'I've been reading up on it,' said Harry. 'Salazar Slytherin's powers kicked in when he had to face a dragon that was threatening his village. But that was a zillion years ago, when there were still lots of dragon roaming around. The dark wizard Grindelwald, his powers kicked in during some kind of battle, which is also no go, and Rowena Ravenclaw's started when she was struck by lightning. Which is hard to arrange.'
'Harry…' said Ron slowly. 'You need to talk to Hermione, that's what you need to do.'
Harry parted his fingers and looked up at Ron with suspicious green eyes. 'Why?'
'Because she's your best friend, dolt,' said Ron. 'Because you miss her and it's making you nuts.'
'Whenever I see her,' said Harry, taking his hands away from his face, 'I want to be sick.'
'Now that's romantic,' said Ron.
'Whenever I see her with Malfoy, I want to be sick,' Harry clarified.
'Well, you'll have to get used to it eventually,' said Ron.
'I don't want to get used to it,' said Harry, sitting up abruptly. 'I want my Magid powers to start working, that's what I want.'
'That's magic,' said Ron, not without sympathy. 'What you've got is heartbreak.
Magic won't fix that.'
'I was thinking about this summer, Hermione,' said Draco.
It was breakfast time. They were sitting together at the Slytherin table. (It was Hermione's fourth breakfast with the Slytherins. She was even beginning to get used to the sound of Goyle slurping and spitting at every mealtime.) Draco was eating toast with shocking rapidity — Hermione had already found out that he was one of those boys who could eat anything and everything and remain skinny -
and Hermione, who didn't have much appetite, was nibbling on some pumpkin seeds.
'What about it?' she asked.
'Well, I know we were talking about me visiting you at your parents' house. And I do still want to, but my mum wrote and reminded me that my Uncle Vlad was saying he was hoping I'd come see him this summer, he's got a massive castle in Romania, and I thought, if you wanted…'
Surreptitiously, Hermione squinted across the room at the Gryffindor table. She could see Harry, sitting with Ron; Lavender was on one side of him, and Parvati was sitting next to Ron. As Hermione watched, Lavender speared a piece of toast on her fork and offered it to Harry.
Harry ate it.
Lavender giggled.
'Meanwhile,' continued Draco, 'I've dropped out of Hogwarts and become a hired assassin for the Ministry of Magic.'
'Wha-what?' spluttered Hermione, turning to look at him.
He was smiling, but the smile didn't reach his gray eyes. 'Hermione, love,' he said, pointing. 'Are you really going to eat all of those?'
She looked where he indicated, and jumped. Somehow she had managed to shell a pile of at least a hundred pumpkin seeds. The seeds themselves lay in one neat pile, the shells in another. She couldn't remember having shelled even one seed.
'Oh,' she said sheepishly. 'I'll, um, save them for later, I think.'
'Okay, that does it,' said Draco, and stood up.
Alarmed, Hermione stood up too. 'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I'm a bit easily distracted these days — ' 'I've noticed that,' said Draco. 'It's all right. I just remembered something I've been meaning to do. I've been putting it off, but now seems like a good time to get it over with.'
'Can I help?' she asked, feeling guilty.
'Definitely not,' he said.
He reached out and touched her very lightly on the cheek. Then he dropped his hand.
'I've got Quidditch practice this afternoon,' he said. 'I'll see you at dinner.'
Harry had arranged to be sitting alone in the Gryffindor common room that afternoon. He was therefore astonished when the portrait hole opened and Draco Malfoy stepped through it. He straightened up and surveyed the shocked Harry serenely.
'I can't believe the password is still 'boomslang',' he said, and flopped down in an armchair. He stretched his long legs out towards the fire. 'You Gryffindors are a trusting lot.'
Harry lowered the book he was holding and looked anxiously around. 'You want to be a bit more careful, Malfoy,' he said. 'If other people knew you had the password…'
'I don't want to be a bit more careful,' said Draco. 'I want to beat you around the head with a broomstick. But I won't, of course.'
'Why not?' said Harry, returning to his book. 'You can borrow my Firebolt 5000.'
He glanced over at Draco. 'Incidentally, why the sudden outbreak of hostility?
Shouldn't I be the one who's currently hating you?'
'No,' said Draco. 'I should be hating you, for the simple reason that you're making Hermione very unhappy.'
Harry dropped his book again, and glared at Draco. His cheeks were flushed with anger. 'You came to talk me about her?'
