What If?

Chapter Four

The next few weeks passed quickly. They had their exams; Harry found them surprisingly easy, considering that they were often the most dreaded part of the school year by many students. He figured that he did relatively well as he had done quite a bit of studying. Draco had said that he thought the exams were simple as well, and complained that they should do at least some more advanced work.

However, the holidays were finally about to begin, and Harry discovered that he was looking forward immensely towards his upcoming visit to Malfoy Manor. He had written to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, saying that he wouldn't be home for the holidays, or any time soon, for that matter. They had written back saying they were pleased he wasn't coming home, and they wished him a terrible Christmas.

It was the last day. Draco had also received a letter from home, telling him to be waiting outside the school with his friend and packed trunk at precisely eleven o'clock. It was now ten-thirty, and Harry was sitting on the end of his bed, feet resting on his (packed) trunk as he watched Draco running around frantically with amusement.

"You should've packed last night, like I did," he said.

Draco shot him a death look and muttered under his breath something that sounded a bit like "stupid organised people making fun of me, without even bothering to help", or which could have been just grumbling.

Harry grinned, stood up and began making his bed.

"I don't know why you bother to do that," Draco said, pausing in his packing to turn and look at Harry. "The house-elves will do it for you."

Harry shrugged. "Force of habit, I suppose."

Draco rolled his eyes and walked to the open door. He yelled out "BLAISE! WHERE'S THE HAIR POTION THAT I LENT YOU?" Harry winced.

"Why don't you just go down there? It would be easier than screaming down the stairs, Draco," he said.

Draco turned, sent him yet another withering gaze and turned back to the stairs. "BLAISE! I WANT IT BACK, AND I WANT IT BACK NOW!"

Harry heard a faint voice call back "IT'S IN THE BATHROOM, WHERE I LEFT IT!" Draco scowled and grumbled, stomping off towards the first-years bathroom. Grinning, Harry began folding some of the clothes Draco had been accumulating on his unmade bed and placing them in his trunk for him. After all, Draco was doing Harry a huge favour by letting him come to live, wasn't he? Harry then heard a few more bathroom-to-common-room conversations.

"IT'S NOT IN HERE, BLAISE! IF YOU'VE LOST IT, I'M NOT GOING TO BE VERY HAPPY!"

"CHECK UNDER MY BED, THEN, OR ON TOP OF MY TRUNK!"

Draco stormed back in, looking absolutely livid. He threw open Blaise's trunk and brightened visibly when he saw his purple hair potion container sitting right on top, nestled between a bottle of shampoo and a pair of socks. He turned to throw it onto his bed and spotted Harry, who was still folding Draco's clothes for him.

"Oh, Harry, don't do that for him!" Blaise said exasperatedly, leaning against the doorframe. Harry looked at Blaise. "Why not?" he asked.

"Because then he'll get complacent and expect you to do it every year, and he'll never learn to a) pack by himself and b) pack before he's supposed to leave," Blaise replied, as if explaining to a three-year-old.

"Yes, he's right, Harry," Draco added.

Harry rolled his eyes and stepped back.

"Although, if you really want to..." Draco continued, smirking. He let out an "eep!" as a pair of socks and the paperback book Blaise was holding came flying towards him.

"Fine, fine! I'll do it myself!" he said.

"Well, you'd better hurry. We're supposed to be down in front of Hogwarts in twenty minutes." Harry warned. Draco blanched and began tossing things hurriedly into his trunk. Blaise turned and left the doorway, and they could hear him as he took the steps two at a time, going back to the common room.

When Draco had finally finished packing, albeit somewhat haphazardly, he and Harry lugged their trunks down the stairs. They said a few quick goodbyes - they knew that they would see each other at the party Narcissa and Lucius were hosting in honour of Christmas. Then, they levitated their trunks - Harry had mastered the spell, and was fairly confident that they wouldn't fall on his head and knock him out - and sprinted towards the entrance. They made it outside just before the carriage with the Malfoy crest on the door drew up. The driver jumped out and held the door open for them whilst they got in, then put their trunks in the back and proceeded to drive them to the Manor.

Harry and Draco chatted for a while, talking about light-hearted subjects like Quidditch and exams.

"Draco," Harry said thoughtfully, "will we have time to go to Diagon Alley before Christmas?"

"I'd say so. Why do you ask?" Draco replied.

"Oh, no reason..." Harry responded vaguely.

Draco rolled his eyes, but let it go. The carriage had been slowing down, and now came to a complete stop. Pulling aside the tiny curtains over the mini-window on the door, Draco looked out and saw that they had reached his home.

"Come on, Harry," he said, "We're here."

Harry nodded and stood, stretching out the kinks in his back. When the driver opened the door, he jumped down directly onto the ground, ignoring the steps.

Draco hid a grin; he had noticed the suppressed excitement Harry had been harbouring all day. He also stepped out of the carriage, but with a bit more grace than Harry. Draco then nodded to the driver, who bowed and stepped back to take their trunks up to the house.

Whilst they were walking up the steps, Harry's eyes were darting everywhere. He was noticing lots of little things - for example, the way that the tree next to on of the windows grew slightly crooked, and that the flowers only grew on one side of the branches - and carefully filed away this information for later use.

As they neared the double doors, a tall man who looked uncannily like Draco flung them open. Harry realised that this was Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father.

He looked down at them both and smiled warmly, offering his hand to Harry.

"Welcome to Malfoy Manor, Harry," Lucius said. "I can assure you that Narcissa and I are very pleased to have you live with us. We're sure that it will help young Draco here; you may alleviate some of the boredom that seems to frequent him during the holidays that he so often complains of."

Harry took his hand and shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Malfoy. Thank you again for allowing me to stay with you for a while."

"Call me Lucius," he said in a friendly manner before turning to his son. "And Draco, my boy! How you've grown whilst you were away at school! I hear from your mother that you've been enjoying Hogwarts?"

"Oh, yes!" Draco responded eagerly. "It's a lot of fun, Father, just as you said it was..." Draco then launched into a full-scale description of exactly how pleasurable Hogwarts was, while Mr. Malfoy led them in through the foyer and into the living room, where Mrs. Malfoy was seated in front of the roaring fire.

By the time Draco had finished said description, Mrs. Malfoy was standing and looking at them both in a very motherly manner. A queer tug occurred in Harry's stomach; he had never had anyone look at him like that before, save for the Weasley mother that day at King's Cross.

"Harry! Draco!" she gushed, leaning down to kiss them both before straightening back up and continuing to observe them both. "It's simply wonderful to have you back, Draco, and equally good to have you come to live with us, Harry!"

Harry blushed at the Malfoys' obvious pleasure in having him there. No one had ever wanted him before, except for perhaps the Slytherins; he liked the sensation of acceptance, however. He wasn't complaining.

"Now, Harry," Mrs. Malfoy began. "Your room will be next to Draco's. I hope you boys won't mind sharing a bathroom?"

"No, Mrs. Malfoy," Harry said. Draco also shook his head.

"Now, now, Harry, none of this "Mrs. Malfoy" business. I'm Narcissa," she said. Harry nodded.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get acquainted with the Manor," she continued, smiling benevolently at them as she walked out and closed the door.

Harry turned to Draco and grinned.

"Wow," he said simply.

"You like it then, I take it?" Draco asked.

"I love it! It's absolutely huge, your room is gorgeous, and your parents are lovely!" Harry exclaimed.

A dark look passed over Draco's face. Harry noticed, and his brow creased.

"What's wrong, Draco?" he asked.

"My father isn't all that lovely," Draco said shortly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I know, that wasn't what I meant..." Harry replied, his face flushing as he realised what he had said.

Draco smiled wanly.

"It's okay," he said. "Shall we go exploring?"

Harry nodded eagerly. Draco grinned and motioned for Harry to follow him out the door and down the stairs.

~*~

Three or four hours later, the boys collapsed, exhausted, into their adjoining room. It was relatively large; it had an ever-burning fireplace in the middle of the room, with four dark green plush armchairs in front of it. On the back wall, there was a mahogany door that led to their huge white-and-silver bathroom. The two doors along the left and right of the room led to Draco and Harry's rooms respectively.

There was a coffee table in the midst of the chairs, which had a chess board built into the top of it. There were compartments around the board, which evidently housed cards, chess pieces, checkers and other such game equipment. Narcissa had clearly put quite a bit of time into getting their accommodation comfortable.

Harry's room was huge, the same size as Draco's. As Harry's was at the front of the house, he had a ceiling-to-floor window with an inbuilt seat, hung with dark green curtains the same shade as the armchairs. There was an enormous king-size bed in the middle of the room, much like the ones at Hogwarts. Even though it was only three in the afternoon, he was extremely fatigued. He asked Draco to wake him up half an hour before dinner, and settled down to take a quick nap - after all, running around a huge mansion like Malfoy Manor would have to be tiring.

Meanwhile, Draco was downstairs talking animatedly to his parents about his experiences at Hogwarts.

"...and the food is absolutely wonderful! Not as good as here, of course, but after what Father had told me, I thought it would be disgusting."

Lucius Malfoy smiled. "They must have changed the menu since I was at school, then. Were you top of your class?"

"Oh, yes! In all except Potions. Harry was top in that subject," Draco replied enthusiastically. Lucius nodded, a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"Of course, he was only the best because I helped him so much," the blonde boy added hurriedly. "He was terrible at the beginning of the year."

His father laughed, an unusual and rarely heard sound.

"I'm pleased to hear that, Draco. A Malfoy always helps out friends, and is loyal to his House; however, do not sacrifice your own grades to help another."

"Oh, no, Father. I would never do that," Draco replied. "Besides, he helped me in some of the subjects I was having trouble with, and I received higher marks in those subject than he did."

"Well done, son. You've done the Malfoy name proud this semester; I've been in contact with most of your teachers, and they have all spoken very highly of you. Be sure to keep up the effort for the next two terms, initially, and then for the rest of your school year. I'm expecting big things from you, Draco," Lucius said in a mildly stern tone of voice. Draco nodded and was about to say something, but a house-elf came in tentatively before he could begin his sentence.

"Dinner will be ready in an hour, sirs and miss," the house-elf said nervously. Lucius gave it a curt nod, and he backed out of the living room, bowing repeatedly.

"Draco, go and wake Harry so he can get ready. I expect you in the dining room in no less than an hour," Mr. Malfoy instructed. Draco nodded his own head once, turned and walked out of the room, conscious of both of his parent's watching his retreating back.

Once he was out of their line of sight, however, he ran up the stairs, taking them three at a time and abandoning his perfect posture.

He opened the door to Harry's room quietly and tiptoed in. He saw the ebony-haired boy asleep on the huge bed, looking small and fragile amongst its silky silver covers. Draco walked over and knelt on the bed next to his best friend, watching him sleep. He tilted his head slightly, looking at Harry's chest rising rhythmically, his usually messy hair made even more so by sleep, dark eyelashes, arm thrown above his head, lips parted slightly. Draco smiled and touched a light hand to Harry's bare shoulder.

"Harry?" he whispered. "Harry, it's time to get up."

Emerald eyes were glimpsed momentarily as the dark-haired boy's eyes fluttered, and he mumbled something incoherent. Draco grinned, leant down and kissed him on the nose gently. At this, Harry's eyes opened fully, even though he still didn't look quite lucid.

"Oh, it's just you, Draco," he said, yawning.

"Just me?" Draco said, looking affronted. "Just me? You've just been woken with a kiss by the most gorgeous thing in the world, and you say it's "Just me"? I'm offended."

Harry laughed. "That wasn't what I mean, Drake, and you know it."

A peculiar look flitted across Draco's face. "What did you call me?" he asked.

"Drake? Why, don't you like it?" Harry replied, looking slightly confused.

"No, no," Draco replied quickly, "just, no one's ever called me that before. I like it."

Harry nodded and sat up, the covers falling to heap around his waist. The blonde boy noticed this, and his silver eyes gleamed evilly.

Without warning, he pounced on the still-weary boy opposite him and pinned him down. Harry looked up at him, bewildered.

"What are you doing, Draco?" he asked.

He didn't answer. Instead, he began tickling Harry, who started giggling and squirming underneath him.

"Stop...it..." he managed to gasp out amidst attempts to grab Draco's constantly moving hands.

Momentarily, Draco ceased and smirked down at the helpless boy below him.

"Give me one good reason why I should," he said smugly.

"You really like having power over people, don't you?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Because if you don't, I won't be nice to you anymore," he continued, fake pouting.

Just then, Mrs. Malfoy's voice floated up the stairs.

"Are you two getting ready?"

The boys looked at each other, and then yelled out in unison "Yes, mother!"

They could almost see the stern reprimanding look that would be on her face, as she replied "Don't come that with me, Draco. I want you to wear your best robes; give Harry a pair if he doesn't have anything suitable. We're going shopping tomorrow in Diagon Alley, so we can get him some new clothes then."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Malfoy," Harry called. "I'll be able to buy my own clothes, don't worry."

Draco snickered.

"If you're going to choose them, too, I'm not going to be seen in public with you," he said. Harry stuck his tongue out at Draco. Narcissa sighed and gave up trying to have a sensible shouted conversation with the two boys.

Harry took this advantage of Draco's absentmindedness to wrench his wrists from under his knees and begin the return attack of tickles on his best friend.

Draco just sat there, smirking.

"That won't work, Potter," he said. "You tickle too hard, and I - unlike you - am a) wearing clothes, and b) aren't as sensitive as what you evidently are."

With that, he jumped up and offered his hand to Harry, who took it. Draco pulled him up, and, to his surprise, felt the other youth's arms wrap around him. He tentatively hugged Harry back, unsure why he was the object of such unexpected affection.

When Harry let go of him, he tilted his head at the still half-asleep boy.

"What was that for?" he asked.

Harry shrugged and put an arm around Draco's waist.

"Because I like you."

"What kind of an answer is that?" Draco demanded, mock-petulantly.

"Not much of one," Harry agreed. "I just felt like giving you a hug, so I did. I could ask the same of you, you know. Why did you kiss me?"

Draco contemplated this for a moment. "Because I felt like it," came the final reply.

"Exactly," Harry said triumphantly before putting his head on Draco's shoulder. "Why did you have to wake me up?" he grumbled.

"Because dinner is in an hour, and you have to have a bath, get dressed, and let me do something with that hair."

"Oh," Harry mumbled, his head still resting on the other boy's shoulder. On impulse, Draco moved his head and kissed Harry's forehead, slightly to the left of his scar. Harry pretended to bite at his neck.

"You're in a very osculatory mood this evening," he commented.

"A very what mood?" Draco asked.

"Osculatory. It comes from "osculate", which means kiss," Harry explained.

"What did you have for breakfast? A dictionary?"

Harry rolled his eyes and straightened up.

"I did a lot of reading at Mrs. Figg's house, when she wasn't telling me about her cats. Do you want to use the bathroom first?" he queried.

"No, you should. You won't take as long, and that way I can choose what you're going to wear!" Draco responded gleefully.

"Why do you have such an obsession with clothes, Draco? It can't be healthy."

A pair of silvery-blue eyes rolled, and two slim-fingered pale hands pushed Harry towards the bathroom.

"Go! Clean!" he commanded.

"Yes, master!" Harry replied, bowing.

"That's more like it," Draco said in a satisfactory tone. "Now, go have your bath. Or do you want me to come and hold your hand?"

Harry snickered and wiggled his eyebrows at Draco.

"Well, if you really want to..."

Draco sighed. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Harry, and go already!"

"All right, all right," Harry conceded. He walked through the door, into their adjoining room and then into the bathroom. He turned on the taps, adjusted them to the right heat, put the plug in and then wandered into Draco's room.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

"I thought you were supposed to be having a bath?" Draco replied, not turning away from his wardrobe.

"Yeah, I am. The water's running."

"I'm choosing what to wear. What do you think? The blue, the black, or the gold?" Draco asked, turning around and showing Harry the robes, holding them up to his body each in turn.

"Um..." Harry said, his brow furrowed. "Not the gold. The blue; that icy pale colour will look fantastic on you."

A grin spread across Draco's face and, throwing the robes on the bed, he clapped his hands delightedly. Harry, for the third time that night, looked decidedly confused.

"You're learning!" Draco squealed.

"What?" Harry asked.

"At least some of what I'm trying to teach you has finally sunk in!"

"...okay?" Harry replied.

Draco sighed.

"Maybe not, then. You're hopeless, Potter. Go and have your bath."

~*~

"Yes, M...Narcissa. They really did make me clean their toilets," Harry repeated patiently.

Narcissa shook her head in disgust. She looked at her husband, who was wearing a similar look on his face.

"I'm pleased Draco had the sense to write to Narcissa," he growled. "That is no way for a Muggle to be treating a Pureblooded wizard! Particularly you, Harry Potter!"
"Well," Narcissa said warmly, "they won't have a chance to do that again, will they, Harry? You're living with us now."

Harry smiled back at her. "Thank you very much, Narcissa, Lucius," he began. "You have no idea how much this means to me, for you to take me into your home."

"Oh, it's not a problem, boy," Lucius said, adopting a tone similar to that of his wife, "the place really is too quiet, even when Draco is home. It will be good to have voices around the house again."

"Masters, dessert is ready," squeaked a tiny female-looking house-elf.

"Bring it out," Malfoy senior ordered.

The house-elf disappeared with a "pop!" before re-appearing, arms laden with dishes.

"Wow," Harry whispered to Draco. "That's amazing! We're not going to be able to eat all that!"

"You'd be surprised," Draco whispered back. Harry just raised his eyebrows incredulously.

~*~

An hour and a half later, the two boys had retreated to their rooms. They were currently engaged in a friendly game of wizarding chess.

"You really like this game, don't you, Draco," Harry commented mildly.

"Of course I do," the blonde boy replied amicably, moving his white bishop three spaces diagonally. "I also really like defeating you spectacularly," he teased, taking Harry's queen and moving it to his side of the board. Harry simply gaped.

"How could I not see that?!" he cried, seemingly distraught. As he leaned back in his armchair, pouting, his eye caught the clock on the mantle.

"Draco, it's 11:30; should we go to bed?" he asked.

"Alright," Draco replied, standing up. Harry knocked over his king, showing that he forfeited to Draco. The said boy grinned evilly.

"I love winning," he sighed happily, stretching his arms above his head.

Harry merely snorted.

"Goodnight, Draco," he said.

"Oh, I don't get a goodnight kiss?" It was Draco's turn to pout.

"What?" Harry replied.

"Don't say that word. It sounds disgusting," Draco replied, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"Fine," Harry sighed. "I beg your pardon, Mr. Malfoy?"

"That's more like it," Draco smirked. "I gave you a wake-up kiss, and I want a goodnight kiss. Now."

"But, Draco, you're my best friend!" Harry said, trying in vain to protest.

"Oh, but you've kissed me before...or can't you remember? Shall I remind you?" Draco said, his smirk widening as he stepped over to Harry.

"Are you going to kiss me or not, Potter?" he asked quietly, his hand rest on a silky mop of black hair. Harry sighed audibly and leaned forward, meaning to give the slightly shorter boy a quick kiss on the lips.

However, Draco had other ideas in mind. He kept Harry's lips crushed against his own, and ran a tongue over the other boy's lower lip. His mouth parted, and Draco slipped his tongue in.

Before Harry could react, though, there was a knock.

"Are you boys getting ready for bed?" Narcissa Malfoy called through the door.

Seeing as Harry was seemingly incapable of speech, Draco replied for them both.

"Yes, mother, we are. I just beat Harry in chess," he explained.

This seemed to spur Harry into action.

"You did not!" he said indignantly. "It was late!"

"Yes, but you knocked your king over," Draco reminded. "Forfeit means I win."

"Come on, off to bed, you two," Narcissa said, sounded amused. "Goodnight. Sweet dreams, both of you, and remember - we're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow."

Then there was the sound of footsteps retreating back down the hallway. Draco tilted his head at Harry.

"Well?" he asked.

"Well what?" Harry retorted.

"Well, had you forgotten?" Draco repeated impatiently.

A blush rose on Harry's cheekbones.

"How could I?" he mumbled.

Draco laughed. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed," he said, kissing Harry again on the cheek. "Now, off to bed with you."

"Goodnight, Draco."

"Goodnight, Harry."