The Marks We Bear

Notes: on this and previous dream sequences. Dream sequences are dream sequences not reality. Events may not have happened exactly as portrayed in them, they are a mixture of reality and recreation and emotion. They have their basis in reality but they cannot be taken as straight fact.

--------------------- Chapter 7 Friday 3rd Oct

Draco went to bed happier than he had the night before but still worried, not about reality but about where he would find himself after he fell asleep. He had experienced terrible nightmares the night before after running out on Harry. All the memories that had been stirred by what had happened mixed with the fear that Harry would be angry with him. He had thought a lot about what had happened last night. Kissing Harry, at first, had been... wonderful. Like nothing else he could remember. The fear had only started when Harry had become more aggressive. He wondered if he could avoid that by staying the aggressor, because he didn't want to never do that again. He wouldn't let Voldemort steal that from him too.

So Harry's big secret was revealed, trust him to be so worked up over something so silly. He could face Voldemort and walk away but he couldn't come out to his closest friends.

But more than that... Harry had chosen him. Not Weasley, not Finnegan, not some unattainable 7th year or whoever. Him... Harry wanted him. And this wasn't the potion talking, he had gone over every word he had said to Harry with a fine toothcomb looking for some slip of the tongue that might have led to Harry being persuaded he had a crush on him when he didn't. There was nothing. And that meant he was right, the potion didn't matter, Harry would have come around on his own. All he'd done was make it easier for him. All this stuff with the other Gryffindors wasn't his fault, it would have happened anyway. Because Harry wanted him.

Draco felt very self-satisfied at this and threw a 'So there!' in the direction of an imaginary Ron Weasley. This time he chose me.

He tossed and turned, lonely without Harry to chat to about silly inconsequential things, scared to let himself sleep just in case, but finally he couldn't stay awake any longer and he slipped into sleep...

He was wandering through the corridors of Hogwarts, it was dark and dusty and he couldn't quite figure out where he was. He had to find the portrait of the fat pink lady, he had to find Harry. If he didn't find Harry something bad was going to happen... he was sure of it.

He tried to go faster, pushing at locked doors, looking out windows to try and get his bearings... but there didn't seem to be anything outside. The floor seemed awfully slippy, he kept falling over. He had a horrible feeling that something might be behind him. Something terrible.

He scrambled up off the floor but just as he got to his feet he heard that voice.

"Draco," it whispered. "Where are you going?"

He froze, not turning around. "Nowhere," he said.

"I was just going to kill Potter, would you like to watch?"

Draco started to cry. "No," he whispered. "I'm going out."

"What a shame. I hope you were going to say goodbye first." There was a hand on his shoulder, squeezing, massaging. It pulled him around and suddenly there was heavy wood at his back.

//No, no, no...// He could feel the grain of it through his shirt. Scratched at it with his fingers. Why couldn't he close his eyes? Why couldn't he just scream and scream and scream...

The hands were on his shoulders, pressing him back. Those eyes looking into him, through him, over him like he was a piece of meat. "Pretty," the voice hissed. "Pure," it was so close.

He could smell him again, rotting meat. The hands on his face to stop him turning away...

//No, no, no, no, no...//

"Don't touch me!" Draco screamed, bolting upright as he awoke. His hands shot out in front of him to ward off the phantoms in his mind. For a moment he sat panting then he leapt out of bed and ran to the bathroom to throw up.

He sat on the cold floor of the bathroom drinking water to ease his throat and stared at nothing until the sun rose.

------------- Saturday 4th Oct

Draco waited at the Slytherin table for Harry, sipping at tea and feeling like death warmed over.

When Harry staggered in he didn't look any better. He stumbled over to the table like a zombie and buried his head in his arms. "Morning," he mumbled.

"Sleep well?" asked Draco sarcastically.

"I hate you," mumbled Harry.

"Don't be melodramatic, your insomnia is not my fault. It's not like I got any sleep either or are you too far gone to notice that the bags under my eyes are getting in the way of my spoon? It's ruining my reputation as sexiest boy in school."

"If you were as tired as I am you wouldn't be able to make smart comments."

"I can always make smart comments."

Harry humphed. "So what's keeping you up?"

"Nightmares," Draco answered shortly. "What about you?"

"Life. Ron, Hermione... everything."

"Why don't you just talk to them?"

"Why don't you just stop having nightmares?"

"This school really needs a course on logical arguing. Why don't you just get up and go over to Granger and talk to her? You'd feel better for it."

"Beating my head against a brick wall would make me feel better than try to talk Hermione out of her delusions. And stop calling her Granger, it's annoying."

Draco shook his head, Granger wasn't the one who was delusional, but he wasn't going to try and push Harry into admitting he was gay. He'd come around eventually, only someone as stubborn as Harry could kiss a guy like that one day and then insist he was straight the next. Perhaps he should suggest to Dumbledore the school start employing a counsellor. He stared down at the toast that he couldn't be bothered eating and contemplated falling asleep right there, sitting next to Harry gave him a pleasant sense of safety that was making his eyelids droop. He looked over at Harry who seemed to be falling asleep too. "Are you going to eat anything?"

"I can't," Harry grunted. "My stomach is asleep."

"Come on then, let's get out of here." He pried himself up and tugged Harry up too.

"Where're we going?" asked Harry, following him out the hall towards the stairs.

"I need a nap and so do you."

"But I can't sleep."

"You seemed to be dropping off a minute ago."

"Well, yeah. But that was different."

"I know, I have a plan."

"It doesn't involve knocking me unconscious with a mallet does it?"

"Only if you don't shut up."

By now they had arrived at the painting of the pink lady.

"Go in and make sure everyone's at breakfast," Draco ordered him.

A few minutes later Harry stuck his head out the portrait hole. "All clear."

Draco stepped through and led Harry back up the stairs to his dormitory. Then he kicked his shoes under the bed, threw himself on top of it and gave a sigh of contentment.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked horrified.

Draco opened his eyes. "I told you we're taking a nap. Now lie down and close the curtains."

"But... but...."

"Now," Draco ordered, he was exhausted and Harry's hang ups were not going to get in the way of him getting a few hours of undisturbed sleep.

Clearly nervous Harry sat on the bed and pulled the curtains around them, tying them securely. In the dark he heard Draco moving around. "What are you doing?"

"Taking my robes off," answered Draco. "I'm not going to sleep in them, they'll get all crumpled. Now lie down and stop talking to me."

Harry began to babble nervously. "I'm not..." //...gay// "I don't..." //...know what you want// "Are you..." //...naked? Oh Gods! Is he?//

Draco sat up. "For Gods sake, Harry. Give us some light a minute."

Fumbling with his wand, Harry conjured a light and was both relieved and disappointed to find Draco was wearing a long sleeved top and a pair of jersey boxers.

"Why do you have to make everything into such a production?" Draco asked, exasperated. "Can't you just lie down and we can try and get a bit of sleep."

"I'm sorry," Harry realised he had been over-reacting. "I'm just tired, I can't think straight." He suddenly realised what he had just said and the tiny shock that ran across his face made Draco smile. "I mean..."

Draco reached out and put his hand over Harry's mouth before he could make it worse. With his other hand he undid the front of Harry's robes then took Harry's wand from him and extinguished the light. "Stop thinking about things, take off your robes and lie down. We're just going to sleep, you'll feel better when you wake up."

Harry threw his robes to the end of his bed and let Draco push him down and pull the covers over them. He left a reasonable space between their bodies but didn't let go of Harry's hand.

"Go to sleep."

Suddenly Harry found he couldn't seem to do anything else. In moments both of the boys were sleeping peacefully.

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

Downstairs at the Gryffindor table Hermione was getting heartily sick of the way things were going. After she watched a drained looking Harry follow Malfoy out of the room she turned to Ron and decided enough was enough. She stood up and glowered down at the ringleaders of the 'Harry is the Spawn of Satan' club; Seamus, Ron, Fred and George. In particular she glared at Ron, who cowered a little under her gaze.

"What?" he asked nervously.

"I," she said angrily. "Have had *enough* of *this*!"

"Sit down, Herm," said Ron placatingly. "Enough of what?"

"You know exactly what?" she snapped. "And it is stopping, right now!"

"Hermione," said Seamus. "We can't..."

"You!" she turned on him. "Stay out of this!"

Seamus flinched back. They had never seen Hermione so angry before.

"Now let me get a few things clear. I do not like Malfoy, I do not trust Malfoy. That is not in question. But Harry is my friend and he is your friend... your *best* friend!"

Ron looked like he wanted to say something but was too afraid that Hermione might hurt him if he did.

"What is it?" she prodded him. "Go on say it."

"He... well... it looks to me like Harry has a new best friend," Ron argued.

"Oh, I see. So a person can only have one friend can they?" Hermione said sarcastically. "Or does that rule only apply when that friend is a Slytherin?"

"He's not just a Slytherin, he's a Malfoy!"

"Oh well, that makes all the difference then doesn't it! He's a Malfoy! Just like you're a Weasley and I'm a Mudblood. Isn't that right? And we all know that says it all doesn't it!"

"Hermione!"

"You sound just like he used to... but he got over it, grew out if it... whatever. When are you going to grow up? No-one's asking you to like him. Not even Harry expects that. But you can't even be civil! You won't even give your best friend the time of day just because he's friends with someone you don't like! He sits with the Slytherins because he feels more welcome at their table than he does at ours, what the hell does that say about us! It's childish and petty and mean and you're tearing Harry apart and I won't stand for it anymore!" Hermione was yelling at the top of her voice by now and the entire room was staring at the confrontation.

"I... I..." Ron seemed to have run out of steam.

"Come on," said Hermione, grabbing him by the arm. "We're going to sort this out right now!"

She pulled Ron out of the Great Hall and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "We're going to go find Harry and you are going to make up with him and that is going to be the end of it."

Ron followed her meekly up the stairs. Right now he'd apologise to Malfoy again if it would make her stop yelling at him.

When they got to the Common Room it was empty, they started up the stairs to the boys dormitory to check there when Hermione suddenly had a terrible thought. //Malfoy coming dashing down from the boys dorm the other day, Harry and Malfoy leaving the Great Hall together this morning... oh no. What if... // "Ron, wait. Maybe he's asleep, we shouldn't disturb him."

But Ron had made up his mind. "Don't be silly, he was awake fifteen minutes ago. It'll be fine." He went into the dorm room with Hermione behind him.

Sure enough the curtains around Harry's bed were closed. "Ron, don't," Hermione squeaked as he undid the curtains and stuck his head in.

There was a long moment in which he just stood there, the curtains hanging half way open. Hermione came up behind him and looked down at the two boys lying asleep on the bed, mostly clothed but tucked under the covers facing one another, their foreheads almost but not quite touching. She looked over at Ron, he looked like he was in shock. She closed the curtains again and pulled him out of the room, closing the door behind them.

Ron dropped down onto the top step of the stairs, his face white as a sheet and his eyes like saucers. "I think I'm going to be sick," he said finally.

"Ron," said Hermione gently. "Don't be like that, I'm sure it's much more innocent than it looked. They still had clothes on, they were just sleeping."

"They had their clothes on?" repeated Ron.

"Of course, didn't you notice?" insisted Hermione, not mentioning that their robes had been lying on top of the covers... meaning they were just in their underwear.

"I dunno, I think I'm going insane. What's going on? What's... oh Gods... the other night when Malfoy came tearing through the common room from the dorms... were they? Oh, I'm definitely going to be sick. How could he? With Malfoy!"

"Ron, stop it. I'm sure they haven't done anything. Harry can't even admit he's gay never mind do much of anything about it."

"Harry's gay?"

Ron didn't seem to be processing all of this new info very well. "Ron, listen. Come downstairs, we'll play wizarding chess. That always calms you down." She led him down the stairs.

"Since when was Harry gay?"

"Since always, that's how it works."

"He never said."

"He didn't know, he's in denial. Listen to me, Ron. You can't say anything to anyone about this. Promise me."

"You think I'm going to talk about this? I don't even want to think about this!"

"Ron Weasley, don't be such a homophobe!"

"Hey! I am not!"

Hermione looked at him sternly.

* * * * *

"He's not sleeping with Malfoy... well I mean of course he is, but sleeping sleeping not... *sleeping* sleeping."

"How do you know? For all you know they woke up right after we left and are currently shagging like bunnies!" Ron went green. "Oh, gross. Go and make sure they're not."

"Ron! I'm not going back up there."

"Yes you are. I am not sitting here talking when they might be doing it in the next room. It's disgusting. Go and make sure they're still asleep."

"You are such a big baby," Hermione said exasperated and snuck back up the stairs. She peeped through the curtains at the two sleeping boys and ended up staring at them for a couple of minutes. Malfoy might not have been her ideal choice for Harry to have a crush on but she had to admit they looked very sweet lying there together, it was almost romantic. They looked as if they were holding hands under the covers. She retied the curtains and cast a quick Diversion Charm on them so that if anyone else came up and felt like checking on Harry they would find themselves distracted by other things. When she got back down the stairs Ron had set up the chess board and looked a bit calmer. He looked up at her.

"Still asleep then?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "So this is why Harry was so determined to stay friends with Malfoy, he had a crush on him."

"I guess so."

"It actually kind of makes sense. I couldn't figure out why he'd choose Malfoy over me."

"He didn't want to have to choose, you made him choose."

"I wanted him to choose me, but I guess I'm glad he didn't. That could've been... akward."

"To say the least," giggled Hermione, imagining a lovestruck Harry mooning around after Ron.

"It's not funny," said Ron.

"Oh, it is a bit," answered Hermione.

"No, it's not," said Ron seriously. "This isn't just some teen crush, this is Draco Malfoy. As in son of Lucius Malfoy, the Death Eater."

"I know. But..."

"But what?"

"But don't you think that if Dumbledore thought he was dangerous he would have expelled him after he cursed you? Besides, Harry may be a little off his game but he's not stupid. I can't help but think he must have talked to Malfoy about his father, he must trust him for some reason."

"Dumbledore's great but he's still a bit mad and for all we know Malfoy's put some sort of spell on Harry, how do we know this is all on the level?"

"Malfoy doesn't even have a wand, Dumbledore confiscated it... and he's not as mad as he makes out he is."

"I'm just... worried." He looked Hermione in the eyes. "Love can be a funny thing, you don't think things through properly anymore. You can make a lot of mistakes."

Hermione met his gaze feeling a thrill at the obvious double meaning of the conversation. "I know," she answered. "I know exactly what you mean." She reached out and touched the back of his hand lightly.

He smiled at her. "Well then, chess?"

"Right, chess." They settled down to play. A while into the game, which Hermione was unexpectedly winning, she asked him, "So are you going to make up with Harry?"

Ron sighed. "Yes," he told her. "You're right, as usual. Harry's my friend... and while he's clearly gone completely mad that shouldn't change things. So the war is over, okay?"

"You'll talk to the others?"

"I thought I wasn't allowed to."

"Not about that! I just mean, get them to back off. Tell them to keep their opinions on Malfoy to themselves when Harry's about."

"I can get Fred and George to lay off but I can't promise you anything on the Seamus front."

"Just try, this is difficult enough for Harry without having the whole house treating him like a pariah."

"I know. I hate to think how I'd cope with it. Falling for Malfoy? I think I'd jump off the Astronomy Tower."

"Yes, well it's that kind of behaviour we're trying to avoid."

"You don't really think he'd do something like that?"

"No, of course not. Things aren't *that* bad."

"So does this mean Malfoy's gay too? Cause you know I always had my suspicions about him."

"I don't know, I think maybe he's just lonely. I really don't know him very well, I've barely spoken to the guy except about classes."

"Well whether he is or not we need to put a stop to all this coming and going out of our dorm room. If they want to hang out together they can do it down here where we can keep an eye on them," said Ron sternly.

Hermione began giggling.

"What? I'm serious. It's not on."

"You sound like my father."

"Your father told you to stay out the boys dorm?"

"Actually, yes. We had this incredibly uncomfortable *chat* before I came back to school this year. About how I was getting so grown up. It was awful, I thought I'd die of embarassment. I swear to the Gods he had exactly the same expression on his face as you did just there." Hermione stopped. "Actually that's a bit disturbing. Don't ever look like that again."

"So what *are* you allowed to do?" asked Ron with a big grin.

Hermione went bright red. "Ron."

"Go on, you can tell me."

"Quit trying to distract me when I'm winning." Hermione moved her knight. "Check."

A few hours later as lunch approached Hermione decided they'd better wake Harry and Malfoy up. If they slept all day they'd never get to sleep tonight. Besides, she was tired of worrying that someone else would catch the two of them together. She and Ron had done the best they could to keep people out of the boys dorm, telling them Harry was asleep. Ron had also had a quiet conversation with his brothers about calling off the feud. He hadn't spoken to Seamus yet cause Seamus hadn't been about.

Hermione left Ron down in the Common Room and went upstairs alone to wake them. She removed the Diversion Charm and untied the curtains. They were still fast asleep, though they seemed to have kicked the blankets off a bit, she could now clearly see that they were holding hands and Harry was in his vest. Boy was Harry not going to react well to her having seen this, maybe she should wake Malfoy first. She reached over and shook Malfoy's shoulder. "Malfoy, wake up."

He twitched a little and seemed to curl closer to Harry.

She shook him again, harder. "I said wake up!"

His eyes opened and he looked at Harry asleep in front of him. "What?"

"Up here, Malfoy."

Malfoy turned round, blinking away his sleep, and saw her standing over them. "Granger? Shit." He tried to sit up but Harry had what seemed to be a death grip on his arms where they were tangled together. "Harry, wake up." He tugged at Harry, freeing one arm so he could roll onto his back and look around the room.

"Don't panic, there's no-one else here."

"What time is it?"

"Nearly lunch time, I thought you should probably get up now."

"Yeah." He looked down at Harry. "Is he always this hard to wake up?"

"Don't know. It's not something I do very often." She prodded at Harry's shoulder. "Harry, it's time for lunch. Wake up."

Harry rolled over onto his stomach, on top of Malfoy's arm, and muttered something unintelligible.

"What did he say?"

"I think it was 'Damn the torpedoes'," answered Malfoy dryly. "Or maybe 'Where are my speedoes'."

"You're very amusing," said Hermione in exasperation. "Now wake him up."

"All right," said Malfoy with a very wicked expression on his face. He pulled the covers back, revealing that Harry was wearing a pair of blue Y-fronts which were slightly riding up one cheek. Hermione blushed. "Wake up, Potter," said Malfoy cheerily, then with a smack that echoed loudly round the room he brought the flat of his hand down hard on Harry's bottom.

Harry almost hit the ceiling he woke up so fast.

Hermione just stood there in shock with her hand over her mouth.

"Ow!" Harry rounded on Malfoy without even noticing her. "That hurt!"

Malfoy was in fits of laughter. "I'm... sorry..." he gasped. "You wouldn't... wake... up... and it was just... so... tempting!"

Harry rubbed at his bottom. "You're such an ass."

"Er..." said Hermione. "Harry?"

He spun around in shock. "Hermione!" He cast his eyes wildly around the room as if expecting the rest of the house to pop up from behind the curtains and tugged a blanket in front of him.

"It's... ah... lunchtime. I thought I better wake you up."

"How did you... did anyone?.... we weren't doing anything!"

Hermione put her hand out placatingly. "I know. Just... I think Malfoy better go now, don't you? Before someone sees him."

Behind Harry Malfoy was putting his robes back on. "Have you seen my socks, Harry?"

Harry just clung to his blanket and stared at Hermione, speechless.

Malfoy found his socks and finished dressing then came round the bed and peered at Harry. He turned to Hermione. "Is he okay?"

"I'm fine," said Harry. "I just... got a bit of a shock."

Malfoy picked up Harry's robes and handed them to him. "Here."

"Thanks." Harry dressed absently under the gaze of two concerned pairs of eyes.

When he was done Hermione said, "There's something I should probably mention."

"What?" asked Malfoy.

"I think maybe Harry should sit down first."

"Oh, no," groaned Harry and sat down. "What now?"

"It's just... after breakfast Ron and I came up here together. I'd talked him into making up with you."

Harry looked up at her in dawning horror.

"I tried to stop him but he opened the curtains."

Harry buried his head in his hands.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," said Hermione.

"Well I'm still alive," commented Malfoy. "So I'd assumed that much."

"He was a bit... surprised."

Malfoy snorted and Hermione cast him a 'will you shut up' look.

"But he's okay, really. He'd already decided to make up with you and he still wants to."

Harry looked up at her with incredulity. "Are you sure he wasn't just humouring you?"

"I swear, Harry. It's okay. He won't say anything to anyone and he told Fred and George to leave you be about sitting with the Slytherins."

Malfoy didn't look any more convinced than Harry. "Are you sure he's not still in shock?" he suggested. "Cause if he is I'd like to go hide before it sinks in."

"I didn't say he wanted to make friends with *you*," said Hermione.

Harry stood up and pulled the invisibility cloak out of his trunk. "Here," he handed it to Malfoy. "You better make yourself scarce and I'll find out what's going on with Ron. Follow us downstairs and Hermione'll let you out. I'll see you at dinner if I don't make lunch, okay?"

"Okay," agreed Malfoy, throwing the cloak over his shoulders. "Good luck." He smiled and covered his head, disappearing completely.

"Come on then," said Harry to Hermione. "Let's go."

Harry let Hermione lead him down the stairs to the common room. When he got there everyone seemed to turn and stare at either him or at Ron who was sitting in front of the fire. He saw Ron's eyes follow Hermione as she went to the portrait hole and stepped outside momentarily. When she came back in he turned back to Harry and they stared at each other across the silent room.

Hermione glared around. "What are you all staring at?"

Everyone immediately went back to what they were doing in a rather false and affected way. They were clearly far more interested in whether Ron and Harry were going to make up.

Harry made his way over to the fire. "Um... Hermione said you wanted to talk to me," he said quietly, trying not to blush. What the hell must Ron think about what he'd seen.

"Yeah," said Ron. "I... uh..."

Hermione poked him in the ribs.

"Wanted to apologise," he blurted out. "I shouldn't have fallen out with you over this, it was silly. Friends again?"

"Oh, well, okay then. I guess."

Ron glanced over at Hermione. "Does he know... that I saw..."

Hermione nodded and Harry and Ron both went bright red.

"I just... ah... wanted to say that it doesn't matter," said Ron. "We'll just ah... leave it at that, right? No need to... talk about it or anything." He looked hopeful.

Harry looked immensely relieved. "Right. We'll just go have lunch then. Yeah?"

"Yeah. Great."

They started to leave. Hermione watched them go for a moment shaking her head. "Boys," she muttered. "It's like pulling teeth." Then she followed after them.

There was a moment of akwardness when they got to the Great Hall. Harry could see Draco was already sitting in their usual spot at the end of the Slytherin table. He caught his eye and Harry stopped in his tracks as did Ron and Hermione.

"Um... I just," said Harry akwardly. "I'll just be a minute, okay."

"Of course," said Hermione. "We'll save you a space."

Ron just nodded curtly.

Harry made his way over to the Slytherin table. "Hi."

"Hi," said Draco. "All friends again then?"

"Yeah. I guess. I... uh... I'm going to sit with them if that's okay?"

Draco gave him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "You don't need to ask my permission to sit at your own table, Potter."

Harry frowned. "I thought we were done with the surnames thing?"

Draco actually looked surprised. "I didn't do it on purpose, it just came out that way. Besides it's not like you've ever used my first name."

"I haven't?"

Draco shook his head.

"I hadn't realised... I always think of you as Draco now. I hadn't realised I never actually said it. Wierd."

Nearby one of the Slytherins called out. "Quit mooning over Malfoy, Potter. It's making me feel sick!"

Harry went red again but managed to yell back, "Sick with jealousy, you mean."

Draco smiled again, but this time it looked more genuine. "Piss off and have your lunch with the Gryffindors, *Potter*. I think I can live without you for an hour or two."

"Fine, *Draco*." Harry was smiling too as he walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down between Hermione and Ron.

He was still getting a few funny looks but no-one was saying anything and Ron was speaking to him again so that would do for now.

He spent an enjoyable lunch but he couldn't seem to stop himself constantly glancing over to where Draco was sitting alone. Finally toward the end of the meal he turned to Ron. "Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"I know this probably isn't the time... but I just... I was wondering..."

"What?"

"Could Draco sit with us for dinner?"

"What?!" Ron started choking on his food and everyone turned to stare at them again.

//Damn it,// thought Harry. //Why couldn't I just keep my big mouth shut. Give it a few days. But no... open mouth insert both feet. Idiot.//

Ron recovered himself a bit. "Are you... do you..."

"Ron," said Hermione warningly.

"But Hermione..." he whined.

She simply glared at him.

"Fine," he sulked. "But he's sitting at the end of the table and you and Hermione are sitting between us and I am not going to talk to him! It's bad enough that I've had to spend every evening this week doing detention with the insufferable git."

Harry grinned, having Hermione on your side wasn't too bad after all. "How's that going anyway? The detention," he asked.

Ron shrugged. "Well it's detention, so I can hardly say it's been good... but he's kept his mouth shut mostly. It's been okay... we're always supervised though, in case one of us decides to go for a rematch. Just three more nights to go, for me anyway. Past the half way mark."

When lunch was done Harry caught Draco before he left and told him about dinner.

"He really said it was okay?"

"Well, not in so many words. But sort of."

"Okay then, I guess. I'll come and see how the other half eats. But if anyone flicks their peas at me I'm holding you responsible."

"It's a deal."

---------------------- tbc... please send reviews, insults and comments...