"Ron wait!" Harry rushed after his ex-best friend the next morning, hair a tangled mess and eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. "I can explain if you would just listen to me!"

"Listen to you?" Ron whirled on him and raised his eyebrows. "Listen to you! What are you going to say? 'Sorry I didn't tell you I found a way to put my name in the Goblet of Fire and sorry I didn't tell you I can talk to bloody dragons and SORRY I DIDN'T TELL YOU I AM SNOGGING FUCKING MALFOY!'"

"Not so loud!" Harry hissed, "I swear for the last time I didn't know any of this! I didn't put my name in the cup and up until you walked in on us we'd never kissed or held hands or been civil! He wanted to stop the childish fighting and he changed! Ron, he changed, I promise."

"Changed? Maybe he acts all good in front of you but he's a damn bully to me and anyone else! He's playing you for a fool!"

"He has bloody well changed, Ron! Maybe you're the one who's been the jerk. You selfish git! You think I wanted to be in the Tournament the same way you think I wanted to kill You-Know-Who before I knew how to fucking use the toilet and the same way you think I want attention from everyone well guess what? I don't!"

"This has nothing to do with that, it's Malfoy!"

"Oh yes, always blame it on Malfoy. Leave me alone, Ron. Stay away from me," Harry growled, pushing past Ron.

"Bloody git," Harry muttered to himself, storming through the hallways of Hogwarts, not really knowing where he was going.

He found himself in the library, deciding to get a head start on some of the dark spells Draco had mentioned. It couldn't hurt to learn a couple, right? Things were stirring up the way they hadn't before, Harry's visions of Voldemort got worse every day and no one seemed to mind that everything was going to hell! So Harry might as well fight fire with fire.

Jaw set in determination, Harry pulled several books out of the Dark Arts section and began to read.

Harry glanced on either side of him, pulling the hood up of his black jacket, glad he wasn't followed. Sliding through the empty hallways, constantly checking his map to make sure no Professor would round the corner and give him detention, or worse - ask what he was doing. He didn't know if he could explain heading to the banks of the Black Lake to practice curses. He knew all sorts of animals wandered around that area at night, which would make perfect practice. Harry grimaced. If Hermione ever found out what he was doing, she would murder him. But how else was he going to learn to cast the spells he'd read about?

He wasn't going to practice an Unforgivable, not even close. Making a poor innocent bunny rabbit relieve the worst memories of its life with the Vivere Tantibus curse would only make it distressed, and it wouldn't hurt either. Not physically, at least. It might come in handy in the final task, whatever that task entailed.

He began coming there every night, using secret passageways and leaping out windows after accioing his broom to get away from the castle. The more he read (which startled Hermione more than Harry's and Ron's feud), the more angry he became. Of course Harry didn't know what Draco hadn't told him about Dark magic. Unlike Light spells, darker curses came at a price. The more a wizard used Dark magic, the more it corrupted the wizard's core - magical hub.

Of course, Harry couldn't tell his magical affinity slowly darkened with every midnight outing, nor did he notice his gradual shift in interests and attitude. But Draco noticed. So did Hermione.

Draco sat down next to Harry in the library, setting a new book for him to read. A book that Harry had avoided for one particular reason. "Ugh! Not potions!" He grumbled, reading the title Potion Ingredients and Where to Find Them. "How is this supposed to broaden my horizons!"

"You know squat about potions," Draco folded his arms, leaning against a bookshelf.

Draco knew for the sake of his plan, he needed to get Potter to want him, but the mission seemed to go perfectly well when he didn't snog Potter. He was doing great exploring the Dark Arts all by himself. Draco smiled to himself. Time for step two.

"What does me knowing nothing about potions have to do with Dark Arts? Oh! Are there potions for turning your enemy into a toad?" Harry seemed a little too excited at that. "Imagine! Turning Voldemort into a toad by spiking his wine!"

"That's what transfiguration is for, Potter," Draco rolled his eyes. "No, this will simply help you understand the versatile applications of brewing with an emphasis on the rarer ingredients and potions we don't always cover here."

"I'm back to Potter, am I?" Harry slowly slid the book across the table with a finger.

"When you talk like a bloody idiot, yes. I won't associate with someone who accidentally turned his brain to mush while trying to teach himself confundous."

Harry stood, "You don't associate with me in public anyway."

Draco scoffed, "I don't need the whole school to know I kissed you, my pride has already been hurt enough for not hexing you to death after that...incident with Moody."

"You made a cute ferret," Potter licked his lips, grabbing the sides of Draco's black blazer.

"Did I?" Draco's heart started pounding, his head muddling like it did every time Potter got this close.

This kept happening to him, whenever Harry got this close. He didn't like it very much, the red in his face, heat in his cheeks, and lightness in his chest. He mentally kicked himself...keep to the plan. He had to swallow the ball of disgust he was about to spew all over Potter and close his eyes and pretend he was kissing someone more...likeable. But as Harry leaned toward him, their lips meeting, Draco couldn't quite think of someone he actually wanted to snog more than Potter.

All part of the plan, he assured himself.

Harry pulled away after a moment, green eyes blinking rapidly. "I don't know why I wanted to do that again so badly. Honestly, what's gotten into me?"

"I always have that effect on people," Draco tried to remain calm. "But we should...focus. You need a plan, you're hopelessly lost as usual. So, you've learned a few new spells, big whoop. How are you going to change the world by becoming a more well-rounded wizard?"

"I..." Harry furrowed his brows, "good question. I think, I think I just need to get through this last task first, then I can think about rubbish politics."

"Coward." No. No. Fuck. He needed Harry, no, Potter, to go Dark. And it couldn't wait until after...Draco knew what awaited Potter the moment he made it to the center of the maze. He needed to swing Harry the right direction before the task in three days.

"Why do you look like you just deep-throated a lemon?" Harry must have noticed Draco's dilemma.

"Thank you for that lovely mental picture, Scarface. I was simply ruminating over the coming task."

"Ruminating, a?"

"Yes. I have a few words of advice for you."

"The Great Draco Malfoy has advice for me? Oh this oughta be rich. More riveting than Trelawney reading my tea leaves last year, I think."

"Shut up, this is important," Draco's smile disappeared and he looked at Harry with an expression he knew he'd never looked at anyone with before. This wasn't advice. It was a warning. "If it gets to be you and Diggory, in that maze...leave him okay, you don't need a spare."

"What?"

"Just, promise me, okay?'

"How do you know the task is a maze?" Potter took a step back, like Draco had slapped him. For the first time since Draco gained Potter's trust, Harry seemed suspicious.

"I saw them building it, obviously. And Professor Snape told me as much and-"

"There you are, Harry!" Hermione ran into their little study nook in the back of the library, her hair wild and eyes narrow.

"What do you want, Granger?" Draco snapped.

"Don't be so rude, Draco," Harry gave him a warning glance.

"Harry, why are you here...with Malfoy no less? I was just talking with Ron and he seems sorry about everything, he just has too much pride to admit it and...Malfoy, can you give us a moment?"

"I was here first, Granger."

"Harry, make him leave."

"Malfoy," Harry turned to him apologetically, "could you...?"

"Whatever, Granger. I don't want to be in the presence of a filthy mudblood, anyway," Draco sniffed, turning up his nose.

"What did you say?" Harry saw red. His vision blurring, hands clenched into fists.

He didn't even hear Draco's next words, the sound of his blood squealing like a boiling pot too loud in his reddening ears. Before Harry could register what he was doing, his wand flew off the table and to his hand. No one insulted his friend. But it wasn't just that. Draco had told him he'd changed, he'd been on good terms with Hermione and then all of a sudden he does this? Traitor. No one should be allowed to betray him, Harry thought.

He raised his wand, clenching his teeth and shouting, "VIVERE TANTIBUS!"

Draco screamed.

——-
Vivere tantibus basically translates to "to live a nightmare." I'm a Latin scholar (I hate Latin but here I am) so it helps with spells lol

I'm gonna to get a deathly hallows with a snake in it tattoo and I'm so excited. I'm Slytherin, hence the snake.

What Hogwarts house are you guys in?