Circles of Influence

---------------- Chapter 7 Monday 27th October

Sirius began his guard duties proper that morning, meeting Draco at the door of his room to escort him to his first class.

Harry finally had to face facts, and more to the point he finally had to face his classmates. It was Care of Magical Creatures first thing this morning and most of his friends had stuck with it out of loyalty to Hagrid. So that meant not just Hermione and Ron but also Seamus and Dean.

However it turned out that neither of these four were his immediate problem because the first person he came face to face with was Hagrid. Eating breakfast with Draco had meant he was slightly out of sync with his classmates and he was the first to arrive.

"Harry!"

Hagrid's face lit up with hopeful concern and Harry's heart sank a little. Not Hagrid too.

"I bin so worried since Sirius got here. An' then Ron 'n Hermione were here yesterday looking for you and I was thinkin' I hardly ever see you anymore 'cept in class. I bin hearing things."

"What things?" asked Harry, trying to sound nonchalant.

Hagrid frowned. "Just things, here an' there an' there was a meeting... but you don't need to know about that."

"A meeting! About what?"

"Now, Harry, it wasn't nothing. Just a few teachers..."

"McGonagall! She told you didn't she!"

"She didn't tell us nothing, Harry, just to keep an eye on you. That maybe I should invite you over to tea and she's right, you haven't been over for tea since before all that fuss with Voldemort."

Fuss! Harry almost laughed. "It was a bit more than a fuss."

"Well, I wouldn't know that now would I. Being as nobody round here talks to me anymore."

"You're right," said Harry to placate him. "We should all come round for tea sometime."

"You could bring that Draco Malfoy too if you like," Hagrid suggested casually.

"What?" Harry nearly fell over.

"Well you lot are all friends now, right? Saved your life I heard. So if he wants to come to tea then I suppose that would be all right. Forgive and forget I say. No harm done after all."

"Right, right," said Harry, composing himself. Hagrid didn't know anything, unless he had suddenly developed a sense of subtlety, which seemed pretty unlikely. "It might not be a good idea though, with his life in danger and everything."

"He'd be safe with me," Hagrid sniffed. "And Sirius could come along too. Poor lad could probably do with a nice cup of tea in good company."

Harry was feeling unexpectedly light hearted, it rather sounded as though Hagrid had decided to take Draco under his wing with the rest of them. Mind you that might not last if he spent any time in Draco's company. Draco had a way with people and it was often a way out the door. Not that he couldn't be polite if he tried, he could be utterly charming when he decided to be.

At that point Harry heard the rest of the class approaching, Ron and Hermione in the forefront. He suddenly noticed they were holding hands. It took only moments for Hermione to notice him noticing and she blushed and pulled her hand back self-consciously. Ron looked startled and there was a brief whispered conversation which they both came out of looking a little sulky. Great, thought Harry, my very presence jinxes relationships. He was nervous facing them all after Friday night, it being the weekend he had managed to avoid everyone but Seamus and Dean were bound to know something of what had happened since he had left the evidence lying in the middle of his bed. How much had they seen?

"We missed you at breakfast," Hermione said when they drew nearer.

Harry wondered what to say, it wasn't like they didn't know where he was. "I'll be at lunch," he managed.

Hermione smiled and elbowed Ron who was apparantly still sulking over whatever had been said about the hand holding.

"Yeah, great," said Ron unconvincingly. "No, really," he added. "I'm glad you're feeling better."

"All right then, Harry?" said Dean tentatively as he and Seamus came up.

"I'm fine!" snapped Harry unexpectedly. "I did something stupid, I got yelled at by McGonagall, I won't do it again, I'm sorry and I'm fine. Will that do?" As soon as he shut his mouth he knew it had been an overreaction, it had come out harsher than he'd intended. He'd just wanted to get it past.

"Er..." said Dean, taking a step backwards. "Okay, then."

"Take it easy, Harry," said Seamus. Hermione had her worried face back on.

"Sorry, I just..." Harry took a deep breath. "I just don't like everybody knowing my business. It's like I'm some soap opera you're all following."

"It's not like that, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "It's just hard to know what to say to you these days."

"Just say what we always used to say. Talk about class, talk about Quidditch..."

"Speaking of Quidditch," said Ron. "You've missed a pile of practice sessions. Are you still playing on the team?"

"What? There were practice sessions?"

"We tried to tell you but you haven't been paying any attention. Aside from Fred and George it's a whole new team now Oliver and Angelina are gone and Katie and Alicia decided to drop out to concentrate on their NEWTS. They didn't mind you missing practice at first since they were breaking in so many new players but they're starting to get pretty annoyed. They brought in a third year to substitute for you, I think her name's Fisher."

"Did they ever decide which of them was going to be Captain?"

"They've been taking it in turns, whoever feels the most inspired that day gets to be Captain. It's working out not bad. No-one can tell the difference between them anyway. There's a practice tonight after dinner, can you go?"

Much to Harry's relief, and Hermione's annoyance, they quickly fell into a deep discussion about this year's Quidditch teams and for a little while it was almost as if everything were back to normal.

-----------------------

Harry didn't see Draco again that day until he made his way to his bedroom late that night, hidden under his invisibility cloak. It had been a pretty good day, all in. He hadn't realised how much he had missed Quidditch until he had flown up into the sky on his broom and felt all of his worries fade away. He made a mental note to himself to always play Quidditch no matter what else was going on in his life.

Maybe he should try and get Draco to... but no, that would hardly work would it. He couldn't even leave his room without Sirius to guard him, flying around on a broom would be out of the question. He had come close enough to being killed playing Quidditch enough times without letting Draco have a go at it. He had visions of Draco plunging a hundred feet off a cursed broomstick or having his neck broken by a rogue bludger and shook his head vigorously to get rid of them. Definitely no Quidditch. Shame though, it would have been fun to go up against Draco again now that they were... well, whatever it was they were.

Harry sighed. //Still no idea what I'm doing,// he thought. //No idea whatsoever.// He knocked lightly on the door and waited for Draco to let him in.

When the door opened he was surprised to see Dumbledore sitting at the small table in the corner finishing off a cup of tea.

"Invisible guests?" he remarked. "Come in, Harry. I was just leaving."

Harry pulled off the cloak and stepped sheepishly into the room. "I just... I don't want people to talk."

"I quite understand. People do talk, don't they." He gave Harry a kind but intense look as if he were trying to figure something out. "And how was Quidditch practice this evening?"

"Great! I can't believe I missed so many practices. Did you know Fred and George almost replaced me?"

"I had heard, it is perhaps a good idea to have a substitute around. Just in case of... emergencies."

"Well they won't need her, I'm definitely playing in the match next month. We're going to win the cup this year, show Oliver you don't need to be completely Quidditch mad to do it. Fred says he keeps owling them with tips."

Temporarily unobserved, Draco smiled at Harry's enthusiasm. He seemed a little more like the old Harry with his cheeks still a bit pink from the wind and his eyes bright with excitement and determination. He wondered how he had managed to go four whole years without noticing how amazing Harry was. Of course he'd actually been well aware Harry was amazing, it had just had a very different effect on him at the time. Instead of affection and desire it had invoked jealousy and insecurity. He had wanted what Harry had, to be special. The more he pronounced that he was better, the less special he really felt, as if every declaration decreased his internal standing as he became more and more desperate to win just once. It was like looking back on another person, he felt sorry for that boy who only wanted his father to praise him. That boy who had ignored his own motives and tried to make himself into the perfect son by blindly believing everything his father told him about the world, about himself, about Harry Potter. So angry and afraid of failing, running so fast just to stay still. He had shoved the fact that he didn't really like being the centre of attention down so far he had almost forgotten it was true. He didn't want to be special anymore, he'd happily leave that to people like Harry who just were without having to try.

He realised Dumbledore had stood up and pulled his attention back to the here and now.

"Well, I shall be getting along. Thank you for the tea, Draco."

"It was a pleasure, Headmaster."

"Good night, Harry."

"Night."

Harry let Dumbledore out and closed the door behind him, staring thoughtfully at it for a second before turning to Draco. "What was that about?" he asked.

Draco shrugged one shoulder imperceptibly. "It's Monday night, he always comes to talk to me on Monday night."

"What do you talk about?"

"You mean do we talk about you."

"No," Harry protested. "I was just... curious."

"We talk about all sorts of things. School, my family, Voldemort."

Harry folded his cloak and put it over the back of a chair as he changed the subject. "I really did enjoy getting back to Quidditch. It's a shame you can't play anymore."

"I don't mind, I miss the flying but not the rest. I only had my father buy me onto the team so that I could beat you, I never really wanted to play."

"But you were always talking about it..."

"I talked about a lot of things when I was younger. I think it's safe to say that ninety percent of everything I said was rubbish. I love flying but I'm not much for team sports and I'm perfectly happy to be out of the limelight. Besides, you always beat me."

Harry grinned. "Beating you was half the fun, it won't be the same without that to look forward to."

"I'm so glad someone was getting pleasure out of my misery," Draco answered with faked irritation. "You know Slytherin would have had the cup in 3rd year if people would stop buying you ridiculously fast brooms, you'd never have caught the Snitch before me without that Firebolt and you know it."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe."

"No maybe about it, you got distracted and I didn't. If we'd been on the same broom Slytherin would have won."

"If we'd been on the same broom I might have noticed what a nice body you had a lot sooner," Harry answered with a grin. "But I don't think it would have helped either of us catch the snitch."

"Quit trying to change the subject, you know I'm right."

"Fine, you're right. If I hadn't had the fastest broom in the school I would never have caught the snitch before you and Slytherin would have won the Quidditch cup. Happy?"

"I suppose. So, does this newly rediscovered joy in Quidditch mean you haven't missed me today?"

Harry smiled at him and walked over slowly. "Haven't missed you at all," he said softly. "I didn't think about you once. I didn't think about your eyes or your hands or your lips..." He tilted his head up to kiss him and Draco let him take the lead a moment before grasping two fistfuls of Harry's robes and pulling him closer.

"I want to ask you something," Draco said when they pulled apart.

"What?" Harry managed before moving to lick Draco's neck.

Draco was tempted to wait for another time but he wanted to get things planned if Harry said yes. "I was hoping we could do something together for Samhain."

Harry looked up at him in confusion. "For what?"

"Samhain... Halloween."

"Oh, you mean aside from the feast."

"I mean instead of the feast, it's not like I can go to the feast for a start."

"I suppose not, this being in mortal peril thing is really starting to be annoying."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Starting?"

"Well... yeah. So what did you want to do?"

"I thought we could do something traditional, Dumbledore's big on everything at school being non-denominational but my family have always followed the old beliefs."

"What... you mean you're pagans?" Harry asked in amazement.

"Of course we are, you know what my family's like for tradition. Though to be honest I'm not sure my mother or father believe any of it. But, occasional crises of faith aside, I do. I only wish I'd been able to take Ancient Runes and Divination, but my father wouldn't let me. Made me take Arithmancy and Politics and Law instead. At least there are religion modules in my History classes."

Harry just stared at him like he'd grown an extra head.

"What, you thought we were Christian?"

"I dunno, I suppose... or atheists. It's just... well I keep forgetting how different things are from the Muggle world. There's stuff I automatically assume and if it doesn't come up I forget to question it. In the Muggle world almost everyone's atheist these days or else they're Protestant or sometimes Catholic. In Britain anyway. The only pagans are weird folk who pretend to be King Arthur and dance around Stonehenge at Midsummer."

"I was at Stonehenge last midsummer," said Draco tightly. It had been one of the few bright spots in his summer vacation. "My family go there every year."

"Oh," said Harry. "Um..."

"And that King Arthur thing's just a ruse to amuse the Muggle's."

"Right, well I didn't know that did I. The school never does anything like that."

"Like I said, Professor Dumbledore has a bee in his beard about keeping everything non-denominational. It's just one of the many things my father dislikes about him. So they have a Halloween feast instead of celebrating Samhain but older students are allowed to go to the Hogsmeade Samhain bonfire. Quite a few people still follow the old ways but most students stay at school for the feast to be with their friends."

"What about Christmas, that's hardly non-denominational."

"The school celebrations are, and it's Yule not Christmas. Just food and presents and a ball, not very religious."

"So what do you do, for... Sa... I thought it was Samane. That's what it says in the books."

"That's how it's spelt, s-a-m-h-a-i-n, but it's pronounced sav-en'." He pronounced the n with a strange accent as though it were the ni part of union. "Or at least that's the pronunciation we've always used, there are a couple of other ways to say it too depending on your tradition."

Harry repeated it carefully. "So what do you want to do for it? We're not going to sacrifice chickens are we?"

Draco glared at him darkly.

"I was only joking!"

"This was a stupid idea," he muttered and stalked over to sit on the bed.

"Don't sulk, I didn't mean it." Harry joined him on the bed, sitting side on to him as though they were on an invisible love chair so he could look at Draco. He ran his hand down Draco's arm. "I just don't know much about it, I never pay attention in History of Magic. Tell me what you wanted to do."

"Sirius is pagan too you know," said Draco grumpily.

"He is? How do you know?"

"Because I asked him if he would help arrange what I wanted to do."

"And he agreed?"

"He figured if no-one but us and him knew I was going anywhere then how could anyone plan to kill me while I'm out. He'll keep an eye out for us and he said he'd get Hagrid to help out too. But he's not going to tell him what for until the day itself."

"Figures," said Harry. "Hagrid has a bad habit of accidentally telling people things he shouldn't. Don't you think maybe you should have waited till I said yes before you organised it all?"

"I wanted to be sure it was possible before I asked you. So, yes or no?"

"I don't have to take my clothes off do I?"

"I don't know, are you more likely to say yes if you do or if you don't?"

"Very funny. I'm not prancing around outside in the nude no matter what deity wants me to."

"Some of them can be pretty persuasive."

"Draco..."

"Nudity is not required."

"And no blood sacrifices, especially ones that involve my blood."

"Good grief, Harry. No blood sacrifices, no nudity, no upside down pentacles and I promise you won't have to have sex with Satan or any of his little helpers. All right?"

"Sure, why not. I might even promise not to laugh... too much."

Draco looked as if he wished he'd never brought it up.

Harry decided to change the subject. "Anyway, speaking of Hagrid..."

"We were?"

"Well, you mentioned him. He invited us all over for tea sometime."

"Us all being?"

"Me, you, Sirius, Ron and Hermione... and Fang will probably be there, unfortunately."

"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I really don't want to start hanging around with Hagrid. Sirius is all right and I'll put up with Granger and Weasley for you but I have to draw the line somewhere."

"What?"

"When it comes to Hagrid you have to admit that you're blind to his faults, you're as bad as Dumbledore, acting like he's some sort of paragon. He's not terribly clever, he drinks too much, he's an awful teacher... he's not even human."

Harry gaped at him. He was so angry he couldn't figure out where to begin. "He is not an awful teacher," he finally spluttered.

"Yes, he is."

"He was a bit shaky his first year but that was your damn fault so you've got no right to fault him for it!"

"Being savaged was my fault? Typical Gryffindor, always sticking up for their friends even when they're wrong."

"It was your fault, you weren't listening."

"That's beside the point, those animals were too dangerous for a bunch of inexperienced thirteen year olds. Someone could have been killed."

"Bullshit, Neville nearly got killed in our first flying lesson. Does that mean Madame Hooch is a terrible teacher?"

"Longbottom could barely escape from a pillowfight with his life," Draco scoffed. "You can hardly use him as an example."

"And yet he managed to handle a hippogriff just fine," Harry countered. "Unlike you."

"Well who was to know they were that damn sensitive," Draco blustered. "You'd think I'd pulled it's tail. I didn't even know it understood what I was saying. Damn thing nearly took my arm off!"

On the verge of a retort Harry suddenly realised something. "You're embarrassed," he crowed.

"What?"

"That's what it was all about. You made a mistake and you were embarrassed so you pinned all the blame and all the attention on Hagrid. You big coward. You still can't even admit it."

"I did not make a mistake!" Draco answered turning red.

"Get off your high horse, Malfoy. You fucked up."

Draco was flushed. In his heart he knew Harry was right but he had spent so much time talking himself into believing the story he had concocted that he had almost forgotten the truth. "Hagrid should have been more careful," he muttered, frowning down at the bedcovers and unconsciously sticking out his lower lip.

Harry shook his head in exasperation. "You know what the worst of it is?" he asked, then continued without waiting for an answer. "It's not the fact that you still can't back down, it's that I find it so cute that you won't. All stubborn and pouty."

"I am not pouting!" exclaimed Draco in horror, immediately pulling his lips into a thin, straight line.

Harry grinned. "Now you're not, half a second ago you were very definitely pouting. It was adorable."

"I am not adorable, I haven't been adorable since I was six."

"Look on the bright side, a few minutes ago I was ready to kick your arse. One little pout and you have me twisted around your little finger. At this rate I'll start quoting love sonnets too and if we get to that stage I want you to promise to sell me out to Voldemort before I humiliate myself completely."

"Twisted round my little finger?" said Draco, looking a little happier at that.

"For a moment, but the moment is passing," Harry warned. "You are going to come to tea at Hagrid's and what's more you are going to apologise to him for what happened with Buckbeak."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are. It's the least you can do since he has apparantly decided to forgive you already."

"But..."

"This isn't a request."

"You're ordering me to apologise? What happened to twisted round my little finger?"

"It wore off."

"I could pout again..."

"I'm serious. Tell me you'll do it."

Draco cast him a very black look but Harry remained resolute. "I'm not doing it in front of Weasley and Granger," he said huffily. "And I'm not saying it was my fault."

"Tomorrow lunchtime at Hagrid's hut," said Harry. "I'll ask Ron and Hermione to come late."

Draco nodded and went off to change for bed.

When he came back Harry said, "You really wanted to take Divination?"

Draco nodded. "I've read up on it a bit myself but I always seem to have so much other work."

"You're really not missing anything, it's awful. All the teacher ever does is go on about my imminent death and you get better marks for making up your homework than you get doing it properly."

"Really?" Draco looked disappointed.

"Well, it's just that I don't think she can really see the future. Except once..."

"What happened?"

"After my third year exam, she went into this weird trance and said some stuff in a funny voice. Then she couldn't remember it afterwards. Dumbledore said he thought it might have been a real prophecy."

"Did it come true?"

"Yeah," said Harry, thinking about Wormtail's escape and the awful events it had brought about. If only he had killed him when he had the chance. "Yeah, it did." He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Draco asked, climbing onto the bed to hold him.

"Just bad memories, I'm fine," Harry said, but he leaned into Draco's embrace.

--------------------- Tuesday 28th October

Harry had a nice lie in during his free periods and met Draco and Sirius outside Draco's Charms class before lunch. He wasn't going to rely on Draco showing up at Hagrid's on his own, it would be far too easy for him to claim he had forgotten about it, even if it did mean putting up with the taunts of Draco's old friends. It was nothing he hadn't heard before although the jibes of "look Draco, your boyfriend's here to meet you" cut a little too close for comfort. He consoled himself with the fact that they had no idea it was actually true, they thought it was just another way to insult them.

Draco followed him, walking far slower than his usual stride, with Sirius on his heels keeping a sharp eye out for anyone lurking about. He did not want to do this. It wasn't fair, Harry hadn't made him apologise to Weasley or Granger for any of the stuff he'd done. Why did he have to apologise to that stupid oaf, Hagrid, for something that wasn't even his fault? He hadn't sentenced the hippogriff to death, all he'd done was get viciously attacked by it. If his father hadn't stood up for his rights Hagrid probably wouldn't have even got into trouble for it. The hippogriff had been dangerous, Hagrid was probably dangerous too. Letting a giant teach children, he probably thought it was funny to let them play with vicious animals. Look at those ridiculous creatures he bred last year, as if there weren't enough dangerous creatures around without him making new ones! He hadn't shed any tears over Draco nearly losing his arm, only over his precious bloody hippogriff!

Draco's mental tirade was interrupted by their arrival at the hut Hagrid lived in.

"Nervous?" asked Harry.

"No!" said Draco too sharply. There was a very large, very sharp looking axe leaning against the wall outside the door.

"It'll be fine," Harry tried to soothe him. "Hagrid's great, you'll see. You just need to get to know him."

"Let's just get this over with before Weasley shows up."

Harry rolled his eyes and knocked on the door. A moment later it swung open and there stood Hagrid, nearly twice the height of the two boys and as wide as five of them. Draco had a sudden urge to run away.

"Harry," boomed Hagrid. "An' you brought Malfoy."

Hagrid eyed him and Draco was sure he had changed his mind about him coming to tea.

"Come on in then."

Harry pushed Draco in with a hand on the small of his back and shut the door behind Sirius. When he turned back Hagrid was bustling around making tea.

"Where's Ron 'n Hermione, then?" Hagrid asked.

"They'll be here soon," said Harry. "Just running a little late." He prodded Draco in the ribs.

"Ow! Um..."

Hagrid looked over at them.

"I..."

"Go on," said Harry, sotto voce.

"I just wanted to say... ah... sorry, about the hippogriff," Draco blurted.

Before Harry could demand a better apology than that Hagrid enveloped Draco in an unexpected and bone cracking hug. Draco froze in shock.

"I knew it!" Hagrid exclaimed thickly. "I knew you din't mean it. Just a kid an' with that Lucius Malfoy as a dad! An' then you go an' save Harry's life from You-Know-Who an' I said to myself, that Draco Malfoy's not so bad really. Kid's can be cruel but they grow out of it don' they? An' now You-Know-Who wants to kill you too, jus' like Harry. S'terrible."

"Help!" squeaked Draco in Harry's general direction. "I can't breathe."

Hagrid finally let him go and Draco nearly fell over, luckily Harry caught him. He grasped at Harry's arms in shock, looking vaguely terrified.

"Are you okay?" Harry whispered.

Draco just stared at him, then at Hagrid, then back at Harry.

"Told you Hagrid was great."

"He nearly crushed me to death," Draco managed. "I think he cracked a rib."

Luckily Hagrid was over by the fire nursing the kettle to boiling point and couldn't really hear them.

"He's just... exuberant," said Harry. "He means well."

Draco shook his head in disbelief as Harry led him over to the bed, he still hadn't let go of Harry's arm as they sat down. There were only two chairs and a stool in Hagrid's small hut so the bed had to make do as a sofa.

"Don't eat any of the food," Harry whispered suddenly as Hagrid turned around with a plateful of cakes of some sort.

Just then there was another knock on the door. Sirius leapt up to sniff at the door before anyone else could do anything but he stood aside to let Hagrid open it as it was only Ron and Hermione.

------

"Do you know," said Hermione as they walked down the corridor towards their Transfiguration classroom. "I think Draco's afraid of Hagrid."

"You noticed," said Harry. "I thought so too."

"Really?" said Ron with a grin. "Makes sense, he always was a coward."

"He didn't look like a coward when he was saving our lives," said Harry pointedly.

"Er, yeah, right," stammered Ron. "I just meant... well he ran screaming fast enough that time up by the Shrieking Shack."

"That was two years ago," Harry argued. "And you're one to talk, scared of a few spiders."

"They tried to eat us!"

"I wasn't talking about the giant ones."

"Besides, just because Malfoy can stand up for himself when it really comes down to it doesn't mean he's not a coward the rest of the time."

"Draco is not a coward," Harry said firmly. "I'm sure Hagrid can seem pretty scary to someone who doesn't know him. He scared me when I first saw him. Plus he's never liked Slytherin's so he's probably not very nice to them."

"Who can blame him," Ron noted.

"They're not all bad," said Hermione suddenly.

"Says who!" said Ron, shocked.

"Well there's Draco," she said. "And there's other Slytherins in some of my classes that seem okay, that girl... what's her name? MacDougal. She seems okay. They tend not to say as much as the nasty ones. After all their house has such a bad reputation that probably no-one outside their house will talk to them. Besides, it stands to reason they can't all be bad. Just ambitious and all the other things the hat looks for in Slytherins. I've always wondered why your brother didn't get put in Slytherin."

"What!? Which brother?"

"Percy of course, he's always seemed very ambitious."

"Maybe he didn't want to be in Slytherin," said Harry thoughtfully.

"Why would that matter?" she asked him curiously.

He wondered whether to tell them, it seemed the ideal time and surely it didn't really matter now. "The sorting hat... well, it wanted to put me in Slytherin but it wasn't sure and I really wanted to be in Gryffindor because Ron had told me about Slytherin and so it put me in Gryffindor."

Ron gaped at him.

"If I hadn't already wanted to be in Gryffindor I'd probably be in Slytherin now."

"You're kidding," said Ron.

"It's true. Maybe the hat does that a lot, puts people where they want to be. You got in the house you wanted to didn't you."

"I didn't know what house I wanted to be in, I didn't really mind," Hermione said. "I figured the sorting hat would put me wherever was best."

"Look at Draco, he wanted to be in Slytherin and that's where he went. The hat hardly even touched his head so it can't have looked at him very carefully. It just saw that he was set on being a Slytherin."

"Either that or it saw what a slimy git he was, you didn't have to look very deep for that," said Ron.

Harry looked daggers at him.

"I meant back then," he said taking a step away in case Harry tried to hit him. "Not now, then."

They entered the classroom and sat down, conversation over. There was never much chance for chitchat in Professor McGonagall's classes.

------------------- tbc

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