Black Sheep

Chapter Fourteen
In Which Our Boys Meet A Girl

THEN HAD COME THE LONG walk to the castle. Harry and Draco were still the only two people in the village walking around in blatantly Muggle clothing and so they drew quite a few stares as they passed by the shops. People first looked at them for their unusual dress, but then they kept looking when they began to notice just who the two young men were. There was furious gossip all around them, but no one quite dared approach the two 'celebrities,' especially not with Hermione - who was walking slightly ahead of them - shooting glares around like they were going out of fashion. Several people ran inside as soon as they saw the two of them - probably off to owl the Prophet with the scoop of a lifetime.

Ignoring all the activity around them, Draco waltzed down the unmade road with his hands in his jacket's pockets and a bored expression on his face. Next to him, Harry kept his eyes fixed on Hermione's back and tried to school his face into some sort of neutral expression, but he suspected that he probably just looked stony. It wasn't like he could help it - he certainly wasn't going to start waving and signing autographs.

They finally passed out of the village, leaving the whispers behind them, and started across the wide, quiet fields. It seemed that the news of them travelled faster than they themselves did, though, because as they approached the school grounds, a huge bear of a man, barely visible beneath his grizzled beard and his great well-patched coat, came bustling toward them. He roared in a deep voice that cracked more than a little, "'ARRY POTTER!"

Harry quailed as Hagrid came rushing toward him. The old half-giant caught him up in a bone-crushing hug, the likes of which Harry hadn't felt in years, and somewhere beneath all the pain and shame and fear that had buried his past, Harry felt a little flare of warmth. His arms came up almost automatically, to awkwardly pat Hagrid's back in return.

Hagrid was sobbing great crocodile tears, as he always had, and chiding Harry, "Yeh daft child, Harry. All these years, withou' a single word from yeh!" He shook the thin man who - even fully grown - still only came up to his chest, and then finally released him, stepping back to get a proper look at him.

"Hello, Hagrid," Harry greeted his old friend weakly. "Though I'm hardly a child anymore."

The half-giant chuckled and slapped Harry on the shoulder, sending him careening into Draco, who caught him automatically. "Not hardly, eh? Yes, yeh've become quite the man - older than yer father was, last time I saw 'im."

Harry muttered an apology as Malfoy pushed him back upright. The blond had been watching this reunion with a blank expression and Harry belatedly realised that there would be no such warm welcome for the former Death Eater. He looked back towards Hermione and Hagrid, standing across from them. Smiling weakly, he said honestly, "It's nice to see you, Hagrid."

Snuffling wetly, Hagrid slung a heavy arm over Hermione's shoulders and the small woman staggered slightly under its weight. But then she simply smiled sweetly up at the groundskeeper and Harry was glad to see that some things hadn't changed over the years. Hagrid cleared his throat gruffly and said, "Well, I'll jes' see yeh all up to the castle then. But yeh be sure to come by mine later, Harry. I'll even fix us summat to eat." He gave the silent Malfoy a curious look, then hustled them all up to the school's gate.

There were students here and there on the grounds, some on their ways to classes, some just enjoying the last of the summer's warmth. They looked curiously at the two Muggle-dressed men walking with their professors, but most did not recognise them for who they were. Everyone still knew who Harry Potter was, of course, but if they'd ever seen a photo of him, it would have probably been of a skinny little fourteen year old, wearing thick round glasses and posing with his fellow Triwizard champions years and years ago. The students were too young to connect this grown man with that boy. And most of them would know nothing more of Draco Malfoy than the way that his family name came up in the whispered conversations of adults. Only one or two seventh years set up whispering among themselves furtively.

The quartet continued on the path up to the great front doors and then Harry found himself inside the shadowy halls of Hogwarts once more. Hagrid said goodbye to them near the door and, after exhorting a promise that they would visit him again later, the large man left again to get ready for his morning classes. Harry asked Hermione curiously, "Don't you have any classes yourself? Wait - what is it that you even teach?"

Hermione smiled an almost wicked grin and told him, "Defence against the Dark Arts, if you'd believe it. And I'll have you know that I've held the job for three years now and pretty much destroyed the rumour that the position is cursed."

Harry blinked in surprise and exclaimed, "You're teaching DADA?" Of course, she had been second in the class after him. And she'd experienced plenty of Dark Arts up close and personal, being best friends with Harry Potter.

She smiled a bit sadly and explained, "We were having a real hard time filling the job. After the war, no one wanted to have anything to do with Dark Arts, even its defence! Plus that silly 'curse' was keeping quite a few people away." She led them through the halls, which were mostly empty now that morning classes had begun. "And I will have class in a bit, with my third years, but I'm free until the end of the hour."

As he followed Hermione, Harry shook his head in amazement. She really was a professor. She was all grown up and teaching young witches and wizards at Hogwarts. He glanced at Malfoy, who was still walking next to him, then nudged the blond with his elbow. "Hey," he whispered, "do you suddenly feel embarrassingly useless and inadequate?"

Draco grinned for the first time since leaving the Green Dragon. He gifted Harry with a cocky smirk and said, "I am inadequate at nothing." His grey eyes glinted evilly, but then he let up. "Though I do know what you mean." He leaned in closer and Harry tilted his own head toward him automatically. Draco asked in very posh accent, which reminded Harry of a totally inappropriate Stephen Fry, "So, Mr Potter, if you were not a completely useless tosser, but a professor at Hogwarts, what subject would you teach?"

Harry burst into laughter, unable to deal with the accent coming out of Malfoy's wicked mouth. Hermione glanced over her shoulder at the two men, who were whispering and hitting one another. She could catch a couple of words but more than wondering what it was they were talking about together, she mostly wondered why.

They arrived at the same old defence classroom where they had all taken classes and Hermione let them into her office, which had gone through several different incarnations during the various reigns of Lockhart, Lupin, the fake Moody, Umbridge and Snape. Now it looked something like the way it had with Lupin, but less shabby and with a lot more bookshelves. Harry was surprised to see old moving photos of himself and his fellow Gryffindors hanging on the walls. Hermione stepped around the desk and sat herself down in the high-backed chair that looked nearly as old as the castle. Harry dropped unsurely into one of the other chairs, while Draco walked around examining the books on the shelves.

"Now then," Hermione said, settling into her professorial role as easily as she had her chair, "I think we need to make a plan of what we're going to do. I already agreed that I would look into Malfoy's... condition. We also need to determine if someone really has been using magic on you, Harry, and why. And now that people know that you're back, you'll need to figure out how you are going to deal with the public. I suggest that-"

"Wait, wait, wait. Just hold on for a moment, Hermione." Harry stared at her with wide green eyes and shoved his hair out of his face. They had been reunited for barely an hour and already Hermione was taking charge of his life. "Deal with the public? Why should I have to do anything like that?"

Hermione's logic had only grown more commanding over the years. "Now that the press will know that you are still alive - which they will surely have already had countless owls from Hogsmeade confirming - they will not stop hounding you until they get a story out of it. You know how they are - you dealt with them for years." She shook her head at him dismissively and told him, "You're going to have to deal with the world. You might as well be prepared. We can come up with some sort of statement."

Harry's brows came down over his eyes and he spoke in a quiet voice, "I don't want to appear in any papers. I don't want the Wizarding world to know anything about me. And I don't want to be any part of it either." He looked up at her, this woman who his best friend had become. "Look, Hermione. I really am glad to have met you again and to find out that you're fine. But the only reason I came here to Hogsmeade was because I wanted to know what Malfoy was up to, meeting with you." Chewing on the inside of his lip, he stared into her eyes and told her bluntly, "I had no plans of meeting with you, today or ever."

Hermione visibly swallowed and her face seemed to waver for a moment, but she replied resolutely, "That may be the case, but now that people know that you are here, you're not going to be able to simply disappear again without any ramifications. Especially since people saw you with Malfoy. Even if they can't find you, everyone knows where to find him. Criminals' information is kept on record."

Draco spun around, but when he opened his mouth, his insults were aimed at Harry. He didn't seem to have taken any note of Hermione's jibe. "Potter!" he exclaimed. "How do you always manage to royally screw with my life? Are you telling me that I'm now going to have reporters parked outside my home, looking for juicy information about you?! Because you'd better believe I'll tell them everything I know. Everything."

"Oh, Malfoy, shut up and have a drink, why don't you?" Harry said dismissively, quite sure that he wasn't really that angry. He probably would enjoy making up stories to tell any reporters.

Draco smiled and winked at him. "I like the way you think. Drinks all around would make this situation seem a lot better."

Hermione looked shocked and said, "I've got classes in..." She consulted her watch. "In twenty minutes! So, no, there will be absolutely no drinking in here!" Things were not going at all how she might have expected, if she had ever expected Harry to show up in her office.

She sighed and even her glossy curls seemed to have frizzed a bit. "Look, we're not getting anywhere and I should probably have you two clear out before my class. Why don't I move you to my rooms for now, and I'll meet you as soon as I'm done?"

"I want to go to the library," Draco said peevishly.

Hermione sighed yet again. She thought she would soon be making a habit of it and asked, "Will you at least put some robes on?"

"No-o," the blond said slowly, "I don't think I will."

Hermione threw up her hands. Sick of arguing, she bustled the two men out of her office and up several floors to the library entrance. She marched them straight up to the librarian's desk - Madame Pince was still there, still looking impossibly old and cranky - and explained that they were visiting for research purposes. As soon as she was done, she hurried back towards her classroom, calling back to them, "I'll meet you after, so don't wander off anywhere!"

The two of them stood and watched her go. They looked at one another, then Draco shrugged and headed toward the Restricted Section. Harry glanced at Madame Pince, but she had already gone back to sorting the books on her desk. He noticed the few students in the library watching him and quickly set off after Malfoy.

The blond was already in the Restricted Section and pulling titles off the shelves. Harry asked in a half-whisper, since they were in the library after all, "So should I help with something?"

"I doubt you could much," Draco scoffed, but he still handed Harry a couple of books to carry. Then he paused and looked at Harry thoughtfully. "Actually," he corrected himself, "there is something you may be able to do." And then he started explaining to Harry a spell that would search all the books on the shelves for certain key words or phrases. They came up with a list and then Harry was set to work. As soon as he finished with each key, Draco would collect the books that had reacted to the spell and looked likely. When they had finished with one whole wall of shelving and had as many books as they could carry, they set themselves up at one of the many half-hidden pitted and scratched reading tables.

Draco opened his first book. Considerate enough of the environment to use a low voice, he said pointedly, "So when Granger said that she'd look into this for me..." He rolled his eyes up to frown at Harry as if it were his fault, which it may have well been. "She really meant that she would let me look into it."

"Looks like it," Harry mumbled to himself as he flipped through the old parchment pages.

Skimming through the lines of nearly illegible script, Draco pointed out, "You seem to be handling your re-entry quite well."

"Ummm, I'm not sure it's really hit me yet."

Draco tried to suppress a patronising grin, then gave up. Snorting in muffled laughter, he said, "Good luck with that."

Before Harry could retort, the panelled door to the Restricted Section slid open. A young woman in her mid or late twenties walked in and headed straight into the stacks, not even noticing the two men at the reading table. She was rather pretty in a slightly foreign way. Draco watched her go curiously and moments later she came back out clutching an old volume. She would have walked out again without ever realising that she'd had an audience, but Draco chose that moment to none too subtly clear his throat. She started and turned in surprise toward the two men, while Harry shot Malfoy a chary look. What was the blond up to now?

"Hello." Draco spoke in a mildly pleasant voice. "Are you one of the staff here?"

The woman blinked, heavy lashes coming down over her dark eyes. "Ye-es," she said slowly, "I am Marianthi Fotiadis. I teach divination here." Her speech was coloured with a distinctly Greek accent and Draco began to smile. The accent made her words sound warm, round and inviting, rather like the rest of her.

"Divination?" he asked, sounding terribly fascinated. He turned to Harry. "Didn't you take Divination when you were in school, Potter?"

Harry stared at him warily, quite sure he wouldn't like whatever direction this was going in, but he answered to be polite. "Yes, for a couple of years. Never took to it really."

The woman named Marianthi now had a hand at her mouth and she exclaimed, her dark eyes fixed on Harry, "Oh, you must be - I'm sorry, but I heard rumours that Harry Potter had come to Hogwarts today." Draco's smile grew.

Harry muttered under his breath, "Sure you didn't have a premonition about it?" But he was shut up by Draco kicking him under the table.

"That's right," the blond practically purred, "this is the infamous hothead himself, Harry Potter. And you can call me Draco. Perhaps we'll see you at dinner this evening."

The woman smiled, her eyes drifting back onto Harry again. "I'd like that very much," she said, her accent rolling her words warmly. She gave an impish smile that was only a bit too girlish for her age, then excused herself. She slid out of the Restricted Section with one last backwards glance at Harry and then she was gone.

Draco immediately started laughing and he told Harry gleefully, "Oh, she likes you." Harry stared at him like he was mad, but Draco continued on unfazed, "I've just found my entertainment for however long I'm here."

"And that would be?" Harry asked icily.

"Getting the two of you together, of course."

Harry's mouth dropped open and he said witheringly, "You can't actually be suggesting..." But it was obvious that Malfoy was. "What if I'm not even interested in her?" he asked disbelievingly.

Draco quickly ticked off, "She's pretty, she's got a cute accent, she's interested, and she's at least a couple of years older than you - never discount experience, my friend. You'll become interested."

Scoffing, Harry pointed out, "You're telling me about experience? You haven't any yourself!"

Waving away what he considered to be minor details, Draco sized up the man sitting across from him. "Oh, this is going to be funny."

"You're insane. You do realise this, right?"

Draco shrugged. "I've got to entertain myself somehow."

"By playing with other people's lives, like they're some sort of... some sort of dolls or something?!" Harry exclaimed, forgetting to keep his voice down.

The blond simply shrugged again, still with a conniving glint in his eye. Harry's mouth gaped open but he could see that there was no getting through to Malfoy. Grimacing at his bad luck, he said grumpily, "Read your books, dammit." At least if they found something Harry could get out of here and leave Malfoy to find some other source of entertainment.

They continued to browse their piles, Harry interrupting every five or ten minutes to ask if something was significant. Not that it ever was. They went through more than fifteen piles of books and seven more trips back to the stacks before Hermione showed up again. She dashed into the Restricted Section and, seeing Harry bent over a stack of magical tomes, felt a pang of something bittersweet. It was as if she'd walked back into her school days - though some horrible twist on her school days in which Malfoy was also present and demonstrably not trying to curse anyone.

She hurried over and spoke in a hushed tone, "Sorry I've been so long. And I've only a couple minutes until my next class, I'm afraid. But after lunch, I have just one more afternoon class and then I'll be free for the rest of the day."

Harry gave her a hint of a smile, while Draco pulled a face behind the book he was holding up to read. "That's all right. Why don't we just plan to meet after your last class, then? I was thinking I'd have to visit Hagrid at lunch time."

"Are you sure it's all right?" she asked anxiously, practically wringing her hands. "Oh, if only I could get someone else to take my classes - but there's no one else at Hogwarts these days who knows the subject."

A brilliant grin curling across his face, Malfoy lowered his book and suggested kindly, "I could take your classes. I know loads about the Dark Arts. And then you and Potter could take your own sweet time, reading useless texts and catching up on gossip."

Hermione shot him a quashing glare and said, "That's quite all right, thank you." She turned back to Harry and found him fighting down a smile at the blond's antics.

"Hermione," he told her easily, "don't worry about it. We'll talk tonight." He sounded a bit self-mocking as he said, "I won't run away this time."

She seemed to believe him and, with several doubtful looks and rushed promises to meet later, Hermione disappeared as suddenly as she had come. Draco watched her go and then asked, "So we're going to that great oaf's hut?"

"We?" Harry repeated, looking across at Malfoy with raised eyebrows.

Draco rested his elbows on the tabletop, his face cradled in his hands. "You still don't really appreciate the situation, do you?" Harry looked nonplussed and he continued, "You are stuck with me, Potter. Now that everyone knows that I'm here - which they will, since being accompanied by your big head has become the story of the millennium - it's only a matter of time before I find myself at the wrong end of an angry, pointy wand. And you had better believe that when that happens, I'll be throwing you headfirst into the path of any oncoming curses." He gave Harry a saccharine smile, sweet and utterly fake. "I can hardly protect myself, after all."

And so it was that Harry found himself walking down to Hagrid's hut with Draco in tow, as lunchtime drew near. They arrived a bit early and hung back as Hagrid finished up a Care of Magical Creatures class with a group of Hufflepuffs. Harry was pleased and surprised to see that Hagrid's classes had improved since he had been a student - though it hardly seemed possible that they could have got any worse.

Leaning on the fence of the paddock, Draco asked in a low voice, "How much would you bet that Granger plans his lessons?"

Harry blinked but as soon as he thought about it, he realised that the new informative tone of Hagrid's lecture did reek of the type of lesson Hermione would have loved. "Well, at least the kids are getting something out of it. Unless you want to inflict flobberworms on another generation."

Draco gave a delicate feigned shiver. "Ooh, I had nearly blocked them from my memory." He eyed the students appraisingly. "But it's a rite of passage. They have to put in their time dealing with flobberworms and blast-ended skrewts, too. We can't have gone through all that for nothing. We'll have to have a word with your friend."

Harry laughed and they watched as the class broke up and the students began tumbling back towards the castle for lunch, staring openly at the two strange men in Muggle clothing as they passed them. Hagrid had noticed them as well and came bustling over, wiping some suspicious looking substance off his hands and onto his raggedy jacket as he did. "'Arry!" he greeted the black-haired man warmly, seeming content to only glance at Malfoy, "I'm so glad yeh made it - though I wasn't expectin' yeh so soon, truth be told."

He slapped Harry on the shoulder, again nearly bringing the full-grown man to his knees, and then propelled him towards his little hut. Draco followed behind, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. As Hagrid stepped into the one-roomed hut and held the door open, he explained, "I was jes' plannin' to have sausages for lunch, but we could nip down to the pub for summat, if yeh'd prefer. Or go up to th' school."

"Sausages would be fine," Harry said quickly, glancing at Malfoy, who had followed him into the small room and was standing nonchalantly by the door. "That is, if you have enough for all of us." He gave a small, sheepish smile and Draco looked around the room with mild curiosity, unable to recall ever being inside the gamekeeper's hut before.

Hagrid nodded his big, hairy head and said agreeably, "Aye, there'll be enough fer three, at least." He banged a large skillet onto the fire that was almost always burning on his black and greasy hearth. "So Malfoy is staying as well?" he asked in a voice that was too neutral to be neutral.

Harry watched as Hagrid began breaking off sausage links and plopping them in the pan. "Yes, Malfoy and I will both be here at Hogwarts for a little while, doing some research."

Having filled a heavy pot with water and hung it on the groaning chain over his fire, Hagrid reached for his incongruous pink umbrella, which was propped up against one of the hut's walls, but then he stopped. He looked at Malfoy from the corner of his eye, then asked Harry, "'Arry, would yeh mind boiling some water for me?"

Harry sighed, then pulled out his wand and quickly cast a heating spell on the iron pot. The water inside immediately began boiling and Hagrid tipped into it a whole basket of garden peas. He let the peas boil, as he rolled the sausages in the frying pan. They began to sizzle and brown.

"I don't know where we'll be staying, though," Harry said thoughtfully. He turned to Malfoy and asked, "How long do you have that room for? The one in the village?"

Draco spoke up for the first time since he'd come inside. "As long as I need it, I suppose. But I wouldn't think you'd want to stay there. There's probably already a cadre of reporters in Hogsmeade now, waiting and hoping that you'll leave the hallowed grounds of Hogwarts, where they can't come without permission. You'd better ask Granger if you can't stay here at the castle."

"And you?" Harry asked, glancing at Draco's muggle dress pointedly.

Draco just shrugged, and went back to his silent examination of the room. The only sound in the room was the hiss and pop of sausages frying in their own juices. Harry turned back to Hagrid awkwardly, saying, "So, you're still teaching Care of Magical Creatures. I mean, obviously. How's that going?" Wincing at his own failed conversation attempts, Harry dropped into a seat at the roughly-hewn table. Draco followed suit and straddled a wobbly stool, proceeding to rock back and forth on its unstable legs.

Hagrid glanced over, eyeing Malfoy when he realised that it was the blond who was causing the thunking noise. Draco desisted and, with no change in expression, pulled a small paperback book from his back pocket and began to read. Harry almost cringed in embarrassment, as if he were responsible for the other man's behaviour. Luckily Hagrid spoke up, explaining, "Yeah, I'm still teachin'. Professor McGonagall has been a real help - she's a fine headmistress, that's for sure. Though a fair sight more strict than ol' Dumbledore was, rest his soul."

Harry was surprised to hear the easy warmth in Hagrid's voice. Hagrid had always adored and idolised Dumbledore, but it seemed even he had finally come to terms with the old wizard's death. He continued, "An' Hermione is always giving me helpful input an' feedback, tellin' me what works best with the students and what she enjoyed mos' in my classes." Without looking up from his book, Draco gave Harry a swift, light kick under the table, as if to say, 'Told you so.'

"She even has me bring in Dark creatures fer her classes sometimes," Hagrid explained brightly, a tinge of blatant pride in his voice. "She really appreciates my knowledge and expertise wi' some of th' more unusual beasties."

Harry nodded appreciatively and, watching as Hagrid tipped the sausages onto a large serving plate, asked politely, "And is Grawp still living near here?"

Hagrid used the sausage drippings to stir up a quick, lumpy gravy and then brought everything over to the table. He set stone crockery in front of each of his guests, then served them up heaping mounds of peas, several large sausages each and poured gravy over the whole lot. Finally he served himself and explained, "Grawp didn't make it through the war. But he fell defendin' the castle and I think even he was proud of that, at the end. He'd really grown quite attached to this place."

Harry paused, fork poised over his peas. "Oh. I, uh, I'm so sorry to hear... I had no idea..."

"Nah, well, yeh couldn't 'ave, really. Wasn't in any papers, since he weren't suppose' to be here anyway." Harry sniffled roughly and then gestured toward the food, telling them, "Well, eat up then! Yeh've got to get some proper food in yeh, Harry! I'd swear yeh haven't grown since you were sixteen!"

Draco had at least put down his book and he began to eat with only the quietest of happy sighs. This was the first food he'd had all day, of course. And as for Harry, who hadn't had anything to eat in nearly twenty-four hours, he dove into the meal headfirst, clearing his plate in less than five minutes and causing Hagrid to laughingly dole him out another serving. They ate without much conversation, Hagrid making occasional small talk about life at the castle as the two young men murmured responses while trying to eat holes in their plates.

Finally when all three could eat no more - which was no small feat, considering that one of them was a half-giant - they pushed their plates away in content silence. Harry rubbed his stomach happily and Draco glanced between him and their former professor. The blond spoke up suddenly, "That was lovely. Now I'll piss off for a bit. You two have plenty to talk about and... well, I just don't care."

He stood up and walked out the door without saying anything more. Harry stared at the closed door until Hagrid said, "If yeh don't mind me askin', Harry..."

"About Malfoy?" Harry said tiredly, realising that he was going to get this question a lot and that he had no answer to it.

Hagrid nodded and asked, "How did th' two of yeh come to Hogwarts together?"

Harry chewed on his lip. He wondered what Malfoy was doing outside now. Probably eavesdropping, he thought. He'd been the one too scared to go far without Harry as a shield, after all. "Malfoy came here to meet Hermione. I just followed him. I didn't mean to come. Not here."

"Yeh didn't know tha' he was comin' to Hogwarts, then?"

"No, I knew. Or I think I knew."

"But yeh say you didn't mean to come?"

Harry fell silent. Standing outside, leaning against the heavy wooden door, Draco softly laughed. He pushed himself away from the door and set off walking toward the pens where Hagrid kept his most recent 'pets'. Ignoring as usual the idea of others having privacy and property rights, he let himself into the menagerie. He opened one of the sheds and found nothing more interesting than a nest of bowtruckles. He moved onto the next and pulled the doors open, then gasped. Curled into a shadowy corner was a sinewy lion with a woman's face. His breath whooshed out of him in an impressed sigh and he said quietly, "Good job, halfwit. What a catch."

The sphinx blinked at him lazily and then perked up. She purred, "You're not bad yourself." She tilted her head from one side to the other, as if trying to examine him from different angles, and her thick mane of hair fell about her golden face. "There's something of a mystery about you." She stretched and then stood up on her four feet, padding closer to the blond. "I like mysteries."

Draco swallowed, suddenly wondering if he hadn't got himself into a bad situation. He could see the claws that barely peeked out from her furry paws. "How am I a mystery?" he asked, still standing with his hands on the doors' handles, ready to slam them shut if he needed to.

The sinewy beast paced in front of him, sniffing at the air curiously. "You smell like a wizard, but you don't smell of magic." She sat on her haunches and stared up into his sharp face. As she spoke, she flexed her paws and he saw her claws dig into the dirt. "But you don't smell like a half-blood or even a muggle-born child. I've smelt enough of them here to know the difference." Smiling up at him disarmingly, she asked, "Are you one of those magicless wizards? A 'squib'?"

Draco frowned. "I don't think so." He grinned back at her and said, "I'm something new."

She returned his wicked grin. "Something new? Do tell."

Less concerned that she would tear his throat out, he sat on the dirt ground as well. "First you tell me something about yourself."

A purr rumbled deep in the sphinx's chest and she playfully batted at him with a heavy paw. "You're too clever for your own good."

He winked and reprimanded her lightly, "I asked you to tell me something about yourself, not about me. I already know that I'm too clever for my own good." He looked at her thoughtfully and asked, "Why are you here?"

She lifted one paw to her face and licked it with a large flat tongue, which surely shouldn't come from a human-looking face. "I'm here as part of deal. The wizard Hagrid says he will find me a place to live free, while I prance around for a couple of his classes."

"Did he capture you?" Draco asked curiously, but she grinned again, revealing her long canines.

"No, my turn. Tell me how you are 'something new.'"

Draco moved to lean against one side of the door frame. The sphinx curled against the other side, rubbing her back against the door jamb as if to scratch a hard-to-reach itch. "I was a wizard," Draco started.

"I wasn't aware it was something one could quit," the sphinx pointed out.

"Perhaps I was fired then." He smiled and she watched him with deep, golden eyes. "I was a wizard, but I had my magic taken away from me."

"Taken away?" she repeated, then sniffed the air delicately. "Hmm, perhaps."

Draco interrupted and said, "I've thought of something else. What is your name? Do you have names?"

"We do have names, but they are too valuable for small game like you." Draco rolled his eyes as she rubbed her back against the door frame again and sang to herself, "What to ask? What to ask?"

A large shadow fell over them and Draco looked up to find Harry and Hagrid standing in front of the shed. He hadn't even noticed their approach and he started. Harry asked in an exasperated tone, "Do you play this game with everyone you meet, Malfoy?"

Hagrid looked slightly spooked and he growled warningly at the sphinx, "And jes' what mischief are yeh up to now, missy?"

She smiled mysteriously but got up and slunk back into her shadowy corner. Draco frowned. He got up and brushed the dirt from himself, asking Harry, "So does this mean it's back to the books?"

"I had assumed you'd be eager to get back. Since this is your research and all," Harry said pointedly. Draco just shrugged. Harry waved goodbye and the two of them headed off back toward the castle. Hagrid glanced into the sphinx's shadowy shed and then shook his head in amazement, watching the two young men walk away.




They had resumed their work in the restricted section and went uninterrupted until Hermione showed up again, at half past four. She dropped tiredly into a chair at their table, her satchel falling to the floor next to her and spilling several rolled scrolls of parchment. She sighed and looked at the leather bag resentfully. "I said that I'd have these essays back by tomorrow, but that was before I expected to have Harry Potter resurrected from the dead."

Harry gave Draco a pathetic look and the blond rolled his eyes. He said in a forced tone, "Don't worry about it, Granger. Potter and I can handle the research for now. So do your own work." He shot Harry a narrow look and mouthed, 'Happy?' Harry smirked in reply.

Hermione sighed again and pulled her bag onto the desk, letting the scrolls pour out onto its scratched top. "Thanks," she murmured in a bleak tone. She grabbed the nearest scroll and flattened it out on the table, muttering over it, "I just can't believe the rubbish that some of my students hand in." This of course led to Harry and Draco pulling out scrolls as well and reading out the worst samples until Harry and Draco were crying with laughter and even Hermione was trying to suppress her snickers.

"Oh," Hermione said breathlessly, "it's not at all proper of me to laugh at my students' efforts." She looked down at yet another uninspired essay and corrected herself, "Or at least I shouldn't do it where they might overhear."

Draco snorted, but put the essays back in their pile. He pulled his book back in front of him and asked, "Have you thought of a place to stash Potter? I'm rather sure that if he leaves the school's grounds, he'll be mobbed by the press."

"Yes, I agree." Hermione paused in her correction and sucked on the end of her quill. "I've already spoken with the Headmistress and she of course has no problem with Harry staying here at the castle." She looked at Draco curiously. "Are you planning to stay in town, then?"

"I had assumed so, yes."

"You didn't consider staying here as well?"

Draco said carefully, "I didn't presume that I would be welcomed."

Hermione sucked on her lower lip thoughtfully. She admitted, "I asked the Headmistress and she did have her reservations. However once I explained the situation, she was willing to have you stay at the castle as well. It will reduce the gossip, if no one can get at you either."

She set her pen down, clearly giving up on her essay marking for now. "But that can be decided yet. It does bring us to the point of the media, though. Harry, have you thought at all about a statement?"

"No," Harry said bluntly. "I haven't."

Hermione sighed and seemed torn over wanting to get it done right then and the pile of essays waiting in front of her. "Fine," she said finally, "we will do it later. Let me finish this marking and you can think over what you want to say."

They kept working - Hermione on her marking, Draco and Harry on the research - until time came for dinner. Hermione bustled the two men up from the table, sending their books back to the shelves with a quick wave of her wand. Then they left the restricted section and the library. In the halls of the school, trickles of students soon turned into a huge river of children and adolescents headed down to the Great Hall for dinner. And all of them watched the three adults curiously, until they turned off into a separate corridor. The threesome arrived at the small side door which they'd always seen professors and guests come through when they'd all been students themselves. Hermione opened the door and stepped through, holding it open for the two visiting men. Through the open doorway, Harry could see the huge of mass of students at their house tables, all buzzing with extra curious energy tonight. At the Head Table and looking towards him now were Professor - now Headmistress - McGonagall, Professors Flitwick, Sinistra, Sprout, Vector, Madam Hooch, Hagrid, and the new woman, Marianthi. Harry froze.

From behind him, Draco whispered, "It finally hit you?"

Harry agreed breathlessly, "It finally hit me."