The Conversation - 1. Chapter 1

"Malfoy." Harry's voice was just loud enough that the pale blond heard him above the clatter of the train. For a moment there was a look of surprise on that pointed face, but it was quickly replaced by the sneer Harry was all so familiar with. The train jostled for a moment and Harry wavered slightly in the doorway to the empty compartment, but he kept his balance as Draco Malfoy turned in the empty passageway and faced him.

"What do you want, Potter?" Malfoy's voice was full of contempt, and hatred, all that Harry had expected.

"I have a challenge for you Malfoy." Harry responded firmly, swallowing immediately after speaking so the ball of nerves didn't erupt out of his stomach.

"What kind of challenge would you have that would interest me?" Malfoy sneered haughtily, drawing himself even more upright as he looked down at Harry with total disgust.

"Knowledge." Harry answered simply, and he knew he had Malfoy's interest now. Those pale eyebrows rose slightly and the sneer was replaced by a very calculating look.

"What kind of knowledge would you have that would be of any use to me?" Malfoy retorted, but he turned so that he fully faced Harry now, and leaned against the wall opposite the doorway Harry stood inside.

"You've been watched all summer by Aurors." Harry stated casually, leaning against the doorframe and studying his schoolyard rival closely. "Your mother and father have been arrested, tried in secret, and convicted. Your family estates within England are being seized, and the only reason you're not facing Azkaban yourself is that Dumbledore himself spoke on your behalf. You didn't want to go back to school this year, but you were told it was either Hogwarts or Azkaban, and chose school. No one has told you the charges your parents were convicted on, except it was for aiding Voldemort in attacking the Ministry of Magic, and you're losing everything you've ever known in your life without really knowing why. There's been no chance for you to contact your father's friends, so they've been no help to you either. I know the answers to the questions running through your head, Malfoy, and I'll give them to you if you'll answer mine."

"So you think you can get me to betray the Dark Lord just so I'll know why my parents have been wrongfully charged?" Malfoy sneered, but his eyes told a different story.

"Here's the challenge, Malfoy." Harry said softly. "You and I will take turns asking questions. We will answer any question we are asked with total honesty and as fully as we can. If a question I ask would 'betray' the dark lord's secrets, then you don't have to answer. Likewise, if a question you ask would 'betray' my side, then I don't have to answer. Otherwise, we answer truthfully and completely."

"You would actually believe me to tell you the truth?" Malfoy sneered contemptuously, but his eyes shone with a barely suppressed hope. Harry had a hard time not smiling in triumph. Ron had said this was stupid, but Hermione had been right.

"When have you ever lied to me, Draco?" Harry said with a tilt of his head. He purposely used Malfoy's first name there, hoping it would establish a connection between them, and he saw that it did. "You've called me and my friends names, you've taunted us, and you've threatened us, but I don't remember you ever really lying. A lot of what you've said was just plain wrong, but it wasn't a lie. I'd say you've actually been more honest with me than most of the people I've ever known."

"I don't know if I should be complimented or insulted." Malfoy said with a hint of irony, but his lips were quirking in that haughty smile that meant he was thinking he'd achieved an advantage.

"Shall we?" Harry asked, standing aside and motioning with his arm into the empty cabin. Malfoy stared for a moment, searching Harry's face as if looking for signs of deception, but finally nodded. He entered like a king, and sat down near the window like he was a king. Harry closed the door, locking it and pulling down the shade for some privacy.

"Why, Potter, people are going to wonder what we're doing in here like this." Malfoy said with a leer in his voice and Harry suppressed a nervous giggle.

"Just tell them I'm the worst snogger you've ever met." Harry retorted instead and Malfoy actually had the grace to blush.

"Spare me your puerile interests, Potter, and let's get down to business." Malfoy retorted quickly while Harry took a seat directly opposite of him. "What was my father doing in the Ministry of Magic and why did they arrest my mother as well?"

"That's two questions, Malfoy." Harry bit back quickly. "One question at a time, and then you answer one of mine. Back and forth, like that."

"Fine, why'd they arrest my mother?" Malfoy demanded and Harry felt a slight surge of hope. Malfoy had always idolized his father so much that Harry had wondered if there was any love for his mother in there. That there was showed some hope for Harry's plan.

"Your mother was arrested for tampering with the property of another wizard." Harry stated firmly. That charge had been enough for Hermione to send a five page letter to Harry demanding that they get serious about S.P.E.W. again.

"That doesn't really tell me anything, Potter." Malfoy said in an angry tone.

"Your mother used the Black family house-elf Kreacher to garner information about me and passed that information on to Voldemort." Harry explained further, almost relishing the way Malfoy flinched at the name. "Voldemort used that information to lure me to the Ministry of Magic. She was also convicted of aiding and abetting Death Eaters, the more serious charge that resulted in her being sent to Azkaban."

"Just for telling stuff she got from stupid house elf?" Malfoy fumed and Harry nodded quickly. He'd let that question slide for now.

"Now, my turn." Harry said firmly and Malfoy nodded after taking a deep breath. "What do you want for your life?"

"What kind of question is that?" Malfoy snorted in disgust and Harry bit back a quick retort, instead just staring at Malfoy.

"I…want…to…see…you dead." Malfoy said slowly, looking closely at Harry for a reaction.

"Is that all you want?" Harry asked. "What about the rest of your life?"

"I have no other life now thanks to you, and that's two more questions." Malfoy sneered.

"Just wanting a more detailed answer, like you wanted earlier." Harry said with a shrug and then waived his hand to tell Malfoy to ask his next question.

"What was the big deal at the Ministry that they had to lure you there?" Malfoy demanded, leaning forward in anticipation of the answer.

"Trelawney actually made a real prophecy, once, a little more than sixteen years ago." Harry answered, leaning back in his seat and setting himself to watch Malfoy's face closely as he continued.

"That old bat actually made a real prophecy?" Malfoy sneered in surprise.

"That was my reaction as well." Harry said with a shrug. "Dumbledore was interviewing her for the Divination position and was just about to tell her 'no thanks' when she spouted off a real prophecy. A Death Eater heard the first part of the prophecy before being found and thrown out. What he heard was enough to cause Voldemort to hunt down my family and kill them, as well as trying to kill me. He didn't have all the prophecy though, and he wanted the rest. In the Ministry there's the Department of Mysteries, and a room there where they hold copies of all prophecies. No one can touch the prophecies except the people that the prophecies are about. He didn't want to risk going there himself, so he had to lure me there. Your father and the others were there to take the prophecy from me when I'd found the thing. We fought back, and they'd almost gotten the prophecy when reinforcements arrived, including Dumbledore."

"I'm going to see you dead, Potter." Malfoy said slowly, standing and moving towards the door.

"Leaving so soon, Malfoy?" Harry asked in a neutral voice.

"I've got what I wanted to get." Malfoy said, turning slowly. "I have no desire to sit in your presence for one more moment than I have to do so."

"That's too bad." Harry said in that same careful voice. "You have a prime opportunity to find things out about me that no other person on Voldemort's side will ever have. I'm sure when he learns that you turned it down, he's going to be a trifle upset."

"What makes you think I'm on his side?" Malfoy asked.

"You both want me dead, for one." Harry answered with a sad smile. "Then there's the fact that your father was in his inner circle, our rivalry in school, and your hatred of mudbloods. You're a perfect fit for his little group."

"That shows just how much you do know." Malfoy snapped back in an irritated tone.

"Then sit down and let's continue, I do believe it's my turn." Harry responded, and Malfoy stayed in front of the door, thinking. "Let's see if we can manage to do this until we reach Hogwarts. I think that alone will be enough to give half the school a heart attack."

"I'd say more than half." Malfoy sniggered, sitting back down, but now in a more relaxed pose, his feet actually resting on the empty seat next to Harry. "Your turn, scarhead."

"Why did you offer me your friendship in first year?" Harry asked, suppressing the thrill of victory at Malfoy's staying, and at the look of surprise and hurt on the blonde's face from the question.

"Two reasons." Malfoy answered, sitting back up a little straighter. He raised one, thin, aristocratic finger as he continued. "First was that Father told me to try and befriend you. You were the most famous child of our age, and he knew that Dumbledore would be keeping a close eye on you. Having Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived as a friend of the Malfoys would help Father out when it came to keeping the Ministry under control, and if we could turn you against Dumbledore, it'd be even better. Second, you ARE the most famous kid in our year. I'm a Malfoy, and I don't like having others outshine me. If you were my friend, I'd be able to stay on top."

"So you really weren't interested in being my friend?" Harry asked, pushing the rules a little bit. Malfoy just stared at him over the second finger he'd raised and smirked.

"Potter, friendships are merely temporary alliances between people." Malfoy's tone was somewhat similar to Snape's when the Potions Master was lecturing on something he felt was utterly obvious. "The concept of friends helping each other for anything beyond their own personal gain is a fairy tale, and no more real. Now, I do believe it's my turn for a question. Are you and the Weasel taking turns boffing the mudblood?"

"Ron and her are an item, and she's like a sister to me?" Harry said with a snort of indignation.

"So, have you boffed her or not?" Malfoy asked and Harry glared at him.

"I said she's like a sister to me?"

"So?" Malfoy taunted, a leer on his face. "They say incest is best."

"Just because Fred and George bugger each other doesn't mean everyone wants to sleep with their relatives." Harry retorted, enjoying the look of horror on Malfoy's face.

"Ugh!" Malfoy spat disgustedly. "I did NOT need that mental image."

"But you don't mind imagining Ron doing it with Hermione?" Harry pressed, smiling at Malfoy's discomfort.

"That's just as bad." Malfoy spat angrily, and then chuckled slightly. "Still, I guess it's my fault. I did ask."

"Yes, you did." Harry said with a slight smile, leaning back slightly. This was going even better than he'd hoped, and Malfoy had started taking things into the realm of the personal instead of about Voldemort and the war. "What's your favorite memory of childhood, before you started at Hogwarts?"

"None of your business." Malfoy stated angrily, his earlier mirth evaporated.

"Oh, so it has to do with Voldemort?" Harry pushed on carefully.

"No, but…oh damn." Malfoy stated softly. He sat there in silence for a few minutes, his eyes glazed over in thought. "It was when I was six, no seven, and we went out on a picnic. It was just father, mother, and I. We didn't even take house-elves with us. The carriage took us down to a river and we ate on the bank of the river. I kept running around, naming the bushes and plants we saw. Both father and mother were smiling and father said I was a smart boy."

"That's a nice picture." Harry said honestly and was surprised at the look of scorn on Malfoy's face.

"Don't make fun of my family, Potter." Malfoy spat in scorn.

"I'm not making fun of that, Malfoy." Harry said earnestly. "It really was nice."

"Oh." Malfoy said softly, a look of mild surprise on his face. "What's your favorite memory?"

"The day I got my Hogwarts letter." Harry replied instantly. "It was the first time I'd ever gotten something that was just for me, and even though I didn't get to open it that time, I still remember the feeling of seeing something just for me."

"What do you mean you didn't get to open it?" Malfoy asked in surprise. "Everyone gets to open their letter."

"Not if their family is full of muggles who want nothing to do with magic." Harry said sourly, and Malfoy actually looked shocked.

"That's…scandalous that muggles would treat any wizard that way!" Malfoy was almost indignant.

"For once we're in agreement on something, Malfoy." Harry said and smiled as Malfoy's surprise turned to…shock was the closest he could tell. "So, are you and Parkinson really promised to each other?"

"No, and if that pug-faced bitch thinks she's going to get into my pants again, she's got another lesson coming." Malfoy said in a cold, furious tone that almost made Harry laugh. "Is there any girl that's caught the Git-Who-Lived eye?

"None anymore." Harry answered with a shrug. "If I survive Voldemort's next few attempts on my life, I'm not sure I want some bird who just sees the public figure and not the real me."

"Get use to it, Potter." Malfoy said with a weird smile that was almost conspiratorial. He looked out the window, and a wistful look appeared on his face for a moment. "Wizards such as you and I have little chance for attachments of the heart. Those are for fairy tales. It's about duty, and honor, and familial obligation."

"Is that all your life is about?" Harry asked in curiosity.

"What else is there, Potter?" Malfoy asked in return.

"I don't know, Malfoy, but I'm tempted to find out. Aren't you?" Harry said in a breathy voice, finally voicing something he'd been thinking about all summer.

"Tempted to find out what?" Malfoy asked in a quizzical tone.

"What is there in life besides what everyone expects of us? Harry questioned in that same breathy voice. "You've had all your life mapped out for you by your father. For me it was Dumbledore and some stupid prophecy. It's never been about what I want, what I need, but about what everyone else wants or everyone else needs."

"What is it that you do want?" Malfoy asked in a voice that was lower than normal, and devoid of all haughtiness.

"I don't know, but I'd like to find out." Harry answered in total honesty, meeting those pale eyes that were studying him in open curiosity. "All my life I've been defined by what others have done, or said. Voldemort attacked me when I was a kid, and I became the bloody Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore stuck me with an aunt and uncle who hated anything to do with magic in order to keep me alive, and then brought me back into the wizarding world, expecting me to be eternally grateful. Then he kept information from me that caused me to make stupid mistakes, and people got killed. Now he tells me that it's either Voldemort or me; that I have to kill Voldemort or die. Well, I'm sick of other people deciding my life for me, I'm thinking that I want to be the master of my own destiny."

"You have to kill the Dark Lord or die?" Malfoy's voice was hoarse as he spoke in surprise, and Harry smiled at him, a smile that did not reach his own eyes.

"That's the secret Voldemort was after in the Department of Mysteries, Draco." Harry said in a confident voice. "That's the secret my godfather died helping to protect, the secret that would anyone a place of honor at Voldemort's side. Voldemort and I are bound in the prophecy, neither of us can be killed except by each other."

"Why did you tell me that?" Malfoy asked in astonishment. Harry could see the calculating look in those eyes. With that piece of information, Malfoy could slip his watchers and earn himself high honors at the Dark Lord's side, and they both knew that.

"Tell me, Draco, are you happy with the life your father's planned out for you?" Harry asked instead of answering Malfoy directly. It was a slight victory that he was using the blonde's first name without any protest.

"My happiness has nothing to do with the plans for my life." Malfoy snapped testily, and Harry could hear a slight note of bitterness there. "I'm a Malfoy and Malfoy's have a role to play in society. My very birth as a Malfoy pre-ordained my path in life."

"While a Prophecy pre-ordained mine." Harry countered, and their eyes met. There, for a brief moment there was something that connected them, a sense of kinship.

"I told you once, Potter, that I could help you in life." Malfoy said as he broke their eye connection. "Instead you chose that Weasel."

"Yes, I chose." Harry stated firmly, putting a great deal of emphasis on that last word. Malfoy looked up sharply at that, and his eyes narrowed in a calculating way. "Since I did choose, I can always change that choice. It's called Free Will, Malfoy, and we all have that ability."

"Possessing something does not mean you can always use a thing." Malfoy countered and Harry leaned forward, willing his heart to slow down from the sudden racing it was doing.

"Can not, or will not use a thing?" Harry shot back.

"What difference is there so long as it isn't used?" Malfoy waved a hand at the passing landscape beyond the window. "It might be there, but I for one won't turn my back on everything I was raised to believe in, was even born to be in this world."

"So you let yourself be chained by the ideas of others, cornered, pigeonholed into a path in life that you had no choice in?" Harry challenged, and Malfoy raised an eyebrow.

"What else is there?" Malfoy's voice was an answering challenge. "You want me to side with you and Dumbledore and your precious 'side of light', battling the evil Dark Lord? You want me to throw away my life the way your precious godfather did, or risk my life the way Longbottom and the others did?"

"I doubt you'd fit in with Dumbledore, the Weasleys, and the others." Harry said with a dismissive wave of his own hand.

"Funny, you don't mention yourself in that group." Malfoy noted, and Harry smiled.

"One thing I've never thought of you as was stupid, Malfoy." Harry allowed with that same smile and Malfoy snorted. "Some of your little tricks over the years have really been quite ingenious. That dementor bit, and the 'Weasley is our King' badges, not to mention the 'Potter Stinks' from fourth year. The only problem is that they always backfired, because you never thought things through. That's your weakness, Malfoy, and the weakness of your father and his precious Dark Lord. You are all so use to predestined paths and everyone walking down the road that's planned for them that you rarely plan for people not doing exactly what's planned."

"Like your side does any better." Malfoy countered with a hint of anger in his voice. He squirmed in his seat slightly as well.

"Oh Dumbledore has much the same problem, and I don't plan nearly enough." Harry admitted casually, and he was pleased to see how that threw Malfoy off. "The only thing we have going for us is that we can usually think on our feet and throw off the carefully laid plans of others."

"Who is we?" Malfoy asked.

"Me, and whoever I'm with, usually." Harry said softly

"Why did you really bring me in here?" Malfoy finally asked the question Harry had been asking for.

"Tell me, Malfoy, have you ever wondered what it was like to have sex with a boy?" Harry asked, finally taking the last leap he'd planned. Malfoy reacted by coughing and looking at Harry with wide eyes.

"I'm a Malfoy, and Malfoy's don't sleep with boys." Malfoy finally said when he'd gotten his coughing under control.

"Nice, but you still haven't answered my question, Draco." Harry said, and he moved quickly. Malfoy stiffened as Harry moved across the space between them. He crouched over the stiff, but still sitting Malfoy. His arms were placed so that his hands rested on the seat beside Malfoy's thighs. Harry's own torso was between Malfoy's legs, and their crotches were touching just enough to send tingles through Harry. Their faces were now so close that Harry could see little else but those pale pools Malfoy called eyes. They were wide now, and when Malfoy drew in a deep breath, he practically pulled Harry's own breath out of his lungs. "Can you honestly say you've never wondered what it would be like, to touch another boy, to feel his hardness against yours, to feel his mouth on yours?"

"What…what ever happened to being shy?" Malfoy countered in a small voice, and he tried to pull his head back, but made no other move to resist. Harry could feel something growing where their crotches met, and he nearly shouted with joy that Hermione had been right yet again.

"I've decided that I'm tired of being the Harry Potter everyone's always expecting me to be." Harry said softly, still smiling slightly. "I'm going to kill Voldemort, because I want to live, but that's the only reason why I'm going to do that. After that, I'm going to lead my life the way I want, be who I want to be. I'm one of the most powerful wizards of our generation, Draco, and I'm going to live my life for me. Join me, Draco. Your father's done nothing but bring the Malfoy name to ruin. His following Voldemort has led you to nothing but to the situation you are in now. Voldemort couldn't kill me when I was a baby, he couldn't do it when I was a first year, he couldn't do it when I was a fourth year, and he didn't do it a few months ago. I'm going to beat him, Draco, and when I finally do kill him, everyone connected to him is going to end up dead or in prison as well. You said you were born to carry on the Malfoy family name, Draco, but if you continue on the path your father is on, all you'll do is complete its ruin."

"You want me to join you?" Draco's voice was soft, but he moved slightly so that the hardness in his lower regions pressed against Harry. Those pale pools that were Malfoy's eyes were full of something new, something Harry was fairly certain was desire.

"I want you to join me, and a few others of the best in our generation." Harry said softly, and moved closer so that their chests were now connecting and their lips mere millimeters apart. "We'll get rid of Voldemort, and then we'll strike out on our own for a few years. Go to University, work, spend a few on the Riviera, whatever we damn feel like doing. Then, when we're ready, we'll make sure no one else ever controls our lives again. You, me, and just a few others that we trust, that are strong enough, smart enough, to work with us, we'll make sure that no one ever controls our futures again."

"You and me." Draco said, that something Harry was sure as desire bloomed in those eyes, becoming almost a fire.

"Us, together." Harry said, lowering his lips just enough so that they touched Draco's. He tasted sweet, with just a hint of spices. Harry moved so that he gathered those pale lips between his teeth and bit slightly. Draco groaned aloud at that moment, and his body arched against Harry's. Draco's arms were trembling now, and Harry knew he had him. Those lips moved so that they covered Harry's, and when Harry's tongue entered Draco's mouth, another moan filled the train's compartment. When Draco started trembling a few moments later, his body giving way to spasms as he came in his pants, Harry knew the conquering of Draco Malfoy was complete.

Outside the compartment, Hermione and Ron stood careful guard to make sure what was happening inside was not interrupted. When they heard the unmistakable groans of a certain blond inside Ron muttered a few curses silently before pulling out a Knut and handing it to Hermione. Hermione just grinned.

The first battle of the sixth year had been won.