Silver Green

Author's Note: Same disclaimer as always!

Chapter 8: Silence For Two

'Damn!' Harry yelled at himself in his head. 'He outdid me again! I can't believe I could think that I'd have a chance at beating him at his own game.'

'Oh wow! Potter, you outdid yourself this time. I guess you realized how important this meeting is. Now I'm really glad that I invited you here.' Malfoy smiled outwardly. "Please come on in Professor."

The dark-haired Professor blinked for a moment. An eyebrow raised. "What's with the suave attitude, Malfoy?" He stepped into the room, removing the hooded cape from his shoulders and placing it on the far standing metal hat stand twenty feet away with his wand.

"Really? You're already going to start with the hostilities? I merely wanted to get reacquainted with you this evening." The blond youth gave an amused grin, his cloudy eyes looking almost white in the firelight.

The sight of his pearlescent eyes unnerved the other man at the threshold, giving him the image of blank, unseeing eyes in Draco's head. How this Potion's master looked so much like his father! Even the length of his hair rivaled his late father's growth, although the volume was more sleek and thinner, like a curtain rather than the mane that Lucius had maintained.

Harry, however, could tell it was layered in the back. Apparently, the Potion's master had cut it for this occasion for it always used to look just straight and plain. An unbroken sea of platinum cascading down his shoulders. Sunlight glinting off of fresh snow. But the last Malfoy heir had cut it in such a way that the very top layer was just barely a handful and every layer was tapered at the end. And because the top layer was so short, it stuck up like spikes in the back. To the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, he looked like a prince from some Northern ice region.

The dark-haired youth looked around the apartment complex. The walls were black stone, cold and forbidding, the corners obscured by the darkness that the candlelight and roaring fire couldn't penetrate. The ceiling seemed vaulted, for the lights never reached the top and the light went up twenty feet before it became dim. The floor matched the walls, but had gray and white rugs set down. A silver candelabra sat on the onyx mantelpiece above the fireplace and silver candle holders sat upon steel lined, leather topped side tables around the room. In his peripheral vision, Harry could see the dining table straight ahead of him about fifteen feet away. A tapestry of the Slytherin Emblem hung above the archway that led to the rest of the complex.

"Please, sit down." Draco ushered Harry to a seat at the table.

The man with the spiked, unruly hair took his seat across from the Potion's master, feeling awkward as he settled down.

Malfoy poured himself a goblet of the liquor and rested the lip of the bottle upon the other goblet across from him.

"Brandy?"

It took a moment for Harry to find his voice. "Yes, thank you."

The brown liquid filled the glass. A heady, heavy scent burned the Defense Against the Dark Arts' teacher's nostrils when the acrid smell reached him. As the decanter was set back down on the table with a clink, Harry picked up his glass and peered into the cup. Draco had already begun to sip from his goblet.

"You can test the brandy if you do not trust me." Silver eyes bore into green ones.

The audacity of that statement flared Potter's temper, in which the statement was meant as a slur to his suspicious and untrusting nature. However, he did anyway, glaring at Malfoy the entire time as he drew his wand and muttered an incantation.

"Glare at me all you want, Professor, but even if you didn't check the brandy I'd insist as to prove my point that I have no ill will towards you."

No poison or hexes. Harry took a sip, the brandy searing his mouth and leaving him gasping as if recovering from an injury of a hot iron. Swirling the expensive liquor around on his tongue, he tasted a hint of honey.

"Thank you." The dark-haired youth finally said.

"Not a problem." Draco's silver eyes glittered with inner-amusement.

And so, they tucked into their steaks in a few moments of silence, neither one knowing where to begin a conversation. The tender meat gave away to their appetites, flooding their mouths with an explosion of spices reminiscent to the tangy flavor of oranges and limes, but roasted with salt and garlic, rubbed with ginger and dry onion powder. The dark-haired professor had never tasted something so delicious in his life! The meat came off the bone as easily as stripping off a wet piece of paper from skin.

A/N: Here's another chapter! Have at you! XD