Ashort chapter, not very exciting, but we are fast approaching the end of book 6, if you havn't read it i reallly really insist you do so before reading any chapters beyond this:D

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The Platform Between

Harry sipped Mrs Weasley's home grown tea slowly, as if fearing it were poisoned. He saw Ron sip his with the same lack of enthusiasm, and Fred and George poured theirs back into the tea-pot when their mother's back was turned.

Harry wasn't surprised that Ron was a bit more wary of food these days, at school, he had been accidentally poisoned in Professor Slughorn's office, and only lived when Harry shoved a bezoar down his throat.

Mr. Weasley read the morning paper, whose title read 'More shops close as curfew cuts consumers!'. He tutted to himself. "There'll be no shops left if this goes on much longer."

Molly turned and nodded at him, humouring him as he babbled on. "Yes, yes dear!" she waved. "Harry, I'm so glad you spent the whole Easter with us!" She said, beaming. She was growing ever more proud of Harry every year, and even more now, that he had saved Ron from certain death.

"Erm…thanks!" Harry smiled back, to Ron's amusement.

She patted Harry on the head, and Fred and George burst into fits of giggles. Harry hesitated to remind her that she hadn't really given him a choice.

"Ignore mum, she's gone a bit mental since this whole deatheater business has started again, if she had her way, Hermione and her parents would be living here too!" Fred pointed out.

"Yeah the woman's obsessed about having us all 'safe under one roof!' even Flem is coming back to stay!" George smirked.

Harry almost choked on his tea. He still hadn't got used to referring to Fleur as 'Flem' and every time they said it he found himself laughing out loud.

As if Fleur herself had called him, Bill came running downstairs in his PJ's. "Is she here yet? Has she arrived?" Bill scanned the room for any sign of Fleur, and his excitement was quenched when Ginny trotted past and shoved some toast in his gob.

"No!" She shouted, "and asking the same question over and over won't make her appear any quicker!" she joked. Bill huffed and chewed a mouthful, taking a seat next to his father.

"Bill, I know she's your fiancée and all, but could you just…chill out…a little!" Arthur grabbed his shoulder and looked at him uneasily. "You're acting like a love-sick puppy!"

Bill swallowed his food. "I can't help it!" he munched, and buttered himself a second slice. "I take after my real father! That red haired bloke that works at the ministry! Ain't that right ma?"

"Chew you're food Bill!" Molly slapped him on the top of the head as she walked past. Harry couldn't help but stifle a laugh. Bill, who was in his late twenties, was fully grown, and still acted like a child.

"Good grief! Look at the time! Finish up quickly, we have to set off for the train!" Molly trilled , a slight panic in her voice.

With that, Harry. Ron and Ginny grabbed the remnants of their breakfast and ran upstairs to change.

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Platform 9 ¾ buzzed with life, as children and families were dragging their trolleys of trunks and baggage. It was considerably fewer children that went home that Easter, probably due to the fact that parents now thought they were safer staying at Hogwarts, what with the deatheaters on patrol once more.

Draco sulked and leaned against a pillar on the platform, waiting for the red engine to blow its whistle and allow people to board. Pansy had spotted her group of Slytherin girls and scurried off to natter, leaving him to brood. He didn't care much. He was grateful that she had decided to spend the entire Easter holidays with his company, even though she didn't really want to. She was loyal after all. He admired her from afar, watching her sneer and laugh at other students with her friends. Her smiles cheered him up. For he knew he had upset her two days ago, when he had returned from meeting with the deatheaters and lied to her face.

One of the girls spotted him looking and blushed, whispering in Pansy's ear and erupting into girlish giggles. He frowned and looked away from them as Crabbe and Goyle approached. They had lost a little weight, which was expected. They had lost their father's too and Draco sympathised with them in his mind, though he would never tell anyone his thoughts, save moaning myrtle.

"Crabbe…Goyle" he nodded to them. They didn't look at him, they were growing further and further apart since they had been pushed out of Malfoy's confidence. He had been going into the room of requirement for many months, and time and time again Crabbe and Goyle had suffered the humiliation of being transformed into first years and guarding the entrance. They had asked what he was up to many times, and everytime he would snap at them and tell them to mind their own business. He had taken Voldemorts advice and chose to be discreet with the information he shared. Crabbe and Goyle knew he was a deatheater, and had been sworn to secrecy, but he never revealed his plan to either of them, and they resented him for it.

"What's the matter with you two?" he snapped. Breaking the uncomfortable silence. They seemed to wince and twitch as he hissed at them. It was obvious they feared him, for they had not been approached by deatheaters and asked to join them. Draco thought they were lucky, he hadn't known how deep and dangerous this world was, and his childish desire to please his father had driven him to them. They were better off without the mark, for it was a sign that you had given your life away. A curse.

The boys shrugged, and the sharp whistle of the train signalled that boarding could start. Draco glared at them and strode toward the carriage. He couldn't deal with this right now, he was too tired, annoyed, angry and bored.

He wasn't really looking where he was going, and as he made his way to the train he slammed into someone by accident and stumbled forward.

"Watch where you're going!" he snarled angrily as he tried to pick himself up. The shorter boy he had hit whirled around, and he found himself face to face with Harry Potter.

"You should get your glasses fixed Potter!" he snarled and stood up to full height, looming threateningly over Harry. He knew he couldn't try anything, for the platform was full of onlookers, and he couldn't risk being suspended or expelled for turning the famous Harry Potter into a pile of ash.

Harry was about to retort when Mr. Weasley appeared next to him. "C'mon lads…not here." He grabbed Harry's shoulder and led him away toward a different carriage. Malfoy glared at them both, and then clambered onto the train.

Two weeks…Potter…you'll pay for what you've done to me…two weeks.

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