DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters. 'Sides, you'd get more blood out of a turnip then you would money out of me! HA!

AUTHORS NOTE: It's short. I'm sorry. I have a question…A friend and I disagree on how to pronounce Seamus's name…is it SEE-MUS or SHAY-MUS? Thank you. Also, I can tell people like this story (8,000-ish hits spread almost evenly through the chapters). For that many hits though, the reviews sure are slow in coming. I don't want to do one of those ultimatum things (EX: 50 reviews before the next update) but a bit more feed back would be appreciated…just thought I'd let you know.

SUMMARY: Harry feels like he's in hell, Draco's living through a nightmare. Can they help each other before it's too late to save either one?

FROM THE LAST CH.: "Malfoy, I'm learning this so that I can help you, not me. Work with me here and I promise not to rearrange your pretty face," Harry threatened. His green eyes glowed with anger, faces close enough to feel each others breath on their lips. Draco nodded slowly, entranced by the sudden feeling of helplessness. He never felt helpless. "Good, see you in two days then." With that, Harry stalked away, slamming the door behind him. / Draco remained on the tower until he could no longer hear Harry's footsteps or angry mutterings. His hand had just reached for the latch when an errant thought floated through his head. Did he just call me pretty?

This chapter was betaed by Winter Darkblade

Tainting the Innocent

Chapter Fourteen

THUNK!

Harry's bag fell to the floor as his eyes made a short circuit of the tower. Not here yet. Well, he'd better hurry up.

He dropped to the floor and leaned back against the wall with a sigh. It had been rather easy getting away from his friends. Hermione was trying to recruit their housemates to her Homework Factory and had been slapping Seamus upside the head when he'd slipped out under his invisibility cloak. Ron sat in a corner looking miserably out the window, pretending to read a potions book when Hermione glared in his direction…of course, it was upside down. Harry would have felt a bit guilty abandoning all of them if he hadn't been so excited about his lessons.

Legillimency Harry thought with a grin. He couldn't help but wonder where Draco had learned the technique and was a bit surprised that the other boy had offered to teach him. They weren't exactly friends. I guess people can repress anything if they want something bad enough…even Malfoy.

Harry tilted his head back and began identifying constellations to pass the time. Orion…Big Dipper…um, Sagittarius…uh, that crown thing…Obviously, Astronomy wasn't his strong suit.

His thoughts slipped back to what he'd been thinking the other night. His future was uncertain at best, he knew that, but wanted that small amount of comfort that would come from having a solid plan. He was at a loss on what kind of life he wanted to pursue if Voldemort was finally defeated. He'd thought that being an Auror would be exciting and glamorous but now, after seeing how…Moody-ish the good ones turned out and making an educated guess on what happened to the bad ones, he knew that wasn't for him. After everything was said and done, the bad guy vanquished, he just wanted a nice quiet life. That was the only thing he knew for certain. Unfortunately, being who he was, that was probably the last thing he would have. A slight frown marred his brow as he sank deeper into the muzzy thoughts of his future.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

This had better be worth it, Draco thought with annoyance. He didn't relish spending the amount of time with Potter as would be needed to teach him Legillimency but it was necessary to his plans.

He shuddered with the memory of what had forged this partnership. No one should get pieces of their mother in the mail, he thought grimly, blinking back the sudden tears. He would have plenty of time to cry once Lucius was lying at his feet in a bloody, broken heap. He'd decided no to tell his friends about his encounter with Potter or the lessons once he'd shown them the package. At first, it was because he'd been quite busy cleaning Goyle's vomit off of his bed. During that…unpleasantness, though, he realized that it would be much too dangerous to include them. Putting Potter in danger was one thing, but these people had been his friends since childhood…hell, he and Pansy had been betrothed since she was a week old. He'd be damned if he was going to endanger them because of his own revenge. His conscience even gave him a twinge over Potter.

He's not the only way to get Lucius, he mused. I don't even need the Dark Lord, not really, although it would be convenient to rid the world of both of them at once. Not absolutely necessary, though. His contemplations continued as he strolled down the hall. A single thought popped into my head and I ran with it, plan unformed until just last night…how very uncharacteristic.

So absorbed in his own thought, he was quite shock to find himself coming up swiftly to the tower stairs. He purposefully made noise during the approach, not wanting to be hexed; Potter had a twitchy wand when startled. Draco soon noticed the caution had been pointless, however, once he stepped through the door. He. Is. Not. Asleep! Draco was furious and snatched his wand out of his pocket, juggling through the multitude of curses, hexes, and jinxes that he could throw at the offending little worm. He couldn't decide on the appropriate spell and so settled for something much more simple and effective. He kicked him.

"Ack! What the-" Harry jumped up in surprise, his glasses askew on the tip of his nose. He looked up into Draco's furious face and his eyes grew round as saucers. "Did you just kick me," he asked, his face full of sleepy astonishment.

"Yes, you moron! You were asleep," he said before kicking him again. Harry yelped and scooted away before standing up and turning to face Draco.

"Like that's any reason to kick me! You took so bloody long in getting here that I got bored, and when people get bored they get sleepy."

"And when people are angry at said sleepy idiots, they kick them." Which he did. Harry hopped in place, clutching his smarting shin, glaring daggers at the other boy around his crooked glasses.

"That's it," Harry growled, "I'm out of here." He swept up his bag and began limping towards the door.

"Oh no you're not, Potter," Draco spat out in anger, grabbing his shoulder and spinning him around.

They were toe to toe, anger causing magic to spark off their bodies. Their eyes were locked, neither one willing to break the contact as fists clenched in suppressed violence. Subtly, with out either boy being aware of the shift, the warmth of rage that pulsed with their hearts began to change. The fine hairs all over their bodies stood up causing goose bumps. Nerve endings tingled and breathing accelerated. Slowly, they leaned closer, the moist hot pants caressing the other's lips. Closer until the ends of their noses bumped, that small movement disturbing Harry's glasses and knocking them from his face.

The clatter was like a gun shot. Both boys lunged as far away from each other as could be achieved in such a confined space. Color rode high on their cheeks as they refused to meet each other's eyes. "I-uh," Draco cleared his throat, furious that he couldn't seem to think, let alone speak. "Go…I got to…um…"

"Yeah, me too," Harry said to the floor. "You first." Draco, not caring a lick about Malfoy decorum right then, took the opportunity and ran.

2ND AUTHOR'S NOTE: I just wanted to let people know, in case you've read my other fics, that I'm probably never going to finish them. Yes, yes, gasps of shock…an author admitting defeat. I started this story here as a way of breaking through the writer's block preventing me from completing the others, but it's taken a life of it's own…holy cow, I even dream of this dang fic! I'm going to finish this one and continue on with other plot bunnies spinning through my head (Draco being turned into a girl, Harry becoming a mutant werewolf and making half the school his pack, a twisted Tom/Harry time travel fic, a melding of this dimension and another where Harry and Ron are evil, Draco and Hermione are in love, and the Weasley twins are serious…Oooo, that one scares even me. :shudders:) but have probably abandoned 'An Interesting Development', 'Illi', and 'Thorns of the Rose' forever. I'm sorry.

(READ THIS) On a happier note, I wanted to ask you all about starting a group story with me. The seed will be my one-shot 'In the Dark of the Night'. It will be a kind of contest: you write the chapter you think should come next, email it to me, and a panel picks the one they feel is the best. Just drop me a line to share your thoughts.