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What Dreams Are Made Of
II: Food For Thought
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Draco folded the delicate material carefully as if it were his own, and sat down on the large windowsill, stretched his legs out and pooled the cloak across his lap.
It had to have been Potter's. Invisibility cloaks were extremely rare, and not anyone would be able to have it as a possession. Besides, practically the whole school knew about the legendary cloak that allowed Potter to sneak around in illegal activity, and that aided him all those years back when he ruined the Dark Lord's plans in his first year. Despite the common knowledge, the item remained safe from confiscation. Rumour also had it that it was Dumbledore who gave it to his Gryffindor Wonder Boy. It just showed that you can get away with anything if you had a bloody scar on your forehead.
Draco ran his hand over the cloak, feeling its texture.
Even his family did not own an item such as this. Sure, they had the money. Draco had addressed this matter once to his father, at the end of his first year, and was told harshly that they had no need for such things as these - a Malfoy does not hide from anyone.
Or probably he just couldn't get one, Draco assessed.
To everyone else, he probably seemed spoilt, but Draco hardly ever got anything he wanted. Most items were all inappropriate for a Malfoy one way or another. Even attention from the family was hard to come by. Unless, of course, they were on the topic of death, torture and madness, or "How did you manage to lose to Potter again?!"
Draco obviously had a real positive relationship with his family.
Still, he ought not to be too displeased about it. After all, they had given him class, status, and irresistible fair looks. Yet, the family structure was so impersonal and so formal that they appeared to be one another's guests rather than relatives.
Draco's mother did not talk to him frequently. He was sure she cared for him to some extent, but she prefered to be in her own company. That was just the way she was.
And Lucius - the father who always managed to find a mistake in Draco's achievements. It seemed as if no matter how well Draco had done in a particular area, he could never make his father truly proud. Lucius would comment on needed improvements, and the marks that he'd lost but should have got.
There was one topic that Draco's father was intensely passionate about. The Dark Lord. It was one of the only topics that did not earn him a "Be quiet, Draco. Do use your manners." or another means to shut him up. His father would ramble on his usual repetitive speech about "cleansing the world of filthy mudbloods and useless muggles." Draco was pretty sure he could make a quality performance of his father's speech had he wished to.
Clearly, he did not care much for the Dark Lord. The thought of having all the money, the looks, the pureblooded reputation wholly just to serve another seemed repulsive to Draco somehow. He did not wish to be dominated like that. Besides, the Dark Lord had been defeated more than once by a kid.
Harry Potter. Everything seemed to relate back to him. Draco's rival, his father's enemy, the Dark Lord's curse (after all, the curse did rebound back to him). Potter stood for all the goodness against the evil. Seeing as Draco was unsatisfied with his father's ideals, did Draco want to be on Potter's side? His mind summoned up an image of him surrounded by Potter and his group of friends in all the Gryffindorness in the face of danger, "Let's all charge together!" followed by a group cuddle session.
Draco visibly cringed at the thought. How inappropriate for a Malfoy.
He concluded that he did not want to participate in either Potter's Peace Club or the Dark Lord's Destroy Everything Association.
But then, what did he want?
After a few minutes of contemplation, Draco realised the thunder storm had stopped, and the rhythmic drizzle of rain had chased away his restlessness. Maybe he could catch a few hours of sleep before class tomorrow.
He stood up, and gently passed his hand over his hair to make sure it was still smoothed down. Then, he confidently walked out of the room, heading for the dungeons, his hand clutching Potter's cloak.
Draco decided that he'd introspect about deep and meaningful thoughts later. Now, he needed to get some sleep. After all, he'll be busy being invisible tomorrow.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry woke up to the normal sounds of his dorm-mates rushing around to get ready before breakfast. Their dorm did not have enough bathrooms for all of them at the same time, so attempts were made every morning to snatch one before they had to wait for the next available. However, they always managed to wake up at around the same time and the Toilet War began. Agility and aggression were the essense, otherwise the bathroom would be stolen by a more worthy opponent.
As usual, the loud complaints and hurried preparations got Harry out of bed. He put on his glasses, let out a wide yawn and ran a hand through his hair, just to see a bathroom door opening. With a surge of energy and a startling loud cry, he raced to his goal. Ron had barely stepped out before Harry slammed the door behind him in the now occupied bathroom.
A loud, "Hey! That's not fair!" came a second later, and Harry laughed out loud at Seamus' obvious distress.
He was going to be fast anyway, as he was absolutely starving for breakfast.
Breakfast in Hogwarts was the meal that had the least amount of participation.
The mornings were generally engrossed with oversleeping, preparations in front
of the mirror, and last minute attempts to complete homework that had been put off
until the night before the due date. Many also saw it as an unnecessary meal,
and preferred to skip it.
Harry thought that this was preposterous. Every morning his stomach would growl with hunger. Once, he had sacrificed his breakfast for a few more minutes of sleeping, and the dreadful noise had persisted all through his morning classes, making him inattentive to the lesson, and substantially embarrassed when several classmates sniggered at his uncontrollable outbursts. Harry had tried to make it to breakfast every morning after that.
Besides, Harry decided that the delicious, full meal always gave him the energy to cope with each event-filled day. Lunch and dinner mattered less to him.
Sitting down at his usual seat next to Ron and Seamus (whose spot was still empty), Harry immediately began to pile food onto his plate. Bacon, hash browns, eggs, sausages, beans, and toast soon stacked neatly in front of him. Smiling with approval and anticipation, Harry began his breakfast.
Ron had a similar pile, and was eating with great speed. Hermione, opposite him, had already finished, and was taking the time to re-check her Transfiguration essay, which was due first period. Satisfied that it was as good as it could be, and that she had not missed out on anything, she turned to her friends.
"Harry, have you thought about the next DA meeting? It has been a while since the last one, and I was thinking that if you were free tonight..."
"Sorry Hermione," said Harry after taking a large gulp of pumpkin juice, "we've got Quidditch practice this evening."
"Yeah, and it's the first practice since school started," Ron added, his unusually serious face emphasising the importance of the occasion.
"How about tomorrow?" Harry suggested, noticing Hermione's annoyed look.
She brightened immediately. "Okay then! Half an hour after dinner?"
"Yeah, alright," Harry agreed, following a nod from a chewing Ron. "Do you think it's too short of a notice? What if they have homework and stuff?"
"Oh, I'm sure they'll manage," exclaimed Hermione with certainty.
"Besides," said Ron as he reached to fork another sausage, "school had started little over a week ago. There wouldn't be much homework anyway."
"I suppose."
Already, students were dispersing from the Great Hall. It was nearly time for first class. Hurriedly, Harry finished his food and drank his second cup of pumpkin juice.
"Don't forget to notify the other members," reminded Hermione as they stood up and began heading towards the Transfiguration classroom.
"Yeah, I'll do it right before lunch," Harry assured her.
Their journey was interrupted as the three dodged a zooming Seamus, rushing to the direction of the Great Hall.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Draco barely missed the careless Gryffindor as he madly raced past him. Turning away from Potter and his sidekicks, he walked briskly towards the Slytherin common rooms, careful to avoid the students. He was wearing an invisibility cloak after all. He had to stash it away before class started.
After waking up and going through his daily morning routine, Draco had taken out Potter's cloak, deciding to use the time before class to test it out. And what better place to begin than with Potter himself.
He had waited patiently for Potter's late entrance, occasionally glancing at the Slytherin table across the hall. Since he tended to miss meals once in a while, his housemates were accustomed to his absence at the breakfast table and took no notice of his disappearance.
When Potter finally arrived and sat down at the table, Draco had positioned himself only a short distance behind the Gryffindor so as to be able to hear him and without accidentally bumping anyone who might have been walking past.
Draco watched with fascination as Potter began devouring his loaded plate. It must be a miracle that he still manages to stay in shape. Crabbe and Goyle, also large eaters, were by far not as thin as he was. Although, it was harder to tell beneath the school robes. Unintentionally, an image of a flabby Potter wavered into Draco's mind, and he pushed it out with disgust.
He had also been tempted to levitate the jug of pumpkin juice to pour over their heads, but restrained himself as it would give him away.
His attentions managed to tear away from the food as they began talking. He was most intrigued at the topic of the DA meeting. Granger had mentioned that there were other members, so it had to have been a club of some sort. A fanclub perhaps? Draco wondered at what DA stood for. The Draco Admirers, he thought with a smirk.
Well, whatever it was, he'd find out tomorrow, after dinner.
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A/N: Hello again! First, I'd like to thank all the reviewers who had given me
feedback of their enjoyment of the last chapter. Hopefully you'd like this one
as well ^_^ And, also, just to clarify a question that might be asked, "Why
didn't Harry sense Draco behind him at breakfast?" Let's just say that
he was a little preoccupied with the food. And he didn't practice Occlumency.
More details on that later. Well, thanks for tuning in on this fic so far, and
if you'd like to submit a review some time, I'd be extremely happy ^_^