"You want me to do what?"
"Please, Hermoine? Do it for me?" Harry held the girl's shoulder, giving her such a cute, pleading face that she squirmed.
The door burst open to let in a red head rubbing his eyes. "Hermoine, what are you..." he stared at Malfoy's smirking face.
Venom infesting his mouth, Malfoy said, "What is this, a Muckblood party?"
The quasi-nurse and her unwilling patient locked vicious eyes, causing Harry to grab Hermoine's hand and shoot a warning glance to Malfoy.
"Stop it!" he commanded, his harsh eyes on Hermoine not matching his soft hold on her hand. "I don't want any fighting."
Tossing her head of curls to the side, Hermoine sniffed, "Fine, there won't be as long as I don't have to see that thing any longer."
"Hermoine."
"The spell isn't hard to learn," she said aloofly as she wrote it on a piece of paper for Harry. "If you're so concerned about him, you can take care of him yourself."
And Hermoine left, taking Ron with her, or at least she got him to the door, where he turned and told Harry, "O, by the way, the car's working just great now. You can thank Percy for that, and Dad says I can keep it for the rest of the school year!" He paused to make a face. "Well, as long as let Percy drive it sometimes."
Harry smiled. "Really? Cool!"
As the two talked, a mischievous grin spread on Malfoy's face. In the middle of Ron's sentence, Malfoy tugged on Harry's sleeve and hissed, "Potter! We could use that!"
Harry looked puzzled, then said, "You mean for coning? Malfoy, you know we can't fly that thing around muggles!"
"I'm not saying we fly it. It'll give us more ground coverage if we drive it." Malfoy gave Harry a smirk.
Like an overprotective parent, Ron jumped on the mention of his car and confronted Malfoy, leaving Hermoine to steam at the doorway. "What's this?"
"Ron, is it alright if we take your car out tonight? You can drive it if you like."
"Well, of course I'm going to drive it!" he said hotly. In a gentler tone, he asked Harry, "Just what are we doing?"
While Harry explained the fine art of coning, Malfoy sat stewing beside him, wanting very much to tell both intruders to buzz off. A spark of indignation clawed at him that Harry would share his brilliant invention so freely with his enemies. And rage filled him that there was nothing he could do about it, especially if he wanted that car.
Ron's quick grin irked Malfoy even more. "That sounds bloody brilliant!" Ron said. "But Harry, I don't know, I can't get in any more trouble."
"Granted, I haven't tried it yet with a car," Harry said, while Malfoy thought bitterly//You wouldn't have tried it at all if it weren't for me/ "But we're not going to fly it, and we'll just be careful to not get caught. We didn't get caught last night."
"I think it's a stupid idea, Harry. It sounds like another one of Malfoy's traps," Hermoine grumbled from he doorway.
"You stay out of this, muckblood!" from Malfoy, and once again, their glares froze over.
"Hermoine, I know it sounds silly, but it's really fun, trust me! Me and Malfoy had blast last night, just imagine how it'll be with all of us."
That was the last straw. "O, no, Potter! Granger's not going. I'll let the Weasley drive his bloody car, but the girl stays out of it!"
Coolly, though he wanted to strangle Malfoy for speaking so roughly about his friend, Ron took this new problem to his advantage. "You know, Malfoy, you're not exactly in any position to tell us what to do. Me, Harry, and Hermoine can go without you just fine."
Fury kept Malfoy's words from coming out clearly. "If you don't take me, I'll…I'll tell!" That put a halter on Ron's confidence, and gave it back to Malfoy.
With a soft pat on Malfoy's shoulder, Harry entreated to his friends, "Come on, gang. It was Malfoy's idea, after all. It wouldn't be nice to steal it from him, would it?"
Her words cold as ice, Hermoine said, "Just for our own security, we'll take him." She approached the blonde, bringing herself an intimidating few inches from him with a snake-like grace. "But he had better not cause any trouble."
Malfoy bared his teeth.
"Alright, that's settled then? Good. We leave tomorrow at midnight." Harry waited till his friends left before turning to Malfoy, wand in hand. His hands were soft on Malfoy's burning wrist, and his voice soothing as he uttered the spell. "There. Better?"
Malfoy moved his hand. "Yes." He looked like a dog with his tail between his legs.
"You wouldn't really rat us out, would you?" Harry sighed.
Looking away, Malfoy shrugged. "Maybe not you, Potter, 'cos I wouldn't want to ruin your god-like status around here." He snapped his head back to give Harry a cruel stare.
Harry took it as a compliment and smiled. "Don't worry about them, Malfoy. Maybe if you're a good boy all night, they won't have a problem with taking you every time." As he walked off to change for bed, he added, "I mean it, Malfoy. No names. No tricks. Just keep your nasty trap shut and leave your wand in your room."
"Bet it feels good to be in charge, doesn't it?" Malfoy sneered.
The blonde frowned in unwelcome surprise when Harry countered him with a cool, almost arrogant smile. "Yes. It does."
A big, transparent bubble slid through the cold night air over an empty construction site. When it solidified into a pale blue car carrying three warlocks and a witch, the passengers gaped outside the window as if it were the world that just became visible, and not them.
With a healthy smash, the car landed and started driving.
Every cone that was tipped the night before stood spitefully.
"Alright, Ron. Now just drive up to that row, no the other side, Ron, yes, there. Good, now I'll show you how it's done." Harry got out to toss the cones, doing his best for his audience.
Seeing their best friend display such uncharacteristic recklessness made Ron and Hermoine stare dumbfounded and creen their necks, while Malfoy sulked in his seat, which was next to Harry's in the back.
Harry ran back in the car as if trying to escape from trouble, a huge smile plastered on his face. His hand met Ron's in a high-five before getting inside.
"You looked so funny out there, Harry!" Ron laughed.
"Now I want both of you to try it, too. It's not fun to just watch."
"I don't know," said Hermoine with a sideways grin. "It is pretty amusing seeing you make an fool out of yourself."
So the other two wouldn't hear, Harry whispered to Malfoy, "Don't worry, you'll get your chance. Just let them have a go first."
Malfoy bunched his arms tight together and snarled, "You're doing it wrong, Potter. I had wanted to hit the cones with the door as the car drives by, not park and manual them all!"
Smiling, Harry put a hand on Malfoy's shoulder. "Alright. That sounds good."
The car jerked as Ron squealed, "Look! There's some!"
"Just drive past and open the door for 'em!" from Harry.
A look of surprise on the redhead turned to grin as he let the door slam the cones down.
At Harry's diligent dinks, Malfoy grimaced.
Ron's expert driving sent Malfoy crashing into Harry as they took a turn to let Hermoine get the next row. As Harry Malfoy slammed around the back of the car, Harry announced, "Doughnuts!"
"Sorry!"
Like she did everything, Hermoine negotiated the door for each cone professionally, a smug little smile on her face.
"One more row, and it's mine!" Ron said proudly, driving to a neat row.
"Why don't you let Malfoy get those? He's on your side of the car." Harry looked for a look of approval, of anything from the blonde, but he wouldn't even look at him.
With obvious distaste, Ron said, "Alright, but then we gotta go. It's getting late!"
For the first time, the idea of crushing those orange place-markers didn't appeal to Malfoy. "Go ahead and get them, Weasley. You're the driver."
"Right you are! Here I come, cones. You'd better watch out!" Dink, dink, dink, dink, slam.
"Ok, guys, buckle up, we're taking off!" Ron patted Hermoine's thigh. "You too, babe. I don't want you flying in my lap!"
As they neared the school, Harry felt his happiness die as he watched Malfoy scrunch in the corner with his head on the back of the seat, hidden half by shadow and half by apathy.