Chapter Six

Draco sat slumped in an armchair in the Slytherin common room, awaiting his sentence. He had thought that getting himself detention with Potter was a brilliant idea. It was a perfect chance to get the Gryffindor boy alone, but after discovering what his punishment was, he was beginning to regret his hasty actions.

Draco's first trip into the forest had been less than pleasant and it was not an experience he was looking forward to repeating, especially not with Harry Potter. There were all sorts of menacing beasts creeping within the depths of the forest and misfortune followed The Boy Who Lived wherever he went, or more precisely fell on those around him. Potter himself seemed exempt from the curse, escaping from countless escapades unscathed. Draco was not eager to find out how he would fair alone with the boy, surrounded by deadly creatures. The only alleviation to his worries was that Snape would be there. He knew the Potions Master would not allow anything bad to befall them while they were under his care.

Draco sprawled even further down the chair and stretched his legs in front of the fireplace. The fire's warmth spread over him, relaxing tense muscles. He glanced at the time and noticed it was already a quarter past eleven. Standing, he stretched, then headed out of the dungeons to meet his fate.

Snape was there, waiting impatiently by the doors. Draco strolled silently up to him, guessing the professor was still fuming about the potion incident the day before. Draco had not wanted to upset Snape, who he considered the only likeable teacher in Hogwarts, but it had seemed necessary to get what he wanted. Now that Draco had time to think on it, he could have used simpler, less explosive ways to get detention. Admittedly though, none as foolproof as the one he'd chosen.

Just as Snape was Draco's favorite teacher, Draco was Snape's favorite student. He figured it wouldn't take too long to get back under his good graces. He couldn't say the same about any of the other Professors, who were always favoring Potter, almost to the point of coddling him. Snape seemed to be the only Professor who didn't treat Potter like he was something special, which, as far as Draco was concerned, he wasn't.

Moments later, Potter came bounding towards them.

Snape sneered. "Can't be bothered to be on time for anything can you, Potter? Another ten points from Gryffindor for being late."

Draco was somewhat impressed as Harry did a very good impression of a goldfish. The pale blond covertly covered a smirk. If one had to be fair to Potter, of which of course one didn't, he was only a couple minutes late.

Harry recovered quickly enough and they soon followed Snape outside. They passed by Hagrid's hut on their way towards the Forbidden Forest and Draco noticed Potter craning his neck, looking for something.

'Probably hoping that oaf of a half-giant Hagrid will be joining us. Sorry Potter, you won't be saved that easily.'

They continued past and all too soon they reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Snape suddenly stopped walking and turned to face them. He held up the lantern and it's bright magical rays shone on them. Draco flinched slightly from the sudden light and squinted, trying to see Snape's face as the Professor ordered, "Wands out."

He waited for his students to comply before turning back and finding the little used path into the forest. Draco stayed near the Head of Slytherin House, still uneasy about being in the Forbidden Forest. Potter trailed a small ways behind.

As they walked, Snape told them about the flower they would be looking for. Its common name was Romeo's Kiss. It bloomed until late into fall, but because it only blossomed at night, it was extremely hard to find. The inner petals were yellow, but the outer ones were a slivery white. Strangely enough, it was the yellow petals that held the medicinal qualities that were needed and the silver petals, if consumed, were poisonous.

Draco took special note of that bit of information.

Snape held up a hand and they stopped. He went off the path, lithely stepping between fallen branches, roots, and underbrush. Draco and Harry did not fare as well as they stumbled over the darkened forest floor.

Snape knelt in front of a large tree. Small delicate looking vines twisted themselves around its base. Growing on one side of it, where the moonlight trickled through the dense tree branches above, were several blossoms. Pulling on a pair of dragon-hide gloves, Snape opened a satchel and carefully plucked the blossoms and placed them inside. Once finished, he handed another small satchel to Draco and an extra set of gloves.

"Go back to the path and see if you can find anymore from there. I'm going to keep looking here." Snape turned from Draco and fixed his gaze on the other teenager. "Potter, I know that sometimes your adventuring spirit gets the better of you, but whatever you do, do not stray from the path. I have more important things to attend to, than spending the remainder of the evening searching for wayward students in the heart of Forbidden Forest. If by some chance you do run across trouble, as you undoubtedly will, send a flare up into the sky. You do remember that bit of elementary magic, yes? Good. Now get going and for Merlin's sake, when you pick the flowers, be careful not to bruise the petals."

Eager to get to the open path, away from the thick trees and wild bushes where endless shadows crept, Draco led them back. When the waning light of Snape's lantern grew too dim to see properly, Harry lifted his wand and exclaimed, "Lumos!"

A sudden light filled the air around them, bleeding onto the path in front of them. They walked in silence for a while, peering through the scattered trees that lined the small dirt trail, looking for the silver and yellow flowers.

Harry kept up the search for as long as he could manage, but his gaze kept drifting over to the blond next to him. He'd been late to class, the real reasons of which he hoped Snape would never find out, which involved a certain black dog, so he hadn't been able to observe Malfoy like he planned. But when he did finally arrive, Draco's behavior was so odd, it was enough to raise real suspicions in Harry's mind. In all his years at Hogwart's, he'd never seen Malfoy fail a potion. The only other conclusion was that he'd done it deliberately. 'But why?' Seeing that questioning himself wasn't getting him anywhere, he voiced the question aloud, "Why did you do it?"

Harry didn't notice the slight falter in Draco's step, before he turned his head to look at him. "Do what, Potter," he cautiously asked.

Harry rolled his eyes as though it should be obvious what he was referring to. "Why did you sabotage your own cauldron?"

Draco cocked one eyebrow. "What makes you think I did it on purpose? Maybe I'm just bad at Potions," he replied in a drawling voice.

Harry's laugh was startling in the silence of the forest and caused Draco to jump slightly.

Draco scowled. "What's so funny?"

Harry smirked and replied simply, "You."

Draco was about to make a retort, when he realized that Potter was trying to bait him and he quickly held his tongue.

Harry frowned when the Slytherin kept silent. This time last year, the two would already have their wands out, ready to duel, but now Draco was ignoring him.

Had Malfoy really changed over the summer? Harry doubted it, but he was behaving differently, there had to be a reason why. Harry knew he probably shouldn't care as long as Draco was leaving him alone, but he did. There had been too many changes in Harry's life since the end of his fourth year and Draco's sudden indifference was unnerving him to no end.

More questions filled Harry's head as they walked. Draco had gone several paces ahead of him, more than likely to avoid further conversation. No longer interested in finding flowers, Harry watched Draco from behind as though some clue might be divined through his body language. Despite the late hour, his back, shoulders, and neck were perfectly aligned as he walked down the uneven twisting path. Harry tried straightening his own slouched frame, but found he didn't move as gracefully as Draco did. His long legs kept him in the lead and his robes hugged his hips, outlining them as they swayed slightly with each step. Harry's gaze locked onto the hypnotic movement and he soon lost all line of thought.

He'd barely comprehended that those legs had stopped moving, before almost plowing into the blond Slytherin. He felt heat rise to his cheeks in embarrassment and quickly lowered the light away from his face hoping Draco wouldn't notice.

Fortunately for Harry, Draco hadn't and didn't even spare him a glance as he pointed to a tree off to the side. Harry's gaze followed his hand and spotted the yellow and silver flower. They walked closer. There was only one, the rest seemed to have been plucked, but by who or what they couldn't guess. Draco put on the dragon-hide gloves and very carefully pulled it from its stem and placed it in the bag he carried over his shoulder.

While Draco did this, Harry wandered slightly further on. From a distance he saw several more blossoms growing off a tree, glowing in the moonlight. Draco caught him before he went any further. "Where do you think you're going? Snape said to stay to the path."

Harry sighed impatiently. "Yeah, but who knows how long that could take. There's a whole bunch just over there. If we get those then we can be out of here that much faster."

Draco scowled as he thought it out. On one hand the sooner he got out of the forest the better, on the other hand straying deeper into the woods with Potter, a virtual trouble magnet, was not a good idea.

Potter made up his mind for him as he turned and headed towards the tree. Draco swore under his breath, before taking one last fleeting glance at the path and followed after.

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