AN: I posted this chapter and then decided to add more to the end, so if you read this author's note, you are reading the right version!
Disclaimer: Owns Nothing!
Practice
A purple burst of light hit Harry in the chest and sent him flailing backwards and into a tree. "Uhh!" The wind had been knocked out of him and he struggled to regain his breath. He could see his opponent advancing on him, and as much as he knew he needed to pull off one hell of a curse right then he couldn't do it. The dark robes of his challenger were right in front of him now.
"Honestly Potter, one would think you're not even trying."
Harry grabbed the hand that had extended in front of him and used it to painfully pull himself up. "Not…trying? You…looked …pretty…scared…when…I ….surrounded…you…with-ah-those…snakes…of…fire." Harry was attempting to talk through his very agonizing gasps.
Draco placed his hand on the other boy's abdomen and immediately Harry screamed. "Broken ribs," the blond diagnosed, "hold still."
With in seconds Harry's ribs stopped feeling as if they would fall out every time he took a breath. "Thanks" he muttered. It was a luck thing that Draco was as highly skilled in healing as he was in dark arts; although Harry could not begin to imagine where he learned how to heal. But he was beginning to appreciate the fact that Draco was rather like his best friend Hermione, good at every thing she ever attempted- well with the exception of divination, but who counted that anyways.
He was also beginning that had Draco not been such a git as a kid, that they might have had an interesting friendship. The two boys had much in common, but in addition to that they were pretty much matched in size and skill- well once Draco had taught him all the dark spells he knew. Hermione had never been one to use spells against others unless forced to, and with Ron, it wouldn't have exactly been a fair fight; but with Draco, they could have had fun cursing each other as they were now, much in the way that young pups bite and fight with each other.
"What's with you today Potter? I've gotten the better of you three times out of three times." They had been meeting in the forest three times a week since their first meeting, Harry walking out under his invisibility cloak least any one notice them both wandering out to the forest so often. It would be rather suspicious.
Their sessions had been going really well, but Draco was definitely kicking his butt today. Harry and Draco were usually evenly matched and when they dueled as they were today they usually came out about even. Harry would win some Draco would win some, but not today.
"I don't know man; I think it just that well Halloween is coming up next week and well..." Harry trailed off.
"Good Gods! You're not losing you're nerve now are you?"
"No, not losing my nerve, it's just that," he sat down on a rock, "what if something goes wrong, or what if I can't do it?"
Draco sat down next to his once enemy; he wasn't quite sure what they were now, but he was pretty certain that they were no longer enemies. It was a fairly awkward situation and Draco wasn't quite sure what to do. Eventually, after many times of retracting his arm, he settled his arm uncertainly around the other boy's shoulders.
Draco wasn't the only one who had felt the awkwardness of the situation. Harry was somewhat perturbed at the first touch of the arm and neither felt quite comfortably. However, the situation calmed and Draco and Harry accepted their new found bond, whatever it might be.
"You'll be fine Harry, just fine."
After having offered his comfort in an actually sincere matter, Draco removed his arm and sat next to the raven haired boy in a moment of awkward silence. "So, um, how's Hermione?" This question had been plaguing him since that night long ago, yet he had been unsure if he was allowed to ask about it or not. He was relieved to see that Harry did think it okay to talk about the subject although their voices both seemed to waiver now that they were not practicing hexes on each other.
"Hermione is doing alright I guess; she's not too happy but she's holding up. It's been hard for her, but I told her that you had to be doing something to help the situation. Of course she only thinks that we spoke on the night when, well you know…"
Not telling Hermione or any one else had been agreed on by both boys. They wanted to keep as low a profile as possible.
"So where do they think you are going when you are here?"
"Oh, I told them that I had to resume my Occumelency(sp?) lessons with Snape."
"Occumelency?"
"Umm…" Harry had to launch into the story of his fifth year when Voldermort had begun his second rising. As it was, the general public was in the know, but the Death Eaters had all been hiding and no one knew where they were. Rumor had it that they were planning something huge in the near future. Harry and Draco hoped to put a stop to this by their interference with the upcoming meeting.
Soon enough though the conversation had digressed to nicer topics that took their minds off of the ever present dangers of their plan. They were both sitting on a rather large rock talking about little things as if they had been friends for years. It would have been a strange site had any one been there to see it. Yet as it was, there was no one to see them and no one cared that they were enjoying each other's company.
There was a very strange wind that evening.
Hermione was sitting in the common room of the Gryffindor tower with Ginny; the two were talking and having a good time. They were soon interrupted by the portrait hole opening and a cursing fourth year walked in.
"What's wrong with you?" Ginny asked, apparently she knew the blond boy.
"What's wrong with me? I just spent tow solid hours along with Snape in detention that's what wrong with me!"
"Oh ouch!"
But Hermione didn't respond as the red head had, and had to be nudged in the ribs to remember to show sympathy.
"Uh, sorry," she began as she came out of her trance, "but did you just say two hours alone with Snape?"
"YES! Just me and old Snape down in the dungeons." The boy shuddered and Ginny thought she saw a perplexed look dawn Hermione's features.
Once they were alone Ginny got inquisitive, "So what was that look for?"
"Oh, it's nothing just that, well, Harry is supposed to be in an Occulemency lesson with Snape right now."
At first Ginny looked confused, but soon understanding set in. "Ohhh! And he wasn't with Snape now was he?"
"Apparently not."
"I wonder what our little Harry was up to then."
"There's only one way to find out."
Ginny smiled slyly in a response that much matched Hermione's expression.
It would normally have been very hard to follow a boy who could become invisible when he wished, but well nothing was really normal at Hogwarts.
Two teenage girls were standing in the middle of the Hogwarts ground looking at a decrepit old piece of parchment. What was particularly interesting about this paper was that on it there was a dot labeled Harry Potter, which was disappearing into the forbidden forest.
The girls waited a moment before heading in the same direction as the dot.
It wasn't long before they were entering the forest and even less time still that they came upon a small clearing where a blond boy stood pacing. Ginny had to use all her strength to keep her companion from sprinting up into the clearing.
Hermione had so longed for a moment where she just might for one moment be able to look at Draco without pretending to hate him. One moment where she could let herself lose control and run to him and again feel the warmth of his lips against her own. But she knew that they had to stay hidden and out of site.
Soon another boy appeared as if from mid air. Ginny paled. It had been long since she really looked at Harry and now she cursed herself for having given in to her curious nature. But a reassuring hand grabbed her own and she lifted her head to look at the brunette with her. Both girls sat and watched the scene in front of them in a painful silence.
"Took you long enough Potter!"
"Sorry Malfoy I couldn't find my map!"
"There are only two days left after tonight before Halloween and you pick now to show up late?"
"I couldn't help it!"
Draco glared at Harry and Harry glared back, and something about this was apparently funny because both boys ended up cracking up. "C'mon Harry, what do you want to do first, review the plan or do some spells?"
"Did Draco just call Harry, Harry?" Hermione whispered to her red haired companion.
"Well, Draco, I think, it being so close and all we ought to go over the plan first. Before we get all worn out."
"I think so and Harry just called Draco, Draco!" Ginny whispered back.
"And they have a plan!" whispered the older girl.
Harry and Draco continued to talk about their alleged plan for quite some time. The girls left once they began to hex each other. It was all so strange.
Once they got back to the castle, the decided to head toward the prefect bathroom. They were discussing the topic of the boy's plan before going to get showers.
"Imagine! Them leaving us with Lupin on Halloween while they get to go and have all the fun!"
"I know Ginny, but we can't exactly confront them about it with out telling them that we were spying on them now can we? And besides, it is sort of touching that they want to keep us safe."
Ginny had what looked like the makings of tears in her eyes. "So you want to sit in Professor Lupin's house all night, while our men go out and risk their lives so that Draco can be with you!"
"Ginny calm down!" Hermione said firmly grabbing hold of the other girl's shoulders. Then in a slyer voice she continued, "I have absolutely no intention of letting the boys go off on their own. They might be more experienced, but do you honestly thing they would get any where without us?"
"But you said…"
"We aren't going to tell them Ginny," Hermione began as she started to undress for her shower. "They would never agree to let us come now would they?"
"No, I don't suppose they would, would they?" the red haired girl asked as she also began to undress.
"Nope never. So, we will have to make it a surprise wont we?"
"What exactly did you have in mind?"
Hermione told Ginny about her plan as they finished getting their stuff ready to go into the shower.
A few moments later Hermione stepped into her shower stall and closed the curtain. "So you see, we are not ever going to show up at Profess or Lupin's house on Halloween." At the close of her sentence she slung the towel she was wearing over the edge of the curtain and started the water.
Ginny entered the next stall and did the same. "That's sheer genius!"
"I know!"
But what they didn't know was that at that very moment, there was another girl in the bathroom listening to their every word.
Pansy Parkinson stepped out of her stall that was on the other side of the wall. She had finished just when the two Gryffindors entered and hung around hoping to overhear some good gossip. And what she heard was worth more than a few reputations. What she heard would change lives!
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Sorry this one was short, but in addition to school, I had to work 16 hours this weekend! And I had a game Friday night, so I got zilch done and I wanted to post something so I figured I'd write a lil now, and then more later. The next one ought to be up by Friday night! And I'll try to make it long!
Thank you to all my reviewers!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
I wish I had more time to stay and chat, but I am pressed and I must go!
Review!!
^_^
~Atiannala