Recap: Harry grinned. "That was rather interesting wasn't it." "Oh sure. I
always enjoys getting cursed until I'm unrecognizable." "Well next time
don't insult people who can curse better than you." "I didn't know that!"
"Well you do now." Malfoy looked thoughtful. "Yes, I suppose I do."
Chapter Seven
After a moment Malfoy turned to leave... with out his shirt. Harry, realizing this, spun around, grabbed it, and spun back around.
"Wait a moment. You can keep your shirt. I don't want it."
Malfoy turned and took his shirt. For the briefest moment their hands touched and there was a sudden shock. Harry cursed.
"Damn static residue."
Shaking his hand vigorously to rid it of the slightly painful tingling he glanced at Malfoy. This time it was Malfoy who cursed.
"Sweet mother of Merlin."
Harry realized that Malfoy had seen his face... the cut up part that had traveled through the door. Quickly he explained.
"Well what do you expect from getting thrown through a glass door? And as it wasn't exactly life or death I couldn't exactly use magic."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow.
"Looks to me like it's healing already."
"That would be Hermione's doing."
"Why didn't Granger just heal you instead of speeding it up."
"Who knows?"
Malfoy didn't exactly look convinced but for some reason he seemed to respect Harry enough to let the matter drop. With one last curt nod Malfoy left Harry alone with his thoughts and Harry finally managed to collapse onto his bed.
* * * *
* * * *
In the weeks following Harry and Malfoy mostly avoided each other. As a result they didn't actually have a conversation after that first one. If they ran into each other they would exchange a slight nod and continue on their way.
Harry spent most of his time reading in Flourish and Blotts or in his room. The, uh, more, um, interesting aspects of his life were surprisingly easy to conceal. Every second or third day when he started to feel tight and stretched and he could sense the edges of his blood lust he'd go out into Muggle London and...
He was always very careful to make sure that the muggle would recover. He also discovered something. If he concentrated hard enough he could force a few drops of his own vampiric blood back through his fangs. One drop on a puncture wound and it disappeared. As far ass harry could tell there were no side effects and it was easier, and less painful, than biting his finger. And, after all, he had to eat and it wouldn't do for the wizarding community to notice puncture wounds in the necks of passing muggles.
So really, the weeks leading up to September 1st were all right.
The day before he was due at Kings Cross Ron, Ginny, and Hermione showed up to get their school supplies. Harry was out after another book and he ran into them, literally, as he came out of Flourish and Blotts.
SMASH!!
"I'm so sorry, I really should pay more attention to where I'm going... Ginny?"
She flashed Harry a grin. He was temporarily speechless. She had changed. Oh boy had she changed. Last year she had finally gotten over her shy crush on him but she still was rather conservative. Apparently this summer had been very, um, hot. And she apparently hadn't quite changed her wardrobe yet. Her clothes were defiantly summer clothes. No, more like a hundred and twenty degree weather if you know what I mean. Yup, she had defiantly changed.
"Well, if you're really, really, sorry," she smiled, "then why don't you help us carry the stuff you knocked over?"
"Gladly." He answered and bent to pick up books, "Hey Ron, Hermione."
"Hey Harry."
Hermione was down on her hands and knees picking up books too.
"Hello Harry." She moved close and lowered her voice so that only he could hear.
"I need to talk to you when we get somewhere private." She raised her voice again.
"I hope everything healed alright?"
"Yep. Just fine." He tossed head a bit so that his hair left that side of his face bare. It was completely devoid of any sign that he had traveled through a glass door.
"Where are you guys heading next?"
"Actually, we had just finished and were going to the leaky cauldron hoping to spot you." Hermione answered.
"So are we heading there still?"
"'Course mate. We need rooms."
"Can I follow then?"
Ginny grinned once more.
"Absolutely."
* * *
* *
Back at the leaky cauldron they got an extra room for Ginny and Hermione to share, Ron would be staying with Harry. Then they split up. The girls went to their room and Harry and Ron dragged Ron's trunk, which he had dropped of here earlier, to Harry's room. On the way they didn't speak much, at least not until Malfoy passed them and, quite casually, nodded and half- smiled in their direction. After he had passed ron just stared for a moment in shocked silence.
"Was that Malfoy?"
"Yes." Harry answered.
"Did he just walk by here without even trying to curse us?"
"Yes."
"He didn't even sneer at us?"
"Correct."
"He actually smiled? At us?"
"Yes he did."
Ron turned and glared.
"How come you're taking this so damn calmly?!"
And so harry explained all about the rest of the day after Ron had left. He was gaping by the end of it. But Harry didn't leave him to his astonishment for long. He had questions for Ron. All of them involving his sister.
"I don't know Harry, I just don't know. And I can't say I like her change although it could be worse."
"How?"
"Well, she could be after someone like, oh, Malfoy or Zabini instead of you."
"She's after me?"
"You didn't notice? Bloody hell Harry, I'm her own brother and I noticed! It's kinda hard not to notice the way she walked and talked around you. Are you having me on?"
"Honestly, I didn't notice. I guess I'm just not into things today."
* * *
* *
Shortly after Ron unpacked the girls showed up. Hermione managed to persuade Ginny to go with Ron and get some dinner for the four of them. Once Ginny was safely out of ear shot Harry asked Hermione what it was all about.
"I read something that I think you should hear.'
"Go ahead."
"You have been, er, eating? Right? You haven't been starving yourself? Or anything?"
"Now why would I do... oh. Right. No. I'm just very careful that I don't hurt anyone."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh good. I was so afraid your, uh, noble tendencies would get in the way."
"And why were you so worried? What is it you thought I needed to know?"
"Well, last night I was reading,"
"Big surprise there."
She glared.
"Sorry.'
"As I was saying, I was reading and I ran across some things about vampiric feeding."
"So?"
She glared again.
"I'll shut up."
"Well, I was so scared. You see, I read that the... the vampires... who stop feeding for too long... they... they..."
She seemed too frightened to speak. They were sitting on the end of his bed. Harry moved closer and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Tell me. Please. I need to know."
She nodded.
"They... when they finally give in to the blood lust... and they finally... feed... they... they..." she looked like she was going to cry.
"Oh Harry! They Combust! The blood moves through their veins so fast that they catch fire! They're gone in two seconds. Only a pile of ash left." She broke into sobbing.
"All those p-poor vampires that t-try to not h-hurt people and t-try to st- starve themselves die! And I was s-so afraid that when we c-came here we'd find n-nothing but a p-pile of ashes! Or w-we'd find y-you all shriveled and r-red eyed, l-looking like a m-mummy 'cept f-for your eyes! And wh-when you s-saw us you'd p-pounce and then you'd b-burst into flame."
She started crying in earnest and he hugged her close.
"It's alright Hermione. It's alright. I'm fine. I didn't try to starve myself. You got here in time. It's alright. You don't have to be scared."
She slowly calmed down. When she could speak normally again she pulled back and wiped her eyes on her shirt.
"Thanks Harry. I needed that. I've just been so scared for you. And I didn't dare send you an owl. I was too afraid that it would be intercepted and then the whole wizarding world would know."
He smiled at her, stood up, and offered her his hand.
"Now then Miss Granger, If you've quite finished we ought to be heading down to dinner. Our friends will likely become anxious if we dilly dally any longer."
She smiled back, took his hand, and they went down to dinner.
* * * *
* Dinner was uneventful, as was the following morning. Something remotely interesting happened as they were loading their trunks into the muggle cab out front. Malfoy joined them. Well, not exactly joined them, he took a different cab, but still.
They spent most of the ride doing one of two things. Either looking out the window at the not-very-interesting-and-in-fact-rather-dull scenery (muggle London for short), or, in Ron's case, staring ahead in undisguised astonishment at a Malfoy riding with a muggle in a muggle car.
For a brief, very brief, moment Harry was tempted to opt for the second option. Another moment though, and then he was shaking away that thought with a slight edge of bewilderment.
Malfoy's taxi arrived at the station first so he was already on the platform before they were out of the cab. They carefully made their way through the crowd and, before any muggles saw, through the barrier. Once on the platform, surrounded by happy families, Harry realized how much he was missing Hogwarts. With the major changes in his life he suddenly felt a great need to be back somewhere familiar.
He, Hermione, Ron and Ginny dragged their trunks aboard and found an empty compartment. Shortly after they settled down Neville Longbottom came in. the last person to enter was new. They'd never seen her before.
Just as the train was starting to pull out they saw a figure running along under the window. She was attempting to keep up with the train despite the fact that she was pushing a trolley with her trunk on it. Realizing that she wouldn't make it Harry and Ron ran into the corridor and threw open the door. Harry jumped put and, running with her, lifted her trunk off of the trolley. Ron grabbed the end of it and held it. Harry jumped back on and they pulled it aboard.
The train was picking up speed and, even without the trolley, the girl was not quite fast enough to overtake the door. Suddenly she tripped. Without a second thought Harry jumped out and picked her up, bodily, and sprinted to keep pace with the train. Ron reached out and grabbed her but by this time harry was loosing his start on the train. No matter how fast he ran he couldn't catch the door. Ron reached out and pulled Harry up but he couldn't quite get him all the way in. Harry was hanging on to one of Ron's hands for dear life. If he let go he would hit the tracks and boy, would that ever be painful.
However Ron, as we well know it, has sweaty hands. Harry couldn't hold on. He started to slip. In the split second when Harry let go two hands shot out and grabbed his arms. Harry held on to them without question and was pulled safely inside where he collapsed onto the person who saved him. Then he saw the face.
It was Malfoy.
* * *
*
A/N: sorry it took me so long. I have been busy with school. This is my last year in middle school and I've been bouncing off the wall because I got accepted to one of the better high schools in the country. I am on a math team in school (MATHCOUNTS) and last weekend we won at the regional, we're going to state on the twenty-seventh. I also managed to leave my notebook with this chapter and the next (which I'm going to type up as soon as I post this) in my cousins' car when they went to Phoenix for a swim competition (read about my cousin in my profile). Anyway, enough excuses. I'll post this in the next few minutes and then I'll finish my language arts report that's due tomorrow.
Chapter Seven
After a moment Malfoy turned to leave... with out his shirt. Harry, realizing this, spun around, grabbed it, and spun back around.
"Wait a moment. You can keep your shirt. I don't want it."
Malfoy turned and took his shirt. For the briefest moment their hands touched and there was a sudden shock. Harry cursed.
"Damn static residue."
Shaking his hand vigorously to rid it of the slightly painful tingling he glanced at Malfoy. This time it was Malfoy who cursed.
"Sweet mother of Merlin."
Harry realized that Malfoy had seen his face... the cut up part that had traveled through the door. Quickly he explained.
"Well what do you expect from getting thrown through a glass door? And as it wasn't exactly life or death I couldn't exactly use magic."
Malfoy raised an eyebrow.
"Looks to me like it's healing already."
"That would be Hermione's doing."
"Why didn't Granger just heal you instead of speeding it up."
"Who knows?"
Malfoy didn't exactly look convinced but for some reason he seemed to respect Harry enough to let the matter drop. With one last curt nod Malfoy left Harry alone with his thoughts and Harry finally managed to collapse onto his bed.
* * * *
* * * *
In the weeks following Harry and Malfoy mostly avoided each other. As a result they didn't actually have a conversation after that first one. If they ran into each other they would exchange a slight nod and continue on their way.
Harry spent most of his time reading in Flourish and Blotts or in his room. The, uh, more, um, interesting aspects of his life were surprisingly easy to conceal. Every second or third day when he started to feel tight and stretched and he could sense the edges of his blood lust he'd go out into Muggle London and...
He was always very careful to make sure that the muggle would recover. He also discovered something. If he concentrated hard enough he could force a few drops of his own vampiric blood back through his fangs. One drop on a puncture wound and it disappeared. As far ass harry could tell there were no side effects and it was easier, and less painful, than biting his finger. And, after all, he had to eat and it wouldn't do for the wizarding community to notice puncture wounds in the necks of passing muggles.
So really, the weeks leading up to September 1st were all right.
The day before he was due at Kings Cross Ron, Ginny, and Hermione showed up to get their school supplies. Harry was out after another book and he ran into them, literally, as he came out of Flourish and Blotts.
SMASH!!
"I'm so sorry, I really should pay more attention to where I'm going... Ginny?"
She flashed Harry a grin. He was temporarily speechless. She had changed. Oh boy had she changed. Last year she had finally gotten over her shy crush on him but she still was rather conservative. Apparently this summer had been very, um, hot. And she apparently hadn't quite changed her wardrobe yet. Her clothes were defiantly summer clothes. No, more like a hundred and twenty degree weather if you know what I mean. Yup, she had defiantly changed.
"Well, if you're really, really, sorry," she smiled, "then why don't you help us carry the stuff you knocked over?"
"Gladly." He answered and bent to pick up books, "Hey Ron, Hermione."
"Hey Harry."
Hermione was down on her hands and knees picking up books too.
"Hello Harry." She moved close and lowered her voice so that only he could hear.
"I need to talk to you when we get somewhere private." She raised her voice again.
"I hope everything healed alright?"
"Yep. Just fine." He tossed head a bit so that his hair left that side of his face bare. It was completely devoid of any sign that he had traveled through a glass door.
"Where are you guys heading next?"
"Actually, we had just finished and were going to the leaky cauldron hoping to spot you." Hermione answered.
"So are we heading there still?"
"'Course mate. We need rooms."
"Can I follow then?"
Ginny grinned once more.
"Absolutely."
* * *
* *
Back at the leaky cauldron they got an extra room for Ginny and Hermione to share, Ron would be staying with Harry. Then they split up. The girls went to their room and Harry and Ron dragged Ron's trunk, which he had dropped of here earlier, to Harry's room. On the way they didn't speak much, at least not until Malfoy passed them and, quite casually, nodded and half- smiled in their direction. After he had passed ron just stared for a moment in shocked silence.
"Was that Malfoy?"
"Yes." Harry answered.
"Did he just walk by here without even trying to curse us?"
"Yes."
"He didn't even sneer at us?"
"Correct."
"He actually smiled? At us?"
"Yes he did."
Ron turned and glared.
"How come you're taking this so damn calmly?!"
And so harry explained all about the rest of the day after Ron had left. He was gaping by the end of it. But Harry didn't leave him to his astonishment for long. He had questions for Ron. All of them involving his sister.
"I don't know Harry, I just don't know. And I can't say I like her change although it could be worse."
"How?"
"Well, she could be after someone like, oh, Malfoy or Zabini instead of you."
"She's after me?"
"You didn't notice? Bloody hell Harry, I'm her own brother and I noticed! It's kinda hard not to notice the way she walked and talked around you. Are you having me on?"
"Honestly, I didn't notice. I guess I'm just not into things today."
* * *
* *
Shortly after Ron unpacked the girls showed up. Hermione managed to persuade Ginny to go with Ron and get some dinner for the four of them. Once Ginny was safely out of ear shot Harry asked Hermione what it was all about.
"I read something that I think you should hear.'
"Go ahead."
"You have been, er, eating? Right? You haven't been starving yourself? Or anything?"
"Now why would I do... oh. Right. No. I'm just very careful that I don't hurt anyone."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh good. I was so afraid your, uh, noble tendencies would get in the way."
"And why were you so worried? What is it you thought I needed to know?"
"Well, last night I was reading,"
"Big surprise there."
She glared.
"Sorry.'
"As I was saying, I was reading and I ran across some things about vampiric feeding."
"So?"
She glared again.
"I'll shut up."
"Well, I was so scared. You see, I read that the... the vampires... who stop feeding for too long... they... they..."
She seemed too frightened to speak. They were sitting on the end of his bed. Harry moved closer and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Tell me. Please. I need to know."
She nodded.
"They... when they finally give in to the blood lust... and they finally... feed... they... they..." she looked like she was going to cry.
"Oh Harry! They Combust! The blood moves through their veins so fast that they catch fire! They're gone in two seconds. Only a pile of ash left." She broke into sobbing.
"All those p-poor vampires that t-try to not h-hurt people and t-try to st- starve themselves die! And I was s-so afraid that when we c-came here we'd find n-nothing but a p-pile of ashes! Or w-we'd find y-you all shriveled and r-red eyed, l-looking like a m-mummy 'cept f-for your eyes! And wh-when you s-saw us you'd p-pounce and then you'd b-burst into flame."
She started crying in earnest and he hugged her close.
"It's alright Hermione. It's alright. I'm fine. I didn't try to starve myself. You got here in time. It's alright. You don't have to be scared."
She slowly calmed down. When she could speak normally again she pulled back and wiped her eyes on her shirt.
"Thanks Harry. I needed that. I've just been so scared for you. And I didn't dare send you an owl. I was too afraid that it would be intercepted and then the whole wizarding world would know."
He smiled at her, stood up, and offered her his hand.
"Now then Miss Granger, If you've quite finished we ought to be heading down to dinner. Our friends will likely become anxious if we dilly dally any longer."
She smiled back, took his hand, and they went down to dinner.
* * * *
* Dinner was uneventful, as was the following morning. Something remotely interesting happened as they were loading their trunks into the muggle cab out front. Malfoy joined them. Well, not exactly joined them, he took a different cab, but still.
They spent most of the ride doing one of two things. Either looking out the window at the not-very-interesting-and-in-fact-rather-dull scenery (muggle London for short), or, in Ron's case, staring ahead in undisguised astonishment at a Malfoy riding with a muggle in a muggle car.
For a brief, very brief, moment Harry was tempted to opt for the second option. Another moment though, and then he was shaking away that thought with a slight edge of bewilderment.
Malfoy's taxi arrived at the station first so he was already on the platform before they were out of the cab. They carefully made their way through the crowd and, before any muggles saw, through the barrier. Once on the platform, surrounded by happy families, Harry realized how much he was missing Hogwarts. With the major changes in his life he suddenly felt a great need to be back somewhere familiar.
He, Hermione, Ron and Ginny dragged their trunks aboard and found an empty compartment. Shortly after they settled down Neville Longbottom came in. the last person to enter was new. They'd never seen her before.
Just as the train was starting to pull out they saw a figure running along under the window. She was attempting to keep up with the train despite the fact that she was pushing a trolley with her trunk on it. Realizing that she wouldn't make it Harry and Ron ran into the corridor and threw open the door. Harry jumped put and, running with her, lifted her trunk off of the trolley. Ron grabbed the end of it and held it. Harry jumped back on and they pulled it aboard.
The train was picking up speed and, even without the trolley, the girl was not quite fast enough to overtake the door. Suddenly she tripped. Without a second thought Harry jumped out and picked her up, bodily, and sprinted to keep pace with the train. Ron reached out and grabbed her but by this time harry was loosing his start on the train. No matter how fast he ran he couldn't catch the door. Ron reached out and pulled Harry up but he couldn't quite get him all the way in. Harry was hanging on to one of Ron's hands for dear life. If he let go he would hit the tracks and boy, would that ever be painful.
However Ron, as we well know it, has sweaty hands. Harry couldn't hold on. He started to slip. In the split second when Harry let go two hands shot out and grabbed his arms. Harry held on to them without question and was pulled safely inside where he collapsed onto the person who saved him. Then he saw the face.
It was Malfoy.
* * *
*
A/N: sorry it took me so long. I have been busy with school. This is my last year in middle school and I've been bouncing off the wall because I got accepted to one of the better high schools in the country. I am on a math team in school (MATHCOUNTS) and last weekend we won at the regional, we're going to state on the twenty-seventh. I also managed to leave my notebook with this chapter and the next (which I'm going to type up as soon as I post this) in my cousins' car when they went to Phoenix for a swim competition (read about my cousin in my profile). Anyway, enough excuses. I'll post this in the next few minutes and then I'll finish my language arts report that's due tomorrow.