Memento Vivere

Chapter 1 Part One: Back to school

It was snowing again. Hogwarts castle and its surroundings was already covered in a thick blanket of snow. Most of the students were inside the castle drinking hot chocolate while discussing Quidditch or just chatting about their Christmas holidays. A couple of hours ago some third year Hufflepuffs had started a snowball fight and most of the school's students and teachers had at some point been involved in it. The lessons would start the next day and everyone was simply having a good time before they would have to go back to their everyday lives with school, teaching and homework.

Draco hadn't been involved in the snowball fight. He sat in the corner of an empty classroom looking out the window. It was already getting pretty dark outside the castle. Draco was playing with a Snitch his father had given him last year. It had the letters DLM engraved on it. Draco released the Snitch, let it fly about a foot away and then caught it again. He didn't even seem to look at it, but he managed to catch the Snitch every time. Draco was thinking about how he would get into the girls' dorms to meet with Blaise without Snape catching him. Not that he thought Snape would have minded, but he didn't want everyone to think he and Blaise were together. Which was exactly why he had to get into Blaise's room in the first place.

Blaise had invited him to her house over the holidays and he had accepted. He liked Blaise and he definitely welcomed every chance he got to get away from his father. He had probably known that she had wanted to become more than friends when he accepted the invitation but he had ignored her attempts to make that happen. They had had a great time at the Zabini Mansion but that didn't mean that they needed to be together all the time while back in school. He would have to talk to her about it. He really wanted to stay friends but he had a feeling she would be quite angry with him. He would have to explain to her that it was nothing personal, that the last thing he needed right now was a girlfriend, his father wouldn't like it at all. Yes, that was a good idea, even Blaise was afraid of Lucius Malfoy. He could say that Lucius wanted him to concentrate on school and Quidditch for the moment. This was probably true anyway and Draco knew that Lucius wouldn't like him being together with Blaise. She was way too independent for Lucius' taste.

Draco sighed. This term was about to get complicated. He hoped Blaise wouldn't make a big deal out of the whole situation, but knowing Blaise, she would probably accuse him of destroying her life, threaten to kill herself, cry, scream and throw things at him. This would be a long night. At least he wouldn't have to hang out with Crabbe and Goyle since they had both failed their OWLs the previous Spring and therefore had ended school after their fifth year. This also meant that he had their old room to himself since no one had really wanted to change rooms. This suited him just fine. He liked to have his own privacy and he wouldn't have to listen to anyone snoring through the eight hours of sleep they usually got at Hogwarts.

Draco was interrupted in his thoughts by someone opening the door to the classroom. It had already gotten pretty dark so he couldn't see who it was. The other person had apparently not noticed him since she continued muttering to herself.

"Why does he have to be so stupid? He never seems to notice anything I do for him. I am the one who has kept him from getting totally isolated from the rest of the world. If it weren't for me he'd never gotten through Sirius' death...."

Sirius, Draco thought, Sirius Black. This sounded interesting. Draco thought about what had happened the year before. Potter's godfather, Sirius Black, had reappeared, died and gotten his name cleared. The Ministry had been forced to believe in Potter's stories and everything had looked pretty bad for Lucius and the others. Draco remembered wondering if his father would go to Azkaban. There had been some investigations but the Aurors hadn't found enough evidence to have a case against Lucius Malfoy. They had still thought it was appropriate to keep him under strict surveillance most of the Summer which had made him even more irritable. That hadn't made Draco's Summer holidays very pleasant. This Summer was pretty high on Draco's "Why I don't like Potter"-list. Not that he had an actual list in writing but that was mainly because he didn't have enough paper to write one.

"...But he doesn't see anything. He doesn't realize that I like him. And now he likes Hermione! Who, by the way, used to date his best friend...."

I just don't understand what all these girls are seeing in Potter, Draco thought to himself. Other than that he is famous, of course. But this girl didn't sound like the hysterical Harry-Potter-fan-club-girls. He had once overheard them talking about Potter and that had been scary. They had spent quite a lot of time discussing Harry's eyes and which shade of green they actually were. They had all sounded like they were about nine years old even if Draco knew that they had been about fifteen. This girl however, sounded like a normal sane person. Draco didn't think that she had a big collection of Potter's eyelashes hidden somewhere.

The girl still hadn't noticed him. If he sat very still and quiet she would probably leave the classroom without knowing he had been there. But that wasn't how Draco handled situations like this, not that he had been in the exact same situation before.... He wasn't the most tactful person in the world. And where would the fun in that be?

"And how does that make you feel?" Draco asked in his best imitation of a psychiatrist. The girl whirled around. Draco caught a glimpse of red hair.

"Who the hell are you?" she demanded to know. "And what gives you the right to sneak around eavesdropping to what I'm saying?"

"Oh, I was just sitting here. It was you who started telling me your whole life-story... And what a story, by the way. You should write a book."

"Malfoy. Why didn't I recognize you earlier? Well, I'll leave you now so you can continue sitting in the dark by yourself. I'm gonna go do something more pleasant. Help Hagrid take care of his flobberworms for example."

When she opened the door and let in some light from the corridor Draco recognized the girl. It was the Weasley girl. So she liked Potter? And apparently Potter liked Granger. That was good to know. Every piece of information on your enemy's weaknesses was good to have.

Draco heard people rushing by outside the room. It was probably dinnertime. He could try to eat fast and sneak into Blaise's room and wait for her there. He went outside the classroom and started walking towards the Great Hall and the Slytherin table. He saw Blaise waving at him to come and join her, Millicent and Pansy. He tried to look like he hadn't seen them and sat down at the other end of the table with a couple of Seventh Years. He had a nice dinner discussing Quidditch and how they would beat Gryffindor in it this year.

*****

Ginny's day had not turned out very well. It had started good with breakfast in the Great Hall together with her brother, Hermione and Harry. They had had a good time discussing Christmas and all their presents. Then they had joined the big snowball fight and Ginny and Harry had teamed up against Ron and Hermione. Ginny had been overwhelmed when Harry had asked her to be on his team but he had apparently chosen her just so the teams would be fair. Ron was by far the best at throwing snowballs, and Hermione the worst.

When they'd become wet and tired, they had headed back to Gryffindor Tower, changed clothes and sat down by the fire. When Harry had asked to have a word in private with her, she had thought, or at least hoped, that he would finally tell her that he liked her or ask her out or at least thank her for being there for him. Instead he had told her that he liked Hermione and asked her if she knew if Hermione liked him too or if she liked someone else. Ginny didn't remember her answer very clearly but she thought she had said something like: Hermione didn't tell her much about her lovelife but that she probably still liked Ron. Ron and Hermione had gone out a couple of times when school had started but it hadn't developed into something more serious. This had surprised Ginny since she'd always thought they were perfect for each other. But then again she had pictured her and Harry together too.

Ginny hadn't meant to hurt Harry but she didn't want to see Harry and Hermione together. She knew it had been wrong of her to lie to Harry, especially when she suspected that Hermione liked him just as much as he liked her.

When she had finally managed to get away from Harry, she'd run to an empty classroom to cry but apparently destiny wasn't done playing with her yet because Draco Malfoy had been sitting there in the darkest corner. She'd been busy going through her conversation with Harry and hadn't noticed him. And of course she had been thinking out loud. He would never stop teasing her. Oddly enough, she did actually feel a little better after arguing with Malfoy. He had made her angry instead of sad. She started walking towards the Great Hall for dinner. When she entered the big room, the ceiling looked like a clear cold Winter night. You could see all the stars and it was beautiful. Ginny sighed. Stormy weather with lots of rain clouds would have suited her better. She saw Harry, Ron and Hermione sitting at the further end of the table. Harry waved at her but she pretended not to notice and sat down with some girls from her own year. She was very absent and quiet through the meal but the other girls didn't seem to notice. They were discussing some guy again. "No, his hair is great! It looks almost like silver. It's a shame that he comes from such an evil family because otherwise I would totally ask him out...." Ginny didn't care to join the conversation, she wasn't interested in any guys but Harry and he wasn't interested in her. All she wanted to do was go to bed and get as many hours of sleep as possible.

*****

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat together in their usual corner in the Gryffindor Common room. Harry and Ron were playing Chess and Harry wasn't doing as bad as usual. He had already taken Ron's queen and was just waiting for an opportunity to take his second bishop. Hermione was reading a book that she had bought with the money she had gotten as an early birthday present from her grandmother. It was called "665 going on 666 Nicolas Flamel; a biography."

Ron looked up from the Chess game. "Why are you reading that book, Hermione? It's not like you don't know the story already. He made the Philosopher's Stone and the Elixir of Life but now he has destroyed it because he doesn't want You-know-who to get the Stone. What else is there to know about him?"

"There are quite a lot of things I didn't know about him. For example did you know that he used to live in Paris? It was there he came across the book about how to make the Stone. It's fascinating to read about how he tried to interpret the book. It took him years just to get through the first few chapters. I know you don't like reading, Ron, but why can't you let me enjoy it without complaining all the time?"

"I just don't see the point in reading about someone reading a book he can't understand. Even you must agree that it's a bit silly."

"No, I think it's very interesting to read his story. Do you realize that he and his wife are the only people who can compare life now and 600 years ago? This book is one of the most exact history books you could ever find... And he also describes how he decided to stop making the Elixir. The whole story is not in here but he does mention us. Listen; "I have now decided to destroy the stone. My dear wife and I have already stopped taking it and we have a couple of years left to live. It is actually a big relief and I'm very glad I made this decision now. I would like to thank my friend Albus Dumbledore and three of his students at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry for helping me make this decision and making everything so much easier...."

"You have read this book before?"

"Of course I have! I bought it weeks ago." Hermione was almost shouting now.

Ron was just about to answer when Harry moved his pawn and yelled "Checkmate!"

Ron looked up and examined the chessboard.

"This must be the first time I have ever beaten you in Chess!"

"I was distracted."

"Yeah, right."

"We can take a rematch if you want to!"

"No, I think I'm gonna go to bed. We have Snape first thing tomorrow morning and I would like to have at least one night's proper sleep before the many sleepless nights I'm gonna have doing all our Potions homework."

"That's probably a good idea." Hermione smiled at Harry before giving Ron a final glare, then she rose from her chair, strode over the floor towards the dormitory door and started climbing the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"It was just an innocent question." Ron collected the chess pieces and followed Harry to their dormitory.

"Well, if I were you I would have learnt not to ask Hermione these innocent questions of yours by now. You have known each other for, what, five years and you two still start arguing over whatever you talk about."

Seamus, Dean and Neville were already getting ready for bed when Ron and Harry entered.

"Hi guys!" said Dean. "Have you seen my new poster of Holt? I even got him to sign it for me?"

"That's great, Dean," said Harry.

"Who's Holt?" said Ron. "Does he play feetball?"

"It's called football," Dean corrected him. "And yes, he is one of my favourite football players."

"Whatever, I still don't understand how you can like that muggle sport better than Quidditch."

"Don't start that argument again or we'll still be awake tomorrow morning," said Seamus sleepily.

Harry smiled to himself. He was glad to be back at Hogwarts. It felt like he shared his room with four brothers instead of friends. It would be weird to move away from Hogwarts and start living by himself. He had a feeling that he would always remember these evenings at Hogwarts when he and the other guys were getting ready for bed chatting happily and discussing normal things like sports and girls. Thinking about girls made him think about Hermione.

He hadn't been happy about what Ginny had said about Hermione. He had really hoped that she liked him too, but at least he hadn't gone and destroyed their friendship. It was probably better like this anyway. Everything was as it was supposed to be. He was at Hogwarts with his friends where he belonged. He felt very safe here, going to sleep to Ron's and Dean's debating. "But Quidditch players fly! Your football players can only run around on the grass and they only have one ball...." Before he could hear Dean's response, Harry was already asleep.

****************************

Draco's encounter with Blaise had gone pretty much as expected. At first there had been screaming and crying but Draco thought that it was mostly an act and that she had been expecting him to break up with her. But everything had to be done in Blaise's way so he had let her scream and cry and throw things at him before he had blamed everything on his father and then they had agreed on being friends. She had even offered to heal the cut above his eyebrow.

Maybe this Spring wouldn't be so bad after all.

One thing still bothered him though. The fight he had gotten into with the Weasley girl. He had let her get the last word. Well, she could have that victory, he was going to give it back to her several times the next day. Satisfied with that, he fell asleep.

*****************************

Part Two: The letter

Harry woke up to Ron shaking him violently.

"Come on, we're missing breakfast! Don't you want to have something to eat before we have Potions with Snape and the Slytherins?"

"That's a nice way of waking somebody up!" Harry rolled his eyes and sat up slowly before starting to get dressed. "You remind them of Snape and Slytherins the first thing you do in the morning."

Ron grinned. "It's just a double lesson. And besides, didn't you say that Snape hasn't been torturing you as much this year as previous years?"

"Yes, but that's just because he now concentrates on planning as much homework and difficult assignments for us as possible. He simply doesn't have as much time for me as before."

"I feel sorry for you. But think positive. If you pass this course you only have one year left with Snape and you have Auror training to look forward to."

Harry gave him a tired smile. "If I survive the next year, that is. Well, at least I have Hermione there too. Otherwise it would be really terrible to have lessons with Snape and the Slytherins."

The boys descended the stairs to the common room and found Hermione there waiting for them. "I almost thought you two had left without me. Now, let's go have breakfast before taking on the Slytherins and Snape!"

Harry gave her a look. "I wish everybody would stop reminding me of that!"

"Oh, c'mon Harry! It's not that bad. Snape has actually started to treat everyone the same and we have our own corner so we don't even have to talk to any Slytherins if we don't want to. And the Slytherins aren't actually all that bad!"

"Really?" Harry asked wonderingly. "Name one good thing about Malfoy!"

"He... uhm. He really takes his studies seriously. And he's very proud of his family." She gave him a triumphant smile.

"Yes, because he wants to prove that he's better than everyone else."

"Well, there are other Slytherins except Malfoy...."

"That, at least, I can agree on."

Hermione stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh, that's mature!"

"Ok. Let's go have breakfast," said Ron, "before you start fighting about who's going to get to sit in the middle at breakfast."

"I wanna sit in the middle!"

"No way, you always get to sit in the middle!"

"Ron! She took my glasses!"

"He's pulling my hair!"

The trio continued walking towards the Great Hall laughing and teasing each other.

Ginny watched them go from the corner she had been sitting in. She wasn't really hungry and she definitely didn't want to sit with Harry today. Except that she wanted to. She didn't have a clue about what she wanted anymore. The only thing she was sure about was that she didn't want Harry being with Hermione, or with anyone else for that matter. She knew it was immature of her to think that way, if she couldn't have him no one else should, but she couldn't help it.

This is really pathetic, she thought to herself. She rose from the chair and started walking towards the Transfiguration classroom. I'm gonna get over you, Harry James Potter! I'm going to get another boyfriend. In fact, I'm going to fall in love with the next boy my age I meet who doesn't have a girlfriend.

Satisfied with that, she turned around a corner and run straight into Draco Malfoy.

"Watch it! Will you?" she yelled at him.

"Oh, good. I see you have moved past the first stage in the process of recovering from Potter," Draco said in a drawling voice. "Now you're angry. The next step will be denial just like you're trying to deny that your family have no money or that your brother is the worst Quidditch player ever."

"He's not! He's much better than anyone on your team. He did get to be on the team, didn't he? And we Gryffindors don't have to buy our way into our house team!"

"I suppose that wouldn't work since half your house consists of Weasleys. You wouldn't have enough money. Well, I'd love to stay and chat, except that I wouldn't because I'm late for Potions and you're a total bitch."

And with that he walked away. Ginny found herself just standing and staring after him. She hated him so much! Why was he always so mean to her? She had never done anything to him, at least not that she was aware of. Well, he was a Malfoy after all; he had probably learned how to insult people before he could talk. She entered the Transfiguration room, sat down at her usual seat and started thinking about what she should have said to Malfoy.

*************

Potions hadn't actually been that bad. Harry and Hermione had been sitting in their usual corner and they had been able to make the festinatum potion which made the one who drank it move and do things several times faster. Snape had let them test the potion in a diluted dose and they had been running around the castle actually having a good time. There were side-effects of the potion, there always were. The potion allowed you to use strengths you didn't know you had with the result of making you totally exhausted afterwards.

After the lesson Harry and Hermione had just gone straight to the Gryffindor common room and lay down on the couches. It was like this Ron and Ginny found them when it was time for lunch.

"Look! They're sleeping. Together. How cute...."

Ginny gave Ron a glare. "You wake Harry up. I'm taking care of Hermione!"

"You know, this is the second time I woke Harry up today. I guess he's catching up on the sleep he lost last year when you-know-who was controlling his dreams."

"Don't talk about that! He's finally started to seem a little bit happier!"

"He's asleep! He can't hear me." Ron shrugged. "OK Harry, wake up. We still have lessons today. You don't want to piss McGonagall off the first day of the new term, do you?"

A quarter of an hour later, all four of them were sitting at the Gryffindor table. They were discussing Quidditch, a subject even Ginny felt was neutral enough for her to join the conversation. She still hadn't found her Harry-substitute (she was definitely not going to start dating Malfoy!) but she had a feeling that she would be fine.

"Talking about how we're gonna kick the Slytherins' asses... Where is Malfoy?" Ron suddenly asked.

"He must have fallen asleep," said Hermione, "just like we did." She smiled at Harry.

"I hope he misses next class so he'll get in trouble!" said Ron.

"Oh, that's very mature!"

"C'mon, Hermione! Isn't there just a little part of you that wishes that Malfoy'll get into trouble?"

"Well, yes, of course. But you still aren't very mature...."

"You're such a hypocrite, Hermione...."

"Look, Ron, all this fighting between Slytherin and the rest of the school is bad. Remember last year? If everyone didn't hate the Slytherins, the Slytherins wouldn't be so united and at least some of them wouldn't hang out with the Death Eaters and You-know-who would have much less power here in the school!"

"Oh no! You have that look."

"What look?" asked Hermione innocently.

"The look. This is going to be the house elves all over again."

"No, it's not! I'm just saying...."

Harry rolled his eyes at Ginny. "We haven't had the time to talk for a while. What's been going on with you lately? You haven't been around much. New boyfriend?"

Ginny just stared at him. How could he still not have realized that she liked him? She tried to think of a good answer to his question but thankfully she got interrupted by Ron and Hermione's argument that had now reached the level where they were screaming at each other without noticing anything else. Harry smiled at Ginny, then he pointed at himself and Ginny and then at the door. "OK, let's go," Ginny mouthed and they left the Great Hall together. Ginny was just thinking about what to say when they ran into Draco Malfoy.

"Well, well... Isn't it Potter and his new... girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend, Malfoy!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Ginny desperately tried to think of a way to stop Malfoy from telling Harry what he had heard in the classroom the other night. If she didn't come up with something fast, Malfoy would tell Harry and Harry would realize that she had tried to mess things up between him and Hermione and he would get really mad at her. She couldn't let that happen.

"Really, Potter? Because you could do a lot worse, I mean, she's not very rich but at least she isn't a Mudblood like that other girl of yours." Draco now looked at Ginny and she almost thought he had winked at her but she wasn't sure.

"You know what I like about Slytherins?" Harry had gone white with fury at Draco's comment about Hermione. He threw himself violently at Draco and hit him across the jaw. "Absolutely nothing!"

"Harry! Stop it!" Ginny screamed. "This isn't the way to solve this." But Draco had already recovered from Harry's first hit and kicked Harry in the stomach. A crowd started to form around the two of them, mostly Gryffindors and Slytherins but also a couple of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. Hermione and Ron seemed to have let their argument rest for a while and joined Ginny in trying to get Harry away from there before the teachers came. He didn't need any more detentions caused by Malfoy.

"Harry, stop it!" Hermione begged him. "Whatever he said, it isn't worth cleaning Snape's room for a week again."

"He...called...you...a...you-know-what!" Harry panted.

"And it's very sweet of you to defend me but I can take care of myself. Don't get into more trouble because of me, Harry."

Harry stopped hitting Draco which led to Draco getting a good swing at his left eye. His glasses had fallen off quite a while ago so he didn't get any glass in his eyes but he would develop a black eye. Harry stood up and walked through the crowd with Hermione, Ginny and Ron following close behind him.

"Harry, are you OK?" Hermione asked, sounding worried.

"I'm fine. I just don't like it when he calls you things like that." They looked into each other's eyes. Then Harry shrugged and turned around. "Anyway...We should probably start going to class. We have Transfiguration now, don't we?"

"Yes, we do." Hermione gave him a confused look but he looked away.

"See you later, Gin!"

Ginny started walking in the opposite direction. She was thinking about Malfoy. Why hadn't he told Harry? He could of course have been saving it for another time but something inside her said that he hadn't. Had Draco Malfoy actually just done something nice? For her? That didn't sound right even to her, but maybe Hermione was right. Maybe she shouldn't judge all Slytherins just because some of them came from Death Eater families. In Malfoy's case of course, it was true, but still, maybe he wasn't like his father. Maybe he wasn't all that evil. At least not yet. Maybe he just needed to be rescued.

At that, she stopped herself in her thoughts. She always fell for guys that she thought needed rescuing. Harry, Dean when his grandmother had died, probably even Tom. Malfoy actually reminded her a bit of Tom. Not that she thought he would become the next Voldemort but they had the same way of looking like they didn't care at all about what others thought about them or wanted from them.

Stop it! she thought to herself. So what, he does one nice thing and you forgive him for everything bad he's done over the years?

Well, people change, another part of her answered. And when they do, they deserve to get another chance!

But you don't honestly think that Lucius Malfoy's son is going to? He's the son of the man that made you open the Chamber of Secrets...Remember? Big, green snakes almost killing people you care about?

That was Tom's fault. And Draco certainly didn't have anything to do with it!

Oh, so you're calling him Draco now, are you? What's the next step? Are you going to kiss him and promise to help him escape the evil wizard so that you two can live happily ever after?

No, of course not. I'm going to go to my lesson, for which I'm already late, do my homework and go to bed early like the good little girl I am. Happy?

Apparently the other her was since it didn't bothered to answer. "I should really stop talking to myself. It's kind of creepy. Oh sod it! I'm doing it again...."

********************************

Draco sat in the library with Blaise reading Witch Weekly. It was a thing they used to do that he would never admit to anybody.

"Listen, I have now taken the quiz, and it turns out, I do put career before men."

Blaise looked up at him. "I'm sure you do."

She laughed and pointed at her magazine. "Hey look, there's an article in here about Potter!"

"Yeah? And what does it say?" Draco asked in an amused voice. "Is he having an affair with McGonagall this time?"

"No actually, it says that he's 'taking some time away from girls and is now far more concentrated on Quidditch and winning the House Cup.' Ha! I Would like to see him try that!"

"He has. And he's succeeded in his attempts almost every year." Draco made a face. "And Gryffindor wins the House Cup thanks to their own little hero, Harry Potter."

"Anyway, they 'don't expect him to stay single for long. Not with so many beautiful girls around him. We hope he will soon find true love says a close friend to Potter. And there are many choices, not least Ms. Hermione Granger who he has a long history with or the little sister of his best friend, Virginia Weasley who is one year younger than Potter but has really grown over the years and has become a real beauty. Our source says that Harry has been spending quite a lot of time with her. He spent Christmas with the Weasleys and it would surprise our reporter if they didn't get caught under the mistletoe on at least some occasions.' There are some pictures too. Hmm... They do have a point. The Weasley girl has become rather cute. She's not as good-looking as I am of course but she can stand a competition."

"Let me see that!" Draco took the magazine from her. "She does look nice actually... For a Weasley of course! The magazines would love her and Potter together. We will probably get the chance to read way more about the two of them in the future." Draco didn't look like he liked that idea.

"Are you jealous, Draco? Of Potter? That, I wouldn't have thought."

"Don't be silly! I'm just stating some facts here."

"Right." Blaise looked at him a little worriedly. It was one thing that he didn't love her but if he started to like a Gryffindor instead she would have to do something about it. She wouldn't lose any boy to a Gryffindor!

They heard a knock on the window and saw one of the Malfoy Manor owls sitting outside the window. Blaise let it in and it hooed softly, flew to Draco and let him take the letter it had been carrying. Then it flew through the library towards the Owlery. It was lucky Madame Pince didn't notice it. She had some very strong opinions about owls in the library.

"It's from my father," Draco said as he broke the seal. "He probably wants to remind me of our Quidditch game against Ravenclaw this Saturday. As if I wouldn't know we have to practise without him telling me."

Draco read the letter and suddenly went very white.

"Draco, what is it? Is everything all right?"

He just stared at her in disbelief.

"Is your mother all right?"

Blaise started to get really worried. "Draco! Talk to me!"

"He... he wants me to become friends with Potter."

"WHAT?!! Are you sure?"

Draco nodded.

"But, why?"

"Oh, some new evil plan to kill him, I suppose. You know how obsessed the Dark Lord is about Potter."

"Schhh... Don't talk like that."

"He can't hear me, Blaise! Well, anyway, my father must have seen his chance to get a promotion and introduce me to the world of the Death Eaters at the same time."

"How on earth are you going to do that? I mean Potter isn't a big fan of yours. And it's going to be really hard for you to hide how you really feel about him."

"I know."

The letter burst into flames and Ms. Pinch came running. "You two! Get out of my library this second!!!" She pushed them towards the door while muttering to herself. "Lighting fires... in MY library. I'm going to have to talk to Dumbledore about this...."