The Road Home

TALL, DARK, HANDSOME STRANGER (part 1)

Indeed, Harry had been right about his predictions. After Dumbledore´s announcement that all the Professors were going to investigate exhaustively the strange incidents that happened at school, the person responsible for them seemed to vanish without leaving a trace. Voldemort and his gang were also missing, which worried the Order of Phoenix a lot. But February soon passed without any problems and March came also peacefully. To cheer up the students, a message was posted on the boards of the four houses inviting them to a Ball that would take place on the third weekend of the month. The news was welcomed by all of them.

One thing that was commented quite a lot around school was Snape´s new looks. He´d appeared one day at Potions class with his hair neat and short, which changed his severe face entirely and transformed him into a wholly new man. He still looked at the students as if they were a bunch of disgusting bugs but he was also less demanding and more understanding about the clumsy students like Neville Longbottom. Even Harry was being spared - and he suspected that that had something to do with Draco more than anything else. But there wasn´t a single soul at school that didn´t attribute his sudden change to Erin. She always denied such influence by saying that a person could only change if he or she wanted to, and sometimes she looked rather annoyed by all the attention Snape was getting from the girls.

Harry was bothered about his fight with Ron, who was still seeing Celeste. Ron didn´t look so good. Every time Harry saw him, he looked more pale and tired. He suspected that the amulet was sucking his energy the same way it had done with Harry´s. Soon Ron would be very ill and Harry couldn´t allow that to happen. Draco didn´t let him give the silver stone to Ron however, and he had to do something fast to save his best friend.

Hermione was taking some actions of her own with Erin´s help. She was planning to take the amulet away from Celeste at all costs. Erin discovered that the effects of the amulet could be reduced by true love. That was the reason why Harry was able to fight the amulet without knowing it. Because of his love for Draco and the fact that Draco loved him back he´d recovered his strength faster than he was supposed to. Hermione was counting on the same principle to save Ron. She was waiting for the right moment to corner Celeste and stun her with a Stupefy spell. There was a risk that she could be expelled but she didn´t care.

As for Harry and Draco... they were pretty much living in paradise. They met almost every night at the Astronomy Tower Room 12, which was always empty because no one knew its entry except for Harry and Draco. Thanks to the Marauder´s Map they had found a secret passage behind an old wizard statue that led to their private haven. And there they were on a night of full moon dotted with bright stars, just a little after dinner.

"Soccer is so not better than Quidditch, Potter," Draco said, his head on Harry´s lap.

"I´m not saying that it is. I´m just saying that soccer is a sport that I like. I know there is nothing that compares to the unique sensation of flying through the sky feeling the soft caress of the wind on your face. And the feeling of freedom is out of this world," Harry said dreamily.

"Soft caress of the wind on your face?" Draco burst out laughing. "Please tell me you´re not going to be a poet, Harry; otherwise you´ll starve to death! I think you should stick to what you do best, which is playing Quidditch."

"Hey!" Harry looked at him offended. "That´s the way I feel, all right? It´s ridiculous but so what? I know I´m never going to be a poet. I was just... well... trying to express how I feel about flying and..." He crossed his arms, upset. "Go to hell, Malfoy."

"Oh, come on, Harry." Draco said, still quite amused about the whole thing. "I´m sorry."

Draco started kissing tenderly the side of Harry´s face down the chin line until their lips touched. Harry kept his arms crossed, trying to resist Draco´s kiss. After a little of Draco´s persuasion and a tongue´s invasion inside his mouth, Harry surrendered.

"You´re so sensitive!" Draco said, smiling against Harry´s lips.

"And you are a heartless bastard."

"I never said I wasn´t."

Draco kissed him very slowly, and when their tongues came together Harry awarded Draco with the full liberty of laying him down on the floor and mounting on top of his body. Harry felt out of breath as their kiss became more intense. They´d already played that game before almost every night. They traded intimate touches and kisses but never went all the way. Not that they didn´t want the intimacy to grow to the next level, it was quite the opposite in fact. But since they were both beginners and inexperienced about sex, they were waiting for the right moment. Or at least Harry was, because Draco, who was more impudent, was craving for the moment that Harry would surrender completely to him. But Draco was patient and even with his excitement throbbing madly between his thighs he still had strength to stop when Harry asked him to. After all, he also didn´t want their first time to be on a cold, dusty floor.

"When Harry?" he asked short of breath.

"When what?"

Draco wanted to ask when they were going to make love but instead he asked with a smile, "When are you going to strip for me?"

"On the same day that you agree to play soccer with me," Harry said.

"It´s not fair, Potter. We made a bet and you lost it. Maybe I should order Goyle or Crabbe to knock you out or break your legs. That´s what I would do in the old days, you know."

"I can handle your brainless friends anytime even with my hands tied."

"Yeah, sure," he said with a smirk. "That reminded me of a conversation we had at Madam Malkin´s shop. I said I could beat you with my hands tied and after a while you said that it would be interesting to have me at your mercy. Do you remember?"

"How could I forget? I wanted to kiss you so much at the time," Harry confessed.

"I was right then. You would love to have me at your mercy," Draco said, delighted.

Harry rolled their bodies so he could be on top of Draco for a change.

"Correction: I love to have you at my mercy."

They kissed, Harry deliberately rubbing his body against Draco´s until he moaned under such powerful pleasure.

"Damn you, Potter," Draco moaned again when Harry bit and licked a sensitive spot on his neck. "Don´t begin something if you don´t intend to finish it. I´ll have to take a cold shower when I get back to my room."

"I can take care of that," Harry said in a seductive tone of voice, unzipping Draco´s trousers and taking his hardness in his hands.

He touched Draco´s chest under his shirt and went down on him. Draco moaned of surprise and delight. Harry had never done that before. Harry unzipped his own jeans to release his hard on. The back and forth movements of his mouth on Draco was soon copied by his hand on his own stiff cock. Draco bucked his hips as he lost control of himself and soon they came together. Draco breathed hard, satisfied for the moment.

Harry bit his neck again, this time a little harder than before so it would get bruised.

"Ouch!" Draco pulled him by his hair so they could be face to face. "Don´t do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because people will see it and everyone will wonder who´s been subjecting me to a full frontal snog session."

"But that´s the point. I want to mark you as my property. Maybe I should draw a lightning on your forehead," Harry joked, taking Draco´s lower lip tenderly between his teeth and then placing a soft kiss on it. Draco looked terribly serious. "What´s wrong?"

"I´m not your property. I´m nobody´s property," Draco said hostilely.

Harry realized he had touched a sensitive spot that probably had to do with Lucius and the way he treated Draco his entire life, like he was a puppet, a marionette. Harry understood. Harry always seemed to understand Draco´s feelings even better than Draco did himself. Their bonds of love and friendship were growing stronger each and every day, and that was why Draco´s anger faded away the moment his eyes met Harry´s.

"I´m sorry, Drake. I was only joking," he said, gently stroking Draco´s face.

"It´s all right. I shouldn´t react like this. It´s not your fault." Draco kissed Harry´s temple.

"Are you really ok? I mean, with your mother, Sirius and everything else."

"No, I´m not. But I don´t want to talk about it."

"But you´ll have to, eventually! You have to deal with the fact that there´s a tiny possibility of Sirius being your father and-"

"No, I don´t have to! Lucius is my father, all right? Don´t ask me how I know. I just know it! Now, I realize I have to get used to the fact that my mother is still in love with a wanted fugitive but that´s all! He´s not my father! Besides, it would be too weird if he was. I mean, you do realize that we would be like... brothers or something!"

"I have thought about that." Harry bit his lower lip. "But if your mother marries Sirius one day we will be kind of brothers whether we want it or not. He´s my godfather. Gee!"

"Let´s not talk about it, please."

"It wasn´t enough that our lives have complications to last a lifetime..."

"It doesn´t matter anyway. We´re not brothers. We´re not even distant relatives, thank God! I couldn´t bear it if we were." he held Harry tightly. "Why do you always have to bring up these kinds of annoying subjects?"

"Because we have to learn to talk about everything that bothers us!"

"But not today! With any luck, not ever!"

"I don´t think that it will be possible. The day that we´ll have to face Voldemort, your father and everything nasty that comes along is coming. We have to be prepared."

"Why can´t we just live a normal teenage life?"

"It´s not in our destiny, Draco. But who knows? Maybe someday we will. I hope so."

"In the mean time, let´s avoid the inevitable for a while, shall we?"

"All right."

"There´s only one thing that matters right now."

"Us?" Harry risked.

"Your striptease, Potter. And the two of us, of course."

Harry smiled. "I´m not ready yet."

"You´ll never be ready! You know, I´m running out of patience. I think I´ll have to think of some punishments for your delay..."

"What kind of punishments?" Harry asked with a mix of caution and amusement.

"I don´t know yet. I´ll think of something to do with you."

"As long as it isn´t something illegal..."

"You´re a famous rule breaker, Harry. Why do you care?"

Harry shot him a threatening look.

"All right. Just kiss me and you´ll be forgiven," Draco ordered.

He didn´t have to ask twice. In a second Harry leaned against his body and gave him a deep and wet kiss that sent shivers down his spine.

"Draco?" Harry asked against Draco´s mouth.

"Yes?"

"I know you don´t want to talk about it, but I have to ask. What about Zabini?"

Draco sighed, defeated. Harry would never lose the annoying habit of bringing up upsetting subjects when they were together. It was in his nature to worry about everything, probably because of the fact that he was the main target of Voldemort ever since he was born. But he had the right to ask about Zabini since that matter concerned him as well.

"I told you already, Harry. I´m barely talking to him and he seems ok with this."

It wasn´t exactly the truth. Zabini had tried to get at him once more and their fight had been rather dreadful. But Draco wasn´t intimidated easily, and he, as much as Zabini, was a true Slytherin. He discovered that Zabini had been in fact going out with Seamus Finnegan and used the fact to blackmail him the same way Zabini had done to him. They were even. Zabini was upset but there was nothing he could do to Draco now.

"Every time I see him I feel this strong desire of breaking him in two."

"My hero!" Draco said putting his hand on his heart, clearly mocking Harry.

Harry shot him a cold look and shrugged. "Go ahead and laugh. I don´t care." He lied down on his back. "Everything is a joke to you. I mean, it doesn´t matter that I worry about you every time you have to go back to the Dungeons alone. It doesn´t matter if Zabini catches you unprepared in a dark old empty corridor and...Mhph!"

Before he could finish, Draco was all over him, kissing him without mercy.

"Stop talking, Harry," Draco muttered out of breath. "We don´t have much time together so let´s just spend it wisely, shall we? Shut up and kiss me properly this time."

"What? I was kissing you properly!"

"Not right now. Just open your mouth and let me do the rest, all right?"

Harry smiled and did what he said. He felt Draco´s tongue immediately dueling with his own in a delightful battle that made him forgot all about their problems and just surrendered to that hot and sweet moment of ecstasy.

-----------------

Ok. She was upset. And jealous. Yeah. She was definitely jealous.

"Professor Jones? Erin? Are you feeling well?" asked Hermione very delicately.

Erin looked at her with a fake smile. "Of course I am."

She looked back at Severus and the group of girls that were around him at the Dueling class asking about tips of how to attack their opponent and batting their eyelids at him as if they were under a love spell. Erin breathed shakily. Severus always was an interesting man. But now he looked absolutely amazing and sexy as hell, which was why she couldn´t blame her students for being so infatuated. She was having a hard time trying not to look at him every single minute. Gee! She even caught McGonagall checking him out that same day.

"I´m fine," she muttered the obvious lie to herself.

She heard an explosion at a corner and turned around to see what had happened. Ron and Harry had been dueling and their anger towards each other had got out of hand again. When Erin got near them, she saw Ron´s angry face covered in black dust. At the other side of the room she heard another explosion, this time coming from Neville´s unstable wand. Luckily, Seamus and he looked just fine. She sighed. Then she looked at Ron and had an idea. She realized that it was the perfect opportunity to make Hermione talk to him alone.

"All right." She put her hand on her waist. "Neville, come here. I´ll give you some tips about how to not explode your opponent since he´s not a Death Eater. Miss Granger, could you please take Mr.Weasley to see Madam Pomfrey?"

"But I´m fine!" Ron protested.

"I just want to make sure of it, Ron. Please, go. Both of you." They kept staring at her with a very weird expression. "What are you two waiting for? Just go!"

When they were finally gone, Severus approached her with a lecture.

"Jones, what is the matter with you? You´re supposed to be watching over the students and instead you let two situations get out of control! First with Potter and Weasley, that was already expected to get out of hand since their previous confrontation this morning and then with Longbottom´s lack of skills which was also expected. What´s wrong?"

"Nothing." She avoided his eyes.

"Don´t give me that! Look at me," he ordered in a harsh tone of voice that used to make his students shudder with fear.

She did against her will.

"You´re lying," he said. "Why?"

"Because... Well... It´s just that..." She breathed hard. "Never mind."

"Never mind?" He frowned.

"Yeah! I´m just a little distracted today, that´s all."

"You don´t fool me, Jones. Tell me what´s going on."

He got near her breathing softly on her neck in a way he knew was her weakness. She felt herself drifting away, mostly because he was caressing her arms with the tips of his fingers very subtly so no one in the room could see it.

"You see? This is exactly what´s bothering me." she said.

"What? The fact that I´m touching you?"

"Yes! And no! You´ve been acting like a Don Juan lately! Especially with the students."

It wasn´t true and she knew it. He only acted like a Don Juan when they were alone, which was a surprising side of his personality she quite loved. As for the way he´d been treating the female students, he was indeed politer than before but that was all. He didn´t encourage their sudden, silly passion for him. Most of the times he looked rather upset by all the attention he was getting from them because he wasn´t used to it. He was a very restrained man and he liked being that way.

"Are you sure you´re talking about me?"

"Yes! Unless there´s another tall, dark and handsome man around here, I´m pretty sure that I´m talking about you! But you know what? I really don´t care that all the girls and women in the staff have suddenly realized that you are indeed a man, and a very attractive one."

His expression was of total perplexity. "You´re jealous. You´re jealous of...me."

"No!" she denied, even though she knew he was right.

"I can´t believe it." he smiled. "Miss Confident is jealous of me!"

The students that were paying attention to them looked bewildered at the image of the most terrifying professor of Hogwarts smiling frankly.

"Go to hell!" she exclaimed, her mouth twitching and then opening into a beautiful smile.

Erin was the kind of person that couldn´t remain in a bad mood for too long. In spite of the difficult childhood, she had promised to herself at a very young age to never lose her smile. Besides, how could she resist him, especially after all the great moments they had together?

"Yes, I´m jealous," she confessed crossing her arms.

He giggled and for those students who were near enough to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event it was like watching a miracle happening right in front of their incredulous eyes. Erin looked around and giggled, too.

"Well, I think we should go back to work," he said. "The brats are staring at me and I don´t want them to think I have a heart after all."

"What? You´re not going to make fun of me?" She looked at him stunned.

"No."

"Aren´t you at least going to say to me that I don´t have to worry about any other woman because I´m the only one for you?"

"No, not really. I´m not that kind of man, Jones. I´m not sappy and I´ll never be."

"Humph. I don´t know whether I should feel outraged or relieved to know that you´re still the old and moody Severus that I´ve grown to love and respect," she joked.

This time he actually laughed and some students backed away scared, thinking that he was losing his mind.

"As I said before, I´m not sappy, Jones, but I can show you later what I´m capable of," he whispered in her ear making her tremble all over.

"I can´t wait," she whispered back and then turned around to talk to Neville.

-------------------

"I´m perfectly fine." Ron said coming out of the bathroom with his face cleaned.

Hermione only rolled her eyes. She understood what Erin wanted her to do but the fact was that she didn´t want to talk to him. Not yet. She was way too upset to even look at his face.

"It´s all Harry´s fault! I know Mr. `I´m so special´ has been receiving secret dark training from Erin. Everybody knows! The bloody bastard never said a word about it and I´m his... I was his best friend, or at least that was what I thought. I bet he cast a dark magic spell on me! Maybe I should go see Madam Pomfrey after all. Who knows? Maybe I´m dying and..."

"Oh, just shut up, Ron!" she yelled angrily, "You should go see Madam Pomfrey but for different reasons. Like having your head examined! I´m sure that it´s missing something."

"Oh, really?" he said, his face reddening in anger.

She didn´t say anything. He stepped in front of her.

"My head is fine! Nothing is missing!" he said fuming.

"How about your common sense?" she put her hands on her waist and stared at him.

"My common sense? My common sense?"

"You sound like a bloody parrot!"

He pointed a finger at her face. "Listen, my common sense is just fine! Yours, on the other hand, I wouldn´t be so sure about. Miss Perfect, who is so eager to be a nominee for a prefect next year, is going out with Harry Bloody Potter almost every night, breaking every school rule there is!" he shouted.

"What? Are you insane? Oh, wait. Yes, you´re insane since you´re dating Miss Tramp!"

"She´s not a tramp!"

"Wake up, Ron! She´s been dating the entire school! And if that isn´t enough, she´s also one of Voldemort´s minions! Now, I don´t know where you get the wrong idea about Harry and me but it´s not true!"

"Don´t give me that shit. He´s been spending almost every night out of the dorm. I know this because I´m still his roommate. So don´t try to deny the obvious. Why don´t you just admit that you like him?"

"I do like him! I never said I didn´t! But that doesn´t mean I like him the way you think I do. I don´t have any romantic feelings for Harry. I love him, yes! But I´m not in love with him."

"Then why are you dating him?"

"I´m not..." She took a deep breath to calm herself down. "This is useless. You´re the most stubborn person I ever met! So let´s just go to see Madam Pomfrey..."

She started walking again but he didn´t move.

"You´re not dating him," he said to himself. "Because I thought you were, but you seem so sincere when you say that you´re not dating Harry. Who is he seeing then?"

"Ask him yourself!"

"We´re not talking, remember?"

"Then make up!"

"It´s not that easy."

"Oh, Ron." She got near him. "Harry misses you a lot. I miss you. I even miss your stupid comments and the way you always bragged about everything you did. We are friends, Ron. We had been friends ever since the day you and Harry saved me from the Troll. Why can´t you see that? Why can´t you see that Harry and I are just trying to help you? I hate the way you behave when you´re with Strut. She´s evil. She´s controlling you!"

Something flickered inside his eyes but he kept his expression of discontentment unaltered.

"Not that amulet crap again."

"But it´s true! And I can prove it to you!"

"How?"

She pulled him by the hand and led him to the library. He waited impatiently while she walked through the shelves as if she owned the place. She found what she was looking for three shelves away and placed a big and old leather book open on the table.

"Read it."

He did. He read all about the `Lead Amulet´ and its effects. When he finally saw the picture of the amulet, he gasped. The color, texture and form were exactly the same as the stone Celeste carried in a bracelet at her wrist and yet he couldn´t allow himself to believe it. He shook his head, trying to deny the obvious, because if that was true he had been deceived. He had jeopardized his friendship with Harry, whom he missed the most, and with Hermione, whom he loved dearly, out of nothing. He felt lost and the most stupid person in the whole world. Hermione approached him and put her hands over his, making him shudder.

"Why didn´t you show me this before?" he asked not taking his eyes from the book.

"Because Strut was always around. I just didn´t have the opportunity."

He sighed. Hermione bit her lower lip. A conversation she had with Erin crossed her mind.

`How can I make him immune to her without the silver stone?´ she had asked Erin.

`Why don´t you try kissing him? Isn´t this the way all the fairy tales resolve their issues?´

`This is not a fairy tale!´ she´d said rationally.

`I know. Or so you think. I mean, the book says that the amulet is not a hundred percent effective if there´s true love involved. Even if the kiss is not the proper contra-spell, at least you´ll know how it feels to kiss him and how he feels about you,´ Erin winked to a stunned Hermione.

Hermione had been kissed only once by Viktor Krum. It had been an awkward kiss, neither bad nor good. And the whole time she kept thinking about Ron. Ever since the beginning of their fourth year she wondered what it would feel like to kiss Ron and what would be the flavor of his lips. Now she had the perfect chance to find out but she was scared of his reaction. She looked at him and realized their faces were only a few inches apart from each other.

"I know what I have to do," he said, looking at her.

"What?" she asked in a whisper.

"I have to keep the charade, of course. It´s the only way to redeem myself with Harry."

"How come?" She wasn´t able to think clearly with their bodies close to each other.

"It´s quite obvious why! I have to take the amulet away from her!"

"We can think of something else." Because she didn´t want him to date Strut ever again.

"No! It´s the only way. I can do it, you know? I´m not incompetent!"

"I´m not saying that you are, Ron."

"It´s unbelievable! Nothing I do is good enough for you!"

"That´s not true! I´m worried about you! I´m afraid of the amulet´s power over you. For all I know, when you go back to her you may forget all about your decision of taking away her amulet!"

"If I understood right, the effects of the amulet are nothing like a memory charm!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

"I´m not yelling!"

"Yes, you are!"

They stared at each other, face to face, breathing fast. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Why am I not good enough for you?" he muttered.

She interlaced their hands together without taking her eyes off him. "I never said that."

"You´re always mad at me."

"That´s because you´re so stubborn and blockhead sometimes! I don´t know what I have to do to make you see what is right in front of you and this is so frustrating! What do I have to do to make you realize that-" she didn´t finish.

"What?"

She could kiss him. She wanted to kiss him. Desperately. But it was too much of a risk.

"Hermione?" he called her softly raising up her chin.

Their eyes locked inside each other. She stroked his face tenderly and leaned to kiss his cheek. At the same time he turned his head and their lips brushed. They got stuck in that moment for what seemed like forever, nose to nose, feeling their breaths caressing each other´s lips, afraid that if they moved the spell would be broken. Neither of them wanted to pull away. Finally, Ron took the courage to lean and kiss her but before he could do it he heard someone cleaning the throat behind him.

"This kind of behavior is not permitted inside the library!" said the well-known voice of Madam Pince, the librarian of Hogwarts. "I didn´t expect Mr. Weasley to remember it, but you disappointed me, Miss Granger. I guess I´ll have to take points from you."

They turned around to look at her, flushed from head to toe.

"It´s not her fault," Ron said recovering himself fast and smiling at the circumspect woman, "You know Hermione, Madam Pince. She never broke a rule in her life! Me, on the other hand... well, you know. I was the one trying to provoke her because I know how to upset her more than anyone else. It was a joke, really. She´s innocent."

Madam Pince raised an eyebrow. Hermione tried to say that she was as guilty as he was but Ron shushed her.

"Ok. I won´t take points from both of you. Just try to remember the rules next time. Don´t you have any class to attend to?"

They nodded and quickly got away from there under the observing and amused eyes of Madam Pince. When she couldn´t see them anymore, she shook her head and muttered to herself, "Teenagers!" Then she went back to her occupation.

Outside, Hermione and Ron looked extremely embarrassed as they headed back to class.

"Do you want to go to the Hospital Wing first?" she asked.

"No, I said I was fine," he replied, irritated.

"Ok. There´s no need to be upset, you know."

"I´m not...," he sighed deeply, "Maybe I am upset. I´m sorry. It hasn´t been easy lately."

"I know. It hasn´t been easy for any of us. I noticed you haven´t been studying as much as you should. If you need any help..."

He smiled at her. "Thanks."

She smiled back, flushing a little. "Thank you for taking all the blame in the library."

"Oh, but it was my fault. You´re not the kind of a person that would agree to snog in the library, Hermione, since that place is almost a sanctuary to you."

"I could snog wherever I chose to if I wanted."

"You?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, me!"

"Ok, let´s not fight about this, too."

They stopped in front of the closed door of the Duelling classroom but took a while to enter it. They stared at each other and Ron caught her hand between his own. It was trembling a little but he didn´t care if she noticed it. With his other hand, he touched her face slightly.

"Don´t tell Harry about our conversation. Not yet. I want to take the amulet first," he said.

"Ok. I still think it´s a crazy idea. I could just wait for her in a dark corner and stun her."

He laughed, "I bet you could. I guess we better enter the room."

"Yes." She cupped his face with her free hand and leaned to kiss his cheek. Swept away, he closed his eyes as he felt her soft lips touching his skin. "I´m glad you´re back, Ron."

-------------------

After Transfiguration class, Harry and Hermione decided not to study at the library because she was embarrassed, to say the least, about facing Madam Pince that same day. Harry, always the gentleman that he was, didn´t ask many questions about it. She wanted to tell him about Ron´s plans but she couldn´t risk losing Ron´s trust again.

As they went up to the second floor, they heard shouted voices coming from a corridor near by. One of the voices Harry recognized right away because the owner of it was the same person that whispered loving words in his ears almost every night. He stopped dead, not exactly sure of what to do. Finally, he decided to see what was going on.

A small crowd was gathering around Draco and an enraged Zabini. It was obvious to Harry what was happening. Draco had his wand pointed at Zabini while the other boy kept shouting at him. When Harry realized what he was saying he turned pale.

"You´re the faggot here, Malfoy! I know you´ve been screwing Potter every night! The two little birds up at the Astronomy tower screwing each other´s brains out!"

"SHUT UP!" yelled Draco.

"Does Potter go down on you or is it the other way around? Is he any good? Are you in love with the four eyes, Malfoy? Shame on you! If falling for a boy wasn´t enough you-"

"I said before, Zabini, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" The tip of Draco´s wand brushed Zabini´s throat.

"MAKE ME! Come on! Throw a curse on me! Show me that you´re a man. Convince me that you still deserve to be a Slytherin!" challenged Zabini.

Draco wanted badly to throw a curse at him but his rational side was holding him back. He saw Zabini taking his own wand and pointing it at him. His blood ran cold.

Harry got out of the trance he had been drowning in and thought about intervening but Hermione held him by the sleeve and whispered that it was not a good idea. Harry disentangled from her, his wand already firmly gripped in his hand, and stood up in front of Blaise with the look of an assassin on his face. Low murmurs of voices echoed around the room. Draco and Blaise looked at him stunned. Hermione almost fainted. And then Blaise sneered.

"Well, well, well. Your boyfriend came in your rescue, Malfoy. It´s so bloody romantic that I´m almost touched."

Some of the students laughed.

"Get the hell out of the way, Potter!" Draco shouted.

Harry turned around to face Draco and saw only pure hatred in the silver-blue eyes.

"Don´t take this personal, Malfoy, but he´s talking about me as well," Harry said.

"This is my fight," said Draco clenching his teeth.

"It´s also mine if my name it´s being blemished!"

Draco´s anger increased dangerously. He couldn´t say what he really wanted to say because if he did he would give away too much. He felt Harry´s stare crawling under his skin.

"I won´t say it again, Potter. Get out of my way or I´ll make you," Draco pointed his wand at Harry and prayed silently for him to understand his attitude.

Zabini seemed delighted with the scene and a mischievous smile crossed his face. "I think Potter should stay, Malfoy. In fact, I think his presence here is rather vital for me to prove my point. If you don´t like him I´m sure you´ll be able to hex him."

Some Slytherins cheered on Zabini. Draco was torn about what to do.

"I don´t need to prove anything to you, Zabini!" Draco said with contempt, "You´re the one mad at me because I turned you down. Because I didn´t want to f-"

"STUPEFY!" Zabini shouted before he could finish the sentence.

"DEFENSA!" Harry yelled back by reflex, protecting him and Draco from getting hit.

All the students screamed and backed away. Some of them stared at the scene fascinated. It wasn´t every day they could see an illegal duel taking place right in front of them. The most fascinating thing though was seeing Harry Potter defending Draco Malfoy, his well-known enemy.

"You see?" Zabini said with a grim. "I was right! They´re together. Look how Potter stands up for Malfoy. It´s sick!"

"The only thing I´m standing up for is to shut up your filthy mouth, Zabini!" Harry yelled.

"I´ll kill this bastard with my own hands!" Draco said, pushing Harry aside and readying for Blaise, punching his stomach before he could react.

Zabini took a few minutes to recover himself and then he jumped on top of Draco to strike him back. A rather nasty fight took place. Activated by their fight, the other students soon started to distribute slaps, punches, kicks and curses between themselves. A Jelly Legs jinx missed Hermione by an inch.

Harry thought about casting a full body-bind at Zabini but Hermione, who had finally come closer to him shook her head in disapproval the moment she saw his wand raised.

"You´ll get in trouble, Harry," she warned him, deviating from a boil hex.

"But I have to do something."

"What can you do? You defended Malfoy just a while ago. If you do it again people will get more suspicious than they already are! We have to go before a Professor comes along."

Zabini pushed Draco against the wall and pointed his wand at him with a murderous look.

"Accio!" Zabini shouted and Draco´s wand flew towards his own hand. "Serpensortia!"

A black snake fell onto the floor in front of Draco, who froze. The snake hissed defiantly. Harry let out a gasp and without thinking twice he hissed at the snake, ordering it to back away. The snake slumped to the floor and crawled in his direction obediently.

"WHAT´S GOING ON HERE?" asked Snape with an infuriated expression.

The smartest students instantly vanished. Snape sighed at the sign of Draco´s awful cut just above his eyebrow that was bleeding copiously. He waved his wand and the snake vanished from his sight.

"For all of those who are injured, just go to the Hospital Wing. Points will be taken away from your houses! Mr. Potter, please come with me to my office."

Draco opened his eyes widely. "Sir, it wasn´t Potter´s fault."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Potter is the only Parselmouth in this school."

"Yes, but he didn´t conjured the snake. Zabini did."

Draco knew he was getting himself into trouble by defending Harry like that, but he didn´t care. To do magic in the corridors was strictly forbidden by the rules of the school and the penalty were quite harsh but dueling without a Professor´s assistance was even worse. Harry could get easily expelled for that.

Harry looked at him stunned. He couldn´t let Draco take his side.

"I don´t need your help to defend myself, Malfoy," Harry said with a pretended disgust.

"An eye for an eye, Potter. Isn´t it what they say? You helped me even if it wasn´t your real intention. A wizard´s debt is a very serious matter. I just don´t want to owe anything to you, that´s all. Don´t flatter yourself thinking that I´m doing this for your pretty face because I´m not," he lied shamelessly.

They looked at each other intently. Rolling his eyes impatiently, Snape took Zabini´s wand at his hands and muttered `Prior Incantato´. Indeed, the snake had come out of it. He shot a disapproving look at Zabini.

"Consider yourself on probation, Mr. Zabini. I´ll be watching your every move. If you slip one more time, you´ll be expelled. Fifty points from Slytherin. You can go to the Hospital Wing after we pay a little visit to the Headmaster´s office. As for both of you..." He looked at Harry first. "Fifty points from Gryffindor."

"But-" Harry started, closing his mouth the moment he saw Snape´s enraged face.

"Do you have any problem with that, Mr. Potter?"

"No, Sir," he said, his eyes flickering with rage.

"And you, Mr. Malfoy. You can go to the Hospital Wing to take care of that cut."

Harry crossed his arms, upset at Snape´s evident favoritism for Draco.

"Sure, Sir."

"You two will also serve detention with Professor Jones tonight after dinner. You´re free to go. Now, come along, Mr. Zabini. I don´t have all day."

Zabini followed Professor Snape as he walked away, showing Draco his middle finger and muttering `You´re dead´ silently behind Snape´s back. As they turned a corner, Seamus appeared in front of Zabini and gasped at the sight.

"Oh, my God! Are you all right?" Seamus asked, worried, "You have a nasty bruise right on your left cheek and-"

"Get out of my way, you filthy Gryffindor!" said Zabini before pushing Seamus away.

Seamus looked profoundly hurt by this. Harry felt pity for him. Seamus deserved better than a piece of crap like Zabini. He sighed as he saw Hermione walking towards Seamus to comfort him. He turned his head to face Draco, who was still by his side.

The only people left in the corridor were Hermione, Harry, Draco and Seamus.

"Honestly, does Snape really think a detention with Erin is some sort of a punishment?" he commented to lighten up things a little.

Harry looked at him and chuckled. "I guess."

"You´re a bastard for meddling in, Potter, I hope you know that." Draco said taking Harry´s hand in his own. "We´ll be the gossip for quite some time, but I forgive you."

"You need to go to the Hospital Wing." Harry said, his fingers brushing Draco´s forehead.

"In a minute." Draco said, tottering.

"Are you all right?" Harry said, worried. He steadied Draco in his arms.

"Yeah. Just a little dizzy, that´s all. You can let me go, you know? Finnigan is looking at us with a weird expression."

Harry flushed and backed away a little.

"I should go with you to the infirmary."

"No, I´m fine!"

"Don´t be stubborn."

"Then don´t be a sissy."

They smiled. Draco took a handkerchief from his pocket and put it in his forehead to stop the bleeding.

"Maybe I´ll get a scar like yours," Draco joked.

"Mine will always be coolest since it came from the Prince of Darkness himself."

Draco smirked, "Well, it´s hard to compete with that."

"Draco," Harry´s face became suddenly grave, "I have the feeling that someone will give us a checkmate pretty soon."

Something flickered inside the silver-blue eyes. "I know. It would help a lot if you didn´t get in the way of my affairs, you know? I can take care of myself."

"I´m not sorry, Draco. He deserved that and more."

Draco sighed, noticing that Finnegan was looking at them astonished.

"I have to go. We´ll talk later." He got closer to Harry and interlaced their hands, not giving a damn about Seamus gasping. "Take care of your Gryffindor friend, Potter. Make sure that he doesn´t say anything about us. Oh, and next time, please stay out of it."

"I can´t promise anything," Harry warned.

"I know. But try not to give away too much about us, boy wonder."

Draco turned away to leave, upset about the whole thing. He knew Harry had the best of the intentions, as usual, but they couldn´t risk to be discovered. His father would kill him if he knew what was going on between them. He passed by Seamus, stopped in front of him and he whispered at the boy´s ear, "Don´t say a word about what you saw or listened to anyone, Finnegan, or I´ll make sure that the lovely picture you took with Zabini will be published in the Daily Prophet."

Seamus held his breath.

"By the way, you deserve better than Zabini. A person should always keep the standards high. I´m sure that even a Gryffindor like you knows what I´m talking about. Have a good day, both of you," he smirked, looking at an astonished Seamus and saluting Hermione.

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