A/N: Noooo, I'm losing readers! That's cuz I don't post much, lol. Well, here's chapter 7. This one's gonna be interesting.
Clyde: Yeah, I'm quite ambitious…I just have to actually write all the chapters I say I will, lol.
*Sophie*: Feel sorry for Draco? Eh, not exactly what I was aiming for, but ok :)
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Chapter 7 ~ The Shadows of Death
For the next few weeks, Draco left Harry, Ron, and Hermione alone, and they reciprocated the action…or lack thereof. If it weren't for the constant reminder that Malfoys hated Potters and Potters hated Malfoys by nature, no one would ever have known, just looking at them, that they were more friends than enemies.
Even Hermione seemed to be getting along quite well with Draco. She'd helped him out with an astronomy essay he'd had to write (astronomy wasn't his forte, but Hermione always found the stars perpetually fascinating), and since she had no need for help in school, he'd helped Harry in return with a potions assignment for Snape. All in all, things were going quite well.
"'Lo, Harry," Draco called as he saw Harry walking down the hall.
"Good morning," Harry said. He still was somewhat uncomfortable with what was going on (or what was not going on), but a few weeks' time had made most of his fears and skepticism subside. They passed each other, both going to different classes, with half-smiles on their faces.
That night, in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione confronted Harry about the situation with Draco.
"Harry, I know he seems better, but what if he lied to us? What if he really is a Death Eater and he's just trying to win your confidence?"
"Hermione," Harry said tersely, "even Draco can't lie that well. I know kindness when I see it, especially after living with the Dursleys for so long."
"But Harry," Hermione sighed, "you must admit that this is very different. I wouldn't take it as casually as you are."
"Haven't you ever considered that all he needed was a few friends? I mean, I know how it is to be a loner…" Harry glanced downward, remembering how bad his childhood had been.
"What about Crabbe and Goyle?" Hermione asked, a bit piqued.
"Hermione, I don't think they can even spell friend." This elicited a small laugh from Hermione, but regaining her usual composure, it was followed by a stern glare. "Oh, come on," Harry urged.
"Fine," Hermione said. "For once, I suppose you're right…"
"That's better," Harry said. He reached out to wrap his arms around Hermione, but she beat him to it.
"But I'm right from now on," she said, breathing in his warm scent.
"Oh, fine," Harry sighed. He pulled Hermione closer to his chest.
"Bloody hell," they both heard from the stairway. They broke apart and turned just in time to see Ron, who was just walking down the steps into the common room from the dormitories, rolling his eyes and turning to go back to the dorms. "Not again," he sighed, shaking his head at them as he left.
"Ron," Harry yelled, "I think we need to get you a girlfriend, too!" All they heard was a loud "HAH!" of disbelief from the stairwell as Ron disappeared.
"Who did you have in mind?" Hermione asked him in jest.
"I dunno," Harry said innocently. Hermione could tell he wasn't telling her something, but she really didn't want to know. "It's okay, Ron," Harry called out, "We're not…" Hermione stopped him before he gave any incriminating evidence.
Ron came trudging down the stairs with a wary glance around the corner before he stepped into the common room.
"Would you two at least warn me before you lose your little vir-" He was cut off by a large slap from Hermione. "Fine, then. Just let me walk in on you like that and scar my poor, innocent mind."
Hermione muttered something that sounded remarkably like "bullshit", but neither Harry nor Ron heard her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione talked long into the night. Since the events of the Triwizard Tournament, they hadn't had shared in their usual banter in the evenings. They conversed in mirth until the moon's silver rays shone through the tall windows of the common room before retiring into their four-posters.
Draco, Harry, Ron, and Hermione actually struck up an acceptable camaraderie throughout the next week. No snide comments passed between the two parties, and they even helped each other out in their weaker subjects.
Draco hadn't completely won Harry over. Harry was still wary, despite Draco's half-smiles that he returned as they passed each other. He could see that his feelings were reciprocated; Hermione was the only one who really jumped right into friendship with her former enemy. Even Ron was keeping his distance to some extent, though Draco had helped him come up with some rather gruesome deaths for Trelawney's latest assignment.
One morning, though, Professor McGonagall came into the common room before breakfast to announce a trip to Hogsmeade for the day. Apparently, it wasn't planned, but Snape, Flitwick, Trelawney, Vector, and Sinistra had been called away to the Ministry of Magic on a sudden meeting (from what Harry heard from McGonagall, it was something about a new standard of some sort). They hadn't planned to go, so no substitute teachers were able to be instated in time for their leave. In need of a way to occupy the students, the teachers sent them off to Hogsmeade for the day.
Harry recalled that this would be the first time they'd gone to Hogsmeade using a legitimate form of transportation-no invisibility cloak, no hidden passages, just the Hogwarts carriages. The carriages were painted a lush purple and had, of course, the Hogwarts coat of arms in about half a dozen places.
The three climbed in easily. After reaching the station at Hogsmeade, their first stop was the Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta was happy as ever to see some familiar faces from Hogwarts, and gave them three drinks on the house.
"Hey," Ron said to Harry after a long sip of butterbeer, "isn't that Malfoy over there?" Harry and Hermione followed his gesture, and saw that it was, in fact, Draco, sitting alone in a corner, as Crabbe and Goyle hadn't been able to go on the basis of bad marks.
Hermione, seeing that Harry and Ron had no intention of doing so, got up and invited Malfoy to sit with them. He vacillated for a moment before deciding to join them. Ron good-naturedly pulled up a chair from an empty table beside them and motioned for Draco to sit there.
"Thanks," he said quietly as he sat down.
"Draco," Ron said, "nobody's going to put you under the Cruciatus curse just because you're sitting with us." Until Ron's comment, Draco had been slouching in a way that he looked as though he was afraid someone would spot him with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He smiled uneasily and sat up.
"So how's life been?" Harry asked, trying to start some small talk.
"A real bitch," Draco replied with candor. Harry chuckled.
"I know the feeling."
"Oh, that's right. I've never been that close to a dementor before, but I'm sure it must be worse than having you father beating the life out of you in the dungeons." Harry wasn't sure if Draco was speaking honestly or with sarcasm; his words spoke of the latter, but his tone of voice was honest and calm. His silver eyes remained focused on the table.
"Come on, Draco," Hermione said warmly, resting her hand on Draco's. Her eyes met Harry's with an expression clearly asking for help. "Cheer up."
"I'm sure we could get that witch Kelly from Hufflepuff to lay you down on a bed and beat you," Harry said. "Might be at least a little more pleasant." Draco looked up, quite amused.
"I hope you're not talking about the same Hufflepuff Kelly that I'm thinking of," he said.
"I don't know," Harry said mischievously. "I mean the sexy one with black hair." Hermione shot a warning glance at Harry, which Draco caught while looking up. He burst into laughter.
"Jealous, are you?" he asked her jokingly. Hermione shot him a similar look, and he silenced rather quickly. "At least you have a proper wand. I'd like to know where the bloody hell she got hers-it looks like a lead pipe."
"I'd never have thought," Ron mused in a voice loud enough for Draco to hear, "Draco Malfoy, wanting to get his hands on Kelly's wand…" Even Hermione had to suppress a giggle at Ron's antics.
They continued, laughing all the while, up until the minute came when the last carriage to Hogwarts was ready to depart. The four of them occupied it alone, so they finally said their good-nights in the hallways of the castle.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down to the Great Hall together the next morning. Hermione had herself a small bowl of cereal and Harry helped himself to hotcakes and sausage, while Ron helped himself to hotcakes, cereal, sausage, bacon, Canadian bacon, biscuits and gravy, eggs cooked five different ways, and three cups of coffee with cream and sugar.
As Harry ate, he looked around, taking in the grandeur of the Hall as he waited for the morning post. His gaze fell upon every crevice of the room. When he turned his attention back to the absence of the owls, he realized that he felt something was missing. He brought his eyes around the room once more.
When his eyes fell once more upon the Slytherin table, he noticed what drew his attention-or rather, didn't draw his attention. The loud presence of Draco Malfoy was gone; there were no steel-gray eyes or moonlight-silver locks of hair to adorn the smug face of Slytherin's self-named "prince".
"Where'd Malfoy go?" Harry asked no one in particular. Hearing his comment, Hermione turned to look. Confirming that Draco was, in fact, absent, she was just as curious as Harry, although she decided to present a few hypotheses.
"Probably still in the common room. Maybe he wasn't feeling up to coming this morning."
"Or he might be plotting my death," Harry mumbled. He must have mumbled just loud enough for Hermione and Ron to hear, because Hermione gave him a light smack, and Ron joked about how Harry should be used to people potting his death, what with Trelawney and her bunch.
"You still don't trust him?" Hermione asked rhetorically. She shook her head and went back to eating her cereal.
But Hermione's suspicions that Draco was absent only from breakfast were settled once they got to double potions with the Slytherins. Draco was unmistakably absent, as Snape admitted, obviously stunned by Draco's leave of absence without notification.
Harry, even though he still didn't trust Draco, was a little disappointed that he'd left just as they were getting somewhere; he was beginning to realize that maybe Potters and Malfoys weren't born to hate each other. But where on Earth did Draco get off to?
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Hmm…It was interesting writing a chapter in which Draco wasn't endlessly tormenting everyone. It seemed kinda boring to me…do any of you think so? I tried to combine a bit of a normal school lifestyle into the story while keeping a bit of a suspicious and suspenseful air…hehehe… Please review!