Symbiosis 3: Amid the Snakes

"Draco?" Lucius said as he approached his son. "You're supposed to be watching Miss Granger, are you not? And where did Potter disappear to? If you let him escape…"

"He's right there, Father." Draco pointed towards the old-fashioned wooden bench on the other side of the path.

"I hope you realize that with all these intertwining paths and crowds of people, it would be all too easy for our guests to vanish. I would be very disappointed if that happened, Draco. And you do know what that would mean, do you not?" Lucius shifted his gaze to Potter, relieved that the boy had not escaped on them.

"Yes, Father. I would be punished." Draco replied.

"Then go watch Granger. I'll take care of Potter." Lucius hurried over to where Harry was resting on the bench and sat down next to him.

Draco panicked for a moment, his heart pounding within his chest, when he didn't see Granger along the fence watching the monkeys. He quickly scanned the surrounding area and a cool wash of relief swept through him when he spotted her bushy head near some Muggle device. He dashed over to her, only narrowly avoiding colliding into a Muggle's baby stroller. Ignoring the Muggle woman's angry words, he joined Hermoine in front of the tall thing. "Thought you'd escape on me, huh Granger?"

"No, of course not!" Hermoine rolled her brown eyes as she pulled Muggle coins from her purse and pushed them into a slot on the machine. "I'm getting us some drinks! And it's a good thing you're here because you can help carry them."

"Drinks?" Draco said, surprised. He studied the smooth fronted machine, observing how Hermoine pressed a certain area. There was a loud click and then a cylindrical device appeared at the bottom. "This thing dispenses pumpkin juice?"

Hermoine laughed as she retrieved the cold can of cola and handed it to Draco. "No, of course not! Don't be silly! Muggles don't drink pumpkin juice. It's a soda machine."

"Soda?" Draco gingerly held the red and white soda can in his hand. "It's cold!"

"Well, it's supposed to be. It wouldn't taste very good warm." She fed more coins to the machine and quickly received three more cans, one of which she handed to Draco. Turning around, she headed for the bench where Harry and Lucius were sitting. "I got us some drinks."

Harry accepted a can from Hermoine and quickly opened it, taking a long swallow. "Thanks, Hermoine."

"Exactly how do you open these things?" Draco asked as he wordlessly handed one to his father.

"It's very simple." Hermoine held her can so both Malfoys could see how it was done. "You stick your thumb under this tab and pull up. See? It opened. Just don't shake the can or you'll be sorry!"

Draco opened his can and cautiously peered within the little hole and saw a dark liquid sloshing around inside. He glanced at his father, unsure if he should taste the stuff. "Father?"

Lucius had also opened his can and took a cautious sip. "We did agree to give them the weekend. I suppose that includes trying Muggle drinks. It doesn't appear to be alcoholic so you may drink it if you wish."

After making certain both Harry and Hermoine were drinking their drinks, Draco moved the can to his mouth to take a small sip. He was quite surprised when bubbles from the drink hit him in the nose, causing a strange sensation. He snorted, wiping at his nose with his sleeve. "Something hit me in the nose."

"It's carbonated." Hermoine explained. "It has air bubbles in it."

"Muggles put air bubbles in their drinks? Are you serious, Granger?" Draco drawled, his lip curling into a sneer. "Why in the world would anyone do a stupid thing like that?"

"It tastes better that way." Hermoine jumped up from the bench and grabbed Draco by his free arm. "Come on! Let's go look at more animals!"

"I swear, Granger. You're getting more hyper from this stuff…" Soda can in hand; Draco was dragged into the nearby reptile house. He looked with interest at the huge snakes that rested on the other side of the glass. "Well, I suppose this place isn't too bad. At least they have my house emblem here. Do they have yours, Granger?"

"Lions? Of course!" Hermoine stared at a huge python that had draped itself across a branch. A little shiver went down her spine as she noticed how thick its coils were. Pythons squeezed their prey to death. They were silent and deadly. Unlike the American rattler, which warned with a sound, you didn't know a python was around until it dropped onto you from a tree above. Her eyes shifted to the reflection of the Malfoys in the glass and she couldn't help but notice the similarities between them and the snake before them. Although they were behaving for the moment and sometimes even seemed friendly, she had to remind herself that at any moment they could be just as deadly as the snake. In a way, she was playing roulette with them; her and Harry's life as the prize. She didn't really want to think of what might happen when the weekend was up.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Draco remarked in his lazy drawl, his gray eyes fastened to her face.

"Beautiful things are often deadly." She remarked, her eyes still on the snake.

"Of course, I'm more beautiful than the snake. Don't you agree?" He watched her face carefully.

"Oh, please!" Hermoine rolled her eyes and turned her back on him. The little ferret could be so annoying at times!

Draco smiled, pleased with himself. He eagerly followed her to the next display; which held even more snakes. He inched up next to her until their shoulders were touching. "You're just jealous, Granger."

"You're lucky that I don't strangle you!" She threatened, her brown eyes flashing in the dark room.

"Oh, such emotion! I didn't know you cared." Draco's smile widened to reveal perfect teeth. Boldly, he pushed her a bit farther. "Besides, you wouldn't really strangle me. You're a Gryffindor, all honor and noble. Gryffindors aren't allowed to do dirty deeds like us Slytherins."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you." Hermoine replied mysteriously. Her gaze shifted off the snakes in the cage to her best friend. Harry stood looking in at the big python that they had just left, Lucius next to him. "Some of us Gryffindors have a little bit of Slytherin in us as well."

Draco's gaze followed hers and the sneer returned. "I still can't believe people thought he was the heir to Slytherin. Although I suppose that's just more of his bad luck. He seems to have loads of it…"

"You know what you're problem is?" Hermoine poked a finger onto his chest. "You're problem is that you're jealous!"

"Jealous?" Draco laughed. "You got to be kidding! You think I want to go walking around with a scar on my face or have someone wanting to kill me?"

"You're jealous of all the attention Harry gets!" Hermoine poked the finger harder into his chest. "He's always in the spotlight and that bothers you. Well, Harry doesn't want all the attention! It's forced on him and he hates it! He'd gladly give it all up to be just a normal boy going to school, but he can't. If you'd be nicer and not such a mean little git shoving people out of the way and boasting, he'd gladly share all the unwanted attention with you."

"Really? You playing physiatrist now, Granger?" Draco's gray eyes darkened and hardened, his pale cheeks becoming flushed. "So tell me, does that mean he's jealous of me, too? Hmmm? My wealth, superior grooming and good looks?"

"Oh, of course he is!" She fumed. "But he doesn't care about the money or the good looks! If you knew him better, you'd know that!"

"I'm not stupid, Granger!" Draco snarled as he gripped her hand and pulled it off his chest. "I know he won the Triwizard tournament for the money!"

"He gave that money away! He wanted not one knut of it!"

The anger on his face faded to confusion. "Then why's he jealous?"

"Oh, you are so dense!" Hermoine gripped him by the shirt and hauled him farther away from Harry and Lucius. Shoving Draco up against the glass of a display, she whispered the answer. "You have parents and he doesn't!"

"Back to that again?" Draco's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing her words. "And that's why we've been fighting all these years?"

"You also have a bad habit of always saying the wrong thing!" She pointed out.

"You don't think I'm witty?" A faint smile played upon his lips while a twinkle danced in his eyes. "Admit it, Granger, I'm funny."

Hermoine's mind whirled. She wasn't sure if they could really convince Lucius to like Muggles within a single weekend, but perhaps there was another possibility; another way out of this disaster. The incident during the third year with Buckbeak strongly suggested that Lucius did care for Draco quite strongly. Therefore it might also be possible that Draco had some measure of control over his father. If they could get Draco on their side, then perhaps they had a slim chance of actually surviving this. "Look, do you want to be friends with Harry? This weekend would be the perfect chance."

"You're serious?" he asked, thinking back to the short conversation he had had with Potter by the monkeys. It had been the first real conversation the two of them had ever had without butting heads.

"Yes, I'm serious!"

Draco thought of being friends with Potter and joining the Dream Team. The idea had merit. In fact, that had been one of his Father's previous orders, one that he had miserably failed at. Of course, he never really understood why Potter had turned down his offer of friendship. But Granger seemed to understand exactly what made the Boy Who Lived tick. He closed his eyes for a brief moment and pictured himself waltzing around Hogwarts with that famous Dream Team; actually being a member of that exclusive cliché. He would be part of the action instead of hearing about it the next day. His fame would only soar higher. He would be in the spotlight. Draco opened his eyes and gazed into Hermoine's brown ones. "All right, sure. I'd like to be his friend but do you really think he'll want to be mine?"

"We'll work on that. Just do what I say and please watch your mouth!"

Harry stared at the giant python, depressed. He still wasn't over the fact that Sirius was dead, which is part of the reason he had cooperated with the Malfoy's kidnapping plan. He had been happy, so happy. Finally he wouldn't have to live with the Dursleys anymore. But the happy future he had envisioned had came crashing down that fateful day in the Department of Mysteries. Now he was like the snake before him, trapped in a cage. Even if he managed to escape on Lucius, Dummbledore would just send him back to the Dursleys. He idly wondered if his aunt and uncle had gotten in trouble with the school's Headmaster. He hoped so. They deserved it for literally pushing him right into Lucius Malfoy's arms. The simple truth of the matter was, they were glad he was gone.

Draco is right. I DO have bad luck. Anyone who loves me ends up dead.

"Harry!" Hermoine said as she tugged on his arm. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?" he asked, glancing up at his friend. Just past Hermoine's shoulder he saw Draco drinking soda and idly gazing into another snake cage.

Hermoine's brown eyes narrowed, shifting from him to the thick python in the glass-fronted display. "Harry, no! You better not be thinking of letting that thing loose like last time! We have enough of snakes to worry about, if you get my meaning."

"I'm just like that snake, Hermoine. Trapped."

"And I have a solution to that." She whispered to Harry, her eyes on Lucius. The senior Malfoy stood next to Harry, an amused look on his face. Speaking louder, she boldly stared into his eyes. "Will you excuse us for a moment?"

"Of course." He smiled sweetly. He watched as the girl pulled Potter several feet away and started talking animatedly, her arms waving about. Keeping his eyes on them, he joined his son. "Isn't is amusing, Draco? They are no doubt trying to plan an escape attempt."

Draco finished draining his can of cola. He felt energized; like he could take on the entire Gryffindor Quidditch team by himself! He didn't ever remember feeling this way before and he tried to read the writing on the can to see what the Muggles had put into the strange drink, but it was too dark inside the reptile building to make out the words. He glanced up at his father. "Yes, I suppose they are. Tell me, Father, what do you make of this odd Muggle drink?"

Lucius blinked his eyes, and then stared down at the red and white can in his hand. It felt surprisingly light. He shook it slightly and was quite surprised to discover it was empty! Had he actually drank the entire contents of the metal can? "Well, it has made me feel … younger, like I have a lot of energy."

"That's how I feel, too!" Draco smiled.

"Perhaps Muggles are good for a few things…" Lucius tried to study the can and moved closer to the open door that led outside. Being a Malfoy, he didn't care that he was blocking the exit or that frustrated Muggles had to squeeze past him. The dirty looks that were cast his way were ignored. Secretly, they made his heart soar for he was a Slytherin and annoying people pleased Slytherins. The tiny print on the side of the can was incredibly hard to read. He squinted, shifting the shiny container this way and that. But when the words came into focus, he growled with frustration. They were meaningless, incredibly long words that made absolutely no sense to him at all! "Darn Muggles! They are using a secret code for this energy potion!"

While Lucius had been reading the ingredients of Coke, Draco had kept his gray eyes glued to Harry and Hermoine. "Father, I think we should force Granger to buy us more of this drink!"

"Yes, yes. You are right, Draco." Lucius tucked the empty can into his robe pocket for further study later. Perhaps Snape could help with some of those fifteen and twenty letter words… "This stuff will be good for when I'm at work and bored to death with tedious scroll-work."

Across the room, Hermoine was having an intense discussion with Harry.

"I'm not going to be friends with HIM, Hermoine! We've hated each other since the first day of school all those years ago!" Harry protested, his green eyes so dark they almost looked black. He reached out and gripped her by the shoulders, staring into her eyes with concern. "What's wrong with you, Hermoine? Are they controlling you with the Imperious Curse? Is that it? Because you've been acting funny ever since I met you earlier today. You're getting too chummy with Malfoy and his father. I don't like it."

"No one's controlling me!" She protested. "I'm just trying to think of a way out of this! And I think it'll really work!"

"I doubt it…" Harry mumbled.

"Do you want me to explain it to you again?" Hermoine asked, certain her plan was really brilliant.

"No, I understood the first time." Harry replied as he watched the Malfoys out of the corner of his eye. "You think if we get friendly with Draco, then Draco will influence his Father so we don't get turned over to Voldemort. You're forgetting what a mean, sorry excuse for a person Lucius is. He's a Death Eater and an escaped convict! He's murdered people, Hermoine. I still have the bruises from when he leaped on my back in the Department of Mysteries."

"So you're not going to give them a chance?" She asked.

"No!"

"And you're just going to let Draco grow up to be a Death Eater?" She asked, disapproval in her voice. "You don't think his life is worth saving? You're just going to let the ranks of the Death Eaters swell with people from our generation? You'll let Draco be sent to Azkaban someday when you could have prevented it?"

"What do you expect me to do?" Harry asked, flinging his arms out wide. "I'm just a kid! I have my own problems! My Godfather just was murdered, my Uncle threw me out and I've been kidnapped by a prison escapee! And what are we doing? We're waltzing around the zoo like we're some sort of bizarre family! This whole thing is totally insane!"

"Then why don't you try to escape?"

"It's no use, Hermoine." Harry sighed, depressed. "It's like I was saying before: I'm like that snake in the cage. If I ever managed to escape from Lucius, Dummbledore will just send me back to the Dursleys. And as crazy as it sounds, right now I'm better off where I am."

"So are you going to help save him?" She persisted. "It's the right thing to do and you know it! You just can't go and kill Voldemort. There's more to it then that, I'm sure. You have to cut him off from his followers. It'll make things easier on you in the long run."

Harry hung onto his forehead, and then ran a nervous hand through his hair. "I suppose you're right. But how do we know he'll cooperate? He's always thought he was better than us."

"Because I already talked to him about it and he agreed! But we'll have to teach him how to be friends. If I'm not mistaken, he's never had a real friend in his life." Hermoine smiled at him and then gave him a tight hug. "I'm proud of you, Harry. It's not easy to overcome old habits or to turn an enemy into a friend. But you'll see, it'll be worth it in the end."

Harry stared at her fearfully. "You're not going to ask me to be friends with Lucius as well, are you?"

"Well, we DO need to work on him…"

Harry moaned and collapsed against the nearest glass display, one hand pressed to his head. The day was rapidly turning into a living nightmare!

"Hey Granger!" Draco said as he came up from behind her. "Give me some of those Muggle coins. Father and I are thirsty again."

Hermoine looked at him in surprise, then reached into her purse. "Are you sure you can work the soda machine?"

"I'm not a baby, Granger! Of course I can!" Draco took the offered coins, pausing. "You want another drink, Hermoine?"

"Yes, please. That would be sweet of you, Draco." She grinned at him.

"Potter?" Draco asked.

"Please. I need one badly." Harry replied, hand still on his head. His dark hair was sticking up every which way.

Draco shook his head, not understanding why Potter always looked such a mess. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere!"

"I have no intention of going anywhere." Harry assured him. He watched Draco leave with the coins, speak to Lucius briefly and then vanish out into the bright sunlight. The moment the silky haired blonde was gone; Harry straightened himself up and pushed away from the glass window. He gripped Hermoine by her arm tightly. "Do you realize what you've done? You got both of them hooked on caffeine!"

Hermoine giggled.

"It's not funny! They're bad the way it is and now with caffeine…!"

"So we'll get them addicted to a few other Muggle foods as well. Do you think they ever ate popcorn?" Hermoine looked serious, one finger on chin as she considered the foods available at the zoo. "Perhaps later we should take them to see a movie. What do you think?"

"I guess…" Harry shrugged. He turned around just in time to see Draco hurry into the building with his arms full of cold soda cans. Lucius removed one and popped it open, taking a long drink. Draco headed their way and Harry accepted one of the icy cans, Hermoine taking another. Harry was actually surprised that the Slytherin had offered to get the cans himself instead of ordering either him or Hermoine to do it instead. Perhaps he did want to be friends. He gave Draco a tentative smile. "Thanks."

"No problem." Draco replied as he popped open his can. "What do they put in these energy potions?"

"A lot of stuff that's bad for you." Harry replied. "If you drink too much of it you'll either end up looking like my cousin Dudley or my Uncle Vernon. That or you'll end up in St. Mungo's a nervous wreck."

Draco gazed at the innocent looking can in his hand. "Nah! That'll never happen!"

They left the reptile building and Hermoine bought each of them boxes of popcorn from a red-and-gold wheeled popcorn wagon. The sign said they were coming up on Africa and Hermoine very much wanted to see the big cats. If she remembered correctly, the lions should just be ahead around the next turn. A loud roar split the air and she shivered with excitement. Jazzed up with caffeine, she raced ahead, her bushy brown hair bounced on her shoulders.

Harry took off after her.

"They're making a break for it!" Lucius cried, almost choking on his popcorn. He started to run after the Gryffindors, greasy popcorn spilling out of the red-and-white striped box he had tucked between his body and his forearm. Truth be told, the Death Eater didn't have enough hands to hold his cane, a soda can and a box of popcorn. The icy reddish-brown drink splashed up on his hand and the sleeve of his robe; he didn't care. He was determined to catch the two teens and not let them escape. The girl was very diabolical, filling his hands first with Muggle food items before attempting the escape! Why, it was worthy of a Slytherin. He watched them speed around the corner up ahead, the view blocked by thick green shrubbery and towering trees.

Draco ran alongside his father and soon passed him up, his robes flying out behind him.

Lucius watched Draco disappear behind the turn up ahead and then he had reached it, too. Running at full speed, he collided into the chain-link fence that kept guests out of the lion enclosure. Upon hitting the fence, the aluminum soda can was instantly crushed, the cold sticky liquid flying all over the Death Eater's fine clothes. The little remaining popcorn also went flying. He backed up a step and swayed uncertainly on his feet. His face and nose hurt from where he had ran into the fence and he hoped he didn't possess crisscrossed shapes on his face now. That would be embarrassing. Even more embarrassing was the fact that the two teen Gryffindors were standing along the fence staring at him with puzzled looks. They hadn't been trying to escape at all!

Hermoine came over and gently took his arm. "Are you all right, Mr. Malfoy? You should sit down and rest. There's a nice bench right over there."

Lucius allowed himself to be led over to the bench. He lowered himself to the wooden seat and accepted the paper napkin she handed him. Lucius watched her hurry back to the fence to look at the lions. Glancing down at himself, he saw his clothes were a mess! Not only were they soaked with soda but bits of popcorn was stuck to him as well. And were those grease stains? He hoped Narcissa had a strong cleaning spell the house elves could use. Disgusted, he swiped at the stains with the napkin. Almost instantly the napkin became wet and started to shred. Lucius fumed, his pale cheeks turning red. Not only was he wet and grease stained, but now he had tiny bits of white paper stuck all over his clothes as well! He slapped at the paper bits with his free hand but most refused to come off.

What in Merlin had he been thinking when he had decided to kidnap Gryffindor teenagers? "They're worst than Voldemort and Dummbledore combined!"

For a brief moment he even considered returning Potter to the Muggle household where he had found him, then moaned when he remembered what the fat Muggle had shouted. At the moment, he really hadn't been paying attention to the Muggle's words. Why should he? He had been overjoyed and thrilled that his incredibly simple plan had worked! It was so incredibly dumb and stupid that no one had tried it before. Although Muggles lived in the house, Dummbledore had it protected by spells and wards. It was virtually impossible for Death Eaters to break in and snatch the boy. So he had decided on a simple ruse … and it had worked! But perhaps it had worked too well…

It was obvious the Muggle man was all too happy to get rid of Potter. Lucius had never stopped to think why. Now he was beginning to wonder why.

"I must be more careful in the future." Lucius vowed to himself. "Stupid Muggles, putting fences just around a corner! A person could kill themselves…"

"Excuse me," Hermoine said as she held out a plastic Muggle-style comb to him. "But you have popcorn in your hair. Do you know that?"

Grumbling under his breath, Lucius snatched the comb angrily and started to comb out the popcorn.

Hermoine joined Harry and Draco at the fence. "Your father is in a really awful mood."

"Running into a fence would do that." Draco himself had almost hit the fence but he had managed to stop just in time. His father, on the other hand, hadn't been that lucky. Still, Draco had to admit he was enjoying his trip to the Muggle zoo. Perhaps he and Harry might even become friends.

To be continued…