Divide

Draco looked around the room.



It was actually larger than the muggle part, but not quite as well laid out, there were rows of shelving, containing pretty much anything a witch or wizard could need, as this happened to be the only store in town; but the shelving was inconvenient, it prevented anyone from getting a clear view of the room.



He saw movement to his right, and knowing no one else had come in over the past thirty minutes or so that he had been here, Draco headed towards Potter.



* * * *



Harry headed for the rear of the room when he\'d closed the door, hoping, still, that Malfoy hadn\'t seen him and that if he had, that he wouldn\'t bother him. He really wasn\'t in the mood for a fight at the moment.



This part of the store was actually rather interesting. There was a smell of old books about the place that reminded him greatly of Hermione after she\'d spent hours in the library.



He looked around at the shelving and was almost instantly fascinated, there were a few things here that, despite spending the past six and a half years in the wizarding world, he still hadn\'t seen before. He walked along the shelf, muttering the names of things under his breath, trying them out to himself.



"Mucklebone powder, Essence of Black Rain, Mocksey toes... euw, Goblin bogies"



He stopped and stared at the unlikely jar of goo. "Lovely."



He couldn\'t imagine what potion would require Goblin bogies, but then, he probably didn\'t want to know. He turned to continue down the shelving again and found himself face to face with Malfoy, who was smiling rather disarmingly.



Harry stopped, shocked.



"Uh, hey Malfoy."



Malfoy raised an eyebrow, "Is that all you have to say Potter? I\'m surprised, where are the scathing remarks? The cutting jibes?"



Harry moved round him and continued down the aisle, breaking the uncomfortable eye contact that had been forced on him. "I\'m not in the mood Malfoy, I\'m just trying to do some shopping, can we quit with the antagonism for once?"



* * * *



It was Draco\'s turn to be stunned. He stood shocked for a moment, all thoughts of the argument he had been planning leaving his mind, then turned and watched Harry walk slowly up the aisle, muttering the names of the potions ingredients on the shelves to himself.



As Potter turned the corner and disappeared from view, Draco shook himself and followed.



He found Potter a moment later looking through the books a few aisles down the row. He was looking at each of them as if he\'d never seen anything like them before. He watched as Potter ran a finger down a spine, then remove the book and flip it open.



"What do you want Malfoy?" He hadn\'t even looked up.



Draco folded his arms with a defiant expression.



"What are you doing here Potter?"



Potter glanced up, "I told you, I\'m shopping."



Draco rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean, what are you doing HERE, in Bath?"



Potter closed the book and looked at him, "Why?"



* * * *



He was wrong, Malfoy had changed a little over the past three weeks. It seemed almost impossible, but the damn boy seemed to have grown a little, they were now practically eye to eye with each other.



Malfoy shrugged, "Curious."



Harry sighed and tucked the book under his arm, "My uncle won a holiday here for two weeks, I was forced to come along because one of his work mates wants to meet \'the kids\'."



He turned away again and continued perusing the books, he was looking for something Hermione may like for her birthday, even though it was a good few weeks away, but he wasn\'t sure if she already had the ones that looked vaguely interesting.



He picked out a title he wanted for himself and tucked it under his arm.



* * * *



Draco watched him as he moved down the aisle, inwardly seething at the way Potter was acting, but also trying to think how to be civil to someone he hadn\'t been civil with since the third time they\'d met. He rolled his eyes at himself, this was the boy who\'d gotten his father thrown into Azkaban, why was he trying to figure out how to be civil?



Of course, he didn\'t exactly care for his father, overbearing git that he was, but it was the principal of the thing. And anyway, they\'d been at each others throats over various subjects for the past six years. Perhaps not as much since last Christmas, but still.



Why was he talking himself into not being civil?



Draco scowled at himself and tried to think of something malicious to say to Potter, to make himself feel better about thinking such patently stupid thoughts.



But, just for the moment, he couldn\'t think of anything. He was stumped. At school he always had remarks, comments and insults ready and waiting on the tip of tongue whenever he saw the boy, but here, with no one around, nothing came. He deflated inwardly, deciding that, perhaps, just because it was summer, he\'d let things go and grow up a little.



"So, what are you doing anyway?"



Potter looked up from the book he was flicking through. He gave Draco a blank look for a moment, then shrugged, "Trying to find something Hermione doesn\'t have."



Draco arched an eyebrow, "In the books section? I\'m sure that mudblood has read everything in existence by now."



The look on Potter\'s face actually stung. He hadn\'t called anyone a mudblood for at least six months, so he wasn\'t really sure why he\'d said it now - his brain and mouth didn\'t appear to be in the same gear.



Potter frowned, "Don\'t call her that, Malfoy." He snapped the book shut and left the books section, leaving Draco to himself once more.



Draco rolled his eyes. They hadn\'t been at each other\'s throats over the pst year, even less so over the winter and spring terms, but his mouth still automatically did the Pure Blood thing now and then. He shrugged and followed Potter at a discreet distance.



* * * *



Harry found the jokes section and moved over to it, looking for anything Ron may like, though he was slowly coming to the conclusion that maybe a muggle present would be a better idea. Ron wasn\'t as enthusiastic about muggle stuff as he father was, but he still liked the odder things, \'such as that bubble gun\' Harry thought, thinking of going back and actually getting it.



He also knew that, in making that hateful remark about Hermione, Malfoy had been half right. Hermione probably wouldn\'t want a book, she\'d probably prefer something more useful, such as a wand repair kit, or a set of potions utensils, or ...something.



As he looked at the shelves upon shelves of joke items, he became more sure that Ron would prefer the bubble gun, and decided that he should get Hermione\'s presents some other time.



As he turned to leave, he saw Malfoy looking at him, well, looking daggers at him, but he did his best to ignore him and left through the door into the muggle section.



He paused when he saw the jewellery and stopped, looking at the pendants and pendulums, some of the things in there looked rather nice. Maybe Hermione would like something like this?



It wasn\'t anything practical, or useful, but still, Hermione was a girl, right?



Harry looked at the wide collection of gemstone jewellery, wondering which she\'d like best. He didn\'t know much about girls in general, his only experiences, in nearly seventeen years of life, had been with Cho in fifth year, and of course he\'d known Hermione since first year.



But what, he reminded himself, was he, of all people, supposed to know about girls anyway?



Arrgh, even Ron would have done better than this.



He finally saw a bracelet he thought she\'d like, a silver chain with amethyst stones laced into it. It looked like a good Birthday present, so he pointed it out to Henry and passed over the five pounds it cost and eight for the book.



The store\'s owner made a passing comment about lucky girls, and wondering who she was, but Harry only nodded, pretending nonchalance at the idea of him and Hermione.



As he left the store, he found himself wondering about Malfoy.



Why had the boy, well, man now really, been almost civil? When he had seen him, Harry had been so sure Malfoy would start a fight in the middle of the store. Obviously things had quietenned down between the two of them over the past year, but he had been rather shaken when nothing more than the remark about \'mudbloods\' had happened.



It was a mildly interesting conundrum, but he wasn\'t going to let himself think too much on it, as Malfoy had proved more than once that anything he did tended to have some sort of ulterior motive.



He looked at his watch, it was nearing seven thirty. He hadn\'t realised he\'d spent all day out, he\'d barely registered the time passing, even when he had stopped and spent an hour in Mac Donald\'s eating lunch and watching people through the top floor window. He decided to head back to the hotel and wait in the foyer; Draco Malfoy and his strange behaviour could wait until another day.



He didn\'t notice the pale eyes watching him as he hurried up the alley.



* * * *



Harry sat at his table, alone, eating the meagre, but surprisingly tasty, meal the Dursleys\' had bought for him. Of course, the only reason it tasted any good was because this was a posh restaurant, and the chef was probably an overpaid expert.



He looked over at his aunt, uncle and cousin, briefly wondering how their first day had been, then shook himself and looked back down at his plate. He was going to be hungry tonight, good thing he had eaten only one of those cookies.



He heard raucous laughter and looked up again, the Dursleys\' were laughing at some private joke, but quite loudly. He caught his cousins\' eye briefly, and the bigger boy frowned, grinned as if at Harry\'s misfortune, and looked away again.



Harry fumed slightly at the injustice of the world, then got back to finishing his meal, ignoring his relatives with all his might. As he ate, his mind turned back to Malfoy and his strange behaviour in the wizard shop only an hour or so ago.



That hadn\'t been like him, on any other occasion Malfoy would have revelled in finding Harry alone, just so he could torment him. But not today it seemed. Today Malfoy had seemed unable to even think straight.



He wondered what it meant for a while and slowly came to the conclusion that it had probably been the lack of any of his Slytherine house mates within shouting distance, as that had nearly always made Malfoy falter.



With that as sorted as it was going to get, Harry turned his mind to trying to figure out how to get his door key off of either Vernon or the receptionist.





TBC~