Author's notes: I do not own Harry Potter nor associates. Please review. Explanations for new term/spells/magical item are at post-fic author's notes. Thank you.
"So you mean you're not going to translate the book for me?" Draco was essentially shocked at Hermione's adverse reaction towards the Book of Eclairement.
"Take your stinky book and leave." Hermione demanded, and dared not look Draco in the eyes. Her blush was subsiding, but apparently there was someone else in this room with a red face. Ron stood up; his face was the same colour as his hair. Unlike Hermione, it wasn't out of embarrassment but anger.
"Heard that, Malfoy? Get out!" Ron jostled. Draco, not risking having to come into contact with Ron again, stood up and left without a word. Harry went off after him and the two appeared outside the Gryffindor room again.
"Is there anyone else who knows French?" Draco asked Harry. The latter was seemingly shocked at the lack of fury and snide comments from Draco. Harry shrugged and suggested using the translation charm on the book. At the sound of that, Malfoy laughed and chided Harry, "My dear, dear Potter. If translation charms worked, would I have even asked you for help? Can you get any denser?"
"Let's ask Dumbledore for help then." Harry suggested.
"As usual, Potter? Go to that muggle-lover for every little small problem? I think I'd rather pick up French than to seek help from him." With that, Draco turned away and strutted back to his dormitory. As he walked pass the stained-glass window, light falling in cast different colours on him; red, blue, green. His white blonde hair, sleek against his head, reflected some of that myriad of colours. At that instant, Harry thought he had never seen anything as beautiful as that.
Back at the Gryffindor common room, the two boys pressed Hermione for the content of the book. Hermione merely shook her head, claiming it was some unintelligent prose not worthy of any attention, but it was hard not to notice the worried look on her face. Ron gave up after a while and went to bed, whereas Harry waited till they were alone before he queried Hermione again.
"Do you really want to know?" Hermione asked.
"Yes." Harry's reply was crisp and quick.
"Well, the second line went something like, 'I wish to bring to your attention that this beautiful lady here translating the book for you is a good catch, and I'm happy to predict your marriage with her.' That's about it." Hermione recalled from what she read in the book, and how offended she felt. Ever since coming to Hogwarts, and having to face grievous discrimination, Hermione felt oppressed. She felt as though she was no longer in control of her own life.
"What? That's ridiculous! Perhaps it's just a coincidence? His ancestor would never have predicted that he would come to you for help, right?" Harry was shocked at the content of the book.
"Well, whatever it is, I'm not going to touch that book ever again. I'm not the one the book was looking for." Hermione gave Harry a reassured smile and went to bed. Harry felt the dire need to talk to Draco again, but it was now night-time and trying to break into the Slytherin dungeon again wasn't the wisest thing to do. Harry had to wait till morning.
That night, Harry did not sleep well. He was drifting in and out of sleep, and kept having dreams of Hermione and Draco getting together. Harry was clearly jealous, but at the same time he clearly wasn't that clear on his emotions. He thought that he was just being concerned about Draco as a friend. Or so he thought.
At the same time in the Slytherin dormitory, Draco Malfoy could not sleep either. Lying in place of him on his bed were mugs and mugs of black coffee, while he was practically tearing his bookshelf apart, in a frantic attempt to find his book of Advance Practical Spells Vol. 2, which contained the Speed Learning charm he needed. After nearly emptying his shelf, he finally found that book lodged among his growing collection of quidditch magazines. He pulled the book out and swept away the dust. Opening to the page on Speed Learning, he went down the list, American Wizarding History, Bulgarian, Chinese...English History, FrenchDraco grinned smugly as he found what he wanted. He flipped to the page, and read on to find out how he could speed-learn French. He was appalled at the method, for it involved having to cast a studio muggerio charm on oneself, something Draco totally detest. Not only that, one has to supply oneself with a wide array of books on French, including a complete vocabulary list, grammar and pronunciation. As such, even if Draco was ready to put up with the effects of the charm, he would have to wait till tomorrow before he can check out the books from the library.
The next morning, Harry leaped out of bed and ran down to the Great Hall in an effort to find Draco, whereas the latter leaped out of bed, against his norm, and ran to the library. Madam Pince stared at Malfoy with grave distrust, as she always do when she deals with Slytherin students. Draco moved along the aisle of Foreign Languages and ended up with an armload of books on French. When he dropped the books onto Madam Pince's table, he met Hermione, who happened to be checking out some book on Numerology.
"So, you are picking up French?" Hermione noticed the many French books Draco had in possession. Madam Pince's wand moved across the books, while the catalogus was busy updating the records.
"Yes, so I won't need your help." Draco replied dryly. He picked up his load and left the library in a hurry, even skipping breakfast. Hermione took her book and went to the Great Hall for breakfast with the rest.
"'Mione, got you some of your favourite pancakes." Ron pushed a plate of delicious pancakes to Hermione as she sat down.
"Guess who I saw in the library. Draco Malfoy." Hermione said between bites of pancake, for she was starving. Ron choked on his breakfast on hearing that, for he never knew Draco Malfoy woke up before eight in the morning, let alone get up early so that he could go to the library. On hearing Malfoy's name, Harry sat up and came out of his daze.
"What? He was in the library? What was he doing there?" Harry enquired, appearing overly zealous over this matter.
"He was checking out some French books. I think he's trying to pick up French." Hermione replied and Harry nodded in understanding. The trio went back to their dormitory and got read for Potions class with the Slytherins. For many years in a row, Gryffindor seem to always have Potions with the Slytherins, perhaps to Snapes' amusement.
Both Harry and Draco could hardly pay attention in class, each having their own agendas to attend to. Harry wrote a message to Draco and slipped it on his table has he walked pass it to go to the front of class to be ridiculed by Snape. He had arranged to meet Draco after Potions class. Usually, Draco would have ignored such a note, but today, he had other plans. As Harry requested, Draco met Harry at the West Tower. Harry seemed to have a particular liking for the seclusion of the Owlery.
"So, what do you want?" Draco asked nonchalantly, feigning disinterest in the topic of discussion.
"I know what kept Hermione away from helping you." Harry confessed and proceeded to tell him about the second line of the book. Draco was equally taken aback, initially swearing and scowling at such arrangements. Then he remembered his own take at this issue. Unlike the usual Draco, he actually trusted Harry to help him in his speed learning of French. The both of them had no more lessons for the rest of the day; hence Draco brought Harry to his sanctuary in school- the North Tower. He knew that Professor Trelawney would be all willing to let him use the place, for he is her prized student.
Draco picked a table near the top, and sat down with the books. He asked Harry to cast the studio muggerio charm on him. Draco clenched his fists, closed his eyes and pursed his lips, urging Potter to get on with it. Draco hated this charm, but always resorted to it during the exams. Instantly, a pair of thick glasses appeared on Draco's face, and his hair was combed in a fashion even Harry would never want to be caught dead with. Draco immediately hit the books, reading and absorbing at an alarming rate of two pages per second. Harry then sat down at another table and watched Draco study. He chuckled when he learnt that Draco wore glasses, and watching him at work was a totally different experience from watching him walk in sun. Draco had that focused look on his face and his beautiful grey eyes scanning the pages with such certainty. Harry reclined in a corner and admired the pretty boy from there. Draco was almost done with the books when Harry fell asleep. At this time, Draco was already speaking French fluently, but before he could complete the course, his attention was suddenly diverted to Harry. This brought much shock to Draco, for he knew that the studio muggerio charm would have rendered him utmost and complete attention to his work, and not diverted. The first thing that came to his mind was that the charm was wearing off, and he decided to make do with it, for he was about to complete his "leçon de français" soon. He saw this as a study break, and he stretched his muscles aching from being kept in the same position for hours. He stole a look a Harry, who was sleeping in a corner. The messy black hair fell over his eyes, his arms folded across his chest and his chin tucked in. Harry looked so blissful, not like the Voldemort fighting child, not like the teenager who has the weight of the world on his shoulder. At that point, Harry looked innocent. Draco slapped himself out of these thoughts and returned to his books. But he found it hard to focus. He was appalled at the malfunctioning of the charm. Seeing that he has only a few more pages to go, Draco decided to give it a break and he shut the book. He stood up and moved over to Harry and sat down beside him.
Draco shook the sleeping boy and tried to wake him up. "Wake up, you sleepy head." Malfoy was taken aback by his own gentleness, but didn't care too much about it. Harry stirred and Malfoy shook him harder till he woke up. "I'm done, I'm going back to read the book now. You..." Draco had wanted to invite Harry back with him, but considering that it might cause the Slytherins their sanity if they saw them together; he decided to give it a miss. "You better go back to your dorm. You look tired." Draco found himself being nice to Potter again. Draco packed up the books and left, leaving Harry surprised that Draco was actually concerned about him.
Studio muggerio: A charm that allows someone to turn into a studious mugger, allowing speed learning. Used by many witches and wizards to help ace the N.E.W.T.s. Only drawback is mandatory dorky look.
Catalogus: A creature that's a good at cataloguing and keeping records. Resembles a human spider, with eight or more arms, each capable of acting independent of the other. Generally quiet and docile creature, much to the liking of libriarians.