Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with the Harry Potter franchise. J.K. Rowling has that great privilege. I am simply playing with her characters for a bit – I am not making money and do not wish to do so from this work. This is purely for shits and giggles and I will let the characters go when I'm done. Of course, anything not recognisable from the Potter-verse, was probably made up by myself, or the idea referenced from another Potter-verse fanficcer.

Title: Divide - Chapter 04

Pairing: Harry Potter / Draco Malfoy

Rating: 15 for language, violence and sexual situations

Genre: Pre-Slash, Drama, Adventure, Romance

Summary: Harry Potter hates summer. This summer, however, the Dursley's take him with them on a family vacation. In the strange new city, Harry finds more trouble than he expected, in the form of Death Eaters and Draco Malfoy.

A/N: Chapter currently un-BETA'd, will update to the BETA'd version once done. This chapter is on Monday, 25th July. I didn't look up years and stuff, so just bare with me on that.

Eden's Echo: Thanks for the comments, it's very nice to have an old reader back and lending support ^^ Conquer is next on my list, once I finish Divide's revision. There will be some minor revision to the current chapters, and then I'll be continuing it – I've already made a start on the next chapter, actually XD Also, Conquer is only book 2 of the series, I intend to write a third book, Acquiesce.

Divide.

Chapter 04

Arcadia's Wizarding section was basically the Wizarding equivalent of a muggle supermarket, with pretty much everything a Witch or Wizard could possibly need all in one place. As the only magical store in the entirety of Bath, it made a good deal of money, especially in the summer months, when tourist season was in full swing. It usual for one such store to be situated in every major town in the UK, all of them privately owned and run as no-one had yet thought of consolidating the stores into one company.

In true Wizarding fashion, the layout was eccentric, with no discernable order to the products and shelving in odd shapes as well as at odd angles, the shelving layout more reminiscent of a maze, than a supermarket. However, volatile substances were kept well apart from each other and edibles were kept in a separate area to minimise contamination from other products. Everything from Familiar feed for various species, to broom servicing kits, to potions ingredients, to premade potions ranging from Dreamless Sleep and Calming Draughts, to Skele-Gro and even several different Aphrodisiac Doses were arranged around the large hall, ready for purchase.

Desdemona Shire was running this section of Arcadia, sitting in the far corner next to the till, reading what looked like a copy of Witch's Weekly, ignoring the few customers perusing the shelving, her wand tucked into her hair, apparently keeping her bun in place. Like Henry, she was a jovial looking woman, with obvious smile lines at eyes and mouth.

Draco surveyed the room with a determined eye, searching for the unruly black mop that signified a Potter. After a quick scan, he spotted the other teen far to the right, looking at potions ingredients, occasionally running a finger over the labels, as if phonetically working his way through difficult names.

Draco was well versed in the layout of the store and the various products on offer therein, but he had to agree with the sentiments Potter was exuding, the various ingredients on that particular shelf were both rare and foreign, so even he had problems pronouncing the strange tongue-twisting names at times.

With a small smirk, Draco headed over to the Gryffindor.

Harry closed the door behind himself as he slipped into the room, looking around the place in interest. He hadn't thought that Wizarding supermarkets existed, but obviously they did – though in rather haphazard fashion. Not exactly in the mood to talk to Malfoy, despite the truce that had been in place for the past year, Harry headed to the right, intent on losing himself in the potions ingredients he could clearly see.

As Harry reached the shelving, he realised there were a lot of foreign substances on the shelving, things he had only seen mentioned in obscure potion's journals or seen in Snape's private stores. With eyebrows raised, he perused the jars and vials, spotting more than one tongue-twister of a name, cataloguing some of the rarer ingredients that he had never been allowed to handle, even when he had seen Snape using them.

The first name to catch his attention was 'Katsodaimonas' – he turned the two jars, containing obviously different parts of the creature, until he could read the labels: Katsodaimonas, the horns used for ailments regarding pregnancy, and the genitals used in salves and potions in aide of healing rape victims. With an incredulous look at the jars, he turned another two; Fankenmannikins, a relative of the House Elf, often found in rural dairies, the willingly given blood of which can be used in potions to aide wards that protect farms from the more adverse elements. Tylwyth Teg Gold, used in prosperity potions and warding potions for new born babies.

Harry stepped back, running his fingers over the more elaborate vials, turning one here, another there, to read the labels: Sidhe Tears willingly given aide in returning a trapped Animagus to their true form. Banniki Bathwater, an ingredient used to create Strangle Mist. Korred Muscle, used in salves and potions to aide weight gain, muscle restoration and restorative draughts. Lauru blood and eyes, used in many love potions.

This stuff was fascinating. He had seen it all in Snape's stores, of course, but had never had a chance to ask about them or have the potential uses explained. Hermione would have been lost here, excitedly examining each and every jar, noting down all the names and information, intent on researching it all later. He smiled at the thought. She had never been allowed in Snape's personal stores and he hadn't been allowed to mention any of the ingredients found in there, so now he had a legitimate excuse to mention various ingredients to her.

There was an entire shelf for Rusalky ingredients alone. The first jar contained Rusalky Silk, the label informing him that the silk was used in potions designed to sap strength and cause disorientation. Another vial contained Rusalka Blood, apparently willingly given and used in potions to combat depression and suicidal tendencies. The rest of the shelf was filled with samples of crops that had been grown in spots Rusalky had danced, these used in potions for cheeriness and energy. Fascinating, and Hermione would have been in ecstasies over it all. He would have to come back with a pen and parchment, to note some of them down for her to research, she'd love it.

With a small smile on his lips at the thought, Harry turned to the more mundane ingredients; Goblin Snot, Mocksey Toes, Essence of Black Rain, Dementor Skin and so on. He couldn't imagine what Dementor Skin could be used in that wasn't Dark Arts, but then, he probably didn't want to know.

He turned to continue down the shelving, but stopped with a start, Malfoy was standing there nonchalantly watching him, a truly disarming smile on his lips. Harry blinked, "Uh, hey Malfoy." Obviously, the teen had seen him and followed him in. Damn.

Malfoy nodded in response, "Potter." He changed his weight from one hip to the other and looked Harry up and down, "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Vacation?"

Unsure of Malfoy's motives and not really in the mood for mind-games, Harry nodded shortly and stepped around the other teen, continuing down the shelving. He left the Potion section behind, entering the small Library. The smell of old books reminded him distinctly of Hermione, and he relaxed somewhat.

Draco paused for a moment, watching Potter as he walked down the Potion's aisle, tracing his fingers over the jars and vials – he could just catch the foreign sounding names as the Gryffindor muttered them to himself; Klabautermannikin, Vodyaniye, Seligen Fraulein, Bwclod, Skogsra, Callicantzaroi...

As Potter turned off onto the small Library, disappearing from view, Draco shook himself and followed. A few moments later, he found Potter looking through the various tomes, annuals, novels and instruction manuals a few aisles down the row. Potter looked as if he'd never seen half of them before and was gently running the index finger of his right hand down the spine of a particularly fine looking grimoires. As he watched, Potter paused, removed the book from the shelf and flipped it open.

"Can I help you, Malfoy?" He hadn't even looked up, eyes still flicking down the pages.

Draco crossed his arms over his chest, in what he recognised as a defensive gesture, but didn't care. "What are you doing here, Potter?"

Potter glanced up briefly, "Shopping." The green eyes moved back down to the book again. Draco rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean; what are you doing here in Bath? I thought you always stayed at your family's place over the summer?"

Potter sighed and closed the book, though he didn't move to place it back on the shelf, "Why do you want to know?" Draco raised an eyebrow as the green eyes visibly looked him up and down in return.

"I'm simply curious," Draco offered, "This is where I live, you know. I'm not used to seeing Gryff's hanging about."

Potter tucked the grimoires under his arm and returned to perusing the bookshelf, "My family won a holiday. They brought me along."

Draco frowned slightly, but simply watched Potter run his slim fingers over the books, selecting titles seemingly at random, flicking through them and either putting them back or slipping them under his arm with the grimoires.

Draco apparently wasn't comfortable holding a normal conversation with Potter. Oh, they'd had a full truce in place since a week into Sixth Year, but that had meant they mostly ignored each other all year, exchanging few words beyond the necessary pleasantries to maintain the truce in public and the occasional conversations about homework.

Despite his breeding and the training all Purebloods went through to be able to hold court from a young age, Draco was at a loss to hold a normal conversation with the other teen. He had often found himself wondering what it would be like to talk to Potter on an equal footing, whether they had anything in common (besides Quidditch and homework) to talk about.

Well, not so much after Christmas. Potter had been more withdrawn in the months following Christmas, a fierce look in his eyes that even the Slytherin's had heeded, few of them starting anything and those who did more often than not ending up mildly freaked out by the scathing retorts from any and all Gryffindor's present. Potter, however, had always remained quiet during those bouts of rivalry, watching everything with an assessing look. Draco had been a little unnerved, but not mentioned anything.

Draco scowled at himself. Was he truly so bored that he would talk to Harry Bloody Potter in an attempt to relieve it? After a pause, he conceded that, actually, yes, he was. In fact, he was so bloody bored that he wouldn't mind the Gryffindor's company at all – and maybe they could work on that truce, maybe move it up a notch to some sort of alliance. Maybe.

He deflated inwardly, deciding that there was nothing to lose, so he'd suck it up and give it a go. Draco moved closer to Potter, as the teen had moved a stack or two further down as Draco debated with himself. "So... what are you doing?"

Potter looked up from the book he was flicking through, he gave Draco an odd look before shrugging; "Trying to find something Hermione doesn't have."

Draco arched an elegant eyebrow, "In the library? Whatever for? I'm sure that Ravenclaw in disguise has read everything in existence by now."

That odd look returned to Potter's features, as if Draco was something the teen was trying to figure out, like an interesting logic puzzle. Draco felt a little taken aback, he wasn't used to being so openly assessed. After a moment, Potter frowned, "Perhaps you're right." He snapped the book closed and placed it back on the shelf. With at least four books still under his arm, Potter ambled off, leaving Draco to himself once more.

Draco rolled his eyes. Why Potter had even considered a book, he didn't know. Granger was still female, despite her collection of mostly male friends, and notwithstanding her love of knowledge, she would probably appreciate something girly now and then. He had a feeling neither Potter nor the Weasel appreciated that.

He shrugged to himself and then followed after Potter at a discreet distance.

After a few minutes of mindless wondering, Harry discovered the jokes and toys section, spotting a few Weasleys' Wizard Wheezesproducts scattered amongst the Zonko's and other independent company's wares. He smiled at that, the twins really were doing well for themselves, even considering buying out Zonko's once they had amassed enough wealth – and they weren't far off.

He perused the collection for a while, wondering about Malfoy at the back of his mind. The boy had been right, of course, perhaps Hermione would prefer something other than a book for her birthday this year. She spent all her time with her nose in one anyway, maybe something a bit different would be a welcome change. He couldn't really figure out what though. Perhaps a self cleaning potions set? Or more girly; some jewellery of some sort?

Staring almost unseeingly at the various joke items, Harry became more and more certain that Hermione would like something girly for once, though he was entirely unsure about what precisely that entailed, as he rarely, if ever, bought anything for girls. Hermione and Ginny were pretty much it and he had always gone practical with them, anyway.

As he turned to leave, he noticed Malfoy standing just in the stacks of books, watching him quietly. He raised his eyebrows with a slight smile and continued to the counter to pay for his books. Desdemona, while just as jolly as her husband, was less conversational and simply allowed him to pay for his books and be on his way, though her eyes did register his scar.

As he stepped past the collection of awful muggle books, he spotted the jewellery in the cabinets doubling as a counter. He considered the pendulums, pendants, bracelets, earrings and necklaces for a moment. Maybe something of these would be appropriate?

Harry spent some time studying the collection, going from the beaded necklaces to the gemstone pendants and bracelets, to the earrings and back again. There were a few things in the display that were actually magical, and Harry decided he'd prefer to get Hermione something like that. Maybe something with a protection charm?

He found what he was looking for in the bracelets, a simple silver chain with amethyst stones laced into it – complex protection charms were also woven into the decorative form, he could see faint traces of them weaving around one another. It was pretty and practical, so he decided it would make a perfect eighteenth birthday present for the girl. He pointed it out to Henry and passed over the money for it.

Henry made a passing comment about a 'lucky girl' and attempted to fish for information on who she was, but Harry only smiled, nodded and pretended nonchalance at the idea of dating Hermione Granger. The girl was so besotted with Ron, it made him laugh to think of it.

As he left and turned down the alley, he found himself wondering about Malfoy. The teen had seemed desperate to talk to him, though not in a 'save my life!' way – more as if he was lonely and hadn't seen a relatively friendly face for some time.

Harry wondered at that – sure, the Slytherin had been quiet, civil, courteous even and unwilling to start any fights in their sixth year, but he must still have friends? He couldn't be lacking for company, right? He couldn't be so bored that he'd willingly try to start a conversation with The Boy Who Lived, right?

It was an interesting conundrum, but he decided he wasn't going to let himself think too much on the subject, it would probably only drive him nuts. His experience told him that Malfoy rarely did anything without ulterior motives, so he decided to leave it and if he bumped into him again, play it by ear.

He glanced absently at the muggle watch Ron had gotten him for Christmas last year – suppressing a shudder at the association – and realised it was nearing seven thirty. He hadn't realised he'd managed to spend all day out, he'd barely registered the time passing at all, even when he had stopped in MacDonald's for an hour to eat lunch. He had spent the time watching the crowds through the first floor window, enjoying the first MacDonald's meal he had ever eaten.

Harry quickly started on his way back to the hotel – luckily he was only a ten or fifteen minutes walk away, at most. He would quickly drop his purchases off in his room and then await the Dursley's; Draco Malfoy and his strange behaviour could wait until another time.

He didn't notice the pale eyes watching him as he hurried up the alley.

Harry was once again ignored at dinner, though he didn't mind so much. The meal had once again been chosen by Vernon, but though it was one of the cheapest, it was surprisingly tasty. The chef must have been one of those master's of their craft, able to create a gourmet meal out of pretty much anything.

He glanced at the Dursley's, briefly wondering how their day had gone, what they had been doing. Then he shook himself and looked back down at his plate. While good, the meal wasn't very large and he had nothing but water to drink with it – no starter and no pudding. It was nutritious, certainly, but not really enough for a full meal, one of the problems with expensive restaurants. Thankfully, he had actually had lunch and still had two cookies left; he would eat one before getting ready for bed tonight.

He heard raucous laughter and looked up again; the Dursley's were laughing at some private joke, quite loudly and he noticed a number of other patrons look their way – though not staring for too long at the strange family with the dejected looking teenager amongst them. He caught Dudley's eye briefly and the larger boy frowned, then grinned as if at Harry's misfortune and looked away again.

Harry silently fumed to himself at the injustice of the world, then got back to his meal, ignoring his relatives with all his might. Just the rest of this summer, and then he never had to see them again. He repeated it in his head like a mantra. This summer, then no more; this summer, then no more; this summer, then no more.

After a while, his thoughts turned back to Malfoy. He realised the teen really had looked rather desperate, his features unusually open, and if he thought about it, he had been able to feel a hint of that desperation when they were within arm's reach of one another. Whether that had been because of his Occlumency and Legilimency tutoring, or something else, he didn't know, he just knew it was true.

It hadn't been like the Malfoy he thought he'd known – at least, the Malfoy he'd known before the summer after their Fifth year. Malfoy had been very different in their Sixth year, even more so after Christmas, and again, more so after the Easter Holiday. But then, many people had changed after Christmas, so it wasn't too surprising.

Harry wondered briefly if he should consider actually being approachable the next time they bumped into one-another, for he knew they would, considering he was here for a fortnight and Malfoy had actually said he lived here. Slowly moving the food about on his plate, Harry considered it.

There were no other magical folk about, and he was fairly certain Malfoy had renounced whatever affiliation he had with the Dark, so he couldn't really see the harm in spending a little time this fortnight getting to know the guy. Maybe they could find some common ground, and start to make up for the five years of animosity they had unfortunately indulged in.

While finishing off the last of the meagre meal, Harry decided. He would allow the Slytherin to approach him and would see where it took them. He wondered vaguely if this was what Ron had been alluding to in his cryptic warning in the final letter before he left. Ron was often terribly vague about such things, Harry had grown used to it, but he kept it in mind.

He climbed into bed with a slightly lighter heart that night and after some time spent occluding, slept well.

A/N: All those foreign potions ingredients? They're taken from European and ex-USSR countries myths and fables. There are some German, British, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish and a few other countries creatures mentioned. Sidhe I think started off Irish but are fairly universal in UK and Europe now. The Katsodaimonas is one of my favourite little creatures – Known as 'The Lame Demon', they're horrible things that originate in Greece. They're about two feet tall, with huge heads, horns, lumpy chests and over-sized, entirely out of proportion genitals that are always on display – they are known for raping young girls and shoving their horns into the bellies of pregnant women, as well as causing the usual mischief attributed to 'little people'. I thought using their horns and genitals for those particular potions was a pretty good stroke of irony. My info on all the creatures mentioned comes from the book: 'A Field Guide to the Little People' by Nancy Arrowsmith with George Moorse. My copy was printed in 1978, so it may be a little out of date. It smells of old book, I love it c.c

Also, old readers may have noticed the complete change in tone between Harry and draco in this rewritten conversation. No animosity. I realised it didn't work for the plot, so that whole thing has been removed and I've been wracking my brains on entirely new conversations.

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