Chapter 2 - Duracell and Picky Knickers

The mysteriously recurring dream of the previous night had exhausted Harry mentally. He just wanted to be alone so that he could think. He dreaded the thought of the inevitable confrontation from his ever-curious friends about his moodiness, especially Ron and Hermione. Harry heaved himself out of bed, took a shower, dressed in his robes with the usual oversized hand-me-down jeans and t-shirt beneath, and went down to the great hall for breakfast.

It was nearly 10 AM. Harry thought that the great hall would be empty since it was so late. However, it seemed that somebody else had the same idea. Harry was pushing the cereal around his bowl. He did not realise that he was making a lot of noise when an unexpected movement in his proximity caught his attention. He looked up and saw Draco Malfoy.

Instinctively he wanted to reach for his wand in case a counter curse was required. However, he realise that he had left it in his room because of his preoccupied mental state. Harry looked up and let his eyes meet the silver of his archenemy.

The more he looked into Draco's eyes the more vulnerable and guilty he felt. He found himself studying the left hand side of Draco's face. Harry's thoughts wavered on the sense of loss that something so beautiful, could be so easily be taken away. Although Harry did not like Draco Malfoy, he had always found him unquestionably pleasing to the eye. Draco's offensive comments about his new friends Hagrid and Ron at the beginning of their first year forced Harry to be Draco's enemy for the past five years. Ever since, Harry had regretted that day.

Tears were welling up in Harry's eyes as he remembered the moment in his dream when Draco had died, again… Today was a very bad day for Harry to have a Draco moment.

"What the fuck do you want? Can't you see I'm eating?"

"Sorry" Draco offered in a very un-Malfoy like manner.

"What for Malfoy, five years of being a complete dodgy bastard?"

"No, I was younger then and didn't know better"

"What then?" Harry asked

"You have tears in your eyes, why?"

"Fuck off, Malfoy. I do not cry, not as you would. I am just tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

Draco was about to respond to this insult, but just turned and started to walk away.
"Me neither"

He walked a few more steps and stopped upon hearing, "Malfoy, I'm sorry that was rude. What do you want?"

Draco turned around and walked towards Harry, "What have you got planned for the rest of the day?"

'This is a trap. It has got to be a trap.' Harry thought. 'Malfoy is asking me what I am doing, Malfoy normally would be happy if I wasn't even alive. Now he wants to know what I'm doing for the day.'

"Why?" Harry looked completely distrusting. However, he could only detect an unexpected wounded look on Malfoy's face.

"It doesn't matter. I am … ah … sorry. I j-just thought that if you weren't very busy, you might like to hang out."

"Hang out, with you?" Harry blasted the words out in a nervous laugh. "What would your Slytherin cronies think if they saw you hanging out with your arch enemy?"

"Not to mention what Duracell and Picky Knickers would say to you," Harry laughed aloud. When he looked at Draco, he who was doing the same, "Duracell and Picky Knickers, where did you get those names?"

"When I stole – errmm, borrowed your cloak last year, I spied on the two of them. They were having a row and apparently Duracell is a battery for…"

"I know what a Duracell battery is. Hahaha … Is that what they call each other. Hahaha … I didn't know."

Harry looked at Draco again but this time with renewed interest. He noticed that the handsome blonde-haired wizard in front of him was looking so much less uptight than he had ever seen him in the past five years.

"What else did you find out while under my cloak then?" Harry asked in an authoritative low tone that Draco knew translated as, 'don't you dare tell a lie to me'.

"Snape likes women's clothes."

"What? You're joking?" They both burst out laughing at Draco's revelation.

"No honestly, I spied on him dressed up when he was pretending to be a Muggle TV Chef Stealia Smith. He was speaking in the same patronising way he does in class."

"You're kidding, what did he cook?" Harry asked chuckling.

Harry was enjoying his newfound entertainer. Without realising it, he was feeling less guilty about the previous nights dream as each minute passed. Before Draco could carry on with the explanation, Harry stated, "Nothing."

Laughing Draco asked "Sorry? Nothing … What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm doing nothing the rest of the day and why not, I mean why not hang out together"

Draco smiled. He felt that he probably had smiled too much already. Nevertheless, he was happy that Harry Potter, his dream saviour, was also maybe, and he inwardly stressed to himself maybe, going to be his friend.

"If this is a trap you will pay though," Harry warned.

"It's not a trap, I promise you and thanks."

Harry took off in the direction of the Great Hall's huge door. Draco shouted after him,
"Where are you going Potter?" Draco's heart seemed skip a beat for some strange reason. For the briefest of moments, he thought that Harry had changed his mind and was fleeing.

"To get my invisibility cloak, we had better not let people see the two of us together, at least not just yet. We can wonder to a place in the forbidden forest that I know and hang out there. If that is ok with you?"

Draco must have looked scared because Harry ran back and put one arm on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry; today I'll keep you safe."

Draco smiled, "I know."

In that instance, his eyes seemed to reveal his soul. For a split second, Harry thought he saw something in them that was very familiar. He thought he saw a beautiful figure surrounded by a green light. When Harry looked again, there was nothing. This apparition seemed to daze Harry. However, he quickly gathered his wits about him and smiled at Draco. Then he set off for the Gryffindor Common Room to get his invisibility cloak.

When he returned to the Great Hall, he was amazed to see Draco talking pleasantly to a House Elf. The elf was wrapping the contents of a picnic for their day's outing. Just outside in the Great Hall, Harry could hear the voices of his two best friends who appeared to be approaching and looking for him. Quickly he threw the cloak over himself before even Draco had a chance to see him.

On entering the Great Hall, they both looked at Malfoy with their usual contemptuous facial expressions. This annoyed Harry. He did not know why. It just did.

"Come on Mione. The last place Harry would be is with this prat. Harry hates him." Ron said offering a spiteful laugh befitting his feelings for Malfoy.

"You're probably right Ron. He may still be in the Gryffindor Boy's dorm. We should look there." With that said, they left the Great Hall. Draco felt gutted. He realised that they were probably right and that Harry-Fucking-Potter would never want to spend a day with him. "Take the food back. He won't want to go with me when his friends find him."

"Sorry sir … who won't be wanting to? Begging your pardon sir."

Draco was just about to fly into a raging tirade and take out his aggravation on the poor House Elf when a voice sounded by his side as if from nowhere. "I think you'll find that he would, and that we will also need some tea, thank you." Harry Potter seemed to appear out of thin air, catching Draco by surprise, when stepping out from under his invisibility cloak, also causing the House Elf to jump back slightly at the sight.

"Harry Potter, it is an honour indeed sir." The house elf's head almost touched the floor when he bowed to show how privileged it was feeling to be in Harry's presence. The elf quickly popped off to the kitchens to fulfil Harry's request and almost immediately was back with a kettle of water for tea, which he added to the picnic.

Harry stood facing Draco, "I heard what they said about me hating you."

"Oh, I don't blame you. Besides, you do not have to come just to make me feel better. Merlin, I've said much worse to them both on hundreds of occasions over the years."

Harry cut in, "I don't hate you. I do want to be with you for a while today. And I want to get to know what makes the Ice Man tick."

"Ice Man?" Draco enquired with raised eyebrow.

"Sorry, would you rather I make up a different name for you"

"No, Ice Man is fine. It sounds kind of powerful"

"Let's hope that we can melt some of that today," Harry said under his breath.

He beckoned Draco under the cloak and they left the Great Hall. They passed through the Entrance Hall without anyone being the wiser for their presence. Once out of the Great Oak Doors of the main entrance, they took the most direct path possible towards the forbidden forest. They had many detours to avoid the ever-present students who were also enjoying the beautiful weather so rare at Hogwarts. However, their circuitous walk across the massive sloping lawn to the forbidden forest was strangely most enjoyable. 'Today was turning out ok after all,' they both thought as they strode in silence, arm in arm, toward the forest.