The next chapter is up. Sorry it took me so long. Enjoy! R&R

Thanks for all the reviews!

Reminder: Harry Potter and the other characters are not mine….

Chapter 11: I need cigarettes

During the night Harry couldn't sleep. As soon as the morning dawned he got dressed and made his way to the Great Hall. When half an hour later Ron and Hermione came and sat beside him, Harry got up and moved to another seat, as far as possible from his friends. While doing so he hadn't said a word.

Ron and Hermione exchanged glances. They didn't know what happened last night after Prof. McGonagall and Remus Lupin escorted Harry to the headmaster's office and they were worried.

"Harry, what's happened yesterday?" Ron approached Harry.

Harry didn't answer; only sent Ron a murderous look and kept playing with the food on his plate, not actually eating.

"Harry…" Hermione joined him.

Harry threw his fork with a thud on the table, got up and faced his friends "I don't speak with traitors!" he hissed in a low voice and stormed from the Great Hall, leaving two dumbstruck teenagers.

"You know what, Hermione, he can go to hell!" said Ron when the first shock ended, "we tried to help him, covered his stupid doings and this is how he repays us?!"

"Ron, you can't be serious," Hermione was on a verge of tears, "he is your best friend, you called him brother… Something going on with him and we must help him."

"You can help him if you wish, I'm giving up!"

"What about writing to Sirius? Remember, you said so yesterday?" Hermione wasn't ready to let go.

"It was before he called us traitors." Ron hissed.

"Maybe he found that we told Remus about Hedwig?" guessed Hermione, "he hates people praying his personal life. Please don't throw your friendship with him away. He'll come around, you'll see."

"O, fine," frowned Ron, "but I'm doing it only because of you!" he added.

"Thank you," she kissed him on a cheek.

-aaaaa-

Harry stormed out of the Great Hall and was about to head to the lake. As soon as he put his foot outside of the castle he felt as if something stopping him from going further. Inside his head he heard the voice of Prof. McGonagall, "Don't try me, Potter!" Harry backed away and closed the door. 'It must be the tracking spell' he mused.

He came back to the Great Hall and landed at the table, putting his head on his arms.

'I hate them!' he thought, 'they know how I hate to be locked up, but they still doing it to me. I need to get some Fire Whiskey'.

"What's wrong, Potter? You're sidekicks left you?" came the sniggering voice of Draco Malfoy.

"Sod off, Malfoy," mumbled Harry not even looking up, he was in no mood to deal with Malfoy.

"You know, you are better than them," Malfoy said, "Too bad you didn't listen to me back then at the train…"

"I said sod off!" said Harry more forcefully.

"O…O… someone being grumpy," taunted Malfoy, "suffering from PMS, Potter?"

"Talking from experience? What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry was tired; he needn't Malfoy to taunt him. Around him Harry could hear people laughing at Harry's comment. Malfoy's face turned pink with embracement.

"I want to talk to you, alone" said Malfoy. Harry glanced at him as if to see if Malfoy was in his right mind.

"I'm giving you a wizard oath that I won't do you any harm," promised Malfoy.

Harry snored, "I don't afraid of you, I just can't see why I should talk to you."

"I know about your trip to Hogsmead." Malfoy whispered, "I have something you would be interested in."

Harry jumped on his seat, "How…"

"Not here, meet me after the lessons…"

"Can't, let's talk now, near the Potions class." Harry got up.

"Harry, you shouldn't…" Hermione rushed to him.

"I'll do whatever I like, traitor!" said Harry, "Come on," he turned to Malfoy. Malfoy sniggered at Hermione, "I think he finally gathered some brains, mudblood!" he said to her.

"Don't push your luck, Malfoy!" Harry's answer came. He may be angry at Ron and Hermione, but he won't let anybody, especially Malfoy to insult them.

"I don't need your protection, Potter!" Hermione was really hurt by Harry's words. Not only had he called her traitor again, but in front of their enemy. She strode away to where Ron was sitting.

"You were right," she said, "Let him go to hell!" and she burst in tears.

-aaaaa-

After insulting Hermione and walking out with Draco Malfoy, Harry felt guilty.

He was about to go back and apologize but Draco rushed him towards the dungeons.

It still was thirty minutes before the class was about to start, so no one was there.

"Spill it, Malfoy," demanded Harry as they stopped near the classroom.

"Easy, Potter," Draco checked that they were alone, "As I said to you before, I know you sneaked to Hogsmead and as a Prefect I can turn you in to the Professors, unless…"

"You can't prove it!" said Harry.

"That where you are wrong," sneered Draco, "A friend of my father saw you there and took some pictures…" and he pulled a picture where clearly Harry was seen buying the Fire Whisky in the pub. Harry reached to grab the pictures, but Malfoy was faster and he hid the photo inside his robes.

"Not so fast, Potter" he said, "Besides, it's only a copy of the real one."

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry felt a blackmail coming.

"Straight to business, I like it," Malfoy smiled slyly. He pulled out of the pocket of his robes a small pack. "I need you to get me those muggle things." He showed the pack to Harry. Harry looked at it and saw it was a pack of cigarettes.

"Where did you get those?" he asked. Malfoy was known as a pureblood that has nothing to do with muggle world and it was strange that he had this in his possession.

"Never mind!" said Malfoy, "I want you to get me more of this stuff from Muggle London! I need it as soon as possible."

"No way!" protested Harry, "Forget it Malfoy." Harry assumed that smoking was probably illegal in Hogwarts as well as in muggles schools. Besides, he wouldn't let Malfoy to blackmail him.

"As you wish, Potter, I think Professor Snape will be here in a few minutes, I bet he'd love to see those photos." Malfoy turned his back to leave.

"Wait!" on the other hand, Harry didn't want to be expelled either, if Snape would see those photos. Draco stopped and slowly turned around an evil grin on his face.

"How can I trust you that I'll receive those photos as soon as I do it?" asked Harry.

"You have my word, more than that…" Malfoy shrugged, "I guess it should be enough for you."

"I'm grounded and I have a tracking spell on me." Harry said, "Besides, how am I going to get to London?"

"Whoa, what did you do? But I know how to lift it!" said Draco, "It's a simple spell actually, every child knows it if you grew up in the wizard family. I bet even Weasley knows about it. About getting to London… Find a fireplace in Hogsmead, floo to the Leaky Cauldron, from there you should know better than me… "

Harry thought for a minute. He had battle with himself. One voice inside him said that he is doing a big mistake by trusting Malfoy. The other voice said that he could show the Professors and Dumbledore that they can't rule his life.

'Dumbledore left you with the Dursleys, nobody contacted with you, nobody checked if you were fine the whole summer, not even your godfather, so why should you listen to them' the voice said to him.

Against his better judgment Harry turned to Draco, "Give me two weeks, I need McGonagall to relax a little about my grounding, it will be a full moon, so Remus will be busy too and show me how to lift the spell."

"That a good boy," Draco praised him, "two weeks it's all you get!"

Harry involuntary winced; his uncle was using this phrase when he forced Harry to admit something before beating him.

-aaaaa-

Two weeks given Harry by Malfoy had passed. After those two weeks of his grounding Harry was like a caged animal, especially when he wasn't occupied with lessons or his Community Service in the Hospital Wing, as he called it.

Harry was still angry at his friends and they at him. Neither of them thought about apologizing. During his tutoring lessons with Remus, Harry was distant and unfocused. Whenever Remus told him to read something on his own from the books, Harry would sit there and just stare out of the window, till Remus called his attention and then Harry had to read the material laud for Remus to hear him. His studies were suffering badly and Remus, Prof. McGonagall and Dumbledore were afraid he would fail his end of the term exams. The matter was serious since it was his O.W.L. year.

The Occlumency lessons were another nightmare for Harry. He just couldn't clear his mind as Snape demanded. As a result Snape was able to attack him every time and saw his memories. Harry just prayed that Snape won't go as far as to see his last summer memories. Needless to say that Harry was suffering from the nightmares every night. His recent nightmare was about the Prophecy. He just couldn't throw it out of his head. Luckily, for now he had no visions from Voldemort, although his scar hurt a few time during the day, but not as bad as during the visions.

Surprisingly, the only time he felt relaxed was when he helped Madam Pomfrey. The first time she tried to ask him what's wrong, but when he refused to tell her and insisted that he was fine, she decided on another tactic and just talked with him about different things, with hope that if he would be more relaxed he'll tell her eventually.

So, Harry spent his Sundays helping Madam Pomfrey to arrange the supplies, to clean the infirmary and even to brew some healing potions. Harry found that he actually enjoyed the brewing, the stirring and watching the flames had a calming effect on him and the best thing was that he actually managed to brew those potions without ruining them, especially after Madam Pomfrey explained him the interactions between the ingredients that were used in them.

When Harry was younger, in primary school, he loved the science lessons they had in school and he quit enjoyed the cooking in his relatives house when he was able to do it without his aunt watching his every movement. He realized that Snape was a lot like his aunt, he was watching him too so Harry couldn't concentrate properly on his work.

At her free time Madam Pomfrey even showed him some simple Healing Spells that he could perform on his own without needing the Healing Diploma, something like a basic first aid for wizards.

This Sunday, when he finished his day at the infirmary and made his way to the Great Hall for the dinner he ran into Draco Malfoy.

"So, Potter, when am I going to get the stuff?" he asked.

Harry totally forgot about Malfoy's demand.

"You didn't forget, did you?" Malfoy asked, "Your last chance is tomorrow, before Snape sees those pictures."

"I'll do it tonight" promised Harry.

"Good, I'll let you know tomorrow when and where you'll pass me the stuff," with that Malfoy left.

-aaaaa-

Harry made sure that everyone was asleep before getting up. He dressed in his oversized muggle clothes. He just hoped that he wouldn't freeze to death since the warmest muggle cloth he had was Dudley's old sweatshirt. He took his schoolbag, his wand and some money. Then he turned to Neville's bed and cast some complicated spell Malfoy taught him. The tracking spell that was cast on him could be lift only by the caster, but apparently there was a way to transfer it to another person for six hours, before the exchange would be noticed. The spell wasn't simple at all, as Malfoy claimed. Harry realized that Malfoy was just bragging, to show his superiority and spell knowledge.

Harry decided to transfer the spell to Neville, since he was sure that he won't leave anywhere during the night. Harry just hoped that the spell is working.

Harry left the dormitory and headed to the one eyed witch. He needed to be careful and to avoid Mrs. Norris, Filch and teachers who patrol the corridors. Harry just hoped that Remus kept the Marauder's Map with him. And since he was curled up in his office as a werewolf on the Wolfsbane Potion, he shouldn't be a problem.

Harry ran down the passageway and found himself in the cellar of Honeydukes. The shop was closed, but there was a small window in the cellar. Harry climbed out of it, locking it afterwards with a spell.

Now his mission was to find a place to floo to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry made his way to the pub that he was in before. He paid the owner 10 sickles and found himself in the Diagon Alley. Carefully he slipped from the Leaky Cauldron and made his way to Gringotts, where he exchanged his galleons to pounds. He found himself lucky that there was a counter for emergencies that was open during the night. After exchanging his money he went back to the Leaky Cauldron where the entrance to the muggle London was.

After wondering the streets of London he found a small store that was open for 24 hours.

"I need cigarettes," he asked the owner.

"I don't sell cigarettes and alcohol to minors and you look like thirteen years old," said the seller, "better go home kid and where are your parents watching…"

"My parents are dead!" snapped Harry and left the store.

Four hours passed and he still didn't found a place to by the cigarettes. Everywhere was the same, he would ask for the cigarettes and the shopkeepers would refuse because of his age. He was feeling frustrated, till he got to the last shop. The owner once again refused to sell him anything, but when he left the shop, determined to go back and tell Draco that he failed, someone called him.

"Hey, kid, I heard you look for cigarettes," Harry turned around and saw a group of five young people, three men and two women. All of them were dressed in leather black jackets. The man who called him was smoking.

"Yea, but he won't sell me," admitted Harry.

"How old are you, anyway" asked one of the women.

"Fifteen," replied Harry.

"You don't look like one," said another woman, "by the way, I'm Jessica."

"I'm Damien," lied Harry, "And I'm fifteen."

"If you say so, Damien," said one of the men, "I'm Jake, and I think you are too young to smoke."

"It's not for me," said Harry, "It was some stupid bet."

"Truth or Dare?" smiled Jessica mischievously.

"Yea, that it," replied Harry, "maybe you could help me?"

"Do you have money?" asked the third man, whose name was Andrew.

Harry gave him the pounds, "I need a whole block." (A/N I don't smoke so I don't know how many packs in one block.)

A few minutes later Andrew came and gave him the block of cigarettes and the change.

"Do you need a lift home?" asked Mark, the first guy.

Harry checked his watch; he had an hour to make his way back to Hogwarts. He agreed to the ride and within ten minutes he was near the Leaky Cauldron.

"Thanks guys," Harry thanked them.

"Be carefully, kid and don't mix with the wrong crowd," advised Jessica, "Who knows what it will be next time…"

"I'll be fine," Harry waved them goodbye, and when he saw them leaving, headed to the pub that was the gateway to the Wizarding world.

-aaaaa-

When Harry got back to Hogwarts it was almost six o'clock in the morning. He hurried back to the dormitories. Few early risers were already in the Common Room. Luckily they were seventh year that pay him a little attention.

Harry sprinted to his room. He had ten minutes to lift the spell from Neville.

When he got there he saw that Neville was up already.

"Hi, Harry, up early again?" greeted him Neville.

"Er… yea… couldn't sleep, what about you?" Harry said. The things were now complicated. According to Malfoy, if Neville stays with the spell, McGonagall would sense the exchange and he, Harry, would be in trouble.

Harry acted fast. While Neville turned his back at him, he lifted his wand and pointed at his roommate. "Trakcero backo!" he whispered. Both Neville and Harry felt a little dizzy for a few seconds as the spell did it work.

"What was it?" Neville turned and looked at Harry, alarmed, "I felt something hit my back and then felt dizzy."

"Have no idea," shrugged Harry, hiding his wand behind his back, "might be the wind."

"Probably," agreed Neville and headed to the bathroom. Harry released the breath he didn't know he was holding. The mission was complete. Now he just needed to find Malfoy and make sure the ferret wouldn't blackmail him again.