Chapter 2: Secrets
Draco Malfoy has many secrets. He doesn't like eggplants and he doesn't like tea, but a steaming cup of hot chocolate melts his rumored-to-be-frozen heart like butter. He loves muggle music and he loves photography. That's a big one. He really loves photography. Contrasts in light fascinate him. The way a muggle photo, so perfectly, eternally still, can show movement excites him.
But, Draco's biggest secret is, and always will be, his muse.
"Ron, hurry up, we're going to be late!"
"Relax, Harry, we're fine. Care of Magical Creatures doesn't begin until 9 and it's almost...9:08"
"That's exactly my point"
"But it's Hagrid, he wouldn't care if we were a whole half hour late. In fact, we could still grab something from the kitchens if you want. I could still eat."
"Ron, you've already had your breakfast. You should have been already been prepared to leave for class before going to breakfast, and that was none of us would have to be late for class at all. It was really rather inconsiderate of you, when you think about it. Both Harry and I were all set for class mere seconds after breakfast, and now you've gone and made us both late."
"Well, if you had helped me answer that last question about what flobberworms eat we could have left before."
"I'm not going to help you cheat on your homework, Ronald. I don't believe in such a thing. And you're only hurting yourself, you know. You should have looked up the dietary habits of flobberworms days ago, when you were pretending to die of boredom in the common room."
"She's got you there, mate."
"You're one to talk, you could have helped me out too, instead of making me search through the whole blasted chapter for the one paragraph that talks about what flobberworms eat."
"But, like Hermione said, you need to learn this all on your own Ron. It's all part of the learning process."
"I'll show you the learning process," Ron lunged toward Harry, fully prepared to get a good swing or two at him, while Harry moved so as to put Hermione in between himself and Ron, laughing the whole time.
"Stop it, we're fifteen minutes late to class as it is! We've got to get there before we're any later," Hermione tried desperately to break through the haze of testosterone as Harry and Ron mock sparred around her, but her sensible words were no match for their juvenile fun.
Finally, another five minutes later the rough-housing had stopped and the trio made their way to class, all a little flushed. Harry and Ron both had some new bruises on their arms, but looked truly happy and carefree. Hermione, on the other hand, was flushed out of anger. The boys could be such juvenile idiots sometimes. As Ron and Harry spouted off something to Hagrid, who accepted it with a big grin and a wink, Hermione threw herself down onto a log with a huff in indignation. She sat there musing about there behavior just long enough to miss the nearly-silent 'click', before turning around with a brilliant smile to face Hagrid and answer the question he had only just begun to ask.