The next three days passed like a whirlwind for everyone except Harry. He'd
told Ron and Hermione most of his conversation with Em, but not the parts
she'd asked him to keep to himself. Plus, he didn't really know if he'd die
a slow and painful death if he told, just like Malfoy would too.
On the third evening, just after dinner, he headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione. They sat up and talked for a while, until Harry checked his watch and realized that he had half and hour before they left. He hurried to his dormitory and grabbed his travelling cloak, changed out of his school uniform, said a quick goodbye to Hermione, who bombarded him with 'Please-Be-Safe's and said bye to Ron, who he'd be seeing in a few days anyway.
He pulled his cloak on and hurried down to the Entrance Hall, where Malfoy was sitting on the last step of the staircase. He heard Harry's footsteps and turned, a look of disappointment spreading across his face. He too was in a travelling cloak, and out of school uniform, wearing normal, if not expensive, clothes under a black velvet cloak.
"Oh. It's just you." He said with disgust.
"Who were you expecting? The Easter Bunny?"
"Your smart, aren't you, Potter?"
"Yeah, I know." Harry said to himself, and he realized how arrogant he sounded. 'Something your father would say' said a quiet voice in his head. Harry crossed the Entrance Hall over to the huge double doors. He opened them and looked over to Hagrid's hut. There were no lights on, and no smoke coming from the chimney. He sighed. It had been a week since Hagrid had left, and Professor Grubbley-Plank was, once again, not answering his questions.
"Ah, good, you're both here." Came Em's sweet voice from behind him. Harry turned around and saw her jumping down the staircase two steps at a time. "Are we ready to go?"
"Yeah, just one thing," Malfoy said as she reached the last step, "Will I need protection where we're going?"
"Nah, we should be right, but if something happens, well, you know what I can do. Is that all? We ready? Bonza! Let's go!"
They headed out the double doors and across the grounds. The sky was overcast, but snow was yet to fall, so it wasn't a bad night. Though he had to pull his cloak up closer, Harry had trouble seeing where everyone was, because there was no moonlight to light the grounds. They headed towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry got an uneasy feeling. He wasn't a very welcome guest there.
"Are we taking Thestrals?" Harry asked.
"Nah, I have a better mode of transport. Thestrals.I don't really trust them." Said Emmaline in front of him. They continued walking; only stopping right at the forests edge. Harry and Malfoy stopped either side of Emmaline.
"BEDIVERE!" she called into the forest. "BEDIVERE! C'MON SWEETIE!" At first Harry had no idea what or who she was calling to, till he heard the soft patter of hooves, and a creature emerged from the forest. At first Harry thought it was a Centaur, and he stepped beck, but it wasn't, and when the creature came into light he saw that it was actually a large winged horse.
"This is Bedivere, Harry. He's a Pegasus. A flying horse. I picked him up in Greece after I accidentally killed his original master. But he was a nasty wizard, wasn't he, baby?" she cooed to the horse, stroking him, while Harry patted its nose. He couldn't tell what colour it was, because it was dark, but its nose was soft, and he could feel its hot breath as it sniffed his hand. Malfoy was patting its side. "You remember Draco, don't you baby? Yes! Good boy!" Em exclaimed. She led Bedivere away from the forest and into a part of the grounds near them that was very large. Harry noticed that there weren't any reins on the Pegasus, and he wondered how they were supposed to steer him.
"Okay dokie. Now, I'll steer him, meaning I'll be sitting in front of his wings," said Em, patting Bedivere roughly where there was a small space before where the wings were and the neck started, "Harry, you'll sit just behind here," she said, moving down to behind the wings, "and you'll be getting him moving, and Draco, you'll be sitting behind Harry and you'll be getting him off the ground. Not Harry!" she said, at Harry and Malfoy's disgusted looks, "I'm talking about the Pegasus! Get 'ya minds outta the gutter, you two!" she laughed at their horrified expressions, "I wouldn't make youse do that!" She gave a giggle, and then helped Harry onto Bedivere. He sat just behind where the wings were.
"Now you will have to kick him with your heel, really hard, right here," she said, holding Harry's foot in her hand, which was at her head hight, and moving it back into where Bedivere's stomach must have been, "If you feel a bit shaky then just grab the wing nice and close to his body, got it? Now the kicks need to be sharp and hard. You, Draco." and she helped Malfoy onto the Pegasus behind Harry. He felt slightly uneasy about having Malfoy behind him. She ran through what Malfoy had to do, then ran around to where Bedivere's head was. The Pegasus knelt down to let her on, and Harry and Malfoy fell forward, nearly flipping over the wings. Bedivere straitened up, and Em got her wand out, gave it a flick, conjured a whip, gave another flick and in a blue flash turned her wand into a whip too.
"Ok, Harry, start giving him some sharp kicks till I say so."
Harry did and the Pegasus lurched forward. With every kick Harry gave him he went faster, and very soon they were into a very fast canter. Em's long brown hair was flowing behind her, the two whips in either hand, and she seemed to be steering Bedivere by sharply hitting him on either side, depending what way she wanted to go.
"HARRY, STOP! DRACO, START! LEAN FORWARD AND HANG ON!"
Harry felt Malfoy's feet brush his own and jerk backwards into the Pegasus's side. At that precise instant, Harry saw the wings in front of him begin to move. He grabbed the wings where Em had told him to, and they suddenly inclined strait up, and left the ground. Harry instantly felt himself slip, but held on tight and leaned forward. Malfoy's hands wrapped around his neck and clung on tightly; Harry let one hand go and removed Malfoy's from his neck, where they wrapped around his waist in fright.
They were spiralling upwards and within a few moments were just below the clouds. They straitened up and Malfoy slipped to the side, taking Harry with him. He continued to hold on and Malfoy slid back into position. The wings were no longer moving, they were out strait, and must have spanned around 5 metres. They glided for a few minutes until they had found a good altitude, then Em turned around to face them.
"Wasn't that bad, was it?" she asked with a grin.
Malfoy gave a mock, sarcastic laugh. Harry checked to make sure his glasses were still on his face. He had to admit, this was much easier then flying by Thestral. The ground below them flowed past like a river, and Harry could see the castle disappearing in the distance. Looking over Bedivere's wings, Harry could see tiny towns collected here and there, but they were all surrounded by rolling hills and paddocks. A small convey of cars moved silently below, their headlights like tiny fireflies, and Harry heard Malfoy mutter, "What the.?"
They travelled like this for twenty minutes, until Em asked, out of the blue, "Can you smell that?"
"Smell what?" Harry asked.
"Rain."
"What's wrong with a little rain?" Malfoy asked, "Who cares?"
"Bedivere can't fly in rain. We're going to have to stop."
"WHAT?" came Malfoy's voice, loud in Harry's ear, "We can't stop!"
"Get over it, Malfoy. Who cares?" Harry snapped at him. He felt a sharp jab in his back, and he elbowed Malfoy back in the stomach. Malfoy grabbed Harry's hair and jerked his head back; Harry gave a howl of pain. Emmaline turned around, gasped, and as Harry flung his arms back to grab whatever bit of Malfoy he could, Em had climbed across the wings and was in front of Harry. She reached into Harry's hair and dug her nails into Malfoy's hands; he shrieked and let go. Harry fell forward, being caught by Em, who became unstable, and she yelled, "WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOUR DOING!?" She moved in between Harry and Malfoy, her back against Harry's, and started speaking some weird language in a rushed and angry voice that Malfoy seemed to understand. He was being very un-objective and seemed to give up on trying to fight her. She turned her head and said to Harry, "Right. You two will sit here until we land. I don't care if you fight, but when youse fall to your death it'll be my problem! Wait till we hit the ground! Jeeze."
She swung her leg around to the side of the Pegasus, and for a moment Harry thought she was going to jump. She did. She flung herself towards the wing, miraculously catching it, and Bedivere jerked it up, which sent her flying. Harry watched in fear as she floated in mid-air for a moment, before wrapping her arms around Bedivere's neck. She swung herself up into a sitting position and gave a sigh.
"Ok, we're going to land, and I need youse t' lean back."
As soon as she said this they instantly dropped. The Pegasus was heading head first strait down, and Harry was sure he was going to fall forward and die. The wind rippled through his hair, sweat built up on his neck as he saw his impending death grow closer and closer.they were heading for and empty paddock with clean cut grass set on a rolling hill.Harry could see it now.him, falling, and Bedivere accidentally crushing him when it landed.he was brought back to reality when Em yelled, "GET READY!"
They landed with a thud, which was very painful, and Malfoy, who'd been holding onto Harry's hood, slipped off the side, taking Harry with him. They landed in a crumpled mess next to the Pegasus's back hooves. Em slid off gracefully and stood before them.
"I'm going to find out how far it is to London, and."
"How'd you do that little jumpy-flying thing up there?" Harry asked in awe on the ground.
"Well, when you have nothing to lose and a lot of time to practice, well.I'm going to see how far we are from London, and I expect to find BOTH of you alive when I get back." She whipped out her wand and conjured a fire near them, circled by a ring of rocks. She walked over and helped both of them up, and in doing so, slipped her hand into their robes and took their wands.
"Hey!" Harry and Malfoy said in protest.
"I'll be back in about half and hour." And with that she Disapparated with a loud bang. As soon as she'd left, it started to rain. Luckily the fire was unaffected.
Harry stood there, not believing what she'd done. She'd left him alone, wandless and defenceless with Draco Malfoy, who Harry knew would surely kill hem, magic or no magic. Malfoy turned to him.
"Well, would you look at this? Famous Harry Potter, with no wand, stuck on a hill with the son of a great Death Eater. Awful predicament you're in, eh Potter? What are you going to do? Ignore me or fight me?"
"Fight you? Why would I fight you? You haven't done anything yet."
"Oh come on!" said Malfoy, angrily, "Look at you! Standing there all noble and heroic when you've just got my father thrown in jail and slandered my family's name!" He moved forward and shoved Harry hard. "COME ON!!" he screamed at him, "DO SOMETHING!!" Harry noticed that Malfoy's voice was shaky and angry, but at the same time, weak and vulnerable. He collapsed in a fit of tears, his white blonde hair messed and shining in the firelight, droplets of water running down his face.
"How do you do it?" Malfoy asked, his voice crackly with tears, "You don't have any family, and you've seen them all die, and you've had to put up with so much crap.and I.my dad's gone.you're fine and my dad's gone."
Harry knelt down next to Malfoy, feeling overcome with compassion and pity. He hesitantly patted him on the back and said, "Don't be stupid, it'll get better for you. I mean like, you've got lots of money and your family's powerful."
Malfoy gave a huge sob that was mixed in with a hiccup.
".and your dad will get out of Azkaban in no time, you know that."
Malfoy seemed to have stopped crying. He turned to Harry.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Put up with (hiccup) everything?"
"Um, I don't know." Said Harry truthfully, as he stared into the fire, "I guess I've had to, so I've just learned to. It's not that hard after a while."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"(Hiccup) If my father.you know.did anything.the last time you (hiccup).saw him."
"It's fine. I don't care." This was followed with a few seconds of silence.
"Hey Potter."
"What?"
"Can I. (hiccup).touch your scar?"
"What?"
"I wanna know what it feels (hiccup) like. Seeing as we're being all nice and.stuff. (hiccup)"
Harry felt slightly put back at this. But he felt something inside of him; uneasy butterflies seemed to have built up in his stomach, and were now putting on an air show for his insides. It was the same kind of feeling that he used to get whenever Cho talked to him, and he didn't know why it was there now.
"Uh, sure. If you want."
He tensed up and Malfoy lightly touched his forehead and ran three fingers over his scar. It prickled slightly but it didn't hurt. Malfoy brushed Harry's hair aside.
"Is it true then?"
"Is what true?"
"That it hurts and you can feel The Dark Lord's feelings, and be inside of him?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." There was a silence. "That thing doesn't feel like anything."
"I know."
They sat there in silence, next to each other staring into the fire, getting drenched. Harry tried to make sense of the situation. His arch nemesis was being nice to him, and he was being nice back. They seemed to have reached an understanding.
The rain continued to fall, and Harry flicked his hair off his face. He realised that he couldn't see out of his glasses, so he took them off and placed them inside his robes. Malfoy looked at him.
"You don't look so freaky without your glasses on. Can you see without them?"
"A little bit."
"Cool. Hey, what was Cho Chang like?"
"She cried every three minutes!" said Harry, chuckling, and Malfoy laughed. "I mean like, we went on out date and all she could talk about was Cedric. I was a bit put out by that, but then she'd start crying without warning and over nothing! I mean, she was all right.but, well, she just couldn't get over Cedric." Harry thought for a little while, staring into the flames.
"Have you ever gone out with that Mud.Hermione?" Harry realised that Malfoy was really trying hard.
"No."
They continued to stare at the fire in silence, until Harry realised that Malfoy's head had slipped on to his shoulder, and he was sleeping soundly. "Hey Potter."
Maybe not.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry that I've been a prat to you and your friends. I didn't mean it, but well, my father told me."
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter." Malfoy yawned and lay back, now that the rain had stopped, and rested his head on his hands.
"Do you reckon we'd have been friends if you'd been in Slytherin?"
"I dunno. Maybe. I've been told we've got a lot in common."
"Well, I know you'd be the Seeker in Quiditch.I don't think I'd be on the team."
"Why not? You're not that bad a player."
"I'm not as good as you. My father said he'd get me on the team if I wanted to be on, but, well, I only wanted to be a Seeker. maybe to try and show everyone that someone could be as good as you. I dunno."
"I've had that before." Harry said with grimace. "Hey, Malfoy, I."
"Don't call me that. I hate that name. Every time now someone hears it they get all tense and scared, and scream or run or do something stupid."
"Sorry. Um, Draco.can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Ok, well.I don't mean to be rude, but.what's it like, growing up in a Death Eaters house?"
"Well, I'd tell you, but I dunno whose listening. You're being followed by people who could use info like that against me."
"Ah. Ok. How do you know that?"
"Father."
"Ah." They sat in silence for a while, Draco staring at the night sky, which had cleared up, and Harry watch the flames dance inside the rock circle they were inclosed in. Bedivere had lain down and gone to sleep about 20 metres away from them. It was very quiet, except for the odd animal noise, when suddenly.
BANG!!
Draco grabbed Harry and pulled him down; Harry thought a bomb or a gun had gone off.
"Scare like a bunch of seagulls, don't youse?"
Emmaline stood behind the fire, in her hand a bag which was bulging, and in the other, their wands. She seemed to only realise after that they were lying next to each other.
"Oi! Are youse two fighting again?" she asked, dropping the bag and pulling Draco away from Harry. "What have youse been doing?"
"Nothing." Draco said.
"Yeah, well, we'll see." Said Em, and she stood Draco up, faced him and stared into his eyes. He seemed to go into a trance as Harry watched, sitting up. Em's eyes grew wider and wider, and she had very mixed expressions on her face. She seemed very amused.
When she stopped and walked back to where she'd dropped the bag, Draco stood there for a minute, and then seemed to snap back into reality.
"Damn you, Emma. I hate it when you do that! What did you see?" He asked, storming over to her. He was just taller then she was.
"Enough. But it's more what I FELT then what I saw." She said with a grin. She looked over at Harry and winked. She tossed him his wand, which he pocketed. She handed Draco his and he sat down, not next to Harry, but more to the other side of the fire. "It's no use trying to hide it, Draco. You might as well not bother. I know what's going on. Stop being a sook."
"I don't know what's going on! Can someone tell me?" Harry asked angrily.
"Nope. You're going to sleep. We have to leave early tomorrow." Said Em, tossing him a blanket from the bag. She handed one to Draco and said, "I'll wake youse up, ok?"
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Draco asked.
"Later. 'Night." She said, and made her way over to Bedivere with the bag.
Harry moved around so that he could see Draco properly. He crawled under the blanket and pretended to lie down to sleep.
"What did she do?" Harry asked.
"Read my mind. The Dark Lord and Dumbledore can do it. And from what I understand it's what Snape was doing to you when you took Remedial Potions last year."
"But don't you need a wand for that?"
"She doesn't. She's had enough time to perfect it."
"Oh. Ok then. What shouldn't you be bothering with?"
"Nothing. You'll probably find out later. Night, Harry.
"OK. Goodnight, Draco." Harry took his glasses out of his robes and placed them next to him, and closed his eyes. He felt Draco lie down, because their heads touched briefly. For some strange reason that Harry couldn't explain, he felt very content.
The next morning they were off again, while it was still dark, sailing silently on Bedivere's back over the tiny towns below. They landed outside a town just outside London and hid behind a large hedge, just out of view from the street. Em gave a wave of her wand, once Harry and Draco had hopped off Bedivere, and they watched in amazement and his wings disappeared and he shrank down to the size of a normal horse.
"Ok, let's go." Em said, and they walked for ten minutes into London.
Harry saw that they got a few weird looks, but nothing too bad. Not before long they arrived outside the shabby telephone box that was the visitors' entrance of the Ministry of Magic.
"You two go ahead," said Em, "I'll have to go in another way with this one." She said, patting Bedivere the horse. She trotted away and down into an alley, leaving Harry and Draco standing next to the box. They entered and dialled the special number, and soon, a cool female voice was speaking to them. When asked to state their name and reason for visiting the ministry, Harry began, "Harry Potter and." but he was cut off.
".Draco Malfoy. Harry's here to meet Mr. Weasley and I was dragged along because me and my teacher are going somewhere afterwards."
"Thank you. Please take your badges and enjoy your stay at the Ministry of Magic." Harry picked up the badges, seeing that his said, 'HARRY POTTER, VISITING' and Draco's said, 'DRACO MALFOY, HERE BY FORCE.'
They entered the Atrium and Draco pulled his hood over his face. He seemed very nervous and stuck close to Harry, as though Harry's popularity with the Ministry would wash onto him. They saw Emmaline running over to join them from the other side of the room.
"Hey guys. Get in no worries?" They nodded and followed her to the security section, where Harry got through ok, Draco was asked whether he was planning any terrorist action while at the Ministry, at which he spat back a 'No!', but to Harry's surprise, Em was taken into a back room for five minutes before returning, wearing as well as her visitors badge, a green badge with a blue 'S' on it. When they'd left the security desk, Harry asked, "What's the 'S' stand for?"
"Suspect." She said with a grin. Before Harry could ask why she could possibly be a 'Suspect', they were outside the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office.
"You two wait here for a moment." Said Em, and she entered and closed the door behind her.
Harry and Draco stood in silence for a few moments, the corridor empty except for them. Draco looked at Harry as he took off his glassed to rub his eyes. He looked at Draco before replacing them, and before he knew it, Draco had leaned in very close to Harry. He got the uneasy performing butterflies in his stomach again, but this time it wasn't as bad.
"Tell anyone about us being friends and I'll kill you like I had planned." He said, and then, to Harry's surprise and enjoyment, Draco leaned in and kissed him, his soft, rose lips caressing Harry's full ones. At first Harry wasn't to sure what to do, then he started to kiss him back, and their tongues soon finding each other and gently touching and stroking. Adrenalin like Harry had never known surged through him, and he felt lighter then air. It lasted about 20 seconds, before Draco pulled away and resumed the position he had before he had leaned in to threaten him. Harry stared at him for a second, then the office door before them opened and Em and Mr. Weasley burst out.
"Harry! Good to see you again!" Mr. Weasley said, shaking his hand vigorously, "And who's this?" Draco removed his hood, and tried his best not to look angry or disgusted. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy." Said Mr. Weasley, his voice changed into one that was worried and cautious, "It's, uh.it's good to finally meet you properly." And he held out his hand. Draco looked over at Em, who'd been surveying Harry, and she shot him a don't-do-it-and-your-life-wont-be-worth-living glare, and so to Harry's surprise, Draco held out his hand and shook Mr. Weasley's quickly. But still, he'd done it.
"Well, we'd better hit the road," said Em, slapping Draco across the shoulder, "people to talk about, things to see.well, Harry, I'll see you around. Have a good one." And she steered Draco around and headed down the corridor.
Mr. Weasley put his arm around Harry in a one arm hug and said, 'Harry! You'll have to tell me about what's been happening! I heard off Ginny that Ron and Hermione were getting."
But Mr. Weasley's words washed over Harry, as he steered him back into the office. Harry stole a quick glance over his shoulder just as Draco did; their eyes met just as Draco turned the corner with Em. Harry and Draco both wished that they could have had a few extra moments together. Harry couldn't explain why he felt like this, but he could only come to one conclusion; he liked Draco Malfoy!
On the third evening, just after dinner, he headed up to the Gryffindor Common Room with Ron and Hermione. They sat up and talked for a while, until Harry checked his watch and realized that he had half and hour before they left. He hurried to his dormitory and grabbed his travelling cloak, changed out of his school uniform, said a quick goodbye to Hermione, who bombarded him with 'Please-Be-Safe's and said bye to Ron, who he'd be seeing in a few days anyway.
He pulled his cloak on and hurried down to the Entrance Hall, where Malfoy was sitting on the last step of the staircase. He heard Harry's footsteps and turned, a look of disappointment spreading across his face. He too was in a travelling cloak, and out of school uniform, wearing normal, if not expensive, clothes under a black velvet cloak.
"Oh. It's just you." He said with disgust.
"Who were you expecting? The Easter Bunny?"
"Your smart, aren't you, Potter?"
"Yeah, I know." Harry said to himself, and he realized how arrogant he sounded. 'Something your father would say' said a quiet voice in his head. Harry crossed the Entrance Hall over to the huge double doors. He opened them and looked over to Hagrid's hut. There were no lights on, and no smoke coming from the chimney. He sighed. It had been a week since Hagrid had left, and Professor Grubbley-Plank was, once again, not answering his questions.
"Ah, good, you're both here." Came Em's sweet voice from behind him. Harry turned around and saw her jumping down the staircase two steps at a time. "Are we ready to go?"
"Yeah, just one thing," Malfoy said as she reached the last step, "Will I need protection where we're going?"
"Nah, we should be right, but if something happens, well, you know what I can do. Is that all? We ready? Bonza! Let's go!"
They headed out the double doors and across the grounds. The sky was overcast, but snow was yet to fall, so it wasn't a bad night. Though he had to pull his cloak up closer, Harry had trouble seeing where everyone was, because there was no moonlight to light the grounds. They headed towards the Forbidden Forest. Harry got an uneasy feeling. He wasn't a very welcome guest there.
"Are we taking Thestrals?" Harry asked.
"Nah, I have a better mode of transport. Thestrals.I don't really trust them." Said Emmaline in front of him. They continued walking; only stopping right at the forests edge. Harry and Malfoy stopped either side of Emmaline.
"BEDIVERE!" she called into the forest. "BEDIVERE! C'MON SWEETIE!" At first Harry had no idea what or who she was calling to, till he heard the soft patter of hooves, and a creature emerged from the forest. At first Harry thought it was a Centaur, and he stepped beck, but it wasn't, and when the creature came into light he saw that it was actually a large winged horse.
"This is Bedivere, Harry. He's a Pegasus. A flying horse. I picked him up in Greece after I accidentally killed his original master. But he was a nasty wizard, wasn't he, baby?" she cooed to the horse, stroking him, while Harry patted its nose. He couldn't tell what colour it was, because it was dark, but its nose was soft, and he could feel its hot breath as it sniffed his hand. Malfoy was patting its side. "You remember Draco, don't you baby? Yes! Good boy!" Em exclaimed. She led Bedivere away from the forest and into a part of the grounds near them that was very large. Harry noticed that there weren't any reins on the Pegasus, and he wondered how they were supposed to steer him.
"Okay dokie. Now, I'll steer him, meaning I'll be sitting in front of his wings," said Em, patting Bedivere roughly where there was a small space before where the wings were and the neck started, "Harry, you'll sit just behind here," she said, moving down to behind the wings, "and you'll be getting him moving, and Draco, you'll be sitting behind Harry and you'll be getting him off the ground. Not Harry!" she said, at Harry and Malfoy's disgusted looks, "I'm talking about the Pegasus! Get 'ya minds outta the gutter, you two!" she laughed at their horrified expressions, "I wouldn't make youse do that!" She gave a giggle, and then helped Harry onto Bedivere. He sat just behind where the wings were.
"Now you will have to kick him with your heel, really hard, right here," she said, holding Harry's foot in her hand, which was at her head hight, and moving it back into where Bedivere's stomach must have been, "If you feel a bit shaky then just grab the wing nice and close to his body, got it? Now the kicks need to be sharp and hard. You, Draco." and she helped Malfoy onto the Pegasus behind Harry. He felt slightly uneasy about having Malfoy behind him. She ran through what Malfoy had to do, then ran around to where Bedivere's head was. The Pegasus knelt down to let her on, and Harry and Malfoy fell forward, nearly flipping over the wings. Bedivere straitened up, and Em got her wand out, gave it a flick, conjured a whip, gave another flick and in a blue flash turned her wand into a whip too.
"Ok, Harry, start giving him some sharp kicks till I say so."
Harry did and the Pegasus lurched forward. With every kick Harry gave him he went faster, and very soon they were into a very fast canter. Em's long brown hair was flowing behind her, the two whips in either hand, and she seemed to be steering Bedivere by sharply hitting him on either side, depending what way she wanted to go.
"HARRY, STOP! DRACO, START! LEAN FORWARD AND HANG ON!"
Harry felt Malfoy's feet brush his own and jerk backwards into the Pegasus's side. At that precise instant, Harry saw the wings in front of him begin to move. He grabbed the wings where Em had told him to, and they suddenly inclined strait up, and left the ground. Harry instantly felt himself slip, but held on tight and leaned forward. Malfoy's hands wrapped around his neck and clung on tightly; Harry let one hand go and removed Malfoy's from his neck, where they wrapped around his waist in fright.
They were spiralling upwards and within a few moments were just below the clouds. They straitened up and Malfoy slipped to the side, taking Harry with him. He continued to hold on and Malfoy slid back into position. The wings were no longer moving, they were out strait, and must have spanned around 5 metres. They glided for a few minutes until they had found a good altitude, then Em turned around to face them.
"Wasn't that bad, was it?" she asked with a grin.
Malfoy gave a mock, sarcastic laugh. Harry checked to make sure his glasses were still on his face. He had to admit, this was much easier then flying by Thestral. The ground below them flowed past like a river, and Harry could see the castle disappearing in the distance. Looking over Bedivere's wings, Harry could see tiny towns collected here and there, but they were all surrounded by rolling hills and paddocks. A small convey of cars moved silently below, their headlights like tiny fireflies, and Harry heard Malfoy mutter, "What the.?"
They travelled like this for twenty minutes, until Em asked, out of the blue, "Can you smell that?"
"Smell what?" Harry asked.
"Rain."
"What's wrong with a little rain?" Malfoy asked, "Who cares?"
"Bedivere can't fly in rain. We're going to have to stop."
"WHAT?" came Malfoy's voice, loud in Harry's ear, "We can't stop!"
"Get over it, Malfoy. Who cares?" Harry snapped at him. He felt a sharp jab in his back, and he elbowed Malfoy back in the stomach. Malfoy grabbed Harry's hair and jerked his head back; Harry gave a howl of pain. Emmaline turned around, gasped, and as Harry flung his arms back to grab whatever bit of Malfoy he could, Em had climbed across the wings and was in front of Harry. She reached into Harry's hair and dug her nails into Malfoy's hands; he shrieked and let go. Harry fell forward, being caught by Em, who became unstable, and she yelled, "WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOUR DOING!?" She moved in between Harry and Malfoy, her back against Harry's, and started speaking some weird language in a rushed and angry voice that Malfoy seemed to understand. He was being very un-objective and seemed to give up on trying to fight her. She turned her head and said to Harry, "Right. You two will sit here until we land. I don't care if you fight, but when youse fall to your death it'll be my problem! Wait till we hit the ground! Jeeze."
She swung her leg around to the side of the Pegasus, and for a moment Harry thought she was going to jump. She did. She flung herself towards the wing, miraculously catching it, and Bedivere jerked it up, which sent her flying. Harry watched in fear as she floated in mid-air for a moment, before wrapping her arms around Bedivere's neck. She swung herself up into a sitting position and gave a sigh.
"Ok, we're going to land, and I need youse t' lean back."
As soon as she said this they instantly dropped. The Pegasus was heading head first strait down, and Harry was sure he was going to fall forward and die. The wind rippled through his hair, sweat built up on his neck as he saw his impending death grow closer and closer.they were heading for and empty paddock with clean cut grass set on a rolling hill.Harry could see it now.him, falling, and Bedivere accidentally crushing him when it landed.he was brought back to reality when Em yelled, "GET READY!"
They landed with a thud, which was very painful, and Malfoy, who'd been holding onto Harry's hood, slipped off the side, taking Harry with him. They landed in a crumpled mess next to the Pegasus's back hooves. Em slid off gracefully and stood before them.
"I'm going to find out how far it is to London, and."
"How'd you do that little jumpy-flying thing up there?" Harry asked in awe on the ground.
"Well, when you have nothing to lose and a lot of time to practice, well.I'm going to see how far we are from London, and I expect to find BOTH of you alive when I get back." She whipped out her wand and conjured a fire near them, circled by a ring of rocks. She walked over and helped both of them up, and in doing so, slipped her hand into their robes and took their wands.
"Hey!" Harry and Malfoy said in protest.
"I'll be back in about half and hour." And with that she Disapparated with a loud bang. As soon as she'd left, it started to rain. Luckily the fire was unaffected.
Harry stood there, not believing what she'd done. She'd left him alone, wandless and defenceless with Draco Malfoy, who Harry knew would surely kill hem, magic or no magic. Malfoy turned to him.
"Well, would you look at this? Famous Harry Potter, with no wand, stuck on a hill with the son of a great Death Eater. Awful predicament you're in, eh Potter? What are you going to do? Ignore me or fight me?"
"Fight you? Why would I fight you? You haven't done anything yet."
"Oh come on!" said Malfoy, angrily, "Look at you! Standing there all noble and heroic when you've just got my father thrown in jail and slandered my family's name!" He moved forward and shoved Harry hard. "COME ON!!" he screamed at him, "DO SOMETHING!!" Harry noticed that Malfoy's voice was shaky and angry, but at the same time, weak and vulnerable. He collapsed in a fit of tears, his white blonde hair messed and shining in the firelight, droplets of water running down his face.
"How do you do it?" Malfoy asked, his voice crackly with tears, "You don't have any family, and you've seen them all die, and you've had to put up with so much crap.and I.my dad's gone.you're fine and my dad's gone."
Harry knelt down next to Malfoy, feeling overcome with compassion and pity. He hesitantly patted him on the back and said, "Don't be stupid, it'll get better for you. I mean like, you've got lots of money and your family's powerful."
Malfoy gave a huge sob that was mixed in with a hiccup.
".and your dad will get out of Azkaban in no time, you know that."
Malfoy seemed to have stopped crying. He turned to Harry.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Put up with (hiccup) everything?"
"Um, I don't know." Said Harry truthfully, as he stared into the fire, "I guess I've had to, so I've just learned to. It's not that hard after a while."
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"(Hiccup) If my father.you know.did anything.the last time you (hiccup).saw him."
"It's fine. I don't care." This was followed with a few seconds of silence.
"Hey Potter."
"What?"
"Can I. (hiccup).touch your scar?"
"What?"
"I wanna know what it feels (hiccup) like. Seeing as we're being all nice and.stuff. (hiccup)"
Harry felt slightly put back at this. But he felt something inside of him; uneasy butterflies seemed to have built up in his stomach, and were now putting on an air show for his insides. It was the same kind of feeling that he used to get whenever Cho talked to him, and he didn't know why it was there now.
"Uh, sure. If you want."
He tensed up and Malfoy lightly touched his forehead and ran three fingers over his scar. It prickled slightly but it didn't hurt. Malfoy brushed Harry's hair aside.
"Is it true then?"
"Is what true?"
"That it hurts and you can feel The Dark Lord's feelings, and be inside of him?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." There was a silence. "That thing doesn't feel like anything."
"I know."
They sat there in silence, next to each other staring into the fire, getting drenched. Harry tried to make sense of the situation. His arch nemesis was being nice to him, and he was being nice back. They seemed to have reached an understanding.
The rain continued to fall, and Harry flicked his hair off his face. He realised that he couldn't see out of his glasses, so he took them off and placed them inside his robes. Malfoy looked at him.
"You don't look so freaky without your glasses on. Can you see without them?"
"A little bit."
"Cool. Hey, what was Cho Chang like?"
"She cried every three minutes!" said Harry, chuckling, and Malfoy laughed. "I mean like, we went on out date and all she could talk about was Cedric. I was a bit put out by that, but then she'd start crying without warning and over nothing! I mean, she was all right.but, well, she just couldn't get over Cedric." Harry thought for a little while, staring into the flames.
"Have you ever gone out with that Mud.Hermione?" Harry realised that Malfoy was really trying hard.
"No."
They continued to stare at the fire in silence, until Harry realised that Malfoy's head had slipped on to his shoulder, and he was sleeping soundly. "Hey Potter."
Maybe not.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry that I've been a prat to you and your friends. I didn't mean it, but well, my father told me."
"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter." Malfoy yawned and lay back, now that the rain had stopped, and rested his head on his hands.
"Do you reckon we'd have been friends if you'd been in Slytherin?"
"I dunno. Maybe. I've been told we've got a lot in common."
"Well, I know you'd be the Seeker in Quiditch.I don't think I'd be on the team."
"Why not? You're not that bad a player."
"I'm not as good as you. My father said he'd get me on the team if I wanted to be on, but, well, I only wanted to be a Seeker. maybe to try and show everyone that someone could be as good as you. I dunno."
"I've had that before." Harry said with grimace. "Hey, Malfoy, I."
"Don't call me that. I hate that name. Every time now someone hears it they get all tense and scared, and scream or run or do something stupid."
"Sorry. Um, Draco.can I ask you something?"
"You just did."
"Ok, well.I don't mean to be rude, but.what's it like, growing up in a Death Eaters house?"
"Well, I'd tell you, but I dunno whose listening. You're being followed by people who could use info like that against me."
"Ah. Ok. How do you know that?"
"Father."
"Ah." They sat in silence for a while, Draco staring at the night sky, which had cleared up, and Harry watch the flames dance inside the rock circle they were inclosed in. Bedivere had lain down and gone to sleep about 20 metres away from them. It was very quiet, except for the odd animal noise, when suddenly.
BANG!!
Draco grabbed Harry and pulled him down; Harry thought a bomb or a gun had gone off.
"Scare like a bunch of seagulls, don't youse?"
Emmaline stood behind the fire, in her hand a bag which was bulging, and in the other, their wands. She seemed to only realise after that they were lying next to each other.
"Oi! Are youse two fighting again?" she asked, dropping the bag and pulling Draco away from Harry. "What have youse been doing?"
"Nothing." Draco said.
"Yeah, well, we'll see." Said Em, and she stood Draco up, faced him and stared into his eyes. He seemed to go into a trance as Harry watched, sitting up. Em's eyes grew wider and wider, and she had very mixed expressions on her face. She seemed very amused.
When she stopped and walked back to where she'd dropped the bag, Draco stood there for a minute, and then seemed to snap back into reality.
"Damn you, Emma. I hate it when you do that! What did you see?" He asked, storming over to her. He was just taller then she was.
"Enough. But it's more what I FELT then what I saw." She said with a grin. She looked over at Harry and winked. She tossed him his wand, which he pocketed. She handed Draco his and he sat down, not next to Harry, but more to the other side of the fire. "It's no use trying to hide it, Draco. You might as well not bother. I know what's going on. Stop being a sook."
"I don't know what's going on! Can someone tell me?" Harry asked angrily.
"Nope. You're going to sleep. We have to leave early tomorrow." Said Em, tossing him a blanket from the bag. She handed one to Draco and said, "I'll wake youse up, ok?"
"Aren't you going to sleep?" Draco asked.
"Later. 'Night." She said, and made her way over to Bedivere with the bag.
Harry moved around so that he could see Draco properly. He crawled under the blanket and pretended to lie down to sleep.
"What did she do?" Harry asked.
"Read my mind. The Dark Lord and Dumbledore can do it. And from what I understand it's what Snape was doing to you when you took Remedial Potions last year."
"But don't you need a wand for that?"
"She doesn't. She's had enough time to perfect it."
"Oh. Ok then. What shouldn't you be bothering with?"
"Nothing. You'll probably find out later. Night, Harry.
"OK. Goodnight, Draco." Harry took his glasses out of his robes and placed them next to him, and closed his eyes. He felt Draco lie down, because their heads touched briefly. For some strange reason that Harry couldn't explain, he felt very content.
The next morning they were off again, while it was still dark, sailing silently on Bedivere's back over the tiny towns below. They landed outside a town just outside London and hid behind a large hedge, just out of view from the street. Em gave a wave of her wand, once Harry and Draco had hopped off Bedivere, and they watched in amazement and his wings disappeared and he shrank down to the size of a normal horse.
"Ok, let's go." Em said, and they walked for ten minutes into London.
Harry saw that they got a few weird looks, but nothing too bad. Not before long they arrived outside the shabby telephone box that was the visitors' entrance of the Ministry of Magic.
"You two go ahead," said Em, "I'll have to go in another way with this one." She said, patting Bedivere the horse. She trotted away and down into an alley, leaving Harry and Draco standing next to the box. They entered and dialled the special number, and soon, a cool female voice was speaking to them. When asked to state their name and reason for visiting the ministry, Harry began, "Harry Potter and." but he was cut off.
".Draco Malfoy. Harry's here to meet Mr. Weasley and I was dragged along because me and my teacher are going somewhere afterwards."
"Thank you. Please take your badges and enjoy your stay at the Ministry of Magic." Harry picked up the badges, seeing that his said, 'HARRY POTTER, VISITING' and Draco's said, 'DRACO MALFOY, HERE BY FORCE.'
They entered the Atrium and Draco pulled his hood over his face. He seemed very nervous and stuck close to Harry, as though Harry's popularity with the Ministry would wash onto him. They saw Emmaline running over to join them from the other side of the room.
"Hey guys. Get in no worries?" They nodded and followed her to the security section, where Harry got through ok, Draco was asked whether he was planning any terrorist action while at the Ministry, at which he spat back a 'No!', but to Harry's surprise, Em was taken into a back room for five minutes before returning, wearing as well as her visitors badge, a green badge with a blue 'S' on it. When they'd left the security desk, Harry asked, "What's the 'S' stand for?"
"Suspect." She said with a grin. Before Harry could ask why she could possibly be a 'Suspect', they were outside the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts office.
"You two wait here for a moment." Said Em, and she entered and closed the door behind her.
Harry and Draco stood in silence for a few moments, the corridor empty except for them. Draco looked at Harry as he took off his glassed to rub his eyes. He looked at Draco before replacing them, and before he knew it, Draco had leaned in very close to Harry. He got the uneasy performing butterflies in his stomach again, but this time it wasn't as bad.
"Tell anyone about us being friends and I'll kill you like I had planned." He said, and then, to Harry's surprise and enjoyment, Draco leaned in and kissed him, his soft, rose lips caressing Harry's full ones. At first Harry wasn't to sure what to do, then he started to kiss him back, and their tongues soon finding each other and gently touching and stroking. Adrenalin like Harry had never known surged through him, and he felt lighter then air. It lasted about 20 seconds, before Draco pulled away and resumed the position he had before he had leaned in to threaten him. Harry stared at him for a second, then the office door before them opened and Em and Mr. Weasley burst out.
"Harry! Good to see you again!" Mr. Weasley said, shaking his hand vigorously, "And who's this?" Draco removed his hood, and tried his best not to look angry or disgusted. "Ah, Mr. Malfoy." Said Mr. Weasley, his voice changed into one that was worried and cautious, "It's, uh.it's good to finally meet you properly." And he held out his hand. Draco looked over at Em, who'd been surveying Harry, and she shot him a don't-do-it-and-your-life-wont-be-worth-living glare, and so to Harry's surprise, Draco held out his hand and shook Mr. Weasley's quickly. But still, he'd done it.
"Well, we'd better hit the road," said Em, slapping Draco across the shoulder, "people to talk about, things to see.well, Harry, I'll see you around. Have a good one." And she steered Draco around and headed down the corridor.
Mr. Weasley put his arm around Harry in a one arm hug and said, 'Harry! You'll have to tell me about what's been happening! I heard off Ginny that Ron and Hermione were getting."
But Mr. Weasley's words washed over Harry, as he steered him back into the office. Harry stole a quick glance over his shoulder just as Draco did; their eyes met just as Draco turned the corner with Em. Harry and Draco both wished that they could have had a few extra moments together. Harry couldn't explain why he felt like this, but he could only come to one conclusion; he liked Draco Malfoy!