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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
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Chapter 27 – Venture Into Borgin and Burke

14 February

The snowy day had everyone shivering where they stood at the apparition point. All were dressed in their Muggle attire except for one. Draco was preparing to go to Borgin and Burke to see about obtaining the books that his friends desperately needed. It was decided that he would go alone while the others waited in the Three Broomsticks for him. He anticipated that he would be in the store no more than a quarter of an hour and there was no reason for the rest of them to freeze to death waiting for him, it wasn’t exactly the safest area for a bunch of Gryffindor’s, not to mention Ashleigh with her special talent.

Ashleigh gave Draco a kiss for luck and headed off to the pub with the others. When they were out of sight, Draco apparated just outside of Knockturn Alley. Holding his head high and silently daring anyone to make a move against him, he started toward Borgin and Burke. He had started to learn how to use his wand at the age of six; his father had insisted that any son of his would be adept in magic at an early age. Draco was very skilled and knowledgeable about magic. Give him the motive and he could be lethal.

Those who frequent Knockturn Alley on a regular basis know this fact about the Malfoy’s. To make a threat against one is almost certain death. Even Narcissa had been trained to defend herself at all costs when she had married Lucius. With this knowledge on their side, they gave Draco a wide berth and went on their own way not even daring to make eye contact.

Draco arrived at Borgin and Burke within minutes. The door bell chimed as he opened the door, making a scraping sound across the rust in the hinges as it moved. Draco casually looked around for a few minutes before the owner finally dragged himself out of the back room to see who had entered his store.

“Mr. Malfoy, a pleasure to see you again. What can I do for you?”

Draco strode up to him confidently. “I need books Borgin.”

“I’ve got a wide selection of curse books available.”

“Those are not of interest to me.” Draco snapped, he had already checked them out and had determined that they didn’t hold the information that they need. “I’m looking for something a bit more…rare. I believe you know the direction I’m heading.”

It was commonly known that they Malfoy’s were Voldemort supporters; well they were supposed to be anyway. That was the main reason Draco had volunteered to go book hunting for Hermione, Borgin only sold to dark wizards. There was no way she would have gotten anything useful. It was with the belief that Draco was still a Death Eater in training that Borgin would hand over what they needed. All Draco had to do was hint that Voldemort wanted him to obtain the books for some mission or other.

“What is the subject you seek?”

“The Avada Kedavra.” He said stiffly, looking down his nose at the grungy man in his practiced superior stance.

“I believe I may have something on that subject.” Borgin hurried to the back room and reappeared a moment later with two leather bound books. They were rather small, more the size of journals rather than the size of the average book in the Wizarding World. They were tatty as well; the leather had been torn in places and was ingrained with centuries of dust. “These are the only books on that particular subject that I was able to obtain in the last thirty years. I thought there might be a day when He needed them.”

“I’ll take them.”

“Yes, sir. That’s one hundred and fifty Galleons.”

Draco threw a money bag on the counter that held more than the amount requested and held out a hand for the books. Borgin placed them in Draco’s hand and bowed like a hunchback.

Draco tucked the books in an inner pocket of his robes and spun on his heel to walk to the door. Just before he opened it he turned back to Borgin.

“I trust you’ll be discreet?”

“As always, Mr. Malfoy.” Borgin said; bowing his head once more.

With that Draco left the shop and headed toward the Three Broomsticks.

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

“So, how did it go? Did you get anything?” Hermione asked eagerly a few moments after Draco sat down at their table. He had come in the pub, sat down and ordered himself a drink while ignoring the stares of his friends around him. He wondered how long Hermione could hold out until she burst from needing to know what books he had procured. Not very long it seems.

“Yes I did. Two books to be exact.” He stated vaguely.

“Well where are they? I want to see them.” She demanded excitedly.

Ashleigh answered for Draco, knowing exactly why he was being so vague.

“This isn’t the time and it certainly isn’t the place to be looking at something with such sensitive material enclosed, don’t you think?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Hermione replied a little abashed.

“We have plenty of time to look through them tonight. We’ll see you guy’s later, okay?”

Ashleigh and Draco exited the pub and made their way to the Shreaking Shack. Ashleigh had never seen it and had wanted to since she heard some second years talking about it. Apparently it was haunted. This, Ashleigh would decide for herself. She fully believed in ghosts, how could she not with the Bloody Barron constantly floating through their common room? Even before she came to this time and place she knew they existed. She had seen the ghost of a small boy in her house when she was younger and swore up and down to non-believers that they existed. If they could only come to Hogwarts, they’d be scared shitless.

Ashleigh almost laughed when she saw the abandoned house.

“Well it certainly looks as if it would be haunted doesn’t it?”

“That’s because it is.” Draco told her, deciding to leave the events of third year out of the conversation.

“Care to put it to the test?” She asked evilly. She knew his answer would be a ‘Hell No’.

“I really don’t think that’s necessary.” He said civilly but with a look of panic in his eyes.

She laughed at the expression on his face. He was completely scared of that building which in her opinion was completely ridiculous. She was laughing so hard that she didn’t see Draco bend down and gather snow in had hands to make a firm ball.

Once she sobered she turned back to him to apologize for laughing at him but was stopped by a snowball that hit her in the shoulder. At first she was shocked at what he had just done, and then she ran for cover behind a tree to plan her attack. He really should get to know her better. She grew up in Maryland where they get a fair amount of snow each winter and when there were more than a few inches on the ground, the snowball wars started. She had many years of practice that she knew Draco wasn’t counting on. Sight and snow conditions were good. She picked up a large amount of powdery snow in her gloved hand and patted it into a ball and placed it to the side. It took her mere seconds to create each ball with her practiced hands. When she was satisfied with the number of balls she made, she peeked out from behind her tree and scoped out the area. After a few seconds, a snowball hit the tree just under her head, giving away Draco’s position.

Spotting him, she took out her wand and grinned evilly. Magic would have really come in handy back home against the ruthless boys in her neighborhood. Using a levitation charm, she sent one of the balls around in an arc so that it was positioned behind Draco without him noticing. With her other hand, she picked up another ball and waited until she had a clear shot. When his head popped up to have another look around, she threw the ball in her hand and whispered a spell so that he was hit in the face and the back of his head at the same time.

Ashleigh laughed with glee as she saw him sputtering snow out of his mouth and clearing it out of his eyes.

“You look like Santa Clause!”

Draco eyed her for a moment before gathering up his snowballs and started running toward her, hauling them at her as he ran. When she realized what he was doing, she followed his lead and did the same. The war went on for only a few seconds before they were both out of snowballs. They were both covered in snow and it was Draco’s turn to laugh at Ashleigh when she got snow up her nose.

Ashleigh gave him a dirty look and then charged at him, pushing him into a mound of snow. She landed on him harder than she had anticipated which tore a grunt from his throat.

“Sorry, but well, you deserved it.” She said with a cheeky grin as she brushed the snow from his face.

“Well, since you saw fit to abuse me today, I think it only fair that I abuse you back.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” She asked as she looked into his eyes which had become serious all of a sudden.

Instead of answering he reached up and pulled her head down to his and kissed her hard. It was a bruising kiss that she was enjoying immensely for being a ‘punishment’. The war between their tongues went on for many minutes before they surfaced for air.

“I think we need to get back to the castle, it’s getting late.”

Draco pushed the hair that had fallen in her face behind her head and pulled her down for one more soft, lingering kiss. Reluctantly, he let her go and they both stood up and headed toward the main road. They made their way back to the castle in complete silence, the only communication between them were their clasped hands and frequent smiles directed at each other.

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

When they arrived at the castle they made their way to the Great Hall as it was time for dinner. They sat at the Slytherin table and rarely talked to anyone else. The books Draco had obtained from Borgin and Burke were on both of their minds and they rushed through their meal so they could have a look at them.

Ashleigh looked over at Harry and noticed that their Gryffindor friends were doing the same. Harry had caught her eye, apparently he was watching for when she and Draco would be finished so that they could follow her to her room.

She gave him a nod and stood, Draco followed her lead out of the Great Hall. They made it down to her room without interruption and were joined a few minutes later by Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione. They entered her room and made themselves comfortable on the oversized sofas in front of the now blazing fire.

“So let’s see them.” Hermione said eagerly. It was obvious that she was chomping at the bit to get a look at the books Draco had gotten from Borgin and Burke.

Draco stifled a chuckle as he removed the books from his cloak and handed them over.

Hermione grabbed the books and opened the one on top. Everyone could see her eyes moving back and forth rapidly as if she was some sort of power reader. Her mouth fell open slowly before she looked up at the other’s questioning looks.

“It’s in some form of Latin that I’ve never seen before. It’s going to take me awhile before I can translate it all. The one good thing is that they are small books and not the immense texts I’m used to.”

“Let me see them, I know a few variations of Latin.” Draco said, sure that he would recognize the script.

Hermione handed the books back with a doubtful look on her face. After all, what student knew more than Hermione?

Apparently Draco did, at least in the language department.

“It’s an early variation of Latin. My tutors only skimmed over it but I should be able to translate some if not most of it. I would just owl him for help but given the material, it’s not the smartest thing to do. I’ll start on them tonight.”

They all agreed that Draco’s translations would have to do and departed from the room leaving Ashleigh and Draco to themselves. Ashleigh kicked off her shoes and laid down on the sofa, her head resting on Draco’s lap.

“Can the translations wait for an hour?”

Draco looked down when she spoke and smiled at her. Her eyes were closed, she looked as if she was asleep but he knew she was awake although they were both tiered out from the day’s activities.

“I think that can be arranged.” He smoothed her hair with one hand as he reached behind his back to pull out a small box wrapped in red paper with a white ribbon. He had made sure to keep it hidden until they were alone, not only because he wanted her to open it in privacy but also because of the wrapping. It was appropriate for the occasion but his image would suffer for it horribly if his friends (besides the Gryffindor’s of course) saw it.

Ashleigh hadn’t noticed his movement so she was surprised when an extra weight was placed on her stomach. She cracked an eye open reluctantly. Having Draco smooth her hair repeatedly was very relaxing and she didn’t want it to end.

Seeing the package, she looked up into Draco’s eyes with a questioning look.

Smirking, Draco answered her un-vocalized question.

“Well it is Valentine’s Day after all. Which reminds me, will you be my Valentine?” He asked, grinning madly.

“I think you know the answer to that question.”

“Ah, ah, I need to hear the words Sweetheart.” His grin got bigger.

Sighing dramatically, Ashleigh replied, “Yes Draco, I’ll be your Valentine.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Now open your gift.”

“You should just take it back now. I didn’t get you anything. You are extremely hard to shop for you know. It took me forever to come up with that cloak clasp I got you and now I am hitting the bottom of the barrel of ideas. It wouldn’t be fair for you to give me something and not get anything in return.”

“Ah, but you did give me a gift. You agreed to be my Valentine and that is enough for me.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is. Now, open your gift and no insisting that I take it back because I absolutely refuse.”

He looked at her pointedly until she sighed and turned her eyes back on the gift. Lifting her hand up to the package, she carefully grasped the edge of the ribbon and pulled so that the ribbon came off of the box slowly. She was almost dreading to see what was hidden in the small box; she really didn’t want another piece of expensive jewelry.

Once the ribbon was removed she tore the paper off just as slowly, drawing out the inevitable outcome of jewelry she was expecting. When she opened the lid of the box she found not jewelry, but a piece of paper. Curious, she picked it up and unfolded it to read:

To my Sweetheart on Valentine’s Day,

Knowing as I do, how you feel about jewelry, I decided to give you a bit of an unconventional gift that I hope you will find more acceptable. I would like to purchase a familiar for you. I thought it best to gain your approval first before obtaining one. Also, I didn’t know if you would prefer an owl or a cat. Toads just aren’t the Slytherin style or yours for that matter.

Draco

Ashleigh smiled as she read the note. She was extremely happy that there wasn’t another diamond pendant in the box. She had assumed there would be and that she would have to insist he take it back but this was a pleasant surprise. She had often seen Harry with Hedwig and Draco with Aries. She had always been jealous of their relationship. Of course she had seen Hermione with Crookshanks but that ball of fluff kind of got on her nerves. She was never much of a cat person, she preferred dogs.

“So, what do you think?” Draco asked after she had been quiet for what seemed like forever.

Ashleigh looked up at him and smiled.

“It’s perfect. Thank you Draco.” She said and sat up so she could hug him tightly.

“What do you think you’ll get?”

“An owl, definitely. I never really liked cats to begin with and toads are nowhere near my style, you were right about that.”

“Good choice. After all, I wouldn’t want to have to share you when we’re alone here with some fur ball.” He told her, pulling her up to sit on his lap before he kissed her.

Ashleigh smiled against his lips as the same thought occurred to her.
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A Matter of Time