"What exactly do you call this," Draco asked worriedly, wrinkling his nose a bit as he stared down at the thick brown concotion in front of him that was steaming up out of his glass. He'd learned first hand how truly bad some Muggle foods and drinks could be compared to those prepared at least with a little magic involved, and he wasn't planning to trust anything that looked like this simply because Potter had given it to him.
Harry, on the other hand, took a rather large gulp from his mug, and shot Draco an apraising look. "Uh... coffee?" He offered, before taking another drink.
"Right..." Draco muttered, and replaced his glass on the table where he had retrieved it from.
"Oh come on," Harry sighed exasperatedly, "I've seen teachers drinking this at Hogwarts. You're telling me you've never had coffee before?"
"No..." Draco said slowly, "I've had hot chocolate, but it was magically prepared. In other words, it was actually good."
"Fine," Harry said resigedly, "if you hate Muggle food so bad then don't eat it. Starve. Dehydrate. Whatever." He turned in his seat to stare out the window as he drank, secretly watching the reflection shown in the glass to see Draco give up. But instead, the blonde wizard poked his hand into the glass a moment, then pulled it away.
"OK..." he said, "so what exactly *is* it. I know its coffee!" He added quickly, as Harry turned with the obvious repititions in his voice. "But what *is* it? Or do you even know?"
"You want to know what they use to make the drink?" Harry asked in disbelief.
Draco nodded.
"You have to be the biggest wuss on the entire planet..." Harry shook his head. "Beans. They grind them up. And they add water. And they stir. Am I going to fast for you?"
"Ha, ha," Draco said as slow as he could. "So thats all?"
Harry shrugged. "It also has the pleasant side effect of raising your bodies caffeine level, which is essentially a shot in the arm that doesn't allow you sit still for a few hours. Its one of the few things that could keep you awake during Professor Binns class."
Draco blinked at him. "You had this stuff in school?" he asked.
Harry sighed and shook his head. "Nope. Happy dream."
"Right..." Draco pushed the mug away a final time and stood up. "You write to your Mudbl... er, Hermione, and I'll go get your schoolbooks. That way we have double the chances of finding out what the hell is wrong with me."
"Don't you listen?" Harry asked, growing frustrated. "They're locked away. We don't have a key, and you don't have your magic. Even if you *did*, you can't use it during the summer. What were you planning to do, threaten my Uncle at wand point to unlock the door?"
Draco grinned. "Now there's an idea," he said, but added on quickly due to Harry's panic stricken expression. "But not the one I had in mind. C'mon, you can watch," he said easily, happy to show off one of the things he could actually do with his own hands.
Harry reluctantly led him to the cabinet where his things were locked away, looking around frantically for any of his so called 'family' members. Magic fearing or not, he imagined Uncle Vernon would rip Draco in half if he saw him trying to retrieve Harry's school things. But Draco didn't take long. He knelt down and ran his hands around the seams of the door, seeming to test it, then reached into the outter pockets of his robes and grabbed something long and glittering. He poked it into the lock and twisted it once, then once again, before pulling.
The door came easily open.
Harry's jaw dropped. "What is that?" he asked in surprise, "a skelekey?"
Draco gave him a pitying look. "...it's a paper clip." he said simply.
Turning slightly red, Harry hurried to rush the conversation to new grounds. "Where did you learn to do that?" he asked.
"What, you thought I sat around with my thumb up my ass when I wasn't in basics school? I needed to get around the house, and more than half the doors are under lock and key. So I adapted."
Harry was confused again. "Basics school?" he asked.
Draco sighed. "Don't they tell you anything?" he asked sharply. "Muggle borns are so..."
"-i'm not Muggle born-" Harry interjected angrily, before being cut off himself.
"Uninformed. OK." Draco took a deep breath as he reached into the now open cabinet and pulled out the chest that lay inside, quickly opening it and grabbing a few books that lay inside. "Wizards go to basics school from the age of six to twelve. What, you thought we learned to read and do math on our own?"
"Oh..." Harry said wonderingly. He had never really though about it. After all, it didn't make sense that Hogwarts would be the only school for wizards around this area, it would just be the only school locally that *taught* magic itself. "Ok." He finished, somewhat dumbly.
Draco quickly rose with an armful of books, kicked the chest back into the cabinet, and then pushed the door closed with his knee. He and Harry both returned to Harry's room and closed to door quickly behind, spilling the books on the cloor and kneeling around them to start looking. Before he had read a single word, Draco glanced up at Harry. "Shouldn't you be writing little Miss. Granger?" he said tauntingly.
Harry sighed. "I'd rather stretch out any activity we have to do as long as possible," he said smartly, "because it gives me something to do besides socialize with you, Malfoy."
"Right..." Draco muttered, either not really hearing or not caring, as he thumbed through the pages of the text book in front of him. Harry did the same, and they went through hundreds of pages fruitlessly. Suddenly, Harry looked up, a pained expression on his face.
"Malfoy..." he asked.
Draco didn't even glance up. "What?" he asked quickly.
Harry winced. "Why did you just assume that I was the one... who's, uh, cherry was getting popped?"
Draco snorted into his text book and looked up with wide eyes. "I thought you wanted to be *done* with that!?" he snarled, "Jesus Christ..."
But Harry was resolute. "Just answer the question." He said.
"Fine," Draco snarled, "because your a weak willed submissive smart ass who probably loves the image of a 200 pound Muscled beater bending him over a locker room bench. And because it was *funny*, Jesus, it was a *joke*... you think I even took time to toss around the variables in my mind?"
"Right..." Harry said, redder than ever, and quickly returned to his book. Of course it would be something like that, something that made him look even dumber than before. It was impossible to stay dignified for more than ten minutes with a Malfoy in the room. Maybe if he could find the stone first, he thought, beginning to read faster, he would regain some lost pride.
"Holy shit," Draco muttered, "here it is."
Harry's eyebrows shot up. Fuck!
"The Magi... not Magus... Stone," he said. "Also see, Magi, Defilation, and Magical Transubverence..."
"Move over," Harry said quickly, "I'll just read over your shoulder. You talk to much without going over an entire chapter in my artifacts book to boot."
So the two lined up and began to read eagerly, side by side.
The Magi Stone
See also Magi, Defilation, and Magical Transubverence
As is well known, the magical protectors known as the Magi are born only once every hundred years. A smaller known fact is that upon the birth of each Magi, they are given a stone to carry with them until death. It is said these stones are the source of their amazing power and longevity, but has never been tested, because the Magi protect said stones even fiercer than the wizards they deem fit to watch over and protect.
One count of such a stone being recovered exists, the Magi of the last generation, the Emerald. It is rumored that Lord Voldemort managed to slay the warrior, and retrieved the gem from his keeping, and has since set his powers to discovering the secrets of the stone. When he supposedly failed at that, he chose instead to corrupt its power, infusing it with the dark magick of some of the worst and most defiled curses on the planet. The green stone, now rumored to be black, took on a variety of new powers, including hand held levitation, increased physical skills, and the worst of all- the ability to rob other wizards of their magicks and transfer them to anonther object.
None of the captured Death Eaters in Azkaban revealed any knowledge of the stone under interrogation, but it is still believed to be one of the most lethal magical objects of all time.
"Lethal..." Draco choked out, his eyes wide. Harry looked over at him, seeing to his amazement that the boy's already pale skin had faded to dull white. Not that Harry could blame him. If he'd found out something like that had touched him... he shuddered, once, and then sat up.
"Well..." he said, not really sure where to go with this.
"I'm going to kill him," Draco growled suddenly, taking Harry completely by surprise. The blonde wizard leapt to his feet and marched out the door. Harry followed him as he quickly ran down the stairs and threw open the door, walking blindly into the open. He reached into his robes and pulled out his wand, holding it out. Harry saw the familiar crash and flash of light as the Knight Bus leapt into existence, and Draco hastily climbed on. Sprinting to catch up, Harry heard him mutter "Malfoy Manor" before taking a seat. He leapt on the bus seconds before the doors closed, and stood panting as the conductor stared at him in shock.
"Neville?" the conductor said.