Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling, etc, etc. Anyone who thinks I do own Harry Potter is an idiot.

A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it as well. Thanks for reading.

'What are you reading?'

Harry glanced up. Malfoy stood at his elbow, holding a book of his own. The back of the library was empty save the two of them. Harry showed him the book's cover.

'Seriously?' Malfoy smirked. 'Hogwarts: A History?'

Harry flipped back to his page and ignored the other boy's laughter. He more heard than saw Malfoy sit across from him.

'Don't tell anyone, but I read it as well,' Malfoy said, once his chuckles subsided. 'It's full of crap, don't you think?'

Harry shrugged and kept reading.

Malfoy rolled his eyes to himself.

'Do you ever do anything fun?'

Harry idly pointed at the book, still not taking his eyes from the page.

Malfoy laughed again. 'You call that fun? You need to hang out with me. I'll show you fun.'

Harry kept reading.

'Do you plan on ever actually saying anything, or is this going to be a completely one sided conversation?' Malfoy didn't try to hide his annoyance.

Harry raised his head from the page and looked at Malfoy. He pointed to a sign on the wall. Malfoy looked. It read simply: no talking. Malfoy looked back at Harry and raised an eyebrow. Harry smiled humorously.

Malfoy shook his head. 'Aren't you the comedian.'

'Not really,' Harry finally spoke.

Malfoy raised his hands. 'Praise Merlin, he can speak.'

'What do you want Malfoy?'

'I'm not allowed to talk to a friend?'

'Since when have we ever been friends?'

'You shook my hand, didn't you?'

'Over four months ago,' Harry pointed out. 'We haven't spoken since.'

Malfoy paused for a moment, and then shrugged. 'Okay. We're talking now though, right?'

'And here I am, still wondering why.'

'Anyone ever tell you you're not very friendly?'

'Zabini. On a daily basis.'

Malfoy smirked. 'I bet he does. Look… things have been hectic. It's our first year. Sorry if I had to devote my time to getting used to how things work here. Now that we've all settled in…'

'You want to talk.' Harry finished for him.

'Fresh start?' Malfoy offered his hand over the table.

Harry eyed the hand up, and then reached out and shook it. He didn't much care for Malfoy, but the boy was a respected Slytherin (despite being a first year) and he didn't want to openly offend anyone. His situation was tricky enough as it was without making enemies. Plus, from what Zabini had insinuated, Draco Malfoy's father was a suspected Death Eater. Not that anyone could prove such an accusation, of course, but even the brief glimpse he'd had of him in Madam Malkin's, and Harry had no trouble believing it. The elder Malfoy oozed malevolence.

And so it wouldn't hurt to befriend the boy. He might even learn something interesting.

'You're right about the book,' Harry said, closing it with a thud of pages.

Malfoy nodded knowingly. 'Load of crap, right?'

'Not even one interesting thing in here.' Harry pushed it away, down the table. He thought for a moment, an idea presenting itself. It would take a subtle hand, but perhaps he could turn his "friendship" with Draco Malfoy into something profitable. His quick mind seized upon the opportunity. 'Not one interesting book in the entire library, actually. Well, none they'll let me read anyway.'

'Oh?'

'Let's just say I'm not overwhelmed by our current studies.'

'And you want more advanced books? To teach yourself.'

Harry nodded, appearing dissatisfied, but secretly pleased with the way the conversation was progressing.

'Maybe I can help there,' Malfoy said, smirking.

Bingo!

Harry met his eyes. 'You're offering to help me?'

'One condition,' Malfoy said.

'Can you help?' Harry didn't want to seem too eager.

'Trust me.'

'The condition?'

'You let me study with you. I wouldn't mind a little advantage myself.'

Harry smiled. 'Deal.'

'I'll owl my father. He'll get us all the books we could ever need.'

'He'd do that?' Of course he would. Harry had been counting on it.

Malfoy laughed. 'Oh yeah. Anything to give me an advantage over the rest of the school. You just let me know what books you want.'

Harry nodded absently. He was already thinking.

'In the meantime,' Malfoy said, 'why don't we get out of here. I'll show you real fun.'

'Real fun?' Torturing some poor student perhaps…?

'Ever play wizard chess?'

Okay, not what I was expecting. 'Can't say I have. Any different than the Muggle version?'

'I wouldn't know.'

Harry thought for a moment. He did have a lot he wanted to do, but then… most of it wasn't really going to help him. Especially not if he could soon get his hands on the books he really wanted to read.

And he might as well keep Malfoy happy. He didn't want to alienate the boy. Draco Malfoy might turn out to be an invaluable tool. Who could say?

'Alright, you're on. Lead the way.'

Malfoy grinned (it was slightly lopsided and looked more like a smirk than a smile). 'You are so going down Potter. I don't care what they call you now. After this, you're going to be known as the Boy-Who-Draco-Malfoy-Killed-In-Wizard-Chess.'

'We'll see.'

Two hours later and Malfoy called it quits.

'Alright, fine,' he said, tipping his king over sulkily. 'You win, Potter.'

Zabini laughed over Malfoy's shoulder. 'Got your butt kicked huh Draco? When will you ever learn you suck at wizard chess?'

'I can beat you Zabini,' Malfoy argued.

'Ha! You couldn't beat a blind, armless Squib.'

'Then what does that make you?'

Suddenly the two Slytherins leapt at each other. They rolled on the ground, punching and kicking, and actually laughing about it. It was the most bizarre thing Harry had ever seen. He felt like he'd stepped into a whole other world, one in which the rules didn't apply, and maybe he had. The rest of the Slytherins gathered around to watch and laugh, encouraging their favourites, and not one of them tried to break up the fight.

Harry wondered if this was normal behaviour. It didn't seem like it could be, but then, what did he know of friendship?

'Kick his ass Malfoy!' One of the other Slytherins cheered.

Harry looked around the common room. A few girls had joined the crowd around Malfoy and Zabini, but most of them remained as they were, lounging in the armchairs, or sitting at table studying. He caught one of the girls looking in his direction. She immediately turned her head away. He wondered if she'd been looking at him, and if so, why?

The fight was over. Malfoy reclaimed his seat while Zabini sat on the arm of Harry's chair. They both looked a little bedraggled (Malfoy was attempting to fix his hair), but they didn't seem at all angry at each other.

'You always mess my hair up,' Malfoy complained indolently.

'You're such a girl Malfoy.'

'Forgive me for caring about my appearance. At least I don't look like someone crapped me out.'

'Oooh,' a new voiced interrupted. 'You're not going to take that lying down, are you Zabini?'

'I forgive him,' Zabini replied. 'I know he's just jealous he can't look as good as me.'

The new boy raised his eyebrows at Harry.

'Oh,' Malfoy said, noticing. 'Nott, you know Potter. Potter, this is Theodore Nott.' Harry knew him. He was one of the Slyhterins he shared a dorm room with.

Nott looked questioningly at Malfoy.

'Relax idiot,' Malfoy said, 'Potter's cool.'

'He doesn't say much though,' Zabini added. 'You have to learn to read his facial features and body language if you want to have a conversation.' He laughed at his own joke.

'Maybe he just doesn't want to talk to a reject like you,' Malfoy theorised.

'You want to go another round?' Zabini threatened jokingly.

'Please,' Nott interrupted, 'I think we've all had enough of your homo-erotic tussles.'

As easy as that, another fight broke out, only this time Malfoy and Zabini teamed up to take down Nott. Harry shook his head, even though he had to admit, it was kind of fun.

A few days later, and the first batch of books arrived.

Harry and Malfoy took them to the back of the library, away from prying eyes. They sat in the same seats as before. Malfoy unwrapped the package and tossed the topmost book over to Harry.

'Dig in Potter.'

'Finally,' Harry said, turning to the first page and immediately engrossing himself in the text. This book was all about duelling. The first chapter was mostly an introduction on the history of wizard duels. The second chapter covered the rules. Then things got interesting. Harry wanted to try out the spells mentioned in the book as soon as possible.

'I don't think I've ever seen you smile before,' Malfoy observed. 'That book must be good.'

'It's promising,' Harry replied. 'I need to find someplace to try out these spells.'

'Let me see.' Harry passed him the book. He watched as the other Slytherin read. Malfoy's near permanent smirk grew. He looked across the table at Harry. 'We so have to try these out.'

'Okay,' Harry said, 'but where?'

'There's a bunch of unused classrooms we can use.' Malfoy packed up the books. 'Come on. No time like the present.'

Harry followed him.

Malfoy choose an out of the way classroom down in the dungeons. Harry was reassured to find it in much disarray, and covered with a thick layer of dust. No one had been here in years.

'No one comes down here,' Malfoy said, clearing desks and chairs out of the way to make room. Harry helped and they soon had a large enough space to practice. Harry opened the book on one of the still standing tables. He found the page he was looking for. Malfoy read over his shoulder. 'You want to go first?'

Harry nodded. He stepped into the clearing and gripped his wand. This was it. Time to do some real magic. No parlour tricks this time. He aimed his wand at one of the toppled desks.

'Which one you going to try?'

'Stunner,' Harry replied.

Malfoy smirked.

Harry took a breath through his nose.

'What are you waiting for?' Malfoy asked impatiently.

Harry ignored him. 'Stupefy!' Nothing happened. He frowned. 'Stupefy!'

'What's wrong?'

'I don't know,' Harry said, returning to the book. He read the instructions again.

'You doing it right?'

'Obviously not,' Harry muttered, angry with himself.

'What's the book say?'

'It says I'm doing it right,' Harry said, a deep frown on his face.

'I'm going to try,' Malfoy said. He took position and attempted the spell. Like Harry, nothing happened. 'We must be missing something.'

Harry simply stared at his wand. Malfoy tried unsuccessfully a few more times. Harry started looking at the other books.

'What are you doing?'

'Seeing if these are more helpful.'

Two hour later, they still hadn't managed to perform the spell.

'That was disappointing,' Malfoy groused. They sat, the books Malfoy's father sent scattered about the desks around them. Harry drummed his wand against his palm in anxiety. He couldn't even perform a simple stunning spell. How was he supposed to get his revenge this way?

'You okay?' Malfoy asked.

'Fine.'

'I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually,' Malfoy offered.

Harry had nothing to say to that. A sour mood had settled over him.

Malfoy laid his head back against his seat. 'So, you live with Muggles?'

'What's that got to do with this?'

'Nothing,' Malfoy said. 'Just trying to make conversation. You like it?'

'Don't you remember? You asked me on the train,' Harry reminded him.

'Oh, yeah.' Malfoy chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully. 'You don't like them then?'

'Why the sudden interest?'

'I told you…'

'Making conversation, right.' Harry sighed. 'I don't want to talk about my relatives.'

'Why?'

'I just don't. Drop it.'

'Okay, okay.' Malfoy held his hands up calmingly. 'You're so damn touchy.'

There was silence for a minute or two. Harry was dwelling on his failure to perform the sunning spell. Malfoy was pondering his failure to get information from Harry and fearing the repercussions if he inevitably couldn't.

'I guess…' Malfoy thought twice about his words.

Harry looked over at him. Malfoy looked troubled. 'What?' Harry asked.

'…you don't remember? What happened… that night…?'

Harry narrowed his eyes. 'No.' His blunt word dared Malfoy to press the subject.

Malfoy steeled himself. 'Did he really try to kill you?'

Harry stood up. Malfoy glanced at the wand in Harry's hand. 'How would I know?' Harry growled. 'I was just a baby.'

Malfoy opened his mouth to ask another question.

'Don't!' Harry took a breath. 'Don't ask me anything like that again.'

'But…'

'Malfoy,' Harry warned.

Malfoy nodded. He pretended not to see the tears gathering in Harry's eyes. 'I guess we should get back.'

Harry turned away. 'Yeah.'

They didn't speak for the rest of the night. Harry tried not to think about his parents. Malfoy pondered the mystery of Harry Potter.