Chapter 3: A Bit of Rough and Tumble

Harry hurried Draco through the train, attempting to make sure that hardly anybody noticed them together. As Harry herded Draco through the carriages he was looking through all of the compartments, trying to find an empty one.

They were obviously later than Harry had first thought as all of the compartments were full, every single one of them. Harry sighed, resigning himself to being in one with Ron and Hermione, as per usual.

Harry tugged Draco through the door and slammed it shut behind him, huffing out a frustrated breath of air. Hearing a strangled noise coming from behind him, Harry turned to see Ron, fingers wrapped around Draco's neck and squeezing.

"Wait! Ron, stop! Why the fuck are you strangling him?" Harry screamed, panic rising as he watched Draco's pale face turn from bright red to purple, hands scrambling to try and get free of the vice-like grip.

Seeing Ron's relentless expression, Harry raced over to them and ripped Ron's hands from their death grip around Draco's neck. The sudden release of the hands caused Draco to gasp, pulling all the oxygen that he could down into his lungs, and fall to the floor of the compartment. Harry knelt beside him and checked him over. Seeing that all was well, Harry gathered Draco into his arms and rocked him whilst the gasping slowly subsided.

Once Draco had full control of himself once again, Harry looked up from their position on the floor and glared at Ron.

"How dare you do that!" Harry screamed, causing Ron to blanch in fear. "What gives you the right to randomly strangle someone that was only walking into a compartment?!"

"Harry," Ron replied, gathering his courage, "It's Malfoy! What did you expect me to do?"

"I dunno, wait to hear why he had come in rather than strangle the bloke straight away? I was right behind him Ron! You couldn't have waited a few seconds for me to explain it?!" Harry fumed, letting go of Draco in favour of standing up to rant.

"I didn't know what he was going to do!" Ron exploded, "He could have come in here in place of his father to kill us and finish off what the Death Eater's tried to start at the Ministry last year! I was scared. Okay? I-I thought…I don't know what I thought, but ever since the end of last year I've been jumpy. I sometimes sit around just waiting for someone to get us or to see Bellatrix come back the way that your Mum did. But this time, instead of being saved, we would be killed," Ron took a deep breath and fleetingly thought to himself that it felt quite good to let out all of these previously bottled up things, "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I panicked. I'm sorry Draco, that was out of order." He finished, holding out a hand to help Draco up off of the floor where Harry had left him.

After staring dubiously at the hand for a few seconds, Draco decided to take it and was hauled up to standing by a strong arm; the grip on his hand disappeared immediately and Harry pulled Draco against him. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's body, protectively. Draco leaned back into the heat, feeling safe for the first time since he woke that morning, in a similar position to the one that he was currently occupying.

There was a heavy silence that seemed so thick it was possible to choke on. Hermione, predictably, was the first to break the silence. "Okay, so why exactly is Malfoy here, Harry?" she asked, rather bluntly.

Harry looked to Draco for permission to tell the rest of the compartments inhabitants the whole story. After seeing, and feeling, Draco's nod Harry took a deep breath and began to tell the story of how Draco ended up in his bedroom the night before and why he was there. When Harry informed them that Draco was indeed a deserter and was no longer safe in the dungeons, Hermione stopped his tale by holding up her hand.

"What are you going to do?"

"Well," Harry looked to Draco for his permission and Draco nodded his consent once again, "I was thinking that maybe he could come and sleep in Gryffindor Tower–"

"No way!" Ron cut him off, "How could you even think that I would share a room with the ferret?!"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! How could you even say such a thing, Draco's life could be in danger and you're still holding onto petty grudges? Shame on you!" Hermione exploded.

"So it's Draco now, is it? When did you start calling him by his first name, Hermione?!" Ron spat, jealousy oozing from him, "And how the bloody hell is his life going to be in danger? It's just a dorm room!"

"You know nothing Ronald. If he went back to the dungeons he would be a deserter amongst Death Eaters' children! They would not hesitate to bring him to Voldemort!"

Realisation crossed Ron's face, he finally understood why it was necessary to have a ferret in the same dorm room as him, but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Fine, 'Mione. I get it, but why did he come back here if he knew that he couldn't even set foot in the same dorm room as the other Snakes?"

"Because I told him that he shouldn't have to miss his sixth year," Harry said in a quiet, yet unmistakably dangerous voice, "Draco deserves to do his N.E. as much as the rest of us do."

"I–" Ron spluttered.

"Don't. Just don't Ron," Harry said before he dragged Draco over to the bench and sat down with him on his lap, stroking his hair tenderly.

"Harry," a low voice whispered in his ear, "C'mon Harry, we're here now, you've gotta wake up." This time the voice was accompanied by a soft shaking of his shoulders.

Slowly, the green orbs blinked open, trying to rid themselves of the heavy sleepiness. Feeling a firm, but not necessarily unpleasant, weight in his arms, Harry looked down to find that he still held Draco. He stared into those smiling grey eyes for what felt like an eternity, but could have only been at most a few minutes in reality.

"You can let go of me now," Draco whispered, breaking the calming silence that had settled around them.

Harry blushed as he loosened his grip on Draco's body, "Oh, right. Sorry."

"It's fine, I enjoyed being held," Draco reassured, stroking Harry's hair away from the strikingly green eyes, "We do have to get off the train now, however, as we have arrived in Hogsmeade."

"Really?" Harry spluttered in disbelief, "I slept the whole way?" After seeing Draco's nod he realised that it did make sense as, even though they had only fallen asleep together twice, he always seemed to sleep better when he was near Draco. "Wow. Okay then, let's go!" Harry said, a huge grin plastered across his face as he dragged Draco from the train and towards the awaiting carriages.

Seeing the old castle out of the window of the carriage made the home-coming bittersweet. It also said a lot about his home life, after all, he felt safer here, where he had been almost killed every year, than at home that held his 'family'. No matter how many attempts were made on his life or how many manipulative old bastards were in charge of the school, it would always be his first home.

Glancing at Draco, Harry saw that he felt exactly the same upon seeing the looming castle; ultimately it was the only place that either of them had left to call home. Harry was brought out of his potentially depressing reverie when Draco grasped his hand and gently squeezed. Seeing his thoughts mirrored in Draco's eyes, Harry smiled. They stayed that way, hands clasped and bathed in a comforting silence, until they stopped in front of the intimidatingly large front doors.

Harry squeezed Draco's hands once before letting go and clambering out of the carriage. Draco followed right behind him and then they both made their way up to the Great Hall, surreptitiously checking for any potential threats along the way. After all, with a Dark Lord after the both of them, they couldn't be too careful.