Expecting The Unexpected

Chapter Five - Lucias Malfoy and Other Events

Malfoy,

Please let me come with you tomorrow night to speak with your dad. I know you've already refused but I really don't want you to go alone. How about I come, but wear my Invisibility Cloak?

-Harry

*

Potter,

It is obvious I cannot talk you out of this, oh noble (read- idiotic) Gryffindor that you are.. So, fine. Come, if you insist. Just make sure you wear that damned Cloak, okay?

Now stop owling me. I've got an Arithmancy essay to write. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?

And, Potter? Thank you.

-Draco

*

Harry arrived in the entrance hall, and found Draco waiting for him, at exactly half past seven, as arranged. McGonagall (who had obviously heard the Howler along with the majority of the rest of the school) had given both of them permission to be outside the school grounds after curfew. Harry was dressed in layers; he unable to wear a travelling cloak due to the need for his Invisibility Cloak later on, and the weather was especially cold, even for November. He greeted Draco as he approached, noticing that Draco looked exhausted.

"You don't have to come, you know," Draco said. "He's my father, Potter. He's not going to hurt me."

"I know I don't have to," Harry replied, "but given you're discussing our child, I kind of want to be there. You know, just in case. Besides, you look like you could use a friend."

Harry hadn't expected the transformation on Draco's face that those simple words would cause; instantly Draco's eyes shone a little brighter, more alive. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth, and his whole posture relaxed slightly. And in that moment, Harry realised it was perfectly true- over the last few weeks they had, as absurd as it would have seemed at the beginning of their school year, formed a tentative but albeit real friendship. Ron and Hermione spent a lot of time on their own nowadays, and as much as they tried to include Harry, he felt they deserved time alone. They were a couple, after all, and didn't need a third wheel all the time. Not that they ever made him feel that way. But it did mean he'd found himself spending a lot of time with Draco recently.

The pair made their way across the school grounds and exited through the gates. Harry could see his breath; he shivered. A frost was already beginning to settle, despite the relatively early hour. It sparkled under the light from the moon and their wands, making it look like fragile glass; sharp and severe, and gave a slight crunch underfoot.

"Wish we could Apparate," he said wistfully.

"Me too," Draco agreed. "But you know what Pomfrey said. Apparition in pregnancy should only be used in an absolute emergency as it can Splinch the baby, and, anyway, I had my licence revoked, didn't I? Part of my probation, remember?" He began to count out the conditions of his probation on a gloved finger. "I have to be traceable, I have to complete my final year at school, I'm not allowed to leave the country at all during the probation period and my family had to pay a huge reparations sum." He smiled wryly at Harry. "I don't fancy Azkaban just 'cause I didn't want a walk in the cold."

"No, I guess you don't," Harry replied drily.

The pair made their way as quickly as they could to the Hog's Head. The temperature had dropped sharply under the cloudless sky, and Harry felt almost violently cold now. As they approached Hogsmeade, Harry pulled his Invisibility Cloak out of his pocket and slipped it on- both for additional warmth and for disguise.

"This is weird," Draco said, turning his head towards where Harry was. "It's like I'm talking to myself."

"You'll get used to it. Ron and Hermione did," Harry's voice said, as they finally reached the pub's entrance.