Enemy of my Enemy

Enemy of My Enemy

While it was true that the Malfoy family had more money than they knew what to do with, it would have greatly surprised most of Draco's classmates to know that he had access to very little of it. His parents bought him whatever they thought he needed as the heir of Malfoy and his true desires were mainly disregarded. For appearances sake it was easy to seem as if he got every heart's desire but in fact money of his own was hard to come by.

So one fall weekend a few days after his birthday when an owl appeared at Hogwarts with a pouch full of galleons from his grandmother Draco found himself hard pressed to hang on to the patented Malfoy detachment and not jump on the table shouting like a Gryffindor. Composing himself with some difficulty he walked back to his dorm whistling softly and swinging the pouch full of galleons around one finger by its string tie. Even this slight deviation of the normal stoicism caught Pansy's eye as he went by and her eyes lit up as she heard the money clinking in the pouch.

Certain that she would put that money to much better use than Draco, after all he already has the best clothes in the school, Pansy began to put together a cunning plan. That afternoon was a Hogsmeade weekend and everyone would be there, including Draco who would certainly be spending his newfound cash. Pansy resolved to follow Draco and make sure to help him out.

Draco in his euphoria barely noticed Pansy treading softly behind him into Hogsmeade. He walked into a clothing store that stocked clothes that his parents would've killed him if he wore in their presence and started to look around when he noticed Pansy.

"What are you doing here Pans?"

"Nothing Dra, I was just wondering what was up."

"Nothing's up so get lost."

"Oh come on..." Pansy did her best puppy dog eyes look. "You know women love to shop. Let me help."

"Ok. Just promise me you'll never give me that puppy dog look again. That was truly disturbing."

Pansy began to frown and started to say something bitingly nasty but remembered that she had to play along if she wanted this to work out to her advantage so instead she quickly smiled and asked what type of clothes Draco was looking for.

Draco raised an eyebrow at this behavior suspecting something was up, but he was unsure what it was and knew that only veritaserum or torture would get it out of her if she didn't want to tell, and he wasn't sure about the veritaserum.

Pansy came back with a handful of outfits.

"Here Dra, try these on."

"Pansy, these pants are pink. No matter what you think, I will not be seen in pink pants."

"But hon, they'll look good with your blond hair."

"No way in hell."

"Fine, how about these?" Pansy brought forward a pair of plaid pants with pockets and buckles on the sides.

"Pansy these are almost worse. At least the pink ones didn't make people go blind. Do you have any taste at all?" Draco frowned at the hideous plaid pants and then at Pansy.

"I'm trying to help you here."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Ok how about these then, these are black you can't complain about that." This time it was a pair of black cargo pants basic and stylish with a couple extra buckles across the front for decoration. "I also got another set in army green. They don't have the extra buckles on the front but they have more pockets on the sides" Pansy pulled them forward as well.

"Well, ok, I suppose they aren't totally hideous. Hand them over. One would almost think you're trying to get me out of my pants Pans. Are you even going to get any tops for me to try?"

Pansy jumped a little in surprise but just smiled at Draco and said "be right back."

"I hope your taste in shirts is better than it was with the pants."

Pansy came back with a handful of shirts, two of which Draco deemed worthy.

"Ok, go try them on. I want to see how you look." Pansy bounced excitedly. Her plan was working perfectly so far. Now if Draco would only drop his guard slightly...

"Very well, I'm going, and please don't bounce like that, not only is it unsettling, it's un-Slytherin."

Pansy nodded and followed Draco to the fitting rooms.

Draco pulled the curtain of the fitting room closed and stripped out of his pants and shirt, dropping them in a pile on the floor. He took one of the shirts and quickly tossed it on over his head and then he stepped into the black cargo pants one leg at a time pulling them up and buttoning them low on his waist for a perfect fit. He stepped out of the fitting room to crash into a still un-Slytherinly excited Pansy with another pair of pants in her hand.

"Draco you have to try these on as well. You'll look so hot in them." She shoved the pants into his arms and turned him around back toward the fitting room. "You look great in those by the way."

"Of course I do." He wondered if clothes shopping made all girls turn into a bunch of empty headed Hufflepuffs.

Draco stripped out of the cargo pants, and hung them back on the hanger. He took a look at the pants that Pansy had so haphazardly thrust at him and realized that they were quite a nice pair of tight leather pants.

"Good thing Pansy knows my size." Draco thought.

After putting them on partway he realized that there was no way he would be able to wear them comfortably with his boxers on, which were bunching up terribly and putting pressure on sensitive places, so he took off his boxers and wore the pants commando. They fit like a second skin. He turned in front of the mirror checking the fit from the front and back.

Pansy who was peeking into the fitting room through a crack in the curtain, and had gotten more than an eyeful during this whole process, took this opportunity to yell in, "Are you done? Come out and let me see. There's a big three way mirror out here near the register as well if you want to use it." Then Pansy quietly ducked into the stall next to Draco's, leaving the curtain halfway open and stood on the seat tightly tucking herself back into the corner so that her feet wouldn't show under the curtain. Trying not to breathe too loud she hoped that Draco would be more interested in seeing himself in those pants than he would in finding out where she had disappeared to. This was the crucial moment. If Draco found her now Pansy knew there would be a whole bunch of questions thrown her way that she couldn't answer, and unfortunately Draco could be a tortuously persuasive asker. Pansy heard Draco calling her name. She held her breath and crossed her fingers.

"Pansy... Pansy?" Draco looked around and didn't see her anywhere. He wondered if she left, but realized it wasn't possible since she had just been talking to him. "This would have been the easiest time I've had getting rid of her in seventeen years. I'm positive she'll either turn up again or there is something seriously wrong." Draco thought and walked toward the mirror at the front of the store with a slight prickling of dread tickling his spine.

He admired himself in the mirror, which was truly a nice big one with lots of room around to view yourself in it, but he couldn't get rid of the uneasy feeling that he had. Something was wrong, if he could only figure out what it was. He decided he would buy these pants with the money from his Grandmother and ... Shit!

Draco ran back to the dressing room and all of his clothes were gone. His money! His wand! Mentally berating himself for being so unbelievably stupid he took a quick look around and ran to the front door in an attempt to look outside to see if Pansy was there. Unfortunately the store owner stopped him before he could go outside, barefoot no less, and said, "Sorry, but you can't leave here wearing those."

"I'm sorry," said Draco. "It seems like a friend of mine has played a practical joke on me and taken my clothes, and my wallet was in them. Would it be possible to charge this to my father's account?"

"I'm sorry, but due to the war, we're only able to do business on a cash only basis."

"What? But I don't have any clothes!"

"Maybe your friend will come back."

"Yeah, maybe Voldemort will play hopscotch with Dumbledore" said Draco sarcastically, and turned to go back to the dressing room.

As he stripped out of the clothes he thought, 'I would have been in so much trouble anyway if I had used father's account to buy clothes he didn't approve of, not only because of the clothes but because I'd have to explain what happened.'

"Pansy you bitch, vengeance will be mine. Just you wait." Draco growled and clenched his fist together so tightly the fingernails cut into the skin.

Draco stepped out of the store wearing nothing but his pride as a Malfoy and a Slytherin. Pansy had even taken his wand and underwear. It was just a grab and run Draco supposed. Forgetting to oblivitate him was the last mistake she'd ever make. He looked up into the sky and figured it was about 3 hours until sunset, and after dark was probably the best time to try and get back to school without being seen by anyone regardless of the possible punishment of being out after curfew. Snape would never punish him anyway.

He quickly looked up and down the street for the safest place to duck into before he was seen and realized that the Shrieking Shack for all its dismal gloominess was probably closest and the best bet. Draco was willing to brave the ghosts or whatever else he might find in there if it would provide a safe refuge. Not to mention it was getting fairly cold outside. He snuck down the road behind buildings and around whatever would give some margin of cover expecting someone to yell out to him at any moment and ask what he thought he was up to running down the street in the nude. Perhaps his awesome physique had just shocked them all.

He slipped in the door and flattened himself up against the wall, expecting a barrage of ghosts, goblins, and god knows what else. Nothing appeared and he took a huge sigh of relief that turned into a coughing fit prompted by the cloud of dust that was stirred into being by his arrival.

Draco took a good look around and it appeared that there really wasn't anything or anyone, human or non-human, there. He wondered what the real story was about this place. He was willing to bet 100 galleons that Harry Potter was mixed up in it somewhere. That guy was always up to something.

Draco sat against the wall under a window so that he couldn't be seen but could still see out. It was about another two hours to sunset and he was bored. Bored and covered in dust. He felt completely filthy. The first thing he was going to do when he got back to Hogwarts is take a bath in that big marble bathtub in the prefect's bathroom. Then he was going to make Pansy sorry she was ever born. She would truly come to regret the taking every scrap of clothing and making sure he was stuck here, for every minute he spent sitting here in the dust was another way he came up with to make her sorry for living, and if he was lucky he would get to implement them all.

Suddenly he saw a panel on the floor start to move and he quickly ducked into a closet thinking it would be better to see what was coming before meeting it head on. Peeking through a crack in the closet door he was very surprised to see the Golden Trio climb up from the trap door in the floor.

Draco didn't think he could endure the humiliation he'd have to live through if the Weasel ever saw him like this. Even the Mudblood or Potter wouldn't be as bad.

"We really need to clean in here," said Hermione as she climbed up into the Shrieking Shack.

"I know," said Harry as he climbed up behind her. "But no one wants to do it so it keeps getting put off. Sirius was the last one to clean it on any regular basis"

Ron looked down at the floor, "I'm sorry mate."

"It's ok," Harry managed a smile at his friends. "I mean its not, not really, but it's getting better."

"Well we better get going, we only have three hours to get to Honeydukes and grab a butterbeer and get anything else we need done before curfew." Ron slapped Harry on the back and flashed him a smile.

'Get going, get going, get going,' Draco thought chanting it like a mantra inside his head. "Before I sneeze or bump into something and give myself away."

Harry turned to follow Hermione, who was brushing more dust off her robes waiting before she got outside for a scourgify charm, when he noticed a footprint on the floor near the closet that looked fairly new. A bare footprint.

Harry, having faced Voldemort and lost a godfather, had begun to realize that sometimes it was better not to involve Ron and Hermione in certain things simply because they were dangerous or their reactions were better not dealt with.

He turned to his friends and said, "You know being here again really reminds me of Snuffles. Can you guys give me like ten minutes alone in here for some closure? I think it would really help me out."

'They'll buy that' Harry thought.

Draco on the other hand was nearly twitching with impatience, 'What the hell? Who's this Snuffles character? Closure? Screw closure! Get the hell out of here Potter!,' ran through his mind.

Hermione was nodding knowingly and she said, "Of course Harry it's no problem. Meet us at the Three Broomsticks."

Ron nodded along with Hermione, "Anything that'll help. You've been so down lately. You just haven't seemed yourself."

Harry thanked them and shepherded them both to the doorway post haste.

Draco was amazed at how quickly he got rid of them. He was wondering who Snuffles was and why Harry would need closure when the closet door was suddenly pulled open. Before this, Draco had not realized a full body blush was even possible.

'Never show you're scared, never show fear, never show pain,' thought Draco as soon as he realized the potential for humiliation on his part in this situation. He grabbed the door handle away from Potter and snarled "What the hell do you think you're doing in my closet Potter? Go have your pity party and leave me alone." He moved to slam the door shut again when Harry stuck his leg in the way.

Harry frowned, gritting his teeth at the insult. Long gone were the days when he would have leaped at Malfoy and tried to beat the crap out of him but their relationship hadn't improved much otherwise. Malfoy could still be totally insufferable.

Harry winced as the door slammed shut on his knee. He grabbed the edge with a hand and pulled it back open doing his best to keep his eyes above Malfoy's waist.

"I just told Ron and Hermione that so they'd leave me here alone. You look like you could use some help."

"So the Savior of the Wizarding World wants to save me too?" Draco sneered. "I'm sorry Potter; I don't play well with others. Now get lost, or do you not understand English?"

Draco brushed a strand of hair away from his face and planted his hand on his hip arrogantly and glared at Harry who was trying not to smile. The whole effect had been ruined by a smudge of dirt Malfoy had smeared across his cheek when he moved his hair out of his eyes.

"Malfoy you may not understand this but I don't want to save the world. The job sucks and the pay is shit. I may not like you very much but, I think I understand you quite well. Now you can take my help or you can tell me to fuck off, but you look like you could use it, and I'm not just saying that because you're standing here buck naked in front of me."

Harry turned and took the three steps toward the exit. He was reaching for the door handle when he heard Malfoy's voice call out.

"So you like what you see do you?"

Harry felt and embarrassed blush rise up his neck. "No!" He stuttered out. "I mean, I wasn't looking!"

Malfoy smirked, "if you weren't looking then how do you know I'm buck naked?"

"For God's sake Malfoy..." Harry gritted out.

Draco smiled. It seemed someone was just a tad bit uncomfortable with their sexuality. This could be fun. Even if it was Potter he was doing it to. But getting the upper hand on Potter was always such a rewarding experience and that was what this was all about. He had even naively offered to help him out of this predicament. The only help needed was that Potter keep his big mouth shut. He was a Malfoy and could do everything on his own. He always did.

'You keep telling yourself that,' said a little voice in the back of his mind that he diligently ignored.

Draco sauntered out of the closet and toward Harry. "Does my nudity make you uncomfortable Potter?"

"No..." Harry said and began to move back away from Malfoy who was moving toward him. The nudity didn't make him uncomfortable. He saw the whole Gryffindor quidditch team naked in the showers all the time. The fact that Malfoy was, dare he call it flirting? with him, made him uncomfortable.

"I think you might be. I think you might be just a bit uncomfortable with your sexuality. Which are you Potter, gay or straight?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business Malfoy" said Harry who had backed up as far as the wall would let him and was wondering how he had gotten into this.

"Let's find out," said Draco and placed his hands on the wall on either side of Harry's head so that he couldn't escape and kissed him.

As soon as their lips touched each one of them felt a warming tingle run through their bodies. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's waist and pulled him up against him. Draco took his hands off the wall and instead threaded them through Harry's thick dark hair. Draco slid his tongue along Harry's lower lip begging for entrance. Harry opened his mouth and their breath mingled as their tongues danced a leisurely dance. Harry had just begun to run his hands over Draco's bare skin when realization hit both of them and they broke apart gasping.

"You kissed me!" panted Harry, still recovering. He paused. "Has Hell frozen over?"

"I guess I got an answer for the gay/straight question," Malfoy said with a smirk.

"I guess...," replied Harry, smirking back when he noticed Malfoy's erection.

"Well, unlike you, my lack of clothing makes it impossible to hide anything."

Harry pulled off his cloak and wrapped it around Malfoy.

"One snog in a corner and you're giving me gifts already. I didn't know you were so easy Potter."

Harry didn't reply but just took his wand and changed the emblem to a Slytherin one.

"I don't want your pity."

"I was thinking maybe we could try friendship."

"If I remember correctly you refused my friendship."

"Yes well, you were an arrogant little bastard and I was an ignorant tree hugger. Maybe this time we could meet somewhere in the middle."

Silence fell and Harry took a look out the window to see it had gotten dark.

"Its dark lets get you back to Hogwarts."

"How do you plan to do that exactly, genius boy?"

Harry smiled a knowing smile, "follow me."

Harry pulled open the trap door and motioned for Draco to come along. At the bottom of the ladder he grabbed his invisibility cloak from where he had set it and led the way down the tunnel.

"Wait," said Harry and grabbed Draco's shoulder to stop him from hurrying toward the exit of the tunnel.

"Where are we?"

"Below the Whomping Willow. Ok. C'mon" Harry grabbed Draco's hand and pulled him forward.

"C'mon? Are you nuts? You'll get us killed!"

"No I won't, the knot paralyzes it. Trust me!" Harry dragged a reluctant Draco forward out from under the Willow's branches. As soon as they were clear of the Whomping Willow Harry tossed his invisibility cloak over them both and they made their way to the school.

"Neat...," whispered Draco. So this is how you've been getting away with everything all this time.

"Shhh..." replied Harry since they were getting close.

Harry wrapped an arm around Draco and pulled him close since they were getting too big to fit more than one person under the cloak. Draco did his best to refrain from putting an arm around Harry as well but it left him with the problem of what to do with his arm. So instead of letting it hang uncomfortably in the way he let it slide around Harry's waist like it belonged there and hoped that nothing would be said.

'If anyone had told me a week ago that I would accept Harry Potter's help and be wearing his cloak and kissing him I would have told you they were insane.' Draco thought.

The two of them got to the Slytherin dungeons without being seen by anyone, although it was a fairly close call when Dumbledore and McGonagal walked by. It was still before curfew but if they had caught Harry with a nearly nude Draco there would have been some uncomfortable questions asked. They stopped at the entrance to the Slytherin common room and stood there alone in the hallway. Each thought about what they wanted to say until the silence became almost deafening.

Finally Draco gritted his teeth and managed to spit out, "Potter could I borrow your invisibility cloak?"

"Huh?" said Harry who had been off in another world.

"Your invisibility cloak, Potter, may I borrow it?"

Harry looked at Draco and after a pause said, "well I might let you under certain conditions."

Draco mentally closed his eyes. Nothing ever came free in this world. "So what do you want?"

"Well, first of all, call me Harry."

"Harry?"

"You've had your tongue in my mouth. I think you can manage to call me by my first name." Harry smiled.

"That's it?"

"Well not quite."

"So what's the catch?"

"You need to understand that the cloak was my fathers and means an awful lot to me. More than could just be replaced with another cloak. If I let you use it you have to promise me you'll treat it like as if it were your own."

Draco thought about this, "Ok, you have my word I'll take good care of it."

"I want it back tomorrow evening ok?"

"That should be fine."

Harry moved to get out from under the cloak when Draco stopped him.

"Harry how can you be sure I'll keep my word on either count?"

"I can't, but friendship is based on trust, so how can my offer to be your friend be meant honestly if I'm always waiting for you to cheat me?"

Harry slipped out from under the cloak and hurried down the hallway before it got too late and he was caught outside of his common room after curfew. He heard Draco's whisper travel down the hallway as he was leaving, "Don't worry I'll keep my word."

Draco watched Harry rush down the hallway surprised that he would lend such a valuable item to Draco almost without a second thought.

'Friendship...' thought Draco.

He spoke the password and went to his room to get some clothes on. The bath he wanted would unfortunately have to wait until later. He had other plans for the evening with this wonderful cloak. He decided that first off he would see if he could get his wand back, and hopefully the money. If the money was a complete loss he would spend the rest of the evening as Pansy's invisible shadow. He was sure he could find a million ways to make her life even more miserable.

Draco grinned evilly and got to work.

Harry pushed his way through the portrait of the Fat Lady and was immediately assaulted by a barrage of question from Ron and Hermione who were there waiting for him to return.

"Where have you been?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah you never showed up at The Three Broomsticks like you said you would mate. Everything ok?" Ron added.

"Harry you can't keep beating yourself up for Sirius's death like this. I'm sure he'd want you to be happy and you know this." Hermione lay one hand over Harry's comfortingly.

"Wait," said Harry pulling his hand away. He was starting to feel just a bit guilty about how he got the two of them to go on without him. "Tonight didn't have anything to do with Sirius. It was just an excuse to get you out of there."

"What??" gaped Ron.

"Why would you do that?" questioned Hermione.

"Well, you see there was someone there, and I wanted to deal with it myself."

Hermione frowned at the risk Harry had taken, "Do you know how dangerous that was? What if it was a death eater or one of You Know Who's plans? You should have gone straight to Dumbledore, or at least mentioned it to us."

"Yeah! The three of us could have taken care of any problem that would have come up. We're here to watch your back mate, so no more fighting battles on your own. Ok?" Ron grinned at Harry and stuck a fist in the air. "We'll take on teachers in disguise, giant chess sets and flying keys, evil Slytherins, especially Malfoys, cursed books and animagus pets!"

Hermione shook her head at his idiocy.

Ron ignored her and continued with his rant. "Where was I? Oh yes, evil Malfoy's, they're bad enough to mention twice, and nasty potions teachers, not a worldwide threat true, but we'll take 'em on together just the same... "

"Stop Ron," Harry sighed and imagined what kind of disaster it would have been if Ron had been there when he discovered Draco. "This is part of the reason why I got you two to go ahead. Unless Death Eaters have started sporting bare feet I knew it should be ok, but I couldn't explain what was going on or you'd go off half cocked looking for whoever was there or running to Dumbledore and turning a fairly simple situation into a tinderbox."

"So what did happen?" asked Hermione.

"I helped a person needing help."

"That's all? What about the details man?" Ron wanted to hear the rest of the story even if he couldn't be part of it.

"I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I'm sure if you were in this person's shoes you wouldn't want me breaking a confidence either."

Hermione nodded looking at Harry thoughtfully. That thoughtful look was dangerous. 'I wonder what I just gave away' Harry thought.

Ron didn't take things quite as well. "What the hell is wrong with you lately Harry? You've been keeping secrets from us all term. I thought we didn't have secrets. You just aren't the same person anymore."

"And I'm sure that you always tell me everything that goes on with you and Hermione," said Harry getting a bit angry.

"That's not the same,"

"Oh? And how do you know?"

"Well..."

"Exactly. Goodnight Herm."

Harry was worried. He lay back and looked up at the wine red curtains closed around the bed and worried about his cloak. He wondered what he was thinking when he lent it to Draco. The chances were pretty good he would never see it again and it was all due to his own stupidity really. It was probably an overabundance of hormones that caused him to do it. With Draco standing there so close to him wearing only Harry's cloak he probably could have asked him to dance the tango down the hallway in ladies underwear and he would have done it. He needed to get laid, bad.

Speaking of which, what was up with that kiss? Draco Malfoy was really easy on the eyes, and he'd been discreetly looking for about a year now not that he would've ever admitted it out loud, but he would have bet every cent he had that Malfoy would give all his money to charity before he'd make a move on the Boy who Lived, the antithesis of everything Malfoy.

Ugh, I really need to stop thinking about him. If I'm lucky he'll return the cloak in one piece. He'll probably laugh at my offer of friendship, and chances are I'll see him again across a field somewhere in Voldemort's army with a tattoo on his arm. Not a promising outlook.

Why the hell did he have to kiss me anyway?

First thing Monday morning I'm going to see Fred and George about setting up some anonymous one night stand thing for me. Maybe that will get him off my mind.

Meanwhile Draco was sneaking down the hallways toward the girls' dorms tightly wrapped in the invisibility cloak. He waited patiently at the entrance for someone to leave so that he could slip in without being seen. Finally a couple of third years walked out and he quietly edged in.

Pansy was sitting on a sofa in the middle of the main room telling her adventures to Millicent Bulstrode.

"And I even ended up with his wand Millie," Pansy swished Draco's wand around in the air creating a trail of sparks and set it on the end table closest to her end of the sofa. "Can you believe I pulled off such a trick on Malfoy? He's way too full of himself anyway; maybe this will take him down a notch. I have about half of the money left if you want to come shopping with me tomorrow."

"Pansy, don't take this the wrong way but... You stupid bint! What the hell did you think you were doing?! You didn't even obliviate him for God's sake. Are you out of your fucking mind?! Did your brains leak out of your head overnight? This isn't just some joke you played on him. When Draco finds you, and he will find you, you will end up on your knees begging for his forgiveness. My advice is for you to kill yourself now. It would be quicker and less painful."

Pansy had gone slightly grey during this tirade, but she remembered that she still had Draco's wand. "It should be alright as long as I have this" she said with confidence she didn't feel, and reached toward the end table where she had put Draco's wand only to find it was missing.

"Then again maybe you're just even more screwed than you thought you were," said Millicent.

'So, so, true' thought Draco from where he was listening. He ran his fingers over the wand's texture planning his next move.

Pansy yawned, and stretched on the sofa, "I think I'm going to go to bed, although I may spend all of tomorrow hiding out in here instead of shopping. You'll get information to me about what Malfoy's been up to, won't you Millie?"

"I refuse to commit myself to anything."

"...but Millie..."

"Sorry Pans, but I'm a Slytherin, I'm not going to get caught doing something that will get me on Malfoy's bad side, not even for you. Besides, we pride ourselves on picking the winning side, and I'm sorry to say Hon, that's not you."

Pansy sighed, "Well, I'd probably do the same in your shoes. G'nite"

Pansy walked toward her room somewhat depressed. She really hadn't thought things out very well. At least Millie hadn't said definitely no. She would hang around here tomorrow where it was safe and see how things panned out. Maybe Draco would get over it; after all she had only taken his money, and wand, and made him walk home naked where everyone could see... On second thought she might be better off moving to Albania.

Draco followed Pansy to her bedroom. All the girls' rooms were off of the main one with two doors on each wall. Pansy had the room to herself, although it was built to hold more than one person if necessary.

Pansy jumped as the door slammed shut behind her. She turned to look but there was nothing there. 'Must be the wind,' she thought, her heart thumping madly in her chest. 'That's right just the wind, relax now, you're the only one here. All that stuff Millie said just made you a little jumpy, that's all.' She looked down at her hand and noticed she had grabbed her wand and was clutching it so tightly that the design on the handle was imprinting itself on her palm. She slowly lay it down on her desk and took a deep breath to try to relax.

During all this Draco had very quietly whispered a silencing spell on the room that made sure no one outside would hear them and come running to help, not that most of the Slytherins would anyway, and tossed a locking charm at the door.

Pansy kept looking around, feeling that someone else was there. A quiet rustle to her left made her jump again but when she looked around the room was still empty. Looking at the clock she realized it was getting really, really, late and she would be better off getting some sleep and dealing with the whole problem in the morning.

She switched off the light on her desk and walked over to her bed in the dark, pulled the covers up to her chin and snuggled in.

Draco quietly whispered another spell and waited patiently.

Pansy tossed and turned but she was worried about what would come from the joke she had played on Draco and couldn't fall asleep. Then she heard another noise in the dark. She sat up straight in bed and listened intently to see if she would hear it again. There it was! There was definitely someone in the room with her, she was sure of it.

"I've got you now," she said aloud to whoever it was that was there.

Draco shook his head; how did she ever get sorted into Slytherin? Announcing you were coming was like telling the opponent what you had in mind. She may as well have said: "Get ready; I'm using my secret plan now."

Pansy hopped out of bed and walked to the desk where she turned on the light again. She turned around quickly to catch whoever it was, but the room was still empty. Just then she felt something move by her foot. Looking down quickly she froze in place and screamed. The floor of the room was covered in snakes. There were all kinds of snakes, and it was just dumb luck that she hadn't stepped on one on the way to the desk. Reaching for her wand she realized it wasn't on her desk where she had left it. Panicking even more she ran to the door on her toes narrowly missing stepping on some snakes, unwilling to actually move them out of the way physically. Fingers shaking in fear they gripped the doorknob unsteadily, turned and pulled only to find it wouldn't open. Pulling harder on the knob and rattling the door on its hinges made no difference.

The snakes hissed and slithered around her, one curling around her legs. She twitched her leg and shoved it out of the way. Banging both fists on the door in the hopes that someone would help she screamed, "Let me out, Let me out!"

Crying and unable to stand the snakes around her any more, she made her way back to the bed where they seemed to be unable to reach. Not for lack of trying though and she was forced to keep an eye out and knock a few persistent ones down just in case.

She had been at it for hours and was starting to nod off. The snakes although persistent hadn't really done anything to her and she was thinking maybe she might try to get some sleep and take her chances.

Without warning the light on her desk shut off and the sound of the snakes hissing disappeared. The whole room was quiet again and she sighed in relief. The snakes were gone. Wanting to see that it was clear with her own eyes she got out of bed again and walked toward the desk to turn the light back on. She took a step and everything seemed fine, and another, then a third and she stepped on something that was slightly moist and made a crunching noise. Positive she didn't want to know what it was, but knowing she had to see what she was up against anyway she finished the walk to the desk in a run, her steps crunching moistly all the way. There was something very icky stuck to the bottom of her feet, and it took her three tries to get the light switch to turn on because her fingers were shaking so badly.

Draco smirked to himself in satisfaction. She wouldn't sleep a night through for weeks after this.

The floor was covered in spiders, brown spiders, black spiders, and a trail of squashed spiders from her bed. She shuddered and goosebumps rose over her whole body. Brushing at the spiders that were starting to climb up her legs she climbed up on her desk as it was closest and hoped it would hold. Too terrified to even manage a scream anymore she knelt on the wobbly desk and brushed off the spiders that easily climbed up the legs. Her whole bed was covered by now and she just hoped she hadn't missed any on the desk. Looking around the room everything writhed.

Then she noticed that one chair in the room was completely bare. Not only were there no spiders on it, there weren't any trying to climb up. It was as if the chair wasn't part of the spider infestation. She wondered if she dared to walk to the chair to see what was going on.

Draco noticed her looking at him. He spelled the chair he was sitting on to be spider and snake free, and he sat on it cross-legged to keep his feet off the floor. He was surprised that it even clicked in her mind the chair was bare with all the spiders she was dealing with.

A big fat spider crawled over Pansy's hand reminding her that she was slacking in keeping the desk clear and she let out a faint scream and jerked her hand sending the spider flying. She brushed across the desk quickly getting the remaining spiders off when the last one got squashed on her hand. Shaking and exhausted she began to sob.

"Draco is that you over there?" she said aloud unwilling to walk back over the spiders again to find out.

"Draco I'm so sorry," she sobbed. She was a mess, her eyes were red and swollen and her nose was running and she had squashed spider on her hand and feet. Her whole body shook from terror and exhaustion and she knew that Millie had been right when she said death was the easier option.

She sniffed and began begging for mercy in earnest. She swore to get back the money she had spent, swore never to do anything like it again, and was willing to offer anything that would make the horror stop.

Draco stood up on the chair and took off the cloak draping it carefully over the back of the chair. Waving his wand he made all the spiders disappear, then, gracefully stepping off the chair he said, "I want my money back Pansy."

"Sure... Sure... You bet." She grabbed hold of the top drawer of her desk from where she was crouched and yanked at it with trembling fingers. The whole drawer came free of the desk and tumbled to the floor with a crash, and there sat Draco's purse in the wreckage.

Draco walked over and picked it up. Looking inside he asked, "...and what about the rest of it?"

"I'll get it to you. I will. This week, I promise... even if I have to sleep with Goyle to do it."

"You'd better Pansy, because next time I'll tie you to the floor."

"One question..."

"What is it?"

"Where'd you get the cloak? I thought they were really rare."

Draco raised an eyebrow at that and with a pause said, "Harry lent it to me."

"Harry?" Pansy asked.

"That's what I said," replied Draco who was a bit surprised how easily he had started thinking of Potter as 'Harry'.

"You mean Potter?"

"Do we know any other Harry's?"

"No, but..."

"Never assume Pans. After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or some such thing, right?"

Draco dropped Pansy's wand on the carpet and disappeared in a swirl of invisibility cloak.

"Sweet dreams," he said with a smirk and left as Pansy, who was still crouched on the desk, her legs gone completely numb from the position she'd been in for so long, began to cry again.

While Draco snuck back to his own dorm he mentally thanked Harry for being... well, a lot more generous than he ever would've been with this type of an item. If it wasn't for the cloak tonight's revenge wouldn't have gone nearly as well. He wondered what Harry was up to with this whole friendship scheme. He certainly wasn't going to go running to join Dumbledore and his bunch if he became his friend, assuming that was the master plan. He would end up facing most of his family across a battlefield if he did, and he didn't want to have to kill them or end up getting killed by them.

That kiss was certainly an interesting revelation though. Who would have thought the Boy Who Lived had it in him? It was certainly a bizarre impulse that made him do it in the first place, but he definitely didn't regret it. As a matter of fact he wouldn't mind trying it again...

The next morning Pansy sat at breakfast looking completely wretched. Her face was pale and her hair was trying to escape from the lopsided ponytail she had pulled it back in. She was completely defeated. Despite all this, she did manage to shoot one venom filled look across the Great Hall at Harry Potter who was in her opinion, at least in part, responsible for her predicament.

Harry nearly flinched at the hate contained in that look. He had walked into breakfast and realized after one look at Pansy, and at a very self satisfied Draco, that she must have been responsible for yesterday's fiasco, and Draco had gotten his revenge.

Just then one of the school owls dropped a note into his lap. 'Astronomy tower 3:00,' it said. There was no signature, but Harry looked up at Draco who raised an eyebrow and surreptitiously winked at him and looked away.

Suddenly Ron, who had been peeking at Harry's note, yelled out, "Ooh, Harry's got a date!"

"I do not!"

"Well what else do you go up to the Astronomy tower for?"

Harry blushed beet red and searched for a response. Finally deciding that letting Ron think he had a date might not be such a bad thing, he gave in. "Fine I have a date, now lay off would you? I don't want the whole school knowing."

"Sure, you bet!" Ron grinned conspiratorially.

That afternoon Harry made his way up the hundreds of stairs up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. I wonder why this place is so popular as a romantic getaway thought Harry, by the time you get to the top, you're too tired to do anything else.

He opened the door to the top of the tower and walked in. Draco was already there looking out the window at the grounds. He turned as Harry walked in. "So I'm your date huh?"

"Eh? What?" Harry looked temporarily confused. "Oh, I just said that to Ron so he would lay off. I wasn't about to say I'm going to go meet Draco Malfoy because I like him and he has my invisibility cloak."

"Why not? Its true isn't it?"

"Well... Yeah, but some truths are better if they're eased into more gently I think."

"The Weasel just can't handle it." Draco handed the invisibility cloak back to Harry. It was folded neatly and there wasn't a mark on it. "Thanks a lot for the loan."

Harry reached out for the cloak and froze as his fingers brushed over Draco's. Looking up at Draco he pulled the cloak toward his chest and said, "It was Pansy wasn't it? What happened to you yesterday I mean."

"Yeah... But she won't ever do it again." Draco paused thinking something over. "Look Potter, what do you want from me? I'm not going to join Dumbledore and his band of goody two shoes idiots if that's what you're thinking. Maybe I think that the dark has its place. I like the dark side."

"I thought you were going to call me Harry."

"Harry then... Now, if you'll answer the fucking question."

"Draco there's no need to get so upset."

Draco grabbed Harry and shoved him up against the nearest wall. "No? And why not? Do you even realize what you're asking for? You think it's possible that the son of a Death Eater could be friends or more with the Boy Who Lived? I won't give up my family, and they would kill you easily given the chance. What kind of a future is that for friendship or anything else?"

Draco let go of his grip on Harry's robes and slumped slightly. Harry lifted his hand and wiped away the single tear that ran down Draco's cheek.

"You've never had a real friend before have you?"

"No... I never knew anyone who would give me their most precious possession just because I needed it. They'd give it through force, but never friendship."

Harry put his hands on Draco's shoulders, "Draco look at me." Draco looked up and Harry continued, "I don't want you joining Dumbledore."

"What...?"

"I mean it. That old fart, is a manipulative bastard, and I wouldn't be with him myself if there was any other choice."

Draco looked around, "This is some sort of trick right?"

"No."

Draco looked at Harry who shook his head in emphasis and by the look in his eyes Draco could see that he was in earnest. Amazing...

"So what do you want from me?" Draco asked again.

"Don't try to kill me."

"Huh?"

"That's what I want from you. Neutrality... I understand you don't want to fight against your family, but I don't want to have to face you across a battlefield either. For this to work, that's the choice you'd have to make. Unfortunately I don't have that option."

Harry looked away figuring it was too much to ask. Draco's hand on his cheek gently pulled him back to face him, "Harry, my family will still try to kill you. They'll use me to get to you."

"You're not responsible for what your family does Draco. They wouldn't hurt you would they?"

"Probably not."

"That's all right then. Friends?"

"Yes, friends..." said Draco who had made his decision. "With benefits..." and he pulled Harry forward and kissed him.