A/N: Weeee, looks like this will be my first post for Harry Potter. (I've got about three fics in the works, this is just the only one I actually started at the beginning…) Just a random idea I had, nothing too serious in this fic, just something fun I guess. So enjoy!

Summary: Walking through the pet shop, Harry finds Malfoy among the ferrets, and convinces his family to bring him home. What unravels from there is a bit of this, a bit of that, and a dash of slash. ::grins::

Warnings: Uh….slash, shounen-ai, boyXboy…whatever you want to call it. But if you've read any of my other recent fics, you should know by now…hehe. And maybe some cussing. I throw random words in when I deem them necessary.

Disclaimer:The announcement of Dumbledore being gay was a surprise to me. I would not have been surprised if I owned Harry Potter. (That was a pretty awesome announcement though. I still laugh when I think about it. Though really…I should've seen that one coming…)

Chapter 1: Adopting a Ferret

Harry rolled his eyes as Dudley asked for yet another item that he probably had two or three of back home.

"Oh! Mum, mum, pleeeeeeeeaaaase? I've wanted one of these for ages!" he exclaimed, pointing to some action figure or another lined up in a row of identical brightly colored plastic figurines on a shelf in the store. He used the voice that always worked on Petunia, and she would buy him whatever it is he asked for. It made Harry gag. If he'd used that sort of voice, he'd surely be 'properly chastised' before being told to wait in the car with the windows up or something.

Actually, Harry wasn't even sure why he'd been brought along on this little shopping excursion to begin with. It was only just into the summer after his sixth year. Three days, to be precise. To his best knowledge, it was so they could keep an eye out on him; most likely they were afraid he would ruin the house or something equally as ridiculous before Aunt Marge was to visit that weekend.

If only he'd had a chance to exchange some galleons for pounds, this trip might be a bit more enjoyable. Then again, that probably wouldn't be the best of ideas since the Dursleys would be wondering where he got the money. Harry sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets as they left the toy store, and moved along through the mall. The next stop they made was, oddly enough, a pet shop.

Apparently Dudley had seen something in the window that struck his interests, so the odd family entered this store as well. In fact, Harry was quite sure there wasn't a store in this mall that they hadn't been into. With a shake of his head, he began to wander aimlessly down the aisles and pet displays as his aunt and uncle followed Dudley. He'd just passed the reptiles – which he determinedly did not look at; it wouldn't do to get kicked out of the store – when he heard quite a ruckus from a glass case to his right. A whole lot of squeaking, actually.

With a start at being pulled from his musings, he quickly turned to the noise, a bit surprised to see he was at the display of ferrets. There were about five of them in the cage, but it was the one at the front that caught his attention. It was making quite a bit of noise and running around in circles, periodically slamming its front paws as hard as it could against the clear wall between them. Harry looked around curiously for a second, wondering if this was normal behavior for this animal, before he knelt down in front of the cage. "Hey little guy," he whispered, pressing his fingers against the cage. "What's the matter with you?"

And that was when the ferret looked at him. He nearly fell backwards onto the floor. It was a pure white ferret, and its eyes were a gray color with a silver shine and a blue undertone. He would know those eyes anywhere. "Malfoy?" he asked incredulously, seriously starting to doubt his sanity.

The ferret jumped up, placing its paws against the cage and nodded. Harry felt his jaw drop. What the hell was Malfoy of all people doing in Surrey? And why in Merlin's name was he a ferret…again? Harry quickly turned his head to both sides, wondering if this was some sort of trick. But no cameras were pointed at him, and there was no one laughing. This was insane. He turned back to the ferret, which was looking decidedly worried at this point, and said "Hold on" before turning to find his relatives.

He didn't have far to walk; in fact he'd only taken two steps before the Dursleys appeared around the corner of a nearby pet toy isle. Clearing his throat nervously, Harry stepped up to his uncle, not believing he was about to even ask this. "Uncle Vernon…"

Beady eyes turned towards him, and the half smile that had been on Vernon's face quickly turned to a frown. "What is it boy?"

"Erm…well, I was wondering if…if I might get a ferret?" He knew the instant the words left his mouth that it was a stupid idea to have asked at all.

Vernon's eyes narrowed into a glare, and he flicked his gaze to the cage behind Harry before looking back at his nephew. "And why, boy, would you want one of those useless critters?"

Harry tugged at his bangs in a manner that had become a nervous habit because of his scar. "Er, well I –" He was saved from having to figure out a reason as Dudley shoved past him, being sure to bump his shoulder heavily on the way, and went to look at the ferrets in the cage. He turned back to his family, and grinned evilly at Harry.

"Daddy, could I have one?" he asked innocently, and Harry's jaw dropped at the boy's audacity. He was only asking for one to spite him! What a stupid thing to do. However, if it got Malfoy-ferret into the house, then it was a start. He decided to play along for now, and glared at Dudley.

"Duddikens, sweety, are you sure you want one of those nasty little rats?" She asked, obviously torn between giving her son what he wants, and the sanitation of her beloved house.

Harry decided a helpful comment was necessary. "But that's not fair…" it was a quiet whine, but enough to catch Vernon's attention, and the man grinned much like his son had been doing before.

"Now Petunia, every good boy should get a pet. If he wants the ferret I say let him have it."

Petunia hesitated for a few moments, before reluctantly giving in to the two males' wishes. "Well alright. I'll go get a cage for it."

Dudley looked as if he'd just won some grand prize, and Harry hid a smirk. Dudley really could be too stupid for his own good sometimes. The soon-to-be proud ferret owner reached down to pick up the only ferret near him. He squeezed it tightly in his pudgy hand, and the creature squeaked in discomfort.

"Careful Dudley, you'll hurt him!" Imploring gray eyes looked up at him, but Harry could only shrug helplessly as Dudley pulled his hand out of his reach, thoroughly preventing him from lending any help.

"What's it matter to you what I do with my ferret, Potter?" Dudley sneered – quite pathetically when compared to Malfoy – and it was then Harry realized that two of the people who hated him most were standing in front of him…together.

'What have I just done…' he thought miserably. He'd done a lot of stupid and brash things in his life, but right now he was thinking this had to be among the top ten. 'Yes, let's bring my archrival into my house! Brilliant! Now let's invite Voldemort to join us for tea, shall we?' Harry snorted at his own thought process, and decided he should pick up some sort of hobby besides making enemies.

Mindlessly Harry followed the Dursleys as they picked up a few things for the new pet, idly noting that they bought only the bare minimum, including a cage far too small. 'Why bother getting a pet if you're not even going to take care of it properly?' He glanced up, and caught Malfoy-ferret looking at him almost pleadingly from Dudley's grasp.

Narrowing his eyes, Harry tried to think again of a good – and believable – reason Malfoy was here. But only half of his mind was set on getting these answers, as the other part was too busy feeling sorry for the boy, as he was apt to feel for anything unfortunate enough to fall within Dudley's clutches. And then another part of his brain was occupied with being appalled with the fact that he was feeling any sympathy for Malfoy at all, even if it was hard to remember who it was when hidden under the guise of a helpless fluffy critter.

After they'd bought everything, Dudley pulled out the cage, and grabbed Malfoy-ferret, who apparently rather disliked the notion of being put into the cage. Harry actually had to agree on that one…the cage was ridiculously small. With a lot of squeaking, struggling, and lashing out with teeth and claws, the human-turned-animal managed to break free from Dudley's fingers, and leapt toward Harry, who caught him easily with seeker-trained reflexes.

Dudley yelped, and cradled his barely-injured hand as if it had been broken, and Malfoy-ferret ran up Harry's arm, curling around his neck to hide beneath the hair that just touched the base of his neck. Harry was surprised to feel that the animal was actually shivering. He craned his head curiously to the side to glimpse his new neck-warmer, and was a bit taken aback at the panicked expression visible in the eyes. Slowly he reached a hand up, and stroked the ferret's head until it calmed down. "Hey," he whispered softly, so that the Dursleys pouring over Dudley's 'wound' wouldn't hear (Harry was forcibly reminded of a certain incident involving Malfoy and a hippogriff). "Behave yourself okay? If you don't they'll send you right back. I'll come get you later, but I can't do anything now. Now get into the cage; it's only temporary, I promise."

The gray eyes locked onto his own, and simply stared for a moment. The look was doubtful, but reluctantly acceptant, since he really had no other choice if he wanted to get out of this pet shop into a house where someone actually knew what he was. He nodded once – an action that was more like a twitch than anything else, and Harry smiled.

After the pet shop adventure, Vernon decided it was time to go home, as it was nearing dinnertime, and we all know Vernon loves his food. The car trip back seemed extraordinarily tense to Harry, but perhaps that was because of the knowledge that his school rival was sitting in a small cage between him and his cousin trying to catch his hair on fire by glaring, or surely something very similar. When they arrived back at the house, Harry was gruffly ordered to grab their bags as the rest of the family made their way into the house.

Harry sighed, but knew better than to fight back. It was going to take him two trips to get all of the bags inside, so he quickly grabbed as many as he could, and tottered awkwardly through the doorway with the load, setting them down on the table in the living room. From the corner of his eye, he saw Dudley taking his new pet into his room, and frowned. That could make things difficult indeed.

After he hauled the rest of the bags into the house, he went straight to his own room, leaving the new items unloaded in the living room. After all, nothing in them was his. He flopped down onto his worn bed and sighed heavily, blowing his bangs from his face. He couldn't quite believe he'd just done what he had. Draco Malfoy, of all people, was in his house.

But at least now, he might get some answers. Last year he had constantly wondered what the boy was up to, so much in fact that his friends were actually calling him obsessed. Harry, of course, would deny this completely before going off to follow Malfoy and try to figure out why he was acting so suspicious.

With another sigh Harry rolled over onto his side, and stared blankly at the white wall until he fell asleep. He might as well get some rest before he was asked to get up and cook something for dinner, or to do some other menial task.

Three days later was the due date for Aunt Marge's arrival. Harry was sure he had cleaned every corner of the house at least twice per Petunia's orders, and he hadn't once seen Malfoy again. He could only hope that Dudley hadn't done anything terrible to him…or inadvertently killed him somehow. It just seemed like something Dudley would do. Then he caught himself worrying for his rival and glared in annoyance at the nearest wall. Ferret-boy was going to owe him big time when all this was said and done.

Harry was abruptly pulled from his thoughts by the sound of the doorbell ringing throughout the house. There was a sudden scramble downstairs as the Dursleys prepared themselves for the arrival of the wicked witch of the – er, Aunt Marge, of course. He heard Petunia answer the door, and rolled his eyes as she put on the 'perfect host' act. He had been asked (ordered by threat of punishment) to stay in his room until dinner. Then he was to come down, cook for everyone and basically play waiter to those who called themselves his family. Harry very nearly growled at the thought.

"Boy!"

Harry sighed heavily as he swung his legs over the side of the bed. Ah yes, the call to dinner. With a bit of grumbling, he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, managing to sneak past his reacquainting relatives. Over the many years of being forced to play chef, he had become rather adept in the kitchen, and only half his mind was on his actions as he began pulling out the necessary ingredients to make lasagna. The other half was still stuck in the repetitive cycle of worrying about Malfoy, then being annoyed for worrying about Malfoy, and over and over again.

With his mind so preoccupied, Harry was glad when no one disturbed him in the kitchen, and he was able to complete the meal in relative peace. It was when he walked through that doorway into the dining room, though, that everything started going downhill.

"Ah, so there's that delinquent," Marge sniffed disdainfully as soon as she was able to see him, and Harry suddenly wished he hadn't put as much effort into the food as he did. "Such a shame you're still saddled with such a…burden," she said sympathetically, laying a hand on Vernon's arm.

Harry inhaled deeply through his nose, willing himself to ignore the woman he was forced to call 'aunt.' He set the dish of lasagna on the table, thinking to himself, 'I hope you all choke on it.' His attention was drawn away though when Marge's dog, Ripper, suddenly went crazy, pulling at the leash tied to the woman's chair. The noise was quickly followed by a lot of frightened squeaking, and Harry's eyes immediately snapped toward Dudley. Sure enough, in his lap, was the small cage holding Malfoy.

Their eyes met for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. Marge's dog finally broke free, as the leash holding him snapped. Ripper leapt forward, surprising Dudley so much that he toppled backward in his chair. Malfoy's cage flew to the side, and the door came unlatched as it hit the floor. Petunia squealed as the rodent fled from the cage as fast as his small feet would carry him. The two animals raced in circles around the table as Petunia screeched at her husband to do something, Marge yelled at her dog to stop, and Vernon just turned around and yelled at Harry.

In the midst of everything, Harry finally managed to spot Malfoy as the boy ran towards him. Ignoring his uncle completely, he reached out and scooped up the frightened animal in his hands, before turning and bolting towards his room. The dog followed him all the way, and he had to slam his door quickly, almost laughing at the 'thump' from the other side as the dog barreled into it. Harry lifted the ferret so that they were face-to-face, feeling the fluttering heartbeat of the frightened animal, and narrowed his eyes. "This had damn well better be worth it…" he muttered, and then heavy footsteps were pounding up the stairs.

Harry only had time to move away from the door and shove Malfoy under his pillow with a whispered, 'Stay there' before his uncle nearly knocked the door from its hinges in his fury. Harry was quite sure he'd never seen his uncle so mad before; his face was an unhealthily dark shade of red, and his nostrils flared with each heavy breath. Marge stood behind him, restraining Ripper by the short bit of leash left attached to his collar.

Vernon, paying no mind to anything else, walked up to Harry. "You ungrateful brat!" he yelled. "Thanks to you dinner was ruined!" And in an unexpected move, he lifted his arm, and backhanded Harry across the head. Harry cried out as the force of the blow knocked him over towards the bed, and he fell awkwardly half on top of it. He coughed as the edge of the bed frame caught his ribs. He wasn't even going to try and point out that the ruined dinner was in no way his fault.

There was a moment of silence, as everyone stared at Vernon in surprise. Harry, after taking a moment to recover and getting his vision to focus again, looked up at his uncle, and did not like the look in the man's eyes. There seemed to be a sort of crazed power behind them as the man stared at his hand. He turned his glare to Harry again, and swept his foot forward, catching his nephew's stomach and knocking him backwards.

Harry lay on his side, not daring to move in fear of this new side of his uncle. He focused solely on getting air into his lungs, as they seemed to be protesting even that simple concept. "Consider that a warning, boy," his uncle growled, seemingly unfazed by what he had just done. And then he was gone, slamming the door and locking the many locks on the other side.

Finally safe from his uncle's wrath, Harry brought his hand to his stomach, and sat up with much difficulty, coughing up a small amount of blood. "Damn…" he muttered, and pulled himself over to his bed so he could sit on the mattress. Once on top of his bed, he let himself fall onto his back and closed his eyes, trying to will away the pain, and the shock of what had just happened. As soon as his head hit the pillow, though, his eyes snapped open again. Had his pillow just squeaked? Then it dawned on him. "Double damn…"

Malfoy crawled out from under the pillow, wide-eyed and shivering. Harry wondered absently whether that was Malfoy, or a ferret instinct. "That's the first time he's ever hit me, you know…" Harry mumbled without looking at the animal, feeling some strange need to somehow defend himself. He felt small paws on his arm, and looked over to see Malfoy bracing his front paws on his forearm, staring at him calculatingly.

Harry gave him a humorless smile. "Yeah, believe it or not, my life is not all the sunshine and roses you probably think it is. Though I'd definitely rather you not have seen that…" Malfoy-ferret crawled up a little further, and made as if to crawl onto his chest. Harry grunted at the pressure. "Ow…not the ribs…that hurts." Immediately the pressure left, and a corner of Harry's lips quirked into a small smirk. "So you do have some compassion at least…"

The ferret snorted, and Harry chuckled, but the noise immediately faded into a groan as it hurt both his ribs and stomach. Then a thought struck him and he sighed, turning to look at Malfoy who was sitting beside his shoulder, looking as if he wanted to do something, but was trying to look indifferent at the same time. "Oh and…you might have to wait a bit before I can change you back…my birthday isn't until the end of July…so, I guess just bear with me until then?"

If ferrets could groan, Harry would swear this one just did. But then he supposed that was from the fact that it wasn't really a ferret to begin with. "Sorry…I promise, as soon as I can, I'll change you back." His gaze suddenly turned stern. "But then I want some answers from you."

Malfoy glared back at him, and stuck out his little ferret tongue. Harry blinked a couple of times, and then burst into laughter at the absurdity of the gesture. Malfoy squeaked indignantly, but soon stopped as tears began streaming down Harry's face, and the laughter became a strange cross between laughing and sobbing. Without thinking, the boy reached out, and pulled the ferret close to him, burying his face in the soft, white fur. Malfoy decided to let it go this time, as the boy had just been beaten by his own uncle. He decided to store the questions about that one in his mind so he could ask about it when he was human again. For now, He let Harry hold him, and tried to ignore the tears soaking into his fur.

The next morning, Harry awoke to the strangest feeling; it rather felt like something…nibbling…at his nose. He opened his eyes, and had to cross them as he noticed that something actually was nibbling at his nose. "Wha- what the hell?" he muttered, grabbing the ferret around the middle and dragging it away from his face. He saw a glint of amusement in the silver eyes, and narrowed his own. "Git," he mumbled, still half asleep, and moved to sit up. He sucked in a breath through his teeth as the movement jarred several very sore spots.

Throwing his feet over the edge of the bed, Harry stood and walked over to the mirror on the other side of the room, taking off his shirt to examine the damage done. He winced involuntarily at the deep purple-blue bruises marring his skin; one on his ribs from the bed, and the other on his stomach, placed by his uncle's foot. He tenderly touched one of them, and flinched, deciding it would be better to leave them alone. There was a nice matching bruise on his cheek, too. He glanced to the door, and realized he couldn't get to the bathroom to clean himself off with all the locks bolted shut. Then his eyes moved back to the mirror, and he noticed the ferret sitting on his bed, staring at him unabashedly. Harry glared through the glass. "What are you looking at?" he asked grumpily.

Malfoy-ferret sniffed and turned his head to the side, causing Harry to roll his eyes. Then he peered closer, before turning around to get a better look at the animal. He hadn't taken much notice of his rival's condition last night through all the chaos, but now that he took the time to look, he realized he looked a little thin, even for a ferret. Walking over to the bed, Harry knelt before the small animal, ignoring the pain in his side for now. "Dudley hasn't been feeding you well, has he?" Harry asked gently.

The look the ferret returned to him gave Harry the distinct impression that he was being insulted simply through the silver gaze. Harry sighed, and threw another glance at the door. "I'm sorry you had to be dragged into this…I don't think you'll get much more food with me…" Without elaborating, Harry stood up and walked over to the window, looking into the driveway to check for his uncle's car. 'Good, he's left for work already.'

Harry pulled his shirt back on, then walked to his door, and knocked as loud as he dared. "Aunt Petunia?" he called, praying to anyone that would listen that she had at least some shred of humanity in her. Soon he heard quick steps approaching his door.

"What is it?" she snapped, though not viciously enough to deter Harry.

"I- I've got to use the loo," he said tentatively. There was a sigh from the other side of the door, before the sound of locks being unlatched reached his ears, and Harry let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. The door opened and Harry was met with the stern glare of his aunt.

"I will leave this door unlocked so that you may use the bathroom, but you are to go nowhere else, understand?" Her gaze was unrelenting, and Harry knew not to defy her. It seems they were still angry.

Harry nodded, defeated. It was better than nothing, he supposed. "Yes, Aunt Petunia." She stuck her nose up in the air, her expression stating that she would rather be anywhere else than where she was at the moment. With a short nod, she was heading back down the stairs, and Harry closed his eyes and leaned against the doorframe. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, and looked to the ferret on his bed. With a cautious glance down the hallway, he noted that Petunia had gone to her room, leaving the rest of the house clear, as Vernon was gone and Dudley was most likely out terrorizing the neighborhood with his gang.

Listening for a couple more seconds to make sure she would stay, Harry walked over and grabbed a fresh set of clothing from his drawers, and then walked over to address the ferret. "Alright Malfoy, listen up. They're not going to be bringing any food up here, and I'm not allowed into the kitchen. There are some muffins sitting on the kitchen counter, near the fridge. You can use the drawers to climb up and-" He stopped when he noticed the look of incredulity he was receiving. Harry sighed heavily and said seriously, "Look, Malfoy, if you want to eat, you'll have to do this. Go now while most everyone is gone, and Aunt Petunia is busy in her room. You've seen where the kitchen is, just go down there, grab the muffin, and bring it back up here. And don't get caught. I've got to go take a shower."

Malfoy glared hard at Harry, as if what he'd just said was the most absurd idea he'd ever heard. Which probably, Harry mused, was very likely the case. "Sorry I can't do anymore. I…I'll make it up to you, okay?" When Malfoy looked confused, Harry smiled slightly. "Yeah I may hate you, and you may be a right git, but…you didn't ask for this." Harry averted his eyes in slight embarrassment. Great, his injuries were making him delirious…he was being nice to Malfoy! "Ugh, I'm going to go shower now. Whether you eat today is up to you, and if you decide to do it, then…good luck." And with that he walked out of his room, and to the bathroom just down the hall.

Draco spent a moment glaring after the spot Harry had just been in, trying to figure out if this was all some big joke, but then he heard the shower turn on, and resigned himself to stealing that muffin from the kitchen. He would definitely have to yell at Potter for this later, though.

When Harry walked back into the room about half an hour later, he spotted Malfoy on the bed, nibbling on the muffin…and getting crumbs anywhere. Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Is that your revenge for making you do that? Getting muffin crumbs all over my bed?" he asked with an amused glint in his eye.

The ferret made some odd noise to him that was rather like a hiss. Harry raised his eyebrows, and Malfoy turned his back to him, continuing to messily eat the muffin. Harry decided to just ignore him for now, and walked over to his desk, opting to sit and stare out the window instead.

At this rate, it was going to be a long summer vacation, and Harry found himself glancing at the calendar on the wall, willing it to go faster so this summer, which was starting out as a nightmare, might end and he could return to Hogwarts once again.

Well I was intending to make it a bit longer, but I've decided to put the other stuff in the next chapter. 9 pages is a pretty good length anyway… really I probably shouldn't even be posting this, since it takes me so long to update SC already…but this will probably be kinda short. I really have no idea what's gonna happen or anything, so we'll see.

Anyway, leave a review, and tell me what you think, ya? ::smiles imploringly::