Chapter 3

Sharing Bulgaria

"if so much as one word is spoken of what you might have, I will hunt you down" Draco's words whizzed in her head.

"what did you have to tell me?" Butted in Harry's voice. He was giving her an odd look.

"Nothing" She said, shaking her head. 'I'm sure it's nothing'

The truth was, she didn't want Harry's mind to stray away from the objective at hand. She knew that if she told him Draco Malfoy was creeping around Bulgaria, having midnight-meetings with Viktor Krum...he'd go all save-the-day on her again. And right now was not the time for that. Her career was on the line here! Every thing she'd ever accomplished was because she was looking for the properties needed for the Philosopher's Stone. So many times she'd tried, and failed. Sure, she'd come up with a new invention of some sort to make up for it every time...but those things never appeased her hunger of a certain Stone. Just to see if she could do it..

So they left the small hotel to grab some breakfast and discuss their new mission. Ginny and Harry both were surprised that this country was marked as "Darkest of all in the world", it looked just like any other town they'd ever been in. Though, there was that one time Harry saw a shop with dead creatures displayed in the window, and another that had thick smoke billowing through the doorway. Other than that, however, the shops and diners looked pretty much normal.

"So where do you think we should even start?" Ginny asked as she ventured down the street with her friend.

"I don't know" He replied, brandishing the small paper. "We're in the dark place it's talking about...so now we have to go...where the trees are cleared...I don't see any trees..."

"Let me see that" Ginny snatched the paper from the Boy who Lived. "The place that men most fear..."

"What is he doing here?" Harry suddenly burst out. Ginny's eyes tore from the paper and searched around. A flash of silver-white light caught her eye and she immediately knew who Harry was referring to. Draco Malfoy was standing outside of a shop with Krum, speaking Bulgarian to some man she didn't recognize.

"Who knows" Ginny muttered before turning her attention back to the riddle before her. She would let that git go on with whatever business he had. It wasn't her concern. But, Harry being the man he is, made it his concern.

"What're you doing here, Malfoy?" He called. Ginny didn't look up from her paper, she just followed her companion wherever he was going. Not until she felt cold steel on her did she turn up her gaze.

"It's a small world, Potter," He sneered, "Perhaps I should be the one asking you what you're doing."

"We're here on business," Harry bit, "good business." Draco didn't look too pleased with that statement. Everyone knew that he had been tried in court for being a Death Eater, but he'd been acquitted. That didn't keep the people from talking, though.

"So I see you did say something about our meeting last night" He snarled at Ginny. She glared at him.

"I didn't."

"I'm sure you didn't." the blonde said sarcastically.

"I didn't!"

"Lying gets you nowhere, Weasel-Chit" Draco narrowed his eyes at her, engaging into a childish arguement.

"Precisely why I'm not lying, you pillock" Ginny shot back

"Uh," Harry interjected.

"What!" They hollered simultaneously, turning to him.

"Erwhat are you guys talking about?"

Ginny smirked triumphantly at Draco and fought the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

××××××××××

So she didn't tell Potter that she'd seen him last night. This was a shocker for Draco. The Weasley girl had always been after Harry Potter...Why she didn't run to him like a little lost child was beyond him. Now he inwardly kicked himself for jumping to that conclusion, now Potter would certainly know! And that would mean he'd be keeping an eye on him. Damn this!

"We're talking about nothing important" Draco drawled as he gave Ginny a hard look that said 'And if you say anything, you'll die.'

"Why were you with Ginny last night?" Demanded Harry.

"He vasn't vith her" Krum spoke up from Draco's side, making himself known. "He vas vith me. Veasley vas vollowing us and there vas confrontation"

"Why were you following them?" Harry turned to Ginny

"Yeah, why were you following us?" Draco sneered.

"Shove off, Malfoy. Let's go, Harry." She turned her attention to a piece of parchment and stormed off. Draco earned one last glare from Harry before he went to catch up with her.

"So zey know vhere ze stone iz?" Krum asked quietly.

"Not yet." Draco replied out of the corner of his mouth, "But something tells me that the directions are on that sheet of parchment. We'll follow them."

××××××××××

"I didn't know you left the room last night" Harry prodded as they studied the riddle in a small cafe.

Ginny sighed loudly and tried to block him out.

"What were you doing following Malfoy around? Is he up to"

"No, Harry, He's not up to anything. He's probably just poking around trying to buy everything off like always." She butted in, sick of his prodding. "I couldn't sleep so I left the room. I saw him and argued with him for about two seconds. Can you just please drop it and get on task here?"

"Er-Yeah"

They toiled over the words for over an hour to no avail.

Ginny pounded her fist on the table. This was going nowhere!

"Harry, we have to think differently. We are thinking too hard. Where's a place where trees are cleared and men lie?"

He took his glasses off and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Gin, I don't know. Let's take a break"

"No!" She shouted. The entire cafe went quiet. "I mean, no. We're so close, we can't just call it quits now!"

"We aren't!" he hissed back at her, "I just suggested we take a break! Calm down a bit, won't you?"

"Sorry, Harry" she ran a hand through her hair, "It's just so frustrating"

"Well, sometimes one's brain works better after it's rested for awhile" offered the other with a hint of desparation. Ginny then realized that Harry wasn't much of a workaholic, very unlike herself. These days, it was all she did. She didn't see this trip as a vacationShe saw it as a career opportunity. She was stressing her partner out.

Ginny gave a weak smile. "Fine. Okay. Let's go for a walk."

××××××××××

"It was good talking business with you" Draco said in Bulgarian, shaking a stocky man's hand. Viktor was playing as his personal guide and he proved to be very useful in Draco's mission. Since he was a famous Quidditch player, everyone seemed to want to do whatever he was doing. Ofcourse the people here knew Draco as well...but he didn't compare to fame.

"well, that went well" he said to his sidekick as they left the dingy pub.

"It did" agreed Krum. "So vat is vith ze uzzer mission ve are on?"

"It's a bit more difficult, I'd have to say" Draco explained, "I've been told I have to follow those two pillocks around"

"Harry Potter and ze redheaded girl?"

"Yes"

"ze stone?"

"Yeah, the stone. Can you handle both objectives?"

"I can"

"Good, Because I have a feeling this will all go better if you're going to stick around." Draco shrugged, "The hardest part will be staying right behind them whilst unnoticed."

"yes, I zuppose it vill be," Viktor agreed, "If ze Potter character iz as nozy as ze Ron Veasley"

Draco rolled his mercury eyes. "He's worse."

××××××××××

"Harry! Psst! Harry!" hissed a voice ripe with urgency. "Wake up, Harry!"

He rolled over and groped around for his glasses. Ginny quickly placed them on his face. "What do you want? It's three o'clock in the morning" He groaned as he sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I know what the riddle means! I know I know I know!" She began to jump up and down, "get up I'll tell you!"

"Can't it wait until I can comprehend?" he said irritably.

"No! Get up!"

"Have you been up all night looking at that stupid riddle?"

Ginny stopped jumping for a moment. "That doesn't matter! Just get up I have to get it out! Oh, Harry, we're getting close!"

"fine. I'm all ears." he grumbled as he got out of bed.

Ginny rushed him over to the desk, where the parchment containing the strange riddle lay. The woman was overcome with excitement.

"Think, Harry, What's the only place you can think of where the trees are cleared, and men lie?"

"Their bed" he muttered sarcastically. She sighed and hit him over the head.

"Stop being a bugger! I'm serious!"

"Okay, uhm.." Harry scratched his head.

Ginny grew impatient of his ponderings. "A Cemetary, Harry, that's what!" she shrieked with glee. Then her face fell. "aren't you excited?"

"No," he said, "It's 3:16 in the morning. Also, We are in a large country. There are over four thousand cemetaries here. It's a very helpful discovery, but it's still not very useful. I came to the conclusion that we were looking for a cemetary while we were shopping today. But I didn't want to bring it up."

Ginny slumped down on the bed. "Thanks for bringing up my ego, Harry." She pouted.

"Don't mention it. Goodnight, Gin."

One step closer. And yet...one step back.

A/N: AmY: Sorry, I was the one responsible for Chapter Three and I don't think I did a very good job! And I don't really know what to say about this chapter, I'm not too impressed with it...but I hope you like it anyway, and if you have ANY Suggestions, they're useful! But I'll hand over the AN to my good ol' pal, IFF, cause she's the one who's probably made the chapter better by editing it! ;-D!

TiFF: I don't know what Amy here's talking about. She's a much better writer, and I like chapter 3! You just wait, everyone will review to YOU amy! not me! lol so anyways, there's some pretty good stuff to come! and trust me, it's gonna be awesome! so, review! lotsa reviews make happy writers. and happy writers update more often:-)

Skee-Daddle!X