Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series belongs to J K Rowling. I'm making no money from borrowing her characters.

A/N: I've never written slash of any kind before, so be patient with me. I've noticed that there are some very excellent Harry/Draco fics out there, and in those quality works, I find that they make a very interesting and dynamic pair. So I decided to actually throw in my two cents worth and give it a go. So here's the rules, kiddies. This thing is rated R for a reason. If you're under sixteen, at least here in the States, you would not be allowed to go to an R rated movie by yourself, so please do the world a favor and stay out of this story. If homosexuality offends you, what are you doing even clicking on this story? And while constructive criticism is welcome, if you flame me, you will discover the delights of the Cruciatus Curse, and then I will delete your review.

Warnings: Slash, mpreg, language.

Enjoy!

Harry was being very careful. He knew that if anything went wrong with this particular potion, it could produce some very nasty effects. If done correctly, it was supposed to hide the use of magic from the snooper spells that the Ministry placed on all the student's wands. He was worried that Voldemort would use the damned thing to track him. But so many things could go wrong with it. That was why he didn't notice it when several Slytherins came into the Potions lab.

Draco was at the head of the group. They were all fairly quiet, and Malfoy shushed them as he noticed that the room was not empty. He watched as the "Golden Boy of Gryphindor" brewed a highly illegal shielding potion, and with a skill that he never had the chance to demonstrate in class with Snape determined to make him look like an idiot. Draco had always known that Potter was not as dumb in that area as he pretended. The boy always passed, despite Snape's best efforts, so he assumed that he was hiding his skill from the Professor just to keep what peace he could.

Malfoy waited until Potter's hands were clear of the cauldron, knowing some of the things that could go wrong with that potion, then said, "Well, well, Potter. Not bad. I didn't think you had the brains for something that complex."

Harry stiffened at the backhanded compliment, but he said nothing. There was one more ingredient to add, and the Slytherins being there was going to make this a lot harder. He looked at his golden-haired nemesis, gauging the honesty of that comment, and was relieved to note a tiny bit of respect in the gaze that was returned to him. "Thanks, I think. Are you going to let me finish it?"

Draco considered. "Depends. Why are you doing it?"

"Voldemort."

Draco nodded. Yes, the Dark Lord would be able to tap into the Ministry's tracking spells. This was a very good idea. "Go on then. But we should all get some of it as well, just for recompense."

Harry grinned. "No problem. There should be plenty to go around." Ignoring Draco's raised eyebrow at his lack of displeasure, Harry took the final ingredient off the shelf and returned to the simmering cauldron. He carefully measured out the correct amount of wormwood extract to pour into the mix. He knew that this was the trickiest part. Too little and the shield would have holes in it. Too much and you generally didn't survive the results. In fact, no one had ever survived them.

Obviously, however, Crabbe was ignorant of that fact. The idiot only passed potions half the time and all he could see was an opportunity to pull a prank and make Potter look like a fool. He walked around behind the concentrating student and "accidentally" nudged him in the back. This caused him to drop the entire bottle into the cauldron! With a curse, Harry shouted "Run for it!"

No one questioned the order with the panic in his voice. With the glass surrounding most of the wormwood extract, they had a few seconds to get the hell out of the room before it blew. But it wasn't quite enough. All but Harry and Draco got out of the room in time, but just as they reached the door, the cauldron exploded, sending scarlet flame and blue-white shards of energy out in a shockwave that slammed into the two sixteen-year-olds and rocked the old castle that was Hogwarts on its foundations.

Harry woke up with pain lancing all down his back and through his abdomen. The last thing he remembered was throwing himself over Draco Malfoy in an instinctively protective gesture before the world went black. At the beginning of the year, he'd forced a talk with the Slytherin and they had reached a shaky truce, both agreeing that with Voldemort on the horizon, neither wanted nor needed another enemy to distract them. They had agreed to leave each other alone, and that was all, but with their energy focused on other things, they had both found the time to discover qualities about the other that had led to Harry and Draco respecting each other. It was a condition that shocked the hell out of both sets of friends, but Hermione, Ron, Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy had all been told to back off. They weren't the best of friends, but neither were they enemies any longer, and neither would hear the other denigrated.

Harry could hear an argument going on in the room beyond his cubicle. It was Snape and Draco. "Look, Professor, it wasn't Potter's fault. Crabbe knocked into him and he dropped the bottle. I was watching, and Potter had the correct amount measured. If that prat hadn't been so stupid and had thought more about what was going on than embarrassing Gryphindor, then none of this would have happened!"

Snape did not sound pleased. "Are you telling me that Harry Potter actually has the skill to produce a shielding potion of that strength!?"

"Yes, I am. And he also knew what could go wrong. He immediately told us to get the hell out of that room, and he threw himself on me when it looked like we weren't getting out of there. The bastard saved my life, and I won't have him harangued for it!"

"The potion is illegal..."

"Yes, but he had damned good reason. You know that Voldemort has people in the Ministry. If he can get at the tracking spells, then he'll be able to locate Potter any time he uses his wand."

Snape was quiet for a moment, thinking about what had been said. "I never thought I'd hear you defending him."

Draco snorted. "Neither did I, I assure you. But he was doing nothing wrong."

"Fine. I won't give him detention. But he'd better ask next time!"

Harry shook his head in amazement, then immediately wished he hadn't. Pain shot through him and a groan escaped his lips. Draco peeked around the curtain to see about the noise, then turned back around and told Snape that Harry was awake.

"Stay with him, then. I'll go get Pomfrey."

Draco stepped behind the curtain of the cubicle where Harry could see him. "Well, Potter, it would seem that your luck has held out once again. We both should have died tonight."

Harry refrained from nodding, not wanting to set off another painful spasm. "I don't know why it didn't kill us. I think I want to run some calculations once I'm not feeling quite so much like I was run over by a damned train."

Draco smirked at him. "I could bring a speaking slate in here if you want." The boards had been invented by Hermione so that those who were without the use of their hands or who were otherwise incapacitated could still do their homework.

Harry grinned. "That would be great."

Well, that's the first chapter. I hope it passes muster. Oh, and the R rating won't really come into effect until much later in the story.