Unlikely Beginnings

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Chapter Thirty One

The enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall showed the midnight blue sky with
sprinklings of silver stars shining above them as they ate their meal. Ron
and Hermione were seated at their usual spots at the Gryffindor table,
though feeling oddly lonely amongst their house mates. With Harry gone, it
just wasn\'t the same. They\'d never considered being friends with him a
burden, but now they felt almost like they could do a lot of things without
worrying about how Harry would feel about it.

Neither of them had said, but if thentednted, they could go off somewhere
together, and not feel the guilt at leaving Harry behind or making a flimsy
excuse. It made them feel strangely alone, and yet free at the same time.
They wouldn\'t trade being friends with Harry for anything, even if he did
attract nasty, drooling evilness like a constantly ringing pavlovian dinner
bell. Hermione sighed, taking a ham sandwich from the plate piled full of
them.

Even though Ron was still a bit ticked off at his best friend, he still felt
odd without his presence. He knew one day that the three of them might split
up to pursue their own lives, but damnit, they were still in school and that
didn\'t mean it had to start now, did it? Ron sighed and, looking up at
Hermione, he asked, \"So?\" before eating a spoonful of his soup.

\"So,\" Hermione replied, after finishing the bite of sandwich in her mouth.
She\'d completely left all of her books in her bag, and probably felt more
alone than Ron did without her montage of reading material in front of her.
They turned to look at each other, and Ron shrugged. \"What are we going to
tell people?\" Hermione whispered to him. They couldn\'t very well just
pretend Harry was fine and well, and sitting beside them in class, because
he wasn\'t. People would start to notice that the Boy Who Lived was suddenly
missing, as well as his rival counterpart.

Ron shrugged helplessly staring at his soup, then looked up suddenly when
someone spoke. \"Maybe they could have both gotten sick from one of Snape\'s
potions he made them take.\" It was Neville, and they both relaxed when they
remembered that he knew what was going on; and so did Blaise. That still
didn\'t sit too well with Ron, but he was willing to stomach it as long as it
wasn\'t pushed into his face. Neville didn\'t seem like that kind of guy,
though. He was nice, quiet and a bit silly, but a good guy, very brave.

\"That doesn\'t explain Snape being gone, though,\" Hermione said, picking at
the corners of her sandwich. She hadn\'t been very hungry to begin with, but
knew she had to eat something, or she\'d wake up in the middle of the night
with hunger pains.

Neville shrugged, absently poking his fork around his plate while he looked
at the other two students. Ron wondered if he\'d ever accidentally stabbed
his arm that rested beside his plate when he wasn\'t paying attention. \"He
could have been so angry he demanded a week off school to go and search for
ingredients for the antidote, and took them along with him.\"

Hermione had picked up her sandwich again, and took a bite. As she chewed,
she had to admit, it did sound at least plausible. Sighing after she
swallowed, she shook her head and set down her sandwich again. To be honest,
she had no idea what to do. They\'d have to speak to Lupin or Dumbledore
again, and find out what to do about people asking where the two missing
students were. They probably wouldn\'t miss Draco, but a lot of people would
certainly miss Harry.

They\'d nodded and fell into silence, leaving them all to their meal. After a
while, Neville stood up from the bench. \"I\'ll see you guys later. I told
you-know-who that I\'d be in the library for some, er, studying,\" Neville
said as he walked along the table and made his way out of the Great Hall.
Ron grimaced at the mental picture of exactly what Neville would be doing
and he had some serious doubts it was studying.

Hermione waved at Neville and glanced across the tables to see Blaise get up
a few moments later, make his excuses and walk out of the Great Hall
himself. She watched until Blaise had walked through the door, deciding that
the two did make a nice couple. She shook herself mentally, it was not very
nice to get lewd mental images of two boys. Course it didn\'t help that she
still had the memory of seeing the two boys snogging earlier.

Ron and Hermione continued to eat in silence, not sure exactly what they
were going to do if anything caught them off guard, like questions about
where Harry was. That wasn\'t the problem, though. The real one was for the
boys\' safely. Hermione just hoped that Malfoy would watch his back. She just
couldn\'t see him turning Harry over to the Death Eaters or Voldemort after
the way she saw him stare at Harry when he thought no one was watching.

@>*~

Draco blinked his eyes rapidly to clear the blinding light as it disappeared
as quickly as it had come. He\'d been completely bewildered at the bus that
appeared, but he pulled Harry up with him and approached the edge of the
forest, coming closer to the bus and the pimply faced man who\'d yelled at
him. \"G\'day,\" the man said, nodding. He wasn\'t that much older than a
teenager, at least he didn\'t look it.

Draco nodded cautiously at the stranger, still pulling Harry with him, glad
that he was starting to come around. He was at least supporting half of his
weight now, holding himself up using Draco\'s shoulders as Draco kept his
arms around him, walking over to the bus. \"Who are you?\" Draco asked,
curiosity getting the better of him, and really wondering how the hell the
bus had found them. He decided that being blunt would be good right about
now. He needed to get a hold of the situation fast. This was why he wasn\'t
impulsive without a good reason. Damn Harry.

\"Stan Shunpike, at your service,\" the man standing on the steps through the
open door said, tipping his hat at Draco. \"And this is Ernie Prang.\"

Stan pressed himself to the side, showing the driver behind him in his seat
at the wheel. \"Ar,\" Ernie called out the door, nodding past Stan and then
turned to his other side and spat out the open little window beside his
seat.

\"This \'ere is the Knight Bus,\" Stan gestured down the side of the bus where
the words Knight Bus were written in bright gold shimmering letters. At
Draco\'s still blank look, he added, \"You stuck out your wand hand, didn\'t
ya?\"

\"Er,\" Draco said, though he nodded, looking dumbly at the gold letters. He
was at a loss right now, and wasn\'t too sure about getting onto a strange
bus. He nodded again, and wished Harry was awake, but then he might spill a
lot of beans to just anyone right now, Draco thought.

\"Well, climb aboard then,\" Stan continued, going back up into the bus
himself. \"Where\'d ya like to go, mister...?\" Stan trailed off, looking
expectantly at Draco.

\"Longbottom,\" but Draco hadn\'t said it. He frowned, and then, very
belatedly, he felt that Harry wasn\'t leaning on him anymore, but standing on
his own next to him. Draco looked at Harry, wondering if he was really
awake, sleep walking, or was still delusional.

\"What?\" he asked.

\"Neville Longbottom,\" Harry said, looking at Draco seriously, and Draco
looked right confused but turned back to look at the conductor.

\"Well, then, Mr. Longbottom,\" Stan said, now addressing Harry. \"Where would
ya li - hang on!\" Stan looked straight at Harry, now leaning back out the
door to peer at the boy. His brow creased for a moment before he split his
face into a wide smile. \"\'Arry!\" he cried. \"Been a long time, ainnit?\" he
asked cheerfully.

Draco stood, even more bewildered at the scene unfolding in front of him. He
certainly wasn\'t getting a hold of anything right now. \"Yeah,\" Harry
replied, smiling back faintly. \"Listen, we\'re really tired, so can we just
get on? How much for a pop into London, Diagon Alley?\"

\"Eleven sickles,\" said Stan, adopting his business voice, \"but for fifteen
you get \'ot chocolate, and for eighteen, you get a \'ot water bottle and a
toothbrush in your choice of color.\"

\"No, thanks,\" Harry said, \"just the trip will be fine.\" They both turned
their attention to Draco, who thought it was entirely too sudden, and Stan
looked at him curiously, like he\'d seen him before. Draco felt a slight
nudge to his side, and turned to look back at Harry again. \"I didn\'t bring
any money,\" he whispered.

Draco frowned at Harry; just because he was rich didn\'t mean he enjoyed
paying for other people. Quite frankly, he had no idea what Harry\'s
financial situation was like, but he doubted all of his money had been blown
on brooms, since he never had old or worn things like the Weasley\'s had,
though he was an only child. He spared a moment to wonder who actually paid
for Harry? His parents, he knew, had left him something, but he hadn\'t a
clue how much. Surely he wasn\'t getting a free ride from Dumbledore, but
Draco wouldn\'t put it past the old wizard.

Draco shifted and pulled his school bag open, reaching in for his money bag.
He counted out eleven sickles, and handed them to Stan. \"Just the one bed,
then, \'eh?\" Stan asked, sounding a bit confused, but not saying anything
outright.

\"Yes,\" Harry confirmed, and stared back at Stan, daring him to ask
questions. His previous experience with Stan had been sworn that nothing too
much would be asked about why this or why that, all wondering what the hell
Harry was doing.

\"Alright,\" Stan said, stepping back up the steps into the bus. \"*Neville*,\"
he added, with a wink and a grin. Harry smiled back weakly, and they made
their way into the bus, Harry in front of Draco. There wasn\'t anyone on the
first floor, so they stayed there. The bed they chose, right at the back,
was almost under the cover of the stairs, so they wouldn\'t be spied on by
Stan, though they heard him say, \'Oi, Ern, look who it is!\' but nothing more
than that.

Harry sat down first and Draco eyed the bed like it would ooze slime on him
before he sat down beside the other boy. It was quiet for a moment before
Draco spoke. \"We can\'t be seen together,\" he said quietly, and saw Harry nod
out of the corner of his eye.

\"You\'re less conspicuous than I am,\" Harry said. Then, \"Hold on.\" Draco
barely had time to ask him what he was talking about before he was tipped
right off the bed when the bus suddenly gave a huge lurch, bang, and then
they were right in the middle of Muggle London.

\"What the fuck,\" Draco said, getting back up and sitting down, brushing not
so invisible dirt off his robe. Harry grinned, but before either of them
could speak again, \'One more jump, Nev,\' Stan called back.

\"Go on, Ern.\" True to his word, the bus gave another lurch, though this time
Harry grabbed at his stomach as the movement shook through his body. Draco
braced himself half against Harry, who he found out wasn\'t the most stable
object right now, and half holding onto the edge of the bed. He turned to
look at Harry as he bumped into the other boy, who he noticed seemed to look
like he was going to be sick.

He was about to ask, but had to turn away when he saw Harry dry heave, still
clutching his stomach. \"\'ere ya go, you two,\" Stan called back to them.
Draco looked out the window and saw they were in Diagon Alley, right in
front of Gringotts. The bus stopped rolling abruptly and this time, Draco
was very glad he was holding on. Harry crashed into his side softly when
they stopped, and they botood ood up at the same time.

The boys looked at each other, and Draco hoped Harry wasn\'t going to throw
up on him unexpectedly. They turned and walked to the front of the bus. hankhanks, Stan; Ernie,\" Harry said to the men.

\"Not a problem, \'Arry,\" and once again he looked curiously at Draco, who
pointedly looked the other way, stepping down the stairs and waiting for
Harry. Stan gave Harry a salute before he stepped off the bus, after Draco.
The bus gave a loud crack and disappeared.

They didn\'t speak much as they walked down the street, heading for the Leaky
Cauldron. They hadn\'t spoken, but they were both tired and both knew it.
They\'d drawn the hoods up on their robes, and intended to keep them that
way. No one paid much attention as they paid for one room, and went up the
stairs after Tom, the inn keeper. When they reached the room, Draco closed
the door behind himself and locked it manually, then taking out his wand and
fixing a spell over it just to make sure. Harry was too tired to do anything
but sleep, and that\'s just what he did when he got to the bed.

@>*~