Disclaimer: Anything recognisable belongs to J.K. Rowling.

I'm really really sorry this chapter took so long to get out (Don't hate me!), but life's been hectic. To make up for the wait, I made it a bit longer than I originally planned (it's actually the longest one so far), hope ya's all like it. : )

Just so you remember, the last thing that happened in the last chapter was Gryffindor winning the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw.

.oOo.21.oOo.

Easter

Harry avoided the common room, not really feeling up to going to the party to celebrate their victory over Ravenclaw. Instead, he took his broom down to the chamber and went out into the little courtyard. Getting on, he jumped off the edge of the courtyard in to the canyon, letting himself and the broom go in freefall.

About thirty metres above the water he pulled up, and sped off up the roaring river, spray from the white water misting over him. Even now that the weather was warming up, the water was still quite cool, and he thought the water could be melt water from the snow in the mountains.

When he was out of sight of the castle, he came to a halt and sat on his broom for a while, clearing his mind and forgetting everything.

oOo

The next day, Harry decided to go down to the chamber and finish his assignments. As next week was the last week before the Easter break, there were a number of assignments due, and the school's library was full of students researching and writing, trying desperately to complete their work. He was surprised to find Malfoy pacing back and forth in front of Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

The Slytherin saw him when he turned to pace back the other way. "About time, Potter! I've been waiting for ages!" he complained, dragging out the last word.

"Oh, I'm sorry Malfoy," he retorted sarcastically but good-naturedly. "I didn't realise we had agreed to meet."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "We didn't, idiot. But I want to go down there. There's an excellent book by Bruce the Barbarian that I want to use for my defence essay."

"And you thought you'd just wait here in case I happened to come by this way?" asked Harry, walking into the bathroom.

Malfoy picked up his bag from the corridor floor and came in after him, while he opened the sink.



"I guessed you would be coming down here today, given that the library is full. I certainly don't make it a habit to wait in lonely corridors for pesky Gryffindors if I don't think that any are going to happen by."

"Right, well. After you." Harry bowed graciously, and Malfoy rolled his eyes before stepping in to the gaping black hole. Lighting his wand, Harry followed and heard the stone slide back into place behind them.

They spent the morning doing their respective assignments, making use of the myriad of books that the Chamber Library held. After a brief exit from the chamber when Harry left to get them both some lunch, he managed to finally finish most of his work, and decided to do the rest the following week.

He walked around the room a few times, working the kinks out of his neck and waiting for Malfoy to finish up whatever he was doing. When he had, Harry made a suggestion. "Want to practice some Occlumency? It's been about a week and I want to keep on top of it."

Malfoy yawned, stretching. "Alright, come and sit down then. Severus says I'm improving according to his expectations, and since his expectations are usually higher than most, I'm guessing that's a good thing."

Harry took a seat in their usual practice spot; the lounge. They sat cross-legged, facing each other and both took a moment to clear their minds. After a few minutes, Malfoy took his wand and pointed it at Harry, muttering the incantation.

At once, Harry felt Malfoy's presence in his mind, falling rapidly through the impenetrable darkness. He had banished Malfoy from his mind once, out of will power, but had not yet succeeded in doing so with Snape. That was why practising with Malfoy was good; as Malfoy improved, so did he, and they both continued to pose a challenge without either being much better than the other.

After a while of Harry trying fruitlessly to expel Malfoy, and Malfoy struggling but not getting any closer to Harry's memories, Harry decided to try the way he had last practiced with Snape. The way they were going, he was only feeling more and more mentally drained.

Keeping the space around them dark, he imagined he was facing Malfoy. Malfoy immediately took off into the dark, but Harry shot a curse at him and he was forced to turn and duel instead. Malfoy already knew Occlumency, so his was mentally stronger than Harry, but not by much. This made duelling Malfoy much easier than duelling Snape in his mind. It was quite similar to duelling in real life.

After a while, Malfoy gained the upper hand and shot a binding curse at Harry. His wand fell to the ground as Malfoy ran off in to the darkness, which really wasn't so dark anymore. Realizing that he was losing control, he struggled to get out of the bindings, but they were too tight and didn't budge at all. Growling in frustration, he stopped struggling and forced himself to think. This was his mind. He should be able to control it. At the moment, he wanted to be out of these ropes. Focussing on the ropes falling away, he found (to his great surprise) that they did so after a second. Whooping with his small victory, he focussed on resurrecting his barriers again, and the darkness once again fell upon his mind.



Over the afternoon, Malfoy got to his memories a few times and Harry managed to throw the Slytherin from his mind an equal number of times. All in all he was happy, knowing that he was definitely getting better.

In the last hour that they had before dinner, they sat quietly in their own spaces and worked on their animagus transformations, but neither of them had any luck. Harry thought it had been silly to even try, since after the Occlumency he had another headache, and he suspected that Malfoy probably did as well.

oOo

Harry stretched and yawned, waking to dim morning light shining through the dormitory window. He'd had a good sleep last night and was feeling very refreshed. This was the last week before the Easter holidays, and he was looking forward to the break from classes. Like at Christmas, most of the students were going home, a fact which Harry was equally glad about. It meant he would be able to disappear to the Chamber for as long as he wanted, and there would be no one to notice him missing.

Once dressed, he held out his arm for Salazar, who had slithered on to his pillow while he had been packing his books and quills into his bag. Once Salz was curled around his arm beneath his robes, he quietly left the dorm and went down to the common room.

As he was feeling particularly jovial, he decided to wait for Pandora to go down to breakfast. He was actually starting to enjoy her company, despite of persistent state of cheer and tendency to want to be together all the time. Although, he mused, that could just be because she was the only person who was really talking to him.

He didn't have long to wait before Pandora emerged from the 6th year girls' dormitory, pulling her school robes on over a cardigan and pants. "Heya Harry!"

"Hey Pandora. Ready to go to breakfast?"

"Uh huh, just let me grab my bag." She cast her eyes around the common room as she came down the stairs, looking for her bag.

Not paying attention to where she was going, she missed a step and tumbled down the last few.

Harry leapt up from where he was leaning on the arm of a lounge. "Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

Pandora giggled, embarrassed, as Harry helped her up. "Sorry, Harry. I really am so clumsy sometimes."

He could definitely agree with that. She certainly wasn't the most elegant of people.

Once Pandora had recovered her bag and work things (which were scattered in a three metre wide circle around the table she had been working at the night before), they left the common room and made their way to the Great Hall.

It was already quite full and they took seats about half-way down the table.



"Have you finished that Defence Essay yet?" asked Harry. Snape had assigned them a three foot essay on defensive tactics that they had been using in their practicals.

"Almost, you?"

"Nah. I've still got a fair bit to go, actually. We still have a week left to finish it, though."

Speaking of Snape, the Potions Master had just walked into the Hall and taken a seat next tom McGonagall. With a pang of guilt, Harry remembered the apology he was supposed to be writing. He had sent Remus' off last week with Hedwig, but hadn't even finished writing Snape's yet. Making a mental not to sit down and work on it later, he finished his breakfast and then left with Pandora for Defence.

...

That night, Harry leaned a book against his knees and unfolded a piece of parchment on it. The wrinkled parchment was covered in sentences that had started off quite neatly and gotten steadily messier the further he had gotten. It was his draft apology to Snape, and currently about half of what he had written was crossed out.

Thinking perhaps it would be better to just start with a fresh sheet, he smoothed the piece out to use as a reference and laid another bit of parchment over the top.

Chewing on the end of his quill, he struggled to find the right words to use. It was no easier than his previous attempt, and the new bit of parchment ended up looking much the same as the first. Still, he thought he had done a bit better and decided to give up on that for the night.

oOo

The week flew by in a mad rush to complete assignments before the Easter break, and soon it was the Friday night before the students left for the Easter Holidays, the tables in the Great Hall heavily laden with all sorts of delicious foods for the Easter Feast. Harry sat down next to Pandora and waited for Dumbledore's usual pre-feast speech. After what seemed ages where the delectable scent of roast lamb and gravy wafted over him, Dumbledore finally stood and clapped his hands for silence.

Quiet descended upon the hall and Dumbledore spoke. "I can see you are all dying to get into the feast, and so am I. So, Happy Easter to you all, and I wish you all a happy holiday."

As soon as Dumbledore resumed his seat, there was a scrambling for serving spoons and dishes.

Harry piled his plate high with lamb, potatoes and carrots, covering it all with a generous serving of gravy.

He ate his way steadily through the meal, listening to Pandora chatter the whole while.

After a while the tables cleared, and students were left to talk for a few minutes until dessert.

Seizing the opportunity, Harry stood and stepped over the bench.



"I'll be back. Just need the bathroom."

Pandora nodded and Harry walked away, exiting the Great Hall. Aware that he may be being followed, he made his way to the nearest boys' toilets and locked himself in a stall. Pulling the Pendant from beneath his robes, he closed his eyes and focussed on the tunnel that led from the Chamber to Snape's quarters.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing right in front of the waterfall.

He was hoping Snape's wards were only triggered by people entering through the door from the dungeon corridor, and he suspected this was the case. Snape certainly hadn't been alerted when he and Malfoy had come through the waterfall painting.

Pulling his invisibility cloak over himself, he stepped in to the waterfall and straight through to the other side in Snape's quarters. It was absolutely silent, and the sound of his breathing was abnormally loud.

Reminding himself that he had to be quick, he strode over to the door that he remembered went in to the study.

He was reaching out to grab the handle when he had a sudden thought. What if Snape had wards on his study as well? Chewing on his lip, he considered his options. He could use the Pendant and apparate directly in to the study, and hope apparating didn't trigger Snape's wards, or he could try the door and hope that didn't.

He knew the House Elves could apparate within Hogwarts, but would Snape guard against them? If he did, was his kind of apparition using the Pendant the same? He thought Snape probably did ward against apparition, but maybe he only warded against apparating in to or out of the living space, not within it. Harry thought it was highly likely that Snape would also ward the door of the study, and remembering that he had to be as quick as possible, he decided on apparating.

Seconds later, he was standing beside Snape's desk, the Pendant warm against his skin. He quickly scanned the desk, remembering that that was where it had been last time. Not finding it, he turned to the book cases and went to the one that held Defence books.

He spotted the book easily, pulling it out from between two thick, leather-bound volumes on a shelf that sat at eye-level. Tucking it in to a pocket of his robes, he moved quickly and quietly back in to Snape's lounge room and through the waterfall. As soon as he was through and in to the tunnel, he stowed the book in a cleft in the wall and apparated back to the toilet he had locked himself in.

Straightening his robes, he flushed the toilet and made his way back to the Great Hall. As he walked over to the Gryffindor table, he noted out of the corner of his eye Snape's absence. Deciding it probably wasn't a coincidence and that Snape did ward against apparition, he happily took his seat again, knowing that he had an iron-clad alibi.

...



Five minutes later, Snape strode into the Great Hall, his robes billowing and a dark scowl planted firmly on his sallow face. Harry smirked into his soup as Snape approached the Head Table, by-passing his seat and going straight to Dumbledore.

Other students had noticed, and Harry could see students looking on curiously as Snape bent to whisper in Dumbledore's ear.

Thinking it would be silly to look disinterested, he followed the lead of other students and happily turned to view the event unfolding at the Head Table, particularly enjoying the small frown that appeared on Dumbledore's face.

He pasted what he hoped was a confused and curious expression on his face. "What do you reckon is going on?" he asked the table at large.

"No idea..." murmured Pandora, frowning slightly.

Dumbledore stood and followed Snape, who was sweeping from the Great Hall. Heads turned to follow them, and Harry allowed himself to feel a bit nervous. After all, Snape seemed like a very private person, and probably knew a multitude of spells with which to protect his things. What if he had left some trail, or evidence linking him to the crime?

Mentally laughing at the idea of Snape peering through a magnifying glass at a set of muddy footprints and dusting for prints, he tried to calm the queasy feeling in his stomach. Even when he had been in Snape's quarters he had been calm, but now his heart had begun to beat faster.

Telling himself he was being silly, he took a sip of cool water and took several deep breaths, before helping himself to a mouth-watering treacle tart.

...

That night after dinner, Harry was sitting in a corner of the common room finishing up some homework when a shadow fell across him. Looking up, he saw Hermione standing before him, ringing her hands and chewing on her bottom lip.

Harry raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest. "Something you wanted, Hermione?"

Hermione tossed her head, calming her hands and taking a deep breath. "Yes. Yes there is. Harry, I want this stupid fight to end. It's been going on far too long."

"Really? Do you think?" Harry went back to making notes.

Hermione ignored his sarcastic tone and continued.

"I hate not talking, Harry. We've had arguments before, but we always make up. I just want to do that so we can go back to being friends."

"I thought we were friends before too, but you and Ron didn't really show me much support in the end."



"Well it was a horrible thing you did!" she exclaimed. "Calling me that horrible name. I know you didn't really mean it, Harry. I think you offended Ron more than me, but even so, it wasn't nice."

"That was after the fact, Hermione. You and Ron both should have stuck by me when I wanted to use Parseltongue, but instead you sided with everyone else!"

"But Harry, those spells you were using were horrible!"

"They weren't that bad. Most of them were similar to ones we've learned in school."

"You weren't on the receiving end!" hissed Hermione, becoming frazzled.

Harry looked up again as Hermione continued. "That one you did to me was absolutely horrid, and sending those spiders at Ron – you know he's scared of them!"

"That was kind of the point Hermione."

She looked like she was going to keep arguing, but finally she heaved a sigh and sat down beside him. "Look, maybe Ron and I should have stuck up for you more, but we aren't entirely at fault. You have to admit you weren't exactly nice. Anyway, I'm sorry alright? I just hate fighting. We've been best friends since first year, and I just want to be like that again. Will you come and see us off tomorrow?"

Harry blinked at the sudden change in topic. Well, it wasn't really; it was clearly an offer to re-establish their friendship. He was still annoyed at the pair of them, and he was quite sure that Ron didn't have anything to do with this. On the other hand, he did hate fighting with them. Pandora was alright, but she wasn't Ron, and Malfoy was okay to hang around with, but he wasn't Hermione.

Heaving a sigh, he scratched out a sentence on his parchment before replying. "I'll think about it."

Hermione gave a small smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Well, I'll leave you to do your work. Let me know if you need any help." With that, she bounced off. Harry watched her join Ron and Ginny in front of the fire, realising that a weight had been lifted of his shoulders.

...

The evening passed slowly; Harry was half expecting Snape to throw open the portrait and haul him out by his ear, but nothing happened and by the time he went to bed he was feeling more relaxed. He was glad he had the Dark Arts book back; it was a victory for his independence.

The next step was getting the Marauder's Map back from Dumbledore. He had already decided to wait a while, knowing that if two things that belonged to him were taken so close together that he would be suspected. He probably would be anyway, but there wasn't really anything he could do about that.

Harry just hoped that Dumbledore didn't carry the map on him, because if that was the case, Harry had no idea how he would get it back.

Before he went to sleep he made sure to spend a while clearing his mind and raising his Occlumency shields.



oOo

Not wanting to stress the strained peace that he had developed with Hermione the previous night, he went with Pandora to see her off on Saturday morning. He wished her a good train ride and tried to ignore the scowl on Ron's face as he spoke.

"Well, have a good holiday Hermione... Ron."

"We will, Harry," replied Hermione, giving Ron a disapproving look as he continued to ignore Harry. "You too, okay."

"I will."

Hermione nudged Ron and the redhead finally looked at Harry. "Yeah," he said.

Harry tried not to laugh at his stubbornness. "Say hi to your Mum and Dad for me, will you Ron?"

Ron's scowl deepened, but he gave a jerky nod of his head in response.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall called for the students to find carriages, and Hermione and Ron left.

Harry and Pandora watched until the carriages had disappeared from view before returning to the common room.

...

It was just before lunch that a second year approached Harry with a message. He was sitting quietly with Pandora when the small brown-haired boy approached him. "Harry Potter, Dumbledore said to tell you he needs to see you in his office now."

Harry felt a cold stone settle in his belly. There was no doubt that this was about the book. Thanking the kid and standing, he declined Pandora's offer to accompany him and left through the portrait hole. Instead of going straight to the headmaster's office, he instead made his way there and paused in a small dark corridor hidden behind a tapestry near the gargoyle. He took a few minutes to clear his mind and erase any expression of nervousness that might be on his face. He had practiced Occlumency with Malfoy a few times in the past week in preparation for stealing the book, and was quite sure he could keep Snape and Dumbledore out, at least for a fair while. Once his barrier had been erected, he pushed the tapestry aside and walked up to the Gargoyle. He frowned, not knowing the password.

It was not a problem however, as the Gargoyle jumped aside almost immediately. Dumbledore must have been watching the map.

He stepped on to the moving stairs and they took him up to the gold door that opened in to the headmaster's office. Checking his shields, he stepped through, closing the door behind him. Dumbledore was seated behind the desk and Snape was seated in one of the chairs in front of it, a heavy scowl planted firmly on his face.



"Sit down, Harry." Dumbledore indicated the remaining chair and Harry sunk into it. As he sat, he noticed the Marauder's Map unfolded on the desk, and realised that must have been how Dumbledore had known he was there.

Snape moved impatiently, and Harry fixed Dumbledore with a questioning look.

"Do you know why you are here Harry?" asked Dumbledore gently.

"Er... no, sir. Has something happened?"

"Indeed it has, my boy. It would seem that last night during the feast someone breached Professor Snape's wards and removed an item kept in his private study. Do you know anything about this?"

"No sir, not at all. I-"

Snape cut him off. "Of course you know about it Potter! I know you had something to do with this!" he spat, his face quite livid. It was the first time he had treated Harry with anything but indifference since the Hogsmeade incident, and was almost a relief.

"I don't know what you mean Professor. I was at the feast, I couldn't have been anywhere near your chambers."Ha!" yelled Snape. "How do you know where my private office is then, Potter?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "I just assumed, Professor. It wasn't the admission of guilt you're making it out to be."

Dumbledore ignored the exchange. "That is true Severus, Harry was indeed at the feast."

"He left, Albus. He left the feast, as I'm sure you know."

"Yeah, but I was only gone for about a minute!" Harry said.

"Again, that is true Severus. I have already had an – independent party – confirm that he was only gone two minutes, certainly not enough time to make it down to the dungeons, disable your wards and make off with the object in question."

"Then he asked someone to do it for him! That elf of his, Dribby or some such. Someone apparated into my quarters, as I have told you Albus. Only house elves can apparate within the school. Of course I don't think the whelp himself did so!"

"I didn't ask Dobby to do anything, Professor. I swear." Harry checked his barriers. It was still intact, and he had not yet felt any presence in his mind.

Dumbledore surveyed him over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "Dobby!" Dumbledore's voice rumbled around the room making Harry jump slightly, earning him a sneer from Snape. A pop announced Dobby's arrival.

"What can Dobby do for Master Dumbledore, sir?" At that point, Dobby spotted Harry, and his face split into a wide grin. "And Harry Potter sir! What can Dobby be doing for Harry Potter?" Dobby bowed low and Harry felt a blush crawl up his neck, trying to ignore the venomous look Snape was giving him.



Dumbledore spoke, asking much the same question he had asked Harry. "Dobby, there is a serious matter I wish to discuss with you. Last night someone broke in to Professor Snape's quarters and removed an item from his study. Do you know anything about this?"

Dobby shot a somewhat fearful look in Snape's direction, shaking his head and making his bat ears flap about his head. "No sirs, Dobby is not hearing anything sirs. Dobby is being in the kitchens all night for the feast. Dobby is cooking, and hears nothing from the other elves about someone stealing things."

"Nobody asked you to go to Professor Snape's quarters?" persisted Dumbledore.

Dobby's eyes widened at the implication. "No sir headmaster Dumbledore sir. Dobby is a good elf. Dobby is never taking things from 'fessor Snape sir."

"Very well, Dobby. You may go."

Dobby apparated out with another crack, and Harry could hear Snape's furious breathing in the silence that followed.

"I shall ask the other house elves if they know anything. Never fear, Severus, we shall get to the bottom of this. It is indeed a serious worry."

He turned to Harry. "Is there anything you wish to tell me, Harry, anything at all?"

"No sir. I don't know anything about anything going missing from Snape's place."

"Professor Snape, Harry," reprimanded Dumbledore sternly, and Harry fought not to roll his eyes. "If that is the case, you may go."

Harry nodded and stood to go when he felt an ice cold hand grip his forearm tightly. He looked around to see Snape, his teeth bared in an angry growl. "I know you had something to do with this, Potter, and I will not let you get away with it."

Harry's arm was released and he stepped away. Nodding to Dumbledore, he left the room without a backward glance.

oOo

On the next day of the holidays Harry slept in, relishing the fact that he had absolutely nothing that he had to do. On top of that, he'd had a peaceful night's sleep.

He jumped out of bed and got dressed. Glancing out the window he saw that it was a perfect day; the sun was shining brightly and a light breeze was rustling the leaves of the trees in the Forbidden Forest. It was a fantastic day for flying, and he decided that he would take his broom out after lunch.

Straight after lunch Harry got his broom and walked down to the Quidditch Pitch. Pandora had opted not to join him, she didn't really like flying. If he'd thought the day had been perfect before, it was nothing compared to now. It didn't surprise him that there were several other students flitting around the pitch, some in pairs but most alone. He took to the air, practising a few technical moves before settling into laps of the pitch with other students.



On his fourth lap, a flyer pulled up beside him, and he looked over to see Malfoy. "I didn't know you were staying."

Malfoy stuck his nose up, sniffing haughtily. "Didn't ask, did you?"

Harry rolled his eyes in response to the Slytherin's attitude. "Why are you staying here?"

"My father is busy as usual and mother is accompanying him on a business trip."

Harry did a loop on his broom. "Why can't you go, too?"

Malfoy snorted. "They wanted me to come, but aas if I want to spend a week of my time traipsing around some dirty foreign city by myself. Father will be in meetings all the time and Mother will be forever shopping and visiting with hundred year old relatives. Not my idea of a good time."

Harry tried hard not to say anything in response. Malfoy didn't know how lucky he was to have hundred year old relatives. Instead, he said, "Up for a trip to Hogsmeade? I want to some Honeydukes stuff for some people."

"Owl for it."

"And I want out get out of the castle for a while. I'm being followed, remember. I want to get away from that for a while."

"I have things I want to do. Why would I bother hanging around with a Gryffindor when I have better things to waste my time on?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's a simple question Malfoy, with a yes no answer. Do you want to go or not?"

Malfoy gave an exaggerated sigh. "Fine. I'll go with you if we can go down to the chamber tonight. "

"Agreed. We'll skip dinner and go to Hogsmeade, then get something form the kitchens when we get back. That alright?"

Malfoy shrugged. "I suppose. Shall we take our brooms?"

Harry jumped at the idea, and at 6:00 found himself waiting behind the broom shed for Malfoy, his Dragonfire X held in one hand and a small bag of galleons that he had from selling the basilisk parts in his pocket. He hadn't been waiting long when the crunch of footsteps on gravel announced Malfoy's approach.

They skirted around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, keeping just inside the trees so they wouldn't be seen by anyone wandering the grounds and took the path to Hogsmeade. Once there, they stowed their brooms in an out of the way alley and headed to Honeydukes. Despite his reluctance to go, Malfoy bought a healthy supply of chocolates, and Harry suspected that he had only been whingeing earlier for the sake of it.



Harry himself picked out what he needed and they paid for the lot, earning a suspicious glance from the shopkeeper. Wondering if they should have changed out of their school clothes, Harry asked Malfoy, who just gave a disinterested shrug.

"He doesn't know our names." He frowned. "Well, he doesn't know my name. He might have recognised you. Either way, it's not like he'll go out of his way to tell anyone he saw a couple of school students in his shop, is it?"

"Guess not," replied Harry.

They made a quick stop at the Hog's Head where Malfoy bought a bottle of Firewhisky. ("For Easter, Potter. If you're nice to me I might share it with you.")

After that, they found their brooms and raced back to the school, getting back just two hours after they had left. They agreed to meet in Myrtle's bathroom, and Harry took his broom up to his dormitory before stopping by the kitchens to get some food. Malfoy had also decided to get something on the way, and they each got what they wanted before carrying their plates down to the chamber.

Malfoy immediately immersed himself in a potions text while Harry took Salazar to the tunnel from the bathroom to look for mice. The Chamber itself was clean and did not harbour any mice, but the tunnels here did.

As soon as he had told Salazar they were going to get some food, he had started up his usual stream of words that never failed to make Harry feel slightly ill. ("Yummyyy jiucccy micccey micccey. Juiccy squishy squeezzzy mousssiessss.")

Salz had grown a lot in the last few months and was now longer than Harry's arm. Despite the fact that he had grown, the snake still seemed like a playful child sometimes. He curled around Harry's shoulder and neck, his tongue lightly flicking at Harry's ear.

"You know Salz, I don't know what I would have done this year without you. You're a good friend."

"I'sss glad to be your friend Harryyy. You are a good massster."

After an hour, Harry returned to the library with a satiated Salazar to find Malfoy still reading. When Malfoy saw him however, the Slytherin closed the book and stood. "Where'd you go?"

"I had to feed Salz."

"Oh. Well, want to practice the animagus transformation?"

Harry had been looking forward to it actually. He had practiced once or twice on his own, but still hadn't gotten anywhere.

He deposited Salz on her branch and took a seat at one end of the lounge, closing his eyes and clearing his mind. He heard Malfoy settling himself a distance away as he focussed on how he thought it would feel to change.

...



Harry was roused from his state of concentration by strange noises coming from the spot where Malfoy was seated. Opening his eyes and blinking blearily, he saw the Slytherin shaking his head from side to side.

"Potter... Potter!"

"What?" Harry stood at the same time as Malfoy and walked over.

"I felt something – on my face. Do you see something?"

Harry walked faster, and when he got close enough to see Malfoy's face in the dim firelight he gasped loudly.

"What? What is it?" asked Malfoy, his voice demanding.

Harry stared open mouthed at Malfoy's face. He had definitely had some success.

"Well, we know you're doing it right at least."

"Aagh! Just tell me, Potter! I can't take the suspense!" he crowed, impatient and excited.

Harry let out a chuckle. "Well, you might be right about being a dragon."

"Yes! I knew it, and I told you and you didn't believe me!" yelled Malfoy, pointing a slender finger in Harry's face. "Tell me what I look like!"

Harry smirked at his impatience, but relented. "You look kind of reptilian, just around the eyes."

Harry could see ridges where Malfoy's eyebrows had been, and smooth, pale orange scales covered his face just around his eyes, morphing into normal skin a few inches around the perimeter of his eyes.

"Conjure a mirror and see for yourself. It looks pretty cool." Harry was more than a little jealous that Malfoy had beat him to being the first to have a transformation, and even more jealous that Malfoy might actually be a dragon. He had to admit, he thought that was a pretty cool animal, and he wouldn't mind being one himself. It would be just his luck and he would end up being a slug or something.

Instead of conjuring one, Malfoy walked over to the mantel above the fire and took down a small mirrored box that sat atop it, bringing it to face level.

"Excellent!" breathed Malfoy, reaching up to run a finger along the ridge of scales over his eyes and around the sides.

Suddenly, he leaned closer, then leaned down towards the fire for more light. "My eyes! Look at my eyes!"

"What about them?" asked Harry, coming forward to look.

Malfoy turned towards them, an exultant grin on his face. "They're orange!"



Harry peered closely, seeing that Draco's eyes, normally so pale blue they looked silver, were indeed orange, a bright burning orange, the pupils black slits like those that all reptiles had.

Growing even more jealous by the second, Harry huffed and crossed his arms as Malfoy turned back to inspect himself in the mirrored box.

"What does it feel like?" he asked.
"It feels normal," replied Malfoy. "No different at all."

"What about when you changed? What did that feel like?"

Malfoy gave a small frown, and Harry waited impatiently (for about two seconds) while Malfoy struggled for the words.

"It felt weird... needless to say that, really. At first it was kind of a burning sensation, not painful or hot. It sort of started to tingle, an itch, but not one you need to scratch. I could feel my skin stretching, but it didn't hurt at all. Hard to explain, really."

"Hm." Harry sat back down, his back to the dwindling fire, and focussed his mind again. He was determined to achieve a transformation of some sort now that Malfoy had beaten him to it, even if it was a small one. A half hour later however, he had only acquired a headache, so gave up until another day.

Looking around, he saw that Malfoy was seated in a chair by the fire, reading the transfiguration textbook and still with scales around his orange eyes. Harry narrowed his eyes when Malfoy shot him a gloating and self-satisfied smirk, aggravating Harry no end.

Getting up and gathering his wand, he turned to Malfoy. "You'd best work on changing back to your normal self. I don't think it would be a good idea to go walking around the castle like that. You'll probably scare the first years."

Malfoy had conjured a small mirror and was admiring himself. "I do look scary, don't I." He sighed. "I do suppose you're right, however. McGonagall would have a heart attack if she saw me." Malfoy smirked at the thought, but then lowered the mirror and closed his eyes. Harry watched as Malfoy sat silently for a few moments. A minute later, the Slytherin cracked an eye open.

"Anything?"

Harry shook his head. "Nope, still very reptilian."

Malfoy closed his eyes again, screwing them tightly together. After a second, he relaxed his face and leaned back against the headrest. This time, as Harry watched, the scales around Malfoy's eyes slowly morphed, and before he knew it, they were replaced with Malfoy's usual pale skin. When the Slytherin opened his eyes, they were back to the silver-grey in the dim light.

At Malfoy's questioning look, Harry nodded and stood, stretching. "Well, I'm off. See you tomorrow."

Malfoy nodded and closed his book, also standing. They walked together through the passage way that led to the house common rooms. When they reached the point where the passage split, Harry 

waited until the sound of Malfoy's steps had faded before following the Slytherin. At the next junction, he took the passage that led to Snape's chambers, though he did not go through the waterfall. Instead, he walked over to a cleft in the rock and took the book down, running his hands over the cover and smiling.

oOo

The next day, Harry made his way up to the Owlery, several packages clasped in his arms and letters tucked under his arm.

As soon as he walked through the door Hedwig hooted and flew down, taking a precarious perch on his shoulder.

Putting down the packages, he patted her and fed her an owl treat while he tied two scrolls to her legs.

The first letter he posted was the apology to Snape, and a letter to Remus. He had held on to Snape's letter for several days since he had finished, and knew that if he held on to it any longer that he would never send it. He resented that he was apologising to the man, but he knew that Snape deserved it. He smirked at the thought that Snape would be receiving a missive from him on Easter morning. With Hedwig on her way to Remus, and then back here to Snape, he turned to the pile of packages that were stacked on a shelf. Calling one of the school barn owls down from the rafters, he tied a parcel to it. It took several owls, but eventually he had the Weasleys and Hermione sorted. He had sent a few Honeydukes products to the twins, Ginny, and Ron, as well as short notes. He had written a longer not to Mr. And Mrs. Weasley, along with a small gift. The note he had written to Ron had been a bit strained, sounding too friendly at first. In the end he settled for a simple 'have a good holiday, see you next term' sort of letter. He had also sent some Honeydukes chocolate to Hermione.

oOo

Two days later, Hedwig arrived back. Harry was eating breakfast with Pandora when he saw her fly through the Great Hall. As it was holidays, there weren't as many students as usual, though there were more than at Christmas. All the students sat at one long house table, nearly filling it when they were all there, and the teachers still sat at the Head Table. Harry watched with interest as Hedwig ignored him and flew up to the Head table and straight to Snape. Harry smirked when Snape started and knocked over his goblet of pumpkin juice.

Harry barely contained his laugh as Snape absent-mindedly pet Hedwig, offering her a piece of bacon while he untied the scroll from her leg. His expression changed immediately and his eyes narrowed at Hedwig when he unrolled the letter. Harry though he must recognise the handwriting, though he had tried his best to be neater than usual.

Harry averted his eyes as Snape's eyes flickered towards him, and then back to the letter. Harry only hoed the letter was to Snape's satisfaction. He had done his best to make it sound both formal and sincere, and knew it really didn't sound like him at all.



Professor Snape,

I would like to apologise for my actions in Hogsmeade the other week. I acted foolishly and in doing so endangered not only myself, but you as well.

I realise now that that was not the only consequences of my decisions, and apologise for the course of action you were forced to take in order to rectify the situation.

It has taught me that I need to take more responsibility for my actions and think about how they will affect others.

I hope that you can forgive me for my misdeed.

Sincerely and with remorse,

Harry James Potter.

He had felt silly writing the words, but he felt better now that he had sent it. Looking up out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape sitting with his usual acerbic look and the letter gone. Whether he had pocketed it of incinerated it, Harry had no idea.

oOo

The next day Harry woke, much to his surprise to find a small pile of letters and Honeydukes chocolates at the end of his bed. Grinning, he threw back the covers and sorted through the pile. He wasn't surprised to find a letter and slab of Newt Nougat chocolate from Hermione. He was surprised to find a brief note from Ron attached to a medium sized box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Choosing one, he ate it as he perused Ron's letter, which sounded very much like the one he himself had written for Ron. The small khaki bean turned out to be vomit flavoured, one he had never had the experience of tasting before, and hoped not to ever again. Washing his mouth out with a glass of water, he smiled at the small pile. There was also various kinds of chocolate from Hagrid, Lupin, Pandora, Fred and George, and Mr. And Mrs. Weasley.

Avoiding the lollies from Fred and George, Harry stuffed a few chocolate galleons into his pocket and went down to the common room.

"Heya Harry!" shouted Pandora. "Thanks for the Honeydukes!"

"No problem, thanks to you too. What do you want to do today?"

"I'm easy. I was thinking it would be good to just pig out on chocolate all day."

Harry quite agreed, and they spent most of the day playing exploding snap and chess, pausing only to go and raid their stashes of chocolate.

The only thing that marred the otherwise good day was that Harry had an Occlumency lesson with Snape. He was a bit worried, and rightly so; Snape spent the entire time viciously trying to drag up memories of the textbook, but Harry managed to keep anything incriminating away from Snape's 

grasp. When Snape finally gave up, Harry was extremely thankful. He didn't think he could have held out for much longer.

As he was leaving Snape's office, he had a sudden thought. Quickly ducking down a side passage, he pulled on his invisibility cloak, which he had been keeping in his pocket for cases when he felt the need to slip away from anyone who might be following him. Standing silently, he waited a few minutes and then crept off silently, being very careful not to make any noise.

Eventually he came to the entrance to the Slytherin Common room. He was about to hiss 'open' when another little voice did it for him. Smiling at Salazar, he pushed open the portrait and walked in to the dark room. The fire was roaring, but it hardly lit the room outside of the small ring of armchairs that surrounded it, and the chairs cast long shadows on the rest of the room. He had expected to find people in there, but it was completely empty. Huffing that he would have to search for Malfoy, he looked around and saw stairs leading upwards like in Gryffindor Tower. He went to the top where the balcony held several doors and an open archway revealing stone steps. Keeping in mind that Malfoy lived in a tower, he chose the archway and started up the stone steps. He passed a number of doors on his way up, all of them baring names and title, such as 'Seventh Year Prefect' and the like.

Finally, he found Malfoy's door, right at the very top of the stairs. Hoping he hadn't climbed the considerably long stairs for no reason, he knocked loudly. He waited a moment, hearing nothing, so he knocked again. This time, he heard three brisk footsteps and the door was flung open.

"What!" yelled a harried looking Malfoy. The Slytherin frowned seeing no one there.

Remembering he was wearing the invisibility cloak, he pulled it off. To his disappointment, Malfoy didn't so much as flinch. "Potter. I really do find it troubling that you can get in here any time you want."

Harry grinned. "Really? I find it exceptionally satisfying."

Malfoy scowled. Suddenly, there were voices on the stairwell below them, and Harry made to pull his cloak on. Malfoy however, reached forward and grabbed his robe, pulling him in to the room before quietly shutting the door and putting a finger to his lips to indicate that he wanted Harry to be quiet.

Nodding, Harry looked around the room. It was smaller than it had looked from the painting on the wall, but was still an excellent size for just one person. Harry was extremely jealous.

A knock sounded at Malfoy's door. The Slytherin ignored it completely and took a seat in an armchair that sat by the fire, indicating at a smaller, and significantly less comfortable wooden desk chair for Harry to sit. Taking out his wand, he transfigured the chair, making it look much more like Malfoy's, and dragged it over to the fire.

After a minute of knocking, the voices finally went away and Harry saw Malfoy let out a deep breath, rubbing his hand over his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Bad day?" asked Harry.



"You can't imagine how stressful it is to be a prefect, Potter. The bloody fourth years are all up in arms about some ridiculous thing, they've been fighting all day. Apart from trying to sort that out, and having no luck I might add, I've got everyone else coming up to me and complaining how they can't concentrate or relax with the fourth years fighting continuously."

"Ah, well. You have my pity," said Harry, not really feeling all that sorry at all.

Malfoy seemed to sense this and gave a half-hearted sneer.

"I thought we could practice the animagus transformation for a while. Want to go to the chamber? We can go through the common room so we don't have to walk all the way through the castle to Myrtle's bathroom."

"Mmm, I do, but let's just stay here. I'm too tired to go walking."

They spent an hour of the evening working on their animagus transformations, Harry determined to have some change, but he was again disappointed. Malfoy didn't manage to get any further either, but he did get much faster at changing back and forth between what he had achieved so far, taking great pleasure in doing it every time Harry looked at him. He appeared to be regaining his usual cocky demeanour more each time Harry scowled at him.

After a while, Harry gave up.

"Do you want to play chess?" asked Malfoy, standing up and walking to the mantle above the fireplace. He still had scales around his orange eyes.

"Just so you can gloat about beating me at something else?" grumbled Harry.

"You guessed it, Potter. I'm white."

"You're white every time we play. Why can't I go first?" he whined.

"Potter, we've only played about three times."

"Doesn't change the fact that you are white every time."

Malfoy ignored him and refused to give Harry white. He took down a miniature chess board from the mantel. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. It sat atop a stand, and Malfoy put the little table and board on the floor. Confused, Harry watched as Malfoy pulled out his wand, enlarging the table and board until it sat between them at the perfect height to play.

Harry was making his second move when Malfoy suddenly jumped up. "Oh, I forgot!"

The Slytherin stalked over to an elegant wardrobe that sat along one wall and opened the door. Harry raised his eyebrows at what he saw inside. While from the outside the wardrobe looked no deeper than a foot and no wider than two, it was clearly much bigger than that. It was a full size walk in robe.

Shaking his head at the expensive things Malfoy owned, he concentrated on making his move.

Malfoy came back, and Harry looked up at the sound of clinking glass.



"Told you I'd share," said Malfoy, holding out the bottle of firewhisky he had bought in Hogsmeade and placing two glasses next to the board.

The evening got considerably better after that, and Harry didn't even care when he lost the fourth straight game in a row.

oOo

It was the last day of the Easter holidays, and Harry was actually looking forward to the other students coming back, especially Ron and Hermione. He hadn't really realised how lonely he had been the past few months when he'd been fighting with his friends until he had received the gifts from Ron and Hermione, and was looking forward to life going back to normal. Something that had already gone back to normal was Snape's treatment of him. Since he had sent the apology, he had noticed that Snape no longer completely ignored him. Instead, he was back to being snarky and spitting cruel and sarcastic comments. Though they had been getting along slightly better that this previous to Harry's outing to Hogsmeade, he felt that this attitude was better than indifference.

oOo

Next update in about a week. I PROMISE. : )

Thanks to reviewers : )

Roxoan: Thanks for reviewing. Hope you liked this chapter.

fufu.a.k.a.speechless: Yay thankyou! Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm hoping it won't take so long again.

Crius: Thanks for reviewing again and again. : ) Guess what!? You're the 100threview! Yay!

Draconicflare: thanks for reviewing.

Yrstrysks: hehe thanks for reviewing. : )

Kaeim: Hi! As usual, thanks for reviewing. Well, Harry isn't going to join Voldemort, and I don't know how good I'd be at writing a Dark!Harry. We'll see...

The Lady Snape: No, I don't think he will, but who knows, I could change my mind : )

Vanessa riddle: Thanks for reviewing. I know this one took ages to get out, but i've been so busy. Please forgive me!

Jensindenial3516: Hehe, don't worry. It'll happen soon...

Thales85: Hi! Thanks for reviewing. Glad you finding it interesting, hopefully it stays that way! : )

Fhippogriff: Missed ya! Thanks for reviewing both chapters : ) No, Snape isn't compromised. He's smart, took care of the problem. Malfoy could probably get into the chamber if he really thought 

about it, but since he goes down there with Harry fairly often he hasn't really needed to find a way. He could get in through Snape's room.

Harry rukes: that's what i rike to hear!

Ciroth: Great! Thanks for reviewing : )

TonksFan693: I'm not really sure what kind of snakes England has, so I guess he can be whatever kind of snake you want... Thanks for reviewing!

WolfbainKohaku: hehe yeah I hate the perpetually happy Dumbledore and sudden friendships between H and D. Just not believable. Sorry about the him/her thing with Salazar. It really annoys me when I read other ppl's fics and they've done that, so I really try not to. I'll be more careful from now on. Salz is a boy.
In answer to your last question: he'll find out soon, I'd say. Thanks for the good long review : )