' I've got a question for you, Harry,' said Ron. Harry and the Weasleys were crowded around the car, which was parked near the chasm edge. George had claimed the car was making a funny grinding noise, and he and Fred were messing about under the hood, trying to figure out what it was. The Weasleys had brought food with them, so Harry was currently stuffing a jam sandwich into his mouth, in between swigs of pumpkin juice.
'Yeah?' asked Harry, around a mouthful of sandwich.
'Are you ever going to tell Hermione how you feel about her?'
Harry choked on his pumpkin juice. 'What?' He glanced around nervously.
Hermione, saying she was exhausted, had retired with her sandwich and juice to the edge of the clearing, and was lying down in the grass some distance away.
'You heard me,' said Ron. 'You big stupid nitwit, it's written all over your face, are you ever going to say anything?'
Fred and George had come out from under the hood now, and were listening in with great interest.
Harry looked at his juice. 'I did tell her,' he said.
'When?' demanded Ron.
'When I was falling off the cliff,' said Harry. 'Just right before my sleeve came off.
I told her I loved her.'
'Way to do the exit line,' said Fred, sounding deeply impressed.
'Yeah, it's almost too bad we saved you,' added George, 'her whole life, she'd never have forgotten you if that was the last thing you ever said to her.'
'Right. That's how I want Hermione to remember me for the rest of her life,' said Harry. 'Bottomless Pit Guy.'
'Better than Way Too Late Guy,' said Ron. 'Better than Just Stood Back Like A Prat And Watched Her Go Off With Malfoy Guy.'
Harry upset his pumpkin juice. 'You're not helping,' he said. 'Anyway, I'm not sure she even heard me.'
'One way to find out, isn't there?' said Ron.
Sirius loped over the silvery-dark grounds swiftly, skirting anything that looked like it might be a nasty obstacle of some sort. Although he was fairly sure he was safe in dog form, he didn't want to run into anything that would slow him down.
His suspicions that Draco hadn't gone very far were confirmed as he neared a small stand of trees, shadowy and spectral in the darkness. Sirius turned back into a man and ducked under the outer branches.
Draco was sitting with his bank to the trunk of a tree. His legs were drawn up, his head on his knees. He reminded Sirius oddly of Narcissa, perhaps because he looked so vulnerable, and his hair, like hers, was white- silver in the moonlight.
As Sirius approached him, Draco's arm shot out, holding his wand. He directed it at Sirius and said, 'Don't come any closer.'
'It's me,' said Sirius calmly.
'I know who it is,' said Draco, raising his head. 'And I said not to come any closer.'
Sirius reached into his pocket, drew out his own wand, and laid it on the ground.
Draco watched him warily.
'You have great reflexes,' said Sirius, straightening up. 'You're on the Slytherin house team, aren't you? What position do you play?'
'Seeker,' said Draco.
'You should be a Beater,' said Sirius. 'You're quite strong, as well.'
'You're the second person who's told me that in the past two days,' said Draco in a monotone. 'Why are you here, anyway? You didn't chase me down to talk about sports.'
Sirius sat down and leaned his back against a tree trunk opposite Draco, who was still holding the wand on him. 'I guess I wanted to tell you,' said Sirius, 'that you remind me of someone I knew when I went to Hogwarts.'
'Really,' said Draco, without much interest. 'Who? My dad?'
'No,' said Sirius. 'Me.'
Draco laughed shortly. 'I don't believe that,' he said. 'You? You were Harry's dad's best friend, my father told me all about you and James Potter. You were in Gryffindor house, you were do-gooders, you were just…like… Harry,' he said, with emphasis.
'Maybe James was,' said Sirius. 'But I was always the bad kid, the do-wrong kid.
My parents…well, you don?t want to hear about that. Suffice it to say I didn?t have the happy home life James did. We were roommates my first year, in Gryffindor, and I hated him.'
'You hated him?' Draco was interested now, despite himself.
'Sure, I did. He was an excellent student, nice, great Quidditch player, everyone liked him, and he seemed to be able to be good without trying. Whereas I always went with my first instinct, which was usually bad. And I was always in trouble for fighting. I beat up Severus Snape more times than you can count, sometimes for no reason. Okay, always for no reason, unless you count that he was a slimy little git and I loathed him. Dumbledore despaired of me.'
Now Draco looked astonished. 'You were in trouble with Dumbledore?'
'All the time,' said Sirius.
