Title: Veritaserum (1/2)

Author: Annchen

Summary: A piece of advice for your own good: Don't drink that pumpkin-juice!

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created by J.K. Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Warning: This fic is entirely Slytherin-centric, features some OCs (Quick! Run for the hills!!!"), has some ingredients that might be horribly cliché, mentions sex very briefly (Hee hee, I said a naughty word!), and also…. mentions boys kissing boys (gasp!).

A/N: This isn't very slashy but I still want to dedicate it to the maniacs and occasional sane people aboard the SS. Prince and Pauper. You guys somehow manages to keep my bunnies alive and kicking, and very pushy to be written :) Luff you all!

Veritaserum…

"Truth or dare?" Pansy asked and wrinkled her nose, "That is so... first year."

"We never played truth or dare in our first year," Millicent commented.

"Of course we didn't," Pansy sneered, "We were mature!"

She then turned to Draco again and crossed her arms.

"You made us leave the party to say this?" She yelled and looked at the boys in front of her as if they where some kind of mould. Her friends simply looked bored and seemed to want to go back to the common room and the party.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Draco said and withdrew a vial from his robe-pocket, "and this will make it more interesting."

Five pairs of eyes stared blankly at him.

"It's Veritaserum," he explained in a low voice and tilted the vial so that the clear liquid reflected the torchlight. "I dare you to take some and then it'll be truth or truth from that point on."

Millicent studied her nails, Crabbe looked doubtful, but Pansy Parkinson was the one who spoke up.

"Isn't this… You know, dangerous?" She said, but she now had a wicked glint in her eye.

"You're not chickening out, are you Parkinson?" Draco mocked.

"I'll do it if you do it, Malfoy." She drawled back.

"What if we say something embarrassing?" Tracey Davis asked and chewed nervously on her thumbnail. Draco glared at her with disgust, he liked her better when she kept her mouth shut and let Pansy do the talking.

"We won't take a full dose, stupid." Draco sneered, "We'll just mix a drop of this with water or something else and we won't drink more than a mouthful each."

The others pondered this for a while. Draco knew that Crabbe and Goyle would most likely do it if put under enough pressure, but the girls where another matter entirely. Well, not Megan Greingrass, she would do anything that was forbidden. Pansy was a clever girl, she might need a bit of encouragement, Tracey was too nervous about embarrassing herself to be any fun, but if Millicent and Pansy did it so would she.

"All right," Pansy said after a quick talk with her friends, "We're in."

Crabbe and Goyle went back to the common room to "borrow" something to eat and drink while the others headed to the sixth year boy's bedroom. Zabini was in his pyjamas and apparently didn't want company.

"Get OUT!" he shrieked, "Girls aren't allowed in here!"

"Then why are you in here Zabini?" Draco teased. Zabini made a rude gesture and turned his back to them sulking.

Everyone ignored him. It took less than two minutes for his curiosity to win over his wounded pride.

"What are you doing?"

"None of your business," Malfoy barked and turned his back so that he shielded whatever they were doing from view.

"Let me join you or I'll go tell Snape," he demanded, not really expecting to get an answer.

"Sure," Malfoy said, but his grin chilled Blaise to the bone, "Why not?"

He had a bad feeling about this, but he couldn't chicken out now, could he?

..|||..

When Crabbe and Goyle returned carrying cookies and a pincher of pumpkin juice the others had already settled in a circle on the floor. Crabbe sat down between Draco and Pansy, while Goyle occupied the space between Millicent and Zabini, forcing the later to move closer to Draco.

Draco opened one of his latest packages from home and generously handed out chocolate frogs, ice-mice and every-flavour beans to everyone, including Zabini much to his own surprise. All they needed now was something to mix the Veritaserum with.

"Accio glass," Draco smiled triumphantly as a big glass came swooping in after a few anxious minutes. He caught it with a seekers effortless skill and proceeded to pour pumpkin juice in it. Zabini looked a bit queasy, but he wouldn't dare to say no to Draco Malfoy now when he finally got to do something with him and his friends.

"Would you do the honours, Zabini?" Draco asked sweetly and offered him the filled glass.

Zabini looked doubtfully at the drink in front of him. Pumpkin juice spiked with a few drops of Veritaserum.

"Um… I… why don't you go first Malfoy?" He stuttered.

Draco didn't look very pleased with the response.

"I was only trying to be polite," he hissed. "Crabbe?"

Vincent didn't move.

"Goyle?"

Gregory tried to hide behind Zabini.

"Pussies," Pansy sneered, "I'll start." She reached for the glass, took a small sip and handed the glass to Megan.

"How did it taste?" Tracey asked nervously.

"Like shi… like sh… like pumpkin juice." Pansy looked genuinely surprised. "Wow. I can't tell a lie. I can't even be sarcastic."

Tracey wet her lips with the spiked pumpkin juice and handed the glass to Millicent who passed it to Goyle. When Draco got the glass from Zabini he handed it over to Crabbe without tasting it.

"You go first," he said to his friend, "I'm busy with this chocolate frog right now."

"Ready to start asking?" Draco inquired. Almost everyone nodded in silence, trying to figure out the most productive questions. Surprisingly Zabini was the one who broke the silence.

"Pansy… Are you a virgin?" He asked with a wicked grin.

"No." Said Pansy immediately.

The room fell silent. Only Tracey and Millicent looked like this wasn't news for them.

"What? Who?" Stuttered Draco.

"No, I'm not a virgin." Pansy said, she didn't look that uncomfortable with the situation. "I did it with Adrian Pucey in my third year."

Draco's throat went dry. This wasn't what he had expected when he suggested this little game. He reached for something to drink, gratefully accepting the glass of pumpkin juice Crabbe offered. He gulped the liquid down eagerly, almost draining the glass before Zabini snatched it from him.

"Careful!" He yelled, "Weren't we supposed to take only one sip each?"

Draco froze. He hadn't intended to take any Veritaserum at all, and now he had downed more than half a glass in one go. His stomach lurched, and he felt a bit ill, but he couldn't tell if that was due to the shock or the potion.

Pansy leaped on the opportunity.

"Are you really a death-eater?" She asked with genuine interest.

"Yeargh… No." he admitted. It was painful to try to lie under the influence of the drug and he felt nauseous when he didn't tell the truth immediately.

"Then why did you tell us so?" Goyle inquired.

"Because I wanted you to think I was better than you. And I thought some of you might have got the mark already."

"No way." Said Zabini. "I don't want it. Mum would kill me."

"My uncle say I'm too young." Pansy admitted.

"My parents too," said Crabbe and Goyle in unison.

"I don't want it," Millicent whispered.

"I was thinking of tattooing the mark on my arm anyway next holiday if I can't join the death-eaters," said Draco and then immediately clamped his hands over his mouth. This was scary, his precious secrets spilled from his lips effortless like pearls running from a broken necklace. He hadn't told that to anyone before.

"Why?" Crabbe asked, "It can't be like the real thing anyway."

"I know, but it'd look cool."

"I think it's a good idea," Pansy said. Draco looked surprised. He didn't really expect her to back him up on something like this.

"I'm going to force my father to let me joint on the Christmas holiday." Draco murmured, "Hopefully I'll get the real thing and not have to get that tattoo."

They all sat in silence for a while.

"I want to know if you are virgins or not." Pansy suddenly blurted. "It's only fair that you too have to tell."

The room grew even more silent. Pansy looked disappointed in the lack of response.

"Right," she sighed, "You're still a virgin, aren't you Megan?"

Megan glared at her. "How did you know?"

"Oh, come on. You talk way to much about sex, obviously a virgin."

"You don't have to rub it in," Megan sulked, "Go harass someone else."

Pansy smiled.

"Are you a virgin Draco?" she asked silkily.

"Y.. yes." he answered, feeling himself turn pink.

"Do you have a virginal arse too?" Zabini chuckled.

"Ahhg! Yes!" Yelled Draco. "And that wasn't funny."

The girls looked far more amused than they should.

"Goyle…" Pansy continued, "Virgin or not."

"Not." he said.

"Where? When? Who?" Millicent inquired.

"InasmallforestthissummerwithagirlnamedMandy." Goyle answered quickly.

"Mandy?" Pansy shrieked. "That Ravenclaw girl?"

"No!" Said Goyle, "You don't know her."

"No?" asked Pansy, "I know a lot of people. What's her surname?"

"I don't know."

"Why?" Tracey wanted to know, "Didn't you ask?"

"I don't know… I don't remember," he murmured.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Draco asked, trying to take the initiative back from the girls, "I thought friends were supposed to share stuff like that."

"She's not a pureblood," he whispered, "my dad would kill me."

"A halfblood is not that bad." Millicent said and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Look at Emmet Fay's son. His family didn't like it much, but no one tried to kill him."

Goyle simply murmured something inaudible.

"What was that?" Crabbe asked.

"She's a muggle!" Goyle yelled.

"Oh." Draco said. No one else spoke. "You just used her, right?" he continued.

"No," Goyle murmured.

"Then why…"

"She's pretty. I like her."

There wasn't really a good answer to that.

Pansy eventually got bored by the awkward silence and continued her interviewing.

"Crabbe. Have you ever had sex?" She tried to pronounce the word "sex" seducingly, but only managed to sound drunk.

"No." Crabbe suddenly seemed to find the floor very interesting.

"Have you ever kissed someone?" She continued.

"Yes."

"Who?"

Crabbe looked like he was about to throw up but managed to growl his answer through gritted teeth. "Goyle."

Everyone now stared from Crabbe to Goyle. They looked equally embarrassed. Surprisingly Tracey was the one recovering first.

"You kissed each other?" She squeaked.

"Yes." They spoke in perfect unison.

"Do you want to do it again?" Millicent wanted to know.

The question was answered by two "Maybes", quickly followed by one "No" and one "Yes". An even more shocked silence followed.

"Crabbe?" Goyle finally asked, "Did you really mean that?"

"Yeah. I guess."

"But why?"

"..it's not like anyone else would want to kiss me," Crabbe murmured.

"That's not true!" Everyone turned to stare at Draco.

"Er… I mean, I know p… pl… at least one person who find you attractive," he blurted.

..|||..