Thanks for the reviews guys Here's the next chapter! (I'm on a roll!) Kay umm... I'm not sure how many chapters there are gonna be, but there's going to be quite a few. XD;
The days went on in a monotonous manner after Harry had talked to Draco in the library. He wrote his tests and worried about how he did like everyone else, but at the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel nervous and jumpy whenever he was around the blond haired Slytherin. More then once Ron and Hermione had asked why he was asking so strange and Harry always rushed out some excuse or another.
Harry's strange behaviour wasn't lost on Draco either and everytime he saw Harry fidgeting or biting on his lip he smirked in self-satisfaction. Of course his parents had told him that he should start the "wooing" process as soon as he possibly could but Draco failed to see the need to hurry. He was going to tease and pester the other as long as his mind would allow before caving in and going about the process of winning Harry's heart.
That day, the second last day before the school was over found the trio of Gryffindors in the Great Hall eating and chatting about what they wanted to do during the summer and planning when the three would get together and where. By that time, it was almost second nature for Harry to look at the Slytherin table when he entered the Great Hall and at regular intervals to see if the blond was there or not. Harry kept asking himself why knowing where the blond was was so important to him but he kept telling himself that he felt better when the blond wasn't in the same room as him, that he was afraid that Draco would act well, non-rivalish if they came face to face again.
"Harry? Did you hear what I said?" Hermione asked, prodding the slim Gryffindor in the side, trying to get his attention. Slowly he turned to at the girl, as if it were difficult for him to pry his eyes from the table at the other end of the room. "Uh, no I didn't Hermione. Would you mind repeating it please?" He questioned, blushing sheepishly. Hermione gave him a look that said 'You better listen!' before she repeated herself. "I said, I had owled a few bookshops you know, looking for good books for studying and I actually found a few good ones, you two should borrow them sometime, they're awfully useful-" Harry cut her off with a, "'Mione, you're getting a bit off track here..." Hermione blinked and said, "Oh, sorry! Anyway, when I owled them I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask if they had any books on Tairlai..." Now Hermione had Harry's full attention, "...And one owled back and said that they did! Only it didn't have a whole lot of information and I told them to send it and it was actually pretty informative about the transformations and mates and a few facts about how they live in a human society-" Harry once again cut her off, "I already know about that stuff; well except about mates..." Hermione pinned him with a curious gaze. "Harry, how did you find that stuff out? Surely it wasn't from a book in the library, we're searched it top to bottom at least three times!"
Realizing his slip Harry blushed a little bit and shrugged. "I found a book in the library; I think we missed it because it was in a far corner near the floor." He answered, letting his gaze dropped from Hermione to his food, where he began picking at it. Ron and Hermione sat quietly, looking at Harry with a slightly stunned expression. "What he means to say, Granger, is that he found it out from me." Came a cool voice from behind the three.
Almost in perfect unison the three turned to look at Draco who was standing behind the three with his arms folded over his chest. "What do you want, ferret?" Ron spat, looking at the Slytherin with disgust. Draco flicked his gaze to the red-head briefly before he answered, "I just wanted a word with Potter." Instantly Harry's friends went on the alert as Harry looked at the Slytherin with a slightly nervous gaze, wondering just what the Slytherin had to say. "Well then, talk." Ron said, frowning a little. Draco rolled his eyes as he said, "I wanted a word with Potter alone." Now Harry was really nervous.
Feeling her friends nervousness Hermione said, "Whatever you have to say to Harry you can say in front of us." Draco frowned a little bit more. "Are you two serious? It's not like I'm going to kill him. I simply want to talk to him." He said, his voice showing that he was trying to restrain from doing something that could prove dangerous. For a long while, no one moved or spoke, but finally Harry caved. "All right, I'll talk with you." He said, drawing surprised gasps from Hermione and Ron; even Draco looked a little shocked. "I'll be fine." He said to his friends as he got up and motioned for Draco to lead the way.
As the two left the Great Hall, everyone fell silent with astonishment. It was known throughout Hogwarts that the two were rivals, and seeing the two walking away together was just plain weird. They walked for a few more minutes until the reached a corridor that wasn't used all that often. Harry stopped where he was and folded his arms, trying to stop his heart from racing. "All right, Malfoy, what do you really want?" He questioned, keeping his voice reasonably void of emotion. The Slytherin turned to look at the Gryffindor and smirked. "I wanted to give you something, actually." He answered, and it was Harry's turn to be shocked, but it soon turned into suspension. "What? How do I know I can trust you?" Harry questioned, taking a step back.
Draco laugh a little bit. "Do you really think that I'd try something here? In hogwarts? Please. I was just thinking that seeing how you were so interested in Tairlai I'd lend you a helping hand." He commented, moving to pull a book out of his bag before handing it to Harry. "You'll find more information in here then in any bookstore." He added, watching and waiting for Harry to take it. When the raven-hair teen did not take it Draco let out a sigh and held it out farther. "Take it; it's not going to bite you!" He said, and something in the tone of his voice, or perhaps it was something inside Harry that made him timidly reach out and take it. Draco grinned in an approving way before he said, "There; now you'll have something to do during the summer aside from schoolwork." Harry looked up from the book to Draco and watched as the blond started to leave. Once he was about to turn a corner he turned back and said with a smirk, "Have a good summer Harry, and enjoy your birthday.." With that he left Harry to stand there, puzzled as to why his rival would say something like that and let realization dawn on him that that was the second time that Draco had called him by his first name.
Confused and studying the book carefully, Harry started back to the Great Hall, wondering if the book was a threat or harmless.
- - -
"Harry! You can't be serious! You're actually going to keep it?!?" Hermione shrieked out when Harry finally told his friends about the book. Harry looked slightly surprised at her outburst and turned to Ron for some back-up, but apparently he was on Hermione's side. "Sorry mate, but I'm with her; it could have some heavy magic attached to it." He said, smiling a little apologetically as Harry glared at the two of them. "Fine, if you two are so worried about it, here!" He rushed out, handing the book to Hermione. "Do whatever dark magic detecting spells that you can! If it has some, then you told me so!" He added, folding his arms. Sometimes his friends were just too damn over-protective; he wasn't a kid anymore afterall.
Hermione gave a small sigh of defeat. "All right Harry, I'll do that. If it's fine, I'll give it back as soon as I can. But if it isn't; I'm sorry Harry but I'm going to have to give it to someone to have it stripped or worse; destroyed." She said, looked at the raven-haired teen with a serious look. Harry looked at her for a moment before nodded his head. "All right..." He said. Ron, now glad that all that was over stood up with a grin and said, "Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm hungry, and we have to leave soon or we'll miss the train." And with that, Ron left the common room. After a moment the two got up and went to join Ron for breakfast.
"That was quite the end of year feast, wasn't it?" Ron asked to no one in particular once the three of them were in a compartment on the train for the long ride home. It had been silent for the past half hour, save for Hermione's voice saying spell after spell to detect dark magic and Harry and Ron tell their chess pieces where to move. It was shaping up to be a rather dull train ride. "Mm, yeah sure Ron.." Hermione mumbled absently, turning a few pages in a large book to try out another spell.
Ron, deciding that Hermione was too busy with trying to prove to Harry that there's dark magic in the book he got from Draco, turned his attention to Harry. "What about you, Harry? What did you think of the feast?" He questioned, trying to grab Harry's attention from the chess game. Harry looked up briefly before answered, "It was the same as every year, Ron." Ron gave a small huff, realizing that both of his best mates were too wrapped up in their own thoughts. "Well fine then, I guess we could pass the time in silence.." He mumbled, turning his attention to the chess game.
- - -
As they were nearing Platform 9 3/4 Hermione had finally given up and handed the book back to Harry. "I... Couldn't find anything." She said, looking a tad embarassed. Harry wanted to tell her that he told them so, but held his tongue. Instead he said, "Thanks 'Mione; I appreciate you being so concerned about me." Hermione brightened a little at his words and gave him a brief hug. For the next half hour the three chatted happily about everything and nothing until the train came to a lurching stop and they all got off.
"See you Harry! Bye Ron!" Hermione called as she immediately started to leave to find her parents. The two boys waved goodbye as they headed towards the waiting weasley's. Harry wished so very much that he was going home with them but he couldn't, not yet, anyway. He planned to spend two weeks at his aunt and uncles before spending the rest of July at Grimmauld Place, where he'd celebrate his birthday. And then the rest of the summer would be spent with the Weasley's. Harry smiled happily at the thought of returning to The Burrow.
After they had all chatted and Harry and Ron were fussed over Harry left the red-headed family to go and find his aunt and uncle. He didn't have to look for very long and soon enough he was crammed into his uncles car and heading back to Number Four Privet Drive for the next two weeks. As the car made it's way back, Harry couldn't help but hope that the two weeks would go by quickly and of course by now Draco's last words to him has crept up and he couldn't help but wonder why the Slytherin would hope he had a good summer and enjoyed his birthday. Frowning, he turned his attention to looking outside the car window and trying to forget the words.
Well, I hope that this chapter is a wee bit longer then usual. ; I was going to cut it off just after their meeting but decided (and was told) that I could drag it on a little more. Hopefully from now on the Chapters will be longer, and the updates more closer together!