Harry Potter was bored.

No. Harry Potter was not bored, because bored was an understatement.

Harry Potter was so bored he would quite quickly chew off his own legs, if it meant he would have something to do. The sixteen-year-old was dismally staring out the bedroom window of number four, Privet Drive on a dull, June afternoon, hoping half-heartedly that something, anything interesting would happen on the street below.

He sighed to himself as his snowy owl, Hedwig, gave a soft hoot in an attempt to gain his attention, and pried his eyes away from the pavement. He glanced at the owl for a moment before determining the reason she had chosen to vocalise herself. The creature's water dish was dry, and Harry opened the cage briefly, removing the container.

The black haired boy hummed tunelessly to himself as he made his way down the hallway to the small bathroom, directly across the bedroom of his cousin, Dudley. He grimaced in disgust as he passed the door, hearing a distinct creaking noise originated from the other side of the wall.

Dudley had a girl over.

As Harry filled Hedwig's dish with clear liquid, he mused to himself. Who the bloody hell would ever bed a pig like Dudley? Well, obviously, the woman who was currently doing so, and perhaps Pansy Parkinson. But Harry doubted that even she would sink so low. Dudley had either paid the girl, or blackmailed her, he decided as he left the loo.

"Oh Dudley!" A girl moaned from the confines of the room and Harry blanched. Scratch that. This girl must be entirely insane.

Wandering back into his own room, Harry shut the door behind him and placed the water dish in the cage. Hedwig gave a soft hoot of thanks. He watched her for a moment before moving to his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Harry had never had much interest in girls, to be honest. And, were he to be honest with himself, there had been more than one bloke to catch his fancy. Harry had originally been perturbed by this, and had resolutely attempted to shag nearly every female above the fifth year before finally accepting his fate.

He was gay.

And he was quite fine with this fact by now.

Sighing once again, Harry closed his eyes. He hated summer. The Dursley's, though never particularly abusive were not a pleasure to be around. Said Dursley's, or at least, his aunt and uncle were currently not at home, and Harry was grateful for this.

However, he was still bored.

And Harry Potter would continue to be bored for the rest of eternity. Or so it seemed.

In fact, by the time something interesting finally did occur, the time in which Harry Potter lay bored upon his bed seemed to have happened an eternity before.

Such an interesting occurrence presented itself around four o'clock that afternoon, and did so in such a way that the previously bored teenager had never been expecting.

The doorbell rang, resonating through the pleasant home that Harry called a prison.

Uncle Dursely, who had returned home with his wife in the previous hour grumbled and groaned at the prospect of raising himself from his comfortable position in front of the telly and barked at Harry to answer the call.

Harry did so.

Standing at the door was a tall wizard, wearing elaborate purple robes adorned with silver stars, half moon spectacles, a pointed hat, and had a very crooked nose. Harry grinned.

Albus Dumbledore was standing upon his front stoop.

The grin faded however, as he set eyes on Dumbledore's compainion, standing rather shorter than he, with a head a white blonde hair, pale skin, and stormy grey eyes.

Albus Dumbledore was in fact accompanied by none other than Draco Malfoy, Harry's worst enemy, aside from You-Know-Who himself. Glaring, Harry further opened the door.

"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy?" He sneered at the blonde, gazing past Dumbledore into his rival's eyes.

"Who's at the door, boy?" Vernon barked from the living room. "If they're selling anything, we're not interested."

"May we come in Harry?" Dumbledore asked politely, whilst at the same time stepping into the front hall without waiting for a reply. "Are you aunt and uncle home?" Harry nodded mutely, unable to understand why his headmaster and worst enemy were currently standing in his front hall.

"Sir, if I may ask, why are you here?" Dumbledore just looked gravely at him.

"I shall explain in a moment." Vernon chose this moment to waddle into the entryway, turning a brilliant shade of purple at the sight of the eccentric man in his house.

"You again. I shall not have you parading in here, uninvited." Dumbledore only smiled pleasantly as Dudley, who had come in behind his father, cautiously eyed Malfoy, who appeared equally as nervous.

"Ah, but I am not uninvited at all, good sir. I assure you, Harry here has very graciously welcomed me into your lovely home." Turning, if possible, an even darker shade of puce, Vernon gave Harry a menacing look. "However, who invited who is not of importance. I must speak with you and Petunia."

Dumbledore then took it upon himself to stride into the Dursley's living room, silencing the telly with a silent charm, and sat himself upon the sofa, waiting expectantly for the Dursley's to do the same.

They did so cautiously, knowing better than to no cooperate by now, and Harry was left to stand next to Malfoy, who seemed unable to believe he was in the current situation.

"Who's he?" Vernon grunted at Malfoy.

"That," Dumbledore answered patiently, "is Draco Malfoy, and he will need to stay here for the remainder of the summer." It was difficult to tell who was angrier about this, Harry, or the Dursely's.

"Sir, no! I don't want him here!" Harry protested as Malfoy started expressionlessly at wall and as Vernon growled,

"We ain't taking in another one of those... freaks into this house!" Petunia shook her head, seeming ready to faint. "Besides," He barked, "We don't got room for him." Ignoring Harry, the twinkle shown brightly as ever as Dumbledore responded his uncle.

"Ah, Vernon, but I understand you have a guest room?" Vernon growled in response. "The truth in the matter, my dear man, is that it is not safe for young Draco to be a home in the present situation, and there is nowhere else for him to go. I assure you, I would not be bothering you were it not completely urgent, but, alas, it is as such."

"I don't want him here." Harry said again, through clenched teeth. "We hate each other." The old man turned to acknowledge Harry at last.

"Yes, Harry, but you will have to manage. Draco does not have a home to go to and I expect you to be gracious of him." Harry in turn glared at Malfoy, who seemed to be lost in his own little world.

"You will take him." Dumbledore commanded to the Dursley's, leaving no room for complaint.

"Fine." Petunia said, speaking for the first time. Everyone turned to her in surprise. "We'll take him." Dumbledore nodded.

"Good." He said with a smile. "Then I must be off. Good day Harry."

And with that, he was gone.

This left Harry, Malfoy, and Dursely's in a particularly awkward position. Attempting to break the tension, Harry turned to Malfoy who was holding a bag that he had not noticed before. Sighing, he spoke.

"Come on, Malfoy, I'll show you the guest room." The other nodded once, the only sign he'd heard him.

Harry led the boy upstairs.

"The loo is across the hall." He stated shortly. "I'm at the end. We usually have dinner at 7. Otherwise, just stay out of my way." Malfoy nodded again.

"Is it okay if I have a shower?" Rather taken aback by Malfoy's lack of heat toward him, Harry nodded.

"Er, yeah. Do you want me to show you how to run it?" Harry took Malfoy's appearance in for the first time.

He did not look well.

Draco's usually pale skin was nearly translucent, and his grey eyes were weighed down with tired bags. His usually immaculate hair stood on end.

Draco Malfoy looked defeated.

"Yeah, thanks." He answered Harry's question quietly.

As Malfoy took a shower, Harry found himself on his bed, musing about the boy.

He wondered what had happed in order for him to have to stay here.

He wondered why Malfoy looked so horrible.

He wondered why he was being so quiet.

And, of course, Harry wanted what Draco looked like at this very moment.

This was one thought that Harry was having a particularly difficult time taking in.

Draco Malfoy, was in his house, naked, at this very moment. He blushed at the thought. Gay or not, he certainly should not be thinking of Draco Malfoy in such a way. And yet, the thoughts could not help but consume him.

He couldn't help but wonder how big the boy was.

Or imagine that luscious, soft skin with water gliding over its surface.

The steamy room. The wet hair. The clean lather of soap covering Malfoy's perfect body.

Before long, Harry discovered a problem. Thinking of the blonde seemed to have stirred a... arousal in Harry, and this was quite obvious by his pants.

Blushing, Harry took care of this, resolving to in the future, never to think of such things again.

The rest of the night was uneventful, aside from an awkward dinner. Malfoy seemed to have kept his word, and hadn't spoken a word to Harry since asking him about the shower, and soon enough, they both tucked themselves into bed around eleven.

Harry was unpleasantly awakened a few hours later by the poking and prodding of a very shaken Draco Malfoy.

"Potter. Potter!" Opening one eye, the sleeping boy glanced at the clock, and groaned discontentedly.

"It's one o'clock in the morning, Malfoy, what the bloody hell do you want?" Malfoy, blushed and sniffed, although Harry did not notice either.

"It's too dark." Harry rolled over, pulling a sheet over his head.

"Turn on a light, then." He mumbled. "Go back to sleep."

"Potter, please..." His voice broke and Harry finally sensed the distress in the blonde's words.

"Are you... are you crying?" Malfoy didn't answer other than to say,

"It's too dark." Once again. Sighing, but now too intrigued to go back to sleep, Harry sat up and placed his glasses on the bridge of his nose.

Draco Malfoy was indeed crying.

"Are you afraid of the dark Malfoy?" Malfoy just stared. Harry wondered to himself why he did not find this more amusing. After all, it is Malfoy, standing in his bedroom, shaking and crying over something as trivial as the darkness. But, in truth, Harry Potter was not amused. Rather, he was concerned.

"Come on," He said with a sigh, getting rather unsteadily to his feet. "Let's go get you a nightlight."

Malfoy sniffed, and again, did not answer.

"Jesus Malfoy," Harry told to boy in exasperation, "stop crying. You seemed fine when we went to bed", he observed. He watched Malfoy, who gave him a nonverbal shake of the head.

"Have you been lying there scared for the past two hours?" He asked incredulously. He took the lack of response as a confirmation. "Why on earth didn't you come get me earlier?"

"I thought I could handle it." The blonde croaked wiping at his eyes. Harry noticed with concern that his hands were trembling. He by this point had led the boy through the hall and down the stairs and he was currently riffling through the kitchen odds and ends drawer.

"Well, you obviously can't," Harry replied. "What on earth are you so afraid of? It's just darkness, Malfoy." The frightened boy only continued to cry. "Did something happen to you? As a kid? Is that it?" This still failed at eliciting a response. "There we are." Harry said, pulling something from the drawer. "its okay, Malfoy, relax. See?" He held up the object.

"What's that?" Harry almost rolled his eyes, having forgotten that Malfoy knew absolutely nothing about muggles.

"It's a nightlight." Harry explained. "It will keep away the dark. Come on." He led the shaking boy back upstairs and into the guest room. The sheets were tussled, as though Malfoy had been turning in his bed.

After searching around a few moments for an outlet, he plugged the light in, allowing the room to be illuminated, casting the silhouettes of the two along the walls.

"See?" He said to Draco. "Better?" Draco nodded. "Go to sleep, Malfoy." He said tiredly. "I'm going back to bed. And Merlin's sake, if you need anything, come get me before I pass out?"

Harry moved to leave the room but was stopped by a soft sob. He turned to see that Draco was still standing in the middle of the room, crying, and despite the fact that he hated the boy, and it was well past one in the morning, Harry could not bring himself to leave him in such a state.

"Are... are you okay, Malfoy?" He asked uncertainly, moving back toward the boy. He ushered him over to the bed and sat him down upon it. "Hey," He told him gently, "look at me." Malfoy did. "You know that cupboard downstairs?" He asked. The blonde nodded silently as Harry, without thinking, wiped tears from his cheeks. "My uncle used to lock me in there. Pitch dark. Terrified me at first, but I don't mind it now." Draco stared. "Did something like that happen to you? Is that why you're afraid?"

"I-I" the grey eyed boy began, "Harry I can't." He was still shaking. Harry frowned. Though he desperately wanted to know what Draco was so desperately afraid of, he knew that now was not the time to press. So instead, he allowed his enemy to retain said information and allowed the boy to grasp his hand in an attempt to find comfort. How unlike him...

"Alright." He said with a sigh. "The darkness is gone now. See? It's alright. You're okay." The blonde nodded, finally beginning to calm down a little. "You don't cry like this every night, I hope? How do you manage to sleep back at school?"

"I have a candle." Malfoy mumbled in response. Harry nodded and gestured to the nightlight.

"Well that thing right there works just like a candle," he told him. "But it won't go out. Try to get some sleep." With that, Harry gave the boy's hand one last comforting squeeze and rose to return to his own room.

Draco, however, did not release his hand, but instead pull Harry back toward him, kissing him gently.

Harry pulled away after returning the kiss briefly and stared.

This was turning into a very bizarre night indeed...

AN: this was originally meant to be a oneshot, but I think I'm going to make this a little bit of a multi-chap. But I assure, It won't be longer than five chapters. I might not add to this at all, and whether or not I do depends on request. No point continuing if it's not wanted so please, REVEIW. I love you all,

xForeversEndx