Hello! Alright, so I didn't get very many reviews for the last chapter, which I'm hoping won't be the case for this chapter. I like this chapter a lot and I hope you guys will, too! And please, review! You have no idea how happy reviews make me!

Also, Note: My summary, to be blunt, sucks. I tried to fix it, but it still sucks. So if anyone could give me tips on how to make the summary more interesting in a short way (due to the fact that ff. net doesn't allow many characters into summaries), PLEASE let me know! Thanks!

North Star of the World

Chapter 3

"No," Draco whispered to himself, and then quickly gasped. He twisted his head about warily, hoping no one had heard his quiet outburst. The now nervous blond had been walking a repeated three-foot distance for the past five minutes. First, he'd walked closer to Peter's Pub, then, he'd lost his nerve and turned back only to have regained it mere seconds later and, once again, begun the attempt to embark on his journey.

He'd continually scolded himself silently, telling himself that Harry was most probably not having a drink just now and, more importantly, that he shouldn't even be worried about this. Instead, he should be walking home, helping his mother prepare for his uncle Camden's arrival, today.

Finally, he'd scolded himself aloud, which is why he was now standing completely still, his eyes looking around for any eavesdroppers.

However, though there were several people milling about the town, no one seemed to pay Draco any particular interest.

Sucking in a deep breath, he turned his head back to the old, wooden pub and decided to go in for a quick stop. If Harry wasn't there, it didn't matter. He'd brought money this time; if Harry wasn't there, he would buy himself a drink.

As he entered the pub, he was surprised by the amount of festivity in the air. A usually quiet, darkly morose pub, it was now filled to the brim with laughter and wobbly arms swinging, sloshing drinks from one side of the room to the complete opposite.

"Oi, Draco! How's yer mum?" asked a grey-haired man with three missing teeth, patting Draco roughly on the shoulder.

"Just fine, Mr. Rikard," Draco replied with a shaky laugh, trying to slip away. There was a particularly large crowd toward the left side of the pub – all of who seemed to be female. Excusing himself with an, "I've got to use the loo," he walked forward and tried to see over the many giggling heads. Seeing that there were too many, some sitting on high-leveled chairs, he decided to throw away his manners and squeeze through to the circle's center.

It was, in fact, a semi-circle, with a very loquacious brunette merchant spewing out the branches of boisterous energy.

"Oooh, and what happened next?" cooed a red-headed lady, fluttering her eyes seductively.

"Then!" Harry shouted, raising his arm dramatically so that his beer jumped onto the girl's bosom. Laughing a bit; slightly drunk, he bowed his head down and licked the soaked fabric, much to the girl's embarrassed delight.

"Oh, my! You mustn't do that!" She said, though she made no move to stop him. Draco watched on in utter astonishment as the brunette kissed his way up her fabric and began slowly kissing her neck. His tongue slipped out and began a rhythmic massage against her neck.

All the other's watched in complete silence until, just as the red-head's lids had begun to flutter, Harry pulled away with a lop-sided grin and continued his story. "And then! Then, the king told me to come again! He told me I was the best he'd ever bloody seen!"

After merely a second of shock, the young women began to laugh along with him, giddy once again, though the red-head had now casually sat upon his left leg.

"Oi! It's you!"

Draco's eyes went wide.

"What's your name, again?" Harry asked with a grin.

Straightening out and putting on a cool face, he replied, "Draco."

"Oh, right. Draco! You owe me a drink!"

"He does?" asked a blond girl, brushing her fingers down the brunette's arm.

"You're bloody right, he does! I saved his goddamned life!"

"You most certainly did not!"

"Trust me, ladies. If it hadn't o' been fer me, this 'ere daisy wouldn't be standing here, today."

"Oooh," the women purred in admiration.

"I am not a daisy!"

Laughing heartily, Harry stood from his chair. "Alright, alright. Excuse me, ladies, will you?" He jerked his head to his left, signaling for Draco to follow him. Slipping through the flutter of "aww's" coming from the women, the two walked away to a more secluded section of the bar, leaving the others to gossip animatedly about the pub's newest guest.

"So," Harry said, slumping into a red chair, "How's it going?"

"I-" the blond stuttered, completely confused by this new person. "You… you're so different."

"Wuddya mean?"

"I mean, I mean did you see yourself back there?"

"Yeah, so?" His eyes were gleaming as he grinned.

"You must be completely drunk!"

The brunette bit his lip and grinned wider.

Shaking his head, Draco heaved out a sigh while rolling his eyes.

"Oh, come on! Loosen up! We're in a bar filled with ladies for the taking and you're worrying about me being a little drunk?"

"Well you're acting like a complete idiot! I thought you wanted to be smart or something!"

"Oh, please! That was before."

"Oh, so now you don't mind 'looking like no fool'?" Draco asked, mimicking Harry's words.

The boy's grin faltered slightly, and he smacked his hands to his face, rubbing tiredly. "Ok," he moaned out, his word muffled behind his hands.

"Ok, what?" The blond was clearly confused.

"Ok, I'm not drunk anymore."

"You can't just decide not to be drunk anymore!"

"Sure, I can. I was never even drunk to begin with. I just like acting like it. Obviously, though, you don't."

"Wait. Are you trying to tell me that that whole act was just a charade?" Draco asked, stunned.

"Well of course it was. I don't have enough money to buy myself that many drinks. And, as it turns out, I've just run flat out of coins, so it looks like your time to pay your debt has finally come. I'll have a beer," he said, the last sentence directed to Peter, standing behind the counter.

"You are entirely too strange," Draco said, once again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Draco, I do believe that's the kindest thing anyone's ever said to me." The grin was back in place.

After ordering a beer for himself as well, the blond asked, "So eh… how long are you going to stay in town, anyway?"

With a shrug, Harry replied, "I dunno. I wen' over to see the king yesterday, fer entertainment purposes, I mean. He seemed to like my act enough. He's asked that I stay fer a while. Apparently, this is the first time he's ever seen anything like me!" The last word was hitched with a chuckle.

"Really? I've heard he's impossible to please. What was your act?"

The brunette paused for a moment, looking into his beer. Then, turning to Draco, he said, in an indecipherable voice, "I could show you."

"What?"

Harry only grinned, knowing the other boy had heard him.

Not knowing how to reply, Draco kept himself busy by gulping down the rest of his beer. There was something about the offer that made Draco nervous. "Well, er… so it's great that the king liked your act so much."

"Yeah," Harry replied, deciding to play along and ignore his last comment. "He wants to see us again, soon."

"Us?"

"Me and my boss."

"Oh, is he a part of your act?"

Nodding his head, he said, "Yessirree, He's the one who taught me the act – back when I was three or so."

"Three? Your parents let you start working as a merchant at three?"

"Well, no. My parents are dead, actually." He continued quickly, cutting off Draco's attempt to apologize. "They died when I was real young. 'cant even remember them, so it's really no big deal. But anyway, as I've been told – since I can't remember that far back - , I was an orphan and I think the head of state was going to have me killed or some'it because there weren't any orphanages where I lived. But my boss offered to buy me as a slave, though he doe'n't treat me like one."

"So he's your master?"

"Technically speaking, yes, but that don't matter. He's jus' my boss."

"Wow, but so, how will that work when you're older? I mean, what if you decide you want to get married or something and go on your own? Are you stuck working for him forever?"

"I don't need to get married! 'you see my act back there? I do that in all the towns. Each town, I bring life to the local pubs and I get whatever girl I want. I have my way with her, we leave town, and everything stays peachy."

"You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am."

"Well, don't you ever want to have kids? To pass on your name?"

"What for? My name doe'n't have any importance to it."

"Well… but, I mean… How…?"

"Whuss the big deal?"

"I don't know. It's just, from the moment I was born, I was meant to marry someone and start a family. Everyone does it. It just seems a bit absurd to me to think about doing anything else with your life."

"Well, then. It's a good thing you met me, I'n't it?" His grin was wider than ever.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to show you how to really live."

"I don't think that'll be necessary, actually." The blond's smile was nervous and unsure.

"Oh, come on! Admit it! You find my way of living far more interesting than the life you've been hammered to! You think my life's rather intriguing."

"I take it that's just another word for interesting?"

"Don't try to change the subject! Draco, I'm going to find you a nice lady, today."

"No, don't!"

"Wuddyou think about tha' one?" he asked, his eyes aimed on slim brunette.

"No."

"Why not? She's pretty."

"Because I already have a girl."

"You do?"

"Well, not yet, but we're going to be married one day."

"Right. The whole planned since birth thing. But you're not committed yet, are you?"

"Well, no, but – "

"Then come on!"

"You say 'come on' a lot. Did you know that?"

"I don't. That's just my special phrase of the day." He said, his lopsided grin perfectly in place.

Draco shook his head. The boy never seemed to run out of random things.

"You shake your head a lot. Did you know that?"

Ignoring the glare thrown his way, Harry stood.

"Where are you going?"

"To find you a nice lady to take to bed."

"What?"

"Stop questioning me so much. You'll be thankful when you're through."

"You are completely insane!"

Draco grabbed the brunette by the sleeve as he began to walk forward. "Don't!"

"Draco!"

"What!"

"Do you want to shrivel up like an un-sheltered plumb?"

"Wha-…er…no….?"

"Alright, then! You're going to have a lady, tonight!"

"Listen! I will take a lady to bed during your visit to town, but not tonight."

"Why not?"

"Because my uncle's coming over to visit soon."

"So? He can wait. Trust me Draco, it really doesn't take that long. You're in; you're out, and bam! You just had the best night of your life!"

The blond made no effort to argue the hideous idea. "Fine, but not tonight. I have to help my parents prepare."

The shorter of the two didn't look convinced, but didn't try to further persuade Draco.

"But um… before I leave, I wanted to thank you again. For the ring."

The brunette grinned with a nod. "My pleasure."

"Well, bye." Draco stretched out his arm.

"Good bye, oh fair-headed one," Harry returned dramatically, making a bow before shaking the other boy's hand.

All Draco could do was shake his head in wonder, but this time, he was laughing.

AN: Yay! Ok, so there it is! The whole thing was loaded with dialogue so I don't think there were any boring parts to it. 8P Anyway, I really like this chapter, so I hope you guys do, too. Sorry for the change in Harry's character all the time, but I'm trying to show the way he changes around different people at different times. Even with Draco he changes because now he feels a little closer to him. And in front of the girls in the bar, he was just trying to be impressive – after all, he was probably planning to "do" one of them.

Which brings me to this note. This is definitely going to be slash. I'm just sort of introducing it. Both characters feel a slight attraction, but they're not going to do anything about it just yet, so they're still going about their regular lives. But trust me, Harry and Draco will be together in this story. Just not yet. 8P

Also, again, PLEASE review! I was really disappointed in the lack of reviews for the last chapter. I felt so … sad! So please, please, please! If you read the chapter, you've got to review! Thank you lots!

xoxo Spideria xoxo