Potter gently wiped his face off, leaving tea still dripping down his chin. "Suppose you're right" he said slowly and calmly.
Suddenly, Potter's eyes snapped to Granger, and he said in a low venomous tone, "You already agreed, didn't you?"
"Of course she did, Potter. I didn't summon her here to be a go-between." Sighing a little, Draco Malfoy puffed himself up - doing his best impression of himself at age twelve and a half. "I am irreplaceable. Granger is necessary. You are important."
"Oh, I must be missing something..." Potter said, his voice somehow mocking Draco's normal drawl, while mimicking it perfectly.
"Plenty of things, I'd wager, though it's certainly not my fault if you lack..." And abruptly Granger trod on Malfoy's toe with her heel.
Harry Potter's face was blank - not quite slackjawed, but it was... the face that Draco Malfoy would wear if he was truly disturbed. "Why? Hermione, why?" Potter's eyes started flicking back and forth between Granger and Malfoy, disbelieving and discontent in the same expression.
Draco Malfoy was certain Weasel was still yelling, though he hadn't looked at the parchment to confirm it - his attention was held rapt by Potter. He hadn't expected Potter to go off like a firecracker - and certainly not over this.
Granger met Harry's eyes levelly, saying simply, "It's a good plan, Harry. With it, we might have a shot."
"How could you possibly decide to make a deal with Draco Malfoy without talking with us?!" Potter shot back, his entire demeanor reeking of betrayal and hurt.
Oh. Thought Draco Malfoy, his understanding crystallizing in one solitary moment. My turn! "She had no choice. One time offer. You're here because she accepted."
"You shouldn't have!" Potter said, climbing to his feet.
"A deal's a deal, Harry. But you ought to know me well enough by now to know that if you spot malfeasance or malevolent intent, I will break any supposed deal." Granger snapped.
"I'd expect no less, mind. Deliberately keeping your opponent in the dark in order to wrangle concessions out of them is hardly the work of an ally."
"But you said we weren't on the same side!" Potter spat at Draco.
"Politics makes strange bedfellows, does it not?" Draco Malfoy said, his fingers tented together in front of his face.
"He's giving me the key to the Malfoy's Library, Harry!" Granger, her eyes lit as bright as Weasel's hair, hissed at her best friend.
Potter gave Granger an incredulous stare, "Was that what he bribed you with?" It didn't exactly take a genius to come up with the idea that Potter was thinking that any deal that involved Granger and a library was obviously one she was not going to be objective about.
Looking dead straight at Malfoy, Harry Potter spat, "Tell me everything. Then I'll decide."
Malfoy, feigning an air of utter unconcern, leaned back and said, "And if I don't?"
"Then I leave. You did say I was important, did you not?"And now it was Potter that affected unconcern, if not nearly as well as Draco generally pulled the shtick off.
"If you must leave, then go. I'm not going to waste my time explaining a long, and very boring plan, to you halfwits. Explaining it once took patience enough. Get Granger to explain it." Granger opened her mouth to start that explanation, and Draco Malfoy shot her a glare that would have curdled milk - and barely got Granger to shut up. "Later. Not now." Malfoy shrugged in a slow and elaborate way. "I'm not asking you to trust me, you realize? Trust that Granger knows what she's doing, and if half the plan was relevant, she'd have mentioned it by now." Malfoy took another deep breath. "No, the central question here is not 'how smart is the plan, how neat, how detailed...' but is merely 'Can Harry Potter trust Draco Malfoy'"
"Allow me to simplify the situation. Granger may go to the Malfoy library - I'd suggest alone, but if you must, you may send a Phoenix member. Only... neither of you. Too tempting, you might say." Malfoy's smile was volcanic glass. "Send someone with a bit of discretion, Zambini will do - or if that absolutely won't work, send McGonagall."
"How do you possibly expect me to trust you?"
"ask me anything. I won't promise to answer, but I'll do my best."
Draco could see the moment inspiration struck Potter, he sat straight, and looked Malfoy in the eye.
[a/n: anyone who gets the inspiration Potter's had gets a free sundae!
Read and Review folks]