Harry nodded. "I've a few photos."
"The spell will bind much better to something personal."
Oh, he meant the ring. Harry pulled it out from beneath his shirt, holding it in his cupped hand. "I... uh, will I get it back? I mean, you don't have to dissolve it in a Potion or something, do you?"
Snape laughed, and let go of his hand. "Dudley will need to wear it en route and while he's here, but yes, Harry, you'll get it back."
"Oh, okay,"
Harry made to take it off, but Snape said. "Keep it for now. It will take Draco and me some time to adjust the incantations. I think we should be prepared by tomorrow evening to invoke the spell."
Draco uttered a small groan. "All this effort so that we can have a Muggle over for tea."
"More than tea," Harry pointed out, dropping the ring back down his shirt. He liked the feel of it against his skin. "Dudley has to stay here a few days."
"Days?" Draco echoed. "Days means nights, I hope you realize. Where's he going to sleep, I'd like to know? Severus, I don't suppose you'd let me share your bed for the duration?"
Snape gave him a hard, black look. "I don't believe I would, no."
"I don't snore--" Draco wheedled.
"Yes, you do," Harry put in.
"Well you talk all night in your sleep!" Draco shot back. "Oh, you don't believe me? Last night it was something about Granger turning into a cat---I suppose you're going to tell me she can change form as well as Apparate, now?" he mocked. "Oh, and is the Shrieking Shack really haunted by werewolves? That's actually quite strange."
"Miss Granger can Apparate?" Snape asked with some concern.
"No, and she's not an unregistered Animagus, either," Harry groused. He didn't like the idea that he talked in his sleep, and decided he'd have to go back to using Dreamless Sleep, after all. He wondered what he'd said that Malfoy hadn't mentioned. "It's just dreams. You know, they don't have anything to do with anything."
"Your dreams of late have been rather significant," Snape insisted.
"I haven't had any divining dreams for a while."
"What are you, the new Trelawney?" Draco jibed.
"Why do you think they've stopped?" Harry pressed on. He'd been relieved about that, so he hadn't given it much thought, but it was a bit odd, wasn't it?
"Maybe you know all you need to, for the moment."
Draco glanced between the two of them, and gnashed his teeth. "Oh, great. You're actually serious! Didn't you have enough talents before, talking to snakes and warding off Dementors, and throwing off Imperius like it's nothing more than a blanket? Now you get to be a seer, too? Do you even know how bloody irritating all this is? Well, what are you waiting for? Let's have it, let's hear what the future holds!"
Harry wasn't about to answer that, but he didn't have to, since Snape gave Draco a fearsome look.
After Draco looked away, humming, the professor accioed some parchment, ink, and quill to him, impatiently muttering spells to vanish everything else off the table, and began to sketch out a large oval with a ten-pointed star occupying the center of it. As Snape began to adorn each point of the star with Latin phrases, Draco forgot about dreams and began discussing the incantations with him.
Harry left them to it, and sat down on the couch to listen to Hermione's feather teach him more about Transfiguration.
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Coming Soon in A Year Like None Other:
Chapter Thirty-Six: The Muggle Express
Comments very welcome,
Aspen in the Sunlight
Chapter 36: The Muggle Express
http://archive.skyehawke.com/story.php?no=5036&chapter=36
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A Year Like None Other
by Aspen in the Sunlight
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Chapter Thirty-Six: The Muggle Express
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"Oh, Harreeeee," Draco trilled out. "I do believe the door's for you."
When Harry peered closely he saw that the parchment by the door this time read, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom.
"About time," Harry muttered. His friends had visited almost constantly while he was in hospital, so he certainly hadn't been prepared for them to act like he'd dropped off the edge of the earth just because he was living in Slytherin land. "Um, Draco, would you?"
"Certainly," Draco airily replied. "Do allow me. Abrire."
Harry braced himself for a repeat of last time's obviously false courtesy, but as Draco opened the door, all he said was, "Hello, there. Come on in."
Ron and Hermione took up their previous places on the living room furniture, but Neville was still at the door, leaning in, worried eyes peering around. "Er... Professor Snape's not here just now, is he?"
Before Harry could reply, Draco calmly stated, "No, he's not. Come in, Longbottom. Have a seat."
"What happened to Ron, Hermione, so very delighted to see you?" Ron sneered.
"Severus mentioned it might be politic if I didn't lie straight to your faces," Draco returned. The words could have been snide, but Draco delivered them with an air of simply stating facts. "And I think the first-names rule is more a thing for just Harry and me. Severus doesn't want to feel like he's living in a war zone. Not that Harry and I get along, but he'd probably appreciate it if we'd at least try."
Neville had sat down by then, and Harry too, and Draco was standing over them, hovering. Uncomfortable with that, and remembering Snape's strong rebuke on the subject of visitors, Harry murmured, "Um, Draco--"
"Right, fine," the Slytherin interrupted, whirling on a heel. "I'll get out of your way."
Harry bit his lip, ashamed to say it, especially in front of Ron, but even more ashamed not to say it. "No, I was going to ask if you'd like to join us?" he ventured.
Draco froze mid-stride. When he turned, one eyebrow distinctly raised toward his hairline, he wore an expression Harry couldn't really interpret. Part amusement, part fascination, and part cunning. Harry braced himself for some sarcastic rejoinder like Why, Harry, I didn't know you cared... but Draco merely said, "Sure," and dropped into a chair.
"Harry," Hermione said in a warning tone. "We... er, might want to talk over some Gryffindor House matters--"
Ron, surprisingly, made no objection, although it wasn't exactly polite of him to turn to Hermione and point out, "Yeah, well he'll hear us either way, won't he? At least this way, none of us will forget he's listening."
Draco looked between Ron and Hermione, his silver eyes calculating something, but he didn't say a word.
"So, what took you so long?" Harry changed the subject. "I never thought I'd have to wait over a week between visits." He didn't mean to sound so accusing... or maybe he had. It hadn't been any fun waiting around for his friends to remember him. He'd almost owled them several times, but if they were his friends, he shouldn't have to beg. Besides, what with using Draco's spelled quill, the letters wouldn't be as private as he would like. It was bad enough that Draco had probably heard his letters to Remus. Harry had written them while the other boy was in the shower, but he didn't rely on that to mean anything. Draco was nothing if not tricky. He was a Slytherin.... enough said.
"Oh, that's McGonagall's fault," Ron griped. "She said she'd walk us down, remember? And then the next day we asked again, and it was Mr. Potter has far more to attend to than his social calendar... and the next day it was I rather think Professor Snape would prefer not to have his quarters constantly deluged by Gryffindors... and then the next day it was Are you prepared for your Transfiguration test, Mr. Weasley? Surely your free time would be more appropriately devoted to that enterprise... and then, Harry, honestly, the next time we asked she scheduled a Prefect's meeting just to keep us from coming!"