Surprise!

It had been such a normal day…

Ron had been 'forgetting' to do his homework until the last moment, Harry had been doing a little bit of homework but mostly goofing off, and Hermione had her nose in a book so thick that she'd had to levitate it down the stairs. In third year, things had suddenly gotten both a lot easier and a lot harder. They had to make their choices about subject options, but they also let go of a lot of unnecessary classes like History of Magic and Herbology. Well, those were the ones Harry dropped; they were useless in his journey to become an Auror. The added pressure of choosing options had somehow made Ron even less responsible, as though his natural reaction to mature decisions was to become less mature to ward them off.

Well, that was Harry's theory anyway.

It was right at the end of third year, only a week left, and Harry couldn't believe how quickly it had all gone. But, there was a rather extreme problem that had to be looked into. Right. Now.

Draco Malfoy was missing.

Now, normally, none of the Golden Trio would give a damn about the little pointy ferret, but they had a feeling it was a little bit to do with them. Well, as long as he didn't show up within the next seven days, they were fine.

Today was Saturday, and the last Hogsmeade weekend of Third Year.

The three friends were going to visit the Shrieking Shack. They were remembering everything that had happened, and explaining to Ron their trip with the Time Turner. They were having a great time, well, other than the sombre mood when they recalled Peter Pettigrew getting away, but overall they were enjoying themselves.

Just as they were about to turn back, something or someone tapped Harry on the back. They hadn't heard anyone, so they jumped and whirled around, wands clutched in their hands and hexes on their lips. But whatever they were expecting, it wasn't what they got.

Draco Malfoy was back.

He was smiling. It was actually quite terrifying. The Malfoy they knew would never do something as common as that. No, there was something really wrong. Now that they had gotten over the shock of seeing him, they really looked at him… Oh no.

Malfoy was covered in leaves and branches, and absolutely caked in mud. His designer robes were ripped and torn everywhere, and his usually immaculate hair was sticking every way with more leaves, branches and mud to complete the image.

After taking this in, they looked at each other in horror. No. Surely this wasn't their doing; there was no way they had done this to the great Slytherin prince?

Harry cautiously took a step forward. "Malfoy? A-Are you alright?"

Malfoy just hummed and grinned even wider.

Whoa, thought Harry, this could mean danger. Like a lot of danger. Like Snape-being-angry-at-us danger. And so will McGonagall, and Sprout, and Flitwick, and Hagrid, and Lupin. And Dumbledore. Oh no.

It seemed that Ron had a similar idea.

"Well, this has been nice and all," Ron started, not-so-surreptitiously grabbing Hermione's hand, "so I'm sorry we can't hang around any longer. I'm going back to Hogwarts!"

With that, Ron ran off, dragging Hermione with him, even though the whole thing was Hermione's fault, really.

Harry watched them run off, and Ron wasn't dragging Hermione any more, she seemed to agree with the sentiment of getting away as quickly as possible. He wished he could do the same, but his ridiculous hero complex wouldn't let him just leave Malfoy here, when there was obviously something wrong with him. Slowly, Harry turned back to Malfoy. He wasn't smiling anymore, he was grinning in a very predatory way. The slight sheen of unawareness that had been over his eyes was no longer there. Harry briefly wondered if it ever had been.

Malfoy took a few steps forward, until he was right next to Harry, who was frozen in confusion and something that was almost like fear, but more like shock. Malfoy swaggered right up to him, and then past him. Now Harry was even more confused, but he didn't turn. Maybe Malfoy would just walk away, and leave him alone. He hadn't done anything, really!

But then there was breath right next to his ear, and he could almost feel Malfoy's lips moving against his skin. "Good." Malfoy whispered, but he could hear him as clearly as if he was shouting. Harry suddenly realised how very alone he was, up here with Malfoy. There was no one else in sight, and he doubted there would be any time soon. Ron and Hermione had abandoned him, and everyone else was avoiding the shack since the rumours had increased sue to the scuffle last night.

"Now that those two are gone, we can have some fun."

Immediately Harry was struck by confusion and fear. What did Malfoy mean have some fun? Then he felt Malfoy's tongue playing around his ear, and it wasn't disgusting like it sounded. It was a nice feeling, and actually really hot. It was a few minutes later that Harry found himself panting and covered in goose bumps when Malfoy pulled away. He realised then that Malfoy was quite a bit taller than him. 'And quite hot too,' his traitorous mind whispered.

Hushing that part of himself, Harry watched warily as Malfoy circled around him to come face to face with him again. But this time, he was an awful lot closer. Every part of them pressed against the other, chest to chest, hip to hip and arm to arm. And then Malfoy kissed him.

Just after sunset, two boys were entering Hogwarts. It was dinner, and there was nobody around. Nobody, that is, except the Potions master, who was hoping that at least one of these two boys would show up. Ignoring the first one for a second, he turned to the dirtier one.

"Mr Malfoy," he purred, just waiting to be allowed to give the two of them detention, "would you please enlighten me as to your location for the past week?"

"Well sir," Draco, who was no longer Malfoy, said, "Someone punched me in the face and my sense of direction got a little goofed up."

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AN: This was written in response to the 'A Very Potter Challenge' which can be found here: topic/44309/108610792/1/A-Very-Potter-Challenge. I got numbers 9, 25 and 43. All are included in this, and it was great fun trying to include them all in this. I definitely recommend trying it out to anyone. I know that I haven't updated AOS in far too long, but I can't remember what I was trying to do. I will definitely update within the next week or so, but I don't know how long it will be. Like said in the last chapter, I have to get through about three more chapters and then I'll be fine. Also, if anyone could draw any images from my FanFictions, I would be so grateful. The best ones will definitely be put as the covers, and I will put all of them onto my profile. I'm getting kind of desperate, because I asked in like chapter two of AOS, and no one has replied yet. Oh well, I will forever hope that someone will take me up on my challenge. RT xx

PS: I was just about to post this, and I was saving it, when I found a chapter to another FanFiction I started writing but then failed at (I lost my muse). With a little editing, this is going to be the next chapter of AOS. It's a little gory, but not really. If things like that bother you, you might want to skip it. There is mention of gore and a lot of child abuse, but it's not actually shown. Ok, I'm going to post this now! Bye! RT xx

PPS: My first reviewer (Guest) told me that I should probably explain what 9, 25 and 43 are. They are quotes I was given and told to include. They were:

9: This could be trouble

25: I'm going back to Hogwarts!

43: Someone punched me in the face and my sense of direction got a little goofed up!

Thanks to Guest for reviewing, but next time please give yourself a name! If anyone else reads this, please review, and let me know what you think. I promise that AOS will update soon, probably tomorrow since I'm really tirked and I still have Science homework for tomorrow. :( Bye then! RT xx