Disclaimer: Same as chapter one, and you'd know if you were paying attention!
A/N: Yay, another update! Two weeks isn't so bad! hehe. You might think this chapter is a little on the boring side, but don't critisize, it's an important one! Anyway, enough of my babbling, and on with the show!
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Chapter Eight – A Wizard and a Diary
The first thing Draco became aware of once he had awoken was that his head was throbbing profoundly. He felt as if a screwdriver was drilling its way slowly and painfully through his head and back again. He groaned and turned on his side, feeling something soft and warm pressing close against his body. He slowly opened his eyes, and once they'd adjusted to the light, he was able to make out the large form of one Harry Potter, who was lying next to him sound asleep. The throbbing in his head made it hard for him to remember what happened the night before, but then he saw it in a series of flashbacks. The drinking, the dancing, the kissing. He also began to remember coming back to Harry's room after the feast was over, and in a moment of panic, he quickly peered under the covers, but, to his relief, both of them were still wearing clothes. As Harry was still asleep, Draco took this opportunity as if it was offered to him on a silver platter, and turned to stare at Harry's beautiful face. Just watching Harry's deep, soundless breaths made Draco actually think of Harry as almost…cute. No, bad thoughts, Draco mentally shook his head. Malfoy's do not do cute. He looked at Harry once more. But then again…
As if hearing Draco's thoughts, Harry smiled in his sleep, and Draco resisted the urge to kiss those luscious lips once more. As Draco shifted to get into a more comfortable position, Harry's eyes opened and rested on Draco. His smile got bigger, if that were possible, but then faltered as he felt a headache appearing, and as his head started pounding. He clutched his head protectively, and let out a cry of pain.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Draco smirked at Harry's shocked expression. Harry's mouth was opening and closing like a goldfish. "I think you should close your mouth, Harry, you're starting to catch flies."
Harry blinked, and still wit a shocked expression, he started stuttering. "What are you…how did you…what did we…why are we…huh?"
Draco chuckled. "Don't worry your pretty little head, Harry," he said. "I'm sure nothing happened last night in this room."
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, and then his face etched with thought. "But after the feast, in the hall, did we…you know…?" he left the question unfinished.
"I'm afraid so…" Draco replied with mock resentment.
"So that really did happen, and we…er…"Harry trailed off.
"Got close?" Draco offered. "Yeah, pretty much. Why do you ask? Did you like it?"
Harry blushed intensely. He tried to put on a cool exterior. "Maybe," he said. "Did you?"
Draco smirked. "Maybe," he replied, and turned his head away from Harry, trying to bite back a laugh.
Harry was about to respond when Hetti came rushing in through the doorway. At seeing the two boys in bed together, she tutted and stalked over to them. She put her hands on her hips, and huffed loudly at Harry and Draco's amused expressions.
"What do you two think you're doing?" she barked, looking slightly angry.
"Er…nothing," Harry said, feeling nervous at her intense stare.
"Nothing? Nothing? Does this," she motioned towards the two of them, "look like nothing!"
Draco looked at Harry, then back to Hetti and shrugged. "Harry and I were merelyrelaxing in bed," he said impassively.
Hetti scowled. "You two slept together last night? Have you any idea how dangerous that is?"
Harry held up a hand in protest. "For the record, we didn't actually slee-,"
"Why would that be dangerous?" Draco interrupted, ignoring Harry's complaints.
Hetti sighed. "Our custom here is that a woman and a man never sleep together before they are married," she explained sternly. "That would be unheard of! If ever that should happen with anyone here, it would be a major cause for suspicion. It is lucky that I found you here before Rhoetta and Kara came to check your rooms and wake you up."
Harry and Draco nodded in agreement. "Anyway, the reason I came was to tell you to get dressed. We will be leaving shortly."
The boys were confused. "Leaving to go where?" Harry asked.
"To see my father of course," Hetti replied, beaming. "He is scheduled to arrive home when I said he would be, so we will be able visit him."
They looked at her with enthusiasm. "Great!" they both exclaimed, and shot out of bed like lightning.
"I will leave you to get dressed, and I shall meet you both at the entrance to the Palace when the sun has fully risen," she told them, and just as she went through the doorway as an afterthought she called "And do not be late!"
Draco scoffed. "Does that woman honestly think we're that stupid?"
Harry blinked. "What time are we meeting her again?" he asked.
Draco closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Well, being with you Potter, I'm really not surprised she does."
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The few days found Hermione spending every spare minute of her time in the Library, researching. Madam Pince, the Librarian, had started to worry about the girl; she'd fallen asleep the previous day and had missed lunch, and almost missed her next class, which was definatly unusual for her. At the present time, she was sat on her bed in her dorm, reading an Arithmancy textbook for some before-dinner revision. She couldn't concentrate. Once she had read the same line no less than five times, she decided to abandon it. She packed her things away, and went down into the common room, where all the fifth years were celebrating the end of their OWLs. She squeezed her way through the crowds, and almost made it out the door, when someone called her name. Turning around, Hermione could see the bobbing of a tall, freckled redhead make his way over to her.
"Hey, Hermione!" Ron said cheerfully. "Where are you off to?"
"The library," she replied simply.
Ron's face dropped. "Hermione, you've been spending almost every waking minute in there for the last few days, and you still haven't found anything. Give it a rest!"
"I can't, Ronald, you know I can't!" Hermione exclaimed. "I have to find out what happened to Harry and Malfoy so I can help them."
"I'm all for helping Harry, but Malfoy deserves to stay like he is," Ron said, spitting out the word 'Malfoy'. "I bet he was the one who sabotaged the potion!"
"Ron!" Hermione snapped.
"What?" he scowled. "I bet he did it on purpose!"
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes Ron, I'm sure Malfoy deliberately cocked up the potion so that he and Harry would be unconscious, stuck in god-knows-where with no apparent way to get back!" she said sarcastically.
Ron sighed. "I see your point," he said dejectedly. "Although I still don't think Malfoy deserves to be brought back."
"True," Hermione agreed. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't."
Ron had to agree with her reasoning, so he let it slide. "Anyway, there's Lavender," he said, spotting his girlfriend sat in an armchair near the fireplace. He winked at Hermione and said "See you later."
She watched one of her best friends walk off, shaking her head and tutting amusedly. She turned and went out of the portrait hole, turning right and heading towards the Library. Upon entering, she received a brief nod of acknowledgement from Madam Pince the Librarian, who was used to her coming at odd times now that she came twice as much as she usually did.
She had covered just over half of the books in the restricted section, and yet she still hadn't found a single thing. It was getting rather frustrating, to say the least. Whenever she had being given an assignment by a teacher in the past, Hermione had always being able to look everything up in the library; this method had never failed. It annoyed her to no end that, for the first time in her six years at Hogwarts, the Library was unreliable to find the answer she was looking for. After another hour of looking, she became weary and deciding that after looking through one more section, she would head over to the Great Hall for dinner. Not expecting to find anything of interest, she scanned the shelf quickly, but not quickly enough to miss a particular book that immediately caught her eye. The book stood out like a sore thumb; most books in the Library were quite new and looked well kept, but this book was tatty, so much so that it was almost falling to bits.
Hermione carefully pulled out the book and observed the outside cover intently. The colour on it was fading slightly, but it looked as though it was once a deep, forest green. The edges were fraying tremendously, and Hermione had to be extra careful when opening the book. On the inside front cover, in the bottom right hand corner, in a neat, scrawled script, Hermione was able to make out the words: Thomas W. Dyvill
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By an unexplained miracle, Harry and Draco managed to get dressed and were at the entrance to the Palace in less than fifteen minutes. To say Hetti was surprised when she saw them would have been an understatement. Once she had finally got over the initial shock ("What?" both boys had asked, puzzled at her open mouth which hadn't closed for ten minutes), Hetti lead them into the village.
It wasn't exactly far, but the boys hadn't walked this far in ages, and the unbearably hot weather didn't help, so after fifteen minutes they began to get tired.
"Slow down," Draco moaned at Hetti, who was well infront of them both.
"You hurry up!" she called back to them.
"Why couldn't we take the litter?" Harry asked, short of breath.
Hetti stopped, and waited for them to catch her up. "Because," she said, once she started walking again, "it would draw too much attention. I don't want everyone in the village knowing we are here. It would cause too much fuss."
"Why, doesn't royalty come into the village often?" Harry asked.
Hetti scoffed. "Of course not," she said. "Why should they? The people here are poor; their accommodation is no match for the Palace's. Royalty always feels uncomfortable here."
As they entered the village, the boys looked around the deprived houses, and the filthy people who lived there.
Draco gave a disgusted look. "I can see why," he said, eyeing the people warily.
"We are almost there," Hetti told them. "My father lives not far from here."
"I have a question," Draco said.
Hetti turned to face him and raised an eyebrow. "Go on then," she said, and turned back around.
"If your father is a wizard, as you say he is, then how come he lives in such a place as this?" he questioned, making a disgusted sound.
Hetti didn't answer; she just carried on walking silently. But had she turned around, Harry and Draco would have seen her form a mysterious look on her face, and a small smirk on her lips.
The rest of the way was travelled in silence, so the boys were glad when Hetti stopped and said, "Here we are."
The house they were stood infront of seemed no different than the others they had passed, but they could tell it had an unusually strange look about it. The materials the house was made of was the same, the doors and windows were as crooked as the rest, but there was definatly something almost magical about it that made it stand out. Had they not known a wizard lived inside, Harry and Draco probably would have been very suspicious at the house's unexplained oddness.
Hetti stepped forward, and knocked on the door three times. They waited a while, and then the door opened to reveal a small white haired man appear at the entrance. He looked unknowingly at Harry and Draco, but when his gaze rested on Hetti, he gave a broad smile.
"Hettimenhu?" he looked at her unbelievingly. "Is that you, my beautiful daughter?"
"Yes, father it's me." She stepped forward and bent down to give him a huge hug (he was much smaller than the three teenagers), which he returned eagerly. "It's so good to see you."
"And you," he said when they had parted. "It is such a surprise to have you come and visit me. That very rarely happens these days." He gave a sad smile.
"I'm so sorry, father," Hetti said guiltily. "I have been very busy. You see, there is a reason I have come to see you."
The man nodded. "Why don't you come in and tell me about it." He said. He looked at Harry and Draco. "I am Shenth, by the way." He bowed in greeting, so they bowed back.
He turned to Hetti. "Come inside, and bring your friends with you."
Harry and Draco exchanged a look. Surely the man would recognise his own Princess and her fiancé? Could it be that he sees their real appearance? Wanting to know an answer, they followed Hetti into the house. The place was fairly clean, and it was furnished appropriately. It was not at all elegant like the Palace, but it was cosy, and was enough for a small old man living alone.
He sat down, and motioned for the others to do the same. "Would you like a drink of wine?" he asked.
The two boys, remembering the events of last night after having too much wine, shook their heads. Hetti also declined the offer.
"Ah," Shenth nodded. "You want to get straight down to business."
"The reason I'm here, father, is because of these two," Hetti said, nodding her head in their direction. The man looked at them with interest. He could tell they didn't fit in.
"I see," he said. "Carry on."
Hetti sighed. "Their names are Harry and Draco. And, well, to put it simply, they're not from our time. They're from the future, and they got stuck here in Princess Nefertiri and Prince Tjaroy's bodies."
Shenth looked from Harry to Draco with an amused expression. "Did they really? How interesting…"
"They are wizards also, father," Hetti continued. Shenth's eyebrows shot up to his hairline at that. "Is that so?"
"Yes," Hetti confirmed. She turned to the boys. "Tell us exactly how you came to be in our time, I don't think I remember you telling me."
Harry and Draco exchanged a glance. Draco silently urged Harry to do the speaking. The emerald-eyed boy sighed.
"We were at school, having a Potions lesson," Harry began. "Our teacher instructed that we were to brew a potion called the Histethro, which enabled the drinker to cast his mind into the past and view a moment of any chosen time by swapping their mind with that of someone in that certain time."
"But obviously ours went wrong," Draco continued, giving an accusing glare at Harry. "Instead of swapping our minds with someone in this time, we swapped bodies instead. The correct potion should only last for fifteen minutes, but ours didn't work like that and we've been here for two days."
Shenth had listened to their story with interest. Never in his lifetime had he ever heard such things as this.
"You say you are from the future," he said. "How far in the future?"
The boys pondered. "I can't be certain," Harry said. "At least a few hundred years, though."
"And this potion you made, it was called the…"
"The Histethro," Draco told him.
"Right. I don't know if I will be able to match the counter-potion to this 'Histethro' potion," Shenth said "But I think I will be able to make one that will do the same job."
Harry and Draco edged forward in their seats eagerly.
"That is presuming you came to me to help you find your way back home." Shenth smiled.
"Of course," Draco scoffed. "The less time I have to stay here the better."
Shenth stood. "Very well then. Follow me, and we shall begin brewing the potion."
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Wow, my longest chappie yet! Yay So please review and tell me what you guys think. Don't worry, i know the story's a little slow at the minute, but it'll get better i swear! I already have the next chapter or two planned out, so i just need to write itup. Hopefully the next installment will be up in about two weeks, but i'm making no promises! (i've got lots of coursework).but one thing i do promise, is that Harry and Draco will get together soon, so keep checking back to see that! I know i can't wait hehe. And remember, i need at least 3 reviews(the more the better, though) before i will update. So tell your friends, spread the word of my story! Until next time,Auf Wiedersehen!