"Very Slytherin of you," smirked Harry.
"Even though you think I have Gryffindor... tendencies?" asked Draco with a matching smirk. "Oh, I never said you lacked Slytherin qualities, dear cousin," laughed Harry. "I had meant to imply... you tend to show such Gryffindorish tendencies, at times.
"There's a term I've heard someone say that I think matches us both," he continued. "Slythindor. Or, perhaps, Gryfferin?"
"I'd be one and you'd be the other?" asked Draco, amused.
"I think so, yes," said Harry, happy his cousin understood what he meant.
The conversation petered off for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts, before Draco asked, "Who would have thought the two of us could sit down and share a few drinks together and talk like old friends?" Harry snorted and said, "Maybe not old friends; but, what say, new friends?"
Draco smiled and nodded back.
"Good," said Daphne. "Now, there are only a few people who know your name is now Draco Black that we know of. To give you time to make a decision regarding your choice of name, how many in Slytherin know you've changed it?"
"None," Draco instantly replied. "At least, none that I know of. I've not made the name change known, nor corrected anyone who called me Malfoy. However, I have no idea how many people father told, if any. Therefore, I also have no idea how many of their sons and daughters who're at Hogwarts they told, if any." Giving a firm nod back, Daphne said, "If we continue to call you Malfoy for the next week, when the train heads back to London, is there anyone you know of who could 'out' you?"
"Not that I'm aware of," said Draco; before he asked, "You'd do that for me?"
"It is not a difficult chore," smiled Daphne, just a touch snidely. "If someone ever has the effrontery to correct us on it, we can just plead ignorance."
"That will give you time to reach your own decision and speak with Sirius," said Hermione, speaking up for the first time since they sat down.
A little surprised by the offer, Draco thought about it for a few moments before he simply said, "Thank you." "That's what new friends are for," smiled Harry.
Once Draco had left, Hermione smiled at the other two and said, "Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Both Daphne and Harry snorted amusement for different reasons.
in
Daphne said, "I don't think it could be a beautiful friendship..."
"Hermione's quoting a line out of a famous muggle motion picture called Cassablanca," explained Harry. "It was one of the last lines in the movie."
"The last line, actually," corrected Hermione. "Humphrey Bogart's character, Rick something, said it." The last week of the term was filled with students receiving their summer holiday assignments, due the first week back of the new school year. Although they'd already received some, most were not handed out until this week. It was those assignments the three spent most of their time upon outside of classes.
Harry asked for, and was given, a copy of the summer holiday assignment for Ancient Runes. He believed it would give him a good grounding in what to expect once he began attending classes in the subject.
The most annoying part of the week was watching for and reading the odd article in the Prophet that implied Riddle hadn't been resurrected. However, by the Wednesday, his wives refused to allow him to read the newspaper any more while school was in session. So, his last two days of school he didn't have a chance to read the paper.
'Malfoy' did pay them a visit during breakfast on Wednesday morning in his current false persona. "So, Potter," he sneered. "Still suffering from the Confundus charm cast on you last Friday night?"
Standing just a little forward of one of his few friends, Draco gave a most subtle wink.
Harry laughed back. In a loud and clear voice, he said, "Oh, Malfoy; you do so amuse me. I would have thought, by now, you'd know you cannot make a magical oath, and make it stick, if you're under any sort of mind altering charm or potion. There would simply be no flash, as it was clear everyone saw me give off, on the stage in front of the maze, when I brought Pettigrew back for justice. As there was such a flash, I clearly wasn't confunded. And, therefore, I proved Riddle is back."
Draco then proceeded to sneer before grumbling and stalking off back to the Slytherin table. Of course, the whole thing was pre-arranged between Draco and Harry to get out the information the oath could not have been magically accepted if Harry was under compulsion at the time. It was a performance.
Once the week was over, the three Potters were waiting in the Entrance Hall on the morning of the train ride when they were approached, yet again, by Dumbledore.
"I've been in contact with your aunt, Harry," he said. "And I've let her know of the danger Riddle now represents since his resurrection. As such, I've informed them you'll be staying with them, again, this summer; and I'll be re-establishing the blood wards that protect you there."
"In other words, Dumbledore, you lied to them," growled Harry.
"I'm... I assure you, Harry. I'll be there this afternoon to re-establish the wards..."
"You won't be able to," snapped Harry. "You won't be able to, because I won't be anywhere near the place."
"I'm having members of an organisation I reformed pick you up from the station and deliver you to your aunt's..."
"That Daphne.
would
be kidnapping!"
snapped
"You have no right to do that, Headmaster," glared Hermione. "If someone even approaches Harry to take him from the station, other than the Greengrasses, I'll holler blue murder and demand your arrest! I will quite happily lead a team of aurors to Privett Drive to rescue him with minutes of him being taken!"
"And, you're forgetting Riddle used my blood in his ritual," added Harry. "That means he can now walk right through your damnable blood wards as if they weren't even there."
"In other words, they provide no protection, at all!" added Hermione.
"If you try to have me kidnapped from the station, Dumbledore," growled Harry, "I'll defend myself with deadly force! Tell your little birdie club I'll fucking kill them if they try!"
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