Butterfly Kisses

Draco sighed as another ceramic vase exploded, sending the shards flying in every direction. Snape growled and looked murderous when one hit him squarely on the forehead. The shard turned to a pile of ashes before it even began falling down. Snape tucked his wand back in his robes, not knowing that he looked odd with a red welt on his forehead, the angry colour standing out against his pallid complexion.

"Mr. Potter, do tell how you have managed to survive all these years. I have asked myself many times if it's pure luck or pure stupidity, knowing as you don't possess an ounce of intelligence."

Harry seethed, his eyes becoming like pieces of glass, hard and sharp.

"You have enough control over your powers that you can turn a vase into a cat. I have seen you do more difficult things. CONCENTRATE, BOY!" Snape bellowed.

Harry jumped. His face immediately turned red in embarrassment when he realized what he had done.

Snape repaired the vase with a wave of his wand and set it back on the table. "Now try again, you useless boy."

Draco leaned back in his chair as the vase exploded. It had been like this for nearly an hour. Every vase exploded. He didn't think Snape's insults toward Harry were helping much with his concentration. Of course, Draco didn't tell the Potions Master this.

"You idiot boy!" Snape hissed. "Can you do nothing right? Get your head out of your arse and concentrate! Reparo."

The vase instantly fixed itself and flew up to the table. Draco picked up the Daily Prophet off the floor, feeling completely bored. He scanned the front page, which featured a picture of an old wizard blinking behind a pair of large, round glasses.

Second Attack in Two weeks! November 1, 1997

Hicibus Hicker was supposed to be home around 10 PM on Halloween. When he still hadn't

shown up at 11:30, his wife became worried at his absence. She contacted the Ministry and

was informed that her husband, who works as an Unspeakable, had left the Ministry at 9:35

PM. Alarmed, Mrs. Hicker told of his disappearance.

Research and investigation immediately ensued. As was the case with John Illock, the Magic

Researcher who disappeared last week, the Ministry found nothing. Rumours have circulated

that You-Know-Who is behind it...

Draco was drawn away from the paper by another explosion. Harry, glaring defiantly at Snape with utmost hatred, threw himself onto the couch near the fire.

'No more!'

"I will say when we shall stop!" Snape snapped. "Get over here immediately, Potter."

Harry very grudgingly obeyed. Twenty minutes later Snape called for a break. Draco watched with an eyebrow arched when the Head of Slytherin grabbed a bottle of brandy out of his cupboard and went to his room, shutting the wooden door behind him.

'That fucking bastard.' Harry looked as if he was itching to set fire to the door leading to Snape's room.

"If you would just turn the sodding vase into a cat we could be done with it, and I could start practicing on my Gift," Draco said. "I'd thought you could transfigure something in the blink of an eye, seeing as you can go into my mind without difficulty."

Harry gave him an impatient look. 'Of course I can transfigure a bloody vase.' To prove his point he turned back to the vase and a yellow cat suddenly stood in its place. It blinked its large sea-green eyes at them before jumping off the table. Harry plomped himself down on the armchair across from Draco. 'See? I just can't do it while that greasy git is in the same room.'

"Well, then pretend that he isn't here."

'It's hard to pretend he isn't here when he's yelling in your ear. That git ought to have his voice box obliterated.'

"And McGonagall ought to have her claws clipped, that crazy bitch."

'She's better than Snape!'

"You just don't like Snape because he refuses to treat you like a celebrity."

Harry looked bitter. 'No, he doesn't. He prefers to treat me like scum.'

"McGonagall treats me like scum, too."

'She does not! She's fair to everyone.'

Draco looked at him. "Is she? She's only fair to you lot, but not the Slytherins. That's favouritism."

Harry looked incredulous. 'You think that's favouritism? That's not favouritism, that's treating every House fairly. Snape plays favouritism. He hates every House except Slytherin.'

Draco shook his head. "No, he doesn't."

'Yes, he does!'

He frowned at the Gryffindor. "Don't take things and judge it from an onlooker's perspective. Try putting yourself in our place. Once you do that, then you can judge for yourself."

'I'm sorry that I don't want to try to imagine what it would be like to be a Dark Wizard.'

Draco's eyes flashed. Stupid Gryffindor. "You know nothing, Potter. I would expect such an answer like that from all those who don't know us."

'I do know you.' Harry was starting to get angry, too.

"You know nothing, Potter," Draco hissed. "Snape sticks up for Slytherins because nobody else does. Everywhere we go in this school the other three pathetic Houses look down on us because we're Slytherins. He fights for us, because he knows what it feels like to have the school hate you. And just because we're ambitious and want to learn about magic that the rest of the world doesn't want to learn about don't make us Dark Wizards. We're Slytherins, true, and there might be some of us who are going to use magic to do bad things. But you cannot judge the whole House on just a few people."

Harry looked pissed off at being given a lecture by his own classmate, his former enemy no less. 'You guys have turned out more Dark Wizards than any other House.'

"Just because we refuse to follow the Ministry," he spat out 'Ministry' contemptuously, "does not make us bad. Those oafs they appoint as Ministers do not know shit. All they're interested in is keeping their power and position."

'And you think Voldemort isn't interested in keeping his powers?' His mouth was pressed tightly together.

"At least he has a purpose."

'Oh, and I suppose you think that killing muggleborns and muggles is a good purpose.'

"No and yes. It's accomplishing something, isn't it? The Ministers could care less about the Wizarding World. As long as they have their luxurious lifestyles and are still Ministers, they don't care what happens."

'That's not true! The Minister of Magic always owls Dumbledore asking for advice on things.'

Draco waved a hand dismissively. "On unimportant matters. Besides, wouldn't you think wizards and witches would disapprove of the Minister if he didn't ask the advice of the only wizard Voldemort's ever feared?"

Harry reluctantly nodded.

"Remember how Fudge wouldn't believe you when you told him that Voldemort was back? Even when Dumbledore, the man he relied on for advice, told Fudge himself that it was true?"

A nod.

Draco could already tell that he had won this argument. "Why do you think Fudge wouldn't believe either of you?"

Harry saw the triumphant smirk hiding behind Draco's mask of indifference. He glowered. 'He was afraid the wizards and witches would call him a liar and demand a new Minister.'

The Slytherin smirked that triumphant smirk that he had been holding back. "Exactly. As I said, at least Voldemort has a purpose."

'So you're agreeing with Voldemort?" Green eyes flashed.

Draco shrugged and gave him a smile and a reply that he knew would infuriate the Gryffindor. "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

Harry looked outraged. 'I'll kill you, Malfoy, if I find out you're spying for Voldemort.'

Draco shook his head. "What happened to that Gryffindor loyalty? Don't you trust me, Potter?"

'We may shag well together, but it does not mean the same applies for trust.'

"I suppose not," Draco's voice showed his amusement.

Harry narrowed his eyes and looked away from the blond. Snape walked into the silent room ten minutes later. He smiled in satisfaction at the tension in the air. Slytherins and Gryffindors aren't meant to mix together, he thought.

"It's your turn, Mr. Malfoy."

Draco stood up. "Yes, sir."

"I'm going to lock this cabinet with a spell, and I want you to unlock it with your mind." Snape waved his wand at the dark wooden cabinet near his door.

Draco stepped closer to it. He concentrated on the wood, waiting for that wall to come again. The only thing that came to his mind was the thought: "Work you bloody Gift!" After trying to concentrate on the cabinet for a few minutes, Draco turned back to Snape.

"Nothing."

"Think of the most emotional," Snape sneered at the word, "experience you've been through. While you're thinking of that, try thinking of unlocking the door, too."

Draco nodded and faced the cabinet again. He took a deep breath and let it out in a slow exhale. He closed his eyes and tried to recall a memory that would make him angry.

Millicent trying to make a move on me. That only made him feel sick.

Pansy calling me Drakie. There, he could feel a tiny spark of anger.

Blaise laughing at my hair when I cut it last year. Oh yes, the spark was growing. Nobody laughed at a Malfoy.

Weasley asking me a couple of years ago how my father liked Azkaban.

Voldemort's comment that I'm growing up to be like my father.

My mother's courage that wanes each year so that she's slowly giving herself to Voldemort's and Lucius' influence.

Draco could feel the hot, burning anger spreading to his very fingertips and toes. He saw a brief flash of the wall before it disappeared again.

"Unlock the door when you're at the height of your emotion," Snape instructed.

Draco tried, but the wall didn't even appear this time. By the end of the lesson Draco could make the wall appear for a few seconds, but not long enough to push through it. He found that it appeared when he felt the most desperate. He was exhausted and nearly collapsed on the couch in a dead faint. To his very surprise, and to Harry's, judging by the wide eyes and gaping mouth, Snape gave him a piece of chocolate.

"It'll be a while before you can break the spell. I expect to see you both on Monday. Now go to dinner and get out of my sight."

Harry practically ran from the room, not even glancing back. Draco exited at a more leisurely pace. Harry was waiting a few feet from the door.

'Can we go somewhere and eat?'

Draco raised an eyebrow. "And where, Potter, would we eat?"

Harry shrugged. 'I'm sure we can find somewhere.'

"It would be highly suspicious if we left the Hall with a load of food."

A devilish grin crossed Harry's features. 'Not if we get food from somewhere else.'

Before Draco could question him, Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him. Draco followed him down endless corridors until they reached a large picture of some fruit.

"Potter, this food is not real. You cannot eat it, and I definitely will not eat anything that you conjure up," Draco drawled.

Harry ignored him and reached up to the pear. He started to move his index finger up and down.

"Are you tickling a bloody pear?!" Draco asked incredulously.

The Gryffindor ignored him once again. He turned the knob that suddenly appeared. Draco's eyes widened. Harry opened the portrait and revealed a very large and busy kitchen filled full with house elves. Immediately four house elves surrounded them, asking in their high, squeaky voice what the masters wanted.

"I'm being attacked by house elves," Draco muttered as they pushed Harry and him to a table. He took the seat that was offered to him and sat down.

"What can Leilou do for you, sirs?" a brown-eyed elf said.

'Could you get us some of the food that's being served tonight and put it in a basket or something?' Harry gave Leilou a kind smile.

Leilou nodded enthusiastically. "Coming right up, masters!" She left.

"Picnic?" Draco inquired.

Harry shook his head. 'No. We're going to your room to eat.'

"My room?"

'Yes. I've never seen it. Can we? Everyone will be gone.'

"No."

'Why not?'

"It's Slytherin territory. They'll kill you if they see you."

'But your Quidditch team saw us on the Quidditch pitch a couple of days ago, and they didn't kill me.'

"Not yet. If I'm correct, which I assure you I usually am, the whole lot of them have owled their parents to tell them, who in turn will tell Voldemort," Draco said.

Several house elves that were passing by gave Draco a horrified look at the mention of the Dark Lord.

Their basket was delivered by a house elf that looked awfully familiar. The house elf gave Draco a wide-eyed look and handed the basket to Harry.

"Here, Harry Potter, sir," it said, still looking at Draco.

Harry waited for the elf to turn before replying. 'Thanks, Dobby.'

"Dobby?!" Draco exclaimed, standing up. "You used to serve at Malfoy Manor."

Dobby gave a squeak and cowered behind Harry's chair.

"Father said that some rich wizard bought you."

"Master Malfoy set me free, sir," Dobby said, still hiding behind Harry.

"My father set you free? He would never do such a thing."

'I tricked him.' Harry was watching him.

"Isn't it typical for Saint Potter to save humans and animals alike," Draco drawled. "Especially a house elf belonging to the Malfoys. Never mind the boy had to clean his own room and iron his own clothes."

'It was about time you learned to rely on yourself instead of a house elf.'

"House elves are meant to work. They live for it. It's all they're good for. If I persuaded the Headmaster to give them clothes, they'd come begging him to let them back."

'Well, why don't you?' Harry's eyebrows were raised slightly in a challenge.

"Masters!" Dobby squeaked. Five pairs of hands pushed both students off the chairs and toward the door. "Please enjoy your dinner. And don't mention giving clothes in front of the other house elves!" Dobby warned, dancing around the group of house elves who were anxious to get the two quarrelsome boys out of their kitchen. "Bye sirs!" Dobby called as the portrait slammed shut.

"I can't believe that a bunch of house elves just shut a door in my face!" Draco spluttered. "Me! A Malfoy!"

Harry shook his head in exasperation. He grabbed the blond's shoulder to get his attention and waved his free hand, indicating that Draco should lead the way. Draco complained all the way about the house elves' disrespect to wizards and witches. He paused in his tirade to give the password. He led the way into his room, not noticing Harry locking the door.

"-- and then Granger starts up that ludicrous spew thing. I can't believe you actually supported her in it, Potter," Draco said, throwing himself on his bed.

'She's my friend.' Harry set down the basket on the night table.

Draco snorted. "If Crabbe or Goyle ever did that, if they had the brains to do it I should say, I would tell them how stupid they are and kick them out of the dorm room."

Harry began unpacking the food. He laid out the pork chops, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin juice, rolls, and two slices of pecan pie on the bed. When Draco realized that Harry wasn't listening to him, he rolled onto his side to tell him off. He gave a yelp when he rolled into some of the mashed potatoes. He leapt off the bed, tripped over the rug, and fell gracelessly on his arse with another yelp.

Harry peered at him from the other side of the bed as Draco carefully got up and rubbed his rear. The Gryffindor's face was contorted with held-back laughter.

Draco glared at him. "Potter..." he said.

That was obviously the last straw for Harry, because he burst into laughter. Draco stood there stunned. It was the first sound he had heard Harry make that wasn't a moan or a groan. His laughter was... delightful. His laugh echoed slightly in the room so Draco felt like it surrounded him. He smiled and listened to Harry laugh until he was out of breath and just grinned.

"You laughed," Draco said. His tone suggested that he refused to believe it.

'Yeah, so? I've never seen you do any of that before in my life.'

"And I assure you you'll never see it again," Draco said, taking off his robe.

They ate on the bed, Draco afraid that someone might burst in on them. Harry, tired of his nagging, finally unlocked the door so the Slytherin seventh years wouldn't get suspicious, charmed the bed curtains on Draco's bed closed, and put a silencing charm on them. A candle that was residing on the night table was lit. Everything was put back in the basket once they were done.

Draco was exhausted. Snape's lessons had tired him out and now that he was full he felt sleepy. He laid down, his eyes already closing. He felt Harry take off his shoes and heard two dull thuds as they fell to the floor. Harry laid down next to him. Warm, familiar lips captured his.

"Can we not do it tonight, Harry?" he murmured sleepily. "I'm tired."

Harry gave him one final kiss and wrapped his arms around him. Draco settled himself against the brunette and fell completely into sleep.