Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters, places where the books are held, or even the plot belong to dear old me. They belong to wonderful, intelligent J.K. Rowling (even though Half-Blood Prince made me howl in disbelief and shock...besides those rather strong emotions, I liked the book just fine) and distributed by Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Inc, at least in the U.S. Since I have taken the time to write this disclaimer, there's no reason in the world anyone should feel the need to sue.
" Shattered Illusions"
Chapter Two - Heated Encounters
With a deadly sneer settled on my face, I walked into Potions class ten minutes early with only one objective in mind; confronting my godfather, Severus Snape, about the horrifying letter that was clenched tightly in my fist. It was the same letter that I was partly afriad was actually written, seriously, rather the joke that I so longed it was.
He would know something about this. He has to know something…no, Draco, he does know something. Father wouldn't dare keep something of this magnitude away from him. He wouldn't dare.
" Professor Snape? We need to talk, now." I said, angrily as I walked over to the desk where he was sitting, grading assignments. I knew now was not the best time to confront him, considering that he was busy, but I couldn't stop myself. I wanted answers and I wanted them immediately.
" What about, Draco?" He looked up from the various papers (it grated on my nerves sometimes when his attention was supposed to be on me but ended up somewhere else entirely)and gave me a brief, considering look. As much as I tried to hide it from his piercing eyes, I couldn't help but flinch in reaction. Ever since I was little, his eyes had that effect on me.
They're like deep, bottomless wells. As much as you'll try, you'll never be able to completely escape them. It's like you're a mosquito caught in a spiderweb...you know good and well that you're about to be dinner but you can't make yourself get away. They're that intense…
" This." I said, shaking myself out of my reverie and handing the offending letter to him. With the long, graceful fingers that were the instrument of his craft, he opened it and scanned it over once, twice, and then, three times.
Of course, I didn't know what his reaction would be but I sure as hell didn't expect it to be what it was. My mouth dropped open in a mixture of annoyance and anger as I watched the Potions Master sit there, supposedly the most reserved person in the entire school, sit there and laugh uncontrollably.
" Just what exactly is so funny, Professor?" I asked in my iciest tone. If he were any person, I would have progressed to teaching him a lesson in the most painful way possible. As it was, he was a lousy teacher so I had no choice but to wait for him to get control of himself, gritting my teeth in fury all the while.
Snape continued to laugh as though he didn't hear a word I had said. I was about five seconds away from snatching the note from his slimy fingers and storming from the dungeon when he finally held up a hand. I took that to mean that he was almost done.
A final chuckle left him and he gave me a rather gleeful smile. Of course, I didn't take that to mean anything but the worse of intentions. " According to this note, Draco, you have ten months to find a bride. No Slytherin females are to be considered. It's either marry or be disowned."
" You knew about this, didn't you?" I asked angrily, ignoring what he had said. " You and my father probably plotted this from the very beginning, involved Fudge and the Ministry of Magic as a stupid form of blackmail…for what, I don't know. You--."
" I can assure you that I knew nothing of this, Draco," Snape interrupted, " This is as much of a surprise to you as it is to me."
" That's a bunch of crap and you know it." I yelled. " How dare the both of you do this to me? It's my final year here...my year to finally relax after all these years of attending Hogwarts. I've spent the last six years here working to honor the Malfoy name and this is my lousy reward...being sacked to some pathetic girl I would barely even know by the end of the year. I'm not supposed to worry about this marrying business until I'm nineteen and that's at the earliest."
I sensed that Snape was growing tired of hearing me rant but I forged on ahead, anyway. " Control yourself, Draco. You will not embarrass your family or me by acting so childish. You will marry, Draco, even if I have to drege the ranks of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor for you.."
" Get this through your thick skull, godfather," I hissed, knowing full well that even as I said it that I was going too far, " I'm not marrying anyone until I'm good and ready.You can tell my father that the next time you see him," I paused, taking a deep breath, as if I were thinking about something, " It's probably going to be at the next Death Eater meeting, anyways."
Snape's nostrils flared in anger and he stood up in an attempt to intimidate me with his size. It didn't work. " As much as it pains to me to do this to you and my House, 50 points from Slytherin and a detention for you, Mr. Malfoy. I will not tolerate any disrespect from you...even if you are my godson...or anybody else."
I crossed my hands over my chest and raised my chin, proudly. I knew that this time, I was in the right and they were in the wrong...there was no changing my mind about that.They can't force me to marry against my will. Next year, I'll be a grown man...picking my future wife should be my perogative, not theirs.
" Any punishment you give me wouldn't matter. I'll be damned if I bow down to my father's ludicrous demands and marry some unsuitable woman, at least to me, to make him happy." I growled, just as happy and in control as I wanted to be. "My father has just lost his precious heir."
" I guess he has." Snape replied, just as calmly. We stared at each other, trying to bare the other's weaknesses, for what seemed like forever before the noise of arriving students broke the confrontation. Giving him one final cold look, I turned around and headed to my usual seat at the back of the dungeon, the letter clenched in my fingers.
Moments later, Daphne breezed in right on the heels of the Golden Trio. Of course, I was so ticked off that I didn't do my usual, gratifying assessment of Harry as he and his gang dropped down in the seats in front of me. I knew Daphne wasn't going to keep quiet over my irritable state for but so long…I was right.
" Where did you go after you stalked from the Great Hall?" Daphne whispered as she shifted in her seat. " Everybody was buzzing about the way you left. I mean one minute, you were there; the next, all anyone could see was the back of your robes as you walked out."
I rested my head on my hand and gave her a brief smirk. " I hope you told them to mind their own freaking business. I really don't need the entire student body on my case right about now."
She gave me the smile, the kind of smile I loved on her face. The wicked, slightly mischievous smile made her seem like the Slytherin I knew she was deep down inside instead of having the Gryffindor mentality she so loved to project.To tell the truth, sometimes even I was fooled...
" You know I did, Draco. Curious minds do want to know, however." She muttered, adjusting her parchment on the table as if she was actually planning on doing some work.
" Well, they won't know until I'm ready to tell them," I said. " And only then, do you understand me, Daphne?"
She nodded and turned her attention to the professor, who was beginning to give the students their instructions for the day. That was another thing I liked about Daphne; she knew when to let something go, even she, herself, was dying to know what the scoop was. In fact, that was one of the main things that had attracted me to her in the beginning, her intellect and coolness (in terms of personality..of course).
My father better display some of the intelligence he claims he has or he'll find that there's nothing worse than having an angry son. He knows as well as I do that he doesn't want that...not at all.
" Today, we'll be doing the Lysine Potion," Snape said, looking over the drowsy class with his usual contempt, " It's an immensely complicated potion but I expect that since all of you have managed, however barely, to get into my N.E.W.T's class, it would be a simple one to make."
I couldn't help but sneer as his gaze traveled to me with every sign of great dislike. We had mortal enemies ever since I started attending Hogwarts and there was no reason for me to think that things would ever change. In fact, that was the main thing I could count on in this school; his unwavering hatred of me.
" Can anyone tell me what the Lysine Potion is used for?" Snape asked, finally looking away from me and gazing over the class. It was almost as if he was trying to bust some poor idiot for daring to doze off in his class.
Hermione's hand shot up so fast that I had to move for fear of suffering a blow to the head. Sometimes, I wished to God that she wasn't so…so brilliant. Being friends with such a girl was such a royal pain sometimes and plus…it was a blow to the ego that your friend was obviously smarter than you.
" Sir, the Lysine Potion--."
" Did I tell you to speak, Ms. Granger," Snape said, his eyes flashing as he turned to Hermione, who was by then, blushing, " Five points from Gryffindor for speaking out of turn."
There were snickers from the Slytherin side at this and of course, her fellow Gryffindors just sighed and shook their heads at this, yet another of Hermione's indiscretions. Ron rolled his eyes and I…I just listened as he pointed out yet another student.
To my surprise in particular, the victim was Malfoy, Snape's favorite student and the one least likely to be called in class. He promptly said the answer, almost as if he recited it out of a textbook. Judging from the expression on Snape's face, it seemed as though he thought that Malfoy wouldn't know the answer at all.
" Five points to Slytherin," Snape said, frowning, " Well, since you can obviously see the instructions on the board, I'll leave you to your own devices. You have 50 minutes."
Everyone had made a move to join up with a friend or an acquaintance when Snape, suddenly, turned around and gave them all a frosty smile. Everyone then knew that this wasn't going to go the way that they had thought.
" Did I forget to tell you? All of you have assigned partners for this project," he said, pulling out a sheet of parchment from his robes, " I hate to disappoint everyone…"
Everyone groaned in annoyance and sat right back down into their original seats. I could tell that Ron was tempted to take it one step farther and actually disrupt the class but I kicked him before he even had a chance to think about it some more. He gave me a cool glance before turning away to stare, sullenly, at his fellow classmates.
" Everyone shall move once I call their names. It doesn't matter where you choose to sit…Ronald Weasley and Daphne Greengrass."
Ron jerked out of his stupor quickly when he heard his name being called. I couldn't help but smile; he acted at though it was a death sentence at being paired with a Slytherin. I guess to him, it was. Personally, I thought he could have done worse than being paired with the girl who made it her misson to stay by Malfoy's side. With long, wavy black hair and a short, shapely figure, she was a stunning girl with inexplicabily passionate blue eyes to match. Despised by most girls, who figured that she used her looks for her own gain, she mainly stayed to herself and gloried in her own brand of Slytherin intelligence.
I turned slightly around and watched as Malfoy bent to say something to Daphne, who looked at Ron before nodding. " You better watch your back, Ron," I said, " I don't like the way Malfoy's looking right now."
He turned ghastly pale and got up to walk to the seat Malfoy had just vacated. " I'll be all right all right, Harry. At least, I hope so." Ron said, his freckles seeming to jump into more prominence because of his edginess.
I watched Ron for a moment as he sat down next to a bored-looking Daphne and then returned my attention back to the front of the class. By this point, most of the class had been paired off, haughty Slytherins with flustered Gryffindors. It was down to two from each side.
" Hermione Granger with…Zachary Braff."
Hermione sighed and gathered up her things. By all accounts, she and Braff were not on the best of terms, even by Gryffindor and Slytherin standards. They were not even on the best of terms by even Malfoy's and mine. No, theirs was a battle of intelligence. Hermione was considered the 'lead wolf' in their year and here he comes, a relative unknown among the Slytherin ranks, determined to knock her off her pedestal.
" Why me?" I could hear her grumble as she headed across the dungeon to join him, who already had a ready-made smirk plastered on his angular face by the time she arrived.
" Last but not least…we have Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."
I could hear Malfoy slam his head against his newly occupied table in obvious fury at being paired with his archenemy and I could do nothing but do the same. We despised each other and yet, it seemed as though the Fates were alwaysconspiring to throw us together. It was sickening to even think about.
Our eyes met as I reluctantly got up to join him at his table. In those stormy gray depths, I could see everything that I knew was evident in my own. Loathing, exasperation…
" Welcome to my world, Potter." He hissed.
Even as he said it, I knew that he world was one that I wasn't sure that I wanted to get out of.
I'm feeling more and more angry by the minute, maybe his world is the one I need to embrace.
A/N: First off, I would like to thank the following people: FallenPhoenix721, VirginSuicide, fudgebaby, and silverflames03. The four of you were my first reviewers and for that, I'm grateful. When I read that my first chapter was good (especially from VirginSuicide and silverflames03) and that you want to read more has put a big smile on my face. Thanks a lot.
Secondly, I'm sure that everyone will read the disclaimers that I'm bound to place at the beginning of each chapter. So, before anyone gets confused and wonders why certain names don't look the least bit familiar, it's because I've made them up. These characters are important to the development of the story and from time to time, they will show up.
Well, that's my two cents for now. I hope I get more reviews from the Fab Four and any more people who happen to come across " Unexpected Changes". Depending on how fast I can get Chapter Three typed, it should be up and running sooner than you might think.
Keep reading and keep reviewing. Thanks.
