Title: Regnava nel Silenzio

Author: Gia

Rating: PG

Pairing: None

Time: AU

Summary: In a world that's unaware of the Orders' War, a student mage, Harry Potter, must warn the other Orders of the coming evil. Things don't go well when he runs into a student mage, Draco Malfoy, who engages a fencing duel with an inexperienced Harry. The road already begins with a hitch; how will the rest of the journey be?

Disclaimer: The story here is non-profit and for purely entertainment purposes; nor is it affiliated to Bloomsbury or any other publishers of Harry Potter. The characters belong to J.K. Rowling and the plot belongs to me.

Author's Notes: So what am I doing uploading this when I've got other stories going too? Well… sorry but this idea has been bouncing in my head while I've been trying to write the next chapters for my other fanfics. The only way to get rid of it was to write it down. Which I did. I tweaked it a bit and realized that it had some potential… so here I am.

You might be wondering about that non-magic bit, since I do say that there are magic tricks involved. Well, I make a distinction between magic and magic tricks. Harry's doing the latter, as in, it's not really magic, just smoke and mirrors kind of thing.

And about pairings…I'd rather not have any of that here. Maybe some moments between Ron and Hermione or some other characters… I just don't want that to get in the way of all the fun I'm going to have with this. The main characters happen to center around Harry and Draco but there isn't anything going on between them! You could imagine and it could work that way… but officially, nothing's happening.

Now onto the story!!

I see skies of blue and clouds of white.
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night,
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.

Regnava nel Silenzio

By Gia

Chapter Three: Making Allies

He clapped Harry on the shoulder gently, and turned to the other waiting people. "I've got everything under control here. Thank you for bringing Harry to me."

The three student mages had watched in curiosity as Albus led away the embarrassed boy. Severus and Remus had parted without a sound, leaving the three of them to stare around bewilderedly. It wasn't everyday this sort of thing happened. It almost made them nostalgic for the calm days. Almost.

Hermione, being the first to gather her wits, quickly announced they should get to the Great Hall to eat. It was plainly obvious the feast was over, but they could usually scrounge something up. But of course, the main reason was to sit down and discuss what had happened. Mainly the appearance of the new mage.

Once they had reached a table, and had food on their plates, the first person to speak was Ron.

"I dunf' twus hm!"

Hermione grimaced and calmly told Ron to swallow his food first… or she'd just as calmly cut off his balls. Ron chose the former. Draco laughed out loud, momentarily forgetting the unknown mage. Of course, it didn't take long for Draco to go serious again. Hermione and Ron sensed this, and they silenced as well.

"What are you thinking Draco?" Ron asked, dutifully swallowing his food first before speaking.

"Him." Hermione spoke up for Draco. "We already know he's not a threat to us. Dumbledore himself invited him to come. The boy, Harry, came here to deliver a message."

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Why would an order send a student? Why not a trained professor mage?"

"Maybe the Order trains their students in advance." Ron added helpfully. "We don't even know what Order he comes from. Never seen those robes, not even in the textbooks."

The two turned to Hermione as if asking her to confirm Ron's statement. "Don't look at me," she said crossly, "I don't know either."

"It's alright, Herm, you can't know everything." Ron consolingly patted her shoulder.

"I'm not bothered by it!" she yelled shrilly.

Ron laughed, "Sure, sure. It's okay. Forget about it."

His pseudo-calm voice frustrated Hermione greatly, but she knew it was only to lighten the mood. At that moment, however, the doors to the Great Hall creaked before being swung open. Pausing in his laughter, Ron turned around first before his face reddened with anger and surprise.

"YOU!"

Harry instantly froze in his tracks. Draco lost his happy expression, and simultaneously stood up with Ron. "What are you doing here?" Draco called.

Harry fidgeted. I knew they wouldn't be happy.. I should've just stayed put with Dumbledore.. He thought despairingly. "Well, I… Dumbledore sent me for dinner and..yeah.." Harry lost was little force he had behind his speech and lapsed into awkward silence. Ron looked ready to say something before Hermione stood up as well.

"Dinner? Why don't you sit with us then, Harry?" Harry felt some of his dread leak away and he gave her a weak smile.

"However," Hermione continued, "you can also tell us about why you came here."

Having expected this, Harry nodded tiredly. He was just glad that they didn't engage him in anymore battles. Approaching the table they sat at, he hesitantly sat by Draco. Ron and Hermione had been sitting by each other so the available seat was obviously beside Draco.

A plate appeared in front of Harry, food placed in it. A silver goblet appeared with pumpkin juice. Harry didn't start eating right away, not with Draco and Ron practically staring him down, so Hermione glared at them. Needless to say, Harry got to eat in peace. Not up to eating as much as he thought he'd like, Harry looked up.

"Where should I begin?" he asked bluntly.

"You're Order. And what happened to make you come here."

"During the Magi Ages…"

"—frozen in time. Basically, I've came to deliver the message to the Order in secret. But as you can see, the word secret doesn't seem to cooperate with me." Harry finished tiredly. It was a long story to tell, but he'd done it. Now all he had to do was wait and see what they would think.

Draco couldn't help but grin at last part. Draco was proud to say he was particularly good in the art of fencing.

He felt the beginnings of a grin tugging at his lips but before he could really get into it, he received a sharp kick from under the table. Swearing loudly, he looked over at the source. Hermione was glaring at him.

Hard.

"What?" he mouthed back, trying to adopt a wounded look. She looked pointedly at Harry who was poking at his food.

"Apologize!" she mouthed back.

Ron, who was watching their non-verbal conversation, looked at Hermione just as incredulously as Draco was. 'Good, I have an ally!'

Unfortunately, not many people could stand up to Hermione when she was angry enough. Her eyes flashing, she made Ron back down like a scared puppy.

Ouch.

Sighing dramatically, Draco turned to Harry. "Look, Harry." Said boy turned to him questionably. "I'm s-s…"

Cor, did he have to apologize?

Harry got the hint and smiled over at Hermione appreciatively. It seemed he had gained a new friend. "No need. I should've just told you who I was. Besides, it's forgotten, right?"

Draco grunted. It didn't seem so hard to apologize now. It made Harry look even more charming if he didn't want Draco to apologize. Quiet silence fell on the four of them.

…

"So!" Ron clapped his hands together suddenly. "What say we give you a tour of the place? No doubt you're staying here. Will you be in the boys' dorms? We've got an empty bed."

Draco looked at Ron in the corner of his eye. Surely, this was not the same guy who had just agreed with him on not apologizing to Harry. What brought on his sudden bout of friendliness? Having a small idea, Draco surreptitiously looked under the table.

Yep. Hermione was digging her heel into Ron's foot.

Lovely.

Draco hid a grin behind his hand and to spare himself the pain, he nodded enthusiastically with Ron's proposal.

"Albus has already showed me the dorm." Harry responded sheepishly.

Oh. Well, then what could they do?

"Hey, Harry." Ron's tone seemed to be more casual, and Draco realized Ron was speaking willingly—not under the threat of having his foot torn off by Hermione, that is. "Ever heard of quidditch?"

Draco and Ron grinned simultaneously.

Harry gulped.

'Quid..ditch?'

TBC