An Accidental Alliance

chapter 17

Harry had a quick lunch by himself in the Great Hall, which was fairly exclusively filled with first and second years. It was not a comfortable feeling. Anyone his year was either at Hogsmeade or too busy studying to bother with lunch, and he'd long ago stopped trying to keep track of everyone's name. He knew all the faces, of course, but with the exception of Amarie Lexington, a second-year Chaser, they were nameless.

After, he stole Ron's Galvin Gudgeon figurine to practice with. He also snagged a banner, to get their logo right. It was a lot of stealing, especially from a friend who was already upset with him, but he thought the end result was worth it. Besides, he'd have them back before Ron even knew they were gone. He was having a lot of trouble with the face, especially since six-inch plastic figurines are not the height of accuracy, but it was all he had to work with. He also copied the logo nearly exactly so Draco would have something to go off without requiring any further theft.

Then, quite suddenly, it was five of five and he was rushing around, putting Ron's things back, struggling into the only quasi-presentable clothes he owned short of dress robes and sprinting down to the first floor where, of course, Draco was already waiting for him.

"Sorry," Harry panted. "I lost track of time. We've got another poster to make, and I was-"

"Do you know you look like you've just been shagged?" Draco cut in. Harry gaped at him. "Your hair's a wreck, you're flushed and you can't breathe. I ought to make you run laps around the grounds if that's what you look like afterwards."

"I-right, no, I'm not running laps," Harry said. "Ron wants a Chudley Cannons poster. We'll need to get a lot of orange. Also, he's getting it at half price."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "And why would that be? Would ten Galleons wipe out his entire family's vault?"

Harry smacked his arm. "Because I promised you I wouldn't tell anyone about our date and then he found out I was going out with someone, and I wouldn't tell him who. It's your fault."

Draco shrugged. "Fine. Just make sure he pays in four Galleons and eighteen Sickles so we can split it evenly."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You can have the extra Galleon, how's that?"

"Acceptable. Now, are we going, or are we just going to stand around all night?"

"We're going," Harry said with a sigh. "It wouldn't hurt you to be a little nicer, you know."

Draco looked at him with a small smile. "I am being nice. I'm letting Weasley get a poster half off. One that will no doubt deplete our entire stores of orange, rendering the profit margin so minimal it's hardly worth it."

"That's not being nice, that's a condition of me remaining friends with Ron," Harry said. "By the way, what are we telling people when they ask why we're together?"

"That we're getting inks for our poster business," Draco replied. "We'll tell them how satisfied Hermione was and we can draw anything they'd like within a week, and if they don't hurry they'll end up on the bottom of the waiting list and won't have their poster completed until after we've all graduated."

Harry rolled his eyes. "All right, then. You get to do the explaining."

"Fine with me."

They walked in a companionable silence, passing only a few students on their way back-most were staying for dinner, or had already returned to eat at Hogwarts. Five was not a high traffic hour. The ones they did pass were either young enough they didn't realize the strangeness of the situation or merely gave them an odd look before moving on.

Once inside Scrivenshaft's they split up, Draco going to find quills and Harry to find ink. He came across a set of rainbow colored inks and, after a lot of comparing bottles that were virtually identical, chose the exact color of the Chudley Cannons. When he looked at the name of the color he could have smacked himself-Chudley Cannon Orange. Well, at least he had a good eye for color. He also spent a while trying to decide on a good skin color and eventually chose a pale peach he could magic to a better shade if it ended up being off. Finally he got himself several jars of black, as last night's coloring had all but decimated his every day stash.

He met up with Draco by the quills. "Not finding the right thing?"

"No, I've got the calligraphy quills right here," he said, holding up several quills that were no doubt different in ways Harry couldn't see. "I'm not sure about coloring, though. Do you want broad, wide strokes, or finer detail?"

"Both?" Harry asked. "You've got several, I think I'm entitled."

"Yes, of course," Draco said, a bit dismissively. He reached for one, then pulled back. "Pheasant or Owl?"

"Er, whatever you think," Harry said awkwardly.

"Pheasant, then, Might as well expand your collection." He chose several of varying sizes, and inspected Harry's selections. "That's a lot of ink."

"It's a lot of colors," Harry corrected. "Plus school ink."

Draco shrugged. "If you say so. I won't do any rainbows, though. That'll be your job."

"You're the one insisting on turning this into a business," Harry said as they walked to the counter. "We draw what our customers want. If they want rainbows we'll give them rainbows."

Draco scowled. "Fine. But you pay for the ink then."

I'm really sorry but there's only 3 more chapters to go. This book is stopping at twenty. I already have them written out so I can't really change that. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
-Isabella