Chapter 7

Natalia pulled the hood of her dark traveling cloak further over her eyes as she and another exited the Shrieking Shake. It only took a moment before they were walking in the deserted streets of Hogsmeade, and coming up on the housing district of the small town. She looked over her shoulder briefly to see her companion still walking silently behind her. His hood, the same as hers, covered almost half his face. To anyone that might have seen they only looked like a couple of non – descript people, if not a little suspicious.

Natalia reached into the folds of her robes and pulled out a small scrap of parchment that held an address. She didn't miss a beat as she took an immediate right at the small crossroad, and continued to walk a few more minutes before arriving at the flat the address directed her to. Pausing at the small gates she took a breath before pushing it open slowly and slipping inside, not waiting for the other person walking silently to follow her through.

Walking up the stoop she scanned the numbered buttons on the call board before ringing the one she wanted. Natalia was startled at the sound of a low, mellow male voice coming through the small speaker.

"Yes?"

"Uh," she said unsure of what to say, or if she had gotten the wrong apartment. "Is…Shanna there?"

"One moment," came the soft male voice again. Natalia jerked once more as a loud buzzing rang out around her and she looked around quickly.

"You can open the door," the same voice instructed. Coming to her senses, Natalia grabbed the door and opened it, killing the noise instantly. A hand reached over her shoulder and steadied it. Natalia turned her head slightly to see Harry giving her a black look and nod. It seemed that she had convinced him just enough to go with her, but not enough to make him any less cold to her. Some how she had managed to corner him after leaving the hospital wing at school earlier before dinner, and Natalia took advantage of his fatigued state, pleading with him to come with her to her cousin's house. Harry had only sighed and mumbled the time along with the place to meet him.

Snapping out her short reverie Natalia took a deep breath and walked through and up to the apartment to find the door open and waiting there practically undressed, was Bernardino. His white button down shirt was undone, and his faded fitted pants sagged on his hips. He had an arm propped against the frame of the open door, waiting patiently. Now, Natalia knew practically all Italian men looked like this, lithe, but muscled bodies with dark brown hair, and creamy skin, so it was not a big surprise to see how good he looked with practically no clothes on. She hadn't even known she was staring until Harry gave an annoyed cough from behind her.

Bernardino opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but a silky feminine voice spoke up from behind him.

"Bernardino," the woman purred as she walked around the corner holding a small paring knife and a bright red apple. Natalia's eyes went wide at the sight of her cousin, in what looked like to be one of her "friends" old t-shirts, and not much else.

"Who's there?" Shanna questioned as she paused a few feet away from all of them.

"Shanna!" Natalia burst out and pushed forward quickly.

"Natalia?" she allowed the younger girl to hug her before pulling away and tilting her head to the side. "What's the matter? Why are you here so late?"

Natalia looked back at Harry who was still standing in the door, and looking everywhere but at the two females in front of him. She cocked an eyebrow at the faint blush on his cheeks and turned back to face Shanna.

"I'm sorry, but," Natalia faltered slightly and her cousin nodded.

"I understand, come in, and close the door." Shanna said as she turned and headed back the way she came. Bernardino quickly walked past them and into the kitchen to start preparing tea. Natalia frowned at the man's back as they settled in at the small kitchenette. He was just too quiet and subservient for his own good. Leaning a little over the table to Shanna she started inquiring in a hushed tone.

"How do you know him, Shanna?"

"Huh? Who?" She asked as she slowly whittled away on the skin of the apple she had been carrying.

"Your, um, friend," Natalia stressed the word. Shanna smiled suddenly and nodded understandingly.

"Well, so far he's a great help, it would also help if I knew what he looked like," she set her apple down along with the small knife, sighing. "But with that voice he's got, I could careless if he looked like trampled dog shit."

Shanna laughed at her own joke, and Natalia smiled, chuckling slightly. It was just like her cousin to find something like that in a man attractive, though a valid, and important detail.

Bernardino returned at that moment with cups of coffee for all of them and sat down next to Shanna after he served everyone. Natalia then relayed her concerns of seeing the newspaper article in the Daily Prophet on Draco's father being out of Azkaban. The other teen merely sat quietly and let Natalia ramble on in a mixture of Italian and English as her temper rose and fell through out her account.

Shanna also listened patiently nodding here and there, humming at the right intervals.

"So, we were hoping that you had some clue of what could possibly be going on? Like did you hear father talking or…" Natalia slumped back in her seat and picked up the coffee mug. The worry was evident, and Shanna didn't need eyes to know what exactly had her in a small uproar.

The fair skinned woman stood slowly taking one last sip of her coffee before putting it down and turning for the kitchen door.

"Unfortunately, I don't know anything," Shanna said slowly. "Myself and Bernardino have reservations for a previous engagement this evening."

The man slipped beside Shanna and wrapped an arm around her small waist guiding her out. Natalia laid her head on the tabletop heaving a disappointed sigh. The two left at the table sat silently for a few minutes before Shanna reappeared in the doorway dressed in an outfit to go out in.

"However, Natalia, you can use my room. I'm sure you'll find something of interest in there," she turned only to pause and turn her face slightly. "Third shelf, fifth from the right…green top, if I'm not mistaken."

Smiling slightly Shanna headed towards Bernardino who held out his hand and as she walked out leaving a slightly stunned Zabini behind she called back to them, "just make sure you clean up any messes you make!"

Laughing, there was the familiar crack of them Apparating, leaving Natalia to frown through a noticeable blush.

"Really," the dark haired girl huffed and crossed her arms. "I wondered what she could have meant about the shelf…"

--

Hermione sat cross-legged in front of a blazing fire, with a book open on her lap, forgotten as she stared at nothing in particular. Her finger tapped out an irritated rhythm against the pages of the warn tome she had procured from the library earlier that day. She was all set for bed in her ribbed white wife beater and thin polka – dotted boxer shorts, after of course some 'light' reading from the two thousand or so page book.

Hermione was constantly spacing out, since the incident with the sixth year girl in the hallway, and what Malfoy had said.

"Don't be a fool and believe her lies, you know damn well there isn't a John Beasley in this school, now what rhymes with John Beasley…?"

Well of course she knew there wasn't a transfer student by the name of Beasley on the attending roster for Hogwarts, but whenever she tried to think of whom this person could possibly be her mind drew a blank. With an exasperated huff Hermione stood and let the forgotten book tumble from her lap onto the floor, scooting under the coffee table.

"Oh Merlin's bloody boxer shorts…" she muttered and dropped to her knees to retrieve it. When her fingers closed around the book's thick spin she snatched it towards her, stood sharply and turned, right into a solid body.

Hermione gave a sharp yelp and lost her footing, closing her eyes, she waited for the impact of the fall, but opened them slowly when it never came. When she opened her eyes completely she stared slightly doe eyed up at Malfoy, gripping her upper arm, and looking rather content for some reason. Hermione held her book clutched to her chest, as if using it as a buffer between the two of them.

"What?" She asked in a slightly contemptuous tone. Malfoy merely raised an eyebrow and sneered.

"You know proper manners might call for a thank you in normal society. Surely even with your, dirtied upbringing, you would know that."

"Sod off, Malfoy," Hermione hissed and yelped as he let go of her slightly tipped body, smiling in amusement when her bottom hit the floor with an audible thud.

"Right were you belong, Granger," he said looking down his nose at her.

"You great bloody prat!" she practically shrieked, and committed, in her opinion, one of the greatest sins, by throwing the book she was clutching at his head. It hit her target in the forehead square in the middle, and he too soon joined her on the floor.

"That's what you-," she started to say only to burst into a great laugh when he dropped his hand from the angry red mark marring his other wise flawless face. Hermione folded over in her laughter, holding her stomach and didn't notice as Malfoy's face reddened slightly or him pulling out his wand.

She suddenly gasped at the feeling of something gooey hitting the top of her already moussed hair.

Hermione looked up sharply her mouth hanging open slightly as she saw something white and creamy drip down into her nose. She swiped it away and looked at it sniffing and licking it.

"Whipped cream?" she said in a disbelieving voice. When she looked up she saw Malfoy smirking and balancing what looked to be a conjured whipped cream pie in his hand. He grinned sadistically as he bounced slightly in his palm and she began to shake her head.

"You wouldn't!"

No sooner did the words leave her mouth then he launched the pie straight at her face. Hermione had no time to duck and she got a mouth full of the sugary confection. She sputtered and sprang to her feet letting the pie tin fall to the floor. With a huff she wiped the cream from her eyes slowly and flung her hands down to rid them of the stuff.

"Oh you're going to get it now…" she threatened through gritted teeth bending down slightly to pick up her wand from the table.

"Don't do anything you'll regret, Granger," Malfoy warned, his body stiff in apprehension. Hermione smiled sweetly through the cream still on her face and flicked her wand, sending a silent Aguamenti at him, instantly soaking him with a jet of water form the tip of her wand.

Malfoy sputtered as he tried to escape the torment, and Hermione laughed involuntarily at him as she continued to hose him down. When she was done she calmly lowered her wand and fiddled with the end of it, looking suspiciously like the cat that ate the canary.

"Oh I don't believe I will regret that, Malfoy," she said with a small smile, and a batting of her eyelashes. She was so pleased with herself, that Hermione let her guard down and didn't notice as Malfoy had composed himself long enough to levitate one of the feather throw pillows off the couch and over her head.

"Oh, Granger, don't look so pleased with yourself," he said haughtily and flicked his wrist, ripping the fabric of the pillow so that the feathers flew out sticking to her.

Hermione nodded and bit her lip, "okay…okay. Your getting it now ferret!"

With that she took out after him, making him turn in the opposite direction. They spent a couple of moments chasing eat other around the shared common room, casting spells (not harmful, of course) at each other. They soon were covered from head to toe with different unknown substances, whether it be food or…what ever they didn't really know.

Somehow the direction of the chase had turned against Hermione, and she found herself pumping her legs as fast as they would go, to get away from the blonde. However she soon found herself laying face down on the floor on her stomach with a body on top of her. Malfoy had tripped on the corner of the upturned area rug and tripped knocking her down as he fell.

Hermione moaned a little as she lifted her head slightly only for it to collide into Malfoy's nose. The one hand he hand propped on her shoulder, and the other on her hip convulsed as he squinted in pain, burying his face against her back, more then likely getting it bloody.

"Damn it, Granger," he grunted as she gasped slightly and sat up carefully, pushing him to lye down with his head in her lap.

"Sorry…" she whispered as she reached for her school bag that had overturned in their 'romping' and reached for the handkerchief laying just within reach. Malfoy tried to sit up but Hermione kept a steady, but stern hand on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Stop, I'll fix it," she said calmly as she dabbed the little splatter of blood from his face. She could see that his nose was starting to swell and she grimaced.

"Let me up, Granger, its nothing magic can't fix."

"Oh just shut up and sit still. You don't need to use magic for every single thing in your life, especially something as little as this."

"Oh don't give me that crap, I saw the face you were making," he said slightly nasally.

"Quiet or I'll cast a Silencio on you," Hermione ordered gently. Surprisingly enough Malfoy relaxed slightly with a huff and eyed her through squinted lids. She hadn't even realized in that moment she had been acting…nice, to Malfoy, and even before that, they had both been laughing, running around like childhood friends or something. The sudden realization struck her, leaving her slightly horrified. When she looked down she jerked back the hand that had been combing through Malfoy's, admittedly soft hair, as if she had been burned.

'What the hell am I doing?' she thought incredulously to herself. When she looked down again she saw that the boy resting in her lap, was asleep. Hermione sagged slightly, looking around the common room at the mess they had made. Recalling the spell she had used conjure up goo filled balloons and attacking him with, she smiled despite herself. She chanced a look down at the boy in thought and raised an eyebrow at his state. His nose although a bit swollen and starting to turn blue from the trauma, still didn't look out of place on his otherwise flawless, but dirty face.

Sighing she picked up her wand and pointed it to his face and quickly cast a healing charm, then a cleaning spell. Hermione now looked down at the teen that looked back to his expected neat appearance of Slytherin Prince. For some reason she was slightly disappointed to see him that clean again. In those few moments he had seemed approachable, and not at all hostile.

Hermione had gone back to racking her fingers through his hair as her gaze drifted off and around the common room slowly. She looked down when she felt him shift in her lap, and noticed that his eyes were open, and he was staring at her with an unreadable expression. Hermione fought the blush on her face as she pulled her hand out of his hair slowly, shifting her gaze elsewhere.

She almost gasped out loud when his hand clamped down on hers and he sat up and turned, folding one leg underneath him, the other bent in front of him next to her. With his free hand, he reached out and trailed a finger down the side of her cheek, where she knew some of the whipped cream pie to be. When he pulled his hand away he stared at the stuff on his finger, then slowly started to bring it towards his mouth.

Hermione caught that the corners of his mouth were turned up slightly in a small smile. With out thinking really, also reached out her own free hand to stop him from licking it off his finger like she knew he was going to. When his eyes met hers, she didn't see the usual hostility there and her heart skipped a few beats, and her stomach fluttered slightly. But like that the trance was broken when an owl tapped on one of the rooms many windows, and they both jerked away from one another. Coughing and pulling a frown Malfoy made a show of straightening his tie before going to the window and letting the horrid beast in.

Hermione took a slow breath in as she pressed her hand to her cheek before turning back to the blond and raising an eyebrow.

"So? What is it?"

"It happens to be none of your business Granger, It's a note for me," with that icy comment out he turned on his heals, leaving her where she stood as he walked into his room and slammed the door shut. Hermione frowned then cursed to herself when she realized that he had left the clean up and repair to her.

"Damn it, Malfoy!" she shouted with a stomp.

--

Natalia frowned as she looked at the shelf in her cousin's room. Harry stood behind her with his arms crossed a slightly annoyed look on his face by this point.

"Okay why are we here again?"

Natalia rolled her eyes and turned around to face him, sweeping her dark hair over her shoulder.

"You're about to find out. If I know my cousin, and I do pretty, well she has a memory stashed somewhere of something I need to see, and if it is what I think it of, then you'll know a few facts that your so stubbornly trying to ignore."

With that she nodded her head once and turned back to the shelf and inched closer. Running a finger down the third wooden ledge of the large cabinet of vials counting as she went.

"One…two…three…four…aha! Five," she plucked the clear bottle up and tipped it so she could see that stopper in its opening. It was a bright green contrasting starkly with the silvery liquid in the bottle itself.

"Hey," Harry said as he dropped his arms and took a step towards her. "That's a memory."

"Exactly," Natalia said with a small, "told – you – so" look on her face.

"What about the pensive then?" Harry challenged back at her, not seeing the stone basin anywhere in sight.

Natalia faltered slightly and looked around the room very unsure of that one. She knew Shanna had one, but she wasn't exactly where she had stashed it.

"Hm," Natalia, hummed to herself as she walked around the room slowly taking in every little detail. Her eyes followed the pattern of the wallpaper on the wall, wondering to herself, if she were her cousin what would she have done?

Natalia stopped suddenly and backed up slowly her eyes still concentrated on the wallpaper. She then took a step towards the wall and ran a finger along a hair thin line. When she backed up a couple of paces she noticed the small fracture disappeared completely.

Smiling Natalia took out her wand and stepped back up to the wall, "Clever, dear cousin, very clever."

She remembered using this in their shared childhood. Shanna had made a hideaway for them both, exclusively to them, and used this same trick to camouflage the entryway. Natalia frowned slightly in thought as she remembered how exactly they got in. Smiling now, she raised her wand and tapped a sharp rhythm, and muttering something under her breath that made Harry raise an eyebrow.

His disbelieving look was quickly washed away when the wall suddenly slid open and a pensive showed itself.

"What do you think of that?" Natalia smirked playfully over her shoulder making Harry nod reluctantly, and she could see he was fighting a small smile of his own.

Turning back to the Pensive, she popped the stopper of the crystal vial and pointed her wand at the top of it, 'pulling' the memory out of it. She paused as she held it over the already halfway filled basin, and looked over at Harry. He nodded once and placed a hand on her shoulder. Natalia then let the memory fall into the vast amount of others; careful to concentrate on just the one she wanted.

She had to squeeze her eyes shut as it felt like the whole room tipped and she was falling, into a all to familiar place, their mansion in Italy.

Natalia looked around quickly at the sound of a quick paced clicking coming up from behind her. She moved just in time to have Shanna walk briskly past her, cheeks flushed, her eyes still brown and alight with anger. Her knee length fitted skirt strained at the long strides she was taking to get to her destination.

Natalia grabbed Harry's hand and tugged him along to follow her cousin. Shanna didn't even pause when they came upon her papa's office door. With a forceful push, the doors were opened and she walked in with a cold glare on her face.

"Shanna!" An older man yelled and stood suddenly from his desk. He was clearly taken aback by the intrusion, of anyone, let alone the half-blood of the family.

"Uncle," Shanna replied evenly.

"Get out," he hissed and she simply folded her arms resting them under her amble chest.

"So, I see you're still thinking of upholding that medieval pact with the Malfoy's?"

"That is none of your concern, you insolent girl!"

"Girl? Excuse but I am no longer a child…" she said through gritted teeth.

"That much is obvious," said a greasy voice from the hearth, and out stepped none other then Lucius Malfoy himself. Shanna's eyes went wide, but she stayed still as he sauntered over to her. His cane clicking against the floor with each slow step he took.

"Mr. Malfoy, I can't say it's a pleasure," Shanna said with little to no emotion on her face. Lucius merely smiled and kept on walking towards her until he reached her. "I though you were in Azkaban, Mr. Malfoy, or are they letting known criminals take days off from life sentences."

The older blonde chuckled slightly and brought his hand up to brush a curled hair from Shanna's eyes, only to have his hand practically slapped away.

"Oh you see my dear, I have a many good connections still in the ministry itself, and it wasn't much of an effort to get things turned in my favor. Of course the papers don't know anything yet, but then again, I do have my connections there too," Lucius said smoothly making Shanna sneer in a most unlady like way.

"Hm, still planning to force your son to marry, my cousin?"

"Shanna, this has nothing to do with you, you stay out of this!" Her uncle hissed from behind her.

"Oh its every bit of my business, Uncle. I am the one that practically raised her when your wife passed away, and I came to live with you. The girl was playing with house elves for goodness sakes, not a friend to speak of. I think I can say this is my business, when I've spent almost ten years by the girls side."

Shanna's cheeks were now flushed an angry red, and Malfoy smiled.

"If it wasn't for Natalia I wouldn't even have anything to do with this damn family!" Shanna exclaimed and Malfoy raised an eyebrow holding a hand up to his business partner, to soothe the anger he saw coming.

"My dear, tell me," Lucius said as he took another step around her stopping directly behind her. "Do you enjoy the clothes you wear, and the food you eat? Even the place you live? Do you realize how much your Uncle does for you even though, your mother was obviously a good for nothing…mudblood."

Shanna spun around and sneered up at the tall man,

"I could give damn about any of that!" She snatched at the diamond necklace that sat around her neck and yanked at it, breaking the delicate chain and threw it at her Uncle, just to prove a point. Her anger had reached its peak and you could practically feel the tension crackle in the air from it all.

"You mark my word. I'll stop you, both in any way possible. You will not force Natalia into something she does not want to do!"

They were suddenly thrown from the memory just as Natalia saw her Uncle raise his wand and shout something. A small cry escaped her lips and fell backwards into Harry who grunted.

"Oh, Shanna," Natalia breathed as she slowly crawled off of Harry. The teen sat up and watched the girl, feeling rather foolish of how he had behaved towards her that day in Hogsmeade.

"That must have been the day she lost her eyesight, and it was all because she was standing up for me. The bastard," she whispered out fiercely as she closed her eyes and ducked her head. Natalia barely looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, and didn't resist when she was being pulled into a hug.

She let her weight lean entirely on him and they sat on the floor for a long while not saying anything until Harry broke the silence.

"I had no idea…"

Natalia shook her head and looked up through her bangs to the boy holding her. His intense green eyes were practically begging for her to understand how he had felt that day and why. She couldn't help herself as she raised a hand and slowly took off his glasses. Not sure exactly why she was doing it, she pushed herself a little higher until their lips brushed against each others.

Natalia paused her advances, remembering Blaise's warning and pleading to staying away from Harry. Her brow creased slightly at that thought.

Forget him. I'm going to get what I want for once.

she thought to herself and pushed her lips against his with resolved pressure.

Their lips parted automatically for each other, and Natalia's fingers slowly snaked their way up the back of his neck and through his thick black hair. She could feel his large hands caress her slim sides slowly, which only served to send a shiver of anticipation through her stomach as it clenched when he pulled her closer to him.

A thought suddenly popped into her head of earlier that day when she hand seen him in the hallway and her frown returned, and she couldn't help but pull back.

'Ginny,' she thought to herself almost a little guiltily, even though she knew she shouldn't be.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked breathing slightly heavier then normal, but not panting. Natalia turned her eyes to his lips as she watched him breath steadier and she wondered if she could make him pant. She suddenly shook and her eyes went wide. She couldn't possibly want him to do this now, and here of all places, especially when she had seen him break down like that over a dead girlfriend. Just how was she supposed to contend with that?

Natalia was so lost in thought that she didn't notice that Harry had leaned down and started to place light kisses along her neck up to her jaw line. By the time she had though, his lips found the sweet spot behind her ear.

"Oh…" Natalia breathed as she tilted her head to give him more access. She swallowed thickly as his hands continued to send shivers practically down to her toes and his lips kept making her want to melt up against him.

Harry's hand slipped down and cupped her ass, forcing her to scoot into his lap, and wrap her legs around his waist. He leaned himself back slowly, making sure to keep his lips in contact with some sort of flesh, reveling in the feeling the pressure of her body against his brought him. Natalia just couldn't stop from sliding on down with him and resting her arms on either side of his head, her hair a dark curtain around their faces.

She gasped and Harry bit a moan out when she shifted a little to low, his hands instantly going to her hips stilling any other movement she might have been going to make. Natalia bit her lip at the sight of his eyes sliding shut, when she pushed her rear down into him, and almost smiled when his hands squeezed her hips again in warning. His breath coming out in short breathes.

Her head suddenly jerked up at the sound of a tapping on the bedroom window. Natalia frowned at the sight of a black barn owl and she looked down at Harry with an apologetic smile. She let the unpleasant creature in and it nipped at her fingers almost in reprimand at what it had witness.

Natalia snatched the note from its leg and noticed right away Draco's tiny seal. She shooed the bird away and turned to see Harry now sitting up, his face slightly red and looking very uncomfortable as he shifted slightly now and again. Natalia stifled a giggle as she unfurled the letter and skimmed it, her smile quickly fading and a frown replacing it.

'Where are you?' Was all it read, and she balled it up and threw it into a near by trash bin.

"What did it say?" Harry asked in a low tone.

"Nothing important. Shall we get going?"

Harry nodded reluctantly and they set to picking up what they had messed with before walking to the door and locking it.