WARNING: Physical violence, but nothing major. A little blood.

Chapter 6: Deal

They walked together in silence down Old Compton Street. When they passed the gleaming arches of Prince Edward Theatre, Draco slowed his pace and they stopped at the corner of Old Compton and Greek.

"I'm going that way," Draco jerked to the left with his head and turned to Harry.

"Okay," Harry said and stretched out his hand. Draco looked at it with reserved surprise, but reciprocated the gesture with a brief squeeze of his long fingers.

"That's it, I suppose," he said.

Harry was unsure what Draco meant.

"I don't believe we'll see each other again, Harry Potter," Draco said with a mixture of sadness and triumph in his smirk. "You'll be rid of me, and I'll be rid of you."

"Wait, what?" It took Harry a couple of seconds to catch up with what Draco was saying. "Weren't you going back to Hogwarts? I thought you—"

"No. Why did you think that?" Draco's voice turned a tinge colder.

"But—"

"I'm leaving. That's what I've been telling you for the last two hours. Did you listen?"

"Now? You're leaving now?"

"Yes." Draco clapped on his breast pocket. "I have my wand. So..."

"No no no, wait," Harry said, now fully awake. "You cannot leave now!"

"Oh yes, I can." Draco looked at him unperturbed.

"In two years! In two years you can leave. In two years you can do whatever you want. But now you have to serve your sentence."

"Oh, that?" Draco put on his nonchalant demeanour again. "Don't worry, I'll manage that. But I'll keep the contact to the Ministry to an absolute minimum."

"Who is talking about the Ministry? You must go back to Hogwarts, and take Muggle studies, and... Those are the conditions of your probation!"

"Take Muggle studies?! Maybe I could teach Muggle studies, how about that?"

"That you can negotiate with McGonagall, but it will have to be at Hogwarts! You must go back!"

"I'm not going back."

"You must!"

"I'm not going!" Draco raised his voice. "Haven't you seen what it's like? If you haven't seen it, you must have smelled it. Today I was lucky, but some of those dragon piss bombs actually hit!"

"There will be no dragon piss at Hogwarts. McGonagall won't let—"

"Look, Potter, I'm not wanted there! I oblige and sod off!"

Harry remained silent. He felt an impulse to pull his wand, but Madam Malkin's package under his arm obstructed his movements.

"What? Are you going to arrest me?" Draco straightened his back. "You have that Auror look on. And by the way, how come you're in on all the details of my probation? Did Robards set you up to follow me? Or was it Shacklebolt?"

Harry didn't answer.

"Shacklebolt! Brilliant! Great! So you've just been spying on me. Good job! Now you know where to find me. I thought we could talk like normal people once—"

"I really enjoyed talking to you like normal people! I—"

"Enjoyed! Now you are up for double enjoyment! First an inspiring conversation with me and then promotion after you rat me out!" He came closer. "Now tell me, Potter. Will you rat me out? Will you?"

Draco hung menacingly over Harry. Only once before had they stood so close. That time at Malfoy Manor.

"I won't if you postpone your plan and come along to Hogwarts."

Draco's expression went cold again, and he backed off.

"Draco, I understand that it won't be an easy time, but— If we stick together—"

"We?! Together?! Are you offering to protect me?! Thank you, mummy!" Draco took another step back. "I can take care of myself. Leave me alone, Potter! Get out of my life!"

With these words Draco turned on his heel and started off. Harry stared at his back, speechless. But suddenly, Draco turned around again, this time his wand in his hand.

"Obliviate!" And a flash of green light shot at Harry.

He covered his skull with Madam Malkin's package, Malfoy's curse hit the wrapping, the logo disappeared and the blue paper turned a dull grey. Before Harry could get a hand free, his wand slipped out of his pocket following Malfoy's Accio. His fists were all that was left. He charged at Draco and slammed him against the granite facing of Prince Edward Theatre.

"Don't you dare touch my mind!" he gurgled, pressing Malfoy to the wall with his full weight and twisting Draco's wand hand, which now held both their wands. "Want to be Muggle? Fight like a Muggle then!"

"You think I cannot smash your brains out?" Malfoy writhed and threshed like a trapped animal. "Just thought I'd go for a less violent solution."

His arms gave in to Harry's pressure, but his forehead crashed on the bridge of Harry's nose the next second. The air went thick and dark. Malfoy pulled sideways out of his hold. The next thing Harry knew was Malfoy's left coming for his jaw. Shocked by the pain, Harry stumbled to the ground.

What now? Harry grappled back to his feet. Malfoy pocketed the wands, and was ready to strike with both hands. Harry was just an instant quicker. He sent a straight punch at Draco's breastbone.

He hit it, but something got in between his fist and his target. Harry's knuckles landed on a hard surface which could not have been Draco's chest. The contact released what first felt like an electric shock, but then turned into a strange sensation of tickling and dizziness followed by a short soft high pitch sound like air pressed through a narrow slit, almost like a whistle. Draco let go of Harry and staggered back off balance. Except...

It was not Draco. For a second, Harry thought he was looking at a Harry Potter chocolate frog card again. He saw his own face and had a strong feeling that it should not be there. But this time, it was a life-size Harry Potter, and not just a face, but the full set with legs, arms, and torso. Harry glanced around quickly to see where Malfoy could have gone, but there was no trace of him. Just a few Muggles with concerned looks. A well-dressed gentleman was fumbling with his mobile phone.

Harry turned back slowly to look at his double again. Harry Potter II was staring at him dumbstruck.

"Potter?"

"Malfoy?"

"What the—?!"

"What have you done?"

"Nothing. What have you done?"

"Why do you look like me?" they screamed in unison.

It finally dawned on both of them.

"What?!" they replied in unison to each other.

Draco looked around and rushed towards the dark glass door below an illuminated arch. Harry followed suit. What he saw in the glossy surface of the door shook him. A pale pointed face with grey eyes and blond hair was staring back at him from the makeshift mirror.

"No no no." Draco ran around in circles shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath.

"What happened?" Harry yelled at him. "We swapped, what?"

"It can't be it. Damn it." Draco was still talking to himself.

"What is it?" Harry rewound the scene in his head. His knuckles against a hard object on Draco's chest was the last thing he could remember before it happened.

Just at that moment two bulky shapes emerged between them.

"Can we help you, gentlemen?" asked the female police officer.

Harry blinked at the policewoman, unable to speak. His mind was racing. He looked at the Potter-shaped Malfoy's chest, but couldn't see anything that— What he could see though was that Malfoy was wearing his, Harry's, clothes. Harry looked down at himself and saw Malfoy's black suit and shirt. They had not only swapped faces but also the complete outfits. Harry felt tentatively at his chest. His fingers wrapped around a small metal disk hanging on a necklace.

"If you can't sort out your problems peacefully, we can take you to a quiet place where you can cool down and think about it," the other policeman said.

But Harry's mental capacity was spent. Draco was the first to come back to his senses.

"No need for that, Sir, Ma'am. We're fine. Best pals ever."

"Was it your best pal who gave you that?" The policewoman pointed at Draco's face. His nose was badly bruised, and the corner of his lip was swelling and bleeding. Draco swept off the blood with the back of his hand and looked at it. Yes, it was blood.

"Er. Nothing to worry about. My own fault really. Just stumbled." He pointedly started picking up Harry's robes, which were now scattered over the pavement, folding them carefully, as if this were his daily routine. "You don't have a plastic bag or something, by any chance?"

"Anyone a plastic bag for the young gentleman?" the male police officer asked, looking around the circle of curious Muggles. A few seconds later a plastic bag emerged from the thin row of spectators and Draco was being helped packing by a curvy blonde.

The heavy looks of both police officers turned back to Harry. Draco was pulling faces for him to wake up and say something.

"Erm, yeah, sorry. All fine. Best pals," Harry said, but probably didn't sound entirely convincing.

The officers glanced at each other.

"No really, we're fine!" he took an effort to pronounce with a bit more presence in his voice, and showed them his empty hands.

"You sure?" the policewoman said. "You see that your friend won't stumble again?"

"No more stumbling!" reassured Harry.

The police officers gave each other another glance.

"All right then," said the policewoman. "Just in case you change your mind, we'll be around the corner." She played casually with a pair of handcuffs hanging at her belt, as they walked away, but did not turn around the corner.

"Your robes." Draco held out the overstuffed plastic bag to Harry, but Harry did not stir. He wanted his hands free just in case. Draco could carry his bag for him.

He touched at now his breast pocket and could distinctly feel the two wands under the fabric. The other content of Draco's jacket, his passport and his credit card, must have been in there too. With cautious relief Harry realised that he was back in control.

He felt at his chest again and pulled out the pendant carefully from under the shirt, but the necklace was too short to see it properly without taking off.

"What is this?"

"Give it to me." Draco stretched out his hand towards the pendant.

"No." Harry took a step back and pressed the thing to his chest again, vividly aware of the vigilant eyes of the Muggle police fixed on them from a distance of two hundred feet. "Is this what they've been searching for?"

"Who?"

"The Ministry."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Okay. There is a simple way to find out," Harry said and started off down Greek Street.

"Where are you going?" Draco shouted behind his back.

"To the Ministry."

"Don't."

Harry continued walking.

"It's Friday night! Everyone's off," Draco said, catching up.

"The watchwizards are in."

"And what are you going to tell them?"

That was a good question. It all happened so quickly that Harry had not had a chance yet to press it into the conceptual frame of ordinary language. He had hit that thing that was now hanging on his chest and then they switched appearances. Bodies rather. Bodies and all the stuff on their bodies. This was not like Polyjuice. Polyjuice potion would make your body change shape to resemble another person, but it did not affect the clothing. And it felt different. What had just happened was something else entirely.

"What are you going to tell them, Potter?" Draco was now hustling at his side.

"The truth."

"And what is the truth, in your opinion?"

Harry stopped, Draco swerved around and placed himself in front of him, blocking his way.

"I hit that bloody thing and then we swapped bodies. Not very complicated, is it?"

Harry curved around Draco and resumed his pace.

"So you just walk in, say 'Hi guys, I'm Harry Potter' and tell them about our little accident?" Draco said, keeping up.

"Exactly."

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you, or me, rather. Because I will say that I'm Harry Potter and tell them you've gone bonkers, and then you're Lockhart's roommate at St Mungo's."

Harry stopped.

"And if you show them that thing and I tell them how you tried to curse me with it," Draco pointed at Harry's chest, "they'll skip St Mungo's and send you straight to Azkaban, because you are on a suspended sentence. They'll cross out 'suspended' and won't even wait till Monday."

Harry wondered if he should go for one of the wands in his breast pocket or, now that the Muggle Police had fallen behind, just use one of Malfoy's fists and add a third bruise to the two Draco was already wearing.

"It's your word against mine!" Draco proclaimed. "And I wonder who they will believe. A blond with a scar on his arm or a four-eye with a scar on his forehead? I really wonder, Potter, let's go there and try!"

"You bloody bastard!" Harry hissed, parting with his short-lived feeling of domination.

"Bloody, yes." Draco touched his open lip again.

It could not be so simple. He was still him after all, Harry thought. He had his memories, his experience, he knew things only he knew. Thank god, Malfoy had failed to obliviate him. Harry didn't even dare imagine what that would have meant in his present state. He pushed Malfoy aside and continued walking.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way to prove who I am."

"Like you've proven how Snape is innocent."

"That's a different story altogether."

"Potter, stop it! You are crazy, aren't you?" Harry heard Malfoy shout behind his back. "I don't want you in Azkaban, and I don't want me in Azkaban either. I do want my body back and you want yours! Let's fucking talk!"

Harry stopped, and turned slowly to face Draco's desperate countenance.

"Don't you want to know what actually happened? What that is?" Draco pointed at the thing on Harry's chest. "If you want to know, stop running and talk to me! And on Monday, if you insist, we'll go to the Ministry and explain whatever needs to be explained."

Malfoy got him with that one. It sounded like a reasonable plan. The rage that had kept Harry going suddenly deflated and he felt overcome with fatigue. The wine that Malfoy had drunk was now giving Harry a headache, and he just wanted to sit down and close his eyes for a sec.

"Okay," was all he was able to say.

The sun had set, but the sky was still glowing. The neon glare that had filled the streets stifled the natural twilight. The green eyes under a mess of black hair that looked at Harry with an equally tired expression made it feel like an absurd nightmare.

"I'm starving." Malfoy broke the silence. "Let's go somewhere, sit down, eat, and when we can think again, think and talk it all through."

"Erm..."

"You have my credit card. Why don't you invite us for a nice meal?"

Malfoy's idea of a nice meal categorically excluded fast food and their intention to talk prohibited noise levels typical of a Friday night, which took them some walking and a few turns right and left, until they ended up in a quiet Indian place which Draco deemed appropriate for the occasion.

The aam panna, which Draco had recommended in case the wine went the wrong way, rehydrated Harry's brain. Harry was not allowed to have anything containing shrimp because Draco was allergic to it. When Draco inquired if there was anything he should know about Harry's health before ordering food, Harry shrugged. All he knew about his health was that it did not give a damn about anything less than a couple of dozen feet fall from a broomstick, and even killing curses would occasionally bounce off his thick skin. So Draco ordered shrimp.

Halfway through his korma, Harry said: "So tell me. What the hell has happened?"

"We've exchanged bodies, it seems." Draco directed another mouthful of rice and sauce carefully into his mouth. Eating spicy food with an open lip was obviously a challenge.

"That much I've figured out myself," Harry said. "What is this thing on my chest and how do we swap back?"

"My chest, mind you."

"By proxy. Mine for all practical purposes. Answer my question," Harry said, taking a bite between sentences.

But Draco had just started on another shrimp.

"Mmm. I love shrimp!" His eyes half closed with pleasure.

"Answer my question, Malfoy! How does the thing work and how do we make it unhappen?"

Draco swallowed the blessed shrimp.

"I don't know."

"What?" Harry put down his fork. "You said, you'd tell me!"

"I never said anything like that. Just asked if you wanted to know." The way Draco used Harry's facial muscles to pull his cheeky sneer was creepy to say the least.

"Damn you, Malfoy!" Harry dropped his knife on his plate with a loud clank. "What are you playing at?"

"Okay, Potter, cool it," Draco took off his git expression again. "That thing is a locket, an old family heirloom. That's about all I knew before we swapped."

"Why were you wearing it?"

"Took it to Borgin and Burkes." Draco sighed. "I wish I hadn't," he murmured to himself.

"Why? Want to sell it?"

"No. Asked Borgin to date it for me. All he would tell me was 'between the fifth and the fifteenth century'. A thousand years. Great!"

"And how does that help?"

"It doesn't. But before we swapped I didn't know we would. I knew nothing whatsoever. So finding out when it was made seemed like something to start with."

"Why did you want to find that out?"

"Why not? Genuine interest in family history? You never had that?"

Harry was not in the mood to discuss family history with Malfoy.

"So, does it mean you don't know how to swap back?"

"Well, the first thing I'd try is to redo what we've done. Wouldn't you?"

Harry replayed their fight in his memory again. The plan seemed straightforward.

"When we're finished here," Draco said, "we could go to some quiet place, not to irritate the Muggles, and see if we could reverse it."

Harry briefly contemplated the consequences.

"You know, the last thing I want right now is to go with you to a quiet place."

"Come on! You have my wand, my passport and my money. I'm as harmless as a Longbottom on a chandelier."

"If you are alluding to Neville, he is not harmless at all."

"Unless he is hanging down from a chandelier. And this is how I feel right now with my wand, passport and wallet in your possession."

"Right. But if we succeed in reversing the charm, or whatever it is, then you'll have all those things back. And then you'll just go ahead and obliviate me. Great plan!"

"You could give me my wand beforehand. Or your wand, for that matter. Then we're equal again."

"Then you'd obliviate me even before we swap back. Wouldn't that be a perfect solution to all your problems? Go on, live my life, no dragon piss, eat shrimp every day, and have me conveniently disposed of at St Mungo's. No one will miss that blond guy, right?"

"My mother is not dead yet." Draco's face went dark with hate. "If you think I want to get stuck with this disgusting scar and these despicable glasses for the rest of my life—"

"Let's not count our scars!"

"I want my body back, Potter!" Draco uttered with finality. "You're bloody safe as long as you have it."

Harry was not full yet, but his appetite had faded. He leant back in his chair. The only way he could think of not to let Malfoy get hold of his wand was to get rid of both wands before they swapped back, take them to a safe place, hide them.

"Okay," he said finally. "Let's give it a try, but not tonight. Tomorrow."

"Deal."

"If we succeed, and if you behave, I'll send you your wand back by owl."

"Deal."

"If you don't behave, I'll send it by owl to the Ministry."

"I'll behave if you behave."

"And if we fail—"

"Then we'll sit down and discuss another deal," Draco said and finished the last shrimp.

Note: To all the readers who've got this far, thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy. Now that we're finally past the main inciting incident, I'd love to hear what you think, what you find interesting, or not so, in this fic, what you expect from the upcoming chapters, or if you have any questions, please ask away. I will reply to all the comments.