The following Saturday was another Hogsmeade weekend, which pleased everyone as it provided the perfect opportunity to purchase their Christmas presents. Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed along with the crowd as they made their way to the village, but once there they separated by common consent, each heading in a different direction.Harry managed to get gifts for Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and Neville rather easily. Only Luna and Snape presented much difficulty. Eventually, Harry settled on a moon pendant for Luna. It was a navy colored stone charm threaded on a copper chain, and just unusual enough that he thought the eccentric girl would like it.

Snape was far more difficult. In the first place, Harry really didn’t know much about what his professor liked, aside from potions, despite having spent the summer with him. In his defense, he reflected, practicing occlumency and potions didn’t leave much time for getting to know each other, especially when they’d spent much of the rest of the time avoiding each other.

Then too, there was the fact that Harry wasn’t sure how the older wizard would react to receiving a gift from him. Certainly they hadn’t discussed anything. Harry shifted uneasily where he stood. Should he just get his professor a book voucher? That way he could use it to purchase any new potions texts that were published. Did they even do that in the wizarding world? Well, Harry decided, putting his shoulders back, he could only ask.

As it turned out, wizard shops did not have gift cards, but it was not entirely unheard of for someone to reserve books in another’s name. Harry had frowned as he left. He couldn’t risk anyone finding out he was buying a gift for the potions master, that would arouse far too much suspicion.

With a sigh Harry ended up buying several bars of Honeyduke’s chocolate and slipping it into his bag before he headed to the Three Broomsticks for lunch.

As he stepped into the warm bar he heard a voice, Hermione’s, calling him over to a table. Harry walked over to join her and found Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna were already there. “We were wondering where you were,” Ginny commented. “The rest of us got here half an hour ago.”

”I’m sorry,” Harry replied. “I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.”

“Oh, that’s all right. We got a round of butterbeers and it wasn’t so bad,” Ron assured him.

“Have difficulty picking out gifts?” Hermione asked.

“Yes, one in particular,” Harry said absently.

Hermione shot him a meaningful look and then said, “Shall we order, then?”

“Yeah, I’m starved,” Ron said heartily.

“You’re always starved,” Ginny commented rolling her eyes.

“So?” Ron bristled good-naturedly.

“So go order,” Harry said as he shoved his friend toward the front counter. The others laughed and followed him

When they finally got settled back at the table with their food, they chatted about various things; classes, assignments, funny things that had happened in the common room or in the halls. They were just talking about Professor Lyons when Neville said suddenly, “I wonder where he came from.” “What d’you mean?” Ron asked. “Well, you know, Umbridge came from the Ministry, Moody was a retired Auror; I wonder what Lyons did.”

“Somebody told me he was a curse breaker,” Harry volunteered.

“Really?” Hermione said with interest. At Harry’s nod she said, “I wonder if I could ask him about it sometime.”

“Well, he’s not told us he’s a curse breaker, has he? Maybe we’re not supposed to know?” Ginny suggested.

“Well, then I can always ask him what he did before he taught,” Hermione said sweetly. “That way we’ll know.”

“Well, he’s not incompetent and he doesn’t seem to have it in for me,” Harry said. “That’s enough for me, really.” His friends laughed at that.

“It does make for a quieter year,” Ginny said. “Actually, not much seems to have happened this year.”

“Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening,” Harry said grimly, the smile sliding off of his face.

The others exchanged swift glances and Ginny asked, “Do you know something we don’t?”

“Not really,” Harry replied with a shake of his head. “It’s more a suspicion, really. And I just don’t think Tom could stand to not do anything.”

“Well,” Hermione began pensively, “he knows the wizarding world knows he’s alive. Maybe he’s just waiting for them to relax a bit before he does anything. Catch us when our guard’s down, kind of thing.”

“Maybe,” Harry agreed darkly.

“Don’t you know?” Neville asked. “Haven’t you had any dreams lately?”

“No he hasn’t,” Ron said sharply. “And how do you know about Harry’s dreams?”

“Really, Ron, he’d have to be thick to sleep in the same dormitory and not know,” Harry said levelly. “I’ve not had any dreams though. Not lately.” Neville nodded.

“Well then,” Luna said, to everyone’s surprise, “We wait.”

“Wait for what?” a familiar voice asked from just behind Harry’s shoulder.

“For Christmas.” Hermione said promptly.

“I hate to tell you this, Hermione, but there’s no way to go forward in time. Everyone has to wait for Christmas,” Draco drawled.

“To exchange gifts,” Ginny said in a tone that indicated that she thought he was being moronically dense. “We were discussing whether to do it before we left for holidays or to wait and let the house elves do it on Christmas. We decided to wait.”

“Ah, I see. Forgive me, Hermione,” he said in a gallant tone as he bowed slightly. Hermione quirked an eyebrow but nodded.

“Was there something you needed, Malfoy?” Neville asked coolly.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you, Harry, if you had time to study a bit more on Tuesday. The test is on Friday, and I wanted to go over anti-swelling draughts again.”

“On Tuesday?” Harry said.

“Yes, Tuesday,” Draco repeated.

“Harry, you promised to come to practice on Tuesday,” Ron injected.

Harry gave him a swift look, not recalling any such promise, but nodded slowly. “You’re right, I did. I had forgotten.” Ron sniffed as he looked back at his food, as though indicating what he thought of people who forgot their Quidditch commitments.

“Well, in that case, I shall let you all get back to your meal.” He turned, preparing to go.

“You could stay,” Luna said with a wicked glint in her eye.

“No, thank you,” Draco replied in a slightly shocked tone. “I really must get back to Crabbe and Goyle,” his face took on a pained expression. “They shouldn’t be left alone for too long.”

“Another time then,” Ginny said graciously.

“Indeed,” Draco said before sweeping off.

Ginny and Luna exchanged a look as he walked out the pub door, then burst into giggles. “Did you see his face when you asked him?” Ginny wheezed. At that everyone else joined in.

“Priceless,” Hermione gasped in agreement.

Draco was not certain why exactly Loony Lovegood had invited him to join them, but he was certain, as he walked down the sidewalks toward Honeyduke’s, that it could not be for any good reason. Probably, he decided, they only wanted to laugh at him.

He did not quite feel like admitting that he had been almost tempted to take them up on the offer. He wondered, from time to time, what it would be like to have real friends that one could laugh and joke with. The question had popped up more frequently, lately, since he had spent more time with Potter.

Draco resolutely pushed the thought out of his head. He was a Slytherin and a Malfoy. He didn’t need friends. As he entered the candy shop, however, and saw Crabbe and Goyle standing about with chocolate smeared in the corners of their mouths, a small part of him whispered that it would certainly be better than this.

The rest of the weekend passed in the usual manner. Harry was more antsy than usual in occlumency practice, but he put it off on the approaching game when Snape asked him. After he returned to the tower, it was a flurry of homework and studying. Hermione pounced on him as soon as Monday’s assignments were done. “If you’re really going to practice on Tuesday, and I don’t see how you can get out of it now, you’re going to need to study a bit more now,” she said, pulling out her potions work and text. Harry groaned but acknowledged that she was right, and sat back in the chair.

Tuesday afternoon Harry trekked down to the Quidditch Pitch with the Gryffindor house team. Hermione looked at him indulgently as he left, which he thought rather odd. As she wasn’t nagging him, however, he decided not to question it and merely began planning out what he wanted to do with Liza that afternoon. As it turned out, it was a good thing that Harry had gone to the Tuesday practice instead of just waiting until Friday as he normally did.

Liza had just realized that the first game was on Saturday and she would actually be required to get up in front of the entire school to play it. The thought had her looking very pale and positively green. “I can’t do it,” she moaned to Harry.

“Of course you can,” he said reassuringly.

“No, I can’t. I’m going to fall off my broom and the other seeker is going to get the snitch first.”

“You aren’t going to fall off your broom. You’re a really talented flier, you know.”

“I’m going to let the whole team down, I just know it,” she said in a small voice, somehow turning even paler.

“You won’t let the team down.”

“Will they kick me off if I don’t get the snitch?” she asked him with very large eyes.

“I seriously doubt it. They didn’t kick me off when I missed the snitch.” She looked skeptical. “They didn’t kick Ron off back when he was so nervous he couldn’t play properly.” She began to look slightly more reassured. “Anyway, it’s not going to matter because you are going to catch the snitch.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Trust me, Liza, when you get up there, all you can see is the snitch. All you can feel is your broom and the air slipping past you. You won’t even notice the crowds. Half the time you probably won’t even notice the rest of the team.”

“Really?” A small bit of hope began to dawn on her face.

“Really. In the meantime, what do you say we go through a couple of drills, just for fun?”

“All right,” she said with a deep breath. She mounted her broom and flew a quick lap before signaling him that she was ready. With a final nod and a smile, he called out the first instruction, beginning to put her through her paces while the rest of the team skirmished.

The week seemed to fly by, and soon it was Friday. Once again, Harry was going to the pitch with Ron. They were about half-way there when Draco stepped out in front of them. “Hello,” he said as they neared him.

“What do you want, Malfoy,” Ron began aggressively.

Harry put a hand on his arm. “All right, Draco?” he asked.

“Look, I don’t blame you for wanting to hang out with the team, Harry; and frankly, Weasley, I’d say you were stupid not to take advantage of his skills,” he nodded to indicate Harry. “I’m certainly not going to report you for the Hufflepuffs’ sake. But you’d better not be at the practices before the Slytherin game.”

“Is that a threat?” Ron bristled.

“No, not really,” Draco said coolly.

Harry inserted himself between them. “Really, he’s right, Ron. I shouldn’t be with the team.”

“Harry, we’ve been through this…“ Ron began, exasperation tingeing his voice.

“Which is why,” Harry continued, speaking over his red-headed friend, “I’m going to quit. I just wanted to get Liza through her first game.”

Draco nodded in satisfaction. “Good practice, then,” he said cordially as he walked away.

“Quit?” Ron exclaimed. “When did you decide you were quitting?”

“Just now, actually,” Harry said thoughtfully. “I hadn’t thought about it before, but I really can’t keep doing this. It isn’t fair to the other teams at all.”

“But,” Ron spluttered. “How are you going to manage to keep flying if you quit?” he said in a faintly triumphant tone.

“I don’t do all that much flying at practice, anyway, but I suppose I’ll just do it on my own time, like everyone else,” Harry replied.

Ron gave him a look that clearly indicated that he thought his friend was more than a little touched, but said, “If you think so, mate.”

“I don’t like it,” Harry admitted. “But I think it’s got to be that way.”

Ron shrugged and resumed walking. Harry stood in place a moment longer before scurrying to catch up.

Draco, meanwhile, was remembering the way that Harry had stepped between him and the Weasel, and wondering if anything could be made of that.

That evening Harry watched the Slytherin table as carefully as he could without making it obvious that he was watching them. When Draco appeared to be finishing up he stood up and excused himself. “I’m completely knackered,” he told his friends. “I think I’m going to go up to the common room for a bit and have an early night.” He walked briskly out of the Great Hall but slowed down significantly once he reached the corridor.

A few minutes later, the blonde prince of Slytherin emerged alone. “Hey,” Harry called to him.

“Hey,” Draco replied, surprise registering on his face.

“Where are Crabbe and Goyle?” Harry asked suddenly. “I don’t think I’ve seen much of them lately.”

“They weren’t finished eating,” Draco said with a faint sneer. “And they’ve been keeping to themselves lately.”

“Oh,” Harry said, with raised brows. “Anything wrong?” he probed.

“Not really,” Draco said, giving him a sharp look. “Was there something you needed?”

“Err, yeah, actually. I just wanted to beg off flying tomorrow morning. It’s Ron’s first game as captain and I shouldn’t abandon him. He’s probably going to need someone to bully him into eating.”

Draco’s eyebrows quirked up almost of their own volition, “Bully him into eating? You can’t be serious?”

“I am,” Harry said with a grin. “It’s the most amazing thing, but the more nervous he is, the less Ron eats.”

“Amazing,” Draco said, without a hint of sarcasm.

“Yep.”

“Well, then, I suppose next week?”

“Absolutely, I wouldn’t miss it.” Harry smiled at him.

Draco was surprised to find himself actually smiling back before it even occurred to him that it would be politic to do so. “See you ‘round,” he said.

“In class,” Harry nodded, turning back to the path to Gryffindor Tower. Draco merely nodded and continued walking down to the dungeons, thoughts awhirl.