Кассандра Клэр: Draco Sinister

Whether or not they fancied each other, Harry thought, looking at them, they'd formed an effective mutual admiration society. Draco rarely went anywhere these days without Fleur tagging along at his heels. It was almost funny, Harry thought, after all he was the same age as Draco and it wasn't all that long ago that Fleur had considered him too "leetle" of a boy to be taken seriously…

The owl hooted again, snapping Harry back to attention. He gave the owl a Knute, took his red-ribboned letter, and tore it open eagerly.

Dearest Harry, I can't write much because I'm rushing off to London, but I'll send you another letter later, by Pig. Ron and the Weasleys are fine. Mr and Mrs. Weasley have gone off to the seaside for a romantic holiday, and Fred and George are in Hogsmeade at the joke shop, so it's just me and Ron and of course Ginny, who is back from France and sends her love.

Guess who sent me a letter out of the blue? Viktor Krum, of all people. I would have thought he'd have been too busy to write anyone, he's been touring around with the Bulgarian team, but he's in London now, so I'm going to stop by the Leaky Cauldron and see him. I'll tell him you say hello. And please say hi to Professor Lupin for me.

I can't wait to see you at Sirius and Narcissa's wedding. I'm glad that Sirius is going to be happy, nobody deserves it more than he does.

All my love, Hermione

Harry folded the letter up with a feeling of unease. When he glanced up, he saw Draco and Fleur watching him. "What's wrong, 'Arry?"

said Fleur with cheerful concern. "'As your girlfriend left you for someone else? Is she pregnant?"

The letter flew out of Harry's hands. "What?" he sputtered. "That's ridiculous. How would she be pregnant?"

Fleur and Draco both grinned at him.

"Perhaps now is the time to have that talk about the facts of life, Potter," said Draco, still grinning.

Bugger, thought Harry, I walked right into this one. "Shut up, Malfoy," he said. "I already know all about sex, thanks."

Fleur was giggling madly behind her hand.

"That is reassuring to hear," said a voice at Harry's elbow.

Harry spun around to see Professor Lupin standing behind him, a faint smile on his face.

"Hallo, Harry," he said.

Harry grinned at Lupin, who, he thought, was looking a lot better than he had three years ago. He actually seemed to have fewer lines on his face, although that could just have been the fact that he was very brown from the summer sunshine. They were all getting brown, including Draco, which seemed, in Harry's opinion, to go against all laws of nature. Surely it wasn't possible to be so very fair-haired and light-eyed and still not burn in the sun? But then again, Fleur was the same way. She and Draco were now both very brown, with bleached sugar-white hair. Harry himself had gotten darker, and had developed a row of freckles across his nose, which he had never known he had. He hoped they weren't too odd-looking. Hermione had freckles across her nose and he thought those were adorable, but it might be different for boys.

"Professor Lupin," said Harry, wrenching his mind off the topic of Hermione and her nose. "It's good to see you. Do you want to sit down? Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"Actually, I have," said Lupin. "I was just looking for you, Harry. And your roommate."

He inclined his head towards Draco, who raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Looking for me? Why?"

"Something Dumbledore told me," said Lupin, sounding a bit evasive. "I was wondering if we could go back to your room for a moment? There's something I wanted to ask you two about."

Harry and Draco looked at each other, shrugged, and stood up.

"Sure," said Harry. "Why not?"

"See you later," said Draco to Fleur, who was looking mildly indignant at being abandoned.

Lupin walked ahead of them as they crossed the Hall and went up the stone staircase that led to the boys' dormitories.

"Did Hermione tell you she's seeing Victor Krum in London?" Harry asked Draco, and was rewarded by seeing him start slightly.

"Big overgrown Bulgarian git," said Draco, "What's she seeing him for?"

"He's not so bad," said Harry, feeling more magnanimous towards Krum suddenly. It was probably the fact that he had known something about Hermione that Draco hadn't. "Professor Lupin!" he called out, quickening his pace. "This is our room right here."

Draco opened the door and they all went in. It was a large stone room, big enough to house six or seven boys, although Harry and Draco were its only occupants. It had two fireplaces, one at each end of the room, a large bay window with a stone seat, and two beds hung with velvet hangings. Harry's trunk rested at the foot of his bed; Draco's at the foot of his.

Lupin sat down in a chair, while Harry and Draco each sat on the ends of their respective beds. Lupin, Harry thought, was looking oddly uneasy, although he smiled at Harry when he caught Harry glancing at him.

"It's good to see you again, Harry," he said with a smile. "I don't know if I told you that."

"I've been looking forward to having your class all week," said Harry, smiling back at Lupin. "We've only had class so far with Professor Emble, and he just says the same thing over and over again."

"'There are three words every Magid must take to heart,'" said Draco, quoting Professor Emble. "'Control, control, control.'" He grinned at Lupin. "I told him that was one word three times, but he didn't care."

"Control is important," said Lupin gently.

"Yeah, I know," replied Draco, looking unrepentant. "But I'm already good at that, so…"

"Which reminds me," said Lupin. "Draco, Professor Dumbledore wrote me to say that you were in possession of Salazar Slytherin's sword. He asked me if I would take a look at it. "

Draco shrugged. "If you like." He frowned. "But your hands-"

"The sword burns non-Magid humans," said Lupin calmly. "Being a werewolf, I should be able to touch it."

"Oh, yeah, the werewolf thing," said Draco, with candid interest.

"That must really suck."

"DRACO!" said Harry in a warning tone.

But Lupin, surprisingly, was smiling as he looked at Draco. "You remind me so much of Sirius when he was young," he said. "It's really uncanny."

"So he was also charming and good-looking?" said Draco.

"Sirius told me that when he was in school he was obnoxious," said Harry.

"He was all of the above," said Lupin, still smiling. Harry had to admit it was nice to see Lupin looking pleased. It lit up his whole face and made his odd gold-green eyes shine. "Now, Draco…"

"Right," said Draco, hopping out of his chair, and going across the room to his trunk, which he threw open. He took the sword out, and held it up for a moment to look at it. It its own way, it was a very beautiful object; the sunlight from the window slid down the blade like water, and the green jewels in the iron hilt sparkled. "Here you go," he said, walking across the room and handing it to Lupin.

Lupin picked it up and turned it over, running his hand gently along the blade. "This is a very powerful magical object," he said.

Draco looked pleased.

"Do you mind if I try an experiment on it?" asked Lupin, turning the sword over and looking at it hard.

Draco shrugged. "As long as you don't break it."

Lupin turned the blade over, running his thin, flexible fingers along it. Then he said, "Indicio!""

Harry and Draco leaned over, staring, as writing appeared on the blade, carved into the metal. It was blackened with age and looked as if it had been there forever. Descensus averno facilis est.

"What does that mean?" asked Draco wonderingly.

Lupin looked as if he didn't quite understand either. "It's Latin," he said. "It means Easy is the Descent Into Hell."

"That's cheerful," said Harry.