4.1 | Draconian ✓

35 | expecto

A/N

I'm truly very privileged to have old and new readers alike! I honestly didn't think there'd be this many of you, and I'm very grateful for your support. Anyway, I think this is the one you've been waiting for. Enjoy!

x Noelle

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3 5

e x p e c t o p a t r o n u m

Conjures a spirit guardian.

FOR A LONG time, she'd wondered what it would be like to meet the legendary Harry Potter. Her best friend. But now that he was actually here, she could only stare at him. The astonishment on his face mirrored hers and he seemed unable to find anything to say.

So she said it for him.

"Hello, Harry."

Harry pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, still staring at her in disbelief. "I – I can't believe it's you, 'Mione."

She smiled faintly and lifted her hand to him. "It's nice to see you again."

"What...? I mean, what're you – "

"Your eloquence is truly astounding, Potter," said a familiar voice behind them, and Hermione visibly exhaled in relief, falling several steps back from Harry. Draco strode towards the door with all the calmness in the world and smirked at his old-nemesis. "Do come in, Potter, while I'm still cordial. If you stand outside for a few more seconds I might just shut the door in your face."

That snapped Harry to attention. He shot Draco a brief look of annoyance, before he stepped into the house. Surprise flit across his face when he saw the three other Slytherins standing behind Hermione. "Is...uh, Ginny here?"

"Oh, right," Hermione said quickly, "I'll get her!"

"Hermione – "

But she dashed into the sitting room before Harry could say another word, leaving him with three other hostile people who stared at him with matching looks of suspicion. Except Draco – who was just surveying him with a general air of bored amusement.

"You should learn how to shut your mouth, Potter," he drawled, moving to settle down on the sofa. "Makes you look even more unattractive than you already are."

"Three years and you're still such a prick," Harry rolled his eyes, but something about his demeanour was strange, almost as though he were entirely uncomfortable with the situation.

Draco's eyebrows rose at the half-hearted jeer. Surely, Potter could come up with something better than that? "Well, you know me. Being a prick's how I get by."

Harry didn't respond. Draco frowned slightly and turned to look at his friends, whose matching looks of confusion all mirrored his. He was just about to clear the silence with a scathing remark – again, he couldn't help it, Potter always did bring out the asinine in him – when Ginny and Hermione reappeared by the doorway.

"Harry?" cried Ginny, a brilliant smile crossing her face as she barrelled into his arms. "I'm so glad to see you here! I didn't think you'd leave the house."

Harry seemed relieved to see her and dropped a soft kiss on her forehead. "After George told me about the rescue mission, I had to see you. Your parents may drop by awhile later."