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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 23
- 24
- 25
Chapter 24 – Back to Life

1 January

“Do you have everything packed?”

“Yes, I just put the shrinking charm on my trunk.”

“Great, Mother and Father are waiting for us. Let’s go.”

“Draco wait.”

“What is it?” He asked his tone concerned. The desperation in her voice didn’t sound very good to his ears and he hoped that she wasn’t about to make a retraction on the offer she made last night. He didn’t think his libido could take it.

She turned from him, picked up a small square box from the side table, and turned back to him. She held the box out to him.

“I need to give this back to you. I know you would never return it so I’d like you to keep it safe for a more appropriate time.”

Draco didn’t expect her to give him the necklace back. Well he did, but he didn’t expect to hear desperation in her voice when she did. Slowly he reached out and took the box from her.

“You know all you have to do is ask if you want to wear it again, right?”

She stepped up to him and wrapped him in a hug. “Thank you for understanding.”

“I told you it was alright if you wanted to give it back to me for a while, didn’t I? I know you and I know that you would never accept a gift like this for long.”

“I just didn’t want you to think that I was ungrateful or anything. I love the necklace but like I said, it’s far too expensive for me to be able to keep it and not feel like a gold digger.”

Draco laughed at her expression.

“What’s so funny?”

“Just something you said. You compared yourself to a gold digger of all things! Sweetheart, you are the furthest thing from a gold digger. I’ll admit that Father wasn’t too sure about the necklace idea at the start, he was afraid that you would become a gold digger at the sight of an expensive gift but you proved him wrong. My parents have had a few discussions with me that I didn’t think would end well but they did. They really do like you. When they overheard you telling me that we have to set a spending limit for each other well, that pretty much sealed the deal. And by the way, you can set spending limits all you want but I won’t abide by them.”

“Draco, you need to. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on me. I am quite happy with you alone.”

“Yes, well, as much as that pleases me, it also pleases me to buy things for you because I know you don’t expect them. It makes it much more fun.”

“What am I going to do with you?” She asked, shaking her head in frustration.

“Anything you want Sweetheart, anything you want.”

Playfully, she slapped his chest and grabbed his hand.

“Come on, you need to put that away so we can head down to meet your parents.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lucius and Narcissa escorted Draco and Ashleigh to the train station. They apparated onto Platform 9 ¾, Ashleigh going side along with Draco. They had about fifteen minutes before the train departed when they arrived on the crowded platform.

“Well dears, I hope you enjoy the rest of your school year. We have to be off; we have other engagements we must attend this morning.” Narcissa said giving Draco a swift hug.

“I must say it was wonderful to meet you Ashleigh. I hope you will come to visit us this summer, you’d be welcome to stay for a bit as well.”

“Thank you. It was nice to meet you and Mr. Malfoy as well.” Ashleigh replied as Narcissa gave her a hug that lasted a tad bit longer than Draco’s.

When Narcissa released her, she turned to shake Lucius’ hand.

“It was a pleasure; I do hope to be seeing you again.”

“You will Father, if there’s anything I can say about it.”

Blushingly, Ashleigh softly nudged Draco in the ribs.

“You best get on the train. We’ll see you in a few months.”

Ashleigh and Draco waved their goodbyes and boarded the train, finding an empty compartment quickly as most of the students were still out talking to their parents and searching for their friends. At five of eleven Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione joined them.

Harry immediately sat down next to Ashleigh and put his arms around her in a hug.

“Missed you.”

Laughing, Ashleigh hugged him back. “I missed you too, Harry. How was the rest of your holiday?”

“It was great as usual. Very relaxing, well unless you count the times Hermione made us do homework and revise.”

“I wouldn’t be complaining if I were you Harry James Potter! You’d never get through N.E.W.T.s if I weren’t there to push you!” Hermione admonished.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He replied with a smile. “So, how was the rest of your holiday?”

“It was amazing; I wish it didn’t have to end.”

“Well at least we know one thing good came from this past week.” Draco interrupted.

“Oh, and what’s that?” Ashleigh asked, as if she didn’t know.

“My parents are absolutely smitten with Ashleigh. And that she has extremely good taste in cloak clasps.” Draco added that last sentence as an afterthought.

“Oh! Did she get you the one you’re wearing?” Ginny asked, admiring the silver dragon with its emerald eyes.

“Yes, the perfect Christmas present I might add.”

Ashleigh smiled at him with a great amount of affection. It had taken her forever to find something appropriate for Draco. She hadn’t known him all that long to know what he would and wouldn’t like so she was extremely happy that he seemed to sincerely like her gift.

“Well it’s beautiful and it just about screams ‘Draco’!”

“So Ashleigh, what did Draco get for you?” Hermione asked.

“Oh, um, a diamond necklace.” She murmured.

“What?”

“Go on Ashleigh, speak up. You can tell them you know.”

They all looked confused as to why Ashleigh would need permission to tell them about her Christmas gift.

Sighing, Ashleigh told them in a clear voice.

“He gave me a diamond necklace.” She said, pouting a bit.

“Wow, could we see it?” Ginny asked.

“Well I would show it to you but I gave it back to him.”

“Why?” Ron asked.

“Because she didn’t want me to think she was a gold digger.” Draco answered for her.

Everyone just gawked at her for a few minutes, and then scoffed it off with a laugh.

“Ashleigh, you’re the last person that I would ever associate with a gold digger! Why would you think of such a thing?” Harry asked.

“I couldn’t accept it! It was far too expensive, you should have seen it. It’s not some little chip, it’s a trilliant cut diamond that is as big as my thumb nail! We’ve only been going out a few weeks, it’s not right to accept something like that so soon in a relationship. Not right for me anyways. I did wear it to a few parties over the holiday, so it did see some use before it was locked away.”

“That’s one of the things that made my parents fall head over heels for Ashleigh. They told me they expected her to become a gold digger at the sight of the necklace. They were pleasantly surprised however, when she insisted that I take it back and that we set a spending limit for each other.”

“Draco would never take it back to the store, so he’s keeping it safe for a more appropriate time. Oh, by the way Draco, I know what our spending limit should be.”

“Oh, do tell.” He really didn’t sound too excited at the prospect.

“Ten Galleons.”

“Ten?”

“Yes, ten. I could show you plenty of things I could use for under ten Galleons.”

“You know, by choosing such a meager amount I’m going to end up surpassing it by a substantial amount.”

Shaking her head, she asked “What am I going to do with you?”

“I believe I already answered that question once today.” He told her as he draped his arm around her shoulders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade Station without incident. The students happily chatted as they made their way to the carriages and back to school. Once they arrived they headed toward the Great Hall which was now back to normal with the absence of the twelve very large Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. It was back to life as they had previously known it, a life full of studying for the next five months.

That evening saw Draco and Ashleigh in the Slytherin common room studying by the fire. Crabbe and Goyle were there as well, attempting to keep their eyes on their work rather than on Ashleigh. She supposed that they really weren’t used to being around girls even though the school was full of them. It really was a shame that they couldn’t find anyone other than Draco to hang around, she really didn’t feel comfortable with them looking at her as if she was one of their sweets that they loved a little too much.

She wasn’t worried about them though. Unlike Blaise, she knew that the boys she had dubbed the ‘Douche Bag Brother’s’ weren’t smart enough to try anything, especially now that she knew how to use her wand. She had become very adept at using her beautiful holly wand. Using it was almost second nature to her now. She couldn’t believe how fast she had picked up the skill of using it; even Professor Flitwick had said she picked up proper wand movements and incantations faster than most of the student body. She supposed it was a good thing she did considering how fast she had to learn seven years of material. For that, she was glad she had the friends she did. Hermione excelled at everything just as Draco did but neither could compare to Harry when it came to Defense against the Dark Arts. Ron and Ginny were quite skilled at Charms as well. They had a certain way of looking at things that made it much easier to learn. She was beyond grateful for all of their help; she wouldn’t have been able to get this far without it even with all of the extra sessions she sought out with her professors outside of their regularly scheduled ones. She was eager to get her work done so that she could join Draco, Harry, Ron and Hermione in the regularly scheduled classes instead of studying on her own.

“Draco, I don’t really understand this.”

“Don’t understand what?”

“The Unforgivables. I really don’t get how the ‘Avada Kedavra’ is able to kill you without harming you physically otherwise. I mean, the translation is ‘let the thing be destroyed’. If it only stops your heart, then it really doesn’t make any sense unless it is meant for just life to be destroyed. Shouldn’t the incantation be more precise?”

“I don’t know.” Draco said looking thoughtful. “I suppose that does make a bit of sense. Who ever invented the spell had intended for it to kill. To be able to do it you have to really want to kill, you have to mean it.”

Ashleigh paused for a moment before replying to his words.

“So in theory, we could use the spell to destroy in a different way. Say, to destroy a bone or an organ or maybe even a soul?”

“I don’t know about that. It’s only ever been used to kill. But I do see where you’re coming from, it’s the intent.”

“Exactly. Why couldn’t Harry use it against Voldemort with the intent to destroy, say, his eyes?” She whispered furiously.

“The Dark Lord is an expert Ligilimense. He would know the spell is coming.” He whispered back.

“Yes, he’ll know it’s coming, but if I’ve learned anything about him at all, it’s that he is extremely egotistical. He knows Harry is unable to use that curse. He won’t even move out of the way.” She replied in a whisper with fire in her eyes.

“You’re right…this could be the defense Harry needs.”

“Come on. We need to consult Hermione about some research.” Ashleigh said, closing her books with a loud clap. Standing up, she reached for Draco’s hand.

Taking her hand, Draco stood up to follow her.

“Where are you going?”

Draco looked back at Crabbe.

“Gryffindor Tower. I’d get to my work if I were you; you aren’t doing too well in Transfiguration you know.”

Crabbe nodded his head and turned back to his homework muttering something about bloody Gryffindor’s corrupting perfectly good Slytherin’s.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh and Draco raced up to Gryffindor Tower as it was now ten after eight and curfew is at nine. When they got up to the top of the staircase on the seventh floor, they paused so that Draco could catch his breath.

“Maybe you should start to run with me after all.” Ashleigh said laughingly. She had continued to run five days a week after the Yule Ball. Turning to the Fat Lady, she gave the password ‘Pixie Dust’ and entered the Gryffindor common room, heading straight over to where her four friends were sitting.

Quickly, yet quietly, she relayed her thoughts on the Avada Kedavra curse and how it might be able to be manipulated to do something other than kill.

“That is an interesting prospect. I’ll have to do some research of course but I think you may be on to something.” Hermione said, clearly excited.

Everyone was chatting excitedly at the fact that Harry may have something new up his sleeve very soon. That is, except for Harry who was sitting back quietly reflecting in his own thoughts.

“Harry, are you okay?”

He looked up at Ashleigh, snapping to attention at her question.

“Huh?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why do you look as if your world just ended?”

Sighing heavily, Harry leaned forward to answer her.

“I just don’t want to get my hopes up you know? This idea may not work at all and then I’ll have to find some other way to kill Voldemort.”

“I know it’s just a theory right now, but if it doesn’t work we will find another way for you to defeat him. We will.”

“Yeah. I just hope we find a way for me to kill him before he kills me.”
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A Matter of Time