Many thanks to my darling, darling reviewers, Artemis-Warrior-Goddess, Altariel Eldalote, CuriousDreamWeaver, Alora, Venetus, Kage Mirai, Immortal Memories, Gryffindorgrl186, hotrodunc, sammy, NettieT and kuroneko89.

Thanks to you I've completely disregarded any thought of studying for my upcoming exams—not that I mind, as a great procrastinator I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Finally, we get to see a bit more of the boys! Fun is just around the corner, and the more of you review the closer that corner is... so press the little purple button, ask for action, and it will get there sooner rather than later.

Chapter Six

Harry stormed through the door of the Infirmary, fuming over the argument that he'd just had with Ron. If that was how he was going to be, he saw no reason to continue the farce that served as a friendship. He just hoped that he hadn't lost Hermione too, Ron was her boyfriend and she had every reason to stand by him instead of Harry. He ignored the fact that Snape was glowering at him for storming ahead and headed past he great hall and towards the stairs that lead to the potions classroom, thinking that his new room would be somewhat nearby.

"Mr Potter, I suggest that you follow me now instead of walking blind into the dungeons. You happen to be going in the wrong direction, once again." Severus then neatly turned down an almost unnoticeable passageway adjacent to the corridor that lead to the potions classrooms. Harry couldn't remember going this way to the Slytherin common room in second year but acquiesced that Snape would obviously have a better idea of where his room would be. Harry instinctively sent out his senses to take in the details and direction of where he was headed so he could make his way to his room without thinking about it in the future.

Despite his best wishes, Severus was unnerved by the silence and lack of difficulty that were coming from his student. And surprisingly, the seething anger he could sense was not directed at him. He then decided to ignore this and begin an internal tirade that attacked his young charges faults. Ah, the comforting familiarity of habit.

"You had better be paying attention to where we are going as I am not going to show you the way again. Your room in located next to the seventh year Slytherin rooms, which are distanced from the main common room to give the students privacy in their NEWT level studies. Each student has their own room but must share a bathroom. However, your room will not be within the Slytherin dormitory as we feel it would be dangerous to them to have you in such close proximity to them in case you are negligent in taking your potion and must feed. Your room is allocated just here." Severus pointed to an alcove that hosted a statue of a sword with a serpent wrapped around the blade with its head resting upon the sword's hilt. "The password is perseverance, you have you head of house to thank for that wonder. Do make sure no harm is done to my students while you are living here. You will come to me at eight o'clock tomorrow morning to learn how to make your new potion, I shall not waste my time this year making yours as well as the wolfsbane. If you make it incorrectly it will not kill you, but I recommend that you learn it quickly or your first detention will be during this vacation. If that is all?" Severus raised an eyebrow and looked at the youth, who merely nodded, and then spun and walked away from where Harry was standing; his robes, as usual, fluttering behind him.

Harry just stood in a state of shock, his anger overcome by the influx of information he had shot at him and by the news that he had his own room with attached bathroom. Curiosity and excitement overcame the whole male teen thing of looking cool and calm and he brushed his hand over the statue guarding his new room.

"Perseverance" Harry said, unknowingly in parseltounge, and the sword sank into the stone floor, the wall behind it opening up like the gateway to Diagon Alley, revealing a room set out in deep jade greens and dusted with hints of silver. He walked through the entrance and the wall closed up behind him, leaving him standing in his new haven. There was a Queen size canopy bed against the centre of the back wall of the room, with simple, clean lines in a deep jarrah wood. There was a comforting clutter of rugs on the floor, giving the room a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere for a dungeon. The wardrobe, bedside table and desk all matched the bed, and there was a comfortable looking green cushy armchair with silver threads striping down it, that reminded him somewhat of Dumbledore—despite the fact that it was classily upholstered. There was a bookcase cut into the stone wall above his desk, and a small shelf was dug out above the head of the bed. Harry suspected that McGonagall must have had quite a bit to do with the furbishing of the room, and Snape seemed to have taken control of the colour scheme. Harry was somewhat disturbed by the thoughts of Snape as an interior decorator that were popping into his head, but decided to keep them for when Snape was being particularly nasty to him in class. He didn't think he'd be able to take his professor seriously for a few weeks.

Harry then noted a door on the other side of the room opposite his desk and walked through it into the bathroom. He was glad to see that it wasn't ridiculously opulent, but nicely sized. There was a bath, a shower, a toilet and a sink with a mirrored vanity above it. He was glad that the bath was quite large though, much smaller than the prefect's bath, but quite a bit larger than the normal ones in the dorms. If he looked at it objectively there were definitely perks to being who he was—not that he'd even consider that he had thought that.

Once Harry had explored his rooms and distributed the contents of his trunk around it, he decided to thoroughly go into denial for a few hours about what was going on in his life. He had too much energy from feeding from Ginny (another thing he was relegating to the "I'm not thinking about it" basket) but knew that he had to get into normal diurnal sleep patterns. He then did the only thing that he thought could help to send him to sleep after the events of the last few days, his History of Magic holiday homework.

If someone had looked in the room an hour later they would have seen a beautiful young man asleep upon his covers, a heavy history tome lying beside him on the bed. Yes, Harry was—despite all evidence to disprove the theory—still a seventeen year old, bored to sleep by his homework.

ooooo

Draco woke up suddenly at five thirty in the morning after one of the many disturbing dreams he had been experiencing since—well, since after stuff had happened. He didn't bother trying to get back to sleep, he now knew from repeated experience that he'd just be wasting his time and frustrating himself. Instead, he lay back on his bed and stared at the canopy above him, wishing that things were different; that things would be simple again.

Not that things were great when they were simple; they were quite boring actually. Things now were unsettled and Draco did not like it one bit—despite the action and excitement it brought with it.

He laid upon his bed contemplating various and sometimes insanely inane things like 'why are toenails shaped like toenails' and 'I wonder who first invented stairs'. Despite his academic excellence Draco could occasionally be a little daft. When he got bored of boring himself he lazily stretched and headed towards the bathroom that was blissfully free of any other occupants. Taking his time, he leisurely ran a bath and dosed it liberally with mineral salts—the perfect way to start a lazy day. He slipped his black silk boxers his milky skin and hung his embroidered Chinese robe on a hook on the door. When he had settled himself in the water comfortably he soaked until his fingers began to look somewhat prune-ish and hauled himself out of the bath, drying himself off before walking back into his room. He changed into a casual pair of black pants and a simple yet elegant white shirt. He slipped his feet into a plain pair of black kung-fu shoes that he thought were the perfect combination between shoe and slipper. He looked casually in the mirror and ran his fingers through his almost shoulder length silky blond hair, muttering a spell to quickly dry it. The mirror complimented his outfit 'you look smashing darling!' and he walked to the corridor that led to the Slytherin common room so he could head off to the kitchens to get something to eat.

He passed out from the common room and into the hallway, climbing the stairs to get towards the kitchens. Just as he turned into the main corridor he walked into someone, surprised that anyone was even down here in the dungeons. He looked unconsciously at the firm, lean chest that he'd just come into contact with and stood back, taking in the confident stance accentuated by a trim waistline. He then looked up and was gobsmacked to realise the hot body in front of him belonged to none other than Harry Potter. His midnight hair framed a fey and glowing face, emerald green eyes glinting brilliantly in the soft peaches-and-cream skin. His mouth—oh, his mouth was just begging to be snogged senseless. Draco possessed just enough self-control not to jump the delicious specimen of the male species—and only because he'd never had have lived it down if Potter didn't snog him back. Just as he pulled himself together enough to come out with a suitable snarky remark, Potter quickly brushed right by him, leaving Draco to ogle his arse incoherently.

ooooo

After Harry had woken at about eight thirty, he showered and rushed around his new room for a bit, looking for something to wear. He'd changed into a snug-fitting pair of worn blue jeans from the Dursley's as he could now fit into the ones he got in second year. He pulled on a plain black t-shirt and looked into the mirror. The mirror just sighed, then decided that it'd have to give the fella a bit of advice.

Sweetcheeks, you are one hot piece of wizard kind but you really do need some new clothes, not that your normal person wouldn't have an aneurism just by looking at ya.

Harry raised an eyebrow at his mirror, somewhat disturbed that it had called him sweetcheeks. It also made him wonder whose mirror this had been before it was his. He decided to ignore it anyway, and rushed out of his room, passing through the now open portal and out of the alcove before instinctively retracing his steps from last night. If he was late Snape would be having daydreams of evisceration, and he didn't want to have to see Snape glaring hatefully if he walked in five seconds after nine.

As he was paying attention to his rambling thoughts and not his surroundings, he didn't notice Draco until he walked into him. Harry was overcome by a feeling of need, of want, of lust- a feeling more carnal than any he had had before. He could sense the blood pumping faster in the blonde's veins, making the want to sink his fangs into that pale, slender neck and feed some of that vital life force. Draco's head finally looked up and the lust and shock he could see in those eyes almost made him take the slender, fit young man right then and there. Before he could lose control he swept past the temptation of his rival and walked as quickly as he could to the potions classroom to learn how to make his new suppression potion.

He could tell he was going to need it if he kept running into the hot Slytherin, the need hadn't overtaken him this much since he'd been sired, even when he was feeding from Ginny. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and stepped into Snape's classroom just in the nick of time—Snape looked disgruntled that he couldn't berate him for being late.

"Maybe your change is for the better if it can cause you of all people to be punctual." Snape sneered.

"It is quite convenient that I can be more punctual when getting to a classroom in the dungeon now that I am forced to live here rather than in a tower on the opposite end of the castle. I didn't have to walk down eight flights of stairs and countless corridors to get here, I suppose. I wonder how the allocation of a dungeon bedroom will help me get to my other classes, however." Harry parried belligerently.

"My Slytherins are able to be punctual to their classes so I suppose if you are unable to do so it would merely be reflecting your inferiority. Enough of this, I don't have all day to be teaching you how to make this potion, and I expect you to get it first time—as you should be able to do that if you are even considering taking my NEWT level class. The ingredients and methodology are on the board, you will follow them precisely or you will become quite ill when drinking your potion and I'm sure you don't wish to become reacquainted with the hospital wing so soon after your release. Well, what are you waiting for? Gather your ingredients." Snape said, heading towards his desk at the front of the room where a potion was waiting for him to continue the brewing process.

Harry just rolled his eyes and looked at the board to see what ingredients he'd need to grab from the potions store. When he got in there he was pleased that he could remember both the ingredients and the quantities needed, something he'd always had some difficulty with before. He quickly grabbed them and started to follow the instructions faithfully. He sliced and diced and grated and squashed the herbs and—well, bits—quickly and with more ease and precision than before. He seemed to be able to automatically sense when to put each ingredient into the cauldron, and was so caught up in his work that he didn't even notice the incredulous stares that he was getting from Snape. Harry smelled the potion to see if it was ready for the last ingredient, a whole flower of a Lady's Slipper—one of the nicer looking and smelling potions ingredients and dropped the blossom in at precisely the right moment. The potion sparked red and settled to the shimmering burgundy colour specified in the instructions. Harry beheld the potion in wonder, it had to be the hardest potion he'd ever made and he'd made it perfectly. When he looked up he saw that Snape had an expression of shock and wonder on his face—something Harry had never expected to see on his face. Ever.

"I must offer my grudging admiration, that is certainly not an easy potion to make and I did not expect you to be able to complete it correctly. This new skill must have something to do with your transformation. You didn't get any extra memories or skills did you?" Snape asked accusatorily, looking as though he was about to try Legilimency on him.

Harry reluctantly nodded, as it seemed as though he'd made the potion hundreds of times.

"When I was turned it was like I gained this unconscious knowledge from my sire about all sorts of things. I couldn't probably tell you much on the spot, but if I'm put in a situation where the skills or knowledge are needed it just comes to me. The only things I can tell you about my sire are that it was a woman, and that she would be about 300 years old. She comes from a long and powerful line that I am now part of, and in a way bound to. I couldn't really tell you more than that though." Harry said. Snape looked torn between yelling his lungs out and running to the library. What Harry didn't know was that Snape just wanted to go and bury himself in the cocoon of incoherence that is only found in a fine Firewhiskey. Severus feared that at the rate he was going, by the time the year was over he'd be an alcoholic.

"Just bottle your potion and go. There should be enough there to last you a week. I know you have to find someone to feed off today however, --"Severus was then interrupted by Harry.

"Sir, I fed off Ginny Weasley last night. She came to donor for me, with the permission of Mrs Weasley and Madame Pomfrey. I should be okay till Wednesday then?" He asked. Severus just nodded and then looked up.

"Well, what are you doing standing around here then? Out!" Harry walked quickly to the door, carrying his potions with him.

ooooo

Ginny and Tonks lay in Ginny's bed having a long awaited lazy morning. Tonks hadn't had a day off work since the threat of Voldemort had become apparent, and with working for the Order in the majority of what little free time she had the opportunity to sleep in hadn't presented itself in about three years. Ginny lay half asleep in Tonks' arms, closing her eyes to the light streaming in the Gryffindor Tower. Tonks watched the light, as it seemed to make Gin's hair dance like flames as it lay in careless waves over her shoulder, just brushing the middle of her back. She smiled as she remembered the night before, nothing but a bit of snogging had happened, but it just felt perfect falling asleep in her girlfriend's arms.

"Morning Nym," Ginny sleepily said, looking up at the Auror. "What'cha doing up so early? It can't be past nine." She added, smiling when she noticed that Nym was letting her true form show.

"You know I'm used to waking up early, so much so that I can't even sleep in anymore, despite the best bed-warmer in the world. Anyway, I want to spend as much of today with you as I can before you have to go home. You are going home aren't you?"

"Nah, I talked to mum and I convinced her to let me stay here to keep Ron company. I wonder how he's going now anyway. I hope Hermione talked him out of that stupid stint we heard the tail end of last night. If anyone can do it, it'd be her."

Just then, the door of Ginny's room opened, and Hermione stormed in looking frazzled.

"Speak of the Devil." Tonks said as she morphed into the form she usually wore, her hair changing to messy bubblegum pink bob with a choppy fringe, her labret piercing making a return appearance. Hermione looked at the two of them lounging around in bed together and was somewhat glad to see that they were both clothed, Ginny in a pair of baggy blue p.j. pants and a white singlet, Tonks in black slip. She was somewhat surprised, but glad that the two had gotten together, Ginny had been harbouring a crush on Tonks since they first met at Grimmaud place the summer after Voldemort's resurrection. She'd tried to deny it by dating a string of guys but it just hadn't worked. Over the years Hermione and Ginny had become confidants in all except Hermione and Ron's relationship, Ginny would get weirded out by Hermione talking about her brother in even a slightly sexual manner. And quite rightly so.

"So you two finally got together, eh?" Hermione said in a somewhat absent manner.

"Yeah," Ginny said, smiling up at her girl. "Start of the holidays." She elaborated for Hermione's benefit.

"What's up? You seem kinda like you want to push either yourself or someone else off a steep cliff or something." Tonks asked.

"Is it Ron?" Ginny prompted.

"Yeah, he's still reading the jealousy and bigotry riot act. Sometimes I wonder what it is I see in him." Hermione sighed, plopping herself down on Ginny's bed and making it quite crowded, as it was only a single.

"He can be a royal git sometimes, can't he?" Ginny replied, sensing her friend needed girly chat time. She looked at Tonks and they settled themselves in for a bitch and moan session rather than the snogging session they'd been looking forward to, wondering if it would ever be possible to have a moment to themselves. Not to worry, they'd find time later, she was sure.

ooooo

Draco, meanwhile, was sitting in the kitchens not understanding why he couldn't get the thought to a certain Gryffindor out of his head. The fact that the house elf serving him was none other than Dobby, the Malfoy house elf that Harry Potter had freed, he wondered if he'd ever be able get away from the influence that the green eyed beauty had on the world. And Draco did not just say beauty. Never. He would now go into serious denial, thank you very much.

What Draco didn't know however, was that the certain Gryffindor that he was not thinking of was going to start following his newfound instincts very soon. Instincts that screamed for him to make Draco Malfoy his for all time. Instincts neither of the wizards would have the will nor control to resist.

If the next chapter comes a bit later it would be because I decided revision for exams outweighed writing fic for you guys. Make me change my mind! However, I do apologise in advance if updates are a little slow over the next few weeks. Anyway...

Review! Review! Review! It's the least that you can do! For all those reader that don't I'd love to hear your opinions too!

Sorry about the rhyming, I got a tad carried away for a while there.