"You were there, you know," Harry Potter said contemplatively.
"Huh?" Draco Malfoy said, eloquence failing in confusion, which was almost enough to make Harry Potter smile, despite the serious subject.
"Moments before Justin was petrified, I heard a slithery voice." Harry Potter said.
"A... slithery voice?" Draco Malfoy said, sounding a bit confused.
"That's what snakes sound like, when you can understand them. I'd not noticed before, because I was generally looking at them, and then, well, it just seemed normal." Harry Potter said, shrugging.
"It's a little creepy, you know, listening to you hiss like that."
"That's just how it's pronounced!" Harry said, starting to sound angry.
"Oh, don't worry, I know that! It's just... strangely melodic."
"I wouldn't know, it all sounds like English to me."
"Is that why-?" Draco Malfoy said.
"Yup. Nobody told me that speaking to snakes was anything unusual. And, after all, it's a magical world. How was I supposed to know?"
"Oh, poor widdle Harry Potter, can't take people learning his little secrets."
Draco's teasing brought Harry straight out of his funk, "If only it HAD been a secret! Then I could at least have been mad at you for revealing it!"
"You weren't?" Draco said, looking a little startled.
"Yes, and no." Harry said, thoughfully, "I meant it wasn't as if you schemed to spread the news across all of Wizarding Britain. Sooner or later, my classmates would have found out. Not that I wasn't ticked with you at the time."
"Was there ever a time you weren't ticked with me?" Malfoy asked curiously.
"Yes! Yesterday!" Harry said chipperly, and they both laughed.
"I was there, moments after Justin had been petrified - " Harry said, "You came around a corner, and looked at what was on the wall: Mudbloods Go Home." Harry's eyes flashed that killer green as they flicked directly into Malfoy's steady grey gaze. "You said that you hoped it was Hermione next."
"I did," Draco Malfoy said, and Harry wondered if it was his imagination or if Draco really had tightened his hands on his reins, "Not that I really wanted the bitch dead. I wanted her gone."
"You hate her, you said?" Harry prompted, honestly confused as to what, exactly, Hermione'd done.*
"Yeah," Draco Malfoy said, and it sounded honest.
Harry Potter pursed his lips, and then opened them again, saying the first thing that came to mind, "Maybe three years from now, I'll tell her you have a crush on her."
Draco Malfoy pulled his mount to a stop, the horse snorting and tugging on the reins, angry at the illtreatment. "What? Why would you do that?" Draco Malfoy asked, furious in a way that Harry had never seen him before.
With a trace of a smirk, Harry Potter responded mildly, "Because by then it might be true."
Harry was not prepared for what happened next. Draco Malfoy lunged off his horse, tackling Harry to the ground, his arms punching wildly. Harry Potter, with a roar of surprise, countered with punches of his own.
The next five minutes or so were filled with fury. By the end, the big black dog had showed up and was barking furiously.
Both boys laid down in the grass, one beside the other, and laughed hard and long. The dog curled up inbetween, licking idly at the blood that was pouring out of Draco Malfoy's nose.
Eventually, Harry sat up and said, "Okay, you'd better hand me your wand, and I'll fix that broken nose of yours." Harry knew how hard it was to cast when your nose was filled with blood. All the pronunciations were off.
Draco Malfoy, oddly, just started laughing again, lying down on the grass. Harry waited, calmly, for him to say something. After a long spate of chuckles, Draco finally said, "Potter, I haven't used a wand for the past three days - do you realize that?"
Harry Potter blinked, and said, "I... how'd you light the fire?"
"Check in the saddlebags - I got Moody's Mundania Survival Kit," Draco Malfoy said, laughing, "I don't believe you didn't notice!"
Harry, shoving the orders aside in favor of more practical matters, simply said, "I can see trying not to use your wand - it's traced, of course, but broken noses and swollen black eyes won't help us survive in the Muggle World."
Draco Malfoy finally sat up, and said simply, "Potter, my wand's back at Hogwarts. Right near yours, in fact, but a bit harder to spot."
Harry Potter quite suddenly felt like a fool, and started spouting curses that Aunt Petunia would have sworn he didn't know.
*Can you guess? Should be ob-vi-ous. Harry's Dense!
[a/n: Leave a review? These boys aren't gonna be lookin' so pretty coming into town, now, are they?]