Only Ash Remains

Chapter 14

A few days into the new year, Harry woke to a knock on his door.  After dragging himself out of bed to open it, he was surprised to find  Lucius on the other side instead of Narcissa.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked, rubbing his eyes blearily. He felt more tired than he had for weeks.

"No," Lucius said, "but we do need to leave soon."

Harry frowned. "What, now?"

Lucius smiled wryly. "It's been a busy morning."

Harry turned to the window; the sun was considerably higher in the sky than he'd expected. He'd slept in much later than usual.

"What's happened?" he asked, blinking hard in an effort to focus.

"Rita Skeeter finally replied to my message, as did Merriweather.  Then Kingsley checked in to see how things were progressing." Lucius  cleared his throat. "We're meeting Rita Skeeter in an hour at a Muggle  cafe near Diagon Alley. We're meeting Merriweather in Knockturn Alley an  hour after that."

Harry stared at him, all tiredness forgotten. "You have been  busy." He looked down at himself, still in pyjamas, and grimaced. "I'll  be right down." He started to turn away, then paused and turned back.  "Er, do you suppose there's time for me to grab a quick breakfast?"

Lucius smiled slightly. "I've had Narcissa prepare a plate for you —  if you hurry, you'll have time to eat it before you leave. Oh, and bring  your cloak."

Harry turned and rummaged through his trunk, scooping out the cloak  and tucking it under his arm. He pulled on a t-shirt and jeans, shoved  his glasses onto his nose, grabbed his wand, and hurried down the stairs  in search of breakfast.

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He found Malfoy at the kitchen table, hunched over a plate of eggs  and bacon. Malfoy often joined them for meals now, and Harry had quickly  discovered he was not a morning person. He glowered in Harry's  general direction as he sipped his customary cup of extra-strong,  extra-sugared black tea, and Harry fought the urge to bait him. He and  Malfoy were finally getting along, and he didn't want to jeopardize  that... but it was still tempting.

He settled for digging into the plate of food Narcissa had set aside for him, gulping his tea as soon as it was cool enough.

Malfoy's frown eased as he drank his tea; by the time he'd finished his cup, he looked nearly pleasant.

"Good morning, Potter," he said. "Father said you were going on quite  the adventure." He sighed, staring off over Harry's shoulder pensively.  "I wish I could go. You don't think you could smuggle me under your  cloak?"

Harry looked up at him in surprise. "We wouldn't both fit under it,  Malfoy," he returned, smiling at the thought. "And anyway, you're not  allowed to leave the house."

Malfoy sighed again. "Fine. At least tell me about it when you get back? It's been so dull lately. I'm bored."

Harry rolled his eyes. "So read one of the five million books we have in the library."

"There's not five million, Potter. Did you not learn how to count at that Muggle school?"

"I'm not going to count every book— "

"Estimating. Didn't you learn to estimate?"

"Tell you what, Malfoy," Harry said, sopping up the last of the egg  yolk with his toast, "why don't you estimate the number of books while  I'm gone. Better yet, you could count them. Then you can tell me just  how many there are when I get back. You wouldn't have to worry about  being bored."