Harry Potter bit his lip, unknowingly reminiscent of Granger - Draco harshly curbed the sneer that wanted to come to the fore. That would be unproductive - no, counterproductive. "Ah!" Potter said, his green eyes reminding Draco of some sort of idiot who had just caught sight of a bauble by the side of the road. "An automobile is a horseless carriage, a great big metal object that rolls without horses, and people ride in it."

Draco Malfoy found himself eyeing Harry Potter askance, confused and vaguely wondering if Potter was simply pulling his leg. "You-" Draco said, trailing off, "You - aren't making that up..." Draco didn't realize it, but his eyes had gotten wide. "You can't be making that up! Fabulous - it sounds like something out of a dream... or a nightmare."

Harry Potter smiled unrepentantly, saying, "As if flying on a broomstick wasn't strange. You realize Madame Hooch's class was the first time I sat a broom?"

Draco's shoulders shook with laughter as he drawled, "You really are a natural..." He then drew himself up into the very picture of the poppinjay that Harry had first thought Draco to be, way back in first year. "I'm so terribly jealous."

Harry blinked, seeing the shadow of a very real truth in that statement, and then choosing to completely ignore it.

Draco Malfoy asked, suddenly, "Did you ever have pets? A dog? A cat?"

Harry Potter laughed, saying, "of course not! Although I did get to stay with the cat lady sometimes. She'd give me biscuits!" Harry Potter said, and his eyes sparkled with a simple, childlike delight that bespoke of the wonders of tasty biscuits.

"I bet they weren't pumpkin flavored!" Draco Malfoy said with his usual cock-eyed smirk.

"Nope!" Harry responded with a grin, chuckling at the weak joke. "Vanilla, or chocolate, sometimes lemon."

"My father trained hounds." Draco Malfoy started, his voice both prideful and firm. "Still does, I suppose, though he's been busy enough lately that I wouldn't doubt his training has suffered."

"My aunt had a dog," Harry started to say, almost tentatively, "She called him Ripper... I still remember his teeth, long and flashing white."

From behind both of them, the black dog gave an almost pathetic whine. They both looked back at him, and Draco (who was more proficient on horseback), dropped back, and leaned over his saddle to give the dog a gentle pat on the back, even though his spine was clearly visible through his pelt. "It's okay, we know you... good dog."

Harry had meanwhile wrestled his horse into slowing down a bit (the horse had simply bent her head, and was lipping gently at some grass), and he said to the dog, as if he could understand, "You'd keep Ripper off my back, wouldn't you?"

The dog wagged its tail slowly, almost painfully, but seemed to assent, his pink tongue sticking out as his ears stayed perked on Harry's words.

"They didn't-" Draco Malfoy cut off, his throat suddenly dry. "They didn't hunt you, did they?" Draco Malfoy seemed more ill at ease than Harry had ever seen him, "I've read stories, I've heard tales, but those were just ages ago... Muggles hunting Wizards..." Draco looked at him, wide-eyed, and said in a soft whisper, "your own family?"

"No, no," Harry said, "I think they were making those stories up, to be honest. Wouldn't have done for young Wizards to think that Muggles were just mundane, now would it?" Harry said with a bit of a chuckle, and said, "Anyway, Aunt Marge only sicced Ripper on me when she wanted me out of the way. I was up the tree before he could even get over, and that was the way she liked it."

Draco Malfoy just stared at him, wide-eyed. "If my mother, if my sainted mother ever caught anyone doing that..." Draco shook his head, his ungreased, fine hair tumbling every which way, "I think she'd have them murdered within the fortnight."

"Good thing she never caught me, then, huh?" Harry said, kicking his horse out of chomping down, and hustling on. "Now you were saying something about your father's hounds?"

[a/n: No, Narcissa would not have killed Harry. There's a large element of Abuse of Power in Aunt Marge's conduct, and that's what would have prompted Narcissa's action.

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Harry, as usual, doesn't realize quite what he's saying. Draco, unlike a lot of people, can put two and two together and get four.]