A.N. It is now August 3.

P.S.A.N. Gomen nasai! I've been a bad, lazy author! I hope you like this!

A special THANK YOU to my wonderful new Beta MariNoir, who motivated me to finished this chapter without even knowing it!

Chapter 9- Visitors

Harry awoke suddenly the next morning when he heard a loud noise in his room. He tried to sit up, but something heavy on his chest was preventing him from doing so.

"Where am I?" a voice that Harry recognized to be Draco's asked.

"In my room," Harry replied in a rather squished tone of voice. It was getting sort of tough to breath, as Draco wasn't exactly light.

"Who said that?" Draco demanded. Then, "Is that you Po- I mean- Harry?"

"Yes," Harry managed. "Nowgetoffame."

"Huh? Oh." Harry felt the weight lifted from his chest as Draco moved off of him. "Sorry," he murmured sheepishly.

"I see you've repaired your sprained ankle," Harry commented wryly.

"How can you see anything in here? It's so dark."

"I meant that if you're Apparating then..." Harry trailed off. "Never mind. How can you Apparate anyway? You're underage, so it's illegal."

"This is an Unplottable private property, plus it's highly protected, so legality simply isn't an issue," Draco explained. "I suppose someone shall teach you eventually."

"Umm, right. So why are you in my room?" Harry asked.

"Well, I miscalculated, I suppose," Draco said. "See, your room is right above the kitchen."

"So you were aiming for the kitchen and missed?"

"Welll..." Draco said, "yes. I'm leaving now."

"Suits me." Then Harry was alone again. He had just drifted back to sleep when he heard someone say his name.

"Potter," Draco said. Harry rolled over. "Harry, get up."

"Nooo," Harry whined. "I don't wanna." But in truth, he only got as far as 'I don' when he was rudely interrupted by Draco, who had decided that jumping up and down on Harry's bed was the best way to make him get up.

"How old are you, four?" Harry asked as he lobbed a pillow at Draco. That was a Bad Idea. Draco caught the pillow and with a 'whap' initiated a very childish pillow fight.

A couple of minutes later, Draco sunk down onto the bed in exhaustion. He lay down so that his head was next to Harry's on the now pillow-less bed.

Harry rolled over so that they were facing each other and his breath caught in his throat. Draco had his eyes closed and his white-blonde hair was in disarray.

Stupid! he silently chastised himself. He's your enemy, right? Isn't he? Wait... No...

Draco opened his eyes to stare at the brunette that lay mere inches from him. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the confusion that was prominently displayed across the Gryffindor's face. It made Harry look so innocent, almost child-like.

It caught both boys off guard when Narcissa knocked on the door. By the time she entered the room, Draco had already Disapparated.

"Harry?" Narcissa asked, "You ok? You look winded."

"I'm fine," Harry insisted. "Did you want something?"

"Yes. You have a visitor," she told him. "I sent Draco up to tell you... but I guess he never made it..."

"No," Harry lied, "he didn't. Who is it?"

"Hermione Granger," Narcissa said. "She's down in the dining room. You can just Apparate."

"Umm… right. Actually, I think I'll just walk," Harry said.

"Oh. You do know how to Apparate, don't you?" she asked.

"No. No, not really," he answered.

"Oh, dear," Narcissa said with a sigh. "Well, I'll teach you later, ok? But for now... your guest."

"Right," Harry replied. Narcissa nodded and left. Harry threw on the first outfit he could find, which was about two sizes too big. Oh, well. That's what belts are for.

When he got down to the dining room, Hermione was just standing there sort of awkwardly, twiddling her thumbs and staring at her feet.

"'Mione?" Harry asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to--- Harry! You're a mess!" Hermione exclaimed. "Did you even brush your hair?"

"Well… you sorta came at a weird time and..." he trailed off, knowing that he probably sounded a little lame. "Uh, pillow fight?"

"Pillow fi-" Hermione stopped, one eyebrow raised. "Never mind. Is there someplace where we could talk?"

"We're talking right now," Harry pointed out.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Privately."

"Oh, sure," said Harry, though he personally didn't see the problem with holding a "private" conversation in the dining room, as no one was there but them anyway. "I guess we could go up to my room."

"Okay," Hermione agreed. "Lead the way."

Once safely in Harry's room, Hermione took a deep breath and plunged into a speech. "Harry, you know I love you; you're my best friend. It's just... you've been acting strange. It kind of scares me. I want to know what's going on. If something's wrong, I want to help. But I can't do that if you don't talk to me. I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. It was uncalled for, but you have to admit, what you said was a big shock. It was so sudden and so... unlike you. Please help me understand what's going on."

Harry let out a little sigh. "Hermione, I would love to tell you, but I'm not completely sure myself. I can try to explain, but... where should I start?"

Hermione smiled. "As clichéd as it sounds, the beginning is usually a good place to start from."

The brunette rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "That's not as easy as it sounds. Let's see. I suppose it started with the letter."

"Letter?" Hermione prompted.

"Yeah," said Harry. "On my birthday, I was the last one awake, aside from Remus. Remus came into the room with Hedwig and a letter. The letter... it was from my mother."

Hermione's brow furrowed. "But your mother is dead."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not sure how Hedwig got the letter, it must have been time-activated or something, I don't really understand, but it doesn't matter. The letter said... well, here," he dug through his trunk and passed the letter to her. "Go on, read it."

Hermione silently examined the letter. When she finished, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "Oh, Harry..."

Harry looked away. "I left right away. Narcissa's been great. She was my mum's best friend, you know. And Draco... he's different. He's grown up a lot since first year. He was raised by a prejudiced maniac, but now that it's just him and Narcissa... I'm not saying that I want to marry him, I just said that before because I was mad, but he's not half bad. We kinda started over. And I don't blame my mum. I blame Lucius, because it is his fault. I just don't know what to tell everyone." He looked back at his best friend. "My mum wasn't a bad person. I don't want anyone to think that."

Hermione considered all that she'd just heard. "What are you going to do now?"

"Stay here," Harry answered. "Get to know Draco. Marry him eventually. What else can I do?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered honestly. "There's got to be a loophole or something. I'm going to help you Harry. Nothing is definite. We can fight this."

Harry gave her a resigned look. "I've been fighting my whole life 'Mione. Maybe this was just meant to be. Maybe we should just let well enough alone."

"Don't say that Harry!" she exclaimed. "We're going to find a way."

"Thanks 'Mione," Harry said.

"If only…" the girl lamented aloud.

"If only?" Harry repeated curiously.

"Nothing," Hermione responded with a sad shake of her head. "Lily Potter is dead, her secrets and knowledge buried with her."

"Not completely," Harry said. "I can talk to her. I'm going to on the next new moon."

"What?" Hermione cried out. "Harry, that's wonderful! When you see her, you should ask her some questions..."

After talking for an hour or so, Harry managed to gather up enough courage to ask his best friend, "So... Hermione? How- uh- how did the others react to- you know- my outburst? Once it'd settle in, that is."

Hermione cleared her throat and looked wistful. "Well... Ron and I had a... loud discussion..."

Ron and Hermione had been having "loud discussions" since fourth year. According to Hermione, they never fought. They discussed loudly. And frequently.

"You had a row?" Harry asked. "About me?"

"Not a row!" Hermione glared at The Boy Who Lived. "A loud discussion." Harry gave her a Look and she sighed. "... Okay, so maybe it was a row. He got a bit shirty with me when I suggested that he work on turning his teaspoon into a measuring cup and be a little more supportive of you. Ginny forgives you. For what, I not quite sure. She wanted to come with me, but I didn't want to overwhelm you, so she's probably sulking. Tonks seems to be over-carefully disinterested. I think she'd be very sympathetic and even helpful if you chose to confide in her. Malfo-- Draco-- is her cousin after all. Molly... needs time. She sees you like a son. I'm not sure about the twins though. I haven't seen them since you left. They took off."

Harry nodded. "Thanks Hermione." He stood from his chair and pulled her from hers into a hug. "For everything."

"No problem Harry," she replied. "This is what friends are for."

A knock at the door forced them to pull apart. "Harry?" It was Narcissa. "Lunch."

"Okay," Harry called to her. "Hermione's still here. Can she stay for lunch?"

"Of course." They could hear the smile in her voice. "Wash up and head downstairs."

-tbc-

A.N. Weeeeeellllll?