Disclaimer: These characters belong to J. K. R. Rowling and no other. The plot is mine.

Warning: Some spoilers to previous Harry Potter books, HBP not included. I ignored the events of HBP.

Author's Note: Here is the next chapter of Milk It! It took me longer to finish this than I wanted to and it turned out shorter than I expected to also. I wasn't exactly in a humorous mood lately, thus the delay. Thanks to all of you who reviewed. I love reviews and I get very happy when I read them.

Chapter 2

It was quiet in the headmaster's office. Albus Dumbledore was enjoying this immensely. He was done with all of his work for the day. Days such as this were very rare for him. He was an old man and these moments meant more for him than they would for a younger wizard. He truly cherished them.

He had a full bowl of different candies in front of him and he smiled as he plopped a lemon drop into his mouth. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes as he savoured the lemony taste that spread over his taste buds.

He sighed contently as he felt a nice, relaxing warmth spread through his old limbs. He pushed his chair back and lifted his slipper clad feet and put them up on the table. Yes, on days such as this, he took himself the liberty of putting on a pair of warm and fuzzy slippers. His normal shoes tended to be rough on his feet and a little change in footwear did miracles to his wellbeing.

He sighed again and was about to close his eyes as Faux landed on his shoulder, nuzzling his left cheek. He petted his bird and dug around in his pocket for a little while. He found a special piece of candy, he knew Faux enjoyed immensely and gave it to the phoenix. Faux made an appreciative sound and flew back to his place with his treat between his beaks.

Albus relaxed in his chair and he closed his eyes once more. Perhaps tonight he would even be able to go to bed early and have a good night's sleep. That would certainly do wonders to his old limbs. An old man such as himself certainly needed his fair share of sleep, something he had not quite managed since he had become a headmaster for Hogwarts.

He stretched in his chair and thought that in fifteen minutes, he would go to bed. It was several hours earlier than he usually did. If no emergencies turned up during those fifteen minutes, he would go.

But until then, he would sit in his chair and relax. He took yet another lemon drop and plopped it in his mouth. He closed his eyes and was just about to sink into his own little world as he heard loud voices outside his door.

Albus swallowed his lemon drop quickly and put his slipper clad feet down on the floor again. Three seconds later, he heaved a little sight as his room was filled with people. The dream of peaceful night with going early to bed was just that, a dream. He sighed dejectedly as he looked at the little gathering of people in his office. Severus Snape, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy…and a cow. Yes, it was going to be a long night again.

"…not my fault that you're an idiot!"

"I am not! You did this!"

"Be quiet!"

"Mooooo!"

Albus rubbed his temples as he watched Hogwarts' most popular rivals throw insults at each other. Snape was standing a few feet behind them, trying to make them quit their bickering by taking off points and threatening with torturous detentions. The cow was standing behind Snape and it seemed to have taken an odd fascination to his greasy black hair. It was slowly moving closer, threatened by the professor's loud and angry voice. Then suddenly it started chewing on the potions master's greasy hair.

"Aaaaaargh! My hair!"

This made the two boys quit their bickering and turn toward their professor. Both of them were stunned into silence at the sight in front of them. Neither seemed to know just how to react to this turn of events.

Harry put his hand in front of his mouth, trying to conceal his laugh. Draco smirked openly, still more than just a little peeved at how his favourite professor had made him come here in the first place. Dumbledore looked mildly shocked at the little gathering inside his office. He was questioning Severus' professionalism about the handling of the delicate situation at hand but he was a wise old man and kept his mouth shut.

"Ahem! What seems to be the problem here?" he asked instead and received an amused glance from Harry who was having real trouble breathing from the laughter he so desperately tried to keep inside of him. Draco gave him an equally amused look. His was more of the haughty sort however, truly befitting a Malfoy. Snape gave him a highly offended glance before he detached himself from the cow and put a safe distance between himself and the confused animal.

"The problem…Albus, is this…this beast!" he said, trying to look calm but the sound of his teeth gritting together unveiled his true emotions all too well.

"Yes…Severus…do tell me what it is doing here." the headmaster said calmly. Severus harrumphed, offended by the question but tried to keep some of his dignity by answering the question in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Malfoy and Potter seem to have gotten into another brawl and as such…this…filthy creature seems to have been conjured. Their little spell ruined a hallway and most of the statues there."

Upon hearing these news, Albus' face gained a severe look. He looked patiently at Severus while he told the brief summary of what had happened between Harry and Draco. When he turned to look at the two boys, the smiles on their faces froze. He looked disappointed and anger shone in his usually twinkling, blue eyes.

"Is this true?" he asked the two boys.

None of them dared say anything. They just nodded, avoiding to look at their headmaster and trying not to look at their potion's master who was now soundlessly trying to fight off the cow who had once more started chewing on his hair.

"I see. What do you have to say for yourselves?" the headmaster asked calmly.

Both boys opened their mouths at the same time as they looked at the headmaster. He still wore that angry look in his eyes. They looked at each other before they closed their mouths, not saying a word. Neither wanted to make the headmaster angrier. They were both wondering what kind of punishment was waiting them and they kept their eyes on the ground while they waited for it.

"I trust that you understand how far you've gone with this act. I will not tolerate this sort of behaviour in my school. I've wanted to do something about this unhealthy rivalry of yours for ages but I thought that with time, the two of you would realize how childish the two of you were being. Now you have given me the perfect opportunity to do something about it." The headmaster said in a determined tone, making the boys squirm with unease. This was not going to be fun.

"I want the two of you to clean the hallway you have destroyed and restore it to the way it had been before. I want you to do it together."

Draco and Harry let out a breath of relief. The punishment wasn't that bad after all. Sure, they didn't exactly look forward to spending time with each other but it was only for a few hours at most and after that they would be free from seeing each other.

"After that, I want you to take care of your creation." the headmaster added calmly. "I want you to do that together. We shall find her a place to stay and you will have to find out how to take care of a cow and you will do it…together. That means, you'll have to spend a few hours together every day. You are also banned from going home during Christmas. You'll have to stay here and take care of your cow."

This last statement made Draco red with anger and Harry looked as though he had just been stabbed in the back by the headmaster.

"My mother will never allow that!" Draco shrieked in infuriately.

"Oh, I will see to that she does, never fear my boy." the headmaster said, cracking the first mischievous smile of the evening. Draco stared at him murderously. He turned around with his chin high in the air, for dramatic effect and pushed past Snape and the cow. He was almost in front of the gargoyle statue when he was yanked back by a silent spell that came from Dumbledore's wand.

"You weren't thinking about leaving, were you Draco? I thought I said that you and Harry had to clean up the mess you've made. I meant tonight." he said with a saccharine smile as he looked at the furious Malfoy in front of him.

"Now, Severus, I trust you to lead these boys down to the stable and find a place for their cow and after that, you are to see to that they get that hallway restored." The headmaster said ruthlessly, making Harry look almost as murderously at him as Malfoy was.

Fifteen seconds later the headmaster's study was empty once more. Exhaling deeply, Albus slumped down into his chair once more, lifting his tired feet to rest on top of his desk once more.

He was very happy with how he handled the strange situation although he wondered if his punishment would work or if it would result in more hallways getting destroyed. He looked at his watch and ascertained himself of the fact that if he left for bed now, he would still get to sleep a few hours earlier than usual. This though warmed his heart immensely and he stood from his desk, walking toward his chambers with accomplishment warming his insides.

"That's an ugly name, Malfoy." Harry said an hour later as they cleaned the corridor where Snape had left them after their visit to the stable. They were discussing names for the cow and for once, they were being quite civil with each other. Neither having the energy to fight the other after what had happened earlier.

"It is a perfectly reasonable name, Potter! It is a cow." Malfoy said, flinging the nose of a statue at Harry. Harry picked it up of the floor and tried to find its owner in midst of the mess they had made.

"You can't name a cow, Cow." He stated as he found the face of an old wizard and fastened the nose with a spell. He looked thoughtful for a moment while Malfoy threw another, less identifiable piece of a statue at him. He glared at the blond, not really having the energy to do something about it.

"Well what do you suggest then! And what do you care anyway? I for one just want to get all of this over with as soon as possible." Malfoy said, sounding very irritated as he threw an ear at Harry.

"Why not call her Millie?" Harry said, trying to find the owner of the ear this time. "It's a good name, don't you think?"

"Whatever you say, Potter." Malfoy said, giving up.

Both boys fell silent and for hours, neither of them spoke. They worked in a defeated silence as they slowly restored the corridor to its original state.

"So we should meet tomorrow morning and give Millie some breakfast before we go to classes. I'll check on what cows eat and how much. So is so is six am okay for you?" he asked, yawning widely and stretching his limbs at the same time as he waited for Malfoy's answer.

"Six! When am I going to have time to sleep then!" Malfoy shrieked, looking quite a bit appalled at what he was hearing.

"Well, you have five hours if you run along now." Harry stated, sounding a little irritated. He would have even less time since he would have to sneak into the library and check out what cows ate and some basic tips on how to take care of them.

"Five hours! That's not enough!" Malfoy raged on as Harry yawned some more, wiping the corners of his mouth as saliva started to dribble down his chin. Malfoy watched him with a disgusted look on his pale face.

"Well, it'll have to do. I'll see you at six, Malfoy." Harry said, pushing past Malfoy as he started walking in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

"You're late, Potter." Malfoy stated as Harry entered the stable at five past six.

It was still dark outside and everyone was still fast asleep. Only Hermione was up at this ungodly hour of the day, studying.

Harry had spent most of the previous night, looking for books on cows without much prevail. Cows weren't magical creatures and thus, they didn't have any books on how to keep them and how to care for them.

Harry knew some basic things about cows, like the fact that they gave milk or that they ate hay. But eating just hay was not enough. They had to eat something more than just hay. It seemed too easy.

Just give your cow some hay two, three times a day and that's it? Then he wouldn't suffer much at all, being alone with Malfoy. He didn't understand how feeding a cow would take several hours.

Hermione had wondered why Harry was up so early and he had told her what had happened the night before and how he was now forced to team up with Malfoy in taking care of Millie the cow.

She wasn't amused by the story and she spent a few minutes berating him for being so stupid as to have fights with Malfoy in the school hallways and he didn't protest. In retrospect it was really stupid to fall for Malfoy's stupid taunting and he had himself to blame…but mostly Malfoy.

After she was done giving him the third degree, she was helpful enough to tell him a little about cows. Apparently her grandparents had kept cows long ago and she knew a thing or two about taking care of them since she had spent some summers with them.

Now, Harry was very cranky and had dark circles under his eyes from last night's futile search for information. Hermione's lecture hadn't made his day any brighter and now he had to put effort in not throttling Malfoy for looking as perfectly gathered as usually. Not a trace of a dark circle, not a hair out of place. The stupid git looked absolutely immaculate as he stood there, taking in Harry's less than perfect state with a critical grimace on his face.

Harry smiled evilly inside as he came up with the perfect plan to get back at Malfoy for not having spent his night searching the library and for getting them into this mess to begin with.

"So, Malfoy. What do you choose, milking her or cleaning out under her?" Harry said with venom as he pointed at the unsuspecting cow and the heap of dung she had managed to produce during the night.

"What!"

To Be Continued

Author's Note: Well that was it for now. Stay tuned for more. I'll tell in my live journal when I start working on the next chapter. Hope you liked this and please review.