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Harry Potter stood behind his usual seat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He had a bewildered look on his face and a slight touch of panic in his green eyes.
"Hey, Harry?" his best friend Ron questioned. "Why are you surrounded by those fuzzy things?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders helplessly. Nestled carefully in his arms was a large white rabbit with beautiful pink eyes. Its little nose quivered with excitement over the myriad smells emanating from the breakfast plates.
"Hagrid gave me two of these bunnies last night as an Easter gift. This morning there were..." he trailed off to count the fuzzy bundles hopping and skittering around his feet. "Seventeen. And they follow me everywhere!"
"They sure are cute," Ron said as he stooped to pick one up in each hand. "Hey, Hermione!" he called across the room to the bushy-haired young woman walking toward them. He gestured wildly, waving a bunny in his large hand. "Look what Harry's got!"
Hermione rushed over to see what the excitement was all about. "Harry! Were did all these rabbits come from?" She reached out to take one from Ron.
Harry spoke one word. "Hagrid."
"Oh."
Before she could say another word, a sarcastic drawl came from the mouth of Harry's nemesis, Draco Malfoy. "Potter. I see you've gotten yourself surrounded with vermin." His contemptuous look at Ron and Hermione showed he wasn't referring to the rabbits hopping playfully over the flagstone floor.
Malfoy's two bodyguards snickered in appreciation of their leader's wit. "Yeah, Potter. You should just kill them," Goyle pointed to the rabbit in Harry's arms, but his tone implied otherwise.
Frustrated, Harry moved closer to the bully, carefully avoiding stepping on the little ones, and thrust his bunny into Goyle's chest. "Fine!" he snarled. "You kill it."
Goyle's arms came up instinctively to cradle the warm bundle. "Uh..." he looked to Draco for direction.
"Do it!" Draco nodded his head sharply in confirmation.
The same hint of panic that could be seen earlier in Potter's eyes was now in Goyle's. "I...I can't," he said and swallowed heavily.
"Oh for... Give me that!" Draco made to pull the rabbit from the Slytherin's arms. Stepping out of reach, Goyle hugged the bunny closer. "No. Find your own."
Malfoy's eyebrows arched nearly to his hairline. "What?"
"Here, Malfoy. Take mine." Hermione handed her small, fuzzy bundle to the baffled blond. "You've been wanting to kill something small, fuzzy, and cute all year. Here's your chance," she said scathingly. Bending down to pick another rabbit from the floor, her eyes widened in comprehension of the scene before her.
"Harry! Oh, no!"
Distracted by Granger's cry of distress, Draco unknowingly cradled the bunny safely in his hands.
"Hermione? What's the problem?" Harry asked looking around for unseen dangers.
"Look, Harry! They're shagging like... well, they're shagging like bunnies!"
Sure enough, where there had been single rabbits hopping happily throughout the Great Hall, now there were couples doing the world famous "bunny dance."
"So? It's a little embarrassing but I don't know what you're getting upset about." Harry could be a little slow to catch on.
Hermione puffed out a breath of air and began her recitation of normally useless facts. "A Muggle rabbit can produce a littler of kits every 28 days. By the time the kits are four months old, they will begin shag...uh, reproducing. A single female can have more than twenty-five babies in a season. That's Muggle rabbits. These are magic rabbits. They're barely a day old and already mating. I'd venture that by the end of the week there will be enough rabbits for every student in Hogwarts to have one!"
Harry ran a distracted hand through his messy hair. He started at the unexpected tap on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Goyle with his rabbit still in his arms.
"Potter? Since you seem to have a lot of these things, and they're working hard to make more, could I... can I have this one?" Goyle looked at Harry with hopeful eyes.
Harry took in the impossible scene of Gregory Goyle, Slytherin thug, nestling a rabbit in his arms, lovingly petting its long, silky ears. The bunny practically radiated contentment. Harry shot the boy a blinding smile. "Sure, Goyle. You're welcome to it."
Draco blinked. He'd never seen Potter smile like that at anyone from Slytherin house. He felt a small tendril of jealousy. Turning abruptly on his heel, he started to walk away.
"Malfoy!" Harry's voice stopped him. "Put the rabbit down."
He swung back around and sneered. "No. Granger gave this one to me. I may want to kill it later. I'm not in the mood right now."
Harry let his eyes drift over the handsome face, down the well-toned chest, to rest on the rabbit protectively sheltered in Malfoy's elegant hand. Draco was absent-mindedly stroking the little beast, rubbing under its tiny chin. It was obvious that the bunny would come to no harm in Malfoy's care.
"Oh. Okay." Harry plunked down on the floor, gathering rabbits onto his lap. He turned his head away from the Slytherin, hiding an amused smirk.
Malfoy narrowed his eyes at the Gryffindor, gave an irritated shrug, and strode out of the Hall, bunny safely in hand.
"Um, Harry?"
Harry looked up to see the other part of the hulking duo, Vincent Crabbe, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
"Yes?"
"Could I have one, too?"
"Sure, Crabbe. Take your pick." Harry shook his head in bemusement as he watched the huge boy gently lift a tiny bundle from his lap.
"Harry? Is it just me or did Slytherins actually want to adopt some rabbits?" Ron couldn't keep the incredulity out of his voice. Hermione giggled as she stroked her new pet.
Harry sighed happily. "It's not just you, mate. It actually happened."
Who would have thought that Slytherins would make such good protectors once they'd given their hearts? Draco, the Protector. He'd have to think more about that...
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