• 1-Love By Accident
• 2-Chapter 2
• 3-Chapter 3
• 4-Chapter 4
• 5-Chapter 5
• 6-Chapter 6
• 7-Chapter 7
• 8-Chapter 8

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.

A/N: Well, I finally got this chapter done. It just didn't want to work in some places, but I finally got it. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. And enjoy the show!

"I've got it!"

Draco looked up from where he was researching the Doppleganger potion to see what Harry was on about. "What?"

Harry had a wide grin on his face as he leaned over the book in front of him. "We combine Doppleganger and Clone in a 3:1 ratio. It will dilute the Clone enough to keep it from copying the baby, as well as increasing the amount of control I have over it. And I can copy myself up to four times before they start getting muddied. It won't be toxic because I don't actually have to drink the thing, just put three drops of blood into the mix. There should be enough white cells that way to get enough DNA for the potion to copy. They'll sprout in normal soil and be fully grown in twenty four hours. They have no intelligence of their own, not even to follow orders. Instead, they'll be directly linked to my own consciousness, and they'll do as I direct. The copies are active for six months, then die and become compost within twelve hours."

Draco grinned. It had been almost nine weeks since Harry had been given the assignment, and though he'd had the required work done much sooner, it had taken this long to discover the alternative potion. "Can the clone do wand work?"

"Some. The clone should be strong enough for anything I come across in classes. We're not doing anything too complex in Charms right now, and Transfigurations are conducted very well by clones."

"What about Defense?" Their new DADA teacher, Professor Fabri, had been working on shielding spells and breaching curses. Both took a lot of energy, probably too much for the clone to handle and definitely not the sort of thing to expose little James to. He really wouldn't be able to do anything like that until after James was born.

Harry shook his head. "I don't think the clone will be able to handle it."

Draco frowned. "Damn. And you're going to need those spells, too." He blew out a blustery sigh. "Well, we'll think of something."

On the 6th of January, Draco and Harry got permission from Professor Snape to hijack the Potions lab. With a parting admonition not to blow it up again, Snape left them alone to prepare the modified Clone potion.

They worked separately on the two potions, no words passing between them other than "Pass the kaiba root, please." Harry's blood was an ingredient in both potions, so they'd collected it at tegineginning. Harry carefully measured the portion to three percent of the solution and then poured it into the mix. It tried to clump up, but then he added the water, continuing to stir it so that everything was well mixed. Then he set the cauldron on the fire to let it boil. Draco's potion was well on its way to being finished as well.

The Clone potion had to boil for a while before they could add in the Doppleganger, so he started looking through the cabinets at the available ingredients. Three of them caught his eye; saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur. Black powder! He started laughing. Why had he missed something this simple?

Draco came over. "What?"

Still chuckling, Harry said, "I've been trying to figure out how to go about winning this war. Of course I always looked at magical means, but you know what? I've never seen a wizard yet prepare themselves against a physical attack when they were getting ready for a duel!"

Draco frowned. "How is a physical attack going to help us? You have to get too close..."

Harry shook his head, interrupting his friend. "Not any more, you don't. The wizarding world is very ignorant of what the Muggles can do these days with long range weaponry. A sniper rifle can be fired with accuracy at over a mile, no magic required. And hopefully we can set the stage before hand. We have everything we'd need here to make black powder. All we'd have to do is set caches of it around the perimeter of the battlefield and wait for them to come, then ignite them all at once. We'd have a ring of fire to keep them where we wanted them and we could fight it out on our own terms."

Draco nodded seeing what Harry was talking about. "And none of their spells would pick up on the powder. Brilliant!"

"It still won't work on Voldemort, though, will it?"

"No. He's done too much work to keep himself from dying at all. We'll still have to come up with something to get rid of him." Draco looked Harry in the eye. "You realize you're going to have to kill him, right?"

Harry took the stare for a while, but eventually he turned away and looked down at his shoes. "I don't want to kill, Draco. But I know I have to." He gro. "I. "It's not fair, damn it! I'm sixteen years old! I should be thinking about girls and partying and lying about my age so I can go get drunk, not mourning my dead and protecting my family from a madman with the use of deadly force!"

"I know." Draco sighed. "But what choice do we have? And make no mistake, it will be 'we,' not just you. I will stand beside you on that day, no matter what."

"Thank you. But it's still going to be the hardest thing I've ever done. I'm not a killer. I never wanted to be special. The only thing I ever wanted as a child was for someone to accept me for who I was. Cliché, I know, but there it is. I never got that acceptance. To the Dursleys, I was an inconvenience and a troublemaker. To the wizarding world I've always been a symbol, either of failure or hope, depending on which wizard you were speaking to. Even Hermione and Ron have been like that. Hermione always goes on about duty and being prepared for it. Ron is always convinced that I can do no wrong because I'm the boy-whose-parents-were-killed-but-he-wasn't, unless I did something he didn't like, and then I was a traitor. Ron's parents, all the teachers, Dumbledore; they all just want me to be their weapon. Sirius was the only one who didn't, but he's not here anymore. I just want to be sixteen and not have all this responsibility! I want Sirius to be alive and live with him in his home. And I don't want to have to kill a man just to be safe!"

Draco itched to embrace Harry, to comfort him, but he held back. "Destiny doesn't care what we want, only what it needs, and wishing can't bring back the dead. But I accept you for what you are, and I'll help you to deal with the rest, and once this damned war is over, we're going to get to know each other very well indeed!" That last was said with a leer that left no doubt as to his meaning.

Harry laughed, letting his mood lighten considerably, which had, of course, been Draco's intention. "Too right, mate."

Dearest Draco,



I have heard some very disturbing news from your friend, Pansy. She wrote me out of concern for your well being, and I am glad that she did! Is it true that you have become friends with Harry Potter? I would hate to think that you would betray our Friend in this manner, my son. I would hate for anything untoward to happen to you due to this - association. I understand that your feelings may be confused due to the fact that he saved your life. I admit to some confusion myself on this point, but I have decided that our final meeting shall be merciful rather than painful. It is all the consideration I will allow myself to show the boy who is responsible for putting your father in prison. Do not forget where our loyalties lie, Draco. Our Friend will not be pleased.



By my hand and seal, Narcissa Malfoy

Draco stared at the letter numbly. His worst fears were coming true. His mother had practically told him that she'd hand him over to Voldemort if he continued to be friends with Harry. And Parkinson had tattled on him to his mother! Wench, he thought. What was he to do now? There was no way that he was giving up his time spent with Harry willingly, but he feared what his mother would do. After all, she could get into the school because she was the parent of one of the students. The wards wouldn't hold against her, though Draco knew that there were spells in place to prevent Death Eaters who had children enrolled from breaching the wards for Voldemort.

He knew that he was in deep with his housemates. After he'd told Snape what had happened with the Quidditch practice, he'd told Draco that he was getting his own room for the remainder of his education at Hogwarts. It was the only thing he could possibly do to prevent further violence. So if his mother did try to attack him, at least there was somewhere he could go that she wouldn't know about.

So what would he do if she came after him? He could ask that Dumbledore protect him, but his pride didn't want to let him ask for help. This was a family matter, and he would deal with it on his own. But since it was a family matter, he knew that he was going to have to tell Harry, and likely Hermione, Ron and Ginny as well, if only at Harry's insistence. And Draco actually found that he would agree with that. Five minds working on the problem would be much better than two.

Decision made, Draco folded up the letter and slid it into the pocket inside his robe. He would tell Harry tonight when they set about planting one of the clone seeds in the greenhouse.

Planting the clone was a simple enough matter. They'd told Sprout, Snape, McGonagall and Dumbledore what they were planning on, so they wouldn't receive detention for it. Snape had been surprised that they'd actually worked out the variation so quickly, but he seemed pleased. To the annoyance of most of Slytherin House, Harry was quickly becoming one of Snape's best students, and it was worse in their eyes that Snape didn't seem to share their feelings on the matter.

Once the seed was in the ground in an out of the way section of the greenhouse where no one was likely to notice it and Harry'd watered it well, Draco pulled out the letter and let Harry read it as they walked back toward the castle. As Draco watched his expressions, Harry became livid and scared all at once. Draco could see the wheels moving in his head, and he obviously didn't like where they stopped. "Maybe you shouldn't-"

"You just stop right there. I'm not about to let my mother start dictating my actions, not for any reason. Who I spend time with is my decision, not hers, and not yours either. I'm not giving you up just because somebody upped the ante!"

"I don't want you to get hurt because of me, Draco."

"And I won't. It's not all about you, you know. This is my mother trying to exert control over her little puppet again. She and Father are both like that. Well I refuse to be controlled, and if I get hurt, you can't think it's your fault. You need to quit blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong around here."

"But if Voldemort wasn't after me-"

Draco got in front of Harry and put his hands on the Gryphindors shoulders to stop him from continuing forward, forcing him to look up into Draco's face. "If Voldemort wasn't after you, then you would be dead, because that's the only way he wouldn't come after you. None of this is your fault, Harry, not when you were a baby, not when you were fourteen and not last year. People die. Voldemort kills them. It's his fault, not yours."

Harry sighed, nodding his head. "I kind of know that, in my head anyway. But I've lost so much! I can't help but be afraid of loosing more. If anything happened to you or James or - or Hermione or Ron...I just don't know what I'd do."

"You'd keep fighting. Make him pay for what he's done." Draco looked him in the eye. "Please, Harry? Promise to keep fighting?"

Harry looked deep into the burnished silver eyes of the boy - no, the man he loved. Draco was afraid. Not of his mother, not of Voldemort and not of death, but Draco was afraid. He was afraid for Harry and for the child he carried. "I promise."

Draco nodded, then turned back around and started walking toward the castle. Harry watched for a moment, his emotions threatening to spill out all over the place. No one had ever loved him like this. And no one else ever will. I promised to keep fighting, and I will, Draco. But if I loose you, the only ones I'll be fighting for will be you and James. The rest of the world can go swim with the squid. That decided, Harry followed Draco back to the castle.

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