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\begin_body

\begin_layout Chapter
Reciprocation
\end_layout

\begin_layout Initial
\begin_inset Argument 2
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout
P
\end_layout

\end_inset


\begin_inset Argument 3
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout
etunia
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Evans-Verres's lips were trembling and her eyes were tearing up as Harry
 hugged her midsection on Platform Nine of the King's Cross Station.
 “Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, Harry?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry glanced over to his father Michael Verres-Evans, who was looking stereotyp
ically stern-but-proud, and then back to his mother, who really did look
 rather… uncomposed.
 “Mum, I know you don't like the wizarding world very much.
 You don't have to come with.
 I mean it.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Petunia winced.
 “Harry, you shouldn't worry about me, I'm your mother and if you need someone
 with you 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Mum, I'm going to be on my own at Hogwarts for 
\emph on
months
\emph default
 and 
\emph on
months.

\emph default
 If I can't manage a train platform alone, better to find out sooner rather
 than later so we can abort.” He lowered his voice to a whisper.
 “Besides, Mum, they all love me over there.
 If I have any problems, all I need to do is take off my sweatband,” Harry
 tapped the exercise band covering his scar, “and I'll have 
\emph on
way
\emph default
 more help than I can handle.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, Harry,” Petunia whispered.
 She knelt down and hugged him hard, face to face, their cheeks resting
 against each other.
 Harry could feel her ragged breathing, and then he heard a muffled sob
 escape.
 “Oh, Harry, I do love you, always remember that.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
It's like she's afraid she'll never see me again,
\emph default
 the thought popped into Harry's head.
 He knew the thought was true but he didn't know why Mum was so afraid.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
So he made a guess.
 “Mum, you know that I'm not going to turn into your sister just because
 I'm learning magic, right? I'll do any magic you ask for 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 if I can, I mean 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 or if you want me 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 to use any magic around the house, I'll do that too, I promise I'll never
 let magic come between us 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A tight hug cut off his words.
 “You have a good heart,” his mother whispered into his ear.
 “A very good heart, my son.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry choked up himself a little, then.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His mother released him, and stood up.
 She took a handkerchief out of her handbag, and with a trembling hand dabbed
 at the running makeup around her eyes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There were no questions about his father accompanying him to the magical
 side of King's Cross Station.
 Dad had trouble just looking at Harry's trunk directly.
 Magic ran in families, and Michael Verres-Evans couldn't even walk.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
So instead his father just cleared his throat.
 “Good luck at school, Harry,” he said.
 “Do you think I bought you enough books?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry had explained to his father about how he thought this might be his
 big chance to do something really revolutionary and important, and Professor
 Verres-Evans had nodded and dumped his extremely busy schedule for two
 solid days in order to go on the Greatest Secondhand Bookshop Raid Ever,
 which had covered four cities and produced 
\emph on
thirty
\emph default
 boxes of science books now sitting in the cavern level of Harry's trunk.
 Most of the books had gone for a pound or two, but some of them definitely
 
\emph on
hadn't,
\emph default
 like the very latest 
\emph on
Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
\emph default
 or the complete 1972 set of the 
\emph on
Encyclopaedia Britannica.

\emph default
 His father had tried to block Harry off from seeing the till displays but
 Harry figured his father must have spent 
\emph on
at least
\emph default
 a thousand pounds.
 Harry had said to his father that he would pay him back as soon as he figured
 out how to convert wizarding gold into Muggle money, and his father had
 told him to go jump in a lake.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then his father had asked him: 
\emph on
Do you think I bought you enough books?
\emph default
 It was quite clear what answer Dad wanted to hear.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's throat was hoarse, for some reason.
 “You can never have enough books,” he recited the Verres family motto,
 and his father knelt down and gave him a quick, firm embrace.
 “But you 
\emph on
certainly
\emph default
 tried,” Harry said, and felt himself choking up again.
 “It was a really, really, 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 good try.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His Dad straightened.
 “So…” he said.
 “Do 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 see a Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
King's Cross Station was huge and busy, with walls and floors paved with
 ordinary dirt-stained tiles.
 It was full of ordinary people hurrying about their ordinary business,
 having ordinary conversations which generated lots and lots of ordinary
 noise.
 King's Cross Station had a Platform Nine (which they were standing on)
 and a Platform Ten (right nearby) but there was nothing between Platform
 Nine and Platform Ten except a thin, unpromising barrier wall.
 A great skylight overhead let in plenty of light to illuminate the total
 lack whatsoever of any Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stared around until his eyes watered, thinking, 
\emph on
come on, mage-sight, come on, mage-sight
\emph default
, but absolutely nothing appeared to him.
 He thought about taking out his wand and waving it, but Professor McGonagall
 had warned him against using his wand.
 Plus if there was another shower of multicoloured sparks that might lead
 to being arrested for setting off fireworks inside a train station.
 And that was assuming his wand didn't decide to do something else, like
 blowing up all of King's Cross.
 Harry had only lightly skimmed his schoolbooks (though that skim was quite
 bizarre enough) in a very quick effort to determine what sort of science
 books to buy over the next 48 hours.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Well, he had 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

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--
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\end_inset

 Harry glanced at his watch 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 one whole hour to figure it out, since he was supposed to be on the train
 at eleven.
 Maybe this was the equivalent of an IQ test and the stupid kids couldn't
 become wizards.
 (And the amount of extra time you gave yourself would determine your Conscienti
ousness, which was the second most important factor in scholarly success.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'll figure it out,” Harry said to his waiting parents.
 “It's probably some sort of test thingy.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His father frowned.
 “Hm… maybe look for a trail of mixed footprints on the ground, leading
 somewhere that doesn't seem to make sense 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Dad!
\emph default
” Harry said.
 “Stop that! I haven't even 
\emph on
tried
\emph default
 to figure it out on my own!” It was a very good suggestion, too, which
 was worse.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Sorry,” his father apologised.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry's mother said.
 “I don't think they would do that to a student, do you? Are you sure Professor
 McGonagall didn't tell you anything?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Maybe she was distracted,” Harry said without thinking.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Harry!
\emph default
” hissed his father and mother in unison.
 “
\emph on
What did you do?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I, um 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Harry swallowed.
 “Look, we don't have time for this now 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Harry!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I mean it! We don't have time for this now! Because it's a really long
 story and I've got to figure out how to get to school!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
His mother had a hand over her face.
 “How bad was it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I, ah,” 
\emph on
I can't talk about that for reasons of National Security,
\emph default
 “about half as bad as the Incident with the Science Project?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Harry!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I, er, oh look there are some people with an owl I'll go ask them how to
 get in!” and Harry ran away from his parents towards the family of fiery
 redheads, his trunk automatically slithering behind him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The plump woman looked to him as he arrived.
 “Hello, dear.
 First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” and then she peered closely at him.
 “
\emph on
Harry Potter?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Four boys and a red-headed girl and an owl all swung around and then froze
 in place.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh, 
\emph on
come on!
\emph default
” Harry protested.
 He'd been planning to go as Harry Verres at least until he got to Hogwarts.
 “I bought a sweatband and everything! How come you know who I am?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes,” Harry's father said, coming up behind him with long easy strides,
 “how 
\emph on
do
\emph default
 you know who he is?” His voice indicated a certain dread.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Your picture was in the newspapers,” said one of two identical-looking
 twins.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
HARRY!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Dad!
\emph default
 It's not like that! It's `cause I defeated the Dark Lord You-Know-Who when
 I was one year old!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
WHAT?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Mum can explain.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
WHAT?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah… Michael dear, there are certain things I thought it would be best not
 to bother you with until now 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Excuse me,” Harry said to the redheaded family who were all staring at
 him, “but it would be quite extremely helpful if you could tell me how
 to get to Platform Nine and Three Quarters 
\emph on
right now
\emph default
.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” said the woman.
 She raised a hand and pointed at the wall between platforms.
 “Just walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.
 Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important.
 Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“And whatever you do, don't think of an elephant.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
George!
\emph default
 Ignore him, Harry dear, there's no reason not to think of an elephant.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm Fred, Mum, not George 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Thanks!” Harry said and took off at a run towards the barrier 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Wait a minute, it wouldn't work 
\emph on
unless he believed in it?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was at times like this that Harry hated his mind for actually working
 fast enough to realise that this was a case where “resonant doubt” applied,
 that is, if he'd started out thinking that he would go through the barrier
 he'd have been fine, only now he was worried about whether he sufficiently
 
\emph on
believed
\emph default
 he'd go through the barrier, which meant that he actually 
\emph on
was
\emph default
 worried about crashing into it 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Harry! Get back here, you have some explaining to do!
\emph default
” That was his Dad.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry shut his eyes and ignored everything he knew about justified credibility
 and just tried to believe 
\emph on
really hard
\emph default
 that he'd go through the barrier and 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 the sounds around him changed.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry opened his eyes and stumbled to a halt, feeling vaguely dirtied by
 having made a deliberate effort to believe something.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He was standing in a bright, open-air platform next to a single huge train,
 fourteen long carriages headed up by a massive scarlet-metal steam engine
 with a tall chimney that promised death to air quality.
 The platform was already lightly crowded (even though Harry was a full
 hour early); dozens of children and their parents swarmed around benches,
 tables, and various hawkers and stalls.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It went entirely without saying that there was no such place in King's Cross
 Station and no room to hide it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Okay, so either (a) I just teleported somewhere else entirely (b) they can
 fold space like no one's business or (c) they are simply ignoring all the
 rules.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a slithering sound behind him, and Harry turned around to observe
 that his trunk had indeed followed him on its small clawed tentacles.
 Apparently, for magical purposes, his luggage had also managed to believe
 with sufficient strength to pass through the barrier.
 That was actually a little disturbing when Harry started thinking about
 it.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A moment later, the youngest-looking red-haired boy came through the iron
 archway (iron archway?) at a run, pulling his trunk behind him on a lead
 and nearly crashing into Harry.
 Harry, feeling stupid for having stayed around, quickly began moving away
 from the landing area, and the red-haired boy followed him, yanking hard
 on his trunk's lead in order to keep up.
 A moment later, a white owl fluttered through the archway and came to rest
 on the boy's shoulder.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Cor,” said the red-haired boy, “are you 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 Harry Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Not this again.

\emph default
 “I have no logical way of knowing that for certain.
 My parents raised me to 
\emph on
believe
\emph default
 that my name was Harry James Potter-Evans-Verres, and many people here
 have told me that I 
\emph on
look
\emph default
 like my parents, I mean my other parents, but,” Harry frowned, realising,
 “for all 
\emph on
I
\emph default
 know, there could easily be spells to polymorph a child into a specified
 appearance
\begin_inset space ~
\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er, what, mate?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Not headed for Ravenclaw, I take it.

\emph default
 “Yes, I'm Harry Potter.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm Ron Weasley,” said the tall skinny freckled long-nosed kid, and stuck
 out a hand, which Harry politely shook as they walked.
 The owl gave Harry an oddly measured and courteous hoot (actually more
 of an eehhhhh sound, which surprised Harry).
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
At this point Harry realised the potential for imminent catastrophe.
 “Just a second,” he said to Ron, and opened one of the drawers of his trunk,
 the one that if he recalled correctly was for Winter Clothes 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 it was 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and then he found the lightest scarf he owned, underneath his winter coat.
 Harry took off his sweatband, and just as quickly unfolded the scarf and
 tied it around his face.
 It was a little hot, especially in the summer, but Harry could live with
 that.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then he shut that drawer and pulled out another drawer and drew forth black
 wizarding robes, which he shrugged over his head, now that he was out of
 Muggle territory.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“There,” Harry said.
 The sound came out slightly muffled through the scarf over his face.
 He turned to Ron.
 “How do I look? Stupid, I know, but am I identifiable as Harry Potter?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Er,” Ron said.
 He closed his mouth, which had been open.
 “Not really, Harry.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Very good,” Harry said.
 “However, so as not to obviate the point of the whole exercise, you will
 henceforth address me as,” Verres might not work anymore, “Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Spoo.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay, Harry,” Ron said uncertainly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
The Force is not particularly strong in this one.

\emph default
 “Call… me… Mister… Spoo.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay, Mister Spoo 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Ron stopped.
 “I can't do that, it makes me feel stupid.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
That's not just a feeling.

\emph default
 “Okay.
 
\emph on
You
\emph default
 pick a name.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Cannon,” Ron said at once.
 “For the Chudley Cannons.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ah…” Harry knew he was going to terribly regret asking this.
 “Who or what are the Chudley Cannons?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Who're the Chudley Cannons?
\emph default
 Only the most brilliant team in the whole history of Quidditch! Sure, they
 finished at the bottom of the league last year, but 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“What's Quidditch?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Asking this was also a mistake.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“So let me get this straight,” Harry said as it seemed that Ron's explanation
 (with associated hand gestures) was winding down.
 “Catching the Snitch is worth 
\emph on
one hundred and fifty points?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yeah 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“How many ten-point goals does one side usually score 
\emph on
not
\emph default
 counting the Snitch?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um, maybe fifteen or twenty in professional games 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's just wrong.
 That violates every possible rule of game design.
 Look, the rest of this game sounds like it might make sense, sort of, for
 a sport I mean, but you're basically saying that catching the Snitch overwhelms
 almost any ordinary point spread.
 The two Seekers are up there flying around looking for the Snitch and usually
 not interacting with anyone else, spotting the Snitch first is going to
 be mostly luck 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It's not luck!” protested Ron.
 “You've got to keep your eyes moving in the right pattern 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's not 
\emph on
interactive,
\emph default
 there's no back-and-forth with the other player and how much fun is it
 to watch someone incredibly good at moving their eyes? And then whichever
 Seeker gets lucky swoops in and grabs the Snitch and makes everyone else's
 work moot.
 It's like someone took a real game and grafted on this pointless extra
 position so that you could be the Most Important Player without needing
 to really get involved or learn the rest of it.
 Who was the first Seeker, the King's idiot son who wanted to play Quidditch
 but couldn't understand the rules?” Actually, now that Harry thought about
 it, that seemed like a surprisingly good hypothesis.
 Put him on a broomstick and tell him to catch the shiny thing…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ron's face pulled into a scowl.
 “If you don't like Quidditch, you don't have to make fun of it!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“If you can't criticise, you can't optimise.
 I'm suggesting how to 
\emph on
improve the game.

\emph default
 And it's very simple.
 Get rid of the Snitch.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“They won't change the game just `cause 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 say so!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 the Boy-Who-Lived, you know.
 People will listen to me.
 And maybe if I can persuade them to change the game at Hogwarts, the innovation
 will spread.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A look of absolute horror was spreading over Ron's face.
 “But, but if you get rid of the Snitch, how will anyone know when the game
 ends?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Buy… a… clock.

\emph default
 It would be a lot fairer than having the game sometimes end after ten minutes
 and sometimes not end for hours, and the schedule would be a lot more predictab
le for the spectators, too.” Harry sighed.
 “Oh, stop giving me that look of absolute horror, I probably won't 
\emph on
actually
\emph default
 take the time to destroy this pathetic excuse for a national sport and
 remake it stronger and smarter in my own image.
 I've got way, way, 
\emph on
way
\emph default
 more important stuff to worry about.” Harry looked thoughtful.
 “Then again, it wouldn't 
\emph on
take
\emph default
 much time to write up the Ninety-Five Theses of the Snitchless Reformation
 and nail it to a church door 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Potter,” drawled a young boy's voice, “
\emph on
what
\emph default
 is that on your face and 
\emph on
what
\emph default
 is standing next to you?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ron's look of horror was replaced by utter hatred.
 “
\emph on
You!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry turned his head; and indeed it was Draco Malfoy, who might have been
 forced to wear standard school robes, but was making up for that with a
 trunk looking at least as magical and far more elegant than Harry's own,
 decorated in silver and emeralds and bearing what Harry guessed to be the
 Malfoy family crest, a beautiful fanged serpent over crossed ivory wands.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco!” Harry said.
 “Er, or Malfoy if you prefer, though that kind of sounds like Lucius to
 me.
 I'm glad to see you're doing so well after, um, our last meeting.
 This is Ron Weasley.
 And I'm trying to go incognito, so call me, eh,” Harry looked down at his
 robes, “Mister Black.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Harry!
\emph default
” hissed Ron.
 “You can't use 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 name!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry blinked.
 “Why not?” It 
\emph on
sounded
\emph default
 nicely dark, like an international man of mystery 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'd say it's a 
\emph on
fine
\emph default
 name,” said Draco, “but it belongs to the Noble and Most Ancient House
 of Black.
 I'll call you Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Silver.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
You
\emph default
 get away from… from Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Gold,” Ron said coldly, and took a forward step.
 “He doesn't need to talk to the likes of you!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry raised a placating hand.
 “I'll go by Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bronze, thanks for the naming schema.
 And, Ron, um,” Harry struggled to find a way to say this, “I'm glad you're
 so… enthusiastic about protecting me, but I don't particularly mind talking
 to Draco 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
This was apparently the last straw for Ron, who spun on Harry with eyes
 now aflame with outrage.
 “
\emph on
What?
\emph default
 Do you 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 who this is?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, Ron,” Harry said, “you may remember that I called him Draco without
 him needing to introduce himself.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco sniggered.
 Then his eyes lit on the white owl on Ron's shoulder.
 “Oh, what's 
\emph on
this?
\emph default
” Draco said in a drawl rich with malice.
 “Where's the famous Weasley family rat?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Buried in the backyard,” Ron said coldly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Aw, how sad.
 Pot… ah, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bronze, I should mention that the Weasley family is widely agreed to have
 
\emph on
the best pet story ever
\emph default
.
 Want to tell it, Weasley?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ron's face contorted.
 “You wouldn't think it was funny if it happened to 
\emph on
your
\emph default
 family!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh,” Draco purred, “but it wouldn't ever 
\emph on
happen
\emph default
 to the Malfoys.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ron's hands clenched into fists 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's enough,” Harry said, putting as much quiet authority into the voice
 as he could manage.
 It was clear that whatever this was about, it was a painful memory for
 the red-haired kid.
 “If Ron doesn't want to talk about it, he doesn't have to talk about it,
 and I'd ask that you not talk about it either.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco turned a surprised look on Harry, and Ron nodded.
 “That's right, Harry! I mean Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bronze! You see what kind of person he is? Now tell him to go away!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry counted to ten inside his head, which for him was a very quick 
\emph on
12345\SpecialChar \-
678910
\emph default
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 an odd habit left over from the age of five when his mother had first instructe
d him to do it, and Harry had reasoned that his way was faster and ought
 to be just as effective.
 “I'm not telling him to go away,” Harry said calmly.
 “He's welcome to talk to me if he wants.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Well, I don't intend to hang around with anyone who hangs around with Draco
 Malfoy,” Ron announced coldly.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry shrugged.
 “That's up to you.
 
\emph on
I
\emph default
 don't intend to let anyone say who I can and can't hang around with.” Silently
 chanting, 
\emph on
please go away, please go away…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ron's face went blank with surprise, like he'd actually expected that line
 to work.
 Then Ron spun about, yanked his luggage's lead and stormed off down the
 platform.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“If you didn't like him,” Draco said curiously, “why didn't you just walk
 away?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um… his mother helped me figure out how to get to this platform from the
 King's Cross Station, so it was kind of hard to tell him to get lost.
 And it's not that I 
\emph on
hate
\emph default
 this Ron guy,” Harry said, “I just, just…” Harry searched for words.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Don't see any reason for him to exist?” offered Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Pretty much.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Anyway, Potter… if you really were raised by Muggles 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Draco paused here, as if waiting for a denial, but Harry didn't say anything
 “
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 then you mightn't know what it's like to be famous.
 People want to take up 
\emph on
all
\emph default
 of our time.
 You 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to learn to say no.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, putting a thoughtful look on his face.
 “That sounds like good advice.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“If you try to be nice, you just end up spending the most time with the
 pushiest ones.
 Decide who you 
\emph on
want
\emph default
 to spend time with and make everyone else leave.
 You're just getting here, Potter, so everyone's going to judge you by who
 they see you with, and you don't want to be seen with the likes of Ron
 Weasley.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded again.
 “If you don't mind my asking, how did you recognise me?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Mister Bronze
\emph default
,” Draco drawled, “I 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 met you, remember.
 I saw someone going around with a scarf wrapped around his head, looking
 absolutely ridiculous.
 So I took a 
\emph on
guess.
\emph default
“
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry bowed his head, accepting the compliment.
 “I'm 
\emph on
terribly
\emph default
 sorry about that,” Harry said.
 “Our first meeting, I mean.
 I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of Lucius.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco waved it off while giving Harry an odd look.
 “I just wish Father could have come in while 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 were flattering 
\emph on
me
\emph default
 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Draco laughed.
 “But thank 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 for what you said to Father.
 If not for that, I might've had a harder time explaining.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry swept a deeper bow.
 “And thank 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 for reciprocating with what you said to Professor McGonagall.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're welcome.
 Though one of the assistants must've sworn her closest friend to absolute
 secrecy, because Father says there're 
\emph on
weird rumors
\emph default
 going around, like you and I got in a fight or something.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Ouch,” Harry said, wincing.
 “I'm 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 sorry 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, we're used to it, Merlin knows there's lots of rumors about the Malfoy
 family already.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded.
 “I'm glad to hear you're not in trouble.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco smirked.
 “Father has, um, a 
\emph on
refined
\emph default
 sense of humor, but he 
\emph on
does
\emph default
 understand making friends.
 He understands it 
\emph on
very
\emph default
 well.
 He made me repeat that before I went to bed every night for the last month,
 `I will make friends at Hogwarts.' When I explained everything to him and
 he saw that's what I was doing, he bought me an ice-cream.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's jaw dropped.
 “
\emph on
You managed to spin that into an ice-cream?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded, looking every bit as smug as the feat deserved.
 “Well, father 
\emph on
knew
\emph default
 what I was doing, of course, but he's the one who taught me 
\emph on
how
\emph default
 to do it, and if I grin the right way 
\emph on
while
\emph default
 I'm doing it, that makes it a father-son thing and then he 
\emph on
has
\emph default
 to buy me an ice-cream or I'll give him this sort of sad look, like I think
 I must have disappointed him.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry eyed Draco calculatingly, sensing the presence of another master.
 “You've had 
\emph on
lessons
\emph default
 on how to manipulate people?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Of course,” Draco said proudly.
 “I'm a 
\emph on
Malfoy.

\emph default
 Father bought me tutors.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Wow,” Harry said.
 Reading Robert Cialdini's 
\emph on
Influence: Science and Practice
\emph default
 probably didn't stack up very high compared to that (though it was still
 one heck of a book).
 “Your dad is almost as awesome as my dad.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's eyebrows rose loftily.
 “Oh? And what does 
\emph on
your
\emph default
 father do?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“He buys me books.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco considered this.
 “That doesn't sound very impressive.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You had to be there.
 Anyway, I'm glad to hear all that.
 The way Lucius was looking at you, I thought he was going to c-crucify
 you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“My father really loves me,” Draco said firmly.
 “He wouldn't ever do that.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um…” Harry said.
 He remembered the black-robed, white-haired figure of elegance that had
 stormed through Madam Malkin's, wielding that beautiful, deadly silver-handled
 cane.
 It wasn't easy to visualise him as a doting father.
 “Don't take this the wrong way, but how do you 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 that?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Huh?” It was clear that this was a question Draco did not commonly ask
 himself.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I ask the fundamental question of rationality: Why do you believe what
 you believe? What do you think you know and how do you think you know it?
 What makes you think Lucius wouldn't sacrifice you the same way he'd sacrifice
 anything else for power?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco shot Harry another odd look.
 “Just what do 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 know about Father?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um… seat on the Wizengamot, seat on Hogwarts' Board of Governors, incredibly
 wealthy, has the ear of Minister Fudge, has the confidence of Minister
 Fudge, probably has some highly embarrassing photos of Minister Fudge,
 most prominent blood purist now that the Dark Lord's gone, former Death
 Eater who was found to have the Dark Mark but got off by claiming to be
 under the Imperius Curse, which was ridiculously implausible and pretty
 much everyone knew it… evil with a capital `E' and a born killer… I think
 that's it.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's eyes had narrowed to slits.
 “McGonagall told you that, did she.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, she wouldn't say 
\emph on
anything
\emph default
 to me about Lucius afterwards, except to stay away from him.
 So during the Incident at the Potions Shop, while Professor McGonagall
 was busy yelling at the shopkeeper and trying to get everything under control,
 I grabbed one of the customers and asked 
\emph on
them
\emph default
 about Lucius.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's eyes were wide again.
 “Did you 
\emph on
really?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry gave Draco a puzzled look.
 “If I lied the first time, I'm not going to tell you the truth just because
 you ask twice.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was a certain pause as Draco absorbed this.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're so completely going to be in Slytherin.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'm so completely going to be in Ravenclaw, thank you very much.
 I only want power so I can get books.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco giggled.
 “Yeah, right.
 Anyway… to answer what you asked…” Draco took a deep breath, and his face
 turned serious.
 “Father once missed a Wizengamot vote for me.
 I was on a broom and I fell off and broke a lot of ribs.
 It really hurt.
 I'd never hurt that much before and I thought I was going to die.
 So Father missed this really important vote, because he was there by my
 bed at St.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Mungo's, holding my hands and promising me that I was going to be okay.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry glanced away uncomfortably, then, with an effort, forced himself to
 look back at Draco.
 “Why are you telling me 
\emph on
that?
\emph default
 It seems sort of… private…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco gave Harry a serious look.
 “One of my tutors once said that people form close friendships by knowing
 private things about each other, and the reason most people don't make
 close friends is because they're too embarrassed to share anything really
 important about themselves.” Draco turned his palms out invitingly.
 “Your turn?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Knowing that Draco's hopeful face had probably been drilled into him by
 months of practice did not make it any less effective, Harry observed.
 Actually it 
\emph on
did
\emph default
 make it 
\emph on
less
\emph default
 effective, but unfortunately not 
\emph on
ineffective.

\emph default
 The same could be said of Draco's clever use of reciprocation pressure
 for an unsolicited gift, a technique which Harry had read about in his
 social psychology books (one experiment had shown that an unconditional
 gift of $5 was twice as effective as a conditional offer of $50 in getting
 people to fill out surveys).
 Draco had made an unsolicited gift of a confidence, and now invited Harry
 to offer a confidence in return… and the thing was, Harry 
\emph on
did
\emph default
 feel pressured.
 Refusal, Harry was certain, would be met with a look of sad disappointment,
 and maybe a small amount of contempt indicating that Harry had lost points.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Draco,” Harry said, “just so you know, I recognise exactly what you're
 doing right now.
 My own books called it 
\emph on
reciprocation
\emph default
 and they talk about how giving someone a straight gift of two Sickles was
 found to be twice as effective as offering them twenty Sickles in getting
 them to do what you want…” Harry trailed off.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco was looking sad and disappointed.
 “It's not meant as a trick, Harry.
 It's a real way of becoming friends.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry held up a hand.
 “I didn't say I wasn't going to respond.
 I just need time to pick something that's private but just as non-damaging.
 Let's say… I wanted you to know that I can't be rushed into things.” A pause
 to reflect could go a long way in defusing the power of a lot of compliance
 techniques, once you learned to recognise them for what they were.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All right,” Draco said.
 “I'll wait while you come up with something.
 Oh, and please take off the scarf while you say it.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Simple but effective.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Harry couldn't help but notice how clumsy, awkward, graceless his attempt
 at resisting manipulation / saving face / showing off had appeared compared
 to Draco.
 
\emph on
I need those tutors.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“All right,” Harry said after a time.
 “Here's mine.” He glanced around and then rolled the scarf back up over
 his face, exposing everything but the scar.
 “Um… it sounds like you can really rely on your father.
 I mean… if you talk to him seriously, he'll always listen to you and take
 you seriously.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Sometimes,” Harry said, and swallowed.
 This was surprisingly hard, but then it was meant to be.
 “Sometimes I wish my own Dad was like yours.” Harry's eyes flinched away
 from Draco's face, more or less automatically, and then Harry forced himself
 to look back at Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then it hit Harry 
\emph on
what on Earth he'd just said
\emph default
, and Harry hastily added, “Not that I wish my Dad was a flawless instrument
 of death like Lucius, I only mean taking me seriously 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I understand,” Draco said with a smile.
 “There… now doesn't it feel like we're a little closer to being friends?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded.
 “Yeah.
 It does, actually.
 Um… no offence, but I'm going to put on my disguise again, I 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 don't want to deal with 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I understand.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry rolled the scarf back down over his face.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“My father takes all his friends seriously,” Draco said.
 “That's why he has lots of friends.
 You should meet him.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'll think about it,” Harry said in a neutral voice.
 He shook his head in wonder.
 “So you really are his one weak point.
 Huh.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Now Draco was giving Harry a 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 odd look.
 “You want to go get something to drink and find somewhere to sit down?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry realised he had been standing in one place for too long, and stretched
 himself, trying to crick his back.
 “Sure.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The platform was starting to fill up now, but there was still a quieter
 area on the far side away from the red steam engine.
 Along the way they passed a stall containing a bald, bearded man offering
 newspapers and comic books and stacked neon-green cans.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The stallholder was, in fact, leaning back and drinking out of one of the
 neon-green cans at the exact point when he spotted the refined and elegant
 Draco Malfoy approaching along with a mysterious boy looking incredibly
 stupid with a scarf tied over his face, causing the stallholder to experience
 a sudden coughing fit in mid-drink and dribble a large amount of neon-green
 liquid onto his beard.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“'Scuse me,” Harry said, “but what 
\emph on
is
\emph default
 that stuff, exactly?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Comed-Tea,” said the stallholder.
 “If you drink it, something surprising is bound to happen which makes you
 spill it on yourself or someone else.
 But it's charmed to vanish just a few seconds later 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” Indeed the stain on his beard was already disappearing.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“How droll,” said Draco.
 “How very, very droll.
 Come, Mr.
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bronze, let's go find another 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hold on,” Harry said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Oh come on!
\emph default
 That's just, just 
\emph on
juvenile!
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, I'm sorry Draco, I 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to investigate this.
 What happens if I drink Comed-Tea while doing my best to keep the conversation
 completely serious?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The stallholder smiled mysteriously.
 “Who knows? A friend walks by in a frog costume? Something unexpected is
 bound to happen 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No.
 I'm sorry.
 I just don't believe it.
 That violates my much-abused suspension of disbelief on so many levels
 I don't even have the language to describe it.
 There is, there is just 
\emph on
no way
\emph default
 a bloody 
\emph on
drink
\emph default
 can manipulate reality to produce 
\emph on
comedy setups
\emph default
, or I'm going to give up and retire to the Bahamas 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco groaned.
 “Are we 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 going to do this?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You don't have to drink it but I 
\emph on
have
\emph default
 to investigate.
 
\emph on
Have
\emph default
 to.
 How much?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Five Knuts the can,” the stallholder said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Five Knuts?
\emph default
 You can sell reality-manipulating fizzy drinks for 
\emph on
five Knuts the can?”
\emph default
 Harry reached into his pouch, said “four Sickles, four Knuts”, and slapped
 them down on the counter.
 “Two dozen cans please.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I'll also take one,” Draco sighed, and started to reach for his pockets.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry shook his head rapidly.
 “No, I've got this, doesn't count as a favor either, I want to see if it
 works for you too.” He took a can from the stack now placed on the counter
 and tossed it to Draco, then started feeding his pouch.
 The pouch's Widening Lip ate the cans accompanied by small burping noises,
 which wasn't exactly helping to restore Harry's faith that he would someday
 discover a reasonable explanation for all this.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Twenty-two burps later, Harry had the last purchased can in his hand, Draco
 was looking at him expectantly, and the two of them pulled the ring at
 the same time.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry rolled up his scarf to expose his mouth, and they tilted their heads
 back and drank the Comed-Tea.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It somehow 
\emph on
tasted
\emph default
 bright green 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 extra-fizzy and limer than lime.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Aside from that, nothing else happened.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry looked at the stallholder, who was watching them benevolently.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
All right, if this guy just took advantage of a natural accident to sell
 me twenty-four cans of nothing, I'm going to applaud his creative entrepreneuri
al spirit and then kill him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“It doesn't always happen immediately,” the stallholder said.
 “But it's guaranteed to happen once per can, or your money back.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry took another long drink.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Once again, nothing happened.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Maybe I should just chug the whole thing as fast as possible… and hope my
 stomach doesn't explode from all the carbon dioxide, or that I don't burp
 while drinking it…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
No, he could afford to be a 
\emph on
little
\emph default
 patient.
 But honestly, Harry didn't see how this was going to work.
 You couldn't go up to someone and say “Now I'm going to surprise you” or
 “And now I'm going to tell you the punchline of the joke, and it'll be
 really funny.” It ruined the shock value.
 In Harry's state of mental preparedness, Lucius Malfoy could have walked
 past in a ballerina outfit and it wouldn't have made him do a proper spit-take.
 Just what sort of wacky shenanigan was the universe supposed to cough up
 
\emph on
now?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Anyway, let's sit down,” Harry said.
 He prepared to swig another drink and started towards the distant seating
 area, which put him at the right angle to glance back and see the portion
 of the stall's newspaper stand that was devoted to a newspaper called 
\emph on
The Quibbler
\emph default
, which was showing the following headline:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
\align center

\emph on
BOY-WHO-LIVED GETS
\begin_inset Newline newline
\end_inset

 DRACO MALFOY PREGNANT
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
Gah!
\emph default
” screamed Draco as bright green liquid sprayed all over him from Harry's
 direction.
 Draco turned to Harry with fire in his eyes and grabbed his own can.
 “You son of a mudblood! Let's see how 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 like being spat upon!” Draco took a deliberate swig from the can just as
 his own eyes caught sight of the headline.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In sheer reflex action, Harry tried to block his face as the spray of liquid
 flew in his direction.
 Unfortunately he blocked using the hand containing the Comed-Tea, sending
 the rest of the green liquid to splash out over his shoulder.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stared at the can in his hand even as he went on choking and spluttering
 and the green colour started to vanish from Draco's robes.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then he looked up and stared at the newspaper headline.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
\align center

\emph on
BOY-WHO-LIVED GETS
\begin_inset Newline newline
\end_inset

 DRACO MALFOY PREGNANT
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry's lips opened and said, “buh-bluh-buh-buh…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Too many competing objections, that was the problem.
 Every time Harry tried to say “But we're only eleven!” the objection “But
 men can't get pregnant!” demanded first priority and was then run over
 by “But there's nothing between us, really!”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Then Harry looked down at the can in his hand again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
He was feeling a deep-seated desire to run away screaming at the top of
 his lungs until he dropped from lack of oxygen, and the only thing stopping
 him was that he had once read that outright panic was the sign of a 
\emph on
truly
\emph default
 important scientific problem.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry snarled, threw the can violently into a nearby rubbish bin, and stalked
 back over to the stall.
 “One copy of 
\emph on
The Quibbler,
\emph default
 please.” Harry paid over four more Knuts, retrieved another can of Comed-Tea
 from his pouch, and then stalked over to the picnic area with the blond-haired
 boy, who was staring at his own can with an expression of frank admiration.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I take it back,” Draco said, “that was pretty good.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hey, Draco, you know what I bet is even better for becoming friends than
 exchanging secrets? Committing murder.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I have a tutor who says that,” Draco allowed.
 He reached inside his robes and scratched himself with an easy, natural
 motion.
 “Who've you got in mind?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry slammed 
\emph on
The Quibbler
\emph default
 down hard on the picnic table.
 “The guy who came up with this headline.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco groaned.
 “Not a guy.
 A girl.
 A 
\emph on
ten-year-old
\emph default
 girl, can you believe it? She went nuts after her mother died and her father,
 who owns this newspaper, is 
\emph on
convinced
\emph default
 that she's a seer, so when he doesn't know he asks Luna Lovegood and believes
 
\emph on
anything
\emph default
 she says.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Not really thinking about it, Harry pulled the ring on his next can of Comed-Tea
 and prepared to drink.
 “Are you kidding me? That's even worse than Muggle journalism, which I
 would have thought was physically impossible.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco snarled.
 “She has some sort of perverse obsession about the Malfoys, too, and her
 father is politically opposed to us so he prints every word.
 As soon as I'm old enough I'm going to rape her.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Green liquid spurted out of Harry's nostrils, soaking into the scarf still
 covering that area.
 Comed-Tea and lungs did not mix, and Harry spent the next few seconds frantical
ly coughing.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco looked at him sharply.
 “Something wrong?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It was at this point that Harry came to the sudden realisation that (a)
 the sounds coming from the rest of the train platform had turned into more
 of a blurred white noise at around the same time Draco had reached inside
 his robes, and (b) when he had discussed committing murder as a bonding
 method, there had been exactly one person in the conversation who'd thought
 they were joking.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Right.
 Because he
\emph default
 seemed 
\emph on
like such a normal kid.
 And he
\emph default
 is 
\emph on
a normal kid, he is just what you'd
\emph default
 expect 
\emph on
a baseline male child to be like if Darth Vader were his doting father.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yes, well,” Harry coughed, oh god how was he going to get out of this conversat
ional wedge, “I was just surprised at how you were willing to discuss it
 so openly, you didn't seem worried about getting caught or anything.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco snorted.
 “Are you joking? 
\emph on
Luna Lovegood's
\emph default
 word against mine?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Holy crap on a holy stick.
 “There's no such thing as magical truth detection, I take it?” 
\emph on
Or DNA testing… yet.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco looked around.
 His eyes narrowed.
 “That's right, you don't know anything.
 Look, I'll explain things to you, I mean the way it really works, just
 like you were already in Slytherin and asked me the same question.
 But you've got to swear not to say anything about it.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I swear,” Harry said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“The courts use Veritaserum, but it's a joke really, you just get yourself
 Obliviated before you testify and then claim the other person was Memory-Charme
d with a fake memory.
 Of course if you're just some normal person, the courts presume in favor
 of Obliviation, not False Memory Charms.
 But the court has discretion, and if 
\emph on
I'm
\emph default
 involved then it impinges on the honor of a Noble House, so it goes to
 the Wizengamot, where Father has the votes.
 After I'm found not guilty the Lovegood family has to pay reparations for
 tarnishing my honor.
 And they know from the start that's how it'll go, so they'll just keep
 their mouths shut.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A cold chill was coming over Harry, a chill that came with instructions
 to keep his voice and face normal.
 
\emph on
Note to self: Overthrow government of magical Britain at earliest convenience.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry coughed again to clear his throat.
 “Draco, please please 
\emph on
please
\emph default
 don't take this the wrong way, my word is my bond, but like you said I
 could be in Slytherin and I really want to ask for informational purposes,
 so what would happen 
\emph on
theoretically speaking
\emph default
 if I 
\emph on
did
\emph default
 testify that I'd heard you plan it?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Then if I was anyone other than a Malfoy, I'd be in trouble,” Draco answered
 smugly.
 “Since I 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 a Malfoy… Father has the votes.
 And afterwards he'd crush you… well, I guess not easily, since you 
\emph on
are
\emph default
 the Boy-Who-Lived, but Father is pretty good at that sort of thing.” Draco
 frowned.
 “'Sides, 
\emph on
you
\emph default
 talked about murdering her, why weren't you worried about 
\emph on
me
\emph default
 testifying after she turns up dead?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
How, oh how did my day go this wrong?
\emph default
 Harry's mouth was already moving faster than he could think.
 “That's when I thought she was 
\emph on
older!
\emph default
 I don't know how it works 
\emph on
here
\emph default
, but in Muggle Britain the courts would get a lot more upset about someone
 killing a child 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That makes sense,” Draco said, still looking a bit suspicious.
 “But anyway, it's always smarter if it doesn't go to the Aurors at all.
 If we're careful only to do things that Healing Charms can fix, we can
 just Obliviate her afterwards and then do it all again next week.” Then
 the blonde-haired boy giggled, a youthful high-pitched sound.
 “Though just imagine her saying she'd been done by Draco Malfoy 
\emph on
and
\emph default
 the Boy-Who-Lived, not even 
\emph on
Dumbledore
\emph default
 would believe her.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
I am going to tear apart your pathetic little magical remnant of the Dark
 Ages into pieces smaller than its constituent atoms.
 “
\emph default
Actually, can we hold off on that? After I found out that headline came
 from a girl a year younger than me, I had a different thought for my revenge.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Huh? Do tell,” Draco said, and started to take another swig of his Comed-Tea.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry didn't know if the enchantment worked more than once per can, but
 he 
\emph on
did
\emph default
 know he could avoid the blame, so he was careful to time it exactly right:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I was thinking 
\emph on
someday I'm going to marry that woman.
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco made a horrid ker-splutching sound and leaked green fluid out the
 corners of his mouth like a broken car radiator.
 “
\emph on
Are you nuts?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Quite the opposite, I'm so sane it burns like ice.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You've got weirder taste than a Lestrange,” Draco said, sounding half-ad\SpecialChar \-
miring
 about it.
 “And I suppose you want her all to yourself, huh?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Yep.
 I can owe you a favor for it 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco waved it off.
 “Nah, this one's free.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry stared down at the can in his hand, the coldness settling into his
 blood.
 Charming, happy, generous with his favors to his friends, Draco wasn't
 a psychopath.
 That was the sad and awful part, knowing human psychology well enough to
 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 that Draco 
\emph on
wasn't
\emph default
 a monster.
 There had been ten thousand societies over the history of the world where
 this conversation could have happened.
 No, the world would have been a very different place indeed, if it took
 an 
\emph on
evil
\emph default
 
\emph on
mutant
\emph default
 to say what Draco had said.
 It was very simple, very human, it was the default if nothing else intervened.
 To Draco, his enemies weren't people.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And in the slowed time of this slowed country, here and now as in the dark\SpecialChar \-
ness-b
efore-dawn prior to the Age of Reason, the son of a sufficiently powerful
 noble would simply take for granted that he was above the law, at least
 when it came to some peasant girl.
 There were places in Muggle-land where it was still the same way, countries
 where that sort of nobility still existed and still thought like that,
 or even grimmer lands where it wasn't just the nobility.
 It was like that in every place and time that didn't descend directly from
 the Enlightenment.
 A line of descent, it seemed, which didn't quite include magical Britain,
 for all that there had been cross-cultural contamination of things like
 ring-pull drinks cans.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
And if Draco doesn't change his mind about wanting revenge, and I don't
 throw away my own chance at happiness in life to marry some poor crazy
 girl, then all I've just bought is time, and not too much of it…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
For one girl.
 Not for others.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
I wonder how difficult it would be to just make a list of all the top blood
 purists and kill them.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
They'd tried exactly that during the French Revolution, more or less 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 make a list of all the enemies of Progress and remove everything above
 the neck 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and it hadn't worked out well from what Harry recalled.
 Maybe he needed to dust off some of those history books his father had
 bought him, and see if what had gone wrong with the French Revolution was
 something easy to fix.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry gazed up at the sky, and at the pale shape of the Moon, visible this
 morning through the cloudless air.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
So the world is broken and flawed and insane, and cruel and bloody and dark.
 This is news? You always knew that, anyway…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're looking all serious,” Draco said.
 “Let me guess, your Muggle parents told you that this sort of thing was
 bad.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded, not quite trusting his voice.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Well, like Father says, there may be four houses, but in the end everyone
 belongs to either Slytherin or Hufflepuff.
 And frankly, you're not on the Hufflepuff end.
 If you decide to side with the Malfoys under the table… our power and your
 reputation… you could get away with things even 
\emph on
I
\emph default
 can't do.
 Want to 
\emph on
try
\emph default
 it for a while? See what it's like?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Aren't we a clever little serpent.
 Eleven years old and already coaxing your prey from hiding…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry thought, considered, chose his weapon.
 “Draco, you want to explain the whole blood purity thing to me? I'm sort
 of new.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
A wide smile crossed Draco's face.
 “You really should meet Father and ask 
\emph on
him
\emph default
, you know, he's our leader.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Give me the thirty-second version.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Okay,” Draco said.
 He drew in a deep breath, and his voice grew slightly lower, and took on
 a cadence.
 “Our powers have grown weaker, generation by generation, as the mudblood
 taint increases.
 Where Salazar and Godric and Rowena and Helga once raised Hogwarts by their
 power, creating the Locket and the Sword and the Diadem and the Cup, no
 wizard of these faded days has risen to rival them.
 We are fading, all fading into Muggles as we interbreed with their spawn
 and allow our Squibs to live.
 If the taint is not checked, soon our wands will break and all our arts
 cease, the line of Merlin will end and the blood of Atlantis fail.
 Our children will be left scratching at the dirt to survive like the mere
 Muggles, and darkness will cover all the world for ever.” Draco took another
 swig from his drinks can, looking satisfied; that seemed to be the whole
 argument as far as he was concerned.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Persuasive,” Harry said, meaning it descriptively rather than normatively.
 It was a standard pattern: The Fall from Grace, the need to guard what
 purity remained against contamination, the past sloping upwards and the
 future sloping only down.
 And that pattern also had its 
\emph on
counter
\emph default
… “I have to correct you on one point of fact, though.
 Your information about the Muggles is a bit out of date.
 We aren't exactly scratching at the dirt anymore.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's head snapped around.
 “
\emph on
What?
\emph default
 What do you mean, 
\emph on
we?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“We.
 The scientists.
 The line of Francis Bacon and the blood of the Enlightenment.
 Muggles didn't just sit around crying about not having wands, we have our
 
\emph on
own
\emph default
 powers now, with or without magic.
 If all your powers fail then we will all have lost something very precious,
 because your magic is the only hint we have as to how the universe must
 
\emph on
really
\emph default
 work 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 but you won't be left scratching at the ground.
 Your houses will still be cool in summer and warm in winter, there will
 still be doctors and medicine.
 Science can keep you alive if magic fails.
 It'd be a tragedy, but not literally the end of all the light in the world.
 Just saying.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco had backed up several feet and his face was full of mixed fear and
 disbelief.
 “
\emph on
What in the name of Merlin are you talking about, Potter?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hey, I listened to 
\emph on
your
\emph default
 story, won't you listen to mine?” 
\emph on
Clumsy,
\emph default
 Harry chid\SpecialChar \-
ed himself, but Draco actually did stop backing off and seem
 to listen.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Anyway,” Harry said, “I'm saying that you don't seem to have been paying
 much attention to what goes on in the Muggle world.” Probably because the
 whole wizarding world seemed to regard the rest of Earth as a slum, deserving
 around as much news coverage as the 
\emph on
Financial Times
\emph default
 awarded to the routine agonies of Burundi.
 “All right.
 Quick check.
 Have wizards ever been to the Moon? You know, that thing?” Harry pointed
 up to that huge and distant globe.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
What?
\emph default
” Draco said.
 It was pretty clear the thought had never occured to the boy.
 “
\emph on
Go
\emph default
 to the 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 it's just a 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

” His finger pointed at the little pale thingy in the sky.
 “You can't Apparate to somewhere you've never 
\emph on
been
\emph default
 and how would anyone get to the Moon in the 
\emph on
first
\emph default
 place?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hold on,” Harry said to Draco, “I'd like to show you a book I brought with
 me, I think I remember what box it's in.” And Harry stood up and kneeled
 down and yanked out the stairs to the cavern level of his trunk, then tore
 down the stairs and heaved a box off another box, coming perilously close
 to treating his books with disrespect, and snatched off the box cover and
 quickly but carefully pried out a stack of books 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
(Harry had inherited the nigh-magical Verres ability to remember where all
 his books were, even after seeing them just once, which was rather mysterious
 considering the lack of any genetic connection.)
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And Harry raced back up the stairs and shoved the staircase back into the
 trunk with his heel, and, panting, turned the pages of the book until he
 found the picture he wanted to show to Draco.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The one with the white, dry, cratered land, and the suited people, and the
 blue-white globe hanging over it all.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
That picture.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
The
\emph default
 picture, if only one picture in all the world were to survive.
\begin_inset Float figure
placement tbh
wide false
sideways false
status collapsed

\begin_layout Plain Layout
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename 007-harry_draco_hogwarts_express_by_dinosaurusgede.png
	lyxscale 30

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Plain Layout
\align center
\begin_inset Box Frameless
position "t"
hor_pos "c"
has_inner_box 1
inner_pos "t"
use_parbox 0
use_makebox 0
width "80col%"
special "none"
height "1in"
height_special "totalheight"
status collapsed

\begin_layout Plain Layout

\size small
That picture.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Plain Layout

\size small
\emph on
The
\emph default
 picture, if only one picture in all the world were to survive.
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“
\emph on
That
\emph default
,” Harry said, his voice trembling because he couldn't quite keep the pride
 out, “is what the Earth looks like from the Moon.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco slowly leaned over.
 There was a strange expression on his young face.
 “If that's a 
\emph on
real
\emph default
 picture, why isn't it moving?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Moving?
\emph default
 Oh.
 “Muggles can do moving pictures but they need a bigger box to show it,
 they can't fit them onto single book pages yet.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's finger moved to one of the suits.
 “What are those?” His voice starting to waver.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Those are human beings.
 They are wearing suits that cover their whole bodies to give them air,
 because there is no air on the Moon.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“That's impossible,” Draco whispered.
 There was terror in his eyes, and utter confusion.
 “No Muggle could ever do that.
 
\emph on
How…
\emph default
“
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry took back the book, flipped the pages until he found what he saw.
 “This is a rocket going up.
 The fire pushes it higher and higher, until it gets to the Moon.” Flipped
 pages again.
 “This is a rocket on the ground.
 That tiny speck next to it is a person.” Draco gasped.
 “Going to the Moon cost the equivalent of… probably around a thousand million
 Galleons.” Draco choked.
 “And it took the efforts of… probably more people than live in all of magical
 Britain.” 
\emph on
And when they arrived, they left a plaque that said, `We came in peace,
 for all mankind.' Though you're not yet ready to hear those words, Draco
 Malfoy…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“You're telling the truth,” Draco said slowly.
 “You wouldn't fake a whole book just for this 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and I can hear it in your voice.
 But… but…”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“How, without wands or magic? It's a long story, Draco.
 Science doesn't work by waving wands and chanting spells, it works by knowing
 how the universe works on such a deep level that you know exactly what
 to do in order to make the universe do what you want.
 If magic is like casting 
\emph on
Imperio
\emph default
 on someone to make them do what you want, then science is like knowing
 them so well that you can convince them it was their own idea all along.
 It's a lot more difficult than waving a wand, but it works when wands fail,
 just like if the 
\emph on
Imperius
\emph default
 failed you could still try persuading a person.
 And Science builds from generation to generation.
 You have to really 
\emph on
know
\emph default
 what you're doing to do science 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 and when you really understand something, you can explain it to someone
 else.
 The greatest scientists of one century ago, the brightest names that are
 still spoken with reverence, their powers are as 
\emph on
nothing
\emph default
 to the greatest scientists of today.
 There is no equivalent in science of your lost arts that raised Hogwarts.
 In science our powers wax by the year.
 And we are beginning to understand and unravel the secrets of life and
 inheritance.
 We'll be able to look at the very blood of which you spoke, and see what
 makes you a wizard, and in one or two more generations, we'll be able to
 persuade that blood to make all your children powerful wizards too.
 So you see, your problem isn't nearly as bad as it looks, because in a
 few more decades, science will be able to solve it for you.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“But…” Draco said.
 His voice was trembling.
 “If 
\emph on
Muggles
\emph default
 have that kind of power… then… what are 
\emph on
we?
\emph default
”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“No, Draco, that's not it, don't you see? Science taps the power of human
 understanding to look at the world and figure out how it works.
 It can't fail without humanity itself failing.
 Your magic could turn off, and you would hate that, but you would still
 be 
\emph on
you
\emph default
.
 You would still be alive to regret it.
 But because science rests upon my human intelligence, it is the power that
 cannot be removed from me without removing 
\emph on
me.

\emph default
 Even if the laws of the universe change on me, so that all my knowledge
 is void, I'll just figure out the new laws, as has been done before.
 It's not a 
\emph on
Muggle
\emph default
 thing, it's a 
\emph on
human
\emph default
 thing, it just refines and trains the power you use every time you look
 at something you don't understand and ask `Why?' You're of Slytherin, Draco,
 don't you see the implication?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco looked up from the book to Harry.
 His face showed dawning understanding.
 “Wizards can learn to use this power.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Very carefully, now… the bait is set, now the hook… “If you can learn to
 think of yourself as a 
\emph on
human
\emph default
 instead of a 
\emph on
wizard
\emph default
 then you can train and refine your powers as a human.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And if 
\emph on
that
\emph default
 instruction wasn't in 
\emph on
every
\emph default
 science curriculum, Draco didn't need to know it, did he?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco's eyes were now thoughtful.
 “You've… already done this?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“To some extent,” Harry allowed.
 “My training isn't complete.
 Not at eleven.
 But 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

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--
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\end_inset

 my father 
\emph on
also
\emph default
 bought me tutors, you see.” Sure, they'd been starving grad students, and
 it had only been because Harry slept on a 26-hour cycle, but leave all
 that aside for now…
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Slowly, Draco nodded.
 “You think you can master 
\emph on
both
\emph default
 arts, add the powers together, and…” Draco stared at Harry.
 “Make yourself Lord of the two worlds?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry gave an evil laugh, it just seemed to come naturally at that point.
 “You have to realise, Draco, that the whole world you know, all of magical
 Britain, is just one square on a much larger gameboard.
 The gameboard that includes places like the Moon, and the stars in the
 night sky, which are lights just like the Sun only unimaginably far away,
 and things like galaxies that are vastly huger than the Earth and Sun,
 things so large that only scientists can see them and you don't even know
 they exist.
 But I really 
\emph on
am
\emph default
 Ravenclaw, you know, not Slytherin.
 I don't want to rule the universe.
 I just think it could be more sensibly organised.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
There was awe on Draco's face.
 “Why are you telling 
\emph on
me
\emph default
 this?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Oh… there aren't many people who know how to do 
\emph on
true
\emph default
 science 
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 understanding something for the very first time, even if it confuses the
 hell out of you.
 Help would be helpful.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco stared at Harry with his mouth open.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“But make no mistake, Draco, true science really 
\emph on
isn't
\emph default
 like magic, you can't just do it and walk away unchanged like learning
 how to say the words of a new spell.
 The power comes with a cost, a cost so high that most people refuse to
 pay it.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco nodded at this as though, finally, he'd heard something he could understan
d.
 “And that cost?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Learning to admit you're wrong.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Um,” Draco said after the dramatic pause had stretched on for a while.
 “You going to explain that?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Trying to figure out how something works on that deep level, the first
 ninety-nine explanations you come up with are wrong.
 The hundredth is right.
 So you have to learn how to admit you're wrong, over and over and over
 again.
 It doesn't sound like much, but it's so hard that most people can't do
 science.
 Always questioning yourself, always taking another look at things you've
 always taken for granted,” like having a Snitch in Quidditch, “and every
 time you change your mind, you change yourself.
 But I'm getting way ahead of myself here.
 Way ahead of myself.
 I just want you to know… I'm offering to share some of my knowledge.
 If you want.
 There's just one condition.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Uh huh,” Draco said.
 “You know, Father says that when someone says that to you, it is never
 a good sign, ever.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry nodded.
 “Now, don't mistake me and think that I'm trying to drive a wedge between
 you and your father.
 It's not about that.
 It's just about me wanting to deal with someone my own age, rather than
 having this be between me and Lucius.
 I think your father would be okay with that too, he knows you have to grow
 up sometime.
 But your moves in our game have to be your own.
 That's my condition 
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset

 that I'm dealing with you, Draco, not your father.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“I've got to go,” Draco said.
 He stood up.
 “I've got to go off and think about this.”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Take your time,” Harry said.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
The sounds of the train platform changed from blurs into murmurs as Draco
 wandered off.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Harry slowly exhaled the air he'd been holding in without quite realising
 it, and then looked at the watch on his wrist, a simple mechanical model
 that his father had bought him in hope it would work in magic's presence.
 The second-hand was still ticking, and if the minute hand was right, then
 it wasn't quite eleven just yet.
 He probably ought to get on the train soon and start looking for whatsherface,
 but it seemed worth taking a few minutes first to do some breathing exercises
 and see if his blood warmed up again.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
But when Harry looked up from his watch, he saw two figures approaching,
 looking utterly ridiculous with their faces cloaked by winter scarves.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
“Hello, Mr.
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
 
\end_layout

\end_inset

Bronze,” said one of the masked figures.
 “Can we interest you in joining the Order of Chaos?”
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote
\align center
\begin_inset Graphics
	filename fleur.png
	scale 50

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Aftermath:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Not too long after that, when all that day's fuss had finally subsided,
 Draco was bent over a desk with quill in hand.
 He had a private room in the Slytherin dungeons, with its own desk and
 its own fire 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 sadly not even 
\emph on
he
\emph default
 rated a connection to the Floo system, but at least Slytherin didn't buy
 into that utter nonsense about making 
\emph on
everyone
\emph default
 sleep in dorms.
 There weren't many private rooms, you had to be the 
\emph on
very
\emph default
 best within the House of the better sort, but that could be taken for granted
 with the House of Malfoy.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\emph on
Dear Father,
\emph default
 Draco wrote.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And then he stopped.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Ink slowly dripped from his quill, staining the parchment near the words.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco wasn't stupid.
 He was young, but his tutors had trained him well.
 Draco knew that Potter probably felt a lot more sympathy towards Dumbledore's
 faction than Potter was letting on… though Draco did think Potter could
 be tempted.
 But it was crystal clear that Potter was trying to tempt Draco just as
 Draco was trying to tempt him.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
And it was also clear that Potter was brilliant, and a whole lot more than
 just slightly mad, and playing a vast game that Potter himself mostly didn't
 understand, improvised at top speed with the subtlety of a rampaging nundu.
 But Potter had managed to choose a tactic that Draco couldn't just walk
 away from.
 He had offered Draco a part of his own power, gambling that Draco couldn't
 use it without becoming more like him.
 His father had called this an advanced technique, and had warned Draco
 that it often didn't work.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco knew he hadn't understood everything that had happened… but Potter
 had offered 
\emph on
him
\emph default
 the chance to play and right now it was 
\emph on
his.

\emph default
 And if he blurted the whole thing out, it would become Father's.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
In the end it was as simple as that.
 The lesser techniques require the unawareness of the target, or at least
 their uncertainty.
 Flattery has to be plausibly disguised as admiration.
 (“You should have been in Slytherin” is an old classic, highly effective
 on a certain type of person who isn't expecting it, and if it works you
 can repeat it.) But when you find someone's ultimate lever it doesn't matter
 if they know you know.
 Potter, in his mad rush, had guessed a key to Draco's soul.
 And if Draco knew that Potter knew it 
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status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset

 even if it had been an obvious sort of guess 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
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\end_inset

 that didn't change anything.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
So now, for the first time in his life, he had real secrets to keep.
 He was playing his own game.
 There was an obscure pain to it, but he knew that Father would be proud,
 and that made it all right.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Leaving the ink drippings in place 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 there was a message there, and one that his father would understand, for
 they had played the game of subtleties more than once 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

--
\end_layout

\end_inset

 Draco wrote out the one question that really had gnawed at him about the
 whole affair, the part that it seemed he 
\emph on
ought
\emph default
 to understand, but he didn't, not at all.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote

\emph on
Dear Father:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote

\emph on
Suppose I told you that I met a student at Hogwarts, not already part of
 our circle of acquaintances, who called you a `flawless instrument of death'
 and said that I was your `one weak point'.
 What would you say about him?
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
It didn't take long after that for the family owl to bring the reply.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote

\emph on
My beloved son:
\end_layout

\begin_layout Quote

\emph on
I would say that you had been so fortunate as to meet someone who enjoys
 the intimate confidence of our friend and valuable ally, Severus Snape.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Draco stared at the letter for a while, and finally threw it into the fire.
\end_layout

\end_body
\end_document