.:. Secrets Between Friends .:.

Chapter Six

Harry had stood in the common room, literally shell-shocked. He didn't even notice when a straggler left for breakfast. His mind registered nothing about his surroundings. Suddenly he had to go. It wasn't a thought – all the thoughts in his brain were literally crashing together, giving him a headache. It was just a feeling, an urge. He needed to leave.

Fresh memories clouded his vision. Somewhere in the midst of confusion, a coherent thought formed. It marveled at the intensity of his reaction, and wondered why such an awkward situation begat such an extreme response. Harry then ignored that thought, and kept walking.

He didn't even know where he was headed.

—

By lunchtime, Hermione was furious. Not only did Ron and Harry fail to show up to their morning classes, she was forced to team up with that sniveling blond brat in Sprout's class.

"Take care not to linger, lest you lost a finger!" The stout woman concluded with an over zealous snort.

Draco rolled his eyes, and then stared at the plant that he and Hermione were supposed to handle. "It's a Combibo Complectus plant of the Ingenero Tantus family." Hermione pointed out knowingly. "To get the seed you just have to stick your fingers in and get it!"

"So why don't you stick your finger in it!" he spat at her. He looked at the large bulbous plant with disgust.

"Because you gormless git, my fingers aren't long enough"

His eyes went from her hands to the plant back to her hands, then to his own hands before falling back to the plant. He sighed. "Fine. Sometimes being endowed is such a bother."

She scoffed at the remark. Actually, she found it somewhat witty. She would not let him know that, though. The ferret boy did have his moments—moments that were severely overshadowed by his overbearing, tactless and rude nature, but moments nonetheless.

"Come on, Malfoy! Get your finger out, and stick it in there!" She nodded towards the Combibo Complectus.

The Slytherin glared at her. Reluctantly he focused on the plant and leaned over it. It essentially was a large bud, with swollen petals that clenched onto a seed the size of a chicken egg. Normally, the plant would mature in another week and slowly shed all but the fertile seed.

However, the seed was immensely useful for potions if extracted a week prior ripening. He poked at it a few times. It seemed quite soft.

"You know, poking at it like that isn't going to help, unless it's interested in foreplay."

That shocked Draco. He didn't expect Miss Prude-and-Proper to make a comment like that.

She was ignoring the fact that he was gaping at her for the moment, and looking expectantly at the plant.

At another table, Crabbe and Goyle each attempted to plunge a hand into the plant, and at the same time. Sprout frowned at the resulting mess. Hermione's stomach lurched at the sight. Draco's face looked like she felt. The rest of the class tried to ignore the brutes.

Finally, Hermione's partner worked up his nerve and pressed the tip of his index finger down into the middle of the Combibo. A shiver went up his spine.

"Bloody hell, this is gross!" He muttered.

"It's only a plant, Malfoy." She admonished. He growled at her.

Draco slowly pushed his finger in until it was about half gone. He felt around and hoped that he could find that damned seed. The plant's grip wasn't terribly firm, it was just surprisingly moist. Inside the texture was soft and supple. But no seed – not that he could tell.

Hermione watched as the boy felt around inside the plant with his finger. He wasn't deep enough, she knew. Judging by the size of it, she guessed his finger would need to be fully inserted to reach the Combibo seed. He may even need to use two fingers to extract the thing, depending on how close to ripening it was. His slender pale digit sank further into the plant. The disgust on the boy's face faded, and was replaced with concentration. His finger was fully inserted, and it seemed like he still couldn't find the seed.

"I can't feel it."

"Well feel around some more, you twit." She snapped at him. "It has to be in there. Use two fingers if you have to."

He chuckled to him self.

Her eyes narrowed, giving Draco a piercing gaze. "What?"

"Oh, nothing Herm'." That blatant wreck of her name was coupled with a sly grin. "I wasn't sure you could handle two fingers so soon."

The Gryffindor girl blanched. Then she felt the warmth return as she blushed despite willing her self to remain composed.

His grey eyes locked with hers while he withdrew his finger and replaced it with not two, but three fingers. As they slide into the plant he mouth widened into a smirk. The blond boy's lips parted as he exhaled slowly.

"I think I found it," he breathed. He proceeded to work his fingers around the seed. Draco was enjoying himself, teasing the mudblood in this fashion. He looked away languidly. His fingers were almost around the egg sized prize.

Hermione was furious. She hated the way he insulted her by making those derogatory remarks. She hated the way she became unnerved. On top of all that, she was highly disturbed with her unwavering fascination the blonde boy's fingers. She couldn't look away. Oh, she tried to mask it with her disgust and hatred for him, and she pretended to ignore his comments. She only hoped it worked.

Draco bit his bottom lip and let a soft moan escape his throat. Suddenly there was a strange sloshing sound, as he withdrew. He waved the large glistening seed in her face.

"Wonderfull! Fantastic!" Sprout exclaimed suddenly from behind Hermione. The Gryffindor girl's heart jumped. She despised when people snuck up on her like that. The instructor, oblivious to the irritation of the two students, promptly snatched the large seed from the boy's messy hand and placed it in a pouch she had been carrying around.

Finally, it was the end of class. Hermione attempted to be the first to leave, however, Draco snuck out just before her, chuckling to himself.

She nearly tripped over him in the doorway.

—

Ginny had gone through her classes as usual. She managed to keep her mind occupied for about half a minute with school work. The rest of the time she was thinking about Colin, and remembering what had occurred this morning. Charms class, the last class before lunch, she shared with Colin. He had come in just before Flitwick began, narrowly avoiding a reprimand. He took his seat next to her.

"Hi." He said quietly.

"Hello." She responded. At least he looks better now.

As the class progressed, Ginny noticed that her friend was aloof, and unfocused. More than once she caught him staring random objects, but his eyes were dilated, and unseeing. She heard him sigh, and breath irregularly during class.

"Are you okay" She asked at one point.

He merely nodded, with sadness in his eyes.

What is wrong? He's so unhappy! She made a mental note to talk to him soon and figure out everything. I have to help him, if I can.

When the class finished, they left and walked through the halls without a word.

In the Great Hall, they sat with the rest of the Gryffindors for the midday meal. Colin sat on one side of Ginny, and her brother sat on the other. Hermione and Harry sat across from Ron and herself, respectfully. Across from Colin sat Dean Thomas.

"Did you guys hear about Puddlemere?" Hogwarts' quidditch announcer inquired enthusiastically.

Harry and Ron looked up with interest. "What about Puddlemere?" Ron asked. Harry remained silent, though he looked up from staring at his plate to look at the excited Gryffindor boy whose eyes were alight with a frenzied passion.

"What? You haven't heard?" Dean exploded.

"Heard what exactly?" Hermione demanded curtly.

Dean threw down the latest issue of the Daily Prophet on the table down in the middle of the group. They all spied what was on the first page. Each of them leaned in to read the article. After stealing a glance at Harry, Colin leaned forward too – he had to read the text upside down.

Puddlemere United: Captainless!

The popular Quidditch team has just recently lost its newest team captain, Oliver Wood, after what seems to be a bizarre revelation of magical conduct. Wood, has had not only the honor of being the team's youngest captain to date, but also, the captain with the shortest reign. The burly youth, was appointed to his now recently vacated position after his first year with Puddlemere, making his occupancy span less than a full season!

Sources say the events surrounding Wood's are kept in strict confidence and shall not be discussed, for the record. What the sources don't say is even more hush-hush and leads one to speculate misconduct, mismanagement, and misuse of magical wands!
Puddlemere fans need not worry, team representatives advise that this unfortunate turn of events does not reflect the team's ability to perform. In light of the pending Championships one would hope…

Colin managed to read most of the article, before Thomas yanked the paper out from the group of Hogwarts students. Ron and Ginny immediately berated the bearer of the news with questions. Hermione looked somewhat annoyed at the commotion the column stirred. Harry seemed perplexed and was oblivious to what was being said at the moment. He was staring at the spot on the table were the paper had been. Colin watched him for a few seconds. It was strange that Harry was reacting to news like this, especially when it regarded Quidditch

Harry looked up at Colin.

Dean Thomas ignored the questions. "I have a feeling we will know more about this sooner than you think"

Everyone suddenly quieted. Harry looked at the boy curiously.

"Why do you say that, Thomas?"

"Well," He grinned conspiratorially. "It seems that Dumbledore spoke with someone from Puddlemere just this morning. I don't know who though."

"What does that mean?" Ron asked.

"It means absolutely nothing, until he tells us. And he probably won't tell us unless it'll affect the school." Hermione looked at all of them in turn. "We should be doing school work, and studying – not gossiping like old hens"

The girl left the table abruptly.

"Lunch is nearly over anyway." Ginny pointed out to Colin beside her.

September-06-2005: first posted
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