication! Hopefully the chapter's a good one too :)

I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

~Hunter S. Thompson

My room's freezing. I might only be partially conscious, but I'm pretty sure the fire's gone out- which is ridiculous, since the fireplaces aren't supposed to go out until after you dose them. I've gotten all my blankets bunched up around me during my sleep, and yet I'm still cold.

I blame Malfoy for this. I don't even care if it's his fault or not.

Finally after several minutes of this half-conscious iciness, I can't take it anymore. My hand juts out from beneath the warm covers and beats at my side table, searching for my wand. I can see the fireplace from where I'm lying, and even though the room's dark I know how to aim quite well. A quick spell and this room will heat up again.

Something shifts at the noise I'm making, and my eyes fly to the couch.

Oh Merlin. He's still here.

Why didn't I kick him out hours ago?

I'm sitting up now, thinking of all the choice words I can say to Malfoy when suddenly the room is lit again. Dark shadows slip away as light takes over, and a very ruffled blonde head sits up from the couch; Malfoy. He looks rather disheveled.

"You let your fire go out?"

I just lie there in bed, staring at him over my packed covers. Only my eyes see over the thick blankets, but I can tell that he's still dressed the way he was before. Prick.

"Get out," I snap, though I yawn halfway through the statement. Damn sleepiness, creeping up on me at inconvenient times.

"Granger, I've been here for almost four hours. I'm not leaving now."

"I thought I told you to leave hours ago."

"Right," he agrees, eyeing me. "Then you passed out."

I scoff, sitting up further in my bed. "And what does that have to do with anything? You stayed because I fell asleep? Malfoy, that's a very natural human thing. What's your real reason for staying? You couldn't be concerned that I was asleep!"

He shrugs, continuing to watch me. "It was late Granger, and your room was quite warm. I don't know what kind of fireplace you have, but mine never goes out."

"It's not supposed to."

"You might consider checking that out then in the morning. It's biting cold in here."

"Right." I study him, noting that he's wearing the same cloak that he draped over my shoulders only a few days ago. "Well, aren't you going?"

He frowned. "It's freezing out in the corridors in this weather. I won't be going anywhere."

"Oh, so you just think it's appropriate to sleep on my couch all night then?"

"Well, I'll be sleeping with you soon enough."

I can feel my cheeks burning at that comment, but not with embarrassment. "Out!"

Instead of listening to me like a smart man, the idiot gets up. He's actually beginning to head towards my bed.

"Malfoy, I know self-defense and I have a wand. I'm not afraid to use either."

He chuckles at that, sitting on the edge of my bed. I attempt to kick him off, but I'm a bit drowsy still and even this argument with Malfoy isn't enough to keep me awake too long. The room's heating up as we speak, the warm flames illuminating the room and heating my chilled bones.

"Granger, the last thing I'm going to do is hurt you at this point. You should know that."

I half consider telling him that he'd never get the chance to hurt me, but just roll my eyes instead. "So what do you want?"

"Scoot over."

My eyes widen. I'm pretty sure whatever he had to drink earlier hasn't worn off yet. "Get out Malfoy," I say again, falling further into the pillows. "That's so not happening. If I don't have to sleep with you yet then I'm not going to make myself start early."

He nudges me. "But I'm tired."

I laugh out loud at that. Malfoy is whining. "No. Malfoy, I think you still have quite a bit of alcohol in your system. Just go to bed."

"Oh please Granger, I'm nowhere near drunk enough to start doing stupid things."

"So then how much did you drink?" I ask, voicing something before I can really consider what I'm saying. Woops. Well, the questions out now.

I can't help myself. I'm a bit curious as to why he was drinking.

Malfoy sighs. "Scoot over."

This time I comply, if only because I'm exhausted and I hope that this will make him answer me. I keep the covers snuggled tightly against me, even if I'm getting hot. He climbs in next to me, using his wand to drape the end of one of my blankets over his sock-covered feet. He looked way too comfortable right there.

This is so weird. I must be severely sleep deprived or something if I'm willingly letting Malfoy join me in bed, and so soon! And he has to be drunker than he lets on if he hasn't run away yet at the idea of joining me.

Then again, he's changed over the past few weeks.

"I had to find a way to tolerate your friends," he says simply, placing his hands behind his head. Thank Merlin my bed's large, else his elbow may have hit my head.

"You were drinking because I wanted you up here when I told my friends!?" I'm glaring at him as I speak, and when he only nods in response I realize there's more. Usually he has some sort of response to most everything I say. There's a pregnant pause between us.

"So what's your other reason for drinking?"

"There is no other reason Granger."

I cock an eyebrow, looking at him. "Oh please. You're holding something back."

"Ah, so you know my character so well now, hmm? And after only a short time of us actually spending time together."

"I just know that you usually like to say a lot in regards to things that I sometimes say. So, what's the other reason?"

He groans. "I have you to worry about."

We're quiet for a long time, letting his words sink between us. He's drinking because of me? Well, I know that the book said my mate would feel a responsibility to care for me, but Malfoy's already feeling it? It hasn't been that long! I didn't think it would affect him this quickly.

Actually, I just didn't think he'd even try to care.

"And… why are you so worried about me?"

He sighs, moving to rub the bridge of his nose. "You know that the old man had his talk with Nott, right?"

I turn and glare at him. "Dumbledore? Yes, I'm aware."

"Well, that doesn't mean that Nott is surveyed everywhere. Today I took a trip to the Slytherin common room before coming to see you so I could talk to Blaise. And Nott was there too, talking to Crabbe- which is weird, because Theo can't stand Crabbe."

"So you think he's up to something?"

"I know he's up to something. Crabbe isn't the sharpest broom in the closest. After Theo went upstairs to his room I called Crabbe over, which is part of the reason why I was late, and invited him to sit down. Blaise pulled out some drinks, which is the real reason I was drinking to begin with, and we had a quick talk. Nott's trying to sell the idea that you're a Siren."

My eyes widen, and I bolt up in bed. "And you didn't try to stop that!?"

"He was already up in his room. I didn't feel like storming up there and making a scene. I slipped a laxative into a drink and gave it to Crabbe, telling him to take it to Nott. Took a bit of persuasion, but he did it of course. Nott should sleep in well into tomorrow."

"And you think that's going to help!? Draco, he's going to-"

"He's not going to do anything, if he's smart. He won't be allowed to get away with something like this." He pauses, blinks, and looks over at me. "Did you just call me Draco?"

I blush and slide back into my cocoon of blankets, happy that they pull up to my chin. "I think I've done so once before."

"Yes, perhaps, but I didn't realize we were on a first name basis yet."

"Might as well be," I mutter, "We're kind of tied together."

He nods. "I suppose that's true. But if we have an entire year, don't you think we're taking things a bit fast?"

"Fast? Malfoy, we still have to sleep together," I say, ignoring the way he frowns when I say his last name, and then smirks and glances at the bed. I'm pretty sure he just wants to make me uncomfortable. "And… on top of that we have to tell quite a few people here."

"And keep you from being killed… yes, I know already Granger dear." I wrinkle my nose and the word, and he chuckles. "But it's late, do we really have to talk about all of this now?"

"We're not sleeping."

He smirks. "We're not sleeping together, just next to each other."

"Malfoy…"

"Relax Granger, I'm not going to do anything." He wiggles down in bed, making himself comfortable. "Do you happen to have an extra blanket?"

I look down at my abundance of blankets, all piled over me. I've used every blanket in the room. And though the fire might have heated the space it's still chilly without the layers. The git could just use a bloody heating spell, but that probably won't happen.

Feeling slightly guilty that I've taken every blanket I pick up an edge of my cocoon and throw it over him. He arches an eyebrow, but I just shake my head and sink into the covers that I'm not sharing with him.

"If you freeze to death I have to go live forever in the mountains, all alone."

Malfoy smirks, fixing the blankets. "Aw, see, you're worried about me too."

"Just go to sleep Malfoy- and stay over there. If you get near me, I will kill you."

"Oh, trust me Granger, I have no plans to do that."

"Good. Night."

"Goodnight Granger." He adjusts one last time, rolling away from me as he finds a comfortable position. His fingers brush mine during the jostle, and immediately we both stiffen. I can feel the hormones already waking up.

This is going to be a really awkward night.

In the morning I wake up against something warm. The night before is a bit foggy, and as I struggle to open my eyes on this fine morning I tighten my grip on whatever the warm object is against me. When they're finally open, I glance up and scream.

"Morning Granger."

Now, I like Malfoy well enough given our current situation, but I thought I told him to stay away from me last night. And I can't stand that smug look on his face. I half kick, half shove him off the bed, half of the blankets going with him. He lands in a heap.

"Okay… I see your morning is not so great."

"Malfoy!"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing!?"

"I'm trying to get myself out of the net of blankets you just pushed me into."

I throw a pillow down at him, which just ends up being childlike and ineffective. "I thought I told you to stay away from me last night!"

"Oh trust me Granger, after our fingers brushed I sincerely tried to."

Blushing, I glance away. It's hard to forget the heaping amounts of lust that attacked me while trying to fall asleep. Oh Merlin, somewhere down the line we didn't… I glance down at Malfoy in horror. He stops what he's doing to cock an eyebrow at me.

"Given your expression, I think you're trying to figure out last night. I don't believe we did anything Granger. We're dressed for one thing, and I'm the only one that actually did any amount of drinking. I think we're safe to say we didn't do anything terribly stupid."

He's learning how to read the expressions on my face. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. "Well… good. Now explain why you were cuddling with me."

Malfoy smirks then, stopping what he's doing just to look up at me. "Actually Granger, considering you're the one that was laying against me, I'd say you were cuddling me."

"We were cuddling each other," I say quickly, looking away from him. I can hear his laughter.

"Whatever you say." I'm quiet as he finished getting out of the blankets, dropping them back on my bed. I'm still having a bit of a hard time accepting that I let him stay and sleep here.

"I'll be going then Granger," he says, catching my attention. I glance back at him as he heads to the door.

"I'll see you in class," I agree, and he looks back to smirk. Without another word he salutes me at the door, then leaves and closes it with a click. I fall back against the sheets once more.

They smell like him, like the musty cologne he seems to favor. I catch myself inhaling the scent and almost tumble off the bed in the same way Malfoy did. I must be losing my mind; first I let him stay the night and then I start smelling the sheets after he leaves.

I'm not quite as ashamed of either of those things as I should be.

A week passes. An entire week, and nothing really changes.

Well, that's an utter lie. I suppose it would be best to say that nothing dramatic happened.

For one thing, Malfoy told his friends. Well, friend. I know he speaks to more people than just Blaise, but he said he wouldn't bother telling anyone else unless he deemed it important. He then went on to remind me that Slytherin's can be deceitful at the best of times. I'm certainly not going to argue with that logic.

Then, Harry and Ginny approached me. For a few days I didn't really speak to my closest friends. Even from a distance I could tell that they were uncertain about me, trying to size me up. It sucked, and I think they took things to the extreme- this I blame Ginny and Lavender for- but eventually Harry and Ginny came around. Well, Harry told Ginny that I'm his friend too and she needs to go back to accepting that.

Ginny accepted his answer pretty quickly.

I'm actually surprised how quickly Ginny's mood changed. Before she hated me for being the girl that caught her boyfriend's attention for a while, along with the rest of the school, but I hear that Harry put his foot down that morning and told her she was being a bitch about things. I guess it woke Ginny up a bit. Either way, she's not so hostile to me anymore.

I still don't know if I totally trust her. She was pretty quick to turn her back on me, and after years of friendship no less. I wouldn't say we're on best friend terms by any means again yet. We're talking though, which is more than I can say about Ron and me.

Ron's still a stubborn, annoying twit. He's got Lavender whispering in his ear every ten seconds, telling him something else bad about me I'm sure. I've gotten to a point where I have to ignore them. Even Harry yelling at Ron couldn't make him see that he's being a complete idiot.

It's getting old real fast. With everything else I have to do, I can't worry too much about Ron. I love Ron, but right now he's hard to handle. I'm going to let him see things this way for a bit, and when I have the energy to have a long talk with him I'm going to explain why he's being manipulated by Lavender. Harry's already tried that. Hopefully someone will be able to help him see reason soon.

It's been a week since Malfoy slept in my room when it happens. I'm about to head out on patrols for the night. I'm getting myself ready, grabbing my wand when something shatters behind me. I hit the ground immediately at the sound, my war instincts telling my that I'm being attacked. Whirling around on the floor, I notice glass. One of my windows broke.

I sit up after a moment when nothing else happens. My eyes latch onto something. Apparently, not only did my window break, but someone intentionally broke it. I walk over and pick up the item.

It's a small box. Something like this couldn't be launched from the ground. Leaning out the window I'm cautious as I light my wand, looking around. I don't see anyone flying, but that doesn't mean anything. They could've flown off. Glancing back at the box, I freeze.

There's a picture of an old, Greek Siren painted on it. I recognize the image immediately. Looking around again, I press it to my chest. What kind of calling card is this?

Malfoy's knocking at my door now, I can hear it. Looking down at the box one last time, I take a deep breath. Something tells me this isn't anything good.

A/n: I barely got this one up guys, like, literally. I hope you enjoy. Sorry for the end, but I barely had time to write it. Enjoy anyway? And let me know your thoughts!