Hello once again! Another chapter has been delivered! Not upon request though, because NOBODY HAS COMMENTED! Please! My muse is slowly withering away from lack of comments. It's so sad. Oh, and anything with a * around it is a part of Harry's dream. Disclaimer: I own a book series named Harry Potter, but I do not own the rights to said books. =( I wish I did though.
Chapter 3
Harry was having a difficult time falling asleep. He kept thinking about what the thief would need the various stolen goods for. And then there was the whole issue with having to find another house because Ginny loved the spot light, and the fact that Harry not only faced his Hogwarts nemesis, but returned to the sight of many of his nightmares. So it wasn't very surprising that when he did finally fall asleep, he drempt.
*Harry was walking down an alley, surrounded by swarming lights and shouts, when Ginny's face appeared in the crowd.
"Come on, Harry. It's not that bad. At least then you know people care."
The crowd was getting too close. He began to try harder to get out of the crowd.
"Harry, come meet this nice reporter! He said he would do an interview. With the both of us!" said dream-Ginny.
Then they started grabbing him. They kept grabbing his shirt, his arms, his hands. And then they all vanished, except for one pair of hands on his arm. He turned towards them, and saw their owner. He had no nose.
"I need socks Harry. More socks. Voldemort get a sock?"
Harry couldn't find his wand. But when he looked again, it wasn't Voldemort. It was Draco.
"Thank you."*
Harry woke up, startled. He didn't know which was more disturbing, the crowd of people, Voldemort, or Draco. He cast a spell to look at the time, but was dissapointed to see that it was only 3:45 A.M. It was too early to visit Ginny, so he decided he needed to find something to occupy his time, because he wasn't very tired yet. He went into his cozy kitchen to find something to eat, and found a nice cold slice of pizza, and started munching on it. That was when he heard the tapping on his bedroom window.
He went to his room, pizza slice in hand, and opened the black-out curtains to see what was 'a-tapping, tapping on his chamber door' he thought, chuckling to himself. He saw it was a regal looking owl, with a letter attached to its leg. He cast a quick detection spell, saw the bird was clean, and so let it inside. He gave it a treat in his desk drawer for just such occasions, and the bird floated back off from wherever it came. The letter, he was surprised to see, was from Narcissa Malfoy. It read:
Harry,
I deeply apologize for how late the owl will reach your home, wherever it may actually be, and so I will not expect an answer right away. However, I wanted to write you of this new devolpement before it slipped quietly from my mind. After you asked me about if any socks were missing from the floor, I was curious to see if any socks were missing at all. And I discovered that all of the socks my husband owned were gone. However, all of mine remain and Draco has his at his current residence. I do not know if this will help your case, but I figured I should bring this new developement to your attention.
With much gratitude,
Narcissa Malfoy
Harry was not very surprised that Narcissa had discovered that socks were, in fact, missing. However, he was fairly surprised that they were stolen right out of Lucius' collection. He decided that he would write a letter back to the pleasant Malfoy matriarch.
Narcissa,
Thank you for telling me about the missing socks, I think that will be helpful for the case. As for the time, I am up at odd hours, so if anything else comes up, case-related or not, let me know, and I will be happy to help.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
His new owl, Gwen, seemed to be out hunting, and so he would need to wait until Gwen returned. Harry was beginning to feel tired again, and seeing as it was still early in the morning, he climbed back into bed and slept, dreaming normal dreams.
When he woke up at a more resonable time, he decided it was time to go pay Ginny a visit. So he ate breakfast, changed into his day-clothes, sent his letter to Narcissa, and headed out the door into the glare of flashbulbs. The lights and yelled questions only served to rekindle his anger to the same level as the previous night. And, when he apparated to Ginny's apartment building and walked up to her door, he had another added bonus. Dean Thomas opened the door, missing his shirt.
"Oh, hey, Harry. I'm assuming you want to see Ginny?" Dean asked, scratching his head.
"No, I came here looking for the answer to life. Of course I came here looking for Ginny!" Harry said, getting very irate.
"Harry, it's ok, Dean was just leaving. Right, Dean?" Ginny's voice drifted in from the room beyond the door. "Let him in, I think he wants to talk."
Dean stepped aside, and Harry entered the room. He saw Ginny lounging on her couch with a magazine in her hand, probably scrounging for any mention of herself. She was dressed in a fuzzy pink bathrobe, which made Harry feel angrier. Dean re-entered the room, plus a shirt this time, and gave Ginny a kiss on his way to the fireplace, and vanished into the green flames.
"Ginny, we need to talk."
"We do. I've moved on Harry, you really should too, it doesn't become you to follow me around like a sad puppy dog," Ginny said, staring expectantly at Harry.
"I need to move on? I don't think so. I think you need to. Did you really need to tell the press where my house is?" Harry asked.
"I didn't mean to, it just slipped out. I was doing an interview with Witch Weekly, and they asked me about you, and I didn't know what to say!" she replied.
"So my address sounded like a good idea?"
"I could've done worse," she said, getting angry too. "At least I have found someone else, I have moved on, I suggest you do the same."
"It's been a little over a week and a half! We had dated for over 4 years, and less than two weeks after we break up, you start sleeping with someone else. Dean, of all people. I thought you hated Dean!"
"I do not! He is a very kind person, and a very talented person, he has hit a lucky point in his life, and it couldn't happen to a better person," Ginny said, trying to protect Dean.
"Ah, I get it now. What ever is happening is going to get him into the public eye, and you plan on being right there next to him through the entire thing. How kind of you," Harry replied sarcastically.
"You know what Harry? I think I want you to leave."
"Well I'm glad, because I don't know how much more of you I could take," Harry yelled, face flushed red. He stood up and stormed out the door, never wanting to see Ginny's face again. Ginny slammed the door behind him.
"Potter, I see you did something to push away you personal Weasel," said a drawling voice behind him. Harry spun around, positively furious now.
"Listen, Malfoy," he snarled. "I don't need your crap right now. Ginny succeeded in giving away my personal, private house address to the press, so now my private home is not so private, and she has already started sleeping around for more attention. So i really cannot deal with you right now."
"That is a difficult situation you are in here. Do you have someplace to go to lie low for a little bit?" Draco asked, looking genuinely curious.
"Not that the press already knows about, thanks to Ginny."
"Well, I have some...personal business I have to attend to for the next couple of days, so I will be out of my home. How about you stay at my place while I am away, that way you can stay out of the public eye for a little while. And we won't even have to see eachother. Just consider it a thank you for taking Mother seriously," Draco said.
Harry just stared at him, highly suspicious. Draco raised his hands up in surrender.
"It's just, I understand wanting to lay low, what with my family's role in the war. So it's an option, but you can be your normal three-brain-celled self and try to deal with the press, it's your choice. Just let me know by tomorrow morning, that's when I depart," Draco said, and walked off down the hall.
'That was odd,' thought Harry. He would have to do some serious thinking about this.
Harry left to apparate back home, and was promptly met with more cameras and questions. By the time he made it inside the silence of his home, his mind was made up. Sure, he may regret it later, bur his mind was made up. So he wrote a letter:
Draco,
I have decided to take you up on your offer. Please tell me your address so that I can get there by floo.
Sincerely,
Harry Potter
A little while after he sent his letter, he got a reply:
Harry,
I am glad to see that you have finaly used you brain. My address is 4133 King's Lane, on the outskirts of town. I expect to see you before I depart at 8:30A.M.
Sincerely,
Draco Malfoy
'Wow, even his private home away from home sounds prentious. King's Lane? Really?' Harry thought, a slight smirk on his face. But Harry decided that he should go to the Ministry, seeing as it was only a Tuesday. So he put on his jacket, and prepared himself for the assault he would experience once he stepped out the door.
