Harry Potter and the Book of Ages - Margot, February 25 2001
*
Chapter Two - Rhyme & Reason
*
"Hedwig? What on earth-"
Cho's voice caught in her throat as she gripped the window ledge tightly. She could see Harry's snowy owl rocket towards her, and she quickly moved away from the window to allow it refuge in her room. Hedwig slowed her incessant flapping with a dignified hoot and settled herself on the back of Cho's chair, clutching it with her strong talons. Cho's eyes widened as she noticed the small, folded letter tied to Hedwig's leg- but of course, what else would Hedwig be doing there- and, with trembling fingers, untied it and opened it. Her eyes sped quickly across the page, taking in Harry's words at a remarkable rate.
Finally, sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and folded the letter once. Hedwig gave a curious hoot but stayed otherwise still, waiting for the woman's response. Taking another deep breath, Cho snatched a quill from her desk and quickly scribbled a response on the letter's inside flap, then carefully tied it to Hedwig's leg once more.
Hedwig chirped appreciatively and took off out the window. Cho continued to watch her until she became an invisible dot in the sky.
***
Harry gently ran his fingers up and down the spine of the tiny, leather-bound journal. He wasn't sure what kept him from opening it; some sort of ridiculous, ungrounded premonition, no doubt. He turned his hand to allow his thumb to fold over the edge of the cover, then froze, unsure of what to do. He barely noticed as Hedwig returned to the room and quietly perched atop her cage in the corner. Harry's mind felt both blank and violently conflicted at the same time, as if he were flip-flopping between making an important decision... and yet, already knew the right action to take.
Hedwig hooted anxiously in the far corner, but Harry refused to move. He inhaled gently, then, letting going of his breath, flipped back the cover of the book and shut his eyes, expecting the worst.
A moment later, he opened his eyes again- left, then right- and stared at the book.
Well, still alive, he thought to himself. His eyes slowly perused the first page.
|
Blessed be they who hold
in their hands |
Harry flipped to the next page and barely had time to read the flow of messy, black letters before a strangled smile crept across his face. Despite the bizarre nagging feeling at the back of his mind, he knew, somehow, he could feel that the journal contained some sort of wonderful gift for him. His eyes focused on the page.
Suddenly, loud and incessant shrieking could be heard from the other end of the room. Harry slammed the journal shut as alarm shot through his body. He turned in his seat to see Hedwig fluttering in the air, struggling to shake off the letter attached to her leg. Letting out an unnatural sigh, Harry stood up, quickly calmed Hedwig, and gently untied the letter.
Carrying it back to his desk, he unfolded it and allowed his eyes to skim the parchment. He completed it, quickly read it over again, and raised an eyebrow. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he should be ecstatic, but his face revealed nothing except for pleasant surprise.
|
Dear Harry, I've been anticipating your letter for so long, I'm so relieved I finally got it. Maybe Ron's already told you, but I work with him at the Internal company for the Ministry, Department of Divination. Please pay me a visit at my office whenever you get a chance, and maybe we can talk. ~ Cho |
Harry's eyes slowly moved from the parchment he was clutching in his fingers to the journal back on his desk. So, she was willing to give him a chance. He smiled a grateful smile at the journal. Again, something in the back of his mind was bothering him, telling him whatever he was feeling was wrong, contrived and not of his own will, but elsewhere, similar feelings were suppressed. What was making him feel this way? It was unnatural, somehow. He knew that, he felt it within his bones, but he couldn't bring himself to pay these nagging feelings any more heed.
These other feelings, even if they were "contrived" and foreign, were comforting. Like a source of inner peace, of courage. He enjoyed them.
So he relished in them a little longer, then went to sleep.
***
Usually he had dreams cum nightmares of something taking his son from him, almost every night, for the last three years. But this night, the dream was different.
He was standing with three other people on a low hill overlooking a wide, open moor. A low fog was hanging in the air, but it was thin, allowing for near-normal vision. The area was completely quiet; not even the breathing of his companions could be heard.
Finally, Draco himself broke the silence, but not with his own voice. His mind immediately caught the distinct differences between this new voice and his own; his voice seemed to constantly ring with a touch of loveable skepticism- at least, that's how he thought of it- but this new, unfamiliar voice was filled with authority and command. It seemed to demand respect. Draco had only once heard that voice before, in his own father.
"This seems like the perfect place, would you not agree?"
He turned, smiling, to his companions. A red-headed, pleasant-looking woman nodded in cheerful agreement. For the first time, Draco took notice of his robes. They were simple, dark green and draping. A long black cape was wrapped around his neck, made of the same soft material as his robes. The red-headed woman was dressed in identical robes to his, only hers were a light canary yellow. He turned to the tall woman standing beside her; this woman was striking, with long, straight black hair. She looked like a serious, no-nonsense sort of person, but her expression looked oddly pleased. Her robes were a deep, evening-sky blue. She nodded at Draco, and turned to the final companion, a man in dark scarlet robes with a build similar to Draco's. His hair was black and messy, and his eyes were a penetrating blue, although, at the moment, they appeared oddly cloudy.
"I quite agree. Godric, what do you think?"
The man she had addressed, Godric, squinted thoughtfully and looked out over the moor. A moment passed, and he turned disconcertedly to the other three. He stared deeply in Draco's eyes, and an angry knot formed in Draco's stomach... he didn't like Godric's expression, didn't like it at all.
"I think not. It is very wet here, and the land seems uneven."
"But Godric," the woman in blue began soothingly, "the fog here will prevent any curious Muggles from approaching. In addition, they would know what to expect: a murky, unsuspecting area. This place appears quite safe from roving Muggle eyes; I believe it would be the perfect location in which we can erect a private castle." She cast a wary eye towards her other two companions, and chewed her lip. "I think I need hardly remind you how suspicious the Muggles are nowadays of witches. It is important for us to find a secluded place where we can raise witches and wizards in relative peace and quiet; even with magic wards, you never know when a Muggle child will allow his curiousity to get the better of him. We three are in agreement that this is the perfect location, our long search can finally end."
Godric sighed, and continue to stare at Draco, his malevolent glare locked. Draco could feel Godric's stare within the very depths of his heart, but it was too difficult to read; he wasn't sure if he was sensing bitterness, contempt, or mere hostility. "Godric...?" Draco started in the same, unfamiliar voice.
"Fine. This place is fine."
The two women nodded smilingly to each other, and Draco felt himself grin slightly with relief. Godric, however, remained stoic, his eyes never moving.
***
Harry slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes and looked around, disoriented and confused. It took him a moment to remember where he was, but it soon came back to him; he was in his bedroom, on his bed. For some reason, he was curled up into a tight ball above his covers. Before he could contemplate this for too long, however, a loud growl escaped from his stomach and he dragged his feet down to the kitchen to get breakfast.
The kitchen was oddly spotless for a bachelor's house. The radio on the countertop flicked itself on when Harry entered the room and the various cookbooks lining the walls drew themselves up at the sight of him, hoping that, today, one of their number would finally be put to good use. Nearby, a clock in the shape of a black cat smiled unnervingly, its eyes and tail moving back and forth in time with the clock's ticking. When Harry entered the room, it stopped and narrowed his eyes at him. "It's about time you woke up, you mangy critter!" it barked. He looked up at it with angrily, and it simply rolled its enormous plastic eyes and went back to wagging its tail in peace. Harry pulled a bowl and a box of cereal out of one of the cabinets, as well as milk from his fridge (causing the cookbooks to droop their spines sadly) and was about to eat his humble breakfast when suddenly, the sharp ringing of the telephone shook him to his senses. He dove for it and lifted the receiver to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Harry? Harry, are you all right?" came a frantic female voice.
"What? Er, I'm fine, who is this?"
"It's Hermione, you brainless git."
"Oh... hi, Hermione."
"Yes, hello yourself. Harry, why-"
"Hermione, why are you using the phone?"
"It's the fastest mode of communication right now, seeing as how you haven't started a fire in your fireplace yet."
"Oh. Right."
"Anyway, as I was saying, why didn't I hear from you last night? You were supposed to ring me after you got home from work. Why didn't you?"
Harry narrowed his eyes. "Hermione, relax. It was because..." he thought hard. "Actually, I can't remember what I did last night."
There was a disbelieving pause from the other end. "You don't remember."
Harry ran his hand through his hair. "I'm serious, I really have no idea what happened when I got home from work last night. Oh, wait... I remember I got a letter from Cho."
There was another, longer pause from the other line, and then Harry could hear Hermione's distant voice telling someone in the background, "He got a letter from Cho!", followed by Ron's familiar loud whoop.
"Harry, that's fabulous! What did it say?"
"She said..." Harry struggled to remember. "She said she was relieved that she got the letter from me. Er, I guess I sent her a letter last night. Then she said that I should pay her a visit at the Ministry."
"Relieved? She said she was relieved?"
"Yeah." Harry could hear Hermione repeating his words to Ron, only this time, they were not followed by another loud cheer. Hermione soon came back to the phone.
"Well, you should pay her a visit some other day, not today. Don't want to seem desperate or anything."
Harry frowned as he heard Ron's laughter in the background.
"Yeah, all right."
"Anyway," Hermione started, changing the topic, "you were supposed to come over on Saturday so we could go into Hogsmeade together, but since you felt the need to postpone that meeting, I thought maybe you'd like to come down today, after work. The three of us can take the Floo Network back here."
"Sure, good idea. Oh, one last thing... ask Ron why he didn't tell me that he worked with Cho."
"He does? Of course I'll ask..." Harry heard Hermione's voice fade as she moved the phone speaker away from her lips, and questioned Ron. There was a pause while he answered, then Harry could distinctly hear Hermione's exasperated reply, "Oh Ron, you're the brainless git."
"What did he say?"
Hermione sighed into the phone. "He shrugged stupidly- YES Ron, it was a stupid shrug- and said it was because you never asked."
Harry paused. "Tell him he's an arse."
Hermione pulled the speaker away again and repeated what Harry said, which was followed by Ron's loud laughter.
"We'll meet by the big fire in the courtyard at six, all right?"
"Sure. See you then."
"Bye," Hermione replied. Harry heard Ron shout a loud "GOODBYE!!", followed by the click of the phone being hung up. Harry replaced the receiver, polished off his breakfast, and, throwing a quick glance towards the clock, decided that he still had quite a bit of time before being due at the Ministry. Throwing open the backdoor, he went out into the garden.
By wizard standards, the garden was fairly humble with only a few exotic plants scattered about- a potato bush here, a money tree there- but Harry passed them all and followed a sporadically-placed stone path towards an large holly tree in the very back of the garden, around which several odd black and orange lights were currently buzzing.
When Voldemort had massacred the Potter house, everything had been completely destroyed, save this tree. Sirius and Remus had forbidden Harry from taking it down when he had decided to rebuild the house. Their words had proved unnecessary, however, because Harry hadn't wanted to take it down. He had heard stories that the tree was hundred of years old, planted at the same time as Hogwarts had been erected, and because of that it had some sort of thousand-year old magic within its branches. Harry wasn't sure if that was true- the idea of a tree being able to cast magic sounded more than a little strange- but a large group of fairies had found the tree somewhere down the line, and had built a small community for themselves among the branches and inside the trunk.
Harry neared the tree, and the true natures of the buzzing lights became apparent: they were several fairies who had changed their natural colours to either orange or black to celebrate Samhain. He also noticed, raising his eyebrows, that they were all female.
"Hello girls," he smiled as he approached them. The fairies instantly stopped darting about in all directions and hovered in mid-air, waving maniacally to Harry and giggling.
"Hi Harry!!"
"Don't you think it's time to go back to your normal colours now? Samhain ended a couple of days ago."
The fairies continued to giggle as they all began chattering at once. The chirping din soon lowered its volume, and Harry turned towards one of the fairies, surrounded in a shimmery black aura, leaving tiny sparkles of light wherever she flew.
"These colours are more fun! Black is really slimming, you know!"
Another fairy, slightly larger and covered in orange, spoke up. "Oh, Isis, hush up!" she cried good-naturedly. "You look fabulous in your natural colour too!!"
The first fairy, Isis, continued to giggle. "But pink is so out of style nowadays!"
"Oh, you must be joking!" the second squealed. The fairies continued their aimless prattle, and Harry rolled his eyes and stifled a laugh. Their in-born ability to speak sentences only ending in exclamation marks is really amazing, he thought to himself.
One fairy, enveloped in a green aura, flew out of the fairies large mass and zoomed towards Harry, leaving behind sparkly green dust in her trail. She promptly seated herself on his shoulder. "How are you, Harry?" she asked pleasantly.
"Hi, Fallon. I'm fine."
"That's good to hear. I was a little worried about you last night."
"Oh?" Harry craned his neck to get a look at the little fairy. She was about as long as his middle finger and was quite pretty. Everything about her was green- her face, her eyes, her clothes, her hair- allowing her to blend perfectly with the leaves of the holly tree. She was looking up concernedly into his face. "Why?"
"I was flying around the front of the house yesterday afternoon when you got home. You looked really sick. Later on, I flew up to the study window and you looked really strange... like you were smiling, but you weren't happy."
Harry furrowed his brow. "Oh, well... don't worry about it," he laughed, an anxious knot forming in his stomach. Fallon smiled at him.
"All right, if you say so. Anyway, perhaps you should get ready to go to the Ministry. It's starting to get late."
He smiled weakly at her. "Yeah... yeah, right." Fallon picked herself off his shoulder, and with a brief wave, he departed for the house. She hovered in the air for several more moments, watching the house quietly, the inane chatter of the other fairies behind her drowned out by her own thoughts.
***
"So, Potter, feeling better?"
Harry looked up from his desk at Draco, who had just walked into the office. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring Draco's question. "You're late. It's already eleven."
"Ooh, good spotting."
"Did you take the books up to Suzannah yesterday like I asked?"
"Of course I did," Draco replied, "I'm a good little soldier."
"All of them, right?"
Draco rolled his yes. "But of course, my Lord." Unnoticed by Harry, his eyes drifted warily towards his desk's top drawer. "If you so desire, next I will gift you with a peeled grape."
Harry got up from his desk, approaching Draco with his hand out. "No need for that. Can I get a look at the report? I'll send it off to Bridget, she'll want to see it."
Draco marched towards his desk, pulled the top drawer open and, quickly shoving his father's logbook out of sight, pulled out a few sheets of paper and obediently handed them to Harry. He skimmed over them.
"Is this it?"
Draco stared blankly. "Uh, yeah."
"No, I counted how many books I took out of there. There was one more."
Draco cast his eyes around the office. "No. Definitely not. That's it."
Harry chewed his lip. "I know there was one more, I'm sure of it. You didn't go through the bag and keep one book for yourself, did you?"
Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry. "Why are you preaching to me about stealing books? What about that journal sticking out of your pocket yesterday?"
There was a tense silence between the two as they attempted to stare each other down. Finally, Harry spoke. "Did you, or did you not, take a book out of that satchel yesterday?"
Draco kept his eyes steady on Harry, his look never faltering. "No. I. Did. Not. Take. A. Book. From. The. Bag," he said, slowly and clearly. Harry kept his eyes locked on Draco for several more seconds, then simply shrugged. "All right. I believe you," he said calmly, resuming the seat at his desk. Draco turned to his own desk breathlessly, quickly sucking in several sharp, but quiet, breaths. That stare...
Suddenly, the office door flew open and banged into the near wall loudly. Draco whipped around quickly. "Hello," Ron cried jovially, marching into the office. "Oh, hey Ron," Harry gave a brief wave. Draco narrowed his eyes. "Weasley, what are you doing here? You don't work in this department. You don't even work in this building."
Ron clucked his tongue at Draco. He looked slightly ruffled. "Malfoy, you're a smart one. Much smarter than I give you credit for. But in case you didn't notice in our seven years at Hogwarts, and the six years afterwards, Harry and I are friends. You know, friends? As in, ally, partner, confidant, wellwisher. And so forth."
Harry grinned up at Ron, who was smiling victoriously at Draco. Draco's eyes looked as though they were about to shoot laserbeams. "Okay, Ron, back off," Harry said, anxious to keep Draco's temper in check.
"What?! Why? I was on a roll!"
"You were," Draco muttered to himself as he rounded his desk to take a seat. "Keep it up and that's what they'll be spreading you on when I'm through with you."
"What was that, Malfoy?"
Draco threw Ron a quick plastered smile. "Nothing, Weasley."
Ron smiled and turned back to Harry. "So, Harry, can I get a look at the letter from Cho? You brought it with you, right?" Harry nodded and pulled the letter out of his cloack pocket. Ron dove for Harry's desk and greedily snatched the letter out of his waiting hand. Without even opening it, he smiled with relief. "Excellent, now I don't have to set you up with Eloise Midgeon."
Harry frowned. "You were going to do that?"
Ron shrugged, unfolding the letter. "Well, she's single and works in my department."
"Why are you acting so excited?"
Ron smiled, not noticing Draco's eyes frozen on his face. "Just happy that the long search is over, I suppose." His eyes skimmed over the letter quickly, and he chewed his lip. "I'm getting mixed messages from this. But whatever her intention is, you should still meet her."
Harry frowned. "Where?"
"She suggested her office."
Harry laughed. "Come on Ron, I'm not thick. You'd probably be listening through the door to the entire conversation."
Ron shrugged again. "Yeah, you're probably right. So what about in here? This seems like the perfect place."
Harry surveyed the office skeptically. "I don't think so, Ron. This dank, smelly office isn't exactly the best way to impress a girl." Draco immediately got to his feet and glared at Harry and Ron with a mixture of anger and horror in his expression. Harry and Ron turned to him questioningly for a minute, then back to each other.
"Harry, it's perfect. You can show her your office, you know... she'll be really impressed, this is the office of someone really important to the Ministry." Draco examined Ron's expression. He appeared slightly uneasy. Harry, on the other hand, seemed quite calm, almost strangely so. His eyes were locked fixatedly on Ron, a disarming expression on his face. There was a long, unsually tense pause. Ron fidgeted slightly.
"Fine. This office is fine."
The two continued to hold each other's gaze as if trying to challenge each other, then, suddenly, Harry got to his feet and the tension mysteriously evaporated. "Let's get together for lunch, all right? Malfoy and I have to get to a meeting in a few minutes, so I'll meet you at the cafeteria."
Ron nodded in agreement. "Sure, see you then." He gave a quick grin and left the office.
"Let's get moving." Harry moved towards the door and, dazedly, Draco followed his lead. "You all right?"
Draco nodded and, feeling unusually stressed for someone with such a liberal attitude towards his job, ran a hand through his hair. "I'm fine, other than I think I'm going mad."
***
Both the entire Department of Object Disarmament and Department of Person Disarmament had gathered outside the largest meeting room the Ministry had to offer; Harry estimated there was about eighty to ninety people altogether.
"Potter, what do you expect Sirius called the meeting for?" Sean hissed, leaning in close to Harry.
"I honestly have no idea," Harry shrugged. Sean nodded and opened his mouth to carry on speculating, but was interrupted as the doors to the meeting room were thrown open and the Aurors from both departments quickly shuffled in, heading for the closest available seats before the doors could close on them. Harry quickly seated himself close to the Head Chair, joined by Sean and Draco.
The doors closed but soon blew open again. The Aurors quickly rose obediently to their feet as Sirius Black, followed by Bridget Pryderi and another man whom Harry vaguely recognized as Head of the Department of Person Disarmament, entered the room and made their way to the head of the table, nodding at various people as they passed. Sirius smiled at Harry, who nodded mutely back. As soon as Sirius' two companions had found their seats, the rest of the Aurors quickly and quietly seated themselves. Sirius simply stood in front of the Head Chair.
"We haven't had one of these meetings in a while," Sirius started flatly, "and in that time several people have been fired and hired. So for those who don't know, I'm Sirius Black, Head of the Dark Arts company here at the Ministry. The woman to my left is Bridget Pryderi, Head of the Department of Object Disarmament, and the one to my right is Jonas O'Brien, Head of the Department of Person Disarmament." Sirius cleared his throat impatiently. "Let's get straight to the point: the past few weeks have been pretty slow around here. For some," he added as an afterthought. Murmurs of agreement and quiet chuckling ran through the room. Sirius raised a hand to silence the noise. "But I've received unconfirmed reports over the weekend that a number of dark creatures and well-known Dark Arts practitioners have been recently spotted moving through the areas surrounding Hogsmeade. Several more were seen just outside of Bristol yesterday. A small number of Aurors have been dispatched over the last few days to investigate these rumours, but none of them have found anything. However, the rumours were reported by reputable sources so I have no reason to doubt them. Bridget, Jonas, and I have been attempting to find answers to the problem of confirming these rumours; the only solution we found was to scatter small groups of you across the country, but it's best we stay together for now.
"This meeting has no real goal, except to inform all of you about these going-ons, and to tell you all to be on your guard." Sirius held up a metal device, the same one Harry had seen the night he spent at Hermione and Ron's. "Your assistants will be coming around shortly to give each of you one of these things this afternoon. They're inspired by electric Muggle devices called 'pagers,' only..." he chuckled to himself and smiled knowingly at all his charges, "the Ministry's are a little better designed. They clip easily onto your cloak. If you encounter a force you can't handle on your own, simply press this black button to call for backup. They also double as devices similar to Portkeys. If you feel it vibrate, it means your assistance is requested. Press this red button to instantly appear by the side of the Auror in trouble.
"Well, that's it. Be on the alert, all of you. Dismissed."
With that, the Aurors got to their feet and shuffled towards the exit, talking of these latest developments. Harry pushed his way over to Sirius.
"Hey, Sirius," he smiled, giving a casual wave as Sirius finished his brief conversation with Bridget and Jonas. Sirius smiled meekly at Harry. He seemed reasonably cheerful, save for the dark black circles under his eyes.
"Hi, Harry. How goes it?"
Instantly remembering the Hogwarts journal he had found at Alecto's house, the letter to Cho he couldn't remember writing and her mixed reply, Fallon's interpretation of the night he couldn't remember, and Draco's odd behaviour, he nodded and replied, "Not much, same as usual, I suppose."
Sirius scratched his chin and smiled slyly. "Something's bothering you."
Harry raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"
"That's the exact thing James used to say when a lot of things were bothering him. Those exact words, 'Not much, same as usual, I suppose'." He laughed. "You can tell me." Harry quickly cast his mind around, searching for a plausible response, when Sirius interrupted. "It's not that letter from Cho, is it?"
Harry blinked. "How did you know about that?"
Sirius grinned and began to lead Harry out of the meeting room and down the corridor. "You're not my only contact with the outside world, you know. I speak to Hermione often."
Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. "She probably tells you everything."
"No, not everything," Sirius replied sternly, "you underestimate how intelligent she is."
Harry scoffed. "Me? Underestimate Hermione's intelligence? I think not."
Sirius cocked his head. "Not just book smarts, Harry. Hermione's smart in other ways too; she knows when to keep her mouth shut about personal matters. On the other hand, some things, like the exploits of your love life, just beg to be shared."
Harry looked at Sirius. He kept his hair neatly trimmed now (at least, as neatly trimmed as one would expect someone like Sirius to keep it), although it had begun to gray slightly at the temples. Generally, he looked fit and healthy, although, Harry noted, even when Sirius smiled, his eyes still bore a bit of the deadened look they'd gained from Azkaban. He speculated that Sirius would never truly lose that hollow look, no matter how fulfilling his life became. After all, the irony of working against the Dark Arts for the very people that had convicted him of working for it hadn't been lost on Sirius, and every time he mentioned the phrase "Azkaban" and "Ministry of Magic" in the same sentence, Harry could still detect faint traces of bitterness.
Harry grinned, embarassed. "Oh, so what else does she tell you?"
All traces of a smile instantly evaporated from Sirius' face; his expression change to a contemplative one, albeit slightly burdened. "I reckon that's between me and her."
Harry would have continued, but the expression on Sirius' face indicated that now was not the time. "Anyway, how are things with Ariadne?" he asked, changing the topic of conversation.
Sirius smiled at that. "Marvelous. She's a wonderful woman. Work's just been a little stressful, so we haven't spent a lot of time together lately."
Harry frowned. Perhaps it was because Sirius felt that he had to prove himself capable of handling such a powerful job, but he certainly took on an awful lot of work around the Ministry, much more than necessary. Before he could worry about this for too long, however, Sirius interrupted his train of thought.
"On a not-completely different topic," Sirius started, stopping Harry just outside his office, "the Ministry is holding their annual Crystal Ball soon, and I'm supposed to extend invitations towards certain high-ranking employees." He grinned. "Let's go into your office, and you can write everything down; Draco's invited, too."
Harry led Sirius into his office. Draco was seated at his desk doing paperwork, and when the two entered, he looked up. "Oh, Sirius. Hi."
Sirius nodded. "Hello yourself, Draco. As I've told Harry already, the Ministry is holding the Crystal Ball soon, so I wanted to give you the information as both of you are invited this year."
Draco looked confused as to whether he should be proud or disheartened, but nevertheless, he pulled out a spare piece of parchment and re-dipped his quill into his inkwell. Harry quickly seated himself and followed Draco's lead.
"It's going to be held at Hogwarts; formal, of course. It starts at nine o'clock and Portkeys will be taking people back and forth between here and there all night, so don't try to Apparate anywhere near Hogwarts- obviously, you can't do that- come down here, to the courtyard. Today's the 4th, so..." Sirius thought for a moment, "it'll be in a month, on December the 5th. That's a Saturday. Got all that?"
Draco and Harry both nodded. Sirius grinned. "I'll take questions."
Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Draco quickly cut in. "Dates, are they necessary?"
"No."
"Did you invite Hermione and Ron?"
Sirius made an odd strangled noise. "Obviously Hermione's invited, since she's Head of one of the Muggle Relations departments. But Ron...." Sirius chewed his lip. Harry locked his eyes on his godfather.
"Sirius... you have to invite Ron."
Sirius clucked his tongue in response. "Well, it's not that simple. You see, Ron's got a pretty low rank in the Department of Divination, so he wouldn't normally be invited. I've tried to persuade his Head of Department to give him an invitation, but she's adamant; if she gives one person with a low rank an invitation, she's got to give them to everybody else, and then the other Department Heads have to give out invitations to low-ranking employees, and that's hundreds more people." He shrugged. "Frankly, I understand her position."
"Who's the Head of Department? ... oh, it's Cho, isn't it."
Sirius nodded grimly. "She's set in her position, and she's right about this, so don't hold it against her. The only way Ron can come is if someone brings him as their date."
Harry smacked his forehead. "That's bloody fantastic." He could hear Draco holding back sniggers, and suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "Hey, Malfoy..."
"Yeah? Oh, no, wait a minute-"
"Since you're not going to go with anybody, could you please take Ron?"
Draco narrowed his eyes at Harry with a glare that could kill, or at least severely paralyze. It was Sirius' turn to stifle back laughter. "Look, Potter, I don't know what you're smoking, but-"
"Please? It would kill him to be left out of this when Hermione and I are going, plus you're not going with anybody. It's not as if you have to spend the night with him, you just have to RSVP for two."
"That's all well and good, but I just have one question: have you lost your mind?"
Sirius choked.
"Malfoy, come on..."
"Why can't you take him?" Draco demanded angrily.
Colour flooded into Harry's cheeks. "I'm, er, counting on going with Cho-"
"So, what about Granger? The two of them used to date, didn't they? And they're friends," he added savagely.
"Yeah, but he'd hate it if she asked him because he knew it would be a pity request. Plus, I don't think she would be very happy about it, and it would just be really awkward... Malfoy, please?" Harry's eyes were pleading and desperate. Draco rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh.
"Ignoring the fact that it would still be all those things if I did lug him along, I'll think about it. It's not as if I have someone else to go with. But, if I say yes- which is doubtful, so don't get your hopes up- you will owe me. Big."
Harry nodded complacently. "Of course. You have my word." He turned to Sirius and, at the sight of the man miserably failing at keeping his laughter in check, grinned widely and struggled to hold back laughter himself. "Sirius, go to lunch."
Sirius, now positively howling, wiped away the tears in his eyes and calmed himself down, still chuckling to himself. "I'm sorry, Draco, it was nothing personal." Draco narrowed his eyes at Sirius in contempt. "I'm out of here, I'll see you two later."
Harry gave a quick wave to Sirius as he left, then, glancing at his watch, got to his feet. "I'm going, too- I have to meet Ron for lunch. Want to come?"
Draco looked up at Harry, chewing his upper lip with a murderous glint in his eyes. "I hope you'll forgive me, Potter, but I don't think I can stand to look Weasley in the face right now."
***
Another unusual dream. He couldn't understand what was causing them. Even more surprising, he played a major role in these dreams, but still felt as though he was watching from above, somehow. He supposed that was what it felt like, to know that he was dreaming.
It was pure darkness, until the face of the woman with black hair and dark blue robes from the previous night slowly melted into his view. Her body soon followed, until it was only the two of them standing face to face in the darkness. Draco could see the expression on her face: filled with hunger, longing, desire, but he couldn't explain why. He felt his own face contort with fury, although he couldn't explain that, either. It was as though he wanted to reach out to her and touch her face, but couldn't, because he was too angry with her.
Her eyes widened suddenly. "Salazar-!" she shrieked, before a blur of red passed between the two.
Draco stood alone. The woman was gone.
*
Next Chapter: Will Harry muster up the courage to ask Cho on a date? What does he see in that skank, anyway? Harry finally gets to read some real passages from Maj'ikus; more evil creatures show up for the ride; Draco has some more scary dreams and a heightened sense of paranoia; Ginny makes a special appearance, but not how you'd expect. Two unlikely characters have a rather odd heart-to-heart. Lots of people are hiding secrets but unfortunately it will only get worse before it gets better.
Author's Notes and Clarifications: Okay, right, the Maj'ikus poem was really crappy. No need to point that out -_-' And I'm sorry to any Ron/Draco fans I might have accidentally created, but I am definitely NOT hinting at that particular pairing. Nosiree. Not on your life. _ Also, Dave Matthews Band fans: have you noticed that both chapters have been named after lyrics in the group's songs? Hah, I'm so ingenious. I use to hate them, but now I love them x_x T'is a sick, twisted world, but the pattern shall continue I'm sure. Both "Ants Marching" and "Rhyme & Reason" are from Under the Table and Dreaming, but next time I'll make an effort to pick something off Everyday.
Okay, this ain't Dave Matthews and the Book of Ages T_T People have been telling me that it's weird that Harry has been pining for Cho for all these years. Rest assured that everything has a reason. Have a bit of faith in me. -_^ This isn't a chaos fic... well, it's a bit of a chaos fic... but the essential plot has already been planned out so everything that happens is important. Faith, baby. That's where it's at.
Thanks to the beta-readers,
Alex (I can't help it, commas come in bulk ;_;), Leslie, Lana,
and Suzu who I stupidly forgot to thank last time I sent
you the e-mail about this chapter, didn't I? x_X And thanks to
the reviewers: mxdx1 (your wish is my command ^~), Jessica (I
won't spoil it for you, just keep your eyes peeled), Angelica,
Claudine, Alana, hedwig, and Jade the Dragon. sapI LOVE
YOU ALL/sap