𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐇/𝐃/𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐄 2008

Songlines (3/7)

"I can't believe Dumbledore knew nothing," Harry muttered, as he opened yet another record of British wizards in Australia. In the two weeks since arriving back in warmer weather, they had not found anything – even after talking to Dumbledore and Snape (well, Harry talked to Dumbledore, and Malfoy talked to Snape as privately as possible). They could comfortably be one room apart from each other for an hour or so, which made washing and other private activities slightly more tolerable, but he had not been able to see Ginny yet. She had flipped out when she heard the two of them were still near each other.

Malfoy laughed, which he liked to do a rather lot at Harry, "He didn't know everything, Potter. And aboriginal magic was not his specialty. Just keep reading."

Harry grunted in reply. Nothing he said to Malfoy came off the way he wanted and could always be twisted so as to make him look stupid. And he only had a month until Auror training.

"Mm," Malfoy hummed, "this is interesting. A young couple experienced something similar."

"And," Harry looked up, "what happened to them?"

"It's some kind of bond. They, too, could not part from each other's company for two years. The witch apparently wore the pants of the relationship just slightly beforehand, always getting her way, and that trait in the relationship grew more pronounced," Malfoy paused.

"What? What happened after those two years?" Harry asked.

"It...doesn't say. They fought and nearly killed each other twice; well she almost killed him. He apparently couldn't stop it. But the record stops after those two years. There's nothing else about them," Malfoy pursed his lips, not looking very happy.

"And they began the...bond or whatnot liking each other?" Harry asked rhetorically, "Damn. That doesn't look like we have much of a chance."

"If there was this one case, there should be another," Malfoy snapped, "Keep reading."

Harry sighed, rather bored. Hermione and Malfoy would have gotten along wonderfully, except from the blood and House issues, he mused, for all the research they threw themselves into. His readings only touched on the aborigines, whom those recording were apparently frightened of, though the dark-skinned wizards had never seemed to harm anyone. The rather fairy-tale reports about them made Harry want to scoff at their stupidity. But he supposed he should not, as he had (at one point) owned all three Deathly Hallows, which were supposed to be a children's tale.

"Huh," he spoke aloud by accident, and Malfoy's piercing eyes looked up at him, "this man is afraid of the desert. There is some 'ancient power' his group heard about that bound people together until they went mad and the one with power killed the other. He feared it forced slavery upon one of the parties, while the other had control. But the aborigines loved it for their own use. He often heard of males and females bonded together, occasionally two warriors. He doesn't know what happened to the aborigines who did it though."

"So it's an aborigine magical bond that we don't know much about, and they won't tell us because we aren't aborigines and therefore not supposed to be bonded," Malfoy commented dryly. "Great deal of good that does us."

Harry sighed, "There has to be something good about it, or the aborigines wouldn't do it."

"It appears to be a great way to break up any relationship," Malfoy joked.

Harry looked up at him and sighed, "I am trying to be serious here."

"I can't live with you if you're always going to be serious," Malfoy commented, twirling his quill between his fingers.

"Since when did you make jokes?" Harry asked, confused.

"I thought 'Weasley is Our King' was quite genius," Malfoy laughed.