Change My World

\"And so why are you engaging in intercourse with him, Draco?\"

\"I don\'t know. It\'s fun?\"

\"Are you sure it isn\'t more than that?\"

\"I don\'t know.\"

\"Do you love him?\"

\"I don\'t know. I might.\"

\"What makes you think you might?\"

\"I don\'t know.\"

\"You don\'t seem to know a lot, Draco. That isn\'t like you. Are you being honest with me?\"

\"As honest as I can be, sir, I just don\'t know.\"

\"I don\'t think you\'re telling me the truth.\"

\"Fine, then use your Legilimency on me AGAIN. Poison my tea with Veritaserum. Maybe then you can tell me what\'s going on,\" Draco hissed bitterly, still burning from Snape\'s earlier encroachment on his mind.

\"Defensiveness doesn\'t become a Malfoy or a Slytherin, Draco,\" Snape said as he sat back into his chair and shook his head at the blond.

\"Prying into my sex life doesn\'t become a teacher, Professor,\" Draco shot back.

\"It is part of my duty to protect you.\"

\"Then give me a condom and shut up about it.\"

\"Draco, you know how dangerous this is. You\'re not a frivolous boy, usually. You\'re taking an immense risk, and Potter is not worth it,\" Snape said.

\"Whether Harry is worth it or not is so beyond your business I don\'t even know where to start!\" Draco defended.

Snape was offended and envious. He\'d long been Draco\'s confidante and only real friend. The Potion\'s Master rather enjoyed his position as role model in the young man\'s life and finding out so late in the game that Draco was experimenting with, of all people, Harry Potter hurt his pride. It was wrong of him to have used Legilimency against the blond. Invasive. And Draco let him know of his irritation in a thousand barbed remarks he was throwing at the black-clad man. Had it been THAT important that he know for certain what Dumbledore had suspected? Snape was beginning to regret his decision.

\"Well, I suppose one way or the other you\'ve earned another week of detention to sort it all out.\"

\"Unless Dumbledore strikes it down again,\" Draco pointed out.

\"He alerted me to that possibility. He\'s suspicious. Anyways, he\'ll have a harder time striking this one down as you\'ve again caused property damage,\" Snape observed.

\"Potter caused the damage. I was...\" Draco smirked at the naughtiness of what had led to that, deciding to forget entirely his near-break down.

Snape watched Draco\'s expression and his brows rose at what might\'ve caused that manner of grin on the blonde\'s face. The boy\'s hurried explanation at the time that included Draco shoving Harry back against the desk didn\'t hold much water given that the Gryffindor\'s lower back was spotless. Given the nature of how the boys were found standing and the injury Potter had sustained to his shoulder it was clear that there was some manner of under-desk activity going on before the disruption. \"You enjoy that you drive the boy to destruction, don\'t you?\"

Draco\'s self-satisfied smirk said it all.

\"You\'re playing with fire, Draco. What would your father say?\" Snape chided him.

\"Help, help, I\'m in Azkaban and my son\'s a fag!\"

\"Be serious! You\'re not a child and lives are at stake. What if the Dark Lord were to find out?\" Snape snapped as he slapped his hand on the desk for emphasis.

\"He\'s too old for me. No threesomes. I don\'t like to share anyways,\" Draco said caustically as he tossed back his blond hair and lifted his chin pompously. \"You\'re not invited either.\"

\"That\'s enough!\" Snape said, his black eyes glittering angrily. He knew Draco wasn\'t this impulsive. The boy was normally meticulous right down to his relationships and how he handled them. This recent spate of rebelliousness against the Potions Master had Potter written all over it. Draco said he didn\'t know how he felt, and perhaps he really wasn\'t self-aware enough to hone in on his emotions but the way he was behaving made it all too obvious to Snape. Harry had really gotten to him. And Draco was scared. \"I\'m going to recommend your detentions be spent separately. You may spend your detentions with me.\"

Draco\'s eyes cast down and his nostrils flared. \"Good memories with Potter in your classroom,\" he said nastily.

Though Snape had seen more than his fair share of teenaged angst that vented itself in spitefulness, coming from Draco it pained him. He paled visibly as he thought about the sanctity of his classroom being violated by two hormonally charged adolescent boys. \"Nevertheless, that will be my recommendation. You will thank me later. Believe me.\"

\"Whatever,\" Draco snapped as his arms folded around himself. \"Is that all or do you want to violate my mind some more?\"

\"You may go.\"

---

\"I\'m not denying what you imagine you feel Potter, but you must admit that you form these attachments rapidly,\" McGonagall pointed out to the Gryffindor.

\"Wha- I... what do you mean?\"

\"The first friend you made on the train, you\'ve kept. You barely spent time with Sirius Black but you formed such an attachment you risked everything to save him. And now look at you,\" the Gryffindor Head of House pointed out with a flippant gesture of her hand.

Harry hated having Sirius thrown in his face and this was becoming a recurring theme. Suddenly Harry could appreciate Malfoy\'s caustic nature and he wished for a bit more of that wit and bravado right now to deal with this. But instead he just looked down at his hands and said nothing.

\"I don\'t say this to upset you, but it seems that you are deliberately going down the most hazardous and self-destructive path you could. Malfoy is--\"

\"He\'s what? Dangerous? I\'m the one who\'s dangerous, aren\'t I? Isn\'t that what this is all about? People I love die? I should give up? Stop talking to him? Shut myself away and never talk to anyone else again?\" Harry asked with an angry anguish.

\"You know that\'s not what I\'m saying. Potter, even if you weren\'t who you were, given your different houses and the alternate lifestyle--\"

Harry exhaled loudly at the \"alternate lifestyle\" comment and slapped his hands down onto his knees in irritation.

\"I cannot and will not tell you who to love. But be forewarned that continuing this course of action will be thorny and perilous. You will be continuing with your detention for the week, but Malfoy shall be serving it with Professor Snape,\" McGonagall said sensibly and shoved her tin of cookies closer to Harry, knowing that news was not going to please him.

\"WHAT?\" he squalled, shoving the tin back towards the professor.

\"Professor Snape is Malfoy\'s Head of House. It is his call. It is out of my hands, I am afraid. However,\" she said as she inclined her body towards the youth, softening her usually hard expression. \"I think that you know of a place where you might meet with him, should you need to talk things over.\" Minerva\'s eyes shifted slightly, she knew this was crossing the line but seeing Harry in front of her looking so distraught reminded of her own doomed teenaged romance.

Furthermore, she thought that Snape was overreacting and she didn\'t much care for his hysterics in their meeting with Dumbledore over the possibility of the boys being together. Harry was a loving boy. Draco was a lonely boy close to turning from a dark path. Shutting them down would just drive the pair to taking more risks to see one another and that would heighten the risk of them being found out. Because of this she had suggested they provide a space for the boys to meet that was safe and private. Snape, however, came out against this idea vehemently and Dumbledore deferred to the House authorities and she was overruled. That didn\'t keep her from making suggestions.

\"I... what? I do?\"

\"If there\'s a space to meet that you REQUIRE...\"

\"Huh?\" Harry asked. Minerva rolled her eyes. Usually Harry was a bit more on the ball, but he seemed rather distracted with his brooding.

\"You might try the seventh floor?\"

Harry\'s eyes widened for a moment. He tilted his head as he looked at her and his lips slowly curled up into a smile. Then he sat back and nodded at her. The Head of Gryffindor House hadn\'t seen such a beaming smile from the boy since early on in fifth year, before he was tossed out of Quidditch and all of the unfortunate events since then. If she\'d had any doubts about the wisdom of advising this, they were erased by the true joy she saw on her charge\'s face.

\"Very good. We understand each other. Report to Hagrid at eight tonight and you may start your detentions,\" she said with a curt nod and a gesture to the door.

Harry stood up still beaming and now blushing a bit at the thrill of a plan to see Draco he said quietly, \"Thank you.\" Then he turned and sprinted out of the office to figure out how to arrange a meeting with the Slytherin.

---

It was crowded in the Great Hall. It took Harry most of breakfast to finally figure out what he was going to do and then most of History of Magic to suss out how he would do it. Crabbe and Goyle always flanked Draco and at alternate times Parkinson and Bullstrode were part of the fray. The only times he saw Draco alone were in the detentions and when he evidently walked the halls flaunting his prefect duties looking for Gryffindors to... no. Harry was the only one. Certainly he wasn\'t out shopping nightly? The idea made Harry ill and he made a mental note that maybe he should... no. Was he going crazy?

It was nerves. It had to be. He was about to do something very risky and it could land him a severe hexing. But he had to take the risk. He wasn\'t sure how else to do this. After History of Magic, Harry ran off to the bathroom and sat in a stall to draft out a quick note to Draco.

\"Meet me outside of Slytherin Wednesday night at 2 am. I might pop out of nowhere, don\'t scream.\"

Harry didn\'t sign his name, nor attach Draco\'s to the note. This had to go smoothly to work. But if it didn\'t... it would just be another scrap of paper on the floor. Someone meeting outside of Slytherin past curfew would be all anyone would know. All through lunch Harry stole glances at Draco who seemed to be in an even nastier mood than usual. Pansy sat dejectedly next to Malfoy looking too put out to speak. Goyle was still blushing from some scathing comment that Malfoy must have made and Crabbe was simply stuffing his face. If Harry had any doubts of what McGonagall had told him about Snape\'s opinion on their so-called relationship, or whether Malfoy was made aware of it, the answer was most definitely expressed at Slytherin\'s table.

Draco had been bitter and sulky through the morning classes. He terrorized Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws alike, docking points for minor infractions. He spat spiteful spleen at his cronies, glared at Pansy when she\'d tried to speak to him about what was fussing him and even had nothing but disparaging looks for Snape. The blond hadn\'t tried to look at Harry, not that he was to be seen in the Great Hall at the moment anyways. Looking at Harry would be too hard. They weren\'t to see one another anymore. It was hard, but what could he do? Run over to his side and sit with him at lunch? Ask to hold his hand in the corridor? It had been just about sex, he reminded himself. And Draco Malfoy could get sex anywhere. However, the thought of sex with anyone else made him completely lose his appetite. The fork midway up to his face, Draco\'s nose wrinkled and he dropped the utensil. He then slapped his hand on the table in irritation. \"I\'ve had enough of this swill. It\'s time to go,\" he hissed as he shoved himself up by the hand on the table.

Seeing the blond Slytherin stand and then the minions follow suit, Harry was cued. The Gryffindor hadn\'t joined his mates at the table and instead made an excuse about needing to catch up on homework. Harry had lain in wait just outside of the Great Hall waiting for Malfoy to pass by. The arrogant blond didn\'t disappoint. Standing tall and malicious in front of his group, he strutted out between the large wood doors just as Harry started to walk in as if he were just running unusually late for lunch.

Draco\'s mouth opened as he looked at the other boy, momentarily stunned. Then his nostrils flared and his sneer reappeared. He was a bit taken aback that Harry didn\'t seem to notice him there, but instead smacked hard into his shoulder, swiveling him to one side. \"What are you playing at, Potter?\" he hissed as he felt the boy\'s calloused hand against his. Then he felt parchment pressed carefully into his palm. It seemed like a terribly long moment of realization that Harry was passing him something and his fingers closed over it in time, brushing over it to make sure it was really what he thought it was.

\"What? Sorry, didn\'t see you there, Malfoy. You\'re so insignificant that I missed you entirely,\" Harry shot back. It wasn\'t his best work, but he was nervous.

\"I could say the same about YOUR insignificance but your bodily odor announced your presence long before I saw you!\" he hissed as he deftly slid the note into his pocket and brought his other hand up to brush at his shoulder as if any part of Harry that had touched him might need to be flensed.

It was hard for Harry not to laugh, watching Draco\'s little act. But whatever humor he was finding in the situation dried up when he saw the glares of Crabbe and Goyle. Both minions looked more than eager to please Malfoy, particularly since the tyrant had been in such a foul mood. Flexing their arms and cracking their knuckles, Harry started to back away only to hear Hermione from not too far behind him clear her throat.

\"I was wondering what smelled like day old trout suddenly,\" Draco sniffed nastily as he glared at Granger. \"Crabbe. Goyle,\" he snapped as he neatly turned on his heel to get them on their way. His hand instantly moved to his pocket and he fingered the piece of parchment longingly. Fighting the urge to whip it out and read it now, he headed his gang down towards Slytherin dorms.

Once in the Common Room, he bid his lackeys to stay downstairs as he headed to his room. Slamming the door behind him, he whipped the note out of his pocket and read over it a few times before he understood what it said. Then he closed his eyes and smiled. Wednesday. But it was Thursday now. That was nearly a week! Still, it was better than anything he had planned and they did have their separate detentions that they would otherwise have to dodge until then. With a low sigh and one last look at the calendar, Draco resigned himself to having to wait.

Draco headed to his finely carved trunk and bid it open with his password. The flying and swirling dragon pattern parted and revealed the handle and he opened the trunk. Feeling around for the secret compartment where he hid all of his treasures, he pressed the note at the top of them. He read the note one last time before he shut the side drawer. Wednesday.

---

Hermione frowned at Harry\'s goofy grin after Malfoy\'s gang had all turned and started away. \"I\'m glad YOU think it\'s funny. You\'re just lucky I saw you out here. I thought you were going to the library, Harry? I was there and couldn\'t find you anywhere,\" she pointed out.

\"Oh. Did I say the library? I meant my room. Sorry, Hermione. I didn\'t mean to worry you.\" Damn he was getting better at deceit.

\"Lucky I was here. I heard that Malfoy is riotous about another week of detentions. At least you don\'t have to take them together,\" she said, remembering that Harry had mentioned their separate detentions over breakfast. It was curious he\'d seemed disheartened about it. And now this confrontation that ended so peacefully. She wondered if they\'d become friends.

\"Yes. Lucky,\" Harry said absently as he watched until the blond turned the corner.

\"Come on, let\'s get some lunch,\" Hermione said as she tugged on his robe. Her eyes fixed on the empty space where Malfoy was. She wondered....