Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me! (Obviously) All Rowling's.
About a month after the…odd encounter with Malfoy, all memory of the event was driven out by the amount of work set by the NEWT classes.
"Finally!" exclaimed Ron, "A break! A bloody break!"
"Hey, we better get going, they're leaving now," said Harry.
"Well, you two have a good time," said Hermione as she started walking towards none other than the library.
"What, Hermione? Aren't you going to Hogsmeade with us?" Ron asked, slightly put-out.
"Hermione, why are you going to the library? Again?" asked Harry.
Hermione rolled her eyes in disbelief, "The NEWTs are coming up! It's a really, really important year and - "
"Hermione!" said Ron, exasperated, "The exams are months away! We've only been in school for a month! What have you got to study! And - it's Halloween!"
Hermione considered Ron's points for a moment, but then replied, "I want to study, besides, I'd feel better if I could enjoy the feast, knowing that I've done all my homework. Anyway, you two have fun…if you can, could you get me some inkbottles? I'm almost through with my supply." Harry nodded his head, "Thanks, well, I'll see you at the feast tonight!" and she walked off to the library.
"Honestly, sometimes I wonder why she even comes back to the dormitories to sleep - she might as well set up a camping site in that library of hers." Said Ron, shaking his head at the back of Hermione.
Harry laughed, "Come on, let's get going, we promised to get her some ink." The two boys started descending the stairs, chatting about their latest victory over Ravenclaw in quidditch, when quite suddenly, Harry halted at the bottom of the stairs, causing Ron to look back from several steps ahead for not noticing that he had stopped.
"What's the matter?" Ron asked. Harry inclined his head in the direction of the main doors, "What? All I can see is that little snobby git."
"Remember that time on the quidditch pitch, Ron?" Harry asked, trying to rouse Ron's distant memory.
"No…OH!" exclaimed Ron, comprehension and memory dawning on his freckled face. "You don't think he actually…meant it? Do you?"
"Looks like it, doesn't it," Harry muttered in an undertone. Malfoy had been watching them come down the stairs, a smirk slowly spreading over his pale face.
"Well, Potter, I almost thought you had forgotten," Malfoy drawled.
"Well, since Harry doesn't tend to think about you that often, he did kind of - " Ron started, but was interrupted by Harry who had stepped on his foot. Malfoy smirked.
"Where do you plan on holding this…duel then?" Harry inquired, good spirits plummeting fast and the inkbottles for Hermione, driven out of his mind.
Malfoy waved his arm carelessly, "Oh, just a spot that I found rather, convenient, I'd say - a little bit on the outskirts of Hogsmeade." Malfoy led the way with Harry and Ron trailing behind him, Crabbe and Goyle.
"What are you doing?" hissed Ron.
"Malfoy doesn't ask to duel on a regular basis - I want to know what he's up to and what this convenient place of his is." Harry replied quietly. They walked into Hogsmeade following Malfoy, who was strutting around the stores, peering in here and there. He seemed to have forgotten Harry and Ron. Harry knew Malfoy was trying to provoke them. Ron knew he was a prat. After Malfoy had been strolling around, casually for half an hour, and not being able to see Harry and Ron irritated, he, irritated, proceeded to his destination. They walked past Dervish and Banges - where Harry had first met up with his godfather two years ago; he felt a pang somewhere in him, but pushed it aside - and onto a dirt road. They walked past the cave Sirius used to hide in and further into the mountains.
As they reached a large tree that hosted a family of chirping birds, Malfoy stopped and turned around, "Potter, when I said I would make you pay for what you did to my father - I meant it."
A/N: r/r! Cheers.
