Disclaimer: See chapter one!

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A/N: Thanks for the reviews people! Please keep doing so I really appreciate it. So if I don't get many reviews of this chapter I might not continue it, so tell me what you think...

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Chapter 4 – The Offering

There was a jolt, and then they had stopped. They had arrived. The three occupants of the litter climbed out, and looked ahead, where a huge gleaming temple stood in all its glory. It was truly magnificent. Harry and Draco were in awe. They had never seen anything like this. Walking inside the temple was like walking into a dome. It was huge. It was one big room, and lots of doors leading to smaller rooms. At the far side of the entrance room was a massive statue, that Harry recognised as the King of God's, Amun. In his hands he was holding a brass bowl, with a hole in the middle. Harry found this very odd, but who was he to question the traditions of these people? He'd only just arrived her a few hours ago! Enough said. Behind them, Harry and Draco heard the Five arriving inside the temple, one of which was carrying a few items that looked rather valuable. Hetti snuck up behind the two boys, then tapped them on the shoulder, making them jump a mile. They both gave her a scowl, but she just smirked. "All you have to do is walk side by side up to the statue, kneel infront of it and say a few words."

Harry gave her a suspicious look. "Define a few…"

Hetti rolled her eyes. "A few means a few. Don't worry. Just say..." She whispered what they had to say in their ears.

When she had finished, Harry gave a satisfied look. "That's not so bad," he said to Draco.

Draco stared. "Are you kidding?" he hissed. "It was too much when she just said we had to walk up to the statue! Having to say that? That's too much!"

"Quiet!" Hetti shushed. "It's time. You have to do it now!"

"No, no and NO!" Draco whined. "You can't make me!"

"Oh, stop complaining!" snapped Harry, and he grabbed Draco by the hand, pulling him towards the statue. The moment their hands touched, both boys felt a tingle in their palms.

What's going on? Draco thought worriedly. Why is Potter suddenly making me feel tingly all over?

What he didn't know was that Harry was having similar thoughts about him.

What's happening? He thought. Why the hell do I have a sudden urge to snog Malfoy senseless right now?

I must be going mad, both of them thought. They tried to leave their thoughts of the other boy in the back of their minds, as they got closer and closer to the statue. It was hard. Very hard.

The two of them were so wrapped up in thoughts of each other; they almost didn't notice that when what seemed like a moment later, they were stood right in front of the large statue.

"Well, here we are," Harry whispered, letting go of Draco's hand reluctantly. The second their hands parted, both boys had a feeling of loss, both wanting to grab the other's hand once more. They didn't. Instead, Harry whispered, "You have to say your thing first."

Draco desperately didn't want to, but he agreed anyway. At least he'd get it over and done with.

He kneeled down, resting his backside on his heels, and put his hands in his lap.

He sighed nervously. Here goes nothing, he thought.

"I, Princess Nefertiri Ankhmutes, bear witness to the offering to the King of Gods, Amun, taking place this night in this temple, the Temple Of Heliopolis." He said in a loud clear voice.

It was Harry's turn. He kneeled in the same position as Draco, and said, "And I, Tjaroy Rameses, Prince to be, also bear witness to the offering taking place this night in the Temple Of Heliopolis."

Their bit was over. They both stood up shakily, and walked to the side of the statue, in full view of the few people present in the large circular room. Draco stared into Harry's piercing emerald eyes, which held a look that Draco read as Now that wasn't so bad, was it? And Draco had to smile. A real, full on, genuine smile. All Harry could do was smile back. And the two just looked at each other, silver on emerald, emerald on silver, until one of the five, the young girl carrying the offerings, walked up to the statue. Their gazes shifted from each other onto the girl, who stood infront of the statue, the offerings in her hands clearly visible.

"I, Amessis Khuwosret, Bearer-to-the-God, give you these items as an offering to our King of Gods, Amun. May this contribution help you keep watch over us night and day."

The girl held the objects over the bronze bowl held by the statue of Amun for a few moments, and then let them fall in, through the hole at the bottom. They made no noise as they went, so it was hard to tell whether they had fell to the bottom or not; that is if there actually was a bottom.

"Many people here believe that the hole is a bottomless pit; the items dropped in there just fall forever and ever." Hetti explained to Draco and Harry, as if reading their thoughts, as she snuck up behind them. They turned around to face her. "As for me, well, I think it's a stupid theory." She said matter-of-factly, which vaguely reminded Harry of Hermione. "I believe that everything must end, just as everything must begin. It's a fact of life. Nothing can go on forever. Not life, not the world, not the universe. It all has to end sometime. Otherwise, what would be the point?"

The two boys pondered over what she had said. It didn't really make much sense to them, but few things she said actually did.

"That is it now," she told them. "The litter is waiting outside for you. I think you ought to go back to the Palace and sleep now. You need your rest to get ready for what lies ahead. You will be up much later tomorrow night at the feast."

"Aren't you coming with us, Hetti?" Harry asked her. She shook her head.

"No, I'm going to stay with the rest of the Five for a while longer. But don't worry; I'll not be long. I'll see you both in the morning." She gave both of them a peck on each cheek, before she turned and walked away towards the other girls. Harry and Draco smiled as they walked out of the Temple and climbed into the litter, sitting opposite each other. They felt the familiar jolt as they started moving. They sat back and enjoyed the ride.

"Hetti is really something, isn't she?" Draco asked distantly after a few minutes silence.

"Yeah," agreed Harry. He perked up at Draco's tone of voice. "You fancy her, don't you?"

Draco spluttered. "What? Me fancy her? You must be joking!"

Harry chuckled. "Don't lie! I can tell you do! It's obvious!"

Draco scowled. "Then you're not good at observations are you? I most definatly DO NOT like her in that way!"

"Oh really? Then why not?"

"What do you mean 'Why not?'" Draco frowned. "I just don't, that's all. I like her, sure, but only as a friend."

Harry was startled. "Really? I thought…"

"You thought I fancied her?" Draco gave a short laugh. "As if!"

"But I was so sure. It seemed like you did."

"Did it now? And why was that?"

Harry blushed. "I dunno. You just seemed all dreamy when you talked about her."

"Believe it or not, Potter, I do that when I'm thinking about anyone I like, whether as a friend, or as more."

"Oh," Harry said stupidly.

"I guess you thought you had me all figured out, didn't you?" Draco grinned.

"Yeah, I guess," Harry admitted.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Harry shook his head. "Doesn't matter. I'm not so good at figuring out relationships whether they're mine or someone else's."

"To be honest, Potter, I'm not surprised." Draco said. "So how about you?"

Harry was confused. "What about me?"

"Do you like Hetti?"

Harry smiled. "Well, at first, maybe I did a bit. The first time I saw her I thought, wow, she's pretty. I thought that if I got to know her better then I'd like her even more. But it was the opposite. The more I saw her and talked to her, the less I liked her in that way. So in the end I knew that I could only ever think of her as a friend. Which I'm really relieved about."

"Why is that?"

"Well, if I started to fall in love with her, and it turned out she felt the same for me, we'd probably start going out. And the more time I'd spend with her, the less I'd want to go back home. That would have caused all sorts of problems. I would have had to choose: staying here with her, or going back to the future and never seeing her again."

"You're right," Draco said. "That would have been really hard."

"It would."

They sat in silence after that, and didn't say another word as they got out of the litter and walked through the Palace, until they got to Harry's room.

"Well, here's my stop," Harry said as they stood infront of the doorway.

"Right." Draco said awkwardly. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Potter."

"Harry."

"What?" Draco asked, confused.

"Call me Harry."

"Oh," Draco understood now. "And I guess you can call me Draco."

"Ok then." Harry turned towards the doorway. Before he went in he looked over his shoulder.

"Goodnight Draco," he said.

"Goodnight, Harry," was the response, and Draco walked away to his own room. Both boys got washed and undressed, and climbed into their beds. It wasn't long before they were sound asleep and dreaming; both replaying the events of what had taken place that day inside their minds, with a blissful smile on each of their faces.

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Everyone in the Potions classroom silently stood staring at the unconscious figures in disbelief. Even Snape. It took a few minutes for him to snap out of the initial shock of what he saw.

"What is the meaning of this?" he croaked when he finally found his voice.
"We don't know, Professor," Pansy Parkinson admitted. "One minute they were working on their potion, the next they were lying here on the floor."

Snape looked at everyone crowed around. "So, does anyone know how this happened?" he snarled.

"They drank their potion, sir," Hermione piped up timidly. Snape slowly turned around and faced her.

"Go on," he pressed.

"When I realised the two were missing, I walked up to their desk and saw that they had finished their potion, and their bottles were corked and stood on their desk." She motioned to them. Everyone looked and noticed what was wrong with Harry and Draco's potion bottles.

"I noticed straight away that they were only half full," Hermione continued. "So I naturally assumed that the two had drank half of their potion. It wasn't until I saw them lying unconscious on the floor that I also realised the colour of their potion."

"What's that got to do with anything?" someone in the crowd asked. Hermione sighed. Was she the only one who knew anything about Potions?

"On the board, it states that the Histethro Potion is supposed to be purple in colour when it is complete." Hermione explained. "Harry and Draco's potion is pink. So obviously they did something wrong, whether it was the ingredients they added, or the way they brewed it. But whatever they did wrong, what's for sure is that they drank half of their bottle and something has definatly happened to them. Who knows what the consequences of the potion they made are?"

"So, what, Miss Granger," Snape said slowly. "Do you suggest we do?"

Hermione looked at the two bodies lying on the floor once more. "The only thing we can do," she said. "We wait."

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That's it for this chapter! Don't forget to review!