I spent the rest of the holidays wondering who had sent me the Mimbulus mimbletonia.

"Well, it couldn't have been your Great-Uncle Algie as he's been holed up in hospital in Canada with spattergroit for the past four months." Gran mused during breakfast the following morning.

I had placed it as the grand centrepiece upon our kitchen table so that we could enjoy looking at it during meal times.

I let my thoughts drift to a certain Slytherin, who I then quickly dismissed. I'd studied with him enough, so I'd have recognised his handwriting.

And besides, I reminded myself morosely, he was the one that didn't want anything to do with me, so it seemed highly unlikely he'd be sending gifts to my doorstep.

The first of September soon arrived, and so did the apparent identity of my mystery gift giver.

"Thank you for the card, Harry," I beamed as Luna and I joined him in a compartment. "I don't think I've ever had so many birthday cards in my life before!"

"Oh, it was nothing," Harry shrugged. "Did you like the gift too?"

"That was from you?" I breathed, completely flabbergasted. It hadn't even occurred to me that Harry could have been behind it.

"Well, yeah," Harry blinked, looking at me bemused as if it should have been obvious. "I hope you didn't mind about the frog thing, I know Trevor's a toad but..." he trailed off, shrugging.

"Oh Harry, of course I didn't mind!" I gushed. "It was such a wonderful, thoughtful gift!"

Harry looked slightly terrified as I leapt across the compartment to him, throwing my arms around him.

After I finally let him go to take my seat back next to Luna, I didn't miss the furious blushing of his cheeks as he readjusted his glasses. He then had to remove them to give them a wipe on his sleeve as they had started to steam up.

"Don't worry," I explained hurriedly to him, "I've kept it locked away safely in my trunk, and I will not be removing it until it's reached the confinements of my dorm, where it will sit pride of place on my bedside table."

"Ummm... okay," Harry chuckled nervously.

He went strangely quiet after that, every now and then casting me furtive, almost fearful, glances.

"Are we still doing DA meetings this year, Harry?" Luna asked as she detached a pair of psychedelic spectacles from the front of a copy of The Quibbler.

"No point now we've got rid of Umbridge, is there?" Harry shrugged.

"I like the DA," I sighed sadly, just as Trevor leapt from my lap and made a bid for freedom, "I learned loads with you."

"I enjoyed the meetings, too," Luna said serenely as I dived under the seat to look for my toad. "It was like having friends."

I heard the door slide open but couldn't see who it was as I had my back to the door, still crouched under the seat groping around for Trevor.

"Hi, Harry," spoke a loud confident female voice I didn't recognise. "I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane. Why don't you join us in our compartment? You don't have to sit with them," she added in a stage whisper, the last word dripping with distaste.

I emerged from under the seat, having just grabbed a resigned looking Trevor. The immaculate looking Romilda Vane girl looked down at me in disgust as I quickly brushed off the fluff and dust from my hair and robes.

"They're friends of mine," Harry said coldly.

"Oh," she said, looking very surprised. "Oh. Okay."

And with that, she disappeared.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us." Luna stated, looking like a demented, multicoloured owl in her Spectrespecs.

"Yeah well, screw that." Harry shrugged casually. "I don't mind hanging out with you two, I suppose. I mean, I do owe you guys after having my back at the Ministry."

I just beamed back at him, seeing him in a new light since he had sent me that thoughtful gift.

Hours later, Ron and Hermione joined us after finally completing their prefect duties.

"Wish the lunch trolley would hurry up, I'm starving," Ron said longingly, slumping in the seat beside Harry and rubbing his stomach. "Hi, Neve, hi, Luna. Guess what?" he added, turning to Harry. "Malfoy's not doing prefect duty. He's just sitting in his compartment with the other Slytherins, we saw him when we passed."

My ears pricked up, and I felt my heart racing at a million beats per second. The anticipation of seeing Draco again was heartbreaking, but yet somehow, I still yearned to be near him.

It seemed I wasn't the only one interested in hearing about Draco, however.

"What did he do when he saw you?" Harry asked, sitting up straight and looking at Ron with great interest.

"Stuck his middle finger up and told me to fuck off." Ron said indifferently.

"But did he do anything unusual?" Harry persisted, his eyes bulging in excitement.

"Well... I suppose he wasn't out there bullying first years," Ron stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That's not like him, is it?"

"Maybe he preferred the Inquisitorial Squad," Hermione suggested. "Maybe being a prefect seems a bit tame after that."

"I don't think so," Harry said, leaning forward conspiratorially, "I think he's-"

But I didn't get to hear what Harry thought Draco was because we were interrupted by a third year Hufflepuff delivering two scrolls of parchment; one to me and one to Harry.

I quickly unrolled mine, feeling baffled as to what it could be.

Neve,
I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.
Sincerely, Professor H.E.F. Slughorn

"Who's Professor Slughorn, and what does he want me for?" I asked nervously. I wondered what I had done to get into trouble already. This felt suspiciously like a detention.

"No idea," Harry said completely unbothered. "Listen," he added, suddenly sounding excited about something, "let's go under the Invisibility Cloak, then we might get a good look at Malfoy on the way, see what he's up to."

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the compartment before throwing a great big cloak over our heads.

"Harry - I don't think this is a good idea!" I said, panicking; I didn't want to spy on Draco.

And what if he caught us after specifically telling me to stay away from him? I'd look like such a loser.

Luckily, the corridor had become so packed with other students, that Harry had to admit defeat and regretfully stowed the cloak back away.

"What's the big deal with spying on Draco?" I hissed at him as we made our way to compartment C.

"Oh, like you don't want to know what he's up to," Harry scoffed.

"I don't!" I exclaimed. Although I did.

Luckily at that point we had reached compartment C, where it was clear there was a small party of invitees, including Ginny and Blaise.

I couldn't help but feel a stab of disappointment that Draco wasn't one of them.

"Harry, m'boy!" this great bit fat walrus looking guy dressed in bright colours cried as he jumped up to shake Harry's hand. "Good to see you, good to see you! And you must be Miss Longbottom!"

I nodded, feeling terrified as I took a seat amongst the others who were all watching me with baffled interest; probably wondering why on earth I had been invited too.

It was clear, after a while, that he had picked us out for special reasons. It turned out he was more interested in my parents than me, and when I refused to say much on the subject - causing an uncomfortable ten minutes - Slughorn seemed rather put out by my presence after that.

When it was finally over, and we stepped out into the corridor, I couldn't help but notice Harry looking longingly after Blaise who had already started striding back in the direction of the Slytherin carriage.

"I'll see you back at the compartment, Neve," he said, suddenly whipping out his cloak and vanishing under it.

"But what're you-?" I started, but then immediately stopped when I realised it was no use.

Because whenever Harry wanted to do something, he just did it regardless.

*****