Chapter Ten: Molested by ghosts
The next morning, Harry and Ron sat down in their usual place at breakfast, only to be given a shock. The space that had been lately occupied by Draco was empty. They scanned the hall and found her sitting in her old place smack in the center of the Slytherin table.
"She seems to be falling back into her old routine fairly well. Next thing you know, we'll have Malfoy hurling curses at us again. Too bad, that- I was starting to get used to not having to duck for cover…" Ron shrugged and reached for the marmalade.
Harry nodded and was about to start in on his own breakfast when the mail arrived. Harry spotted an unfamiliar owl heading in their direction and shoved the milk jug under the table. All around the Great Hall, others were doing the same with plates and goblets. All the school owls and many of the personal ones had suddenly gotten it into their heads that a dead rodent was a nice touch to add to any delivery. However, what with carrying packages as well, the 'presents' frequently fell while the birds were still in the air, landing with some fairly sickening results.
The owl in question dropped nothing except a small folded bit of parchment that landed on Hermione's head and fell onto the table. She picked it up and opened it, rubbing the spot where it had hit. On the paper four words, written in a familiar hand-
We do it tonight.
That night at approximately eleven, Harry threw his invisibility cloak over himself and his two best friends, and they made their way quickly to the library.
"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Ron whispered, his breath moving the fabric in front of his face.
"Because Draco needs our help. Besides, I told you that you didn't have to come."
"Yeah, and leave you to Draco?" Harry shook his head, "No way Hermione. We've had to leave you on your own for far too long already."
Harry and Ron pushed open the door too the library and stepped in, pulling the cloak off as they went.
Ron patted down the section of ginger hair that had tried to go with the cloak, "But why are we trusting her? This is still Malfoy we're talking about! For all we know, she could just be luring us here to get us in trouble again!"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Weasley?" the sarcastic drawl flowed from the corner a moment before its owner did.
Ron and Draco stood glaring at each other, both with their arms crossed. When it became evident that neither one was going to blink, Hermione walked between them.
"Come on, you two. I'll not say that you have to get along, but we need to work together to do this, so at least try to be civil. Hmm?" she looked from one face to another, until they both relaxed their stances, "Let's get to work."
The four teenagers moved further into the dark, coming to stand a few inches from the line that separated the restricted section from the rest of the library. Draco took in a deep breath and stepped over the line followed closely by the others. They each started at different corners, scanning the tattered spines, for something that might help. After a few moments, Harry turned and sat down, settling a large stack of books in his lap. Draco looked at him strangely and wandered over to see what he had pulled.
"Ugh! This will never do-you've pulled a bunch of random books!"
"Well, how else are we going to find the information we need? Even the teachers said there was no cure," Harry cautiously opened the book on the top if the pile and bent his head to read the miniscule writing.
"There's a cure for everything," Draco flipped the cover shut and took the stack from him. She rifled through the books and handed back two of the seven he'd had, "You just need to know where to look."
Harry sighed, "This is gonna take forever."
"Here," Draco turned to see Ron trying to juggle a stack of twelve books, "it seems that you and the Weasel have the same problem…" she trailed off as one of the books began to slide from the top of the stack, "Maybe you two should go sit at one of the tables, so Hermione and I can bring books out to you."
They both winced as the stack of books finally toppled, raining down to bury Ron beneath a large pile. His muffled voice came from somewhere near the center.
"Yea, maybe that'd be best mate…"
Draco walked between two shelves, looking for a reference Ron had asked for. She yawned and checked the time on the clock hanging high up on the wall. It read 'Way past your bedtime", and Draco nodded in agreement. She was going to look like death warmed over tomorrow. Draco's mind wandered, as a sleepy mind tends to do, as she tried to focus on the title of the book she was looking for.
Her mind jumped about from topic to topic, alighting on everything from the meaning of life to the consistency of tapioca pudding. After a while, Draco stopped paying attention, but there was one subject that kept resurfacing. How was it that three Gryffindor goody-goodies were able to make it to the library after hours, without being seen, and still able to stand upright? She'd had to employ some very sneaky tactics that she was sure no one outside the Malfoy family knew about and even then she'd had to sit for a few minutes before she could risk standing without falling over.
Draco moved to the next aisle and continued her mental conversation. They must have some sort of…It was about that time that Draco landed on the floor, face down. Looking around to make sure no one had seen that, she sat up and pushed at the fabric that was entangled around her legs. Her struggles spilled over into a patch of moonlight, and she was able to see what she'd tripped over. It was an invisibility cloak.
"What the…?" she held it up to her face and rubbed her fingers through the liquid softness of it, "Why those sneaky little-"
Draco stopped suddenly, a quirk of the lips reminiscent to her old smirk ghosted across her face. Oh, the possibilities…
A faint voice snapped her out of her devious planning, "I'm just going to look for Draco. He's been gone a long time…"
Draco cocked her head to the side at Harry's misuse of pronouns, and threw the cloak over her head before Harry came around the side of the shelf. Draco laughed to herself-Harry hadn't brought the lantern with him.
"Time for a little mayhem…" she whispered to herself
Harry came slowly up the aisle, running his fingers along the book spines and humming quietly. Draco grinned and tiptoed behind him, running nimble fingers up his arm as she passed him. Harry whipped around, his eyes everywhere at once. Draco did it again, making him turn to face her. It was eerie how he was looking right at her and couldn't see her, but she didn't want to give up her game yet. Draco waited until Harry felt steady enough to step forward, then hooked her foot around his knee and pulled, sending him crashing to the ground.
Harry flipped himself over, ready to spring at whatever might be there, but he saw nothing. He tried to sit up, but Draco wasn't about to let her captive loose. She bracketed his ribs with her knees and leaned over his prone form. She bent until her cloth covered mouth was as close to his ear as she could get without touching him. Expelling a thin stream of air into his ear, she could barely keep herself from laughing when he squirmed away from the assault.
Draco caressed the outside edge of Harry's knee with her hand….then jerked away and off him when she realized she was enjoying this way too much. Harry sat up quickly, eyes wide and mouth agape, which almost made Draco want to commence the torture again. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), Ron and Hermione came looking for Harry just then, and they'd had enough sense to bring the lantern. Draco made a swift exit, but not before a very bewildered Wonder Boy greeted his friends.
"I think I've just been molested by one of the ghosts…"
Disclaimer: You know the drill, anything you recognize belongs to the rabid squirrels-oops, I mean to Ms. Rowling…
A/N: Wow, I got this one done sooner than I expected. The nextfew chapters are my favorites, the ones that actually prompted me to write this thing in the first place. Anywho…Please review, it lets a poor writer know there's still someone for whom they need to go on…sob