"Oh, yes," drawled Snape.
For once, Hermione was a little slow to catch on. First time for everything, Harry thought with a snigger.
"Who, then?"
Draco put his quill down and stared at Hermione, just stared.
Even then, it took her a second more. "Oh, Professor Snape?"
"No, the goat in the Hog's Head!" Draco glared at her. "What's the matter? Don't you think Severus has any ethics?"
"I didn't mean that. I just didn't think he'd ever stop teaching Potions."
"And so I shan't, Miss Granger." Snape stacked his parchments. "It will be a busy year for all concerned."
"Has there been a N.E.W.T. established for ethics, sir?"
Standing, Snape looked down the length of his nose at her. "No, and that's about the only sensible thing the Ministry has done this year, with regard to examinations."
As he stalked off to his bedroom, robes billowing out behind him, Hermione cast a confused glance around. "Did I say something?"
Draco gave his nails a critical glance. "Apart from accusing him of having no sense of morality, you mean?"
"I did not say that!"
Draco laughed, then. "No, you didn't. I was having you on. Though for a moment there you did look like you thought Severus the last person in the world who would be qualified to teach ethics--"
"I just meant that I didn't think he'd leave Potions for it!"
"For someone so clever, she doesn't know what having her on means, does she?" Draco asked Harry.
Hermione laughed too, then, and when Draco grinned at her, she grinned back.
Good to see the two of them getting on, Harry thought. Finally, really getting on, like they were friendly acquaintances, instead of just two people who had decided to avoid fighting because it was bad to have a war zone in your own ranks.
"Well, I'll go get ready. Back in a bit." Draco was almost whistling as he spun on his heel and strolled into his bedroom.
Hermione waited until he'd closed the door, and then turned an astonished gaze on Harry. "Wow. I don't think I've ever seen Draco looking so happy. Well, maybe after Slytherin won the Cup, but when that happened I don't remember thinking that a smile on his face made him seem like a completely different person."
"You want to talk different person? He's practicing chatting up Muggles, now, every chance he gets. And what's more, most of them find him absolutely charming."
Hermione grinned again, then, her eyes sparkling. "I can't wait to meet this Rhiannon. She sounds like she's going to be very, very good for him."
"Whatever you said to him was that. As for Rhiannon . . ." Harry sighed. He didn't want to ruin their evening out the way Draco had ruined the dinner with Dudley, but he did miss having Hermione to talk with. He fetched Sals out of his pocket. "Let's go get her a little sun."
By the time they'd reached the far end of the property, Hermione's eyes were narrowed. She'd obviously read between the lines. "You don't approve of Draco's girlfriend?"
"I didn't say that, exactly."
"Harry, how can you disagree with anything that helps your brother so much? Does she rub you the wrong way, something like that?"
"No, she's really nice. Though she might consider getting to work on time once in a while," added Harry. "It's just, well, you know what happened last year. Don't you think it's a little soon for him to jump back into the water?"
"Interesting analogy."
"Don't you?"
Hermione sighed. "How should I know? All I can say is that if it's good while it lasts, and it's good for him, then you can't ask for much more."
"It's not going to end well. I can tell," Harry insisted. "I knew Pansy was up to no good with those letters, I just knew it, and--"
"You're saying Rhiannon is up to no good, as well?"
"No," said Harry, blowing out a breath. "But, she's not in love with Draco the way he's in love with her, I don't think."
Hermione gave him what looked like a very sympathetic smile. "Oh, Harry. I know you don't want Draco to get hurt, but don't you see? If everybody waited until it was safe to fall in love, nobody would ever fall in love at all."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, I know."
Hermione rubbed her hands together as if dismissing that topic. "So, where are we going, then? Draco's letter didn't really say. I hope I'm dressed all right for it."
Harry glanced at her, shrugging. Her light blue dress might be just a little bit . . . well, dressy, but not so much that anybody would probably notice. "Rhiannon's going to cook dinner for us at her house. Her uncle's supposed to be out at some kind of meeting, and we thought we could talk freely, you know . . . better than at a restaurant. But first, Draco wants us to go out and pick a video to rent."
"A video." Hermione goggled, just a little. "Draco."
"Yeah, he got his first glimpse of a telly this week and he went mad for it. Oh, but make sure you tell him at some point that there's no need to get a video, because you're sure there's already lots to watch on all those channels."
Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason for saying that?"
"Private joke."
Hermione just shook her head. "You two really are brothers."
"You have so many?"
"Believe me, I see plenty of that having dinner at the Burrow."
Harry plucked Sals off the stone wall where she'd been slithering and asked the question that had been preying on his mind all week. "About that mirror book Viktor sent you. How's your Bulgarian translation coming along?"
"Slowly." Hermione sighed. "The translation rod's harder to use than I thought. It only does one line at a time, which doesn't work so well when the sentence is longer than that. Word order gets a bit wonky. I am getting through it, though. I'll owl you as soon as I see anything I think might help you get that mirror working again."
Harry tried not to let his disappointment show. Probably, the Mirror of All Souls was beyond repair. Probably? Hell, definitely. Dumbledore himself had tried and failed. Harry sighed, leaning heavily on the low stone wall marking the edge of the property. Seeing his parents again, talking to them this time, maybe, it shouldn't mean so much to him. He knew it shouldn't. He had Snape, now, and Draco, and even Dudley; he had what he'd always longed for. A family who really cared about him, made up of people who would stand by him, no matter what. Or maybe more importantly, made up of people whom he could love.
What was a reflection in a mirror, compared to all that?
Draco was right, Harry glumly told himself. He shouldn't need anybody else. His parents were gone; he knew that. Seeing them in the Mirror of Erised hadn't changed it, and seeing them in the Mirror of All Souls wouldn't, either. Even if he could find a way to repair it . . . which he obviously couldn't.
Most likely, he should forget the whole idea and stop wanting things he couldn't have. It ought to be easy for him, really. It wasn't so different from his old stance, was it?
I don't ask for things I won't get, he remembered telling Snape.
Trouble was, he'd got over that, some at least. He had someone he could ask, now. For anything, really. Help, advice . . . swimming lessons. Harry smiled, a little wryly.
"Harry?"
Dragging his thoughts back to the present, Harry tried to remember what else he'd meant to tell Hermione. Rhiannon . . . something about Rhiannon . . . Oh, right. "Draco says his girlfriend really wants to talk to more people with magic, she's apparently fascinated with it, but there are some things you'd better not say in front of her--"
"Well, I wasn't planning to start listing off members of the Order!"
"I know you won't talk about war. I mean, how could she ever begin to understand it? The thing is, though, she can't stand the word Muggle. She thinks it's some kind of slur."
Hermione's gaze grew sharp. "Not too surprising, seeing as she heard it first from Draco." She held up a hand when Harry would have interrupted. "But I understand he's not quite in that same mindset, now. So . . . what is your father going to do tonight, all alone in the house?"